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marvelsbetch · 3 years

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Peter Parker’s field trip part 2

March 7th

Peter's POV

I woke up peacefully to Friday playing Highway to Hell and telling me it was 6:30am and I needed to get up for school. Concerned for Wade's sleeping I quickly told Friday to be quiet and that I was up, I obviously didn't want to wake him at such a cruel hour.

Stumbling out of my room in a sleep filled haze, almost walking into the door frame and tripping over my shoes, I made my way to the kitchen to find Pops trying to cook breakfast and silently arguing with Thor who put his hammer in front of the fridge yet again, Loki really is a bad influence on the God.

"Uncle Thor please move the hammer so I can have breakfast. Please." I requested giving him my puppy dog eyes knowing he can't resist them.

With a small grunt Thor moved his hammer and set it on top of the kitchen counter out of people way. Pops sent me a grateful look before pulling eggs, milk and cheese out of the fridge to make Captain America's famous omelette. I smiled slightly and moved to sit on one of the bar stools at the island counter and watched slowly as all the Avengers plus Loki, T'Challa and Shuri were woken up by the amazing smell. All but my boyfriend who could probably sleep through an earthquake, hurricane and tsunami all at once. It's a gift.

-1 hour later-

After breakfast I got ready to just come back here, grabbed my back, kissed my now awake boyfriend goodbye, hugged my Dads goodbye and made my way to the car with Happy prepared to take me to school. On the way Happy gave me a lecture on how I was basically representing Dad and SI so I should be on my best behaviour. It was boring and in all honest, I'd heard it before on the field trip to the zoo we have last month, that didn't end well in all honesty. It's better left saying some monkeys escaped and it totally wasn't my fault.

"Right Kid. We're hear, I'll pick you up tomorrow from here so message me when you're on your way back to school." He told me, I could tell he was going to miss me but I could also tell he was looking forward to the extra one hours sleep he was going to get tomorrow from not needing to drop me off.

"Bye Happy. Tell everyone I'll miss them. See you tomorrow and I'll give regular update and text you if anything happens." I told him before exiting the car and walking up to Ned who was waiting outside the bus ready for me.

"Hey man. You looking forward to the surprise field trip?" Ned asked as we stepped onto the bus.

"Not really. I'm gonna miss everyone at the tower. Wade arrived last night as well so I'm not gonna see him for like another two days." I sighed as we sat down next to each other in the middle of the bus.

"Hey penis. I know what the field trip is and you're gonna be in so much shit." Flash tainted as he passed us.

"Steve wouldn't be happy with your language." I mumbled so only Ned heard. We both giggled a little but everyone was soon quietened down by Mrs Robbins shouting at us.

"Okay so before we leave we must take role call to see who's here." She explained and started reading names off of her sheet. Everyone responded with a simple yes miss and everything was going well until she got to my name.

"Patricia Parker!" She yelled and looked directly at me. I simply ignored it and continued to stare out of the window until she shouted it again louder.

"Come on Penis just answer. Don't try and stall this." Flash huffed from the back of the bus.

"Fine. Peter Parker is here." I told her emphasising the work 'Peter'.

"What ever." She grumbled going back to role call.

-30 minutes later-

As we were driving I noticed a lot of places, it took a few seconds until it finally clicked as to where we were going. Stark Industries. Over night. Oh dear.

“Right kids. We're going to be there in roughly 5 minutes so please get you begs sorted, make sure your areas are clean and you have everything with you." Mrs Robbins told us from the front of the bus.

"I bet you'd recognise this way from your internship, if it was real." Flash sneered as if it was going to affect me.

Soon we pulled into the visitor parking lot and exited the car. I was slightly shaking with anxiety especially when Happy and two other security guards, Johnson and Stone (I don't know their first names) walked over to us and started running through the security guidelines.

"And finally and type of bullying or intolerance towards anyone inside this building with not be tolerated and the person doing it will be kicked out immediately. That could be in 10 minutes or at 2:00 in the morning. It will not be tolerated." Happy finished giving me a look that said 'I know something you don't know I know'. Shit.

"Okay now that that is out of the way with, follow us." Happy said leading us inside the lobby of the building by swiping his security card.

“Okay we're gonna give you all access passes. These are the lowest of the 10 levels you get get so basically all you can use them for is the toilet. We have a strict no re-printing policy and a display policy. In other words you must always have your pass on display on your outer most layer of clothing, if it's lost then you will be searched and escorted out of the building if it is not found. Let that be a warning to everyone." Johnson explained as Stone started handing out the passes, glossing over me, Ned and MJ of course, until everyone had them.

Me, Ned and MJ all had to pull out our avenger themed cards. Mine was half and half Iron Man and Captain America cause there my dads. Ned's was a combo of everyone's as he couldn't decide which one he preferred. MJ went for Nat cause MJ liked the fact that she, and Pepper, could control all of us and was the only girl original Avenger. MJ admires her as a icon for women.

"Okay everyone scan your passes as you walk through the scanner like this." Stone demonstrated as he scanned his pass and walked through the scanner with his hands out.

"Logan Stone. Security level clearance:8. No unauthorised items." F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice announced.

"Now all of you do it." Happy instructed.

Everyone started going through the scanner, Flash being the most smug as his level 1 clearance was announced, until it got the the final three. Me, Ned and MJ. MJ decided to go first, F.R.I.D.A.Y announced her name, level 9 security clearance and the fact she had no unauthorised items with her. Next was Ned, F.R.I.D.A.Y announced his name, level 9 security clearance and the fact he had no unauthorised items. Next was me, I was dreading it.

"Come on Patricia, just admit your internship is fake now and save us all the trouble." Flash shouted over everyone making Happy stop and glare at him. He was about to make a move towards Flash but I put my hand out and stopped him.

"Just leave it Hap. He's not worth cancelling whatever Dad's got planned." I told him in a low voice trying to be unheard.

"He says one more thing and I'll knock him out." Happy threatened.

"I have no doubt you will." I sighed and decided I stalled enough. I quickly scanned my card and walked through the scanner with my hands up like everyone else.

"Peter Stark-Rodgers, level 10 security clearance. No unauthorised items. Mr Stark-Rodgers has already been informed of your arrival. Thank you for using the front entrance." F.R.I.D.A.Ys robotic but slightly sarcastic voice announced.

The tour started off normal. One of the actual interns, Owen, greeted us and me separately. We were quite good friends as he was one of the people to help me when Wade asked me out, I will be eternally grateful to him.

"Okay, our first stop on this tour is the avengers museum. You will be allowed to take photos but please refrain from touching anything as they could activate. Everything thing in this room is the real deal except a few things. We will also be trying to lift Thor's hammer in this room with him there of course." Owen explained. So, this is where Dads plans begin.

We walked into the museum and was greeted with 3 main area. Original Avengers, later added Avengers and Avengers associates. Then, I saw a red and blue display. Spider-Man has his own display IN THE LATER ADDED AVENGERS SECTION. Did this mean Dad wanted me to be an Avenger? What's going on? Did Fury know about this?

Ned grabbed my hand and led me to the display cases where I saw my old suit and computers next to replicas and photos of my current ones. This is so cool.

“Spider-Man is the latest mighty hero to join the Avengers in their mission to protecc the Earth and Asgard. Spider-Man has been described my many to be funny, witty and charming. He the only Avenger to have not revelled his identity yet but we are sure he will in due time. Fun facts about Spider-Man:

He is afraid of Spiders ironically,

He's a complete Daddy's boy,

He made his first suit himself,

He lives with Tony and Steve Stark-Rodgers,

And finally, he can rival Tony Stark-Rodgers levels of Sass." Ned read from the information

I silently groaned at the second fun fact knowing full well Dad was just trying to boost his ego. Oh well, it's kind of hard not to be true.

"Oo Penis Parker checking out the exhibit on his 'friends'." Flash sneered putting air quotes around 'friends'.

"Right, come along people. We have an exclusive lecture with Dr Banner on Gamma radiation and how it affects the human body. Everybody make and orderly que and and we can make our way there." Owen informed and instructed.

We all qued up with me and my friends at the back and started to walk towards the elevator to go to Bruce's lab. Once we found ourselves outside of the lab the reality of the situation set in, we're going to be talking to my Uncle Bruce. While no one in the class knows he's my Uncle and I'm with my Bully and Transphobic teacher. I dread to think what's about to happen.

"Okay kids. Be very polite and respectful, we don't want a code Green." Owen instructed before knocking on the door and waiting for Bruce to open it as Owen didn't have high enough clearance to open the door.

After a minute of waiting and no sign of Bruce Owen knocked again but to no avail. I knew that Bruce was working on a new project last night so it's highly likely he's asleep so I stepped forward, security card in hand and swiped it for entrance.

"Peter Parker, access granted." F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice sounded from above the door way.

I opened the door slowly and saw Bruce asleep on the couch. Motioning for everyone to give me a minute I creeped into the room to gently wake him up.

"Uncle Bruce, you have to give my class a lecture. Uncle Bruce wake up." I said softly and gently shook him awake.

"What? Peter? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Bruce asked slowly sat up.

"I'm on a field trip and you're supposed to give a lecture to my class. They're all outside but you fell asleep." I informed him.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry. Ask them to give me a minute and I'll be mostly ready. Thanks Pete." Bruce replied scrambling to clean up a little bit and get sorted.

"He'll just be a minute." I informed my class while exiting the room waiting for Bruce when I heard Uncle Clint shifting in the vents. Oh no, this has been planned.

“Hello Midtown. Sorry for the delay, life of a stressed scientist. I'm sure most of you know what that's like. Come in, take a seat and please excuse the mess." Bruce greeted and opened the door wider for us to enter.

We all shuffled into the highly cluttered room and sat down in one of the fold out chairs set us in the centre of the room infront of three dry erase boards. Uncle Bruce started his lecture but I soon tuned him out as I had heard it all before.

"Peter!" Clint yelled popping his head out from the vent with a grin on his face.

"Barton." I said in a monotone voice to hopefully convey my disinterest in whatever he was planning.

"I was asking if I could go into your room to borrow some silly string. Tony fucked with a few of my arrows and I'm not happy about it. I was literally shocked!" He shouted the last sentence making me wince and cover my ears.

"Yes you may but only one can. I need the rest for Loki cause he's the only one out of all of you that hasn't had a string attack yet. Hopping to change that soon." I informed.

"Cool. I'm taking the blue one. Bye, see you later." He waved before disappearing back into the vents and crawling away.

"He has this all planned doesn't he?" I asked Uncle Bruce signing slightly.

"Sorry kid." He smirked and continued with his lecture despite people only being focused on gawping at me.

Soon after that his lecture was finished and we moved on. Owen took us to a more general development lab where people started their testing to see if it was possible and worth perusing. As soon as we entered I was greeted with Shuri running towards me and hugging me tightly.

"Shuri, you literally saw me last night. Why are you hugging me so tightly?" I asked smiling slightly.

"I still missed you. Brother has been boring but these labs are very interesting, still they would be more so with you here." She told me pulling away and looking at my astonished class.

"Hello children of Midtown High School. I am Shuri Princess of Wakanda and this is my brother, the king." Shuri introduced smiling at everyone's shocked faces.

"I can introduce myself sister." T'Challa told her.

"Now you know how I feel." She told him smirking before walking off to see one of the experiments happening in the room.

We looked around the lab for a little while, I helped a few people with equations and how to improve their testing. Shuri and I shouted memes and vines at each other from across the room. Flask and Mrs Robbins glared at me any chance they got.

"Right Children, it's time for lunch. You've been privileged enough to have lunch on the level 7 balcony right near the landing pad. Please be calm and sensible and respectful of the employees eating there." Owen explained and lead us up to the eating deck.

Once there I immediately noticed Uncle Thor and Loki waiting around the corner obviously looking for me. They truly planned this. Anyway, me, Ned and MJ all walked over to an empty table and they took out their lunches when I noticed I left mine in the kitchen this morning. Shoot.

"Peter!" I hear Thor yell as he and Loki walk around the corner with his arms out.

"Hello Thor. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked jokingly formally.

"Does one need a reason to visit his favourite nephew?" Thor asked bringing me into a hug, possibly crushing everyone of my ribs in the process, while Loki stood awkwardly to the side.

"If your all going to embarrass me can I ask you a favour in return?" I asked the brothers.

"Of course Peter! Anything for my nephew!" Thor all but yelled and clapped me on the back.

"Yeah, I left my lunch on the kitchen counter today. Could you possibly run up and get it for me please." I requested when a flying object fell from the sky.

My lunch.

"YOUR WELCOME!" I heard Sam yell from above us.

"THANKS BIRD BRAIN!" I yelled back at him and sat back down as the table, Thor and Loki soon following.

"Peter, I was wondering later if you could help me with my magic. I've been trying to work on my long distance aim and I think you'd be the perfect person to practice with." Loki asked shyly, he still isn't comfortable with all of us yet but he's made loads of progress.

"To hit or to avoid?" I jokingly asked earning a slight laugh out of the giant.

"To miss. I'll place the object I want to hit next to you and 'throw' a spell at it. If you're next to it it gives me more motivation to not hit it." Loki explained.

"Yeah sure I'll do that. What time were you thinking?" I asked.

"Well, you're class is staying the night and tomorrow day so maybe we could find time tonight or tomorrow night." Loki said making me realise my entire class has witnessed this entire encounter. For frick sake.

"Peter!" The deep voice of Bucky yelled from the doorway to the balcony.

My entire class looked in shock as I hugged good bye to the Gods and James 'Bucky' Barnes walked over to me with a bag and an apron saying 'Kiss the cook' on it. Once he was within range I could smell the contents of the bag. White chocolate and caramel cookies. My favourite.

"I made cookies and thought you might like some while they're hot." He explained handing me the beg witch I immediately accepted and took a cookie from.

"Thank you Uncle Bucky." I said but it was muffled by the whole cookie I shoved into my mouth. Classy.

"Hey you said you'd wait for me!" I hear my boyfriend shout appearing at the doorway and running towards me with his arms spread.

"I said I was leaving in one minute and you could come if you wanted. I never said I'd wait for you cause I know how long you can take." Bucky complained to Wade who crushed me into a hug and kissed my lips briefly.

My entire class and teacher were stunned at this point. Every single jaw, except Ned and MJ's, was on the floor. When Wade kissed me I could faintly see from the corner of my eye my teacher so red and angry. Close minded female dog.

"I've not seen you all day how are you?" Wade asked pulling away.

"I'm fine, you saw me less than a few hours ago. Not much changed." I told him smiling a little and pulling him into another kiss. I did this to annoy my teacher but mainly because I just loved to kiss my boyfriend. Sue me.

"I know but anything could happen while I'm not there. I love you too much to allow anything to happen to you." He said to me after a solid 40 seconds of kissing.

"Right well, I'm gonna go back upstairs. Wade, you can stay with Peter as long as you keep your hands to yourself." Bucky warned before walking off back into the tower and Me and Wade sat down with me on his lap.

After a few minuets the shock wore off and people started whispering and pointing at me and Wade. Nothing I didn't expect if I'm honest but it's a lot more annoying than I thought it would be.

“I love you Wade." I said putting my head on his chest and eating my cookies.

"I lub you too Pete." He responded making me giggle a little. "And you're ass that will be mine tonight." He whispered seductively into my ear and gently grabbed my ass.

"You two make me want to be sick." MJ joked making a disgusted face at us before continuing with her lunch.

"Right everyone, we have ten minutes before we need to move on." Owen warned.

To be continued...

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gingersnapwolves · 3 years

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The Untamed, a brief summary [Part 1/6]

Okay my friends, I have heard your calls. Here’s my play-by-play version of The Untamed.

Note the first: I’m dividing it up into sections because it is, after all, a 50 episode series and I doubt anyone will want to wade through it all in one go.

Note the second: I am going to try to be as unbiased as possible. There are different ways to interpret some of the characters’ actions, especially later in the show when things get morally complex. You can find oceans of meta on this stuff, so I will try not to pick a side when at all possible.

Note the third: I’m going to keep the tone pretty light and humorous. This show gets *dark* in the middle but y’all are reading a summary and I don’t want it to get too dry or too depressing. Please pardon me if I am flippant from time to time.

Part One: Sword Wizard School

I thought about doing a character guide but decided it would be easier to introduce you to characters as we meet them, because there are a LOT of characters. However, I am going to give you a brief primer on the important families/places.

Actually, let me back up a little further. The Untamed is a xianxia drama, so it’s about people trying to become immortal celestial beings. They fight monsters and do a lot of magic, and they live in clans/sects. A clan is a family. A sect is a cultivation style/school. The terms are often used interchangeably (even I’m guilty) but they are not exactly the same. Members of a clan will belong to that sect, but the sect will also take in outsiders to train, who are sect members but not clan members.

There are five Great Sects:

Province: Yunmeng; sect: Jiang, home: Lotus Pier

Province: Gusu, sect: Lan, home: Cloud Recesses

Province: Lanling, sect: Jin, home: Koi/Carp Tower

Province: Qinghe, sect: Nie, home: The Unclean Realm (this is not to say it is dirty, it’s from Buddhism and might also translate to ‘The Worldly Realm’)

Province: Qishan, sect: Wen, home: Nightless City/Nevernight (depending on translation)

Here’s a map I made for my fic reference which shows roughly where these provinces are in relation to each other. I may have pretended they were cities in America so I could calculate mileage. Yes I am the world’s biggest nerd, thanks.

H’okay! The show is not in chronological order but I am going in chronological order because the point is to make this simple for you. I’ll admit that I may not get everything 100% correct because it’s been a while since I watched parts of it but I’ll try.

Setting: Caiyi Town, [Gusu]

ENTER A GREMLIN.

Meet Wei Wuxian. He is a 16 year old chaos gremlin with ADHD. He does not look 16 but actors in American dramas pretending to be teenagers also do not look 16 so we’ll let that go. He is with his adopted brother (also 16ish, but younger than Wei Wuxian) Jiang Cheng, and his adopted older sister, Jiang Yanli (probably about 6 years older).

Oh, right. Names. Most characters have two names, a birth name and a ‘courtesy’ name which is a fancy name they get when they’re old enough to get their swords and stuff. They also have titles. For the sake of not driving y’all crazy, I will choose the most commonly used name for the character and stick with it, and then give you a chart at the end so you’ll understand fanfiction.

Wei Wuxian and his siblings are headed to Sword Wizard School in Gusu, hosted by the Lan sect. Wei Wuxian is clearly planning to Be Himself during these lectures, and Jiang Cheng does Not Approve. Jiang Cheng is obviously very serious and concerned with appearances, which makes sense because he is the sect heir. As an adopted son, Wei Wuxian can goof off; Jiang Cheng does not have that luxury. (Wei Wuxian is the son of two of Jiang Cheng’s father’s friends, who died when he was young. More on this later.) Jiang Cheng reminds Wei Wuxian and the other disciples that are with them that they are representing the Jiang sect and they should make a good impression.

They don’t think they can get to Cloud Recesses before dark so they get rooms at an inn.

ENTER A SNOB.

Jin Zixuan is the next fun character you’ll meet. He’s also 16 or thereabouts despite looking 24 at minimum. He is a sect heir to the Lanling Jin and he does not like being near or interacting with strangers. He pays the innkeeper to rent the whole inn and throw any other guests out. Is this a dick move? I’m trying to be unbiased here, so yes. Yes it is.

Wei Wuxian tries to flirt with a couple of Jin Zixuan’s retainers to get them to allow the Yunmeng siblings to stay, but Jin Zixuan decides to be a big jerk about it. Fun fact! Jin Zixuan is betrothed to Jiang Yanli! He is literally throwing his betrothed out of an inn so he doesn’t have to share a building with people. Wei Wuxian gets pissy and picks a fight with him but Jiang Yanli convinces him that he’s not worth it (although she is much nicer about it than any of us would be in her shoes), and they decide to head up to Cloud Recesses despite the time.

But alas! In their haste, they leave their invitation behind.

ENTER AN ICE PRINCE

As the Yunmeng trio try to talk their way past the gate, Lan Wangji arrives. Also 16, he is your classic stoic, repressed gay, and is the younger brother of the Lan Sect leader. With him are a bunch of Lan cultivators and a guy on a stretcher who is clearly in rough shape. The Lan cultivators carry him inside.

Wei Wuxian, pure of heart and dumb of ass, decides that this is a great time to try to talk his way through the gate, figuring that Lan Wangji, being an important person, can let them in. Lan Wangji reacts about how you would expect a stoic repressed gay would to a cute boy flirting with him for the first time: uses a silencing spell on him, tells him he’s absolutely not admitted without their invitation, and locks them out.

Jiang Cheng, who has spent the last 3 minutes desperately trying to get his brother to shut up before he gets them all in trouble, sends him back to town to find the invitation.

Int. Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

ENTER A SOFT MAN AND HIS EXTREMELY STARCHED UNCLE

Lan Xichen, the head of the Lan sect and Lan Wangji’s older brother, is studying the guy they brought in, with his uncle. Lan Xichen is young for a sect leader (he’s only 19 in the book but probably 24-25ish in the show) and his uncle advises him a lot of the time. The guy they brought is kind of dead but also kind of not. They say a bunch of stuff you won’t understand if you have not seen xianxia dramas before. It’s not really important.

Ext. Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

RE-ENTER THE GREMLIN

Wei Wuxian has come back with the invitation to find the rest of his sect no longer waiting outside and all of Cloud Recesses sealed by wards. “Wards are made to be broken,” he says, demonstrating a clear lack of understanding of their purpose. It’s a good thing he’s here for school.

He breaks in, carrying a couple jars of liquor, only to find Lan Wangji standing guard. Lan Wangji reprimands him for breaking important Lan sect rules like a) not breaking and entering, b) not coming in after dark, and c) bringing alcohol, which is forbidden. Wei Wuxian offers him one of the jars because he is 16 and stupid and for some reason thought a bribe was what this situation needed. Lan Wangji pulls a sword on him, which is definitely a reasonable response and not because he has his first boner and he’s angry about it.

They have a sword fight, basically to a draw. Lan Wangji drags him in to see Lan Xichen, who clearly thinks this is hilarious. Wei Wuxian blames everything on Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji. He also says intelligent things about the not-a-corpse they’re examining, because the writers wanted us to know that he’s not a whole dumbass. Lan Xichen basically slaps him on the wrist, tells him to behave himself and sends him off to the guest house his siblings were given, and then teases Lan Wangji about Baby’s First Crush.

Ext, Nightless City [Qishan]

ENTER AN OVER THE TOP VILLAIN AND HIS HENCHMEN

Nightless City isn’t actually nightless. It’s just never dark there because it’s on top of a volcano, because that’s where all the cool villains live.

This is the home of the Qishan Wen, who are Obviously Evil from the Black Outfits, Volcano Lair, and Shuffling Zombies. Their leader is Wen Ruohan. His personality is that he is evil. He’s saying a bunch of stuff you won’t understand yet and then sends his Obnoxious Son Wen Chao off to look for something. He also sends Wen Qing, who is related to him somehow, presumably. She asks if she can bring her brother, Wen Ning, and Wen Ruohan says sure because all he cares about is Being Evil in his Zombie Volcano Lair.

Int, Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

ENTER A SLACKER and his friend, EVERY RETAIL EMPLOYEE DEALING WITH A KAREN YOU’VE EVER MET.

They’re all at the first lecture, and there’s a ceremony where each visiting sect presents a gift to Lan Qiren (the uncle/teacher). I think we might see what the Jin give him but I don’t care. Right now we’re talking about Nie Huaisang, the younger brother of the sect leader of the Nie sect. He is baby. He has brought a bird to class for no reason other than that he caught it and thinks it’s cool. Presenting to the dour and stern Lan Qiren makes him nervous.

With him is Meng Yao. Unlike everyone else you’ve met so far, Meng Yao is not a member of the gentry. He is the son of the Jin sect leader and a prostitute. (Yes, this makes him Jin ‘I can’t breathe the same air as commoners’ Zixuan’s younger brother.) When he was old enough to do Sword Magic he went to the Jin sect and asked for admittance, and his father had him thrown down a set of 200 steps because his father is an Enormous Douche. (That’s not biased. Hating this dude is one of the few things everyone agrees on.) Then he went to the Nie sect, and they said, “Sure, you can come in, but you’re not really a disciple, mmkay?” and he said sure. But he has worked his way up to being the assistant to the sect leader which is a pretty important position for someone with his background.

Naturally, because Meng Yao is Not Like the Others, a few people take this opportunity to gossip and talk smack about him. Meng Yao is upset but tries not to look it. Lan Xichen takes a moment to reassure him, saying that the Nie sect leader had written to him about what a helpful and awesome assistant he had now, and that Meng Yao obviously lived up to it. Meng Yao immediately develops the world’s Most Obvious Crush Don’t @ Me You Would Too.

ENTER MR. OBNOXIOUS, AN IRON MAIDEN, and A PUPPY. Fortunately these are the last characters you’ll meet for a while.

The Wen sect shows up at the gates of Cloud Recesses like ‘what up, I got a big attitude and fuck you’. The gate dude tells them they can’t come in without an invitation, and Wen Chao attacks him because he was raised in a volcano and they go in anyway. With Wen Chao are Wen Qing and her brother, Wen Ning. They are actually pretty awesome, you just don’t know it yet.

Wen Chao busts in on the Saluting Ceremony just as Jiang Cheng is trying to present their gift, and immediately begins insulting everyone there. You should count yourself fortunate that you’re only reading this because Wen Chao is literally the most obnoxious character in this show. Anyway, Wei Wuxian decides to pick a fight with him even though this is *obviously* a stupid thing to do. (I love Wei Wuxian with my whole heart but he is so stupid at 16 lmao.) He calls Wen Chao out on interrupting Jiang Cheng. Wen Chao reacts completely rationally and calmly BAHAHA who am I kidding, he pulls his sword out. Everyone else pulls their swords out. Wen Qing looks like she has the world’s worst migraine.

Lan Xichen takes out his flute and plays eight seconds of music that makes everyone’s swords go flying into the ceiling. Had I mentioned how awesome Lan Xichen is? Because he is Awesome.

Wen Chao gets even more pissy but Wen Qing shuts him down, saying she and her brother are there for Sword Wizard School and she’s sorry her cousin is such an asshole. Lan Xichen tells them to ‘try to come on time’ tomorrow. Had I mentioned how awesome Lan Xichen is? It bears repeating.

Ext, Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

Wei Wuxian is making fast friends with Nie Huaisang. They decide to go fishing in one of the streams. He sees Wen Qing sneaking around and asks what she’s doing there. She blows him off.

