#also to watch over steven because shes nervous for him after years of no contact with him. and seeing him on the news being insane | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tooktheladdedgbtq · 3 years

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....and the Oscar goes to.. | Tom Holland X Male!actor reader.

A/N: this was just something I wrote because I got inspired I guess. Happy Pride everyone!

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You couldn’t decide whether time was slipping through your fingers too quickly or if this had been the longest night you’d ever experienced.

seconds slowed to a crawl while you tried to gather yourself before it was your turn to take the stage. You were nervous. Not about being at the oscars or presenting for the first time. Not even about being nominated for your leading role in the second installment of a critically acclaimed trilogy. No, you’d been used to these sorts of things, you’d been an actor since you were a very young kid. Starting on television before film, and you even got to hold the Emmy the show had won when you had just turned a teenager.

No, you were nervous about who exactly you’d be presenting to. Of the five nominees and potential winners, only one could cause such an intensive feeling in your chest. Only one could awaken a sense of dread that battled with a feeling of intensive happiness mixed with anticipation, and it was Tom.

You’d known each other for years and had come to fall in love. You’d met as young co-stars on set and eventually grew into an inseparable friendship that progressed into something far more. Neither of you were sure when the feelings started but it felt like they’d always been there and you weren’t exactly complaining.

Your blissfulness with Tom was beautiful but short lived. After almost a year of being official you both agreed to take a break from the relationship. Unbeknownst to Tom you were just agreeing to save face and hadn’t pried for an answer out of fear of being hurt. You just accepted that this was how things were now, and took a step back.

You’d still kept in contact with him. It was hard not to. He was still your best friend. But whether it was the business of work or something a little more awkward, distance grew between you both as the multi-hour long facetime calls and text threads became once-a-week check-ins to just make sure you were alive and okay.

Time had passed, and you didn’t have a clue what you could possibly say to him now. You certainly didn’t want to ruin his special night. But you’d missed him so much and felt like you would implode at the first sign that he’d be interested in getting back together with you. But you also didn’t want to seem desperate or needy if he’d moved on. You didn’t want to slip and say those three words again in the moment.

Father time showed you no mercy as the sand in his hourglass suddenly shifted from a slow-motion drip to a flood. The seconds you’d spent daydreaming of your past with Tom and pondering about the your potential future had passed and left you with little time to gather yourself before presenting. still you shook your hands, arms, and lastly shoulders, putting all your worries aside and waited for introduction from the host.

Before long you’d been counted in to walking on stage, and heard the host over the microphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to present the award and introduce the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, please welcome one of this year’s nominees and one of our generation’s greatest talents: Y/F/N Y/L/N.”

The applause erupts from the audience like a revved up engine as you took center but it was nothing compared to the standing ovation you’d receive later on that night when receiving your own award for Best Actor.

You were stood promptly center staged with the towering Oscar statue reflecting onto the black stage floor beneath your feet. Your outfit was alluring and would surely be the next hot topic which is rare for male stars. You looked like a million bucks. Everyone knew it, most of all, Tom.

You smile and wave as you approach the microphone, your teeth shining a blinding white, and wait for a hush from the crowd.

You chuckle lightly as a few hoots and hollers sound out as the cheers subside.

You eye the monitor across the room and start to read, your nerves dying down as your jokes land and laughter echoes around the room.

As you finish the introduction, clips start to show behind you to accompany the names of the nominees as the cameras catch a glimpse of each of their reactions.

You couldn’t help but notice how tough the competition was as each actor was called. Steven Yuen playing a detective in a thrilling murder mystery. John David Washington in a fictional film playing the world’s first black astronaut aiding in the discovery of lovecraftian horrors. Andrew Garfield for his role as a psychotic narcissist and genius businessman. Oscar Issac acting in a sci fi space opera asking questions of existentialism.

Finally, you had to withhold your smile as you called out the last name. He had returned to his Billy Elliot roots being nominated for his role in a astonishing musical romance film. “Tom Holland.” You’d been ecstatic when he’d told you about it as you’d always recommend he tried it again since it made him so happy in his younger years.

You spot him a few rows from the stage, making eye contact with him and wondering if he was thinking about you the way you had done with him earlier. You couldn’t help but notice him squirming in his chair and fidgeting with his hands. Selfishly asking yourself if this wasn’t just about the award but about having you present it to him.

Seeing you here after what felt like an eternity apart and your reunion potentially being the greatest achievement of both your careers. Making it the greatest night of your lives, that is, if you were still together. But you were still best friends. That’s what mattered. So you push your self centered thoughts aside and shoot him a small wave that he returns with a smile and thumbs up. letting you know he was okay and that you could continue as the camera pans back to you capturing your not so hidden giddiness.

This awarded some small oos and aahs from the crowd as your relationship with him had been a wholly celebrated one. especially among your marvel peers.

You’re handed an envelope and statue as the music ends and the applause dies down and you take one final glare into the camera before beginning to open the envelope.

“....and the Oscar goes to,” you take a peek at the crowd and see some of the nominees holding hands with loved ones. others plainly

awaiting your next words with bated breath. The anticipation shone on everyone’s faces. Even those that weren’t nominated. Your not-so-hidden grin giving away the answer mere milliseconds before his name escaped your lips. “Tom Holland!”

Tom shot up with a shared expression of shock and happiness on his face. Pecking his mother on the cheek as she wipes the tears of pride from her eyes. His best mate Harrison gives him a quick embrace and a pat on the back before he moves on to shake hands with the director and smile at everyone cheering him on as he gradually moves toward the stage still completely baffled at the victory.

As he walks towards you in his pink pastel colored suit and brown leather dress shoes you can’t help but swell with an overwhelming feeling of joy having been here to share this career defining moment with him. You thought about how far you’d both come to get here and almost started tearing up remembering all you’d been through together.

He skipped up the miniature steps and blanketed you with both arms. You didn’t want it to end as you hadn’t felt it in a while. You threw your arms around his neck and he tightens his hold around your torso. Before you could even process them, your blunt thoughts spill out as whispers.

“I’m so incredibly proud of you. you deserve this and so much more.” you hear a small chuckle escape him as he responds. “I am trying not to cry y’know mate?” a wolf whistle comes from the crowd as you apologize for being so sappy and before he can tell you off for it you hand him his award and shove him off toward the microphone.

As he takes center stage you stand off to the side to watch him give his acceptance speech. He pauses and takes a second to gather himself before he starts talking straight from his heart with nothing prepared.

“Um, Wow. I really can’t believe this is really happening and I probably still won’t believe it happened tomorrow. Just.. wow.” his words were filled with that charmingly British accent you’d come to love so much.

“First I would like to thank my mother, without whom of course, I would not be here. I would like to thank the academy and everyone who worked on this movie from the producers and camera men, make-up and costumes, to our wonderful writers, composer, back up dancers and vocalists, and of course my friends, my co-star and the director Damien Chazelle.” whom he gestures to sitting in the second row. “I share this with all of you and I can’t thank you enough for awarding me with the opportunity to create something I love so much.”

He thanks the other nominees before turns towards you to end his speech. you felt your heart in your hands when you saw his big brown puppy eyes dart in your direction with an intensive glare of admiration.

“last but most importantly, I want to thank the inspiration for all of the love songs I sung in the film and the reason I decided to take the role. The person standing here on my right.”

Your jaw drops and your eyes widen when his words hit you like a speeding semi. you realize that he’d just called you his muse in so many words. the inspiration behind the love songs in the film no less. Meaning that with every lovestruck note his character sung he was reminded of you. All that time spent worrying if the distance between you two would cause him to forget about you, or if he’d maybe moved on and found somebody else. But no such thing had happened. He was relating his character’s longing in the film to his longing for you this entire time and that made your heart do a backflip.

You blush and cover your still ajar mouth with your fist whilst trying not to pay attention to the crowd who’s attention was fully focused on you.

He takes a deep sigh before continuing. “Y/N you’re not only the reason I took this role, but you’re the reason I was able to play it with such sincerity. You’ve been a unwavering beacon of support throughout my career in general but here you really gave me the inspiration for something special. He faces the audience again as the all follow his words with whispers of how adorable you both were. “from reading lines together in the middle of the night, to keeping me company when i’m on the brink of a meltdown.” It was all true and it only made you miss you relationship more and you found it difficult to hold back your tears.

“Y/N is the kind of best friend everybody needs, the kind of partner everybody deserves, and the person I’m so incredibly lucky to have known for so long. ..and I still can’t believe he never figured out the lyrics were all about him, It was kind of obvious-” the audience laughed you’re so close to swooning as he turns toward you again. “But, with all my heart, I love you, Y/N. Always will.” you feel as if you’re floating.

He shifts to the crowd one last time to say a final thank you before you both walk off stage one arm around one another’s shoulders. You have a short but sweet conversation backstage with him where reassures you that everything he said on stage was true and completely unscripted. He wants to talk more but knows your category is coming soon so he asks for a later opportunity and you agree before returning to your seat in the crowd.

The rest of the night flew by with you winning the award for best actor and receiving the biggest applause of the night. Tom joined in the standing ovation. You thanked everybody involved in making the film, the academy, and squeezed a little joke directed towards Tom that garnered a shared laugh from both him and the audience. You were the last award of the night and after the celebrations it was time to return to your place, where Tom was waiting for you. Wanting to talk about everything that had happened not just tonight but everything leading up to it. He also hoped you’d kept a spot open in your heart for him to return to.

#tom holland x you #tom holland x male reader #tom holland fluff #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland gay imagine #tom holland x male! reader #tom holland fanfiction

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rbbalmung · 3 years

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Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Character Headcannons P1

(From this point on, I am calling this Pokemon Sword and Shield AU the GPL AU after the Galarian Pokemon League). Here are my character headcannons! I am going to give each character and age and a general ethnicity even though A) time will pass in this au and B) obviously there are no countries in Pokemon. I will be giving them an age based on when the AU starts, at the beginning on Gloria’s Pokemon League Journey.

GLORIA:

-Age: 16

-Ethnicity: Half English, Half Japanese (English father, Japanese mother)

-General Headcannons:

o She is an introverted extrovert. She loves meeting new people and making new friends, but she is on the quiet side due to her troubled relationship with her father.

o Going off of that, her parents got a divorce when she was 6 years old because her father was negligent. She has not been in contact with him since he left, but he is at the base of some of her social anxiety. That is why she mostly speaks either in short sentences or not at all (going off her interactions in the game).

o The thing that makes Gloria stand out as a Pokemon trainer is that she can pick up on her opponents nuances just by examining them. For example, if her opponent’s breathing quickens, she knows that they are nervous and will resort to mainly attacks. That is why it is so hard for her to beat Leon: He has an emotionless mask during his battles.

o She picked up this strategy by watching GPL battles throughout her childhood. Gloria was often put in front of the television set to distract her from her parents fighting, and since she had to put so much of her attention towards the matches, she picked up on a lot of people’s ticks.

o Gloria is very clingy to Hop. She finds comfort in being near him, so she is often latching onto his arm, hugging him from behind, or holding his hand. The closer she gets to people, the more she hangs onto them. This is rough with Bede and Bea, so it takes a bit of work on both their ends to make sure they’re not making the other party unhappy.

o Gloria is ridiculously brave. She will go into pretty much any situation, which is why she just goes along when asked to join the dojo/go on an expedition.

o Speaking of expeditions, she looks up to Peony as the father figure she never had. She doesn’t outwardly tell him this because A) her relationship with her father really messed her up and B) the fact that he is related to Rose makes her a little wary. She knows how much Rose messed up Bede and does not want to cause more grief.

o Speaking of Bede, they actually become really close friends after the League wraps up and during Rose’s trial. Bede is one of the only people that can emphasise with her social anxiety, and luckily for him, Gloria doesn’t give up on people. She has to work on not being clingy with him because he does not like being touched.

o Gloria is the first female champion!

o. Victor exists in this au, but not until way after Gloria’s first year as champion. He is her half brother; her father eventually remarried in Stow-In-Side and had Victor a year-ish later (making him 7 years younger than Gloria). They do not reunite until she is 20 years old, but she accepts him as her brother easily (she knows how terrible their dad is).

o Gloria’s full name is Gloria Park. She does not have a middle name.

(I took the most liberties with Gloria because she is the MC and the game doesn’t give toooo much of a character. I know a lot of people head cannon her as super extroverted and confident, but I preferred this take for this particular AU).

HOP:

-Age: 16

-Ethnicity: Half Spanish, Half Black (His mom is Spanish, his dad is black)

-General Headcannons:

o Hop’s dad died when he was 2 years old, so he doesn’t really remember him. He never really had a father figure since Leon left to become Champion when he was 6. That is where is anxiety is rooted: Both his father (who was a firefighter and treated like a hero after his death) and Leon’s success makes Hop feel like he has to do something grand to live up to them.

o Hop actually befriended Gloria through their love of Pokemon battles! His mum invited her mum over for dinner, and while his and Gloria’s interactions were stiff at best during dinner, they really clicked after when they began watching the game on the TV. They’ve been inseparable ever since.

o I headcannon that Hop has ADD. He practically never sits still and has a hard time paying attention to things unless he is hyper focused. Hop is really booksmart, he just has trouble focusing. He also doesn’t really see the point in maintaining his grades when he’s just going to become the new Champion.

o He played soccer when he was little as an outlet for his ADD. He joined the GJPL (Galar Junior Pokemon League), but since he was in a small district, he never made it to the big times like Bede. He did manage to score fairly well with his wooloo, though, making him one of the MVPs in the 76th GPL.

o Hop is a nickname. HIs full name is “Hipoltio Henry Hoffman”. (Henry was his father’s name).

o Like Gloria, Hop is a really touchy person. They kind of rubbed off on each other, so he shows affection by linking arms, bumping shoulders, ect.

o After the GPL wraps up and he gets asked to be Sonia’s assistant, she gives him the opportunity to study abroad until he graduates high school. He takes this opportunity and briefly moves to study other Pokemon in Johto. He does come back to visit in the summer, which is why he ends up on the Isle of Armor around the same time as Gloria.

BEDE:

-Age: 17

-Ethnicity: White

-Headcannons:

o He never met his parents, but he was told he was taken away from them by child protective services. This made him really bitter from the get-go because they never came back for him.

o Bede has abandonment issues, but in a different way from Gloria. While she is willing to let anyone in, he is more prone to shut everyone out. He only starts to open up when he realizes Gloria’s life isn’t as perfect as he originally guessed.

o Bede reeeeaaaallllyyyy doesn’t like being touched. He got into a lot of fights in the orphanage when he was younger because of his short temper. That is barely the tip of the iceberg: There was a lot of shady things that happened at the orphanage that only stopped once Chairman Rose started showing interest in him. Bede doesn’t talk about this to anyone.

o Bede participated in the GJPL and made it to the championships two years in a row! He got to travel to Hoenn for one of them and meet the champion there. This was what brought Rose’s attention to him.

o The reason Bede didn’t join the league at 16 was because Rose didn’t sponsor him yet. Because of this, he decided to challenge Raihan for his position as gym leader of Hammerlocke. Sufficed to say, Bede lost pretty badly.

o He was very convinced that Rose was going to adopt him, which made his dismissal ten times worse than it originally was. He eventually comes to term with the fact that the Chairman used him and threw him under the bus when he realised that he could get in trouble for destroying the monument.

o Opal becomes his guardian when he accepts his new role as the Fairy Gym Leader, but she officially adopts him about a year later. He isn’t very good at talking about his emotions, but he does care deeply for the old woman and her acceptance of him brought him to tears.

o Bede gave himself his middle name: Steven, after Hoenn’s Champion Steven Stone. His full name is Bede Steven Doe pre-adoption, and Bede Steven Waltz post-adoption.

o He is super prickly, but after becoming gym leader, Bede mellows out a little bit. He is still haughty and self absorbed, but he is not as outwardly rude about it.

o He ends up forming a lot of unlikely relationships after he settles in his position as gym leader. He and Bea get along really well because of their proximity and similar personalities, Gloria won’t let him not be her friend (he has a soft side for her), and Marnie is one of the less eccentric gym leaders that he likes to hang around with at group gatherings.

MARNIE:

-Age: 16

-Ethnicity: White

-Headcannons:

o Marnie is the youngest of 5 children, and she is the only girl. Therefore, she was always coddled by her family. One of the biggest reasons she joined the pokemon league was to prove her true worth to her family.

o Out of all her siblings, she is the closest to Piers. She doesn’t agree with his opposition to dynamaxing, but they are both passionate about restoring glory to Spikemuth. He also spent the most time with her when they were growing up because her parents worked a lot (Spikemuth is a poverty-stricken town).

o Marnie is quite the little activist. It is a little ironic because she is incredibly soft-spoken and will swear up a storm at the same time.

o She gains a lot of fans during her GPL alongside Gloria because they are both favourites to become the first female champion. Instead of forming a bitter rivalry with her, Marnie elects to befriend Gloria because she reminds her of her friend, Primrose.

o Marnie LOVES shopping. She never really had the chance to leave Spikemuth growing up, so a lot of her free time when not participating in Pokemon battles is spent in boutiques.

o One of Marnie’s special skills is that she can see right through a person’s core. That is why she is initially kind to Gloria, Hop, and Bede. On the other hand, she and Piers both constantly talk shit about Chairman Rose. She isn’t really a fan of Leon either, but she knows that he is a good person so she tries to be nice.

o Speaking of Leon (to some degree), she immediately decides to befriend Hop when she realises he is also the younger sibling of a famous Pokemon trainer. They bond over their similar roles in life and their shared love of music! (Hop really likes Piers’s music and freaks out when he gets to meet him).

o Marnie can play the guitar and the piano! If she didn’t become a gym leader, she could definitely see herself going into music.

o I head cannon that Marnie is bisexual, but she is not currently aware of it. I will definitely talk more about this later in the AU or if I actually get around to writing a one shot.

o Her full name is Marnie Isla Lewis.

Next Part: Gym Leaders!

#GPL AU #pokemon #pokemon au #pokemon sword and shield #swsh gloria #gloria #swsh hop #hop #swsh bede #bede #swsh marnie #marnie #pokemon headcanons #postwickshipping

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thadelightfulone · 3 years

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All I Want... 25 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 2

November 15-19th, Part 2

Erik Stevens’ office phone rang incessantly, even after he told his assistant to hold all calls. When it finally quieted down, he stood up to stretch the stiff muscles of his neck, shoulders and arms. He moved in front of the floor to ceiling window that makes up the back wall of his office. Taking a few deep breaths, he rubbed his temples when the cell phone in his jacket pocket started to ring.

“T. Can I breathe? We have been working on this project all morning.” Silence greeted him on the other end. “Hello?”

“My bad. I figured you would be at lunch right about now. It’s after 3 over here.” The voice spoke.

Erik looked at the contact on his phone and started laughing, “Damn man, I’m sorry. My cousins and I have been working on this project and -- let’s just say I am ready for a vacation.”

“It’s ok. I get it man. I have about 4 students preparing to defend their dissertations next month. I am nowhere near ready.”

“That’s right, Dr. Oubre, preparing our future doctors of science and research. So, what’s up?”

“Well, I just spoke with Dr. Giacomo and she said someone came around asking about you.”

“Really for what?”

“Yeah, I guess they came across one of your papers and decided to find you.”

Erik rolled his eyes, “So, why would they go to her and not just reach out to me directly?”

“Look, I don’t know. I am just letting you know what was relayed to me, but I wanted to reach out to you before I gave out your information.”

“Bruh, give them my email and get off my phone.” Erik laughed at how silly Marquis was being.

“Aye, you can never be too sure. I’m just looking out for you.” Marquis whispered into the phone.

Erik walked over to his desk and leaned against the edge, “Quis, man what is really going on?”

“I don’t want to send you another stalker.” Marquis sighed before laughing.

“HA, man. No one could have seen that shit coming.” Erik began to laugh as well. “I definitely lucked out when she graduated before us. Who knows how bad that could have gotten?”

“True, true.” Marquis cleared his throat, “By the way, Serena asked about you. She wants to know when you are bringing yo black ass back to Louisiana? You know to see us, your friends and extended family?”

“What else? I know she didn’t stop there.” Erik retorted.

“Oh, the usual. Has he found anyone yet? When is he gonna settle down? Yada, yada, yada.” Marquis shot back.

“Of course, she did.” Erik sighed out. “I definitely want to take some time off, so I can come and see you both, including my nieces and nephew. I just don’t know when that will be.”

“Alright man, I understand. Look, I just wanted to give you a heads up about the contact. But I gotta run to class now.” Marquis rushed out.

“Yeah, I’ll hit you up later this week.” Erik said before hanging up.

Setting his phone down on his desk, he closed his eyes. Arms crossed over his chest, he relaxed into the moment. Alternating between short and long breathes, he felt himself calming down from the morning and the call from his best friend and brother.

They met in undergrad and were as thick as thieves instantly. You never saw one without the other anywhere on campus. And then, while they were in grad school Marquis met Serena, who would later become his wife.

Laughing to himself, Erik recalled being jealous of what they had and continued to build together. It reminded him of his parents’ relationship and the love they had for one another. He rolled his eyes as his mind started to wander. Serena wasn’t the only one asking those kinds of questions lately.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, he decided to focus on the reason for Marquis’ call. Someone from Southern University was looking for him, that’s very interesting. He hadn’t thought of his alma mater much since returning home to Oakland, about 10 years ago. Outside of Marquis and his family, who he kept in touch with; he never needed to think about it. He had written plenty of papers due to his current research and his studies while he was working on his doctorate, so it does make sense. Well, whoever it is will be reaching out to him soon enough.

---

It’s been three days since DeeDee learned that her mystery man was connected to a current faculty member on campus. She walked to his office and knocked on the open door.

“Hey Dr. O.” DeeDee said to get his attention.

“Come in, DeeDee.”

DeeDee walked into Dr. Marquis Oubre’s office and took a seat in front of his desk. She pulled out her notebook and set it down on her lap.

“So, how are things going?” Dr. Oubre asked as he walked over to the chair next to her.

“They are going, but it could be better.” DeeDee answered as she fiddled with her fingers.

Marquis sat down and crossed his leg at the knee. “What’s bothering you, DeeDee?”

“I’m nervous about how all the interviews went. I mean they were all in September and October, and I have not heard anything.”

“What did I tell you when you left for the first one in San Diego?”

DeeDee sighed and rolled her eyes, “I will know if they are a great fit for me and not the other way around.”

“That’s right. Besides, you visited about 6 schools over a 2 month period. Those are on-campus interviews and that number is unheard of DeeDee.” Dr. Oubre looked at her, “I didn’t even get that many.”

“Really?” DeeDee looked at him in disbelief.

Dr. Oubre discussed his entire experience of applying for a tenure-track position. DeeDee listened as much as she could manage, but in the back of her mind, all she could think about is the fact that her doctoral mentor knew her mystery man. She wanted to blurt it out when she first walked in, but it didn’t seem like the right thing to do. But now, she is reminded that the man can talk and couldn’t wait any longer.

“Dr. O?” DeeDee interrupted his current train of thought.

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you about a former student?” She picked up the notebook, pulling out a printed out black and white newspaper clipping. DeeDee handed it to him.

He took it from her, looked at the image and laughed. “It’s you?”

DeeDee looked at him in confusion.

“You know people talk around here and I am friends with a lot of folks in Computer Science. Dr. Giacomo told me that someone was looking for Erik. I guess I just wasn’t thinking it would be you.” He continued to laugh.

“Oh. Of course, she would.” DeeDee huffed out as she scooted further back into the chair.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh.” He reached for her notebook, “May I?”

DeeDee handed him the notebook. Dr. Oubre pulled the ink pen from his dress shirt and wrote on the first blank page he found. He handed it back to her.

“That’s his email. He said that he is fine with you asking him anything.”

“Wait. What? He is expecting to hear from me?” DeeDee fumbled with the notebook when Dr. Oubre handed it over.

“Yes, he was surprised that you didn’t just search for him using the information on the article.”

DeeDee silently chastised herself, remembering what she told the other professor the other day. “About that, I didn’t even think of it. I saw Southern University and that was all she wrote.” She nervously laughs.

“No problem. I’m sure he’ll be able to answer whatever questions you have.” Dr. Oubre stood up. “So, how’s your unnecessary prepwork going?”

“It’s not unnecessary. I just want to be prepared, Dr. O.”

“DeeDee, you have been studying this stuff for the last 4 years. You know it and your 150 page dissertation shows that.” He moved around behind his desk, “They are only going to ask you about what is in there and what work you want to do with the information from this study.”

“I understand that, but --”

“Look, you have nothing to worry about. It is more a presentation then an actual defense. And I wouldn’t stress about the lack of response from those other universities about your interviews because I know you have applied to others. You got this.”

DeeDee took a deep breath before responding, “You are right, Dr. O. I have applied to about 5 other places, but those were all in my top 2 tiers.”

“And about your upcoming defense?”

“Right again. I know it like the back of my hand. So, I will try not to stress about it anymore.” DeeDee stood up and grabbed her things.

“Glad to hear it. Oh, by the way, you do know Dr. Bell is retiring at the end of the year?”

“Yeah, they told all of us last week. Sounds like the annual department Christmas party will be her retirement party.”

Dr. Oubre handed her a small flyer, “That’s right. Here’s your invitation. Hope to see you there.”

DeeDee looked down at it, “I’m there with bells on.” She laughed at her little joke.

“Nope, you gotta go.” He pointed at the door, while trying not to laugh. “I don’t think we need to meet next week, unless something comes up and you want to talk.”

“I agree.” DeeDee stopped at the door and held up the notebook, “And thanks again for this, Dr. O.”

“You’re welcome, DeeDee.” He sat down and watched as DeeDee left his office.

---

Sitting at her home office desk, DeeDee stared at the blank message box on her computer screen. The only thing typed out was Erik’s email address. She picked up her glass of water and took a sip.

She spent the last hour looking up information on him. Found out that he’s back in Oakland and not even active in the science field anymore. He was the Director for one of the Wakanda Outreach Centers. It was fascinating what she read and found out about the work he was currently doing.

And just like that, she was afraid to move forward. It should be simple. Send him an email about finding the little note in an old textbook. The end. He could do whatever he wanted with the information. But DeeDee’s mind was playing out possible scenarios like stuff she had seen in her favorite sappy romantic movies. And while the thought excited her, it also freaked her out at the same time.

Things like that did not happen to women like her. Sure, she was kind of pretty and low maintenance, but most guys did not find her interesting enough to have a relationship with. And because of that she just didn’t try to pursue them, which is much different than what her friends believed about her. There was no message in a bottle type romance or love for her. So, why even bother?

She closed the email and decided to let the matter go. At least, she found out who wrote the note. Curiosity piqued and answered. Now, time to focus on her future and career.

