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haik-choo · 4 years

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karasuno first years out late w/ their s/o

request: Could you write how 1st years (yachi too pls🥺) going out with their s/o late at night ?

a/n: this is such a cute little concept i --

[KARASUNO FIRST YEARS OUT LATE AT NIGHT WITH THEIR S/O]

-tsukishima, kageyama, yamaguchi, hinata, yachi

tsukishima kei.

not gonna lie, he’s often awake late at night. he’s a night owl and doesn’t mind sacrificing his sleep to watch some youtube videos

occasionally, he even goes out late at night, slipping past his parents and brother’s room and softly closing the front door with his headphones covering his ears and his hands stuffed in his pockets

so when you text him at 3am and ask if he can go out with you to the convenience store, he agrees in seconds to meet you at the halfway point between your houses

wastes no time in putting on his sneakers and a hoodie; he wants to get there quickly so that you aren’t left out by yourself

tsukishima knows there’s creeps out there, which is exactly why he jogs to the halfway point and is relieved when he’s the first one there

as soon as he sees you in the distance he fast walks to catch up to you, and slips his hand into yours

he totally brings bluetooth earbuds so that you two can listen to the same music instead of his wired headphones <3 uwu

is always on the lookout for any weirdos, and if he spots someone eyeing you up he shoots them the nastiest glare

eventually wraps his arms around your shoulder while your hand is sitll in his and its that cute little thing where your arms is across your chest holding his hand </3

pays for whatever you get at the store, ignores your complaints and tells you to shut up when you continue to insist on paying

“im trying to be a good boyfriend for once, for the love of god PLEASE shut up”

secretly takes a candid photo of you at some point in the night and sets it as his home screen -- NOT his lock screen, and when you see it he outright denies having taken it

tsukishima: you told me to take a picture of you

you: stop lying i know you’re a closet hopeless romantic

convinces you to stop at the park and eat the snacks you both got there, music still humming in your ears as the moonlight washes you both in cool tones

tsukishima when he’s alone with you is so soft -- he literally kisses your hand and temple and mutters very softly “love you”

all in all, tsukishima kei is the perfect night-owl boyfriend to go on snack-runs with

kageyama tobio.

"why would i go out right now. do you know what time it is. i have practice in the morning”

kags really out here kinda hurtin’ your feelin’s ngl boy doesn’t understand the vibes LOL

honestly you probably woke him up, he’s asleep at like ten every night (even tho he still has homework to do he just flat-out ignores it LOL)

only agrees to go out walking with you because you said he could bring his volleyball and you’d toss a few for him....and also because he’s a little worried because it’s so dark out

doesn’t walk with you to the park but meets you there LOL

he deadass has his wholeass duffel bad with the ball, two waterbottles, two towelettes, volleyball sneakers and everything

“you know,,,,we’re not playing a game, right, tobio?”

“yeah???? and??? what’s your point”

acts nonchalant but is totally having fun and is lowkey glad you asked him to go out so late because it’s cool out, there’s no one to bother him, and you just look...really good under the stars

he’s not a cheesy person but...god you just take his breath away sometimes. not that he’ll ever say that though

you ask to take a break like thirty minutes in because you are LITERALLY dying meanwhile he hasn’t even broken a sweat (”you’re already tired? maybe you should workout more” “shut UP kageyama”)

you both sit on the bench, and you’re lowkey waiting for him to reach for your hand but they’re just folded in his lap as he stares out in the nothingness of night

kageyama can’t take a hint. we know this. he’s incapable of knowing what you want unless you flat out tell him; so you have to be a very honest person

he doesn’t even really initiate skinship, not because he doesn’t want to, but just because it never really crosses his mind

plus he doesn’t feel the need to constantly show affection because he thinks it’s obvious that he likes you

despite this, he is good at spotting weird people, and he’s pretty protective of you, so you’re completely safe with him. trust him, he’ll keep you safe

all in all, have patience and stamina because kags will play volleyball with you until you pass out. also, he loves you

yamaguchi tadashi.

is in bed by 11pm but doesn’t actually go to sleep until two am because he’s scrolling through tiktok on his phone

sees your text about wanting to go out for a late night walk and maybe go through the little forest near your house and automatically sends a text that says “ill meet you at your window! can you pack some snacks? :)”

he walks all the way to your house, even if it’s more convenient to meet halfway because he wants to protect you! he’s not the strongest nor is he the most intimidating, so all he really has to offer is his presence

despite not being strong nor scary, yams literally has eagle eye. you can’t tell me that he can’t read people in a heartbeat -- he’s extremely perceptive

also texts you to not bring a jacket because he’s bringing on of his own for you !!! so sweet what the hell

he waits at your front door and when you step out he automatically pushes his volleyball jacket into your hands and he takes the bag of snacks from you and sticks out one of his hands UGH such a gentleman

lets you ramble about anything and stares at your side profile as he listens

joins in with a few quips here and there but ultimately is pretty quite and lets you speak or lets the silence cozy into the conversation

sees that there’s a guy sitting on a bench up the road and he switches places with you so that you’re further away from the stranger

also wraps a protective hand around your waist until you both are past the random dude but yams will glance behind yall every once in a while

when you two reach the mini forest he ends up taking the lead claiming that he knows a good spot

and damn, he’s right

it’s a little clearing that is illuminated solely by the moonlight and he sets the bag of snacks down beside him before sitting down himself, apologizing for not bringing a blanket that you two could sit on

pats the spot next to him so that you sit right beside him and he leans back with his hand on yours ONGMIRG

is the super cheesy type and tells you that you look really pretty and that,,,he kind of wants to kiss you

you: *experiencing heart palpitations* and you did this for what.

yamaguchi: ...because i love you?

you: *K.O*

all in all, yamaguchi is the boyfriend that completely indulges your late-night escapades <3

hinata shoyo.

is either completely fast asleep and doesn’t see your text or was awake and not planning to sleep for the next five hours, no in-between

but if he’s awake and sees your text, he agrees right away and asks where you want to meet up and what time because homeboy probably has to bike to get there AgAGAGAGA

literally doesn’t even show up in sneakers. he’s wearing sandals and shorts with a short sleeve top

“i came in my pjs”

“i see that.”

asks if you two can bike around instead because he doesn’t want to have to wheel his bike around for like an hour

he tells you to hold on tight because the bike was built for one person, and when you press against his back his warmth is literally so,,,comforting

has no sense of awareness and will scream going down a hill in the middle of a neighborhood, no fucks given

so, no, he doesn’t notice any weriod people even if there are some around

you always end up running into some weird people and you get new interesting stories every other day because let’s be honest hinata is a magnet for crazy shit and crazy people (usually crackheads)

you both just ride around as he talks about his day, usually his sister always comes up in the conversation( “she asked me to marry you the other day” “doirhgAEROIHFGRE SHOYO WHAT” “what? i told her i would. i keep my promises!”)

after like thirty minutes he begs for a break and you stop at a little 24/7 ice cream store that is run by the sweetest elderly couple

you share a sundae because you don’t want to eat too much this late at night

he plops on the bench right outside the store with his bike leaning against the metal handles, and h snuggles up to you and watches you scroll on your phone

he talks a little here and there, but for the most part, he goes quiet, and it’s during this time where you’re unaware of his gaze that he just takes his time drinking in your features in the yellow light of the lamppost

he can’t read the mood most times, but this time he does, and he stays quiet, and he thinks to himself

that he really will marry you one day

all in all, hinata gives you the impulsive young teenage experience of late night bike rides while eating his fair share of ice cream

yachi hitoka.

another either or, except this time she’s either fast asleep or stressing over homework and the nine tests she has the next day

when you ask if she can go on a walk with you she’s hesitant because she doesn’t want to get in trouble with her mom and she’s a total goody goody and terrified of doing anything reckless; but then she remembers that her mom was on a business trip and so she, very cautiously, says yes

you: good. i’m outside your door btw

yachi: i never had a choice did i

you have to meet her at her house because she’s way too scared to walk by herself at night; she might even make you factime her as you commute because she’s worried for you

jumps at every little thing, even the crows cawing make her shit herself

instictively grabs onto your sleeve and nervously look around the entire time, to the point where she doesn’t hear what you say

so you offer to go to a little cafe that’s still open and right away she nods

she’s so adorable, she bows really deeply when you two walk into the store and apologizes for it being so late

and finally, because you two are safe, she’s calm and smiling as she sips at her strawberry smoothie

awkwardly and very shyly reaches out for your hand on the table and gently lays her palm on yours

canon: yachi totally has freckles and you can’t convince me otherwise

her face is red and her freckles are just on display you can’t help but coo at her and tuck some hair behind her ear because god could she get any cuter?

you two end up staying for like a hour and a half and very shyly she asks if you could walk her home

and this time on the walk she’s not overly cautious and seems to enjoy the nighttime breeze and your hand softly clasping hers

does that cute thing where she lays her head on your shoulder or arm while you both are walking and looks up at you through her eyelashes and asks if you could give her a kiss on the cheek </3

you: stop. please. im going to die.

when you’re at her door she literally just stands there awkwardly for a few seconds before tilting her head upwards and pressing her lips to yours and then promptly running inside

video calls you three seconds afterwards to make sure you get home safely

all in all, you might need to be the impulsive one, but yachi enjoys spending late night time with you more than she admits. also please kiss her thanks

2K notes · View notes

i-am-infinite · 3 years

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Guilt (Part 1): The Rescue

(Din Djarin x ForceSensitive!Fem!Reader)

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Slight Chpt 12 and 13 spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Description: Moff Gideon has found someone else to run his experiments on and word gets back to Din. Will he take his son far away and try and find somewhere safe? Or will the guilt of an innocent being put in his son’s place eat away at him? (No Y/N or ___ used)

Word Count: Slightly over 4K

Warnings: Mentions of blood and needles. Broken glass. Fainting. Blood loss. Canon type violence. Possible bad writing (first fic pls go easy on me). If I’m missing anything please let me know, I’ve never done one of these before.

A/N: This is my first fanfic I’ve written so it might be really bad but I couldn’t get the idea out of my head so here it is. I also made up a planet/system and don’t know if star wars has alarm clocks but i wrote it in anyway. I also wrote this in Word first and then realized I couldn’t copy it over so I tried my best to type it over in here.

Normal. That is what was used to describe your life. Nothing out of the ordinary. Life wasn’t boring per se, but it definitely wasn’t compelling enough for your tastes. Studying to be a healer help keep it somewhat interesting but not enough.

Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzz. Crust littered eyes creak open as your face unsticks from the textbook scattered across the desk. Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzz. Your stiff neck cracks as you finally sit up. Fell asleep studying again. You loved learning about healing, you really did. But the long nights and barely sleeping was enough to make your head explode. Looking over at the clock with bright red numbers blinking at you. 8:15.

8:15! I’m late! You think as you force yourself awake. No not again! Being a student means you need to do hands on hours down at the nearest medcenter. All the late night studying also means that you oversleep most days. Grabbing your work bag filled with a change of clothes, in preparation of these events, you run out the door.

Your feet hit the wet cobble stones as it echos through your little part of the city. Vendors lining up the street ready to start their days. Passing the shop you went to yesterday, your mind too preoccupied to notice that it’s empty today. You know that theres is a faster route to the medcenter, but is it a path you really want to take today? Dark and windy path that you can barely see five feet in front of you on mornings like this. Too foggy and muggy for your liking. You’d rather stick to the main road where there’s people, where if anything were to happen, people would see, they would know. Regardless, it shaves fifteen minutes off your commute. You loathe having to be late for another shift. Making the sharp turn in between tow booths, you pace quickens to get through as quickly as you can. While not having much visibility, you swear you can see a pair of eyes in the dark. Has to just be my imagination, you convince yourself, I just need to keep going. It’ll be fine.

Footsteps echo behind you. Hands grab your shoulders. A scream rises in your throat, but no sound comes out. Everything goes dark when you feel something hit the side of your head.

Sigh. “Grogu get back in your seat.” The little baby waddles down off the controls and into his father’s lap. “Not what I meant,” Din grumbles with a smile hidden under his helmet. He grabs Grogu by his little robe and places him in the seat to his right and tells him to buckle up as a holo comes through from Greef Karga.

“Mando, we’ve just got word that Moff Gideon might have been seen in the Braic system. It looks like they found a substitute for the baby for the time being. I would use this time to go find a hide-out and lay low. He could still come back for the little one. Be well,”

Din goes to start the ship and find coordinates to stay out of trouble for a while when he hears the baby whine. Looking back at his adoptive child, all Din can see is Grogu, then a nameless kid, lying unconscious on a metal table, trapped underneath a contraption. Din starts breathing heavy and feeling sick that he ever gave his son up to those Imps. All he can hear is the beeping of the machine he’s hooked up to. Anger boiling back to the surface as he hears himself yell at the doctor all over again in his memories. No, he tells himself, He’s here with me. He’s fine. He’s safe. He shakes himself out of it and goes to fly the Razor Crest off planet.

Before he even gets off the planet, all Din can think about is that innocent person in his son’s place. They were going to kill Grogu, just for his blood for their experiments. Din can’t bring the kid anywhere near those people, he can’t risk losing his family, not when both of them have formed such attachments to each other. But he can’t stop thinking of this person who is in the that position now. He should’ve made sure Gideon was dead. Because of that now more people are going to get hurt.

Without thinking he turns on his holo already asking, “Where is he taking them?”

Feeling groggy with heavy eyes, you are able to open them just a bit to a blinding light. Reluctantly closing them again, you lift your arm to rub your eyes, but only they don’t move. What? The rest of your senses start coming back and you can feel the cool metal against your back, the same metal wrapped around your wrists and your ankles attached to the table. Finally bracing the light and opening your eyes, lifting your head slightly off the table and oh no the room is spinning now. There is an IV in your arm drawing your blood out into some odd machine, explaining the dizziness. Second time in two days you’ve had to deal with your own blood.

Walking through the shops on your one day off, you pick up a flower hair pin. The glasswork is so intricate and entrancing, you can’t help but turn it over and over in your hands. A pearl bead sitting in the center of iridescent gray and white petals. Placing it back in its place, your had scrapes against another glass design that is not yet finished, slashing open your palm. “Oh, dear let me help you with that,” the lady running the stand says. She looks you with her white hair barely covering her forehead. Tattoos liter her arms. A design peaks your interest as you swear you know but can’t quite place.

“It’s fine, I can take care of it myself,” you state already inspecting your hand. No shards in it so thats good.

“Oh no I insist. It happened at my booth, let me help clean it,” she declares taking your hand in her own. It feels like she squeezes the wound causing you to wince in pain slightly. Knowing she should just be cleaning it and wrapping it, you’re a little confused. Maybe she just doesn’t know how to tend to these sort of things, not wanted to embarrass her at her stand, you keep quiet. She finally gets a clean rag to help blot away at the blood on your hand. You didn’t think anything of it at the time, but it appears she has put it in a bag to the side.

“I don’t have any gauze to help wrap it up,” the stand lady says.

“Oh, don’t worry, I have plenty of my own,” you mention, “It will be fine until I make it back to my place.” Smiling you walk away. Without looking, you can feel her move the piece you cut your hand on into the bag. Must just be because it’s a dangerous piece, you think, not knowing there’s still some of your blood on it too.

Closing your eyes again, you try to wonder why that is so significant to you right now. It was a harmless thing in passing, so why is it at the forefront of your mind? You are strapped to a table and all you can think about is that little cut you got the day prior. If your head didn’t feel like it was a spinner top right now, you would have laughed. Opening your eyes again you see men all in white armor and helmets guarding the door to your room, while a man in a white coat is working on the machine where your IV is attached. I thought the empire was dead. The same symbol that keeps going through your mind is the same one sewn into the man’s white coat. Your breathing gets shallower as you feel the panic rise in your chest. I’m never getting out of here, you realize as your vision becomes black once again.

You’re losing a lot of blood. You know that. You can feel it when noise wakes you up and your eyelids feel like lead. All the noise is muffled, as if you’re underwater. Frankly it feels like you are. It would be so easy to let the waves of darkness just wash over you right now, to let the water take you under. No, you can’t give up the fight and drown into unconsciousness just yet. You force yourself to stay awake.

Barely getting your eyes open, bright red lights flood your vision. You imagine you’re still in bed, or at least asleep at your desk, with the alarm clock blaring, not here with blaster fire. Wait, blaster fire? You attempt to turn your head to the side to look, or to dodge, you aren’t to sure in your current state. The fast action causes you to feel like you’re spinning, or it might be the room, either way your eyes can’t focus on what is going on. Closing your eyes again to make it stop, you hear voices surrounding you. They sound so far away at the moment but finally, after what feels like ages, one voice sounds clearer.

“Please help us. Help us get out of here. Her m-counts aren’t nearly as high as the child’s. They’re demanding more blood. She’s already lost 2 liters, I don’t know how much longer she can last.”

Child? They wanted to do this to a child? You’d choke down a sob if you could just thinking of that poor baby. What did he even say about what-counts? What the hell are those? All these questions are making your head spin more and more. Taking most of your energy to open your eyes, you’re met with a chrome stormtrooper trying to unbind you. Wait no, not a stormtrooper. You’ve heard stories about him and his people. What were they called? For the life of you, you can’t remember right now.

“You’re going to need help getting her out of here,” you realize that the man in the whit coat was the one who spoke before and is now pleading with the metal man, “Please Mandalorian take me with you and I’ll help you get her out of here.”

That’s it. He’s a Mandalorian. He gets your wrists free as the doctor takes the IV out. Pushing off the table to sit up, the world starts spinning again. You don’t even realize you’re about to hit the table again until the Mandalorian grabs your shoulders to keep you semi-upright. You hear some sort of static come from his helmet. “Fine.” he grumbles, “help me get her out of this thing.”

With a flip of a switch, the rest of your body is free from restraints. Eager to get out of there, you swing your legs over the edge of the table, hands finding the arms of the Mandalorian with his hands still on your shoulders. Nauseous and woozy, you try to use the cold metal of his pauldron to ground yourself, to get the room to stop spinning. He can see you start to sway and wraps his arms around your waist as he lowers you from the table. Your feet hit the floor and black dots start to cloud your vision. Blood pounding in your ears trying to tell you to stop and lie back down. Muffled voices come from beside you again as you feel another arm wrap around you from the other side. Your feet dragging against the floor as both men on either side of you go towards the door.

You feel the heavily armored man to your left let go. Eyes that are still fuzzy and unfocused sort of see him peak out the door with his blaster drawn. He leaves the room and all that can be heard is the pew pew pew of blaster fire. Vision start to come back the tiniest bit, you can see him standing in the door way waving his hand as to say Come on.

The three of you hurry as fast as you can down the corridor to get to an exit. Lots of twists and turns, just for you all to come up at a dead end. So much for rescuing, you think to yourself as the doctor still holding you up, leans you up against a pillar as the two of them survey the situation. More of the Mandalorian assessing the situation and the doctor just frantically pacing back and forth.

Sitting down now that the adrenaline of being kidnapped and “rescued” die down, you feel your breathing getting shallower and harder to breath. Eyelids getting heavy again. You just want to lay down and go to sleep, hoping that will fix things. Starting your descent from your upright position to close your eyes, two hands grab your shoulders and jerk you up. It takes a second to realize this modulated voice was talking you you. “Hey, you got to stay with me now,” he pleads, one hand going to the side of your face. Pain spreads across your features due to being struck there earlier, a bruise starting to form in its place. Pulling his hand away like seeing the your face contorted burned him, he continues, “I’m going to get you out of here, you just have to stay awake.” You open your mouth to speak, but your throat feels like it’s filled with sand from Tattooine, so you just weakly nod your head yes. “Okay good,” the shiny man says after letting out a deep breath.

Still holding your shoulders, he helps you stand up and tells the doctor to take you and go further down the hall. Taking something small and circular out of his belt and placing it on the far wall, he speed walks back toward you two. It starts blinking red as his arms come and cage both of you in. Peeking over his shoulder, you see the wall disappear. Well explode, but one second ago it was there and now it’s not. When the explosion first rings in your ears, you reflexively reach out for the Mandalorian’s arm and feel him tense under your touch.

When he deems it safe to move again, letting go of his arm, he hops over the rubble to the outside world, blaster drawn. Looking out you think it looks like a desert, but one you’ve never seen before. You have no idea where you are, even what planet you are on. You eyes go to where the chrome man is stalking towards. It seems he found two speeder bikes that the troopers use, sans the troopers. Your feet hit the gravel and you realize you aren’t wearing shoes anymore. How long was I out? You begin to question when you see a stormtrooper take aim at your rescuer. Right when he pulls the trigger, you reach your hand out and scream, “NO!”

You could’ve sworn it was going to hit him. It should’ve hit him. But at the last second it bent and went in another direction. You knew stormtroopers were bad shots, but nothing like that has ever happened. The Mandalorian whips around at your scream and shoots the trooper down. He goes back to what he originally planned to do, but not without turning to you. You see his chest plate heave up and down a few times before turning back around. After a beat, the only sound you can hear is the Mandalorian starting up the speeders and your heartbeat pounding in your ears. The doctor helps guide you to the bikes and as you’re about to get on behind him, the Mandalorian picks you up bridal style and sits on his own respective bike. You make a noise of discontent at the sudden action and are then seated in front of him, yet again caged in by his arms with your legs draped over one of his. You can hear him breathing through the modulator as he states, “Just in case you pass out again. Can’t have you falling off the back of the bike.” You go to adjust how you are sitting when he takes off.

Gasping in shock, you hug your arms around his neck with you head in his cowl as you take panicked breaths. His hand touches your back as you hear him shout over the noise of the engines, “Put your legs around me, you’re slipping off.” He holds your waist as you sling your right leg around and hook it with your left one behind his back. Not the position you thought you’d end up in as a blush creeps up on your face, but neither the less here you are. His hand lets go of your waist and back to the handlebars as he steers.

Suddenly getting the feeling like you’re being followed, you say into his neck cowl, “Go left!” You don’t know why, but you just get a gut feeling to go that way. He follows your lead, not without a brief hesitation. The doctor follows on his speeder in the same direction. Finally looking up you see two stormtroopers in the distance. I wish their speeders would just stop or something, you plead with yourself and you think back to what happened with the blaster. Testing the waters, you unhook one of your hands from Mando’s neck and hold it out and... nothing. Okay focus, you close your eyes and picture their speeders stopping, or malfunctioning, or anything at this point.

The sound of a crash comes ringing into your ears. Opening your eyes, you can see the troopers flip over their handlebars as if their engines just died. You slightly chuckle to yourself as your eyelids feel heavy again. You try to get them to stay open, but sleep just feels so much better at the moment. And with that, you’re out like a light.

Din feels you go limp against him. His arm once again going to grab you by your waist to keep you in place. He wills his speeder to go faster, to get back to the Razor Crest sooner as he’s panicking thinking he somehow made the situation worse. He exposed you on the bike by having you sit like this. Your arms, legs, and head were all exposed to possible blaster fire. Have you been hit? He heard a crash but couldn’t look back without moving you more, risking leaving you more unprotected. His blame for himself spirals as his grip on you grows tighter. He can’t explain why he’s so distraught over a stranger, but still every time he blinks, he swears he sees back on that table. The next time he swears he sees his son on that very table again. First he gave the kid up to those people, now he didn’t finish Gideon off and let you, an innocent stranger who he is now clutching onto for dear life, get in the crossfire. Too many people have gotten hurt because of this. Because of him. He needs to make it right.

Finally Din and Dr. Pershing arrive at the Razor Crest where Din is already lowering the hatch and carrying you in. Kicking some crates together, he gently lowers you down onto this makeshift bed. He uses his thermal setting to see your body temperature, to see how you are recovering from the blood loss. He isn’t thrilled to see it still low, you were getting your energy back slowly before, along with more body heat, bit not enough to Din’s liking. Turning his helmet to Pershing, the doctor says, “She’s going to need more blood.” Din, already standing ready to run out and get some, not even knowing where or how to do that, is stopped by Pershing telling him that he’ll go get it, that it would look less suspicious. Agreeing, Din sits by your side while using his comm-link to tell Greef that he could bring Grogu back to the ship. How Din always finds someone to babysit still surprises him.

You wake up with a start. Eyes not yet adjusted to the lights overhead. Looking down you can see an IV in your arm again. Now towards the side, you can see the same doctor from before asleep up against a wall. Please tell me it wasn’t a dream, tears well up in your eyes as you think you’ve made the whole thing up to cope. It wasn’t until you felt your hand come to wipe away your watery eyes that you realized it just might not be a dream. The IV isn’t taking blood this time, it’s giving it.

Finally looking around, you realize you’re on a ship that feels like it’s moving. Confused by this, you try and sit up. Not nearly as dizzy as before, you slowly swing your legs off the wooden crates you’re lying on. Noticing your still barefoot as a chill gets sent up to your spine by the cold metal floor, you grab your IV bag off what appears to be just a hook poorly attached to the ceiling. You venture around the small area of the ship, noticing there isn’t a lot besides these boxes and what appears to be two storage type of units. You don’t even tempt to look in, too intrusive. You do however see a ladder going higher up on the ship. Taking the IV out and ripping a piece of your shirt off to wrap around your arm for pressure, so you can use both hands to climb, you start your ascent up.

Once you finally reach the top, you hear cooing? Didn’t that doctor say something about a child earlier? Looking forward into the cockpit, you see your savior flying while looking to his right at one of the co-pilot chairs. Clearing your throat to get his attention, two little eyes peer at you from the seat. A bright smile appears on this little green things face and you can’t help but stifle a laugh because its ears are the size of his body.

Distracted by this cute baby, you don’t notice the way the Mandalorian swivels his chair to face you. Finally looking at the man who saved you today, your breath hitches. You don’t know how to thank him for what he did, so you sort of just stand and stare for a second. He stands up and lightly grabs your arm with your homemade bandage on it. Tilting his helmet to the side you hear static coming from it. Did he just sigh at you? “You were supposed to keep it in your arm,” he finally states, with a tinge of annoyance.

Eyes not wanting to meet the T of his visor, you direct your gaze to the ground. “ I jus- I-,” you stammer, not able to find the right words. “Thank you.” It comes out more hushed than you’d like, but he still hears you. He just gives you a slight nod before releasing his arm and heading back to his seat. All your muscles turn to stone as you stand there not knowing if you should leave or not, until he cocks his head towards the seat to his left. On shaky legs you find your way to the seat. Before even sitting down fully, the little green child is already trying to get into your lap. Giggling to yourself you let him up onto your lap.

Once you do the strangest thing happens. You can feel what he’s thinking, his emotions, his past. How he was trained with the special abilities, much like the ones you just displayed before. How he was scared and in hiding until the man sitting in front of you found him. How he thinks of him as a father, his dad. Your chest tightens at that one. Still confused as to why the same people who wanted this child, Grogu, for his powers, also wanted you, you pull him to your chest to comfort you both. You finally speak up again and ask, “Did they want me because I might have the same abilities as this one?” You meant it to sound strong, but it just came out sounding weak.