Meng Yao stops Lan Xichen and says goodbye to him. Lan Xichen asks why he’s leaving so soon, and Meng Yao says that he can’t actually stay for the lectures, since he’s only an assistant to the Nie sect, not a disciple. Lan Xichen tells him that Nie Mingjue (the head of the Nie sect) is just and honorable and will surely reward him for working so hard. They make heart eyes at each other for like a solid thirty seconds before Meng Yao manages to leave. I’m sorry, I’m trying to be unbiased. They gaze at each other longingly – no, shit, that’s still biased. They, uh, regard each other with mutual respect for thirty solid seconds and then Meng Yao leaves.

Meanwhile Jiang Cheng is Fretting about the fact that Wei Wuxian is Making a Bad Impression. He ain’t seen nothing yet. Jiang Yanli calms him down.

Wen Qing talks to her brother Wen Ning and is sad because he’s sick. She promises him that someday they’ll be able to leave Nightless City.

Int, Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

Lan Qiren is lecturing. Wei Wuxian proposes some casual heresy. Lan Qiren gets mad and tells him to copy the Chapter of Conduct a thousand times, and throws him out of class. Jiang Cheng tries to crawl under his desk.

Instead of going to copy lines, Wei Wuxian wanders off and meets A PUPPY, ie Wen Ning. He is practicing his archery. Wei Wuxian proceeds to help him with his stance and Wen Ning looks like he just discovered his bisexuality. Wen Qing sees them together and is clearly not thrilled. Wei Wuxian asks her why she’s always wandering around the back hills of Cloud Recesses and asks if she’s looking for something. She tells him not to be stupid and leaves with her brother.

Lan Wangji drags Wei Wuxian back to the library for his punishment. Wei Wuxian proceeds to spend the next few hours doing Everything That Is Not That, which culminates in him exchanging Lan Wangji’s book for some porn when he’s not looking. Lan Wangji tears the porn up and tells him to piss off.

~romance~

Jiang Cheng: I hope you’re proud of yourself.

Wei Wuxian: I absolutely am.

They go back to their guest house. Wen Qing is there. She’s a doctor! Told you she was awesome. Jiang Yanli wasn’t feeling well and Wen Qing gave her some medicine. They talk about the fact that there aren’t lectures for a few days because Lan Qiren is off doing Official Stuff.

But there’s still fun to be had! There’s a water demon attacking people in the nearby town. Lan Xichen is worried that it’s serious and he’s going to go himself. Lan Wangji goes with him. Wei Wuxian asks if he and Jiang Cheng can go ‘get some practice’ as they fight lots of water demons in Yunmeng. Lan Xichen, remembering his brother’s obvious crush, says sure. Wen Ning wants to go too. So does Wen Qing. Lan Xichen suddenly feels like a chaperone on a field trip but says fine because he’s the cool older brother.

Wei Wuxian takes the opportunity to ask questions about the not-a-corpse from earlier. Lan Xichen politely tells him that’s it handled and not to worry about it. Wei Wuxian thinks there’s something he’s not telling him, and he mentions that to Lan Wangji, who agrees but won’t say so. Wei Wuxian can tell anyway because he’s learning to read Lan Wangji’s microexpressions.

They fight a water demon. Jiang Cheng gets injured and Wen Qing patches him up. He looks at her with puppy eyes. Some dumbass loses his sword in the water. Wen Ning tries to help him despite being uniquely unqualified to do so, and passes out. Wei Wuxian tries to rescue both of them, and Lan Wangji ends up rescuing all three of them despite clearly wanting to let the water demon eat them. Jiang Cheng buys a comb to give to Wen Qing but chickens out and doesn’t give it to her. Wei Wuxian deduces that Wen Ning’s illness is because of a previous bad experience with ghostly spirits or something, and gives Wen Qing a talisman to give to her brother that will help protect him from monsters. He says that no matter what she’s looking for at Cloud Recesses, he hopes the talisman will help Wen Ning.

Then he tries to buy Lan Wangji some fruit as a gift. Lan Wangji refuses to look at him. Lan Xichen starts mentally writing wedding invitations.

Ext. Nightless City [Qishan]

ENTER AN EDGELORD (sorry I forgot about him, in fact I think this happened earlier but the timing isn’t really important)

Meet Xue Yang. You have no idea who he is. Wen Ruohan is demanding he hand over something called yin iron. Xue Yang’s response to this is basically ‘choke me harder, Daddy’ and you’re left feeling vaguely disturbed.

Int. Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

It’s party time! Wei Wuxian smuggled some liquor back with him. He, Jiang Cheng, and Nie Huaisang get drunk. They give Jiang Cheng a hard time about his high standards for women.

Lan Wangji comes in like the hall monitor you hated in high school to break it up. Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang run away. Wei Wuxian uses a talisman on Lan Wangji to keep him from reporting them and make him take a drink of the alcohol. We all remind ourselves very firmly that he is only 16 and will do stupid shit, despite wanting to slap him. Lan Wangji has never had alcohol before and one drink makes him blackout drunk. Wei Wuxian has to babysit him for the rest of the night. Serves him right.

The next day, they’re all in trouble, even Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian tries to tell Lan Qiren that it’s not Lan Wangji’s fault, but Lan Wangji accepts his punishment anyway. They get hit with a stick a bunch of times.

Lan Wangji goes to recuperate in the cold springs. Lan Xichen, the world’s biggest troll, sends Wei Wuxian to do the same. Lan Wangji nearly has an aneurysm when Wei Wuxian tries to start taking his clothes off.

ENTER THE PLOT

They get pulled underwater and end up in a cave. It’s a magic cave where only members of the Lan clan are allowed to be. To keep the cave from killing him, Lan Wangji wraps his Magic Forehead Ribbon around Wei Wuxian’s wrist. This is the same magic forehead ribbon he told Wei Wuxian ten episode minutes ago that only parents, spouses, and children are allowed to touch. Draw what conclusions you will.

There’s a ghostly lady in the cave who is Lan Wangji’s ancestor. She tells them Evil Is Abroad. A long time ago a dude named Xue Chonghai took a bunch of pieces of metal and filled them full of evil energy. Everyone banded together and killed him, but the metal couldn’t be completely destroyed, so it was split into ‘the cardinal directions’ and then sealed and hidden. Ah ha! This is what Wen Ruohan is looking for! It’s called Evil MacGuffin yin iron.

Wei Wuxian says if it’s so powerful, why don’t they use it to fight back? Ghost lady says she tried that but it’s too evil and it doesn’t work. She gives them the piece that was sealed in the cave and tells them to go fight evil together. Lan Wangji is glad it’s too cold to have a boner.

Except then she throws them out of the cave and onto dry land and Wei Wuxian lands on top of him and he definitely gets one from that. Sorry, Lan Wangji, I don’t make the rules.

They’ve been missing for two days and everyone is really upset, especially Jiang Cheng, who thinks Wei Wuxian was just goofing off.

Lan Xichen takes the piece of yin iron they got in the cave and seals it in a pouch. They discuss the fact that Wen Ruohan is clearly collecting the pieces of yin iron and this is Bad News Bears. The yin iron will respond to other pieces of yin iron so they decide they should use the piece they have to locate the other pieces.

But first, classes are over! Despite the fact that each of these events has led seamlessly into the next and it seems like they’ve been there a week, they’ve actually been there six months. If you dealt with the Teen Wolf ‘timeline’ I assume you can deal with that lmao.

There’s a lantern-lighting ceremony to celebrate. Wei Wuxian paints a rabbit on his lantern because there were a bunch of rabbits in the cave and Lan Wangji clearly likes rabbits. This makes Lan Wangji smile for the first time. They all light their lanterns and make a wish.

Wei Wuxian wishes he can stand with justice and live without regrets. Lan Wangji looks at him like he’s about to propose. Wen Qing wishes she could protect her little brother and that he’ll always be safe. Jiang Cheng looks at her like he’s about to propose. Nie Huaisang wishes he can pass his classes and get the hell out of high school. Truly, the most relatable.

But the moment is ruined because people start teasing Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli, asking why they didn’t light a lantern together and wish for a happy marriage. Jin Zixuan, the paragon of reacting reasonably to things, storms off. He tells his sect members he doesn’t want to hear about the marriage and they should stop bringing it up. Wei Wuxian overhears and they get into a fight. Jiang Yanli manages to get Wei Wuxian to back off.

The next day, Wei Wuxian is being punished for punching a jerk in the face. He is kneeling on the rocks of the courtyard. But he’s already gotten distracted because there’s an anthill and he has ADHD. Lan Wangji calls him ‘unteachable’ and stomps off, clearly mad at his boner like usual.

Because this is kind of important, the two sect leaders have showed up to hash it out. Jiang Yanli’s dad says ‘listen, if your son doesn’t want to marry my daughter, we shouldn’t force him’. Jin Zixuan’s dad says, ‘kids are stupid and they don’t know what they want’. Jiang Yanli’s dad says, ‘well I absolutely agree your son is stupid but he’s being a jerk to my daughter so why don’t we politely call this off before something happens that makes one of us impolitely call it off’, and Jin Zixuan’s dad agrees. Jiang Yanli is upset, although why she actually wanted to marry Jin Zixuan is beyond everyone involved, including the audience. Then again it can’t be easy to hear that some dude who has barely even met you has decided you’re not good enough for him.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian sees Lan Xichen telling Lan Wangji ‘be careful’ and correctly deduces that Lan Wangji is leaving with the yin iron to try to find the other pieces, while Lan Xichen stays behind to protect Cloud Recesses since the Wen sect thinks it’s still there. He leaves a note that says ‘gone monster hunting, meet you back at home!’ Jiang Cheng nearly has an aneurysm, especially when his dad is like ‘lmao that kid is such a dumbass’.

~end Sword Wizard School~

okay, guys, what did you think? was this helpful? could you follow it? was it at least vaguely entertaining? should I keep going?

#the untamed #liveblog #of a sort

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blackswaneuroparedux · 3 years

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Anonymous asked: I really enjoy your erudite and literary posts about James Bond in your blog very much. Your most recent post about Connery as best cinematic Bond and Dalton as the best literary Bond was brilliant. Although the PC brigade have been inching towards making Bond a woman or even non-white, Ian Fleming’s legacy of a suave but cold hearted English gentleman spy hasn’t been completely trashed. As someone familiar with Fleming literary lore can you also tell me where was James Bond educated? Was it Oxford or Cambridge? I was having a discussion over Zoom with friends and the Oxonians like myself thought it was Oxford because in Casino Royale with Daniel Craig it’s made very plain it was Oxford. Your thoughts?

I appreciate your kind words about my posts on James Bond and his creator Ian Fleming. It’s very hard to ignore the cinematic James Bond because he is very much an icon of our modern culture that needs no translation to transcend across cultures. Alongside Sherlock Holmes, another British literary and cinematic export, the name alone speak for itself.

James Bond appeals to both genders very well.

For the men, Bond dresses well and lives in a care free way. He is both ferociously intelligent and resourceful to get out of any tight corner. He drives incredible cars (from the incredibly stylish Aston Martin DB5 to the incredibly awful AMC Hornet) and uses awesome technology (he is the archetypal boy with toys). He's not afraid to get down in the dirt to fight or engage in lethal gun-play and spectacular car chases. He sleeps with beautiful women, regardless how strong and independent they are (or even lesbian if we’re being honest about Pussy Galore).

For us ladies, while he's not averse to action, he's also a cultured gentleman with suave and sophisticated manners. He's also a generally pretty good looking guy. In many ways, he's a conventional male ideal. So while his conventional good looks and manners aren't for everyone, they hit right the sweet spot of what women like. For everyone, he's a spy! Not at a grey real world nondescript spy, but a cool spy fighting larger than life bad guys whose bland sartorial choices scream mad super villain. It's a very black and white world that James Bond lives in. These bad guys truly are villainous in the desire to re-order humanity, and we need a debonair British MI6 agent to save us from these mad men who want to harm us by laying waste to a bonkers Armageddon.

When all is said and done I think that what makes James Bond so iconic across gender and generations is what Raymond Chandler wrote back in 1959, “every man wants to be James Bond and every woman wants to be with him”.

That sounds about right. Men want to be him, women want to be with him.

I know my first introduction to James Bond was through my grandfather on my Anglo-Scots father’s side who was a dashing gentleman in his day with a long rumoured hush hush work for Her Majesty’s government firmly shoved under the carpet to avoid further discussion that he - being self-effacing and humble - would find embarrassing that would paint him in any heroic light. Years later he had bought his Bahamas beach pile in Harbour Island out in the Caribbean for the family to rest up from cold winters in Britain. Amongst his immense stack of books dotted around the place were (and still are) first editions of Flemings novels which a few were signed by the author as he on occasion met Ian Fleming when he would sail over to Jamaica (they were also OEs which helped). We were not allowed to touch these but instead picked up the dog earred paperbacks that still retained their 60s musty smell.

On my teen sojourns there I would spend time along with my siblings just reading anything we could find to take to the beach or lounge around in a hammock or a chaise longue. That’s how I came to read the Fleming books - really out of necessity to avoid boredom on a beach (which isn’t really my thing as I prefer the rugged outdoors). But I was pleasantly surprised how well written the books were and I actually enjoyed the stories; it was a refreshing change from the more heavy literary tomes I was trying hard to wade through. As for the Bond films, I watched them on film nights at boarding school; I remember having a school girl crush on Connery, Dalton, and Brosnan.

There are many reasons for the successful longevity of James Bond in popular culture and literature but perhaps one of the most pertinent to our discussion is that James Bond is actually a blank slate and therefore malleable as a character and so he can capture the current zeitgeist in time.

This ability of the film to adapt to different generations while remaining relevant is an important factor for its longevity. For example, the early James Bond films were unashamedly sexist with characters using women as objects and discarding them. In the most recent James Bond films, certainly starting with Timothy Dalton, there is a subtle change in attitude with a few chauvinist attitudes.

James Bond today is more serious, seduces fewer women, and is more respectful towards women in his life, including his boss. This shows how the film changes concerning the rise of feminism in the West. For example, Miss Moneypenny used to be a minor character in the very first James Bond films. Today, she is more formidable and doesn’t tolerate sexist remarks.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this blank slate malleability that has allowed different actors that have been cast to play James Bond their own way - rather than get a straight like for like Scottish sounding actor to replacing Connery for example the film producers went across to Moore via Lazenby for example - and letting each actor imbue the super spy with different moods. They each added their own colour from the same broad palate to create different tones. However, each of these characters maintained the essential character that defines James Bond. The actors have broadly stayed true to the inherent mix of character and class associated with James Bond.

For this reason I have some empathy towards your concern that Bond would be held hostage to the current zeitgeist of white washing or genderising everything so as to avoid being a victim of cancel culture. But it’s only empathy because I feel there is a danger of misunderstanding just who James Bond is and what he represents.

What do I mean by this?

I mentioned James Bond is a malleable character to the point he’s presented as a blank slate. This is ‘literally’ true - certainly as far as the books go. Ian Fleming doesn’t tell us much about Bond other than his appearance in his books. Indeed - as I mentioned in my past blog post on Connery as the best Bond - Fleming wasn’t convinced by Connery as Bond. He was reported to have said, ‘I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stuntman’ and even dismissed Connery as “that fucking truck driver”. Fleming has good reason to rage. His Bond as written in the books was someone like him.

Like Fleming, Bond was an Eton educated Englishman; an officer and a (rogue) gentleman who was a lieutenant-commander in Naval Intelligence. As Connery began to wow and win over Fleming as Bond, Fleming had a change of heart. Fleming in his later Bond books re-wrote a half-Scottish ancestry for Bond as a tribute to Connery’s portrayal. Bond’s Scottish father was a Royal Navy captain and later an arms dealer, Andrew Bond from Glencoe; and his mother, Monique Delacroix, was Swiss from an industrial family. Bond himself was born in Zurich. Bond isn’t English at all but half-Scots and half-Swiss according to literary canon.

So I mention this because the question who can play James Bond is not as straight forward as it might seem.

But clearly we now have a canon of work, both cinematically and in the literature, where we have base line of who Bond is - or what audiences could possibly suspend their disbelief and go with what is presented to them as James Bond.

I do vaguely remember the hullabaloo and hand wringing around Daniel Craig playing Bond because he didn’t conform to the traditional tall, dark, and handsome trope of James Bond super suave spy. People couldn’t get past his blond hair. Some still can’t. But in my humble opinion he has been an outstanding James Bond and has reimagined Bond in a fresh and exciting way. Craig is in fact mining the Fleming books for his characterisation of Bond as a suave, gritty, humourless killer of the books. Dalton got there before him but that’s a moot point. To our current generation Craig has modernised Bond and dusted 007 down from being a relic of the Cold War to being a relevant 21st Century super spy.

Can anyone play James Bond OO7? Yes and no. It’s arguing that two different things are one and the same. They are not. James Bond is separate from OO7.

Can a woman play Jane Bond or a black woman or non-white man play Black Bond? Respectfully, no. That’s not who James Bond is.

James Bond is a flesh and blood character with a specific genealogical history - whether in the books or on the screen. This Bond has literary back story that is canon and makes him who he is. Bond does transcend time - he can’t be 38 years old for over 75 years in the real world - but at the same time his character only makes sense when rooted in a specific historic context we know existed (and still exists) and not some wishy washy make believe fantasy of British society. He’s an Old Etonian and therefore an upper middle class male product of the British establishment that is identifiable in a very British cultural context.

Jane Bond would have to have gone to Cheltenham Ladies College, Benneden, or Roedean I suppose if we are talking about equivalence - but such girls’ boarding schools were not the breeding ground for future spies (more likely they married them or became trusted secretaries in the intelligence services as well as flower arranging in their Anglican parish church).

I believe they are letting in black pupils on bursaries at Eton these days to be more inclusive but again it’s an an exception not the rule and Eton doesn’t even get public credit for the inclusive work they try to do because it’s not well known.

Moreover we know Bond loses his Scottish-Swiss parents in a skiing accident. I don’t mean to sound racist but I ski a lot in Switzerland and I can say you don’t really find droves of non-white skiers on the slopes of Verbier or Zermatt. Of course there are a few but it’s the exception and not the norm. Again, I’m not trying to be racist but just point out some obvious things when it pertains to the credibility of character that underlines who Bond is. You pull one thread out of the literary biography and the danger is the rest of the tapestry will unravel.

Of course one could try and go for a Black Bond on screen and then hope there is a huge suspension of belief on the part of the audience. But I suspect it’s a bridge too far. It just doesn’t fit. Audiences around the world have an image of who Bond is - British at the very least but also male (damaged and flawed in many ways) and coming from a specific British social class background that serves as an entree to a closed world of English gentleman clubs, Savile Row, English sports cars, and the hushed corridors of Whitehall.

Any woke film maker with an ounce of creative vision and talent and one who is invested in this would be better off creating a new character entirely - with their own specific biography that is both believable and relatable. Can you imagine an American James Bond? What a ghastly thought. Or worse a Canadian one? Canadians are far too nice and far too apologetic to produce a cruel cold eyed killer. But look what clever film makers like Spielberg and Lucas did with Indiana Jones and even later Doug Liman did with Jason Bourne - both fantastic creations that are part of the cultural zeitgeist now.

Or look at Charlize Theron who plays a MI6/CIA/KGB triple agent in Atomic Blonde or Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust in any of the Mission Impossible movies. I would eagerly watch any movies with these two badass women on the screen. All this talk about making Bond a woman or even coloured is just lazy thinking at best and at worst kow towing to the populist tides of PC brigade.

But I firmly believe one can have a female and a person of colour portraying 007. This is because James Bond and OO7 are two different things entirely. Many mistakenly believe 007 is Bond’s own code name and specific alias to him alone.

007 is a license to kill for a very specialised kind of intelligence officer. Bond has that privilege for as long as he serves at the service of Her Majesty’s pleasure. His 007 license can be revoked - and it has been in the past Bond films - and he’s back to being a just another desk jockey civil servant in Whitehall. So my point is OO7 is not sacred to Bond’s identity. Bond could continue to be Bond even if M took away his 007 license to kill.

The origins of the Double O title may date to Fleming's wartime service in Naval Intelligence. According to World War Two historian Damien Lewis in his book Churchill's Secret Warriors, agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) were given a “0” prefix when they became "zero-rated" upon completion of training in how to kill. As part of his role as assistant to the head of naval intelligence, Rear Admiral John Godfrey (himself the inspiration for M), Fleming acted as liaison to the SOE.

In the novel Moonraker it’s established that the section routinely has three agents concurrently; the film series, beginning with Thunderball, establishes the number of OO agents at a minimum of 9. Fleming himself only mentions five OO agents in all. According to Moonraker, James Bond is the most senior of three OO agents; the two others were OO8 and OO11. The three men share an office and a secretary named Loelia Ponsonby. Later novels feature two more OO agents; OO9 is mentioned in Thunderball and OO6 is mentioned in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Other authors have elaborated and expanded upon the OO agents. While they presumably have been sent on dangerous missions as Bond has, little has been revealed about most of them. Several have been named, both by Fleming and other authors, along with passing references to their service records, which suggest that agents are largely recruited (as Bond was) from the British military's special forces.

Interestingly, In the novel You Only Live Twice, Bond was transferred into another branch and given the number 7777, suggesting there was no active agent 007 in that time; he is later reinstated as 007 in the novel The Man with the Golden Gun. As an aside, in Fleming's Moonraker, OO agents face mandatory retirement at 45 years old. However Sebastian Faulks's Devil May Care (an authorised Bond adventure from the Fleming estate and therefore arguably could be considered canon) features M giving Bond a choice of when to retire - which explains why Roger Moore (God bless) went past his sell by date.

In the films the OO section is a discrete area of MI6, whose agents report directly to M, and tend to be sent on special assignments and troubleshooting missions, often involving rogue agents (from Britain or other countries) or situations where an "ordinary" intelligence operation uncovers or reveals terrorist or criminal activity too sensitive to be dealt with using ordinary procedural or legal measures, and where the aforementioned discretionary "licence to kill" is deemed necessary or useful in rectifying the situation.

The World is Not Enough introduces a special insignia for the 00 Section. Bond's fellow OO agents appear receiving briefings in Thunderball and The World Is Not Enough. The latter film shows a woman in one of the 00 chairs. In Thunderball, there are nine chairs for the OO agents; Moneypenny says every 00 agent in Europe has been recalled, not every OO agent in the world. Behind the scenes photos of the film reveal that one of the agents in the chairs is female as well. As with the books, other writers have elaborated and expanded upon the OO agents in the films and in other media.

In GoldenEye, 006 is an alias for Alec Trevelyan; as of 2019, Trevelyan is the only OO agent other than Bond to play a major role in an EON Productions film, with all other appearances either being brief or dialogue references only.

In Casino Royale with Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond, we see in the introduction the tense exchange between Bond and Dryden, a section chief whom Bond has been sent to kill for selling secrets.

James Bond: M really doesn't mind you earning a little money on the side, Dryden. She'd just prefer it if it wasn't selling secrets. Dryden: If the theatrics are supposed to scare me, you have the wrong man Bond. If M was so sure I was bent...she'd have sent a Double-O. Benefits of being Section Chief...I would know of anyone being promoted to Double-O status, wouldn't I? Your file shows no kills...and it takes - James Bond: - two. (flashback of Bond fighting Dryden's contact in a bathroom.)

The OO is just a coveted position and nothing to do with who occupies it. Ito use a topical comparative example it’s like a football team in which a new star player would be given an ex-player’s shirt number e.g. Messi wears Number 10 for Argentina which is heavily identified with the late great Maradona. So conceivably there would be no problem having a woman or anyone else play 007. I think it would be an interesting creative choice to have a woman or someone else play OO7 and Bond is out of the service and yet he has to work together with this new OO7 - the creative tension would be a refreshing twist on the canon.

Your question about James Bond’s Oxford or Cambridge education is more easier to answer.

It really depends again which Bond one is talking about. The literary James Bond or the cinematic Bond.

In the Fleming books, James Bond’s didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge or any of the other great universities of Britain. In the books Bond’s education is not gone into much detail. We know he was raised overseas until he was orphaned at the age of 11 when his parents died in a mountaineering accident near Chamonix in the Alps. He is home schooled for a time by an aunt, Charmain Bond, in the English village of Pett Bottom before being packed off to boarding school at Eton around 12 years old. Bond doesn’t stay long as he gets expelled for playing around with a maid. He is then sent to his father’s boarding school in Scotland, Fettes College.

Bond is then briefly attends the University of Geneva - as Ian Fleming did - before being taught to ski in Kitzbühel. In 1941 Bond joins a branch of what was to become the Ministry of Defence and becomes a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, ending the war as a commander. Bond applies to M for a position within the "Secret Service", part of the HM Civil Service, and rises to the rank of principal officer. And that’s it.

In the cinematic Bond universe things get more complicated and even contentious as you alluded to in your question. It’s never made quite clear which of the two - Oxford or Cambridge - Bond attended because it depends on how much weight you attach to the lines being spoken in each of the films where it is raised.

In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond is up at Oxford (New College to be exact since his Aston Martin DB5 was parked in the courtyard at the entrance). He is seen bedding a sexy Danish professor, Inga Bergstrom, to brush up on his Danish (to which Moneypenny on the phone retorts ‘You always were a cunning linguist’). But it’s definitely doesn’t mean Bond studied there as an undergraduate.

Casino Royale is the film many think yes, James Bond went to Oxford because it is mentioned by Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) as she sizes up Daniel Craig’s Bond on the train. Here is the full quote as said by Vesper Lynd, “All right... by the cut of your suit, you went to Oxford or wherever. Naturally you think human beings dress like that. But you wear it with such disdain, my guess is you didn't come from money, and your school friends never let you forget it. Which means you were at that school by the grace of someone else's charity - hence that chip on your shoulder. And since your first thought about me ran to "orphan," that's what I'd say you are.”

The thing to note is that it’s Vesper Lynd taunting Bond and even then she takes a wide stab by saying ‘Oxford or wherever’ because she doesn’t really know and Bond doesn’t oblige her with an answer.

That whole scene struck me as strange because she’s guessing by the cut of the suit it must be Oxford (or Cambridge). Bond is wearing an Italian suit (Brioni to be specific) and not and English Savile Row one that presumably someone of Bond’s taste and background would be sporting.

A more plausible answer if we are going by the cinematic Bond universe is Cambridge. Indeed it is stated explicitly by Bond himself. Can you guess?

You Only Live Twice which is has the distinction of being the only Bond film (as far as I can tell) from being set in just one country - Japan.

You remember the scene. Lieutenant commander James Bond has just had a briefing with M on board a submarine and is naturally flirting with Moneypenny on his way out. Moneypenny playfully tosses him a Japanese phrase book, saying he might need it.

“You forget,” Bond responds with an expression just short of a smirk as he tosses it back to her, “I took a first in oriental languages at Cambridge.”

So it seems James Bond is a Cambridge man.

