#Yes I changed the title slightly because I realised I had managed to type it differently between here and my working file

[waytooinvested]

Vengeance, Victory, and Undying Love - pt 2

Chapter 2 of my Supercorp fic in which Lena still creates something called Non Nocere to deal with her broken heart after finding out Supergirl's identity, but this time she gives the name to a different project. A more personal one. And now she’s coming for Supergirl.

This and previous chapters also available to read on Ao3

.................

This wasn’t over.

Even as Lena watched Kara stumbling out to the car on her security feed she knew her night was only just beginning.

That was fine though. It was expected.

And it wasn’t as though she hadn’t prepared for it – the serum had been ready for weeks by the time the opportunity had arisen to use it, during which time she had run every variation of this scenario she could think of along with a dozen contingency options.

Of course the missile strike and Supergirl’s near death when it exploded hadn’t been part of her original plan, but Lena was ready to take the opportunities fate dropped into her lap, and aside from a brief helicopter ride and a little first aid, the essentials of the delivery had gone precisely as she had hoped. If anything the violence that had brought Supergirl into her hands just went to show how vital Non Nocere was.

Kara would understand that in time.

Or not.

It really didn’t matter either way, because Lena didn’t care one bit what Kara Danvers thought of her anymore. After all, this whole plan would make sure that she never had to think about Kara or Supergirl ever again. And she was so close now she could almost feel what it would be like when she achieved it.

Almost.

But first things first.

Kara would be arriving home in a few minutes, and as soon as she got there she’d find Alex waiting, doubtless frantic with worry for her lying traitor of a sister. After that it was only a matter of time before she found out about the injection and started trying to unravel what Lena had done.

She would fail of course. Alexandra Danvers might be good, but Lena Luthor was better, and she doubted whether anyone at the DEO would even be able to identify what the serum was made of, let alone what it was for. At least, not until it was too late.

They would work that out for themselves soon enough, and then they would come for her. Lena estimated she had two, maybe three hours before DEO agents stormed in to arrest her.

She had considered making herself scarce for a few days to avoid all the unpleasantness, but in the end she couldn’t bring herself to run away. It would seem cowardly. Villainous. And despite what they might think of her, Lena was not a villain: everything she did, she did for the good of the world.

Well, in this case maybe 99% good of the world, 1% vengeance…

So she would be there for the 1%, to witness the fear and betrayal she had stirred up among Supergirl’s duplicitous posse from the very epicentre of their panic, and it would be balm to her wounded pride to be able to keep them in the dark this time. Besides, if she was on site she could make sure everything went smoothly until the serum had had a chance to work beyond any possibility of reversal. It wouldn’t take long – a matter of hours at the most.

She smiled to herself at the thought, and began to prepare.

A meal first, a change of clothes, and some flat shoes, so that she would be comfortable if they kept her detained her for more than a few hours. After a brief hesitation she pulled the shirt she’d just put on back off and added a bullet proof vest underneath it, just in case things got out of hand. It felt a little melodramatic to be planning for the possibility of being shot by people she had, not so long ago, been playing Scrabble and cracking up over silly jokes with, but she had learned the hard way that you couldn’t go about blindly trusting people just because on the surface they seemed like the good guys. Besides, Alex Danvers would go absolutely feral at the thought that Lena had done anything to hurt her little sister.

So, bullet proof vest, check.

Ideally she could have done with a power nap too, but the timing of this hadn’t exactly been left up to her and she refused to be caught out in the vulnerability of sleep, so she settled for strong coffee instead.

By the time they arrived she was sitting behind her desk with an overnight bag at her feet, halfway down her second double espresso and idly flicking through the signed first edition of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ she had found languishing in one of her desk drawers. The book had been purchased months ago, on a whim and for far more money than she should have spent on it, as a surprise for Kara. She had hoped at the time that it would make her friend smile to know that she had remembered this was her favourite film and tracked down a copy of the original book for her, but the right moment for the gift had never presented itself, and in the messy aftermath of her brother’s death and Kara’s betrayal Lena had forgotten all about.

Finding it again now it struck her as grimly funny that the titular character of Kara’s favourite story turned out in the end to be nothing more than a liar and a con artist, and despite the sharp ache it created in her chest, she hadn’t been able to resist looking through it while she waited. The reminder of what their friendship had once meant to her goaded her anger to the surface of her skin, where she gathered it and wore it like armour against whatever entreaties her former friends might make when she saw them.

An alert pinged on Lena’s phone to let her know that one of the silent security alarms had been triggered, and she watched the CCTV feed as six (overkill, surely) DEO field agents approached swiftly through the outer office. There were various security measures she could have deployed to delay them had she wanted to, but she didn’t. She waited calmly until they were at her door, then rose to meet them with the polite-but-frosty smile she reserved for meetings with the most obnoxious of her board members.

‘Good evening everyone. If I’d known there’d be so many of you I’d have waited in the conference room, there would have been more room to spread out. Still, I suppose we’ll be on our way shortly – you can put the guns down by the way, I’m quite prepared to come quietly. Would someone mind grabbing my bag?’

Needless to say, they did not grab her bag.

Packing it had been a pointless gesture really, but it was worth it just to see the looks of consternation at the clear message it sent that the DEO was expected, and had come on her terms, not their own.

#supercorp fanfic #supergirl fanfiction #lena luthor #my fic #supergirl #Yes I changed the title slightly because I realised I had managed to type it differently between here and my working file #I tried to just shrug and leave it but it was BOTHERING ME

[imagine-loki]

Blushing in His Colours, Chapter 3

TITLE: Blushing in His Colours CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 3 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki being a Daddy Dom, his adores and loves his little, worships the ground she walks on. She has vaginismus, but he couldn’t be more supportive with her. RATING: M

When Loki saw Mia the following day, a blush instantly graced her cheeks, making him grin. He went over to her and kissed her cheek in greeting, making the others around them all ‘oooooo.’ He glared at them in return.

‘The date went well last night then?’ Clint asked with a smirk.

They were in the kitchen having breakfast before starting their day.

‘A gentleman never tells.’ Loki said as he held his head high.

Mia went to sort out her breakfast, unable to stop blushing at being the main focus of the conversation within the team.

‘You’re far from a gentleman.’ Stark snorted.

Loki narrowed his eyes at him and folded his arms over his chest. ‘I’d beg to differ.’

Mia had her back to the group as she poured milk into her cereal. But she did speak up. ‘Loki was the perfect gentleman last night. More than rest of you are, that’s for sure.’

Loki grinned and looked rather smug. The team all laughed.

‘Oh no, his mischievousness is already rubbing off on you.’ Tony said as he put his face in his hands, then he looked at Loki. ‘Do NOT corrupt our sweet and innocent Mia!’

When Mia turned around, she met Loki’s gaze and he winked at her with a mischievous smirk. ‘I am making no promises.’

Because Mia’s job was to keep up their social media appearance, it meant she was often right in the action. Taking pictures of the team ‘behind the scenes’ providing it didn’t compromise any mission, as the fans loved to see what the superheroes got up to at times.

So she found herself in the lab with Loki, Tony, Bruce, Fury and Vision. She was typing some stuff up on her laptop in the corner, Loki kept glancing in her direction, unable to stop looking at her.

‘Oi, stop staring at your new girlfriend and concentrate!’ Tony remarked as he tossed a pen at Loki, but with his quick reflexes Loki was able to catch the pen before it hit him, glaring at Tony.

Mia had heard and she couldn’t help the big smile that spread across her face. She tried to concentrate on her work though, even if she could feel the God’s eyes on her often.

Later on, Mia disappeared to get something to eat from the kitchen. When she returned, she had food and drinks for everyone. Including Loki’s favourite flavour of muffins that she had baked a few days ago. When Loki thought about it, she often went out of her way for other people, especially him. She always seemed to get his favourite drink or food and would always beam happily when he thanked her.

The following day Mia was down on the training floor on the benches, watching Thor, Steve, Natasha and Clint training. She was taking a few pictures and posting onto their media. She was thinking about heading off, but Loki entered the hall and she decided to stick around for a bit. Smiling like mad when he waved at her.

He had his full armour on, like Thor, and jumped in to start training. Everyone knew he was deliberately showing off because Mia was watching, even she knew. But she found it flattering, and was always impressed with his skills.

But he was caught unaware.

He had just tricked the rest of them using his illusions and pinned Thor down with a dagger at his throat. When he got up off Thor, he looked over to Mia. He winked at her and grinned, but that’s when he was blindsided by Natasha getting him in a headlock with her ridiculously strong thighs and knocking him down to the ground with a loud thud.

Thor, Clint and Steve all burst out laughing. Mia laughed too and put her hands over her mouth. Loki got up, rather flustered as he flicked his hair back from his face and wiped the dust from his arms. He looked over at Mia sheepishly.

He wandered over towards her as she gathered her things up and stood to meet him.

‘Impressive.’ She smiled up at him.

Loki chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. ‘Aside from the end.’

‘Still impressive. Not many would be able to get up unscathed from being taken down by Natasha.’

‘True. And I was a little distracted by something rather beautiful.’ Loki reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, then trailed his fingers along her jawline.

‘There’s uhm… the monthly Avengers interview coming up. I was wondering if you fancy doing it?’ She asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

It was something new she had started doing, Tony was the first one last month. A small five-minute interview that Mia posted. Just to give fans a little personal insight into the team.

‘Of course. Give the fans who they really want.’ Loki smirked.

‘You do have quite the fanbase, actually.’ Mia laughed.

‘I do?’ Loki frowned, but was intrigued.

‘Oh yeah. They call themselves Loki’s army. Quite the army too.’ She grinned.

Loki titled his head, but he did look a little smug. ‘Well, they have good taste… Are you in my army?’ He raised an eyebrow.

Mia smirked, deciding to play a bit. Feeling brave again. ‘I dunno. Maybe I’m team Hulk.’ She shrugged.

Loki’s mouth parted in mock shock. ‘Well, I will need to work harder to get you on my team.’

‘Sooo… Is that a yes for the interview?’

‘Of course. Anything for you.’

-

Mia had asked Loki to meet her before breakfast the next morning in the living room, to do the interview. It would give her time to come up with some good questions.

But Loki decided he wanted to do the interview somewhere more private. So he went along to her room an hour before he was due to meet her.

He knocked and heard Mia call out to just come in. When he entered though, Mia was surprised to see it was Loki.

‘Loki! Hi.’ She stammered quickly, surprised.

Loki was also surprised, she was in her pyjamas. Light blue, with cute baby penguins on them. But his first thought was how adorable she looked, with her messy hair too.

‘Oh gosh! I was expecting Wanda. Sorry, I uh… Let me just get changed real quick.’ She said in fluster, practically sprinting into her bathroom.

Loki smiled and waited until she was dressed. That’s when his eyes were drawn to what she was watching. He was a little confused when he noticed it was on the cartoon channel. But he didn’t think overly much of it, until he then spotted something peeking out from underneath her pillow. Curious, he went over and had a look, it was a colouring book of Disney characters.

His first thought was, did she have a secret child here? But he shook that off, knowing it was ridiculous. He was slightly confused as to why she would have a colouring book. Then he just thought perhaps it was something she enjoyed doing in her down time.

Loki stepped away from her bed, just as Mia emerged from the bathroom. She was looking embarrassed as she stuffed her pyjamas away in a drawer.

‘Sorry… I uhm, should probably check who’s there first.’ She said sheepishly.

‘Not at all. I should’ve said it was me.’ Loki smiled and walked over to her, he rubbed her arm and then leaned down to kiss her on the lips, making her squeak a little and blush so hard. ‘I was rather hoping we could do the interview somewhere private? The others will be a distraction in the living room.’ He chuckled.

‘Yeah, sure. Where would you prefer?’ Mia asked, still slightly flustered from the innocent kiss.

Loki shrugged. ‘Here, if that suits you? Or we could go to my room if you’d rather?’ He asked.

‘Here is good.’ Mia nodded and went over to her desk, clearing some space.

During the interview, Loki couldn’t help but be besotted with her. It was a good excuse for him to be able to just stare at her without being called out on it from the others. He kept his flirting to a minimum, knowing this was going online.  

Mia managed to keep her cool when she asked him questions, she had set up a camera to film him so it was more personal for the fans. They went nuts over the first one with Tony, so she hoped this one would be an even bigger hit.

Once it was uploaded, Mia showed Loki some of the comments. His fangirls were going crazy over it. Especially when Mia had asked him what he thought about having a fanbase. He’d replied in a charming way, saying he appreciated having so much support.

He read one comment: Heck, Loki can rule over me any day! I would kneel for him without being told to!

‘Quite a few say similar. Your, uh, attempt at ruling Earth is all over Tumblr and YouTube. Many have made fan videos out of them.’ Mia said with a laugh.

‘Really? I thought everyone would have been repulsed by what I did.’

‘Not everyone. I mean, I’d kneel for you.’ Mia said without thinking as she shrugged. Then she realised what it was she had just said. Her eyes widened.

‘Oh, really?’ Loki growled a little, leaning down closer to her as he was stood behind her, while she sat on the chair at her desk.

Mia cleared her throat and tried to ignore the fact she had just openly admitted somewhat a fantasy to Loki and that his breath was hot against her neck.

‘This interview is already a huge hit, more so than Tony’s.’ She said to try and change the subject. But Loki spun her chair around so she had to face him as he put his hands on the arms and trapped her in.

‘No changing the subject, pet.’ He chuckled at her doe in the headlights look.

‘I… wasn’t… really… I just don’t know what to say after that.’ She blurted out nervously, her eyes skittishly moving all over his face, unsure on where to look.

But she was saved by the knock. Wanda had arrived, which Mia was slightly relieved for. Though she had a feeling Loki would try and bring it up again later.

He left the girls to it, heading back to his room.

His mind kept wandering to what he’d found in Mia’s room. Or what he’d seen. He went to his laptop and sat down, after thinking for a moment he went to google to see if he could find some answers.

After some researching, he wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up on a kink site. But there he was, reading all about a Daddy Dom/little dynamic.

Some of the characteristics of a little suited Mia to a T. It really got him wondering if she was in fact a little. He then realised that while thinking of her in this kind of way he was slightly aroused.

He looked through a Daddy Dom’s characteristics and was surprised to find he fit a lot of them. When he thought about it, being in that kind of relationship with Mia was very appealing to him. And he thought how it kind of made sense why one girl actually called him Daddy during sex once… Perhaps he just oozed Daddy Dom appeal, he thought smugly.

But he now had to figure out for certain if Mia was into this kind of thing… or if it was just a coincidence. He could of course just ask her outright, but he didn’t want to scare her off if that wasn’t something she was into. He wasn’t going to lie, now he knew about the subject more and had thought about it, he would be a bit disappointed if she wasn’t…

‘Hmm…’ He tapped his lower lip in thought, deciding how to proceed.

After a lot of mulling it over, he decided that trying to coax it out of her naturally was going to be his best route.

#Loki #Lover #Submitted fic #submission #Blushing in his colours #chapter 3 #fanfichiddles

[cloudyyoonji]

College Muse.

Bang Chan x Reader

Summary; Music producer! Chan and Writer! Reader both dwell on each other for some help on a project similar in nature.

Genre; FLUFF!!! 

A/N; Hello! Requests are open at the moment, so please feel free to make a request!!

____________________________________________________________ 

i.

Final assignments, or rather nicknamed the 'direct spawn sent from Satan himself’ by the students on campus, are finally approaching, sent in various forms for all students to stress about on their own, tortured by the assignment questions for countless hours upon hours. 
 But a whole dorm room of stressed-out young adults was certainly reflective of the pits of hell. 
 You’re squished up in the corner of the room, the assignment outline fresh in your mind as you plug in your headphones. 
 “You’re going to write a love story,” your professor has told you, hands clasped behind his back. He clicked his tongue, eyes wandering around the room. “The twist? It needs to be a realistic love story. None of that ‘love at first sight’ bullshit. Write me raw and real material.” 


So now you were here, a rough playlist of love songs playing to tune out any background noise of Jisung and Felix yelling as they play some video game, and Wendy’s muffled tapping that seems to be echoing through the whole common room. 
 You sighed, scrolling through countless open tabs on your phone, pen scrawling little notes here and there as you find something interesting to write. Language of Love? Was there such a thing? 
 You note Bang Chan enter the room, keys in one hand and a bag in the other, as you swipe through the songs on your phone, turning back to the notebook to write out a summary of your findings. 
 The couch beside you sinks, causing you to look up and immediately roll your eyes at your dorm mate, who has a goofy grin as he looks down at you, fingers pulling the string of one of your earphones. 
 “Whatcha doing?” Bang Chan asks in the same annoying drawl of a voice he uses to get on your nerves, typically whilst you were studying. 
 You drop the pen in your right hand, using it to shove him off your shoulder, a whine leaving your lips as he laughs at your frustration. 
 “Go away, I’m trying to study.” 
 “On what?” His eyebrows are raised now. “Cheesy love songs? Shouldn’t you study something a bit more interesting? I can show you a few of my demo’s if -“ 
 “They're not cheesy love songs,” you pout, cutting him off. “Besides, it's not the music that I am studying. I’m trying to be a writer, remember?” 
 He takes full advantage of your rhetorical question, letting the whole ‘light bulb moment’ type of exclamation leave his lips in a higher pitch than his regular voice, cut off when you shove him away again, this time curling into a smirk. 
 “You’re studying Love?” “Yes,” you sigh finally, “I have to write a ‘realistic love story’ for my final.” 
 “Oh,” He sits back into the couch now, nodding. “That should be easy for you.” 
 You turn to him now, materials abandoned measly on the arm of the couch, eyes narrowing on the boy as he sits, arms crossed. 
 “And why would that be the case, Bang Chan?” “Because you’ve clearly been in love.” 
 Your hard demeanour drops as you watch the boy for a second or so. “I’ve never been in love, Chan.” 
 “Sure you haven’t,” the blond laughs, “I’ve read your writing. You can convey it perfectly.” 
 Now you’re interested, folding your arms again as you realise that the boy has not a clue of what he’s talking about. 
 “Chan, I’ve never been in love,” you tell him, ignoring the heat that seems to have made its way to your cheeks. “I’ve only ever written about it from an outsiders point of view. I’ve never even been in a proper relationship.” 
 Its a tad awkward. You can see that the top of his ears is painted red by embarrassment. You avoid his eyes in hasty flicks from one thing to another. The fabric of the couch, to the carpet, to the pair who are sitting in the middle of the room, controllers in hand. 
 “It's okay,” the boy finally says, avoiding your eyes too. “I’ve never been in love either, and I’ve got to write and record a freaking love song.” 
 You let a small ‘oh’ slip from your mouth, nodding as your eyes trail back down to your messy notes. 
 “Maybe we could help out each other? Some study dates perhaps?” The boy suggests, a hand indicating your pile of notes, a cheesy smile trying to help fuel his suggestion, trying to win you over. 
 “Not a freaking chance,” you reply, knocking off his smirk as you gather your things. “Do your own study, Mr Bang, then I’ll think about it.” 
 And with that, you leave his shell shocked self on the couch, knowing perfectly well that you’d be showing him those notes in a day or so. 
 ii.

As luck would have it, you were here, two days later, bribed by the one and only for your notes, his not-so-terrible corrupt gift being to buy you coffee for the remaining three weeks until your assignments were both handed in. 
 There was only one weakness you had, and he had exploited it with a smile. But you’d let him. After all, free coffee was free coffee. 
 “You know,” You raise your head, watching the boy over the top of the iced coffee that was clutched in your sweater-ed hands. “My teacher recommended we ‘fall in love’ so we could write a song about it for the unit.” 
 You can't but help laugh, nodding as you swallow the bitter liquid. 
 “My professor said the same.” Rolling your eyes at the memory, your smile turns to a cringe. “Then all the couples cheered and started making out.” 
 He mirrors your disgusted face, fingers curling around his mug of coffee as he sits up to properly read your notes. 
 “‘Love is manipulating” you tell him. “The fine line between love and hate can only come down to trust, which is why love often only ends in pain. We’re pushed to find love, and it can only ruin us. Love simply cannot exist in a realistic sense”

“Wait, wait, wait. You don’t believe that romantic love can exist at all?” 
 You take another sip of your coffee, shaking your head to confirm your answer to his question. “No.” 
 He’s put the notebook down now - or rather dropped it onto the table -, slumping back into the chair as he shakes his head at you, the same smile never leaving his features as he stares at you in disbelief. 
 You mirror him, leaning back, to only gesture to him. “What's your idea then?” 
 Chan seems to think for a second, fingers digging into his pocket to grab a pen, body slumping forwards as he begins writing in your notebook. 
 You take note of the way he slants the paper when he writes, turning his head just slightly to look down at it. It was almost strangely attractive. Chan himself was strangely attractive when he was writing, whether that was in a lecture, or when he was jotting down lyrics. 
 You can see how his fingers grip the pen tightly, pressing it into the paper to write in small, precise letters. Under the curly mess of blond, his eyebrows furrow as he concentrates, transferring the words swirling his head, to the paper. 
 Then he sits up, knocking you from your observatory state, eyes awkwardly landing on the almost empty glass in front of you as you try to mask the fact you were staring a little too intently. 
 “My insight,” he reads. “is that true love will only prevail when one can open their heart and mind, without a doubt that the other person will hurt them. Unlike what you said, I really do think that love is possible.” 

