#so stay tuned for next session where this guy gets to be Extra Quiet and in the corner fixing their damn gun arm the entire session | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

be-ready-when-i-say-go · 3 years

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Inspired partially by the twitter trend of The Face Vs. The Face Sitting On It and just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Gender Neutral Reader Insert.

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While sitting in the car, you watch out the window. Folks buzz around you--some folks looking content, strolling about their day. Others are flitting around, a bit of crease in their forehead. And you feel for them. You know those days where there’s just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. Or it’s when one thing sets off a spiral of all terrible things. Or when you just don’t wake up on the right side of the bed. You know that crease all too well because currently you were having a bad sleeping week.

You were getting tired when you were supposed to but the second you put your head on the pillow your brain was hot wired--keeping you up with all the things you needed to do, hadn’t done, all the appointments you had kept pushing off. It was finding the littlest things to find that anxiety and keep you staring up at the ceiling. Calum noticed the tossing and turning and tried his best to lull you to sleep this week, fixing you tea in the evening, getting you off your phone or laptop a couple hours before bed. He even started reading to you, but your ears picked up on the white noise of everything in the house. Your brain picked up the embarrassing memory that you hadn’t even considered in decades and now holding it in front of your mind’s eye for hours on end during the week.

Like right now, you should’ve been at home sleeping. Your work was giving you a long weekend and you really could’ve used the time to catch some extra Z’s, but you were, admittedly, a little scared to stay home. Sure maybe you did fall asleep cuddled up next to Duke. But you worried that you’d stay up, worry yourself sick some more so when Calum told you he had some errands to run you immediately tagged along. The time running around would hopefully tire you out enough that when you got home you could actually fall asleep.

So after Calum’s personal training session in the morning, which you sort of tagged along for, but mostly went through your own routine and getting a solid breakfast, you two were now buzzing around from store to store. Calum had gotten most of the grocery the other day, but he forgot a couple things so your first objective was to grab those and bring them back up. He then had to go to the post office to mail out his mother’s birthday cards and a few other things.

While in the line at the post office, your head tucked into his back, Calum got a phone call from a guitar shop on the other side of time about a new model that had just come in. Calum had been eying it for ages, but he didn’t want to be reckless with his money especially after getting some work on his teeth and to the house. So he asked the guitar shop to keep an eye out for when more stock arrived in case it sold out before Calum felt comfortable spending a large sum of money like that again.

The store agreed to set one off to the side for him and could keep it on hold until the end of the day. Which was perfect--still gave the two of you time to get lunch. You didn’t need to get anything, didn’t need to do anything. But even after lunch, Calum made one more pit stop. Here now at the gas station, you sit peering through the windshield and can see a mother with her two sons walking from the doors. They boys hold brightly colored icees in their hand, each clutching a bag field with goodies.

You aren’t entirely sure whey Calum needed to stop here for anything. It’s not like he needed stamps, since he got those at the post office. He hadn’t pulled in to get gas. Lunch had been filling, though you tried not to stuff yourself too much just because you knew that on a long car ride, the last thing you wanted to do was be uncomfortably full.

The door opens again, Calum strutting through with his glasses covering his eyes and resting comfortably atop the chubby cheeks. Barely hanging from the crook of his fingers is a brown plastic bag. The doors click open and he climbs into the driver seat. The guitar shop wasn’t that far, but today seemed to be a busy day on the road. Took you all too long just to get to the grocery store this morning.

“Snacks?”

“Was craving something sweet after lunch.”

You peer into the bag as he hands it over to you. Some gummy bears, gum, a bar or two of chocolate you can’t quite tell. You set it onto the floor at your feet. “Let me know when you want something.” But he’s already tearing into a Twix bar when you glance at him. “Or not,” you laugh.

“The other stuff is for you--if you want to indulge. Can’t forget ya,” he pushes the glasses down for just a moment to wink at you and then looks into the rearview mirror.

“Do you think you’re going to get this one?” you asks as the SUV rolls out from the parking lot and onto the asphalt of the highway.

“Hmm, maybe. Gotta see how it feels first.”

You nod at his question, resting your head into the cushion of the seat. And it goes quiet for a while. The radio plays softly in the background, and every so often the packaging crinkles as Calum downs more of the chocolate and caramel treat.

“Valentine’s Day is coming up soon,” Calum states, while paused in a bit of traffic. “Got any ideas on what you want to do for it?”

You think for a moment. Valentine’s Day has never been your thing--being perpetually single does that to a person. “Restaurants are going to be a nightmare.”

“Yeah, they will be.” Another crinkle comes from the right side of the car and then his arm reaches behind your seat, finding the small bag of trash you stash there--though you have to be careful when Duke sits in the backseat. Generally though, he doesn’t mess with too much. “My mom sent me a recipe of hers. It’s really good.”

“I’d be down for cooking.”

“Nothing else? Don’t wanna go sky diving? Give me another heart attack?”

You laugh thinking about the first birthday you spent with Calum together as a couple. “You didn’t die.”

“But I did almost shit myself.”

“You can play on stage to thousands of people, but no, jumping from a plane is a no-go.”

“Yes, because I am a sane human.”

You huff out a small tuft of laughter and turn to look at him. One hand on the wheel with the stainless steel linked chain dangling from his wrist. His other arm is resting against the door, gently tapping out a beat with his long slender fingers. “Do you want to do anything?”

“Valentine’s Day,” he scoffs. “How long have we been dating? When have I ever been dying to do anything on some random day in February.” His statement doesn’t fall venomously from his mouth. He even looks over to you with a smile. “I don’t need one day out of 365 to declare my love for someone.”

And it’s true. While Calum wasn’t super accepting of love from new people, while it took you months to show Calum that you were trustworthy and not someone to keep at an arm’s length, once he cracked open, he oozed adoration and love for people. And you knew it was a defense mechanism. You knew that when someone did care as hard as Calum did it wouldn’t always be an easy thing to win over.

Calum, when he finally let someone one, loved hard. It could be a random Tuesday in July or a Sunday in February, and he would make sure his love was known. He never needed a special occasion to send flowers, to cook dinner, to offer to drive you to doctors appointments because he knew that sometimes you got too nervous or flustered by them to drive but did manage to push through if absolutely necessary. He’d easily pick up some gloves and an extra sponge if he saw you wiping down the walls in the kitchen or wiping through the counter. He kept fridge cleaning days marked on the calendar. And when you added reminders to wash bed sheets to the shared one, he also include rest breaks for you too.

Calum had never needed someone to force him to show appreciation.

“I mean, there is the option to literally do nothing on Valentine’s Day. Like treat it as any other day.”

“That’s still something,” he countered, turning on his signal and switching out from the middle lane. His exit was approaching in another mile and a half.

“Oh fuck off,” you laugh. “We can’t cease to exist that day. Bare minimum we need to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.”

Calum laughs softly, showing some of his teeth too. “Fair, fair. There’s another Netflix documentary coming out, true crime one. I forget what it’s fully about, but I think it’s about a serial killer if you’d be down to start it then?”

“When would I ever turn down the opportunity to be a detective with you?”

“You haven’t yet,” he states with laughter in his voice.

“And I never will.” The ramp takes the two of you down and down and soon you’re winding through streets and not too far you can see the shopping center coming into view. He pulls into the lot of the shop and the two of you step out in unison.

The bell above the door chimes as he opens it for you and you smile often in your thanks. “Hey, Calum!” one of the guys at the register calls out. The store is fairly empty. But you’re not shocked on a Tuesday afternoon.

“Hey, Derek. How’s it going?” Calum heads directly over to the counter and you look up to the left wall, at the records on display.

“Let me know if you need anything,” the second guy states to you, “or if you want to see anything.” He’s younger than Derek, both look to be equally tattooed from the pieces that peek out from the short sleeve work shirts, but his face is significantly brighter.

“Thanks,” you return and go back to the displays. You can hear Calum and Derek chatting but slowly tune it out, make it background noise to the music playing through the speakers.

You turn to walk towards the back where more instruments sit and you can see Calum leaning into the glass display of the counter. The palms of his hand pressed into the metal edge. The sunglasses sit on top of his head and you notice the younger guy glancing over at you again.

He nods again and then goes back to his computer. Nothing else is said. And you look over the stringed instruments, ukuleles, some violins and then you spin around again, done with that lap and go to head up to Calum. “See anything?” he asks.

You shake your head. “You’re the musically talented one. I just nod and smile when you talk about it.”

Derek returns, a case in hand. He comes out from the hinged doors that separate the sales floor from the registers and back of the store. You scoot a little closer to the display as the case is transferred over. Calum takes it easily heading to the corner you just abandoned to sit and check out the instrument. It’s a beautiful deep green, almost reminds you of the thick Washington forest. The body is slender.

“That’s a pretty cool color,” you note, watching Calum work his fingers over the frets.

He grins up at you. “Think so?” You give another nod. He doesn’t inspect it long before you can see the desire to give in crosses his face.

Derek’s standing close by and you turn to him and keep your voice as close to a whisper as you can while still being heard. “What’s a bass like that cost?”

He rattles off the price, one eyebrow slightly raised over the other. You know Calum will riot--he’ll pitch a fucking fit. But you reach into your wallet and slide out your card. You had been saving--for a year. You wanted to do something big for Calum. You just didn’t know what it was yet specifically though you had some ideas, a bass was top of the list. But you didn’t want to try and go out and buy a bass without consulting him, without getting an understanding of what he liked. You thought about maybe a really good leather jacket and some more boots. He loved the ones he had, wore them as much as he could.

And when you mentioned possibly getting him more, he told you the ones he had were still in good shape. Calum wasn’t the type to just buy clothes to buy them. He indulged here and there, but always made a point to wear something he had down before replacing it. You’d tease the subject a couple more times after that, but he never took the bait and you weren’t going to force him into a thing he didn’t want or need.

But it’s clear to you that this is something he wants. But he’ll tussle with himself and never give in on it. It’s pricer than you thought it would be. But you too were being smart, having finally paid off the last of your car, you start moving those payments to savings and it helped a great deal. You were fine. You get insurance and the whole deal as Derek advises. By the time you slide the receipt back across the counter, Calum comes back to the registers. “I appreciate you holding it for me, man. But I don’t think I can right now.”

Derek looks at you and you look down into the glass. “It’s--it’s yours, dude.”

“What?” Calum breathes behind you.

“They-uh, they paid for it,” Derek says, nodding at you.

You can feel the heat in your body now and spin around to face Calum in a rush. “Consider it a not Valentine’s Day gift.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Ever since I finished paying off my car, I saved the payments to do something nice for you. Didn’t know what it was going to be for sure. But I know you, Calum. You’d want something and tell yourself no. I mean you can treat yourself sometimes.”

“You-you didn’t?” His eyes are rapidly blinking, head shaking like he doesn’t want to believe you. Like he can’t believe you as his mouth mumbles out, “No,” repeatedly.

“It’s yours,” you nod. “It’s really yours.”

If it weren’t for the weight of the bass, you’re sure Calum would’ve tipped over, maybe even rushed to Derek to hand the case back over, but instead he’s weighed down, chained to this spot in the blue speckled carpet of the store, still repeating, “No,” softly.

“‘I hate to break it to you, but you’re gonna have to find space in your office for it now. Because I refuse to return it.” You step forward, find the handle and slip your hands around it taking it from Calum. A small grunt leaves you and then you start to the door, throwing a thanks to Derek.

The lights to the SUV blink and you can hear the locks clicking open as you push open the door to the store. “Wait--what are you doing?” Calum asks.

“Open the trunk please,” you ask.

“Let me do it,” he demands, stepping in close to take the case with the bass now. “What the fuck did you do? Baby, this is expensive.”

“It’s not a Valentine’s Day gift,” you answer again. “Because I love you. On a random Tuesday.”

He gets the instrument safely into the trunk and then closes it, watching dumbly as you climb into the passenger side. He walks to the driver seat and climbs in, taking you gently by the chin. “That was absolutely reckless and unnecessary-- ”

“I am just absolutely reckless and unnecessary then,” you counter, “because I’m not returning it.”

“--but thank you. Thank you so much,” he continues as if you hadn’t interrupted him. “I love you.”

“I love you.” Then it’s silent, as the two of your gaze at each other, watching what could almost be tears well in his eyes, but they don’t fall.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve a person like you, but whatever it was, I’m glad I did it.”

“I’m glad you did it too.” The two of you return home, Duke rushing to the front door as the two of you step through it. Calum safely places the bass in his music room/office and returns shortly after to help you decide on what to order for dinner.

As the two of you settle onto the couch, Calum takes your hand and presses a kiss to teach knuckle. “I’m gonna teach you how to play.”

“You know we’ve done this before.”

“And you were good at it.”

“I was alright at it.”

“It’ll be your bass,” he whispers.

“I bought it for you,” you return tossing your head back to look at him.

He kisses your lips. “Yeah, but it’ll be the one that I teach you to play for real one and it’ll be yours--just as much as it is mine.”

“A true sap,” you laugh, but nod and return your focus back to the TV.

In the week that follows, Calum makes sure to take an hour in the evenings to set you down and pick up on the lessons. They fizzled out as work for the both of you picked up. But now things are a bit more calm. He sits next to you, assessing what you remember from last time and correcting finger placements as needed, but they go smoothly.

When Valentine’s Day does come, Calum pulls you back into bed for just five more minutes of sleep. And five minutes turns into half an hour. But finally you two pull yourself out from the sheets, figure out what to do in the midmorning that results in food being consumed and then you slowly gravitate towards different sections of the house.

There’s still a bit of laundry to be done and Calum takes Duke out for just a little bit. The two of you migrate back together by mid afternoon. He finds you making a quick lunch and presses a kiss to your cheek. You turn to face him, squeezing at his. “I bought some face masks,” he offers. “Care to join me in doing the bare minimum of converting oxygen into carbon dioxide after your lunch?”

“Don’t see how I could pass up such a wonderful offer? You want anything?” He shakes head, mentioning grubbing on some of the leftovers earlier while you took a nap.

With your lunch done and the plates cleaned, you find Calum in the bedroom and let him know you’re ready for the face masks. He shuffles to the bathroom. “I hope I got the right one for you,” he mutters. “I got them forever ago it feels, so who the hell knows what I got.” His laughter is soft as he rummages through the bins under the skin.

“I’ll be in the office,” you tell him and he nods, still pulling bins out. You settle into the couch and spy the green bass still on the stand from yesterday. You pull it into your lap and sling your arm over it. The amp next to you is off, you know but you still pluck away at it as if it were on.

Calum shuffles in a few minutes later. “Um, babe. It’s off.”

You don’t reply but do look up. He holds up three different packages. “Here’s to hoping one of these is worthwhile.” You place your bass back to the stand and take one that sounds like one you’re okay with using. Calum hands you a towel so you can wipe your fingers off after you get it placed onto your face. He helps get it right and then you help him with his and the two of you slip onto the couch, legs entangled and leaning into opposite ends of the couch.

You laugh at Calum’s story as you scroll mindless through app after app. In the boredom you snap a picture of Calum with the face masks on and don’t think too much of it, saving it to the album with all the silly and cute photos of him are--there are tons.

“I mean the sun is a star. Though the ones we see have been dead for a long time.”

Calum taps your leg with his foot. “It was a simple question--to be the sun or the stars. I didn’t ask for this philosophical crisis.”

“Why would it not weigh in your decision! If you’re a star like the ones we see at night, you’re technically already dead. You wanna be dead?” You huff, sitting up.

“I mean, no, but c’mon.”

“It’s a valid thing to consider, that’s all I’m saying!”

He laughs. “Okay, sun or the moon?”

“You first,” you return and just then your alarm on your phone goes off. The two of you shuffle back to the bathroom and take off the masks.

“Moon, maybe,” he counters.

You nod. “Fitting. When should we get started on that recipe of your moms? Is it super involved?”

“Nah, it’s pretty easy. Normal time should be good. I’m going to read outside if you want to join.”

“Maybe in a bit.”

Calum nods, grabbing his book as he passes through the bedroom and the patter of Duke’s claws follow behind him. You go back to the music room, turn on the amp and then actually play a little something. It’s nothing fancy--just the arrangement you put together with Calum as a practice exercise once. You play it for a bit, adding a little flair. When you phone rings, you pause to answer it. You wouldn’t normally, but the number looks semi recognizable so you answer it.

It’s just a scam call and you hang up but then notice some other notifications. Before you realize it, you’re deep into Twitter. You’ve run across the trend of people posting pictures of themselves and their significant others with the caption, The Face Vs The Face Sitting On It. It made you laugh just a little bit at first. And then you kept going down the rabbit hole. Some are silly, most are good pictures.

While it’s not exactly secret that you and Calum are dating, you two don’t post too much. Calum isn’t incline to post on social media in the first place and while you use it a bit more than him, you try not to post too much about him out of respect. However, as you look tap on quote retweet and bring up your photos you think maybe one silly post wouldn’t hurt. So you grab the one of him recently with the face masks and then one of yourself--it’s silly too, a little blurry too in the darkness that it was taken in.