A first means - as any British university student would know - first class honours. It’s the highest classification grade one can get in their undergraduate degree ie a ‘first’. Although at Cambridge, like Oxford, you can also get a double first in the part I and part II of the Tripos. Both universities also award first-class honours with distinction, informally known as a ‘Starred First’ (Cambridge) or a ‘Congratulatory First’ (Oxford).

Another oddity is he says ‘oriental languages’ when one got a degree in ‘oriental studies’ at the Oriental Faculty at Cambridge. That is until 2007 when Cambridge bowed to public and student pressure and chose to drop its Oriental Faculty label and instead adopted the name the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Oxford still hangs on to its name the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

My only reservation about crowing over an Oxonian is how truthful was Bond being with Moneypenny in this scene?

Is this line meant to be taken seriously or ironically? Most people seem to take it seriously, despite much of Connery's dialogue being obviously ironic and playful. Certainly, Bond is shown to have never been to Japan before and is incapable of saying anything in Japanese other than the odd "sayonara" and "arigato." But then again Bond does know the correct temperature sake is meant to be served at. So there’s that.

Or it could be Bond was speaking a half-truth. I know speaking from experience as someone who very nearly read asian languages instead of my eventual choice of Classics that ‘Oriental languages’ at the ex-Oriental faculty in Cambridge can mean many other languages e.g. Sanskrit, Hindi, Farsi, Hebrew, Arabic as well as Korean, Japanese and Chinese. It opens up so many other delicious possibilities for Bond. If he read Arabic then perhaps he’s being deeply ironic with Moneypenny (after all she would have drooled over read his MI6 personnel file).

If you think I’m losing my mind then ponder on the fact it was Roald Dahl who penned the screenplay of You Only Live Twice. Dahl was not above snark. Indeed pretty sure he would have got a starred first in snark at any university.

Of course the most obvious explanation is that it’s plot armour as a way for Bond to just get on with the story by suspending the audience belief. Why wouldn’t Bond know Japanese? He seems to know everything else imaginable.

However if it ever was it’s now become canon as EON - the production company behind the Bond films - have stated officially for the fandom that Bond’s official bio has it that he went to Eton and Cambridge, where he got a first in oriental languages. So that seems settled then.

In hindsight it makes perfect sense that Bond went to Cambridge since historically Cambridge has provided the bulk of the spies not just for Her Majesty’s service but also for the other side, the Russians - the so-called Cambridge Spies of Philby, Maclean, Burgess, Blunt, and Cairncross, and a host of other traitors. We seem to be an equal opportunities employment service.

I’m sorry to disappoint you and other Oxonians that despite what you might think James Bond didn’t attend Oxford. Believe me as a Cantabrigian it gives me no pleasure to say this…..too much.

Thanks for your question.

#ask #question #james bond #bond #film #cinema #ian fleming #oxford #cambridge #oxbridge #university #education #cancel culture #culture #society #britain #british #personal

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itshardcandy · 3 years

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Strawberry Flavour Part Two

Pairing: Kim Seokjin x Reader, Min Yoongi x Reader, Park Jimin x Reader

6915 Words

Genre: Fluff, Idiots Friends to lovers, crack

Warnings: Use of some swearwords, (Still) an unhealthy obsession for Jimin’s cakes, flirting, A Kithhh possibly?!👀 Excessive use of the word booth, Introduction of Arch-Nemesis, Rivalry in more than one case, Exo Baekyhun and WayV Lucas make an appearance (if you think I should add something to this list let me know)

Part one is here !

dedicated to my peeps @the--world--behind--my--wall and @a-noona-mous who encouraged and motivated me to keep going 💖💖

If you like it pls don't hesitate to Like and reblog, send me an ask or message me! 🥺💖

-------

The first day of the festival was finally here and you felt even more excited than you had throughout the days leading up to it. The thought of having all of your friends around you made you feel all fluffy and warm inside and you couldn’t wait for them to come and meet you and Jimin at the booth.

Jin had to cancel at the last minute but with the help of Namjoon, the booth was set up in no time. You could finally start assembling all your tools and materials around the very limited workspace in the back, while Jimin worked on the perfect presentation of the already prepared cakes, pastries and other treats.

Namjoon helped himself to a few of those before either of you could tell him no.

The official festival kick-off was still an hour or so away, so you and Jimin had some time to yourselves, before all the visitors would be arriving. Namjoon had excused himself for now but he would re-join you later in the evening with the others.

You still needed to change into your cute bakery uniform and it would probably make sense to prepare a few other things beforehand but right now, you wanted to admire your own work. You stood behind the display cases, eyeing every little cake in the selection carefully and making sure they were all still presentable after the journey,

“You need to stop worrying, everything will be fine.”

Jimin stepped behind you and tried to reassure you,

“The display looks good, the booth is holding up, we didn’t forget anything in the shop... We're prepared for today, ok?”

He put a reassuring hand on your shoulder, easing your worries. You took a deep breath,

“I know, I know I just… I don’t know, I can’t help feeling like we forgot something important, you know?”

He smiled and rolled his eyes,

“I know. But I also know, that we planned this for so long, there is no possible way we forgot anything. We brought back-up dough for the back-up dough; I think we’re good”

You pouted slightly, realising how ridiculous you were behaving,

“But how do you know?”

You asked and you heard Jimin sigh before he gently turned you around to face him, with both of his hands resting on your shoulders,

“Because I know you”

He stated matter-of-factly,

“And I know that you’ll do your best, just like me”

With your big, round, innocent eyes looking up at him, how could he not want to encourage and reassure you? All he wanted was for you to feel confident in your abilities.

Suddenly, you took his hands in yours and wrapped them around yourself, then you circled his middle with your own arms, hugging him tightly to you. Neither of you spoke for a few seconds. Jimin was too bamboozled to say anything until he felt you take a deep breath,

“Thank you”

You mumbled into his chest and he felt a tingling warmth spread through his chest. He’s never gotten to hug you like this before. It felt way more intimate than it should, when he let his head rest on top of yours,

“No need to thank me”

Could you feel the way his heart almost beat through his chest right now? He hoped not because that would be awkward. You pulled away and smiled before you could get any more emotional than you already were,

“Ughh, I don’t know what’s going on with me, I hate being so emotional”

You said and immediately punched Jimin’s shoulder to kill the mood. He tumbled backwards a little, acting cute,

“You? Emotional? Who said that? They won’t be getting any rice cakes today!”

Jimin aggressively pushed up his sleeves and made you laugh again,

“No need to involve the cakes, Jimin”

“With me, the cakes are always involved”

“I should have known”

“You love my cakes, though, right?”

It was definitely true, you did love his cakes, especially the ones that weren’t for sale. He didn’t need to know that, though.

Maybe it was time you changed into your uniform and got ready for the official opening of the festival. Jimin had already put on his, so you should probably get to it now.

You left him in the front of the booth and changed in the back, neatly folding your clothes and stowing them away for later.

A few of the other vendors and shop owners, who had some attractions set up, came by and checked out your little corner and wished you a successful day before they returned to their own spots.

To your surprise, Yoongi showed up early to the festival and greeted you and Jimin in the booth while some other people were already eyeing the display carefully,

“Yoongi, what are you already doing here?”

You smiled when he casually strolled up to you and Jimin, hands in his pockets, as usual,

“I know, I know, I’m early”

He said, as he walked up and let his eyes roam over the decorations and the cakes on display,

“But practice finished early today and I thought you might want some company or needed some help, or whatever…”

He looked cool and nonchalant but you saw right through him. Cutie that he was, he thought you could need help and he knew what a big deal this festival was to you and he wanted to be there for you. And Jimin. But mostly you,

“Thank you for coming, that’s really nice of you”

You said and went around the front so you wouldn’t have to talk over the display,

“Yeah, thanks for coming but we’re all set up already”

Jimin added and nervously wiped his hands on his apron. Yoongi looked a little discouraged at Jimin’s statement,

“Oh, well… then I- “

“Let me show you around a little, hm?”

You excitedly grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away to the other shops. That wasn’t what Yoongi had planned when he got here but he could never say no to you, anyway.

He wasn’t really a people person but he would gladly wade through a crowd of scolding parents and screaming toddlers if it meant he could spend a few hours with you after the festival ended. Even if it was just to help you and Jimin pack up and close the shop for the night.

For now, he let you pull him from shop to shop and from attraction to attraction and introduce him to everyone who would listen.

____

“And this one is my favourite! Well, except for our own”

You said excitedly and pulled Yoongi to stand in front of the last shop and greet the owner,

“Hoseok, are you in? I want to introduce you to my friend!”

As you looked around the small space, a young man appeared from behind a shelf and greeted you with a bright smile,

“YN, you’re here already! I just finished setting up”

He walked up to you and put down a few more flyers and pamphlets around the open spaces,

“This is my friend Yoongi, the one who plays piano”

You introduced Yoongi to the guy in front of him and he shyly held out his hand,

“Hey, nice to meet you”

He said, trying to sound cool,

“You, too. I’m Hoseok, I work at the local animal shelter”

He shook his hand, sporting a radiant, charming smile and Yoongi immediately felt like he’d known him forever,

“Oh, the one near the park?”

He asked and Hoseok nodded,

“That’s the one. I met YN when she came in for Snuggle Sunday the first time a few months ago”

He explained and Yoongi mentally aah’d, remembering how you had called him a while ago, screaming unintelligible nonsense into the phone about how you were going to steal all the puppies and lil kitties, while some birds screeched in the background. He had to hold the phone away from his ear because you were so excited,

“Ah, yes, I remember. She told me all about the puppies”

Yoongi said and turned to you, smiling gently,

“Seemed like she had a really great time”,

Hoseok laughed and nodded,

“I’ve never seen someone cry so hard over a baby chameleon”

He said and you playfully hit his shoulder,

“Hoseok! You swore you wouldn’t tell anyone!”,

“I’m sorry but it was just so funny”,

“You’re unbelievable…”

You sounded stern but you smiled anyway,

“It’s a miracle you still have a girlfriend”

You said jokingly and started to wrap your hands around Yoongi’s arm again,

“Oh, by the way, she asked if you could save her some rice cakes, if there are any left tonight?”

Hoseok asks, as you already turn to walk away,

“Sure, come by later, I’ll pack some for her”

You answered and then waved your hand at him to signal him goodbye, so Yoongi did the same,

“Where to now?”

He asked you, after you had walked a few steps together,

“Well, that was everyone I wanted you to meet, for now. And I should get back, the festival’s about to start”

You said and Yoongi hummed in agreement. He escorted you back to the booth, where Jimin was already pacing back and forth, looking like he was anxiously anticipating your return,

“Ah you’re back, finally!”

Jimin exclaimed excitedly and walked up to you, as soon as you and Yoongi came back in view,

“I just saw Fluffy Clouds walk by and apparently they have a completely new concept cooked up for the festival!”

He reported and you immediately looked around you, trying to spot the booth of your arch nemesis,

“Where are they set up? What concept?”

You asked and Yoongi also started looking around, confused as to what you and Jimin are talking about,

“What are we looking for, here?”

He leaned in and asked you,

“Fluffy Clouds is the other bakery down the street I told you about. They’re basically, our arch nemesis”,

You explained while keeping an eye on your surroundings in case that smug bastard Byun Baekhyun was anywhere near and dared to come close to your booth again,

“They’ve been trying to steal our customers from the start”

Jimin chimed in and Yoongi raised his brows in surprise. Apparently, this small town did have some exciting drama going on after all,

“They always set up their advertisements in front of our shop and lead all the nice old ladies away when they know Jimin isn’t in”

Yoongi chuckled,

“Why only then when he’s away?”

He asked for clarification,

“Have you seen Jimin? He looks like an adult baby. Old ladies eat that shit up”

You turned to Yoongi, the disbelief at his serious question clear on your face,

“Yeah, have you seen me? I look like- wait-”

Jimin stuttered but you were already walking off, searching for the Fluffy Fools, as you and Jimin had (un-)lovingly dubbed them,

“Hey, wait!”

He called after you and pulled Yoongi with him to go after you,

“What are you doing? The festival is about to start”,

“I just want to have a look at their display, real quick…”

You mumbled,

“Just a friendly visit to our rivals on this fine day, that could very well decide the fate of our business, you know?”,

“She doesn’t look like she’s going for friendly”

Yoongi mumbled to Jimin from behind.

The look on your face was scary. It got even scarier when you spotted Baekhyun and Lucas setting up some decorations in their display case.

The fake customer service smile, that etched its way onto your lips and the lifeless stare in your eyes could make a grown man cry with terror if you set your mind to it and the two men in question had definitely been on the receiving end more than once. However, they still didn’t let you continue your business in peace.

You confidently walked up to them, chest puffed and fists balled at your sides,

“Hi guys! Wow the booth looks amazing!”

Both of the guys inside the little tent looked up at the sound of your voice.

You sounded so incredibly threatening that even Yoongi felt a chill go down his spine. When he looked at Jimin, the boy was obviously bracing for a storm; pressing his lips together, squinting and not daring to look at you directly. Yoongi chose to observe quietly for now,

“Thanks, YN! We worked really hard on it!”,

says the taller of the two, a bright, oblivious, dopey smile on his face,

“Yeah, it took a lot of planning and custom work”

The other one adds and sets a pretty bouquet of flowers on the counter

“Unlike your train wreck of a booth”

He mumbled under his breath and you immediately caught it,

“Sorry Baekhyun, what was that? I didn’t quite catch your snarky, hateful comment towards Jimin’s and my booth, would you care to repeat it?”

You retorted and slightly leaned forward, pretending to listen more closely

“I said yours looks wonderful, too, YN”

Baekhyun mocked and you took a deep breath,

“Anyway…” you started to say,

“I just wanted to wish you good luck and I hope you sell lots of pastries during the festival”

You clasped your hands in front of you and smiled,

“Aww, thanks, YN! That’s so nice!”

Lucas was genuinely happy to receive nice words from you, for a change,

“Maybe then you’ll finally be able to afford to stop blocking our door and window with your signs and advertising, hm? Maybe acquire some of your own customers for a change”

You added and the mans face immediately fell and he looked to his older friend for emotional support,

“Nice try, YN”

Baekhyun sneered and looked between you, Jimin and Yoongi,

“Now, if you would be so nice as to collect your puppies and bring them back before they wet themselves, hm? They look a little lost”

God, you hated him so much,

“Rot in hell, Byun”

You yelled and turned on your heels, pulling Jimin and Yoongi with you to walk back to your base.

Yoongi had always known you were passionate about the business you led with Jimin and now he knew just how passionate,

“Dang… that was hard to watch”

He said while you trotted back,

“This was one of the more civil encounters we’ve had, actually…”

Jimin mumbled and you breathed deeply,

“They just make me so angry”

Well, it was actually just Baekhyun who made you google inconspicuous ways of disposing of a body late at night. His partner Lucas was really not the issue here. Baekhyun was the brain behind all their operations and Lucas was the muscle. Muscle, that was nice to look at, admittedly, although that didn’t really help his case. The yeast in the bread he baked day to day worked harder than Lucas’ brain and that was just a sad fact of life,

“If Baekhyun comes anywhere close to the booth again, I want you to throw the waffle iron as hard and as accurately at his head as you can, ok?”

You said to Jimin, who just sighed and mumbled a silent ‘yes…’

It was useless to try and convince you to try and find non-lethal solutions to the problem.

Yoongi checked his watch absentmindedly,

“It’s almost time”

He announced calmly and you composed yourself with a few centered breaths. The festival goers didn’t need to see you like this if you wanted to sell some cakes today,

“I’ll let you get back to it and meet you later, ok?”

Yoongi said and waved you and Jimin goodbye before he casually strolled away over the festival area.

-------

Time flew by as the customers kept coming and you and Jimin did your best to brighten up their day with your delicious treats. Some of them even decided to leave with your business cards in hand and it made you incredibly happy to know that people appreciated your hard work and dedication to your craft,

“Jimin, quick! Hand me the frosting!”,

“Where is it? I can’t see!”

Jimin was frantically rubbing his eyes, trying to clear the powdered sugar out of his vision,

“Shit, I have so much flour up my nose, if security sees me like this, they’ll tackle me on sight”,

“Tough it out and put the next batch in the steamer, we can’t afford to lose this group of pre-schoolers!”

So far, things were going better than expected and soon, after the initial onslaught of customers had retreated, you could take a few minutes to yourself to breathe and sit down.

Jimin put the ‘back in 10 minutes’ sign up in the front and you retreated to the back for a much-needed break. Both of you let out a long, exhausted sigh and plopped onto the camping chairs,

“To be honest, I didn’t think it would be this exhausting”

You slurred with your eyes half closed,

“I can’t feel my legs”

Jimin replied,

“And also my chubby, pinchable cheeks… these sweet old ladies really are relentless”

He carefully rubbed his reddened cheeks and huffed,

“But we almost sold out completely in such a short time! We’ve never had so much business before”

He was right,

“Let’s just hope it takes off” you mumbled, leaned back and tried to apply every quick relaxation method known to man all at once. It wasn’t working particularly well,

“It’s almost time for all the sellers to close down for the day, anyway”

Jimin said after a quick look at his phone,

“When we closed up, we could check out the other attractions, maybe ride the-“ “Strawberry Flavor, are you in?” Jin’s voice suddenly disturbed Jimin in his attempt to score a Ferris Wheel date with you later,

“I’m done with my shift for today so I came straight here”

Surprised at Jin’s sudden appearance, you mustered up all your strength and got up,

“We’re in the back, you need to go around” you called and went to the tent flap in the back to hold it open. When Jin stepped in he was holding a few delicious smelling paper bags,

“I brought you some food, I thought you might need some sustenance”

He smiled brightly and handed you the bags. You ripped them open immediately and found some sandwiches and a variety of sides inside. The smell was hitting you right in the face and made your stomach rumble with impatience,

“Are you serious? Thank you, this is amazing, you’re my hero”

Your face lit up and Jin waved it off like it was nothing,

“Jimin, look! Food!”

Your eyes went glossy and Jimin smiled when he saw how happy you were after taking the first bite out of your sandwich,

“Ugh, this is so good, I can literally feel my body soak up the energy”

You mumbled while chewing and Jimin grabbed one, too, when you handed him the bag. When he wanted to hand it back to Seokjin, the man declined,

“Oh no, I had plenty back at the hotel. They miscalculated how many guests would be there for lunch and prepared way too much food”,

“Thank you for thinking of us”

Jimin said politely and finally took a bite, too.

You were happily munching away at the food when Jin started looking around,

“Woow, it looks like you almost sold out!” he commented and you nodded

“It went better than expected!”

You answered proudly in between bites,

“I’m sure we’ll sell the rest, too, until closing time”,

“People are going crazy for your cakes, huh?”

Jin asks jokingly and it makes you chuckle,

“You only notice that now? YN’s cakes have always been amazing”

Jimin added and Jin looked up, sensing a little more than innocent cake-talk,

“I wasn’t implying anything different. I’ve always thought they were the best cakes I’ve ever seen”

He said and Jimin squinted at him suspiciously,

“I’m just making sure they get the appreciation they deserve”,

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from an avid cake-lover such as yourself”

Jin raised his brows expectantly and Jimin felt the need to puff up his chest a little bit.

Meanwhile you were completely oblivious to the intense staredown between the two men and focused on the sandwich in your hands.

Silence fell over the three of you and soon your break was up and you needed to get back into the thick of it. It was Jimin’s turn to man the selling position in the front now, while you took care of preparation in the back. Jin decided to hang around a little longer and watch you guys at work, partly to help out if you needed him and also because you looked cute enough to eat in your uniform.

He couldn’t help you set up because he got called into work on short notice but he was glad Namjoon was there to help you. Now, he was here and ready to take on anything you threw at him, even if it was only verbal abuse,

“Jin, you need to move! Your shoulders may be broad but they don’t need to take up the whole space in here”,

“Relax, Strawberry Flavour, I’m just getting acquainted with the workspace”,

“Sure, why don’t you have some coffee and a rice cake while you’re at it, hm?”,

“Do you have coffee back here?”,

“Jin!”

He laughed at your desperation and got to work on rearranging the baking forms for you.

------

“Here you go! Thank you, please enjoy them”

Jimin handed the cakes to the last customer for today and let out a satisfied sigh. He was proud to say that every last rice cake you planned to sell today had gone over the counter and found a new, happy owner. Working the booth had been exhausting, to say the least, however, Jimin felt more energized than ever when he turned around and saw your happy smile directed at him,

“We did it!”

You said and held up both of your hands for a high five, which he gladly put his back into. He didn’t let go and intertwined your fingers while your hands fell into the space between your bodies,

“It was one hell of a day but we did it!”

You repeated and Jimin felt his heart warm up at the relief in your voice,

“I never doubted it”

He said and you pulled him into a quick hug. Without warning Jin slung his long arms around both of you,

“Ah, don’t thank me for doing all the work, it was my pleasure”

He boasted and you wrangled yourself free from his embrace,

“You are so shameless, it’s ridiculous”

His high-pitched laugh sounded through the tent and Jimin also brought some distance between himself and the older man again. As much as he was intimidated by him, he also couldn’t deny the effortless charm the guy possessed and he would lie if he said he wasn’t jealous of the way he could make you laugh so easily. He knew Seokjin was important to you, so he did his best to make friends with him. Or at least be polite to him,

“What? Are you going to deny the essential part I played in selling all those cakes?”,

“You rearranged the forms and then blocked me every time I turned around!”,

“And it made you even more determined to work harder, didn’t it? Case closed”,

“I swear to god, Seokjin-“,

“Hey losers, we sold twice the normal amount of pastries today! Suck on that!” Baekhyun’s voice suddenly cut through the banter and you all turned around to catch him and Lucas waving wads of cash in your direction,

“Maybe we’ll consider buying your shack and finally turn it into a successful business, how’s that sound?”

Jin’s brows raised in confusion,

“Who are these clowns?”

He asked and watched the two men dance around while pretending to make it rain,

“Just the bane of our existence”

Jimin answered and crossed his arms in front of his chest,

“They’re the owners of the bakery down the street from ours. The fools I told you about”

You explained and Jin just huffed out a ‘Huh…’,

You turned to them and angrily pointed your finger,

“You better get the hell out of here before I shove my whisk up your-“,

“Ok, that’s enough of that”

Jimin pulled you away from the front and he and Jin watched a smiling Baekhyun and Lucas disappear in the distance,

“I hate them so much”,

You struggled to say through clenched teeth,

“Let’s just move on and forget about them”

Jimin patted your shoulder gently and Jin pulled out his phone,

“Namjoon just texted me, they’re on their way here”,

“See, our friends are here to distract you”

Jimin happily announced and you breathed in deep to relax again,

“You’re right, let’s clean up and get going”

------

The thing about these kinds of festivals, fun fairs, or whatever people liked to call them, was that, unless you brought your family along, they possessed an inherently romantic atmosphere. Which was now becoming more and more obvious, even to you, as you strolled along the attractions and rides, which lit up the night sky like new year’s fireworks.

Jin and Jimin, 2 out of 3 of your best bois were accompanying you on the way to find the rest of your friends at the festival’s exit area. It was on the way to the beach, where your friends had planned to end the night with a bonfire and some drinks.

The way there, however, was not linear and Jin and Jimin made a show of vying for your attention at every possible moment. You were being pulled from mini game to mini game, watching the boys taking turns at winning toys and stuffed animals for you. Carrying all of it would be a challenge but that was the least important thing on your mind as you watched Jimin throw darts at the small balloons on the wall. Clearly, accurately throwing tiny, beat-up, plastic darts at miniature balloons was not one of his secret talents but at least he was determined,

“YN, look! I almost got one this time!”

He yelled proudly and smiled so wide that his eyes disappeared,

“Careful, don’t do too well, or the owner will have to file for bankruptcy”

You said jokingly, trying to motivate Jimin a little,

“I don’t think we have to worry about that”

Jin observed, giving Jimin the side-eye,

“Don’t be mean”

You murmured to him and lightly shoved him with your elbow,

“I’m just being realistic, Jimin might be the king of cakes but he sucks at balloon dart”

He commented and held up his hands in defense,

“Like you could do it any better. Literally every time Manager asks you to throw him the keys, they land in the pond in the hotel lobby instead of his hands!”

It was important to bring Jin back down to earth sometimes,

“Not every time…”

He mumbled a little embarrassed,

“How do you even do that? Last time we were standing in the kitchen and somehow, they still ended up in there”,

“Are you shaming me for my bad eyesight? You know I wear contacts!”,

“I’m shaming you for your non-existent hand-eye coordination!”

You snickered and Jin shook his head, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you close,

“Yah! You want me to throw you in there next time?”

He tried to sound threatening but you just giggled like a child when he gently bumped you with his shoulders,

“You’re welcome to try! I control the chicken so I would think twice before messing with me”

You knew this would hit Jin right in the feels and immediately he clasped his hands together in an apologetic gesture, bowing his head a little,

“Ah, I apologise deeply, Chicken-Overlord! I’ll be good from now on!”

He lamented and you went along with it,

“It’s forgiven. For now” you booped his nose and directed your attention back to Jimin, who just won a tiny, pink, plastic rose and made his way back to you and Jin,

“Look! I won something!”

He happily presented the flower to you,

“Woow, Jiminah, you’re so good at this game! Let’s get some candy cotton, hyung will pay!”

Jin grabbed Jimin by the shoulders and praised him some more while you couldn’t contain your laughter,

“Really?”

Jimin asked, smiling sheepishly and Jin nodded,

“Would I lie about that? Only the best players deserve cotton candy, come on!”

Jin looked at you and winked like the absolute smug clown he was and you smiled back at him,

“Thank you for being nice”

You mouthed and followed the boys to the nearest self-operating candy cotton machine.

-----

Satisfied with your gifted plastic rose and happily munching away on your cotton candy, you and the boys finally reached the others at the beach.

They already prepared one the of the fire pits and had a nice flame going, while they passed around drinks and snacks.

From the distance you could see Yoongi talking animatedly to Namjoon and next to them, Hoseok annoying his girlfriend with stupid faces. Taehyung, one of your regular produce supply guys from the hotel and his little brother Jungkook busied themselves with making smores over the fire and poking it with sticks. This bunch of weirdos always brought a smile to your face,

“Hey guys, we finally made it!”