Without looking at you, the Mandalorian replies shortly after a pause, “Yes.” You swore you can see his grip tighten on the ships steering as he says that. Turning to the two of you finally, he says in the sincerest voice you’ve heard out of him, “They wont get to either of you again. I can promise you that.” Your chest swells at this statement and Grogu looks up at you with a smile as if he felt the way your heart fluttered. You wish you were the one wearing the helmet right now because you can feel your cheeks heat up. To ease the situation in the best way you can, awkwardly, you clear your throat before asking, “So where are we headed now?”

Swiveling back in his chair to hit a few buttons, you’re confused not knowing what they are supposed to do until he pulls up a map and points a place out. He tells you that he’s going to drop off Dr. Pershing at one of the squiggles you see and then try and figure it out from there. “So, I guess thats where I get off too?” You meant it to come out more as a statement than a question, but after what you just went through, you’d rather not be left to fend for youself.

“If that’s what you want,” he finally utters after a while. “ But they’re not going to stop coming after you. Either of you. It might be safer for you to stay here with me, us.” The last part comes out so quiet, it’s almost as if he didn’t want you to hear, out of fear of your response.

Trying to not answer too quickly, you take a deep breath and finally say, “Yes. I’d like that a lot.” With a curt nod, he turns back around. Warmth fills your chest yet again at this stranger’s kindness. It’s just because I have the same abilities as his child, you try to convince yourself. But deep down you’re hoping it’s more than that. The child in your lap grips your fingers tightly and coos, as if he’s trying to tell you your hopes might not be too far off.

Oh, it’s going to be an interesting adventure with these two, you smile to yourself.

252 notes · View notes

m-monstax · 3 years

Text

All That Glitters

Pairing: Yuchan x Fem Reader

Type: One shot, Hybrid AU

Warnings: Mentions of violence, prejudice/discrimination towards another race, swearing

Word count: 7.2k

『 She liked to think work was boring and a place for her to quietly lose her mind, but slowly a cute hybrid boy makes her change her mind 』

This was inspired by a prompt by @hybridfanfiction. Check them out!

The day had seemed normal enough when she first woke up. There was birds chirping and there was sunlight pooling in through the cracks in her blinds. Nothing she had done that morning seemed to be out of the ordinary, nor did her commute to work; people had crossed roads as carelessly as normal and they also had the same lack of self awareness as normal.

Really, if you have asked her that morning if anything had seemed odd, she would have responded with a bark of laughter and walked away with a shake of her head and a mutter claiming you were crazy.

However, as soon as she had stepped into the building, she found feel that something was off - more so than usual with an office building.

Everyone was quiet, eyeing each other with suspicion and slight judgment, their lips pulled into eerily similar straight lines.

Sitting down, the office chair squeaking under her weight, she swivelled around to face her desk mate: Changseok.

“Hey,” She whispered, though not really making any special effort to keep quiet, “what’s everyone acting so weird for?“

Changseok looked over at her, his brown eyes rolling in his skull to look at her blankly. Lips slowly forming a pout, he chewed on the inside of his cheek, shrugging. "Haven’t you heard?” He spoke cryptically and she had half a mind to give up there and then. The last thing she wanted to be doing so early in the morning was play 21 questions.

“No,” came her blunt response and he leant in, as though he was going to tell her the secret of the century. His eyebrows furrowed, voice even quieter than before, making her strain to hear it.

“There’s a hybrid here now,” He stressed the noun and she blinked, completely blind sighted. However, it wasn’t because of the revelation of the person’s species, but rather his attitude towards them and the way he was saying ‘hybrid’ like it was something dirty.

Closing her eyes for a few seconds to make sure she didn’t lose her temper, she exhaled - sound almost dulcet had it not been for the glare that pierced through him straight after. “Okay. Is that it?”

Changseok looked confused by her lack of reaction, repeating the word again, assuming that she hadn’t heard him.

“I heard you the first time. I was just wondering why it was such a big deal,” he moved back to his own space and she thanked every god she could think of. “They’re a hybrid. So what?”

His frown deepened and she could sense how she was going to have to contain an eye roll. It was always nice to find out someone you worked with was a piece of shit.

“It’s unnatural. They were made in labs so it’s not like they’re actually human,” she stayed silent, strong at him with an expression so cold that she almost wished he froze in front of her face. Upon her lack of a comment, he hurried to try and explain himself - not that he really cared to hear his opinion. “Don’t you think? They’re literally part animal, they’re freaks.”

With a lift of her eyebrows, she turned back to her work and shook her head. “Damn, I’ve always disliked you, but I guess now I have a concrete reason other than your simple idiocy. Never speak to me again.”

Changseok’s mouth opened (more than likely in a weak attempt to defend himself) however, she promptly ignored him and got up, shooting him one last withering look before walking away and to the ground floor of the building to the café.

While she was there, she decided that it would be nice to get to know this new coworker - there was always room in her life for being polite even if there wasn’t much of a chance for it with the people she was around. The intermingling scents of coffee and baked goods lightened her foul mood considerably, eyes grazing over the pastries before deciding that she didn’t want any today.

Purchasing a cup of coffee and of sweetened tea, she headed back up and began to ask around for the coworker. Everyone she asked gave her an odd look: some of them because she was asking about someone new when she had never cared before, and others because they were a hybrid. Nonetheless, she found out their location and the fact that they were a male.

Eventually she did manage to find him, situated at the further end of the floor with his head down and a hunched back. It wasn’t hard to deduce why, feeling the lingering stares burning into her own back as she walked towards him.

“Hi,” she greeted, feeling slightly bad when he jumped in surprise, “I’m (y/n). It’s nice to meet you,” pulling up a chair, his expression morphed almost comically.

He was good looking, she was willing to admit wholeheartedly, with his wide, rounded eyes and softly pursed lips that was complimented nicely by his sharp nose and silky looking brown hair. She was sure that if he wasn’t a hybrid, most people would have the opposite of an aversion towards him.

His swallow was thick, adam’s apple bobbing with the force of it, his slight body shaky and hands trembling - he seemed more like a newborn child than a fully grown adult. “I’m Yuchan,” he introduced finally, shocking her with how his voice had remained stable. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

The smile that spread across her lips was serenity in its truest form, a feeling of peace washed over her as she moved one sheathed cup towards him.

“Do you prefer tea or coffee, Yuchan?” His name tasted foreign on her tongue, yet it was light and airy. She could find comfort in saying his name, it seemed. “I didn’t know which one, so you can pick whichever.”

“You didn’t have to,” he lamented, the slightest shade of pink tinged his cheeks a subtle rose.

“I wanted to,” Yuchan’s eyes flickered between the two cups before slowly reaching out to take the one labelled coffee, “good choice.”

“Thank you,” His smile was beautiful and she thought that the gentle simper was much more fitting for his countenance than timidness. “You really didn’t have to.”

She could have echoed her earlier words, told him that it didn’t matter, however, all she could think to do was watch him. It was entrancing really how graceful he was, every movement of his fluid and poised. If she had been ignorant, she would have asked why he was wasting his time in a shitty office job when he was much more talented in other things.

Instead, she nodded and sipped her own tea before speaking again. “How are you settling in?” It must not have been easy, especially with the blatantly rude behaviour of the other staff as well as tensions across the country from the new laws.

He shrugged, licking his slightly chapped lips. “I’m doing okay. It’s nice here.”

‘If it’s nice here, what’s horrible?’ She thought, almost looking at him funny. “Do you need any help with anything? I can help you with whatever.”

Yuchan shook his head, nails tapping against the cardboard sleeve around the coffee cup. “Junhee-hyung helped set me set up and taught me how to use everything.”

“You know the boss?” His expression quickly turned worried, more than likely thinking he overstepped a boundary, nonetheless she was faster to speak, “that’s good. It’s nice to have connections in places like this. Junhee is a nice man, I like him.”

His visage melted into one of a relief, chewing the inside of his cheek slowly. “Yeah, Hyung’s really nice and helpful. I’m happy I got a job with him as my boss.”

There was another silence that fell, this time a lot more comfortable than the first. Soft sounds of the clock ticking made her glance down at her watch, realising with great irritation that she needed to start doing work or face getting scolded by the supervisor. “I have to head back to my own desk now, but if you ever need anything, feel free to shout for me.”

Getting out of the seat and putting it away, he waved her off and she felt immediately more energised; enough so that anyone she caught who dared look at Yuchan with even a glimmer of disgust was shot down with a scowl and a silent dare to carry on further.

Maybe having a new, less annoying coworker would finally make her feel excited to come to work.

The next day, she had decided that walking to work would be a lot less stressful and more cleansing to the soul. (It also meant that she wouldn’t have to pay the parking fee but that was only really a bonus.)Walking also meant that she could now head into her favourite bakery - one she hadn’t managed to go into a for a long while due to simply being busy and overrun with work.

A gentle jingling from above her head signalled her entrance, the pretty cashier behind the till giving her a smile and a nod of acknowledgment. The familiar scent of honey and cinnamon was comforting, enveloping her in warmth and lightening the burden in her chest. Honestly, if she could afford to do something, she would have bought out everything in the quaint and idyllic shop.

Browsing through the pastries put into baskets and the cakes hidden behind glass, she decided on buying a favourite that always held up to the test of time; chocolate chip cookies. Theirs were always soft and melted in the middle, with chocolate always lingering on the back of your palette for a long while after being consumed. Maybe she was being dramatic, but she considered it a slice of heaven amongst her life of abject sin.

Thankfully, as they had just opened, there was an abundance of sweet treats and she took great pleasure in filling up a paper bag with 6 of them. However, just as she was about to pay, she remembered Yuchan and figured she may as well get him some too.

Grabbing another bag and three more cookies, she paid swiftly with an expression of gratitude before returning to her trek to the cursed building she was set to be in - which only took her around another 5 minutes.

It was nice to see that even though Changseok was there, he made no move to speak her like normal. 'Good,’ she mused as he avoided eye contact, 'I guess he got the message.’ It was no loss on her end, in fact, she classified it as a win.

There was a lot less under breath murmurs today, with people only glancing at Yuchan from the corner of their eyes instead of staring at him like a circus attraction. It wasn’t ideal, though it certainly was an improvement.

“Hi again,” she spoke softly, not wanting to scare him like yesterday.

Looking up from the computer screen, wide eyes met hers, softening into crescent moons. “Hi, how are you?”

“I’m good,” she held up the bag of cookies ad shook them with a pleased grin, “the bakery had my favourite cookies. I thought you would like some. They’re really good,” She put the bag beside his hand.

Thumb grazing over the paper bag, his hues roamed over the delicious looking cookies within and his smile widened considerably. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to thank me,” she sat in the empty chair beside him, spinning on it gently by using her feet. “How is it going today? Everything’s okay?”

“Mhm. I haven’t had any issues, I actually just started on a new project,” he found conversation coming easily despite his nervousness. Who wouldn’t be nervous when a pretty girl with a notorious streak for being blunt was speaking to you?

“Really?” She questioned genuinely interested, “what’s it on?” The company they worked for mainly dealt with collaborating with fashion brands and shipping so anything new was always welcomed.

“Well uh, Hyung asked me if I could help to design a website for one of our new shareholders,” He fiddled with the paper bag, the soft crinkling providing a background noise, “I’m not too sure about where to start if I’m honest.”

“Oh,” She leant closer to look at what he already had, the landing page currently being edited, “do you have a basic template?"

"Not really, they only gave us a small brief to work from. They said 'make it look like h&m’, which is helpful,” The soft giggle that left her mouth made him pause, fingers stilling in their fidgeting.

“Clients like that are the worst,” Nodding in agreement, he saw her mouth open to say something more before she also stilled.

Her eyes closely followed a figure with red hair as she slowly got up, shoving the seat under the chair. “If Kihyun sees me here he’s going to grill me, I’ll see you later, Yuchan,” before he could even say bye, she was already up and running - leaving him alone with his cookies.

His mouth was left wide open, watching her rush away like a thief about to be caught. A few moments later, the head of red hair was in his vision, the man’s smiling face soon following as he greeted Yuchan.

“Morning,” Kihyun spoke, following his gaze and spotting her sitting down in her chair and then looking at his own out of place one. “She was just here, wasn’t she?”

Yuchan pursed his lips, not wanting to speak up in case she got into trouble; she was one of the only ones that made an effort to check up on him after all. Kihyun seemed to notice this and laughed, patting his thigh reassuringly.

“It’s okay, she won’t get into trouble. I like her so I wouldn’t say anything, we just like to bicker,” Yuchan’s ears perked. He had noticed how people seemed to shrink away whenever she walked by, almost as if they were avoiding her gaze and he never quite understood why. She was always kind to him.

“Who is she?” He couldn’t help but ask, clamping his mouth shut a second later as he realised he might have overstepped a boundary. “Um I- i mean, I know her name but-”

“She’s one of the best IT techs we have. She likes to keep to herself and she’s got an attitude if you piss her off, and considering the assholes we work with, I don’t blame her. If you’re nice to her or joke with her, she’ll return it. You don’t have to worry about it, Yuchan, she seems fond of you,” He flushed upon hearing the pride, cheeks dusting the faintest shade of pink as he nodded and put up head down.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out Kihyun shaking his head and grinning to himself at his bashfulness. Nonetheless, he didn’t notice it too much, lost in his own thoughts. She was fond of him? He mused, absentmindedly click on the screen.

A small smile made its home on his face, plush lips stretching into a subtle upwards curve.

Yuchan found he rather liked the idea of her liking him.

With every day that passed, he found himself looking forward to her daily check ins. Her smile was pretty and her aura was comforting, like a cup of warm coffee that warmed you from the inside out on cold, frigid days.

He had been looking around the shops one day, spending his free time poking around instead of being cooped up in his room (and being scolded by his roommate as well as his mother likewise for being antisocial and a neet). The days were turning colder, frostier. With every breath he took he could see his own contribution to the looming clouds above.

As he walked around, eagle eyed for anything that might have caught his interest (i.e anything shiny) he weaved through the aisles of the old antique shop he had wandered into. The store had the smell of old wood and of slight citrus, a scent that shouldn’t have gone together but it did so beautifully.

Yuchan hadn’t really been looking to buy anything however, as soon as he has spotted something glinting dutifully under the golden lighting, he had to have a look. Pushing aside the objects in front of it, he grinned broadly to see a beautiful bejewelled keychain.

It was in the shape of a bird: a peacock if he was recalling correctly. Azure and emerald gems decorated the body of the beard, the eyes of its feathers painstakingly done with brown and yellow.

Of course he was a sucker for anything cute and sparkly, hence his lack of self restraint as he picked up the keychain, cradling it gently in his hands. It shone with every turn of the head, the black stones used for the bird’s eyes almost lifelike. Though at least he had on justification for this purchase; he was going to give it away.

Which is where he was currently, sitting in his office chair with a bouncing leg as he bit his lip nervously. She hadn’t come to him all day and he was growing worried that she was getting bored of it - he really hoped that it wasn’t the case.

Taking another glance over, he swallowed thickly and relaxed as he saw her hunched over her desk, typing furiously on her keyboard before pressing the enter button and glancing at her watch. The time seemed to make her happy as she immediately smiled to herself and shut off her computer, kicking up her bag and throwing it around her shoulders.

For a second he thought she was going to leave there and then, but they were soon proven wrong as she walked towards his direction, a bounce in her step.

“Hi Yuchan,” she greeted and he returned her jovial simper with a small wave. “What are you doing now?"

"I’m just finishing up the website. I just need to edit some banners and code and I’ve finished,” Her lips formed a soft 'o’ shape as she sat down beside him, stealing Kihyun’s chair once again. “What are you doing?"

Her fingers picked at her shirt sleeve as she rocked from side to side on the office chair. "I finished all my work for today. I’m thinking of leaving early, I just need to go to Junhee-ssi and tell him.”

Yuchan’s nervousness immediately skyrocketed and fingers tapped on the table, drumming on it lightly but still loud enough so that it drew her attention. “You okay? You seem anxious, your website is amazing, I promise.”

Finding her reassurance cute, he forced himself to stop messing around with any of his body parts and smiled at her instead. “Thank you. I’m just thinking about something. I appreciate it, I appreciate you,” he added the last part only in his head as he was too much of a coward to actually say them outloud - though judging by her broad and bright smile, she seemed to understand the worldless implications just fine.

A comfortable silence fell over them both, his shoulders slumping as he finally felt comfortable to relax. She slipped her bag off her shoulders and placed it in front of her, rummaging through it before producing a brown paper bag. “I went to the bakery this morning. I saw they had some brownies today and I thought you would like them.”

“You don’t have to always get me something,” She waved off his concerns and he felt his heart flutter in his chest - his cheeks immediately tinging a subtle shade of rose despite himself. “I’m okay with just you."

"Oh, you’re so adorable, Channie,” She spoke smoothly, like she hadn’t noticed that cute nickname leave her mouth and fluster him beyond belief, “I want to get them for you. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Glancing again at her watch, her lips pursed and she stood up. “I should get going now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

His mouth opened, hand lifting up to stop her before he let it fall back down to his desk, internally groaning at his cowardice. Instead of getting up and giving the gift to her, he watched her disappear down the stairs, not to be seen until tomorrow.

'Damn it,’ he looked at his bag, deciding to do the next best thing - leave it on her desk. Opening up his bag, he took out the small wrapped box that he had painstakingly covered with sparkly gift wrap. A red glitter box was on top, his reflection staring back at him hundreds of times as he stared hard at it.

Getting up, he clutched the box tightly in his hands and walked towards her desk, thankful that people had (mostly) given up on staring at him whenever he passed by. As he approached her workspace, Yuchan fell a glare burning into his skin, his saliva thick as he swallowed. He knew quite clearly that it was coming from her seatmate.

Ignoring it to the best of his abilities, he opened the first drawer to her desk and placed it gently within, giving it a soft pat of reassurance before closing the drawer again. Hopefully she would see it when she came back.

He straightened up, eyes meeting blank brown hues that seemed to see right into his soul, sending shivers down his spine. Barely managing a smile, he rushed away when he saw Changseok’s scowl deepen. He wasn’t going to stay where he wasn’t wanted.

Despite this, his cheery mood couldn’t be dampened. He had accomplished his mission even with the few hiccups during the way and that was good enough for him.

Work tomorrow suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

His leg was bouncing again today, though this time for a completely different reason than previously. Yuchan’s gaze was constantly on the door when it wasn’t focused on the screen in front of him. Right now, he couldn’t have cared less about working on a banner for another makeup company, his sole focus being on seeing her reaction to his gift.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally appeared through the door and his heart felt like it was going to beat straight out of his sternum. Chewing nervously on his bottom lip, he was growing incredibly impatient - Yuchan had half a mind to go over there and open the drawer for her.

However, his waiting finally paid off when she did open the door, the soft furrow of her brows and pursing of her lips making him bite back a hearty grin. The red bow was removed, placed delicately on the desk as she slid her finger under the folds, pulling the wrapping paper away without ripping it. Then finally, she opened the lid and looked in, pulling out the glittering keychain with the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face.

To a couple of minutes she did nothing more than sit there and admire the gift, her finger tips smoothing over the gems and across the beautiful design of it. That was all he could ask for - to see her smile because of him. Though, it did present another problem for him; he could already feel his crush on her growing tenfold.

Turning back to his screen, he felt content. As long as she was happy, he was too. His pulse continued to race and thrum, his aura giddy and joy clear enough that even Kihyun gave him a sideways glance from his side.

“Yuchan!” His heart lurched again in his throat and he sat up straight, watching her come over with her hands covering something in her hand. “You won’t believe what someone gave me, it’s so beautiful.”

She pulled up a chair, stealing it from the row in front without a care and sat down, moving her hand to show him the peacock he had grown very familiar to.

“That is pretty,” he commented, trying to keep his cheeks from turning red and exposing him, “it would look nice on your bag.”

“You think so?” She asked, inspecting it, “I think it’s too nice for that. I might put it with my keys instead.” Pulling her keys from her pocket, he watched her clip it to them, the gems continuing in their glittering. He swore they were shining more in her presence. “I wonder who it was. They didn’t leave a name and I highly doubt it was Changseok.”

'Not with the dirty look he gave me,’ Yuchan thought though did not verbalise, instead only smiling and nodding. “They must like you. It suits you a lot.”

“Oh hush,” she placed a light finger against his lips, “I got you coffee, but I left it at my desk. One second,” she rushed away and he covered his face with his hands, running a hand through his hair.

The steaming drink was placed at his side, the chair squeaking as she sat back down. He could feel Kihyun’s amusement at his obvious predicament. 'Whatever,’ he huffed, 'let hyung laugh,’ and then he looked up at her again.

Her features were bright and they were beautiful, accentuated even more by the elation of the gift. Yuchan took one more look at her visage and knew he was smitten: or in other words, he had completely fucked himself over.

It became almost a tradition, every Thursday he would leave a gift in her top drawer that she would come to find on Friday and guess about. It was the highlight of his entire week and Yuchan couldn’t have cared less about the looks Changseok gave him every time he came to drop one off.

She pushed open the door again, already excited for what she was going to get. The only thing she wasn’t fond of was the fact that she didn’t know who they were coming from and she couldn’t pay them back.

Sitting down in her desk, she started up her computer and opened the drawer, overjoyed to see a small rectangular box covered in the same sparkly wrapping paper the others had come in.

Pulling it out and closing the drawer with her knee, she was just about to unwrap it when she heard a voice speak beside her - one that she hadn’t heard for a while.

“You know it’s him, right?” She blinked, not expecting to hear Changseok speaking to her after weeks of God given silence.

“Pardon?”

“It’s him, that hybrid, he’s the only leaving you all this shit in your drawer,” He spat like he was disgusted to even think of it. Her blood boiled, anger swallowed down as she held the gift in her hands.

“What? Are you talking about Yuchan?"

"Yes, that disgusting hybrid. He’s been leaving shit for you every thursday,” Her eyes narrowed, beyond giving a fuck about his opinion and of the proper professional conduct.

“He’s better than you’ll ever be, you piece of shit. What are you doing mad about? The fact that people like Yuchan and not you? Maybe if you weren’t so unlikable, you would have friends too,” About to turn around, she felt her body jerk as he pulled her chair and scowled, obviously offended that she hadn’t given the time of the day.

“What? You’re defending him? I always knew you were someone who fucked inbred shit like him,” Astounded by the words coming from his mouth, she fell silent for a moment before poison dropped from her words.

“You’re the worst goddamn kind of person, the type who can’t face the fact that they’re a piece of shit. Yuchan is 1000 times more humane than you’ll ever be,” she stood up, glowering at him with danger setting fires in her eyes. “I told you never to speak to me and you open your mouth to talk shit? I shouldn’t have expected anything else.”

He stood up also, the entire office falling silence as they watched them both. Kihyun got up immediately, knowing it wasn’t going to end well - there had always been tension between them and it all seemed to be bubbling over in one terrible mess.

“Fuck you,” he hissed, “I bet you’ve sucked his dick and that’s why you’re so far up his ass,” she scoffed at his childish response, rolling her eyes.

Changseok seemed to not like that, his hand reaching towards her shoulder to try and coax a reaction from her, however she was faster.

Within a second, he was clutching his nose, shock clear in his eyes as she clenched her fist, his head snapped back for a moment as the sin of wrath coloured her features.

Kihyun rushed over, as Changseok moved forward, grabbing his hands as she grit her jaw, teeth grinding against each other with the force she was using to not punch him again.

“Changseok, you pathetic fuck,” she hissed and Kihyun held out his hand, trying to keep the damage at bay. She paid no attention to him, her stare enough to burn through his skin. “It’s so sad watching you show your true colours. Maybe one day someone other than your mother who will love you, though I highly doubt she does either.” She turned on her heel, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, her actions reverberating off the walls in the near silent office. “I’m not coming back until he’s out of my fucking face.”

Those were the words that echoed loudly within the four walls, glances exchanged as people looked at each other in disbelief, the door shaking behind her as she slammed it shut.

Changseok shoved away Kihyun, storming towards the bathroom with both a bruised ego and face.

And it was then that Yuchan finally felt his face burning, his eyes watery as he tried to wipe at his face as inconspicuously as he could. He wasn’t stupid, he had always noticed how Changseok didn’t like him, but he never would have thought he hated him to such an extent over something he had no control over.

The screen in front of him blurred, the glances and whispers of everyone else making him feel like he was back at his first day, being judged and scrutinised for everything he did.

Wanting nothing more than to curl up into a ball, he was thankful for Kihyun as he barked at everyone else to carry on working and to stop looking at him. A gentle hand found it’s way on his shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.

“I’m sorry, Yuchan. You don’t deserve that.”

He shook his head, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall. “I don’t want her to get into trouble. Especially not over me.”

Kihyun’s eyes were warm, filled with sympathy ss he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Changseok started it so he’ll get the most of the punishment. She’ll be okay,” he sniffled, comforted at the thought, “if you want to go home, that’s completely okay. I’ll tell Junhee for you.”

Thanking him quietly, he got up from his seat, swallowing down the bile that threatened to make it way up his throat, his mind weighed down by the thoughts racing through his head. Barely looking anyway apart from straight ahead, he raced out of the building and kept his head down, finally able to wipe his face in peace. At least in the streets of Seoul no one acknowledged each other, too busy caring about themselves to care about him.

The last thing he wanted to do was be the reason that she was fired, though he couldn’t say that the fact she defended him hadn’t left his chest feeling warm and fuzzy. It was just that his feeling of guilt was overpowering it.

He couldn’t imagine coming into work and not seeing her pretty face coming up to him with happiness and a genuine excitement for meeting him. Yuchan didn’t want to imagine it either; she hadn’t even opened the gift he had gotten her this time.

Then, as he was walking, he heard his name being called. First it was very failure, almost a figment of his imagination, before he heard it louder and clearer.

“Yuchan, wait!” He looked over his shoulder to see one of his seniors running towards him; Yoongi, one of the quieter but well respected higher ups. Yuchan hadn’t really interacted with him before save for the occasional smiles as Kihyun bothered him.

He paused in his walking, desperately hoping he didn’t look like shit.

Yoongi rushed up to him, looking slightly out of breath but still coherent enough to talk. “I’m sorry for what happened Yuchan. You shouldn’t have had to hear all that shit coming out of his mouth ”

“It’s o-”

“It’s not,” Yoongi shook his head, “He’s going to get fired and even though (y/n) will get a strike for punching him, she won’t be let go. We should have sacked him a long time ago,” his heart felt a million times lighter hearing that, a smile breaking out on his face and stretching across his cheeks.

Yoongi patted his shoulder. “Keep up the good work. We understand if you want to take a couple of days off. Stay healthy, Yuchan.” Yoongi. walked away again with a dip of his head.

Even though the feeling of guilt still lingered, he was so much more jovial, now walking home with a skip in his step rather than pulling his feet along behind him.

Her empty desk was slowly getting on his nerves. He knew in his heart of hearts that she would be coming back soon and that it just took a while for them to properly clean up all of Changseok’s belongings; he was still impatient.