“Maslow explained love to be a need. Everyone must experience love at some point in their lifetime to feel like they are completely themselves. Everyone deserves to feel loved, and everyone needs experience what it feels like to be loved.” 
 You sit forward in your seat. “But that's the thing,” you argue. “A realistic love can only bring you pain and sorrow. That why we only read about fabricated love from peoples minds, because it makes us forget about what a painfully cruel world we can live in.” 
 He sits back, shaking his head, no hint of a smile this time. “But we don’t have to live in that kind of a world. You said it yourself; ‘can live in’. I promise you Y/N, I’ll change your mind by the time the assessment is finished.” 
 “I’d like to see you try.” You reply, eyes firmly on his. 
 He sticks out a pinky, a silent promise. You smile, wrapping yours around his. I promise to change your mind. 
 iii. 
 It’s been a few days since that promise had been made, Chan still not managing to change your mind. Your views were still the same on love, even if your whole common room had disagreed on the most part. 
 But you’d both been busy on this assignment. Chan has been making beats that you could hear through the wall, somewhat soothing to your mind when it was running wild. 
 You’d only had a few hours of sleep, scattered throughout your day. You’d spent it at the computer mainly, your desk littered with empty pens and screwed up paper. 
 Well, it wasn’t just your desk. Your whole room seemed to be completely engulfed by stray papers, many of which had overflowed out from the bin. 
 You hadn’t really left the room, only heading out to the small kitchen for a pack of instant noodles, or to go to the bathroom, then closing the door to the dark room as you returned to your original hunched position. 
 You’d also only seen Chan in brief glances as you were heading back to your room. It seemed that perhaps Chan too was plagued by days of pondering, just as you were. 
 Your glasses are almost pressed against the screen of the monitor, watching the blinking cursor. You can barely see the word; Love, the title of your narrative. No matter how much you looked at the word, you still couldn’t fathom the word. Nothing special came to your mind upon hearing the word, rather only the memory of Chan intertwining your pinky’s in a silent promise to change your mind about love. 
 Was this the first stage of that promise happening already? 
 Likewise, nothing came to your mind upon starting at that stupid cursor for hours on end. You couldn’t possibly start a realistic love narrative with a pinky promise, could you? 
 You don’t quite register the door opening, but you sure do see it. The light of the day seems to burn your eyes almost instantly, a groan escaping from your lips as you scrunch your eyes closed and rub your aching temples with the pads of your fingers. 
 “I knew you were brainstorming, but holy shit Y/N.” 
 Your ears perk up at Chan’s voice, eyes opening to take in the blond who is standing in your door frame, eyes wide as he takes in the discarded drafts of writing. 
 Your eyes follow his, pointed over at the overflowing bin in the corner, a giving him a small sheepish smile when his eyes meet back with yours. 
 Shaking his head, he takes your wrist, pulling you up from the chair. 
 “Hey!” You groan, knees sore from your countless hours of sitting. 
 “We’re going for coffee. You need to get out of this room - No, no, no - this building. You need to get out of this building.” 
 You sigh, following him out of the overflowing room wordlessly. Chan had a habit of being right about things, and this was one occasion you knew you couldn’t argue with him on. 
 The walk to the coffee shop helps you clear your stormy head, ideas coming and going, but the idea of finally having a coffee scratches at your mind. 
 “Hey,” Chan breaks you from your thoughts, walking from the front counter with a number in his hands. “Let’s sit. I’ve ordered.” 
 So you both pile into a booth, awaiting your coffees with sleepy anxiety. 
 Not much is said, yet not much needs to be said. You feel somewhat at peace now that you’re out of your own head. Chan really helped too. You two have become so close over the last few years, that these moments were really nice. You could just chill in each other’s presence without it being awkward. 
 Upon the arrival of the coffees, you perk up a little coffee, drinking up the bittersweet liquid as soon as it touches your fingertips. 
 “Slow down, you’ll make yourself sick, my god.” 
 Looking over your glass, you can see him laughing. Shooting him a sheepish smile, you place the glass down, your fingers fiddling with each other. 
 “Any luck with the music?” You ask finally, looking over the table. 
 “I’ve got the music, it’s just the lyrics and the recording now. But that’s always the hardest part. I’ve got some ideas, so I’m going pretty on track with it all. How’s the writing going?” 
 “Shit,” you laugh, shaking your head. “I’ve developed writers block on the topic of love it seems.” 
 “You’ll get there. Really, it’ll come to you when you least expect it.” 
 You nod along at his words, but it soon turns to a sigh, head falling into your hands. 
 “Chan,” you say tiredly, pulling your head up to look at the boy with all the strength you can truly muster up. “If you don’t let me sleep on your right now, I think I’m going to die.” 
 He loses it. With his head thrown back, you can see that the boy is as almost as tired as you are. Yet, he does get up, slipping into the booth beside you. 
 You fall into him, coffee abandoned from your mind, eyes closing as your head touches his shoulder. 
 His arm goes around you, perhaps instinctively. But you’re too tired to even care, your one final brain cell figuring that perhaps he’s holding you close so you don’t collapse head first into the table. 
 “Thank you,” You whisper tiredly. “I didn’t want to die on a sticky table. Your hoodie is really soft, so now I can die peacefully.” 
 You can feel his smile, the slight laugh too. 
 His free hand pats your hair. “No sticky table endgame for you, my dear.” 
 You laugh at this, eyes still closed as your cheek is pressed to the material of his hoodie. 
 You let your body finally relax a little, blending into the atmosphere of fresh coffee ground - one you really loved. But you can’t ignore the new scent either. This scent felt different, made you feel different. 
 You’re not sure if it’s butterflies or the coffee, but this feeling was something you really had no idea of. 
 Was this the second stage of his promise? 
 iv. 
 The days seemed to blur into each other, most of your hours spent with Chan. You two had made the college cafe your staple shop, meeting at some point in the day to have just space out completely together. It didn’t matter if you were writing on your laptop, or if he was producing on his, his company was just enough for you. 
 It had happened a few times today, but you once again realised with a jolt that you couldn’t stop thinking of the cute producer. You could see him now over the top of your computer, earbuds in as he nods to the beat only he could hear, a wide smile gracing his features when he meets your eyes. 
 Above everything, you wanted him to hold you like he had again. You wanted him to chuck his arm around your shoulders as he laughed at something you’d said. You wanted more than a housemate. 
 You smile back at him, eyes half focusing on the lines you’d typed out. 
 Boy, you’re falling for him, but there's no way in hell that you would be telling him that. 
 “Hey,” Chan’s voice takes your out of your thoughts. “It’s getting late. We should probably head back.” 
 Nodding, you close up your laptop for the night, shoving it into its bag along with the few pens and notebook you had. 
 You both slip out of the cafe, the night air cool against your skin. You adjust the strap of your bag, pulling it up as it begins to slip over your shoulder. 
 With your phone in hand, you can see that its quite late, probably something you’d live to regret tomorrow morning for your 4-hour long lecture. 
 Upon arriving at the dorms, you change and immediately collapse into your bed, bidding Chan a loud ‘goodnight’ as you turn off your lamp. Eyes closing, you barely even remember falling asleep. 
 You also don’t quite remember your dream, but what does stick with you is the sheer terror of a nightmare. It grabs at you, even whilst your asleep. 
 Your eyes shoot open in a blur, breathing heavy as you take in your surroundings. The hefty unsettling feeling lays over you, pressing into your chest as you come to sense just where you are, and what you had been dreaming about. 
 Pushing yourself up, you find yourself getting more anxious, eyes welling as a black pit settles in your chest; heavy. 
 Your feet hit the carpet, hands crossed over your arms as you walk towards the door. 
 The time is far from your mind. 
 Taking a shaky breath, you lightly rap on the door to Chan’s room, your breaths echoing around the kitchen. “Chan, are you awake?" Some part of you prays that he doesn’t answer, to save yourself the embarrassment of being completely in such a state because of one of your nightmares. But then, if he did answer, would it be so bad? 
 The door opens, Chan’s tall frame looming over you. You can see him well, even in the darkness, his hair is slightly tousled, clothes wrinkled. But his eyes are open, awake, and full of concern as they land on you. 
 You don’t say anything, but rather step forward, arms wrapping around his middle. His body relaxes, arms wrapping around your frame. 
 “I’m sorry,” Your voice shakes, cheek pressing against his chest as you try to banish your anxiety away. “I had a nightmare, and I didn’t know what else to do…” 
 He nods, holding you a little tighter. It seems to relieve you in some weird way; to be held in the arms of someone you know is safe. 
 You’d told him previously about how your nightmares were induced by stress. When it had gotten especially bad within your first year of studying, he’d stayed in the common room with you until you’d felt better. 
 “You don’t need to explain,” Breaking away from you, he keeps a hand on your wrist, opening the door a little wider. “You can stay with me if you’d like.” 
 Wordlessly, you nod, following him in. 
 Sitting down on the side of the bed, you feel slightly awkward, watching as he crosses to the other side and slips under the blanket. 
 “You can lie down you know.” “O-oh, okay.” 
 Some part of your brain cringes at your response, knowing that you’ll probably live to regret it later. But for now, you lie down, focusing your efforts on trying to get to sleep. 
 You let out another shaky breath, eyes wandering over the room of his room. Knitting your fingers, you try not to disturb the boy with your fidgeting. 
 A hand comes into contact with your own, making you look over at the boy, who is wide awake next to you. He gestures for you to move a little closer, a light smile on his features. 
 “Are you sure?” You whisper, heartbeat loud in your ears. 
 “You look like you need a hug.” 
 So you comply, turning into him, head rested on his arm. You feel his free arm pull you close. 
 Sure, you’d hugged Chan before, hell you’d even cuddled him. 
 But this was different, right? Your heartbeat was telling you that much, a constant pound in your chest you prayed that Chan couldn’t feel. 
 You’re not sure when exactly you close your eyes, but when you open them again, you’re pressed to his chest, his hands laying neatly on your back as his arms encircle you. 
 You barely realize how close you truly are, slumber taking over you in a short few seconds, mind shutting down for the night once more. 
 Chan is holding you. Chan is holding you.

... 
 The sound of your alarm is blaring, body groaning almost subconsciously as you roll over to stop the noise. 
 Hand flapping out across the bedside table, you suddenly realize with a jolt that you’re not in your room. 
 Bolting upright, you take in the unfamiliar room, your alarm cutting off to signal 6 more minutes of sleep. But you can’t sleep, mind wide awake as you process what exactly happened last night. 
 Looking around, there are no traces of the boy, rather a yellow sticky note in his place. 
 “Had a 6am lecture. There’s a coffee in the fridge though!! Shoot me a text when your lecture is finished and we can get some actual coffee.” 
 You smile down at his messy scrawl, eyes gazing around the room. 
 It is neat, everything in its own spot. His desk is specially organized, music equipment laid out near some pens and an open notebook, a notebook you saw him with quite often. 
 You don’t even realize your standing in front of it till you see the messy scrawl of song lyrics writing in your hands, eyes darting back and forth as you take in the words. 
 His songs, they were beautiful. 
 Then it hits you like a bolt of lightning. His songs seemed to spark something deep in your mind, fingers itching to write down the ideas that have been summoned to the forefront of your mind. 
 Neither less to say, you didn’t focus too much on your lecture, but rather sat at the back, fingers clicking over the keys of your laptop, the ideas are written in a messy scrawling only you could truly read sitting next to you. 
 You’re writing, after a long case of writers block. But you’re writing with him at the forefront of your mind. 
 If that was a good or bad thing, you don’t know. But you do know that your feelings about Bang Chan had definitely changed. 
 You like him, just like you always had. He was still your goofy best friend of a housemate, who laughed with you when you did something stupid, who made you both hot chocolate on your 3am study sessions. 
 The boy who promised to change your mind about love. Now he really was. 
 v.

“It's finished!” 
 You look up at the blond who is beaming as he walks towards you, notebook in hand. 
 You know what he means immediately. The song, the love song, was finished. 
 You give him a grin equally as big, gesturing for him to sit across from you in the booth. 
 “Can I listen?!” You ask, watching as he fumbles with his phone. 
 “Of course,” he looks at you incredulously. “You don’t get a choice.” 
 You laugh at this, shaking your head as he hands you his earphones, fingers hovering over the play button on the track memo. Giving him the thumbs up, you can’t but help the chills that run over your body as the first note plays. 
 “I love it already.” You tell him. He holds up a hand, silently telling you to keep listening, but the smile on his face is evidence that your compliment is enough to fluster him a little. 
 The song is almost exactly like your story. From the recounts of precious memories to the feelings of being grounded, safe. 
 Some part of your heart swelled at the lyrics, and the other sank. 
 The song was so beautiful, and yet so sad. Just how long would you two be walking together in your dreams? 
 “What do you think?” 
 He’s taken out one of the headphones now, a wide smile on his face, but fingers fidgeting at one of his rings. 
 “I really like it, Chan.” You tell him, which was certainly the truth. You do like it. “It’s really beautiful.” 
 You guess that some selfish part of you wanted the song to be about you. That this was his way of confessing. That you two could walk together in one dream, just as the characters in his song do. 
 But the boy just smiles, thanking you as he stuffs his things into his pocket. 
 “Do you want your regular?” He asks. “Yes please.” 
 Your eyes linger over his frame as he slips out from the seat, walking towards the counter. 
 His hair often bounced as he walked, but you noted that today it was laying slightly flatter than his usual curly mess, parted down the middle, brushed, and styled too. 
 It’s like he was trying to impress someone. And maybe that someone wasn’t you. 
 Even if this was the case, you couldn’t scrap your whole story now. You would finish it, even if it meant you had to do it painfully. 
 Setting the number down, his hand runs in front of your face. 
 “Hello? Earth to Y/N?” 
 You blink, knocking you from your unconscious staring. “Oh, sorry.” 
 His smile fades slightly, body leaning forward. “You okay? You don’t seem like your normal self.” 
 Forcing up a smile, you shake your head, pointing to your temple. “Too many thoughts today.” 
 You had a habit of being in your own head, Chan knew this too. It was just what you did as a writer, brainstorming ideas or little snippets of writing you acted out in your head. 
 “Do you need paper?” 
 You nodded, fingers pulling the pen from your bun. 
 You’d put it there during your lecture, something you often did on the days your creativity sparked. 
 He passes you his notebook, the same one you’d seen earlier that morning, flipping to a blank page before pushing it in front of you. 
 You hesitate, looking up at the male across from you before you press the ink to the paper. 
 One thought seems to come to the forefront of your mind, pen swirling across the page in cursive letters as you write it down 
 “I think you might have the prettiest eyes in the world.” 
 It was cheesy, but it was really the truth. Every time you made eye contact with Chan, his eyes seem to glimmer. Watching him produce was like that too. You could see the passion reflected in his eyes. 
 “I think you might have the prettiest eyes in the world,” You barely register the words coming from your mouth, looking up at Chan with wide eyes. 
 “I said that out loud didn’t I.” “Yes. You did.” 
 You cover your face in embarrassment, and apology on your lips. But he speaks before you get a chance to even justify yourself. 
 “You know,” he looks around the cafe. “I usually hate Monday’s, but now I get to see you, so I quite enjoy them.” 
 Your heart beats wildly in your chest, hands dropping into your lap. You avoid his eyes, pink staining your cheeks. Was this what you thought it was? 
 He shakes his head, hands now flat on the table. 
 “Will you continue being my Sunday poetry and coffee, muse?” 
 You look up at him, heart in your throat. “Did you just ask me out in fancy terms?” 
 “Maybe,” Chan shrugs. “You have to admit, it was a good line. So what do you say?” 
 Sitting up now, you finally look him in the eyes, his light smile triggering your own. 
 “I say yes, but only if you continue to be my pre-lecture 6am Monday coffee.” “Deal.” 
 vi.

Bursting into the common room, you hold up the stapled mass of paper in your hand. 
 “It’s finished!” You exclaim to those in the room, getting a load of cheers and claps in return. 
 Even though your assignment was due tomorrow, you had to admit that this was the first assignment you’d really invested your time in doing, hopefully producing one of your best pieces of writing so far. 
 Chan appears from nowhere, easily taking the stapled story out of your hands with nothing but a swipe, planting himself on the couch as he flicks to the first page. 
 You sit across from him, eyes watching as his flick over the pages of typed print, a small smile here and there. 
 “This seems like a very familiar story.” He smirks, handing the stack back to you when he’s finished. 
 You roll your eyes, biting back a sarcastic remark. 
 “It seems my professor was right about finding someone to fall for.” 
 He raises an eyebrow at this. 
 “Does this mean your views on love have changed?” “...yes.” 
 The mumbled reply doesn’t go unnoticed by Bang Chan, body moving closer to yours, a wide smile on his features. 
 “Did I finally convince you? Did you really change?” 
 “Only for you, Bang Chan.” You tease, shoving him away. 
 His hand touches his chest, face expressing an overdramatic response to your words. “Stop it, I’m shy.” 
 Rolling your eyes, you hit his head with printed narrative, standing up from the couch. 
 “I think this calls for a coffee.” 
 “Agreed,” he links his arm with yours. “I could use a coffee.” 
 ... 
 Knocking on the door of your professor, you shoot Chan a nervous smile, hand pushing down on the handle at the sound of a muffled ‘come in’. 
 “Hi,” you say, holding out the stack of paper towards him. “I’ve just come in to give you my assignment.” 
 “Ah,” he smiles, taking the paper with two hands. “Thank you.” 
 His eyes flick to Chan, who is standing at the door, then back to you. 
 “Y/N,” he asks, eyes turned up in a smile. “Did you enjoy this assessment? I’m trying to get all of my students feedback on it.” 
 “Oh,” you breathe, nodding. “I really enjoyed it. I feel like I learnt a lot, and grew as a future writer.” 
 He nods, holding up your pages. “I sure look towards to reading this. Thank you, you may go now.” 
 Politely bowing your head as a silent thanks, you give Chan a small smile as you turn back, walking towards the corridor. 
 “Oh Y/N!” “Yes, sir?” 
 Your fingers are on the handle of the door, other hand lacing with Chan’s nervously. 
 “Didn’t I tell you?” He gestures to Chan and you, a knowing smile on your face. 
 You both laugh nervously, nodding. 
 He smiles at this, shaking his head. “Go on, you two lovers. I won’t waste your time much longer.” 
 Quickly scurrying off, you two laugh about your professor. 
 “How much do you want to bet that he totally planned this with your teacher.” 
 “Hey, that’s a fair idea,” Chan replies, looking down at you. “He probably knew that someone was bound to take his advice.” 
 Rolling your eyes, you shove him away from you lightly. 
 “I take everything back.” “C’mon! I’m your man now!” 
 His shoulder rubs against yours as you two continue walking. 
 “You know, I flirted with you nonstop for like the last few months.” 
 You stop walking, looking up at him. 
 “You did?” “Yes, but you were way too thick to notice. Hell, Y/N, I literally called you sweetheart, muse, and my dearest.” 
 You huff, crossing your arms. “So you planned this? For me to finally fall for you whilst we were doing this topic?” 
 He shrugs with a cheesy smile. “Maybe. I mean, now you get to get your 6am Monday coffee with me.” 
 You shake your head at him, wrapping your arm around his middle. “I’m glad you did because now I get free coffee for the rest of my life.” 
 Arm around your shoulder now, he laughs, throwing his head back in such a way that made you laugh along with him. 
 “You just make my day,” he comments, pulling you closer to him. “SIKE you’re an idiot!” 
 The kiss that is pressed to your cheek makes you squirm, trying to push him in the chest. But his grip is way too strong for you, laugh loud in your ears. 
 Shaking your head, you finally push him. “You’re dead to me now Bang Chan.” 
 “Baby!” He muses, now walking backwards as he keeps up with you. “Cmon! I was only being sarcastic!” 
 “I’m going to laugh so hard when you trip over.” you deadpan, eyes focused straight ahead as you cross your arms over your chest. It was hard not to smile, it tugging at the sides of your mouth. But you don’t give in to the itch. 
 “That’s only because I’m falling for you, sweetheart.”