You announced as you got closer to them and they all turned to greet you, handing you each a bottle and a bag of something fried to go along with it,

“Hey guys, I hope the booth didn’t collapse”

Namjoon said and held up his bottle to clink it with yours,

“I’m usually not the best at handling literally any kind of tool so I hope everything held together and no one got killed in an ugly accident”

He added and smiled hopefully,

“Don’t worry, we lived and the booth did too”

You answered and Namjoon wiped the metaphorical sweat off his brow,

“I’m glad you could help. I would have done it myself but they called me in to help with the shift”

Jin mentioned and Joon waved him off,

“Don’t worry about it! I wouldn’t have come tonight if you hadn’t asked me to help so I’m happy it worked out this way. I desperately needed to socialise…”

He took a long, relatable sip of his drink and Yoongi joined your conversation,

“Almost seems like it was fate”

He said,

“I didn’t know you guys knew Joon. We met in university and haven’t seen each other in a long time”

He explained and Joon smiled fondly,

“Kinda lost touch”

Yoongi awkwardly scratched the back of his head,

“Yeah, we’ve got some catching up to do…”

He mumbled and you sensed there was more to it. Not wanting to pry,

you let them continue their conversation and made your way around the fire to Hoseok and his girlfriend, telling her the rice cakes were all sold out but you would set some aside first thing tomorrow. She was the cutest lil’ bean and you could see how they adored each other. It was a healing relationship to witness and you definitely needed their energy in your life.

Behind you, on the other side of the fire, Jin and Jimin stood side by side, awkwardly trying to maintain a conversation while they were both aware of each other’s attention being focused on something(-one) else.

They rarely spent so much time together and it was clear that, even though they were part of the same circle of friends, they didn’t really have much in common, except their shared infatuation with you.

And they both knew it, which made this situation a little difficult.

They both watched you talk to the couple for a little while and kept some light small talk going while Taehyung and Jungkook kept them fed with smores, freshly melted over the fire.

As it was getting later, the drinks were starting to affect some (Hoseok) more than the others and soon, Hoseok’s girlfriend and Jungkook were trying to keep him from taking his clothes off and go skinny dipping in the ocean. It was a very entertaining sight and you may or may not have encouraged his shenanigans with some passive comments.

Drama was in your nature, sorry not sorry.

You had noticed that Namjoon and Yoongi had found a spot on the beach a little farther away from the group and were still engaged in deep conversation. You were relieved to see, that your friend was having a good time and that he got to reconnect with Joon, whatever that meant. He had never mentioned him to you before but judging by the looks of it, they had been pretty close.

Since you sometimes felt a little lost in the grand scheme of things, it felt good to see other people were finding new things and meeting people that gave them more reasons to be happier and feel connected.

It wasn’t like you didn’t feel happy; in fact, since moving to this quaint little town, you’ve felt the happiest and most fulfilled since you could remember. However, seeing Hoseok and his girlfriend, Yoongi and Namjoon, or even the random couples at the festival, sharing food and being cutesy with each other… it reminded you, that there was something like that missing in your life.

Or was there? You would say that a lack of companionship or human connection in general was not the problem per se.

Romance and relationships had never been at the top of your list of priorities but as you were getting older, you felt the slowly-growing need for something other than friendship in your life.

Or maybe that was just the liquor and the third-wheeling talking.

Meanwhile, Jin and Jimin had formed a delicate connection over their shared love for sweet foods, treats and definitely alcohol. They were probably responsible for the majority of the empty bottles that now lined the lukewarm cooler, and they were still going strong. They even laughed at the occasional joke together.

No one could resist Jimin’s natural baby charm forever, not even stoic Seokjin. It was clear, that they were finally warming up to each other.

You only noticed after Jimin had called you over, pouting and complaining about being tired and wanting to go home. He got a little whiney when he was drunk and it was better to just give him what he wanted.

It was fine anyway. It was getting late and you both needed to be up early again for the next day of the festival so you decided to leave soon and say goodbye to your friends until tomorrow night. Taking Jimin home before he turned into an even more whiney little baby was the top priority mission right now.

Hoseok barely registered when you said goodbye and you guessed he would tap out soon, too. You refrained from disturbing Joon and Yoongi and said bye to Taehyung and Jungkook before leaving with Jimin tucked into your side. Jin accompanied you for a little while and promised to swing by again tomorrow before you parted ways and he went home, as well.

From then on, it wasn’t long before you and Jimin reached home. Jimin sighed tiredly as the shop came into view and a last surge of drunken energy sped up his step. He skipped ahead, wanting to unlock the door but stopped short as he reached the glass façade.

What was that paper taped to the door? He ripped it off and found it to be a folded piece of paper that your shop’s name written on it,

“Huh?”

He whispered to himself and turned it around in his hands before opening it.

On the inside he found a crude drawing of you and him in the booth today at the fair. There was nothing unusual about it, except for the sign above the booth, that, instead of the cute rice cake logo and writing you had printed on it, now showed a generously sized, disturbingly detailed, pile of-

“What the absolute shit?”

Jimin jumped at your voice, spinning around and trying to hide the paper behind his back and you tried to reach around him to steal it,

“YN! Don’t look!”

He wiggled out of your grasp and ran to the closest trash bin to dispose of the drawing,

“Jimin, what the heck? Was that taped to our door?” you came running after him. Jimin needed a second to regain his balance. Running around while still drunk was not the best idea. When his eyes were able to focus on your face again, he nodded,

“Yeah…”

He mumbled and watched your shoulders slump,

“Do you think it was the fluffy fools again?”

He asked carefully,

“Who else?”

You replied, turning around and walking back to the shop. Jimin followed you. Without a word you opened the door and both of you went inside, taking the stairs up to the apartment. While standing in the narrow hallway, only illuminated by the light of the street lamps outside, you turned around to face Jimin,

“I don’t understand what their problem is. Sure, we’re kind of a similar shop but it’s not like we’re monopolising the bakery business! We sell so many different things! They didn’t even think of selling pastries like we did and now they act like they’re the big ballers in the game? Like we’re stealing their customers? Ugh…”

Usually when you ranted about the fools, you sounded angry and agitated. However, even drunk Jimin noticed that now you just sounded exhausted and sad,

“YN… don’t overthink it. They’re just acting like dickheads because they’re threatened by us”,

“But why couldn’t they just come and talk to us like adults? This is all so childish…”

Jimin wrapped an arm around your shoulders,

“I know”

He knew that there were few things he could say to make you feel better right now but he still wanted to try,

“Sometimes people need to feel better about themselves and they have to put other people down to get there. It’s not right and it’s not fair. But we’re good at what we do and they clearly know it. Don’t let it get to you, Rice Cake”

Hugging his side, you let out an exasperated breath,

“I know you’re right but I’m just so tired of it”

You mumbled. Jimin let go of you to gently place both of his hands on your shoulders,

“We’ll get some rest now and it’ll all be better in the morning, ok? Maybe I can go and talk to them; try and find some sort of common ground” he sounded so sure of it, that you could only nod in agreement,

“Really?”

You whispered and smiled at him,

“Of course. I’ll do anything for you and our shop”

Jimin answered and took in your hopeful eyes and slight pout and felt his throat close up at the sight. You looked so small and cute and Jimin suddenly felt even more drunk than before. He didn’t even notice that he had moved his hands up to cup your cheeks in his hands until he felt the soft skin under his fingertips.

Goosebumps rose on your skin at his touch and you weren’t sure if this moment was still about a friend comforting another friend as they were feeling upset. Seeing Jimin’s glossy eyes, his slightly parted lips and messy, fluffy hair in the soft lighting from the street lamps had you feeling like the mood had suddenly changed,

“Jimin, what-“

You didn’t get to ask the full question, as Jimin had already pressed his lips to yours in a gentle kiss. Plush lips moulding to yours with careful movements and shy pecks until you ran out of breath and needed to pull away. Lightly pushing at his chest, you brought some distance between the two of you. Your heart was beating a mile a minute and Jimin seemed to be equally out of breath.

Even though there had definitely been some kind of atmosphere surrounding you just moments before, this was the last thing you expected to happen. You needed to sort through your brain and find the ability to speak before the silence grew too awkward. Jimin just kissed you, you were sure he expected at least some kind of response.

You brought a hand to your forehead, combing through some of the hair in the front and trying to find the right words.

Jimin on the other hand was too starstruck too even realise your inner turmoil. He was having a hard time just coming to terms with the fact, that he had just kissed you without any warning or build-up and that he was still drunk as heck. His brain was working overtime right now, trying to process all the different feelings and experiences that had occurred in the last thirty seconds. He could still feel your skin under his fingers, could still feel his lips tingle from the way they moved against yours and the taste you left on them. It was a lot,

“Umm… I- I need to go”

You stammered and suddenly turned around to flee to your room, leaving a perplexed Jimin standing in the hallway.

Shutting the door behind you a little too forcefully you took a deep breath. What the hell just happened?

-------

Thank you so much for reading!!

Part Three is not yet here

#hardcandywriting #itshardcandy #bts fanfic #kim seokjin x you #kim seokjin x reader #park jimin x you #park jimin x reader #min yoongi x you #Min Yoongi x reader #bts #I love Jin #also Jimin #and Yoongi??#kim seokjin #Park Jimin #Min Yoongi

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leafs-lover · 3 years

Text

Because Two People Got Drunk: 36

Chapter 36

Series Masterlist

Summary: With the stress of the pregnancy and planning the wedding, you and Fred get away for a couple days.

Warning: Swearing, smut

Word Count: 6500

“Mommy why can’t I come?” Oliver whines.

It’s the all-star break, and you are all in California, Fred’s parents flew out and met you 2 days ago. You had a relaxing day at the beach with them and then yesterday you all ventured to Disney Land. Oliver practically dragged Ernst and Fred around the park on every ride, and the twins spent the entire time taking in the sights and sounds, crying when you tried to get a picture of them with Mickey Mouse.

Now Fred has a two day trip planned for the two of you, leaving the boys with his parents before you all fly back to Pittsburgh. Oliver has been loving the time with everyone the past couple days and doesn’t understand why everyone can’t stay together.

Fred rejoined the Penguins shortly after Christmas and you immediately noticed a shift in Oliver’s behaviour. He had more temper tantrums and some days he cried over the most ridiculous things; one day he cried because his bath was “too wet” and another day because you didn’t let him eat jam. Not with food, just actual jam with a spoon.

You know part of it is him being a toddler, but a big part of it is because he was so used to having Fred around. Once Fred was ready to return the Penguins were leaving on a road trip, so he went from having Fred around every day to not seeing him for eight straight days. And on the second day that was when everything started.

Just as he was readjusting the all-star break came and Oliver re-attached himself to Fred and basically hasn’t let him out of sight. While you fully expected the entire break to be spent with your boys; Fred wanted to spend a couple days away just the two of you. He says you are too stressed with the kids, the pregnancy and planning the wedding and you deserve a couple days away from everything.

“No I’m sorry bud you have to stay with grandma and grandpa for a couple days” you say to your pouting toddler.

“I want to come” he stomps his foot in displeasure. As much as you know you can’t encourage his bad behaviour by smiling or laughing; sometimes it’s hard. And this is one of those times. A small smirk forms on your face as your eyes look away trying to not show him any emotion when you hear Fred’s heavy steps enter the room.

“Ollie mom said no so it means no” he scolds.

Oliver exhales heavily and stomps his feet again. Your eyes find Fred and he just shakes his head at you watching as you hold in some laughter. “Keep it up and you’re going on timeout” Fred says sternly. Oliver huffs in response and walks out of the room and you finally allow a few chuckles to fall from your lips.

“You’re unbelievable” he mumbles putting the last few items in the bag,

“I know but it’s been like this for 3 weeks and sometimes I just can’t take it seriously” you reply and Fred rolls his eyes.

You feel a slight tingling in your core; the assertiveness isn’t something you normally see from Fred. You don’t like that it’s directed towards Oliver’s bad behaviour, but when he uses that tone it gets you wet; and your pregnancy hormones don’t help either.

You take a deep breathe through your nose but as you exhale through your mouth a small moan escapes. Fred stops zipping up the bag to shoot you a questioning glance. His eyes scan over your face “you alright” he questions and you give him a slight nod before he leaves the room.

Pretty soon you and Fred are on the road driving along the coast. Fred left the rental SUV with his parents so they can fit the kids. The two of you have the windows of the car down; the warm California air blowing through your hair. Fred has one hand on the wheel the other glued to your stomach hoping to feel one of the kicks that recently started.

You stare out the window breathing in the salty air, feeling the sun kiss your shoulder. Apart from some minor traffic the drive is relatively smooth. After about two hours you pull up to a beautiful Spanish hotel. It has light coloured stucco on the outside surrounding large pillars and archways; you pull your sunglasses down your nose to scan around the grounds.

There are a few fountains, and a couple small buildings in the distance. Each building is fixed with black clay tiles and there are multiple palm trees surrounding the property. Fred doesn’t stop at the main building, instead continuing down the property road.

You see some beautiful rolling hills in the background from the Los Peñasquitos Canyon. You take in the sights when you see a tee for a golf course. You immediately turn your head to Fred with a smirk and he shifts in his seat chuckling slightly.

“Is this a vacation for us or a golf trip for you” you tease.

“I can’t help it if the best vacation spot in San Diego also has the only championship golf course” he laughs. You shake your head pushing your glasses back over your eyes as he pulls up to another building putting the car in park.

“Don’t worry I didn’t bring my clubs I’m not going to golf” he gets out of the car and walks around to open your door.

“Oh that’s a shame” you take his hand and step out of the car “could have used a couple hours alone.”

Fred gently closes your door and pushes you back against the car. You feel the warm metal on the back of your arms, Fred closing the gap between your bodies. He stares down at you, bringing his hands to either side of you. “I don’t plan on leaving you alone for a minute” he growls. He is so close you can feel his mustache on your ear, his warm breath on your neck sending goosebumps down your spine.

You moan smelling his cologne and he quickly turns away, leaving your knees to almost give out. He grabs the bag and grips your wrist pulling you inside. You expect it to be a building with a couple separate hotel rooms; instead it is a giant foyer with marble stone and a spiral staircase. Fred leaves the bag on the ground and pulls you down the hall.

You walk by a beautiful kitchen but Fred doesn’t let you stop mumbling something about how you won’t be spending any time there. Next is the massive living room with a floor to ceiling fireplace and a large bar that connect to a private terrace that overlooks the golf course and pools. Despite the proximity to the pools your area is secluded, various shrubs protecting your privacy.

There is a longue area with a small hot tub; you stand in awe of your surroundings when Fred’s large hands come up behind you. His hands gently rub over your stomach, Fred leans down his breath on your neck.

“Don’t worry I got them to turn the temp down for you” he mumbles against your jaw. Your neck tilts wrapping his arms tighter around you; leaning back into his chest. “This place is amazing babe” you say feeling his lips on your shoulder. Through his gentle kisses the straps of your dress fall down your skin “you’re amazing” he murmurs against you “let’s go see the rest.”

You pull your strap back up as he tugs you inside and up the stairs. You explore the first two doors each bedroom being large enough to be the master, before Fred opens the beautiful oversized double doors. There is a California King overlooking the deck perfect for watching sunsets. You take a few minutes exploring all the different rooms before returning to find Fred sitting on the end of the bed.

“Babe we don’t need all this” you say hands landing on his shoulder. His find the back of your thighs pushing the hem of your dress up as his thumbs dig into your skin.

It is a three bedroom private house, each room having an ensuite and walk-in closet. The master however has two closets, an office and an attached gym space. While this could be useful for an extended stay with the kids, two nights with just the two of you means most of the space will be unused.

“It’s our babymoon” he shrugs.

“Babymoon?” you ask laughing slightly, pulling his lips onto yours.

“Yeah it’s a vacation before the baby comes” he explains.

“We didn’t do one with the other two pregnancies”

“Well with Ollie I think it’s pretty obvious why we didn’t, but I did take you to Denmark. And with the twins I don’t think you would have lasted in a car that long for us to get away. Although given what happened I wish I had of planned something, maybe things would have been different” he says tailing off for a second. “But I figured since it’s our last pregnancy we should do one. And you just need some time away babe.”

“Okay but do we need all of this? It’s a big space”

“I considered getting a room in the main building” he pulls you closer to his broad shoulders one hand trailing up to your ass “but I didn’t want to get a noise complaint.”

He gives you a firm squeeze eliciting a squeal from you. He falls onto his back pulling you down on top of him. The two of you spend a few hours tangled in bed, clothes haphazardly strewn around the room. Fred switches from his mouth to his fingers to his hard cock, you’ve had so many orgasms you’ve lose count. By the end you don’t know what causes you to pull apart; the soreness of your heat or the rumbling of your stomachs.

It’s your last afternoon away and time has flown by. The two of you have taken a few walks around the property, and are now on a hike into the canyon to a small waterfall. Since you are on the resort during off-peak time and haven’t seen anyone since you left for your walk over a half hour ago.

You read about a nearby waterfall and wanted to check it out. Fred was concerned the walk might be too hard, even though you aren’t that pregnant yet but you managed to convince him to do the short hike through the canyon.

About twenty minutes in you could feel the sweat dripping down your back so you were very happy when you rounded the corner and found the pool. Today is abnormally hot day in California, so the refreshingly cool water was nice against your warm skin.

You spent a few minutes wading through the water before finding your way to the waterfall. You tilt your head back running your hands through your hair as the water trails down your body. You glance at Fred from the corner of your eye; his gaze locked on your body. He watches the water roll off your sun kissed skin and over your bump; and you see the fabric of his shorts begin to tent.

“The waterfall is nice” you smile walking over to him.

“Looked like it” he smirks as your hands wrap around his tanned neck.

“I brought you here because you told me the view is spectacular” he says pressing his hands into your back. “You have spent the entire time looking at me.”

“My view is very nice” you smirk up at him. His once golden brown eyes are pooling with lust as he closes the gap; pulling your lips to his. Your tongues danced in the others mouth for who know how long. Not only does his skin have the glow of the sun he tastes like it too.

The kiss starts slow and passionate but quickly turns into a fight for dominance, tongues against one another, teeth slightly clashing. Every time one of you pulls away to catch your breath the others lips would quickly find them. Your lips are swollen, your chap stick smeared on his, you can taste the sweat that has pooled on his upper lip. His fingers begin to slowly trail down your warm skin, slipping under your bikini bottoms.

A light breeze rustles the leaves of the trees; the waterfall gently crashes into the water around you. That alone is enough to take your breath away, but instead the man in front of you keeps stealing it. He spins you around; your hands landing on one of the large granite boulders surrounding the waterfall.

His knee gently spreads your legs apart, one of his large hands slinking down the front of your bathing suit. It reaches your core, gently stroking over it.

You whimper at the contact. Partially because of how much you want him, the other part because of how sensitive you are. His tongue grazes along the skin of your neck; biting and sucking love marks.

A shiver dances down your spine while his hands trail over your waist. Growling, he presses his clothed member into your back. He begins to push your bathing suit down your legs when you hear some voices coming up the trail.

You hear some Danish fall from his lips as he pulls your bathing suit back up your body “If we had of stayed in our room nobody would have interrupted us” he groans pulling himself out of the water.

“Yeah but we wouldn’t have seen the waterfall in our room” you tease taking his hand. He helps you out with ease, carefully guiding you away from the slick surface.

“You barely looked at the waterfall. You practically mauled me once we got here” he laughs handing you your clothes. You scoff in response, but you know it’s true. Your mouth clamps shut while a devilish grin spreads across his face.

“It’s the hormones” you mumble pulling your dress up your body. You hear the other group’s voices getting louder as they approach the waterfall.

“I don’t care what it is I like it” he gently lifts your chin and presses a soft kiss to your lips. You hear the sound of a camera shutter and pull away, seeing Fred captured a picture with the waterfall in the background.

“Figured we should get one picture together people like to see vacation pictures” he gently kisses your temple. “I mean the ones I took last night cannot be shared.”

Your eyes go wide and heat reaches your cheeks, but a smile crosses your face. He pulls you into his chest, hiding your embarrassment in his shirt. “Should let me take more pictures, maybe a video…be useful on the road.”

“Frederik” you scold as the group walks by; they are too engaged in their own conversation to hear you.

“Definitely say that in the video” he smirks.

Before you have a chance to respond he gives you a soft smack on the ass and walks away. You stand stunned for a few seconds before catching up to him, his arm wrapping over your shoulder while you begin the short hike back.

“What should I wear tonight?” you ask standing in your bathrobe. You just washed off the sunscreen and sweat from your body and are preparing for your final dinner tonight. You are leaning against the door frame brushing your teeth while Fred grips his shirt.

You watch as the fabric moist with sweat is clinging to his body. He pulls it up revealing his stomach followed by his chest. Your eyes however don’t follow the trail of exposed skin, instead they linger an inch above his hiking shorts that are hanging a little too low, waiting to be dropped.

“(Y/N)” he snaps his fingers and your eyes meet his. He has a smirk on his face but ignores what you are doing. “I said we’re ordering room service and staying in so wear whatever.”

“Okay” you smile.

You hear the sound of his shorts hitting the floor and you stop listening; your eyes following the sound. You stare over his body, your eyes flutter closed as his boxers land on the floor. When you finally open them you see Fred’s ass as he walks towards the shower. You aren’t sure if it’s the steam from the shower or your core being ignited by his naked body, but you feel your hands get clammy and your entire body gets hot.

“Hey babe” you moan wrapping your arms around Fred; your face is pressed into his back breathing in his cologne and body wash, your hand resting low on his stomach. He adjusts to pull you in front of him placing a soft kiss on your head.

“Hey beautiful” he mumbles against your skin. You shake your head slightly rolling your eyes but before you can say anything his lips find yours. You are wearing a pair of sweat shorts and a loose t-shirt; no make-up and after drying your hair you pulled it into a messy bun on top of your head. Fred must have sensed your energy level, because he is wearing a simple grey t-shirt with some loose track pants.

“Dinner’s here” he says leading you out to the back deck. He takes you to the table placing a fleece blanket over your lap. While the temperature during the day gets pretty warm; at night it can get fairly cool. Fred knowing you get cold pretty easily is always one step ahead, doing anything he can to keep you comfortable.

He sets a plate in front of you, pulling off the lid to reveal your favourite meal, one you haven’t had in ages. It can take a bit of time to prepare and with three young children you haven’t had the time.

“How did you manage this? It’s not on the room service menu” you say. Fred’s hand gently rubs your back “I have my ways” he responds.

You fall into easy conversation; you try to bring up the wedding but Fred immediately shuts down your attempts telling you this trip is supposed to help you forget about all that stress. But planning a wedding in a foreign country has proven difficult; especially with the language barrier.

While you speak some Danish, you struggle when people speak too fast for you to process what they are saying. And the planner speaks some English but there are definitely some gaps between the two of you. Charlotte has been helping meeting with the planner on occasion and some of the vendors to help give you a better idea of how things will look.

But she showed up with a list of topics, pictures and videos of place settings and décor ideas the planner has been working on. She hoped the videos would help you visualize how everything will appear on your wedding day; but it also meant an extensive list of items to tackle in a short period of time.

A part of you wishes you took Fred’s offer to postpone the wedding until the following summer; or to do it in North America. But you know everything will fall into place and be worth it in the end.

Fred finishes his dinner first, pulling the white cotton napkin up to his lips. He gently runs the fabric through his fingers, you watch as the fabric dances through his digits. You get lost watching him fold the fabric and drop it on his lap. As his fingers dip out of view you wish it was your folds his fingers would be dipping inside of.

Fred puts his plate back on the tray and stares out at the golf course watching the sun begin to disappear out of view. The wind from earlier has died down, the only sound is the occasional bird and the faint sprinklers running in the distance. You finish your dinner; the sound of your cutlery on the plate catches Fred’s attention.

“You like your dinner” he asks turning his head to yours.

“It was amazing” you respond as he takes your plate setting it on the tray. He grabs two other plates bringing them over, and pulling the lid off to reveal a small white cake and another that has larger chocolate cake, that is more than enough for the two of you.

“I think one cake is enough” you laugh. While you have had some cravings you haven’t been craving many sweets; let alone two cakes. He sets the knife and two plates on the table and sits down. He taps on his leg, indicating for you to join. You sit on his lap pulling the blanket over yourself your legs.

“This one” he runs his finger through the chocolate icing and brings it to your mouth. You open your mouth and he slips his finger in. Your mouth closes around him; your tongue licks up the side cleaning the icing off. A light moan leaves your lips your eyes staying locked on his. He pulls it out with a grin “is just a normal chocolate cake.”

His index finger reaches over to gather some of the icing from the other cake. “And this one” he brings it to your mouth again. Your smile and open your mouth again; bringing your tongue out to lick the icing off. You almost see Fred shudder under you, a groan leaving him when your lips wrap around his finger.

“This one” he repeats through a shaky exhale “is a special cake.” He slowly pulls his finger from you and you quirk and eye brow at him.

“See at that ultrasound a few days ago the doctor determined the gender. I called and got them to send the results to the hotel and this cake can tell us what’s going on in here” his hand rubs over your stomach. Your head falls back with a groan and you laugh lightly. While you have found out during the last two pregnancies a part of you doesn’t want to find out for this one.

“We don’t have to, that’s why I got the second cake. We can not eat the vanilla one, leave it and not find out” he says. “Instead of a crazy party I thought maybe we could go simple, like with Ollie.”

You smile remembering Canada Day almost four years ago, showing up at his apartment with a little white box. You were worried with the humid Toronto air the icing might melt off and you had no idea if he wanted to know the gender, and in all honestly you barely remember the actual eating of the cupcake. You remember the excitement finding out you were going to have a son, and what happened after.

“I thought maybe this one could be a surprise.”

“A surprise” his body shakes with laughter. “You want a surprise? You who plans every detail wants this to be a surprise? You plan our dinners out the week before.”

You laugh slightly and curl up more into his lap, your hand falling onto his chest. “I mean we have three kids, and we know this one will grow out of clothes before it has a chance to wear them all. Apart from picking a name why does it matter to find out? And we can pick two names.”

You stare into his dark brown eyes, glistening under the light of the moon. He brings his lips to yours, his mustache tickling your upper lip, his hand tangling in your hair. His tongue slips inside your mouth, moaning as your tongue does to his what it did his finger. Your tongues swirl in each other’s mouths; your hands gently raking through his beard.

He pulls away; sucking on your lower lip. He grins at you “we don’t have to find out babe.” He leans forward putting the lid back on the one cake “that’s why I got two.”

“Do you want to find out?” you ask with a sigh because if he is committed to the idea you would do it for him.

“Like you said it doesn’t really matter and even if we pick out a name we’ll probably change it. Ollie didn’t have a name for an entire day”

“That’s not what I asked” you respond.

“We both have to be 100% because there is no going back. So if you aren’t 100% sure we won’t.”

He grabs a fork and dives into the cake, not even bothering to cut a piece. He brings it to your mouth your lips closing around it. He slowly pulls the fork out eyes never leaving yours as he grabs another bite, this time for himself.

You continue to sit on his lap while he feeds you cake. Every two or three bites you get he gives one to himself. After eating more than a third of the cake Fred sets the fork down. He wipes away some icing that is clinging to the edge of your lip, sucking it off his thumb.