Yoongi had said she would be back and he had to believe that it would be soon.

His headphones were over his ears, a half eaten sandwich in its wrapper on his desk. He didn’t have much of an appetite while at work anymore - subconsciously associating it with her and her presence. It didn’t feel right to eat if she wasn’t at least there or had said hi that day.

Music played loudly in his ears, focused on completing the banner so he could go home and bury himself under the covers for a weekend.

As he changed the colour of it, his attention was diverted by a box being set down between his arms. Wrapped in silvery paper and a glittering gold ribbon, it was incredibly reminiscent of his own packaging methods.

Pulling the headphones around his neck, his breath hitched in his throat as the smile he had come to adore beamed down at him and bathed him in sunshine. He swallowed, words suddenly glued to the tip of his tongue.

“Hi,” She spoke first, sitting down beside him, “how are you, Chan? Everything’s going good?”

He nodded, wishing he could have said something instead of becoming silent.

“That’s good,” she mused, “He’s been fired so I’m back. I got a warning though, but that’s whatever."

"I’m glad you’re back,” he finally vocalised and she grinned, “I missed you.”

A silence followed and he was worried he had overstepped a boundary, rushing to try and rectify it - only to be stopped by her soft giggle.

“You did? That’s cute,” she replied, her finger tapping on the box lightly, “thank you for the gifts by the way. They’re always so beautiful and I really enjoyed getting them.” Even though she only knew it was him because of Changseok opening his mouth, he couldn’t help but still be delighted and slightly embarrassed that he had been found out.

Slowly, he reached out to slide his finger under the seals, copying her care and delicacy, before pulling the ribbon away and opening it up. Inside was a small rose charm, the rose tinted metal glittering brightly and with the sole purpose of catching his attention.

“I know it’s not as pretty as everything you got me, but I hope you’ll like it more when you find out the second thing I got you,” he looked back inside the box, visibly confused when there was nothing there. “It’s a date. I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me, Channie.”

He froze up immediately, eyes wide and turning into the size of golf balls as his mind screeched to a hold. Did she seriously just ask him out? The girl he had a crush on for months, asked him out?

If he wasn’t so gobsmacked he would have been mortified at his lack of response, her face dropping almost unnoticeably at his lack of reply. God, could he be anymore of a moron?

“Yes!” The exclamation came way too loudly and he cleared his throat, unable to meet her gaze ad he fiddled with the charm. “Um, yeah. I would really like that.”

“That’s great,” her hand was warm, resting on top of his as she squeezed his gently, “could I have your number then?"

Fumbling with his phone, it almost slipped through his fingers as he handed it to her and he cursed himself for being such a mess. Thankfully, she seemed to find it endearing, sparkles lighting up her eyes as she saved his number in her phone and sent him a text. "Thank you, baby,” his cheeks flushed an even more vibrant crimson and he was sure he matched Kihyun’s hair by now.

Even so, the last nail in his coffin had to be the gentle way her hands cupped his face, leaning closer so that her gentle and comforting scent invaded his senses. Her lips were soft against his cheek, the skin tingling even as she moved away - fingers brushing across the side of his face.

He could only stare owlishly at her retreating figure, all thoughts disappearing. Yuchan could not believe that any of that had happened.

Then, like a bucket of cold water being thrown onto him, he heard Kihyun laughing from beside him, his foot landing on the side of his chair to spin him around. “I can’t believe you got her to ask you out. I never thought I’d see the day, you really are special if she likes you, Yuchan."

Attempting to cover his face with his hands, Kihyun only continued to find amusement in his shyness, poking his side lightly before turning back to his work - still laughing. Nonetheless, Yuchan couldn’t have cared less. He had a date to worry about now.

The flavour of coffee and sugar coated his tongue, sweetness spreading across his mouth as he took another sip of his drink in an to attempt to pass the time which seemed to be passing by both incredibly quick and irritatingly slow.

15 minutes had gone by and he was beginning to think that she had stood him up. That thought alone hurt to have and he could feel his stomach twist the more he lingered on that idea. That was the last thing he wanted to believe - to even consider. She wasn’t the type of person to do that, was she?

Consumed by his own thoughts, he didn’t hear the bell to the shop open and a hurried figure walk in. Only when the chair beside him scraped against the floor and and apologetic face was in front of his visage, did he realise who he was staring at.

"I’m so sorry, Channie. I got caught up with my roommate, she couldn’t figure out what to get her girlfriend and dragged me into helping her,``she huffed and he found the puff of her cheeks to be adorable, his eyes turning into gentle crescent moons ad he forgot about all the negative emotions had felt just moments ago.

"It’s okay, it was only 15 minutes, I don’t mind,” He really didn’t mind, not even she was looking so pretty just for him, her countenance as beautiful as ever - if not slightly more so today. “You look really nice today.”

Her eyes roamed over his body, looking over the maroon jacket that he had coupled with a black turtleneck and then back up to his face. “You look extra cute today as well.”

Yuchan swore he was going to become permanently pink faced around her.

Now that she was here, time seemed to fly by, speeding past until she placed her hand over his and suggested they leave the café in favour of walking around the nearby botanical garden. And how could he disagree to walking with pretty flowers and a stunning woman beside him?

Her arm looped around his, content written across her features as she spoke about whatever. Then, she paused for a moment and looked up at him. “Yuchan, can I ask you a personal question?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Are you a crow hybrid?” He was a little bewildered that she had figured it out; he was sure he had never given any indication towards his species.

“Mhm. How did you find that out?”

“Well, for one you’re really intelligent and can pick out problems and solutions really quickly. And two, I noticed you really seem to like shiny things and collect them.- all the jewellery you wear is really bright, I think it’s cute,” His smile was broad, hiding his face in her shoulder as she ruffled his hair, smooth in the strands gently between her fingers.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Why did you defend me and risk your job like that?” She stilled for a moment, but she carried on brushing her fingers through the silly black strands.

“Because I don’t like him and his views. He’s a piece of shit that thinks he can say things like that and get away with it. I would have done it for anyone, but it annoyed me especially because he was saying it about you. You’re so sweet, Yuchannie and he refuses to acknowledge that,” Her voice was soothing and he found himself relaxing against her touch, “and besides. I got to punch him and keep my job, I think it’s a win win situation.”

He laughed, the sound full of mirth and of gratitude. “That’s nice to know,” He remarked teasingly and she pulled him down onto the bench with a finger against her smiling lips.

Her fingers slipped into her coat pocket, rummaging around for something before she pulled out a small velvet box. The small thing was opened up and within there was a dainty half heart necklace, encrusted with red gems and a single pink one in the middle.

Without giving him a chance to speak, she unclasped the necklace and gestured for him to lean down, placing it gently around his neck and patting the spot above his heart. She reached under her shirt and pulled out her own identical necklace, the other half of the heart.

“There,” she spoke as she tucked it back under her shirt, “now I can add you to my collection of pretty things."

Oh god, he thought as he pressed a kiss to her cheek in an attempt to do something with himself, she’s going to make me fall so hard.

#chan x reader #yuchan x reader #a.c.e x reader #a.c.e imagines #a.c.e scenarios #yuchan fluff #chan fluff #chan scenarios #yuchan angst #yuchan imagines #yuchan scenarios #chan imagines

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havethetimeofyourstyles · 4 years

Text

here it is! the first part of UTCM!

wc: 4.8k

taglist | story masterlist

͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧

With clothes flying across the room, trying to make each article of clothing land in the target of a rectangle, you rummage through your closet, trying to find the specific piece of your most treasured clothing.

One that meant something special to you.

As you dig through your drawer, trying to find the thick, vintage tee your dad had given you (more like you stole it and never gave it back), your hand finally feels the familiar material that has brought you comfort and lots of compliments if you do say so yourself.

With a proud ‘bingo’ escaping your lips, you’re not surprised that it’s the only shirt you folded and gently put into your suitcase. You looked around your room, finding the hurricane of clothing sprawled out on the floor and your bikini top on your lap shade. Laughing a bit, you drop to your knees and begin to pick up your clothes, stuffing it into the suitcase.

You check the time and see that it’s five minutes to 9 AM and your phone rings on your bedside table, knowing you’re behind schedule. You quickly grab your phone, placing it between your shoulder and your ear, and continue grabbing your clothes.

“Yellow?”

“Honey, quit answering the phone like that.” You take the phone from your shoulder and put it at arms reach before sighing, knowing you should’ve looked at the caller ID.

“Hello, mother. How are you on this fine morning?” Your voice changes from playful to proper tone only to tease her.

“Oh, quit it. I was just calling to see if you were all packed and ready.”

“Yup!” You say confidently, looking around your room as it says otherwise. Obviously, packing wasn’t your greatest talent.

It was your best friend’s parent’s anniversary. Minny has informed you a month ago, knowing that you would procrastinate on packing, and to be fair, she was right. Packing wasn’t your favorite, and she knew that. Aww, my best friend knows me so well.

You and Minny have been best friends since you were 7. You two met at school and were in the same class. Because of the two’s last names being right next to each other on the roll call, you were assigned to sit right next to her. Throughout the years in school, you had always remained close. Sure, you two have met other people and became friends with them, but nothing came as close as the bond you have with her.

It was 20 years of eating at lunch together, never missing a day. Sleepovers. Day and night calls to gossip or vent. Laughs. Petty arguments. Crying over stupid boys and girls that broke your heart. Monthly ‘glo the fuck up’ day. Jogging in the park. Living life. And most importantly, love.

Damn, we’re getting old.

“I’m sad I can’t make it to Dan and Lina’s anniversary trip.” Your mother sighed over the phone.

Yours and Minny’s family had practically become one big family when you both turned 10. With occasional sleepovers and meet ups at the mall, your parents had become really great friends with hers.

“I know, Mom. But you practically see them everyday, so it’s fine. They understand why.” You try reasoning out with her.

“I hope so.” She sighs sadly on the phone, and it makes your heart hurt.

“They do understand. Trust me.”

“I wish you were here-” She immediately cuts off.

“Mom, I can go with you. I don’t have to go on Dan and Lina’s trip. Let me call Minny so I can tell her to not come by.”

“No, no!” You pause. “Please, don’t miss out on having fun for me. I want you to have fun. You deserve it.” You nod, even though she can’t see you. You check the time, and know you’re running out of time to finish packing.

“You deserve it too, Mom.” She doesn’t say anything, but you know she’s smiling on the other side of the call.

“Hey, Mom. I gotta go. Minny is almost here to pick me up, so I just wanna double check everything.”

“Of course, honey. I’ll call Lina later. Say hi to Minny for me. I love you.”

“Will do. I love you too.” The door knocks once you hang up the call. Curses scolding yourself for being so lazy and procrastinating fly from your lips as you get the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” The last person you were expecting was seeing your ex boyfriend on your doorstep with keys in his hand. He wore rust color corduroy pants, a stripe shirt, and a turquoise jacket that’s stitched on the side. His hair was pushed back by his black sunglasses and he was wearing his pearl necklace. You hate to admit that he looks good and can possibly rock anything he wore, and you despised him for that along with other reasons.

“Wow. No, hi or how are you Harry? I’m doing great, thanks for asking.” He says sarcastically and you roll your eyes, walking back to your room to finish packing. “Well, I see you’re still not that great with organizing your time, or your clothes.” You don’t say anything because you really don’t want to speak to him at the moment, or at all. “I’m assuming Minny didn’t tell you.” Your eyes perk up into confusion.

“Minny didn’t tell me what?” You ask, continuing to fold the last pair of clothes.

“She asked me to pick you up. You know, to take you to the lake house.” If it were possible, steam was coming out of your ears. Why hadn’t Minny told you? You huff loudly for Harry to know that you’re clearly annoyed before grabbing your phone and immediately dialing Minny’s number, and waiting for her to pick up.

Harry looks around your room, seeing as things haven't changed with you, and you want to kick him out as soon as you're done talking to Minny.

“Hey, girl! Are you on your way?” Her voice is high and she clearly is not prepared for what you’re about to give her.

“How can you have Harry pick me up? And why didn’t you tell me that you couldn’t pick me up?”

“Clearly, you’re the best at greeting people anymore.” Harry says, leaning against the door frame as he wears a smirk, and you immediately flick him off. He puts his hand on his chest with an exaggerated jaw drop, pretending to be offended.

“I’m so sorry. I meant to tell you, I promise. But my dumbass of a brother decided to come last minute because his plans got cancelled, and so we were all rushing out the door and putting everything in the car.” You hear Minny’s brother, Jackson, say ‘hey!’ and you sigh.

“It’s okay, I understand.” Not wanting to be annoyed anymore, you brush it off.

“I can find someone else to pick me up, no worries.” Harry raises his hands up as if he’s saying ‘I’m literally here to pick you up.’

“No! Just take the ride from Harry. After all, he is staying at the house too.” Your eyes widen.

“What?! Why would you invite him?”

“You know, you’re doing a lot of talking like I’m not here in the room right now.” You mouth ‘shut up’ to him.

“Please, just go with him. We’re almost there anyways and I don’t want you guys to be late because you want to be difficult. Just ride with him. It’s only like a 3 hour drive and you can sleep on the way, and then not talk to him for the rest of the trip.” She persuades.

Minny was always good at persuading people. In college, both of you were commuting from home and didn’t stay at the dorms, so you didn’t know that many people, especially not in the frat or sorority houses. She had convinced her parents that they needed a weekend to get out of the house and take a nice getaway trip, laying out the pros and cons so she can throw a party. And they really thought her pros outweigh the cons.

“Ugh! Okay, fine.”

“Thank you! Love you! Bye!” She gets off the phone quickly, and you turn to Harry.

“Shall we get on the road?” He smiles. You were finally finished with packing and rolled your luggage to the front, ignoring him. He comes out of your room with your bikini top in his hand, and your eyes widen, forgetting to take it from the lampshade. “Think you forgot this.” He holds it up and you snatch it quickly. And you’re both out the door and possibly going on the worst trip.

Two weeks and I’ll be home.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧

Two hours down. One more to go.

The entirety of the car ride had been filled with awkwardness and silence. If music hadn’t been playing, you were sure you were going to explode. Harry had asked you if you were alright about a million times or if you were too hot or cold. You kept your responses to a minimum, replying with ‘yeah, I’m good’ or ‘I’m okay’. Harry was gripping the steering wheel so tight, that he was sure his hand would cramp up when he tried to unlatch. The tension and awkwardness was getting to him. He hated that things had ended up like this between the two of you, but he was willing to change that. He wants to change that.

“R. E. D.” He says suddenly after minutes of not talking, and just listening to the sound of the music and the engine of the car.

“Pardon?” You turn to face him.

“C’mon, you don’t remember the game we used to play when we would go on road trips?” He asks hopefully, looking at you quickly before turning his head back on the road.

Of course you remember. Hours on the road with him, going to the next destination when he was on tour or outside of the city to get away from everything, led you both to play road trip games that included saying 3 random letters and finding it on a license plate. It’s what made traveling fun and the hours on the road much more interesting. Especially with Harry.

“Yeah, I remember.” You say softly, not showing emotion.

“Okay, well, start looking.”

“You weren’t very good at this game.” You say, but quickly close your mouth, not realizing that you’re thinking out loud.

And Harry’s surprised. He knows that your comment was a teasing one, and he was worried that he would t get a single sentence out of your mouth without you yelling in his face. “I’m very good at this game!”

“I mean, considering that my board was filled with tallies, then I would think you’re bad at it.” You let out a chuckle and Harry has a big smile on his face, thinking it’ll hurt his cheeks later on.

“You literally gave me impossible letters to work with!”

“They’re license plates, not people’s names!” You tease.

“Just look for R.E.D!” He ends the conversation. Although he didn’t want to, he knew that you’re most likely going to blow up in his face if you two acted like a happy couple again. He knew that you would overthink about the bad things overlapping the good, and you would go back to resenting him.

And he was right.

After he ended the conversation, you were thinking about what could’ve been between you; what could still be if he weren’t an asshole. The laughs and teasing you two had just a minute ago were replaced with deep breaths, not knowing if one of you should say a thing again.

There were only a few cars on the same road for you; going to different places. You wondered if people going on a road trip had the same situation with you and Harry: the sharp tension that can be cut like a knife or wanting to jump out of the car.

You must have blanked out for a while because Harry had gotten off the highway and onto a secluded street that leads to the lake house.

The drive through the woods with high boulders and tall trees had you speechless. You got as close to the window as possible, looking up like you’ve just seen a shooting star. Nature has always been such a fascination to you. You’ve always loved camping trips and hiking; so much that you’re currently an environmental scientist.

You don’t notice with your head practically sticking out the window, but Harry is having such a hard time keeping his eyes on the road. He thinks that it’s admirable how passionate you are, especially about nature and animals because it’s rare that people end up doing what they love. And he loves seeing you so passionate about what you love.

The drive surrounded by the forest didn’t take long; about 20 minutes, and Harry had already pulled up into the gravel driveway in front of the lake house.

The famous lake house that Lina and Dan have owned for 30 years; ever since they got married. It was a rather large lake house; able to fit two families of four. With brown wood hammered onto the sides and evergreen border along the windows, the house was generally very comfortable and homey. They had kept renovating throughout the years to keep up with the times changing, and they’re loving how modern it looks as of now, but very welcoming at the same time.

“Well, we’re finally here.” Harry says, cutting off the ignition and getting out of the car. You do the same as well and meet him where the truck is popped open, Harry grabbing his bags. You went to reach for it, but Harry slaps your hand away.

“Hey!”

“Don’t worry about the bags. I got them.”

“Thanks.” You give him a soft smile.

“And besides, you’ve packed for like a month when we’re gonna be here for two weeks, and you were barely able to carry it out of your house.” He teases.

“For a matter of fact, I happen to be very strong.” You cross your arms.

“Okay, whatever you say, Captain.” The pet name slipped out. When you and Harry were together, he started calling you Captain because sometimes you can be so aggressive and demanding, but passionate, that it felt like you were the Captain of the ship, which technically you were. You were always in charge, always right, and always planning everything. Captain just stuck, and he thought it was so perfect for you.

The pet name had definitely startled you. You haven’t heard that name come from his lips in forever. And admittingly, you missed it. But you don’t tell him that, of course.

Harry notices your shock and just smiles instead of pushing it. He instead walks towards the car once his hands are full.

“Hey, Harry?” He could’ve sworn that his head got jumbled up at your call for him because of how fast he turned around.

“Yes?”

“R.E.D.” You pointed towards Minny’s car with a smirk on your face. Harry looks at her license plate and his jaw drops, but you see the corners of his lips turn up.

“How did you-”

“You think I don’t know my best friend’s license plate when she’s had this car for 4 years?” Your smile is amusing and Harry has missed this side from you.

“Well done.” He drops the bags and starts clapping.

“Make sure to mark my tally.” You walk past him and towards the house. Harry turns around, watching you walk. Specifically landing his eyes on your hips and watching them sway like you own the fucking world. It’s endearing and he loves it. He loves how sometimes you can walk the whole universe and own it, but he always loves how you shy away from things and look for reassurance. He loves it.

You don’t turn around because with the smile and hint of blush that crept onto your face, it’s bound to be a disaster if he sees it.

“Aye, aye, Captain.” He chuckles before picking up the bags and following your footsteps.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧

The inside of the house was opposite of what it looked like from the outside. While the outside was rustic and dark looking, the inside was light and provided very much needed natural lighting due to the big window that overlooks the lake. Sun shines bright through the window and into the house that it almost hurts to look out, but that’s Mother Nature at her finest.

You head up to your usual bedroom that you claimed when you were younger, having taken trips to this house for so many years that your feet just subconsciously took you to your room.

It remained the same: big window that led to a small balcony, wooden frame bed, and a mattress that is the perfect size and comfort for you. The walls were white, and with the light coming through, it made the room look even bigger.

Usually you and Minny would sleep in the same room, but there were enough rooms so you two can have your own. But there were some nights where you would spend the night with her, and her, you.

You hadn’t noticed Harry following you to your room, but when you hear bags drop onto the floor, you jump and turn around. “You scared me.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to. Thought you heard me following you.”

“No, I didn’t. I was just distracted with my thoughts.”

Harry leans against the door frame and crosses his arms. “What about?” He asks curiously.

“Just… haven’t been here in a while, and I miss it.” He only nods, and it quickly goes back to silence. “Thank you for bringing my bags up.” This time, he smiles.

“Not a problem. Let me know if you need anything else, Captain.” You chuckle.

“Will do.” He leaves your room and shuts the door close, knowing you’d probably want to settle in and change into more lounge clothing.

You sit on your bed, facing the window, and look out at the lake. You don’t know what you’re feeling. Before you saw him today, you would just get mad that you’re thinking about him, but that car ride broke every anger that clung onto your body. It was like your mind naturally reacted to Harry in a way that you couldn’t control. You can control anything else, but not with Harry. You naturally felt a pull towards him, and no matter how much you wanted to cut off the string you couldn’t.

You had definitely missed the feeling of being around him, and that makes you angry. Angry at yourself because he hurt you.

You try not to cry with the thoughts swirling in your head. You take in the beautiful view from your bedroom and tell yourself that you shouldn’t be sad because you’ve got a long trip ahead of you.

As you changed into your lounge clothes, you headed downstairs to greet the family that was just back from the backyard.

“Oh, sweetheart! I’m so happy you’re here!” Lina greets you with a warm hug. Dan does the same, giving you a bear hug.

“Happy anniversary! How are you guys?” You ask the married couple.

“We’re doing great! I’m excited this time has come again! We’ve got so much planned.” You smile at their excitement. They turned to look at each other and you can’t help but admire their love for one another, even after all these years.

Yours and Minny’s parents’ love was like no other. You were pretty blessed to grow up around healthy relationships, and can’t help but feel so fond of the love they have for each other and wanting it for yourself.

“The kids are still outside.” Lina kisses your cheek and Dan pats your shoulder before they head to the kitchen.

You walk through the glass slide door that leads to the stunning view of the water that the sun reflects onto. You take a deep inhale in, breathing in the world’s scent. The outside is such a beauty that some people take it for granted.

“Ahh!” The famous screams come from no other than Minny. “You’re here!” She runs to you and you engulf her into a big and hard hitting hug. Jackson also hugs you and runs his hand on top of your head, messing up your hair.

“Dickhead!” You slap his chest.

“How are you, other little sister?”

“Oh, you know, here.” You say, not knowing what to say, so ‘here’ is usually your backup for not really wanting to say how you feel.

Minny rolls her eyes, knowing you all too well for your liking. “How was the drive?”

“It was…interesting.”

“Well, that’s my cue to go.” Jackson walks back to the house, and leaves Minny and I to talk.

“Was it that bad?” Minny asks worriedly.

“No, it wasn’t bad. It was just awkward and there was tension between us. But then we started playing our famous road trip game and I started teasing him, and ugh! I smiled and laughed a little and I hated it.” You huffed and looked down.

“What, why?”

“I-I don’t know. I just… I was expecting to have the worst trip when he showed up at my doorstep, but my mind is taking over.”

“Your mind or your heart?” Minny tests. You don’t reply. You just look at her, not knowing if she genuinely wanted a response or she was just testing you.

“Why did you invite him?” You ask at the wrong time because you don’t hear the sliding door open, revealing Harry.

“Hey, Minny.” He smiles softly at her and steps out of the house to hug her. Your breath was hitched in your throat, feeling guilty about your question because you didn’t hear him.

“Hey, Harry.” She smiles back and hugs him. Once they let go of their embrace, Harry turns to you.

“If you don’t want me here so bad, then the Captain shall be obeyed.” He teases, but you know that he’s more hurt than what he puts on. He puts on a brave face, but really you see it in his eyes that he’s hurt. You know that your question had hurt him and it was just the wrong timing to ask that.

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Didn’t you?” His head turns slightly, knowing he’s trying to keep his annoyance intact. His voice is different and sarcastic. Minny senses the shift of tension, so she breaks it.

“I invited him because he’s been my friend as long as you have, so he’s practically family too. He’s been to every trip as well, and besides, my parents love him.” She places her arm on Harry’s shoulder, and you can’t help but feel like they’re teaming up against you. Harry walks ahead of us and goes inside while you and Minny trail behind him. You know you shouldn’t think of it like that because they’re not, but you feel like such a downer once you found out that Harry was tagging along. “Let’s go in and eat lunch!” Minny changes the subject, feeling like that’s what they really needed. “By the way, which letters did he ask for?” Minny asks.

“R.E.D,” you smile amusingly and roll your eyes, giving your best friend the ‘I know right?’ look. She laughs loudly, throwing her head back and clutching her stomach.

“Well that was an easy win for you.” She says and you nod, before putting an arm around your shoulder, walking inside the house for lunch.

Lina had prepared salad, homemade garlic bread, Brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes. Dan had cooked his famous ribs, one that was his specialty ever since he was a young adult. They didn’t want to cook right when they got to the house, so they prepared it beforehand and took it with them.

The six sat down at the table that was set in front of the window. Dan at the end of the table, Lina on his right, Minny right next to Lina, you on the other end, Harry next to you, and Jackson next to Harry. Everyone was loading food on their plates before passing it around or across the table, Lina making sure everyone got one of each.

“Alright, eat up!”

The conversation flowed throughout the table. The parents asked the kids how work was going, to which everyone responded that it was going well.

“Harry, honey, is your mom and sister planning to stay as well?” Lina asks.

Harry clears his throat and wipes his mouth before replying, “they might come at the end of the week—probably the weekend. Gems couldn’t get out of work, so they’ll only stay for a few days.” She nodded and turned to you.

“Has your mother changed her mind? About coming?” She gives you a sympathetic look.

“I don’t think so. She said she would call you later.” Lina smiles at that. Your eyes naturally gravitated towards Harry and he has a confused look on his face looking back at you, but you look down at your plate before picking up your ribs and taking a bite out of them.

You listen to the conversation while you eat; Dan telling the table a story about a cliff diving incident that happened to Lina when they were in Greece, and the whole table was laughing their ass off, even though they’ve heard it a million times; it never gets old.

You finished your rib and set it down on your plate before wiping your hands down, and before you went to wipe your lips, you felt a napkin, one that’s not yours, wipe your cheek. You turn and see Harry trying to get the stained sauce from your skin.

“Thank you.” You say awkwardly once he’s done, and he gives you a smile followed by a chuckle. He didn’t mean to do that. He knew you were a messy eater and it was a habit that he wiped stuff off your face. A habit that worked well for the both of you, like you were a team. A natural born team.

Once everyone was finished with lunch, it was nearing 2 p.m already, and the group decided to split and do whatever they please as they were going to be all together tomorrow and the rest of the trip.

After everyone helped clean up the table and kitchen, you decided to take a nap before watching the sun set for the day.

Your body hit the mattress and soft pillows that made you feel like you were on a cloud. The room was dark, thanks to the thick curtains that hung from the metal rod. The only light that was shown was a strip of it coming from the curtain not being able to close all the way. You snuggled your pillow, happy you’re finally getting some rest after a long day.