You hit post and watch the likes come in. Then keep scrolling. Eventually you have to put the bass away and peel yourself from the couch to find Calum and see if he’s hungry enough for dinner. Just as you round the corner to the office, you spy him stepping through the glass sliding backdoor. “Hungry?” you ask.

He nods, “Yeah.”

The two of you, with Duke trotting ahead, make your way down the hallway and into the kitchen. “You’re funny,” he states, washing his hands first.

“Thank you. I’ll be here until you kick me out.”

He laughs. “No, the pictures you posted. On Twitter.”

You’re shocked that he noticed it that fast. Normally it took him a bit longer to see silly stuff like that. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Nah. What I hope you don’t mind is my reply.”

At first you’re nervous. Calum could’ve gone one of two ways--super silly and broke out even worse photos of you possibly not sober or he went super on trend with it and pulled out a photo of you done up for a date night. Not that you preferred one over the other, but sometimes you liked to keep your relationship light on social media. It was easier that way. There wasn’t any real pressure that way. Though the fans seemed to have enjoyed it when you posted more posed and serious content.

You liked to keep it a bit more real. You and Calum didn’t do the whole nine yards a lot--you two were normal people who hated getting out of bed some days and went as well into the afternoon before showering at times and walked Duke and went to doctor’s appointments like everyone does. So you always opted for a bit of a joke, a silly Tweet or photo whenever you could.

“What did you post?” you ask.

He shrugs, taking up the knife to dice the onion. “I’m not telling you.”

You glance at the printed out recipe and get a pan on the aisle over medium heat before pulling out your phone. As you load the app, you listen to the snap of the knife fitting the wooden cutting board. You type Calum’s name and tap onto his profile.

While there’s is silly--I do want to take a moment to show off my favorite person in the world. So here we go, The Face Vs. The Face Sitting On It. Below is attached a picture of him--you snapped while you two were out for lunch one day. The black t-shirt tight around his biceps as he slyly grins into the camera. The lights in the background are just barely in focus of the resturant and Calum’s glancing out of the window next to him. You remember that you were recording him, or at least you thought you were, and told him that he was handsome. Not the first time, but everytime he did, he blushed and turn away. And you captured it here too.

The photo of you is actually one with him in it. The guys got together and did a big family dinner and the two of you posed at Crystal’s request in the slightly matching outfits. You hadn’t intended to match--though black was a staple in both your wardrobes. You were a bit different thanks to the pop of color in your shoes, but in the lighting of the street lamp, you had to admit that you did look hot. The first couple of buttons on your shirt you were undone and with your hands tucked into the pockets, you looked like you owned shit.

“While I hoped that you’d go with something more silly, I will take this,” you finally say.

“That picture is literally my background for a reason,” he returns.

You kiss his cheek and then trace over the stubble with your teeth to his ear. “Can I make a reservation for tonight?”

“The table is reserved for you literally at all times,” he returns in a breathe.

“Good,” you laugh and then glance back to the recipe.

#calum hood #calum hood blurb #calum hood x reader #calum hood x reader insert #calum hood imagine #calum hood smut #Calum Hood smut adjacent #5sos #5sos fanfic #5sos fic #5sos imagine #h writes #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer fic #5 seconds of summer imagine #gender netural reader

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xxdragonwriterxx · 3 years

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🔥Wings of Freedom (Part 2)🔥

A/N: Finally got part 2 done! Thank you for your patience with this mini series, I’ve been so busy with school lately and I still have so many drafts that I’ve been trying to publish them evenly so I don’t keep you guys waiting for anything too long. Thank you so much for your support, I love all of you so much and I can’t wait to show you the other stuff I have planned for this blog. I have a few requests on the way, so stay tuned for that, but for now, here is the sequel to Wings of Freedom (finally)!

Part 1 is here if you haven’t read it yet!