Without saying anything you pull yourself from his lap and put the plates of cake back on the tray. You begin to make your way inside. Looking over your shoulder with a smirk you see Fred following behind you, setting the tray on the kitchen table. You continue to walk down the hall barely making it a few feet when catches up to you.

He quickly picks you up, eliciting a squeal from you. Your arms wrap around his neck while carried you bridal style up the stairs. Your mouth finds his neck and begins to suck a few centimetres from his ear. You hear a soft groan as you shift slightly get closer and suck harder.

“Baby” he groans but you don’t let up, teeth grazing along his skin. “(Y/N) we have to see my mom tomorrow you really want to do that in such an obvious spot?”

You pull your head away eyes narrowing as you smirk at him. He places you on the bed and pulls his shirt off revealing his toned chest. Your eyes go wide and you take a gulp taking in his body, a sight you have yet to get used to.

The bed dips and Fred’s mouth finds your neck his hand pushing the fabric up your stomach grazing over your bump. His teeth find your ear lobe as your back arches; your head falling onto the pillow.

A light moan leaves your lips; Fred’s mouth only leaves momentarily to pull your shirt over your head. He groans when he sees you aren’t wearing a bra, before long Fred’s mouth is back on you. He mumbles praises in between kissing your breast; you are so caught up in your pleasure you can barely focus on his voice. His hand finds your other one and begins to roll your nipple through his calloused fingers.

“You look so beautiful” he gently places some soft kisses on your stomach. Your back arches and your breathing increases, trying to focus on Fred’s voice. His mouth trails up your body gently sucking on your collarbone “so beautiful with my baby in your belly.”

“Fred” you croak. You feel him smile against your skin but he just presses his mouth in harder to your shoulder sucking a spot against your skin. His entire hand cups your breast beginning to massage it; your neck tilting to allow him more access.

“You’re gonna look so good with my dick in you soon” he mumbles in your ear.

“Fred” you groan finding the strength to push his shoulders “yeah baby” he smirks his head popping up.

“Remember years ago when we found out we were having a boy with Ollie” you ask getting your breath back.

“Mhm” he responds. He lifts higher to look down into your eyes, his brown eyes glazed with arousal staring down at you as his hand running through your hair.

“Remember how after you took me back to your room”

“Mhm” he hums. You pull his face closer, lips hovering an inch from yours. His chain dangles down hitting your chin his warm breath blowing on you.

“Remember when…”

“I pinned you against the door” he smirks bringing his mouth back to your neck

“Yeah…” you trail off. “I was thinking after that.”

“When I fucked your throat” he purrs against your skin.

“Before that” you groan “you tied me up and…blindfolded me.”

You feel his mouth curl up against your neck, his dick twitching against your hip. Mumbled curse words spill from his neck; as he slowly rises from the bed. He walks over to the dresser and begins rummaging through the drawers; you quickly pull your shorts down your legs throwing them into the growing pile of discarded clothes.

Fred walks out of the closet and seeing you naked splayed on the bed for him he quickly shimmies out of his pants. A gasp leaves you as his hard cock slaps against his stomach. In a few long strides Fred is straddling your chest, while he pulls your hands above your head.

Cool leather rubs against your wrists, as he fastens them to the headboard. After he tightens the belt you give your wrists a tug; Fred grins looking at his work.

You feel your mouth water knowing his hard cock is centimetres from your lips oozing with precum. You lick your lips and raise your head attempting to take him in. The last thing you see is Fred’s grin before the silk tie is wrapped around your eyes.

“You good elskede?” he asks.

“Yes” you hiss in response. The anticipation has your heat inflamed and dripping but Fred takes his time. He begins to slowly shift down the bed, leaving warm open mouth kisses on your body. You clench your thighs in search of friction and swear you hear him mumbling against your skin.

The weight around you shifts while he trails down your body, soon your legs are hooked over Fred’s shoulders. He blows on your folds sending a shiver coursing through your body. His tongue gently licks up your folds as you squirm under him.

“You taste so good” he mumbles his beard rubbing on the inside of your legs. One of his hands grip your thighs, nails digging into them as the other attaches to your clit. His thumb presses soft circles into your clit as his tongue flicks into your pussy. Two fingers slip inside you and scissor you open slowly thrusting inside you.

“Fuck” you gasp as his long fingers pump in and out of your folds. You try to reach down to grip his red locks but instead the leather snaps your wrists back down causing you to groan.

“You wanted to be tied up babygirl” he chuckles softly sucking on the inside of your thigh. His fingers increase in speed, his thumb pressing harder into your bundle of nerves.

Your moans turn to whimpers as your orgasm begins to approach. Fred sensing you’re getting close and replaces his thumb with his mouth, sucking hard. His fingers hit deep and hard with each thrust while your legs tighten around his head.

You roll your hips, pressing your clit into his mouth. Fred groans into your pussy, his lips vibrating against your core. Fred continues his pace; sucking on your clit. Deep groans and slews of curse words are filling the room. You are thankful Fred got you a private house; any neighbours would for sure file a noise complaint due to the sounds you are making.

Again you try to move your arms and the belt snaps pulling you back down to the mattress. You feel your orgasm rip through you, Fred working you through it. His fingers pump in and out of your walls groaning as your warm cum spills down his fingers. You bite your bottom lip drawing blood, your breath temporarily getting caught in your chest.

His fingers slow as your orgasm tapers off before finally pulling them out of you. His tongue gently finds your folds, lapping up your juices. Finally his mouth pulls away and he sets your legs down crawling up your body.

“You okay?” he mumbles into your neck. You can feel his hard member poking at your entrance and you nod in response.

“Need words elskede” his member gently stroking over your folds coating itself in your juice.

“Yes” you pant out “so good.”

Your hips arch up trying to get some more contact but Fred pulls away slightly with a deep seeded chuckle. “Blindfold okay? Want your hands undone?” he asks.

You smile slightly, even though you can’t see his face you can feel the concern and love radiating from his voice. “I’m good babe, promise.”

That’s all Fred needs to hear. Gentle, but intentional; he slides in, agonizingly slow. He pulls back painfully slow and your legs wrap around his back. Your warm heat welcomes him, pulling further inside. You feel one of his large hands reach the back of your thigh lifting your ass to give him a deeper angle.

“More” you groan after a few slow thrusts. Fred chuckles and snaps his hips increasing his speed. His hands roam up the underside of your thigh and give your ass a firm squeeze. His mouth dips down kissing the space between your breasts. Your back arches in response, his beard tickling your chest.

Fred hits your cervix with every thrust at a feverish pace. His large hand rubs over your stomach before finding your breast, engulfing the whole thing with his hand. He pinches your nipple and you roll your hips up on him.

You try to move your hands once more groaning with the restrictions. You make a fist, nails digging into your palms; likely leaving crescent shaped marks. His hand drags lightly up your skin before finding your neck. His thumb strokes over your skin a few times, lightly gripping you.

“Fre…eddd…ie” you moan punctuated by every one of his thrusts, the headboard rattling against the wall.

You can feel the familiar bubbling deep in your core, your second orgasm of the night developing. You feel him stutter chasing his own release. His hand around your neck begins to tighten; your airway being restricted.

You feel beads of sweat land on your chest as curse words fall from his lips. His hand tightens and he gives you a few more deep thrusts before your orgasm washes over you. Your walls clench around him, legs tightening around his back as your heels dig into his back,

Fred works you through your high as you scream his name. You feel Fred’s dick twitch and he spills deep inside of you with a loud groan. Warm ribbons coats your walls white and Fred collapses on top of you He releases your throat and you take a few gasps, your lungs refilling with oxygen.

His head lands in the crook of your neck and you feel his chest heaving as he catches his breath. You both lie in post orgasmic bliss, Fred murmuring incoherent praises against your shoulder.

After a few minutes you feel Fred tug on the end of his tie, releasing it from your face. You blink a few times your eyes adjusting to the light. Fred reaches above you and undoes the belt, the buckle clanging as he throws it on the wood floor.

“Hey” Fred whispers.

“Hi” you smile.

“That okay?” he asks pulling your hands down; gently rubbing over the red marks on your wrists where some bruises will likely be tomorrow.

You hum in response, Fred’s lips gently press against yours. He slowly pulls out; some of his cum leaking down your thighs as you groan from the emptiness. He crawls off the bed and you roll over grabbing your water from the bedside table.

Fred returns with some clothes setting them on the bed beside you as he brings a damp towel to your folds. You whimper at the contact while he gently wipes you up and throws the towel on the floor. He pulls a clean pair of boxers up his broad thighs and a t-shirt over your shoulders.

A large yawn falls from your lips and Fred helps you under the duvet and you curl up beside him. His hand lands on your stomach his thumb rubbing soft circles as you quickly fall asleep.

The next morning you crawl into back into bed, Fred still asleep. You prop the pillows against the headboard and sit upright looking over to the man beside you. He is lying on his stomach arms stretched under his pillows. Messy red locks have fallen into his eyes and are splayed over the pillow.

You bring the steaming mug up to your lips, lemon and honey filling the air. You take a few sips before setting the cup down bringing over the plate. You take a mouthful of food and the sound of your fork hitting the plate causes Fred to stir.

“Morning” you say softly brushing his hair back.

“Morning” he says through a raspy voice, eyes fluttering open.

“Are you eating cake?” he mumbles and you just laugh in response bringing another bite to your lips.

“You can’t eat cake for breakfast” he scolds.

“Says who; I’m an adult” you retort eating another bite.

He shakes his head and crawls up beside you. You set the fork down and brush a few stray hairs away from his eyes. Fred turns his attention to your stomach, talking to your growing bump as his hand soothes over it. You set the plate on the bedside table and grab your mug. You close your eyes, running your hands through his hair listening to his calming voice.

“Babe, why are both the cakes here?” he asks.

“I was thinking maybe we could find out” you say and Fred crawls up your body slightly.

“Yeah?” he asks. You nod in response and are immediately met by a soft kiss. You reach over and grab the vanilla cake but before you can dig in Fred stops you.

“So this cake is a little different” he explains. “I know you hate the colours that go along with the gender stereotypes. So instead of pink and blue there is banana for a boy or grape for a girl.”

“So the cake is flavoured?” you ask.

“No cake is vanilla but the icing inside is flavoured to match one of the fruits” he says.

“And why banana and grape?” you ask.

“Well banana starts with B like boy and grape starts with”

“G” you cut him off.

Fred grabs the second fork “ready” he raises his eyebrow at you “close your eyes.”

You give him a sideways glance “they told me the flavours are better when faint. That they can become overpowering, so they also recommended dying the icing” he explains. “But let’s see if we can tell from the taste first.”

“Okay” you say closing your eyes “ready.”

Next Chapter

#because two people got drunk fic #frederik andersen #Freddie Andersen #fred andersen #frederik andersen x reader #frederik andersen fic #fredzilla #frederik andersen smut #freddie andersen smut #freddie andersen x reader #freddie andersen fic #fred andersen smut #fred andersen x reader #Fred Andersen Fic #nhl fic #nhl smut

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falconfriend · 3 years

Text

AU where some different things are possible. Don't read too much into Jay's techno babble, quite honestly, I might edit some of it out, it's not the point.

Don't be surprised if you see this edited before the final ff.net post, but it's here, and I'm happy with it. The original concept has a chapter in which our two main characters talk together and process, and that is still very, very important to me, I'll probably bring it back.

See tags for warnings.

The amount of power Zane is channeling right now shouldn't be possible. Jay made darn sure to learn everything he could about Zane's possible repairs while Dr. Julien was still alive—the other guys didn't like to think about it back then, but come on, he was old, Jay knew, everyone else knew too even if they weren't saying it— so anyway, he'd spin wild hypotheticals, ask what happens if one tiny piece of machinery goes wrong.

Lloyd would hit the point where he wanders off, self-consciously chuckling that this isn't really his area but he feels like he's kinda learning things, and Jay would watch the clock tick until Nya got bored... and then, that was his opening, to fire off whatever question would come off as too rude while the others were around.

The doctor would smile in a sort of understanding, if slightly flummoxed, way, and he'd start answering. Jay got a lot of answers! He figured out how to put all of Dr. Julien's numbers into his numbers, you know, the kind we learn in the modern century, and made a copy of Zane's schematics with his notes. He had a harder time finding the focus to figure out the Falcon, but Nya and Lloyd are on that anyway. Logical division of labor.

What is he talking about. What was he thinking about. Zane's dying.

Distractedly, he answers- "I said critical mass. If he doesn't contain that, he could go nuclear."

"He's containing it, right?"

"It doesn't- matter." Containing it also means dying.

"Why wouldn't it matter, Jay-"

Jay asked a lot of questions, but he never did even think to ask about Zane's power source. Shouldn't that be the first thing? Why weren't we asking questions about the power source?

He knows approximately how much power Zane runs on. He knows it isn't this much. He knows how a storm feels, right before lightning is about to strike, what builds up in the air and how much damage it can do, right before he—

Jay takes a step forward.

Wu puts an arm across his shoulders, pulling him back. Jay just about slaps him off before realizing that's a quick way to get himself thrown to the ground and shut up before he can start,

So he waits, a frustrating two, three seconds, until he finds words.

"I can help." His throat is dry and he wouldn't mind except that he needs to be louder. "Get me to him, I can help!"

The rest of the ninja are turning to look at Jay… so… slow. Cole looks like he could be swimming through molasses. Jay seethes, and flexes and unfurls his fists by his sides to let it out, and takes a small step back instead of forward.

It works. Sensei releases him, almost.

Kai looks like he might be committing a crime if he lets himself look away from Zane, which isn't helping. Finally, though, he opens his mouth before Jay can. "Your powers? …Do you think?"

"'Do I think-' yes, I think, that's electricity. Or, electromagnetic- whatever. It's energy. I can feel it, Kai- this is taking too long! Where's Pixal- Pixal! Pixal, yoo-hoo, tell them I can help!"

"That won't be necessary," says Wu. Everyone is moving like an old man right now, taking their time; Jay's sure of it. Remember that comment about Cole? It feels like Jay's the only thing who isn't wading through molasses. Jay and the Digital Overlord, that is, and Zane, who cries out so bad Jay spends that moment sure that everything's over and Zane is gone now-

Everyone is moving like the slow old man Sensei talks like, but then Jay sort of- must have blinked, or something, because suddenly, they're all shifted. Cole sets a hand sturdily against his shoulder. It takes him a moment to realize that they're all on his side.

Jay finds a hardened, gold feeling deep in his chest, and latches onto it, and uses it to find his voice. "Okay." Okay. Look. Think. "Cole, I'm going to run at you and I need you to launch me, onto that web. Lloyd, use your energy to boost me."

"But-"

"We don't have time! It's just a scratch."

"Keep him on the edge of the blast. Try to center it about two meters from him." Jay looks back at Nya, Nya looks back at him. It's like they're both realizing how small everything has been. They're nineteen- Jay's nineteen, Nya's eighteen. It's like- like, we didn't need to know the shape of the care right now, I care about you.

Nya waves him away to the task at hand with a smile that means What? Anyway, you're coming back.

Jay looks at Cole and Lloyd. They look back at him. "Well, let's go." With a serious expression, not a word in response and not wasting a second, Cole stoops, palms up and fingers intertwined, a foot-sized platform.

"I'm ready for you, Walker."

He gulps. Time freezes for a second and then skips forward again, like half a second that definitely shouldn't be allowed to be that long. "Okay."

Kai steps forward, like he's going to- hug him, maybe? Rub his back? Push him forward?

"Okay ninja-go—" he kicks off and twists. Off the ground, off Cole's intertwined hands, launching him into the air- about to panic and yell Now, Lloyd when Lloyd finds the right moment anyway, blast re-aiming him just as he's about to fall-

He's sailing through the air, back sore and ears still ringing as the wind whistles past them. Ninjago city sails beneath him. He's two feet short of Zane's hand. He's going to miss.

He's going to miss, he's sorry, and they don't have a second shot, and not that it would be okay if he didn't but now he's going to get all caught in the explosion too,

And Zane reaches back, and grabs his hand.

The jolt that immediately moves through Jay is an absolutely massive electrical discharge. It tries to run from him straight to ground; at first, he was not connected to the circuit, so the electricity is looking for him as its way out. Here's the thing about electricity—it doesn't ask questions. It's already moving by the time your question is halfway out of your mouth, and that's why you need to either be five steps ahead or be ready to start improvising right now or else you're dead.

Something about that isn't how electricity should work, though. It doesn't rush into... a wire that isn't connected to a throughline. Batteries have two ends, positive and negative, and a wire that isn't connected to both of them might as well not be a wire at all— electricity isn't trying to get out, it's trying to get to somewhere, electrons hungry to get to that battery's positive side. Every single electrical invention in the world is formed by humans forcing those electrons to take the long way.

This electricity doesn't have a destination.

The Digital Overlord is always destroying. That means energy in him is leeching outward; this isn't just entropy, this is entropy gone rogue. Jay doesn't know where he's getting the electricity from, but- if he can destroy, maybe he can create. Who knows. Whatever. What becomes apparent right then is that it seems like the Overlord needs to always leech outward, and what Zane is doing is containing him. Sooner or later the snake eats its own tail.

Zane nods, with a firm little hum, as if he can tell from Jay's face what's going on in his head. It's businesslike, and it jolts Jay back to work. Jay can stand this for a few minutes longer, but Zane- Zane's dying.

So: parallel paths. Create two paths, two options, and the electricity will keep looking for how it can be the least crowded. It's like the reason air leaves a popped balloon, kinda like pressure but with a thousand electrons that all hate each other and feel indifferent about you. Or picture... getting into a crowded convention center, and someone coming running to announce they've just opened a second doorway, and that you can get in through either line. Create two paths, and only half of it goes through Zane.

Zane releases his hand.

They really, really need to have a talk later, but Jay is relieved it's not a talk about being willing to be saved. He's helping himself be saved.

Jay holds one of the golden contact points in one hand, and one in the other. The energy rolling around his ligaments and bones deflates, taking the easiest path.

"I had hoped you would do that behind me," says Zane, whose eyes are now closed.

Jay doesn't really try for a little laugh, so much as his body tries for a little laugh, like his brain is fine-tuned into making his excuses with or without him. "You could've said that earlier."

"No, it's alright. Just… here, scoot a little to the side-"

"This is pathetic," hisses a condensed-evil murmur over their shoulder, like it's obligated to, "YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME?"

"Yes," says Zane.

And the bluewhite what-is-that-stuff that he'd once used to take down a plain old treehorn beams closer past Jay's cheek than he can really say he's comfortable with. It's almost like being near a fire- a live wire, static. He's not too cold, but he's sure if he touched it, it would move straight through rapid-action frostbite into part of his face falling off.

"Jay, now." Jay isn't sure what he means by now, that uh, isn't very clear, but he spends a half-second in panic before realizing Zane's ice is running a cable to ground. It'll keep a direct hit from coming back for them. It means, since this is the only window before it connects, they need to hit him now.

Jay pulls the electricity out of himself, out of the air- he takes whatever excess Zane will give him, when he touches his hand- and he breaks the circuit. He shoves it, with force, the opposite of the ways electrons want to work, not the way lightning wants to work—but that's the first step of making lightning. You build up a gap. The buildup snaps from him into the Digital Overlord's metal body. Something is wrung out of him like a sponge.

There's a thunderclap that shakes the city and an explosion that's- like a video game character died. Like it's not a real explosion, it's just something- dissipating. The city just turns white.

Jay becomes aware that he's flying again for the first time in two years, and Zane is holding onto him but losing strength. And then it turns out that he's got his arms around Zane, too. He only figures that out when he starts to panic that Zane's going to fall, and the tug of Zane's weight on his arms doubles, and alerts him that they're there, secure. His body was thinking ahead, even if he wasn't.

Zane's out. He's… fine. He's fine. He's got to be fine.

And while we're at it, Jay's hoping he's fine. His heart feels- wrong.

The first thing he needs to do is get back to land, the second thing he needs to do is look at… is get Nya to look at Zane, he's not even sure he can trust his senses. Huh, hang on, there's a sound other than the ringing in his ears.

"Jay!"

That's Pixal.

"Jay!"

She's standing on the roof of Borg Tower, waving her arms, and just as Jay starts to settle enough to realize he's not frozen, adrenaline's not gonna stop him from moving and he should fly somewhere. ...Huh. He has to pick where.

It would be a really good move to let their friends see they're alive. Nya's good at robotics.

Pixal and Borg… can probably fix him faster.

Zane sparks, hard.

Like Superman, made of light, Jay descends toward Borg Tower in a graceful arc. His feet connect with the roof with a very soft patter. He locks eyes with Pixal to hand off their boy to her.

"Whoa, okay, Sparky, geez. Just thought I'd keep the sweat out of your eyes."

Well. That's not correct.

There are the tiles of a hospital ceiling in front of his eyes, which feels more correct. Apparently, Kai is also in the room, because—

"Yeah. He's okay."

—well, because that's Kai.

Cole, of all the things that could happen here, squeezes Jay's hand. It occurs to Jay that he could have died on- on really, really weird terms with him.

Whoof. Jay takes stock of his body. He starts by feeling the sheets, just to figure out where his body is, then investigates the muscles and aches beneath them. He's in one of those medical gowns that closes in the back.

Everything feels... pretty okay? No, everything feels like he's just been stretched in every direction like a piece of toffee.

No, everything feels like he's just been stretched in every direction like a piece of toffee, but also maybe like he is toffee, so he's fine.

He, uh, definitely can't move. And that feels wrong, but at least he's identified the reason he's in a hospital bed, rather than wondering. He'd find this a lot harder to process if he had walked away from it without a scratch at all, even though it would have been cooler. He sort of wonders if anyone would bring his chart over where he can read it.

"Uh, yeah, that's all great, but what about Zane?"

Kai lets out a small, slightly-amused very-concerned snort. "Jay, you asked that already. He's okay."

"Go easy on him."

That's Lloyd. There are, wow, a lot of people in this room. It's gotta be a pretty small room? Hospital rooms aren't that large. Are his parents here?

"They're on their way."

"My mouth keeps saying whatever's in my brain."

Cole laughs. "Hey, don't worry everyone, he's back to normal."

Jay's breath does a weird thing in his lungs. It's like his body is focusing on every sensory detail except where it hurts. "Yeah, you're just jealous of how I looked up there."

Cole could nearly double over laughing at another time, but right now everything about him is subdued, gentle. Jay could see him ruffling his hair if he wasn't, you know. In a hospital bed. "Sure am, sparkplug."

And there's quiet for a beat.

Jay continues, still staring at the ceiling, "Hey, Nya, how bad are you gonna kill me."

"Oh, uh—" That's Lloyd again, kicking one heel awkwardly back against the wall. Kai speaks quickly—

"She wanted to be here. It's killing her not to, I mean— everyone did. Sensei, too. We told them we've got you."

"That's nice."

"I-I said I'd run and call her once you're awake, just to let her know. I should probably go do that now. She's—"

"With Zane," Jay finishes, no bones about it. Kai nods. "That's nice." The way energy thrums from Jay's palms feels different now, like he's not just pulling it from the air, like there's a battery under his skin, but that's. That's a question for training time. It's sleep time, now.

A/N: Why did the writers say "it's reaching critical mass." I still don't know what that means. Zane's power source is presumably based on some kind of nuclear fission then, but I'm not sure what "critical mass" has to do with the Digital Overlord encounter? If anyone knows how that's relevant to how Zane died, please lend me your knowledge, I'd be very grateful and schooled.

Anyway, critically, this is an AU where it is possible for Jay to help, not an AU where Jay notices he can help. It's built on the assertion that there was nothing Jay could do in the original, but in this universe, different things were possible.

#ninjago #jay walker #zane julien #jay ninjago #zane ninjago #warnings:#hospitals #there's some narration of Jay's thoughts not making linear sense which might be disorienting to some readers

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snarktheater · 3 years

Text

Ready Player Two — Opening Cutscene & Chapter 0

Hello again.

It’s been a while. I haven’t been active on this blog since, fittingly enough, Ready Player One. I was going to do this sooner—even had an alarm set up and everything—but then, it turns out, I’m feeling so much negativity about the world in general that a book just pales in comparison.

Seriously, I had to scrap this post’s entire intro because it’s not even 2020 anymore as I write this. And you know, maybe that’s for the best. I’m not really in the mood for doom and gloom and bitching anymore. I uninstalled Twitter from my phone a while back, I’ve been doing good at my daily writing sprints, my biggest fanfic project concluded on a positive note from people I didn’t even realize had been following it for years.

So I don’t know what this is going to be like. My commentary, I mean; I’ve heard echoes of what the book is like, so I’m not expecting a surprise there.

The book opens right after the end of Ready Player One, in a “Cutscene” where Wade recounts to us what happened after he won Halliday’s contest. It also assumes you remember exactly who the main characters of the book are, which is a bold move for a sequel that came out almost a decade after the original.

Technically, I could just look up the details I’m fuzzy about. But also, I think it’s more authentic if I don’t. I trust my memory enough that if I’m wrong, it’ll be in subtle enough ways that it’ll almost be a private jokes between all of us. An “if you know, you know” sort of error system. And I don’t think there’s anything more true to the spirit of this book than that.

Shoto had flown back home to Japan to take over operations at GSS’s Hokkaido division.

So Wade starts his tenure with nepotism. Wasn’t Shoto really young? Why is he qualified to run anything?

Aech was enjoying an extended vacation in Senegal, a country she’d dreamed of visiting her whole life, because her ancestors had come from there.

You know what, I’m not touching “send the token black character back to Africa.” This isn’t my lane.

And Samantha had flown back to Vancouver to pack up her belongings and say goodbye to her grandmother, Evelyn.

Why is she saying goodbye? Why, she’s moving to Columbus to be with Wade, of course! It’s not like there was anything else in her life. Was there? And why isn’t she referred to as Art3mis? I’m pretty sure Wade found out all of their offline names in the last book, and the inconsistency mildly bothers me.

These three sentences are back to back, by the way. Someone—I forget who—once described Ready Player One as a book that’s fun to write a wiki about, because it’s got fun concepts to summarize about until you realize that all the emotional connective tissue you need to turn a list of things into a story is missing, and that’s roughly how this first page feels.

Hell, the first line of the book is Wade telling us he remained offline for nine whole days after winning the contest, but by the end of the second paragraph we’re already to him logging back into the OASIS to "distract himself from [his and Samantha’s] reunion.

I’ll give Ernest Cline one thing: it feels like he wrote this opening nine days after the first book and did about as much maturing as a teenage boy would do between the two books.

Way more time is spent describing Wade’s OASIS rig, or the in-game planet where the climax of the last book happened, than anything else in this introduction. He is immediately greeted by a crowd of adoring fans who have been waiting over a week for him to come back in the game, because they’re all grateful that our protagonist and his friends restored their avatars after they were annihilated by the Sixers.