When you woke up, it was still light out, but not as sunny as it was prior to your nap. You stretched your limbs out, relieving the feeling of any tense muscles from your sleep, and walked downstairs and to the backyard.

“Good nap?” Harry says from the lawn chair that is set on the grass. You rub your eyes, nodding while closing the sliding door. There’s a vacant seat next to him, and you’re not quite sure if you want to sit next to him or watch the sun disappear when your feet are in the water. “Want to sit here?” He asks as if he read your mind.

“I-”

“I can see that you’re debating if you want to sit next to me or not, so I can leave and you can sit here if you want.” He says, and you feel bad a bit. He already thinks that you don’t want him here, and he’s simply here for Lina and Dan.

“It’s okay. You can stay. I’m just going to go by the water.” He only nods and you walk away.

The water softly hits the shore and you feel the coldness of it hit your feet. It’s refreshing and cooling, hoping it’ll cool down your nerves and your mood.

You cross your arms as you watch the sun slowly begin to set. The fascination you have with the sun is like no other. It reminds you of the feeling of hope and a new beginning; how the sun setting resembles the end of a story, a day. And tomorrow is a new day.

You can’t help but think about your situation with Harry and how it’s hypocritical to be talking about a new story when you’ve been clinging onto his story. You feel a little stressed keeping the grudge and anger towards him bottled up because he hurt you bad, but you’re also still in love with him.

As the sky turned from light to dark, you turned around to go inside, and to see if Harry was still sitting on the chair. But when you’re walking away from the water and towards the house, you see the chair empty, and you don't know why you have a sad feeling in your chest.

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jjaybank · 4 years

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a knight in faded cut-offs ~ jj maybank

words: 1,745

warnings:swears

requested:yesss :)

A/N:request from anon - Hii can I request one of JJ x Female Reader? The reader doesn’t have a car so she takes public transportation (taxi, bus, Uber, etc). She oversleeps and misses her ride and gets really stressed out about it. JJ sees her stressing and offers to take her to wherever she was going on his motorcycle. Then when they get there, he asks her out before she goes inside or something like that :)

Hi angel, I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to get to your request! I will do better.

tagging some beauts (i hope thats okay): @bricksatanakinswindow @socialwriter @tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar @downbytheouterbanks @maybanksbaby @pixelated-pogues

lmk if you wanna be tagged in my stuff (and also if you don’t x) ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

You wake with a start, catching yourself freefalling through a dream. The kind that makes you come round with a jolt and that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. You roll over in bed, rubbing sleep from your eyes and yawning into a stretch. Sunlight streams through your shutters and over your bedsheets, illuminating your bedroom in a soft glow. Which you languidly realise is pretty unusual. The sun is usually only just coming up when you wake for work. Fuck.

Your heart lurches into your throat and that sick feeling hurtles through your body again as you realise you must have overslept. You scramble around in your bed sheets, eventually shaking your phone onto the floor. You reach for it desperately, jabbing at the screen. It’s dead. You must have forgotten to charge it overnight. You roll your eyes and groan in panic, jamming the charger into the port. You race around your room, throwing on your work uniform and frantically pulling a brush through your hair. You throw the shutters open in haste, anxiously trying to gauge the time by the state of the traffic. You squint at the fuel station across the street. You recognise a few of the usual suspects picking up their morning paper and coffees, which relaxes you momentarily because it means that surely you’re not that late. You curse when you stub your toe on the foot of your bed. Your phone finally lights up with life and you grab at it while attempting to pull your shoes on one handed. 7.29 AM. Fuck. Your eyes dart to the window just as your 7.30 bus rolls on past. A tirade of swear words cascade from your mouth as you grab your bag and dash for the door. It’s a beautiful day and you hate it. When the weather is bad the bus is always running late, and you are left to wait in a downpour. But on this gorgeous, bright, sunshiney day here you are sprinting after your ride which has no intention of stopping. You give up on the chase as the bus rounds the corner of the street, resorting to throwing your middle finger up at the retreating vehicle. Cars beep at you as they whizz past and you smile sarcastically, dipping into an over the top bow as you catch your breath. You sigh in resignation as you slump against the pole of the bus stop, your mind racing as you consider your options. You watch the people in the fuel station; a woman filling up the tank of her van, a group of youngsters grabbing sweets on their way to school, a blond guy kneeling beside his dirt bike checking a tyre. You catch his eye for a moment across the road before you pull your gaze away and down to the tarmac. You spare a glance for your phone and notice its already dropped back down to 1%. You work on the other side of The Cut, a half hour bus ride away so you definitely aren’t going to make it on time by foot. You have neither enough charge nor the cash for a taxi since you usually rely on your bus pass. You are already on strike two – one more misdemeanour and you’ve got the sack which, given your financial situation, isn’t really something you can afford. Fuck! And this time you say it out loud – in fact it’s more of a scream. Your outburst catches the attention of several people, including the blond. His head whips up from where he has been focussed on his bike and his brow furrows at your clear distress. You cover your mouth sheepishly, waving a general apology to the vicinity. You bury your face in your hands, the disaster of a morning running through your mind. You’ve probably only been awake for around ten minutes and it’s already one of the worst days you’ve had in a long while. You are considering heading home to charge your phone and risk a call to your incredibly unforgiving boss, when a bike skids to a halt in front of you, sending small stones skittering over your barely tied laces. You look up in despair, literally how could this day get any worse? ‘Bad morning?’ It’s the blond guy from the fuel station. You watch in bewilderment as he dismounts from his dodgy looking dirt bike. You look up and down the street – it’s broad daylight and there are commuters here, there and everywhere, if he’s a kidnapper then he’s a pretty shitty one. You look back to him and he’s watching you expectantly. ‘Well?’ he probes, shifting against his bike so that he’s leaning against it with a certain air of confidence. ‘I- uh,’ you stumble over your words and roll your eyes for the hundredth time since you woke, ‘yeah, “bad” would be an understatement.’ You laugh dryly, rubbing the toe of your shoe into the ground. He catches you off guard by flashing the brightest of grins and patting the seat of his bike. ‘Need a ride?’ You narrow your eyes at him suspiciously. ‘Why would you do that?’ you ask, baffled as to why the guy would go out of his way for someone he’d never met before. He scratches the back of his neck bashfully and his vividly blue eyes meet your sceptical ones. ‘Are you in a rush or nah? Just tryna get in that good karma.’ He laughs, shaking his head and moving to straddle his bike again. Your heart thumps against your chest as you weigh up your options. You really need your job. ‘Wait!’ You step forward and his head snaps back around, a small smirk playing over his face. You stretch a hand out towards him and he takes it warmly, passing you the helmet that’s been sitting on the handle bars. ‘I’m Y/N’ you say, shooting him a brief smile as you secure the helmet on your head. He helps you settle down on the back of the bike before he slips in front of you. ‘Nice to meet you, Y/N,’ and you can hear the amusement in his voice, ‘my name is JJ, I will be your captain today.’ You can’t help but snort in laughter. ‘Please hold on tight and keep hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.’ You wrap your arms around his waist tentatively in response. ‘I do hope you enjoy your journey today to- wait, where are we going?’ He spins around in his seat to face you, and for some reason you can’t help but match his wide smile. ‘Heywards,’ you respond, ‘you know it?’ ‘Oh, boy do I!’ He laughs out loud. ‘Yeah, I get now why you don’t wanna be late.’ ‘Yeah.’ You groan, resting your helmet clad head against his back as he turns back around to start up the bike. The engine rumbles beneath you and before you know it the wind is pulling at your hair as you take off down the street and across the Cut. You can’t help but enjoy the feeling. The sun on your skin, the feeling of the boy’s muscles moving against you, the taste of the salt in the air as you pass through the harbour. If you weren’t so worried about being fired then it would feel kind of magical. The pair of you let out a whoop of joy as JJ overtakes the bus, each throwing up your middle fingers at the driver as you pass. You really hope he doesn’t recognise you or tomorrow morning will be awfully awkward. You feel a weird sense of dread as JJ brings the bike to a skidding halt outside Heywards. And it’s not because of the hour, you’ve made up plenty of time racing across the Cut clinging onto him for dear life. You pout a little as you return the helmet. ‘Thank you, JJ.’ and his face splits into a grin at the sound of you saying his name. ‘It’s nothing. You should miss the bus more often.’ You laugh at his brazen comment and catch the kind twinkle in his eyes. You can feel a blush creeping up your neck as his gaze lingers on you for a moment too long. Movement in the shop breaks the moment and you step away from the bike quickly, running a hand through your tousled hair. ‘Well, I better get going’ you grimace, gesturing towards the shop with your thumb. He nods, his face twisted in thought. You offer a tight-lipped smile which he returns reluctantly. ‘Thanks again.’ You barely make three steps when you feel a hand wrap around your arm. You jump a little but find yourself biting your lip against a grin as you come face to face with the boy again. ‘Hi.’ He beams sheepishly. ‘Hi.’ Your stomach does a flip. You notice his tongue run delicately over his front teeth as he smiles down at you. ‘I was just wondering if you’d maybe wanna call me sometime? Y’know, if you ever find yourself running late again?’ He surprises himself with how nervous he is, but his words are dripping with charm none the less.

You hold up your phone with a smirk. ‘Dead.’ You shrug and find yourself enjoying how disappointed he looks. ‘But maybe I can give you my number?’ He perks up immediately at your suggestion, rummaging in his pocket and pulling his phone out triumphantly. You shake your head at his eagerness and type your number into his contacts. He watches you walk into the store, waving briefly as Heyward shoos him away. ~ Your day runs pretty smoothly from then on. Heyward even praises you for being a little early that morning. He does shoot you difficult questions about why you were talking to JJ Maybank, however. You kind of like that the boy’s reputation proceeded him. When you finally get around to charging your phone later in the day you have two texts from an unknown number. You smile to yourself as you open them quickly. Y/N, it’s your knight in shining armour. I really hope the rest of your morning isn’t so bad. It really was nice to meet you. - JJ

You feel warm inside at the thought of the boy thinking about how your day was. You scroll down to the next message.

You planning on running late tomorrow too?

And you were seriously considering it. ____________________________________ my requests are open x

#jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x y/n #jj maybank #outer banks #outer banks x reader

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thessalian · 3 years

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Thess vs Connections

I am going to spend my weekend recovering from ... honestly, mostly today.

This was my first week on my new reduced-hour schedule and I honestly worry that I haven’t reduced my hours enough. Or more to the point, my days - the commute is killing me. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not my usual commute; the circumstances haven’t exactly been ideal the last few weeks, because bloody roadworks. And today just took the fucking biscuit.

A quick summary of my normal commute: I walk a couple of blocks to a nicely close bus stop, and ride the bus up to New Kent Road, which is the start point of my second bus. If it gives you any indication of how far I travel, I ride that second bus literally from end to end - start point New Kent Road, end point right outside the hospital at which I work. It’s a slog, but at least doesn’t require a whole lot of walking.

USUALLY.

Thing is, the last couple of weeks, my first bus is on diversion because the main road it takes a couple of stops away from my house is completely shut down because of what they’re saying is a burst water main. I refuse to believe that it takes two weeks to fix something that severe, but never mind; Thames Water has been tearing up the roads in my area since before the pandemic started so honestly, having that bus divert away from my stop is not exactly new. The problem is that it’s not just a stop or two one way or another - it’s a mile or so stretch of hilly area that requires a lot of walking to get to a stop that’ll let me on the bloody thing. So I’ve had to find alternatives until they finally fix the main road and let me have my bus back. Frustrating, and requires me getting up earlier and means I have to take three buses instead of two if I don’t want to hike up the hill that sanity forgot with my aching everything, and means I ride a little further before I can get the bus that lets out right at the entrance to my hospital, but it’s at least somewhat manageable.

...At least, unless the second bus of the two that have replaced my usual bus decides to drop all passengers off a stop before mine for no apparent reason, on an already not-great pain day, leaving me to hobble across at least one rather busy branch of one of the Elephant and Castle roundabouts to get to my bus stop. I mean, I survived, but it was one bloody stop and the damn bus went past it anyway. Would it have killed them to let us take it that far?

So anyway, survived that, still good for being on time, get onto the bus that will ferry me to work, sit down, bury myself in my book ... and then discover that Aldwych / Kingsway is completely shut down, instead of only partly shut down like it has been for the last few weeks. Something about streetlights, I dunno. Anyway, those of you who live in or are familiar with London are probably wincing on my behalf right now, but for those who aren’t that familiar ... that particular road is one of the main thoroughfares in Central London, located nicely between the West End and the City, home to various of the King’s College London campuses, Somerset House and I think one of the BBC buildings. It’s also one of the best direct routes to North London from Waterloo Bridge, and also the best way to get to things like the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, the British Medical Association Building, Russell Square in general, and Euston Station. It sees a lot of traffic, is what I’m saying, and a lot of it is bus. So all of that has to be diverted elsewhere.

Now, remember how I said that this route is nicely tucked between the City and the West End? Well. That comes into play here. Because, you see, some complete and total berk decided that the best diversion route for all those buses ... was via Trafalgar bloody Square.

Please note the season. It is summer. It is London, one of the most notable tourist destinations in the world, and while Covid has put paid to a lot of international travel, a lot of people are getting by with ‘staycations’ and short hops around this country. There are never not going to be heaving masses of tourists in London. Particularly around Trafalgar Square, whose roundabout picks up all the traffic from Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, the Strand, Downing Street (with Westminster at the end of that particular road) and, through The Mall, fucking Buckingham Palace. To make matters even better, quite some while ago they made most of Trafalgar Square a pedestrian-only zone, shutting off one of the ways they had of funneling traffic to sensible levels in that area. So already at least a dozen bus routes, tour buses, and a lot more road traffic otherwise than is reasonable because of government buildings and the Palace So having another half-dozen bus routes join the already heaving mass of automotive transportation in that area at prime tourist time is ... yeah. Someone was a complete twit.

I sat. In that bus. On that roundabout. For FORTY FUCKING MINUTES. Most of it stationary. And of course I couldn’t get out at that point because there was nowhere to stop. I eventually had to get out around Leicester Square Tube station, send a text to Scruffman (who takes the same bus as I do and had the same problems this morning, so that was fine) and take the Tube. Which meant more walking from the Tube station to the hospital, as well as in the Tube station itself. As you can imagine, I was tired, stressed out, and in significant pain when I finally got to work. Actually spent the last fifteen minutes of my workday discussing alternate routes with Scruffman, who was bound and determined to do the whole thing by bus until I flagged up that it’s only 15p more expensive to travel on Overground / Underground than it is by bus if you skip Zone 1 and then told him how to skip Zone 1 from the hospital to the nearest Overground stop to his house. Two decades plus as a temp has its perks; an intimate knowledge of the workings of the public transport network is one of them, and possibly the most useful.

As for me, I got the Overground to Clapham Junction, swapped trains, got as far as Denmark Hill, and hopped another couple of buses to get home. A little more fiddly, but involved less walking. Though I did have to take the lift off the platform at Denmark Hill station because I hurt that damn much.

Still, I did have a better day than Chatty!Nurse. I know I use those cute little sobriquets for people on a regular basis just because I don’t want to plaster their real names on social media, but the truth is, I don’t actually know this woman’s name, despite the fact that we’ve been chatting off and on pretty much since I started this role as a temp, way back when. I honestly don’t remember when we met, though the ‘where’ and ‘how’ is easy - we’re both smokers and we occasionally meet up when our breaks coincide, just outside the Accident and Emergency ambulance bay entrance. She doesn’t wear a name tag, this lady, and somehow when she kicked off our first conversation (it would have been her; I don’t just start up conversations with random people), it never really occurred to me to ask. I wasn’t counting on it becoming a regular ‘thing’, y’know? All I know is that she has sarcoidosis and she works on our Oncology ward, I think as a nurse? Anyway, she apparently got mugged on her way in to work this morning - not actually hurt thanks to the intervention of a van full of builders with lead pipes who happened to be passing when some teenage yobs threatened to cut her fingers off, but still in shock. She still went in anyway, at least long enough to deal with some issues on the ward that wouldn’t get done if she wasn’t doing them.

...I think I see why I ended up having conversations with this woman as a regular thing. That is exactly the kind of shit I would do and in fact have done.

Long story short: this has been a really not-great day but at least it’s the weekend. I’m grateful for the reduced hours, too - two days of weekend is never enough to recover from a five-day week under the best of circumstances, and my circumstances will never be the best again. I’m not sure if three days of recovery is going to be enough but I’ll do my best to make them so.

I do want to know if Mercury’s in retrograde, though. Not enough to look it up, mind.

#Thess has a commute

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shaekingshitup · 3 years

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MIRACLES HAPPEN

DAY ONE: TANGERINE

A/N: Y’ALL! I WAS DUPED! @teakturn puts out a 25 Days of Christmas every year and my dumbass said I would do it too. But I decided to add a little diversity to the culture and we’re doing a Chrismukkah adventure this year on this blog! This is picking up after this request that I got earlier this year. None of this shit is proofread because I am literally just writing by the seat of my pants so read at your own discretion. I will probably end up rewriting this entire mini series in the future. But enjoy it now. If you wanna be tagged, lmk! Also, I know that in In Sight I said there was a cure for COVID. Swap that out for a vaccine y’all. Viruses can’t be cured.

Word Count: 2300

DAY ONE: TANGERINE

December 18, 2022

“Baby you ready?!” Tre called into the house as reached into the basket on his way to the garage. He came up empty handed for the keys to his Lexus. Opening the door to the garage, he saw Sol sitting in the passenger seat of the running car.

Tre walked over to his baby as Sol smirked at him.

“You late again,” she said.

“I’m never late,” Tre said opening the door and climbing in, “You just early as always,” he shot back as he put the car in reverse. Sol playfully rolled her eyes. After two years of being together, this was always their running joke. The first time they’d met, she’d been pacing back and forth awaiting his arrival. Even after finding their own groove, she still found herself being the one waiting for him- but, he always made it worth it so it was hard for her to complain.

Tre pulled out of the driveway and clicked the remote to shut the door. Out of instinct, his hand went to Sol’s thigh when he put it in drive. “Did you grab my yarmulke?” Tre asked as he threw her a glance.

“Please don’t insult me. This ain’t my first feast Nemo.” the indignant manner which she spoke had her and Tre struggling to keep in their bouts of laughter. “Yes, baby. They’re in the backseat.”

“Good. Good. What’s the other name for them again?” Tre asked as he merged onto the nearly empty highway. A five a.m call time could be a blessing and a curse.

“Kippah” is the Hebrew word for the male cap and “kippot” is the Hebrew word for the female cap.” Sol answered on autopilot as she mused on their situation. She was still taken aback that they’d been contacted by Black Juice to begin with. She’d been following them ever since they’d done that feature with Drake talking about how his own Jewish faith influenced his career path. Although she wasn’t as active in her Jewish faith as she’d wished she’d been in recent years it was still a huge victory to be acknowledged by the leading Black Jewish media network. Okay so maybe they were the only Black Jewish media network. But that definitely meant they were in the lead! She wasn’t stupid to think that this kind of opportunity would have come without Trevante in her life. But, she wasn’t gonna knock it either.

This 8 Days of Miracles was the perfect task she needed as she figured out what the next step was for her career. Now that she’d finally finished her academic portion of her career she wasn’t sure how to proceed. So throwing herself into this project and hosting both her family and Tre’s for the holidays was the best distraction she could ask for. This time always gave her hope and made her realize that any kind of bullshit she’d put up with wasn’t in vain. It was her annual reset. New Year’s be damned. It also made her feel closer to her father and there wasn’t anyone in this world she’d loved more. At least that’s what she’d thought. She felt pressure on her thigh from the number one contender for her heart as Tre gave her a slight squeeze.

“What’s on ya mind Sunshine?” Sol looked down at his hand and couldn’t help but cheese. She still beamed every time he called her by that nickname.

“I was thinking about my dad and how proud he’d be to see me reppin his faith,” Sol said absentmindedly touching her necklace. Tre listened attentively as he grazed his thumb against her thigh in a gentle motion. “ I mean, I don’t know if he could have known that all of the years he instilled in us the value of miracles when we were children we’d still be celebrating Hanukkah after he was gone.”

“I’m sure he didn’t know.” Tre started out slowly. He honestly wasn’t even sure if she’d finished her thoughts, “But, he probably hoped you would.” The phone rang as they turned off the street and into the lot. “STEPH 👷🏿‍♀️💪🏿” flashed across the Caller ID on his dashboard. Tre clicked the answer button on his steering wheel as Sol handed him his badge to show to Nico, the Security Attendant.

“We’re at Security Steph,” Tre answered as he nodded at Nico.

“Okay good. I just wanted to make sure we were starting the day off on time.” Tre and Sol shared a glance.

“Woman don’t start with me. Call time is 5 and it’s 4:39. We don’t play that late shit over here and you know it.

“Well, I also grabbed your favorite donuts from Craft Services so no one else would steal them and I wanted to know how long I had to hoard them for your ungrateful self. I can put them back if you’d like sir,”

“Steph. You can ignore Tre.” Sol chimed in. “We appreciate you and will be walking in the door in exactly 2 minutes. Tre is parking as we speak. We’ll see you soon.”

“Tre, you lucky you have her. Keep her if you want to keep the best managent in town. Bye y’all!!” Steph sang as she hung up. Sol let out a cackle because Steph refused to be referred as anything other than a managent as Tre stood there dumbfounded at how he was being left out to dry. But he knew better than to go against two black women before he’d even finished his morning coffee. He just hopped out the whip and opened Sol’s door so she could do the same.

Once they’d gotten their morsels of food, gone through hair and makeup and snapped a few photos for Black Juice and their own social media accounts, they were back on the road headed deeper into LA. They had a cameraman in the backseat filming their every move, one car guided them to their location and another followed them as they maneuvered through the cars that were poppin up for their morning commutes. Sol was on her IG live and answering any questions that popped up about where they were headed and her Hanukkah festivities. She watched as the number quickly jumped from 5,000 viewers to 13,000 and counting. She wasn’t sure what this many people were doing up at this hour but she wasn’t complaining. Tre’s mama was of course one of them. He was a mama’s boy through and through and she was always there to support him at any opportunity she could. Sol made sure to greet her specifically. Tre bopped his head to some Jill Scott- being careful not to let his yarmulke fall. Sol sipped some hot cocoa from her thermos and sang off key with him. As soon as they turned on a residential street, she felt awash in a new warmth that the hot chocolate couldn’t touch. She shook Tre’s arm enthusiastically.

“It’s time!!” she beamed, “Are you ready?!” Tre chuckled at her immediate change in attitude. The car in front was already parked and the camera crew was out on the sidewalk.

“Yes Sol. I’m ready to spread some holiday cheer. Let’s go make somebody’s day he said. Before Tre could even put the car in park, she was reaching for the handle”

“AHT AHT AHT” Tre barked out loud causing the cameraman man in the backseat to jump,“ Tre was already exiting the driver’s side and pointed his finger at her as he crossed in front of the car “Don’t even try it.” Sol rolled her eyes and pouted as she waited the few seconds for him to open her door.

“Thanks Tre,” she stuck out her tongue. She was like a kid in a candy store and was ready to full out sprint to the front door. The IG live comments were flying.

Okay Daddy Tre! I need a mans to talk to me like that. 🥵🥵

Did this man just bark at her? 🐶

Loook so long as he handles this backdoor he can open any other door that he pleases sis!

Y’all females is wylin as usual.

Sol glanced at them. “Imma need y’all to stay out of grown folks’ business and just enjoy this holiday work we are puttin in okay” She handed her phone to another crew member and grabbed Tre’s hand to drag him to the front door.

She pushed the button for the doorbell but no sound rang out. Tre gave three succinct raps on the door and heard someone rushing down the stairs. The door was flung open by a woman in black slacks and a blinding blue polo emblazoned with a nametag that ironically labeled this young woman as “Tangerine”. She couldn’t be more than 25 years old and the toddler saddled on her hip only added to her youthful appearance.

“Hi Tangerine,” Tre began, “My name’s Trevante and this is Sol,” he gestured to Sol at his side.

“Hi?” Tangerine answered confused at this couple and the cameras that followed them.

“We’re here today with Black Juice, a local Black organization that highlights the experience of the Black Jewish community and we’re doing 8 Days of Miracles,”

“Okay..” Tangerine said not sounding any less confused. “ I’m not Jewish.” Sol took over as she could tell that Tre’s efforts weren’t getting them anywhere.

“We’re here because your friend Kira sent in a letter telling us about how great of a mother you are. She said that you’ve been working two jobs here to support you and your daughter.” At this, Sol smiled at the baby, “She told us that the second job you have is for daycare expenses alone. We wanted to come out here today and let you know that we see what you do and how hard you go to make sure you give your daughter the best. So, we wanted to help you out and give you this. “ Tre gave her the envelope he had in his hand. It read “Day 1: Tangerine”

Tangerine took the envelope as Tre explained. “We’ve paid for your daughter’s child care for the next two years so you can give yourself a break.” She opened the envelope to see the receipt from Tiny Tots Kindercare and didn’t even know what to do.

“I don’t know what to say.” She paused for a moment as what this truly meant registered in her mind. “I can quit this job and actually spend more time with my baby and focus on my candles.”

“Your candles?” Sol asked.

“Yeah. I make candles by hand. I took a few classes and have played with a few scents. Some friends have asked me to make them some and I’ve been waitin to be a little more secure with my money before I start at it.” she answered exhaling deeply.

“Do you have any candles right now?” Tre asked peeking a little further in her apartment. Sol slapped his arm.

“Could you be any nosier?” she chastised with love.

“Yeah I have some. Do you mind holding Layla?” she asked but she practically threw the child into Sol’s arms as she ran to grab her stash of candles. Sol put on her sweetest voice and spoke to Layla about how old she was and if she liked her friends at daycare. When her mom came back Sol could see the sheer joy that she had when showing off her handiwork.

Tangerine went through all six of her candles and their various scents with them and by the end Tre had bought each one. She was floored and couldn’t do anything but cry at the way her morning was turning around. It wasn’t even 7:30 and she’d already gotten 2 years of childcare, a reason to quit her grocery store job and someone who actually wanted to buy her candles.

Before they left, Tre made her promise to hit him up when her site and IG were live so he could get more candles and share it with all of his friends. Sol returned Layla to her mother saying her goodbyes and grabbed Tre’s hand to head back to car. She leaned on his shoulder and he could see the contentment in her eyes. Sol almost forgot her phone before a crewmember handed it back.

She came back to the IG Live trying not to get too emotional. “Look at that y’all! Day one of Hanukkah is off to a start and we’ve already proved that miracles happen! Y’all better stay tuned in over the next week so you can see who we pop in on next. You never know if it could be you! Thanks to Black Juice for giving us this opportunity to turn someone’s ordinary day into something smile about. Y’all betta check them out so you can see the full footage of what we’ve got goin on! Bye y’all!

“Bye y’all!” Tre called out. They answered a few more questions with Black Juice, said their goodbyes and climbed back into their car.