#stray kids #stray kids reactions #stray kids imagines #stray kids blurbs #stray kids scenarios #stray kids x reader #stray kids soft hours #stray kids fluff #stray kids headcanons #bang chan #christopher bang #chris bang #bang chan soft hours #lee minho #lee know #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #felix lee #kim seungmin #yang jeongin #stray kids in #stray kids chris #stray kids chan #stray kids christopher #stray kids bang chan #3racha #jyp #skz x reader

[greymochii]

[ATEEZ] Jongho; Faint Love - Part II

Title: Faint Love

Characters: Jongho, OC, San, Hongjoong (minor), Yunho (minor), Wooyoung (ULTRA minor)

Word Count: 3734

Genre: Angst, College!au, Romance

Parts: 1 / 2 / 3

P.S.: A lot of grammatical errors, but I will proofread it and correct it when I have time. Errors evident in the other 2 parts as well.

Summary: It all started as a crush. It was mutual but we just said never anything. I thought that I had found love with Jongho… until San came along. Now I’m battling my feelings for two men, and things was starting to get super complicated.

I reluctantly agreed to have dinner with San after he came to me again for an answer. Seeing how he was really trying, I agreed. Throughout the whole meeting, Jongho interacted very little with me even when San had gone out of the room a couple of times to use the bathroom. 

“Jongho, how’s your report going so far?”

Jongho didn’t look up from his laptop and continued typing, ignoring me completely. I noticed he hadn’t had his dinner yet so I hesitantly made my way to the cafeteria and bought some onigiri and bottled water for him.

Upon coming back, San was back in his seat, surprised to see me with a plastic bag in hand.

“I thought we agreed to have dinner outside,” San said, his brows creasing into a slight frown.

“O-oh, they’re not for me.” I swallowed hard and turned to Jongho who was already looking at me. “They’re for him.”

San cocked an eyebrow at me. “Right.”

Jongho seemed a little hesitant but he accepted my treat and thanked me quietly, earning a glare from San.

It was 6PM by then and I suggested that we make a move. San agreed and we both packed up our belongings, leaving Jongho to his report. He never lifted his head and his fingers were fast and busy on the keyboard. I knew it was just a way to distract himself from San and I, but I figured it was just going to be this once. I wished he knew how I felt about him.

“Jongho, I’ll see you tomorrow?” He remained silent and I nodded. “See you tomorrow, then.”

We both walked in silence and San had brought me to a steamboat house. It was my first time eating at a steamboat house and San knew it too.

Throughout our dinner, San made small talk with me and I found myself laughing and smiling along with him. I never realised this but he had a certain charm to him and my perception of him changed. I wasn’t sure if I was going to develop any feelings for him, but I hoped not. 

After San came back from paying, he offered to walk me home. I insisted that it wasn’t necessary but he was adamant about it. I succumbed to his request and we both walked in silence yet again. When we stopped in front of my apartment building, I thanked him for the dinner and was about to walk in when San stopped me.

“<y/n>.”

He was slightly fidgety and he combed his fingers through his thick hair. He was casting glances at me a couple of times, a tinge of pink shaded his cheeks. 

“<y/n>, I was thinking… I don’t know if you’ll agree but I thought I’d give it a try, but I was thinking, well, I was hoping that you’d like to go out… with me… again?”

I was rendered speechless because it has now become a date. San… the man I loathed, suddenly asking me out on a date. I didn’t think it would come to this but it did.

“You don’t have to give me an answer now, I’ll let you think about it. But I definitely would like to go out… on a date with you. Again.” San was talking shyly and it contrasted to the time he had asked me for his project piece. Whatever happened to the rude and obnoxious San I used to know? Was that really him or was that just a way to get my attention. Either way, I wasn’t sure if I was going to agree, but at the very moment, my lips defied my heart and mind.

“Yes.”

San stared wide-eyed at me, unsure if he heard it right. “What?”

“Yes, I’ll go out with you.”

“O-oh. That was quick.” San massaged his neck and then bit on his lower lip. “I’ll see you on… Saturday? I’ll come pick you up at 6PM.”

Feigning a small smile, I nodded. “Sure. Good night, San.”

“Good night, <y/n>.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do because I wasn’t completely sure of my feelings for Jongho either. But it looked like Jongho wasn’t going to open up to me at all, and I thought of giving it all up. I was confused and frustrated that it had come to this and I didn’t want to cause any further tension as the weeks progressed.

I stopped walking and realised that Jongho mattered a lot to me and I couldn’t simply give up on him. Even if he was going to take a long time to open up to me, I was willing to go that extra mile for him.

I managed to find Jongho in the podium during lunch time and sat down next to him, shocking him. He stopped eating and stared at me as pulled out my lunch and began taking bites into my egg sandwich.

“What are you doing?”

“Eating.” I glanced at him and he made a face at me. 

“Yeah, no shit. What I meant was that what are you doing here?”

“Having lunch with you. Is that wrong?” I asked as I took another bite of my sandwich. I flashed him a goofy smile and continued eating, ignoring his questionable stare.

“No, not wrong… just that, you never sit me for lunch.” I stopped chewing and turned to him, a sullen expression sprawled across his face.

“Now I do.”

“Wouldn’t San mind? He looks like he’d kill me anytime if he sees you with me.” Jongho’s voice got softer as he spoke. 

“He and I… we’re… I don’t know what we are. He asked me out again this Saturday, so I don’t know what to expect,” I whispered, putting my sandwich down. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here and made you uncomfortable. I’m gonna g-”

His hand was on my wrist and I felt his thumb caressing my hand. “Please. Don’t go. Just… seat with me.”

I slowly sat back and we both sat in silence, not sure what to say to each other. I stared out into the open field and watched as the students gather and talk and laugh amongst each other. I want us to be like that. Me and Jongho. 

“I don’t have many friends.” I said quietly as I took another bite of my sandwich. My eyes were still focused on others, but I could feel Jongho’s eyes on me. He didn’t seem too concerned but he was curious.

“Why’s that?” 

I was hesitant to explain myself to him, but I thought it was about time I opened up about myself to someone. 

“I used to do a lot of bad things to people and they turned on me. I don’t blame them. For the few people who I thought I could count on as my friends belittled me and worst of all, invalidated my feelings. They were always telling me that I need to get over myself and that the world doesn’t revolve around me. I understood that, I really did. But what I never did understand was why it was hard for me to just express my feelings? I asked myself if my feelings weren’t real and it was just me overthinking or some shit, but as I grew older, I realised that I never really mattered to them. So I stopped talking to them and have been quite on my own ever since.”

Jongho was quiet and listened intently to me as I told him the reason why I had a hard time opening up to people.

“The reason why I stopped opening up to people was because of how people have longed invalidated them. I’m pretty much used to keeping things to myself. I bottle shit up to the point that once it becomes overbearing, I’d break down.”

“That’s some fucked up friends you had.” I chuckled and nodded, feeling a streak of tears trickling down my cheek. Jongho’s warm hand was on my face and he wiped the tears away with his fingers. “I’m sorry you went through such a tough time. I hope you’ll have hope and find better friends this time. And whatever you did in the past, it doesn’t define you as a person now. You’ve learned from your mistakes and that’s important.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that. I’m too busy trying to figure my life out, not caring if my social life will diminish by then. I quite like being on my own.”

“Do you really?” His question confused me and I didn’t know how to respond to him. “It’s ok to think about companionship once in a while. There’s no wrong in that. I do agree that being alone is better but if you find yourself questioning about the presence of another person, don’t doubt it. It’s normal.”

“What about you? Don’t you have anyone to talk to?” Jongho pouted and thought for a minute. 

“Not really, no. I do have two seniors, Hongjoong and Yunho that I’d occasionally talk with, but other than that, no one else. I’m not a sociable person, but I wouldn’t say I’m an introvert either. ” Jongho explained as he played with the hem of his shirt.

“Are you close with them?” 

“Kinda? We hung out a lot and they treat me well, so I guess I can say, yeah… we’re kind of close.”

I gazed at him and a smile crept onto my face. “That’s good.” 

A brief silence was soon interrupted by his phone ringing. Jongho checked it and quietly cursed under his breath.

“I gotta go.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. But I’ll see you later, right?”

“Same place, same time.” Jongho flashed his gummy smile for the first time and waved goodbye before sprinting off, leaving me alone at the podium. It was a good day and the sun was hitting it right on my skin, so I laid back on the grass patch and closed my eyes for a bit.

“Hey.”

My eyes bolted wide open and I quickly sat up, surprised at the sound of the familiar voice.

“Hey.” San took a seat next to me, a bulky plastic bag in hand. “How’d you know where I am?”

Shrugging his shoulders, San smiled faintly and said, “Hunch.”

“Right.” 

“I bought you lunch, if you haven’t had any.” San passed an onigiri and a banana milk to me. I wanted to tell him I already had my lunch but I was feeling extra hungry, so I accepted his treat. 

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” I decided to study San’s side profile and realised that he wasn’t bad looking. His nose was quite high and his jawline was really sharp and strong. He had pretty lips too and I thought he looked like a cat whenever he smiles. Realising I was staring at him too much, I cleared my throat and took a bite at the onigiri.

“So… the date… it’s still on right?” San’s voice was low and deep and his expression was gentle. 

I was confused as to why he asked me that question, but I nodded anyway. “Yeah, it is.”

“Great. I have a place that I want to take you to.”

I raised a brow at him and scoffed. “How long have you had this planned?”

San stared at me for a couple of minutes, his lips pursed into a thin line. “A couple of months.”

“A coupl-” I trailed off as soon as I realised something. “Why now?”

“I don’t know. I wanted to ask you so many times before, but each time, my words come out wrong. Which was why I was being an ass to you. I didn’t know how to ask you out.”

I didn’t know what to say because right when I was opening up to Jongho, San appeared. But I decided to give him a chance and see how this goes.

Saturday came and he brought me to a buffet called Flavors. I’ve been here once with my family a couple of years and the waiting time was long. Surprisingly, the queue was shorter this time and we got a seat in twenty minutes. I was in awe at the food choices and I could feel myself squealing in delight. San noticed my excitement and smiled to himself.

We spent the next two hours eating and I found myself enjoying the date. I caught eyes with San and we stared at each other for a bit before going into fits of giggles.

He sent me home again as I stood in front of him, he gently took my hand by my fingers and caressed them. I stared at the gesture in bewilderment and looked over at San who was looking down at me.

“Another date soon?”

I nodded and bit my lip, feeling butterflies in my stomach. I told myself I wasn’t going to develop any feelings for him, but there I was questioning myself for the second time.

“When?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” It was soon but I gave in and agreed to it.

San smiled at me and before anything else can happen, I pulled my hand away and awkwardly tucked my hair behind my war and gave a nervous laugh. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Good night.”

“Good night, <y/n>.”

The more time I spent with San, the more I was beginning to question my feelings for him and Jongho. I was losing myself as I had to make an ultimatum and it was giving me so much stress.

Over the course of five weeks, San and I went on a couple more dates, and we grew closer and closer. Jongho and I, we still kept up with one another as I continued to have lunch with him, and though we grew closer too, my feelings for him began to fade. And Jongho sensed that too. He knew he couldn’t fight San and have accepted it but was still willing to be my friend. San would get jealous sometimes but he knew that Jongho and I were just friends and nothing more.

Our project period ended and all of us rejoiced as we passed. San took me out on a date to the park and we sat on the mat admiring the stars. 

“The stars are pretty tonight,” I said softly, looking up to see the stars shining and glistening in the night sky.

“So are you,” San whispered, his eyes trained on me. I glanced at him and blushed so hard, I could feel my cheeks heating up.

“Shut up.” San chuckled and grazed my cheek with his finger, startling me. Our close proximity made it possible for San to lean forward and plant a kiss on my lips, his lips soft and moist. 

Jongho, who happened to be taking a walk at the very same park, witnessed the intimate moment and felt his breath hitched. Hongjoong and Yunho stopped talking and followed his gaze and their eyes went wide.

“Jongho, isn’t that <y/n>?” Hongjoong asked as he squinted his eyes in the dark.

Not wanting to hurt himself any further, he lied. “No, that’s not her. Come on, let’s go somewhere else.” Yunho and Hongjoong exchanged glances before trudging behind Jongho who was already ahead of them.

I pulled away from the kiss, clearly in shock. San pulled away too, a concerned look in his eyes. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, no. It’s just me. Don’t apologise,” I breathed out as I faced forward. San looked worried and brushed my hair aside, revealing my slightly flushed face. He wanted to say something but stopped himself.

As we were walking home, San took my hands in his and intertwined our fingers, the warmth of his hand giving me comfort. He got bolder this time and sent me to my doorstep, something that I find really romantic.

With our hands still intertwined, I released my grip and cupped his face, surprising him. I traced a thumb across his lips and San kissed it softly. Pulling him down towards me, I kissed him softly on the lips. His hands were on my back and my hands were on his neck. Even though I was starting to like him, there was no spark in our kiss.

Was it the way I kissed?

A thousand questions crossed my mind but I wasn’t able to find the answer for it. When I pulled away, my brows were furrowed and I can sense San knew it too. But we let it slide because we thought it just doesn’t mean much anyway.

“I like you, <y/n>. I like you a lot.” San’s hands were still on my back and I could feel his thumbs caressing my back through my thin layer of clothing. 

I wanted to say that I liked him too but something was holding me back. I inhaled deeply and pressed my forehead against his shoulder, my body trembling. “It’s ok. You don’t have to say it back. I just wanted you to know.”

“I’m sorry, I just- I’m not ready… to say it,” I sobbed as I clenched a bunch of his shirt in my hands.

“It’s ok. I understand. It’s ok.”

We stood in the embrace for a couple of minutes with San trying to coax me and me trying to relax. When it was time for me to go inside, San tipped my chin and kissed me one last time. I expect it to be different this time, but it was the same… no sparks.

“Good night, <y/n>.”

“Good night.” As I closed the door behind me, I leaned against the door and slid down, burying my head in my hands. “The fuck is going on?”

Confusion streaked through my mind and I didn’t know what else to do. A random thought popped up and suddenly I was thinking of Jongho. I suddenly remembered his gummy smile and his almond-shaped eyes… his wise personality.

God, I missed him so much.

“Wait. Did I just say I missed Jongho? No, no. I don’t miss Jongho. Definitely not.” I tried denying it but deep down, I knew it was true.

San’s lunch time was different on some days and that gave me more time to spend with Jongho. On that one particular day, Jongho wasn’t at the podium so I searched for him relentlessly around the campus. He wasn’t answering his phone and I was close to giving up when I heard the piano playing from around the corner. I remember seeing Jongho playing the piano once a year ago for an event and figured that would be him. Following the tune, I saw Jongho seated at the piano hitting on the keys.

“Hey.”

“Shit!” Jongho jumped in his seat and exhaled loudly as he realised it was me. “God, <y/n>, don’t do that.” 

Chuckling, I took a seat beside him and suddenly I recalled about that night. I moved myself slightly away from him and gave him an awkward smile. Sensing my awkwardness, Jongho frowned at me.

“What’s with the awkwardness?”

“Huh? Oh, uh… nothing.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and started hitting on the keys. I randomly pressed on them, not knowing what I was doing.

“Stop.” Jongho placed a hand on mine and put them on the far end of the piano. He pressed on a key and I followed and soon we were creating a melody. I giggled and he smiled and as our fingers touched, we stopped. I turned to face him and realised his face was inches from mine. 

I don’t know what overcame me, but I reached over and kissed Jongho on the lips. He reciprocated but pulled away shortly after, pushing me away from him.

“I can’t, <y/n>.” Jongho sighed and looked away. “You’re dating San, and I respect that. I don’t want to be the cause of your breakup.”

“Jongho…” Jongho got up and took his bag, turning to face me.

“I’ll always be here for you as a friend, <y/n>. But I can’t be here as a rebound.”

“I like you, Jongho!” I found myself to be in a shock when I blurted that out. I covered my mouth and felt an instant guilt raging through my body.

Jongho stopped and turned to me again, a disappointed look on his face. “I’m gonna need you to sort your life out, <y/n>. Until then, don’t find me.”

I was distraught that I had destroyed my friendship with Jongho just because I was confused with my feelings. I sat at the piano, bawling my eyes out and not realising San had tried calling me several times.

“Shit, fuck,” I muttered as I wiped my tears and cleared my throat. 

San picked up on the third ring and panic could be heard in his voice. “<y/n>, where the hell are you? I’ve been trying to reach you but you weren’t picking up.”

“I, uh… I’m sorry. I was just trying to clear my head.” I stifled a sob and had to inhale softly so as to not make it suspicious for San. But he was quiet on his end.

“<y/n>, babe, are you crying?” I pulled the phone away and began to sob uncontrollably. “<y/n>? <y/n>? Baby, please answer me.”

Gaining composure, I sniffled back hard and cleared my throat again. “I’m here. I’m fine. I just needed some space.”

“Tell me where you are, I’ll come right over.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I mean, no. I don’t want you to come over. I’m a mess and I don’t want you to see me like this.” 

I could hear San sighing on the receiver and I felt so bad for him. “Baby, please just tell me where you are.” I bit on my lower lip and reluctantly told him where I was. 

“Don’t move, I’m coming over.” He hung up and I was left to reevaluate my life decisions again.

Do I tell him? Do I want to break up with him?

Do I like him?

I exhaled sharply as these thoughts raced through my mind. I liked being with San but it just didn’t feel right. 

In five minutes, San was over by my side and he cradled me in his arms, comforting me as I sobbed miserably in his neck.

I messed up. Big time. 