🐉Song Recommendation: “Machine” By: MisterWives 🐉

Word Count: ~3.9k

~~~

Levi felt like he was experiencing deja vu as he glanced around the courtroom from where he stood beside Erwin, waiting for Hanji to come back. Only, he felt a lot more nervous. The first time, he had felt nothing but an impatience to get the event started, his eyes hard and cold as he had looked down at an immature, green-eyed brat who could turn into a titan, waiting for his future to be decided as either a useful tool for humanity, or a human experiment to be tortured in a lab. Now, his insides were doing their best impression of a pretzel, churning and twisting until he felt sick with worry. This wasn’t going to be a meeting about some random brat from the streets, this was concerning the fate of the love of his life.

The night she had come back had been bittersweet for both of them. They had spent the night wrapped up together, (Y/N)’s wings out for the first time around Levi, the warm membranes curled around him protectively so he could feel her heartbeat thrumming through his entire body. They had been cuddled close, holding each other like it was the last time they would be able to do so, unsure of what events would unfold the next morning. Both Levi and (Y/N) knew everything was about to change, knew (Y/N)’s fate would be challenged and decided the next day, but it didn’t stop the anxiety from rolling around in his gut, making his stomach give another violent lurch.

“Hey,” Erwin said lowly, placing a hand on Levi’s shoulder when he noticed his friend’s queasy expression, “She’s going to be alright. We will fight for her with everything we’ve got.”

Levi managed a stiff nod in Erwin’s direction, his heart warming at his friend’s support. Although Levi had never doubted his friends, he had been surprised by how supportive and accommodating they had been when Levi had announced (Y/N)’s initial reappearance. They had both expressed their immense relief at her safe return while Hanji worked to heal her bullet wound, keeping her enthusiastic questioning to a minimum at Levi’s insistence.

Levi’s thoughts were cut short by the appearance of said energetic scientist, the tall brunette carefully picking her way through the rows of gathered officers and moving to stand on the other side of Erwin.

“She’s doing okay,” Hanji said before Levi could even open his mouth. “She’s a little nervous but that’s normal. Everything else is going smoothly so far, so she will be brought out in a few minutes.”

Levi nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He was trying his hardest to stay calm, to keep from lunging at Premier Zackley and strangling him until he promised to let (Y/N) go, but it was starting to strain on him. His skin broke out in a sweat as he forced himself to take deep breaths. He could do this. For (Y/N), he could do this.

He immediately looked up at the sound of the large wooden doors opening with a loud creak, his attention settling on the (h/c) haired woman handcuffed between two guards, her head down so her hair curtained her expression from others. His eyes narrowed and a low growl slipped from between his lips at the sight of the bruises on her arms and legs from the chains and cuffs she had been wearing in her cell. His blood was roaring in his ears as he fought every instinct he had to swoop down and bring her back into his arms. He had almost lost her once, he wouldn’t lose her again, no matter the cost.

Her wings were hidden, the huge black membranes tucked safely in the slits of her back, away from the prying eyes of the assembled soldiers. That at least gave Levi some relief, the knowledge that the extra sensitive appendages were kept from harm or unwanted touch.

The dull chatter in the courtroom hushed as (Y/N) was brought to the center of the room, pushed into a kneeling position on the same platform Eren had been placed on just a few years prior. One of the guards holding her leaned down and clapped her manacles to the sturdy metal post behind her, double checking that she was secure before backing away, moving with the other guard to stand on either side of Premier Zackley, guns at the ready.

The room was so quiet you could’ve heard a pin drop. The people in the room barely breathed as they waited impatiently for Zackley to finish preparing his notes, eager to see if they rumors were true. The Premier cleared his throat, shuffling the papers in front of him as he peered down at the woman on the platform from over the top of his glasses.

“(Y/N) (L/N)?”

(Y/N) looked up when her name was called, her eyes hard as she stared up at the older man.

“Yes.”

“Member of the Survey Corps. Age (#). Cadet under the command of Squad Leader Hanji Zoe,” Zackley read off, glancing at her after every sentence for her quick nod of confirmation. “It looks like you have no criminal record, but your place and date of birth are unknown, so that technically can not be confirmed nor denied outside of the information gathered during your time as a soldier.”

(Y/N) swallowed hard but did not respond, waiting, just as Hanji had told her to do, for the Premier to make his point. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to be patient, knowing that if she rushed this, if she wasn’t careful, she could easily be thrown to the wolves.

“It looks like, based on these reports, that you are a loyal soldier who has a clean background, a solid record, and a hard working personality, since it is labeled here that you are about to be promoted to Squad Leader,” the Premier leaned forward, “that means, we are here for a different reason entirely. Tell me, do you know why you are here?”

“Yes,” (Y/N) answered clearly.

“Very good. Now, without further ado, this court is now in session.”

As soon as Zackley opened the floor, a man from the Military Police stood, a smug grin on his face as he glanced at the annoyed scowls of the Survey Corps officers who were watching him.

“Premier Zackley, thank you for that wonderful introduction,” the man started off, making Levi roll his eyes so hard they hurt. “I would like to start off on behalf of the Military Police and say that this woman should be placed in our custody.”

The Survey Corps officers exchanged glances at that. They had been expecting the man to rant on and on about how she should be tortured, experimented on, or killed, not taken in by another branch of the military. The one closest to the King, no less.

“Interesting, state your case,” Zackley said, folding his hands in front of his face.

“We believe she could be of great use with us, sir. She could be a viable source of protection for our current ruling monarch, and we could use her to increase funding for our resources and supplies. Nobles would come from miles around to see her, it’s something we can use to better the lives of all of the soldiers in the military! Instead of groveling for money at their feet, we could charge them to come see her, within the safety of the walls, perfectly ready to display for anyone who is willing to pay.”

(Y/N) had to fight to keep from grimacing in disgust at the thought of being constantly gawked at like some kind of freak, put out for people to see as if she were some sort of entertainment for them, rather than a human being trying to fight for humanity.

“What use is earning money from her like some kind of exotic beast if our soldiers keep dying?” Erwin cut in, making (Y/N)’s eyes soften at the sound of her friend’s hard voice trying to make others see reason. “She is needed in the Survey Corps with us, it’s what she was made for. She can continue to fight against the titans with us, allowing us to give her the proper protection as she uses her gifts to make fighting these man-eating monsters a hell of a lot easier. She would waste away if she was stuck within the walls with the Military Police.”

“Well, as I see it, Commander Erwin, she can’t be trusted outside of the walls with you. She hid this for how long? How many years now has she let her comrades die over and over again, never stepping in to save them? According to her reports, she didn’t try to assist any of you during your missions other than with the normal efforts displayed by every soldier, at least, until she apparently saved Captain Levi. And rumor has it, those two are sexually involved with one another, which would make for that incident to be purely based on bias rather than a change of heart. If she really was meant to be a helpful tool for humanity, she would’ve become that by now.”

Erwin shook his head, his hand reaching out slightly to touch Levi’s forearm when the shorter raven-haired man opened his mouth to retort. “She has already explained to us her reasoning behind that. If she had shown herself on base, she would’ve risked getting hunted or killed, or getting those around her injured if someone decided to use her friends and comrades as blackmail for her capture. If she had shown herself on the field, she would’ve risked sending her comrades into shock, making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to concentrate on the mission, running the risk of twice the number of soldiers dying. She has tried to find the right time to reveal her gift to us, but it’s been nearly impossible for her, something that was proven by the men of the Garrison out on the field when she finally did reveal herself, only to get shot and chased.”

“So you are saying that she was justified in letting the hundreds of lives she could’ve saved die? Because she couldn’t find the right timing?” The Military Police pig said incredulously, his every word like a punch to (Y/N)’s gut. “I was unaware the soldiers of the Survey Corps were so selfish, cared so little about their men in battle. If this doesn’t further bolster my claims, I don’t know what would.”

“That’s not what I said,” Erwin said, his voice cold. “I said-”

“And you brought up the men from the Garrison,” the MP cut off Erwin, smiling wider at the glares thrown his way. “I have actually brought them today as witnesses. They would like to say a few words, if that is alright?”

The Premier thought for moment before giving a slow nod.

As soon as the all clear was given, the MP motioned for two of the Garrison soldiers who had fought beside the Survey Corps that day to come forward. (Y/N) growled low in her throat at the sight of the men, especially the bigger of the two, the one that had shot her. She noticed Levi tense out of the corner of her eye, knowing he remembered just as well. She threw him a quick reassuring glance just as Hanji placed a hand on his shoulder, imploring him not to react. Levi managed to calm himself, crossing his arms over his chest, but she could tell it was taking every ounce of effort from him not to kill the man.

“Names?” The Premier asked.

“Louis Bordgenson.”

“Graham Pickett.”

“Bordgenson, Pickett, could you please explain why you are here? Why do you believe (Y/N) (L/N) should be placed under Military Police custody?”

“We were two of the few to witness what happened when (L/N) saved Captain Levi from the titans, sir,” Graham said. “We are here to support the Military Police in their decision of taking (L/N) into their custody because we believe that what we saw on the field is a perfect example of the Survey Corps’ shortcomings as a branch. They need to be improved, restored with proper management and leadership. And it all starts with weeding out the soldiers that need to be corrected, allowing them to reevaluate their life choices in a place that won’t get others killed. Out on that field, we were attacked by all of the Survey Corps officers when I shot at (L/N) for my own defense, without even pausing for a moment to consider the situation. That woman attacked me, nearly knocked me right into a titan’s mouth with her wings, and flew off, leaving her comrades for dead, even as they still fought for her in the end.”

Louis nodded along with what Graham was saying before opening his mouth to add on. “Exactly. And when we got back from beyond the walls, we were arrested for attacking a Survey Corps officer. We were called lunatics, psychotics, for claiming to have seen a winged woman, and yet, here she is. We were right all along and none of the Survey Corps officers stepped forward to say it was wrong. To top it all off, when she came back, they sheltered her! Hid her with them and tried to pass everything off as normal.”

“From what I saw, (Y/N) (L/N) did not attack either of you,” Erwin said, cutting the two younger men off from continuing with their ranting diatribe. His tone was sharpened ice and his voice was filled with venom, waiting to strike like a snake in the shadows with barely suppressed fury. (Y/N) felt a conflicting wave of pride, gratitude, and apprehension wash through her. She loved Erwin, he was a close friend of hers, but that sometimes made her forget how god damn scary he could be when upset.

“You boys seem to have forgotten that you two were not the only ones on the field that day. From what everyone else saw, (Y/N) performed a great service to save a comrade, exposing herself in the most vulnerable way possible to try to help us escape. To help you, escape. She never singled you out, never tried to approach you in any manner other than one of friendly disposition. She did knock you over with the power of her wings as you mentioned, but she only did that because you were standing too close to her in your attempt to capture her for yourself. She was just trying to fly away peacefully, and would not have left us on that battlefield if you had not ordered your men to charge and fire. Your imprisonment was valid, and your accusations are dramatized and inaccurate.”

(Y/N) closed her eyes as Erwin’s last word rang out. Her stomach was churning and she felt lightheaded, her heart conflicted with so many differing emotions at once. She was grateful for Erwin and the Survey Corps, her friends who were fighting for her, fighting for her future, but she couldn’t help but feel as if she didn’t deserve them and their efforts. While she hated to admit it, the men from the Garrison weren’t wrong. She had spent years hiding her wings away, failing to save her comrades because of her fear, watching as they were devoured when the faster speed of her wings possibly could’ve saved them. Her head drooped a little as the men in front of her fought. Could she even call herself a soldier? A scout? Did she deserve to fight alongside them? Did she deserve… Levi?

She sucked in a shuddering breath, willing the tears to stay back. Maybe she did deserve to be nothing more than an animal to be viewed in a cage. Something to be gawked at and displayed like some kind of trophy. Could she even be considered human? She was so abnormal, so fucked up, mentally and physically. How could she possibly be considered safe enough to be around those she cared about?

Just as she was about to succumb to the notion of her worthlessness, a sharp, deep voice made her eyes snap open and glance to her left where her lover was standing steadfast beside his commander, his silver eyes burning like molten iron.

“Now listen here, all of the claims you have made so far have been either disproven or provided with solutions. (Y/N) has been nothing but the most amazing soldier, dutifully working to take care of everyone around her and constantly fighting for a better world. Just because you fuckwads can’t get your heads out of your asses long enough to see it, doesn’t mean it’s not true. (Y/N) was faced with an incredibly tough decision in her life, and she’s been forced to deal with it ever since she was born. She is just human. Simply, wonderfully, human, and there is nothing wrong with the choices she made,” Levi said, making (Y/N)’s eyes water with the love she felt for the raven-haired man.

“I know she will continue to be a necessary asset for the Survey Corps, where she can keep doing what she knows how to do best. If we lock her up in some manor to be cooed at by nobles, we will be lost. For god’s sake we have to deal with Jaeger every day and she’s significantly less of a threat than he is, but has twice the amount of usefulness to us.”

“Oh, as if that little experiment is going so well,” the MP said with a sneer. “The Survey Corps got custody of that one and look what’s happened? Cities destroyed, people lost. Captain Levi, your own squad got brutally murdered by an abnormal on an expedition because that titan shifter was too useless to do anything to help you. If we let you take custody of this one as well, we fear that the odds of humanity winning this war will shift further downwards. The fate of every human within these walls is in the hands of the Survey Corps soldiers. The last thing your branch needs is another distraction, or in better terms, a mistake.”

(Y/N) winced at the insult, her body flooding with icy fear as murmurs of agreement floated through the crowd. She knew she should’ve expected this possibility, had even reminded herself of the fact when Erwin left to tell the Premier about her existence earlier that week. She had known from the moment she had agreed to reveal herself publicly and use her gifts in battle to fight the titans and save her friends that this could happen. She could be turned against, experimented on, taken back to a cage and locked up, just as she had spent most of her early life. But even knowing about it didn’t stop the anger, the fear from filling her from head to toe, making her shift nervously on the wooden platform. She wanted to speak, wanted to say something to counteract what the Military Police were claiming, but she kept her mouth shut, knowing it was for the best. If she started talking now, fueled by her emotions, after spending the entire time staying quiet, it would look as if she was becoming desperate, trying to hide something. And with how hard Levi and Erwin were fighting for her, the last thing she wanted to do was ruin everything by opening her stupid mouth.

Levi and Erwin were about to retort when the Premier held up his hand, his eyes closed as he waited for the room to settle down again. The room quickly hushed. (Y/N) waited, her entire body tense as she stared up at the Premier, her heart thumping so loudly she was surprised he couldn’t hear it.

Everything will be fine.

“Based on the claims made by both parties, I have come to a decision on where the defendant shall be placed until further notice,” Zackley said.

I won’t let them take you away from me.

“While both parties have put forth compelling arguments, I can not determine whether or not bias or deceit is at play here on either side. It is because of this that I have decided to put you in the place that I believe would be the safest for humanity should things take a turn for the worst.”

No matter what, we are in this together, wings and all.

“(Y/N) (L/N), I am officially placing you under the custody of the Military Police, where you will be kept and cared for until I can find the proper evidence to prove your innocence.”

I love you.

(Y/N) felt her world shift. She heard Levi’s roar of fury, Erwin’s sharp voice ringing out into the hall as he tried to reason with the Premier, Hanji’s screech of shock and anger, but no words registered. The Military Police. Anything but the Military Police. She wanted to struggle against her binds, wanted to roar and scream and snap, wanted to stretch her wings and fly away, far away, just her and Levi together. But she couldn’t do that. She hung her head, unable to hold back the tidal wave of tears this time as they slid down her cheeks in clear rivers, running down her soft skin to splatter on the floor beneath her.

She could practically hear the smirk in the MP’s voice as he thanked the Premier and barked orders at his assembled soldiers to grab her. She wanted nothing more than to slap that smug grin off his face but she knew she couldn’t. She forced herself to take deep breaths as she felt hands rain down on her, touching her, dragging her, chaining her.

When she was finally unhooked from the steel post in the center of the room, the Military Police soldiers holding her tightly between them, dragging her towards the door, (Y/N) managed to look up. She caught Levi’s eye from where he was being held back by both Erwin and Hanji, the sorrow and desperation in those stunning gunmetal hues making her heart shatter. She didn’t know when she’d see him again, if she ever would see him again. And even if she was granted the opportunity to see him, she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold him, kiss him, love him like she always did.

Even though her heart was being ripped to shreds, (Y/N) managed a watery smile in his direction, her lips moving to mouth the words, “I will see you again, I promise,” to him. She saw him stand a little straighter, a glint in his eye as he took her words to heart. She just knew that he was going to do everything in his power to make that happen.

No matter what, we are in this together, wings and all.

(Y/N) kept her eyes on him as she was led back through the large wooden doors of the courtroom, refusing to look away from her lover until the doors had completely shut behind her, officially separating her from the love of her life.

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deejadabbles · 3 years

Text

A Thousand Songs (Atem/Yami x Reader)

Chapter Five: Hello, My Old Heart

One /// Two /// Three /// Four /// Five /// (Six coming soon) ///

Summary: You knew that you and your band could make it big. Not only that, but stay together while doing it; the five of you were family, after all. The only problem was that despite all your musical talents...none of you were particularly good at lyrics. After years of struggling to put out your first full album, the solution finally made himself know in chance meeting on an empty stage.

Rock Band AU, Atem x Reader, gender neutral reader.

You could visibly see the poor young man swallowing hard as he settled in the seat across from you and the rest of your bandmates. Try as you might to make the setting casual (cushy chairs instead of a desk, offers of soda and chips, greeting him with an ‘what’s up, my dude?’, etc.) Atem still seemed rather nervous. Not that you blamed him, you distinctly remember Honda making a joke about “oh yeah, ask the dude to come to our secluded studio by himself to meet five strangers, that’s not creepy or anything” when Yugi told you guys how he had invited the man to meet with the rest of you.

“So, Yugi said that you write songs as a hobby?” Anzu began, giving him the warmest smile she could, an effort to ease Atem’s mood.

He nodded, then started unclasping the latch on his leather messenger bag, “That’s right, I’ll admit, I don’t have too many that are finished, but that’s mostly due to boredom and moving on to a new idea, not lack of inspiration.” He then pulled out some papers divided by paperclips. “Here are the songs I think best represent my usual work, the work that’s easiest for me to write as well as what I would prefer to put out there.”