“Can we go back to bed now?” Tre asked as he pulled back onto the main road and his hand founds Sol’s thigh again. Sol laughed.

“I mean if that’s what you prefer we can. I had some other things in mind.” she suggested.

Tre raised his eyebrow. “I swear you see one baby and you always go 0 to 100”

“Look, I just believe in practicing all aspects of having a child! Even the making part.”

Tre threw his head back laughing. “I’m wit it babygirl”

DING!

“That’s me” Sol said. She looked at her phone screen. A text from “Mama Rhodes” popped up. She’d sent some Pinterest looking bible verse again.

This was the third one this week. It dampened her mood immediately and caused her to groan. The text read:

Seeing you with that little girl made me so happy for the good Christian grandbabies that you and Tre will be blessing me with in the future. I thank Jesus for the miracle of you and my baby everyday XO.

“Tre, I got another one from your mom. When are you gonna talk to her?”

Tre sighed. “I promise. I’ll talk to her soon and it will definitely be before your Chrismukkah Extravaganza. Don’t sweat it baby.”

Sol did her best not to think about how pushy his mother was being about this raising Christan grandbabies nonsense ever since they announced they’d be partnering with Black Juice. All she could do is trust Tre and do what she was best at: wait.

---------------

@ghostfacekill-monger @thadelightfulone

#trevante rhodes #trevante rhodes fanfiction #trevante rhodes x oc #shaekingspeaks #25 days of christmas challenge #25 days of christmas #im going to bed now #chrismukkah #hanukkah #I WILL DO SETH COHEN PROUD #okay bye

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heroprose · 4 years

Text

the regular;

a/n. well what do u know.... turns out i WILL be writing for jojo on this blog...... @jojosmilktea, that is!! hi jojo i was ur bnha spring event anon! and i’m SOOO sorry this is late RIP!!!

ship. shoto todoroki x reader

summary. bubble tea shop au. it’s true that he knows your order by heart, but he wishes he knew a little more.

to be quite honest, you didn’t know this bubble tea shop even existed in this part of the city.

it certainly didn’t look the part, all pristine with white stone walls and flower boxes hooked onto the closed glass windows. no, in fact it looked a little too bougie for this gray high rise district and you suspect that if it were not for the current downpour, wherein great big rivulets of water are endlessly streaming down the streets, hipsters would populate this cafe’s space in no time.

you cannot blame them, of course. it’s certainly a nice building and totally instagram-worthy. but what attracts you to it is not the vintage stone walls nor the massive poster plastered on the inside of the glass window, with vibrant letters that spell out NEW SEASONAL FLAVORS! but instead, it’s the generous pink awning in front that’s saving you from the insidious downpour.

you were supposed to do a little grocery shopping before heading home, damn it. technically, though, you could brave the rain for a while and shop for bread and eggs while sopping wet, but it’s a deeply unappealing idea. it doesn’t help that your go-to grocer with the terrific deals is three train stops away either and that your phone is dead, drained from too many rounds of crossy road on your commute long before the rain even began.

restless, you squint through the window of the shop inconspicuously and gape in horror as you realize it is just as cute inside as it is outside. from what you can tell, it’s set up like a little garden party, with metal outdoor chairs and circular tables and the tiles even have flower smiley face stickers on them. oh no.

it is something of a relief you’ve only discovered this bubble tea shop now because any earlier would have you blowing your bank account on extra boba and grass jelly. and in this economy? not ideal.

still, your eyes waver to the poster again. rose milk tea? peach iced tea? the prices aren’t listed anywhere so you presume they must be absolutely monstrous. completely insane, probably, and jacked up immensely to compensate for the expenses gone in the decor alone and--

“we’re open, you know. you can come in.”

you pull away from the window hastily, letting your back bump into the metal back of chair. biting back a cry of pain, you eye the speaker head-to-toe before letting your shoulders slack. the black apron tied at his waist screams barista. actually, everything about this dude screams barista, from the rolled up sleeves to the vaguely disheveled collar. even the watch on his wrist-- woah. is that a limited edition tag heuer watch? you blanch a little.

he grips the broom with both hands and gestures with the jerk of his chin to the door. “you can come in,” he repeats. his bangs flutter about his forehead thanks to the gusts of wind and it’s a bit mesmerizing to see the red and white flutter like that.

“oh,” you say, desperate to recompose yourself as you pretend you weren’t wringing out droplets of water from your clothing just minutes before. “it’s okay, thank you. i’m just waiting for the rain to pass.”

the barista opens his mouth but before he can speak, a loud clap of thunder zips through you and goosebumps erupt across the expanse of your skin. with ears ringing, you wince and the tag heuer-wearing fellow only watches. you purse your lips, glancing from him. to the onslaught of rain, to finally the door.

well. so much for staying outside. wordlessly, he pulls the door open for you and you oblige quietly, mumbling a small word of thanks as you pass him.

unsurprisingly, the shop is wholly vacant, save for him, the boy who follows you in, and another barista behind the counter, who leans against the table behind him with arms crossed. the radio is on but it’s turned down so low that it might as well be off.

it would be painful to loiter in this shop for an hour or so without buying anything, so begrudgingly, you pull out your wallet and pray to whatever higher deity up there that you won’t get hooked on their drinks and subsequently, their freakish prices. you’ve got a budget, for goodness sake.

when you step to the counter, the barista that met you outside sets his broom aside to meet you on the other side. “what would you like?” he asks automatically, with the tilt of his head. you glance over the menu above his head despite knowing your answer deep inside your heart.

“taro milk tea, please,” you say, bringing your gaze back to him. a trickle of rainwater slides down the curve of his cheek and you have to tear your gaze away. “medium, with boba. and extra sugar too.”

“will that be it?”

“yes,” you reply with your eyes downcast, carefully deciding on whether to use cash or credit. maybe you can use some of your spare coins this time.

his gold name tag says “shoto,” and it gleams even in your peripheral vision as he nods and turns to the other barista with the spiky hair who stands a few ways’ away and glowers a bit.

“katsuki,” says shoto. “one medium taro milk tea with--”

“yeah, yeah,” says the other barista snappishly. “i heard. i’m literally right here.” he pulls away from the table and exits to the back forcefully and you two watch him in relative silence. a guitar-heavy shawn mendes song plays in the background; played too softly for you to determine which one though.

shoto’s gaze swivels back to you, undisturbed by the attitude his coworker just presented and so you do your best to remain indifferent as well. it is similarly pure irony to have such a gentle cafe hosted by such personalities.

“name?” he simply asks and you tell him, not bothering to question why that was still necessary if you were the only customer in the entire shop.

and it is equally strange that after katsuki returns with your drink, about to hand it to you, shoto acts to intercepts with an extended hand to take the cup away.

“what are you doing?” says katsuki incredulously, drawing back.

shoto presents the sticker with the order printed on it in the air. “i need to put this on.”

“seriously? it’s not like you could hand it to the wrong person,” he mutters, but lets shoto tease it out of his hand before promptly returning to the kitchen again, letting the doors swing behind him. you refrain from smiling too wide as shoto carefully presses the sticker onto the cup behind the counter with an unexpectedly concentrated expression on his face.

when he utters your name to catch your attention, shoto slides your drink over to you, not letting go until your fingers accidentally brush over his. “here you go.”

“thank you,” you say brightly, shaking it for good measure. the ice clinks distract you momentarily from the noise of rain hitting concrete. the cream and purple taro swirl together brilliantly.

he nods, turning away to take a cleaning rag into his hands. shoto wipes at the counter meticulously, every once in a while swiping a smudge with his fingertips to evaluate his work. the quiet is only periodically punctured by the clap of thunder and when shawn mendes starts belting out the background adlibs via the radio.

“when do you think the rain will let up?” you muse absentmindedly, fingers drumming the raised counter as you push along your bubble tea and dig around the container for a straw of your favorite color. “not for long, i hope.”

shoto blinks, glancing up. “i heard it’ll last all through the night.”

steely dread pools at the bottom of your stomach. “no!” you gasp, confronting shoto. “really? i don’t have an umbrella or anything.” you didn’t hear anything of the sort, but then again, you haven’t checked the forecast since this morning. maybe you can wave down a cab or something. you let out a brief laugh of disbelief that rapidly devolves into a groan. “man. that stinks.”

he looks at you sympathetically, watching you deftly pierce the plastic seal top of your milk tea with more force than necessary.

you bring the straw to your mouth, sipping quietly as you think of your next line of action. the richness is disturbingly good and you’re saddened to know that you’ll be returning in the future, rain or no rain.

taking a seat in a metal chair, you finally give the shop a thorough glance over. with all the bright lights and pale wallpaper plastered with colorful stickers. above you, the ceiling vents buzz quietly. the whole shop is just--

“dazzling,” you murmur after several minutes, submitting to its glamour. “everything’s so pretty here.” the interior designer really went ham here and it shows. you fish your phone out of your slightly damp pocket and wipe at the screen with a sigh. you’d even take a photo if you could.

unbeknownst to you, shoto had left the counter upfront and is wiping down a table nearby as you speak. “thank you,” he says and you jolt, head snapping towards his direction. “we do our best to be presentable and comfortable.”

“full marks on both then,” you say breezily and a ghost of a smile teases at his lips before he walks away to the backroom.

he’s amused. did he think you were funny? your ears start to warm up a little and you drain your milk tea faster. in any case, it’s best that you brave the storm sooner than later.

there’s little doubt that the rain won’t be stopping any time soon and it would really be the icing on the cake if you not only got stuck in a thunderstorm but fell ill as well. you’ve realized, from all your years of life, that people don’t appreciate their functional nostrils until they get stuffed.

and you don’t know how much time passes in that cafe with the absence of clocks and your phone, but after catching yourself glancing over at shoto for the fifth time, wondering if you can make him smile like that again, you finally think that enough is enough. your chewing speeds up.

then you stand up, careful to not let the metal feet scrape the tiles. should you just book it, through the rain? or should you stand under the awning a little longer, hoping the rare cab will notice your helpless self and save you? as you mull these thoughts over, you toss the cup into the bin and wipe your hands with a spare napkin, getting rid of the condensation.

“wait.”

shoto’s calm voice makes you whirl around yet again.

as he walks closer, you notice that he’s gripping something in his hand and you can only bring yourself to stare as he presents it to you.

“take it,” he says. “this is my umbrella.”

your heart stutters for a second. “huh? no, i couldn’t,” you say hastily, dismissing him with a wave. “that’s really kind of you though, thank you.”

“but you said you didn’t have one.”

you give him a quizzical look. “but if i take yours, then you don’t have one.”

“katsuki-- um, the other person who works here-- lives near me. we commute together sometimes. so please,” he says, gesturing the closed umbrella. you wrap your fingers around the clear plastic gingerly to his coaxing. “take it.”

tears nearly prick your eyes as you lean over to pat him on the arm graciously. he’s more alarmed than anything else as you do, silently wide-eyed, and is it only then that you notice his eyes are different colors. “thanks, shoto. i’ll be back tomorrow to return it then. i promise!”

he gives you a quick nod. “i don’t work tomorrow. i’ll be here all weekend though.”

“alright, shoto. i’ll see you on the weekend.”

“stay safe.”

you’re already turning away and pushing open the door before you see the flicker of a smile pass over his visage again.

“you gave away your umbrella?” says katsuki after the cafe closes later that evening. his eyes narrow down at his fellow coworker sharply. “to a damn customer?”

“it’ll get returned,” assures shoto. his upper arm is warm where you had touched him, and his hand hovers over it for a second before he shrugs on his jacket.

“that’s not the point,” his coworker seethes, angrily hanging up his apron. “my car is two blocks over and i was relying on you to do your part in bringing the umbrella. idiot!”

ah.

you come back that sunny weekend, with shoto’s trusty transparent umbrella in hand... as well as the weekend after. and the weekend after that. sans the excuse of the umbrella, of course.

when it is katsuki that greets you at the counter, he does little to hide his disapproval of your order; grunting when you greet him with a cheerful “hi katsuki!” and grimacing each time when you smile and add, “with extra sugar!” to your order.

“you’re aware of how much sugar is already in this stuff, right?” he tells you.

“i’m here for a good time, not a long time,” you reply. “and are you really supposed to be asking me that? as someone who works here?”

katsuki scoffs and wordlessly punches your order in anyway. his brew, however, is immaculate without fail so you don’t question his tactics.

but when it is shoto... he greets you warmly, stretching the conversation by asking about how you are and about your day.

“the regular?” he eventually asks after several weeks of you making the same order as the last.

you smile. “the regular.”

sometimes, you loiter near the counter when it’s not busy. you learn, with some semblance of glee, that shoto is a student like yourself and he only works part-time-- the rainy afternoon you met him on had been a shift he was covering for someone else. other times all you can do is take your drink and wave him goodbye.

even on the extremely busy days where you cannot even find a vacant seat, there are brief seconds where you think of leaning against the wall and enjoying the atmosphere. it is a startling realization, how desperate you want to linger in his presence.

your affection is making you ill. ugh, and being bloated is not a good look on you either.

drinking taro milk tea at competitor bubble tea shops don’t even sate you. it’s always too watery, too thin; the flavors rounding off as bitter, over brewed tea. but you drink them to wean yourself off. you should probably stop drinking them altogether though.

some time passes before you can find it in yourself to return. the storefront is as pretty as it always is whenever you pass it by on your commute.

“hey, how are you? have you been alright?” asks shoto right off the bat, dropping his washrag haphazardly beside the sink when you find yourself at the counter again after the weeks of hearty self-restraint.

his concern is so vivid it unnerves you. it’s a funny and ill-placed nervous look on his face, eyebrows pulled tense. “i’m fine,” you say, “how have you been?”

“i’m well,” shoto says. “and... that’s good. it’s been a while. i thought you might have started getting your milk tea fix from somewhere else.” he pauses. “have you?”

his sincerity makes you throw your head back and laugh, but your stomach gurgles at the recollection of drinking so many subpar taro milk teas. “never,” you tell him finally. “i like this place too much. and the people here too.”

“i see.” shoto’s smile is bright this time, eyes so soft even as he speaks. “the regular then?”

you let out an exaggerated sigh, your own gaze crinkling up. “you know me so well, shoto.”

“quit freakin’ flirting at the counter,” snaps katsuki, mopping the floor vigorously. “do that shit when you’re not at work, icy-hot. it’s disgusting that i have to stand here and listen to you two.”

shoto frowns. “it’s not flirting. we have to be kind to customers.” he calls from the kitchen.

“kindness is you giving extra napkins, not asking if they’ve been going to other bubble tea shops. as if.”

“we’re... just friends then.”

“just friends, my ass. what, you think that extra sugar ass sweet tooth loser came in every week alone just to get tea? you know what...” katsuki’s peeved grumbles trail off until they’re no longer comprehensible.

shoto just ponders on this as he drains the sink.

“here,” says katsuki one saturday afternoon. “take it. and go.” he pushes the purple drink into your hand and wipes his own hand on his apron. “extra sugar. don’t blame me when your teeth fall out.”

“damn,” you say, although you are hardly taken aback by his crudeness anymore. “but i will. i’ve got a lot to do today, so i can’t stay and chat. bye guys!”

“take care,” says shoto just as katsuki says, “don’t care, didn’t ask.”

(when you wave goodbye, however, you are pleased to see that they both reciprocate kindly.)

by the time you eventually take a sip, you’re already on your way to the rail to get to your favorite grocery store. today, it’s buy one get one free bags of potatoes so you know you’ll be stocking up this time.

mindlessly, you pierce the top with your straw, careful to aim for the center. you give it a stir before taking a sip, the familiar creaminess filling your mouth.

although it’s... different, somehow.

sweeter, you think. did katsuki actually overload it with sugar this time? seemed like a weird prank to pull. perhaps he was teaching you a lesson but considering that he hasn’t been fired yet indicates that this was an infrequent occurrence. hopefully.

chewing the boba thoughtfully, you pull the cup away in order to squint at the dark text printed on the sticker. it’s the same as you always say it: a medium, iced, taro milk tea, with boba and 25% extra--

the word “sugar” is scrawled over with black ink, although not deliberately it seems. it’s just covered up with a slew of numbers and letters written unbelievably neat in spite of being on a cylindrical cup and you nearly hack up a black clump of sugary boba onto the concrete sidewalk.

but nevertheless, you force it down to look at the order again, more closely this time.

they’re numbers, and your heart stutters in your chest at the realization there’s just enough to be a phone number; followed by a name that you only ever saw emblazoned on a gold name tag.

you want to commit the numbers to memory, but it’s undeniably hard to concentrate. not when shoto’s gentle smile is on the forefront of your brain and when big, fat droplets of water are hitting your forehead with incredible force.

you glance up at the swirling, ashen clouds above you, bloated and expecting. an uncomfortable feeling crawls up your spine at the realization that you’ve forgotten your umbrella at home today too.

oh god. not again.

“i can’t believe you actually wrote your number on my cup today... very smooth, shoto.”

there’s a beat before shoto replies, his voice tinny and distant over the phone. “actually, i did that the first day you came in-- when it was raining. i figured you didn’t notice or you were rejecting me.”

“oh. so, wait-- you did it twice then? that day and today?”

“no,” says shoto. “just that day.”

“then who--” you stop yourself.

outside your window, a clap of thunder shakes the sky. and the epiphany that follows renders you both silent.

#shoto todoroki x reader #todoroki shoto x reader #todoroki x reader #shouto todoroki x reader #bnha spring time #bnha x reader #bnha imagines #ok jojo actually though i nearly wrote u a tiger king au and then i was like hold on....aint nobody but me gonna want this.....

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commanderbensolo · 4 years

Text

Silence and Bliss

A/N: So another lovely prompt from my lovely friend @thisisbroganeveobrien, except this time instead of it being about our favourite space wizard, it’s about our favourite flannel-wearing detective. Hope you all like it, and I hope to do your prompt justice :) This will also be posted on ao3 as well so if you wanna check it out just head over to commanderbensolo on ao3 :) Enjoy lovelies <3

Request: You call Flip because you think someone is following you and he rushes over to protect you (maybe related to the case he's working) he stays at your apartment for the night to make sure your safe 😏😂.

Pairing: Flip Zimmerman x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Felix being a creep, making out, it goes a little dark for a sec but nothing too major, I’m not really comfortable writing smut so I kinda just made it implied here, I’ve just realised how much difference there is between this one shot and some of my other ones.

You’re walking to your care, nearly ready to drop off to sleep due to the fact that it’s fucking midnight and you’ve been at the station since 9am that day, with only a couple breaks in-between. Usually, you and Flip would have clocked out early and then decided to go for a drink or get dinner, and you have done so many times before, but your best friend had (unfortunately) had to stay behind to fill out the paperwork on his case, something that you had finished a couple hours before him, but had stayed solely for the pleasure of his company.

There was… something between you and Flip, but you weren’t quite sure what it was. Flip was the kind of guy who you’d want to go home with on a Friday, but also wake up to and have breakfast with on a Saturday (and the Sunday if you were incredibly blessed by a divine being). If that didn’t scream boyfriend material, then you were pretty sure boyfriend material-guys didn’t exist, and wouldn’t that be a damn shame?

You and Flip were really good friends, and had been since you guys had graduated from the same police academy and (surprisingly) been placed in the same precinct, Colorado Springs Police Department. You guys became even closer after working together on numerous occasions, and there had even been a point where people in the precinct genuinely seemed to think you were dating. You both argued that you were incredibly comfortable and close with each other, due to the large number of hugs you guys shared after one of you had come back from an undercover assignment safe, or the fact that 90% of the time you guys left the precinct together and came in the next morning together as well. You both had brushed it off and hadn’t let the gossip interfere with your friendship, but as time progressed, you began to see Flip in a different light. Was there something there after all?

You couldn’t deny that Flip was an attractive man. Some people would even go as far as to say that he looked ‘delectable’ which had come from a number of mouths of now ex-girlfriends. You had never liked them, whether it was because you wanted to be the good best friend and point out to him that they only seemed to want to flaunt him like a trophy, or because the green-eyed monster of jealously had awoken, you’ll never know. Because while you may have agreed with them, you didn’t want to feel like you were objectifying your best friend, someone who you could absolutely anything and everything to and not get weird about it.

During the time you had been doing your own internal monologue, you had gotten inside your car and started the engine. You pulled out of the parking lot and began to make the familiar commute back to your house, though you supposed you were being a bit dramatic using the word ‘commute’ as your house was literally 10 minutes away. Adjusting your rear-view mirror, you saw a car behind you, which struck you as a little odd seeing as no other cars were on the roads this late. All the respectable pubs and clubs and bars had closed long past now, and the slightly more disreputable establishments were on the other side of town. You thought you recognised the car as you looked again, but since you’re eyes weren’t exactly focusing right now (you were sure that even driving like this was dangerous) you didn’t take much notice. Brushing it off as merely nothing (you supposed your mind had gone into overdrive due to all the caffeine you had consumed today), you turned left to turn onto a familiar side road that started the winding journey to your apartment. Looking back again, you noticed that the same car was still following you, and that it was considerably closer than last time. A feeling of dread settled in your gut and you quickly fumbled around for your phone as you speed dialled the one person you had. Flip.

“Hey Y/N, what’s up?” You hear his tired voice on the other end of the line, and immediately breathe a sigh of relief, before remembering what was happening right then. “Y/N? Are you okay?” He sounds considerably more awake now, and perhaps a little worried. “Flip, I think someone’s following me.” You say in a calm voice, though the tremor in it towards the end of your statement gives away just how shaken you feel at that moment. “What do you mean? Are you in your car? Where are you I’m coming to get y-“

“Woah, Flip, calm down, I’m fine. I’m in my car and I’m nearly at my apartment.”

“How are you calling me if you’re in your car? Y/N are you driving with 1 hand?!” You hear his voice drop into a whisper-shout sort of thing, as though someone has entered the room he’s in and he doesn’t want anyone else to hear your conversation. “If I say yes, are you going to arrest me?” You say with a teasing tone, and once again, you’re thankful for the friendship that you two have, even if it’s never going to be anything more. “Y/N hold on a minute. Just a sec, don’t go anywhere, please.” You hear him place the phone down. Please? Why had he said please? And why did his tone sound genuinely frightened, like he was going to lose you or some shit like that? Hearing the phone being picked up again, you’re broken out of your train of thought, and Flip’s voice rings again in your ears. “I’m coming to get you. Keep driving and when you get to your house remain inside the car, if you’ve got your gun with you I want you to take the safety off and be ready to shoot if needed.”

“Flip wh- what’s going on? Why would I have to shoot somebody? It’s probably just some creep trying to scare me, I’m fine.” You stress to him, feeling guilty.

“Y/N, if it’s who I think it is then it’s a lot worse than just a creep trying to scare you. I’m getting in my truck now. Are you at your house?”

“Yeah I just pulled up. Flip, who do you think it is?”

“Have you got your gun?”

“Yes but-“

“I’ll be there in a minute; I’ve got to go otherwise I might crash.”

“Phillip, I swear to fucking God, tell me who it is.”

“I can’t Y/N, just stay put, see ya in a minute sweetheart. Don’t go anywhere please.” Then the beeping tone signaled the end of the call. Slumping in your seat, you wondered what all of that had been about. He’d said ‘please’ again, almost as if he was begging for you to stay where you were, as if you were defenseless. “Fuck that, I’ve been through training and every other kind of shit. I can handle this.” Grabbing your badge and gun at the ready, you step out of the car, taking car to lock it before you approach the car. From within the tinted windows you can vaguely make out the outline of what looks like a male, and so you call out. “Sir, may I please ask what you’re doing here at this time of night?” No response from the stranger inside the car. You take a couple steps closer, until you’re at the car window. “Sir, I’m going to need you to recline the window and step out of the vehicle.” As the window slowly rolls down, you catch the glimpse of a face which did not bring warm feelings to your heart. “Felix, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Aww don’t be like that baby. I only came here to see you, looking all cute dressed up like you do at our house, gotta throw a man a bone haven’t ya?”

You scoff at him, your eyes widening at to what he is implying. “You creep, what the hell?” His grin grows even wider, into something more sinister, as he begins to step out of the vehicle. You take a step, truly beginning to panic. “What baby, you scared of me? Good.” You feel tears begin to make their way to your eyes, and you feel like you’ve become frozen. “Felix get the hell away from me or I’ll call for backup.” Then you remember. You left your radio in the car, and you had locked it. There was no way that you could get to your car in time and radio the precinct. And no one would be there anyway. It was nearly 1 am, and nearly everyone was bound to have gone home to live their lives for the night. “You told me to step out the car hon, I’m only doing what you asked me to.”

“You’re being a creep as well. And I don’t appreciate it.”

Just as he begins to move closer, you see a larger shadow appear behind him, and within seconds he was on the ground, knocked out cold. “F-Flip?” You ask tentatively, not sure if it is him or just another creep trying to worm their way in and seem like the good guy. “Y/N, I told you to stay in the car. Why didn’t you stay in the fucking car?” His tone is harsh, angry even, but you can tell that underneath that there is a layer of worry and stress, about your safety. “I tried, but then I felt really h-helpless and so I decided to do something instead of just waiting for you to show up! I can do things too you know!” You shout at him from across the street, not even aware that it’s incredibly late and your neighbors are going to hate you in the morning. “Y/N why don’t you listen to me? I said to stay in the car to try and keep you SAFE!” He yells back and you just huff and turn around, walking towards your apartment block. Getting to the door and realizing he’s not behind you, you turn around and see him standing exactly where he was before. “Well, are you coming up?” Hearing a huff that was way too loud, he makes his way to where you were holding the door open for him as he slipped in before you, muttering a ‘thanks’ as you closed the door. Making your way towards the elevator that sat at the bottom of the building, you both got in and went to go for the button at the same time, laughing awkwardly as the tension began to settle between the two of you as you rode up in a blanketed silence.

You were used to silence with Flip. Sometimes you guys would meet to drink and eat just in silence, knowing that the both of you were there if needed. It was nice, to have someone to rely on if you needed it. This silence was uncomfortable though, and you knew for a fact that it was mainly your fault. “Flip, I’m sorry. You know I can take of myself though.” You murmured to him whilst looking at the wall next to you. You were on opposite sides of the elevator, but it was so quiet that you were sure he would have no problem hearing you. “Why didn’t you listen to me?” He murmured, finally looking at you. “I already told you the reason Flip. And I’m sorry.”

“Do you know how fucking scared I was when I thought who it could be? To think that that man- no, that monster could have hurt you, caused you pain? Do you know how that made me feel? Do you even know how you make me feel Y/N?”