Taglist: @teakturn @ghostfacekill-monger @shaekingshitup @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @woahitslucyylu @ladymac82 @bugngiz @eyeknowmywrites @ajspencer1892 @blackpinup22 @sarcastic-sunshines

Let me know if you want to be added to the list.

#25 days of christmas challenge #erik killmonger x oc #black panther fanfiction #bp christmas #all i want #thadelightfulone

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years

Text

Love Is Not Forced ~ 25

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 2,125ish

Summary: Y/N’s days at Hydra aren’t pleasant.

Warnings: This is the darkest thing I’ve ever written. (This and the next 2-3 chapters.) It’s probably not as bad as I’m making it out to be, but I usually don’t write like this or read stuff like this.

Y/N was left alone the rest of the night, which she was extremely grateful for. She tried not to fall sleep, but ended up doing so after wearing herself out by crying. She was startled away by banging on the door of the room before it was swung, forcefully open. The Princess sat up, pressing herself up against the headboard.

“Morning, Princess,” Brock greeted, entering the room. “I hope you slept well on your first night here.” Y/N didn’t answer him, just watched him carefully. “I know that it will take some time for you to get used to this.” Brock slowly came towards her. “But I promise you, after some time, you will enjoy it here. And you will see that we are way better than any of those other kingdoms that you are used to.” Brock came up into Y/N’s face, she cringed and looked away. He forced her chin so that she was facing him. “My father always told me how pretty you were. Seeing you up close just confirms that.” He let go and waltzed to her closet. “We are having a welcome celebration tonight, in your honor.” He looked through the closet, pulling out a black dress. “And I would like you to wear this.” Brock laid set it over a chair. He came back over and set a kiss on her cheek. Y/N tried not to flinch away, fearing what he would do, but it was hard since the kiss was very wet. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Y/N clenched her eyes shut as Brock left the room and the door was locked behind him. She cried all day. Never once stopping, even to eat the food that was brought for her. When it was time to get ready, a woman came in to help her. Scared of disobeying, she willingly changed into the chosen dress. The Princess had never worn a more revealing dress, which made her extremely uncomfortable.

The servant led her to the dining hall, where everyone was already waiting. They stood from their seats as she entered and Brock quickly made his way to her side, linking his arm with hers.

“Our guest of honor has finally arrived,” Alexander shouted. “And is looking as beautiful as ever.”

Y/N looked around the room to see the faces of those she was joining, as Brock guided her to her seat. She made eye contact with Loki, who gave nothing away on his face, but she quickly looked away. So many had warned her, yet Y/N had chosen to ignore them. And look where that had gotten her. Brock unlinked their arms in order to pull out her chair, and gestured for her to sit down. They had her seated near the head of the table, with Alexander at the head, and Brock across from her. Alexander told them all to start eating. The room suddenly filled with talking, laughter, and the clamoring of dinnerware. Y/N picked up her fork and played with her food, nervous to eat due to fear of her being poisoned.

“Are you not hungry, Princess?” Loki’s voice filled her soul with dread and anger. She looked up to see that he was sitting next to Brock. “You have not eaten all day.”

“I am not feeling very well today,” Y/N responded coldly.

“Oh dear,” Alexander said, setting a hand on Y/N’s arm. “Should I have my doctor come and look at you?”

“No,” Y/N shook her head. “I fear that it cannot be cured by a doctor.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t feel good because I have been kidnapped.”

“Oh, darling,” Brock laughed. “You have not been kidnapped. You have been rescued. You were always meant to be here with us.”

“That’s where you are wrong. I wasn’t never meant to be here because I was never meant to be a Princess.”

“No, dear, that’s where you’re wrong,” Alexander stated. “Princess or not. You would’ve always ended up here. Your parents were some of my most loyal followers, until they refused the arranged marriage to my son.”

“You’re lying! My parents would have never been a part of Hydra.”

“I fear, dear girl, that you did not know your parents well. You come from a long line of Hydra followers. They betrayed me, by not agreeing to your marriage to Brock, so I attacked their village. Which also helped me hurt King Anthony.”

“No! You’re a liar! My family would never be loyal to Hydra!” Y/N stabbed her fork into Alexander’s hand.

The man screamed in pain as Y/N stood up and ran for the door. Brock was too quick for her. He grabbed her roughly by her wrists, as the other guests in the room watched, like nothing was wrong. She winced at the growing pain. Brock slammed her into the door.

“You do not get to be disrespectful, Princess,” Brock seethed. “This was always your future, to be with me. And I have waited too long for this.” He brought his face closer to hers, which caused her to turn her face away. “Look at me,” he ordered. She refused. “Look at me.” He slammed her against the door again. She looked at him, unable to stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks. “You will learn your place here quickly, or you will suffer the consequences. Understood?” The Princess meekly nodded. “I asked you a question, that means I want a verbal answer.”

“Understood,” she whispered, shakily.

Brock leaned forward and licked the side of her face. “You’re lucky that I’m waiting until we’re married until I ruin you,” he whispered. “I can still have my fun until then though. And I can’t wait to see the looks on King Steven and King Anthony’s faces when they find out what I’ve done.”

“That’s enough, Brock,” Alexander commanded. “Wouldn’t want to scare your bride before the big day. Loki? Care to show our guest back to her room?”

“Absolutely,” Loki responded, quickly coming up beside Brock and Y/N. Brock was still holding onto the Princess, not making a move to let go.

“Let her go, Brock,” Alexander ordered. “You’ll have your chance with her.”

“Have a goodnight,” Brock growled, pressing a kiss to her nose, “Princess.”

As soon as Brock let go, Loki had a hold on Y/N and lead her out of the room. Y/N was struggling not to crumble onto the ground right there. Her legs trembled as Loki led her down the hall.

“Why?” Y/N’s voice shaked, coming out barely above a whisper. “I trusted you…”

“That was foolish of you, Princess,” Loki said. “You had been warned, yet you still foolishly followed me.”

“I thought you cared…”

“I care about Hydra and my blood line here. Nothing else. You should too.”

Back in Brooklyn, all of Asgard’s, Brooklyn’s, Alexandria’s, and Wakanda’s armies had been gathered together. None of the kingdoms were going to stop until Y/N was found, and Loki and Hydra were destroyed. Neither King Steven or King Anthony had slept since the Princess went missing almost three days ago. All of the royals and their Captains had gathered in the ballroom, which now had turned into a command center. There were tables scattered throughout the room, with maps and any information they could gather on Hydra.

“There’s nothing!” Steven yelled, slamming his fist on the table he was standing at. “Loki has left no clues and since Hydra really hasn’t made an appearance for almost ten years, we have no idea where they might be hiding.”

“I say we start sending out groups of guards to search all the kingdoms and surrounded areas,” T’Challa suggested. “That might be the best course of action for now.”

“Hold the plans!” Thor shouted, rushing into the room. “I have just received this package from Asgard. It’s full of Loki’s writings and maps. There might be something that we can use to help locate them.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Captain Barnes asked. “Hand them out.”

Steven looked around the room, trying to find where King Anthony might be. When he spotted him on the balcony, he made his way towards his friend. The older King was leaning forward, arms against the railing, with his head down. As Steven got closer, he could hear the quiet sniffles of the King.

“Asgard sent a package over with some of Loki’s things,” Steven stated, coming up beside his friend. “They’re looking over them now.”

“Loki’s too smart to leave anything out like that,” Tony replied, still looking down.

“Doesn’t hurt with looking.”

“Yes, it does,” Tony said through gritted teeth. “Cause the longer we take, the longer she’s with them. In their hands. And who knows what they’re doing to her!”

“I’m frustrated too, Tony. But we have nothing to go on and we are trying our best to hunt Loki and her down.”

“I just… I can’t help but blame myself. For all of this.”

“I fear that Loki would have gotten to her somehow. He’s a trickster that way. Not all of this is your fault, Tony.” Steven sighed, looking out at the water. “You should have seen her, when she first looked at this view. The way her eyes lit up. I made a promise to myself then and there that that look in her eyes would never leave as long as I could help it… I have failed her too. But we will make it right.” Steven looked over to meet Tony’s sad eyes looking back. “We have to.”

Y/N was locked away for two days without seeing anyone. Food was given to her from underneath the door, but it was all stale or moldy. She spent most of her time crying on the bed, wishing that someone would come rescue her. Knowing her Father, Steven, and even T’Challa, she knew that they were trying their best to find her, and quickly. But also knowing Loki, he would have covered his tracks.

Her door opening, took Y/N out of her thoughts of rescue. Two ladies walked in, one carrying a basket. She curled in on herself, eyes never leaving the two new people.

“Hello, Princess,” one of the women smiled. “We’re here to measure you for your wedding dress.”

Y/N took a breath, trying to muster up some courage. She wasn’t going to let this marriage happen. She was going to postpone this as long as possible.

“No,” the Princess quietly said.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” the second woman stated.

“Yes, I do. I will not be getting married to that awful man. So, you can go. There will be no measuring today.”

The two women shared a look before leaving. Y/N let out a breath of relief as the door shut. But it wasn’t too long before stomping feet sounded in the hall and the door swung open.

“What is this about you not wanting to get measured for a wedding dress?” Brock snarled.

“I am not getting married,” the Princess stated, trying to hold her ground. “Especially not to you.”

Brock stalked over, grabbing Y/N and flinging her to the floor. “You don’t have a choice. Like I said before, you can make this easier for yourself or harder.” He kicked her in the gut, causing her to curl into a ball. “Now. Shall I let them back in? Are you going to be good?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Brock rose an eyebrow at her, challenging her.

Y/N’s courage almost faltered, but she pushed through. “I will never marry you.”

Brock picked her up by her wrists and threw her on the bed. The Princess tried to fight, but failed. Brock knelt over her on the bed and began to punch her face. She screamed in pain as he punched her. When he was done with her face, Brock moved on to her torso. Y/N continued to try to fight back, but grew weaker with every hit. She eventually stopped fighting back, which caused the beating to stop. The Princess couldn’t move as she cried and he still knelt over her. Brock began to kiss the forming bruises that he could see. When he was finished, he smashed his lips to her. Y/N tensed at the unwanted contact. Brock laughed as he left her, bruised and bleeding, on the bed and locked the door behind her.

Y/N’s body ached beyond what she had ever felt before. That didn’t stop her from sobbing though. She sobbed into her blood stained bedding until she passed out.

next chapter >

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#steve rogers x reader #thor x reader #t'challa x reader #loki x reader #king!Steve Rogers x reader #tony stark x daughter!reader #steve rogers imagine #the avengers x reader #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #marvel imagine #thor imagine #t'challa imagine #loki imagine #marvel royalty au #marvel medieval au #marvel au #tony stark x reader #tony stark imagine

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deansmom · 3 years

Text

(ao3) pls accept this very old mcdanno fic I never published, in which there are feelings and a kiss. also, soup snakes.

"So, Steven."

Steve smirks a little bit, leaning back against his desk like the smug asshole he is. This conversation has been a train wreck from the start.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Danny raises his voice for dramatic effect to accompany the accusing look he's shooting at Steve. "You and me."

"Have you ever considered that maybe I'm interrupting you because you talk in incomplete sentences when you're nervous?"

Danny glares at him and flails his hands around unhelpfully, "See, this! This is what I'm talking about!"

Steve rolls his eyes, "You weren't talking about anything Danny. We were tailing a suspect and you said, out of the blue, 'do you know what a soup snake is' and here we are.”

"This -" Danny shakes his head and runs a hand over his face, "You know, if you ever let me finish a sentence I wouldn't have to bring things up like that."

Steve grins as he watches Danny start ramping up to a full-blown rant-down (the Williams version of a meltdown). He gets up after a moment and sets a hand on the other mans shoulder, his smile a little kinder. "Hey. I'm listening."

Danny looks up at him and deflates. He brings both of his hands up to his face and groans, "Okay. Okay, so..."

He walks a few steps away from Steve and collects himself before saying, "So Gracie is reading this book, right? And it's been so long since she was excited about a book so I said sure, I'll read it with her, cause y'know, that's what you do, you read books you don't care about just to spend time with your daughter before she starts to hate you."

"Danny," Steve sighs and rests against his desk again, "Gracie could never -"

"Shut up," Danny interrupts with a flail. He's yelling with his hands. "Shut up or I'm never gonna get through this okay?"

Steve stays silent as way of answer.

It takes another few seconds before Danny says, "So this book. Some actress wrote it and she was on that show The Office."

Danny turns to look out at the rest of the squad room and runs a hand through his hair, "She's got this friend and he's - he's her ex. Best friends though, like, the kinda thing you hope for growing up.

"And Mindy - that's the actress - everybody wants to know why they're not together. So she's got this chapter in this book and she says y'know, it's weird, their relationship, but they're soup snakes."

Steve has to bite his tongue.

"And - Gracie, you know, she turns to me and she says, 'That sounds like you and Uncle Steve, Danno.'"

On instinct, Steve's body tenses up and he's got to remind himself to breathe.

"So I'm thinking you know, she's just a kid, she doesn't know things. She's smart but she doesn't, you know - she doesn't know this."

Danny lets his head fall forward so it's resting as close to his chest as it can. "Do you know what soup snakes are, Steven?"

He has to take a moment to get his voice to work before he responds, "Uh... No, afraid I don't."

Danny spins around suddenly, and gestures around, "It's from an episode apparently. The main guy, his ex comes to town and he spends the whole episode trying to explain why he doesn't have feelings for her when he clearly does and he doesn’t want to be friends with her and - it's jibberish. Makes a toddler look like a genius."

He takes a few steps closer to Steve, apparently more determined now, "And he makes this list. The number one reason on it is because they're soup snakes."

Danny pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and pretends his hands aren't shaking. It's harder to pretend his voice isn't shaking though when he starts reading it.

"I lied to Kevin. Holly and I can never be just friends. I wrote down a list of bullet points why Holly and I should be together, and I'm going to find the perfect moment today and I am going to tell her. Number one: "Holly, you and I are soup snakes." The ... and the reason is... because... in terms of the soup, we like to- that doesn't make any sense. We're soul mates. Holly and I are soul mates."

Steve's heart is pounding in a way that it hasn't since he went through basic training and he's suddenly sweating bullets. "That's, ah..." He licks his lips and tries again, "That's a nice story, Danny."

Danny seems to ignore him, keeping his eyes on the paper, “So, there I am, sitting in my living room with my daughter, my lovely, amazing girlfriend in the kitchen and...”

He looks up at Steve finally and he looks terrified - like walking into a tunnel terrified.

“And see I’m - I’m having a crisis. Because this?” He gestures in between the two of them, “This wasn’t - it’s not -”

“Yeah,” Steve croaks out, his voice rough for a number of reasons.

Danny opens his mouth uselessly, the words on the tip of his tongue and refusing to come out.

Steve takes a step closer, well within his personal space now and swallows nervously, “It doesn’t have to be. I mean, if you...” He lets out a breath, ignoring his stuttering heart, “If you don’t -”

He’s not an idiot. Despite what Danny likes to think, he’s not a ‘neanderthal.’ He’s got feelings, lots of them, and he knows what they all mean.

He knows that he’s been in love with Danny since the day they met.

“But it is!” Danny yelps, his hands coming up to rest on the back of his head, “It already is Steven, it doesn’t matter if I -”

Steve sets a hand on his shoulder, effectively shutting him up. It doesn’t matter, not really, because the only thing he can hear is the sound of his heart racing in his ears.

“Did you break up with her?” He asks, terrified of the answer.

Danny makes a face that clearly communicates how dumb he thinks Steve is, “What, are you insane? What kind of person do you think I am, huh?? Realize I’m in love with my best friend and keep dating a perfectly nice -”

And, well, that’s enough.

Steve leans down, slamming their lips together in both an effort to shut him the hell up and finally, finally find out what kissing Danny feels like.

Danny groans into it, his hands coming up to fist Steve’s shirt.

They’ve always been a bit of a disaster together, two halves of different puzzles that shouldn’t fit, but they do, they fit so well, and kissing is no exception.

There’s a literal push and pull and before Steve realizes what’s happening, he gets pushed back into his chair. Danny’s standing there looking absolutely wrecked, the toes of their shoes knocking against each other, and Steve has never seen anything more beautiful.

“You,” Danny huffs, trying to catch his breath, and points at Steve’s chest. “Are an asshole.”

Steve squawks, his hands coming up to grab Danny’s thighs, “Me?!”

Danny glares at him, but still moves so that he’s partially on Steve’s lap.

Something fizzles out in Steve’s brain with all this physical contact and he’s expecting something, something like a kiss or frotting or - something.

Instead, Danny pinches the sensitive part of his upper arm, hard, and Steve yelps.

“Do not interrupt me when I’m talking to you,” he hisses.

“Talking at me is more like it,” Steve mumbles, unable to take his eyes off of Danny. They’re so close, they’re so fucking close, and he’s got years of pent-up frustration and theories he wants to explore.

There’s a bead of sweat rolling its way down Danny’s throat and Steve just watches it go, wonders how angry Danny would be if he leaned up and licked it right now. Probably really angry, he seems like he’s really pissed, and Steve’s not sure why.

Then again, he usually isn’t totally sure why Danny’s mad at him.

Danny’s hand grabs his chin, forcing Steve to look back up at him, “Steven.”

Steve licks his lips, his mouth feeling suddenly very dry, “Yeah?”

“We are at work,” he reminds him, his tone going a little softer.

He sounds, for lack of a better word, wrecked. He sounds like Steve feels, which is a little raw and a little off balance and -

Steve groans, his head falling forward and landing on Danny’s clavicle. Stupidly, some part of his lizard brain can only think about how good he smells.

“Yeah,” he sighs, his eyes closing. “Yeah, okay.”

Danny presses a kiss to his temple, softer than anything Steve thinks he deserves, and finally pulls away from him. Steve makes a noise of complaint at the loss of contact and it feels like his chest is going to explode with the quiet laugh from Danny it earns him.

God, he really loves him.

He watches as Danny fixes his hair, fixes his shirt, tries not to look like his whole world has been rocked in the last ten minutes.

Steve doesn’t even try to pretend he isn’t doing exactly what he’s doing.

Danny catches his eye after a moment and grins, walking around to the front of the desk.

This is the part of Danny that Steve’s always had to experience from the outside looking in, and now, he’s the center of that look and. Wow.

“Hey Danny,” he hears himself choke out right as Danny’s about to walk out of the office.

Danny turns around, the door half open, and somehow the bastard looks like he always does, like this is all normal. “Yeah?”

It takes his brain a little bit longer than normal to figure out what it was he was going to say, and when it does he wants to laugh.

“I’m gonna need that report before we leave tonight.”

Danny’s face does that thing where it scrunches up like Steve’s being the most unreasonable dictator in the world and he starts yelling (’I don’t yell at you Steven, I explain loudly’).

Because he’s an idiot, and he’s hopelessly in love with his partner, Steve just grins.

Yeah, he thinks to himself. Yeah, this could work.

#mcdanno #mcdanno fic #mcdanno fanfiction #stevedanny #h50 #mackenzie attempts fics #personal #otp: kinda surf buddies #this is SO OLD however old mindy kaling's first book is that's how old this is #anyways here I finally wrote an ending for it enjoy pls be nice 2 me #theres so much good stevedanno fic I never felt ~adequate~ to throw my hat in the ring lol

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writeroutoftime · 4 years

Text

lost in love and time - prologue part one

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

summary: haunted mansion au - when you come to work with your mother at Barnes Manor, you have no idea how you’re life will change when you meet Bucky

warnings: none

words: 4333

a/n: here it is, I am so excited to finally be posting the first part! on top of the excitement, I’m so nervous because I already feel connected to this series and I really want you guys to enjoy it! so, without further ado, enjoy this first part and let me know if you would liked to be tagged. have a fabulous day! (also a quick note, just the prologue will be written in third person, once we get to chapter one, I will switch back to second person)

oOoOo

1885

She had been fourteen when she arrived and Bucky fifteen. Shy, but determined she stood behind her mother who had been hired on as the newest cook at Barnes Manor. Bucky watched from the stairs above and smiled when he heard her name: y/n. He mouthed the name over and over, then decided that he liked the way he felt when he spoke it. However, he didn’t get much more time when he saw his mother begin to turn towards the stairs, causing him to quickly scurry away. If there was one thing that his mother and Pierce had drilled into his mind it was that young gentlemen did not lurk – it was beneath them. If he was to inherit Barnes Manor in a few years, he needed to be brought up like a proper gentleman who could care for the manor.

Hidden in a dark corner, Bucky watched as y/n and her mother passed by him, unknowingly, as Pierce led them on a tour of the manor. As she walked by, Bucky couldn’t help but think that she was the prettiest girl he had laid eyes on. Once the coast was clear, he hurried back to his study to continue his lessons before anyone noticed he had been missing. However, the rest of the day, his thoughts kept going back to the y/h/c girl who had just entered his life.

It was later in the week when Bucky finally got to speak to y/n. She had been carrying a basket full of laundry to take to the washroom, but the basket was so full that the clothes obscured her vision, and she ended up bumping into Bucky.

“Master Barnes, I’m so sorry.” she squeaked out and rushed to gather the dropped garments.

Bucky knelt down with her to help and smiled kindly at her. “You don’t have to call me that.” he said. “In fact, please do not call me that.” he added with a chuckle.

The look that y/n gave Bucky in response was one of pure shock. “But Master Barnes, I-I couldn’t.” she said, looking around nervously to see if anyone had heard Bucky’s suggestion.

“How about you only call me that when we’re alone?” he countered.

“When we’re alone?” she questioned.

Bucky’s smile widened. “Well we are going to be friends are we not? I mean you seem to be just a little younger than me, and I don’t have many friends besides Steve.” he said, sheepishly.

After giving it a moment’s thought, y/n nodded her head with a smile. “Okay.” she confirmed. “Bucky. And I’m y/n.”

“y/n, more like Pixie there with you running into me.” he teased.

y/n glowered at Bucky’s comment. “You’re not that much taller than me.” she said, arms crossed over her chest.

“I’m just kidding, y/n.” Bucky promised.

From that moment on, y/n and Bucky became close friends. Most of the servants found their friendship endearing, and they were glad that the young master had found someone else to be young with. Bucky’s mother and Pierce, on the other hand, found the friendship absolutely disgraceful and pulled the two apart whenever they could. They both warned Bucky of the dangers of being friends with a servant girl, especially Pierce.

“But I’m friends with Steve, and he’s a servant.” Bucky argued, frustrated.

“Don’t pout, Master Barnes. It is not becoming.” Pierce scolded. “And it is different with Steven because he knows his place. Miss. y/l/n, on the other hand, does not know her place. Besides, girls like her are usually only after your money.” Pierce said and pushed the history book back in front of Bucky.

Later that night, Bucky meet with y/n and told her want Pierce had said. Aghast, y/n promised that Pierce had been lying, and that she would never do something like that. Satisfied, Bucky hugged her, and she never gave him a reason to doubt her.

oOoOo

The years passed and both y/n and Bucky grew, and y/n became accustomed to life at Barnes Manor. While the pair might not have been able to spend as much time together as they once had, their friendship hadn’t weakened despite all of Winnifred and Pierce’s attempts. In fact, the two began to see each other in a new light as Bucky turned seventeen and y/n sixteen. Not that they would never admit it to each other.

The first time Bucky noticed these new feelings was at a ball hosted annually at Barnes Manor. The entire night, Bucky had been bored out of his mind, but forced a charming smile to greet all the guests his mother had invited. Both Steve and y/n had to work during the ball, therefore, Bucky did not have the only people he considered to be his true friends to distract him. Instead, Bucky had been introduced to a dozen girls throughout the night, thanks to his mother. Her hope was that one of them would catch Bucky’s eye, and a marriage could be arranged for when he turned of age in four years.

Yet, none of them had managed to impress Bucky with their fake smiles, forced laughs, and shallow personalities. What did catch Bucky’s eye that night, however, was y/n. He had been dancing with yet another girl, whose name he had already forgotten, when he spotted y/n clearing dishes from a table. She had on a dress that was nicer than her everyday attire, but not as extravagant as the gowns the girls Bucky was dancing with wore. It didn’t matter to him though. Bucky watched as she gracefully balanced plates and cups in her arms, and the way her hair reflected in the glowing candlelight made a dopey grin appear on Bucky’s face. He was so distracted that he stepped on his dance partner’s foot and promptly led her to a seat, offering a half-hearted apology.

As he left the girl at the table, Bucky looked back and saw y/n talking to Steve. The two laughed in a darkened corner of the room, and Steve spun y/n to the music. Bucky felt a surge of jealousy flow through his body, but he had to remind himself that there was nothing but pure friendship between you and Steve. In fact, Steve was happily dating one of the local girls, Peggy Carter.

The rest of the night, Bucky had to suppress his desire to sweep you out of Steve’s arms and into his own, and that was the first time that Bucky saw you as more than a friend.

For y/n, it had been shortly before that same ball, when she had noticed how Bucky had interacted with one of the younger members of the staff. The young boy had been crying nonstop and Bucky, who had been visiting y/n, offered to sit with the child as his mother needed to run and complete a task.

“It’s alright, buddy.” Bucky soothed as he bounced the child up and down.

y/n watched how, in only a few minutes, the child in Bucky’s arms calmed down and even began to giggle as Bucky swung him around gently. Her heart warmed at the sight because Bucky just had that affect on everyone, and he certainly had it on y/n. Despite the rather harsh lessons about being the Master of the manor he received from Pierce and his mother, Bucky was a kind soul. He knew that he needed to be personable and respectful to all, and his charming, kind natured spirit came naturally to him.

It was in that moment that y/n’s eyes and heart opened to what she truly felt for Bucky. She felt herself smile at the thought, but something in the back of her mind nagged at her and told her that she and Bucky could never be. So, she pushed it all away – the negative thoughts and her feelings – and helped back entertain the boy until his mother returned.

The day it became clear to the both of them was the night before Bucky was to leave for the manor for the next few years. He had recently turned eighteen years old, and in only three years, he would officially become Master of the manor. Until then, however, Bucky was going to New York City to live with family, travel, and see the world before he would return to Barnes Manor.

When Bucky told y/n the news, she couldn’t help the tears that fell at the thought of her best friend leaving her alone in the house. Of course, she would have Steve and Peggy (whom y/n had come to love in the short time she and Steve had been together), but that meant she would be left alone to face the wrath of Winnifred and Pierce. They still did not care for her because of her affiliation with Bucky. However, as y/n’s mother reminder her, she kept her head up and did what they asked of her.

“I have to leave, Pixie. I have to see the world before I’m here the rest of my life.” he explained to her in dark servant’s quarter room, lit only by a single candle; her childhood nickname still around after all these years, despite the fact that both of them had grown since their first meeting.

y/n did her best to control her tears as she responded. “I know,” she whispered. “but that does not make it any easier to bear. I’m happy for you Bucky, truly I am. I just can’t imagine Barnes Manor without you here.” she admitted.