You’d think the adoring fans would serve some kind of purpose, or that something would happen, but no. Wade immediately goes “ew, people” and teleports away, since he essentially has ultimate powers within the game. With a caveat: the powers are actually coming from the Robes of Anorak he’s wearing, and I’m mentioning that in the hopes that it will pay off sometime in the book’s future, assuming Cline at least learned to do that. But still, let’s not skip too fast the fact that we introduced that crowd of adoring fans for no other purpose than to tell us they’re out there, because it fits right in with the last book’s attempts at saying as little as humanly possible in as many words as possible.

Anyway, Wade went back into Anorak’s study, where he arbitrarily checks out the Easter Egg he got at the end of the last book, and finds an inscription on it. I was dreading another riddle, but no, it’s just straight-up instructions to a vault in the GSS archives, so Wade logs off and goes to check it out.

Of course Halliday had put [the archives] [on the 13th floor]. In one of his favorite TV shows, Max Headroom, Network 23’s hidden research-and-development lab was located on the thirteenth floor. And The Thirteenth Floor was also the title of an old sci-fi film about virtual reality, released in 1999, right on the heels of both The Matrix and eXistenZ.

I’m equally shocked that it took two whole pages (on my ereader) to get to the first slew of references, and that one of these references is from 1999. I didn’t know we were allowed to think of anything that isn’t the 80s. Speaking of which, I’ll spare you the whole paragraph, but the book does feel the need to explain why it’s vault 42.

Inside the vault, there’s another egg containing a super-fancy and advanced OASIS headset. The egg also has a video monitor that plays a video message from James Halliday shortly before his death.

But despite his condition, he hadn’t used his OASIS avatar to record this message like he had with Anorak’s Invitation. For some reason, he’d chosen to appear in the flesh this time, under the brutal, unforgiving light of reality.

That oh-so-important message? An infodump about the headset’s working. He called it an OASIS Neural Interface, ONI for short. It basically lets you experience the OASIS through all your senses with sensory input just like the real thing, you know, that thing Wade had to get a fancy suit and massive rig to do in the first book. And yes, Wade does spend a paragraph or two comparing it to other works of science fiction. Of course he does.

More importantly, it also records all the sensory input into a separate file, which can then be replayed over to re-experience said sensations, or live someone else’s experiences. Halliday tries to frame it as a tool to generate communication and empathy, seemingly all without acknowledging the potential creepiness of that. But hey. Who knows. Maybe that’s because this is the setup stage, and it’ll pay off eventually.

I also wondered about the name Halliday had chosen for his invention. I’d seen enough anime to know that oni was also a Japanese word for a giant horned demon from the pits of hell.

Add “reducing Japan to anime” to the list of things the book has failed to improve upon. By the way, the narration insisted on spelling out ONI letter by letter earlier, so it’s weird to make that link now. It’s also just kind of inelegant to just tell us “this is the symbolism behind the name”, but that’s just the sort of thing I’ve come to expect from this book.

Anyway, the reason Halliday kept this for his successor to find is he wants Wade to test out the technology and decide if humanity is ready for it. Why Halliday thinks the most glorified pop culture trivia / video game competition qualifies you for such a decision should be a problem, but sadly, a lot of billionaires have said and done a lot of dumb and eerily similar things in the past few years since I read Ready Player One, so actually, I can’t fault the book for that one. Tragically, our fates really are in the hands of people who should rightfully be cartoon villains.

To his credit, Wade does question Halliday’s motives in keeping this under wraps at all rather than releasing it himself. So hey, maybe it really is setting something up.

Wade goes back to his office with the ONI, and we’re treated with this lovely piece of narration:

I was grateful that Samantha wasn’t there. I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to talk me out of testing the ONI. Because I was worried she might try to, and if she did, she would’ve succeeded. (I’d recently discovered that when you’re madly in love with someone they can persuade you to do pretty much anything.)

There’s a lot to unpack about the implications this has for their relationship, but it’s way too early in the book for me to editorialize when one character hasn’t even been on the page yet. So I’ll just leave it here for the record. Hopefully you see the problem without me needing to point it out anyway. If not, feel free to hit my inbox.

So Wade, confident in the fact that Halliday would have warned him if there were any risks to using the ONI, decides to try it out. Even though he immediately follows up that statement with this:

According to the ONI documentation, forcibly removing the headset while it was in operation could severely damage the wearer’s brain and/or leave them in a permanent coma. So the titanium-reinforced safety bands made certain this couldn’t happen. I found this little detail comforting instead of unsettling. Riding in an automobile was risky, too, if you didn’t wear your seatbelt…

Wade. My dude. What the fuck is this simile. And why don’t you see that maybe a machine where you’re forcibly trapping yourself inside a virtual reality might be dangerous? Hell, when I said this was setting something up, I was expecting something vaguely interesting about the potential breach of privacy, or how you don’t need to literally walk in someone’s shoes to feel empathy for them, or anything substantial, but now I’m worried it’ll just end up as “man, sometimes science fiction machines will scramble your brain, isn’t that weird”?

Like, I don’t know, to me “it will put you in a coma” sounds like a good reason for Halliday not to release the ONI. Maybe we can still make it into a commentary on how corporations will sell stuff they know is directly harmful if it can make them a profit. Who knows.

The book waffles on about more risks, and the mechanics of how the ONI activates, and the warning disclaimer when it does turn on. Specifically, there’s a time limit of twelve consecutive hours, after which you’ll be automatically logged out, because yes, using the thing for too long can also cause brain damage.

Gregarious Simulation Systems will not be held responsible for any injuries caused by improper use of the OASIS Neural Interface.

See, now there’s the sort of thing that could be a source for commentary, but no, instead it’s thrown in there like it’s nothing and Wade glosses over the entire warning, and instead keep wondering why Halliday didn’t just release the ONI if even the safety disclaimers were in place.

By the way: this whole system has apparently gone through several independent human trials already, so I’m finding it hard to imagine that it’s actually a secret Halliday took to the grave as Wade says. Unless he also had everyone involved in those trials killed afterwards. Or maybe they all ended up with brain damage which rendered them incapable of talking about it.

And before you think I’m being unfair and maybe we’re supposed to understand that ourselves even if the protagonist doesn’t, I’ll remind you that the book didn’t trust its reader to know what the number 42 is a reference to, or what an oni is, even though I don’t think anyone in the target audience wouldn’t know about these two things.

There’s also the fact that, since this book came out, a video game did release with a scene intentionally designed to cause seizures, and it had countless fans flocking to defend it over that fact. So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not assuming this book’s stance on whether your video game console causes brain damage and possibly coma is actually a bad thing, or just an acceptable risk.

Wade certainly seems to think so, since he agrees to the terms of service.

As the timestamp faded away, it was replaced by a short message, just three words long—the last thing I would see before I left the real world and entered the virtual one. But they weren’t the three words I was used to seeing. I—like every other ONI user to come—was greeted by a new message Halliday had created, to welcome those visitors who had adopted his new technology: READY PLAYER TWO

Well now that’s just silly.

And that’s our opening cutscene. And while this post is already long enough, I feel like I have to go on to chapter 0, because it feels like barely anything has happened so far. We didn’t even introduce any new character motivation or conflict, or a mystery to set the plot into motion, unless I’m supposed to think “why didn’t Halliday release this?” counts.

So Wade is back into the OASIS, and tells us about how much more real it all feels thanks to the ONI. I especially have to question how he can smell or taste anything—both of which he tells us he can. Like, who coded that? Did Halliday implement every single smell and taste himself, without anyone noticing? I hope you don’t need me to tell you that’s not typically how features are added to a large-scale video game.

If it feels like I’m nitpicking at the logic of the book, even though I always say I’m not very interested in that and would rather talk themes, it’s because I am, because there isn’t much else to discuss so far. Wade is happy about tasting virtual fruit. That’s the scene.

He tests out if he can feel pain, but no, the ONI reduces pain (a gunshot is translated as “a hard pinch”). On one hand, good, it would be a nightmare otherwise. On the other hand, I sort of hope there’s a setting for that in there, because otherwise, you just lost an entire clientele of kinksters.

This was it—the final, inevitable step in the evolution of videogames and virtual reality. The simulation had now become indistinguishable from real life.

Ah, now we have some juicy themes. Because if you think this is the inevitable final step in the evolution of video games, I invite you to look at literally any other art form, and what happened to them once hyperrealism became easy. Hint: they didn’t stop evolving, because it turns out realism isn’t the only goal one can achieve with art.

The realism discussion is not a new one in video games, mind you. In case you’re out of the loop: most of the big-budget blockbuster games (“AAA” as they’re known) are aiming for hyperrealism nowadays, and it results in development teams being forced to work in horrible conditions (known with the equally horrible euphemism of “crunch”). And, because it turns out that 1) humans working themselves to the bones isn’t healthy and 2) racing for realism with little to no vision besides it makes for poor creativity, a lot of these games come out as disappointments. Oh, there are hordes of Gamers™ who will defend them to the bitter end, but inevitably, in the months following release, the defense cools off while the criticism keeps on going, because the defense was a knee-jerk reaction born of a mix of people hyping themselves up for a game they hadn’t seen that much of yet, then attaching a part of their identity to liking that thing.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that this throwaway line feels like it comes from someone who is so out of touch as to accidentally support a world view that has in fact resulted in the biggest part of the industry stagnating artistically while growing more toxic for the people working in it. All the while, more and more independent games come out every year, proving that that realism is nowhere near the most important thing to making a game good, and that you can achieve much better results with a small team.

What I’m trying to say is: watch Jim Sterling’s channel, they’ve been bleeding out subscribers since they came out as nonbinary and make much better commentary on this topic than I could, and play Hades.

Back to the book, which sadly hasn’t become any more interesting since I decided to go on a tangent. Wade tests the ONI functions some more, all the while musing on how he knows Samantha would disapprove but that he doesn’t care, because what loving relationship doesn’t consist of that?

Among the functions, he tries the ONI files, the aforementioned recordings of someone else’s experiences. Specifically, a woman, which Wade tells us by telling us he suddenly has breasts, I suppose because Ernest Cline saw that subreddit about men writing women and went “I want a piece of that”. Oh, and also, those sample files were recorded from real people, in the real world. And yes, this goes exactly where you think it does.

SEX-M-F.oni, SEX-F-F.oni, and SEX-Nonbinary.oni

Look, I actually started writing a complaint about the boobs thing, and I deleted it, but now Cline is doing it on purpose. So, here goes: I saw a quote from this book on Twitter that looked like Cline attempting to make up for Wade’s casual transphobia in the first book. It wasn’t good, but it at least sounded like he was trying. So to immediately get this is…a lot? Let’s go for a lot.

I can almost excuse the use of “M” and “F”. You gotta name your files and you could excuse a non-exhaustive list. But…nonbinary? On one hand, I want to know what Cline means. On the other hand, I don’t think he can come up with an answer I’ll find satisfactory.

We are thankfully spared from finding out because Wade has just lost his virginity to Samantha a few days ago and he’s 1) not ready for this and 2) pretty sure this counts as cheating. You could make a case that this is more like porn, but I can see that this is more of a personal distinction anyway, and I can respect that one. Plus, you know. I don’t want to find out.

Wade logs off, and he can’t tell the difference between the OASIS with the ONI, and decides this will change the world. And then it’s back to the “how did he do it and keep it a secret”, even though Wade now finds out in the documentation that this had been in development for twenty-five years, basically since the OASIS launched. So it’s not really that it’s a secret, so much as there are a lot of people under very strict NDAs out there. Or, again, they’re all dead and/or otherwise incapacitated.

The ONI is the product of the Accessibility Research Lab, and Wade tells us about other stuff that the lab has produced using similar technology, mostly for medical purposes.

GSS patented each of the Accessibility Research Lab’s inventions, but Halliday never made any effort to profit from them. Instead, he set up a program to give these neuroprosthetic implants away, to any OASIS users who could benefit from them. GSS even subsidized the cost of their implant surgery.

Look, it’s nice that you want Halliday to be the good guy through and through, but it’s kind of hard to take any social commentary seriously when you think this is how a billionaire is made. Hell, even when he shut down the lab and fired its entire staff, he gave them a big enough severance package to set them for life. You know. Capitalism!

Hey, remember when Samantha said she was going to end world hunger if she won the contest, a thing billionaires right now could be doing, but aren’t, and she is now the co-owner of GSS? Yeah, I kind of hope the book remembers that too.

Speaking of the co-owners, the book just completely skips over the debate that our four main characters have over whether or not to release the ONI to the world. All we know is that they voted, and the vote goes in favor of releasing it. I mean, why have characters who could have opinions and feelings that could create a discussion? That might make us care about them! And who wants to care about characters in a story?

We put them on sale at the lowest possible price, to make sure as many people as possible could experience the OASIS Neural Interface for themselves.

What exactly is “the lowest possible price” here? Your company literally owns money. Like, OASIS money is real money. There is literally nothing stopping you from giving them away, especially because what you’re giving away is access to the platform you’re already running for a profit.

It’s almost like, even trying to make “good billionaires” out of its protagonists, the book can’t stop and actually make them significantly good.

Oh, I should mention. If you thought my Ready Player One review was angry at capitalism, wait until you see what the past couple years have done to me.

Anyway, once they his 7,777,777 simultaneous ONI users, a new riddle shows up on Halliday’s website. Because yep: our plot is apparently not about the implications of releasing the ONI, or any of the potential ideological discussions associated with that, it’s another riddle. Oh boy, do I wish I’d known that.

Seek the Seven Shards of the Siren’s Soul On the seven worlds where the Siren once played a role For each fragment my heir must pay a toll To once again make the Siren whole

I cannot wait to have the book give me just not enough information to solve the riddle until it’s solved by the book itself. That was so much fun the other…what was it, five times? Six times? Something like that. Wade already tells us the Siren might be Kira Morrow, because her alias was named after one of the sirens of Greek myth, so I can’t wait for that plot point to stick around. It was so fun to hear all about this man pining for another man’s wife the first time!

So this is the “Shard Riddle”. People are apparently convinced it was made by Wade and his crew as a publicity stunt, but of course, they know that that isn’t the case, and they also don’t know what that riddle is supposed to lead to. So, that’s great. We have a puzzle, and we also don’t know what the stakes are. All we know is that Wade wants to solve the puzzle essentially because it’s a challenge.

We skip over a year, and Wade tells us about how IOI collapses and gets absorbed by GSS because of the ONI’s launch. Remember IOI? They were the bad guys, so I guess we have to cheer?

GSS absorbed IOI and all of its assets, transforming us into an unstoppable megacorporation with a global monopoly on the world’s most popular entertainment, education, and communications platform.To celebrate, we released all of IOI’s indentured servants and forgave their outstanding debts.

On one hand: good for the slave. On the other hand: not gonna cheer for a monopoly, you guys.

Another year’s skip, and now 99% of the OASIS users are using the ONI, and yes, that includes trading their experiences with one another too. And I guess we’re still hand-waving any possible problems associated with that technology, because the technology is made so that all recordings must be shared and played through the OASIS.

This allowed us to weed out unsavory or illegal recordings before they could be shared with other users.

How? Do you know any of the problems associated with content moderations on the current platforms? I don’t know if I want to point to Youtube’s extremely faulty algorithm, Twitter’s complete apathy towards its Nazis, or Facebook doing moderation by making underpaid staff watch all potentially problematic content, which resulted in serious psychological damage to said staff.

You can’t just say that as if it solved everything. The chapter later says this is handled by an AI called “CenSoft”, and as an AI engineer myself, let me tell you: this is not going to work. Again: Youtube is the way it is for a reason.

It also let us maintain our monopoly on what was rapidly becoming the most popular form of entertainment in the history of the world.

And again, monopolies are totally a good thing as long as it’s in the right hands!

When I’m implying that the book does not care for any of these potential problems, I mean it. These enormous ethical issues are sidestepped in cold narratin, and we just keep going on introducing new slang that I hate, but have to quote so help you keep up.

“Sims” were recordings made inside the OASIS, and “Recs” were ONI recordings made in reality. Except that most kids no longer referred to it as “reality.” They called it “the Earl.” (A term derived from the initialism IRL.) And “Ito” was slang for “in the OASIS.” So Recs were recorded in the Earl, and Sims were created Ito.

There. You have been infodumped.

In the midst of all this (still extremely dry) exposition about how this changed media, we also get this tidbit:

You could take any drug, eat any kind of food, and have any kind of sex, without worrying about addiction, calories, or consequences.

Now, I was going to rant about this, but then, a page later, this happens and spares me the trouble:

I’d struggled with OASIS addiction before the ONI was released. Now logging on to the simulation was like mainlining some sort of chemically engineered superheroin.

So, you are aware that addiction isn’t just possible, but extremely facilitated by this. But sure, no worries! It’s perfectly safe! Because our protagonists are good.

Also, remember how the last book ended on a weak attempt at having a moral that maybe the real world is good, actually? Yeah, Wade tells us the ONI helps poor people live enjoyable lives in the OASIS. So. Fuck that message, I guess. It only applies if you’re the literal wealthiest man on Earth.

And me? All my dreams had come true. I’d gotten stupidly rich and absurdly famous. I’d fallen in love with my dream girl and she had fallen in love with me. Surely I was happy, right? Not so much, as this account will show.

Aside from the aforementioned returning OASIS affiction, there’s the Shard riddle that Wade is now obsessed with, to the point of offering a billion-dollar reward to anyone with information about the riddle’s answer.

I announced this reward with a stylized short film that I modeled after Anorak’s Invitation. I hoped it would seem like a lighthearted play on Halliday’s contest instead of a desperate cry for help. It seemed to work.

On one hand: good, Wade finally has a character flaw that the book actually acknowledges as a character flaw. I can work with that. On the other hand: this is all told to me in such a dispassionate that I am dreading how the book will handle this character flaw. Which is to say, I’m not expecting it to be very good.

(For a brief time, some of the younger, more idealistic shard hunters referred to themselves as “shunters” to differentiate themselves from their elder counterparts. But when everyone began to call them “sharters” instead, they changed their minds and started to call themselves gunters too. The moniker still fit. The Seven Shards were Easter eggs hidden by Halliday, and we were all hunting for them.)

Especially when this is something the narration feels is more important to tell me about.

Anyway, skip another year, and a gunter finally leads Wade to the First Shard. Solved that riddle, I guess. And wait, wasn’t part of why IOI was ~evil~ in the first book that they were paying people to find the Easter Egg for them? How is this any different, Wade?

And when I picked it up, I set in motion a series of events that would drastically alter the fate of the human race. As one of the only eyewitnesses to these historic events, I feel obligated to give my own written account of what occurred. So that future generations—if there are any—will have all the facts at their disposal when they decide how to judge my actions.

And that is the end of our chapter 0. And can I just say: what a mess already. I don’t think my snark can properly convey how utterly devoid of emotion this book’s writing is, and that alone is honestly more of a turn-off than anything else in the book so far. Even, knowing that I railed about it in the first book, I still feel newly unprepared for it. And it’s not like this double-prologue is making me hopeful that the book will show an ounce more critical thinking—or decent fucking humanity towards marginalized groups—as its predecessor.

So, that’s a lot to look forward to! For the sake of my sanity and schedule, don’t expect me to do such big posts every time. I’ll probably do one chapter a week from now on, if that. We’re in for a long ride, but I hope it’s worth it, at least.

#ready player two #ernest cline #st: ready player two #book reviews

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shadow-assassin-blix · 3 years

Text

It Belongs in a Museum

CHAPTER 3

A/N: Okay. Lots sexy times for this one. A sex scene that was slightly inspired from... a certain... scene.. from Narcos. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know. (sex, blowjob, fingering, light choking). The scene in the lake was inspired from a movie called 6 Days, 7 nights. Um. That’s about it.

Everything tag: @mikeisthricedeceased

Pedro tag: @fioccodineveautunnale (another person requested to be tagged in pedro stuff, via the form but i cant find you? i know its m-1234 starts it but i think a number may have been left off? let me know)

A full week has passed since their new protectors had joined them. Vixen, Ezekiel, and Reina had spent the majority of the week creating a new path to the other side of the temple. They also set up lights and were in the process of documenting as much as they could. Vixen, who had plans to go to the nearby town to try and develop photos, wanted to bathe first.

She made her way to a nearby lake, with her eco-friendly soaps and shampoo/conditioner, and change of clothes. She had attempted to ditch Veracruz while he was barking orders, but he apparently caught on quickly.

“You don’t take your security very seriously, do you?” Veracruz asked behind her, quickly catching up to her.

Vixen rolled her eyes at that. “No. I just wanted privacy. Like most people do when they want to bathe.”

“Yes. Do you also want to be attacked again, all by yourself, against a group of men who would also probably try to take advantage of you in your vulnerable state?” He mocked.

Vixen sighed, annoyed, continuing to the lake. They arrived at the lake, and she quietly set her stuff down onto a flat boulder. She began to take off her clothes, reveling the bikini top and swim shorts she had on underneath. She took a few steps hesitantly, expecting it to be cold, but was pleasantly surprised by the warmth.

She sighed happily as she waded into the deeper waters. She dunked underneath, scrubbing her hair in the water, making sure it got wet throughout.

As she came back up, she noticed Veracruz had taken a seat on another boulder and was watching her with mild amusement.

She raised an eyebrow and began to ask him what was so amusing when she stopped suddenly. Something…. Had just crawled into her shorts.

“Veracruz… ummm… can you… can you help me? Please?” She asked horrified.

“Oh, now you want my help?” Veracruz asked teasing.

“Be serious, V. I think… a snake… is in my shorts… please, get off your ass… and help me,” She said through gritted teeth.

He coughed trying to cover up a laugh as he stripped down to his boxers and joined her in the water.

“I mean… I could… try and grab it...” She muttered worriedly.

“Hmm. Wouldn’t do that… might be poisonous,” He countered in a tone that suggested he was enjoying this far too much.

“Well. What do I do?” She asked growing annoyed.

Veracruz moved closer to her and said, “I’ll get it and kill it.”

He gently slipped his hand down her shorts, a smile tugging at his lips.

“I better not see you smiling,” She warned, her eyes narrowing at him.

“Never,” He replied, failing to conceal his smile.

She felt his hand brushing her thighs and hips, purposely missing the very obvious creature that was wrapping itself around her leg.

When he finally lifted his hand, he presented a small snake, of which he snapped its neck and threw its corpse to shore.

Vixen shuddered slightly, “Gross. Now I see why the professor hates them.”

She looked up at Veracruz who eyes had darkened. He hooked a finger into her shorts and pulled her forward. The sudden movement caused her to stumble into his chest, her hands splaying out onto his pecs.

She returned her gaze back up to his, just as his hands reached down, grabbing her ass firmly, and lifting her up. Her legs immediately wrapped around his waist, as her arms encircled his neck. His lips find hers swiftly, dragging them into a deep kiss. One of his hands slid up and under her top, taking her breast into his hand, flickering over the nipple teasingly.

The sensation made her gasp, giving him the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. Their mouths battled each other for a moment before she pulled away trying to catch her breath. She bit her lip as she looked at him, motioning with her head over to the shore. He took the cue and carried her back to land.

As he laid her down on the ground, his hands made quick work of the top strings of her bikini and her shorts. He hovered over her, pressing kisses to her neck and chest, biting here and there. His tongue lavished over her nipples, before drawing them into his mouth to suck on them. When he pulled away, he allowed his teeth to drag across them.

Her moans were soft for the most part, but when he moved further down between her legs, gently blowing on her cunt, she groaned loudly.

“Now, now, princess. You have to remember to be quiet. Don’t want anyone… interrupting us and seeing do we?” He teased pressing a kiss to her thigh. “Unless… you want us to get caught? Does that excite you? The possibility of getting caught?”

Vixen shook her head no, biting her lip.

Veracruz dragged a finger up and down her slit, commenting, “I think you’re lying. Look at how wet you are?”

He showed off his finger, as it glistened.

“I was also just in a lake. What makes you think that’s from you?” She challenged, raising an eyebrow at him.

His eyes narrowed as his smirk grew. He lowered his hand back down dragged the finger up and down once more, before plunging it deep within her. His finger was soon joined by two others while his thumb brushed against her clit several times. Her hips began to wiggle and thrust to his movements, wanting more, but Veracruz was having none of that. His other hand came forward and stopped her movements, with a firm push.

His fingers moved swiftly, finding a spot that made her see stars as she came. She had to slap her hand over mouth to muffle the small scream that threaten to break out.

He pulled his hand from her, showing her them, “I’m pretty sure that’s not from the lake, sweetness.”

She rolled her eyes, before sitting up, and grasping his face and kissing him. As they kissed, she slipped her hands into his boxers, running it up and down his length. She gently tugs at his boxers, wanting them off. He shoves this down haphazardly, not wanting to break the kiss.

She positioned herself into his lap, slowly lifting herself before easing down onto him. The both of them moaned softly as she took him. Once she was fully seated, she gently grinded against him, before lifting her hips up and down. Her pace started slow, but picked up speed, that was assisted by Veracruz; his hands holding her in a bruising grip.

He thrusted up several times, which just added to the intensity of it all. He suddenly stops her and pulls out. She looked at him confused for a moment. He moved her on to her hands and knees, re-entering her from behind. The new angle threw her for a loop. The thrusts felt deeper and it felt amazing to feel him drag along her folds.

One of his hands, curled around to her front, and lightly grasped her throat. She could feel his grip tighten and ease randomly, the movement adding a taste of danger. He pulled her off her hands, his grip still around her throat, while his other began to play with her clit.

Her hands reached back for him, one around his neck to bury into his hair, and the other grasped the arm that was holding her throat.

His movements quickly led to her orgasming again, his following a moment later. When his thrusts came to a stop, he held her to him for a moment, kissing up and down her neck, praising her.

“You did so well, my dear. Good girl,” He whispered into her ear.

He slowly pulled out and she fell forward a bit, trying to catch her breath. It took a few minutes, before her legs would cooperate and let her stand back up. Veracruz had already redressed by that time and was staring at her with a proud smirk.

She quietly cleaned up, and washed herself off, like she originally had planned, this time not caring to be au natural in front of him. Got dressed in her clean clothes, and they began to make their trek back to camp, to drop off her things, and grab all of the film and SD cards from the digital cameras. Once she had gathered all that she needed, her and Veracruz made their way back down to where his team had parked their jeeps.

They jumped into one of them and began making their way back to civilization. The drive to the nearby town took 2 hours. Developing all of the photos took another 2 hours, by the time she had printed off the last of the photos, and paid for them, it had begun to rain.

They raced to the safety of the jeep and sat inside it for waiting for the rain to pass. While they waited, they talked.

“So, how long will you be staying in Colombia?” He asked somewhat boredly.

“3 months. We have 3 other countries to explore, before heading back to the states. Why? You going to miss me?’ She teased with a smile.