#ateez #ateez jongho #ateez san #san #jongho #choi san #choi jongho #ateez imagine #ateez fanfic #ateez angst #san x reader #jongho x reader #q:series

[tartareus]

CAOS MUSES CANON DIVERGENCE; not unlike many here, i too found the third act of sabrina’s adventures a bit…lacking, to say the least. bad writing got me more and throwing character development to the bin made me finally decide that i am not going to accept most of what happened as true -  i will, however try to keep the changes to mininal as a say to make canon complying muses’ interactions with mine run smoothly.

for starters: my edward, salem and my della are primarily based on the comics (the chilling adventures of sabrina and sabrina the teenage witch) + my own head canons, therefore do expect their nature to be a bit darker\different than the show presents them. with that in mind…

edward did not die - he was in a circle of hell trapped inside a tree. once lucifer’s power over hell waned, the prision that kept the warlock there started to weaken and, thus, eventually he got out, finally free… only to find himself in…

queen lilith’s hell - yes, i am not going for that idea of lilith not being their queen, more than anyone else she does deserve the title, she worked for it and there is no point to not make all the effort during pt1 and 2 to go without a reward; for that to happen, though, i still accept the plot that sabrina went after nick, but instead of just taking satan back to earth…

edward becomes the morningstar’s host - besides being more than capable of taking him, edward is a known, talented, conjurer, had a somewhat deal or even relationship with empusa (a shape shifting demon), he knows how demons work. he knows what to expect and, other than that, he knows the boy will struggle. he won’t. although his very own existence is kept a secret from sabrina, in a similar fashion of b.ckwood, instead of struggling for dominance, edward will try and strike a bargain with lucifer (unknown to anyone else), if only to be sure that everything goes along with his own secret agenda…

he still helps zelda, though - as he is in hell and is not dead but trapped there, he makes use of some of lucifer’s powers to cross the veil and go for their aid.

della still remains a head witch - that is, still works for the council in rome, but with a slighly different twist. she herself is a hedgewitch. i’ve thought about this, and what it would mean for her character (originally in the sttw comics as sabrina’s mentor and the one that tried to guide her to the path of night, and them also as the queen of sabbath in the tcaos comics) and it seems that it just might fit her character altogether. hedgewitches are, after all, very old, powerful, lone witches who are but a few - which was what i was going for her originally. with that in mind, i have come to an hc that

della has her own very unique abilities - much like gryla, sycorax, and pesta, della possesses her own abilities as her own deal was slightly different. instead of having an aggressive ability like pesta and sycorax, she has a spiritual one - although not too similar from gryla’s ability to gather the spirits of her lads - that is very subtle: she can walk through the veil between the living and the dead, roaming in the in between without the fear of never returning (unless, of course, it is her time). that means that in her astral projections the psychopomps do not acknowledge her presence at all, one of the reasons she was hired by the council.

her age is hard to determinate -  she is clearly younger than the members of the council, but way older than the spellmans. to maintain her youth and looks, and not require a powerful glamour that would make her tired and weak if she kept holding for years, della consumes babies, mostly mortal orphans, in order to survive. that ritual is only required after some centuries (if it is a witch baby) or after the lifetime that mortal would’ve had. for that, it is needless to say that…

her relationship with gryla is of mutual hate and disdain - for the two of them are rivals in their quest for younger souls. although gryla herself has no choice but pick orphans, della prefers them because it usually avoids the whole ordeal of stealing a child. imagine how complicated it must’ve gotten when she answered the distress call from the coven in greendale…

although she is part of not coven, per se, della goes to their aid - or rather, is summoned against her own will, but she’s never going to admit that. particularly taking great joy at hunting the pagans, chasing them off greendale in the timeline that was fixed. in the broken timeline (aka the end of the world), not unlike ambrose (however using slightly shadier strategies) she managed to survive and remained hidden, safe in a witch’s cell in the vatican’s necropolis. sadly, she does end up going a little mad, but before she loses it all…

she manages to send ambrose some books that once belonged to the council - in hopes that these unholy scriptures, that had never been to the access of other witches and warlocks other than the scholars of rome, would help, hoping that he would be able to do what she had failed to: figure a way out of this mess.

salem is not a goblin but, in fact, a mortal curse by a witch he scorned centuries ago. cursed to become her familiar, after the witch he was forcibly bound to died during the salem trials the dark lord himself appeared before him, telling him that he would only lift the curse if he sold his soul to him - which he did, however what samuel (his mortal name) failed to realise was that he had not been specific as the date he should be free and, as such, the father of lies told him he would only be free once he had met, served and protected a white haired witch that was and was not daughter of night. it took centuries for him to find her, but when he saw sabrina he knew inside his old bones that it was her. 

he has come to terms to his current situation - he used to be a good christian, yes a bit reckless and an asshole with how he treated women, but he changed.  it was a hard lesson he had to learn. as he learned to repent, he also learned to understand the nature of witches better. they reacted with what they had. as such, he started to grow fond of sabrina and her family, even her friends (although he does not fancy being treated like an ordinary house pet).

he never liked robin nor lilith (when she was pretending to be ms wardwell), hissing soundly at them as he deemed them a probably threat to his witch.

lucifer granted him a couple of gifts to endure his long life - magical abilities akin to a warlock’s (but never enough to turn himself into human again, at least not for a long while) and speech (although he spent such a long time silent that he wonders if his throat still can produce anything other than a felinesound), as well seven lives. he is currently on the begining of his last life.

in both timelines salem tries to protect the spellmans - in the broken timeline, salem is dead (with satan no longer on the throne to secure his powers, the cat, much like the witches he served, started to weaken), probably trying to find sabrina and failing miserably. in the fixed timeline, he stays with zelda and mambo, refusing to leave her side. as they escaped, salem found that a good way to distract them was by attacking blackwood with the last remnants of his strength, unaware that faustus beared the mark of cain. wounded, he hides behind vinegar tom, trusting that the protective magic surrounding zelda’s old familiar (which she insisted that was still alive, just his vessel dead), would keep them from fiding him. he eventually recovers his strength and rejoins the spellmans, but feels something off, as if there was something wrong with sabrina.

overall, my main pet peeve with this season was how poorly handled some archs were. as much as i love the new order of hecate (which btw sounds very pagan to me but okay), i wish they had kept the church of lilith and, as such i will accept both realities and place them in different timelines, especially for hilda. 

i do hc that she still prays for her, away from zelda’s hearing of course, because when she was in the pit (unaware that they were praying for hecate) and in the in between when zelda and edward left, she prayed for her even though she is not the religious type, and came out of it alive. it was only after all that mess that she realised that maybe her prayers were in vain, but she didn’t mind at all.

i also hc that, after her spidey-incident she's been getting a bit uneasy near her own familiars (and they seem to notice that too, being slightly worried for her), she also decides to take a break from her relationship with cee; even though she loves him, and he proposed, she almost killed him ( and may or may not have tried to make him fertilize her eggs , unholy fuck that sentence shall haunt me for some good while) and that starts to make her realise that their relationship might be too dangerous for him, as a mortal. he already faced a witch hunter to protect her and now this? the last thing she wants is to cause him harm.

with mambo being around to look after zelda, hilda just might look for a place of her own, perhaps a little cottage in england as she so desires. it's not that she doesn't want to be part of the coven, or better the order, but even for her, non-religious and almost skeptical, bouncing off from deity to deity is not proving to be a good thing. besides, she's grown quite a backbone (about damn time) and she will no longer endure how she has been treated by her sister - i will elaborate further on the domestic abuse and the ptsd hilda suffers from being killed so many times and the mutual codependency of her relationship with her sister on a separate post, eventually

sometimes hilda puts a few drops of a soothing draught on zelda's food, because apparently if she asks for her sister to take a deep breath or watch her blood pressure it is a reason to receive a dark look. Sl instead of fretting and being pushed away, she just gets it done anyway. it is also comforting for her to know how easily she could kill zelda by putting something lethal on her food. whilst she does entertain herself with these thoughts, she knows she would never be able to kill her ow flesh and blood.

she raised ambrose almost mostly by herself, back when she lived in England. as her first child,she did spoil him rotten. Hilda never really thought of having kids herself, being demiromantic/demisexual she couldn't find it in herself to partake on the coven's festivities and enjoy lupercalia with a random witch or warlock, zelda was the baby crazy one, who had held sabrina almost possessively. she spoiled sabrina as well, perhaps due to Edward's recent death or because she knew how much her murders took their toll on her young niece, but not enough to "ruin" her as zelda always made sure.

although she could easily wear glamours to look more like the rest of her family (tall and slender), hilda learned with time to love herself, being more positive both inside and out.

#m; e. spellman \ hcs #m; della \ hcs #m; s. saberhagen \ hcs #m; h. spellman \ hcs #theres so much shit in this season that i dont even know where to start #its 5 am and i am sleep so dont mind if none of it makes sense ok

[chercher0w0]

A Discovery of Witches - Show vs Book - 1

If you don’t want to read this long rambling mess of thoughts, I’d say that, in summary, the show and book are great complements for each other. As usual, I would say that it’s best to read the books first and get all the plot through Diana’s POV, as well as more of her inner thoughts. Then, follow up with watching the show to see the other supporting characters more fleshed out, as well as, in general, be able to get solid visualizations of the places, people and magic in the story.

Goes without saying that under the cut there are spoilers for the whole of ADOW S1, as well as mild spoilers for Book 2 and 3, especially at the end where I speculate about Season 2 =w= (( for more ADOW and bishmont feels, my fandom trash site is @cherchersketch. Once S2 is out, I’ll probably throw my episodic book vs show ramblings there ))

Opening

In lieu of some sort of opening song, every episode starts with these words, as well as Matthew’s voiceover, ending with him reciting a phrase that his father once said, “In every ending, there is a new beginning”. It’s interesting because in the book, the titular phrase “ A Discovery of Witches” only appears towards the end as Diana is trying to find out more about Ashmole 782. The mention of Phillipe’s words don’t even show up until near the very end of the second book, Shadow of Night. It is an intriguing way to get viewers interested in the show though. From the very first episode, it’s speculated that Ashmole 782 contains the origins of all 3 types of creatures, vampires, daemons, and witches. It is also reminiscent of Matthew’s speech in episode 2 that only two emotions keep the world turning, desire and fear. The title cards confirm that that is true, Ashmole 782 does, at the very least, contains the origin of witches and their first spells. Especially since, in the actual scene where, in the book, Diana sees those words scrawled on a piece of paper, together with one of the missing Ashmole 782 pages as well as a letter from her parents. Instead of the letter and this phrase, the show uses the house as the expository catalyst instead. In episode 8, Diana only receives the missing page. The house shows, through some sort of flashbacks, more or less what the letter states. It’s one of the many ways the show writers really did a great job changing details so the exposition can be shown, instead of just told outright.

Opening Scene

Honestly, when I first read the book, I was surprised how different the very beginning is. As usual, the main point for switching things around is to be able to organically show and gradually introduce viewers to the world of the series.  From Matthew’s opening dialogue, which is the very first shot we see as well as the first dialogue we hear for this and every episode,  “Once the world was full of wonders but it belongs to humans now. We creatures have all but disappeared. Daemons, vampires and witches hiding in plain sight, fearful of discovery, ill at ease even with each other.” it immediately lets us know how this world is different from ours, the existence of these three types of supernatural creatures, as well as their hostile attitude towards each other. 

It also shows us Diana not having complete control of her powers, accidentally activating them in public. And most importantly, establishes the magic of the book, Ashmole 782. I love the shot of the librarian not finding it initially, then suddenly seeing it in the empty spot as she’s walking back with the rest of Diana’s requested books.  In the actual book, it directly opens with Diana having Ashmole 782 in front of her, a brief description of it, and then a bunch of exposition about herself, her parents and her powers. 

Bishmont

Another thing that surprised me, how they changed many scenes to have more Diana x Matthew scenes. Because lbr, we all know what sells. Haha. 

From the very first time they meet, the scene in the book and TV show are very different. Also, quite understandably, due to the differences a more visual medium like TV has versus a book which can more easily describe stuff that can’t be shown.  In the book, Diana has slightly more control over her powers, in that she vaguely knows it just takes a bit of desire, so to retrieve the book she needs, she just imagines the book in her hand and it flies there. She only realizes that Matthew is also there, noticing her use of magic, because as a witch she can feel when the different types of creatures are looking at her, so she feels his stare as cold spots in her back. In the show, Diana’s grasp of her powers are weaker and more erratic, so the book she hopes to get instead flys off the shelf and lands in Matthew’s hands. 

In the book, Matthew’s initial realisation of his craving for Diana is much more reserved than in the show, though it’s through similar catalysts. On the show, we get that scene of Matthew sniffing Diana’s dropped sweater and just barely being able to control his predatory instincts, prompting him to momentarily run to Scotland to hunt. In the book, a similar thing happens, in that Diana leaves her sweater in his car from being driven home from yoga. It’s implied he got a similar reaction to her scent, though he only tells Diana about it later on, once he’s returned from Scotland.

Another beautifully added scene is the one before the dinner Diana invites Matthew to. In the book, it goes as expected. On the show, the addition of Peter Knox barging in beforehand to harass Diana, leading to Matthew rushing in with vampiric speed to stare down Knox is gr9 because there can never be enough growly protective Matthew scenes.

One aspect of Matthew’s initial stalking of Diana that I feel the show really improved on over the books, is when he breaks into Diana’s room to find Ashmole 782. On the show, he takes advantage of the fact that Diana is out rowing to look through her room to find it. In the book, he just creaks in while she’s sleeping and even makes sure she stays asleep by feeding her his blood. Kind of approaching Twilight’s Edward level of creepiness, though at least it’s more of a means to an end instead of some weird desire to watch Diana while she’s asleep.

Since they don’t usually show the whole thing on TV, unless it has a higher rating, I didn’t really catch on that they haven’t fully done the nasty at this point. Only realized it when I read that Matthew is specifically refusing to go all the way (for now. Until we learn why in Book 2 ;w;) and on a rewatch saw that yea, he’s just... using his hand or his mouth :x 

One thing I do enjoy in the books over the show is that there’s more time for Diana and Matthew’s relationship to slowly develop. When I first watched it, it felt a bit too fast to be honest, though I did still enjoy the chemistry between Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer, and a lot of the bishmont scenes were  🔥 🔥 🔥 It was pretty obvious that a lot of scenes had to be cut out to fit everything into the 8 episodes.  In the book, though they’ve also known each other in the same short amount of time, but the way Diana and Matthew’s feelings for each other gradually develop through several dates and yoga lessons (OMG the yoga) makes it seem less Insta-lovey. 

Diana

As I stated at the beginning, the book and the show complement each other. On the show, Diana is shown as being extremely athletic, often rowing by herself or going for a run. It doesn’t really seem to have much significance other than showing that Diana has hobbies outside of her academic work and occasionally providing an excuse for her to be alone so she can be snatched up (yes we know the scene I’m talking about). In the book, there is actually an explanation for it. We are told that Diana’s power incontinence leads to a build up of adrenaline which leads to her panic attacks, an unfortunate effect of the spellbinding on her. To work off the excess adrenaline, she turns to sport as she hates having to rely on medication to regulate it.  Also, as previously mentioned, book!Diana seems to have a bit more “control” over her powers whereas TV!Diana does’t seem to at all. She also seems to have more of a witch’s power for the third eye, seeing visions when she looks at certain objects, like Matthew’s armour. 

Matthew

I would say the main difference between book!Matthew and TV!Matthew is his anger management. From Diana’s description in the book, in the beginning Matthew seems to have an extremely quick temper, being able to go from calm to furious in a matter of seconds, even over seemingly small matters. Later on, it is revealed that he has an inherited blood rage problem. But without knowing that, initially it just seems like a red flag issue and someone Diana should avoid. On the show, Matthew Goode portrays a Matthew (Clairmont) that is always tightly in control of himself, but not necessarily with a hair trigger fuse. His bursts of violence only appear when Diana is threatened so it seems more justified to the viewer.  And book!Matthew’s eyes do the thing where they go all black when he’s in the throes of a blood rage. I’m interested to see how it will be portrayed on the show in the next 2 seasons. Honestly, TV!Matthew never seemed overtly prone to anger like in the books. Just the “usual” overprotective vampire growling and fighting. Guess we’ll have to see how the show is gonna portray it because it’s a pretty major point conflict in the relationship in book 2 and 3.

A bit of a minor detail but in the book, it is shown how impressive Matthew’s academic career is since his living quarters are in an exclusive area of the campus, as befitting his title as one of the very few with an All Souls scholarship. 

Gillian (and her friendship with Diana)

Book!Gillian is a bit more of a throwaway character than TV!Gillian. Book!Gillian seems to be more of a casual acquaintance to Diana, just another one of the Oxford area witches trying to get her to join the local coven. I like the modification in the series where they made her a closer friend to Diana. It gives a greater impact when Gillian ends up betraying Diana’s trust, spilling the secrets Diana thought were safe with a friend to Peter Knox. It amplifies the feeling of loneliness and isolation that Diana goes through when she learns there is no one in Oxford she can really trust, other than Matthew even though she’s only just gotten to know him.  She is also portrayed as slightly more sympathetic on the show. In the book, she is just an example of the many witches in the area who despise other creatures, and thus looks down on Diana for fraternizing with a vampire. This disdain, plus her ambition to be a part of the congregation, leads her to doing Peter Knox’s dirty work, like breaking into Matthew’s lab and sending Diana the gruesome photos of her dead parents. On the show, she seems to have more of a timid personality, making her a bit of a doormat that is easily manipulated by Knox. She is also given a lower position, still being unable to qualify for tenure while Diana is one of the youngest to have done so at Yale, giving Gillian a bit of an inferiority complex. This makes it easy for Knox to feed her lies about Diana using her powers for her own academic gain, leading Gillian to carry out Knox’s dirty work in order to gain more of a status in her witchy community.

It’s also an interesting detail that later on, when Matthew sucks her blood as payback for breaking into his lab, on the show it’s presented more as him wanting to know what Gillian has seen and how much she was able to report to Knox. It kind of implies that the extra blood loss that lead to her death might have been due to her dragging herself all the way to the house of the coven leader, at least, that’s how I saw it. Matthew later on even mentions that he didn’t mean to kill her. In the book, since we’re not really shown the scene, it is just mentioned that Matthew sucked her blood and killed her for revenge.  Since Matthew is one of the two main leads, and Gillian was a closer friend of Diana’s than in the book, it makes sense they would want to tone down the extent of Matthew’s culpability while still having Gillian end up dead. 

Marcus (and his children. Or lack thereof)

There’s a bit more of Marcus in the show than the book, which is nice. We see book!Miriam more in the beginning since she’s the one who guards over Diana in the Bodleian on Matthew’s behalf. Understandable as being Matthew’s lab assistant gives her access to the same areas in Oxford, unlike Marcus who works somewhere else. I liked the added interaction of Marcus and Diana where she asks him what food to prepare for her dinner date with Matthew, in exchange for letting him and Miriam draw her blood. It’s a cute scene. 

We are first shown that vampires are increasingly failing to sire by TV!Marcus failing to save his friend, James. They then analyse his blood, proving that he has the same genetic markers as other cases of failed sires. In the books, it’s just a vague mention of it happening to other vampires. The show kind of gave me the impression that it was the first time Marcus had tried siring but in the books, he has a whole family of children in New Orleans. I’m curious how the show will incorporate that then, since they’re sort of an important plot point for certain events, especially in Book 3.  Also, the point that Marcus attempted to sire James without asking for his permission first brings to mind Matthew’s previous siring of Cecilia that led to her suicide. It’s not given a huge emphasis on the show though it comes up twice, so having read the book Matthew’s anger at Marcus siring James without asking for permission is an extra D:

Pacing and plot changes The biggest difference between the book and the show, is that the book is written in a first person limited style, from Diana’s POV, with a smattering of third person limited chapters to show some scenes where Matthew is away from Diana. The show show employs more of a third person omniscient style. From the start, we are shown all the members of the Congregation, as well as other characters that loom in the background, slowly closing in on our main characters. It’s less of a jarring experience when certain events occur. 

Satu In the show, we are shown from the beginning how Peter Knox recruits her into the Congregation, as someone who can take his side in Congregation matters. She is portrayed slightly more sympathetic as instead of just appearing in the middle to open up Diana, we see her already confronting Diana early on to try to gauge Diana’s powers. We also see her try to learn more about Diana by reading through Congregation archives. And we see Peter Knox’s power over her initially as he subdues her using his power. Also, like most witches, she is convinced that Matthew is using his vampiric powers to put Diana under his spell. Though these don’t justify the extremes she goes to, it is less of an abrupt shock when she appears to whisk Diana away from Sept-Tours and open her up to see Diana’s secrets and true powers.

Juliette Another whoa-that-came-out-of-nowhere antagonist in the book. In the show, as with Satu, we see her slowly closing in on our main characters as she is shown to have an obsession with “Matthew”, under Gerbert’s control. Though it does seem kind of :x that Marcus and Miriam didn’t warn Matthew when Juliette broke into his room. It was only a matter of time before she tracked him down to Diana’s home in Madison.

Sophie and Nathaniel Definitely preferred the introduction of Sophie and Nathaniel in the series than the book =w=;;;  In the book, when they show up out of nowhere to hand Diana one of the items she needs to travel to 1590, it seems a bit Deus Ex Machina-y because we are only following the events through Diana’s limited POV. In the show, we see Sophie slowly try to decipher who she is supposed to hand her family heirloom to, through her prophetic dreams. The idea of creatures intermixing is also gradually introduced as we find out that Sophie is a daemon born to witches, carrying a witch baby. Also implying that her prophetic dreams is due to her witchly heritage.  It also shows us, from the start, Nathaniel’s proficiency in computers, which will come in handy later on. 

Deleted Scenes It’s a 579 page book that has to be condensed into less than 8 hours of screen time so of course some things have to be cut.

Yoga Oh the yoga scenes. It would have been vaguely hilarious to see Matthew doing yoga XD Also, it added to Diana and Matthew slowly getting to know each other, as well as the possibility of all creatures getting along.  Pacing-wise, it would probably have been a bit too early in the show to introduce the concept of all the different creatures working together in harmony. Throughout the 8 episodes, there’s a nice development from outright hatred, with Gillian’s attitude towards Diana hanging out with Matthew, begrudging cooperation, within the members of the Congregation, tentative co-existence, with Nathaniel’s daemon group talking about how they interact with other creatures and humans, to the shadow congregation/conventicle that Diana’s family, Matthew’s family and Sophie’s family end up forming towards the end of the season. 