As the tears continued to flow, Bucky reached out and brushed them away, gently, with the pad of his thumb. y/n’s breath hitched at the contact, but she did not pull away. She, instead, leaned further into his touch and closed her eyes, contently. It was only when Bucky pulled away that she opened her eyes and realized what had happened.

“Bucky, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I mean…” she stammered, but was quickly cut off.

Bucky leaned in and kissed y/n gently and sweetly. There was a moment in which y/n hesitated and thought she was dreaming, but she quickly responded and leaned even further into the kiss, her hand rested on Bucky’s cheek. Although the kiss was new and unsure, it was filled with years’ worth of feelings that had been left unsaid. When the two pulled away, laughter filled the room to fill the silence that followed.

“So, that was- “y/n began.

“Wait for me.” Bucky interrupted y/n, hurriedly and with a nervous look on his face.

“What?” she whispered back, not sure she had heard him right.

Bucky swallowed and took a deep breath before he repeated his request. “Wait for me, please. I’ll only be gone three years, which will be over before either of us realizes.” Bucky explained, his hands holding tightly onto y/n’s. “Then, we can be together, and we won’t ever have to be apart. I promise you, y/n. I love you.” he said, his words full of passion and new love.

y/n stared back at Bucky and tried to process the proposition he had just thrown at her. Here he was, Bucky Barnes – her employer for all purposes – declaring his feeling for her. It was the three words she had longed to hear for years.

Bucky took y/n’s silence as a no, and quickly rushed to amend his statement. “That is if you feel the same way, and if you want to.” he added, lamely. “I do understand that three years is a long time, and there are many others, I’m sure, who would want to be with you. But maybe if you feel the same way?”

“I’ll wait for you.” y/n spoke, a smile growing on her face with each passing second.

The two shared another kiss and spent the evening in hushed whispers as they discussed their future into the early hours of the night. Eventually, Bucky left y/n with a goodnight kiss and snuck back to his own room to double check he had everything. While their parting the next morning was sorrowful, there was an underlying sense of joy from their declarations and promises from the night before. Promises that would keep y/n and Bucky going over the next three years.

oOoOo

In the time that Bucky was away, he only returned home twice; the first being when y/n’s mother passed away. Only months after Bucky had left, a terrible influenza swept through the area, and both she and her mother had been hit. However, while y/n recovered quickly, her mother only worsened. Each day y/n watched her mother grow weaker, until she finally slipped away, peacefully, in her sleep.

y/n was devastated as her co-workers helped to plan a funeral in the days to come. It was hard to get out of bed for y/n most days with the thought that her mother was no longer with her. Ever since her father died, it had been y/n and her mother against the world, but now it would just be y/n. She was thankful that Winnifred had given her a few days off, in a rare moment of compassion to the young girl.

On the day of the funeral, y/n was struck with more grief than she thought possible. The only thing that kept her going was the support Peggy and Steve offered as they stood on either side of her as the pastor blessed her mother’s casket. Eventually, y/n felt a presence behind her and immediately recognized it when the person spoke.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, Pixie.” Bucky apologized and knelt next to y/n in the grass. “I didn’t even know she was sick, or that you had been.” Bucky admitted.

“I didn’t want to bother you, Bucky. New York is so far away and-“

“You will never be a bother to me.” he told y/n, firmly. “And you can always write to me. I don’t want you to feel as though you have to hide things from me.”

y/n nodded her head in lieu of a response, but she quickly dissolved into a mess of tears and buried her head into Bucky’s chest. “I miss her so much, James.” she cried. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without her.”

“You are going to get through this, y/n.” he promised. “It may take a while, but I will help you, and you know Steve and Peggy will too.” he said, and he felt y/n nod her head against his chest.

The two stayed like that for a while, until the sky began to darken, and small drops of rain made contact with y/n and Bucky’s skin. Bucky led y/n inside and brought her to a small room and set her on the couch. For the rest of the night, he stayed with y/n and offered her as much comfortable as possible.

A knock on the door interrupted their quiet. “Master Barnes, your carriage is here.” a servant informed Bucky, then closed the door after he was dismissed.

Neither y/n nor Bucky spoke for a moment until Bucky broke the silence. “I’m so sorry, Pixie. I wish I could get more time away from my classes.” he apologized, then a determined look crossed his features “You know what? I am staying.” he declared. “I’ll let my professors know that-“

“Bucky, it’s okay. I understand.” y/n spoke gently.

The two went back and forth on the matter for the next few minutes until Bucky relented to y/n’s requests. She didn’t want him to miss out on anything because of her, and like he said, she had Peggy and Steve to help her out. Reluctantly, Bucky stood, kissed y/n, and left the manor once more.

The second time Bucky returned home was when his own mother fell sick, two years later.

At first, Winnifred had refused to send to word to Bucky that she had fallen ill. She claimed that did not want to worry him within something so trivial and interrupt his studies. However, when the sickness got worse, you knew Steve had sent a letter to Bucky, because he had returned to the manor before the week’s end.

When Bucky had returned, y/n stayed out of his way, much to the disappointment of Steve and Peggy who urged her to go and comfort him during this difficult time, but she resisted. Her argument was that Bucky needed to be with his mother and with Pierce, but she would be there when Bucky was ready. What she didn’t realize was that Bucky wanted you to be by his side too.

It wasn’t long before Winnifred passed, and Barnes Manor was sent into a period of grieving. Even though the women had never been the friendliest to y/n, she hadn’t wished her any harm. And on top of that, she knew the pain of losing a mother, and never wished for anyone – especially Bucky – to have to go through that same pain.

Days later, the funeral commenced and as the ceremony ended, everyone began to walk back to the manor for a small reception. However, y/n stood back and watched as Bucky stood frozen as he stared down at his mother’s grave. The two had yet to have a true conversation since Bucky had come home, and y/n didn’t think that after his mother’s funeral was the best time to do so. However, she knew he needed comfort and so she pushed aside any of her feelings and walked slowly towards him.

When y/n did reach Bucky, she carefully extended her hand and smiled softly as Bucky intertwined his fingers with hers as though she was his lifeline. No words needed to be spoken as both y/n and Bucky kept their thoughts to themselves. A few moments later, Bucky rested his head on y/n’s shoulder, and she could feel the vibrations from his body shaking as he finally let his tears go. Again, no words were spoken, y/n just squeezed his hand tight to let Bucky know that she was there for him and always would be.

Eventually, evening set in, but y/n and Bucky remained outside. They shifted to sitting on the grass, still in front of the grave. Bucky’s tears had subsided and y/n mumbled words of comfort every few minutes. He turns his head to get a good luck at y/n and gives the smallest hint of a smile for all she has done for him. They hadn’t seen each other in nearly two years, and immediately, she took a place next to him to comfort him.

“I love you.” he whispered into the warm, night air.

“What?” y/n responded shocked. She doubted that she had heard Bucky mutter those words, especially on a day such as that.

“I love you.” he repeated, plain and simple. He knew in his heart that it was true, and he wanted to let y/n know. Too much time had already passed with his feelings for her being unclear between them.

Many thoughts ran through y/n’s head as she tried to process the gravity of Bucky’s words. Of course, they had shown that they thought they were more than friends through years ago the night before Bucky left, but she chalked that up to childhood fantasies. And even though he had kissed her after her mother’s funeral, she, again, thought it was an action committed in the heat of the moment, however y/n now knew that wasn’t the case.

There were so many reasons for her to say no, but one look at Bucky, and y/n knew that he was it for her. “I love you too.” she finally responded, her voice teary and emotional.

The two of them embraced and just stood there, thankful that they had been reunited once more. However, neither of them noticed Pierce who stood further away, watching the two of them interact with a scowl on his face.

oOoOo

Months passed and while it was hard to adjust to life without Winnifred running the manor, Bucky did the best he could to fill her shoes. After that moment Bucky and y/n shared the day of his mother’s funeral, the two slowly began a courtship – though less formal then what most people were used to. After being close friends for so long, neither of them believed they needed to start from the very beginning of a relationship. Besides, after both of them losing their mothers, they didn’t wish to waste another moment with each other.

y/n continued to work in the manor while Bucky ran the estate. Busy most of the day, the couple usually spent evenings together, and often shared dinner with Steve and Peggy. However, one day, about six months after y/n and Bucky had made their relationship official, he pulled away from her work mid-afternoon and claimed he had a surprise for her.

“Bucky, where are we going?” y/n questioned, slightly amused. “I told Peggy I would help her in the kitchens soon.”

Bucky gave you a quick peck on the cheek as he led you towards the ballroom. “Don’t worry, I already talked to her. Everything is taken care of.” he promised.

y/n wasn’t completely swayed by his answer but played along regardless. The ballroom was empty except for a box on a table off to the side, and y/n gave Bucky a confused look. “What are we doing here?” she asked.

“I have a gift for you.” he told her and gently guided her towards the table where the box sat, unopened.

When they reached the table, Bucky motioned for her to open it, and y/n gave him one more look before she shrugged her shoulders and carefully removed the wrapping around the box. What she saw underneath was a beautifully carved, mahogany box. She didn’t have to look back to Bucky to know that Bucky wanted her to open the box. Upon opening it, y/n gasped as she realized it was a music box, and a gentle waltz filled her ears.

As the music played, there were two figurines that spun around, embraced in each other’s arms to resemble a dancing couple. Upon closer inspection, y/n gasped again as she realized that the two figures were made to represent her and Bucky. His figure had wavy, dark hair combed back dressed in a dashing suit, while hers had beautiful y/s/c skin, y/h/c that was pulled out of the figurine’s face and dressed in a beautiful ball gown.

“Bucky, I love it!” she gushed, and turned to face her beloved.

“I’m glad.” he smiled and took y/n’s hands in his once more.

Bucky then led the pair of them back out to the dance floor and rested one of his hands on her waist and kept the other firm in her hand. In return, y/n placed her free hand on Bucky’s shoulder. Though y/n had little dance experience, she and Bucky managed to glide across the floor as the waltz from the music continued to flow throughout the room. It was a gentle, soothing music that brought an air of peace with it.

Wrapped up in Bucky’s arms, y/n felt as though the world around them had disappeared. Every so often, Bucky would spin her around or throw in a dip, and y/n giggled at his actions. The sound caused Bucky to grin back at the beautiful women who stood in front of him. There was so much love that he felt in his heart, that he knew what he needed to do.

“Can we pause for a moment?” Bucky asked, stopping their waltz.

“Can’t keep up?” you teased.

Bucky offered a smile and ran his hand through his hair, nervously. “Actually, I have something to ask you.” Bucky said, his voice not as steady as he would have liked.

y/n noticed his discomfort and offered an encouraging smile in place of a verbal response.

Nodding, Bucky took a deep breath before he began to speak. “Six years ago, you came into my life, and I had no idea what impact that would have on me. You have given me so much, even if you don’t realize it. You taught me to love and to laugh and to understand that there is more to life than being the master of this manor.” he said, and y/n smiled at him as he continued. “Being away from you for three years made me realize that I never want to be far from your side. Wherever you are, I will be right there with you, because I’m with you to the end of the line. But what I’m trying to say is that, I love you, y/n y/l/n, and I want you by my side for every adventure we face from this point on. So,” Bucky said and shifted to one knee.

He pulled a small box from his coat pocket and y/n gasped, tearing up as he revealed a beautiful, diamond ring inside. “will you please become my wife and stand by my side for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me, Pixie?” he finally asked, nerves at an all-time high.

“Yes.” y/n whispered as the tears took the volume away from her voice. “Yes, I will marry you, Bucky!” she nearly shouted and launched herself into his arms.

A hearty chuckle left Bucky’s lips as he slipped the ring onto y/n’s finger and admired the way it sat perfectly on her ring finger. He looked back up to find y/n already staring at him, and he leaned in and molded his lips against hers. The two wrapped their arms around the other to deepen the kiss that represented all their future would bring.

oOoOo

A few days later, and neither y/n nor Bucky had lost the glow that came with their engagement; if anything, it only increased. News had spread quickly throughout Barnes Manor, and the staff was ecstatic for the young couple. There had always been speculation that the young master would end up with y/n, and they hadn’t been wrong.

With the news of the engagement came the rush to quickly plan an engagement ball. Both y/n and Bucky expressed their wishes against a long engagement, claiming that they had spent enough time apart. However, that also meant an expediated process of the usual customs, including the dreaded engagement ball. y/n recognized that with their marriage, she would have to get acquainted with Bucky’s friends and social circle, but she did not want to have to spend the evening meant to celebrate her and Bucky’s love for each other networking. While wasn’t something that she was looking forward to, she went along with it for Bucky’s sake.

Side by side in Bucky’s study, the couple looked over last minute details that needed approval for the ball in a few days. They also reviewed the guest list and seating chart to make sure there were no disasters that stemmed from old family feuds. Once finished, y/n stood and was about to make her way to a fitting for her ballgown when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” Bucky spoke, still focused on the papers in front of him.

The door creaked open slowly, and in walked Pierce. y/n sat closer to Bucky involuntarily as the butler neared Bucky’s desk. Although he hadn’t said anything to her face, y/n could sense that Pierce was still not her biggest fan, and that he had some issues with her upcoming marriage to Bucky. It was a topic she had brought up to Bucky just a few weeks back when they were first engaged, but he brushed it off as a paternal protectiveness. Pierce was a dear friend, and father-like figure to Bucky, so y/n kept her mouth closed after that. Perhaps it was all in her head after all.

“Sir.” he bowed to Bucky. “Miss. y/l/n.” he said, his voice thick with annoyance at y/n’s presence.

“What is it, Pierce?” Bucky asked, his eyes now on the butler.

Pierce hesitated as if he were choosing his words carefully. “May I speak to you alone, Master Barnes?” he requested.

Though y/n made a subtle attempt to stand, Bucky held her hand firmly and squeezed it twice, their silent communication that all was fine “Whatever you have you to say, Pierce, you can say it front of me and the future Mistress of Barnes Manor.” Bucky said authoritatively, but not cruelly.

Again, Pierce hesitated and swallowed a sarcastic remark, before he continued. “Very well, sir. I have been reviewing your mother’s will along with the terms of your inheritance, and it seems I have come across a…complication.” he said, rather ominously.

Bucky’s eyes squinted in confusion. “What kind of complication? I thought everything had been taken care of months ago?” Bucky inquired.

“As did I, sir. However, it seems there is a stipulation that concerns your claim to the manor and your marriage.” Pierce continued.

“How could those possibly be related?” y/n asked, though she shrunk down at Pierce’s harsh glare.

He cleared his throat. “It seems as though your mother wished for you to marry a certain caliber of woman. And if you do not, then you forfeit your claim to your inheritance and to Barnes Manor.” he finally finished, no look of regret on his features.

The silence that followed, as y/n and Bucky comprehended this new development, was deafening. By that point, Bucky’s grip had tightened on y/n’s hand even more, though she paid little attention to the sensation. Here was this stipulation, this ‘minor complication’, intended to keep her away from the love of her life. But they couldn’t just ignore it. y/n couldn’t let Bucky lose the only place he had known to be home.

They seemed to forget that Pierce was still there until he spoke up once more. “If you don’t require anything, I will take my leave, sir.” he said, and Bucky nodded, waving him off. Before Pierce left, though, he sent a snide look y/n’s way, that only she caught.

When the door closed, with more force than necessary, y/n turned to Bucky with an absolutely heartbroken look on her face. “What are we going to do?” she whispered.

Bucky turned his body to fully face her. “What do you mean?” he questioned.

“You can’t be serious, Bucky.” y/n responded, trying to hold back a laugh of disbelief. “You cannot possibly be considering going along with this marriage still.”

Bucky’s eyes flashed confusion, and a trace of hurt. “Do you really think that I would cast you aside just to keep my family’s money?”

“It’s not all about the money.” y/n tried to reason with him. “You would be losing your home, Bucky. What would become of Barnes Manor if you lost it. What would become of all the people who depend on you to earn a living?” she continued, her thoughts going to Steve and Peggy and everyone else who worked within the manor.

“I want to be with you, y/n!” Bucky argued. “I will make arrangements for the staff, but as for the manor, it’s just a house, Pixie. You are my home, and I would be lost without you.” he whispered, his hand reaching to rest against her cheek.

A few tears raced down y/n’s face at yet another obstacle that had been thrown in their path to happiness. It seemed that for every one the two had overcome, another came to block their path. y/n just wanted to be happy with Bucky, no fighting necessary.

Bucky could sense her uneasiness and leaned in to offer a gentle kiss against her lips. He poured as much love and hope as he could muster, wishing that it would infuse into his fiancée’s body the will for her to fight for them, just like Bucky was willing to.

“I love you, Buck.” y/n said. “And I am willing to fight for us, but I don’t want you to resent me years from now. I don’t want you to look at me and see what your life could have been if you had stayed here.” she said, all insecurities on the table.

His heart broke for the way that y/n felt, all because not everyone could accept the fact that the two of them loved each other. “I promise you that will never happen.” he vowed, his eyes full of seriousness. “But, if it would make you feel better, I will look at my mother’s will myself and see if I can find some sort of loophole. But in the meantime, you have to promise to not give up fighting for us.” he said.

y/n nodded her head and wiped her tears away. “I promise. I won’t stop fighting for us, Bucky. And I hope you know that I will be with you rich or poor, I just want you to be happy.” she admitted, shyly, not wanting to sound as though she was only with Bucky for his inheritance.

“I know.” he told her. “And I will be happy with you no matter what.”

The two shared another kiss, and Bucky wrapped his arms around y/n when they pulled apart. And for that small amount of time, the couple stayed in their own little world, not knowing the tragedies that lurked ahead of them.

tagging: @mgk-rooklover1997

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #marvel x reader #marvel imagine #bucky barnes x y/n #lost in time and love #haunted mansion au

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carelessannie · 3 years

Text

maybe it goes like this: steve builds his pack (part 1)

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

Read on A03

Read the Tony courts Peter wip

Stucky focus (Steve x Bucky)

A sweet, slightly angsty backstory in three parts (ending in Stuckony).

Major warnings: D/S Au, A/B/O Au, Middle/High School Au, talk about family death, public non-sexual submission, steve beats the shit out of some bullies

---

Maybe it goes like this:

Steve can’t remember life with a pack, but knows for certain that his Ma grieves for them. Ever since he was a boy, he would catch his Ma staring at fading photos of strangers, wiping tears from her eyes, and denying it when Steve would ask why do they make you cry.

It’s not until later in his life that Steve learns the truth about pack bonds, about the decision an Alpha makes in life to form a familial or an intimate bond with their packmates. His Ma refuses to let him learn about packs from school, instead sitting him down across the table, like an adult, Steven, and he learns about orientations and secondary genders when he’s nine years old.

His Ma explains the way kids will turn into adults: first establishing their orientation as Dominant, Submissive, or Versatile, and later in high school, presenting as Alpha, Beta or Omega. She threads their fingers together, and asks Steve if he can notice what she is, and he concentrates real hard, trying to decide, as his Ma laughs.

It’s okay, Steven, you won’t be able to tell what other people are until your own body has developed.

Steve nods, pretending like he understands, and asks his mom about her presentation. She gives him a sad— sad? — smile, and says she’s a Submissive Beta.

It’s silent as Steve puts those two things together with the strong, beautiful woman he admires as his Ma, and is still confused. He asks about packs, and Alphas, and what intimate and familial packs are— gaining an amused shake of the head from his Ma.

Why don’t I just tell you about my pack, yes?

Steve nods eagerly, desperate to hear the story of a family he never had,

My pack was intimate, Steven, which means we all loved each other very much and decided to live together. I met my— our Alpha when I was in nursing school, before you were born. She was already mated to two Omegas, and they had been searching for a Beta to join their pack. We fell in love. I met her Omegas, and all four of us were very compatible— do you remember what that means, hun?

Mhm, like when you know you belong with someone even more than anyone else.

Right, good, so we all belonged to each other, understand? We lived in our Alpha’s house, and all of us worked jobs in the city. About a year after joining her pack, I met your Pa. He transferred to the hospital I worked at, and he was also a Beta, like me, but he was Dominant. I introduced him to my pack, and they loved him too. Within a year, we were mated and I had you. Makes sense, Steven?

Yes, Ma. But… What happened to them?

At this, his Ma goes silent, breathing deeply before finishing the story for her son.

Do you remember the difference between packmates and bondmates, Steven?

Um. One is forever, right?

Yes, good, if you are in love or committed to a pack, they are your packmates, whether you are intimate or not. But sometimes, two people, or a whole pack, want to make their relationship last forever, and they become bondmates. All people have the private part of their necks, remember? You have to know, sweetheart, the only way to start a bond is to bite each other there while mating. We’ll wait to talk about mating until you’re in middle school, okay hun?

Yes, Ma.

Good boy. Now. The other important thing about bonding is that it ties your soul to another person’s forever. Any person of any orientation can bond with whoever they’d like, as long as they’re compatible. But you have to know, and this is so important, that once you bond, your souls become one. My whole pack was bonded, but… Daisy… hun, our Alpha died of cancer. She got very sick, and died. And when one bondmate dies, everyone who shares the bond gets sick and dies too.

… Ma, but. Why didn’t you die?

I decided, once I got pregnant with you, that I didn’t want to risk bonding to my pack. Your father and I loved each other so much, and you were the symbol of our love, not a bite. And I’m thankful, sweetheart, because I get to be your Ma and watch you grow up.

Do you miss them, Ma?

Every day, Steven.

Steve doesn’t remember his Ma mentioning her pack again after that day, but he did start to notice that she would get sad a few times a year, around forgotten birthdays and anniversaries. She would spend all of her days working hard to provide for the two of them, and always made sure Steve knew he was loved and valued, even when she denied herself the opportunities to find a new pack.

Looking back, Steve can see that they didn’t have a lot of luxuries or comforts, and definitely didn’t live in the best part of town. He had a few friends in Bushwick, growing up in the nineties it was a poor place to live, but they were perfectly happy to play in the streets during the day, and lock their doors tight at night.

As he ties up his laces, he thinks about his small family and is immeasurably happy. There’s no one he loves more in the world than his Ma. He hates the thought of getting on the bus and driving far away to switch middle schools, but his Ma reassures him that he will love meeting new kids and making new friends.

So he grabs his backpack, tightening the knots holding the straps in place, and hops down the stairs, only sparing one look to his Ma on the front step.

It’s a long bus ride to the school, more than thirty minutes. Over the summer, his Ma found out that the school system wanted him to transfer to a better school because of budget... something and overcrowding—? He’s actually not quite sure why he can’t go back to his old school, but his Ma made it seem like William Alexander Middle School thinks he’s special and has asked for him specifically. So yeah, Steve is really excited.

He’s going into Seventh grade, and gets his own locker, and gets to go to art class.

Steve spends the whole bus ride reviewing the schedule he already has memorized, and comparing it with the school map that his Ma printed for him, tracing his finger around from class to class. Bus to Nurse to Homeroom to Algebra to English to Nurse to Lunch to Gym to Art to Nurse to Bus.

The day passes this way, Steve confidently following his map around the school and taking notes in his small notebook. It’s not until Gym that he gets nervous, remembering his last asthma attack, and hopes the nurse told his gym teacher about his restrictions as he files into the gym and takes a seat on the floor.

“Steve Rogers?”

“Here.”

“No, Steve, I need to talk to you,” Steve looks up and sees his gym teacher, a really large man with a beard, waving him to the front of the class. The other kids turn to whisper to each other as Steve walks forward.

“I— did—”

“Steve, I have a note here from the nurse, saying you cannot participate in most exercises because of your health issues. Because of this, I’m going to suggest you join the sixth grade class, which will go at a better pace for you, and let Mr. Howlett help you further, okay?”

He feels his entire face flush dark red as the other students behind him whisper and laugh. He’s a seventh grader, not a baby sixth grader. He holds eye contact with the gym teacher, folding his arms across his chest, but still grinds out a, “Yes, Sir,” like his Ma would want him to.

“Good, it’s settled. Here, Mr. Howlett has sent James to show you where to go.”

Steve turns to find a small, smiling boy waiting for him at... parade rest? What—

“Alright Stevie, let’s go,” and the boy turns on his heel, marching across the gym as Steve scrambles to keep up.

James slows down slightly, letting Steve catch him, “First things first, my name is James Buchanan Barnes, but most people call me Jamie. I hate it, but it’s better than nothin',” he looks over at Steve, eyeing him up and down, “Second, Mr. Howlett is friends with my dad. You stick with me, and this class will be a breeze, capiche?”

Steve swears his eyes are falling out of his head, and he nods his affirmation.

“Good,” is all Jamie responds with before grabbing his hand, tugging him to join a younger, smaller group of kids in the gym. As they approach, Jamie lifts their hands in triumph, “I found him!”

Feeling betrayed, Steve rips his hand free in embarrassment, but Jamie just smiles wider and pulls him towards their gym teacher, Mr. Howlett.

How this man could be bigger and scarier than the last teacher, Steve doesn’t know, but refuses to hide behind Jamie as they approach, and instead stands up even taller. Mr. Howlett makes a grunting noise, flipping through a few papers on his clipboard, before looking up at the two boys.

“Rogers?”

Before he can respond, Jamie pipes up, “Yeah! Here’s his note from the nurse, and he’s my friend and— and can I help him out? Please?”

It’s pretty clear that Mr. Howlett couldn’t care less either way, but all Steve can see is the raw, eager look in Jamie’s face as he begs their teacher to help Steve.

Huh, he thinks, the only other time I've seen this look is when Ma begs the pharmacist to refill my inhaler prescription when her paycheck's late.

“Whatever, Jamie, just keep outta trouble, ya hear?”

“Yes, sir!” Jamie delivers, with a crisp solute to match, and pulls Steve towards the back of the class.

They settle down, and Jamie keeps holding onto his hand. Steve glances over and sees Jamie quickly look away, suddenly shy.

“Jamie?”

The smaller boy looks over, hopefully, “Yeah, Stevie?”

“Thank you, I didn’t think I’d get a friend on my first day, much less the best one in the school.”

Jamie ducks his head again before turning his brilliant smile in Steve’s direction, and Steve continues before he has a chance to respond, “and Jamie?”

“Yeah, Stevie?”

“I swear, cross my heart, that I’ll find you a better nickname.”

Jamie’s eyes widen, and then he’s laughing, loud and doubled over. He grips harder onto Steve, who can’t help laughing along, even as they get funny looks from the class and a gruff, c’mon, quiet down, from Mr. Howlett.

Shaking his head, Jamie tries to catch his breath as he responds, “ I— I think— I’d love that— Stevie.”

And all Steve can do is smile back.

---

It takes a week for Steve to settle on Bucky, and when Bucky says he loves it, Steve runs all the way home to tell his Ma.