“Hmm. No. Not at all. Just wondering how long I’ll have you to myself,” He replied with a roll of his eyes.

She didn’t quite believe him but didn’t push the subject.

“Were you born and raised in Colombia?” She asked curiously.

“Si,” He answered simply.

“Have you ever been anywhere else? Or is this there a place you’ve traveled to that you really liked or want to go see?” She questioned, resting on her side against her seat.

“Yes. I’ve traveled to several countries and while many of them were beautiful, none were Colombia,” He said in a tone that was surprisingly soft.

“I’m actual kind of sad that I only get to be here for a few months, before traveling elsewhere,” Vixen admitted with a sigh.

She turned her gaze to stare out the windows and watch the rainfall. As she did so, she missed the way Veracruz eyed her up and down curiously.

He cleared his throat, trying to shake away the thoughts that had creeped into his mind.

“It appears we may be stuck here for a while. We may as well go get a hotel and some food,” Veracruz noted, starting the jeep.

They drove down a block or so and stopped at a small motel. Veracruz jumped out to go get a room for the night. He came back with a key that had the number 8 on it, and he moved the jeep closer to said room. The two of them unloaded what few things were in the jeep, into the room for safekeeping.

The room was small and dimly lit, and there was only one bed. A bed that honestly looked like it had seen better days. There was a small table and 2 chairs, and one couch. They set their stuff near the couch and turned on the main light that was obnoxiously bright.

With the extra light, they could see that the room appeared clean, but Veracruz was not taking chances with the bed. Veracruz pulled out some spare sheets from the linen closet and threw them over the entire bed to cover it. He then unrolled a blanket they brought inside and threw it on top of that, finishing it off with a sleeping bag unrolled and acting as a pillow.

Vixen stared at him with mild amusement as she watched this entire process. He looked up at her and just muttered, “Trust me, you don’t want to be under these covers, or touching them.”

She mouthed an okay with a silent snicker.

He grabbed the keys, telling her, “I’m going to get food, don’t open this door unless it’s me, got it?”

Vixen nodded her head, locking the door behind him.

She grabbed the stack of photos she had printed and began trying to decipher what the runes, and inscriptions were describing. From her understanding, it was a center of worship for a deity. A deity that appeared to be either a sun god or one for agriculture. She noticed sun motifs and depictions of farming/fruit. She would have to have Professor Jones look it over to be sure.

She was so focused on her work, she didn’t notice the time pass by, and jumped when she heard a knock at the door.

She got up and looked through the peephole to check who was there. She spotted Veracruz standing there and opened the door for him.

“Next time ask me to identify myself. Don’t look out a peephole. That’s how you get killed,” Veracruz tells her gruffly as he moved past her with a bag of food.

“Okay...” She said slowly following him over to the dingy table, hungry.

“It’s just a couple of empanadas, most places have closed because of the rain. I radioed my men to let them know we would be in by morning,” Veracruz informed her handing her a few wrapped in aluminum.

She took them, and some napkins, and went back to her spot on the bed. She set them down to cool for a moment while she looked over some more photos. She at some point very slowly, unwrapped them with one hand, and took small bites, trying not to make a mess.

By the time she had finished one, Veracruz had devoured both of his and was quietly observing her from afar. He found it strangely attractive watching her work. Her face would crinkle as she tried to identify a symbol, before marking it down in her small notebook between bites.

By the time she finished eating, night had fallen, and the rain was coming down harder. There was no heater in the room, so the chill was intense. She found herself a stopping point in her photos, to clean up her mess. She took off her shoes, and her pants, before undoing her bra from under her shirt. She set her clothes on one of the bags, not trusting to leave it on the furniture.

Veracruz was already in just his boxers, relaxing on the bed, watching her with a smirk.

“Don’t get too excited. We are just sleeping,” She said rolling her eyes, as she slipped under the blanket.

“Why... whatever do you mean, Vixen?” He mockingly asked, his smirk growing.

He reached over and turned off the light, and they awkwardly laid there for a moment. She shivered and tried to huddle further into the blanket to fight off the slight chill. She hears Veracruz sigh and move around.

He was suddenly close to her, pulling her into his arms.

“Neither of us are going to sleep if you keep shivering,” He lightly complained.

She blinked in the darkness of the room, biting her lip to stop the smile on her face. She simply made herself comfortable and settled into his arms, feeling warmer within seconds.

She fell asleep in minutes. Veracruz took a bit longer to fall asleep, for he was mentally berating himself for suggesting this. He was being ridiculous. He could feel himself starting to care for her. He knew that he should reassign someone to guard her, but he couldn’t do that. The thought of anyone else getting close to her made his jaw tense, and fists clench.

She was his.

With that thought, he fell asleep.

The next morning, Vixen woke up comfortably warm and vaguely aware that her pillow was moving. She opened her eyes and sees that she’s lying on Veracruz’s chest. He was still asleep. She took a moment to quietly admire him. He was painfully handsome and seeing him relaxed made it even more apparent.

She languidly sat up, taking a moment to stretch her arms and back. Her movements woke Veracruz, who quietly admired her. He ran his hand up her back, a shiver going through her at the tickling situation. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

“Good morning,” She greeted with a small smile.

“Indeed… but I feel like it could be better,” He teased reaching up to pull her back down.

He rolls slightly onto his side, running his hand up and down her sides. She raised an eyebrow at him, noticing his hand move lower and lower.

“We have to get back to the others. We don’t have time for this,” She whispered.

“Hm. We have time for me to do just one thing…” He smirked, his hand slipping into her underwear.

She went to protest, but the only sound that came out was a moan as he dipped a finger into her, his thumb brushing over her clit.

She bit her lip, cleared her throat. Tried to regain some sense of composure.

“V. We… we have to be back on the… r-road. Soon,” She tried to speak, but struggled as he played her like a fiddle.

His response was simply to pepper her neck in kisses and bites and move his fingers faster. It didn’t take him long, but soon her vision went white, as her back arched up.

She took a couple of deep breaths as she came down from her high. Veracruz slowly withdrew his hand from her underwear. He got up and went to the bathroom for a few minutes.

She gets up, once her body had calmed down and grabbed her clothes, tossing them on before going into the bathroom once Veracruz stepped out. She cleaned herself up, and they moved their stuff into the jeep. They were back on the road in minutes. Vixen spotted a local vendor selling arepas and she had Veracruz stop. She ordered a dozen or so for the team as a treat.

She knew that they might be a smidge cold by the time they got back to camp but she knew they would appreciate the food. She ate hers while they drove up. Veracruz shook his head at her as she very messily ate it.

He chuckled as some of the filling dropped onto her chest.

“Shut up,” She mumbled her mouth full, as she scooped the food up and stuffed it into her mouth.

It didn’t take long for them to return to the camp. As he parked, she looked over at him.

“I uh. Never got repay you for this morning,” She mentioned looking him over.

“Don’t need to. I enjoyed watching you come undone with just my hand,” He told her looking over at her.

She smiled secretively and reached over to run her hand over the growing bulge in his pants.

She gently undid his pants, slipping her hand in to run it over his length before pulling it out. As she ran her hand over it, she repositioned herself in her seat. She slowly lowered her mouth to the tip, her tongue lightly lavishing it.

She could hear him groan as she began to take him into her mouth.

She pulled back to mockingly admonished him, “Now, now princess. Mind your volume. Wouldn’t want anyone to hear you?”

Veracruz opened his mouth to say something back but before he could, she took him back into her mouth. She took as much of him into her mouth as she could handle; her hands taking care of the rest of him. She bobbed her head up and down, at a set pace. She loved hearing the noises that were coming from him.

She continued until he came, swallowing as much as she could. Some lightly spilled out, and she wiped it from her face as she sat back up. He cleared his throat and tucked himself back in. He turned to her, reaching into the center console pulling out some wet wipes for her.

She ripped one open and used it to clean herself up. Once that was done, Veracruz pulled her into a kiss.

He bit her lip as he pulled away, muttering to her, “Don’t ever call me princess again. Or I’ll put you over my knee.”

“Promises, promises,” She teased him, getting her stuff and stepping out.

When they got back up to the camp, she pulled out the food and photos for her team. They all began to eat and check over her work and give their opinions. As they talked, Professor Jones asked to speak to Veracruz for a moment.

“Comandante. I just wanted to state I appreciate the work you and your men are doing for us,” Indiana began.

“But…” Veracruz provided sensing it.

“But I would appreciate it if you kept your eyes and hands to yourself. Vixen is one of my best students, I will not tolerate anyone using her to their advantage. She may a grown adult, and she can make her own choices. But I will not tolerate you using her,” Indiana informed him.

“What happens between the 2 of us is none of your business, professor. As you said, she’s an adult. It’s all consensual, if that’s what you’re worried about?” Veracruz replied back, trying to control his anger.

“No. What I’m worried is in about 3 months’ time, we will be leaving here. Moving onto the next dig site, not in Colombia. Knowing her, she will be conflicted in leaving here, you. She will continue on with us, but I know she’ll think about the what ifs. Do not get her hopes up where there is none to be had,” Indiana warned him before walking away.

Veracruz glared at his back as he rejoined Vixen and the other students. He went to check on things with his men, to distract himself.

Vixen caught the professor up on what she had discovered. Once they were caught up, they began to discuss their next steps involving the site. There were still several hallways left to discover and go through. They decided they were going to split them up between the 4 of them and work through each path.

Later that day, it was just Vixen and Reina talking strategy on how to get better pictures on some of the inscriptions they found.

Reina stopped midway through a sentence and said, “I’m sorry. But. I’m slightly bored. Do you mind if we gossip for a few minutes?”

“Always,” Vixen said taking a seat in one of the camping chairs.

Reina joined her, sitting next to her.

“So… what’s the deal with you and the Comandante?” She asked trying to hide her smile.

“Whatever do you mean?” Vixen replied looking away.

“Uh huh. Lies. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Like you’re a 5-course meal, and he’s starving,” Reina whispered to her.

Vixen choked out a laugh. When she controlled herself, she tells Reina about what happened their first night there.

“Damn girl. You move fast. Explains why, he wanted to be your personal bodyguard. Wanted to be as close to you as possible,” Reina joked with a laugh.

“What about you and Tadeo? I’ve seen you do your hair twirl thing when you talk to him?” Vixen asked, redirecting the attention.

“I don’t know. He’s very handsome, but I don’t know if he’s interested in girls? He hasn’t reacted much to my flirting… like at all,” Reina tells her, her tone sad.

“Or he could be oblivious to when a girl is flirting with him?” Vixen offered trying to be comforting.

“But also, there’s like 15 other men you can shoot your shot with. If it doesn’t work with him, I am sure there is someone else who will gladly… stare at you like “you’re a 5-course meal,” as you say,” Vixen mentioned, waving her hand to the group of men that was standing 30 ft from them.

Reina chuckled at her.

They spent a few more minutes talking about girly stuff, not noticing Professor Jones and Ezekiel were walking up to them.

“Hm. Makeup and boys. Doesn’t sound quite educational does it, Ezekiel?” Professor Jones ribbed as they joined them.

“It can be educational. So, are we going to start our work tomorrow?” Reina asked, straightening up in her chair.

“Yes. Four hallways. Four paths. Slow and steady. All of you. I don’t want any more injuries,” Professor Jones firmly stated.

They all nodded their heads. They spent the rest of the evening planning out their safety strategies and what equipment to take with them.

It was a somewhat tedious process, but it was necessary for them to complete so everyone was on the same page.

None of them knew just how valuable these procedures were going to be come morning.

#indiana jones crossover #comandante veracruz #veracruz x reader

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not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

100% Professional (Two)

MASTERLIST

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

Tuesday came faster than Peter was expecting.

Well to be fair, Tuesday came around at exactly the right speed, but Peter's week had been completely exhausting and the days managed to get away from him so before he knew it, it was Tuesday again.

The part time free lance at the Daily Bugle turned into a full time week long gig when the editor nearly blew a fuse worrying about who was going to photograph the visit from the President. Peter had spent the better part of the next six days following the presidential parade around town and while the paycheck was going to be great, Peter’s entire schedule had gone to shit.

He was late to every single one of his massage appointments, barely managed a full meal the entire week, and by the time Tuesday rolled around again and he got the reminder about Wade’s appointment, Peter was halfway past frazzled and running on fumes.

Here we go.

The doorman at Wade's building was apparently expecting Peter this time around and opened the door immediately, and even though the receptionist didn’t spare Peter a glance, she hit the button for the elevator without being prompted.

It was much less awkward this time around, and as Peter waited for the elevator to make its super smooth journey to the top floor, he fixed his perpetually messy hair in the mirrored walls and texted Wade:

From Peter: Hey Wade, I’m on my way up to your place. Dunno if your super fancy receptionist let you know or not.

From Wade: She did, but thanks for the heads up anyway. The door is unlocked, just come right in and get set up.

From Peter: I don’t make a habit of just walking into people’s apartments.

From Wade: And I don’t make a habit of letting it happen, but you’re fine. Just come in.

From Peter: Alright, I’ll see you in a minute.

Walking right into someone’s apartment certainly wasn’t the weirdest request Peter had come across as a massage therapist-- in fact, he’d dropped several clients because of much weirder requests, but he still hesitated, still knocked a couple times before opening the door and calling, “Wade? It’s Peter! I’m here for your massage appointment!”

“Well I sure hope it’s you.” Wade called from somewhere in the back. “Other wise something funky happened in the thirty seconds since someone else named Peter texted me in the elevator.”

Peter smiled to himself and closed the door, kicking off his shoes and trying to figure out the best place to set up his table. The couch looked like it cost more than Peter’s rent so he definitely wasn’t touching that and the coffee table probably weighed a thousand pounds and since Peter didn’t break a hundred and seventy five pounds on a good day, there was no way he could move it.

“Just set up right there in the middle, no need to move anything.” Wade spoke from the hallway and Peter looked up with a ready smile that stretched even bigger when he saw Wade was shirtless, clad only in a pair of loose shorts. “How’s it going, Pete?”

“Hey.” Peter thumped his bag to the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets, working to keep his eyes off of Wade’s sort of ridiculously ripped body and on Wade’s face instead. “You must be feeling better about all this, huh? I sorta expected you to be wearing a full body suit and gloves, not showing off your nip-nops right away.”

Wade raised practically non existent eyebrows and Peter closed his eyes briefly, muffling a curse. “I didn’t mean for that to be rude. Also didn’t mean to call your nipples nip-nops. I only meant-- holy shit, I was trying to-- fuck me, I am so bad at this.”

“It’s fine.” Wade cracked a smile at Peter’s embarrassment. “You making fun of me makes me feel normal.”

“I am definitely not making fun of you.” Peter was horrified by his blunder. “Definitely not doing that. Christ, don’t think I’m laughing at you or anything.”

“Pete.” Wade took a few seconds to look Peter over, lingering over the thick hair and down to slim hands and further still to maybe just check out a little bit of an ass that was begging to be tore the hell up.

"Seriously, I'm sorry." Peter said again when Wade didn't say anything for a minute. "Wade?"

“Really, it’s fine." Wade dragged his eyes back up to Peter's face and tried for a smile more reassuring than lecherous. "And I’m not actually feeling better about getting a massage, but I am very very drunk and highly susceptible to suggestion, so this is as relaxed as I’m going to get. Maybe let’s get this over with before all the tequila catches up to me and I pass out face down on your table.”

Peter laughed quietly, relieved Wade hadn't taken his teasing too seriously. “Oh my god. Alright yeah, come on. I’ll set up right here. How was your week? Do anything fun?”

“I don’t get out a lot.” Wade set a couple water bottles down on the couch and once Peter had his table up and secure, stretched out on top of the sheet. “What about you?”

“Actually, I got dragged into photographing the President’s visit.” Peter hurried around the room looking for switches to turn the lights down. “I work free lance for the Bugle and Jameson is a grade A asshole, but he pays good. I’ve never been so close to the Secret Service though, those guys are dicks. They wanted to go through all my pictures and make sure nothing was compromising, whatever the hell that means. It’s just a bunch of people shaking hands and vaguely patriotic shots of flags waving and sunshine. Nothing compromising about it.”

Peter flipped through the music on his phone until he found a playlist he thought Wade would like. “I ended up working like sixty hours which is almost what I do in an entire month. It’s great cos I’m thinking about moving and this will help with the security deposit. My landlord will be mad I’m moving but I mean, I’ve complained about my neighbors making drugs in their apartment at least a dozen times and he hasn’t done anything. I’ve thought about calling the cops but snitches get stitches and honestly, I like my face. So I’m just going to move and let him deal with it.”

He’d brought along an extra bottle of the avocado based lotion he’d left with Wade last week, and Peter pumped some into his hands and to warm between his palms. “My friends Harry and MJ are moving to the suburbs since they’ve started a family. They offered to let me move in with them and take the spare bedroom or whatever but you know, who wants to live in the suburbs? That sounds--”

“You talk when you’re nervous, Pete?” Wade interrupted, and Peter’s mouth clicked shut. “You are saying a lot of words right now.”

“I um--” Peter coughed. “I mean, yeah I talk when I’m nervous but I don’t want you to think I’m nervous about touching you. Cos I’m not. Not nervous, I mean. I can’t really say I’m looking forward to getting my hands on you without sounding like a creeper but--”

“Pete.”

“Sorry.” Peter ran his hands through his hair and then mentally kicked himself because he’d forgotten his hands were caked in lotion, which was now caked in his hair. “I’ll shut up.”

“No, it’s fine.” Wade resettled on the table and tried to relax and Peter-- Peter tried not to stare at the shift and flex of Wade’s shoulders and back. “I don’t mind the talking, I just didn’t want you to be nervous about touching me. It looks worse than it is, but it isn’t… I mean it’s not terrible.”

“What’s not terrible?”

Wade propped up on one elbow and sent Peter a disbelieving look. “The scars, Pete. They look worse than they really are. Don’t feel half as bad, I promise.”

“Oh.” Peter reached out with one hand and let it coast gently gently from Wade’s shoulder down to the small of his back, trying not to read too far into how Wade shivered and seemed to press closer into his palm. “I’m more concerned with how it feels. Not to be rude, but I don’t care how everything looks, I just want to make sure you enjoy this.”

Wade’s hazel eyes went very wide and Peter groaned. “Sorry, that came out awkward. I swear I’m not usually this terrible. Tell you what, for the rest of this appointment I’m only going to ask you massage related things and definitely not blurt out any nonsense or run my mouth. How does that sound?”

“Boring.” Wade grunted and lay back down. “I think you’re more concerned with being professional than I am.”

“Yeah but when massage therapists stray from professional we get involved in sketchy things and then the cops start showing up to interrupt the fun appointments.” Peter retorted and then almost immediately, “See what I did there? Opened my mouth and it got weird. I’m just going to shut up and start.”

“...don’t stop talking.” the words were almost muffled in the table, and Wade hesitated before adding, “I like it. Makes this feel less like necessary therapy and more like something I’m doing because I enjoy it.”

“You never had a massage before this?” Peter asked curiously. “Not even once?”

“Real men don’t pay pretty boys to slather them up in lotion unless it ends in various happy moments.” Wade retorted and Peter huffed a surprised laugh. “See? I can be unprofessional too. Now we’re even.”

“Now we’re even.” Peter re-lotioned his hands and took a deep breath. “Alright, I’m gonna start on your shoulders and then work down your arms to your hands. Usually I do arms and hands last, but I want to make sure I’m getting the pressure just right and that you’re comfortable before I move anywhere that could trigger pain, okay?”

“Okay.” Wade had to tamp down a sliver of fear the tequila hadn't quite managed to mask. He didn't want to say he was terrified to be touched but... but yeah, Wade was pretty fucking terrified to be touched. But he didn't say that. Instead he insisted, “I’m ready.”

“Use your words and tell me the minute you hate something.” Peter said firmly. “I’ve worked with several people with injuries or sensitivities but everyone is different and since this is my first time with you, I need you to talk to me and let me know what’s going on. Once I know your body better--”

“--you’re swaying unprofessional, Pete.” Wade sassed, sort of loving that even when Peter was being professional, he still managed to tease.

Normal. This is what normal people do.

“--oh my god.” Peter sighed overly loud. “--once I know your body better, this will be easier but for right now, lots of communication, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Wade clutched at the sheet and closed his eyes tight. "Lots of communication."

“Okay.” Another deep breath and Wade wondered for a minute if Peter was as nervous as he was. “Here we go.”

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

Trapezius. Peter thought to himself as he worked his fingers along the right side of Wade’s neck and down over the collarbone and to the shoulder. The scars weren’t as thick here as they were further down on Wade’s back but it was still hard to look at the branching lines and feel the raised edges. The injury could have killed Wade just as easily as it had left him alive and seeing the sheer scope of the damage up close made Peter’s mouth dry and his heart clench.

Levataor scapulae, rhomboid minor, rhomboid major-- Wade jerked and Peter instantly let go. “Whoops, sorry about that. You alright?”

“Nope, that one hurts.” Wade hissed through clenched teeth."Jesus, maybe we just avoid it."

Peter leaned over to make a note on one of his diagrams and went back to the same muscle, lightening the pressure and changing the direction of his fingers. “How’s this? Better, worse, tell me the truth.”

“Better." Wade admitted after a few seconds. "But it still hurts like a bitch.”

“Like...a.. Bitch…” Peter wrote down and Wade chuckled a little bit. “Kay, we’ll move on from there.”

Deltoids. Wade’s shoulder was rock hard and Peter knew it was just as much scar tissue as it was muscle but he still felt gingerly along trying to feel where man met injury, where the slight give of solid muscles met unyielding damage.

“This will soften after a while.” he told Wade confidently. “Consistent massage does wonders, and it doesn't even have to be professional. If you work at it by yourself the scar tissue will soften and help lessen the appearance of the actual scars, too.”

“I know better than to hope for that.” Wade made an effort to sound joking, but he knew when Peter clicked his tongue in sympathy that the joke had fallen flat. “But thanks anyway.”

Triceps, brachialis, biceps. Peter could just barely close both hands around Wade’s arm and he knew if the former soldier flexed, his fingers wouldn’t touch. Good Christ. Peter was too professional to be imagining how easily Wade could pick him up with arms that size but… but…

Well anyway.

Brachioradalis, radialis longus, radialis brevis. Peter could feel the rod and screws that had been used to piece Wade’s left forearm together and even the lightest touch made Wade tense and try to pull away so Peter settled for long, soothing strokes with very easy pressure to try and loosen the stiff muscles.

"Both sides?" he asked and Wade muttered, "Just the one. Everything's worse on the left hand side."

"Okay." Peter made another note on his chart and moved onto Wade’s hand.

Extensor digilorum was the long muscle that led to fingers and Peter kept the same light pressure before moving on to the wrist, bending and flexing it until Wade relaxed and let it hang boneless. “Not to be weird, but I’m gonna hold your hand now.” he said out loud and caught just the hint of a smile. “Don’t worry sir, this is one hundred percent professional.”

“Yeah, I’m sure--” Wade jumped when Peter wove their fingers together, his heart suddenly in his throat. “Shit, shit-- sorry.”

“Is this too uncomfortable?” Peter paused mid squeeze. “It helps give your fingers a wider range of motion but I can stop if you don’t like it.”

“It’s fine.” Wade turned his head the other way because he felt like he was blushing and fuck that was stupid. “Been a long time since someone held my hand.”

“Um--”

“Longer since I had to pay someone to do it.” Wade wasn't entirely sure why he dropped that completely embarrassing factoid, but he followed it up with, "You know how weird it is to offer people money to hold hands? Like hey man, can I borrow your digits, here's a fiver."

“Oh my god.” Peter tried to muffle a laugh. “I feel like most people don't admit to hiring hand holding hookers. You really are drunk, huh?”

“Absolutely sloshed.” Wade agreed and this time Peter didn’t bother hiding the laugh. “Hate to admit that it takes a fifth of tequila to get brave enough to be shirtless but these days it definitely does.”

“It shouldn’t.” Peter kept his hand resting between Wade’s shoulder blades as he crossed to the other side of the table. “You’re gorgeous, Wade.”

There went his heart jumping to his throat again and Wade had to wait a few seconds before he could talk again. “I don’t pay extra for lies and compliments, kiddo.”

Peter got more lotion and felt gingerly along Wade’s left trapezius. “I am both shocked and appalled that you think I’m lying. What sort of massage therapist do you take me for?”

Wade breathed out shakily but didn’t answer, and Peter gave him a soft reminder of “Let me know if this hurts.” before he began again.

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

“So.” Peter dried his hands on the kitchen towel and went to start gathering his supplies up. “How’d I do? I know we only got to shoulders and arms today, but I feel like I'm pretty comfortable with pressure and all that sort of thing. You want to do this every Tuesday? If you think a full body would be too much, we could do shorter sessions twice a week and sort of ease into something full body as we go?"

“Uh about that.” Wade handed Peter his usual payment, then added another fifty even though Peter protested. “No, keep that. Part of it for a tip and part of it to cover the commute time. Keep it.”

“Thanks.” Peter pocketed the money. “So. Appointment?”

“I don’t know.” Wade was dressed again, but he felt more uncomfortable now than he had when he was half naked and on the table. “I feel like maybe that’s not a good idea. Not um-- not that you weren’t great, I mean I feel--” he rotated his shoulders carefully. “This is the best I’ve felt in a while. But all the same maybe we shouldn’t do this again.”

“...I don’t understand.” Peter tried and failed to hide the hurt in his voice, and then the surprise when he realized he really was hurt. “Did I make you uncomfortable?”

What was that all about, two appointments and his feelings were hurt that Wade wanted to cancel?

“It’s not you.” Wade ran a hand over his bare scalp, then grimaced because even though it had been a while since he'd had hair, he still missed it. “It’s uh-- It’s me. This is weird for me.”

Peter just looked at him and Wade clenched his jaw and admitted, “I like you, Pete. And I don’t like a lot of people. And you being nice to me and then touching me-- it’s been a long time since either of those things happened and I don’t want it to get weird between us if I uh-- you know. If I end up-- you know.”

“I know lots of places to push that are basically instant boner killers.” Peter said offhandedly, smiling when he saw the relief and surprise flicker across Wade’s face. “And even if I didn’t, who cares? There’s lotion and hands touching, boners happen. It doesn’t mean anything and it’s definitely not going to make this weird. I’m way too professional for that.”

“Pete--”

“I like you too.” Peter interrupted. “If it wasn’t particularly obvious from our first meeting where I basically drooled over you and then made an attempt at truly awful flirting, I like you too. And usually I’d say no to working on a client than I also want to ask out to dinner, but in your case---” he shrugged. “--I don’t really want anyone else doing this for you.”

“...yeah?” Wade was almost too afraid to even hope. "You think?"