Honda grabbed the small stack and passed out songs to each of you. A bit of an awkward silence fell as you all started reading the various lyrics, but not even that could tarnish how impressed you were with the ones you were reading. Poetic, but not too over the top or pretentious, nice. You glanced up at the others, nodding your head with an impressed smile before switching papers with Yugi to look over another example (you also didn’t miss the way Yugi beamed at you). Now this song struck you, after only reading the first verse you could already hear the beginnings of a beat and chords you could put with the lyrics.

“Yugi also said you have a killer voice,” you said, shifting your eyes from the page to peer up at him.

He gave a cute little cough, “Uh, yes, I suppose I’m not a bad singer.”

You had to actively keep your mind from gushing over how sweet he was. The dude looked like a typical adonis hottie, but his shy outer demeanor just added an extra layer to him. He was wearing something more stylish than the few tabloid pics you’d seen: a long-sleeved black shirt with a silky maroon and gold vest, accessorized with a few rings, bangles, necklaces, and a pair of gold dangling earrings.

You shook the wandering thoughts on his attractiveness away; this was for business, not pleasure. “I was just wondering if you’d mind singing one of the songs for us, that way we can get a feel for the melody you had in mind.”

Again, Atem seemed to swallow something in this throat as a hand reached up to briefly play with one of the flat triangles dripping from his ears. “I suppose I could do that, but, do you mind if I play my violin with it? I’ll find it easier to sing with some music.”

“Of course,” you waved an eager hand, egging him on before handing him back the music sheet in your hand.

His eyes scanned the pages, reminding himself of what song it was before nodding his head and reaching down to the instrument case beside the armchair. Jonouchi had made a comment about Atem carrying his violin everywhere, trying to set a joking mood, but it just caused a flushed Atem to mumble about how he had just picked it up from getting its weekly tuning.

Once Atem was standing, violin in hand, he took a deep breath to collect himself. Then, after two slow heartbeats, he began to play.

The first note was a sorrowful one, long, like a quiet, mournful hum, his slender fingers pulsing to create a wave effect on the sound. Then he was singing. His tone came out like a deep, almost breathy moan, letting the lyrics flow like a story at first- before his tone rose and belted out the chorus.

Atem was captivating, pulling you in with every line, every inflection, making you want to hold your breath lest the sound of it distract from the song. He kept his eyes closed, lost in the music his hands and mouth crafted, and the longer the song went on the more he seemed to relax, to lean into his own notes.

You blinked suddenly, realizing that your mouth had been hanging open just in time to close it before Atem ended his performance on another soaring note and breathy lyric. He stayed like that for a moment, catching his breath, basking in the lingering sound of his song.

Finally, his eyes blinked open and shifted to gauge everyone’s reaction. You weren’t the only one left in awe.

“Holy shit,” Honda breathed.

Yugi’s beaming smile was at maximum sunshine as he leaned into you and whispered, “That’s the song I heard him sing at the theatre, isn’t it beautiful?!”

You nodded and opened your mouth to say something but Anzu beat you to it.

“Can you do that again?” she asked, eager, as she jumped up and walked to her keyboard.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” you asked, also bouncing to your feet and joining her.

Anzu smiled back at you, “Keeping that longer intro and adding keys to it?”

“Yes!” you turned to Jonouchi- who was still staring at Atem like he didn’t quite believe the man was standing there. “Jou, add some drums? Something steady and subtle at first, drawing everyone in before the lyrics start and-”

“-and picking up when the chorus kicks in?” he finished, snapping to attention in an instant, “You got it!”

With that Jonouchi vaulted off the back of the couch, plopping onto the stool at his drum set. Atem was still standing there, now looking a bit bewildered and amused as he watched everyone get to work, perhaps some pride shining in his eyes that his music had inspired it.

“Atem?” you asked, tone gentle and drawing his attention back to you, “Can you play that again?” you repeated Anzu’s question, seeing as how she was fully engrossed in her keys now.

Again, the man seemed hesitant, “Shouldn’t you be taking over, you’re the lead singer after all.”

“Dude, we have to keep that violin track,” you insisted, finding your voice breathy as you pointed at Atem, “It’s perfect for the song, it’s deep and beautiful and-” speechless, you gave an exaggerated chef’s kiss to emphasize just how much you meant what you were touting.

The expression earned you a smile from the violinist, a hint of bashfulness mixing with the fresh and rising pride. “Alright, if you think it will improve the song.” With that, Atem lifted his violin, took another deep breath, and started the song again.

***

It was strange how no hands had officially shaken, no one even told Atem he was hired, but that session was immediately followed up by the band asking when his next free day was and asking him to come back for another practice session. Atem had never intended on actually playing with the band, but, when they acted so enthralled with his playing, he could hardly say no.

The next time they got together (almost a week after their first meeting) Atem found himself just as nervous as when he first met them. Parking outside their studio, he found his chest heating up with some anxiety. Atem never was good around people, after all.

Hello, my old heart

How have you been?

Are you still there inside my chest?

He rubbed his hands against the steering wheel, letting out a long breath and holding it a moment, before making himself grab his violin case and climb out of the car. His feet crunching on the gravel driveway grounded him a bit and he had managed to calm down slightly before knocking on the studio door.

I've been so worried, you've been so still

Barely beating at all

He heard the sound of laughter coming closer on the other side of the door and a moment later it opened, revealing you in the doorway and more laughter echoing yours in the next room.

“Atem, there you are! Come on in,” you stepped aside and waved an inviting arm.

Atem felt the heat in his chest climb up his neck, “Sorry, am I late?”

“Huh?” You then waved your hand again as you shut the door behind him, “Oh no don’t worry, we just got here early, that’s all.”

He heard someone else call his name before he even got to the room where everyone was sitting, and by the time he did enter, the whole band was waving and greeting him. He cleared his throat before nodding back to everyone and saying a weak ‘hello’ before you spoke again.

“Come on, sit down and chill for a bit before we get started,” you waved at a beat-up arm chair even as you perched on its armrest.

Atem realized with a quick look around that there was nowhere better for you to sit and you were likely offering him your own seat. “Oh, that’s alright, I don’t want to steal your seat-”

Before his offer to sit on the floor was out, you shook your head, “Dude, we can’t have our muse sitting in a creaky fold-up chair, at least sit on the other arm so I don’t topple it!” You laughed again as Honda made some comment about how a topple would probably bust the thing in half.

His cheeks were hot now, but he took the offer with grace (or at least, as much grace as he could muster) and perched himself on the other armrest, setting his violin on the actual seat. Atem also remembered how last time, he had been offered the armchair while Anzu took the creaky fold-up chair. Everyone here really seemed to care about making him comfortable.

Hello, my old heart

It's been so long

Since I've given you away

When was the last time he met anyone who had greeted him with such...openness? Such compassion. And a whole group of someones at that...

He cleared his throat again, trying to draw himself out of his wandering thoughts. “So, are we just going to work out more of the music today?”

And every day, I add another stone

To the walls I built around you

To keep you safe

Everyone seemed to respect his want to get down to business, perhaps thinking that he had other engagements, and only chit-chatted for a handful of minutes, before getting down to their rehearsal. It went well, just as the previous session had, and Atem found himself in awe of how well the creative process of making notes together flowed. Just like that first day, everyone seemed to work off of each other so well, bounding ideas left and right, almost always being on the same page. Even when they weren’t, there were just a few goodhearted jabs and sighs before working everything out.

Again Atem found himself shaking his thoughts away. He really should stop, it wasn’t wise to get attached to this process, these sessions, these people. After all, he was just their ghostwriter, nothing more.

Oh, don't leave me here alone

Don't tell me that we've grown

For having loved a little while

He found himself smiling again despite himself, when you started throwing popcorn kernels at Jonouchi; retribution for a comment about how you needed to change the chords up in the third chorus.

“I’m not changing it,” you said with your tongue sticking out, all while Jou looked affronted at your kernel bombing. “It’s a steady beat, that’s the whole point! Right, Atem?”

At the sound of his name, Atem’s eyes went wide, “Uh- What?”

“Eh, don’t drag him to your side!” Jonouchi pouted, tossing some popcorn from his lap back in your direction.

“I’m not dragging, I’m asking his opinion, there’s a difference,” you said matter of factly, then turned back to Atem, who was sweating a bit now, “What do you think, Atem? Are the same chords during the third chorus too boring? Or does it fit the subtle, powerful nature of the song?”

“You’re leading his answer!” Jonouchi countered, again looking appalled, then squawking as you tossed more popcorn at him.

Atem was a bit distracted by the way Honda kept laughing as Jou picked kernels out of his shirt, but eventually he managed to swallow thickly and answer your question. “I actually like the way you have it now, if I’m being honest.”

You beamed at him, stuck your tongue out at Jonouchi in victory, then held the popcorn bowl out to Atem. “Thank you, my muse! Here, have some brain food.”

His face was heating up again at nickname- or, dare he say, endearment? However, even as he blushed, and took a handful of popcorn, he couldn’t keep that smile from making yet another appearance.

Oh, I don't wanna be alone

I wanna find a home

And I wanna share it with you

When everyone called the day's session to an end, Atem tried not to feel...disappointed. Stop that , he told himself again, this was not something to get attached to. As everyone packed their notes away, Honda started asking about dinner.

“Heeey if I give you a ride to work, think you can get me a discount on nachos again?” he asked, turning to you with an eyebrow wiggle.

You scoffed, “Dude, the boss was barely okay with that one time I did it, I can’t convince her again. But I can just buy your nachos if you really want.”

“Where do you work?” Atem found himself asking, far too late to stop himself from getting involved.

“Oh- ever heard of The Mark? It’s a bar downtown.”

Atem shook his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. Admittedly, the only bar he had been in since college was the high-end one in his apartment building.

You didn’t seem to take notice of his embarrassment though and just shrugged, “It’s only popular to a certain crowd. Anyway,” you continued, turning back to Honda, “give me a ride and I’ll buy you nachos.”

“Okay, all this talk of nachos has me hungry,” Jonouchi groaned, “Let’s go with em, Yug.”

Anzu perked up at that, nodding to you as she said, “You know, I’ve really been craving your specialty daiquiris. Jou, got room in your truck for me?”

“Sure,” the drummer shrugged as everyone started milling towards the door.

Yugi was smiling brightly as he held the door open for everyone, “Guess it’s a band outing now! Atem, you want to join? You can follow us to the bar, it isn’t far.”

As his feet were once again crunching on the gravel drive, Atem had to stop. He looked back to the group, ready to see at least one of them giving an uneasy expression at the invitation, if not an outright protest.

Instead, he saw Anzu nodding her head eagerly while Honda locked up the studio. Neither you nor Jonouchi looked wary of the suggestion and instead just looked to him for an answer.

You must have thought he needed further prompting, because you said, “Hey, our ‘girls night’ plate of nachos is more than big enough for all of you.”

Atem had to swallow another something in his throat. All of you were already inviting him out for drinks?

Hello, my old heart

How have you been?

“I- sorry, I have to get up early in the morning. Thank you, though.” Atem could only cast his eyes to the ground during the half-lie.

How is it being locked away?

He saw something flicker in Yugi’s eyes, but he was quick to hide it with a smile. “Okay, maybe next time.”

Your smile matched Yugi’s as everyone headed to Jou’s truck and Honda’s bike, “Have a good night, Atem.”

Don't you worry, in there you're safe

“See you next week,” Anzu waved.

All he could manage was a nod as he turned towards his own car.

And it's true, you'll never beat

But you'll never break

It only took one more session to get the rest of the music figured out, and then it was time to record. Atem was interested in the process, how the five of you set up the sound equipment, what programs you used, he even asked you how you had installed padding to improve the sound quality.

The video part of the recording would be left for later, right now it was just the song to worry about- though you did make a point to tell Atem that you wanted to discuss setting ideas for the video soon. Atem felt his heart swell a bit at that. Not that he wanted to admit it, but he was glad that you wanted to involve him in every step of the song. This song in particular, this first one that had so enthralled Yugi first, was likely one of the more personal ones Atem had written.

Your voice rose with the chorus, fingers dancing gracefully against the bridge of the guitar, and Atem found himself admiring how well suited your voice was to his lyrics. A perfect fit. Though you likely had no way of knowing the background behind this song or why Atem had written it, you belted the lyrics with passion and depth, cared for every bar as if you were singing from the depths of your heart.

Maybe you were. Music spoke to more than just those who wrote it, perhaps not in the same ways, but that hardly mattered.

He heard the way the ending lyric stole your breath, and his violin hummed its final note with you in a harmony Atem had admired a dozen times during these rehearsals. When the last note ended, everyone waited a moment, seeming to hold their breaths, before daring to move. When everyone did, Jonouchi was already bounding over to the computer hooked up to the recording mics. With a few clicks and a quick look over something on the screen, the blonde gave a clap of his hands.

“We got it! That should be all we need for a high quality recording.”

Everyone cheered or hooted at that, and Yugi made a comment about finally having something new to give their fans. Atem was smiling with the rest of them, but he was failing to ignore the way his chest ached just a bit. The song was done, and, unless they asked him to join them on stage, Atem supposed this was the last time he would play with the band.

Writing songs for them was all nice in of itself, but, despite all his personal warnings not to, he would be lying if he said he hadn’t grown a bit attached to these evenings and nights with the band.

Oh, I don't wanna be alone

I wanna find a home

And I wanna share it with you

A sudden call of his name had Atem jolting back to the present, and he saw you standing beside him, a hint of concern creasing your brow. “Everything okay?”

“Uh-” he cleared his throat, “-yes, I’m alright,” he lied, just as he had lied to deny himself the after-work drinks weeks ago. “I was just thinking, we got so caught up in recording this song, that none of you got the chance to discuss if any others were to your liking.”

“What, any of your other songs?” Honda asked, and when Atem nodded, he literally waved the comment off, “Dude, I’m pretty sure we liked all the examples you gave us, right guys?”

“Definitely!” Yugi didn’t miss the chance to boost Atem’s ego (or rather, soothe any worries). “We actually looked over your other songs the other day, and all of us agree we want to record all of them. I told you you were a perfect fit for us!”

The words, as well as the wink Yugi gave, did make Atem smile, but it didn’t do much to alleviate the root of his woe. “I’m glad they fit with the band so well. If you want to know the melodies or themes I had in mind for any of the other songs as well, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

That seemed to give everyone pause.

Nothing lasts forever

Atem watched as they began giving each other looks, very pointed looks, in turns, and he couldn’t ignore the sinking sensation in his chest. They seemed to silently agree on something a moment later, because Anzu spoke up as her eyes turned back to Atem.

“Actually, we were talking about that a lot too…”

Some things aren't meant to be

Atem swallowed hard, heart starting to pound in his ears. Perhaps he wasn’t good enough, perhaps they thought him too pretentious, or maybe he had overstepped the boundaries of his role here, maybe he and his violin didn’t-

“How would you feel about joining the band for the whole album?”

But you'll never find the answers

Until you set your old heart free

Again, your voice put a break on Atem’s reeling thoughts, and he had to blink to collect himself again. “I- you mean, you want me to play for the other songs as well?”

More looks were exchanged, quick ones this time, before Yugi chimed in next. “We talked it over a lot the past week and we all agree that you gel with us pretty well! And not only that, but your violin really adds a lot to our music, we’d really love for you to record more songs with us, not just write them.”

Until you set your old heart free

Now Atem’s heart was pounding in his ears for a whole other reason. He almost wanted to smack himself when he felt the widest, most giddy grin he ever remembered smiling spread across his face.

“I would like that very much,” he said, cheeks going a bit warm when everyone was returning his smile.

Hello, my old heart

“So what are we waitin’ for?” Jonouchi jumped in, all enthusiasm and eagerness, “What song are we doing next?”

That sparked conversation, and everyone started chiming in with their votes almost immediately, Yugi and Anzu even digging out Atem’s sheet music for references. Atem could only take the scene in with a smile that was widening the more he watched them bicker good-heartedly.

And he was glad he had gotten attached to this process, these sessions, to these people.

I wanna share it with you

#atem x reader #yami x reader #yugioh x reader #yugioh band au #series: a thousand songs #atem #yami yugi

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alleycat97 · 3 years

Text

Star Dust (1)

Warned y’all about the spam! This is an Au version of With Every Heartbeat! It’ll have a few parts!

f!Dakota x Mc (Sage)

Tag list: @samanthadalton @fundamentalromantic @kwaj05 @penda-bear @gay-dinosaur-banana-milk-carton @shows-simp-card @obsessedwithtragedy @stardustmountain @iamsimpforpoppy hmu for the tag or if you wanna be removed.

College graduation had arrived. That previous 4 years simultaneously flew by and drug on for Sage. She stayed local and went to Massachusetts, a decision she was grateful for. It hadn’t been the easiest journey since Dakota’s passing, but she was making it.

She had made new friends at school and kept her mind occupied on extra curricular’s. Sage still lingered around the topic of dating and Mateo and Lennox still called once in awhile, but life started to take over for all of them. However, there was still one time a year when Sage completely shut down and locked herself away from the world.

Dakota’s Anniversary. It happened to fall a day after her graduation and it really dampened her entire mood.

“Sage? You going to the big grad party tomorrow night?” Remi asked a very ill looking Sage.

“Remi!” Carson quietly hissed pulling the girl aside. “You know what tomorrow is.”

“Yeah? The big party?”

Carson sighed and made sure Sage wasn’t listening, “No! It’s the 4 year anniversary of her girlfriends passing. Every year she locks herself away and doesn’t talk to anyone. I guess she’s starting early.”

“Oh for goodness sakes, Sage!” Marley said stomping over from the kitchen. “You aren’t doing this again! This is our last big party before we all go our separate ways!”

“Marley!” Carson yelled at the bold statement.

“Stay out of it Carson. Stop playing peacemaker for her. We are all suite mates and I’m not going to let this negative vibe thing you got going on Sage keep ruining you.”

Sage kept still on the couch, not really listening, but just thinking back to her last day with Dakota. She saw Marley’s mouth moving but nothing was coming out.

“It was 4 years ago! Let it go! I know it still hurts but you’re just killing yourself. You grieved! It’s time to move on! She would want you to!”

“Ok Marley I think you said enough.” Remi stepped in with Carson.

Sage caught the last of Marley’s rant and it killed her to admit that she was right, so she simply met the eyes of her best friends and nodded that she would go.

The next night Carson kept close to Sage, trying to convince the girl it was ok to grieve and to stay home if she wanted. Sage pushed it aside and mainly sat at the bar all evening. Listening to her classmates hoop and holler, music thudding through her core.

She opted for the sparkling cider and mocktails because they were Dakota’s favorite. Alcohol wasn’t Sage’s friend and even it’s wicked power of mind erasing, Sage wasn’t into it. She just sipped her drinks and looked through her albums of her and Dakota, counting down to the exact time she had passed.

“Hey darlin? Wanna dance?” A preppy male voice called standing over Sage.

“Not interested.” She replied coldly.

“Come on sweet cheeks, let’s party!” He tried again.

“I said no.” Sage never looked his way. She wouldn’t give this guy the satisfaction of entertaining the idea.

“Hey doll!” The boy said snatching Sage’s phone, finally getting her attention.