The ghosts Another practical cut because plot-wise, they don’t really add as much. It would have been fun to see Granny ghost and the other’s checking Matthew out the first time he steps into the Bishop house XD 

Season 2 speculations

- Suddenly watching a period piece. Haha. Though considering the ending of Season 1, it’ll probably expand on the story and intersperse bishmont’s 1590s shenanigans with present day details, like Marcus’s leadership of the Knights of Lazarus and what happens between Emily and Gerbert - bloodRage!Matthew. Yes please. I AM HERE FOR IT  🔥 🔥 🔥 - T H E  M A R R I A G E and finally getting to see bishmont do the do  😏 - Diana’s R A I N B O W magic. Also, I honestly still can’t quite picture what the knotting that she does with her magic looks like so it’ll be interesting to finally get to see it on screen.  -  Also quite curious to see if they’ll leave the loss of their first child in. On the one hand A N G S T plus a parallel to Matthew’s first marriage to Blanca. On the other hand, is there enough screen time? Also, the whole fear of hereditary blood rage could cover the same A N G S T.    

Honestly, there’s so much plot to cover, I’m curious to see how they’ll do it in 10 episodes (EDIT: thanks for the update on S2′s ep count @adow-trash . Sorry I’m super new to the fandom. Only started diving in on Monday)

#A Discovery of Witches #ADOW #all souls trilogy #Deborah Harkness #adow spec #bishmont

[the-bounce-back]

THE CONFIDENCE CHRONICLES PART I - CONFIDENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

First of all… yes, I know I said I’d spend more time writing and have this out a week after my previous post. But to be honest… I say a lot of things, and a lot of those things are pure rubbish. I’m here now, stop crying.

I’m joking, before anyone gets triggered. Life really just kept getting in the way - word to my girl Gabriella Montez. There’s been a lot going on that has had me in my feelings, and as mentioned in earlier posts I don’t particularly like writing when I’m feeling like I want to get hit by a bus. But hey, on the bright side it’s given me loads of topic ideas to write about at a later stage, so, you know… silver linings and that.

Anyways. As mentioned briefly in my previous post, I have decided to do a series of posts entirely dedicated to building your self-confidence in different aspects in life. The series will consist of five slightly shorter “bite-sized” posts, that will outline various methods, mindsets, exercises and thought processes to apply to everyday life - all of which have been crucial to myself in my own confidence jOuRnEy.

I’ve decided to do this series for a whole load of reasons, the main ones being the following:

1. For the first time in my adult life I can genuinely say that I am getting to be comfortable with who I am, what I’m doing and where I’m going (for the most part) - a feeling that I genuinely want others to experience as well.

2. Unlearning years of self-hate, constant self-criticism and your brain telling you that you’re not worthy enough/smart enough/good enough to achieve what you want to achieve is a disgustingly long and heartbreaking task. I really wish I had something to guide me along the way, but I think I’ll find comfort in knowing that someone might read this and not feel as alone during their own process.

3. Although we all have insecurities about different things, that sh*t can really isolate us and make us feel abnormal and alone. I’m hoping that writing about how I overcame/am in the process of overcoming my insecurities will aid in destigmatising these kind of feelings as a whole.

With that being said, my first post in this series will be about confidence in the workplace. Starting with the easy stuff, so to speak.

I realised recently that it’s been quite a while since I’ve given any kind of indication of how work is going, which is actually one of the main reasons why I relocated to London in the first place. My previous posts discuss a lot of the anxiety leading up to it, and my post about giving yourself accolades (again, read it here because it’s some of my best work) discusses how I forced myself to cast my humility aside in my job interview to appear more confident. This post will kind of be an elaboration on this, as I have settled in to my role and have developed this confidence further.

I’ve been at this job for a little over four months now, and a lot has changed since I was sat there in that interview making myself come across as I had Kanye levels of self-confidence and like I wasn’t absolutely bricking it. Despite it probably being the maddest test of my resilience to stress and pressure since exam season in 3rd year, I really am enjoying it in the sense that I am being challenged on a daily basis, I have a lot of freedom in terms of how I organise my work, and I have excellent means to stay motivated to keep working towards a promotion. As far as what I was rambling on about in my interview goes - this is exactly what I wanted from my new role.

However - as I should have anticipated, expectations almost definitely always significantly stray from reality. I think that the largest reason for my confidence wavering a few weeks into the position was definitely due to the shock of how different it was from the expectations I had conjured up in my head, and there was a period of a few weeks where I seriously started to question if I was cut out for this type of work. Consider your girl humbled.

I think the biggest shock was how fast-paced, loud and energised the working environment was - this is obviously a good thing, but considering the way both my mental state and general energy levels have been these past few months I think it’s all just been quite overwhelming, and probably ended up making me feel like I didn’t have the drive and motivation required to be successful within the organisation.

In other words… I was having a bit of a weak-b*tch-with-an-inferiority-complex moment. How embarrassing and sauceless.

Anyways, that’s all over now - I’ve been able to reevaluate my approach to the role and how to tAkE cOnTrOl of my situation by establishing a few things to be mindful of while I’m at work - small things that have really made a big difference for me, and might be able to help you feel more secure and confident in your role, too.

1, Remember that everyone there has been in your position.

So you all know by now that I’m a sucker for clichés - because they’re always true. On my first day at my new job I felt so intimidated by the size of the office, the amount of employees, the fact that my senior sales manager literally sits two desks away from me… literally everything felt so overwhelming. Not necessarily in a bad way, but my mind was definitely in overdrive from the vast amount of information. That, along with my insecurities of being the New Person™ and not knowing anything about the lingual services industry - and having to have a 1on1 meeting with the regional director within 3 hours of being in the office.

What got me through that first week of awkwardness and feeling like a complete idiot was constantly reiterating to myself that I’m definitely not the first and definitely not the last to be in this position, that I will learn tHe RoPeS over time and that we all have to start somewhere. I know this doesn’t sound like a ground-breaking epiphany, but as someone that is used to understanding/catching on to to things very quickly, not knowing what the f*ck was going on definitely swayed my confidence at the time. I used to proper hate being the only person not knowing how things work, and constantly having to ask for help - but I’ve managed to flip it around and make it a confidence booster, instead. This, in the sense that I’ve acknowledged my drive and determination to not be the clueless new person, and to excel within my field by asking loads of questions and forcing myself out of my comfort zone. Doing this successfully has definitely made me more secure and appreciative of my learning abilities, and this confidence definitely hasn’t gone unnoticed by upper management.

This even relates back to points made in previous posts - learning to be kind and patient with yourself and learning to not freak out when you’re not in control of a situation. Additionally, I confidently leaned on one of my main selling points that I discovered when evaluating my suitability for this kind of job - my ability to learn new things fast, and my ability to adapt to a new situation.

Look at me, taking my own advice for once. You know what that is? Growth. I have to stan.

2. Eliminate tentativeness when you communicate with others - regardless of seniority.

This is definitely a psychological aspect of confidence more than anything. Regardless of if you work in a soulless corporation or one of those mOdErN organisations that swears that they don’t have a hierarchical structure, chances are you have a person or multiple people that you report to.

I began to notice that the combination of not being knowledgeable of this industry and now having to report directly to senior managers that have been in the industry for over a decade made me feel very insecure about having to ask for help or even asking questions in general, because I felt that I was wasting their valuable time with things that I felt that I should have known already. As in, really industry-specific things that would’ve been really weird if I had known them at the time.

To combat this feeling, I forced myself to remember that these senior managers - after stripping away their years of experience, industry knowledge and fancy titles - are human as well, and definitely were in my position at some point. Remembering that even the CEO was once a bumbling and confused idiot like myself at one point definitely aided me in seeing the bigger picture - that without investing in recruitment, training and mentoring of new people, the future of the company is literally f*cked. The recognition of this fact definitely almost eliminated my inferiority complex, and I was able to see senior managers as equals with a lot of valuable advice and knowledge, instead of these terrifying looming dementors that were waiting for me to mess up and fire me.

So, how does this relate to eliminating tentativeness when communicating with others?

I’m glad you asked. In corporate settings, internal communication and project coordination is predominantly done over emails, and where I work almost all communications have senior managers in cc in order to provide visibility into what is happening - good or bad. Obviously I could go on for ages about how to feel more confident in having so many high-up people within the company watching your every move, but really and truly there’s only one thing that I’ve been doing that I feel is worth mentioning:

I removed the word “just” from my vocabulary.

That is, in the context of when I’m asking a question or asking for help, e.g.:

“I’m just wondering if…”

“I’m just double checking that…”

“I just wanted to ask…”

If you read those beginnings of sentences out loud, you’ll probably hear that using the word “just” inserts a sense of tentativeness, submissiveness and insecurity in one's own knowledge. Furthermore, it makes you come across as apologetic for doing your job properly or asking questions - which is obviously ridiculous.

I’m know that removing the word “just” from my vocabulary probably has little to no effect on how upper management sees me, but that’s not really the point here. The point is that when I make a conscious effort to not utilise the word, I’m very self-aware in the sense that I’m choosing to come across as more assertive and confident - which has lead me to feel more comfortable when I’m communicating with those higher up in the organisation than me.

It’s a very small change, but it has definitely affected my confidence and assertiveness in my role. The power of a simple word, eh? The mind boggles.

3. Evaluate exactly what you want to get out of this job, and do something every day that will get you closer to this goal.

This is definitely the most important point for me. For the first time in my life, I’m in a job that I genuinely see myself staying at and progressing within - and there’s plenty of opportunities, concrete targets and support to keep me motivated enough to keep grinding towards a promotion. I genuinely want to excel within the company (at least for the time being - who knows how I’ll feel a few months down the line?), and the feeling of being sure of that has made me a lot more confident alone.

Of course, not everyone is at a stage in their career where they feel like a promotion within the company they work for is the ultimate goal. The fact of the matter is that some jobs are solely means to an end for other unrelated goals, like saving up for something or to get work experience for the job you actually want. Either way, I strongly believe that knowing the purpose for even going to work every day in the first place gives you this deep-rooted determination, motivation and resilience to workplace bullsh*t that ends up manifesting itself as confidence.

Put it this way - if you know exactly what you are working towards in this specific role, there really shouldn’t be anything that can sway you from achieving this (assuming that you want it enough). Going into work on at least a majority of days (because let’s face it, sometimes you just want to have a chill at work) with a mission of doing something that will get you closer to your goal will not only help you stay focused on completing the tasks, but will also give you the ability to not let minor conflicts and “hiccups” along the way get to you. Trust me, you won’t even have the energy to worry about what other people are doing - and personally speaking, being this set in your own lane does wonders for feeling insecure.

Of course, it is slightly difference for those who aren’t entirely sure what their next move is, and that are doing a job for the sole purpose of paying bills and staying fed. I feel that a lot of people - myself in the past included - let the lack of direction really get to them and end up in a very destructive rut of just existing without finding their purpose, and letting it break down their self-esteem along the way. However, I honestly feel that being in this kind of position can - and should - be seen as an opportunity for growth and fInDiNg YoUrSelF outside of work. Yes, figuring out what you want to do is incredibly daunting, but I think that we often make the mistake in assuming that the path we choose is the path we have to stay on for the rest of our lives. No pressure.

With that being said, working a job you don’t care about can still be empowering and confidence-boosting in the sense that you know for a fact that once you know what you want to do, you can easily just walk away from it without feeling that you’ve made a mistake. There is something very powerful in knowing that you can just drop everything and leave at any second as soon as you’ve had enough of it, and I’ve even promised myself to apply this to my current job if I ever change my mind about it. Life’s too short to do sh*t you don’t want to do.

Anyways, there you have it - three mindsets that I’ve applied to my career plans that have made me feel a lot more confident when making decisions in the workplace. Hopefully you’ve been able to take something away from it, and that you know that you’re capable of achieving anything you wish to pursue career-wise if you’re willing to put in hard work, and committed to being happy with the direction your life is going.

Love,

Liv

#selflove #selfhelp #Empowerment

[mmazzeroo]

Chapter 15 - NED IV - That’s A Big Campfire

@helloimnotawesome - Chapter 15 updated. I’m SO sorry for the long wait. Thought I forgot about you, didn’t you ;) Well....finally there’s a new update for you as well as a new mood board :) Enjoy, my friend! <3 

EDIT: Posted this earlier with the mood board but it got flagged!!! Stupid Dumblr, so while waiting the staff to realise their mistake here’s a repost and you’ll have to go AO3 to see the mood board. Sorry about that sweetie <3

NED IV - That’s A Big Campfire

"In a heartbeat, Dr. Stark!"

"Thank you so much, Sam," the boy is still so formal, "and Sam?"

"Yes, Dr. Stark?"

"Call me Ned, please." He smiled to himself.

"Ah right, yes, of course Dr. Stark...Sorry! Ned..." He could practically hear Sam blushing over the phone.

"Good! Now, once again thank you for helping with this, Sam."

"My pleasure, Dr. S..Ned."

Again, he chuckled at Sam's overly politeness. "Won't take more of your time. See you in a couple of weeks," not waiting for Sam's answer he hung up the phone. Crossing the big field of grass behind Dragonstone castle, he walked over to his wife and Rhaella currently busy cooing over his grandchildren who were rolling around on a blanket placed on the grass in the shadow of a beautiful old tree.

"Just spoke to Sam - it's all set."

"Wonderful, honey! He's going to be so surprised!" His wife was beaming up at him.

"Hopefully only in a positive way. I don't exactly have a good track-record when it comes to surprising my eldest son." He sighed as he looked around searching for the man in question.

"Oh stop it!" Rhaella grabbed his arm and pulled him down to sit between her and Catelyn. "He'll be so excited I bet he'll go speechless. You didn't see his sad puppy face when he was on the phone with Robb that day and had to tell him no. He looked like he thought he'd be ruining his brother's big day because of it. We didn't see him again until nightfall."

"He was always an emotional boy, Ned. Considering what he's lived through it's remarkable he's still able to be this empathetic." Catelyn gently stroked him down his cheek and kissed him. "Jon has a good heart. Been put back together with countless stitches yes, but at it's core still true and pure. He'll be over the moon when he sees what you and Robb has arranged."

He couldn't help smile at his wife's wise words. My sweet gentle sons. Trying to catch up on the time they lost together. "You're of course right - both of you." He quickly smiled at both women sitting on either side of him. "Instead of worrying I'll look forward to seeing some joy on my son's face." Joy! Wouldn't that be a sight!

"That's the spirit!" Rhaella gave him a big smile and light-heartedly nudged his shoulder with her own. "Now, not that I didn't know already, but I must say Robb has made a fabulous choice for his future wife." She nodded her head slightly to the riders further down the field.

Margaery and Sansa where on each their horse accompanying little Rhaenys on her pony between them. Rhaenys was in awe of both. Earlier in the day they had been sitting in the grass braiding each other's hair, adding flowers to the braids and even making garlands that they'd been wearing like crowns. He had to admit he found it adorable how the two took the time for Rhaenys and indulged her. Arya, on the other hand had rolled her eyes, pretending to gag and walked away. Oh how he loved his two girls. So different yet so similar. Just don't tell them that! They had the same fierce spirit, though when it came to expressing said spirit they'd chosen different ends of the spectre. Arya was, for the most part, hit first ask later. Sansa, on the other hand, would take the hits yet refuse to give in. My wild wolf and quiet wolf. Interestingly, he'd noticed a change in both over the past 5-6 months that Jon had been here at Dragonstone and everyone had made sure to make frequent visits whenever schedules allowed. The only one flying in a few times a week was Viserys for his therapy sessions with Jon. Arya was gradually beginning to show signs of something he could've sworn was a foreign concept to her - patience. Who would've ever thought! And Sansa, oh Sansa! She was slowly coming out of her shell, walking and talking with a little more confidence every day, and she was biting back. When Catelyn had told him that Sansa had suggested wearing a sleeveless dress as a bridesmaid, if Margaery agreed, his eyes had overflowed with tears. His shy, broken girl wanting to proudly put her scars on display like that to the world made his heart melt with pride and fatherly love. If I ever get my hands on Joffrey or Ramsey I'll smother them with my own bare hands!! Margaery, of course, had happily and eagerly agreed, knowing what a huge step this was for Sansa.

He couldn't help wonder what it was that caused all these changes. Has Jon returning helped fill a void we each had in our hearts? Is our individual healing contributing to us heal as a family? Have we all found our 'missing piece' in our lives and souls? Or are my girls just growing and maturing at their own natural pace? No, it was all connected to Jon one way or another. By his attempts to reconnect with his siblings and family for his own healing he was helping them with theirs as well. He knew Jon didn't necessarily do this knowingly. After all, the young man was simply trying to regain what he thought he'd lost. However, when he saw anyone in need of help - in anything - he immediately jumped in to provide any assistance he could. He'd always done that even as a little boy. Jon didn't want to see anyone in pain or suffering for any reason. Once again he was taken aback by his son's willingness to help others even if it meant at the expense of his own health. He had done so for years as a member of the Night's Watch, and it became even more ironic when taking into account Jon's blood type. O negative, also known as the universal giver because all other blood types could receive it without trouble - Jon however if given any blood type other than his own would die. It was as if the Gods had forged him to endure heartbreak, pain and suffering for the sake of others, to shield others, to help and save others. What was it Jon had said a few months ago? 'The same hammer that breaks glass forges steel'. That's it! Jon is teaching Sansa that she's steel while all this time she thought of herself as glass! Except he's hitting her with buckets of love. Ha! Jon you brilliant man! He made a mental note to go properly thank the gods when he returned to Winterfell before the wedding. Gods, the wedding! For a minute there he'd completely forgotten everything about it.  

He was happy for Robb and Margaery, but at the same time he couldn't understand his little boy had grown up so fast. Oh Ned, you sentimental old fool. Every parent thinks that. He shook his head slightly. In just a few weeks his son and heir to the title of Lord of Winterfell would be marrying the granddaughter of President Olenna Tyrell. It was quite a match and the media and the public loved it! The media! Damnit! Another thing we need to try to prepare Jon for.

Just after New Year's the Starks and Targaryens had sent out a joint press release informing the public of the miraculous return of Jonathan Dayne, heir to Starfall and the son of Eddard Stark and late Ashara Dayne. The families asked to kindly give Jon and his family time and space to recover from the shock, and any press inquiries could be directed to Mr. Tyrion Lannister. Shortly after the President had made a public statement that the Starks were collaborating closely with the authorities, and that further investigations into the events of the years since Captain Dayne's kidnapping and the people involved were already under way, and how she was hoping to hear about more families being united despite all the time passed. The public had responded overwhelmingly positive and sympathy messages online and offline had poured in. Especially messages from Dorne and the city of Starfall was filled with excitement of how they'd welcome him back home with open arms. Luckily, Jon and the cinnabons, thank you for that nickname Arya, had managed to remain sheltered on Dragonstone for the past almost 6 months. Now though it was time for him to step out into the limelight and take his 'rightful' place in the media as the Lord of Starfall. Viserys had assured him that Jon was ready for the circus and that he'd be alright surrounded by family. At least he'll have Dany by his side as well.

"Speaking of future spouses," his wife interrupted his busy mind, "your daughter has made a wise choice herself, if I may say so."

"Indeed! She's had a few trial and errors, but I have a good feeling about this new man in her life." In a mirthful tone Rhaella continued, "I have on good authority that he's from a reputable family, and he's even a war hero!"

"Oh my! What a catch!" Catelyn played along with Rhaella's joking tone and comically pretended to be fanning herself. "But is he handsome? No fun in bagging a man if he's looking like an oaf!"

"Believe me my friend when I tell you he's the prettiest in all the lands!"

He couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. Giggling like school girls!! Gods!

Catelyn wrapped her arm around his waist. "Oh c'mon, Ned, have a laugh!"

"Not as long as you call any son of mine 'pretty'!" He said feigning offence.

"But it's the truth, dear Neddy!" Really don't like it when she calls me that. "Next month at Margaery and Robb's wedding there'll be swooning left and right over all of your sons, but in particularly your eldest. Oh Cat, can you imagine how dashing he'll look in his uniform?! I might even swoon!"

All three of them laughed out loud at that image. Rhaella herself so much she had her head leaned back and holding on to him to keep from toppling over.

They all sat quiet for a bit trying to catch their breath again.