---

Steve and Bucky have Gym class and Lunch together almost every day for a year, and spend the whole summer waiting for their schedules to be mailed, hoping for at least two classes together.

They get their wish.

---

Halfway through eighth grade, Steve gets sent home with a stamped letter from his guidance counselor. For the past few weeks, the guidance counselor has asked him and Bucky to have lunch in her office, and the boys always shrug and agree. Today, after finishing lunch, she hands both boys an official letter for their guardians to discuss with them.

“Whaddaya think’s in it, Stevie?” Bucky asks, squinting at the letter as he holds it up to the light. The boys are heading straight from lunch to the nurse’s office to get Steve’s medicine, like they do every day, and Bucky grips tight to his hand, intertwining their fingers, like he does every day.

“I dunno, Buck. Maybe she’s gonna tell your Ma that you smell and needa bath,” the comment earns Steve a light shove, and an affectionate, “Punk,” in response.

“Jerk,” Steve replies, a reflex, and reaches out to pull Bucky closer, “I wouldn’t worry ‘bout it, Buck. She’s been real nice up ‘til now—”

“Yeah, I know, I just don’t wanna bother my dad if it’s somethin’ bad.”

They fall silent for a moment, both boys knowing how busy and strict Bucky’s dad can be. Steve sees Bucky’s head drop, lost, as he looks at the letter in his small hands. He slows them to a stop, turns Bucky around to face him in the school hallway, and hums in approval as Bucky meets his eyes and slowly tilts his head back. He grabs onto both shoulders, squeezing lightly, and pulls Bucky up close. Fingers tighten in the back of Steve’s shirt as Bucky clings to him, and he nuzzles into his best friend's hair, comforting, while rubbing across his shoulders.

“So sweet, Bucky. There’s no way your dad could be mad at you, alright? Believe me?”

He gazes down into soft, glazed gray eyes, and freezes. Bucky is slightly trembling against him, looking at him like he’s a revelation. Steve feels a calm settle into his bones as he reacts purely on instinct, reaching up to grip Bucky around the neck.

A few things happen in quick succession.

First, Bucky’s eyes roll up into his head, breath leaving his body in a woosh along with a high pitched whimper.

Second, Steve widens his stance, straightening his back, and Bucky sinks, fast, to his knees, gripping onto Steve’s thighs for balance.

And then, out of the haze—

“STEVE ROGERS, YOU RELEASE THAT BOY IMMEDIATELY,” and the trance is broken.

Steve is horrified to see Bucky curled up on the floor, and he stumbles back. Large arms wrap around him, herding him away from—

“STEVIE, no, please—” the voice of his best friend, his Bucky, follows him down the hallway along with small broken cries, and Steve fights hard against the strong arms that hold him,

“C’mon, kid, it’s okay. Just gonna call your Ma and getcha settled,” but Steve doesn’t care.

His boy is back there, somewhere, calling for him, needing him, and he can’t get back, he can’t protect, he can’t save, he can’t— breathe.

---

It’s okay, hun. Shh, sweet boy, it’s okay.

— Sarah, he had Jamie on his knees, submitting—

— no, I don’t think Jamie has stopped crying yet—

— only a few more months, it’ll be fine—

---

Steve wakes in his bed at home, confused.

“B— bucky?”

“Hey, sweetheart,” his Ma pushes past the door, “you up alright?”

He blinks his eyes a few times, disoriented, “Where… what—”

“Shh, hun,” she holds out a glass of water, which Steve takes gratefully,

“Ma, where’s Bucky?”

His Ma looks nervous, and straightens the sheets on the bed, “Steven, Bucky is just fine. How much do you remember about what happened?”

The memories are sticky, “I was just hugging Bucky. He was scared that his dad would be angry about the— oh! The letter from the counselor. Ma, I have an important letter for you. Officially stamped and everything,” his Ma just nods, so he continues, “I dunno, I was hugging Bucky in the hallway, and then something was… different. Like really heavy between us? And all I wanted was to keep him safe, but then… Then they took him, and—”

Steve looks into his Ma’s eyes, suddenly horrified, “I hurt him, didn’t I?”

He must’ve, that would be the only reason they knocked him out and separated him from his— from his—

“No, Steven, not like that. You absolutely did not hurt him,” then what... “You were the perfect Dominant, hun, and it’s not your fault, okay sweetheart?”

“Dominant? Ma…”

“Hush, Steven. I’m going to tell you something important, and you’re going to listen to me,” he nods once, so she continues, “the letter from your counselor was very important, Steven. Remember how boys and girls start to present around your age? Your guidance counselor has been monitoring signs of presentation between you and Bucky, signs that were confirmed today in the hallway. Steven, today you presented as a Dominant, and Bucky submitted to you. Do you know what this means?”

“T— that we’re… compatible?”

His Ma nods solemnly, “Yes, exactly. The doctors are not sure yet if Bucky is Submissive or Versatile, but you are a strong Dominant. My strong boy.”

“But Ma, why was it so bad?”

She sits on the edge of the bed, scooting so that she can pull Steve closer,

“Because, hun, both of you dropped.”

“Dropped...”

Ma hums, finding the words to explain,

“A lot of times, when a Dominant and Submissive are together, they go into a headspace. It’s calm, it feels right and certain and instinctual. Usually a Dominant will take more control, and the Submissive will allow it, naturally. If this doesn’t happen in a safe, private space, or if it’s interrupted, both parties are at risk of dropping. That means you could feel sick, lost, and upset— and even panic or become depressed,”

Exactly like what happened to me, Steve thinks,

“— and with you and Bucky, you both passed out from the stress. That’s why I need to know if you’re okay, Steven,”

It makes sense. Now that Steve knows what to look for, he can easily recognize not only moments where Bucky has submitted easily to him, but also moments where Bucky challenged him and he ended up claiming Bucky’s submission in an argument. His best friend, the boy who fights for him and is always at his side— it’s overwhelming. All Steve wants to know is—

“Ma, please, what happened to my Bucky?”

“Steven, don’t—“

“I need to know—“

“He’s still in a drop, hun.”

Steve swings out of the bed, “How? It’s been hours,” he hears his Ma stutter out something, but feels a resolve settle, “I’ve gotta be with him, Ma.”

“No.”

“But—“

“I said no. His pack is sending me updates, but was very clear that they want you to stay away from Bucky for now. He needs time to recover and understand what’s happened, as do you. And, as your principal recommended, both of you are switching lunch periods and transferring classes, to help reduce the stress of being around each other, is that clear?”

Not even sure he’s heard right past stay away from Bucky, Steve drops back into bed in shock. No more Bucky? He can’t even comprehend what his day would look like without his best friend next to him, and just like that, he’s destroyed one of most important relationships in his life.

Hot, wet tears fall through the night as he wraps around his sheets, wishing he was holding onto a smaller, dark haired boy with crystal blue eyes.

—

There are only two months left until summer, and they feel like two years without Bucky.

Steve cries himself to sleep for the first week.

In the second week, he tries talking to the adults in charge, all of whom give him pity and suggest he’ll get over it and move on.

By the third week, Steve is angry. He snarls at classmates, teachers, anyone who looks at him the wrong way. He gets sent home with a note about his behavior, and his Ma just gives him more useless pity.

During the fourth week, he’s walking the hall to his last period of the day, when he hears a plea for help and the slamming of a door echo from the boy’s bathroom. He runs inside, ready to take down a bully, and sees two eighth graders pinning someone to the bathroom stall. He steps in just as they punch the boy across the jaw,

“Hey assholes, why don’tcha pick on someone your own size?”

The boys whirl around and sneer, dropping the smaller kid in a heap on the ground.

“Look what we have here, a pint sized savior,” the larger of the two smiles wickedly, as he sizes up Steve, and the other one delivers a kick to their initial target for good measure, “Wonder where you got the balls, tiny?”

Steve throws his fists up, and the boys smile even wider, amused. The larger bully lunges for him, suddenly, and Steve absorbs his tackle, trying to roll them around on the floor to get on top. He delivers a well aimed elbow to the guy’s throat, which has him sputtering, and drives his knee down between the kid’s legs, earning him a satisfying howl.

“Yo, kid, it’s okay, c'mon it was just a joke—“

The other boy’s words barely register as Steve lands one, two, three hard right hooks to the bully’s face, before pushing off his chest and standing to his feet. The second kid scoots past Steve, hauling his friend up and escaping out the entrance.

“St— Stevie?”

All of the rage expels from Steve’s body as he turns to find Bucky smiling up at him from the floor where the bullies had dropped him just moments earlier.

He approaches slowly, and notices just how bruised Bucky is, just how tired he looks. Steve catalogs the blood on his face, dark circles under his eyes, possibly dislocated shoulder, and gaunt expression with care, touching as little as possible.

“We should— we should go to the nurse, Buck. It doesn’t look good.”

Bucky nods and attempts to get to his feet, but lets out a weak groan and sinks back down to the floor.

“C’mon, jerk,” Steve teases, trying his best to hide concern and devastation, pulling Bucky back to his feet on his good side, “do I hafta carry ya the whole way?”

There’s a weak laugh that could also be a sob from Bucky, and Steve tries to take more of his weight as they limp towards the nurse’s office.

He feels hopeful after hearing a barely whispered, “Punk,” in return.

---

The nurse lets the two boys cling to each other on the small cot, and proceeds to call both of their packs, asking for both kids to go home early for the day.

Steve glares at the nurse the whole time, knowing that he only has a few precious moments with his best friend before they’re separated again.

“Bucky?”

“Yeah, Stevie?” the younger boy looks up adoringly, “you okay?”

“I’m fine, Buck, how— are you okay?” He does his best to hold back tears that are welling up in his eyes, and enjoys the solid feeling of Bucky, safe and warm in his arms.

Small fingers run over his cheeks, wiping away a few stray tears that had slipped free, and Bucky’s smile just grows, “So much better now, that’s for sure.” He wiggles a bit, and Steve laughs lightly, gripping his friend’s waist tighter.

He leans down, brushing his nose against the shell of Bucky’s ear, and whispers, “Nothing has been the same without you, Bucky.”

A shiver goes through Bucky’s body, Steve feels it by proximity, and Bucky remains silent, until Steve hears one hitched breath, then another. He pulls away slightly, looking into Bucky’s face as the smaller boy dissolves into tears. Bucky pulls himself closer, burying his face in Steve’s neck as great, giant sobs tear him apart. All Steve can do is shush him gently, kiss him on the head, and rock them back and forth, waiting for his Bucky to calm down as the minutes pass in silence.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,”

Steve looks up, turning his body to guard Bucky’s vulnerable one, and sees Bucky’s Beta father and Omega mother standing in the doorway, expressions both shocked and resolved.

“Steve, can you tell us what happened?”

It takes a few minutes for Steve to explain how he saved Bucky, and when he finishes, he watches the Beta and Omega exchange a knowing look, before they take a seat near the nurse’s cot. Neither move to take Bucky away, which is perfectly fine with Steve, who just holds his friend closer. A quick glance gown confirms Bucky has stopped crying and fallen asleep, sniffling lightly.

“We need to talk to you, Steve,” he hears Bucky’s dad call for him, and reluctantly looks up at both of them, noticing the guidance counselor also waiting in the doorway. He nods to allow them to continue,

“I’m afraid we haven’t handled this situation well, son,” Bucky’s dad continues, “and it seems to have hurt both of you boys. I’m sorry, and want you to know we only wanted the best for Jamie.”

“I get it, sir,” Steve shifts slightly, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. “Does this mean I can see Bucky again?”

The Beta leans forward on his seat, making sure to focus on the younger boys, “Yes, Steve, we want you and Jamie to keep being friends, at least until you go to high school next year.”

He can’t even help the relieved sigh and small smile that take over his face, letting his eyes fall shut as he relaxes back onto the bed. Good. He doesn’t even spare a thought for their friendship after middle school, completely convinced that in this moment, him and Bucky will be together, forever.

---

Steve and Bucky fall back into their old routine, classes and lunchtime back to normal, and the news of Steve’s fight spreads like wildfire throughout the school. Both boys find themselves surrounded by new friends, many of whom knew Bucky but hadn’t hung out with Steve before, and he enjoys watching his best friend thrive in newfound popularity.

As summer approaches, Bucky starts talking more about going out for football in eighth grade. Steve always knew he loved sports, and had often encouraged Buck to keep playing baseball when the younger boy would get frustrated, so he naturally pushes his friends to try out. What he isn’t prepared for is how little he sees of Bucky over the summer. He barely notices at first, still seeing Bucky a few days a week, but then he starts to get rain checks on his invitations.

“Sorry, Stevie, rain check— I’m doing drills with the guys all day,”

“Aw man, rain check? I’m at conditioning every day this week and literally can’t get free,”

“Maybe rain check for this weekend? The guys are running plays all day, and I just gotta be there,”

“— you understand, right Stevie?”

And Steve does understand. He decides to give Bucky a little more space, only asking to hang out once a week, if that, and focuses on preparing for high school. He spends more time with his Ma, and she helps him pick out a brand new backpack from Walmart. When he protests, saying his old backpack is just fine, she shakes her head and insists on buying a product that will last. He fills it with notebooks and new pencils and pens and even a pack of colored pencils with a shiny dual sharpener.

It’s a few weeks before school starts that his Ma receives a letter from the school system. He’s decorating the cover of his notebook, laying across their living room floor, when his Ma comes and sits next to him on the floor.

“Steven, I have something to tell you.”

“Okay, Ma, one sec,” he takes a few moments to gather his pencil shavings, packing up his colored pencils, putting them in the correct order, and closing his notebook, stacking everything neatly on top.

“What’s wrong, Ma?”

“Remember when you went into middle school, and the government had to move you to William Alexander because the school closest to us was overcrowded?” Steve nods, he does remember, “Well, they don’t have the same issue with the high school here. So you’re going to be going Bushwick High, which is just a couple blocks away from us.”

“Oh, I thought I was gonna be going to school in Park Slope again, near Bucky?”

“I know, Steven,” his Ma gives a small pat to his head, before standing up and heading for the kitchen, “why don’t we have a snack and talk about it more? They sent a list of classes, and you get to choose electives and everything.”

Steve tries calling Bucky that night, eager to tell him about his news, but just gets the answering machine. He tries two more times that week, and comes up blank.

Within a few weeks, Steve is walking into Brooklyn High, confident and proud, and barely spares a thought about missing his best friend at his side.

#stucky #steve pov #steve x bucky #d/s fic #childhood friends #soft stucky #fluff #minor angst #steve beats the shit out of some bullies #mcu #fanfic #MiGLT #omegaverse

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huh-i-guess · 4 years

Text

Now You Need Me

Erik Killmonger X Black!Reader

Warnings: Angst(?)

Word Count: 1,854

This is the first fic I have ever written and I have no clue if this is good or not, ngl. I am super nervous about posting this, I’ve read so much fanfic and been too scared to write but today I just said F it! The gif is not mine!

“Bye girl!”

“Bye Leigh! Thanks for the party, tell Marvin if he tries some shit imma beat his ass when I see him next!” I shout at one of my homegirls who has been fucking around with this high key chill but hella ignorant POS.

“Take yo fine ass to bed sis, GOODNIGHT!” She scoffs as she speeds off in her whip. I chuckle as I make my way into my shared apartment with one of my besties from college, Cameron. I have known her for the past 10 years and she truly has been a ride or die who makes sure that we both have our heads screwed on straight. As I make my way up into the apartment I notice that the lights are all off, which isn't unusual because it is about 2:30 and she heads off to bed hella early, always talking bout how she “got work in the morning”. She gets her ass up at 8:00 every morning… weekends included, I don’t know how somebody would willingly wake up that early on weekend but Cami does. I cut on the light over the kitchen and notice a note on the counter that just tells me that I’m on dish duty next week and that there is also a surprise in my room. I swear if I walk in that room and there is some random shit in it, Imma wake her up and keep her up till the sun say what’s poppin’. I trot into my room carrying my shoes and drop them by the side of my dresser, when they make contact with the floor the light abruptly turns on. I grab tightly on my clutch and get ready to swing.

“Damn Ma, chill, its just lil’ ole me”

“ERIK!” I scoff and sigh. Deciding to proceed with my nightly routine. “Was this the “Surprise” Cami had in store for me? You?” I state with a displeased voice.

“Yeah, you miss me? I ain’t gon lie… I’ve missed you” Erik said shamelessly. I have not seen this man in 3 and a half years. Not one text, nor call, nor note, nor flower, no nada.

“What the hell do you want? And why did Cami let you in?” I ask dismissively as I put my purse on the hook and don’t even bother looking his way.

“That’s how we really gotta be, huh? You really ain’t happy to see me?” the nerve and balls this man has…“Erik, I’m not one of your little side pieces who drops her panties at the sight of you and begs to be at your knees. You know that. Now, Imma ask you one last time, What. Do. You. Want.” I am not in the mood for his shit especially after what he did to me and how he up and left me.

“You used to be one of them but,” he shrugs his shoulders.

“ERIK-” I shout as I whip around to face him.

“Alright damn, you need to get laid,” he stated, and truthfully, he was not wrong, it’s been three years since anyone has made me feel the way that that man has but he does NOT need to know that. “I ain’t here to push your buttons and pipe in on your sex life, unless you want me to,” he winks and I grimace, “but I need your help with something, and before you try to bus a cap in me, I’ll let you know how much you’ll get paid.” He really must have lost his mind to think that after leaving me in the middle of the night, a day after one of our missions, in the middle of a foreign ass country, with no way to contact him, or his crew, that I would ever want to work with him again. Especially now with me being out of the game and trying to lead a semi-normal life. How did he even find me? I've taken myself off of the all government watchlists and made sure that I am always aware of anything relating to me and that I clear it asap. Actually, he’s Erik fucking Killmonger, nevermind.

“Do you want to explain to me why the hell I would want to work with you again, and possibly put myself back on the radar? I’ve spent so much time tryna clear my name from doing shit with you and now that I’m finally free of your ass, you prance your fine evil ass back into my life. You left me there Erik. YOU” I poke him in the chest for emphasis, “LEFT me there, you didn’t leave a note, you didn’t call. You didn’t text. And you know what the worst part was? You let me take part of the fall for your shit. I had to bargain with the United States government to get my freedom back you piece of shit. They made me hack and cover up a bunch of shit for almost 2 years and you know I hate our government. THEN, S.H.I.E.L.D. made me do a helluva lot more tedious and time consuming shit, and they kept me as a prisoner for half a year. And you think that you get to waltz into my home after 3 years, bat your eyelashes, lick your juicy ass lips and then ask me to go down for you again? You must have lost your goddamn mind. Truly!” I whisper scream at him hoping Cami stays asleep down the hall. I cannot believe this nigga.

“I didn’t even say what it was I needed your help with but you clearly stay jumpin’ to conclusions, just like before. If you’d like to let me get a word in lil’ miss thing, I will” Erik stated. I really missed him but I should not miss a man who got me locked up in a superhero jail cell.

“Speak then, Killmonger.” I pushed. “Damn, aright, Imma tell you the price first. Its royalty. That is the price, I’ll make you royalty.”

Is he-Is he serious? What happened to him in those three years, I know I went to fuzzy, upscale, white people jail, and what the fuck did he do? Lose his mind, that’s what he did.

“Nigga, what kind of weed have you been smoking? Royalty. This ain’t Coming to America. We live in America and we don’t have royals. We have a fat, mentaly unstable, racist, orange thing in the office right now. Where have you been for the past 3 years?” I exclaim.

“Look, bae, I know what the fuck is in office right now and I know that we are in the United States but, last I checked and according to Maps of the world, the U.S. ain’t it. Damn, Americans really do think they are the only ones on the planet. There is an East African country called Wakanda. You know it?” He questioned.

“Yeah, fool, I’m not dumb. And not all Americans think like that. You should know that soldier.”

“Well, Wakanda is seen as a third world country with major poverty and a major lack of developments, and Imma tell you, that shit ain’t true.” He shrugged.

“I’m sorry but what would you know?” I deadpanned.

“I’m from Wakanda, Ma.” He disclosed matter-of-factly.

“Ummmm, I must have missed something Oakland boy. You’re tryna tell me that you are NOT from Oakland, California? That makes little to no sense. But if you are from Wakanda, then how did you go into the Navy SEALS?” I question in disbelief.

“I was born in the states, baby girl. Pops was Wakandan. I’ve been telling you I was foreign.” He teased and pulled down his lower lip showing off an interesting blue tattoo.

“I’m supposed to believe you after all of the shit that you’ve done? I’m supposed to forgive you? Actually, pause, why would I even forgive you? You haven’t even apologized. You’re always so damn cocksure and I know you're not gonna apologize because the words, “I’m sorry” are not in your vocabulary. Knowing yo ass you probably thought I forgot because you think I’m mesmerized by yo “glorious” looks.” I pressed.

“You are really going in on me. I must have really hurt you. You want a kiss to make it better or do you want to kiss and make up?” He baited. I am at a loss for words.

“You, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, disgust me. The fact that I was in love with yo cocky, unfiltered, disrespectful, heartless, ruthless, and twisted self, really makes me realize just how much I needed to grow. I told myself I would NEVER EVER take the blame and bit the bullet for a nigga. And guess what? That is exactly what I did. I lost myself and my dream tryna beg for your love and your attention and look where it got me. ON a GOVERNMENT watchlist, in prison and tired. Look I’m not Cookie from Empire, I’m not gonna take you back after taking the fall for your ass, so you can take that “royalty” shit and shove it up your ass because I am not gonna ruin my life any further for you. Cami let me make some mistakes and they were some really bad ones but I never told her about how I fell for you. She just thinks that you're some ex who wants me back and was good for me that I pushed you away because that’s what I do, welp, no. Not this time.” I voiced painfully not even feeling the tears falling from my eyes. I looked as Erik just stood there showing no type of emotion. No pain, no regret, no smugness, just looking like he was trying to find an emotion to react but he couldn’t find one. “Do you feel nothing Erik? You so damn, UGH!” I can’t even bring myself to finish my sentence as I collapse onto my bed. I feel an added weight on my bed and feel arms wrap around me.

“I’m so so sorry, baby girl. I know that what I did was wrong and I’ve watched for so long trying to figure out how to make this right and I can’t. I can’t think of a way to be there for you and I know it is hard especially since I’m the one who got you into this situation but that is exactly why I want you to come be my queen and rule Wakanda with me. To make this right, we can make our own laws, be our own government, have power, money and whatever you want. I’ve been gone a long time and I should have been there for you. I’m sorry, baby. Do you forgive me?” He admitted while he kissed my forehead. I am in complete disbelief. Erik Stevens just apologized, and did he propose or was I hallucinating? No, wait a minute I refuse to fall in love with this sweet talking piece of shit who got me sent to jail.