“Give it back!” Sage hissed.

“Give me a kiss.” He laughed leaning down towards Sage.

“You’re drunk.” Sage backed away at the putrid odor.

“Awwww look guys! Is that you and your girlfriend?” He said looking at Sage’s Lock Screen. “You guys look like a couple of bald freaks!”

Sage snapped and smacked this goon so hard his head should have spun around. He shook off the hit and slammed the phone to the floor, shattering it into pieces.

“My phone!” Sage winced out before looking back to the goon who decided to throw a punch towards Sage that connected below her eye. It was a weak throw, mainly due to his inebriated state, but it still hurt and Sage, trying not to tumble and cry, found her foot resting firmly between the goons legs, sending him to the floor.

“Sage!” The girls come rushing over after the commotion, “Are you alright?”

“My phone....” She whimpered trying to collect the pieces.

Carson and the girls helped pick up the pieces and they apologized to Sage over and over while leaving.

“Hey! Wait up ladies!” A man called out catching them outside.

“Listen, tell your friend we will sue if he tries anything else, my dad is a lawyer. Hell, he will be hearing from him anyway for hitting Sage.” Marley barked out getting in the guys face.

“Easy easy. I’m just here to give her this.” The man extended Marley a roll of cash.

“This is $2500?” Marley spoke.

“Yeah. Some to get a new phone and the rest is just to say sorry. Don’t worry we took it from his wallet. It’s the least we could do.”

“Well. Thanks, now scram.” Marley hissed waving her hand in annoyance.

The suite mates made it home and Sage locked herself in her room. She looked at her luggage in the corner all ready to go and then to her smashed phone. This was Dakota’s night and she couldn’t even relive her memories through her phone. Stupid jerk she thought. $2500 wasn’t near enough to fix the emotional strain he caused.

Sage figured there was nothing left at school now, she graduated and it was best if she left as soon as possible. She had to get back to Boston to see Dakota.

She checked her watch, it was late but she didn’t care. She wrote up three farewell notes to each suite mate, thanking them for their awesome four years and wished them good luck. She heard the suite go quiet and taped the notes to their doors and took her luggage with her. It took a trip or two to load her car but she got it without waking anyone.

The road late at night was calm and peaceful. It was just her and her thoughts. She could finally mourn Dakota without interruption. But her eye continued to swell and bother her so she took some minor pain meds as she fought the pain and sleeping urge.

It was a longer drive than she recalled, most likely the dark and her sleep deprived body made it seem that way, but the sign for the cemetery perked her up even more as drew closer to the city. The closer she got to Dakota the more at peace she felt, she found herself closing her eyes behind the wheel soaking up the feeling of her lover.

She was in her own world now, a world she learned to tap into just for herself and Dakota. It was just them and no one else. She was so in tune to it, she never knew a drunk driver swerved over the line and hit her head on.

The transition was seamless, she was with Dakota in her own happiness.

“I’m afraid I have to go now.” Dakota spoke slowly disappearing.

“Dakota wait! I’m not ready to go yet!” Sage cried watching her girlfriend leave once again.

“It’s ok Sage, just wake up.”

Sage opened her eyes and found herself standing outside of the graveyard. It was daytime now, and she kept hearing her name.

“Sage!!!!” It sounded like Mateo. So she followed the voice.

“Sagggggge!!!” Now that was Lennox.

Sage smiled at the realization, “Ok guys, very funny.” Sage looked around but still couldn’t find the two voices.

Instead, a dark figured man appeared behind her, scaring the daylights out of her.

“Ok, this isn’t funny anymore. Who are you?” She said cowering away.

“I’m death Ms. Woods.”

“Death? But I’m not dead!?”

The man came closer and took her by the arm, opening up a portal with two paths, “Pick one.”

Sage pointed to the one on the right first, drawing her into a funeral in session.

The entire city looked to be there. As well as her mother and The Winchester’s. A funeral that seemed like Deja vu.

“Why did you bring me back to Dakota’s funeral?” Sage questioned.

“Look closer.” Death spoke.

Sage heard Mateo and Lennox calling her name like before and watched them this time. They weren’t trying to scare her, they were mourning her. As she focused on the tombstone, the name was her own, Sage Woods.

“That’s impossible! I can’t be dead!? How can I be dead?”

Death opened the portal and took her to the image on the left, “You were suppose to select this one first, like a book? Left to right.”

“Excuse me for not being very literate right now.” Sage yelled as she was brought to her car crash.

“Watch.” Death spoke pointing to her car.

Sage watched in awe as she saw her soul leave the car and rise to the clouds. “So if that’s my soul? Why am I here with you?”

“Why do you kids always ask so many questions? Look you’re dead and I’m showing you it’s true. Now I’m here to bring you to the afterlife.”

At the snap of his fingers, Sage found herself on a cloud outside of a great city in the distance. There was a gate and a man and a woman. One dressed in black and the other in white. Angel and a demon perhaps?

“Welcome home Ms. Woods. I’m Archangel Pariah and this is Demon Mezaya.” Then man spoke, “Here are your clothes.”

“Wait? Why are they gray?” Sage asked.

“You child, are an unclaimed. Unclaimed are typically mortals who end up here and have to earn their right to be a demon or angel.” Mezaya spoke.

“Up the path, the road splits into two paths, stay to the left. It is for the unclaimed. The other road leads you to the citadel.” Pariah said opening the gate.

“And what’s in the citadel?” Sage asked.

“When you are chosen to be an angel or demon, the citadel is an oasis for your own personal heaven. You can create your own and intermingle between others and their heavens.” Pariah added.

Sage kept on the correct path and ended up in a smallish town like place. It was cute and quaint, definitely old, but beautiful. There was hardly anyone about, but something was calling her to a building in the center of the town.

It was a feeling she couldn’t describe, it just felt right, it felt like...Dakota.

Sage entered the building revealing it to be a restaurant jam packed with unclaimed and a few angels and demons. And just like the new cowboy in town, as soon as she entered, the music stopped and all eyes where drawn to her.

A cup falling and shattering made Sage look at the source and came face to face with...

“Dakota.”

#playchoices #pixelberry #with every heartbeat #weh mc #WEH #Sage Woods #F!dakota #dakota winchester #dakota x mc #f!dakota x Mc

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miraculousmarifan · 4 years

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Felinette Month 2020 - Day 11: Ballroom Dances

Sorry for the delay on day 11 of the @felinettenovember prompts! I found out my spouse had the night off yesterday, which throws my after work plans out the window, since he wants to spend time with me (crazy right?). Add in writer’s block for the entirety of my remaining writing time and a complete change in idea 0this morning and you’ve got this. If the motivation ever returns (after November ends) I might try to finish my original plan for this (more of a throwback to when my high school included a short unit about dancing during gym) and give you another Felinette dancing fic.

So here’s some fluff and accidental reveals.

Chat!Felix and definitely taking place near the end of their high school time.

Around 1900 words

Patrols were Felix’s favorite part of the week. Not only did he get to run across the rooftops as Chat Noir, pushing himself to move faster and grow stronger, but he also got to see his partner. After the akumas started getting stronger, the two agreed that they should get together once or twice a week to spar. Ladybug was light on her feet and surprisingly strong, but he had raw mass on her and was using the patrol to build up his stamina. Modeling didn't cut it. Afterwards he would sneak out to find some extra food to supplement his diet and avoid dropping weight. Doing this for a few years had really improved his fighting and he felt this helped the pair stay in tune better during battles. He noticed they fell under an akuma's influence less than when it first began (him especially) and the battles seemed to be more contained.

Tonight was different from their usual sessions though. Ladybug seemed too distracted during their sparring and he had the upper hand for too much of it.

"Something on your mind, L?" Felix asked, backing out of their chalk-drawn ring to signify his ending the exercise. He grabbed his water bottle and sat near the edge of the roof. Her quiet steps marked the approach and she sat next to him.

"Yeah. Civilian life problems." She sighed out, slouching slightly.

"Same. Would you like to share some general parts? If you don't want to, is it alright if I do?" Felix didn't want to pry. A few months into their partnership, they had a serious talk about his crush and the way his actions and words were making her uncomfortable. He took it to heart, examining where the line was, and worked to be better. It also helped their battle chemistry to know they could trust each other to listen and respect. It hurt Felix’s heart a bit to be rejected but if Ladybug's belonged to someone else, there wasn’t anything to do about it.

"You can go first. I'm not sure how much I want to share yet…" she took another deep breath and pushed it out through her nose. Relaxation techniques. Both of them had learned a variety to try preventing either from becoming akumatized.

"As you've known for a while, I've been trying to move on from you since you told me you liked someone else a lot. I actually have a girl in my school that is pretty extraordinary. She's smart, very kind, and rather talented. Even my father likes her and he doesn't like anybody. I'm considering asking her to a school event that's coming up, as a date. However almost every guy in her class has had feelings for her and she declines everyone that gets the courage to ask her out, sweetly of course. Because that's how she is. Kind but firm," he couldn't hold back the sigh or keep his shoulders from the weight of his worry. Ladybug reached over and rubbed his upper back gently.

"Why not give it a try? She might just be waiting for the guy she likes to ask her. I would in her shoes… Plus you're a great guy, Chat! It could even be you!" she supplied encouragingly, turning to give him a smile. He knew she was probably correct about the first part, especially given how often she was right about Marinette. Every piece of vague advice she gave worked in his favor and actually was the reason he had managed to befriend her and started to view her differently.

"Yeah. You're usually right," the first word more of a sigh than actually spoken. He still felt nervous but her support eased it just a little. He wouldn't know unless he asked.

"Actually I’m worried about something kind of similar. I'm planning on going to a dance coming up and I want to ask the guy I like to a slow dance at it, if he comes. But I don't know how to dance and, based on a conversation with one of his friends, he was taught to ballroom dance… plus I always get weak-kneed around him so it makes me a little clumsy. So he probably wouldn’t want to dance with me anyway…" a blush spread across her cheeks as she spoke. He couldn’t help but laugh internally at the coincidence that her school would have a dance coming up too. He guessed it must be the season for it though.

"I can help you out with that, if you'd like. Part of it at least. I have taken some waltz lessons for different events my father forced me to attend." Felix slowly climbed to a standing position and offered a hand to his partner. She accepted and rose.

"I forgot that your family attends formal events like that… I really appreciate your help!" A little of her usual shine came back. Amazing how much hope can light up someone's eyes.

With her assent, he began explaining and demonstrating the basic steps, positioned her arms in the air before her so he could correct posture, then had her practice without a partner initially. Then he began explaining leading and stepped in to demonstrate what it was like having a partner.

She was not great at the start, however with her focus and already light feet, she picked up on the dance relatively quickly. By the end of this lesson, she at least could hold up with the basics.

"Would you like to practice this again in the next week or two?" He offered, proud at the progress she made in such a short time. She affirmed that she wanted to practice more, the two deciding once a week for the next three weeks would be ideal. Before parting for the night, he reminded her to practice the steps on her own each night if she really wanted to be confident in them, especially in her dress and shoes once she had them.

Over the next few weeks, Ladybug was dutiful in her practice and lessons and improved drastically. Felix couldn’t help but wonder if her transformation helped or if she really was this graceful in her civilian life. If she was, it would seem like a dead giveaway to him.

Felix, on the other hand, had not built up his courage enough to ask Marinette to be his date to their school dance. She seemed so busy helping the student council prepare for it, just another responsibility of class representatives. He only had one more week to ask her as his school dance took place the next Saturday.

"I'm confident that you're good enough for a simple dance, L. I'm pretty sure you could even handle it if he threw in some turns. You don't have any reason to worry!" Felix assured his partner after their last practice session. It seemed her nerves weren't any calmer than his.

"Thanks. I'm sure it can't be more of a disaster than some of the other things that have happened around him… Did you ask that girl out yet?" She looked expectantly and he couldn't help but avoid eye contact.

"Not yet… she has been rather busy so I don't want to bother her. As far as I know, she isn't going with anyone though," he answered reluctantly, running his hand from the back of his neck forward.

"Oh Chat, you can do this. It's just one moment of courage and then the two of you either move on with your lives or go on a date and decide where to go from there!" Ladybug clearly was excited for him, completely confident that the results would be fine. Felix wished he could tap into that enthusiasm.

"I'll do my best… maybe I'll visit her and ask outside of school…" he tried to sound assured. Maybe I'll feel less pressure asking outside of school. He also began planning to himself how he would ask too. It hadn't occurred to him until then that he might want to do something more than just say it. He should probably bring her something she likes when he asks.

"Good luck!" Ladybug shouted to him as they parted ways again.

At school on Wednesday, Marinette was surprised when Felix asked if he could stop by the bakery that evening. She agreed and asked if he wanted her to have anything ready. He assured her she didn't need anything for him and that he likely wouldn't be there too long. This didn't relieve any of her confusion at his sudden request.

She was even more surprised when Felix brought her a bouquet of flowers and a spool of nice silk ribbon, and asked her to go to the school dance with her. She readily agreed and, pulling up a photo of the fabric she had used for her dress, asked if he minded the color scheme she had chosen before having a date. She even offered to make him a tie to match, if he wanted. He assured her he had one that would match well and she didn’t need to worry about anything else regarding the dance. They set a time for him to pick her up the following week before parting. Felix kissed her hand gently before walking to his car, hoping the small flirtation would be acceptable and indicated his sincerity. Marinette blushed and watched until his car had pulled into traffic.

When Felix arrived at the bakery to take Marinette to the dance, he was unprepared for all of the pomp that accompanied it. First her parents took pictures of him before she came downstairs, (apparently they had been taking pictures of her preparing and gotten a few of her alone upstairs), and then there was the moment she came down.

She looked fantastic, hair done up in a single bun, with the flyaway pieces curling around her face and the ends of the pulled up strands curled slightly around the bun. The main body of her dress ended just above her ankles, however the sheer fabric layer on top hung to her toes in her 8 cm heels. The top was tighter around her waist and dropped down in a fashion that complimented her thin frame but didn't hug it. The scoop neckline was high and flat and the sleeves covered most of her bicep. Her necklace and bright smile completed her look.

Felix's mouth may have hung open but he was more focused on her than how he looked right then. When she hesitantly walked towards him, blushing beautifully, and asked what he thought of the dress she had designed, he's sure he said something coherent and complimentary beyond a single uttered "wow," no matter what her parents say. They took more photos of the pair posing together before letting them leave. Her parents decided that their favorite picture was very possibly the one catching the look on his face when he first saw her.

Felix was in for another surprise after he asked her for a slow dance, expecting Marinette to simply wrap her arms around his neck and sway, when instead she shyly asked if a waltz was okay, as that's the only slow dance she knew. He was thrilled by the coincidence and they became the center of attention with their perfectly timed waltz. If either was reminded of their costumed partner’s dancing, it was unconsciously. At the end of the night, he surprised her by asking if she would like to continue dating him. She said yes.

The next joint patrol between Chat Noir and Ladybug ended with excited and more detailed updates on their respective situations. Both were surprised at the accidental identity reveal.

#felinette month 2020 #felinette month #chat!felix #identity reveal #felinette #miraculous ladybug

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captainscanadian · 4 years

Text

Love Me Blue | Bucky Barnes x Reader (Poornima)

My Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Summary: Perhaps Bucky Barnes should thank his insomnia for being the reason why he met you. But you should thank the Hindu God of Love and Compassion for bringing Bucky into your life.

Word Count: 4500+

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Tamilian!Hindu!Reader

Warnings: MINIMAL TAMIL SONG LYRICS (I’m more than happy to translate!) & TAMIL CULTURE, References to Hinduism, PTSD, Insomnia, Endgame References.

A/N: This is my entry for @bucky-smiles‘s 3K Diversity Writing Challenge! My prompt was to write a fic with a Hindu reader. I decided to write this fic with a Tamilian reader because I am Tamilian. I was born in Sri Lanka and my mother’s side of the family are Hindu. Although I consider myself an agnostic theist, I do enjoy reading the epics of Mahabhrata and Ramayana. @jalapenobarnes & @fafulous, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU, MY CHELLANGALA!

It had been five months since the final battle against Thanos and his army had taken place. With Tony Stark’s demise and Steve Rogers’ decision to return to the past, Bucky Barnes found himself trying to reintegrate into society on his own and to the best of his ability.

Rhodey had been kind enough to offer him one of the spare residential apartments at the Avengers’ compound, and Sam was there to provide him with some counselling for the time being. There had been some talks about a designated therapist being appointed at the facility, but nothing had been finalized about that. It was very much needed though, as all of the heroes had suffered severe amounts of trauma due to the blip. Bucky wasn’t alone in that.

Even when he had a compound full of the earth’s mightiest heroes to aid him in his recovery, Bucky still felt as though he was going through it all on his own. He felt disconnected from reality and unbelievably lonely in this particular battle. Not to mention having to lose the one person whom he had known his whole life to old age. He really was alone in this battle with his own mind. There was no denying that.

While the rest of the team were slowly getting back into going on missions, he could not do the same. He had been fighting his whole life and needed to stop at some point. But it was easier said than done.

Bucky had a much harder time adjusting to life after the blip, considering that he was also trying to cope with more than seventy years of torture along with literally ceasing to exist in a matter of seconds. It seemed as though he could never get a break.

Needless to say, it was a rarity for Sergeant Barnes to sleep through the night. He would wake up in a cold sweat from some murderous nightmare almost every single night since he had fully moved into the compound. Finding himself unable to fall back asleep, he would pace back and forth in his bedroom until the crack of dawn before joining Sam for his usual workout session at the facility’s gym.

It was one of those dreadful nights when he had found himself having woken up from a nightmare. Pacing back and forth in his bedroom for what seemed like hours and desperately in need of some fresh air, he decided to step outside of his living quarters and take a walk around the compound. Being cooped up in his bedroom until the morning did not seem all that helpful to Bucky, so he might as well make use of the quietness of the night and sit by the lake for a few hours in hopes that it would calm down his nerves.

He still hadn’t told Sam about his nightmares, fearing that it might make the rest of the team feel weary about him. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to assume that the Winter Soldier was still buried deep within him. He wanted to forget him and move on with his life in the twenty-first century, even though he couldn’t just walk away from his guilt.

Throwing on his henley over his sweatpants, Bucky slipped into his shoes and stepped out into the brisky full moon night. He walked across the freshly cut grass, his destination being the lonely bench by the water where he would find refuge until the morning. But it wasn’t until he had reached the boardwalk that led up to the gazebo did Bucky realize that he wasn’t the only one who was up at this hour.