"On a serious note though, I do have a good feeling about those two. They are clearly good for each other, and in due time I expect it to naturally end in vows as well." Rhaella stretched her arms and tickled little Adei and Amador on their little chubby baby stomachs and the air was instantly filled with delighted baby giggles. "They are both mature enough to understand that this is something that needs to be done slowly. It warms my old heart to see them take their time to get to know each other and enjoy each other and not rush in like headless chickens." She turned her head a gave him and Catelyn a warm smile.

"They grow up so fast don't they?" His wife was looking at the babies with a wistful look in her eyes. "Oh by the way before I forget, Margaery and I have managed to colour coordinate Dany's maid-of-honour dress to the colours on Jon's uniform. Wasn't easy as the blue and red doesn't exactly go with the colour scheme of the wedding, but we made it work." She flashed a satisfied smile before adding, "with a little help from Sansa as well."

"And what did my daughter say to the changes?" Rhaella had an amused look on her face as if fighting to hold back a laugh.

"She doesn't know. We didn't want her to keep secrets from Jon. Not telling how the bride and her maids will be dressed is one thing, but in this case the reason why would be a big secret."

"Thank you!" He leaned in and give his wife a tender kiss on her temple. She clearly understands how sensitive Jon is about secrets. Gods I love her!

"When she questioned it, Sansa told her that all the Starks were colour matched with the bride as a way of symbolically welcoming her to the pack. Dany of course still looked a bit sceptical." She chuckled at the memory. "So Margaery simply told her it was a bride's prerogative to change her mind."

"Of course!" Rhaelle chimed in clearly amused at the story.

"So that means she'll be as surprised when she sees him as he will seeing her?" He was a little puzzled.

She chuckled. "Yes. She's just expecting him to show up in the traditional morning suit."

"Oh, we better be ready to catch two pairs of young lovers when they see each other that day then!" Once again Rhaella and his wife were giggling like school girls. Once again he caught himself rolling his eyes at them.

Catelyn cheerfully slapped him on his arm. "Don't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing, Ned." Actually I wasn't. "Jon won't even notice the bride walking right behind Dany, nor will Robb notice anyone in front of Margaery!" Again he was surrounded by contagious laughing and he willingly joined in. Gods, she's right!

"I take it Arya enjoyed joining the boys for her first tailor-made suit?"

"Immensely! Although she did find the whole 'having to stand still'-part very tedious." Both women joined in his laughter.

"Well my dear, she is our wild wolf after all." There was so much love in Catelyn's eyes and voice when she said it that he had to kiss her.

Pulling back he looked in his wife's beautiful blue eyes and said, "that she is."

Rhaella cleared her throat as she with an innocent voice said, "want me to leave?"

"Oh stop it, Ella! You're just jealous." Catelyn teased back

"I am actually but that wasn't my point." Laughingly Rhaella wrapped little sleeping Adei in a blanket and stood up.

Catelyn wrapped up Amador, still looking curiously around. As she stood up she placed the little boy in his arms and she packed up the big blanket they'd been sitting on.

"Should I be concerned though," he caught the two women's curious look now, "that our little wild wolf will throw a fit because she won't fit with her new favourite brother now?"

Catelyn and Rhaella shared a look he couldn't quite decipher though there was a hit of worry there.

"Well...," his wife looped her arm with his, "what colour tie and waistcoat will she be wearing?"

"All groomsmen have grey waistcoats and colour of tie is set to match the bridesmaid. Being Arya she of course chose a gold coloured tie, and though her and Bran have switched places I don't think you'll get her to change the colour of her tie. Sorry ladies."

"Oh no, gold should fit well with the golden pieces on Jon's uniform so we should be in the clear. Thank the gods!" His wife huffed out a sigh of relief and Rhaella was just chuckling next to them.

As they were crossing over to where the boys had made camp Catelyn suddenly stopped by his side, pointed and laughed. "How much wood did you tell them to use, Ned? That's big a campfire!"

#helloimnotawesome #heartstrings #jonerys modern au #jonerys fanfic

[fandom-imagines]

Runaway ➳ Min Yoongi X Reader

Chapter Four:

Runaway Masterlist

Paring: Min Yoongi (Suga)X Reader

Content ➳ a state of satisfaction.

The next morning, I gathered what little belongings I had, and headed to my new apartment.

After paying the deposit, I had little money left, meaning I couldn’t afford food, but at least the apartment came furnished.

“If there’s anything I can help with, don’t hesitate to give me a call” Min-Jun smiled, pointing to the paper with a number besides.

I thanked him, watching him leave, before tossing my bag onto the floor.

I let out a relieved sigh, slipping off my shoes and pulling my phone out of my back pocket to see I had a text.

TaeTae: Hey Y/N! Are you busy today?

I chuckled to myself, remembering how sweet he was.

I quickly placed my phone on charge, making a mental note to reply to him after I had looked for a job.

I remembered a sign at truffles yesterday saying help wanted, giving me hope.

I picked up my bag, looking for suitable clothes to make a good impression, changing and then heading out of my new apartment towards truffles.

“Y/N, hey!” I heard a female voice call as I entered the café.

Looking up, I spotted Ji-Yeon from yesterday.

“Ji-Yeon, hey!” I smiled, walking towards the counter.

“What are you doing here? Couldn’t resist our food?” She joked, making me laugh.

“I was actually looking to get a job” I smiled, pointing at the help wanted poster behind me.

She smiled at me, finishing the drink she was making and handing it to the customer waiting.

“I’ll just go get my manager, I’ll put in a good word” She winked, spinning on her heel and walking into a room nearby.

I stood awkwardly at the counter, messing with the sleeve of my polo shirt, and hem of my jeans waiting for her to come back.

A few minutes later, Jin-Yeon came back with a bright smile, followed by a man in his late forties, dressed in jeans and a shirt.

He smiled when he saw me, saying something to Ji-Yeon, who smiled before heading back to work.

“Y/N, right?” He asked, walking towards me.

I smiled, and nodded.

“Yes, sir” I said, making him chuckle.

“No need to be so formal” He smiled, reminding me on Ji-Yeon yesterday.

“If you’d like to follow me, I just need to ask you a few questions” He said, walking towards the door he had previously left with me following close behind.

The interview lasted around ten minutes, ending with him saying I’m hired.

I guess the good word Ji-Yeon put in worked wonders, because if that was an interview back in Y/H/T I would have been kicked out.

“Can you work today?” He asked, standing up and brushing himself off.

“Of course” I smiled, jumping up.

“You’re enthusiastic” He chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“You can work alongside Ji-Yeon today, she’ll show you the ropes. Just sign here” He said, handing me a sheet.

I quickly read the sheet, signing it as he handed me an apron, a name badge, notepad and a pen.

“Have a good day, Y/N” He smiled, before walking into, what I assumed, was his office.

I quickly wrote my name down on the badge I was given, and tied the apron around my waist, then running back into the café area, notebook in hand.

“Hey! You got the job” Ji-Yeon smiled, her brown hair hitting her face as she spun around.

I nodded, smiling as I walked towards her.

“Sweet, it’s pretty easy. Just smile when taking orders, all the customers are nice so there’s no need to worry” She smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

“Your phones buzzing” she chuckled, pointing towards my pocket where my phone was lit up.

“Get it, no one minds” she smiled, grabbing a cloth and walking towards a table.

TaeTae: Did you ignore me T_T

I smiled, typing out a reply.

Y/N: Sorry, I was busy lolol~

TaeTae: Yaayy you replied

Y/N: I’m down to hang out, if the offer still stands

TaeTae: Yes! Can you play overwatch

Y/N: diD SOMEONE SAY OVERWATCH

TaeTae: YOU DO?

Y/N: YES

TaeTae: YAAY

Y/N: Will it be all of you or?

TaeTae: Me, you and Jungkook. But Yoongi-hyung will be there too (\^-^/)

Y/N: I’ll text you when I leave! See you!

TaeTae: Byeeeeee

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, making sure it was on silent before heading to serve a customer.

My shift went fast, with me and Ji-Yeon talking and joking throughout.

As we both left, we exchanged numbers and decided to meet, outside of work.

“Bye!” I smiled, waving at Ji-Yeon as she climbed into her boyfriends’ car, smiling at him.

I smiled sadly, grabbing my phone and texting Tae.

Y/N: I just left work ^-^

TaeTae: Sweet! Where do you work?

Y/N: Truffles, just started

TaeTae: Stay there, we’ll pick you up

Y/N: You don’t have to!

TaeTae: Too late 😊

I chuckled, smiling to myself as I leant against the wall waiting for the van to arrive.

About ten minutes later, I heard a voice call my name.

I looked up from my phone towards the voice, seeing Yoongi in the van.

I waved, walking towards the van and hopping in.

“Hey” I smiled, pulling my seatbelt across me and making sure it was secure.

“Hello” He said quietly, immediately driving.

Did he not like me? Or was he just shy?

I decided against making conversation, as I was pretty bad.

The ride went by quickly, as I glanced over at Yoongi every few minutes.

There was no doubt that he was extremely attractive.

I’m pretty sure anyone would kill to be with him.

“We’re here” He said, hopping out of the van alongside me.

“You live here?” I asked, shocked at the dorm.

I heard him let out a low chuckle as he watched me.

“Come on” He said, leading me towards their home.

“Y/N!” I heard Tae yell, running towards me like a dog running towards their owner.

“Hey” I smiled, immediately being dragged away, without even taking off my shoes.

“Jungkook, she’s here!” Tae grinned, catching Jungkooks attention.

“Hey, Y/N!” He smiled, turning his attention back to the game in front of him.

“Tae said you play?” He asked, finishing the game he was in.

“Yeah, me and Y/B/F/N (your best friend name) used to play all the time” I said, sitting beside Tae.

“Let’s play!”

The three of us had been playing a few games for six or so hours consecutively, without realising the time.

“I should probably go” I said, as I glanced out of the window seeing how dark it was.

“It’s 1am, Y/N. It’s too late for you to walk” Jungkook said, looking at his phone.

“You can sleep here!” Tae smiled, jumping up from his seat and heading out the door.

“Are you sure?” I asked, facing Jungkook who just nodded.

“I’m sure no one will mind” He shrugged, looking towards the screen, making me chuckle.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Taehyung came rushing back in, some clothes in his hand.

“These are Yoongi-Hyung’s, he doesn’t mind” He smiled, handing me the clothes making me blush.

Yoongi’s’?

“T-Thank you” I stuttered, a blush covering my cheeks making the two laugh.

“Does someone have a crush” Tae sang, making me blush even more.

“Of course not” I mumbled, asking where the bathroom was so I could change.

Yoongis’ shirt hung just above my knees, the sweatpants tied tightly, hopefully they wouldn’t fall.

I left the bathroom, my blush even darker as I spotted myself in the clothes.

“You look like you stole your boyfriends’ clothes” Jungkook laughed, both at his joke and the blush on my cheeks.

“Come on, we’re having a movie night” He said, leaving the room and heading to the lounge.

All the boys, minus Jungkook were facing the tv, as the iron man title screen played.

“Are those Yoongi-Hyungs clothes?” Hoseok asked, pointing at the clothes I was wearing.

“They are” Yoongi said, not looking up from his phone.

“Hyung, you hate sharing clothes” Jimin interjected, as Yoongi shrugged casually.

“Come on, sit next to me” Hoseok grinned, patting the space between him and Yoongi making me blush.

“O-okay” I stuttered, sitting beside then, with Hoseok resting his head on my shoulder.

“Hope you don’t mind” Hoseok chuckled, making me laugh.

“Not at all” I smiled, resting my head on his.

“Hobi and Y/N sitting in a tree” Tae chanted, making the others, besides Yoongi, who was on his phone once again, laugh.

The movie night went by quite fast, with Hobi falling asleep on my shoulder half way through the movie and the others falling asleep soon after.

They must have been busy.

I heard Yoongi sigh standing up, and walking towards the kitchen.

He came back a minute later with a glass of water.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep like the others?” I asked, making him jump slightly.

“You scared the crap out of me” He whispered, making me laugh quietly.

“Sorry” I smiled, making him shrug.

“I can’t sleep which is weird, why aren’t you asleep?” He asked, taking a sip from his glass.

“Me either” I sighed, playing with the sleeve of Yoongi’s shirt.

It wasn’t entirely a lie. I was just scared to sleep. I had been having nightmares for a while, mostly of Damon.

I usually didn’t let my emotions get the better of me. But when they involve people close to me, they take over.

“Popcorn?” He offered, gently taking the bowl from Jungkooks lap making me laugh, and take some, him doing the same.

Yoongi and I stayed up for a while, getting to know each other better, before the both of us fell asleep.

I woke up a few hours later as Hobi pulled away from my shoulder, stretching slightly.

It was the first night in a while, I hadn’t had nightmares.

“Morning” I whispered, as he smiled.

“Did I wake you, sorry” He apologised, making me shrug.

“No worries” I smiled, stretching.

I looked up to see Jungkook leaning across Taes lap, a content smile on his lips.

The boys were all leaning on each other in some way, making me smile.

“We all have practice today, so we have to wake them soon” He chuckled, leaving me confused.

“Practice?” I asked, reminding him of something.

“I guess you don’t know” He said.

“We’re idols” He continued, making me nod.

“Cool” I smiled, proud of them.

About an hour past, before Hobi decided to wake everyone up to get ready to practice.

After they had all changed and got ready, we headed to the van, all eight of us joking about as we drove back to my apartment.

“Bye, Y/N” Jin waved, along with the rest of the boys, before taking off again.

I smiled to myself as I entered my apartment.

I had only been here a few days, and already made some friends that I knew would last a lifetime.

For one time in my life, I was content.

#BTS #BTS x reader #BTS imagine #BTS imagines #BTS fanfic #BTS ff #BTS fanfiction #BTS suga #BTS yoongi #Bangtan #Bangtan x reader #Bangtan imagine #Bangtan imagines #bangtan fanfic #Bangtan fanfiction #Bangtan yoongi #Bangtan suga #Bangtan ff #Suga #Suga x reader #Suga imagine #Suga imagines #Suga ff #Suga fanfiction #Suga fanfic #Min Yoongi #Min Yoongi x reader #Min Yoongi imagine #Min Yoongi imagines #Min Yoongi fanfic

[jestbee]

June 23: Ships that pass in the night (Chapter Three)

#phanfic #phanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #my fics #fedij #fic every day in june #fic every day #phanfic au #prompt fic #dnp #dan and phil #phan #phandom #phanfic fluff #fic #fic a day #fic project #fic prompt

[buckywintersoldierbarnes2017]

You Saved Me - Part 1

Request from @fandom-rpblog:  Hey can I make a request? Can you write one in where after the events of winter soldier, (ignoring civil war as I haven't seen it yet), Bucky has been re-introduced to the world and is recovering slowly and he and reader are sort of a thing as she was the one who found him after the events of winter soldier and she find out she is pregnant and fluff, and stuff. Please.

Note: Okay, so, as you can tell from the title this is going to be a series. Probably only about three parts though; this is because I couldn’t stop typing when I wrote out their initial meeting and there’s only so long a post can be! :) This is almost an introduction just so you know how they met before we go further into it. It was a great request so wanted to do it justice....which I felt could be done more by making it a series. Hope you enjoy! <3 Going to put bits of their past in each part too to flesh their relationship out more. 

Bucky x Reader

Words: 2027

Warnings: Violence and swearing.

Disclaimer: None of the GIFs used are mine. All credit goes to their creators <3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4(End)

TWO YEARS AGO.

For the third time that week you found yourself walking through the doors to The Smithsonian; you didn’t know why you were visiting once again because nothing had changed since the last time you graced the halls of this place but ever since your first visit here as a child you found that you could escape in here, forget about the worries that always seemed to creep up into your life, instead you could immerse yourself in the history of other people and simply.....forget.

The Captain America exhibit was the newest addition to the institute and, personally, one of your favourites. It wasn’t every day that you were able to see into the personal life of someone that saved thousands of lives and given that he had saved yours during the attack on New York you felt like you liked to see just what it was that had made him such a brave and courageous individual.

Some bits made you laugh, others brought a tear to your eyes, but most of all you simply found yourself smiling from ear to ear at the fact that an ordinary kid from Brooklyn had become a treasured superhero. Seemed anything really was possible.

As you reached the memorial that had been placed here for his best friend, James ‘Buchanan’ Barnes your stomach knotted uncomfortably. Although things had turned out well for Captain Steve Rogers the same couldn’t be said for him. The news was only just breaking but it was still public knowledge that he was the true identity behind the assassin that had recently caused chaos in the city; the ‘Winter Soldier’ as he had been dubbed. Responsible for numerous murders and even more attempted ones

Before you could stand yourself in front of the memorial a male donning a baseball cap low over his eyes stood there instead. There was something familiar about him but you couldn’t quite put your finger on what it was exactly. The shoulder length locks of his hair were tucked behind his ears and although you could only see the bottom half of his face the sad look was more than obvious.

“Did you know him?”

Your curiosity had got the better of you, as it always did, and before long you were stood beside the quiet male. At the sound of your voice his whole body stiffened, the sad look that his lips had held now transforming into a frown as he remained silent.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. It’s just that, well, you looked rather sad and I’m a sucker for making sure people are okay.”

Instantly the guard he had put up melted away a little, allowing his body to relax, and even a small laugh expelled itself from his lips.

“You sound just like a friend of mine.”

His voice was deep and hoarse, like he hadn’t spoken in a long time, but there was an air of kindness to it as well – a kindness you hadn’t been expecting considering you had disturbed him at a memorial. He turned his head to look at you and it was then that you caught a glimpse of his eyes. The sharp blue of them was unmistakable. They had not only been plastered all over the news but each time you had come to this exhibit they had been one of the things that grabbed your attention when you looked at the very picture in front of you.

It was him.

A nervous lump began to form inside of your throat and although you couldn’t stop yourself from swallowing down hard you tried to make it as discreet as you could. You weren’t scared of him and it was the last thing you wanted him to think. But he was a trained super soldier and so he noticed even the smallest of reactions in someone. The small hint of a smile you had managed to gain from him a few moments before was gone now as he shuffled away from you a little.

“You recognise me don’t you? It’s fine...you can call the police....it’s what I deserve. I have done some horrible things.”

You had been nervous, yes, maybe even slightly intimidated by the true identity of the male you were speaking to but the last thing you wanted to do was to have him thrown into the back of a cop car.

“I’m not going to call the police. I’m surprised you are somewhere this public but I’m not about to blab. I don’t know a lot about what happened to you but if the whispers I have heard are true then everything you have done wasn’t your fault.” You had only been speaking to him for five minutes, maybe even ten at a push, but already you found yourself hating the self-destructive attitude he had towards himself. “If you were brainwashed like they say you were then you didn’t do any of those things intentionally.”

He looked at you completely dumbfounded at that moment. No one, other than Steve, had thought anything remotely positive about him and yet here you were, a complete stranger, seeing nothing but the good in him. It wasn’t something he was used to at all.

“You should be scared of me, of what I can do.”

Now it was your turn to let a laugh escape you as you shook your head in disagreement with his comment.

“I witnessed aliens pouring out of a hole in the sky and almost got blown to pieces by one until your friend showed up and saved me...and I was only in New York visiting a friend. If that hasn’t got me locking myself away in my apartment then speaking to James Buchanan Barnes isn’t. You are a good guy......I know it.”

His mouth opened as though he was about to say something but instead of words escaping his lips his eyes widened as they caught sight of something at the other side of the room to you. Furrowing your brows you follow his gaze until your own eyes fall upon the whole herd of coppers that were beginning to filter into the place. Looked like someone in here couldn’t keep their mouth shut.

“Ja-“ Your words were cut short when you took your focus off the uniformed men and instead placed it back onto the male they were obviously here for only to discover that his hand was already wrapping itself around the grip handle of a pistol. “No.”

Without another word you grabbed his hand, moving it away from the weapon, and started to drag him away from where you had been stood talking. Winter Soldier or not he didn’t need to create a scene to get out of here. Initially you could feel some resistance from him as he tried to fight the urge to just shoot each one of them down but after a good few tugs he must have realised that you weren’t going to let him go.

“There’s a back way out of here. You don’t need to hurt anyone.”

You aired a confidence you had never really felt before but you knew the corridors of this place like the back of your hand thanks to being a curious child so you didn’t see the need to worry. Pushing open the door that would lead you to where you needed to be seemed to change all of that. Right at the bottom of the long corridor stood three cops, all armed and ready to fire, and they had seen the two of you.

“Shit.”