You were at a loss for words, and you were pretty sure your expression proved it, as Flip just lowered his head again with a sigh. “How do I-“ You were cut off by the elevator doors opening, and deciding you had dealt with enough shit tonight, you grabbed Flip by his arm and dragged him up the corridor to where your apartment was. Considering Flip was a giant of a man, he must have not put up a fight, as he moved pretty easily from the elevator to the door. Turning to him, you spoke. “There is 1 thing that is gonna happen tonight Zimmerman: you are going to tell me what is wrong and apparently how I ‘make you feel’ even though I don’t even know what that means, okay?” He cocked his eyebrow (a look that looked way too sexy on him for it even to be normal) and opened his mouth as if to argue, but instead just opted to nod and allow himself to be dragged inside. Instructing him to go and sit on the couch, you go to your room quickly and get out a fresh new pair of black leggings and a black t-shirt, bringing your Y/C out of its bun and throwing everything else on your bed before going back out to meet Flip. He was drinking a glass of water casually, and moved to set it down on the coffee table as you sat yourself down next to him, bringing your legs up into a crossed position and facing him. “You wanna tell me what all that was about, yeah?”

“Y/N, I swear, I didn’t mean to yell, I just got really mad and confused and upset and scared and it just sort of came o-“ He pauses as you place a hand on his arm in order to stop his rambling and calm him down. He takes a deep breath and tries again. “When you said someone was following you, I thought back to who could it be. And then I remembered something that Felix had said while you were in the car outside with Ron, you know when I said you were sick? So I remembered him saying that he found you ‘real cute’ but also ‘real hot’ at the same time, just using his words here, and that one day he was gonna follow you home and get a piece of you. We all thought he was joking, because he never seemed like the type to actually do something like that, not when Connie was around, but then he pulled that shit in the basement and I quickly realised that this man could do anything if he put his mind to it and he really wanted it. So I became a bit more wary after that. But then I forgot that he even said it, because it was a good couple of weeks back and you hadn’t reported anything about stuff like that or mentioned anything to me or Ron or Jimmy, so I assumed that he was just joking around, trying to look all big. And now we’re here. I’m so stupid, I should have kept a look out for signs, for something and- why are you looking at me like that?”

You’re smiling shyly and just staring at his eyes without even meaning to, caught up in the feelings you felt for this man, strong feelings that made you feel like you were going to combust and explode and possibly even ignite on fire. “Flip, you are one of the most caring, kind people I have ever met. There is a reason you’re my best friend, and it’s not because of your looks, it’s because of your personality, and you got a damn fine one. I can’t think of another person who would go through all of that and worry that much about me, apart from my own parents. So thank you Flip.” He smiles at you, a light blush shadowing his cheeks as a product of what he’s just heard come out of your mouth. Out of pure impulse (and possibly a bit of an adrenaline dump) he leans over and gives you a quick kiss on the mouth, realising all too late what he’s just done. “I’m so, so sorry. I’m just gonna- I’m just gonna go now ya know, late time and all that.”

“Flip?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me again please?” He looks at you with wide eyes, surprised (to say the least) to hear your request, but he does as you ask, and kisses you again. It’s soft, it’s sweet, it’s everything you’d imagined it would be (not that you’ve done any imaging at all) and suddenly his hands are on your hips and your arms are around his neck and he’s lifting you into his lap and sitting back against the couch, groaning softly into your mouth as you continue to kiss him heatedly. “Flip- Flip!” You say in a gasp as you pull back from him for a minute, mainly to catch your breath, and you can’t stop smiling and you’re genuinely concerned that your cheeks might split from smiling so much. “As much as I would like to, I’m far too tired for… that, so could we maybe just go to sleep and see where this goes in the morning?” You say, looking down so as to avoid showing your nervousness. “Yeah of course, I don’t wanna push you into anything. Do you want me to go?” He says, also catching his breath still, and you shake your head, smiling still. “No, I want you to stay, that is if you want to?” “Yes.” He breathed, kissing you another quick sweet kiss on the lips. “Yes, I do want to stay, so fucking much.”

And that’s how you two ended up curled in your bed, just sleeping with your arms tucked around each other and snoring quietly and dreaming peacefully. There was no worry of cases, no nightmares of old assignments that so regularly seemed to invade your peace. There was just silence and bliss between the two of you, and it was the most wonderful feeling you had ever experienced.

I swear to god that is one of the longest fics I’ve ever written and it took me ages but I finally finished it. I put a lot of effort into this one (as you can all probably tell as it’s about 3k words long oops) so I hope you all like it. Leave me some prompts for imagines or hcs, I’m happy to write anything really.

#flip zimmerman #flip zimmerman x reader #flip zimmerman fluff #kissing #fluff

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thorsstorms · 4 years

Text

Abroad Pt. 19

Summary: Being the Hemsworth Kids’ Nanny, you were vowed to keep it strictly professional for their sake, but do the stolen glances go unnoticed between you both?

Word count: 5.2k

Warnings: y’all know I’m a bitch for angst by now right?

A/N: @hildehuffles this ones for you. ALSO. THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL IM TALKING ABOUT IS YES THEORY. I was in Venice a couple weeks ago, and felt like adding in a little get away like I had done. I told no one I was going and literately hopped on a plane with an Airbnb secured. #SeekDiscomfort also one of the best trips to LA I had ever taken. 10/10 recommend.

Masterlist

Your eyes were glued to the generously sized television screen mounted on the wall, holding the flimsy bottle of water tight in your hands. The conversation took a swift turn with only a sentence spoken and it was the two of you dressed at the premier that was painting the background. You knew she was only doing this to tease him, and the sly comments he made in turn settled your nerves.

“So Chris… Who? Who‘s that?” His eyes were drawn to the monitor, not startled at all by her outburst but calm, with a telltale pink tint creeping up and a squinty eyed smile trying to stay buried.

The crowd whoops in retaliation.

He stayed silent a moment more, staring at the monitor, thinking of a way to answer until the crowd calms down. The comedian looks mischievous, obviously taking pride in his suffering though she knows exactly who you are now. The crowd doesn’t need to know that detail. She only means to tease, it’s who she was!

He folds his hands, rubbing them together before simply saying, “I have never seen that woman in my life.” Obviously joking.

“Oh come on!” she pushed, glowing eyes with a smile stretching across her cheeks.

“Yea, yea. That is my girly-friend, you could say. It’s-It’s weird to say that because I feel like she’s more than just a girlfriend, you know?” He glances again back at the large picture behind him before running a hand down the side of his face, focusing back forwards. He knows you are just watching the screen, glued to the screen at that, in the green room. He didn't know what you were thinking! It could go one of two ways in his mind. Absolutely silently losing your mind or laughing in retaliation to his discomfort of not knowing what to say. Hopefully the latter.

“Oh! I know.” She jokes, full on laughing at him while he smirks but stares daggers playfully. She knows you were more than just a girlfriend in his mind now, but how could he resist the shot of you meeting and hugging Ellen Degeneres and not stick the ring up and snap a photo of the moment while you were faced away? She was a trustworthy person, or so he hoped. Not proven wrong so far.

“Okay, Okay,” she settles herself. “So tell me, where did you find her?” She was keen to the details.

“Uhh- The internet,” he says without missing a beat. You almost choke on your own spit at his fast response, not knowing whether to laugh or crawl into a hole. But the crowd loved it, laughing. He sure got a kick out of the response, thinking he, himself, was funny. Loser.

“You are joking.” Ellen says, dead panning him.

“No, no really. My, uh, my manager found her for me.” He continues on, deceiving the crowd. Depriving them of the whole truth.

“Oh my god, Chris,” you mutter to yourself in the quiet room. Ellen got a kick out of that even more, stopping him from continuing down this road. He obviously was not going to give straight forward answers.

“Okay, okay.” She switches to a different question. “So…” She dragged out for an effect. Maybe just to make him squirm.

“Oh no,” he mumbled. She just had a look, a look that told that she had so many wrong questions under her sleeve.

“You filming something Chris?” The crowd slowly grew to giggle when he didn’t answer. Just stared her down trying not to react.

“Do you have, like, anything I can answer?!” He burst with a chuckle, wiping his palms on his thighs. “I’m just in town, and agreed to come see you and you treat me like this!” His smile was bright while she muttered apologies, laughing at his distress.

The interview eventually calmed down, them playing a rapid fire game afterwards. You finally settle into the couch to watch the interactions.

That was so not as bad as it could have been. He knew what he was doing during interviews anyway, or you had hoped.

You slept in the next morning, only waking to acknowledge that he was leaving for the day. This was a free day to yourself and sleeping in as long as you wanted seemed like the best way to start.

He left you with a mere kiss on the nose before he trudged out the door. The night before was yet another dismissal and it left you flustered and annoyed as all get out, so the day to yourself was the best present around.

Regardless of how much you thought you wanted a calm day, you were texting him by noon, telling him you were bored. By the time he replied, a mere 45 minutes later you were already sucked into YouTube. You found a new channel that piqued your interest and were easily four videos in.

“Sorry princess. Come with me tomorrow?”

You read the preview and sighed, ignoring it for the moment and pressed play on the video again. These guys in the videos were entertaining... inspiring, even.

By the time the fifth video started, their names were easily remembered. What sparked interest even more was the fact that they are based out of Venice Beach, a mere 45 minute drive through LA, on a good day at least.

The video of them walking the sidewalks interviewing strangers that were bold enough to go on an adventure made you want to feel the same sun they were obviously surrounded in. The couch had been your home for the last hour, a window open to let in some light, shining gold streaks through the room, but it wasn't enough.

The rules that plagued yourself were on a repeat in your head as you clicked on another video, then another, and another. You were not supposed to be spending too much time staring at a screen. You weren't supposed to drive, or go out on your own because you are still healing. You're not supposed to be in such sunny areas it could hurt your eyes still. Don't do this, don't do that.

It is suffocating. Infuriating that the list of long don'ts probably repeats through Chris’s head like a mantra, that's why he won't touch you. That's why he won't let you touch him.

Anger slowly flowed through your mind as you started to lose focus on the video playing. You closed the app and opened google maps, staring at the words ‘Venice Beach’ in correlation to where you were stuck inside, across the city. It was like torturing yourself. A silent battle of wanting to just go, go and then think about it later.

You slowly rolled your shoulders back as you sat up on the cushions of the couch that were not as comfy as you had hoped. The time on the lock screen taunted back at you. You could go and make it back in enough time to be home before Chris got back. You scoffed at the thought. He wouldn't be happy, but you were an adult. A very capable adult who can make their own choices. Staying in your bubble of Byron almost makes you forget your own sense of independence. He doesn't get to decide what you can and can't do.

The bathroom light shone a tad brighter than the natural lighting in the living room, eyes squinting quickly at the flush. You moved to the sink to wash your face, pulled a hair tie to braid your hair, and picked out some clothes.

Double checking for your wallet and phone in your purse brought on second thoughts. You never answered his text. He probably wouldn't notice for a while anyway. You pushed away the small ache of neglect that settled inside, it wasn't his fault. He was working. It’s when he wasn't working, that's when brush offs hurt the most.

Checking your makeup again in the mirror to make sure the covering was adequate over the blueing bruises, you made your way out, pulling the door behind you after ordering an Uber to Venice.

Los Angeles wasn't all the glitz and glam that movies made it out to be. You learned that pretty fast last time you all had been here, with the kids. Having a temporary place in Burbank meant crossing the city often, though a quick commute for Chris. The studios were not but a 6 minute drive away. Ideal, yes. But fun, no.

The drive seemed quick, the driver was slightly chattier than what you thought was normal but you were not complaining. You may have just had a week with more adult action than you’d had in the last few months combined but you were never one to be impolite. You didn't say much, only that you've never visited Venice before and didn't know why, so you just said ‘why not?’.

When the vehicle came to a stop and a moment of regret flushed forward, but you pushed it back quick. Going by yourself was not the worst thing in the world. How else were you going to be able to see what you wanted to see? You didn't know anybody here in L.A. other than Chris. It wasn't like you could call Miley up and ask her to stroll around town with you. Well, you could. But - not like this.

You adjusted your own sunglasses as you walked the last block towards the water. The art on the walls were bright and gave off calm vibes. A skateboard whizzed past you quickly, catching you off guard. You sidestepped to the right of the sidewalk and watched him ride past you and others, closer towards the shops. Clutching your bag closer to your body, you continued, rounding the corner to what was familiar from the videos you had been so enamoured with.

Towering palm trees. Bikes, so many bikes. So many skateboards. You looked around a moment after making sure you were out of the walk way, admiring the ease of the people around. The skatepark up on the hill and the art lining the sidewalks it was all what you hoped to see from the video.

The shops were cute, making your way through a few. So many surf shops and all you could think about was guilt that Chris didn't know you left the apartment. Everything reminds you of him. A fire fight started in your brain - consisting of respect you had for having a partner versus having a sense of independency. You didn't have to disclose every footstep, you never expected him to, at least.

The spiral of your thoughts continued as you strolled across the sidewalks, leaving behind the shops. You took a seat in the grass overlooking the busy basketball courts and pulled your phone out. Ignoring the warmth on your shoulders from the sun, you checked for any notifications and were met with none.

Did you have a right to feel the way you were feeling at the moment?

Was it selfish? Was it hormones? Forget that.

But were you chalking it up to be something more, just a spiral of thoughts when he wasn't there to discredit them? Your clouds caused a moment of zoning out as you pondered.

You both spent all day yesterday together, he even made you dinner, working in the kitchen with music playing while you watched him from the couch. Admiring and happy to see him. A glint in your eyes that stayed, unsubdued. A girl can't help but be worked up when she had gone so long without him, pregnancy hormones were no help to the cause. All you wanted was for him to acknowledge what you had been repeatedly showing off.

You were horny.

There was no other way to put it. And a healing head injury was not going to magically make the want disappear, even if it seemed to have made the want disappear from himself. The thought made your stomach clench, remembering when he turned around and caught you staring at him with lustful, shameless eyes.

He knew the look. He knew it very well. But what happened when his eyes met you made your blood run cold, your feet quickly allowing you to leave the room so the hitch in your breath wasn't caught by his ears.

He had looked away from your gaze with a sigh, turning his back to you. Another word didn't leave his mouth until he had come to find you in the bedroom to tell you that dinner was ready. He stopped himself from pushing open the door when he heard you talking. The sadness in your voice, clouded with tears as you spoke to whoever was on the other line.

“We had such a good day, I had such a good day,” you corrected. “But, but I just-” you stopped a moment, taking in a shaking breath to gather your thoughts. He looked at his feet, bowing his head when the upset nature of the phone call settled in his mind.

“I just miss him so much Bri, and I feel like he just doesn't see me. I feel -”

Your speech was cut off by yelling through the line of the phone. You sucked in a breath and it came out in a shudder, trying to calm your own emotions. He didn't know what she was saying but it silenced you. He felt heavy with guilt that he was the source of your anguish. He needed to stop being weak. He was scared to hurt you but here he was, causing you pain repeatedly until he was the source of your tears. He didn't know if you were crying or not, but he could feel the pain and confusion behind your words.

You started to wrap up the call. A sting of “I know”s and “Okay”s spilled off your tongue and he made his way back to the kitchen, hoping you wouldn't feel upset if you knew that he was listening.

He stood plating the stir fry when you made your way back into the room with a grim smile, peaking at him and muttering ‘thank you’.

You remembered how he led you to the couch and played a random movie on the TV while you ate. He pulled you close to him when you both cleared you plates. The rush that had flooded through you made you blush. You sat there snuggled to him for almost an hour before you both headed to bed and he didn't touch you again. He said all the right things, but words were hard at having such a meaning when his actions were iffy.

“I love you.”

“I'm glad you're here with me.”

“I missed you.”

“I love you, so much,” he would say with a rub on your arm.

A small kiss to your temple and you rolled on your side away from him, closing your eyes. Unbeknownst to you, he felt a bit of his heart break away when he watched you reach for the blankets and tug them to your shoulders, seeking them out for warmth rather than himself.

The empty notification screen mocked you, clicking the phone off once again. You looked up at your surroundings to admire the feel. It was busy, but not uncomfortably so. The skatepark behind you was bustling, and so were the basketball courts in front of you. But right there, where the grass was a soft green and you leaned against the raised plateau behind you, it was serene. Fairly quiet for the crowd around, but it was as if the sound didn't carry. The seagulls above were gliding, and the faint clicks of skate wheels hitting the ground blurred into the background noise of music coming from the shops.

It was a good spot to think. Something you have alway done far too much of.

The buzz in your hand had you snaping your head towards it, a dull ache spreading down your neck at the swift movement. The message had you jumping to your feet, making your way to the corner where you were dropped off.

“Almost done here. In the mood to go out for food?”

He beat you home, only by a minute though it seemed. As you were stepping out of the car and thanking the driver, your phone started ringing. You declined, tossing it into the mess of a purse you had as you made your way inside to the elevators, favoring talking to him in person instead.

The ride up seemed to go by faster than any other time before, allowing your nerves to revv in the light of Chris possibly being upset. The padding of your shoes made it to the door, your hand pushing it open.

His eyes met yours when the door opened and unsurprisingly the first words out of his mouth were, “where were you?”

“I just needed to get out for a bit,” you acknowledged lightly, setting your purse on the counter tops. You didn't meet his eyes, turning your back and digging for your phone. His voice was laced with curiosity, not expecting you to not be there when he arrived, even if you were only off by a mere minute or two.

“Where did you go?” He asked, keeping his feet planted. You turn to see him. He truly had just gotten here, a bag still thrown over his shoulder and shoes still on his feet. His brows furrowed as you met his eyes and then diverted from them again, absentmindedly rubbing your temple where bruises were covered.

“I went to Venice Beach, I haven't been there before and I just want to walk aro-”

“How did you get to Venice? Did you go by yourself?” He worried on with a malice tone. Your ears were growing red as he spoke.

“Yes I went by myself, who else would I have gone with?” You hissed at him. You could already feel your hands shaking. You knew you had worked yourself up today while you were out and were just waiting for the point to start a fight. Still completely confused on whether he deserved it or not, but you were beyond frustrated.

“I don't know anybody here! I have one friend who I barely see! Yes! I went by myself. I needed to be around people. I'm lonely!” You raised your voice at him. He stepped towards you with his hands out when your defense shot up. You crossed your arms around yourself protectively, delivering a sign of needing to be comforted, even if by your own arms.

“I'm sick of being by myself!” You told him as he grew closer, watching with pained eyes as you laid it out for him. “I just - God I don’t know. I just - I needed to get out and do something.”

“Hey,” he calmed. “Im right here.”

“No, Chris!” You pushed his outstretched hands away from your own. “You're not.” You took a deep breath while he stood speechless, catching an eyeful of the hurt you were carrying on your shoulders.

“Princess,” he pleaded, waiting for you to take a look at him but your eyes were wandering to any surface but his.You couldn't get the right words out to say. It had always been like this when you grew frustrated, your own vocabulary runs from your thoughts. You grew silent as a tear finally fell from your eyes but was quickly wiped away by his own fingers. When you didn't protest his touch he took that as a good sign. He muttered your name in surrender.

“What do you want me to do?” He watched for a reaction. “Tell me what I can do.” He was at a loss. Spending more time apart than together was a strain that was eerily familiar and it pressed down on him so hard he was ready to beg for understanding. He wanted to understand what he could do to make this better but what you said next caught him off guard, rendering him silent and confused.

“Do you love me?”

His eyes burned at the yearning of your question. The watery eyes that flicked to his in search of an answer. His lips were dropped open at the turn of events this evening had taken. He thought about this evening all day. He was going to let you choose the place for dinner and shower you with dessert, with love, and affection to make up for what he had overheard. He wanted to show you the beautiful diamond that had your name written all over it and ask a very important question.

He was too quiet, mulling over how he had gotten to this point while you stood with uncertainty, continuing on your quest of finding answers.

“I know I'm starting to look different,” your head bowed at the revelation that he might not like what he sees. “And we are so far apart alot, but I'm still me.”

He spoke your name, drawing himself from his silent trance, wanting you to stop now and not speak another incredulous word.

“My face,” you whispered sadly. “It will go away in a little bit...” The whole in your chest was opening, grabbing a hold of your voice and refusing to let another word out.

“Baby, stop,” his words filled the empty void when yours ceased. He eyed a hand of yours making its way to your neck, a sign of discomfort. He stopped it in its tracks and pulled you to his chest.

His arms cocooned you, holding you far too tight to be comfortable, but you needed it. To feel he was there and there with you. He pressed you head to his chest with the revelation of disregarding his own hesitancy of somehow hurting you with his touch. His heartbeat melding with your own as you froze, slowly melting your guard until tears wet his shirt.

If his goal was to keep you from harm, he failed. It was proven when you released the tension from your shoulders against his grip. His words repeated until you showed signs of listening. Words of reassurance and love. Words filled with apologies and pleads for you to forgive him for causing you this pain. He was naive to think of you in such a way. To make up a version of yourself that was weak or fragile. He lost sight of the fire you have in your veins when happiness emits from your aura. The glow you have when your body shakes from laughter. The strong independent girl that rounded the corner of his kitchen and introduced herself without a glitch of uncertainty. But here you were asking for reassurance and he knew it was his own fault.

You cried in his arms, letting him carry your weight from the room before he sat down on the bed and let you take a moment to breathe, curled atop his knees and listening to his voice.

“Hey,” He said, lifting a hand from your shoulder to run over his face, drying the wetness that plagued his own skin. “You are so beautiful that it takes my breath away. Perfect. And I mean in every sense. You will always be perfect. Princess I never want to hear you say those words again. You are so perfect. And always will be. We have a little baby growing.” You took a deep breath, picking your head off his shoulder and reaching down to lay a hand over the swell in your tummy.

“A baby!” He said, laying a hand over your own, though waiting for you to meet his eyes again. “You will look different, princess, and I will be here and love every single minute of it. I promise. No doctor appointments with Bri, I will be here. And this,” He brushed your hair away from your face, fingers lingering against your scalp. Your head tilted up and basked in the touch.

“This I take responsibility for. It eats me up inside, but you still take my breath away. Every time, and always will.” He watched as you looked at him and listened intimately to what he was saying. “And I want to be the person you go places with. You can go alone if you like,” he added, “but I will never not want to be by your side. Do you understand me?”

You look on a second more, gauging his expression and contemplating his words before you nod. “No more tears, please.” His hands moved to cradle your face, thumbs clearing the skin and in a flash his lips met yours. Filled with promise, he kissed you like you wished he would for days. You craved his taste and was letting you have it, finally feeding into the small fire in the pit of your stomach.

“I love you so much,” he whispered against your lips.

“I have something I want to show you,” he admitted, pulling away. A deep, clarifying breath escaped your lungs and he rubbed your back in turn, reaching in his pocket for his phone with the other hand.

His fingers fumbled across the screen, having to reenter the password twice. You looked away and laid your head into the crock of his neck, closing your eyes. Whatever it was, surely it could wait while your heart mellowed to a regular pace.

The peace was cut short when he whispered your name again, drawing your eyes open. He pushed his phone from his hand and into yours.

“There’s an album right here with your name on it.” You looked on at his camera albums listed on the bright screen. “And I want you to look through it.” He was certain with his words, urging you on.

“Why?” you asked, looking back up at him.

“I love you so much princess, I just want to show you, I want for you to know it and never question it again.” His sincerity was clear, nodding back down towards the phone in your hands. You opened it without a word and clicked on a photo. It was nice, from a few months back, but neither you nor India were looking towards him. She sat in front of you on the kitchen counter, clearly way past her bedtime. Both of you sneaking a bowl of ice cream but what stood out was the smile adorning both of your faces. Crazy hair and slightly sunburned cheeks laughing at each other. You remembered the night clearly, both of you having a private running joke to see how much ice cream you both could eat before Papa notices and “makes us eat salad for dinner”.

You sneaked a look up at him after glancing at the photo, “You know we sneak ice cream all the time, right?”

“Sure do,” he laughed in return. “Keep going.”

You looked back down at the phone and swiped to see another. A photo snuck from the doorway while you rested your head in your hand, elbows on the table as you watched the boys write something out on some paper in the homeschool room, reaching out with the other hand to point at something on Tristans’ sheet.

The next one was you sitting at the foot of the couch while India stood tall above you trying to put a braid in your locks while Sasha sat on your legs with a book in his hand. It was serene, calm. You pressed down on the picture to watch the Live, a short clip of fingers tangling in your hair and Sasha's voice reading aloud. You stifle a smile at it.

The next made you suck in a breath. You were sleeping in his bed at home, the sheet barely covering you. The curve of your back disappearing into the sheets, obviously sleeping in the nude, unaware of the camera pointed at you.

“Chris!” You teased, looking at him. And smirked and shrugged his shoulders, encouraging you again to continue. You brought your attention back to the photos, swiping through more and more. There were many and you kept going at a steady pace until another caught your eye.

You brought the screen to your eyes to examine it, brows furrowing in curiosity. Sasha’s room, although slightly messy, was easily recognizable as you lounged on the bed in the background, lying next to the boy.

Fingers trapping a small ring with an identifiable glow thrusting off the jewel perched atop. The pads of your fingers zoomed in on the object, at the same time, fairly sure your lungs stopped working.

You quickly swiped to the next picture, though the same ring adorned the foreground.

This time you stood against the bathroom counter brushing out your hair. The circle of jewelry resting around his own finger, reaching just below the first knuckle before it got stuck. You stared at the daring ring, resisting the urge to look at the man whose chest was pressed against your shoulder, whose arm rested across your back, rubbing gently, urging for you to continue.

You covered your mouth at the next one, fingers resting across your lips in astonishment. The bare skin of your shoulders were accented by the waves of your hair falling over them. Eyes closed, rested against his chest in search of sleep. He was cheeky, smiling in the photo, showing off a glowin diamond on a ring far too small for his own fingers.

The next picture was another of the same nature. Then a photo of you reaching for a glass in the kitchen. One of you sleeping on a plane. One of you naked, behind the blurred glass of the shower doors. One of you staring intently at your phone while standing at the counter. One of you standing in the mirror, examining, no - admiring the form of your growing baby.

You knew Chris was up to something, fidgeting after taking that photo, looking guilty as all get out. A brief watery laugh escaped as you reached that one.

The next was hilarious, Ellen with her face over your shoulder, with a surprised look, staring right at the camera. She knew!

You looked up at him, waiting for an answer to these photos. He just smiled and nudged you till you finished. There were more, a few more, as recent as this morning before he snuck away to go to set.

“It’s for you, love,” his voice whispers against the skin of your neck, lowering his lips to press a kiss where he knows you melt no matter the circumstance. An arm tightened around your back as he leaned forward and reached under the mattress, pulling a hidden box from the crease. You glazed at it as he switched hands and then brought it to you, flipping it open.

It was there, in person and not in a photo, demanding attention is the slyest of ways. It was beautiful, extravagant with an essence of simplicity. Words were caught in your throat as you stared at it, slowly blurring from your vision from unwelcome tears.

“Will you marry me?”