He saw the unfamiliar woman huddled under an oversized hoodie who sat cross legged on the bench. A pashmina scarf that was patterned with peacock feathers wrapped around her shoulders as she stared out into the moon’s reflection against the lake.

He stopped for a moment, wondering who she might be. He hadn’t seen her around the compound before, but he did not feel threatened by her presence either. After all, the compound was an extremely private property. Not everyone could easily enter the compound, or stay overnight as this woman was. And if there was one thing that Bucky knew about the occupants of the facility - everyone was meant to be a friend.

As the full moon reflected against the lake, the woman shrugged off her hood to reveal her thick curly hair that had been tied into a ponytail. A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled her scarf up to her neck.

She hummed an unknown tune for a moment before singing rather softly, in a language Bucky had never heard before. Yet he could not deny that she had the sweetest voice on the planet.

Nila malarntha iravinil thendral ulaavidum nadhiyil

Neela nirathu baalagan oruvan kuzhal oodhi nindraan

Kaalamellaam.. Kaalamellaam avan kaadhalai enni

Urugumo en ullam…

Kaatrinile varum geetham

Kangal panithida pongum geetham

Kallum kaniyum geetham

Kaatrinile varum geetham

Bucky’s lips curled into a small smile as he gathered up the courage to approach her, taken over by his own curiosity and certainly in need of a distraction from the reason why he had woken up at this hour in the first place.

The sound of his footsteps approaching had startled you slightly, making you gasp in response and turn around. Your eyes grew wide upon coming face to face with this rather familiar man although you were strangers. If it wasn’t his bright blue eyes or silky long hair that made you recognize him, the moonlight reflecting off of his metal hand certainly confirmed that he was exactly who you thought he was.

Up until now, you had only read about him in books and watched videos of him in the archival footage from the Second World War. Seven years ago, you had seen him on the news when he had been framed for the Vienna attack. But now seeing him in person, you could tell that he was anything but what the news outlets had made him out to be. He was an innocent man who meant no harm, and that made you feel at ease about his presence.

The super soldier froze in his tracks upon gaining your attention, his eyes growing wide at the realization that he had startled you. “Uh… hi.” He gave you a rather nervous smile as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants.

“Sergeant Barnes.” You did not realize that you had been holding onto your breath until you exhaled upon saying his name. It was a sigh of relief and gratitude that you hadn’t been attacked by an unknown threat at the witching hour.

“Bucky.” He corrected you as he walked up to the gazebo. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh no, it’s fine… I just didn’t think anyone else was awake at this time.” You gave him a small smile as you shifted across the bench to make some room for him. “And I hate to admit that… recent events have caused me to act extra vigilant at times.”

“That makes two of us.” Bucky admitted with a sigh, walking around the bench to take a seat next to you.

You chuckled softly before nodding. “What’s got you up at this hour, Bucky?”

“Just couldn’t sleep.” He told you, not wanting to disclose the truth about his insomnia to a complete stranger. “How about you?”

“Jet lag.” You shrugged. “A few hours ago, I was relaxing on a farm in India. But now I’m in this highly secure compound that’s home to earth’s mightiest heroes. Sleep seems to be the last of my worries at the moment.”

Bucky was growing more curious about you, but he could not help but crack a smile at your choice of words. “Forgive me for not being aware of who you are, but I… I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

“Oh right, I’m so sorry. I should have introduced myself.” You chuckled softly as you held out your hand for him to shake. “I’m Y/N Y/L/N, former SHIELD Agent and… currently second-in-command to Agent Hill. I’m here to oversee the Avengers while Agent Hill and Director Fury are busy with an undisclosed mission.”

“Hm… you’re the new boss lady that everyone’s been talking about.” Bucky noted, laughing softly as he shook your hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Agent Y/L/N.”

“Y/N.” You clarified, laughing softly. “I’m not sure how a mortal non-enhanced inexperienced human being like myself could ever be the boss of the finest team of superheroes. Just hours ago, I was living a fairly normal life on my family’s dairy farm in South India… hiding out from the harsh realities of the world, milking cows and hand churning butter. But Fury plucked me out of there, threw me on a Quinjet and told me that I was meant for something more than being a milkmaid… which according to him was leading the Avengers. Really puts my life into perspective, doesn’t it?”

He could not help but laugh softly at that, nodding his head in agreement. “Take it from the guy who was raising a bunch of goats in Wakanda before I was yanked from there and into the war against Thanos. After all that I’d been through, you’d think that I would want to stop fighting. And I do… sometimes, I want a normal life. I want to figure out my place here. But one thing I had to learn the hard way was that normal is relative and the best you could do is… try to find your new normal.” Perhaps, Bucky should take his own advice. “What’s the worst that could happen, right?”

“I have to be the boss of War Machine and the Falcon.” You reminded him. “Nothing worse could happen to me.”

Laughing softly, he shook his head. “Honestly, I’d pay to see that birdbrain be bossed around by someone.” He admitted.

But unbeknownst to him Sam had become quite fond of you after the events of the Battle of the Triskelion and he knew a little more about your interest in his supersoldier friends than the rest of the team. You better hope that he wouldn’t try to spill the beans to Bucky in an attempt to embarrass you.

“So, what’s your first order of business as the new lady of the house?” Bucky asked you.

You looked over at him before letting out a sigh. “My first order of business? Give my best friend the farewell she deserved. She sacrificed her life to save the world and no one even bothered to give her a proper funeral. I’ve made arrangements at the local Hindu temple in the city... to do what I can to pray that she rests in peace. She never believed in any of that, but I do.”

The next day, you found yourself rearranging the furniture around your living quarters, which was coincidentally adjacent to Bucky’s. You had set up a shrine for Lord Krishna in the corner of your living room, a few brass and wooden idols that you had brought from home arranged on a shelf along with a few oil lamps.

You were certainly grateful that Director Fury had allowed for you to pack your bags before he had flown you out here, considering that you wouldn’t have been able to live without your idol of Radha and Krishna no matter where you went. You may be a high ranking SHIELD Agent, but you were always a devotee of Lord Krishna before anything else. Being thousands of miles away from home was not going to change that.

A framed portrait of Natasha Romanoff hung in your office, a flower garland hanging around it. A part of you was well aware that she would loathe the fact that you had taken things this far, but you had your own beliefs. She was your best friend, so you would honour her in everything you did.

“Nick’s never been wrong about anything, Nat. I sure hope he wasn’t wrong about me either.” You thought to yourself, hoping that she’d heard you from wherever she was and that she was rooting for you to succeed in this new job that had just fallen into your lap.

Bucky had been sitting in the common kitchen when you had walked in. A smile on his lips upon seeing you enter, he kept his head down on the plate of eggs in front of him. He was not one to make small talk during breakfast and usually kept to himself, but that was about to change momentarily.

“Good morning, folks.” You greeted the team before pouring yourself a cup of coffee and pulling up a chair for yourself between Sam and Wanda. “I was hoping to catch up with some of you before you all went off to do your own things.”

The Falcon smiled as he leaned over to pull you into a side hug. “I missed ya, Y/N.”

“I’m sure you did, Wilson.” You chuckled softly as you returned his hug. “It is good to be back. I was getting pretty lonely without you guys.”

“Mornin’ Y/N.” Rhodey greeted you from the stove as he flipped his omelette and looked over at you with a smile. “You want some breakfast?”

“No, thank you, Rhodey. I just ate at the temple.” You told him with a shrug. “But I do have something to ask you… if you wouldn’t mind, could you round up the whole team for a briefing tomorrow morning? As much as I would love to lounge around, I do have work to do.”

“Will do..”

“So, Fury really did leave you in charge, huh?” Sam asked you with his eyebrow raised. “But why you?”

“Believe me, I’ve been asking myself the same thing.” You admitted, laughing softly before taking a sip of your coffee. “As far as I know, him and Agent Hill are away on an undisclosed mission and won’t be around to oversee the Avengers. For some reason, he trusts me to do that for him.”

“To be honest, I’m glad it’s someone we know and love.” Wanda smiled at you. “We wouldn’t take orders from anyone else.”

“My job’s pretty simple though. I oversee your missions, you report to me. I really hope you don’t put me in a position where I would need to reprimand your asses or have to snitch on you to Fury. I know that the last few months have been rough for all of you… it’s been rough for me too. But we all have work to do so… let’s just… figure out a way to get back into the swing of things, yeah? The least thing I want is to have to be a boss from hell.”

“Yes, ma’am…” Sam gave you a nod before turning over to look at Bucky. “Have you two met yet?”

“Yeah, we have.” You replied, taking a sip of your coffee as you prayed to Lord Krishna that the Falcon wouldn’t spill the beans at that moment. From the look on his face though, you knew he wanted to. “Very briefly.”

“Have you geeked about your thesis like you did with Cap?” He asked.

Wanda almost choked on her toast as he mentioned your thesis. “Oh God… not her thesis.” She shook her head, but you knew that she was enjoying this just as much as her fellow Avenger.

After all, it had been a running joke during your time working with the Avengers to give you shit about your choice of study during your time at graduate school. Tony and Nat were the ones who gave you the most shit about it, and would probably be thrilled to know that their legacy when it came to this had certainly lived on with Sam and Wanda. Perhaps, keeping the joke going would give you all a sense of normalcy, as embarrassing as it was for you.

“Sam, please don’t…” You shook your head, avoiding the supersoldier’s gaze as you took another sip of your coffee. “I just got here.”

Bucky looked over at Sam with a rather confused expression on his face. “What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing!” You exclaimed. “Nothing important…”

“Don’t lie to him, Y/N.” Rhodey scolded you, which was followed by a snicker. “He’s going to have to find out at some point.”

“Come on, Rhodes. You’re not taking their side on this.” You groaned before deciding to give in. As Bucky Barnes had told you last night, what’s the worst that could happen, right? “Fine, Sam… knock yourself out.”

A smirk on his lips as he took a sip of his coffee, Sam Wilson turned over to look at Bucky and wiggled his eyebrows. “Before Y/N joined SHIELD as an agent, she was a grad student at NYU. She taught a history class on the Second World War.”

“She did her master’s thesis on the Howling Commandos.” Rhodey added. “I hate to say it as it is, Barnes, but she’s kind of obsessed with you.”

You felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment and sunk in your seat. The last time you were this embarrassed, Nat had told Captain America that you were obsessed with him and then tried to set you up on a date with him. “It wasn’t an obsession. It was an academic interest. I’m a published academic and I expect you to treat me as such.”

“She was obsessed.” Sam corrected, causing you to smack him in his arm.

“Hey, watch your mouth. I’m supposed to be your boss now.” You pointed out, rolling your eyes before you took another sip of your coffee.

Bucky finally lifted his gaze from his breakfast to meet your eyes, his bright blue ones gleaming with a slight amusement. “You studied history and then started working for SHIELD?”

“History and politics, actually.” You replied with a shrug of your shoulders. “My father was a diplomat, so I always saw myself having a career in international relations. But that just never happened, so I decided to become an agent.”

“What made you want to become an agent though?”

“My grandmother. She told me that an Indian girl like me was not meant for a career in diplomacy, and that my place was within the household and not the UN. She said that I belonged in the kitchen, serving a husband.” You replied, chuckling softly. “I just became an agent out of spite, to prove to myself that I was actually meant for something more than just being a typical Indian wife. But I stuck around until the very end of SHIELD because I wanted to do what was right. That’s why I’m still here.”

That night Bucky found himself tossing and turning in bed once again. Even if he did manage to fall asleep though, the pitter patter of the rain against his bedroom window had woken him up in an instant and caused him to struggle to fall back asleep. He eventually decided to give up on his attempt to get some shut eye that night and climbed out of bed. He just had to admit that his insomnia was going to get the worst of him.

Stepping out of his living quarters, he decided to head towards the facility’s gym in hopes that working up a sweat would somehow tire him enough for him to sleep it off. But the moment he heard the clashing sound of what seemed like pots and pans coming from the common kitchen, he stopped in his tracks and turned around.

The whiff of melted butter wafted up his nostrils and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He was unsure if anyone at the compound would be up at this witching hour, let alone cooking up a storm. For as long as he’s resided at the facility, he hadn’t really seen anyone cook. Usually, Sam or Rhodey would make breakfast for the rest of the team. Other than that, the common kitchen was rarely used.

But Bucky followed the aroma of butter and spices over to the kitchen to see your sleepless self, much to his surprise.

Dressed in a pair of pajama shorts and an NYU hoodie, you trotted bare footed around the kitchen, your curly hair tied up in a bunch and bouncing on top of your head as you danced around to the music that was playing from your phone.

Avvaaru nokinaal evvaaru naaduven

Kannaadi mun nindru paarthu kondaen

Ondraaga seithida oru nooru naadagam

Othigai seidhu edhir paarthirundhen

In your own little zone as you stirred a pot of what seemed like rice and vegetables, you paid no heed to the supersoldier who stood against the doorframe and watched as you cooked. On the counter laid several platters of multiple dishes that he had never heard of and he wondered how long you had been up if you had managed to make that many dishes through the night.

Edhir paaramaley avan

edhir paaramaley avan

“Y/N?”

You gasped as you turned around to see Bucky standing by the entrance to the kitchen. “Bucky.”

oh.. pin irundhu vandhu ennai

pambaramaai sulatri vittu

ulagunda pervaayan endhan

vaayodu vaai padhiththaan

As you stood there stunned by his sudden arrival, your cheeks heated up in embarrassment yet again. You wondered how long you had been standing there. The song playing from your phone continued on, but as your lips moved along to the words as your eyes stayed glued to his bright blue ones.

Ingu boologam endroru porul ulladhai

indha poongodhai marandhaal adi

But you snapped out of it before the next verse of the song, and quickly turned down your music. “Bucky, what are you doing up this late?”

“Hi… sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.” His lips curled into a smile as he walked into the kitchen, eyeing the platters of food you had laid out on the counter. “But what are you doing up this late?”

“I hate to admit it, but… the homesickness is really kicking my ass.” You admitted, laughing softly before you motioned towards the counter. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to splurge out on some South Indian comfort food.”

“Hm…” He nodded, looking down at the food and back at you. “Must be hard being back here when you could be relaxing on a farm in India.”

Turning off the stove and removing the pot of your rice dish from the heat, you set it next to the rest of the food on the counter. “Well, it’s not just relaxing though. Yeah, sure it’s quiet and it’s nice to just… take care of your cows and live off of fresh dairy without a care in the world. But the farm was my home, you know? It’s where I grew up, before all of that chaos with SHIELD and HYDRA... and Thanos. The farm was my happy place, but it’s just not the same anymore. It’s not the same without my grandmother… and my father” You admitted, sighing. “Change is not something that I was able to get used to.”

“That makes two of us.” Bucky agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. “It hasn’t been easy… trying to catch up.”

“I can imagine.” You nodded as you cleaned up the kitchen, not wanting to leave behind a mess when Sam or Rhodey came down to make breakfast in the morning. “Then it’s a good thing that you’ve got a history major as your next door neighbor, huh?”

His smile grew wide at your words, and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. “I thought you majored in The Howling Commandos, doll. Are you sure that makes you an expert on what happened after the war?”

You crossed your arms against your chest. “To think that I spent years studying your life... only for you to undermine my expertise a decade later.” You shook your head as you laughed. “Come on, I’m going to need some help eating all this food.”

“Uh… okay?” Truth be told, he wasn’t going to assume that you were going to eat the entire amount of food you had made since it did seem like too much food for one person. He could not help but wonder if you had figured out his secret when you had offered to share the food with him. “You know, I’ve never had Indian food before. But Sam’s told me that it’s spicy.”

As you grabbed a few of the platters and set them on a cart so that you could bring it up to your quarters, you turned back to look at him. “I’m sure you’ve had some well-seasoned food in Wakanda though. I can’t imagine your taste buds being completely dead with all of the boiled and unseasoned nonsense that they used to call food back in the forties.”

Bucky snickered at your words as he lent you a hand on transferring the big pot of rice onto the cart. “You can’t trash the food of the forties. It was the Great Depression, Y/N.” He defended, to which you rolled your eyes.

“I looked into your family records, Sarge. Apparently you guys owned a car during the Great Depression… which I refused to believe until Steve was able to confirm when I asked him out of utter curiosity. You must have been loaded.” You pointed out, teasingly. “It’s a shame that all that money couldn’t have gotten you any kind of seasoning.”

“Alright, if you’re going to drag me through mud… then perhaps I might cook for you some time.” He offered. “In return of you sharing this food with me and to show you that I’m not a completely unseasoned man.”

You raised your eyebrow at him as you walked over to the fridge, grabbing the rolled up banana leaf that you had left in there. “If you insist, then I’ll have you know that Wakanadan lamb is out of the question. I’m vegetarian.”

“Good to know.” He agreed as he began walking back towards the door, his metal arm pulling the cart of food along with him. “May I know the reason why?”

“I’m Hindu.” You replied, shrugging. “I don’t eat red meat because my beloved Hindu god, Lord Krishna... was said to be a cowherd. But dairy’s fine though. Krishna loved butter and so do I.”

Having been raised Protestant in the 1930s, he could not help but feel slightly curious about your religion. He was no stranger to the never-ending battle between the Protestants and the Catholics across the pond, something that he had learned after befriending Steve and meeting his Irish immigrant mother.

But he never would have realized that there were much more religions in the world when he was a boy. But now in the twenty-first century, all he could do was learn more about the different people in the world that seemed to have shrunk since the Great Depression. He had learned as much as he could during his two years in Wakanda. But he wanted to learn more, to readjust to life in the twenty-first century. So he might as well start with the woman who lived next door.

#3kdiversity #aj writes #love me blue #poornima #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x desi!reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes fluff

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louisapennyfeather2021 · 4 years

Text

Newsies Teen Wolf AU, but it's my favorite Issac x Allison scenes, which will be known as Katherine x Sarah scenes!

Just some extra short scenes because why not?

Warnings: Mentions of bombs, slight make out session, slight second-hand embarrassment. Mentions of PTSD, mentions of child abuse

____

Sarah's sitting at the desk in the office she shares with Davey when she hears a faint noise outside. She pauses, contemplating grabbing her bow unt she hears a distinct yelp followed by another. She stifles a laugh and not even minutes later, Katherine walks in the office with pursed lips and slightly frizzy hair.

"Electrified the windows?" Katherine asks, her voice higher than normal.

"Yep." Sarah doesn't look up at Katherine, she just keeps flipping through her book looking for any signs of the bomber that they still can't find.

"Didn't think to say anything?" Katherine asks, a tad bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"Nope." Sarah looks up and grins at Katherine before returning to the book.

"Alrighty then."

____

"You find anything?" Katherine asks, half her body hanging off of Sarah's bed. The two moved to Sarah's bedroom more for comfort than necessity. Sarah's pacing her room now, her book in hand as Katherine slides through page after page on the virtual document.

"There's a thing about flies carrying messages from the dead." Sarah stops pacing and sets the book on her bed, her hands now firmly planted on her hips as she thinks. "What about you, did you find anything?"