There was no time to even think as they fired their weapons. That was when your hand was no longer holding Bucky’s but his was holding yours, pushing you back behind him as he lifted up his metal arm to stop the bullets from hitting you both. Even over the loud noise you could hear the growl escaping his lips as he made a beeline for the men.

So much for leaving this place quietly.

Keeping a tight grip on your hand he made quick work of them. You couldn’t see anything from where you were but you heard the crunching of bone, the pained screams leaving the men, and then the inevitable snap of their necks. All with the one arm; the bionic one he was known to have. Once the screams and the gunfire ceased the only sound that reached your ears was the heavy breathing coming from Bucky.

“We need to get out of here....now. Is your apartment close?”

You couldn’t even utter a single word, the shock of everything setting in, but when those sharp blue eyes of his connected with yours you obtained the ability to at least nod your head in response to his question. There were dead men at your feet, blood probably decorating the walls around you, but you refused to look at anything but him. If he hadn’t have done what he did then you would be dead.....this wasn’t him being a bad guy.

“Maybe once we get there I can finally find out your name.”

He laughed out, squeezing your hand to reassure you, as you continued out of the building at a quicker pace this time to avoid any more run ins.

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

PRESENT DAY.

Just as you had done every morning for the past two years your eyes opened as the first ray of sunlight pierced through your bedroom curtains and you turned to face the man who had held you in his arms all night. Bucky Barnes. He hadn’t left your side since that day in the museum and although there had been plenty of downs during that time you would never regret meeting him.

A soft smile formed on your face as you ran a hand through his bed-ridden hair before pressing your lips against his. This had been the first night in all the time you had been together that he hadn’t had one of his nightmares so you weren’t going to wake him anytime soon. He needed the sleep more than he probably realised himself.

Each night he’d experienced the horrific nightmares he had in his sleep you had woken up and calmed him in any way that you could, reassured him that you were there for him, and although after a while this worked straightaway the first few months had been as successful as trying to get a cat to bark instead of meow – a strange comparison to use but that was literally how impossible it had seemed back then.

The scar that still decorated your forehead on the right-hand side was proof of that. Removing your fingers from his hair they travelled up to the scar and started to trace along it lightly. You laid yourself back down onto the bed, fighting to stop the memory from coming back to you.

“That should never have happened. I’m sorry [y/n].”

If you hadn’t have been trying so hard to stop the images from playing out in your mind you might have noticed that he had woken up but instead you found yourself almost jumping out of your skin at the sound of his voice. Your heart thumped away like a pounding drum inside of your chest until you felt the cold metal of his left hand caressing your cheek.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to startle you. You know that was in the past right? That I’m not that anxious anymore?”

Even now he was still convinced that you were worried about him hurting you but that wasn’t the case at all. If anything you were worried about hurting him, upsetting him even, there was still so much going on in your mind and yet the biggest bombshell to hit him was still to come.....one you weren’t sure how he would handle. You had both worked so hard on getting him to the frame of mind he was in now. This could push him all the way back to the beginning again.

You were pregnant...

#you saved me #bucky barnes x reader #the winter soldier #new york #smithsonian #captain america #reader #washington #museum #james bucky barnes #request #answered #bionic arm #sebastian stan #marvel #imagine #the avengers #bucky barnes imagine #winter soldier imagine #not my gifs #the winter soldier x reader #james bucky barnes x reader #nightmares #steve rogers #bucky barnes

[rhetoricandlogic]

JOINT REVIEW: THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING BY CATHERYNNE M VALENTE

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday. With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.

Stand alone or series: It can be read as standalone but hopefully it will be a series? Pleaaaaase Ms Valente?

How did we get this book: The author made the book available online free of charge, a couple of weeks ago and we rushed to download it. But we will get final copies soon.

Why did we read this book: Because it looked and it sounded great. And it won an Andre Norton Award. Not to mention that it is a Catherynne Valente book.

Review:

First Impressions:

Ana: I will try my best to be coherent about this book and not to break out the caps lock too much but it will be hard because OH MY GOD. This is the book that rescued me from a horrible reading slump; it is the book that made me realise that Cat Valente is an AWESOME writer (which I already suspected but this settled the matter); it is a book that is so beautifully written and full of incredible imaginative twists and ideas that I constantly had a sense of wonderment reading it; but above all, this is a book I will treasure forever and keep close and go back to, many times in the future. I just know it.

Thea: I have been an unabashed Cat Valente fan ever since I picked up The Orphan’s Tales (thanks to the glowing reviews from trusted bloggers), and I have seriously loved her adult fiction. When Ana sent me an excitable email (replete with many exclamation points and capslocking) that The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland was available for free download, I joined in the jubilation and immediately scurried my way to Ms. Valente’s website. And then I read the book, and then I fell in love. This is the first book from Ms. Valente that I’ve read that doesn’t employ the nested story-within-a-story, alternating chapters, narrators, and storylines – and even without that particular flavor, Ms. Valente’s writing shines. I, like Ana, loved this book, and I, like Ana, plan on rereading and treasuring this gem of a novel countless times over.

On the Plot:

Ana: It opens one fine day, with (The Somewhat Heartless) Twelve-year-old September being invited to visit Fairyland by the Green Wind. She says yes (and how could she not, being a fierce and adventurous girl?) and travels forthwith by means of Leopard (which is obviously, the best way to travel, if you ask me). In Fairyland, she will have many adventures and meet new friends including a half-library Wyvern (who most certainly is NOT a dragon) and a blue boy named Saturday. But also: this is where she might lose many things (including her shadow) and meet the all-powerful Marquess who sends her on a quest to retrieve a mysterious casket and what lies inside may well change Fairyland forever.

I am in AWE, folks, in AWE at Cat Valente’s creativity. This book is so full of wonderfulness that it is difficult to know where to start. Perhaps with the narrative itself, with an omnipotent narrator who sometimes interrupts the story to speak directly to the reader. It is so easy to get this wrong, to have these interruptions jarring and disrupting the narrative but not here: here it works well, and it adds to the story rather than disturbing it.

Then there is the creativity, the imagination: like for example, a creature that believes himself to be the son of a library and another one that is a soap golem; there is a herd of wild bicycles as well as flying leopards.

But this is only SURFACE, because underneath each creature has an underlying idea or concept or issue that is addressed with subtly and beauty: from a search for self-identity (if Wyvern is not the son of a library, then who is he?) to the horrible truths of slavery; from selfless devotion to political unrest. This is a book that celebrates fairytales without ever being derivative and never forgetting that they can be dark and gruesome. It sort of reminds me of Peter Pan and Neverland and how every child wants to visit Neverland and its wonders but let’s not forget: it is indeed a dangerous place inhabited by bloodthirsty people including young boys who are there because their mothers and nannies lost them.

Because in the end, I think that the most important thing to say about The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland is: you cannot have adventures without grief. And there is no shying away from it. But despite the grief and darker undertones, there is a lot of love and friendship here enough to – I can’t resist any longer, allow me to break out the caps lock- FILL MY HEART WITH JOY.

And then, to make things even BETTER, this book has the most amazing illustrations!

(link)

I mean, seriously. How can anyone resist?

Thea: Yes, yes, yes. What Ana said. The Girl (I am truncating this title because it is cumbersome to type, and much like September, who loves “A through L” as her friend Wyvern’s name, it is far too many syllables) is a gorgeous, imaginative novel that celebrates the daring-do of youth, the magic of the unknown, and the pitfalls and horrors of power. Also, this is decidedly unlike any other novels I’ve read by Ms. Valente, not only because the narrative style is more traditional, but also because the prose is ever-so-slightly screwball (I mean that in the best way). I completely agree with Ana that the omniscient narrator is a fantastic touch and sets the overall tone for the novel – doing the whimsical, breaking-the-fourth-wall type of narration can easily go sowrong – providing levity and whimsy, but tempered with actual thematic depth (the aforementioned examinations of slavery, of polity, and so on and so forth). This is a tall order, and to accomplish all of that in a children’s book, without ever becoming preachy or ham-handed, or completely frivolous is flabbergasting. I am honestly in awe of how Ms. Valente managed to weave together some of the most absurd story elements (migrating bicycles, hello!) into a cogent, poignant story.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland is an amalgam of some of my most treasured stories, conjuring comparisons to The Neverending Story, Peter Pan, but most of all, it feels to me like a modern, more-fun version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – and if anyone is worthy to earn comparison to these classic works of children’s fantasy literature (even surpassing them), it is Catherynne Valente.

On the Characters:

Ana: There is a whole plethora of wonderful characters in The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland and I fell in love with every single one of them. I felt so bad for the lonely Soap Golem who was still waiting for the return of her Queen; I felt tremendously sorry for Saturday and how terrible it was that his entire life was about granting wishes and the horrendous way he was made to grant those wishes. Hey, I even sympathise with the villain, the Marquess, once her full story is disclosed – scrap that: I completely related to the Marquess and her motivations and maybe even rooted a little for her. But just a little.

Then of course, there is September, our main character, who is so fierce and a bit heartless that she leaves her house and her family behind without even thinking twice – but that decision is brought back and thought about throughout the entire book. She is dedicated, extremely loyal, compassionate, creative and just such a cool young heroine.

Thea: Yep, this is another one of those reviews where I am sitting in the back nodding my head emphatically, playing hype-man to Ana’s lead. What she said. I loved the lovely Soap Golem, and I loved SATURDAY, and I loved the Marquess (because, having been something of a heartless child myself, I have a soft spot for characters like this), and I loved A-through-L (or “Ell”) and the Green Wind and the leopard, and of course, more than anything, I loved September. September is not particularly pretty or smart or brilliant, but she is September – a normal, if slightly heartless, little girl from the decidedly unromantic land of Omaha, who is swept up by the Green Wind and embarks on an Adventure (with a capital “A”).

What is not to love about this book, I ask you? Nothing. It is perfect.

Final Thoughts, Observations & Rating:

Ana: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland is a small beautifully packaged bundle of perfect JOY. It is as awesome as a quest-coming of age story can be and I highly recommend it to everybody who loves fairytales, awesome heroines and beautiful writing. This goes straight into my top 10 of 2011.

Thea: I completely and wholeheartedly agree with Ana. It is a fantastical sort of bildungsroman (I have always wanted to use that word and something about Catherynne Valente encourages one to stretch and use vocabulary outside of one’s daily vernacular), a descriptive fairytale, and an imaginative feast of the bizarre and wonderful. I adored this book, and it too has a locked position as one of my top 10 books of 2011 (even if that is technically cheating since it was published prior to this year).

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

When they are in a great hurry, little girls rarely look behind them. Especially those who are even a little Heartless, though we may be quite certain by now that September’s Heart had grown heavier than she expected when she climbed out of her window that long ago morning. Because she did not look behind, September did not see the smoky-glass casket close itself primly up again. She did not see it bend in half until it cracked, and Death hop up again, quite well, quite awake, and quite small once more. She certainly did not see Death stand on her tiptoes and blow a kiss after her, a kiss that rushed through all the frosted leaves of the autumnal forest, but could not quite catch a child running as fast as she could. As all mothers know, children travel faster than kisses. The speed of kisses is, in fact, what Doctor Fallow would call a cosmic constant. The speed of children has no limits.

Additional Thoughts: The author has a website for the book where you can read HOW the book came about and why plus, read the first 8 chapters online, free.

And check out the lovely trailer:

#Catherynne M. Valente #The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making #mahreviews

[misssophiachase]

Klaroline Infinity + Fusion

So this is my take on The Wedding Date, not sure if you've seen it but it's a great film. I have changed some of the circumstances to suit my story but the general premise is the same. Words in italics at the beginning are from the film, the title is a song from the soundtrack.

Also, Happy Birthday, lovely Camille (SweetyK and @my-light-into-the-darkness) this is dedicated to you! I know I always say this but you are one of the brightest lights in our fandom and have the awesome ability to keep up our spirits and bring us all together.

Synopsis: Caroline's cousin is getting married, the only problem is that she's marrying her ex-fiance. What's a girl to do in this awkward situation? Enter male escort Klaus Mikaelson...

Breathless (Full version)

The Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans

Welcome Drinks: Wednesday PM

"Close your eyes. Close your eyes," he murmured, leaning in closer and making her fall back against the elevator wall, his dark blue eyes trained on her. "Close... your... eyes." Caroline hadn't known him long but she figured when he had to repeat himself Klaus Mikaelson meant business. She did as she was told, trying to ignore just how spicy his aftershave was as it infiltrated her nostrils.

"You're safe. You can relax. I'm not going to kiss you." If Caroline was being honest that wouldn't be an altogether bad thing if he did, those crimson lips had been hypnotising her since they first met at JFK the day before.

"He's going to be so sorry he lost you, so stop worrying. Forget the past. Forget the pain." Easier said than done she was tempted to reply but Caroline figured he wouldn't appreciate the interruption.

"And remember what an incredible woman you are. You do that and he'll realise what he lost." Caroline was breathless, not sure if it was his supposedly heartfelt words or his close proximity until she realised he did this for a living and was an expert. She finally peeled open one eye.

"Holy crap. You're worth every penny." She uttered, opening the other one. Caroline couldn't miss his amusement, a smirk tugging at those kissable lips.

"And don't you forget it," he boasted just as the elevator dinged indicating their arrival, Klaus finally moving out of her personal space and adjusting his tie in the mirror on the back wall. If there was one thing she was certain about it was that the man could wear a suit. She wondered what was underneath said suit but mentally scolded herself for even going there, he was a paid escort after all and nothing else. In four days time they'd go their separate ways.

Caroline shook her head trying to get rid of the residual dizziness. She was paying him to distract other people not her. She may have momentarily lost it as they rode the elevator to welcome drinks at the rooftop bar but she wasn't expecting him to get so up close and personal. Klaus was now holding the lift door open and looked over curiously as she smoothed her blonde tresses and took a deep breath.

"You look gorgeous, love," he smiled, those stray dimples she'd discovered by accident on the airplane making an unwelcome appearance given she needed to concentrate. She looked down at her black, Stella McCartney dress hoping that her last minute splurge on such an expense piece of apparel would pay dividends and make that ass wish he'd never broken her heart.

She walked out of the elevator and towards the brilliant, poolside bar. Talk about picturesque. It was a beautiful spring evening and the sun had begun to set in brilliant streaks of pinks and oranges across the sky. People were mingling and it didn't take Caroline long to pick out the future bride and groom in the crowd. They were talking to her Aunt Sarah, his arm slung familiarly around her shoulders, making Caroline's skin crawl.

"That dress just screams skanky ho," a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. "It's quite fitting though really."

"Katherine," she chided.

"Hey, it's not like you weren't thinking the same thing, Care," she shot back. "I'm just willing to admit it aloud. Oh yummy, I did so good." She purred, perusing her date slowly. Klaus regarded the brunette, his perplexed expression not lost on Caroline.

"Klaus, this is Katherine Pierce and yes she's always that direct," she said. "She's the one who concocted this little plan."

"Well, given the way every female in this room is drooling, I'm pretty certain my plan is already having the desired effect."

"Nice to meet you, Katherine," he replied cordially, giving her a slight nod of acknowledgment. He really was well trained, if only he wasn't just like this because he was being paid. "How do you two know each other then?"

"We've been besties since I pushed her over for kissing Harry Mackenzie during a game of kiss chasey when we were five," she explained, making Klaus raise his eyebrows slightly. "Don't worry Romeo, I prefer brunettes, you're perfectly safe from my feminine clutches."

"I'm certainly relieved," he conceded. "So, given the obvious animosity towards the bride I'm wondering how you scored an invite to this wedding?"

"Hayley doesn't have any friends, not surprisingly, so she invited mine. Where is Bonnie by the way?" Caroline asked.

"Late as usual," she replied, rolling her eyes. "She has always wanted what Caroline has so inviting us to her ex-fiance's wedding is typical. I came here to support Caroline but if I'm being honest, I wanted to be present if and when that cow falls flat on her bony ass."

"You really do say exactly what you think," he commented. "Reminds me of my little sister."

"By the tone of your voice, I'm not sure being compared to your sister is a very good thing," she drawled.

"Katherine stop interrogating Klaus," Caroline hissed.

"Truthfully it's probably not the best compliment I could have given."

"I like him, that honesty is surprisingly refreshing," she chuckled. "Unlike your sleazy excuse for an ex-fiance. I'd pay to see him ass up too and so much more."

"Katherine."

"What? I'm being so reserved right now, you have no idea about all the other scenarios that have been going through my mind. In fact, how about we play some games of our own at the Bachelorette Party tomorrow night?"

"Katherine, I told you I'm not interested. I intend to be the bigger person."

"Well, that's not difficult," she snorted. Before Caroline could respond her mother appeared. Given her sister was Hayley's mother she was determined to try and repair the family rift, not that Caroline blamed her but begging her to attend after her initial refusals had been a surprise. She'd always been the type of person to shy away from drama but she also wasn't one to defy her family. Hence part of the reason she was here and with the much needed support of an escort.

"Oh darling, you're here," she exclaimed, pulling her into her arms. If she was being honest, Caroline and her mother hadn't always been very close. She was always daddy's girl but after Bill died they'd attempted to bond. You could say it was still very much a work in progress. "And don't you look so pretty."

"Thanks mom," she answered awkwardly, feeling like she was five years old again.

"And who is this?" She asked, staring her date down. Caroline had endeavoured to prepare herself for the situation but it was still so weird. Caroline didn't like to lie, it wasn't in her make-up.

"I'm Klaus," he interrupted noting her brief silence. It was as if he could read her emotions. "Caroline's date."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Klaus," she smiled. "I had no idea you were seeing anyone, darling."

"I..," Caroline stuttered.

"We actually met at Central Park, my pet husky Bear wouldn't leave her alone. I figure that's the best endorsement I could ever hope to get," he joked, interrupting. Caroline couldn't believe how good he was at this lying thing, she really needed some tips.

"Isn't that so sweet, Liz?" Katherine cooed, her acting skills on point as usual.

"It is," Liz agreed. "I must say Caroline has always been so picky, so it's nice to see the two of you here together."

"I'm just honoured someone amazing like your daughter chose me, Mrs Forbes," he murmured, placing his arm protectively around her shoulders and pulling her closer. Caroline was trying to ignore the reverberations that were coursing through her body as he verbalised those thoughts. She had to keep reminding herself that he was actually her employee and nothing else.

"Well, aren't you a keeper. In fact, I have so many family members here who would just love to make your acquaintance, Klaus." Before Caroline could object he'd been dragged away. She felt sorry for him but on second thought she was paying for his services after all. She'd much prefer he schmoozed while she sat quietly in away in the corner.

"Caroline! It's so lovely to see you!" Hayley interrupted, throwing her arms around her. Caroline couldn't miss Katherine's raised eyebrows as she all but suffocated her.

"Yeah, uh thanks," was all she could manage. When things ended abruptly between her and Stefan they'd both been quick to deny any cheating claims when they announced their relationship only three months later, but Caroline knew the truth. It was all too much of a coincidence.

"This is going to be such an amazing five days, starting with the Bachelorette Party at Republic tomorrow," she squealed. It was taking all her willpower not to slap that silly smile off her face, it was the very least she deserved.

"Yeah, I hear that Republic is a burlesque club, I'm assuming you're going to wow us with some of the pole dancing skills you've acquired from working at that strip club," Katherine interrupted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh Katherine you're hilarious, I know I invited you to my wedding for a reason," she giggled. "I better get back to my other guests, I'll speak to you both later." Before either could reply, she'd sauntered away and was latching herself onto another poor relative, she always did love being the centre of attention.

"I vote we take a picture of her mid pole dance and post it on social media."

"Katherine," she growled. "I told you, I'm trying to be the bigger person here so no unauthorised photography of any kind, promise me."

"You're no fun," she mumbled. "I have every intention of letting loose tomorrow night and I can't be responsible for my possibly drunken and unkind remarks. Uh, hello Caroline?" She'd been a little distracted watching intently as Klaus was interrogated by her immediate family. Given what she knew about him he was more than capable but Caroline couldn't help but be a little anxious about the whole situation.

"Yeah," she replied, unconvincingly.

"He can handle this," Katherine offered, looking over at Klaus. "In fact, I'm pretty certain they are trying not to openly flirt with him right now. It's those dimples I tell you."

"Or those lips," she murmured, thinking that she had already been equally affected, not that she'd ever admit that aloud. "All I know is that I need a stiff drink, like right now."