“What if I say no, Erik?”

~~~~~This is so bad. I’m so sorry~~~~~

It is ALSO 3:36AM, Imma sleep. 4/25/2020

#erik stevens #erik killmonger #erik killmonger x reader #erik stevens x reader #my work

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starscheme · 4 years

Text

Only You

Chapter Eleven: Trusting Sodalite

Back at Beach City, a construction worker was already speaking with Lars about repairing the floor and counters of his shop after Steven's outburst. Luckily, Steven's father had paid for the construction, but Lars still didn't much like closing up shop for the next few days. If Steven hadn't left so suddenly, he could have just healed it easily, right? Though, Lars wondered if he would have bothered after what he did to Spinel.

That kiss still plagued him. He wasn't sure why he did it and he didn't know how to explain it. He had absolutely no romantic feelings for Spinel. If anything, he found her to be a little much at times. Besides, she was Steven's girlfriend. Even if he ever developed feelings for Spinel, he would never do something like that to his friends.

As Lars thought on all this, he felt a familiar gentle tug at the back of his shirt. Looking over his shoulder, he was greeted with a nervous glance from Sodalite.

"Morning," he greeted, turning back to look at his store. "I told you the store would be closed for the next few days, didn't I?"

Sodalite nodded her head without a word, but tightened her grip on Lars' shirt. She did wonder if he thought of her as a bother. After all, he often urged her to stay in little homeworld and try to handle being around the other Gems. Surely because he didn't like her hanging on him all the time. However, around Lars was the only place that she felt comfortable.

The silence was broken when one of the workers began breaking apart the broken tile with a sludge hammer, startling Sodalite immediately. With a quick, "EEP," Sodalite hid her face in Lars' back and the area around them went completely dark, alarming everyone, especially the workers who were now suddenly blind.

"It was just a hammer. Just a loud noise," Lars said aloud, making sure to keep still so that Sodalite wouldn't panic when he moved.

"...just a noise..." repeated Sodalite slowly, doing her best to take a long, even breath. Though the darkness faded away, the freckled Gem did not loosen her grip on Lars' back, still hiding her face in the fabric of his shirt.

The pink young man could feel Sodalite trembling as she hid herself behind him. The Rutile Twins had pointed it out before, but Lars was surprisingly very patient with Sodalite. Sure, he didn't care for the constant blackouts every time she heard a cat run by or his phone ring, but somehow he just couldn't bring himself to be angry with her. Instead, he wanted to help her. "I'm going to the Temple. Do you want to come with me? I'm just going to meet Mr. Universe there to give him these receipts."

Sodalite nodded her head silently before stepping back a little, allowing Lars to turn around. The Gem quickly hugged his arm once he faced her, which Lars had also become accustomed to by how. Though, he couldn't help feeling embarrassed when she did this. Mostly due to the fact that this Gem was rather well endowed in the chest and when she hugged his arm so close, he could feel the soft mounds pressing against his arm. Clearing his throat and trying to think of anything else, Lars began walking with Sodalite towards the beach.

"The fusion...she won’t be angry I came with you?" asked Sodalite as they walked along.

"Garnet. Remember? Her name is Garnet. Just like Rhodonite," instructed Lars.

"Right. ...Garnet." Sodalite repeated again. She was still not used to all these new rules.

Though they walked in silence, it wasn't uncomfortable. Though it did give Lars a chance to think a few things over once again. Without warning, he stopped his stride just as they reached the beach.

"Sodalite, why did you lie to Steven before? ...you know that you didn't make me see anything. Yet you—"

"—-You were in trouble," answered Sodalite quickly as she tightened her hold on his arm and lowered her head. "I've seen what my Diamond can do when she gets angry. ...you could've been shattered."

"Steven wouldn't have seriously hurt me. He's a good kid. Frankly...after what I did...I would've been pretty pissed off too." Lars admitted. "I just...still don't understand why I did it..."

"It wasn't your fault! It was that Gem! The scary one. She-she did something..."

"Sodalite..." Lars began with a sigh, "I keep telling you. She's loud and can be a little...annoying sometimes, but Spinel isn't a bad Gem. She's just...emotional."

Sodalite released Lars' arm and with great effort, forced herself to stand in front of him, as if standing her ground. "Y-you can't see it...but I can. Something...is darker inside of her. It's—-it's as if Spinels Gem is covered by something...awful! It's...frightening. It feels cold...and suffocating. I've felt it...ever since My Steven healed me." Though Sodalite tried to speak with confidence, her voice was just as shaky as her hands while they gripped at her own clothes.

Lars stared in wide eyed shock at the freckled Gem in front of him. Not nearly as shocked by her words as he was by her actions. Even though she was clearly trembling, her silver eyes were locked with his gaze. She usually had trouble keeping eye contact, but obviously, this was important enough that she powered through it. How could he dismiss her words now? "...Sodalite, if—-"

"Please believe me," she pleaded now, lowering her gaze down to stare at her feet. "I know you have no reason to trust what I say, but I promise you, something terrible is inside that Gem. It's dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt! You're a human, you're soft and far more brittle than—-"

"Hey," Lars interrupted, waving his hand in front of Sodalite's face. "I trust you, okay? So calm down."

"You do?" Sodalite asked in mild disbelief, lifting her head to stare up at Lars with surprise.

"Well...yeah," answered Lars as he rubbed the back of his neck. Sodalite was so often staring at the ground that it always caught him off guard when she met his eyes. "Why don't we talk to the Gems about all this? That way, they can look into it."

Sodalite really thought she'd have to work hard to convince Lars. She certainly didn't expect him to support her so readily. Since she was pretty paranoid about everything, no one tended to take her seriously. Though she didn't care to speak with other Gems, if Lars was willing to help her, Sodalite would do her best to be confident. "...o-okay! Let's...go and tell the others."

Lars smiled as he observed Sodalite's attempt to appear brave. It was like watching a squirrel trying to work up the courage to face a bear. He still wasn't sure what was happening exactly, but if it had anything to do with his mistake with Spinel, he wanted an explanation. However it wasn't long after Sodalite agreed to speak with the Gems that Lars felt a sharp pain his chest. With a quick gasp for breath, the pink young man dropped to his knees, his body suddenly heated to the point of burning and his limbs weak.

"LARS!" Sodalite shouted in alarm, quickly dropping to her hands and feet, confused and concerned by his sudden fall. "What's wrong?!"

Even if Lars knew how to answer her, he couldn't reply. In fact, he felt he could barely breath. He was rapidly becoming dizzy and couldn't seem to focus his eyes. Though he could hear Sodalite calling out for him, her voice seemed to be drifting farther and farther away.

"Don't worry," whispered a young woman's voice cheerfully. "This is just part of the fun."

His eyes were heavy and his breathing had turned ragged. Lars did his best to stay awake and find the source of the woman's voice, but it seemed nearly impossible as his vision blurred. Sodalite's image slowly faded out as he finally lost consciousness, the faint echo of playful laughter echoing in his ear before everything went dark.

Sodalite was now in tears, frantically shaking the unconscious young man. "L-Lars! Wake up!" cried the blue Gem, unsure how best to help him. She knew next to nothing about humans.

Luckily for Sodalite, they were close enough to the temple that Greg had spotted them on his way back from the Big Donut. He had initially planned to greet them cheerfully until he saw situation unfold.

"Holy cow, what's going on?!" exclaimed Mr. Universe as he darted the rest of the way to them, dropping several donuts in the process.

"Mr. Steven..." began Sodalite, overwhelming relieved that someone, especially another human had showed up. Surely he could help Lars much better than she could. "Lars suddenly stopped working. I think he's broken! You have to fix him!" pleaded Sodalite in tears.

"Oh man," mumbled Greg under his breath, feeling horribly unprepared for something like this. "Just-just hang on. I'll get my van and we'll take him to a hospital, okay? Or better yet, the Gems are close by. We should—-"

Sodalite was suddenly reminded how close they were to the temple. The Crystal Gems had been on this planet for thousands of years. They would be able to help humans too, wouldn't they? With that in mind, Sodalite scooped Lars into her arms and got to her feet, wasting no time as she turned on her heel to race for the temple.

Greg was a little surprised at how fast she was. He'd never seen her run before. Still, she had dashed off without him. "H-hey hold up! I'm coming too!" he called out before scrambling after them.

#steven universe #su #stevinel #steven universe fanfic #stevinel fic #only you #chapter 11 #sodalite

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captainillogical · 5 years

Text

Devil’s Ballroom Ch.8

A year after the events from the earth’s final attack, Little Homeworld is finally complete, and there’s a new jazz bar where gems and humans mingle and drink. - As you’re typing back a reply, someone pulls the stool out next to you and takes a seat. You see a sliver of pink out of the corner of your eye as you try not to actually Look. Oh god. It’s her. God can’t help us now.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants

(i’m sorry. i have terrible chapter pacing skills so the next one will be the last, not this one. thanks for all of ur patience p: )

Immediately you accidentally elbow Alex in the face as you try to get out of his grip, and he yells out in pain and drops you onto the ground.

"Wait! SPINEL!" You shout and run towards the direction she went, but you don’t see her anywhere. "SPINEL!!!" You shout again, eyes frantically roaming in every direction around for her, a couple of people stop to stare at you. She’s much faster than you, and could be leagues away by now.

You can't believe she would just run like that, without explanation. She was staring at you and Alex like.. did she seriously think that you and Alex.. oh god. She thought you were with Alex.

Okay. You try not to panic as you stand there, awkwardly. You feel a hand on your shoulder.

"What the hell was that?" Alex says beside you. You can't speak for a moment, and when you do, your voice comes out hoarse.

"Er.. I think some horrible misunderstanding just happened." You say, defeated. You look up at him, and you're trying to not be visibly upset. He looks down at you, and makes a face.

"That was her? She could've said hi, sheesh.. she even left cookies here." He shrugs, looking at the spilled cookies on the ground.

"Dude. How are you so fucking stupid." You say, nearly about to smack him again. He gives you a confused look. "Are you shitting me? She came to give me those cookies in thanks for yesterday, and what does she see? You kissing all over my face."

He still gives you a blank look.

"Ohhhh my god. You are such a fucking moron." You retort, staring at him for several solid seconds until a look of sudden realization hits his facial expressions.

“Oh. OHHHHHHHHHHHH.” He covers his mouth, and has the audacity to look mortified.

“Yeah.” You cross your arms. “Thanks for that.”

“I uh.. man, I just wanted some Y/N love, I’m sorry. I just got so carried away.”

“I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m like, romantically involved with you.. Oh god what if she thinks I like men?” You cover your face in your hands, groaning into them. “I never told her that I liked just girls..”

“You told her about your crush on Harper though? What about that?” He raises his eyebrows in question.

“Yeah but I never told her about any of the other shit, and I haven’t exactly like.. given her any signals..”

“But you flirt with her all the time! And she flirts back! I know, because you’ve told me everything, multiple times.” He bends down and scoops up the container, and picks up the cookies and places them all back inside.

“Alex, I really hate to break this to you, but girls flirt with each other all the time. Most of the time, it’s over compliments, and sometimes it SEEMS genuine, but really, they’re just being nice.” You say. “Unless you’re super bold, with girls you basically have to be frank with them about your feelings and intentions for them to realize you’re serious. I myself prefer to kinda be sure that the other person likes me back, before I stick my neck out, you know? Because getting the ‘Oh, I thought we were just friends’ shit fucking hurts.”

“I’m pretty sure she likes you, dude.” He says to you like you’re an idiot.

“I’m not so sure about that.” You say, because you refuse to believe anything unless the cold hard facts are slapping you in the face.

“For someone so smart, how are you so stupid?” He sniffs one of the cookies, and looks like he’s contemplating taking a bite. You scoff. “You know what? Don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter. My point is, even I can tell she likes you.”

"Coming from you, that means nothing to me." He immediately looks up, completely offended. “What? I mean, seriously. Do I have to remind you of all of our middle school and high school years? That should explain itself.”

“Okay when you put it that way, YEAH, I was stupid, but this is different. This is me absorbing someone ELSE’S love life, and even I’m not that much of a fool.” He sighs, and mournfully tosses the cookies into the bin closest to you. “I think you need to like, give her a call or something and explain yourself. She looked really upset.”

“Yeah, I..” You pause for a second to pick your screwdriver back up. You don’t even want to work anymore. “You’re right. I’m just nervous.”

“Just do it before you overthink it.” He replies.

“Ugh, okay.” You pull out your phone, swipe over to your contacts, and press the call button on Spinel’s name. Immediately, it goes to voicemail.

Of course.

You leave a voicemail for her to call you back as soon as she hears this, and you also shoot her a text.

“She’s not answering.” You say.

“Of course she’s not, I mean, I wouldn’t either. Give her a while and try again later, she probably just needs some time.” He says, and also pulls out his phone, typing something on it real quick. “Also, give me a minute, mom needs to call me about something for tomorrow.” He steps a couple feet away from you to take the call.

You stare at your phone, and for the first time in a long time, you really don’t know what to fucking do other than just stand there. What if she’s so upset, she never talks to you again? Will she give you a chance to hear you out? And are you ready to talk about your feelings with her?

Lord.

You haven’t really thought about them too much yourself, if you’re going to be honest. You’ve been keeping this all super casual in your mind, because it feels irrational to grow feelings for someone this quickly, considering you’ve known her for less than 2 weeks. But.. you admit, the more you push the thoughts away, the more you understand that you might like her a lot more than you originally considered, and denying them will just cause you issues like that one time when you were 19.

You sigh out loud. Off to the side you can hear Alex arguing with his mother about some errands she wants him to run tomorrow, and for a brief moment you consider just going home, but then remember that not even Mr. Smiley can cover the rest of the shift. You have a good two hours left, you can survive, hopefully. You make yourself busy with fixing the part you were previously working on - but you’re having a hard time concentrating. After a couple minutes, Alex taps on the side of the wall, and you peek your head out to look at him.

“Look, I hate to do this to you right now, but mom wants me to go grab a few things from her office, and pick up an order from the print place before it closes.” He pushes his curly dark hair out of his eyes, half leaning on the wall next to you. “I can probably be back by the time you’re done with your shift.”

“Hmm.. alright.” You mumble, trying to keep your mind on more positive things. He leans closer to you, stretches out his arm, and pokes you on the cheek.

“Don’t hyperfocus on this. Shit will be fine, you just gotta give her some time to get back to you, okay hun?” He gives your cheek a little love smack and stands straight, heading out already. You watch him go.

“Super easy for you to say..” You say to yourself, and busy your hands.

Most of the rest of the shift passes quietly, and you receive no messages from anyone. You hate that you can’t do anything, not really, so you send Spinel another text. She still hasn’t seen the other one, and it’s been nearly two hours.

Y/N: Can we talk? Please.

You aren’t in the mood to text anyone else, so you put your phone back into your pocket, and start all of your closing duties. The next twenty minutes goes by in a heartbeat, the crowds of tourists long since dissipated. There isn’t a lot to do. Once you clock out and grab your things from the breakroom, you feel your phone vibrate so you pull it out quickly to see who it is. You try and fail not to feel disappointed that it’s just Alex.

Alex: she wrapped me up in some other shit so like, im runnin hella late

Alex: im sorry

Alex: its gonna be a while, ill let you know when im done and ill just come over to ur place

Alex: if thats ok

You type out a couple replies to him, and sigh out loud. It’s for the best really. You don’t exactly want him to talk to you about all this stuff right now anyway. You head out, lock up the place, and walk in the general direction of your home.

By the time you’re home and settled, Alex has given you an update, and it’s been nearly four hours since you saw Spinel with no response. You’re seriously starting to worry, because she’s never not replied to your messages like this. You go to send her another text, and realize that she still hasn’t opened any of your messages. You send her another inquiry, and pop up your chat with Steven.

Y/N: Steven.

Y/N: I need you to answer asap.

You see that he’s online, and you wait for an answer. It only takes him a minute or two to get back to you.

Steven: Hey Y/N, what’s up?

Y/N: Have you talked to Spinel in the last couple of hours?

Steven: Not since this morning, why?

Y/N: Can you call her just to check up on her? I’m worried about something.

Steven: Yeah hold on.

You wait for several long minutes for him to get back to you.

Steven: Her phone’s just going to voicemail, which is pretty weird. Maybe she accidentally let it die? I’ll let you know when she answers back.

Steven: Are you guys okay?

Y/N: Uhh, I’ll get back to you on that.

Steven: Hmm, okay.

You go to lay on your couch face down, and scream into the cushions.

Apparently you fall asleep that way, because the next thing you know, you have to peel your drool covered face off the couch cushion. You blink away your sleep-heavy eyes, and blearily check your phone. It’s 5am.

The only message you’ve received is one from Alex saying he stopped by, but left since he saw you were sleeping. Okay wow, he could’ve woken you up into a better sleeping position. Your neck feels like shit.

You’re trying to ignore the growing feeling of dread in your stomach, pointedly not thinking about how Spinel hasn’t texted you back yet, and how long it’s been. You grab a glass of water from the fridge, trudge up the stairs into your bedroom, and flop on your bed. You pass out again nearly instantly.

When you wake up again, the sun is glaring into your window, and you groan. You roll over and pull the covers over your head. Fuck the sun today. You grab your phone from your nightstand, and notice it’s almost 1pm, the fuck? Why the fuck did you sleep so long? You look at all your notifications, and pretend that you’re not looking for a specific one from someone.

Spinel still hasn’t texted you back, and STILL hasn’t seen any of the messages you’ve sent her. You are starting to panic a little, so you shoot Steven a message.

Y/N: She hasn’t said anything to me at all, has she answered you?

You message your dad and friends back while waiting a few minutes for Steven to reply. It takes him a few minutes to get back to you while you're laying in bed.

Steven: Her phone is still off, and she hasn't replied to anything I've sent her. I'm gonna ask Lapis to check up on her since they live in the same building. I'll get back to you when I get an answer.

It's been like twenty hours since you've seen her, and you're worried. There's no point moping around though, so you get up and get dressed for the day. You make and eat breakfast, even if you don't normally. You need a distraction from your thoughts, so you give your dad a call to check up on him, and ask him when he's coming home this week. He talks to you about his long days in meetings after meetings, the silly shit he got up to with a coworker last night after drinking, and the new hobby he's thinking of picking up when he gets back home. You guys talk for a long while, and maybe it's something you really needed, because you momentarily forget about what you were so worried with in the first place, until your phone buzzes. It's ringing actually, and your phone screen lights up with Steven's name. You tell your dad you've got to go to take this other call, and answer Steven. You sit there, phone in hand for a moment, before putting it to your ear.

"Y/N?" You hear him ask, although a bit muffled.

"Yeah. Anything?" You reply, trying to keep the nervousness out of your voice.

"She's uh.. She's on homeworld with the Diamonds right now? Maybe they worked something out with whatever event they were planning." He says into the receiver, completely casual like this is no big deal. Like that answer didn't just shatter your morale.

"Hm, okay. I appreciate you telling me this." You want to hang up and cry.

"Why didn't Spinel tell you she was going? I mean, she doesn't need to let me know since I go back to homeworld frequently.. are you guys okay?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhh." You say, unable to form an answer that isn't too revealing. "I'm not sure. But I'll let you know if anything changes."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" He says, gently. You appreciate that he cares, but it's best if he doesn't interfere.

"I know. Thank you, Steven." You reply, holding back any emotion that will give you away.

"I'll talk to you soon, okay? See you, Y/N." You say goodbye as well, and hang up.

You sit at your dining table for several solid minutes without moving, staring blankly at your phone, mind swirling with thoughts.

Okay. Alright. You can do this.

You refuse to cry, and you pinch your arm to get the prickling feeling away from the edges of your eyes. Fuck. Okay.

So she just.. left. She left, when she was fighting with the Diamonds literally yesterday about something awful they said to her, so awful that she had an emotional breakdown over it, and couldn't even TALK about it with you afterwards.

She left for homeworld to escape you.

You, specifically.

Because of a misunderstanding.

You probably sit there for a good twenty minutes absorbing everything, weighing the gravity of the situation. Afterwards, you get up and distract yourself with chores. You refuse to put any more thought into this, and just figure you'll wait.

At around 6pm, Alex comes over, and the two of you play Minecraft for the rest of the night, and he pointedly doesn't ask about Spinel at all. You're thankful that he's here in person, for once, because you don't know what kind of stupid shit you'd do without him here.

He spends the night and crashes on your couch, and you lay awake for most of the night, restless.

When you wake up, Alex has coffee and oatmeal ready for you, which is pretty funny because he never makes food. He's usually awful at it. He's sitting at the table sipping his coffee and drawing in his sketchbook, and he looks up when you make your presence known.

"Wow, you kinda look like shit my guy." He says, taking another sip of his coffee, and setting the mug down.

"Thanks. Had insomnia pretty bad last night.." You trail off and move to grab a mug from the cabinet and pour yourself some coffee. It's a black coffee only kind of day.

You sit down on the opposite side from him, and slowly drink your coffee. It smells good. You're worried Spinel hates you and never wants to see you again. You pull the bowl of oatmeal towards you and take a bite of lukewarm mush.

"This is kind of awful but thanks." You say as you shovel more into your mouth, and consider adding more brown sugar to this.

"I ain't no Gordon Ramsay, but I try." He doesn't look at you as he shades the back leg of the deer he's sketching. You watch him bite his tongue in concentration, and you take another sip of coffee. It's kind of burnt tasting, but whatever. You've had worse. "What do you want to do today, anyway?"

"Mmm." You eat another bite of oatmeal. "Can you please pick? Cuz I'm kinda braindead right now and I don't really feel like concentrating." He looks at you with mild concern.

"Last time I got to pick, you banned me from picking out what we do for a solid year." He furrows his eyebrows, twisting his pencil in hand.

"Yeah, well.. I don't really care right now." You shovel more food into your mouth.

"Fine. You said so, okayyyy, so no complaining later." He rolls his eyes and huffs, pencil scratching against the paper. Your phone buzzes several times on the table, and you reluctantly grab it. One message from dad, and.. two from Steven. You open up Steven’s messages first.

Steven: What did you do?

Steven: She doesn't want to come home.

Your stomach feels like lead. Alex notices you immediately.

"Uh. What's wrong?" He asks, leaning over. You tilt your phone away from him and you can feel the tears coming. You swallow, trying to get your face to cooperate.

“Um..” You feel your voice wavering, so you take a steadying breath. Looking down at your phone again, you struggle to form any kind of coherent words at all. You push your phone over to Alex, he reads what's on your screen, and looks back over to you with a serious face.

“For real? Are you kidding me?” He says, and you can hear the frustration in his voice. “I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind.”

“No,” The words finally find you. “Let me deal with this, please.” You give him a half hearted smile, and pull your phone back to yourself. With shaky hands, you text Steven back.

Y/N: Listen, I didn’t do anything, but..

Y/N: I’d prefer to get this sorted with her in person.

Y/N: I don’t want to play the messenger game

Y/N: I want her to hear it from me.

You don’t have to wait too long for his reply.

Steven: Okay well, I don’t know how well that’s going to work

Steven: Considering she refuses to talk to me about any of it

Steven: Let me know if you end up wanting me to do anything?

Steven: And I’ll message you if anything happens on my end.

Y/N: I appreciate that. Thanks.

You sigh and look up at Alex, who’s watching you with his chin in hand, leaning on the table.

“Anything?” He inquires.

“Nothing.” You say.

“Well, let me clean up the mess I made and let's go out. Mom let me have the car today, so we can go wherever. You said I can choose and no take-backsies, just give me a few minutes, alright?” He stands up and takes the both of your plates to the kitchen, and you watch him for a moment before deciding to get up and get dressed.

You head up to your bedroom and open your closet, rummaging around for something cozy. You grab a soft long sleeve shirt, and sweatpants, because who gives a fuck honestly. You’re looking inbetween all your sweaters for your favorite one that you’d like to wear today, before realizing that Spinel still has it. Instantly, your eyes fill with tears at the reminder, and you let yourself cry quietly in frustration where no one can see you.

After a few minutes, you wash your face in the bathroom and get dressed, settling for a different sweater. You take a couple deep breaths, and head downstairs to Alex.

You spend the rest of the day with Alex, and he takes the both of you to Empire City to browse the mall and window shop, and he buys the both of you dinner. You feel like he’s being extra sweet to make you feel better and you appreciate him so much for it, but Spinel’s on your mind literally all day and you can’t distract yourself enough. He gives you a big hug after dropping you off at home, and before leaving he makes sure that you’re okay. You’re not, not really, but he helped you not spiral further downwards today.

The next day you only work a half shift, so you get to sleep in and you take full advantage of it. It has now been three days since Spinel disappeared with no word since, and you’re beside yourself with worry. But you can’t let this stop you living your day to day life, so you do what you do best and keep on with your routine.

The fourth day goes quickly as you work a full shift, and you’ve got quite a few things to do before your dad gets home tomorrow. You’re excited to see him, as he’s been gone for nearly three weeks now. The house will be back to normal, and way less lonely.

Your dad comes home the fifth day and you spend the entirety of it with him, and you don’t think about Spinel at all. The both of you go to the movies, and then to the beach to have a relaxing afternoon as family bonding time. When you guys head home, you make him his favorite steak and potatoes and he talks about all of the things he had to do and how much he missed your company while he was gone. You think he notices that your mood has slightly been off today, but he doesn't ask about it.

The sixth day, Steven sends you a text about her still not being home, and you wonder why you even bothered opening the message. At this point you’re no longer despondent, you’re now just frustrated with the growing feeling of anger building inside you.

By the tenth day, you’re rightfully pissed. You gave her more than enough time to get over whatever feelings she felt - and she’s not taking any of your feelings into consideration. She left you to deal with the aftermath of what she assumed to be true, and never even gave you the chance to explain yourself. You haven’t sent her a text since that last one you sent over a week ago, and you think you’ll send her one more.

Y/N: Whenever (or IF, I guess) you decide to pop back in on earth, I’d like to have a chat. :)

Steven hasn’t said anything much in the last week, either. You kind of feel like he’s avoiding you because of this, but it doesn’t matter now. If she never wants to come back, that’s on her.

Two more days go by - pretty uneventfully. You spend most of your time at work, or playing minecraft with Alex and the occasional Harper when she’s actually in a motel versus camping. The two of them haven’t asked about Spinel at all - and you know they’ve talked about it extensively in private. You’re secretly relieved that you don’t have to talk about her, though.

Two weeks pass, and you give up entirely. Life goes on.

One of these late afternoons you’re lying in bed after work and texting your friends, and for a moment you think about shooting Spinel a last message. You don’t think she’ll come back to earth at this point, but you want your sweater back if she ever visits. You swipe over to your chat with her to let her know this, and your eyes glance at the ‘seen’ icon at the bottom, timestamp dated nearly 36 hours ago.

Huh.

Wait. What the fuck.

You sit there for a moment, frozen in shock. Shock that quickly turns into boiling anger, and you find yourself texting Steven faster than you realize.

Y/N: So she comes back and you say nothing, yeah?

Y/N: Remind me to not do you any favors for a while.

Eyes stinging, you go back over to shoot Spinel an angry message, but before you can even type out half a sentence, Steven rapidly texts you back.

Steven: Hold on for a second, okay?

Steven: Let me explain something.

You don’t really care at this point.