"Just something about a Lord of the Flies." Katherine stands up and stands closer to Sarah. Maybe she's been working up the confidence to do this for a while and maybe she's hoping that Sarah had been too based on their interactions, but that hope is quickly shot down when Sarah backs away with slightly wide eyes.

"Are you serious?" Sarah scoffs. Katherine's face heats up, but she tries to ignore it. "You were just trying to kiss me."

"No I wasn't." Katherine knows the attempt is futile, but she'd rather try and lose every last shred of dignity she has.

"Okay, then what were you trying to do? Head-butt me?" Sarah laughs nervously. She keeps trying to tell herself she doesn't want that. Yes, she told Jack forever ago that she thinks she likes both girls and guys, but that has nothing to do with that fact that her and Katherine were hardly friends until recently.

"All right, fine, maybe I was trying to kiss you." Katherine caves, now knowing any dignity she had left is long gone.

"Are you completely, totally out of your mind? You actually think that I would want to kiss you? Or any other werewolf again? Because trust me on this, I would never kiss you. Ever." Sarah laughs nervously again throughout her mini speech, shaking her head and making various hand gestures as her faces flushes red.

"Never." Katherine and Sarah both nod in agreement and they're suddenly stuck in an awkward silence. That is, until Sarah is right in front of Katherine. Sarah places her hands on Katherine's cheeks and suddenly her lips are on Katherine's. Katherine's briefly shocked, but she quickly snaps out of it and holds onto Sarah's shoulders. They eventually break apart for air and Katherine is in a slight daze. "Alright, yeah, I won't kiss you either."

Katherine sits on the edge of Sarah's bed and closes her eyes at Sarah reconnects their lips. She holds Sarah's wrist as Sarah's hand rests on one side of her neck and the other squeezes her hip. Katherine is surprised when Sarah pulled away and hurriedly unbuttons her blouse, leaving her in her bra and shorts. While Katherine is lost in a daze, Sarah carefully at first pulls at Katherine's sweater and when Katherine doesn't oppose, Sarah's pulling the sweater over Katherine's head. She's left in a white camisole and her jeans before Sarah's leaning back in for another kiss. Katherine finds herself with her back on Sarah's mattress, the other girl leaning over her while she still stands at the edge. Sarah's carefully working her fingers under Katherine camisole, her cool fingers meeting the warm skin of Katherine stomach, when suddenly Sarah's door is open. Both girls freeze and look up.

And low and behold, there stands David Jacobs in the doorway with a slightly shocked, slightly regretful look on his face.

"Hey Sarah, can I talk to you in the office for a second? Where we keep the guns." Davey stares right at Katherine when he says it. Sarah quickly stands and hurries out the door. Katherine sits up, her eyes wide as Davey follows Sarah out the door. Katherine waits, knowing there's bound to be a big brother lecture. She is not, however, ready for what she hears next.

"ANOTHER WEREWOLF?!"

____

Katherine's still waiting in Sarah's room, voluntarily tuning out of Davey's rant as she aimlessly wanders the room. She's still in her jeans and camisole, not caring much to put her sweater back on. She's looking at an old picture of Sarah, Davey, and their older brother Morris when goosebumps rise in her arms and there's a tingling sensation on the back of her neck. She whips around to see nothing in the dark room, although she's not dumb. She knows something's wrong. She hurries towards the door, knowing she should warn Sarah and Davey, but the door is somehow slammed shut.

And then she hears the whispers.

She turns in a circle as the whispers get louder and louder, her hands gripping the sure of her head as the whispers seem to blend into an intolerable static.

Until she's stopped.

And she's staring into the glowing, green eyes of a shadow.

She tries to run, but two more appear. They grab her arms and hold her in place. The first shadow walks closer and reaches it's hand up towards her face. Katherine starts breathing harder until the hand covers her left ear.

And she screams.

Sarah and Davey immediately stop their arguing when they hear Katherine scream. They rush out of the office to see Sarah's door shut. They run at it, Sarah grabbing the handle.

It doesn't move.

"Katherine! Katherine, what's going on? Open the door!" Sarah yells, knocking on the door and pushing it while trying to turn the handle.

"Katherine!" Davey yells. No matter how angry he might be for Sarah going behind his back and breaking their entire agreement to stay out of the supernatural, he doesn't hate Katherine. He likes her, she's generally okay to be around. Now that she's screaming bloody murder in his sister's room, Davey is panicking. They both keep yelling and pushing on the door until the screaming stops. Seconds later, the door flies open and Sarah all but falls over.

"Katherine?" She breathes when she sees the girl trembling on the floor, her body curled into itself. She hurries over to Katherine and kneels next to her, but she almost jumps back when her fingers touch Katherine's arm. "She's freezing. Dave, she's like ice."

"Katherine, look at me." Davey grabs Katherine's chin and makes her face him. It's then that Sarah can see Katherine's lips moving rapidly and her eye kids fluttering, although her eyes stay wide in what Sarah only recognizes as fear.

"What's happening to her?" Sarah subconsciously asks. She jumps when a broken sound passes Katherine's lips and she vaguely hears the word please being whispered over and over again.

"Katherine, listen to me, you have to turn. You have to trigger it." Davey's voice is loud and clear. It's obvious that Katherine is in a form of shock and if she doesn't trigger the healing, she could die.

Suddenly, there's a loud slap followed by a low growls and Katherine's bolting upright, moving as far away from Sarah and Davey as she can. Davey stares incredulously at his sister, not expecting her to full on backhand the very same girl he had caught her making out with not even ten minutes ago.

"Did you see them?" Kathrine breathes, her body still trembling, but her face more alert and less frozen.

"Who?" Sarah moves closer to Katherine, reaching up to her bed to grab a loose blanket. She carefully wraps it around Katherine, letting the shivering girl grab the fabric and pull it tight around her.

"There were five of them. They wore black, I couldn't-" Katherine has to stop, squeezing her eyes shut and swallowing hard as she trembles even harder. "I couldn't see their faces, they were covered."

"What do you mean, like masks?" Sarah sends a confused look to Davey only to find him frowning in thought.

"One of them, I could see his eyes. They were greenish-yellow, like a firefly." Katherine squeezes her eyes shut even harder and curls her body into itself. Sarah wonders for a brief second if she's remembering the freezer from the basement of her old home. She obviously doesn't ask, bit she knows that Katherine is still plagued by the memories.

"The security system wasn't triggered." Davey mumbles, shaking his head.

"Then how did they get in?" Sarah asks. She scoots closer to Katherine and hesitantly reaches out to her her upper arm, hoping to help her warm up. Sarah is shocked to feel the icy cold through the thick blanket.

"They didn't, it was like they came out of the shadows." Katherine stifles a whimper and subconsciously moves closer to Sarah, her eyes glued shut.

Everything was so cold. She was trapped and it was cold and there was no way to get out. No matter how much she screamed, she couldn't get out. It was like being stuck there all over again. She thought she escaped it, but she was wrong.

"Do you know what that means?" Sarah asks when she sees a brief flash of recognition on Davey's face. "David, what does it mean?"

"I'm not sure, but I need you two to keep this quiet. For a few hours." Davey quickly stands up, turning to leave the room.

"From everyone?" Katherine asks, sniffling as she slowly stops trembling so hard.

"Just twenty-four hours." Davey walks to eh door, but he's stopped again.

"David, they could've killed her." Sarah raises her voice to let Davey know she's not done yet, especially since it's obvious he knows something.

"But they didn't and there's a reason why." Davey leaves the room, leaving Sarah to grab more blankets and sit closer to Katherine.

"I was there. All over again." Katherine whispers. Sarah doesn't think she's meant to hear, so she just sits with Katherine and holds her, confused and concerned.

____

Heyo! So I love the Allison x Isaac scenes in season 3 and that's partially why I made Sarah, Allison and Katherine, Isaac. Also, who doesn't love some fun Newsbians fluff/angst/make out/ whatever you want to think of it.

Let me know if you want any specific scenes or if you have any suggestions! Please, don't be afraid to ask! I promise you aren't a burden and I'll try my hardest to write what you ask for! I love writing and I'm currently stuck home for a while with a lot of free time!

#newsies memes #newsies imagines #newsies broadway #newsies imagine #newsies #newsies au #teen wolf au #newsbians

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thoughtsofdarc · 6 years

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Songbird...

Reader hear Hawkeye sing by accident, and really tries to make him sing again. The sassy archer with the voice of an angel.

Hawkeye x Reader - Wanda, Natacha, Steve, Sam, Tony - The rest is mentioned. Warnings: This is filled with Fluff, Angst and death. Words: 3372

Okay, so... did you know that Jeremy Renner could sing? Like, REALLY sing?? Yeah... look it up! It’s amazing! Anyway, this little thing came to me, after the idea of Hawkeye singing... Hope you like it. As always, feed my back... I mean, please, give me feedback! :D

"Yeah well... That's how I see it, it's hot! How about you y/n, what is a big turn on for you, that isn't like, everyday stuff?" Wanda snickered like a schoolgirl at our talk.

We girls have retreated to my bedroom with a bottle of wine, a few snacks, some good music on the stereo and lots of pillows and blankets.

We need to unwind after a successful but stressful mission, and the guys have taken over the big screen TV in the living room for a 'The fast and the Furious' marathon. Neither of us girls wants to see the movies... Again.

So here we are, half a bottle in, pretending that there are no troubles in the world, just us and a whole bunch of girl talk.

I take a sip of the wine and think for a moment. What do I like, that is kind of extraordinary?

Wanda has a thing for brainiacs, clever, smart and insightful people. I suspect she has one specific person in mind, and his name rhymes with mission.

Natasha wants a man who can match her in the gym. Because, as she puts it, if he can match her in the gym, he can probably match her in the bedroom too. We had a good laugh over that one.

"Well, I have to admit, I love a man who can sing. And not just some boy band songs with auto tune... I mean really sing! Acoustic and preferably raw. I think that is pretty hot." I point my thumb towards the stereo behind me, that is currently playing 'House of the rising sun' to make my point clear to the girls.

"So, you mean Clint" Natasha smirks.

Wanda's eyes widen, she knows about my interest in the man, but she keeps her mouth shut. There's no need to blabber about my little crush on him to his best friend.

"What? No... Clint can't sing." I laugh and shake my head at her.

"Oh, but he can!" she says "And he is actually pretty damn good too"

"No way? He practically never speaks unless it's a joke or something sarcastic... You are messing with me." eyeing her up trying to call her bluff.

"I'm serious y/n. Clint can sing and he is really good at it. One time after a particular hard mission I found him on the roof alone with a bottle of whiskey singing his heart out. He never drinks, but like I said it was a ruff one, and I believe it was the liquid that opened him up that night. Also, I've heard him sing to the kids. He is really good... "She trail off, looking from me to Wanda back to me again.

I try to imagine how it might sound when Clint sings. He has that gruff, deep, husky voice, so if it's really true, he just got that much sexier in my opinion. Not that he wasn't before... Oh, no sir, I find Clint extremely good looking.

"Well, who would have known...? The bird sings!" I laugh and raise my glass to a toast, the girls join me.

"Where's Clint? The dinner is ready." Steve looks a bit annoyed that the archer isn't here. It's Steve's day of cooking and he really takes pride in his work and expects people to be on time when it's his day. Who would have thought that Captain America had a good housewife hidden inside?

"Birdbrain is probably on his nest hatching eggs" Sam joke, making Tony laugh out loud.

"Hey there... Be nice!" I point at Sam, but fail to keep the laughter in.

"I'll go get him Steve, just finish up we'll be right back" he nods with a grateful smile.

As the elevator door opens on the floor with our rooms, I hear a faint melodic sound coming from the other end of the hallway and as I get closer to Clint's room I realize that it's him... He is singing. Oh my, he is really singing.

I slow down when I'm close to his room, his door is open and I don't want him to stop singing because he hears me.

"Okay, last one sweetheart, then daddy has to go, alright? And this is a nighty-night song, so you have to sleep afterwards, okay?" he is saying the words with a calm and caring voice, no doubt he is talking to one of his kids.

He doesn't see them a lot anymore, not after he and the missus got divorced, and I know how much he misses the kids.

I'm not going to interrupt while he is on the phone with them, it's their private time and I know how much he cherish every single second he can have with the children, in any way possible.

But as I'm about to turn around I hear the lullaby start, and his deep voice is as soft as ever, I can't help but to stay, I can't help but to listen.

"Baby mine, don't you cry. Baby mine, dry your eyes. Rest your head, close to my heart, Never to part, baby of mine.

Little one, when you play, Pay no heed, what they say. Let your eyes sparkle and shine, Never a tear, baby of mine.

If they knew all about you, They'd end up loving you too. All those same people who scold you, What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes, You're not much, goodness knows. But, you're so precious to me, Sweet as can be, baby of mine"

I stand in the doorway, leaning up the side of it while he sings. He is standing in front of the big window looking down at the city below us as he sings to his kid on the phone.

There's so much love, and so much care in the words he sing, that I can't help but get tears to my eyes. It's beautiful. Who would have thought that the sassy archer had such a quiet side to him?

"Goodnight, baby... Daddy loves you!" he says before ending the call with a sigh. Poor Clint, it's really hard on him not to see his kids more.

I'm about to step away from the door, so he won't think I'm creeping on him, but I'm too slow. He turns around and looks at me with surprise. A shy look that I've never before seen on him before appears in his eyes.

"Uh, did... Did you hear all of that?" Clint asks.

"Only the lullaby. I came to tell you that dinner is ready, but I didn't want to disturb you. It was really beautiful, Clint." I smile softly at the man in front of me.

Vulnerable Clint is, if possible, even more adorable than ever before. God, I'm in deep with this man...

"Oh, well... Just don't tell the others okay? I'll never hear the end of it. The mocking would be relentless..." his eyes are pleading.

"Your secret is safe with me, Songbird." I giggle. "It really was beautiful though... I'd love to hear more sometime"

"Yeah, well... I don't sing for an audience Y/n" he step out in the hallway with me, and closes the door behind him before we head back toward the kitchen.

"I have whiskey?!" I tease

Clint look at me wide-eyed "Fucking Natasha!" he grunts.

Ever since the day I heard Hawkeye sing, I've tried to make him do it again.

Every time we are alone, I find an excuse to mention it, asking him to sing, I've even given him a list of my favorite songs, the lullaby included. But he denies and recline every time. Unfortunately.

Something good has happened though. Ever since that day, a bond has formed between us, getting us closer together.

It started with the little things.

Sitting next to each other at dinner time, getting an extra bottle of water for the other during training, sticking together when Sam start to tease one of us, me being his confident when he pranks Steve or Bucky.

It evolved slowly over the month that has passed, to going out to grab coffee together at the nearby Café, having close and intense training sessions together, him grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze whenever we are near, and to cuddle up under the same blanket with his arm draped around my shoulders during movie night.

I don't complain, not at all!

But he won't sing for me... Believe me, I tried in any way possible to get him to do it.

I stand in the kitchen making myself a cup of tea. It's been a pretty slow time lately, a lot of staying in and relaxing.

Time well spent on catching up on reports and training... And also hanging out with the sassy archer with the voice of an angel.

Natasha nudges my elbow "So? Has anything happened yet?" she smirks and wiggles her eyebrows a bit.

She knows about my crush on him by now, Wanda couldn't keep her mouth shut, and the new closeness between me and him does nothing to hide it from the world. I think everybody knows, except for the man himself.

Every chance Natasha gets she teases me with it. What are we, like 12?

"What do you mean?" I play dumb, there's no need to give into her right away.

"Oh come on... You know what I mean! You and Hawkeye... Have you made your move? Has he? Something needs to happen soon..." she trails off as the man himself enters the kitchen.

"Good morning Clint, you want coffee?" I ask and hold op the pot.

"Yes please!" he groans and grab a mug. His short hair is in every direction, his eyes tired and there's lines on his cheek from the pillow he's been sleeping on. He's really not a morning person when he doesn't have to be.

I can't help but smile a bit at his ruffled looks... It makes me want to run my hands through his hair and hug him tight.

"One coffee, coming right up! And to answer your question Nat, then No, nothing has happened. Neither part has acted on anything, and I'm not sure that they will?" I say as I poor Clint his coffee.

I put the pot back, and grab my own mug of tea, gently blowing on the hot liquid as I give her a look that says 'Back off!'

Clint sighs happily after the first sip of coffee and already looks a bit more awake. I swear to God, that man is made out of caffeine.

"What has not happen? Who hasn't acted on anything? Do we have a mission?" he looks from Nat to me, back to Nat again.

Natasha just smiles and pats the poor man on the shoulder as she says "You could call it a mission, Clint. But it only involves 2 agents."

She laughs heartedly and walks out of the room when I huff and roll my eyes.

Clint looks so confused, his eyebrows are drawn together making the creases in his forehead, pop out. He looks a bit lost, like little puppy.

"I don't understand?" his puppy dog eyes finds mine, asking me to explain.

"It's nothing... Really. She's just messing with me. Don't worry" I smile.

"Hmm, okay" Clint doesn't look convinced but he doesn't ask any further.

A pleasant silence lowers itself upon us. That's another thing I love being around him. There's no forced talk, and the silence is never awkward. We just enjoy each other's company.

"Well, sweetheart... You want to do something today? Looks like another quiet day for us"

My heart beats a little faster, when I hear his latest pet name for me. I love it!

"Sure! Where to, songbird?"

"This wasn't really what I had in mind, when I asked if we should do something today!" Clint yells as we run towards the jet.

Not more than a half hour after our tea and coffee in the kitchen, Steve had called us all up. A mission had come in and it was time to suit up.

HYDRA has resurfaced and shown their ugly faces in a lab that deals with alteration of DNA.

One scientist has been shot in the attempt of keeping the intruders out. Another was captured with a bunch of the work and reports.

In the wrong hands it could end up with a catastrophe... And let's be honest, HYDRA is the wrong hands!

"We always have tomorrow" I yell back "Besides, I think we need the action by now".

I wink at him as we enter the jet and buckle up.

Well, the quick in and out mission we thought it would be, turned out to be a bit more complicated than that.

As it turns out, the 5 HYDRA agents wasn't really just 5, they were more like 30, and it was all a plan to get us over there so they could ambush us.

That's why I'm now back to back with Steve, fighting agents off. Natasha is further in the building, Clint is perched on a wall shooting arrows like a maniac, Bucky and Sam took off after the hostage to get her back safe, and Tony is... Well, Tony. So he is everywhere he can be.

"I thought you said this was going to be fairly easy, Steve!" I call out to the man behind me, as I swing my blade and stab another HYDRA agent in the neck, just for 2 more to come at me.

"And I thought you needed the action" Clint chimed in over the earpiece.

"Could you just concentrate on the fight, you two? Always with the comments." Steve breath out as he smashes his shield into a man's gun and then kick him hard in the chest so the man tumbles several feet away.

"I'm just saying... This isn't as relaxing as I thought my day would be" I laugh, but grunts out I'm pain when a fist connects with my face.

"You can relax when you get old" Tony buds in.

The fight seems unfair. The HYDRA agents keep on coming, and we can't seem to find out from where.

All of a sudden Natasha's voice is calling out "Uh... Cap, Tony... I think I need toy guys in the lab! There's a device, it looks important but I can't get to it... The fire is spreading and the lab assistant won't leave without it. I might have slightly knocked him out, in the attempt of getting him to run!"

"Seriously Nat!?" Tony exclaims "Okay, we are on our way".

The sound of the iron suit over our heads make the agent I'm fighting looks up and that gives me the chance to knock him out.

"You got this, Blades?" Steve ask me, just as I throw one of my knifes right beside his ear, to plant it solid on the face of a man with the HYDRA mark on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I think so! Go... Run!" the sound that comes when I pull out my knife from the man's skull is sickening.