W Hotel - New Orleans

Post Bachelorette Party - Friday AM

The hotel room door slammed shut waking Klaus from his deep slumber. He opened his eyes and searched the dark room trying to gain his bearings. After a moment of uncertainty he realised he was in their hotel room in New Orleans. It was an occupational hazard but for some reason he still felt slightly confused.

Klaus had always wanted to be a corporate attorney growing up and never imagined he'd ever take this particular career path back then. He'd been struggling with his college tuition costs and found the escort business to be an easy way to make the cash he needed quickly. Once he'd graduated, Klaus had gone on to work as a lawyer but found himself frustrated by its inflexibility and the fact he could earn more being a full time escort.

Some would consider what he did to be morally questionable but Klaus knew he was helping people in his own way. Plus it also gave him an excuse not to have to emotionally invest in a real relationship. He'd been there once before and had no intention of ever getting hurt like that again. It wasn't until he'd heard her voice over the phone that Klaus had felt something.

She was beautiful as he found out at JFK but it wasn't just that. When she called initially, Klaus had immediately sensed her fragile tone. It wasn't unusual given most people who used his services had some emotional baggage, but to Klaus she also sounded strangely hopeful and that had stuck with him. Her innocence was charming but it was her deep convictions and that rare but playful element of feistiness she showed which had slightly thown him off his game. He didn't do weddings as a strict rule for personal reasons but she'd convinced him otherwise and here he was playing the role of the perfect wedding date.

When they'd first arrived in their room a few days earlier, she'd been adorably coy and equally distracted pretending that they weren't in fact sharing a bed. Klaus knew she would have preferred separate rooms but it was necessary to keep up their facade.

Caroline had left for the bachelorette party earlier, his jaw had just about dropped and Klaus was trying not to stare at just how amazing she looked poured into a white, fitted, dress highlighting her spring tan. The bride to be had absolutely nothing on her. Klaus would be lying if she hadn't crossed his mind multiple times over the course of the evening. He'd begrudgingly agreed to go to the Bachelor Party, regretting it immediately when he found himself surrounded by Stefan, his insufferable brother Damon and his drunk college mates at the Omni Bar.

"So, you're the new guy?" Stefan had asked, slurring as he said it. Klaus had noticed him eyeing him from across the bar for most of the evening. They'd so far only exchanged curt greetings and Klaus had no intention of talking to him any further after how he treated Caroline.

"New guy?" Klaus said, feigning innocence.

"Caroline's latest distraction to try and get over me."

"Sounds like somebody who obviously spends way too much time in the mirror doing his hair and his over inflated ego is jealous."

"Why would I be jealous, have you seen my wife to be?" Just when Klaus didn't think he could hate this guy anymore he had to go and prove him wrong.

"She's got nothing on Caroline and you and I both know that, mate. You can't buy the sort of grace, intelligence and beauty she possesses." Stefan was silent momentarily almost like he was trying to work out how to rebut something he knew was true.

"Fellas?" Damon, interrupted throwing his arms around them both. 'Are we playing nice? How about another drink?"

"Suddenly I'm not so thirsty anymore," Klaus responded. He'd left shortly after, what Caroline saw in that idiot he'd never understand. He was just happy that she wasn't marrying him.

"Someone's being boring," she sing songed, making her way into the bedroom. Klaus could tell by her slurring that she was indeed plastered. "Wake up, sleepy head!" Before he could utter some response about waking him the bedside lamp had been turned on, illuminating the room. Klaus attempted to bury his head under the pillow but his drunken roommate pulled it away from him.

"Someone's being a tad inconsiderate," he growled, attempting to wrestle the pillow from her playful grasp but failing. He was also trying to ignore just how beautiful she still looked after a big night her blonde waves slightly messy but at the same time sexy as hell. He also couldn't ignore the swell of her creamy breasts peeking out teasingly from her dress from this angle.

"How about if I make it up to you? You know I learnt some moves tonight that I think you might like," she teased. Klaus was initially excited and every fibre of his being was trying to stop imagining her naked. She pushed down her dress strap slowly and this was when he knew he had to intervene even when every part of his body was screaming for her to continue.

"No, we shouldn't do this, Caroline."

"You don't want me," she rasped drunkenly. They'd only met a few days ago but Klaus knew this wasn't the real Caroline. Her emotions were all over the place, not that he blamed her and the added alcohol wasn't helping things either. His instincts were willing him to move closer, kiss those pink lips and then wrap his arms around her but it wasn't professional and Klaus knew it.

"How about a bedtime story instead?" He offered, her surprised expression not lost on Klaus. "I happen to know this amazing story about a girl named Cinderella and some dwarfs, possibly seven."

"Cinderella and the seven dwarfs? I think you've got your fairy tales mixed up."

"Hey! Who's telling this bedtime story? Anyway, call it creative license. I might even get a little crazy and throw in a big, bad wolf," he smiled. "Interested at all, love?"

"Strangely, yes," she chuckled. "Let me change and I'll be right with you."

The Creole Queen - Mississippi River

Rehearsal Dinner - Friday PM

Caroline rested against the railing as the riverboat slowly made its way down the Mississippi. She shouldn't have been surprised that Hayley chose to have her rehearsal dinner on a boat, she always liked to make a statement. Although you couldn't get more New Orleans than this and she had to admit the passing scenery was pretty and better than what was inside for sure. She'd been seated at that dinner table desperate to escape, much like the rest of this wedding circus.

It also didn't help that she'd been seated so close to Klaus all evening, especially after throwing herself at him. Caroline still couldn't believe she'd done that, yes she was drunk but it still didn't make what she did any better. As she woke up with a blinding headache and dry mouth the events of the previous night had flooded back and she froze with fear, hoping to god that Klaus wasn't lying beside her. She'd been relieved to realise he'd already gone out for his morning jog. Caroline had gotten ready as fast as she could given her hangover and had left the room determined to get some space between them.

"Do you think anyone would notice if I pushed Hayley overboard?" Caroline shook her head and turned around.

"You have been around Katherine too long," she drawled, looking into her friend's familiar brown eyes.

"You may be right but I still think the idea has merit. If we're lucky maybe Stefan and his stupid hero hair will follow her overboard."

"One can hope," she sighed.

"What's wrong, Care? Well, you know besides the obvious, unholy ex-fiance slash cousin union?"

"I think that's enough to be upset about don't you?"

"Probably but that doesn't explain why you've barely spoken to your supposed date all through dinner, not only that you could hardly even look him the eye. Given just how pretty that face is, I have no idea how you can not stare."

"You really have been around Katherine too long," she quipped.

"Did he do or say something wrong? I hope he's keeping things professional."

"No, that was all me doing wrong things and being completely unprofessional," she mumbled, the embarrasment of earlier that morning rushing back all over again.

"Well, that was a guess but now I'm intrigued. What the hell happened? You my dear are the epitome of professional."

"You know how we were ridiculously drunk last night..."

"I can't exactly remember it so I suppose the answer to that is a definite yes."

"I sort of came back to the hotel and propositioned him," she whispered, too ashamed to admit her drunken actions any louder. "I may have even tried to pull out some burlesque moves."

"Oh sweetie, now that explains the whole non communication thing tonight."

"It was mortifying Bonnie," she whined. "Granted I was too drunk at the time to fully realise just how embarrasing the situation was but as soon as I woke up this morning it hit me, along with that unattractive hangover."

"Maybe it wasn't as bad as you think. What exactly happened? What did he say? What did he do? What did you do?"

"Could you ask any more questions, Bonnie? He just said we couldn't do it and then offered to read me a bedtime story instead."

"Okay, that response I wasn't expecting. A bedtime story? What are you, five?"

"It was actually kind of adorable and funny, especially given I'd just thrown myself at him and he'd had to reject me. Klaus has some interesting takes on fairytales that's for sure. I'd say that's the last time I'm going to drink but god knows I need it to deal with this whole wedding situation."

"Adorable and funny? Oh, I see what this is, you like him."

"I don't."

"Yes because I proposition people I don't like all the time. Come on Caroline, you'd have to be blind not to find the guy attractive."

"He's my escort, you know the guy I'm paying for his services..."

"Who also happens to be coming this way," she warned gesturing behind Caroline. "I'll make myself scarce."

"Bonnie, please don't leave me alone," she pleaded.

"You're going to have to clear the air sometime, Care," she whispered, sending him a smile and walking away. Some friend she was leaving Caroline to fend for herself.

"So, this is where the party is?" He asked, joining her by the railing, his arm accidentally grazing hers in the process. Caroline shivered involuntarily, moving it away quickly. "Are you okay, love?"

"Uh yeah just a little cold I guess," she replied feebly. Given the current temperature it was probably a story too difficult to believe.

"I'd give you my jacket if I had one."

"Such a gentleman, is that all part of your escort services?"

"Hey, I resent that," he scoffed. "I would give you my jacket even if I wasn't an escort. You know chivalry isn't completely dead, Caroline."

"Is this the part where you say that romance is still well and truly alive too?"

"Romance is another matter entirely, I'm not sure I'm the best person to talk about it," he admitted.

"Well, given my past and the fact that my former fiance and cousin cheated on me and now I'm a guest at their wedding, I wouldn't have any clue about that sort of thing."

"It's not your fault, love."

"Well, excuse me if I don't feel partially responsible for not seeing what was in front of my face the entire time," she murmured. "Which also kind of takes me to the elephant in the room. I'm sorry that I tried..."

"Don't," he interrupted holding his hand to her lips. "You have nothing to be ashamed about. The fact you have come here even after everything that happened and can be so strong is inspirational. You are one of the stongest women I've ever met, Caroline Forbes."

"I wouldn't go that far," she murmured, her cheeks flushing slightly.

"I would," he reiterated, their gazes locked, blue eyes on blue. Caroline knew she was in trouble all over again. Why did she have to hire such an attractive date? "It's not that I don't find you attractive, because I do so much. In fact, it's killing me not to tell you that I really..."

"You're only saying that because I made a fool of myself last night." She looked at him wordlessly.

"You have to undertsand that I need to be professional in my work. But I can't help..." They stared at each other for a prolonged period before some unwanted noise from nearby interrupted their reverie.

Before Caroline could reply to the obvious sexual tension, a very familiar brunette approached them in all her glory. "I may kill myself from this prolonged pain, why isn't this unholy union final yet? I have way more important things I could be doing right now."

"You and me both," Caroline joked, excited to see the equally pleased face on her fake date. "Maybe we should all be jumping overboard."

"I don't like cold water," Katherine offered, looking into the river below. "Plus my hair doesn't look so good wet."

"I'm with you Katherine, these curls are an absolute bastard to control, you have no idea," he joked. His crimson lips turned into an adorable smile. When he said he was attracted to her Caroline wasn't quite sure what to take from it. After last night she had every intention of being well behaved, unfortunately his expression though was telling her something very different.

The Chicory - St Peters Street, New Orleans

Wedding - Saturday PM

"What the hell is going on?" Bonnie whispered to Katherine, their looks turning to Caroline seated nearby.

The groom was standing at the makeshift altar in the converted warehouse but his bride hadn't shown yet making the crowd whisper in interest. Obviously in Katherine and Bonnie's case they were overjoyed by the bride possibly leaving her groom at the altar. Caroline was silent trying to focus on the unfolding events but her thoughts were on the guy next to her. He was apparently attracted but couldn't act on those feelings given their working relationship even if his brief touches and looks were telling Caroline otherwise.

Caroline respected professionalism but was having trouble trying not to touch or talk to him. The fact he was taking her attention away from the wedding was a gift in itself, even if nothing would ever eventuate. The bride eventually made her way up the aisle in a white, meringue, type dress. Caroline barely noticing if she was being honest. The rest of the ceremony went much the say way, until the vows.

"It's time for the vows," the priest said. "Now repeat after me, I Stefan take you Hayley..." Caroline fought the urge to roll her eyes hoping this would be over soon so she could have some much needed champagne.

"I Stefan, take you Caroline..." Surely she heard that wrong but given the surprised response from the guests around her it was most definitely her name he uttered. Klaus looked at her, placing his hand over hers obviously trying to provide some comfort. By the astonished reaction from Bonnie and Katherine nearby, Caroline knew they were excited by his very public and humiliating mistake.

Caroline knew at that moment she didn't care, her thoughts were squarely focused on Klaus as his blue eyes gazed into hers. Even as the bride-to-be stormed away from the altar leaving a very embarrased groom in her wake. Right now it was all about those crimson lips, those eyes and those dimples.

"Well, this is all sorts of awkward. It's certainly a wedding I'll never forget" he chuckled, his hand still on hers. "For a number of reasons."

"I know. What could be better than this?" Katherine asked, Caroline was trying to ignore the feeling the warmth his hand was causing and the way he was staring at her, his gaze unwavering.

"I think stealing some of that cake before we get out of here," Bonnie offered. "It looks absolutely delicious."

"How about you guys get your sugar fix on while we have a little chat," she murmured, her eyes still trained on Klaus. Katherine and Bonnie shared knowing glances and followed the rest of the guests out of the room.

"Given the wedding's over in more ways than one, I think it's about time we ended this contract, don't you?"

"You realise I'm still charging you right," he said watching her shocked face. "But I'll give you a discount."

"Lucky me."

"I was just kidding," he replied, placing his arm around her and pulling her closer to him. "I think meeting you has been payment enough, love."

#breathless #sophia chase #perhaps one day #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfiction #loving klaroline #fusion #wedding date

[hqchooseyourstory]

Nishinoya’s story Chapter One: Frozen Treat Friends

So this is a tryout for the official format of the stories on this blog. The OC remains, but the readers will take her skin, therefore I will write using the ‘you’ pronoun. The poll for the possible answers will be at the end of the chapter, on this very post. Enjoy!

A comfortable exhaustion rested on your shoulders as you pulled your school bag on them. The sun would have set down by the time you would reach your house, but you were used to it. Even though all of the members of the dance troupe were tired, it felt as if all of their voices were chirping happily. Your choreographies were taking form and you were steadily progressing as planned. Even you, who was usually withdrawn, was caught in the energy of the moment, a genuine smile present on your face.

The energy was spread even outside of the club room. The members took the way to their house, separating into little groups. By that time, everyone had grown comfortable around each other and nobody was left behind. Yoichi Harui and Hara Nariko, two first-years, were walking with you. Both of them were already taller than your petite self. You didn’t really mind, though. It was your trademark feature, after all. Those short walks home almost every night with your juniors had made you build a bond with the both of them, which you were proud of as you weren’t really known as “the social senpai”. The title was easily handed to your best friend instead.

Turning the corner of the building, you came to face the other sports teams that had also just left their club rooms. You could hear your two friends starting to whisper things to each other, but your attention was focused on the boys’ volleyball team.

“Noya-san! She’s right behind you…” Tanaka whispered in his ear.

The libero’s heart nearly skipped a beat as he heard that, mechanically turning his head around to see you and your fellow dance troupe members.

“Go say hi,” Ennoshita encouraged him.

“But… I’m all sweaty,” he tried to protest.

“She’s just as sweaty as you, moron! Come on, it won’t kill you,” the shaven-headed spiker pushed him in your direction.

He was projected right in front of you. Even though you had been talking every day in class for more than a week now, he was still nervous around you. To be honest, he was intimidated by the fact he thought you were adorable, even with that neutral expression of yours. He had learned that it didn’t mean you didn’t like him, just that you were uncomfortable. However, this time around, he had managed to make you gasp by appearing so suddenly.

“Nishinoya-san, don’t surprise me like that,” you said, letting out a small laughter after realising it was him.

“Sorry, Oumae-san! I didn’t want to surprise you! I just… wanted to…”

He could hear the rest of his team chuckle and snicker behind his back. He had to do something, or else he would totally lose his credibility.

“Oumae-san, do you want to walk home with me? We can stop to buy something to eat,” he let out in one breath. Since he had learned you lived only a few blocks away from his house, he had wanted the opportunity to walk home with you.

Surprised at the offer, but slightly pleased, you looked around. Hara and Yoichi raised a brow you, amused. The volleyball team was already preparing to humiliate their libero in case of a failure.

“O-of course, I’ll gladly accept,” you answered, your cheeks turning pink as you turned around to face your friends. “If you don’t mind, girls…”

“Who knew Oumae-senpai was popular with guys,” snickered Hara as she walked passed both of you. It was enough to make Aya look away, embarrassed.

“See you soon, Oumae-senpai!” Yoichi told you, a meaningful smirk on her face.

The rest of the volleyball team had also started focusing on something else when they realised Nishinoya had received a positive answer. For an instant, he and you starred at each other in silence, both trapped by your respective shyness. Yuu’s flustered expression was clearly visible as he didn’t know what to do.

“So… let’s go?” he asked, breaking the silence. You nodded and started walking away from the school grounds, waiting for him to follow you.

Being completely honest with yourself, you knew you had only accepted his offer because of all the pressure put around it… and because Asuka would have killed you for refusing if she ever heard of it, which was most likely. Besides, you would have felt bad for letting Nishinoya embarrass himself in front of his whole team. Still, your confidence about this improvised hang-out was pretty thin. You were sweaty and tired, and all you wanted to do was to go home. At least, Yuu never ceased to give you energy when you were by his side, even though you had know each other for so little time.

“So… how’s practice doing, Nishinoya-san?” you finally asked him, breaking the silence.

“Pretty good!” he replied. “We’re pretty pumped up for the inter-high… We also have a coach now!” His grin had slowly come back on his face as he was recovering from his moment of embarrassment. Talking about volleyball did well on him, even you had noticed. It had become your go-to subject if you didn’t know what to talk about anymore.

“This is great news!” You returned his smile, though nobody’s could ever wish to be as beaming as his.

“How about the dance troupe?”

“We’re doing great as well, but we’re so nervous about our first competition. It’s a friendly one between some of the schools in the prefecture, but I’m still pretty stressed out because I’m in the front lineup for both of our choreographies.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that! I only saw you once, but you have a lot of talent!” he complimented you. The words had spilled out of his mouth almost by themselves. His shoulders tensed up, nervous of your reaction.

“Thank you, Nishinoya-san.” An urge to change the subject took you. Compliments had never made you very comfortable, especially coming from acquaintances. You could feel your cheeks getting rosy already. “I should come and see you play volleyball, sometime…” you added, hoping it would effectively shift the attention back to him.

On your behalf, the short guy’s eyes lit up. He was honored of your interest.

“Yes! You should definitely come and see us, Oumae-san! Even if it’s just a practice match! There will be one soon!”

“Oh… I don’t want to be a bother…”

“You won’t be a bother at all! In fact, I’ll try to save twice as more balls since you’ll be there!” Even after so little time, you knew the determined look in his eyes meant that he was completely serious about what he had just said.

That was how you ended up in front of the Sakanoshita store. Your eyes met for a moment.

“Hey, Oumae-san! Let’s buy popsicles!”

“Uh… sure…” You were taken aback by his suggestion. Still, you followed him inside the store, where he skipped to the freezed-treats section. A big freezer contained many types of ice-cream and other frozen treats.

You watched him pick up a soda-flavored Gari Gari Kun Popsicle, to which you smiled. Leaning down close to him, you picked up the orange-flavored treat of the same brand.

“Gari Gari Kun are my favorite as well, but I like orange more,” you commented. He made a face like he had just found his soulmate, in awe.

“You, too? My favorite are the soda-flavored ones, though,” he answered. This minor detail was enough to make him feel closer to you.

It felt like the clouds had lifted from above your heads just because of this simple fact. Your feet felt light as you both paid your treat to a blonde lazy-looking store clerk and left the store.

The moments of silence during the walk didn’t feel as awkward as they were. Otherwise, conversations on teachers, your respective clubs and that class you both hated with passion animated your trip home. Soon, it was time to part ways.

“Good evening, Nishinoya-san,” you told him, looking in his direction, facing the sun in the process. The light was blinding as he appeared to be the one shining. Rays of the falling sun shone in his hair as his brown eyes sparkled. It was a blinding, yet magnificent sight. For a second, you were slightly intimidated by this outstanding sight of him, but you were soon reassured by his boyish grin.

“Good evening, Oumae-san.”

Just as you were about to turn around to start walking alone, he spoke:

“Oumae… I… I feel like we should be friends,” he blurted out, looking away.

Answers:

1.       Um… *blush*

2.       *smiles* Definitely, Nishinoya-kun!

3.       I feel like we should get to know ourselves a little better…

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#haikyuu!! #haikyu #nishinoya yuu #ukai keishin cameo #NishinoyaxOC #nishinoya x reader #Oumae Aya