Y/N: nah man.

You get up from bed, pocket your phone, and waltz downstairs. You put on a sweater, toe on the nearest flip flops, and head out the front door. Dad’s at work currently, so you lock the door and head over to little homeworld. You walk briskly over to the bar you met Spinel at, and after a small hold up with the bouncer, head in and move directly to the counter, facing Bismuth.

“Hey Bis,” You say to her, and she glances over to you from her current patron, and smiles at you.

“Y/N! It’s been a minute. How’ve you been?” She replies, facing you.

“I’ve been alright,” You lean a bit over the bar. “I actually just have a question, if you don’t mind.” Bismuth looks at you inquisitively, and you continue. “What’s Spinel’s address? She never gave it to me.” You smile sweetly at her.

“Hold on, let me get a pen and some paper.” She says as she sets down her glass, and grabs a pen and some receipt paper from the register. You watch her scribble something down, and she hands it to you.

“Bis, I ever tell you that you’re the best?” You take the piece of paper from her hand.

“Only once,” She grins. “But I could stand to hear it again.” You laugh at that, and pocket the note.

“Thanks for this. I’ll pay you back later, promise.” You wink at her, and turn to leave. You hear her chuckle and pick the glass back up from the counter.

“I’ll keep you to that!” You hear as you leave the building, pulling out the note again to glance at the address.

It’s over a mile away, and you figure now or never, and walk towards the general direction of her place. You try and fail on calming your nerves on the near 30 minute walk, and by the time you get to her apartment building, you’ve worked yourself up into a whirlwind of emotions. Also you’ve pointedly ignored your phone this entire time, and you’re pretty sure you’ve missed 5 calls and dozens of texts, but you knew that if you looked at any of it, you’d lose face and chicken out.

Spinel’s apartment is on the 9th floor, and you marvel at the technology side of the building for a bit. These gems really knew how to build stuff. You take the elevator up, and once you’re on the floor, you take a sharp left to the odd numbers side of the building. You reach her door and stop, almost touching the frame to knock on it. Although it’s pretty quiet in the building, you can hear a faint voice, or voices, coming from inside her apartment if you listen closely enough.

You take a deep breath, and let it out. You take another three, and consider leaving altogether. You steel your nerves, lift your arm, and knock on her door frame twice.

You think you hear the voice quiet down as you stand there, waiting. Several seconds go by, and you can hear your own heartbeats.

For a sec you think that she won’t come to the door, but after a few more moments you hear quiet movement towards the door you’re standing in front of. You make a point to step to the side, so whoever is answering the door can’t see who’s standing there through the peephole.

Very slowly, you see the door handle turn, and the door swinging open several inches. You watch Spinel peek her head out the door, her phone in her hand, and turn to make direct eye contact with you. She freezes instantaneously, like she expected it to be anyone else other than you standing there.

Her hair is in a messy bun, and your eyes trail down to notice that she’s wearing your sweater.

This pisses you off immediately.

#spinel #spinel x reader #spinel su #spinel self insert #steven universe #my fic #devils ballroom

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zen3to5 · 4 years

Text

J/H 7-22: 2000 Light Years From Home

No more partial scripts - from here on out, it's Page One rewrites until the finale.

So, Eric's been on a different track to teaching in this timeline, but is the destination any different? And what happened to Jackie and Hyde - I thought this was supposed to be a Zen rewrite? Well, read on, friends. Read on...

FF.Net AO3

***

SHOW TITLE INT. FORMAN BASEMENT - NIGHT The gang, hanging out. JACKIE ruffles around in the deep freeze, HYDE reads a magazine in his chair, and DONNA and FEZ watch TV from the couch. KELSO enters from the basement door and throws himself down in the lawn chair. KELSO: Okay, I'm breaking up with Angie. All we have anymore is hot sex. FEZ: Hot sex? All I have is hot soup. Can't make love to that. Too damn hot. DONNA: So, Kelso, you gonna break up with her your usual way - send a note saying you got kidnapped by kung fu robots? KELSO: No, it won't work with her. She doesn't even believe in kung fu robots. Just gonna have to talk to her. DONNA: Wow, Kelso. I thought your usual Plan B was to have one of us tell the girl you're dead. And then when she eventually sees you, you have us tell her you're a ghost. Jackie crosses across the room to stand behind Kelso. JACKIE: Michael, why don't you do what you did with me: toilet paper my house! She smacks him upside the head, then steps back to lean on the door. KELSO: I can't do that to Angie. I respect her too much 'cause she agreed to have sex with me so fast. ERIC enters from the stairs. He has a stack of papers in his hand and a glum look on his face. ERIC: Hey! Bad news. KELSO: Your mom changed her mind about making blueberry cobbler? FEZ: No, she made it. I would know – I ate it. All of it. Eric, ignoring them, jumps over the back of the couch to sit next to Donna. He throws the papers down on the coffee table. ERIC: No. I’ve been working on a budget, and I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to pay for college. DONNA: Didn’t your parents hang on to your college money after you had to stay home the last time? ERIC: Yeah, but – see, remember how I sold your engagement ring to pay for my year off? JACKIE: How could we forget? Donna made jewelry history – the world’s smallest diamond for the world’s worst wedding. ERIC: Well, the pawn shop must have thought so too, because it turns out what you get for a used engagement ring isn’t enough to support yourself for a year – even with living at home with your mommy. And after calling her “mommy” and going to a macramé class, my mom turned over my college account to me without telling Red. I started using that money to get by, and now there’s not enough left to pay for college. DONNA: Eric, don't worry. There are plenty of ways to get money for school. HYDE: Yeah, man. You could always get a football scholarship. JACKIE: Hey, look, he weighs about as much as a football, and people do like to kick him. She crosses the room to sit in Hyde’s lap, stopping to pat Eric on the shoulder on the way. FEZ: (to Eric) I know what you should do. You should go to Hollywood and become the next Gene Wilder. That guy's a laugh riot. JACKIE: You know, Eric, we all had to meet with the guidance counselor before the end of high school to talk about college. Maybe you should go see him. DONNA: Yeah. Finding money for college is what high school guidance counselors do. HYDE: Yeah, they also spend a lot of time staring at themselves in the mirror saying, "I can't believe I'm a high school guidance counselor." ERIC: The high school guidance counselor? Who is that? Is that still Mr. Bray? (Jackie nods) I don't know about Mr. Bray. I don't think he really liked me. One time I told him I was being bullied, and he just said, "what'd you expect?" JACKIE: Look, Eric, Mr. Bray asked to see me tomorrow about an opportunity for my public access show. Why don’t you come with me to my appointment? I’m sure he’ll help. He loves me. In almost entirely appropriate ways. Hyde gives Jackie a look; she looks back and shrugs. KELSO: Hey, people, how’d we get side-tracked? We’re forgetting what’s really important here – how I’m gonna break up with Angie. HYDE: (to Kelso) Look, I don't care how you do it. I'm just happy you won't be violating my sister anymore. KELSO: Yeah, I know you hated it, Hyde. I would have broken up with her sooner if I didn't find it so hilarious. Hyde crumples up his magazine and chucks it at Kelso, beaning him in the head. KELSO (cont’d): You be nice, or I will marry her.

MAIN CREDITS BUMPER INT. GROOVES - DAY The next morning. A brisk business at Grooves. Customers peruse the crates. Hyde and ANGIE keep an eye on things from the listening pit as they talk. ANGIE: Jackie’s getting some kind of offer about her show? Why? Her last episode was a half-hour about which high heels Olivia Newton-John would wear if she was ever a guest star on Charlie’s Angels. HYDE: Hey, it was better than the one about how Jack Nicholson should do his hair. ANGIE: How? HYDE: Because she didn’t spend all week trying to get me to stand in for Jack Nicholson. ANGIE: So – any idea what the offer is? HYDE: No. ANGIE: Do you know if Jackie’s been looking at colleges? HYDE: No. ANGIE: Have you two talked about your future at all since you got back together? HYDE: Angie, I didn’t talk, plan, or think about my future for eighteen years. You know what that got me? (she shakes her head) A cool black dad and a record store. Why start planning now? He heads to the register. Kelso and Fez enter through the door. They stop when they see Angie, who is helping a customer. KELSO: (to Fez) Okay. I can do this. I'm just gonna tell Angie that things are fizzling between us, and we should end it. Angie sees them, smiles, and walks over. ANGIE: (to Kelso) Hey, how's it going, sweets? FEZ: Not bad, toots. Angie and Kelso both give him a look. FEZ (cont’d): (to Angie) Oh, him. Go. He waves Angie over to Kelso. KELSO: (to Angie) Okay. Well, um, we need to talk about something. This might be kind of hard to take. (beat) Fez still wets the bed. FEZ/ANGIE: What?/Eww! Angie edges away from Fez. KELSO: (to Angie) At least we're still together! I'll see you later. He steers Fez around and gives him a push toward the door, following after. FEZ: (to Kelso) I'm going to wet your bed. They exit. CUT TO: INT. COUNSELOR’S OFFICE - DAY The office of Point Place High’s guidance counselor, a bare-minimum office lit more by the window than the poor lighting. Jackie and Eric enter through the open door. ERIC: Oh, my God. I can't believe I have to tell my high school guidance counselor that I spent an entire year doing nothing. He's gonna think I'm such a loser. JACKIE: Yeah. You know a good way to avoid that? Don’t be a loser. ERIC: Whatever. I bet he doesn’t even have an offer for you. This is probably like that time he told you he wanted to talk about who should be the head of the decorating committee, then asked you to prom. MR. BRAY himself enters, a portly man in a fool’s version of suave attire. A stack of files is tucked under his arm. He breezes right past Eric to shake Jackie’s hand. MR. BRAY Ah, Jackie. How very, very – very – pleasant to see you again. And so soon after high school. JACKIE: And so soon since the last time you drove by my house. MR. BRAY: (beat) Well, uh, my mother lives right next door. JACKIE: Next door is the guest house. MR. BRAY: Well... isn’t Mother a charming guest? Jackie fixes him with a condescending look. Mr. Bray clears his throat and stands up straight. MR. BRAY (cont’d): Well, Jackie, I asked you here because the school was recently contacted by a TV producer out of Chicago about you. JACKIE: (gasps) Oh, my God! Was it about my show? MR. BRAY: Yes, indeed. She asked if we could pass on her interest to you and that she’d be in the area if you could take a meeting before taping. Jackie squeals, hops, and claps with delight. JACKIE: Oh, my God, yes! Yes! When is she coming? MR. BRAY: Today. I meant to tell you sooner, but I kept dropping the phone – my hands tend to get sweaty when I’m nervous. JACKIE: Today? Oh, I – I have to get ready. I have to get dressed – I have to do my hair – I have to get down to the studio! She makes for the door. Eric catches her by the arm. ERIC: What? Jackie, you don’t tape for another four hours. JACKIE: Yeah, but it’ll take me at least two to get over there. ERIC: Why? JACKIE: Because I’m telling everyone! She pulls herself free and runs out of the office. Left alone, Eric and Mr. Bray awkwardly survey each other. MR. BRAY: And you are? ERIC: Eric. Forman. 1977's most improved mathlete. MR. BRAY: Oh, right. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, Eric. I just figured the bullies had gotten ya. They continue to awkwardly survey each other. BUMPER INT. GROOVES – DAY Business is still brisk, and Kelso and Fez are back. They stand together, heads bowed and arms folded, in the listening pit. Their heads jerk up when Jackie bursts through the door. JACKIE: Where’s Steven? KELSO: At lunch with Angie. Jackie turns to head back out the door, but Kelso lunges, takes her arm, and pulls her into the listening pit. They sit on the couch together while Fez sits on the armrest. KELSO (cont’d): Wait, Jackie! Listen, I need some advice on breaking up with girls, okay? And you've been broken up with a lot. Several times by me. So, what didn't you like? JACKIE: Oh, um... the lying, the cheating, the sneaking around - oh, and I also didn't like Fez trying to make out with me five minutes later. FEZ: Well, then you're really not gonna like this. He leans down for a kiss. Jackie shoves him back by the face. KELSO: Look, I don't know how to break up with Angie. JACKIE: Well, why don't you try to figure out how to do it kindly – maturely - respectfully? KELSO: Yeah. That sounds nice. (beat) I think I'm just gonna sleep with her best friend. CUT TO: INT. COUNSELOR’S OFFICE – DAY Mr. Bray and Eric have moved to sitting on opposite sides of Mr. Bray’s desk. Mr. Bray reviews the contents of a file and shakes his head, MR. BRAY: Well, Eric, I have to say – your eligibility for scholarships would normally be determined by what you’ve done for the last year, but as far as I can tell, you haven’t done anything. ERIC: Okay, well... yeah. But what about the year before that? I mean, I gave up college to support my family. MR. BRAY: So? ERIC: Isn’t that, like, a really noble and decent thing to do? MR. BRAY: You don’t get scholarships for nobility. Not unless you’re in Europe. And there, it’s not a scholarship – it’s actual nobility. ERIC: Come on, Mr. Bray. There’s gotta be something I can do to pay for college. I’ll do anything to become a teacher. MR. BRAY: You’re going to college for teaching? (Eric nods) And you spent the last year – (checks notes) “Reading comic books and acting out movies with your dolls” - ERIC: Action figures! MR. BRAY: Well, if you’re going to UW, there’s an option to be the instructor in a pilot teaching program that may just work for you. ERIC: Wait – pilot program? What does that mean? Like, an experiment? I don’t know if I wanna be a guinea pig. What would I be teaching? MR. BRAY: Comic books. Eric’s jaw drops. Slowly, his eyes bulging and his breath quivering in his throat, he pushes himself upright until he leans over the desk, his feet barely in contact with the ground. It’s an uncomfortable enough sight for Mr. Bray that he inches his seat back by a few good scoots. FADE TO BLACK COMMERCIAL BUMPER MUSIC NOTE: The theme from the 1966 “Batman” series. INT. COUNSELOR’S OFFICE - DAY Right where we left off. Eric is still leaning over the desk, his body trembling with the threat of jumping up and down for joy. Mr. Bray still looks uncomfortable. ERIC: So you’re saying that I would get paid to teach a class about comic books? MR. BRAY: Comic books, sci-fi films, fantasy novels, contemporary television – it’s an experimental course based on a program done in Indiana a few years ago. The university would pay you to teach this course, and while you act as the teacher, you could get a free education yourself. It would mean jumping right into a professional setting. So if you value time with your dolls – ERIC: ACTION FIGURES! MR. BRAY: Right. I’m just saying, you won’t have a lot of free time, and this sort of program needs someone with a strong work ethic. If you think you’re up to it, I can go get my information packet, but... He trails off as he looks Eric over – pasty, skinny, fresh-from-a-year-off Eric. Eric gives himself a look-over before pushing himself away from the desk and standing up tall. ERIC: You know what, Mr. Bray? I am up to it. You know, I wasn’t always this lazy, goof-around loser. I had work ethic – real work ethic. I don’t know how I got to this point, but I’ve been looking for a way out. And now – I have it. (puts hands on hips) I feel... I feel like Luke Skywalker when he vowed to follow Obi-Wan and learn the ways of the Force. Except we’re not surrounded by dead Jawas. And there’s no dead Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. And I don’t live with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, I live with my mom and dad, and – oh, screw it, I’m teaching Star Wars and comic books! He gives the air a happy jab. Mr. Bray gives a slight smile, shakes his head, stands, and leads Eric out of the office. BUMPER MUSIC NOTE: “Right Back Where We Stared From” by Maxine Nightingale. INT. STUDIO – EVENING The studio of the public access station, Jackie’s set. JACKIE, only slightly overdressed, bobs on her feet, all grins as the visiting CHICAGO PRODUCER, MRS. BERTRINELLI, sits on her desk and chats with her. MRS. BERTRINELLI: Well, Jackie, everyone in the Chicago station’s been talking about your program. JACKIE: Oh, really? MRS. BERTRINELLI: Yes, we’ve never seen anything quite like it. JACKIE: Well, I’d say I’m surprised, but – She indicates her face and lets out an airy laugh. JACKIE (cont’d): You know, my boyfriend Steven, he says the same thing every time he watches the show. At first, he meant it sarcastically, but now I think he means it as a compliment almost half of the time. Mrs. Bertrinelli gives an enigmatic sort of smile; Jackie can’t tell if she’s genuinely amused or condescending. Jackie clears her throat and stands up as tall as she can. JACKIE (cont’d): So, my guidance counselor said you had some sort of offer for me? MRS. BERTRINELLI: Yes. As I said, we’ve been watching your show. And quite frankly – you advertise it as a news program, and yet all your content is concerned with fashion, disco, decorating, celebrity gossip, and local scandal. It’s superficial, irrelevant – all the flightiest impulses of youth. All in all, it’s a terrible news program. Jackie’s face falls like a downed chopper over Saigon. Her hand clutches at her heart. MRS. BERTRINELLI (cont’d): But it’s perfect for the arts and leisure segment of a real news program. How’d you like a job as entertainment anchor? Jackie’s face changes again, into a stiff mask of shock. Her whole body goes stiff as an amused Mrs. Bertrinelli chuckles and shakes her head. CUT TO: INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – EVENING The end of a hard days’ work – relatively speaking. Hyde reads a magazine in his chair while Fez and Kelso share the couch. KELSO: (to Fez) So, there's a problem with my "sleeping with Angie's best friend" plan: Angie's best friend is Hyde. Without looking up from his magazine, Hyde shoots an acknowledging finger point Kelso’s way. FEZ: (to Kelso) Drat. And That’s not just your plan foiled. KELSO: Whaddya mean? FEZ: My plan to console Angie when you dump her, then console her best friend when you dump her too, just went down the dumper. (to Hyde) You son of a bitch. Hyde briefly flips down the magazine, grins at Fez, then goes back to reading. Jackie enters through the basement door, her face long. JACKIE: (to Kelso, Fez) Um, you guys, I gotta talk to Steven about something really serious. KELSO: (gasp) Maybe she's pregnant! FEZ: Maybe she cheated on him. KELSO: Maybe she cheated on him and she's pregnant. They grin up at her like idiots. Jackie, ignoring them, moves to the end of the couch nearest to Hyde’s chair. Hyde sets his magazine down and leans in toward her. JACKIE: Steven, this TV producer came by to tell me she loved my public access show. And then she offered me a job at her station in Chicago starting next month. HYDE: Whoa. Um, you're gonna take a job and move to Chicago? JACKIE: No, no, not yet. No, I wanted to talk to you about it first. KELSO: Uh-oh. This is "serious" serious, not funny serious. (to Fez) We should probably leave. FEZ: (to Jackie, Hyde) But we won't. Jackie and Hyde both ignore him. JACKIE: Steven, this is my dream come true. But you are the most important thing in the world to me. So, I'm willing to give it all up and stay here with you. But if I do that, I need to know we're gonna get married. HYDE: Jackie, we agreed not to talk about our future. JACKIE: Until our future got here, and it just did, Steven. Look, the station needs an answer by the end of the month, and I do, too. HYDE: Well, I don't know what to say right now. A flicker of hurt crosses Jackie’s face, but she gives Hyde a slow nod. JACKIE: Okay, well, you don’t have to say anything right now. But this month is all the time left I can give you. Hyde looks away from her. He sits back in his chair and tosses his head back as Jackie looks down at the floor. Kelso sweeps a hand out to draw attention. KELSO: (to Hyde) I know this is a sensitive moment, but may I offer a word of advice? He stands, crosses to the basement door, and throws it open. KELSO (cont’d): Run! Fez heeds Kelso’s advice: he jumps to his feet and dashes out the door. When Kelso sees the look Hyde’s giving him, he does the same thing. BUMPER INT. FORMAN KITCHEN - NIGHT Post-dinner clean-up. KITTY is at the sink, gloves on, working at a roasting pan soaked in suds. RED sits at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper. Donna enters from the patio door. DONNA: Hey, is Eric home? We were supposed to hang out at the Hub after his meeting with the guidance counselor, but he never showed. KITTY: (shakes head) He hasn’t been home all day. RED: (flips paper down) If he’s trapped in another locker, we’ve gotta disown him. The only time in a man’s life when it’s acceptable for him to get stuffed in a high school locker is when he’s in high school. KITTY: But he was in the high school. RED: You know what I meant. The patio door slides open again. Donna steps back as Eric and Mr. Bray enter, all grins, each with a stack of papers under their arms. ERIC: (to Donna) Hey. I know I didn’t show at the Hub, but I’ve got great news. I – Mr. Bray elbows past Eric to shake Donna’s hand. MR. BRAY: Donna! Donna Pinciotti! How nice to see you again. You’ve done something different with your hair since high school. DONNA: Yeah, you noticed. MR. BRAY: Well, I notice everything about all my students. ERIC: You didn’t even remember my name. MR. BRAY: (to Eric) I notice everything about all my recent students. ERIC: Donna and I were the same year. MR. BRAY: Yes, well... I would like to change the subject now. KITTY: (to Eric) Honey, you said you have great news? She peels off her gloves and crosses to the table. She and Donna sit as Eric sets his papers down and clasps his hands together. ERIC: I found a way to pay for college. DONNA: Eric, that’s wonderful! KITTY: Hooray! RED: Pay for college? What’s wrong with the money we’ve been putting into your savings account? KITTY: Oh – um, Red, honey, we – we need to talk later. Red opens his mouth to press the issue, but Kitty waves him quiet. ERIC: Yep. Not only will I be going to college for teaching – I’ll be going to college to teach. KITTY: Ooh, how nice! (beat) What does that mean? Donna and Red, just as confused as Kitty, look to Eric. ERIC: You are looking at the future instructor of UW’s experimental “Genre Fiction in America” course! He’s met with an audience of blank looks. ERIC (cont’d): I’m teaching Star Wars and comic books. Donna slaps a hand over her mouth, Kitty’s jaw drops, and Red, glaring, stands. RED: Are you telling me that college is giving a whole class over to those moron books and that dopey space movie? ERIC: No, Dad, it’s all of science fiction and fantasy. It’s a pilot course about how genre fiction comments and reflects on modern American life. MR. BRAY: We were on the phone with UW all afternoon, setting Eric up for the program. RED: Oh, crap. First they turn out commies, then they turn out hippies – now our colleges are gonna take America’s children and give her back a bunch of smart-mouth slackers indoctrinated by Professor Dumbass. He drops back to his seat and puts a hand over his head. Eric shrugs and turns to his much more enthusiastic reception from Donna and Kitty. CUT TO: INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – NIGHT A short time later. Donna and Fez sit on opposite ends of the couch, Kelso sits on the washer, and Eric stands by him, working at a popsicle. The remnants of a burger-and-fries dinner litter the coffee table. KELSO: (to Eric) So all those times you were going on and on about Star Wars – how this is like Star Wars, how that is like Star Wars, how the Vista Cruiser is like your Millennium Falcon from Star Wars – it turns out you can get a job teaching that? That’s, like, the biggest burn on everyone who ever made fun of you for being a loser. ERIC: Kelso, you always made fun of me for being a loser. KELSO: And the burn’s on me. Well played. ERIC: (to all) Man, isn’t this great? And the best part is, if this pilot program takes off, it could become just a regular class, offered every year. DONNA: Eric, if you stay on with UW to teach that course, you could end up as Professor Forman. I kinda like the sound of that. ERIC: Me too. Professor Eric “Star Wars” Forman. DONNA: Okay, now I like it a little less. FEZ: (to Eric) And you will teach comic books too? ERIC: Comic books, TV, cartoons, magazine stories... it’s like this entire basement condensed into a study guide. KELSO: Hey, you know what comic book you should teach? Mine. ERIC: You have a comic book? KELSO: Yeah, it’s called Adventures on the Planet Zorgon. There’s these bugs that burrow into your brain, and they lay, like, a thousand eggs. And when the eggs hatch, they, like, shoot out of your head like little worm bullets. He’s grinning from ear to ear. Eric gives him an indulgent smile in return. Hyde enters from his room, SCHATZI in his arms. He makes his way to his chair and sits down, staring blankly ahead while he scratches Schatzi’s head. DONNA: So, Hyde – we heard about Jackie. What are you gonna do? HYDE: Well, I’ve spent all night kicking it back with Schatzi. ERIC: With Schatzi? HYDE: Yeah. If I hit my stash hard enough, I can understand him. Eric and Donna share a look. DONNA: And what did you and Schatzi come up with? HYDE: A great idea for a movie that now I just can’t remember. He shakes his head in frustration, retrieves a piece of beef from the coffee table, and feeds it to Schatzi. CUT TO: INT. GROOVES – NIGHT Well past closing time. The customers are gone, the lights are out, but Angie is still at work. She stands at the register, reviewing the drawer. Satisfied with what she sees, she shuts the register, retrieves her bag, and heads for the door. Just as she opens it, Kelso appears in the doorway. KELSO: Hey, Angie. I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I finally worked up the nerve. And I think we need to talk about us. ANGIE: Yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk about us too – I’m breaking up with you. Kelso’s jaw drops. KELSO: How dare you! ANGIE: Come on. You know things were sort of fizzling anyways. KELSO: F-fizzling? How can you even say that? What about all the times you said that I was really, really good-looking? ANGIE: Michael, its over. But know this – when I said you were good-looking, I really meant it. She pats his arm and strolls out into the night. KELSO: (yelling after her) You know what? You’ve got a lot of growing up to do! FADE TO BLACK CREDITS INT. FORMAN BASEMENT - NIGHT THE CIRCLE. A baffled and slightly repulsed Eric peruses a crudely-drawn amateur comic book. ERIC: Kelso, I never knew you had such a... a thing for bugs crawling around in peoples’ brains. Pan to Kelso, on the verge of tears. KELSO: You know what, Eric? Right after a guy’s girlfriend breaks up with him is not the time for constructive criticism! Pan to Hyde. HYDE: Well, one day down, and I still don’t have an answer for Jackie. (to his right) You got anything? Pan to Schatzi, propped up on pillows. SCHATZI (v.o.): Nothing yet, man. I think I need more kibble. END.

#z's fics #that 70s show #zenmasters #jackie x hyde #zen3to5+#fan fiction #fan script

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toomanystoriessolittletime · 5 years

Text

The thrill of it all (4/9)

Summary: Rose and Tom have been together for 7 years when he breaks up with her. She has no idea why. Tom regrets it almost immediately but still moves on. Until he realized what a huge mistake he has made.

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston / OFC

Warnings: angst

can also be found on AO3

Masterlist

On December 12th of that year Tom woke up late. He’d been out having dinner with both his sisters and it got rather late. He had his first appointment today and he didn’t want to be late. It was 9 am and he had to get ready. Grabbing his phone, he went to the bathroom to have a quick shower before.

While waiting for the water to boil in the kitchen a little later, he finally checked his phone which had numerous notifications but the one on the top made him hold his breath.

“Congratulations on your Golden Globe nomination. You truly deserve it. Rose”

It had been 3 weeks since he had sent her a text message. And she hadn’t responded. He couldn’t blame her. If she had left him the way he left her he wouldn’t want to talk to him either. Still. He couldn’t stop the little smile that made it’s way to his face.

On Christmas day Tom found himself in the house he grew up in, surrounded by his whole family. Still he couldn’t enjoy it as much as he would have.

“You know you could just call her.” His mother sat down next to him.

“I know.”

“Then why aren’t you doing it?”

“I want to talk to her in person. I don’t even know where to start to apologize.” He admitted.

“Oh Thomas.” Diana hugged her son.

“I know you will find a way. But you should hurry before you’re too late.”

“Dad. Oh my god don’t.” Rose put her arm over her eyes, trying to hide from the world. Yet laughing.

“Why?” Her father chuckled.

“Because it’s embarrassing.”

“It’s not. All of us had to start somewhere.” Ryan said, trying to keep a straight face.

“But you didn’t start with a rhyme of how much you loved banana ice-cream, didn’t you?” She asked.

“Nope.” He laughed and Rose joined. It was the day after Christmas. She had planned to go to London for the holidays, but her father surprised her in New York just on the day she was supposed to fly out to the UK.

Every concern she had regarding this Christmas where washed away as soon as she saw her father.

Okay. James probably also had to be a reason.

After going out with him a couple of times, they had decided to just date. As it turned out James was a music producer and even worked with some of the same artists as Rose. He couldn’t believe she was the one who wrote the latest Number 1 song of the billboard top 100. He was complementing her so much, and she had been blushing so hard in that moment, that she just kissed him just to shut him up. That was on her last day in New York 2 weeks ago.

You could imagine Rose’s surprise when she opened Ryan’s door this morning back in San Francisco as the doorbell ringed and found James standing there.

“We have a mutual friend here who invited me. I hope that’s okay.” He had said

“I’m going to kill Ryan.” Rose had answered, shaking her head.

“Okay… I can just leave again?” James had suggested slowly.

“No. No. You stay. Hey.” Rose had to stretch to hug him.

“Merry Christmas.” James had whispered and kissed her lightly.

And that’s how she found herself on the couch, James arm around her shoulders, while her father was telling embarrassing childhood stories about herself.

“Can we stop now with the stories about me and focus on something else?” Rose asked.

“Yes. Let’s focus on James who has been nominated for a golden globe.” Ryan suggested and Rose shot him a dangerous look.

“It’s nothing.” James took a sip from his whiskey.

“Oh please. You probably will win the Oscar also. The music and movie are brilliant.” Andrea chipped in.

“Which movie?” Rose’s father asked.

“La La Land.” SheI answered and her father looked impressed at James.

“Well. Congratulations. I saw it back in London on screen and loved it. I even bought the soundtrack on itunes.”

“Thank you so much.” James smiled at Rose’s father.

“You know I still don’t have someone to accompany to the Golden Globes.” It was way past midnight and Rose was laying with her back on James’ chest outside on the balcony under a big blanket.

“You don’t?”

“Nope. Haven’t found the right person to ask.”

Rose nodded.