"Cover me Clint!" Steve yells, and off he goes.

Clint had spotted the rest of the HYDRA agents some way from the buildings and the two of us has managed to sneak up on the last group of unsuspecting men.

With a few arrows and a few knives thrown from a distance, they are all down.

The fight is over, and a sudden silence is over the place.

Bucky and Sam calls out on the intercom that they are a few miles away from us, but they have the hostage and she is free of harm, the Hydra agents are no longer a threat.

I smile at Clint, tired, dirty and worn out and walk over to a man with my knife in his throat. The archer gives me a wink before he turns his back on me and taps the earpiece to tell the rest of the group that it is over and we ate returning to the jet.

I take just a moment to admire his muscular back, and the way his arms bulge when he moves around. The bow is still in his hand but there's a relaxed aura around him already. I smile... That is one sexy man.

As I turn around my eyes widen, in front of me stands the Hydra agent with my knife in his hand, instead of in his throat. How on earth did that happen?

He takes a step towards me and jams the knife into my side.

Shit, that really hurts.

A guttural sound escapes him, before he twists the knife and jams it upwards, and then he falls to the ground, dead.

I fall too.

"CLINT!" I scream as I clutch my side and feel the warm blood run freely out of the wound, covering my hands.

Clint turns around, his face is twisted in fear and anger as he calls into the intercom "Y/N IS DOWN! SHE IS DOWN!!!" and starts to run towards me.

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm here... It's not that bad, just relax!" Clint is frantic but he tries to stay calm as he covers my hands over the wound with his own big ones. My head is resting on his chest, I can hear the frantic beating of his heart.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore" I say, but my voice is shaking and I feel the cold sweat hitting me like a wave. "This isn't good, Clint".

I look up into his green eyes finding some calmness in the familiarity, even though tears are threatening to spill from them.

"You'll get through this, sweetheart. I promise! What can I do?" he puts a little more pressure on the oozing wound and I flinch in pain.

Okay, so maybe it did still hurt a little.

I close my eyes.

"Hey, y/n baby... Don't sleep, look at me! Tell me what I can do for you. Talk to me!" he shakes me a bit.

It's difficult, but I force my eyes open and give him a smile filled with pain but also a bit of amusement.

"You can sing to me, Songbird. I'd like that"

My body is shaking like I'm freezing, but in reality I feel way too hot.

The pained expression in Clint's eyes should have told me, that something was terribly wrong, but all I see is the color of them and the curves of his lips. He really is handsome.

His voice is shaky when he starts...

"Baby mine, don't you cry. Baby mine, dry your eyes. Rest your head, close to my heart, Never to part, baby of mine..."

He secures his hold of me and rocks me gently side to side, like he would with a child. He leans his head on top of mine.

"Little one, when you play, Pay no heed, what they say. Let your eyes sparkle and shine, Never a tear, baby of mine..."

As he sings the words, a tear trickles down my cheek and he brush it away with his thumb.

The cold is creeping in on me, I feel numb and I'm getting scared. At the same time, I've never been at more peace than I am at right now.

"I'm freezing Clint... I'm so tired" I whisper as I raise my hand to his cheek, leaving a bloody handprint.

"I'm sorry..." I mutter under my breath, and take my hand down as my eyes slowly close and a sigh leaves my lips...

"If they knew all about you, They'd end up loving you too. All those same people who scold you, What they'd give just for the right to hold you..."

Clint's voice cracks as a sob escapes him.

"Oh god, y/n... I love you. I really do!"

He gently presses his lips to mine, in a first kiss, which is so filled with emotions that my heart would burst into a million pieces if I felt it.

But I don't... I'll never feel anything again.

Our first kiss was our last...

Did you like this? Let me know your thoughts here. I’ll love you forever

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mystudioflow-blog · 7 years

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My Recording Studio Journey pt.1 (#mystudioflow)

I spent all of my teenage and adult life writing, producing and recording my own hip hop music treating it like a hobby although I claimed I would earn my living with it one day. In 2010 at around 30 years old after years of talking the talk and thinking I knew it all. I started to realise I was wrong. I had to start being honest with myself after I went and recorded with a local producer who was much further along than I was. He was working in Pro Tools, had a much better mic and a real outboard mic pre (UA710). Whereas I was working with outdated software and had no Idea what Plugins were, how to tune vocals or dial in a compressor. When I left his house I was driving home listening to the song we did. At first I was very excited about the pop sound with my vocals tuned and a decent rough mix…. even though up until that day I was ANTI-auto tune and hated modern pop music! After playing it on repeat for about 20 minutes my mood started to change. I started to get this indescribable gut wrenching feeling. All I could think was that he was five or six years younger than me and he was leaps and bounds past where I was with my craft. He was charging $40.00 an hour producing and recording for people in his apartment and I wasn’t getting any respect or making any money because my final product sounded like GARBAGE in comparison to his. As the days passed I started bugging out and feeling depressed.

After about a week of pondering on these thoughts and tormenting myself I came to a conclusion. I was going to need to either go ALL in on music production and engineering or I needed to just quit because I felt like a joke. Considering the fact that music and studio life was always how I identified myself and I felt so overwhelmingly passionate about it. I decided there was only one option….GO ALL IN!!! First I reached out to the guy I recorded with and asked him what mic and pre amp he had. I told him I was going to get some new gear, Pro Tools and some plugins so I could start making a living doing what I love like he did. He got quiet for a moment and responded by saying “Going and buying the gear I have isn’t going to make you as good as me”……… I took it well and stayed cordial on the phone but all I could think was “Oh yeh?!? Watch me mother effer!! WHATCH ME!!

My next step was to try and convince my wife to let me spend a few grand on some of the gear and software I needed to start working towards making a living in my own studio. After a considerable amount of debating I was able to convince her to give approval on a Guitar Center card to get the ball rolling. I also sold my 1988 IROC Z Camaro, my booming system and all the crappy equipment I had in an effort to raise money for some new gear. My first burst of purchasing went like this. i3 iMac, Pro Tools 8, Waves Native Power Pack, UA610 mk2, Sterling Audio st69 mic (yuk) and a pair of Dynaudio monitors. Oh yes and I also bought auto tune. I got all the equipment hooked up and software installed. Then the long road of learning and troubleshooting could really begin! I had been mixing all my own projects for years leading up to this but still didn’t really have a good understanding of mixing and mastering. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Over the next year or so I was layed off from work and home during the day with 2 babies trying to learn audio engineering while being Mr. Mom. I would wake up in the middle of the night and end up in my basement studio watching You Tube videos and franticly researching trying to learn my craft. I was reading books for the first time in my life!! I was going to Barns And Noble to escape my family and read all the audio magazines for free. About 2 years after my BIG decision to go all in on learning my craft we moved our family of four from Connecticut to Cape Coral, FL . This is where my wife is from and where we met years before. Shortly after arriving in Florida a friend at work recommended that I put an add on Craigslist as a home recording studio. That evening I sat down and did just that! It only took a few days and I got my first call which turned into my first steady client… A Christian Rapper. I was so excited and full of nerves for the first few sessions considering I had only recorded myself and a few friends up until that point and had never really charged much money. I was making $8.00 more per hour in my home studio than I was making at my day job doing strenuous physical labor. This was when my bad attitude towards my day job life began to escalate rapidly. I spent about a year recording with ten to fifteen clients before I decided to go take an audio engineering class at Vibe Recording in Ft. Myers, Florida. I felt I needed to go fill in the blanks with some formal education so I could gain the confidence needed to open my own commercial recording studio. This had been my dream since my first time in a real studio at 18 years old. I actually have an earlier memory of my uncle who was the lead singer in a band that took me to his friends house who had a recording set up. He had a tape machine, microphones and a mixing board. I was about 6–8 years old and all I can remember is how floored I was. I vividly remember being very excited that they could actually record music in their basement and play it on a tape in the car!!!!! I also remember them telling me that all their equipment actually sucked and was not good quality. I was not phased by there negative comments about their crappy gear. I thought it was absolutely AMAZING! This is the same uncle (Uncle Med) who took me to my first concert when I was six years old…. Michael Jackson (BAD)!! All I know is that as far back as I can remember music was a GIANT part of my life and seemed to be what made me tic.

Ok Im loosing track of the story…

I started my classes and just fell more and more in love with the process of recording, mixing and mastering. I started engulfing myself with information. I had podcasts going all day (Pensado’s Place, Recording Studio Rockstars and Working Class Audio) as well as reading magazines and books. Along with the obvious late nights in my home studio with clients or working on my own personal productions sharpening my swords. I was spending as much time as a 40 hour working married father of three could at the studio where I took classes definitely pushing the limit at times and straining my home life. I was going to work from 7am to 3:30 or 4:00pm. Then Picking my kids up from daycare to take them home, cook them dinner and eat with the family. Then I would go straight from the dinner table to class. At the end of class I would always try to spend some extra time. Whether at the studio sitting in on sessions or at the local brewery with people from the studio. Talking music, audio and making relationships with like minded people some work nights I wouldn’t make it home till as late as 2am. Actually I was hanging around people that were smarter than me in many cases which really helped to speed up my progression. I finished the class never scoring below a 99% on any test or project which is funny considering I had ALWAYS been an F and D student growing up. I started assisting my teacher and mentor Chad Zuchegno on saturdays as well as attending the next round of classes religiously in many cases assisting in the classroom as well.

After about 3 months of assisting and attending my second round of classes I did an 11hr day helping at the studio. Doing everything from setting up the mics to getting coffees and emptying garbages (keep in mind I’m in my 30’s). At the end of the day Chad took me out for a beer and a cigar which was kind of the norm. Then as I sipped my first bear Chad looked up from texting with the other owner of the studio and asked me “Hey do you want to work a session at the studio on your own tomorrow?” This would be my first session at a real established commercial recording studio! Of course I said yes! As the evening progressed he proceeded to tell me some things I really needed to hear. He said “YOU DO BELONG in the studio”….. “YOU are already a GREAT engineer!”…. “This IS what your SUPPOSED to be doing”…. This my friends was a pivotal point for the future of my life. On my ride home that night I remember having the windows down, loudly playing my own work and letting out shouts of extreme happiness “WOOOOOOOO YEEEESSS!!!! I DID IT!!! I AM DOING IT!!! I CAN EFFING DO IT!! WOOOOHOO”.

To be continued………….

#recording studio #audio engineering #musicprodution #songwriter #mixingmusic #beatmaker #makingmusic #diy audio

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sequoiann · 7 years

Text

❧ b.sk | roommate!au

pairing; seventeen seungkwan x reader

genre; bulletpointed, roommate!seungkwan, humor (loads of this), fluff (loads of this too)

✎a/n; i’m eggcited for this wewew hope ya’ll enjoy thiss !! psps. i’m probably gonna do this on a lot of other members so do leave a msg in my inbox to let me know who you’d like to see a roommate!au on ;))

UWAKK I CAN ALREADY PICTURE THIS

ok so so sO!

seungkwan

boo seungkwan

as a roommate

you seriously won’t know whether to thank all the gods up there for sending you such an angelic patootie

or to curse the devils for sending you one of their kind

bc not gon lie but seungkwan is a real mix

the story of how the two of you ended up in the same dorm room is really simple tbh

according to school protocols ;; male dorms and female dorms should be far apart

like really far apart

bc no one wants ehEM EHEM to happen right?

wrong lol

the university gives no shit about that man

they just mix whatever they want

but most girls and guys willingly stick to sharing a room with the same gender since it’ll be less awkward

but you transferred to the school around midterms

and the girls’ dorms were full

or at least that’s what they told you

so they decide to put you in the guys’ dorms

“you don’t mind, right?”

“of course not. everything’s alright.”

“great. here’s your key. eleventh floor, room five.”

ok you minded

a lot.

like you pretty much have to live with this guy now?? and if he��s messy and disgusting and—

oh my god you didn’t even want to think about it

you kinda resigned to your fate and went straight to the dorms, to your room, bc you had a shitload of luggage to park.

when you got in, you were pleasantly surprised

the place was really really really clean??

like there were no random trousers hanging everywhere and the floor felt really dust-less

and you felt that ray of hope that this plan wouldn’t be so bad after all

and like juST before you were about to unpack

the door opens

//grand music plays

seungkwan enters

but at that time you didn’t know him yet so you just awkwardly scramble to your feet

and bow slightly since you were aware that your roommate was a year older

and do your formal introduction of ‘hi i’m y/n please take care of mi’

you look up and notice he’s cute

like cute as in

the baby kind of cute screeeeches

and he looked nice and quiet

HA ‘QUIET’ WHAT WERE YOU EVEN THINKING

ok so he introduces himself as seungkwan

and the start was really awkward tbh

the both of you were just literally walking circles around the room and staying on opposite ends bc awKWARD !1!!

you weren’t one to start a convo so yeah this time was no exception

but seungkwan actually initiated one and you were so relieved bc you were literally suffocating from this awkward air

he was like “so, um, you’re a year younger?”

“yeah”

“do you need help, er, unpacking?”

you turn to your heavy ass luggage and overflowing clothes and laughed

“yeah, i guess?”

seungkwan looked excited bc he internally wanted to do sth so ya’ll can get over this ice cold thing

so ice ice baby ok i’m sorry let’s continue

and he literally bounces on two feet and like goes over to you and hE LOOKED LIKE AN ADORABLE PENGUIN ASDFGHJK

he helps you get your clothes out and like a lot of them got unfolded so he kindly folds them back and stacks them neatly

then he like opens the empty side of the closet which he wasn’t using and helps you load your clothes in there

and he hangs up your coats before coming back to you

who was struggling with the cables you had put in your bag bc they tangled up real bad

meANWHILE

seungkwan decides to unzip a ‘hidden compartment’ of your luggage

and vOILA

he bursts into laughter and you had no idea what was going on

then you notice the unzipped compartment and you just

“SEUNGKWAN !!!?!??!?!?”

and he was literally a laughing mess on the floor like his ears were red and he was rolling about trying to catch his breath but it wasn’t working

bc,,,, you kept your bra and undies in there

and seungkwan saw it

zE eMBArrASSmENT

seungkwan manages to choke out an ‘iM soRRY’ before he continues dying in his own laughter

and you can’t help but laugh too bc his laughter was contagious asf

and bc of this incident ,,, ya’ll became really really close

it’s like a ‘he already saw my undergarments on our first meeting what worse can happen’

so yall became very open with each other

like after four months or so ya’ll bFF MAN

he even knew where you kept your pads

bc there were those days where it just comes unexpectedly and you don’t know until you strip in the toilet for a bath

so you just scream for seungkwan to pass you one like

“seUNGKWANN”

“YA”

“WILL YOU BE A DEAR AND—”

“YA SURE”

that was great to you tbh like it made life so convenient

but the downsides of having seungkwan as a roommate

lolol

so many many

seungkwan’s in the school choir (which surprisingly accepts both boys & girls)

so he claims he needs his personal vocal practice

every.

single.

day.

and the room turns into a freaking opera theatre istg

like you literally hear him go do re mi fa SO LAR TEE DOHHHHH

while you’re there just trying to get your shit tgt

and you sometimes suspect he’s just trying to annoy you on purpose

bc he goes wAAY out of tune just to hit the extra extra high notes

and he even screeches sometimes and oh god your goosebumps just ploop

“ seungkwan. ”

“ SOLLLL “

“ boo “

“ LAAAAAAA “

“ seung “

“ TEEEEEEEEEEE”

and you dont even bother to say the last syllable of his name and you just glare at him and he just shuts up and laughs really loud like his eyes squints together and he just drops onto the bed

adorable

he’s also really childish at heart so

he likes messing with you when you’re in the shower

he would turn off the heater and/or the lights

and the first time he turned off the lights you freaked out really badly bc you were afraid of the dark and you genuinely thought there was a blackout

and you shouted for him but he didn’t know you were scared so he just silently snickered outside

but when he heard you sob on the other side of the door

oHhHHhhH GOOD GOD

he quickly turns the lights back on and like when you come out he was so damn apologetic like

“i’m so sorry i didn’t know omg”

“ i h8 YOU “

but no you didn’t lol you loved this squish

and he made up for it by literally being by your side for the next few days

and cuDDLE SESSIONS BECAME A THING

i mean

ya’ll were roommates

cuddling is the most normal thing to happen

so aft that ‘blackout’ incident ,,, that night ,,,

you couldn’t sleep lol

you guys had a really wide bunk bed if that made sense??

it was almost like a second story on the upper deck

seungkwan had been taking the bottom deck so when you moved in you just took the one at the top

and thAT NIGHT

you just kept tossing and turning and like the bed would shake a little every time you move

so seungkwan can’t sleep either since the bed just keeps wobbling

“you can’t sleep?” he says,, just staring up

“…yeah.”

and then there’s this short silence.

“you up for cuddles?”

and another silence.

bc ngl you lived for cuddles

but you would get really insecure about everything bc like your cuddle partner would be sososo close ?? ya’know??

but before you can reply,,

seungkwan literally just comes up and pokes his head to your deck and grins and you just laugh

aandddd he just scurries to your side and plonks down

“ you’re not against this, right? ”

he just doesn’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything uk

“ n-no, i’m not. ”

seungkwan would like laugh at your nervousness,, but he just wraps his arm around you and just stroke your hair and stuff like that

and it calmed you down a loooot.

he was so warm and comfy you honestly just wanted to stay in his arms forever lolol

so this cuddle thing became a very natural thing since it happened often aft that

and when the two of you actually fall asleep

it’s a totally different thing in the middle of the night

you would accidentally jab him in the eyeballs since you move q alot when you sleep

and he just jerks awake like whO IS YOU WHO AWOKE ME FROM MAI BEAUTY SLEEP

then he sees you with your arms sprawled everywhere and he’d just laugh quietly before tucking you back under the covers

and the next morning he’d complain all about it

“ Y/N ”

“ ?? whAT ”

“ YOU NEARLY TORE MY EYEBALLS OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS YTD ”

ya he exaggerates a lot

and you’d just laugh bc you are aware of the fact that you are kinda violent when you’re in dreamland

but seungkwan honestly doesn’t mind lol bc other than that,, you were a good cuddle buddy

oK MOVING ON

can you imagine when ya’ll have to order food

HAHAHA it’s like tug of war

like you like fried chicken

but he likes seasoned chicken

and you guys can’t buy both bc you guys were supposed to sneak it into the dorms

and two packs of chicken would be like bringing a freaking mountain into the dorm

so you two just start throwing random stuff at each other

“ you broke my pen ytd?? ”

“you dropped my compact powder and it got everywhere.”

“ya but u made me clean the entire room bc of that.”

“but we got seasoned chicken in the cafeteria”

“horrible ones.”

“yoU TURNED OFF THE LIGHTS THAT DAY”

“no, okay, but —”

“YOU MADE ME CRI”

seungkwan just gives up and

“fiNE FRIED CHICKEN OK”

//internal evil laughter

“love you seungkwannn”

//finger guns

seungkwan just shakes his head and places the order and turns away from you to let out his smile

ok ya so all in all

seungkwan would just be a really soft and annoying roommate

and the two of you would be like the bickering best friends

heartheart

#seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen au #seventeen fluff #seventeen seungkwan #seungkwan #boo seungkwan

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