#chris hemsworth #chris hemsworth fanfiction #chris hemsworth x reader #chris hemsworth fluff #chris hemsworth x you #avengers masterlist

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dansnaturepictures · 3 years

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25/06/2021-The cottage, journey home and Lakeside and home tonight

Before leaving Anglesey this morning I savoured the stunning views from the cottage which I have adored so much and become so fond of especially taking in great trees here I took the first picture in this photoset of one of the views, I shall definitely miss them. And it was nice to see a Rabbit once more one of the stars of the week for the rich array of wildlife around the cottage and hear birdsong again, it was nice to see a Robin well as we passed the sheep we had become used to on the way out. The Menai Strait looked very dramatic and quite beautiful in the midst of heavy rain as we crossed the bridge and went back into Gwynedd, I will miss Anglesey so much. The sea was very choppy and rough which looked interesting as we made our way west to east across North Wales. After waiting the best part of two years for this trip with the postponement rightly due to Covid it sure went by fast, but time does fly when you're having fun!

On the way home we stopped off at our favourite service station Warwick and enjoyed a lovely cup of tea, cake and ice cream as a bit of sun came out and kissed some nice green trees, and it was interesting to see a crane fly in the service station they seem to be everywhere at the moment, a gigantic Rook on a bench and some on the roof some really good views and a big Buzzard soaring over. After foxgloves dominating the journey up a week ago tomorrow today it was great to see a few poppies on a field adjoining the road and some special pyramidal orchids on the verge. Red Kite and Swift as the journey got sunnier making lovely avian from car sightings.

When home tonight with it really sunny we took Missy for a walk over Lakeside and it was great to see the grass and everything even more well grown than when I left. It was such a sunny evening too I snapped the second picture in this photoset of the area out the front as I reacquainted myself with surroundings. There was an added incentive for doing this walk as predicted by me to try and chase the two butterflies I knew the time was coming to try and see at Lakeside, Small Skipper and Marbled White. This fueled further by my Mum seeing the latter at the service station on the way back on a little walk with Missy which I wasn’t on within our time there. We walked in at Lakeside and checked the meadows bordering the allotments to the west and some Meadow Brown butterflies flew out we saw loads as the walk went on. Then my Mum had a skipper and I was very pleased to see it was the delicious bright orange glow of the spotless (compared to Large Skipper) Small Skipper. I loved taking in this immaculate gem of a butterfly for the first time this year. We then went on to see at least two or three more which was fantastic to see, with Small Heath around too. I usually either see Marbled White and Small Skipper for the first time in a year here on the same day or different ones, commonly an evening before I worked form home on my cut throughs here whilst commuting. Up until last year it was usually Marbled White first, then in 2020 Small Skipper beat it onto my year list and it had done it again. I took the third picture in this photoset of the first Small Skipper.

As we walked on passing the pleasing clump of bird’s-foot trefoil and broad-leaved clover flowers shown in the fourth picture I took today in this photoset though to more of the bit I nickname Marbled White meadow with the grass being as high as a forest here whilst looking at a Meadow Brown I noticed a ghostly white butterfly fly by and got a binocular view to reveal it was a Marbled White. We saw another in the southern fenced off area and I was thrilled to get the other target tonight snuck in during a little boost of Lakeside before going into a normal weekend before returning to working at home next week when the weather was so fine. We watched the second one for a while and Its the first time I have seen both Marbled White and Small Skipper for the first time in a year on the same night since 2017. The second one flew into a tree at one point which I’ve never seen this species do before and even tried to land on my T-shirt too so it was happy to settle high up. This was a precious moment with this one of my favourite butterfly species. This took my butterfly year list to 39 and meant all of my year lists grew during this week off now which has been fantastic with my butterfly season really stepping up a gear into the summer species very excitingly. This was a great tonic for any post-holiday blues and having been inspired so much by an astonishing island in Anglesey and all its wildlife and wider North Wales over the past week I was reminded by the value of what’s on my doorstep too as these two year ticks took Lakeside above Martin Down for place I have ticked the most butterflies in this year something that was a big theme last year too with working from home which I celebrated. I took the fifth picture in this photoset of a view by the steam railway station and sixth of the Marbled White.

On the way out of the fenced off area and then down to the lake we saw two dragonflies, Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer. Onto the lakes glowing in the bright evening light and we noticed the Greylag Geese families with the goslings extremely grown up as well as Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck and Coot chick seen well at the lakes with heath-spotted orchid doing well by the lakes still. Agrimony was doing nicely on a strong night for flowers with another yellow some silverweed I saw one I only learnt yesterday at RSPB Valley Wetlands in Anglesey with white clover around a lot here as it was in Anglesey showing how the country is so gloriously connected. I took the seventh picture in this photoset of a view with the Greylag Geese in at the base of the lake.

We went back along the northern path so I could finally show my Mum the bee orchids, something I rather said my goodbyes too before the week away now hidden a little by the ever growing grass it was just about hanging on as the eighth picture I took in this photoset shows. Along this path Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselfly, a snail I noticed shown in the ninth picture in this photoset, brilliant Red Admiral views and a blue and creamy House Martin gliding overhead were highlights along here. Some nice alfalfa flowers which I noticed before coming away made a great sight too a nice little purply plant growing beside the steam railway track.

When home tonight I enjoyed flowers in the back garden inspecting for changes and we found a poppy had come out which I tweeted a photo of. I also took the tenth and final photo in this set of red flowers. As well as a sunset and moth in the house taken in I enjoyed noticing a Woodpigeon on the roof visible from my room tonight and with the sun lowering by this point I got quite literally a golden opportunity to add to the project I’ve been doing for two years to take photos of birds with the lowering sun behind them turning them into a silhouette and it seemed to have the sun in the right place for this to work to an extent at that point tonight certainly my best try yet I think I tweeted this picture on Dans_Pictures too.

A very interesting day with the holiday and coming home fused together. I hope you all have a nice weekend.

Wildlife Sightings Summary for Lakeside and home: My first Small Skipper and Marbled White of the year, another of my favourite butterflies the Red Admiral, one of my favourite birds the Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot, Greylag Goose, House Martin, Woodpigeon, Magpie well, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, bee well, moth and snail.

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yeats-infection · 4 years

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@sqvalors tagged me in a lil writing meme... if you’d like to participate please do and tag me!

ao3 name: fluorescentgrey but i also post some things as drglass (dr. glass is the second song on the fluorescent grey EP by deerhunter, so if i make another pseud it will be likenew, then washoff, etc.)

fandoms: about two thirds of my fics are harry potter or star wars but there are a lot of random little goodies. currently i have shifted into the terror (2018) mode.

number of fics: 59 right now... i will throw a party when i get to 69...

fic i spent the most time on: this is funny because some of these technically took me like six months or more of working on them extremely intermittently... namely, bone machine. the series in the garden has taken me the most time generally... and in that, minuet did take me several months of working really hard while i had a schedule / commute that was not conducive to having a creative practice...

fic i spent the least amount of time on: hilariously, literally my most popular fic by ninety miles, the witcher PWP that i wrote out of spite in two or three hours.

longest fic: the source codes series... particularly heelstone which is 102k. i wrote these two stories in a single summer like a crazy person and i hate talking about them because i find them WAY too gooey. honestly, that’s why they are so long. it’s all the gooeyness!!!!!!

shortest fic: yes, the answer is the witcher porn again (this silly thing is going to be the answer for many other questions in this little meme but i’m just going to stop talking about it while i’m ahead). the west end is just about 50 words longer and is much better and is a much better and more interesting story.

most hits: we’re just going to pretend it’s sex and dying in high society, which has the second most hits. this is certainly due to the fact that @wolfstarwarehouse hypes this story a lot for which i am endlessly grateful!

most kudos: recovery position has the second most kudos so let’s go with that one! i have been very touched by the response to this story, though i do personally like the sequel beachcoma a little more... i understand why not everyone wants to read it because it is a little more bittersweet. but it also comes from my soul.

most comment threads: the two stories in the source codes series are leading here, because i only posted two chapters at a time so that i would get maximal validation, lol.

most bookmarks: in order to talk about a story i haven’t talked about yet, the rosary has the fourth-most. i think this fic is truly my r/s swan song... i said everything i wanted to say and did everything i wanted to do. it’s a really good mystery/noir story that i didn’t think i could pull off until i did! and i love the OCs in it who have sort of manifested these secret headcanons for me that i may expostulate upon someday. thank you to @piovascosimo for the inspiration to write it.

total word count: 1,000,478. lol!

favorite fic i wrote: cannot possibly choose but probably the top five in order of date posted are: desperado, a handful of dust, doom town, beachcoma, jump into the fire

fic i’d rewrite / expand on: i already said all of source codes because it’s way too gooey, i also could make hard time killing floor blues a lot tighter, and a memoir of the flesh deserves a way better ending because i was rushing to make the yuletide deadline...

share a bit of a WIP: i was trying for a while to write a band of brothers AU where they are vietnam vets who start growing cannabis... based on the steve earle song “copperhead road.” this could have been SO good but the plot was too huge and unwieldy so i gave up. my roommate is obsessed with this idea and keeps asking me how it’s going so i may yet finish. but there’s a bit below the cut.

The knock at the door in the night was a sharp shock, bright as lightning, that sent them both back to Khe Sanh and before. Nix ducked. Dick went behind the doorframe. They kept low into the kitchen, where Nix took his old officer’s pistol out from where he kept it hidden behind the fridge. Then they went to the door, keeping to the edges of the hallways.

On the porch was Liebgott. He could have made his own way in likely right onto the couch without either of them noticing, so it was something that he had knocked on the goddamn door. It was particularly something given that none of the boys from Easy should have known about the grow operation, or even about Dick’s farm, being as Dick’s address on file at the V.A. was a post office box in town and Nix’s was still in Jersey. These considerations were nil to somebody who had spent the better part of five years in the bush of Vietnam. He took a last draw from his cigarette and put it out against the rubber sole of his boot, then he put the butt in his pocket. As far as Nix knew, he hadn’t said a word since January 1970.

“Joe,” said Dick diplomatically. He put his hand out and Liebgott took it. Then he took Nix’s. He had handsome dark eyes, but they were full of a wall. You could tell he saw you, but it was like nothing followed the necessary channels to the brain to spur emotional response. It had been like this even while he was still talking, and after a while you got used to it.

“You comin' in,” said Nix, knowing he probably would even if he wasn’t invited.

Inside, they all three sat at the kitchen table in silence nobody was about to break. Finally Dick got up and went to the drawer where they kept the rollies and their share of the product. He passed a sheaf of papers and a film canister full of bud to Liebgott across the table. Nix understood as well as Dick apparently did that there would be no getting anything over on this kid, who had eyes in the back and sides of his head. He’d probably had a nice tour of the property before coming inside. “You hungry, son,” Dick said.

Liebgott shook his head. He extracted one of the buds from the canister and inspected it. They did look mighty good if Nix said so himself. They looked artful in Liebgott’s hand. There were black scabs across his knuckles and a dark rime of filth under those fingernails which still existed. He seemed satisfied enough with what he saw to take a paper out of the sheaf and start shredding the flower into it.

“Captain Nixon calls it Easy Diesel,” said Dick, like he was trying to pretend it wasn’t the funniest thing in the world.

Liebgott looked up and a smile flashed across his face like the savage golden light of a flare falling over the far hills. His smile was sort of brutal, like the edge of a knife in a barfight, or like a seething animal. Luckily it went away as quickly as it had come. He rolled the joint with a quick grace and lit the business end with his old silver Zippo Nixon hadn’t seen since the war. There was a skull engraved on one side and on the other it read IF YOU ARE RECOVERING MY BODY, FUCK YOU.

“I don’t know how you found us, Joe,” Dick said thoughtfully. “You don’t have to… tell us. But we ain’t exactly keen to have just anybody here.” He paused and looked quickly to Nix, who tried to make it abundantly clear by means of eyebrows that he wasn’t sure they ought to go down this road, wherever it was leading. Dick ignored him. Liebgott was watching them, fully understanding their attempted clandestine exchange. “We ain’t exactly keen to have the DEA here,” Dick said at last.

The cherry at the end of the joint atomized with a crackling hiss. Liebgott looked between Dick and Nix with extreme seriousness sullied only by his exhaling a dignified white cloud out his nose. Then he nodded, once, curtly, demonstrating he understood his orders as they had been relayed.

Nix flashed Dick what he thought was a what have you done type look. But Dick looked totally unbothered. He should have gone into this business years ago for how violently unflappable he was. He said to Liebgott, “I’ll get some blankets and you can make up the couch.”

Liebgott shook his head to say no need. He got up, careful not to scrape the chair against the floor, shook each of their hands again, and in less than a minute’s time he was back out the door with nothing more than what he’d come in with except the joint.

Nix and Dick, on the porch, listening to the crickets, watched him disappear into the darkness.

“Are we hallucinating,” said Nix eventually.

“I sure as hell hope not,” Dick replied. “We’ve got to ship all that product or we’ll starve.”

In the morning Nix was in the field, inspecting the plants. Liebgott was standing there at his quarter for god knew how long before he cleared his throat and Nix jumped about six feet in the air. There was a smirk shifting across Liebgott’s face that he would have been better about hiding when Nix had been his commanding officer. He looked like he hadn't slept. Back over there he had looked like that a lot, but it had been different, because of all the uppers they were taking. He cocked his head back over toward the long driveway and then he was off across the dew-wet grass which had already soaked through the hems of his canvas pants and his destroyed shoes.

Nix followed, like a duckling behind a hen. Liebgott still walked as though there were eyes in all sides of his head quickly processing information as he moved. Nix doubted you ever lost that kind of skill, even if in the real world it made you look like a mental patient. He caught up so they could walk side by side through the dew-wet grass. “What did you think,” he asked Liebgott.

Liebgott passed Nix the universal sign of furrowed brow that meant please clarify.

Nix gestured with pinched fingers to his own mouth as though Liebgott were also deaf. “The grass.”

He shaped his hand into an a-ok sign.

“You get any sleep?”

He nodded an infinitesimal nod, like the answer was a secret just for Nix to know.

“Well if you think it could be better just tell me how.”

Nix had had a high school friend whose sister was deaf from scarlet fever and whom he had watched on occasion communicate with her by means of sign language. Early on, back over there, he had sent off to command for a book, but by the time it came he understood it wasn’t that Liebgott couldn’t speak, he just didn’t want to. It was something like how people’s hair supposedly turned white if they witnessed some evil thing, or how people became ascetics in the name of god. If you were really fucked up on drugs or fear or otherwise, or if the natural magical thinking from childhood hadn’t been fully beaten out of you, you might have seen it as the sacrifice he had given to the forest for letting him out without a scratch so many goddamn times. It had been a bit of a trial to explain this to Spiers, who was practical almost to a fault, sometimes.

Liebgott showed another a-ok sign. Then he did a thumbs up which Nix knew meant it was good.

All in all it was smart. If he was still talking, Nix might have asked him, what have you been up to? You been sleeping on the street? You been to the V.A.? What did they tell you? And the answer would’ve been nothing good. Instead they just walked in the cool grass together in the sunshine and the morning was beautiful, and the air was sweet. It was all lovely until Liebgott had to physically stop him, laughing, somehow silently but also hysterically, from stepping right onto the razor-thin tripwire stretched invisibly across the dark gravel.

In the kitchen, Dick was doing the numbers. He took his glasses off when Nix came in and put the coffee on. “He learned a thing or two from Charlie,” Nix said, leaning against the counters.

“Who, Joe?”

“Our driveway is thoroughly ratfucked.”

“Hmm,” said Dick. He put the glasses back on and turned back to the accounting book. He was going to do this whole thing as above board as was humanly possible. The vivid daylight came through the window and struck the lens of his unstylish Ray-Bans and threw a kind of prism of color upon the white paper and the chicken-scratch sums. Nix felt like maybe this was something you would paint if you had the necessary implements and artistic ability. “Maybe we should see if we can get any more help.”

He was mildly ashamed to say it, but the doc had always kind of creeped Nix out. He imagined a hypothetical conversation with Dick, who he knew loved the kid, almost like a son: Listen, don’t get me wrong, he’s a good kid, I owe him my life, yadda yadda. But either he’s dropped the brown acid one too many times or the voodoo exorcism went FUBAR.

The doc had arrived on the farm on the heels of Sunshine and Rainbows, aka Mr. Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed, aka one Edward “Babe” Heffron. Nix had written Babe in South Philly, being as he was a connoisseur of bud and once upon a time had been famed among their company for smoking anything anyone put in his hand, often to his own detriment. The operation was getting big enough that Nix needed another pair of hands, other than Liebgott, of course, who was still fortifying the long driveway whilst giving away his cover by playing Led Zeppelin IV as loudly as was possible. It was a tough calculation, because Babe was a genius of pot, but he couldn’t keep a damn secret, and lo and behold he had dragged along with him a dark shadow in the human form of Eugene Roe. They came up the driveway in a big old Ford pickup that rattled its rust off in the potholes. Liebgott had dismantled the traps specially for their arrival when they had called from Williamsport to say they were an hour out.

“I figured we could use a medical professional to lend some credibility to the operation,” said Babe thoughtfully, sparking a joint on the porch over sweating jam jars of iced tea.

Roe snorted or something but it wasn’t really a normal person’s self-effacing laugh. Winters clapped his back. Nixon knew Roe had dropped out of medical school after two years but there was no need to say anything. Everyone knew that. Now he was working construction and Babe claimed to be working as a mechanic in a garage, but this seemed suspect given the state of the car they had driven up in.

“Well we sure as hell are glad you boys are here,” said Dick magnanimously.

Babe exhaled an opaque cloud that rivaled Nix’s own father’s ability with a stogie. “Can we see the bush?”

They went out all together to the field and ducked between the rows of corn. Babe knelt in the soil. It was damp with dew and quiet in here. It would have been almost like over there except it smelled good. “What’s the cross,” Babe said, inspecting the plants.

“It’s an indica blend…”

“Well, I can tell that,” he said.

“So you’re an expert on the plant now too?”

“I’ve just smoked an awful lot of joints in my life, Captain Nixon.”

Roe snorted again. When they all looked to him he said, “You said in the letter there was some kind of altruistic reason for all this.”

“It’s medicine, Gene,” Babe said gently, but also like they had had this conversation thirty thousand times. Nix filed away for later the intimation that Roe had read the letter he’d sent Babe at home in South Philadelphia.

“I guess you don’t remember the psychic break you had at the Do Lung Bridge.”

Babe waved this remark off, even though Nix remembered it too. It threw a chill down his back, like a water balloon had hit him at the base of his neck. “That was laced,” Babe said.

“With what!”

“I don’t know! Something bad!” Babe turned to Dick and Nix. “Gene’s teetotal,” he said, like this was a big old point of contention.

So that counted out the bad acid. Maybe he was just like this. Maybe he had had those big sad bug eyes as a child or an infant or a fetus in the womb. “Good on you, Doc,” Nix said.

“I ain’t trying it,” Roe said, folding his arms over his narrow chest, “no matter what it does.”

The doc was a tough cookie. Babe had claimed, over there, about as high as the Byrds song, that the doc came from a long line of the kind of folks described in Dr. John’s “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” and that, as such, he could heal wounds with his mind. When it didn’t work, as on the night when Jackson died, or the night when Hoobler died, or in the forest when Muck and Penkala died, or the night when Liebgott stopped speaking, he went to sit for a while on the edge of camp until Dick went over and made him eat something. Nix watched them in a state of confused envy, and then he went to write the letters to the families, so that Dick wouldn’t have to.

At dusk, after they ate a light dinner of corn on the cob and rice and beans, he took the boys up into the hayloft with an armful of blankets. “Sorry this is the best we got,” he said. He had said that about a hundred god damn times since they got here.

Roe looked like he wanted to say, you’ve got to stop apologizing for everything. Instead he said, “Where does Lieb sleep.”

Babe perked up. “Joe’s here?”

“You didn’t see him in the driveway?”

Nix sighed. “He’s gonna want to know what he did wrong that you saw him,” he said.

“Does he still — ”

Nix shook his head. “Not a peep.”

In a couple days time, he couldn’t take it anymore, and he was hot and tired and stoned, up to his elbows in earth in the field, showing Babe how to replant the hatchlings he’d grown from seed. “You guys room together or what?”

“Me and Gene?” Babe’s eyes were red in the corners from smoking and from the sun. “What about you and Dick?”

Dick, who had the radio on inside turned up as loud as it would go, so that they would hear it in the field, playing Crosby Stills and Nash doing “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” “What about me and Dick?” said Nix.

Babe was a smart kid. He realized this was going nowhere. With muddy hands he popped one of the seedlings out of its little pot and cradled it into the ground. “Well, I think he thinks he’s looking after me, but in actuality, I am looking after him.”

#my fic #asks

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softbiker · 5 years

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Born to Run - Chapter 8

Warnings: some bad words

Word count: 3.3k

A/N: I love how I queued this and then tumblr literally didn’t post it :))))) anyways, the slow burn continues; bad people are up to stuff, good people are up to stuff. As always, let me know what you think!

He leaned on his motorcycle, a butterfly knife twirling between his twitchy fingers. He waited there, watching a few cars pass by on the highway, but there weren’t many at this time of the afternoon. Sweat started to pool in his worn leather boots, but he’d be damned if he complained. He’s seen hotter, been through worse. His other hand dug through the stash in his pocket, and he popped a piece of sugary pink gum into his mouth, crumpling the wrapper and letting it fall to the ground.

Gravel crunched behind him as his lieutenant approached. Rumlow didn’t turn, merely flicked his wrist over and folded the knife, waiting for the other man to speak.

“They’ve moved her into the clubhouse,” Ward said, hair greased back and oily in the sunlight. “Guess she didn’t listen.”

“No,” Rumlow shook his head with a smack of his bubblegum. “Guess she didn’t.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, the only sounds between them were his mouth on the gum and the cicadas humming in the late September heat. A couple more cars passed by, but their old gas station hangout was the last thing anyone wants to look at too closely; the road turned away from them and so did everyone's eyes. Grant Ward was sweating now, too, but he didn’t dare interrupt Rumlow while he was thinking. His mother used to say he didn’t have any brains, but he’s got enough to value his own neck and shut the hell up.

“It’s Barnes that wants her,” Rumlow finally spoke up, spitting his gum on the ground and trading it out for a peppermint. That wrapper followed the other, littering the gravel. “Rogers, Wilson - the rest of ‘em would’ve left her alone. But he wants her. Probably fucks her.”

Ward cracked a little smile at that. He was a red-blooded man, and he’d seen that doctor chick. Couldn’t blame Barnes for taking an opportunity.

“You think she’s our ticket, boss?”

“I know she is.” The peppermint cracked between Rumlow’s molars. “They just added a weak link to their chain. We tug on it and Barnes’ll come running.” He stood up from his perch against the seat of his bike, tilting his head to one side until his neck cracked. Ward shifted his feet on the gravel to put an extra few inches of space between them. He glanced at their bikes.

“We movin’ now?”

“Not yet.” Rumlow straddled his bike and spared Ward one last look. “Call the boys. We’re havin’ church.”

**********

“This’ll be your room,” Natasha leaned a hip against the door, allowing Y/N to walk in first. “Not exactly 5 star, but it’s better than being homeless.”

“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.” Y/N dropped her duffel bag on the bed and sighed, tilting her head back to look at Nat. “Seriously. Thank you for doing this.”

“You don’t need to thank us.” Nat was shaking her head already. “We put you in this mess. It’s the least we could do.”

“Still. It means a lot.”

After spending one more night at Bucky’s place, Y/N had gathered what was left of her (undamaged) belongings and thrown it all in the back seat of her car once more, following Bucky and Nat on their bikes as they lead her out of town towards the clubhouse. The radio faintly picked up a gospel station but she shut it off. Too much on her mind.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the warning, literal writing on the wall. “Leave while you can.” The threat was clear - at some point, they wouldn’t let her go, whoever “they” were. She’d be dead. The implication chilled her more than the break-in itself; this wasn’t a random, opportunistic home robbery. Someone followed her, found her, targeted her. And while the Avengers were doing their best to help her out, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it truly was their fault.

But you signed up for this, she told herself. Didn’t you ask for it?

A knock on the door frame, and Steve Rogers poked his head around the corner, his soft blond hair sticking out at odd angles from his helmet. He met her eyes with a small smile.

“Hey. You getting settled?” he asked, shuffling his very large body to fit in the doorway next to Natasha.

“Mhm. Nat is helping.”

“Good - that’s good,” Steve nodded, hooking his thumbs in his pockets, a little awkward. He had the telltale posture of a person who has something to say, but doesn’t know how to say it. Natasha noticed this, too, turning herself to face him fully.

“Spit it out, Rogers, I know that look.” She crossed her arms. He blew a defeated breath past his lips.

“Listen, I wanna start by saying that I don’t like this anymore than you do, okay?” he held up his hands, looking between the two of them. “But...I’ve been talking with Bucky, and we both feel that it would be good if - if you didn’t really go out alone for a while.”

A beat.

“Excuse me?”

“Clearly you’re in danger, we all saw the damage at your house. The person - people - who did this are not going to just leave you alone. So...we were thinking that you should have someone, one of us, taking you to work or to the store or wherever you need to go.”

He finished his little speech with an apologetic lift of his eyebrows, knowing that it would not be received the way it was intended. At the look on Y/N’s face, he tensed his shoulders, bracing himself for the blow.

“Are you out of your mind?” She was looking at him like he had just sprouted a second head. “It’s one thing to suggest moving in here, but a bodyguard? A literal bodyguard? No way. Not happening.”

Scared as she was, alone as she felt, her independence bristled at the thought of having her privacy invaded, her competence questioned. Did they really think she couldn’t take care of herself? She lived on a college campus, and then in the city for med school - she’d fended off her fair share of creeps, and all by herself.

“I knew you wouldn’t go for it…” Steve sighed, but set his jaw, not backing down. “But this isn’t really a request.”

“Are you - are you fucking joking right now?” Oh she was really gonna lose it. “Look, you may be the president or captain or whatever around here, but I’m not a part of your stupid gang. You don’t get to give me orders.”

He blinked, a stunned look on his face as if he were seeing her for the first time. Natasha was smirking, giving him that knowing look that he honestly hated - she remembered, just like Steve did, the first time he heard those words. The woman who said them. The tension in his shoulders relaxed just a little.

“I’m not trying to. I swear,” he placated. Drawing in a deep breath, he glanced at Natasha, who was no help at all today, then settled his gaze back on their guest. “Look. How about a compromise. Give it two weeks, two weeks of being escorted by someone from the Avengers, just until we get these people or things calm down. Sound reasonable?”

She hesitated. Honestly? No, not reasonable. But in the name of safety...and she did wonder, her mind turning back to the train of thought she had followed in the car. Whoever it was, they might not be fooled by her moving across town. They might even still be following her, know that she was here…

“Fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “Two weeks. But I still don’t like it.”

**********

“I’m sorry, remind me why we’re doing this?”

“You agreed to let one of us take you to and from work. This is the easiest way.”

“...you could just follow me on the bike. Or ride in my car.”

Bucky sighed heavily, slumping against the handlebars of his motorcycle.

“What’s the big deal? I thought you liked riding?” he shrugged. “Besides, riding together saves gas, and it’s better for the planet.”

She lowered her brows at him, clearly not impressed with his argument.