“You know where I’m going with this conversation, don’t you?” James leaned down, close to Rose’s ear.

“I know.” Rose whispered and turned around so she was facing him.

“I can’t go with you and I’m going to tell you exactly why.”

“I’m listening.”

“Well first, we only know each other for 7 weeks. You don’t take your…” I was searching for the right word. “Girlfriend?” he suggested. I smiled at him.

“Was that a question? Because it sounded like that.”

“Do I have to ask you to be my girlfriend like we are in the second grade?”

“Who has girlfriends in the second grade?” Rose asked surprised.

“I don’t know.” James laughed and put his arms around Rose to lay her down on his chest. Sure they only knew each other for a short time but he was pretty sure he loved her.

“So…” She started again after a while. “You don’t take your girlfriend for 7 weeks on a red carpet of one of the biggest award ceremonies on the planet.

“I would.” James interrupted her.

Rose laughed and punched him lightly on his chest.

“Let me finish, won’t you?” She kissed his chest through his shirt.

“Okay maybe YOU take your girlfriend of 7 weeks on the red carpet. But…” She kneeled between his legs on the lounger.

“But maybe I don’t want to go because there is a high chance I will run into my Ex that I don’t want to take.” Rose confessed.

“The one who ghosted you?” He asked. She nodded.

“I know I don’t talk about it very much. He really did hurt me and I’m not sure what I’ll do if I see him. So I rather would let it happen anywhere but on a red carpet.”

“Understandable. Why would he be there?” James asked interested. He really knew nothing about this mysterious guy who broke her heart. More than once he imagined having a talk with him, to ask him what on earth was wrong with him to let a woman like Rose go.

“He is nominated as best leading actor in a mini series. You actually told me you loved the series when we talked about the globe nominations.”

“Your Ex is Tom Hiddleston?” James asked rather surprised.

“He is. We had been together for 7 years when he broke up with me.” A sad smile came to her face. James sat up and hugged her tightly. He knew that she was hurt badly. He was also pretty certain that she still loved him. And with this new information about how long they had been together, he needed time to process.

“It’s okay. Maybe you can join me on the after party? I can ask who is on the guest list, so you don’t run into him?” He asked. Rose looked at him and smiled, before she leant forward and kissed him. Giving him the answer he wanted to hear.

Rose wanted to send him something. Hell. She wanted to hug him and tell him how proud she was. And she wanted to punch him for his poorly chosen words. She could see that he was nervous.

“You should call him.” Ryan said.

“I can’t.” She watched as he stumbled over his words, while accepting his first Golden Globe for his role in “The night manager”.

“Then write him. Or write something.” He kissed her forehead and left.

She looked at herself in the mirror. The now red hair was curly around her head. The green floor long dress she chose fitted perfectly and the shoes made her at least 3 inches taller.

The applause on TV brought her back and she saw Tom waving to the crowd before he left the stage. Her phone already in her hand she went through her contacts.

“Oh my God please tell me it wasn’t that bad.” Were the first words she heard after the call connected.

She laughed. “Well it wasn’t that good either.”

“I really hate you, Stevens.”

“I love you too, Luke. How is he?” Rose had been in contact with Luke constantly in the last months. In the past years he had become a close friend.

“He’s doing interviews right now. I gave him a tequila after he came back from stage.”

“Like a good Publicist would do.”

“Are we still on for tomorrow?” He asked.

“I’ll pick you up around noon. I will call you before I’m on my way.”

“Good.”, she heard Tom asking who’s on the phone. Her stomach clenched hearing his voice so close.

“That’s Tom. I have to go.”

“Tell him congratulations.”

“I will. See you Rose.”

“You look absolutely beautiful.” James told her as soon as she exited the car.

“Why thank you Mr. Golden Globe winner.” She kissed him.

“Congratulations.” She kissed him again.

“Thank you. Should we go in?”

“We should.” Rose took his hand and smiled at him.

What she didn’t know was that only 2 cars away Tom had spotted her and had a hard time controlling his expression, when he saw the woman he loved was kissing another man.

She hadn’t expected for the meeting with Luke on the next day to be so awkward.

Usually they had no problems talking to each other. They had been friends from the beginning of Rose and Tom dating. But both of them where not sure how to proceed this friendship, now that Tom was out of the picture.

“Long night?” Luke asked as they were seated and looking through the menu.

“I actually haven’t slept at all. I was on a after show party of the golden globes.”

“I know. Tom saw you.”

Rose looked at Luke over the menu.

“He did?”

Luke nodded. “He was supposed to be at the same party but left as soon as he saw you with James Miller. He was quite upset.”

“And that should concern me?” Rose put the menu down and raised her eyebrows at Luke.

Luke became uneasy.

“No. Yes. God, this is awkward. I don’t want to be put in the middle of all this.”

“There is no middle, Luke.”

“He wants to make things right, you know?”

Rose leant back in her chair, shaking her head rolling her eyes.

“Then he should have made more of a effort instead of a text message. How would you feel if Laura left you without any real explanation, because we both know Taylor wasn’t the real reason. He waited too long. I have James now. And he’s perfect. I really want to try with him.”

“Do you love him?” Luke asked.

“I always will. But I don’t think I can get over the way he treated me.”

“I was talking about James.” Luke said after a while. Rose looked at him breathing in deep.

“I like him.” Rose answered. “You can’t love somebody after 2 months.” As soon as these words left her mouth and saw the look Luke gave her she, suddenly exhausted, rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Jesus Benedict. We won’t be late. Who goes to watch a Shakespeare piece in the middle of the week?”

“Excuse you. Don’t underestimate the Shakespeare loving population of London.”

“Ugh.” Rose rolled her eyes and followed her friend. She and Benedict Cumberbatch had been childhood neighbours. Sure he was 10 years older than her but he had been her brothers friend. After he died he tried to be the big brother for Rose, David would have been.

Benedict had made it his purpose to take her to the theatre once a month. If he was available. His career really was starting to take off. That’s how she found herself sitting in the first row at the Donmar Warehouse about to see Shakespeare’s “Othello”.

“Do you think Ewan McGregor somewhere suddenly during this piece will stop and wholeheartedly sing the Elephant love song medley from the Moulin rouge movie? Because if that happens it might be worth leaving my flat the day before Christmas.” Rose had asked Benedict quietly before the lights went out.

Benedict had chuckled and whispered. “What am I going to do with you?”

2 hours later she joined in the standing ovation. She never liked Shakespeare. But if everything would have been performed like that, she would reconsider. When Ben told her Ewan McGregor would be in that play, she was sure she could survive 2 hours, subtle looking at him without actually paying real attention to the theatre. She hadn’t put in consideration the curly haired Gentleman that would also be there.

“So. How upset are you that there was no singing?” Ben asked, when the applause had slowed.

“Surprisingly I rather liked it.” Rose answered honestly.

“Oh?”

“This was the first time I really followed the story, so Congratulations Cumberbatch.” Rose looked at him. The cast came out for their final bow and she looked on stage again and swore she saw the Curly haired Man winking at her.

They were standing outside 30 minutes later, waiting for one of Benedict’s friends to have a drink with.

“I really want to go home Ben.” Rose whined for the third time.

“It’s Friday and it’s not even 11 pm. How old are you?”

“Right now I feel too old to even argue with you.”

“I’m taking you home on our way to the pub, all right?” Ben put his arm around her shoulder.

“Thank you. Adoptive brother.”

“Oh Tom. There you are.” Benedict suddenly took his arm away from Rose’s shoulder to greet the man who just stepped out with a hug.

“Glad you could make it. I hope you liked it?” As soon as she heard that voice, she knew that she so would go to the pub with Ben and his friend that night.

“Loved it. Rose here even liked it, and she is a though crowd.” Benedict stepped away from him and made a gesture to where Rose was standing.

“Though crowd? Why is that?” Tom looked at here interested.

“Oh she hates Shakespeare.” Ben provided and Rose could nothing but laugh at the shocked expression on Tom’s face.

“How… Why…” Where the only words that left his mouth while him and Ben where making their way over to Rose.

“I guess I just never really understood the fascination. Ben here tried very hard to make me like him. And the only piece I really ever liked way Henry V.”

“So there is hope.” Tom was now standing in front of Rose with a hopeful look on his face. So Rose was the name of the woman he had spotted first as he stepped on stage only a couple of hours ago. She was even more beautiful as she was standing right in front of him now.

“There is always hope, Tom…” She held her hand out for him to shake his.

“Thomas Hiddleston. But friends can call me Tom” He took her hand to shake it.

“And you are?”

“Rose Amelia Stevens. Nice to meet you Tom.”

When he brought her home that night, because Ben had left them by themselves after getting no word in, they were surprised to find out they lived only 5 minutes apart.

She was standing in her door, searching for the keys in her purse in the early morning hours of Christmas day. The sun about to come out. They had talked for 6 hours before the pub closed and they made their way home through Regents Park.

“So…” Rose finally had found her keys.

“So…” He repeated, smiling.

“We can agree that not everybody has to like Shakespeare?” Rose asked.

“We could do that.” He answered thoughtfully. “Or I could pursue you as long as possible with the outcome of you loving Shakespeare as much as I do.”

“I don’t think Shakespeare even loved himself as much as you love him, Tom.” She laughed. He joined.

“You might be right but I would like to try.”

“And how would you do that?”

“We could start by going to the theatre together?”

“I already do that, if I you remember.”

“Well yes but you haven’t been to the theatre with me.” He grinned.

“True.” Rose smiled.

Tom grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist.

“Merry Christmas Rose.” He had smiled.

“Merry Christmas, Tom.” She had smiled back and watched him leave her, going down the street.

As soon as she entered her apartment, still smiling like a lunatic her phone beeped, signalling a new message.

> She’s beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; She is woman, and therefore to be won. Henry VI Part 1 - Act 5, Scene 2 >

Right in that moment she had fallen in love with Tom. After meeting him only a couple hours earlier.

She looked at Luke. She had to leave.

“I can’t. I really want to. But I can’t.” Rose stood and put a hand on her friends shoulder.

“I have to find out if I can grow to love James.”

“But that’s not fair to either one of you.”

“I know. But sometimes you have to put yourself first. Like Tom did.” And with these word she left Luke alone at the Restaurant and made her way home.

>> Chapter 5

#fanfic #fanfiction #ff #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x ofc

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downtonabbeyrevisited · 5 years

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Series One - Episode Six

Episode Six of Seven is upon us but things don’t look like they are wrapping up any time soon. Many plot points are still dangling and becoming more intricate and it’s difficult to see how this will all be resolved within roughly 110 minutes. But now is not the time for thinking too carefully or rationally about things or else you’d never get through a whole episode of Downton without having a nervous breakdown.

Never knowingly under-cliched, Downton opens with a rabble of unruly northern commoners showing little capacity for nuanced political thought. In the middle of it all is a fascinated Sybil and frankly alarmed Branson. For a fan of Marx, Branson seems a little yellow at the realities of the political coal face whilst Sybil is ready to canvass the whole of the Yorkshire Dales if need be much to the horror of Lord Grantham. Despite the fact that Sybil makes it fairly clear that she wanted to be at the count, Robert heaps blame onto Branson for his daughter’s actions in a move that displays the very misogyny that Sybil is presumably keen to eradicate. Despite the “brouhaha”, Sybil bluffs her way into the count thereby dragging the “Irish radical” back into Robert’s ire.

King Julian has clearly been watching too much North and South and has decided to pursue the trope of ‘woman obtains laughably small head wound and collapses prompting romantic enlightenment in one or more other characters’. Upon Sybil’s return Robert predictably hits the roof despite Sybil and Mary’s protestations. Branson is left looking forlorn by the car, declaring that he is “a socialist but not a lunatic” and the rest of us wonder, why is it always so dark in Ripon?

Trouble is also brewing downstairs as Carson’s mystery letter almost makes him late for dinner. Lord Flincher’s contacts have been in touch regarding Mary’s entanglement with Turkish cultural attache Kamal. Cora maintains that “sometimes to deny these things is to throw paraffin onto the flames”: she has clearly been watching Tati Westbrook and has taken notes. Violet takes all this in surprisingly well and manages the social cover up and wistfully thinks about knocking off the Turkish ambassador, presumably using a different modus operandi than Mary used for the cultural attache but this is Downton Abbey, born of King Julian’s kaleidoscopic imagination so nothing is ever really ruled out as too bizarre a plot point.

William’s mother is introduced and at this late hour in the series, she will surely be dead before we can ever hope to form some kind of emotional connection with her and she can even obtain a face. William states that “there are no lies in our family” which of course means that the Mason family is an absolute hotbed of deception. None of Julian’s delicate foreshadowing techniques are not lost on me. With scant regard for medical ethics, Violet, Cora and Mary disagree about whether to inform William of his mother’s declining health. Mary eventually caves and hints that William should take a couple of days off showing a hitherto unseen streak of empathy.

The only character appearing to have anything near a nice time is Edith who bags herself Sir Anthony “any port in a storm” Strallan. Strallan drifts up the drive in his open Rolls Royce to a decidedly disinterested Mary but a very available Edith. One thing leads to another and before you can blink, Strallan is taking Edith for a spin, turning the steering wheel far too much as he does and making quips about burgeoning geopolitical tensions in Europe. The prospect of a concert in York can only mean that marriage for Edith is moments away. Just a shame for Edith that she’s in an ITV period drama and that clearly is not going to happen.

Winegate rumbles on with Bates slinging the first shot this episode, making a thinly veiled reference to Thomas’ political leanings and their potential correlation to the knicking of the odd bottle of red. Bates insists he doesn’t want anyone to lose their job which seems an odd thought to hold considering that all of this behaviour up to this point has hinted that he wants Thomas to have his comeuppance. In response to Bate’s apparent false threat, Thomas and O’Brein double down on their plotting this time drawing Daisy into their meddling. Carson looks unconvinced by the suggestion that Bates has been “handling the cellar key”. After the world’s shortest interrogation, Carson goes full Poirot (although the suggestion that he is even a little bit Belgian would probably send old Charlie into a spin) and brings in O’Brein, Daisy and Thomas to send Bates up the river. Fortunately for Bates, Daisy is clearly not cut out for a life on the dark side and later caves exonerating him.

But because John Bates is John Bates, his innocence doesn’t last long and he somewhat unnecessarily confesses that he was imprisoned as a thief. For whatever reason, Bates is in self-destruct mode. He is determined to paint himself in the worst light and refuse the love that is offered him, sort of like an Edwardian Remus Lupin. Later in Thomas’ usual smoking spot, we learn that two years have apparently passed since Bates arrival as Anna and Bates almost kiss to the accompaniment of suitably mournful strings. Nuance is not really Downton’s strong suit.

Romantic declaration of the moment

It turns out that all that Matthew had to do to win Mary’s favour was punch another man in the face. Suitably awkward dialogue precedes THE KISS as a nation rolls its eyes whilst Matthew and Mary crack on. Matthew makes swift work of things and proposes to Mary. Say what you like about Cousin Matthew, he is efficient.

Expressive eyebrow of the week

Only one contender for me this week and its Robert and his (over)reaction to Sybil’s trip to Ripon. If lasers had been invented, they would have been beaming out of his eyes at this point.

Wait, what?

“My problem is you!” I have lots of time for Dan Stevens but this was an appalling go at a tough guy. Sorry. Either that or it was brilliant acting, showing just how wet Matthew actually is even when he is defending the honour of a fair maiden. Bravo.

“I don’t know if I would have had the strength mentally or physically to carry a corpse the length of this house” Watching Violet do this would be worth the cost of the licence fee alone.

“I hope you go into politics, it’s a fine ambition”: Sybil seems determined to assign all of her father’s staff other jobs.

“We can’t have him assassinated, I suppose” Oh again, another potentially brilliant spin off lives and dies in a moment.

“Anna, you’re here to watch, not participate” Why? Why would you bring another member to staff to watch the dressing down of another? Some of the workplace practices in Downton leave much to be desired.

“Everyone goes down the aisle with half the story hidden” Turns out that some home truths are still as applicable in the twenty first century as they were in the twentieth.

“Why are all your causes so steeped in gloom?” You just know that Sybil would be Vegan if she were a millennial.

In other news, the dog finally lifted its head off the library floor. Hurrah!

#Downton #downton abbey #downton rewatch #Downton movie #downton abbey movie #anna bates #john bates #Matthew Crawley #sybil branson #thomas barrow #thomas branson #Mary Crawley #lady mary #william mason #sarah o'brien #Charles Carson #dan stevens #daisy mason

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lovixcore · 5 years

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May I have this dance? (amedot fic)

One-Shot

Summary: 2. We were dancing but all of a sudden it’s a slow song and we’re standing here awkwardly staring at each other (Prompt)

Notes: So around a year ago, someone requested this for a prompt game. Originally this took over a week, due to brainstorming and being busy with school. I've rewritten this several times since, so it went from 800 words to 1000 to 1700 to now over 2000 words. I completely changed the ending back in December, so that's why it's way longer. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, because it doesn't feel as fast paced as it was before and I worked really hard on this fic. (Update/Edit)

Word Count: 2365 words

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15794496

It was the evening of Steven’s fifteenth birthday. August 15th. And of course they were celebrating the occasion by throwing a party for him. It was just the gems, Connie, and Steven’s dad, Greg. They were all on the dance floor that had been set up by Greg and Bismuth earlier in the day. Unsurprisingly, Steven and Connie were dancing together, as Lapis stood off to the side. She wasn’t really that much of a dancer. She stood off to the side with Greg, watching him dj music. Garnet, Bismuth, and Pearl had been chatting the night away. And then there was Amethyst and Peridot, who were dancing together as well.

After one song finished, another one started playing. The mood of the song had changed from a tone that sounded fun to a tone that was more so slow and calm. It almost even sounded romantic. ‘Oh my stars. The dance for this sound would be slow dancing? Wouldn’t it?’ Sometime ago, after watching an episode of Camp Pining Hearts, Peridot’s curiosity got the best of her, so she decided to look up what a slow dance was, the definition being ‘a type of partner dance in which a couple dance slowly, swaying to the music, usually done to very slow-beat songs, namely sentimental ballads.’ Peridot then looked over at the purple quartz, almost like she was now staring at her, as Amethyst awkwardly stood there, staring back. Both wondering if the other gem would even want to.

After at least a couple of seconds of just awkwardly standing there and staring at each other, Amethyst finally spoke up, breaking the silence between them and risking the chance of being rejected, asking “Peridot, may I have this dance?” in a tone that came off as daring and bold but also tense, nervous, anxious..

Amethyst then gently pulled her in, firmly but also gently placing her hand onto Peridot’s hip. Peridot, in response, put her left hand on Amethyst’s arm, with her right hand locked in with Amethyst’s right hand. The rhythm of their bodies slowly danced with the sentimental and passionate music. Peridot found herself trembling and shaking, with her cheeks burning as they had now turned into a light shade of blue, admiring how beautiful Amethyst was. Her chest felt a mix of so many different things. It felt heavy. It felt tingly. It felt like her chest was pounding to the point where it might burst. ‘Stop staring at her like that you clod!’ Peridot told herself in an effort to stop herself from staring at Amethyst, secretly praying that she would never notice how flustered she was. How head over heels she was.

She then looked down, so she wouldn’t stare at Amethyst anymore, and so it wouldn’t be noticeable that she was a complete mess. And yeah, she was a complete mess. She was trembling, blushing, and she had so many weird feelings in her chest. After about 30 or so more seconds of dancing, Peridot finally looked back up at Amethyst as she had told her to. Her breathing had now become little of depth, and her chest now practically felt like it was racing, merely seconds away from bursting. Her face was now incredibly close to Amethyst’s, as she felt her lips inching closer to Amethyst’s. She caught herself, immediately pulling away.

“I.. I have to go,” Peridot stammered as she had nothing else to say to her in an attempt to flee. She was now looking away from Amethyst, avoiding eye contact altogether. She then ran off, disappearing from sight.

Amethyst just stood there, now alone on the dance floor. She was incredibly confused and nearly in disbelief, but also somewhat hurt, with the feeling like she had been punched in the gut. She felt rejected. She felt incredibly stupid, for even asking Peridot to slow-dance with her, because she should’ve known it was a dumb idea. She then buried her face into her hands, frustrated and mad at herself, ‘Ugh. I.. I really messed up this time. I should have known she was gonna get super uncomfortable. I should’ve known that things were gonna get really weird and awkward. This is all my fault.. I should’ve never asked her to slow-dance.. I mean.. why would she want to slow dance with me anyways? ...I know I wouldn’t want to..’ After taking a minute or two to collect her thoughts, she ran after Peridot, following her into the beach house, which was half-way through being renovated. It was pitch dark inside the beach house, and completely silent. She turned on the lights, now slowly and quietly walking. “..Peridot?” She then asked, the tone of her voice being cautious. No response. “Peri, is.. Is everything okay?” Still no response. ‘She has to be in the bathroom.’ And so she was. Just sitting there, by herself, hiding her face in her knees, which she was hugging. “Oh man, Peridot.” She sighed, “Per.. I’m sorry.. I should’ve never asked you to slow dance..”

After a few seconds of complete silence between the two, Peridot finally spoke up, in a quiet and muffled but clearly pained and frustrated sounding tone of voice, “You asking me to slow dance was not the problem.”

“Oh? Then.. what’s wrong, P-Dot? Did I.. did I do something back out on the dance floor to upset you?” Amethyst asked. She was now confused, as her asking Peridot to slow-dance when she didn’t want to was not the problem, like she had thought previously. But, what else would have upset her?

“No, no.. You were not the problem, Amethyst. Not at all. You did nothing wrong,” Peridot said in response. She then lifted her head from her knees and looked up at the purple quartz, her cheeks now a light shade of blue. She sighed, “I am just.. Incredibly embarrassed… That is all.”

“Embarrassed? Wait, why?” Amethyst asked, surprise and confusion written all over her face. What would Peridot have to be embarrassed about?

“Because!” Peridot blurted out in obvious frustration. She was mad. Mad at herself. Mad that she ran off like that. Mad that she couldn’t even slow-dance with Amethyst without embarrassing herself and making herself look like a complete fool, she was mad. “Ergh!” She shouted, not knowing what else to say to Amethyst as she frustratedly tugged on her hair. Realizing how upset she was getting, she then paused and took a deep breath to calmly collect herself. “Amethyst, it’s not that I didn’t want to slow dance with you.. Because, frankly, I did. I did want to slow dance with you. And If I didn’t want to, I would have said so. But I kept staring at you, and I was trembling, and blushing. I even think my hands were sweaty? But frankly, I was just a mess. And it was just very.. embarrassing.”

“Ohh, right..,” Amethyst mumbled. She then took a step closer towards the bathtub. “..Is it.. Is it because you don’t like it when I touch ya or whatever? ‘Cause, I’ve noticed that ya’ve gotten super uncomfortable whenever I do, and I - uh - can back off if ya want me to. Y’know? If I’m ever making ya uncomfortable in anyway, just say so. Okay?”

“No! That is not what I meant! ..Amethyst, I do like it when we touch.. A lot! ..Almost too much.. But, I hate the way it makes me feel when we touch.. Because whenever you do touch me, I just, freeze up or blush or all of the above.. Because I like you so much,” Peridot rambled, making frustrated hand gestures as she admitted her feelings for the other gem. “And, I know you have noticed. That’s why I ran off.. Because I was incredibly embarrassed of you noticing how flustered I was.”

“Ugh.. Peridot..,” Amethyst groaned as she buried her face into her hands.

“W-what? Did I say something wrong?” Peridot asked her, now confused but also concerned that she might have said something that upset or weirded out Amethyst by the tone of her voice.

“You’re.. You’re not the only one who becomes a complete mess. Whenever I’m around you, you make me feel so mushy... Like. all. The time.” Amethyst made frustrated hand gestures and tugged on strands of her hair as she spoke about how Peridot made her feel. Now she was blushing herself. Peridot gave her a confused look in response, she had never noticed Amethyst ‘become a complete mess’ when she was around her. Maybe it was just that Peridot was rather oblivious to it. “It’s lame. Right?” She then sighed and crossed her arms. “I just..really hate that I love the way you make me feel.”

Peridot gave Amethyst a weak but also the most softest and gentle smile, as it made her really happy to hear Amethyst say all of that, “I’m glad that you feel the same way..”

“Good..,” Amethyst said, smiling back at her. She then walked towards the tub and lent her hand out to Peridot, “So, you want help out of the tub?”

“Yes, please..”

“Okay..,” Peridot slipped her fingers into Amethyst’s, grabbing onto her as Amethyst helped her up. She then carefully stepped out of the tub, her fingers still laced through Amethyst’s. This got Amethyst to impulsively ask, “So, what if I held your hand?”

In response, Peridot looked at her, bewildered. She then asked, “Like how you’re holding it right now?” as she lightly squeezed Amethyst’s hand.

“Mmm, yeah.”

Peridot gave her a simple response of “It feels..nice..” To her, even the brush of Amethyst’s thumb against her palm felt amazing, and lit her up inside. “But, at the same time I feel nervous, but that’s okay because I like getting to hold your hand.”

“So, uh, what if I kissed your hand?” Amethyst asked in an unusually shy manner. She was now blushing, with a tender but almost nervous look on her face. “Would that be okay?”

“Yes.”

Amethyst slowly lifted one of Peridot’s hands, the one that she was holding, up to the level of her lips. She then gently and softly kissed it.

And even though it was just a small kiss on the hand, the color of Peridot’s cheeks turned into a light blue, now overwhelmed with the feeling of butterflies swirling in her stomach, the feeling of her cheeks burning.

“Was that.. Was that okay?” Amethyst asked, noticing how Peridot’s face was now burning, as she had looked rather uncomfortable.

“Yes..”

“You sure?” Amethyst asked her. “Because, I don’t wanna pressure ya into doing this stuff if it makes ya uncomfortable. Y’know?”

“Amethyst.. It’s okay,” Peridot softly spoke, reassuring her, as she squeezed the nervous gem’s hand and gave her a loving smile to let her know everything was okay. And this then led to them just staring at each other, admiring the other gem and how pretty they were. Amethyst was just so beautiful. Her long, thick, and messy lavender hair, her little nose, her full and plump lips, her big blue eyes, and everything about her body. It was so hard for Peridot to not stare at her just because of how pretty she thought Amethyst was. “So, what if you kissed me?” Peridot blurted out, asking from a sudden impulse.

Amethyst’s eyes widened out of surprise, her lips now parted. She then asked, “You want me to kiss you?”

“Yes..? Is that bad..?” Peridot asked her, as the tone of Amethyst’s voice and the look on her face had concerned her that kissing would be a bad idea.

“No, dude, not at all. I guess, it’s just, I dunno, surprising?”

“Amethyst, out on the dance floor, I.. I tried to kiss you,” Peridot admitted to her, now blushing out of embarrassment and avoiding making eye contact with Amethyst. She then took a deep breath and looked back at Amethyst again, asking “How is it surprising that I want to kiss you?”

“Wait, what?” Amethyst asked her in a higher-pitched voice, being louder than she had intended, now even more surprised then she was before. “You actually tried to kiss me?”

“Yes, I did. That would be another reason for why I ran off. I nearly kissed you, and I thought that you would not want the same and I didn’t want to overstep a boundary, so I ran off.”

“Of course I want to kiss you, Peridot!” Amethyst exclaimed, now visibly blushing.

“You do?” Peridot asked. Now it was Peridot’s turn to be surprised as Amethyst had been rather subtle about her feelings for Peridot in the past.

“Yes. I do. For so long, I’ve wanted to kiss you, badly. But I was never able to because I was so scared of messing things up, and me being completely clueless to it, thought that you would never want the same.”

Suddenly feeling brave, Peridot got closer to her, now stroking Amethyst’s palm with her thumb, softly and quietly saying into her ear “Well.. nothing’s stopping you from doing so now.”

Amethyst looked at her with softest but also most flirtatious smile on her face. As Amethyst’s face inched closer to hers, Peridot’s chest started to race again, the pounding getting faster and faster. She could feel herself getting closer to Amethyst, tilting her head and closing her eyes, feeling Amethyst’s breath against her lips. She could see how dark Amethyst’s cheeks were. And then it happened. She was the one who gently placed her lips onto the other gem’s lips, giving into the strong urge she had lived with for months of wanting to kiss her. She then wrapped her arms around Amethyst’s neck, as Amethyst grabbed her waist, kissing her back, which deepened the kiss and stole Peridot’s breath. They then pulled away, heavily breathing and giving themselves a few seconds, but then their lips met, again, and again, and again. She then looked at the purple gem who looked blown away. Entranced. Head over heels for Peridot.

“Holy smokes..,” Peridot managed to spit out, as she was completely blown away by their first kiss and still holding onto Amethyst. They then let go of each other.

“So, uh, how do you feel now?” Amethyst asked her, giving Peridot a lopsided smile.

“A-A lot? I feel.. A lot.” She bit down on her lips, clamming them shut, attempting to calm her gasps. The echoes of her beating heart began grasping at her throat, trying to escape from her rib cage, fighting the bones holding it hostage. “But, I do know that kissing is something I would like to do more.”

"Heh, yeah, I.. feel a lot of things right now too, but I definitely know I wanna kiss ya more," Amethyst smiled, moving the hair out of her face. After a few moments of silence and smiling lovingly at each other, Amethyst spoke up, saying, "Soo, d'ya wanna go back outside now? I mean, we don't have to buttt.. I'm pret-ty sure that the others have noticed we ran off by now, and are probably wondering what's up.. Heh, maybe they assumed we ran off to make out or somethin' like that," Amethyst rambled. She then looked over at Peridot, who was visibly blushing out of slight embarrassment. "But anyways, I'm rambling...so..?"

"Yeah," She replied, cracking a small smile. "We probably should."

Amethyst reached for Peridot's hand, slipping her fingers in-between hers. "Is this.. okay?" She stared into Peridot's nervous eyes, watching as her mouth fell agape, in a surprising manner. The purple quartz began to quickly pull her hand away from the other gem's hold. "W-we don't have to if you don't want to."

Peridot reached for Amethyst's hand, grabbing it back, managing to stutter out, "N-no!" She froze, embarrassed from raising her voice.

Amethyst fought to keep herself from laughing, only to fail. She started with a toothy smile. She then began giggling, and finished with uncontrollable laughter. She shut her eyes as she teared up, wiping the tears from her face.

Peridot blushed, feeling singled out. "Hey.. stop," She quietly begged, awkwardly smiling at the other gem.

Opening her eyes, Amethyst noticed she made Peridot feel rather uncomfortable. She stopped herself from laughing out of respect for her girlfriend. "Sorry, P-dot," She apologized, grabbing hold of Peridot's hand again. "It's just that- y'know- we're starting out with all of this ..uh, stuff?" She tried to explain herself, "And um.. I'm just as nervous as you are, okay? I'm.. sorry. I've just never had this kind of relationship before and I don't really know how to act. Y'know?" She squeezed Peridot's hand, hoping it would help the situation.

"I.. don't exactly know how to act either, Amethyst," Peridot started, "It's like.. we were friends a couple of hours ago and now we're.." She averted her gaze, studying the tiles of the bathroom floor below them. She then looked up back at Amethyst, "What are we?"

"Uh, I dunno, girlfriends?"

"Yeah, girlfriends..," She giggled, with a lopsided smile across her face. She then sighed, "... What I’m saying is that I've never been in a romantic relationship before either."

This got a small chuckle out of Amethyst, "Well, I'm glad to know I'm not alone on that." She peered down at their intertwined hands and then looked back up at Peridot, with a shy look on her face, "So this is okay, right?"

"It's.. perfect," The green gem softly smiled at her. Amethyst smiled back, leaning forward and pecking Peridot's cheek. This got Peridot to giggle, and an unmistakable blush appear across her face. They then walked out together, holding hands.

#amedot #steven universe #fanfiction #amethyst #peridot #fanfic #fic #evie writes #su

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lnr1625 · 5 years

Text

Not Easy To Forget

Character: Bucky Barnes

Prompt: “If I don’t make it out of here, remember I love you”

Warnings: Mentions of death

Summary: Bucky makes a friend while struggling to adjust to modern life, but after a while, he wants to be more.

Word Count: 5.1K

A/N: This is for @hollandroos 15K, congratulations! Also, This isn't heavily edited so I'm incredibly sorry for the grammatical errors.

Bucky wanted to kick a wall when he couldn't find his tie on Saturday morning. He had made sure the night before that he laid his suit, the one Steve had made him get a few weeks back, out on the chair that lay opposite of his bed. The man double, triple checked that every part of the suit was laid out last night before he went to sleep. Yet here he was getting ready in the morning, but with no tie to complete his look. Today was important, he had more crucial things to be worried about than a disappearing tie. So after a look around his room once more, with still no results, he decided to just grab a tie from Steve.

Bucky made his way over to Steve's room knocking first to make sure Steve wasn't there. He quickly moved through the room, grabbing a black tie, right on top before looking in Steve's full body mirror and watched himself as he rather quickly did his tie, making the suit come together. Lucky the practice of tying a tie hasn't changed in the last 70 years and his metal arm had surprisingly nimble fingers. Once Bucky was done with his suit he took one look in the mirror giving himself a once over and flattening his jacket before looking to his face. His hair as tame as he could get it. But his eyes with deep bags under them, stubble still would have been present on his face had today not be enough motivation to do a clean shave. Bucky hadn’t been sleeping well recently, actually, he had not slept well since he had started trying to adjust to the modern world. As Bucky took one final look in the mirror, seemingly debating internally with himself before he headed out the door, locking it on his way out, thankful that his best friend wasn't home to ask him about his whereabouts. Bucky loved Steve with his whole heart, they were as close as family. But Bucky had been having a rather hard time adjusting to the modern world so fast, especially after everything he went through. There were so many changes to have to get used too, from technology to mannerisms and everything in between. Steve, was nothing but supportive through the whole thing, concerned for Bucky's wellbeing and mental state. This could get a little annoying, being treated like a broken toy, despite Steven well-meaning intentions. So sometimes Bucky would need to get away. Think on his own. Walking was always a good way to do that. So walking tended to be a regular thing for him. Multiple times a day, some days. Especially at the beginning. And walking is where he met her. Y/N. Bucky had met the girl only a couple months after Bucky had regained his memory and started living with Steve. At the time Bucky was not doing much else than just learning how to adjust, no boxing, no work, no travel. He had to go to a therapy session every week with a S.H.I.E.L.D therapist that got him nowhere. Early on in this process walks were constant. A handful every day to escape all the information that was being shoved on him so fast. Walks were a good way to take in nature. Something that hadn’t changed very much in the last 100 years, other than the fact there was just less of it in the world, which was an upsetting realization. However, there was still plenty to take in on the outside world as well as nature, Taller buildings, faster cars, New, more revealing clothes. He was never bored on his walks. Bucky had in deep thought about these things on the day he met Y/N and didn't seem to realize that his wallet fell out of his jacket pocket. Bucky assumed that she had seen it drop and, was a decent human being because she stopped him to give it back to him. “Excuse me, Sir, you dropped this” She called to him. Taking the soldier out of his thoughts and turn around to see where the voice was coming from. She came up to him and gave him back his wallet which he thanked her for doing. Bucky had assumed that was going to be the end of the conversation and so he turned to walk away. But he barely made a step before she had other ideas, and to this day Bucky was very glad she did. “Are you new here?” She asked, In a semi-quiet voice, as if she didn't mean for the words to come out. Bucky was surprised. With his intimidating demeanor, single friend, and lack of knowledge of the current world Bucky didn't exactly get the chance to work on his small talk. But here, was a woman, willing to talk to him, who knew nothing about him, a person wouldn't treat him like a bomb that's about to explode. Normal conversation was something Bucky desperately wanted for once. So after some internal debate eventually, he convinced himself that talking to this random girl might be good for him. “Yeah, you could say that” He shrugged. With a hollow laugh. He watched her face as a small smile of excitement grew. Making Bucky's chest well. A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. Suddenly he wanted to keep talking to her, he wanted to know what else would make her get excited. “I've lived here my whole life, so if you wanted I could show you some good spots to go when you wanna be alone… Unless that's creepy… then I'll just shut up and keep walking” she spoke going beat red in the face and rubbing the back of her neck. No longer making eye contact with the man. Bucky could tell that this girl didn't have a habit of talking to strangers and so he couldn't help but wonder, what about him made him approachable? But despite his question, he appreciated that she was also nervous to be talking and so he tried his best to calm her down. “That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. What would I owe you?” He asked with a small smirk, confidence growing in him as he remembered how back before the war he was rather good with girls. Her eyes lifted to meet his, the embarrassment that once filled them, started to go away and was instead replaced with shock and eagerness. “Just good conversation” She smiled at him. And that's how it started. Bucky and Y/N’s relationship, and from that day their relationship quickly grew. They met up a few days later and went on a rather long walk with her pointing out different landmarks, both famous ones and other ones that just meant something to her. She asked him questions and he would keep his answers vague, not wanting to unload his heavy baggage on her and scaring her away, as he enjoyed her company way more than he was willing to admit. In return, Bucky would ask her questions and she was usually much more detailed with her answers, oftentimes rambling too long, caught up in a memory or other, and then apologizing. But Bucky didn't mind when she talked, he liked that she was willing to talk because he was a rather quiet person, especially since his years of brainwash. Apparently, she enjoyed his company as well because when the walk was over she quickly blurted out that she'd like to do it again. And so for weeks every Saturday, they’d meet, walk, and talk. He found out that she works as a Chemistry teacher at Midtown School of Science and Technology. She has two older brothers and a younger sister. She loves watching movies and traveling with her family and friends. He found out more than he ever thought he would but never once was he bothered by her. After weeks of there Saturday walks, she asked him if he would want to go get lunch with her. It was at that lunch they exchanged numbers, Bucky kept it to himself that she was now the second number in the phone and probably going to be the only other number in the phone, ever, but he was okay with that.

Months of walks had ensued, only ever being canceled for rain, and if that was the case then the two would meet up for dinner or another indoor activity. He hadn't felt, what he was feeling for Y/N in seventy years, and it wasn't a feeling Bucky thought he was gonna ever be capable of feeling again. But here it was, the warm feeling in his chest every time she smiled. The smile that grew on his face out of pure joy every time she laughed. Wanting to be around her all the time. To protect her, despite the fact that she lived about the safest life that he had seen. The need to keep her happy. Seeing her only once a week grew to be hard. It didn't help that Bucky never told Steve about Y/N and so he couldn't talk about this amazing girl, his feelings toward her to anyone, and it was killer, however, he reminded himself that the reason he kept his relationship with the girl a secret because he wanted one singular part of his life to himself, he didn't want Steve to worry about a relationship that might not even last. Bucky assumed that Steve had his suspicions about why Bucky would leave and come back in a rather happier mood than when he left. But Bucky respected that Steve never dug too deep into it. Without realizing it, Y/N also did a great deal with helping Bucky adjust better to modern life, never making fun of him for not knowing something. He could listen to her for hours rant about some new science article she was reading, or a lab she had planned for her AP Chem class. Even if Bucky didn't really know what she was talking about he loved to hear the passion in her voice and would urge her to keep going even if she felt she was boring him. One week, he remembered, was bad. He was getting frustrated, with Steve but couldn't say anything because he knew Steve was just trying to help. So without being mean, he said he was going out. But as soon as he was out of the apartment he called up Y/N asking if they could meet up. Needing to talk to someone about trivial things. That was the first time he had been to her apartment and learned that she wasn’t the best cook, but she liked to bake. It wasn’t very long after that when Bucky thought he was going to lose her. When he grew up enough courage to tell her who he was. He had decided that he had strong feelings for the girl and didn’t want, whatever it is that they had to be ruined later by her running scared of him and his past. However, when he came clean, told her about himself. It was as if he hadn't just revealed one of the biggest secrets in the world to her. All Y/N did was shrug and claim that she ‘Kinda knew’. Which left Bucky almost dumbfounded. “Wait, what?” Has asked shocked that she had responded so casually. “Buck, you have a metal arm, that’s hard to miss if you think I didn't notice that at some point, despite your constant attempts to hide it, then you must think I'm dense. You keep Your answers rather short, you don't know a whole lot about how society works….” She smiled. Taking a pause and rubbing her hands together nervously, as if she wasn't sure if she had crossed a line or not as Bucky was not exactly the easiest person to read. But she couldn't seem to stop herself from finishing her thoughts.

“Plus, I saw your face a few months back in the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian, and your face isn't easy to forget” Bucky had wanted to be offended by her explanation, but he couldn't be. He had honestly more relieved that she wasn't attempting to leave or ‘ghost’ him (A term he had learned the previous week from Y/N) He should have realized that he couldn't hide the obvious stuff from her like his arm, or his museum presence. A small part of the back of his mind at the time was a little concerned that his story was in an exhibit, but that was a concern for a different day. At the moment he was more focused on Y/N. He looked at her curiously. He used to be a Russian assassin, who's killed more people than he even knew. He was brainwashed and a danger to society according to, well everyone, why wasn’t she running scared? Or did she not know about that specific part of him? “You’ve never said anything” He eventually came up with, not knowing where to take the conversation from there. “I figured you’d tell me when you're comfortable. I’m not one to need immediate answers, we all go through stuff, you, way more than most. I’m not gonna bring up stuff that you don’t want to talk about” She explained, looking at him straight in the eyes so he could see how serious she was. Her explanation put a smile on his face at how innocently sweet she was. He couldn't help but wonder if she was like this around everyone or just him? “You’re not terrified of me?” He asked. Smile dropping. “Terrified? What reason have you given me to be terrified?” She asked, seemingly genuinely confused at Bucky's questions “Everything I’ve done” he responded, tearing his eyes away from hers in embarrassment. Someone like him, should not be with her. She deserved better than a monster like him. “I don’t know that side of you Buck, I got to know you before I figured out your super side. And what I got to know was this kind, sweet and caring man. To me, that's what you are, nothing else, until you show me something else.” He didn’t think it was possible but everything he felt towards the women had grown tenfold. So on that days walk, for the first time, Bucky did most of the talking. Indulging into his life story. Skipping over the parts he didn’t want to talk about. Y/N not seeming to mind at all. He started off with his childhood. Basically anything pre-war. The good stuff. Many of it memories Bucky had stopped himself from thinking about since he got them back. She invited him over for dinner. And Buck continued talking into the late hours of the night. He talked until Y/N fell asleep on her couch. She was the first person that Buck told almost everything too. More than he told SHIELD, more than he told the other Avengers. The only person who knew as much as Y/N now was Steve. The two had had their friendship for 6 months when Bucky finally decided that he couldn’t ignore these feelings any longer. He was going to ask her on a date. An official date. They were on there Saturday walk and at the end is when he had built up the courage to ask her. “Hey, Y/N… I was wondering if you'd wanna go on a date...with me tomorrow night?” He asked. “A date? Haven't we been on dates?” She asked-head cocked to the side. “No, I mean an official date where I ask you, and pick you up while being fancily dressed and we go to dinner and then another activity” He tried again, still with confidence in his voice. “Why the formal asking?” She blushed, giving Bucky the sign that maybe she had similar feelings that he did. “Because I enjoy being around you. You’ve helped me in more than I could even fathom and over these six months, I've had feelings, that I never thought I was going to get to feel again. I’ve decided that I want to act on those feelings and for you and me to have a real relationship. And I don’t know how these things have changed in the last 70 years but usually, a date is the first step in that direction” He rambled, trying to sum up all the reasons he wanted to date her, call her his girlfriend. There was a single beat of silence, enough to think that maybe she was going to turn him down. “I would love to go on a real date with you Bucky. But I have a single request” she giggled. Bucky wanted to jump up and down in excitement like a little kid. His heart swelled and all he wanted to do was pick up the girl and spin her in a circle. But instead, he contained himself and nodded his head, telling her to go ahead with her request. “We have to set the date after I get back from this weekend” “Where are you going this weekend?” He had been waiting months for a real date, he didn't mind pushing it back a few more days and he hoped that his question did not come off as angry. “I have to go give a speech at a conference,” she said in an annoying tone while rolling her eyes. “How’d you get dragged into that?” He chuckled at her reaction, she wasn't normally one to get annoyed about anything, so this was rather foreign for him. “Apparently it’s ‘highly recommend’ when you have the best AP Chem scores in the state. It makes the school look good...I act annoyed but honestly I don’t really mind” she shrugged as she shoved her hands in her pockets. “Well that sounds thrilling” the sarcastic words left his mouth. Causing the girl to lightly slap his real arm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s the most dangerous thing a person like me could do.” She spoke with a sense of fake seriousness in her voice. “I bet. Not like you’re talking to a person who’s been on more life-threatening missions then you could imagine” Bucky smiled enjoying the girl's enthusiasm and the fact that he was getting to the point where he could openly and jokingly talk about his past. “How dare you mock my dangerous task. You don’t know what I’ll be facing.” She claimed in a dramatic voice as if she was going on a secret mission. Bucky opened his mouth to give another sarcastic response but was cut off. “No, don’t speak…. Bucky, if I don’t make it out of there. Remember I love you” she joked with him. Bucky knew the words were only friendly but he couldn’t stop the warm feeling that filled his chest. That was the last real thing she has said to him, other than the goodbyes before she left for her conference. The last conversation the two had shared. The last conversation the two were ever going to share. As Bucky straightens his tie. He wiped away the tears in his eyes. Took a deep breath thinking about there last conversation. A conversation he could no longer find amusing as those last words were filled with unknown irony. Bucky looked at the little sheet of paper in his hand checking to make sure the address was right. RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH. He knew he was in the right place as he watched the numerous amounts of people walk into the building, all in black tie dress. Bucky couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at the venue. Bucky knew through there time spent together that Y/N wasn't particularly religious despite the fact that her family was. He couldn't help but think she wouldn't like this. All the attention is on her, especially in a church setting. As he walked inside and saw the setup. The picture, the flowers, the casket. His body had physically stopped moving, he fought back the tears that wanted to come out. It really had happened, sure he heard about, and read about it, cried about it. He thought he had accepted what happened, but being here. Seeing what was in front of him. It all became real, there was no way to convince himself otherwise. It made him want to vomit. It had been a car accident. On the way home from her conference, her uber had slid on some ice and flipped killing both the driver and Y/N. Bucky only found out about it because of the local news. The funeral had been mentioned in the newspaper and Bucky knew he had to go. Even if he wouldn't know anyone else or get to speak about how much she meant to him. If there were even words to do so. He had to go to make sure it was real. So here he was, looking at the casket of the girl whom he loved. The girl who meant everything to him. Now she was gone, and for the first time since he found out, Bucky realized that he really wasn't okay, the more real it started to feel, the more he wanted to leave. She was his rock that kept him tied down. What was he supposed to do now without her here? Bucky, forced himself to look anywhere but her. First for a seat, which he decided should be in the back of the church as he figured there were probably more important people that wanted to sit up close. Then he forced his eyes to look at the people who came to mourn Y/N. Bucky didn't know what to expect, she was the perfect person, why wouldn't there be a million people at her funeral? But yet the copious amounts of people that had shown up still really threw Bucky for a loop. Young kids, a lot of teenagers, who Bucky assumed were Y/N students and by the sounds of it even some of the more troublesome kids had shown up for the teacher. Adults her age, older adults, senior citizens. Bucky then set the task to try and figure out who her family was before the funeral started. The ceremony was nice. Y/N was talked about and celebrated, as she should have been. Lots of people gave speeches talking about her many accomplishments and community service. Bucky almost fell out of place, like he shouldn't be there. Sure he knew a ton about her. But no one knew about them, no one knew who he was. Bucky was never around for the important parts of her life. Sure he had heard about them, but he was never around for them. He wanted to be though. He wanted to be her significant other and meet her family, and be an important person in her life. He even had a plan to do so. But apparently, the two weren't meant to be as Y/N lay dead in a casket not 30 feet away from where the soldier sat. Once the ceremony was over everyone shuffled out of the church, ready to walk to the cemetery where Y/N would be buried. The only sounds were the shuffling of people and murmured voices as they made there way out of the church. Bucky waiting until closer to the end. He kept waiting for anyone to ask who he was, but it seemed that no one even gave him a second glance. Other than one of the teenagers who stood behind the pack of his classmates. Short with brown hair, couldn't be older than 15. He was standing with what seemed to be a friend. But as they carried on there conversation and walked past Bucky, the kid gave a second glance to the super soldier, as if the kid knew who Bucky was. But quickly the kid turned back and walked out of the building. As they all stood around the grave, Bucky near the back again, some more people spoke as before the casket was closed, Bucky decided not to look, he couldn't. He didn't want his beautiful memory of her to be tarnished by what she looked like dead. As she was lowered into the ground Bucky could no longer hold back his tears. The only person he thought he would ever care for, was dead, leaving him alone in this world, again. Why did this keep happening to him? The process of getting her buried was tedious, it felt like a lifetime. He knew it was selfish but he was waiting for everyone to leave so he could be alone with her like they always had been. Eventually, little by little, everyone trickled away, most of them to go to the reception, a few stayed to speak to the woman's grave. Bucky kept his distance, not wanting to seem out of place. Finally, there was just two left. Bucky, and the kid that caught his eye earlier. The kid wasn't talking to her grave, he was just staring with wet eyes. Bucky decided it was okay to finally walk up to the burial site. Next to the kid, but a safe distance away. “Was she a good teacher?” He asked the kid in a quiet voice. “The absolute best, you couldn't find anyone better” He immediately responded. “Are you just saying that because she's gone?” Bucky asked, hoping the kid didn't mind his bluntness. The kid didn't seem too. “No, Obviously you knew her. Do you think she would be a bad teacher?” He shot back. This question threw Bucky off, but not in a bad way. He appreciated the boy's wit. With a small smirk, he responded back. “No, I think she would have been a great teacher.” “She cared about us. Checked in on us. Would give the best, most inspiring speeches you've ever heard. You couldn't pay attention to her you know? She was passionate about what she taught, and have you ever taken chemistry? It's not something that easy to get passionate about. But on top of that, she took the time to learn ways to get all of us passionate about the subject. I've known her a long time and of all the people in the world. She definitely didn't deserve this.” The boy spoke, tears escaping his eyes. Even Bucky could tell that Y/N was more than just a teacher to him. Bucky loved that Y/N affected all these people in such a good way. It wasn't just him, apparently, she was like this with everyone, and he was beyond glad because it means everyone got to see the best parts of her. Bucky just nodded his head. Not a word needed to be spoken between them, just mutual understanding as both their eyes stayed glued to the grave. “How did you know her?” The kid spoke, as he seemed to get through his processing, his eyes glancing up to the soldier, but not without taking a second glance at where his metal arm would be, had it not been covered by a coat and hand in the coat pocket. Bucky brushed the look off, telling himself it was just coincidence. “She was a... “ He started to say but stopped when he couldn't find the right words. There was no one word to describe who Y/N was to Bucky. She was his everything, but he knew he couldn't use that word. He wanted to say girlfriend, but that would have been inaccurate. “She was a really good friend” He settled on, wanting to cringe as he knew that description wasn't correct. The kid nodded. Eyes trailing back to the grave one more time. “Well, I've seen you waiting for a long time, I assume to be alone with her, so I'll go talk to my uncle and leave you two alone,” The boy said before turning and walking away from the grave. Bucky turned his head slightly to watch the kid walk away, confused about what he meant by talking to his uncle, there was no one else around. but as soon as he was out of hearing distance, Bucky forgot about the kid completely before turning back to Y/N. He stood in silence, just staring for the longest time, not knowing what to say. “You know, out of all the scenarios I ran through in my head about how we could have played out... Us dating, maybe getting married, breaking up, you run like hell after you found out the truth about me… Even the possibility of me dying came up. But out of everything, I sat in bed and thought about at night, you dying on me, was never one of them because you lived such a safe life. I'm sorry this happened. If I could trade us out, I would in a heartbeat, you deserved better. So, so much better. I'm sorry…. I'm so so sorry” When the words stopped pouring out of his mouth. Bucky then realized he was crying as the tears slipped down his cheeks and suddenly it became incredibly hard to breathe. Within a few seconds, he was sobbing on his knees, hand covering his mouth. Unable to keep anything in any longer. Finally accepting the fact that she was gone. Those were the only words he spoke too her. Yet, he stayed by her grave for hours on end. Trying so hard to come to terms with what happened crying stopping for only a few minutes, before starting up again in a never-ending cycle. It was when day turned to night, and the temperature dropped to below freezing, did Bucky even consider leaving. Even then it took him another few hours to even move. Eyes glued on the flowers stacked high on the pile of dirt that covered the women who held his heart. Only when Steve had called him, did he decide to actually go, taking everything he had to look away from the gravestone, and walk away from his love and head back home? No looking up, not feeling anything. He stood outside his and Steve's apartment door for minutes, not ready to face a million questions that Steve was gonna ask him out of concern. Eventually, he decided that he had to go in at some point and so his ripped off the band-aid and walked in. “Where have you been all day?” Steve asked from the couch. “What are you an overprotective parent?” Bucky smiled at his best friend. This caused Steve to break his concerned look, instead of giving Bucky a smile that took him back to the 1940s. When times were simpler. “I just get worried is all” He admitted throwing his hands in the air. “I'm good… I was… Just visiting an old friends grave” Bucky confessed to Steve. Memories of the girl, and what had happened to flood back into him. Causing him to let out a heavy sigh. Bucky watched as Steves' face fell again. Memories of his own flooding into his eyes. There was a silence in the air as the two were trapped in their own thoughts for a while. Bucky getting changed and joining Steve on the couch. Head threw up to the ceiling. “Hey, do you wanna bring me to the gym with you this week?” Bucky asks out suddenly. “The gym, I thought you were done with all that,” Steve said giving a questioning glance to his best friend. “I thought I wanted to be, but I need something to occupy my times, and I think I'm done with walks for a while… There's nothing there for me anymore.”

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