“Look. It’s not the bike I have a problem with, okay?” She rubbed her temples. “If I show up to work on the back of your bike, people might - they’ll think…”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “People are gonna think what they wanna think, doll,” he shook his head. “But not a damn bit of that matters unless you think it does.”

She pursed her lips, fingers fiddling with the zipper on her jacket. Enough people associated her with the gang already that her home had been invaded and vandalized. And the rest had their whispered suspicions, shared at church ice cream socials and book clubs.

Without a word, she took the helmet he offered and swung her leg around to sit behind him. At least this commute would be more fun.

**********

“So...Bucky Barnes, huh?”

“Yeah - what’s he like? He as mean as he looks?”

“Well, he’s gotta be something other than mean for her to want to date him-”

“Woah, woah slow down,” Y/N put her hand up, interrupting the flow of the nurses’ conversation. “I am not dating him. We’re not dating.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Charlotte raised her eyebrows. “And that’s why he’s following you around like a guard dog, driving you places, holding open doors…”

“Never leaving your side.” Stacey added.

“Waiting for you after work.” KC, the newest nurse, nodded towards the front door of the clinic, where the man in question could be seen leaning against his bike, a cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

Y/N sighed. After a week of Bucky’s protective detail, the whole town had their eyes on her. Whispers between grocery aisles and PTA meetings and over coffee at Mel’s Diner - everyone had seen her with him, on that motorcycle of his all the time, and hadn’t she seemed too smart to fall in with a guy like that? Of course, it all made sense now, what had happened over there at the Van Horn house - somebody in that gang wanted her gone, but she was too in love with Barnes to listen to her good sense and skip town. She’d heard it all; complete strangers took it upon themselves to warn her, to scold her even, for hopping into bed with a dangerous man. All of it regardless of the truth, which was that he was more of a bodyguard than anything else.

“I know you all think that there’s something going on between us,” she said slowly. “But Bucky and I are just friends. That’s all.”

The nurses had finally cornered her after several days of watching Bucky peel into the parking lot and produce their wind-swept doctor, and then seeing him reappear at lunch and in the evenings to steal her away on the back of his bike. She knew they made quite the picture, and she sure as hell knew about his reputation - she had just hoped that no one would actually say anything to her face. It was too hard to explain, even without her hesitation to reveal Avengers business.

Her words did little, if anything, to satisfy them. On the face of it, they were worried for her. The town knew nothing about Barnes other than his reputation, which was more leather than golden. When Y/N started making appearances with him, her own character came into question, with everyone but her friends at the clinic. She protested again and again that he wasn’t what the town said, that he was a good, kind person, and over time she wore them down a little - but after that it was worse. Satisfied that she wasn’t in mortal danger, the girls revealed their deep curiosity about the mysterious “bad boy” that had become her personal driver. They giggled and whispered as though they were at a sixth grade slumber party, not a medical clinic.

Charlotte crossed her arms with a smug smile, watching Y/N squirm under their questions. Maybe she just wasn’t ready to admit it to herself.

“Well, I think your friend-,” she put air quotes around the word. “- is ready to go.”

Y/N looked out the door again to see Bucky straddling his bike now, his face turned towards the door as if he could actually see her through it. The sunglasses on his face were bright and reflective in the golden hour sun.

“Alright then. Have a good night ladies.”

“Oh I’m sure yours will be better.” KC wiggled her eyebrows.

Bucky watched her approach him with a smile around his cigarette - a smile that dropped in surprise when she snatched the thing from his mouth and threw it to the ground.

“What have I told you about smoking here?”

“I’m still outside, you know.”

“Yes, but plenty of patients have trouble breathing - you could manage to not have a cigarette while you’re waiting for me to get off work.”

His grin was playful, sweet.

“Yes, ma’am.”

15 minutes later, on their drive home, he shot straight past the clubhouse without even slowing down. Lulled into the familiar trance of holding him on the back of his bike, she almost didn’t notice - when she realized what he’d done, she squeezed his waist and leaned up to yell in his ear.

“Where are you going? The clubhouse is back there!”

“You’ll see, doll!”

He stuck to the highway for a few more miles, before branching off on a smaller road through the hills. They sped past pastures and creeks and herds of cows lazing under trees, all of it still green and soft though October had managed to sneak up on them somehow. A few houses dotted the hillside here and there, with large barns to hold their animals, but other than that they saw no sign of civilization, or of people who would stare.

He turned off again onto a small country lane, following old signs that read “Old Man’s Lake Park” until they reached a gravel lot that served for parking. With a sly grin, he watched her pull off her helmet and tugged her along a worn footpath through the park, never letting go of her hand.

“I thought you might like it out here - a change of pace from going back and forth to the clubhouse and work and the grocery store.” He looked over his shoulder, and she could see his confidence fade a little, a hopeful look in his eyes tempered with an ounce of doubt.

The lake sprawled out over a hundred yards, its surface calm and glassy, cut only by a family of ducks near the shoreline. Trees dug their roots in along the bank, their branches curving down to brush the top of the water, with a couple of ropes tied to the stronger ones so that people could jump in. As the sun fell closer to the horizon, the whole scene was lit in amber and gold, the soft hum of cicadas filling the air around them.

“This...Bucky-” She looked up to find him already looking at her. “This place is beautiful.”

He smiled, a little bashful as he glanced down at his boots.

“I know people have been givin’ you a hard time...and I know it’s mostly my fault,” He sighed. “But all the way out here, there’s nobody watching. You can just...be yourself, you know?”

He was staring across the lake, the light from the water reflecting in his crystal blue eyes. She took a deep breath, shoulders relaxing.

“Yeah, I know.”

**********

“You seriously did that on a dare? I can’t believe you.”

“Well I had to otherwise Steve was gonna do it! You didn’t know him back then, he would’ve caught pneumonia and died!”

“Oh, so you went skinny dipping in a frozen lake for selfless reasons, that makes it completely different.” She rolled her eyes, unable to hold down her smile. “I’m sure your mother was very proud.”

“She was, when she figured out I was saving a life,” Bucky quipped back, eyebrows raised.

“Saving a life by almost dying - you pretty much broke even on that one.”

“Yeah, well. I was 15, I had more muscles than brains back then.”

She just scoffs, rolling her eyes again.

**********

“You know, I never really saw a lot of stars until I was deployed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Grew up in the city - too much light pollution.”

“Me too, actually.” She laid back on her elbows. “I barely know any of the constellations, except for the Big Dipper.”

“Seriously?” When she nodded, he laid down on his back, gesturing with his hand for her to do the same. “Okay, class is in session.” He pointed towards the sky above, a little to her right. “You see that group right there, with the three stars right in a row?”

Tracing her eyes along the tattoos on his forearm, she turned her gaze upwards to where he was pointing.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“That’s Orion’s belt.” He leaned a little closer, letting her eyes follow the shape that his finger was making. “Then you can follow it up here and here...and that’s the whole constellation of Orion - he’s called the Hunter, and you can kinda see there how he’s supposed to be holding a bow.”

“Oh, wait I do see it!” She turned to him, beaming. “That’s so cool!”

He was already smiling at her, his eyes flitting over her face.

“Alright - next up, Pegasus.”

**********

“Why did you really come out here?”

They had scooted closer to each other as night fell and the temperature with it. Y/N was sitting with her knees drawn up, Bucky’s jacket around her shoulders.

“I mean, I know you went with the rural practice program,” he went on. “But...I just can’t believe you didn’t have another option to pay for med school.”

She shrugged.

“Well, I could’ve gone into the military, but I’m not exactly thrilled with our current commander-in-chief,” she sighed. “And then...I don’t know, I guess. I didn’t want the stress of having to pay off my tuition by myself. So I took this.”

He nodded, silent for a few moments.

“Do you regret it?”

She didn’t answer, not for a long time - she just stared at the toes of her sneakers and pulled at the grass. When she did speak, her voice was small, barely above a whisper.

“Do you ever feel alone, Bucky?”

She could feel him looking at her, but didn’t turn.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do sometimes.”

“I’ve...I’ve never been this alone in my life.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I regret this, but I feel-I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Like I’m lost. And no one can tell me if I’m going the right way or not.”

He didn’t say anything to that, but covered her hand with his. The sky had been dark for a long time, the stars glittering overhead and echoing back on the surface of the lake. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but neither of them had made a move to leave.

“I...know a little of how you feel,” he said, his voice low. “And I don’t think anyone can really tell you which way to go.” He squeezed her fingers, his palm covering hers. “But you’re strong, and crazy smart, and you can figure this out. And…” he sighed heavily. “You don’t have to be...alone.”

She stared at him, just able to make out the soft blue of his eyes in the dark. Something stretched between them, unbreakable in the moonlight. She couldn’t look away. On the grass between them, he threaded his fingers with hers and whispered.

“You’re not alone.”

#bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader fic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #marvel #marvel fic #avengers #avengers fic #biker!bucky #biker!bucky au

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imaginethathaikyuu · 5 years

Note

au: 9 | prompt: 40 and 13 | and the other thing: 7 | thank you so much! This can be either for bokuto or nishinoya! It’s your choice

i couldn’t resist writing a camp counselor au :’)

Changing your yellow camp t-shirt for a green sweatshirt with the same logo was probably a waste of time, because after heading out the backdoor of the cabin, you realized the summer nights were way too warm for long sleeves. It’d be silly to go back in now, though; your loud footsteps caused by your clunky combat boots made it difficult to sneak out. You only hoped you didn’t wake any of the campers on the way out.

“Where you going?” Kiyoko, sitting on the back porch with a book in her lap, asked you, nearly scaring you to death. You had no idea she was out here, and she looked pretty creepy sitting out here on the porch swing by herself.

“It’s after curfew, I don’t have any counseling duties after 11, do I?”

She gave you a knowing stare, pearing at you over her glasses.

“No,” she answered, a smirk growing on her lips. “But someone has to make sure no one sneaks out. Preferably someone with the experience.”

“Sneaking out of these cabins was much easier ten years ago,” you replied. “They’re all knocked out from a busy first day, anyway. You can hold down the fort while I’m gone, can’t you?”

She gave you a comforting smile, one that was as encouraging as it was sweet. “Go,” she said. “Bokuto is waiting for you, I’m sure.”

You were already down the porch steps before you called back a quick “Thank you! I owe you one!” and were down the grassy hill in seconds.

The boy’s cabins were on the other side of the camp, which meant you always had to meet Koutarou in the middle. Instead of changing your plans now that you were adults, you just followed the routine you had started when you were kids: meeting at the camp’s lake. While it was closer to the girl’s dorms, it was more or less smacked in the middle of the campgrounds if you both walked along the camp’s perimeter.

You jogged there because you were already a few minutes late - a young girl had refused to go to bed without you staying in the room, so you had to watch as she fell asleep. You were sure Koutarou was getting bored waiting on you.

But when you showed up to the lake, he wasn’t there. No more than a minute later, though, he came running, wearing the same yellow camp t-shirt you had changed out of before leaving.

“Sorry,” he said. “I had to get some kids to bed.”

You shook your head, “It’s okay, I just got here, too.”

“Good,” he nodded, “I would’ve hated making you wait here in the dark, the lake monster might’ve gotten you!”

“The lake monster?” you asked with a laugh.

“That’s what the kids have come up with this year,” he said as he led the way toward the dock. “What was it last year?”

“Chainsaw murderer,” you replied, jogging passed him to get to the end of the dock first. You expected him to chase after you, but you were already sitting down by the time he caught up.

“You alright?” you asked him as he sat down. You were kicking your legs back and forth above the rippling water, just like you did as a kid. The dock was just high enough so your feet couldn’t reach the water, so you didn’t have to worry about getting your shoes wet.

“I’m alright,” he replied with a nod, kicking your booted foot with his much bigger one. “Was a busy day. I always forget how wild the first day of camp is.”

He sounded exhausted; you felt bad for getting him out so late after the day he’s had. He had literally been balancing campers on his back all day.

“You’re right,” you agreed, watching the side of his face. “We didn’t have to come out tonight -”

“Yes, we did,” he said before letting out a yawn. “Of course we did. It’s tradition. Akaashi took some convincing, but, other than that, I had no problem getting here.”

Again, he was right. And it felt nice hearing him talk about it that way. This wasn’t really required, but to you, it was; you were glad to know he felt the same. “So did Kiyoko,” you said. “Said she needed someone with experience sneaking out to watch the kids.”

“Takes a criminal to know a criminal,” Koutarou said.

“You’re one to talk!” you laughed. “Sneaking out was your idea in the first place.”

“No way!” he argued. “You’re the one who wanted to sneak into the stables after lights out to become friends with the horses.”

You laughed even louder, “That was you, Koutarou!”

His only rebuttal was, “...Well, I guess we have differing opinions,” before he started laughing at himself.

You laid back onto the wooden dock, your joint laughter seeming to echo throughout the woods surrounding the lake. “We haven’t done this in so long.”

“Since last year,” he replied, laying down with you. He propped his head up on his hand so he could look down at you. It was dark, but the moon lit your face well enough for him to see.

“That’s a long time, Kou.”

He smiled as he watched your eyes darting across the night sky; the reflection of the stars shined in them, and he couldn’t look away.

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess you’re right. It has been too long.”

It really had been a long time. But not since the two of you had snuck out of your respective cabins to meet each other at the lake - while that was true, it’s not what he meant. It’s been too long since he’s seen you. Since he’s gotten to look into your eyes, hear your voice, be with you. It’s been far too long, even though just a year had passed since the last time.

“I can’t believe we actually got away with doing this when we were kids,” you said, laughing at the memory. “How were we not get caught sooner?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, laughing with you. “It was what, two years before anyone found us?”

You nodded. “I think so. And we tried everything that third year to get away with it,” you remembered. “I almost got sent home for sneaking out so much.”

“Oh, I cried to my dad,” Koutarou laughed, “I begged him to let you stay.”

His stomach hurt as he laughed harder and harder at the memory of his 12 year old self, begging his dad to let you stay at camp. And it worked - those were the perks of being the kid of the guy who runs the summer camp.

“I probably should’ve been banned from the camp with all the trouble I caused.”

“Me too!” he said, which made you laugh even more at the idea of the camp owner banning his own son from attending his camp.

“I hope we don’t have to deal with any kids as troubling as we were,” you said after the giggles died down. “I’d be a hypocrite for punishing a kid for sneaking out, wouldn’t I?”

“You would be,” he said. “But that’s your job. I mean... for the next six weeks it is.”

Somehow, Koutarou always managed to forget that you were only a temporary staff member here. He only had you for six weeks out of the year, then you’d be gone again. You’d go back to your normal life, and he’d have to get used to missing you until next year.

It was the one thing he hated about working at the camp.

It was a family business, so of course Koutarou was a permanent staff member. So were many of the other counselors: Akaashi, Kiyoko, Yukie, and a lot of the others. You were somewhat of an odd one out as a temporary member.

He cleared his throat, “We haven’t had many sneak outs, though, uh… so don’t worry about it.”

It was only your second year counseling; Koutarou had become a counselor at 18, while you waited until you were 21 to come back. Now, you were both 22, and Koutarou had three years of counseling under his belt - he was experienced enough to be like a mentor for you.

He looked down at the big, clunky, nerdy watch that Akaashi always made him wear to see that it was nearing midnight. And as much as he loved spending time with you out here, he had kitchen cleaning duty at 5 AM - meaning he needed all the sleep he could get.

You two couldn’t stay out until 3 AM like you used to, but he really wished you could.

“We should get back,” he told you, standing up. “Campers could be sneaking out as we speak.”

He took your hand and helped you up, and he didn’t drop it as he walked you back to your cabin.

The walk was quiet until Koutarou spoke up. “So, uh… you haven’t thought about, like… coming to work year round, have you?” he asked. “You know… There are a lot of jobs here, not just during summer camp. We could… use the help.”

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” you said. “I’ve thought about it a lot. I’m happiest when I’m here, Kou, you know that. But…”

You looked down at the ground as you tried to find your words, kicking a rock down the road as you swung your joined hands back and forth between you two.

“But?” he pressed.

You wondered if anyone here would even want you as a permanent staff member. If Koutarou would even want you to be around that often. A lot of the time, you were convinced that the reason your friendship was so strong was because it relied on only seeing each other once a year. You were afraid of what might happen if you were around each other more.

The insecure side of yourself said that he probably wouldn’t care if you were here or not. That the only thing that really mattered was being here for these six weeks - and after that, he didn’t care where you went.

But your hopeful side was telling you that maybe he did want you here to work with him. And that - this was an even bigger maybe - you might have a chance with him. He gave your hand a squeeze, and because of that gesture, that voice seemed to get louder.

“It’d be a long commute every day,” you said. “And I’d have to leave my job…”

“I know, I know,” he said. Your cabin was in sight now, and he knew he’d have to wrap the conversation up soon. “Look, I’m not telling you that you should do it - I know it’d be a big change, and… you can’t make a decision like that on the fly, right? But… just… maybe think about it? For me?”

“I’ll think about it for you,” you replied, and he smiled as he watched you smile. And he couldn’t help what he did next - he had to wrap his arms around your shoulders and pull you into a bone crushing hug.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” you managed to say. “I missed you more.”

“Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support, alright?” he said as you pulled away. “If you’re happy, I’m happy.” He wanted to say more - much more, if he was honest - but he left it at that.

He gave you his award winning smile and a wink to match as you started walking up the hill.

“Oh, hey!” he called, not caring how loud his voice was. “Be in the kitchen at 5, alright? Don’t be late!”

It was going to be a good summer. Apart from the kitchen duty.

#haikyuu imagines #Bokuto Koutarou #bokuto koutarou x reader

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jodellejournals · 4 years

Text

little mermaid days

an hour away from my hometown city, a municipality called san joaquin peacefully exists and humbly thrives. it is located at the southern tip of iloilo and it was way back 2005 when we spontaneously walked on its shores until we found an empty lot. it was love at first sight at the scenery that struck us so my tita bought that piece of land. a year later, it became our family beach house. long weekends, summer breaks, birthdays, and anniversaries started to be spent and celebrated there and so it became a home away from the city where i lived my little mermaid dreams. as some of you know, i have always been fascinated by mermaids and their happy-go-lucky life — just swimming, brushing their hair with forks, being friends with crabs and almost all sea creatures, and away from the harsh and cruel human world. i’m such an escapist, i know, but that’s who i am. i have mentioned in one of my previous entries that my favorite disney princess is ariel from the little mermaid so living in a beach house during weekends made me feel like one. thankfully, no ursula was there but only eels. and sometimes, they come for free. a family friend of ours who does business in the area gives us free seafood and we all know it tastes better when it’s free! but i don’t eat eels! they’re not my thing. i only enjoy fresh fishes and prawns. they’re good although i am allergic to the latter one. i am scared of how oysters look like, on the other hand, so i just pass them around. that’s too much food already so let me share to you instead how life was like in the sea side.

usually, we’d leave our ancestral house in the city by 8am although we have originally planned to depart at 7am. filipino time, you know. if there will be plenty of us (cousins from first to third degrees, extended aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews who were tagged along, and some househelp), we’d go in three batches. if we’re a small bunch, one or two batches would be enough. i always pick the car where cousins my age were at and i’d be lounging in the backseat with my pillow, a bag of cheetos or chippy, bottled water, and earphones. life is good. and i’m all set for a cozy hour of car ride. bye-bye, city! whilst on the road, i’d always (and i mean always), look in the window as if i’m in a summer adventure movie like aquamarine. the usual sights were centuries-old churches, spanish colonnial houses, pastry shops, local malls and resorts. all of which were very familiar to me since i grew up passing by them but they still seemed anew each time i laid my eyes. i marveled at my city. it is such beauty. there is really no place like home. then thirty to forty minutes later, my eyes were greeted by palm trees, zigzag roads, little nipa restaurants, and just a bit further, the glittering sea under the piercing rays of sun came into our perfect view. san joaquin, being a southern municipality, is abundant in natural resources. so the closer you get there, the closer you are to mother nature. it’s like a secret hiding place for me — almost like narnia — where i can unwind with birds, fishes, cows, and dogs to name a few. some cows were literally on the road so we make sure that we don’t go way too fast even if there’s no traffic. cows have their agendas, too, so let’s not get in their way. then if we’d get a bit hungry because breakfast was usually prepared upon arriving at the beach house, we’d stop over at a famous bakery shop called nang palang’s pies. a trip to san joaquin is usually never completed without buying boxes of their signature buko pie. delicious, warm, and well-suited for the tropical weather. i’d take half-bites so as to not be full when real breakfast arrives. then after attempts of dozing into a nap and avoiding cows and their agendas, we’d finally arrive at our vacation home.

upon opening the car door, the crashing sound of the waves welcomed us warmly and the buzzing of the crickets, too! i can already feel my tan slowly coming out of my skin. i don’t know why but beaches make everything seem glisten and glitter. the air smelled of fresh leaves and trees mixed with saltiness from the sea. i love that earth smell! by that time, i’d instinctively hear the sea calling my name. it’s shining there few steps away from me, after all. no worries mr. sea, me and my cousins were already in our swimsuits. we were that excited and ready. we have learned from previous visits to be always prepared with the right attire because the sea calling exempts nobody. and the bangka at the shore (that is usually a property of our caretaker) only tempted us more to go for a sunny boat ride. the adults could no longer do anything if we jumped in and rowed that boat! forget the sunscreen, the little children in us back then used to not care much about our skin. playtime was more important and twice the fun at the beach. so one time, my mother called us for breakfast but we were already dipped in the not-so-deep blue sea and basked under the yellow san joaquin sun. too late, chocolate!

but if she triumphed in stopping us, me and my cousins would have an afternoon swim instead. by 3:30pm, usually refreshed from our nap, we were in the perfect mood to be little mermaids. folding chairs in happy colors perched at the shore and tall beach umbrellas stood firmly. now we have sandy toes that made us forget our childish woes. we’d create sand castles or write our names in the sand using sticks. it would stay there for the sky to look upon until a giant wave would wash them all away. gone was any trace of our masterpiece but that’s okay, we always love the sea. then some children at our age would pass by us. they hold with them crystal bottles that looked like one of those that ursula had with potion, weirdly-shaped but pretty-colored stones, kites, and biscuits or chips. i guess it’s their playtime, too. no, they’re not lost wandering anywhere the wind takes them but local residents just roaming around their village. yes, our beach house was at the sea side where many houses of the locals stood firm. when we talked to those children about the place, they knew every twist and turn, how long it would take to get to the next island or village, or how much the goods there cost. these children, small they may be, but mighty is their knowledge. i could not even commute properly until now without asking for some guides and directions! but them, they are like dora’s map that memorized each corner by heart. how wonderful are the lives of these people? living by the sea, breathing fresh air, and swimming in the waters anytime they want. they do fishing for a living and it’s not even a nine-to-six job. clearly, there is work-life balance. the best things in life are indeed, free. so why do we even picture a life in the city? a simple life calls for a simple way of living. but jodelle, you know deep down inside, that each parent wants their children to live a life with the best things that this world has to offer. how? by getting a good education, earning money, investing on insurance, building your own place, exploring countries, and meeting new faces to name a few. that’s how it’s always been painted to us. but what if, once in a while, we just retreat to nature and immerse in a homemade and handmade kind of life? i’d gladly consider that option.

anyway, going back to my story, me and my cousins would start swimming by 4pm right after our encounter with the locals. for me, it’s the ideal swimming time because there was no more blazing heat but only breezing winds. and it would not also be long enough until it’s sunset o’clock! so one afternoon, i laid down by the shore wearing my navy blue swimsuit with yellow flowers on it and my back felt the soft sand and each time the waves kissed the shore. relaxing, soothing, calming. i can just stay here forever, i remember thinking. and while laying there, my only view was the clear sky. it was not blue that time but clear white with some fading yellows on the sides from the noon that has passed. how vast is this celestial body? does it ever end? the world is so big and i felt so small — but free as well. then a flock of chirping birds came into my view and i didn’t mind. i enjoyed them, in fact. they seemed so happy and at peace. isn’t it beautiful how bodies of water, vast skies, and living creatures just harmoniously coexist together? god really created everything perfectly. i stayed laying there a bit longer and saw the sky changed to a different shade in its own pace. just like us humans. another thought came across my mind but it was a bit silly. wild guess? i pretended the sand was snow and created a sand angel! it was not that bad upon checking the outcome. shortly, i called my cousin, dianne, and told her my blissful and happy experience. i can’t be selfish and enjoy the wonders of the shores all to myself, right? so she also laid beside me, created her own sand angel, and we looked up to the sky above, enjoying our moment of peace and quiet. we closed our eyes for a bit and meditated. just two pisces girls being spiritual. but not too long though, because strong waves took us back to our reality.

by that time, the sun was already setting and hues of oranges, pinks, and purples painted the sky. i’m not a swimmer so i just sat at a huge rock in the waters, pretended i had a tail, and parted my wet hair into half just like how mermaids do it. i’d look at the horizon, check ships from afar, observe small boats nearby, and when i look down on my toes, little nemos were there happily swimming. being in nature really makes me feel alive. then as we came out of the waters, the fishermen were also docking their bangkas and pulling their fishing nets. they had a bountiful catch which was enough to feed their family. that signaled me and my cousins that it was time to wash up in the bathroom for dinner will soon be served. expectedly, our viand would be grilled fish to be dipped in soy sauce, calamansi, and chilli peppers and we’d pair it with warm sticky rice. when we were full, we’d leave the ground floor for the adults to play mahjong and climb our way to the second floor to share stories. sometimes, we’d play cards or read books through our iphones. The television did not appeal much to us when we were there. and when midnight came, we’d munch on a bag of doritos for snacks and drink leftover red wine that was usually from our previous visit. all while the airconditioner was on full blast. i miss that kind of comfortable. a little bit later, we’d turn off some of the lights but it wasn’t completely dark. the moon that shone above was enough to give us light and it seeped through our room that was guarded by a sliding glass door. it overlooked the sea 24/7 and we never got tired of that view. when daylight came, there was no need for an alarm clock because the sound of the ocean waves that sweetly lulled us to sleep last night would gently wake us up in the morning sun, too. coming with the terms of nature and its cycles enabled me to be aware of what part of the day it already was. so that’s when i knew it’s time for brunch because the sun was way too high up in the sky. we’d then go on with the day just like how we spent yesterday until we were due to be back in the city.

oh, happy times. it was simpler back then. it used to even feel like days would always be like that forever but look at me now. i’m miles away from where i consider home and “living” a so-called adult life “the way it should be” — working at the office, paying insurance, constructing emails. all those stuff. when did life become like this? did i forget how to have a heart and eyes of a child? i hope not. but being in your twenties can easily get you in a trap especially if there is no time to take a pause and reflect. sometimes, it’s easier to be just a child — forgiving, carefree, light-hearted, full of wonder, and pure in every way. all would be well again after a good cry. but then i have always known that i can forever remain a kid at heart no matter how old i age. i just have to make sure that she’s within me safely guarded at all costs so the world would never harden her. i am glad she still remains soft when i look at her closely. she still has those eyes full of wonder with a carefree heart that carries happy childhood memories from her little mermaid days.

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