“Yes.” Peter nodded emphatically. “So what if we make another appointment, we can spend the entire time talking while I work on you and then it’s like a win win for everyone right? Super hot super secret reclusive former soldier gets company and struggling to make rent recent college grad--”

He pointed to himself. “--can pay his electric bill. It will help you with your physical therapy and give us a chance to know each other.”

Wade must have looked like he was going to say no again, because Peter added, “Me liking you won’t affect anything about this, Wade.” he motioned between their bodies. “Despite my severe lack of brain/mouth filter, I am a professional. Trained, licensed, all of that. I know regular massages will help you so I want to keep working with you. Whatever this flirty bullshit is-- that’s just a bonus alright? Unnecessary and unimportant and not going to have any affect on your hour long massage therapy.”

"Seems like a hell of a bonus." Wade was hard pressed to think of the last time he'd wanted to flirt with anyone, and it was driving him crazy that the anyone was also his massage therapist. No way this is professional. No way Peter would really be willing to-- "You think it will work?"

“Absolutely.” Peter promised. “But if you’re not super sure, then stop booking appointments and let me just take you out for a date. Or tell me I have no chance for a date and to stop flirting, and I’ll just be your massage therapist. But I think…” he raised his eyebrows hopefully. “...we could settle on a happy medium where we see each other in a professional setting but also get to be friends who maybe flirt too?”

“I could handle friends who maybe flirt too.” Wade said after a long moment, scarcely believing the conversation was even happening. "I think I'd fucking love that."

“I don’t mind the scars, Wade.” Peter’s voice softened. “Not as a massage therapist and not as me either. I promise.”

“Damn, Murdock knew what the hell he was doing when he recommended you, huh?” Wade coughed to clear what felt suspiciously like tears from his throat. “Alright then. So long as you don’t feel uncomfortable, I’d-- I’d like if you came back.”

“Tuesday.” Peter said confidently, hoisting his table up and over his shoulder. “Drink lots of water after a massage and remember to stretch. Text me what time works for you, okay?”

“Okay.” Wade managed a smile. “Thanks, Pete.”

“Text me a time for next week.” Peter said again. “And if you want? Maybe text me just to talk.”

“Alright.” Another smile, but this was one a little more certain. “I’ll… do that.”

“Talk to you later.” Peter finger gunned-- seriously, why couldn’t he just wave goodbye?-- and headed out the door, reaching for his phone when it buzzed in his pocket before he even reached the elevator.

From Wade: Not to be sappy and disgusting, but your terrible flirting has been better therapy than a whole year of rehab.

From Peter: That was absolutely sappy and disgusting and you should be embarrassed.

From Peter: And what the hell, my flirting isn't terrible.

From Wade: It absolutely is terrible and WHOA what happened to being professionally polite?

From Peter: Via text all bets are off. Besides, you’re awfully chatty over text too AND you already admitted to liking me so the 100% professional guarantee is face to face only.

From Wade: Alright then, tell me something 100% non professional

From Peter: You flexed earlier and I almost had a heart attack. Like what the fuck, muscles?

Wade was halfway through a bottle of water when the text from Peter came through and he choked on a hard swallow, spitting water out across the floor and wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.

From Wade: Thanks for that

From Pete: I was being serious!

From Wade:... yeah, me too.

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

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAPTER!

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#ncts fics #spideypool

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imjeralee · 3 years

Text

Comfort in Despair: Chapter 29 - Deimos

Leon x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Summary:

Galar is rich in folklore and tales of the supernatural.

As a Pokemon Researcher who specialises in ghost types, this is a great opportunity for you to investigate and learn more about the paranormal.

Along the way, you meet Leon (in the most awkward way possible) who becomes embroiled in your adventures.

^ Basically this story is about ghosts :/

Rating: General/Teen

@marydragneell here is the latest update

Deimos

…

[There's Nothing Here.]

…

Gengar has safely taken you to the Wild Area, carrying you on his back.

The shadow has disappeared along the way, seemingly decided to give up pursuing you, for now.

Your mind has been unable to settle, to register the horrific incidents that had just taken place. Your Pokemon are dead. You were attacked in your own home. Nothing is safe.

A little voice in your mind has popped up, wanting to be heard, and it’s all about giving up. It would be so easy to quit, to surrender and submit to it all - whether it be your fate or destiny, or maybe it had been this way all along and this was how it was meant to be right from the very start, but for some reason, you had resisted it.

For a long time, you had not experienced fear but tonight, it had all come crashing back to you. You realised how helpless you were, how tiny and insignificant everything truly was.

As Gengar descends, having found a suitable place for landing, the cold rush of wind that hits you provides a tiny window of clarity.

No, I can’t give up. It’s only just begun.

You let out a choked rasp of anguish. A loud gasp rips from the back of your throat and a single tear pours from the corner of your eyes. No, no, this won't do. Squeezing your fist into a tight ball, you regather your composure and quickly squeeze your eyes shut, shaking your head before re-opening your eyes.

Whatever it is, you're determined to make it pay.

You will destroy it, if it's the last thing you do.

The change of scenery from the sleepy town of Wedgehurst to the vast and empty expanse of the Dusty Bowl is unfamiliar to you. The Wild Area is so dark and empty, it’s unsettling. You think back to your researching days, when you would spend many nights here on your own, in the dark, in the wildnerness with nothing but a torch, some food and pokedolls…and wonder how on earth did you do it?

When the pokemon lets you off, Gengar helps you sit down on a rock where you can gather your thoughts. You haven’t spoken since the ordeal and it looks like you’re still in shock. Your face is pale from fright yet your expression is impassive.

He’s worried, and he asks Mimikyu to help whilst he stays by your side: you've essentially run from home in your pyjamas and with no shoes, so she is tasked to find you some warm clothes.

The doll departs and quickly finds a campsite nearby – she spies a young couple sleeping inside their tents and sneakily ransacks their supplies, grabbing a pair of socks, shoes from the backpacker girl along with her coat.

Mimikyu returns with her goodies and hands them to you; she’s surprised you’re not reprimanding her as you usually would whenever she does something bad or wrong.

Instead, you silently don a stranger’s shoes and coat...and then you check the contents of your bag. You didn't pack much, if anything at all. Also, Rotom is missing. You must have left him at home.

Gengar and Mimikyu watch as you come across your radio next, pull it out and turn it round, switching it on, only for a horrific static noise to come blaring out followed by a deep male’s voice iterating the nursery rhyme “Ring-a-round-a-rosie,” repeatedly.

You hurriedly switch it off but the voice continues and seeing how shaken you are, Gengar slaps it out of your hands and onto the ground before he proceeds to stomp on the device, breaking it in half. To top it all off, he shoots it into smithereens with a Dark Pulse.

“Thanks.”

He gives you a nod of acknowledgement.

Next, you fish Vulpix’s capsule and release her. Once she emerges, your pokemon looks up at you expectantly. Your small team fall into line together and you glance at them all as they wait for your next instructions.

With a deep breath, you release a sigh and close your eyes briefly, then reopen them.

“…There's something after me, and it kills pokemon,” you utter, “Cutiefly and Sunkern are dead. The khira dagger broke and the talismans didn’t work. I don't know what it is. It's not a human, pokemon, spirit...I don't even think it's a demon. I can’t really explain it and I know how it sounds, but…it’s not from this world.”

You had stumbled over your words, your voice trembling. The pokemon, except Gengar, blink in alarm, exchanging glances between each other before they begin to crowd around you.

You step back, shaking your head.

“I’m releasing all of you. It will keep going after me so if you stay, I’ll only get you killed. Go home. You’ll be safe,” you utter shakily, and Mimikyu and Gengar look at you with widened eyes. "I want to thank you all for your help. I've enjoyed our time together, even though it was short."

Poor Vulpix is the most confused, padding up to you and sitting at your feet, looking up at you with her glossy eye. She had just been adopted and now she will be abandoned again. She sits on her haunches as you shake your head sadly before she lets out a mournful howl. Lowering yourself to a crouch, you gently pick her up and embrace her tightly, before letting her back down.

“I’m so sorry,” you whisper.

It’s Gengar and Mimikyu next, and you pick up the ragdoll and hug her firmly before moving onto Gengar.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find Gossamer Cave.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

You shake your head.

“I can’t let you go on your own.”

“You can’t go with me.”

“But I promised to fight with you, to stay by your side,” he replies.

“I’m sorry, Gengar. I can’t take any risks. This is the only way I can keep you safe. You should go back and be with your trainer.”

"But you are my trainer now."

That makes you hesitate; Gengar's loyalty is touching and you let out another gentle sigh under your breath.

“What if you can’t find the cave?”

“I will.”

“Then we’ll wait for you here,” Gengar replies and you smile weakly at him. “We’ll wait for you.”

Without further ado, you turn your back on your pokemon, heading towards the opposite direction where the path that leads into the Dusty Bowl awaits. The pokemon begin to trail after you - you can hear their little footsteps - but you turn round and shake your head firmly, warning them. Vulpix and Mimikyu joins Gengar's side, watching you leave.

“Are we really free?” Mimikyu asks.

“Free or not, I’m waiting for her here,” Gengar says, folding his arms. “If you want to leave, you can go.”

“Suit yourself, mi.” Mimikyu replies.

…

Mimikyu heads for the tall grass. She’s a little stunned; Gengar and Vulpix are going to wait for you to return, but you had released them because it was no longer safe to be around you anymore.

Unsure what to really do or where to begin, now that she’s a free pokemon, Mimikyu wades through the undergrowth with little idea of where she’s going or where she should be heading to, or where her new or next home should be.

She accidentally bumps into a tough-looking Tyrogue who attempts to chase her away from its territory but she teaches him a lesson in sharing by letting loose a shadowy claw and slapping him away. The weakened Tyrogue has no choice but to let her wander around to her heart’s delight but even then, Mimikyu discovers she doesn’t like living in the tall grass. It’s too primitive.

She dawdles for a long time aimlessly until she comes across a clearing where a bunch of wild Mimikyu can be seen gathered together up ahead. Home! She’s home…

Immersing herself into the group, Mimikyu lifts a claw and attempts a friendly wave.

“Mi mi,” she says, but when they turn round, they only emit squeaking noises and she is greeted with haunting disguises that resemble Pikachu, her most hated enemy.

The disturbing black squiggles that are meant to resemble its eyes...they are so empty and hollow and sinister, it scares her.

Seeing her own kind dressed up as a Pikachu, desperate for attention and love, pretending to be something they’re not, lying to themselves in order to escape their never-ending cesspit of loneliness and melancholy, Mimikyu shakes her head furiously, coming to the realisation that she doesn’t belong here.

Instead of dressing up as Pikachu, they should be dancing around a burning effigy of the electric rodent!

Used to a warm bed and roof over her head, along with three meals a day and drink at virtually no cost, she realizes how difficult it would be to adjust to the wildlife and she does not remember how she used to live before she was taken in by humans.

Now she will need to look for food and drink on her own, as well as a place to sleep for the remainder of her days. She scampers away in fright at the newfound revelation, or crisis, and finds a pond where she sits at the damp, mossy edge, looking at her reflection.

She’s an ugly little ragdoll but a kind-hearted human took her in and she had a family. She had Gengar, Runerigus and Vulpix.

She begins crying, lost and confused and scared, until the shadow of a tree wobbles and a familiar pokemon steps out, carrying a one-eyed Vulpix under one arm.

“Gengar! Vulpix!” she exclaims, looking up as the shadow pokemon floats over to her. “You didn’t leave mi?”

Gengar shakes his head whilst Vulpix begins licking her face. "I knew something like this would happen to you,” he says. “You're not used to wild life anymore, are you?"

“No, mi want a nice home and warm food. I’m sorry for leaving. Let’s go, let’s find her.”

He nods, and together, they return to the main path where they attempt to follow their trainer’s lingering scent.

…

On your own, you have been unable to determine your bearings, where is north, south, east or west; you were certain you were at least on the right path by recalling some familiar landmarks of the region such as the huge, Musharna-shaped rock or Rhydon-shaped tree and you’ve ended up trekking onto uncharted territory, a path no-one had ever stepped foot on and now a sandstorm had whipped up from virtually out of nowhere.

The harsh wind billows from every corner; luckily, you’d packed a pair of goggles earlier to protect your eyes from the sand but the storm is too strong and you find yourself being blown away on one occasion too many. You persevere, pushing your body forwards and to the limit, lifting your arms up to shield yourself, planting one foot in front of the other slowly but steadily.

You hear a familiar buzz closeby before a small, red pokemon pops up and into the air and your eyes widen with shock.

"Rotom!" you exclaim as he bobs in front of you, "what are you doing here?"

"I fell azzleep in your bag, zzzipped myzzzelf up inzzzzide a pocket and juzzt woke up. What'd I mizzz, zzrt?"

You let out a heavy sigh. "Where do I even begin?"

Your phone glimpses around before he flies towards you and buries itself into your jacket for safety, peeking out behind your lapels.

"Where are we, zzrt? Actually, never mind! Let me find out, bzzrt!" his screen goes blank as he attempts to find your location but nothing happens; his screen is a fuzzy, jumbled mess of grey. "Lookzzz like I have no zzzignal. Oh dear, bzz."

"I'm not surprised."

"Can we go home, zzrt?"

"Not yet. Sorry, Rotom."

With Rotom as your remaining pokemon, you plough on. He moves to hide in your backpack, trembling with fear.

You’d been stuck in this sandstorm for what appears to be an eternity, with no end in sight and your feet are beginning to hurt.

Stopping, you glance around but you cannot see anything, only sandy smog that batters you from all directions. Looking behind your shoulders, your footsteps have disappeared too.

“Where are we, bzzrt?” Rotom asks.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Rotom.”

“It’zzz okay, zzrt,” he replies. “we’re in thizzzz together.”

You’ve had your Rotom phone for a while now and he’s been so good to you. “We can do this, Rotom,” you reply.

He nods, and you continue your journey though you realise the storm has grown even stronger and the temperature has dropped and now you cannot even keep your balance as the wind blows you left and right, forwards and backwards. You cry out as you stumble around blindly and Rotom gets blown out of your backpack.

“EEP! Help!!!” he cries out as he’s whisked up and into the storm.

“Rotom!!” you yell, attempting to reach for him but he quickly vanishes from view, disappearing amidst the sand.

“Help!” he cries, though you can no longer see him.

“Rotom?? Where are you?” you yell, throwing your glance around wildly.

It’s silent.

“Rotom?! Hang in there, I’ll find you!”

Breaking into a sprint, you rush towards the direction you had last seen Rotom. To your dismay, you are greeted with nothing but the same dreary and blustering, never-ending sandy winds. Panting, you stop. Your mouth is dry, your mind hazy. You cannot even tell if you’re running in circles, if you’d been here before, if you’re heading back to where you came from.

Surrounded by nothing but billowing winds and sand, you realise how truly alone and lost you are.

“Rotom??” you yell into the vast nothingness.

There is no response, as expected.

“How does Ezra see where he’s going?” you mutter to yourself.

The sudden realization comes to you like a tonne of bricks dropping over your head.

He doesn’t.

Closing your eyes, you are freed from the rampant distraction of the sandstorm.

Taking a deep breath, you take one step forwards. Then another, and another. You let your feet wander on their own accord, taking one step at a time. You hold your breath to focus, concentrating as much as you can on pinpointing the correct path, the way forwards.

Allowing your senses to take over, your body begins to feel weightless and free as your feet carry you through the expanse. You guide yourself, clinging to a weak instinct that lingers in your gut which tells you that you’re heading the right way, and soon, your surroundings grow silent.

You stop walking.

The sandstorm has vanished and everything is still.

Opening your eyes, you blink, your eyes slowly adjusting to the light.

Your shoulders loosen up, the tension eroding away. You have escaped the sandstorm, and into a thick blanket of bluish grey mist filled with floating pieces of tiny pearly lights.

Observing them, you reach a hand out and press your fingertip against one of the lights which chimes and twinkles loudly, similar to the fairy lights of the Slumbering Weald.

Up ahead, a white orb of light bobs towards your direction. It grows brighter and brighter and as you squint your eyes for a better look, you make out the shape of a figure heading your way through the thick fog.

It’s a pokemon - the shiny Lucario you had seen all those years ago.

He stops before you, his red eyes meeting yours; he looks no different than the last time you had seen him, his golden fur grizzled and washed out, his expression stoic and calm. The light is emitting from the tip of his staff, which stops glowing and dies away slowly.

“You have found us," he says, with a brief nod of his head. "Well done. Follow me.”

“Wait, what happened to Rotom?”

“He’s fine,” Lucario replies, “You needn’t worry. Come along now. Don’t fall behind.”

Nodding, you trail after Lucario silently as he leads you through the surreal mist. On this occasion, the journey is a short and straightforward, linear path.

When he stops, you join his side, revealing a familiar sinkhole that’s bathed in swirling fog.

“Gossamer Cave! It’s real!" you exclaim as you peer down the ledge; everything is indeed as you had remembered.

“Yes.” Lucario lowers his staff and points the tip at the foggy cave entrance. “You must go inside on your own.”

You nod. “I am alone.”

He shakes his head and draws his staff near his shadow and lifts, reeling something out; it’s a chubby black blob which unfurls to reveal Gengar. You exclaim loudly with surprise, and the pokemon grins sheepishly at you.

Lucario frowns and shakes his head. “You must go in alone.”

“Can he wait for me outside?” you say, and Lucario growls lowly from his throat.

“Fine,” he grunts out, after a brief while.

You smile with gratitude and thank the pokemon profusely before throwing your glance to Gengar. He grins at you widely and you share an embrace. “Why are you here?”

“I was worried,” says Gengar, and you both quickly pull away to blink with shock, realizing his voice could be heard clearly out loud. It must be this strange place; it’s blurring two realities together.

However, you and Gengar merely grin and throw your arms around each other once more, his stubby arms wrapping around your back tightly.

“Thank you, Gengar,” you murmur, the corner of your eyes brimming with tears. “Thank you so much. Where are the others?”

“They’re waiting for you in the Dusty Bowl,” he says. “Don’t cry. You’re not alone. We’re here for you.”

You nod, and he releases you.

Unaffected by your reunion, Lucario steps in and says sternly, “It’s time. We will wait for you here. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Lucario.”

You pass them and begin to descend the rocky stairs without further ado, holding onto the vines for support. A serious flicker of déjà vu flashes in your mind for a split second and promptly disappears. Déjà vu or not, you have been here before and everything is exactly as it was many years ago. This place has remained untouched and unburdened by humans which prompts you to believe that you could have entered a different dimension, somehow.

Once you reach the bottom, the gloomy and dark entrance of the cave awaits you. The entrance seems bigger than last time; the slit is wider and stretches high above your head.

This is what Ezra was training you for, and now it’s time.

Taking a deep breath, you mentally assure yourself that everything is going to be fine and you are doing the right thing, though your pounding heart seems to tell you otherwise.

Ezra told you an ancient relic can be found here, and it will help you. You trust your mentor with your life.

Stepping towards the dark slit in the wall, you reach into your bag and pull out your torch, switching it on. It will be your only source of light as you navigate through the darkness that awaits you; you shine the light further within and it stretches all the way into the tunnel but to your surprise, there is no dead end in sight.

The tunnel seems to go on and on.

“It’s changed,” you murmur to yourself and as you step inside, a loud crumbling sound permeates the stillness and the entire cave trembles.

You turn round, witnessing the entrance close up behind you; vines entwine together, rocks and mud are pushed into each other by some unknown, unseen force. You're quickly sealed in, and you swallow down.

There's no way out... and you shine your torch around the gloomy walls, listening out for nothing but the casual drip of water from the stalactites splashing over the ground.

The interior of the cave has indeed changed since the previous venture. The left wall is covered entirely with cave paintings of stick figures and you presume this is supposed to be a depiction of early humans.

Stepping closer, you stop in front of the mural and reach over, running your fingertip over the dried paint and rub your fingers together; the paint falls off your skin in tiny flakes.

Following the rest of the pictures along the way, they progress from meaningless stick figures to a series of red handprints along with several names etched beside them, only there aren’t many names that match the number of handprints. You do not recognize the names until you come across Ezra’s name.

These must be the names of people who came here before you, and you glimpse up and around until you spot a rockpool near the wall brimming to the full with a thick, viscous red liquid which appears to be the origins of the paint.

You crouch by the pool and with your other hand, slowly press your palm into the ink, then find a random space on the wall and press your palm flat over the cold, uneven surface. Lifting your palm off, you see your name suddenly appearing on the wall from the stone and your eyes widen.

You decide to follow the rest of the paintings, moving along the wall. The paintings move from showing early humans carrying spears, to humans accompanied with prehistoric pokemon such as Aerodactyl, Kabutos and Omanytes.

The paintings unfortunately come to an end, and the last one shows an unsettling, bizarre-looking blob painted in black by an abundance of red dots that surround it in a spherical fashion.

You scrutinise this picture thoroughly, coming to the conclusion that whatever it’s meant to be, it's similar to the shadow creature that attacked you although this painting depicts it surrounded by humans who are bowing down, most likely in worship. Some of the painted figures are accompanied with small pokemon, too.

You move onto the next set of paintings that are far more colourful; a shining white creature has been painted, surrounded by an ochre ring: Arceus.

There are also early depictions of Palkia, Dialga and Giratina along with a drawing of a large red pokemon which you can only believe is Groudon, followed by an elegant blue pokemon, Kyogre.

It’s a timeline of ancient history, and a faint rumble captures your attention and you shine your torch towards the tunnel that lies ahead.

It had come from deep within.

You grow still, listening and staring into the darkness where the light doesn’t reach.

Holding your breath, you wait for a reply as the ground beneath you quakes and the grumbling from within grows louder and louder until a red light flickers briefly from deep within the tunnel.

Cocking your head to the side, you make a move forwards until your torch wavers, the light flickering on and off and growing dimmer and dimmer.

“Shit,” you curse under your breath, giving the device a few hefty slaps with the heel of your palm.

When you get it working back to proper order, the red light has vanished and your brows furrow in confusion.

There's something down there and there are no other areas of interest here so you must continue to move forwards; you carefully navigate your way into the tunnel which descends to a rather steep path that leads you deeper and deeper into the belly of the cave. Along the way, you are mindful of sharp rocks that stick out from the ground and sides and the more you venture, the colder it becomes.

Pulling your coat tightly to yourself, you plod through until the path expands, revealing a large clearing and as you arrive, your breath lodges in your throat.

The cave itself is larger inside than it looks compared to outside, with magnificent, huge walls that stretch all the way to unknown heights. You’re certain if you shine your torch up, the beam of the light would not be able to reach the ceiling.

A square, stone platform stands in the middle of the cave, with four pillars in each corner. Huge runes have been carved on the stone pillars, and you recognise some of them from Ezra’s teachings. Some are faded but from you can make out, they spell a simple message which translates to ‘He Who Hath Come Hath Thy Eyes’.

You wander towards the platform, standing in the middle. Below, a pentagram in a perfect circle has been etched along with a symbol in the very middle, one you don’t recognise.

The rumbling stirs the atmosphere once again, except it sounds closer now, much, much closer….coming from above…and the cavern walls tremble and you instinctively take a few steps backwards, glancing around cautiously.

You are no longer alone; a shadow swoops down from the ceiling and lands on the platform.

The impact sends you tumbling backwards and you drop over the ground, rolling awkwardly before you manage to regain your balance and with your torch, you quickly gather yourself back up and shine the light on the creature.

It’s a dark blob….and it doesn’t move, doesn’t react to your light shining on its form. It’s still, as though frozen in time but occasionally disrupted with a slight twitch accompanied with a low, buzzing, or humming noise and you slowly rise to stand, pushing yourself off the ground.

It appears to be assembling itself; though its body seems to be nothing but darkness, you can make out wave-like ripples and swirls on the surface that run throughout its body in casual waves…as though it’s unfurling and curling. It moves like a fabric in water though its texture appears anything but smooth.

There’s many thoughts racing through your mind: organic or inorganic? Sentient or not? Malicious or benevolent?

Surprisingly, you do not feel threatened by its presence and as it continues to transform, it begins to twitch violently until two rudimentary appendages bursts out from its back, twisting together and stretching up high into the air. They’re wings, and they divide into four, then six.

A single dot of red light accompanies it, shining brightly in the middle of the dark mass. It soon splits into two, then three, four….five…It continues to divide until there are a total of eight that begin to rotate clockwise in a hypnotic fashion.

They swivel and weave in enticing motions before they group together to form a horizontal line in front of you. Then they quickly assemble into a vertical line and finally, a small, shapeless cluster. These strange lights hover close to your right, peer at you up and down, then hastily retreat and move to your left and do the same. They appear to be curious about you, inspecting you keenly.

It's identical to what you saw in your bedroom.

Not lights, you think to yourself. Eyes.

The creature is huge, towering many feet over you. Unable to tear your gaze away, you throw your glance left, right and up as the eyes return to its main position in the centre and regard you intensely in return.

Not a human.

Not a pokemon.

“Deimos,” you breathe out.

The eyes glow softly in response, enticing you to come forwards.

Taking one minuscule step, you slowly raise a hand - your hand cannot stop shaking – and though your gesture is bold, to touch it, it stays still and your palm lands on a cold but smooth surface and what feels like a cool breeze surges through your entire body, sending tingles down your spine. You let out a loud gasp from the sensation and retreat your palm.

The crippling fear, the loneliness, the agony, the despair...

It has all but disappeared.

"I know why you're here," a quiet voice whispers in the dark.

It's deep but gentle...and it doesn’t sound male or female...or anything at all, if possible.

“You’re the one who Ezra spoke to when he was a child. You taught him,” you murmur. “And you helped him all those years ago, too. It was you.”

"You want to learn how to stop Phobos.”

"Phobos?"

The eyes join together and arrange themselves, moving towards the ceiling; they shift from blood red to a golden glow at once, the eyes growing glossy. You believe it's looking at something.

“Phobos is one of my kin. He revels in chaos, enjoys feeding more than I do, and he enjoys wreaking havoc unto humans and pokemon.”

You're confused. What exactly are Deimos and Phobos? “Why me? Why Rosie...my mum and dad???”

“You and your sister possess aura, and a large amount of it. Your sister was devoured for that reason, and you’re next. Your mother and father were unfortunately fodder along the way. You are correct; Phobos must be stopped, in order to preserve the balance of the universe."

Its glossy red eyes shows your reflection and the expression on your face...you have never seen yourself look so awestruck yet petrified at the same time, and it's as though it's looking at you too, staring right into your soul.

"You...you'll help me?" you stutter out, swallowing down thickly.

"Yes."

You hold your breath.

"You're in pain. And you have been, for a very long time. I can take it all away. I can make it stop.”

Nodding weakly, your mouth quivers as a shaky breath leaves your throat.

"I just want this nightmare to end," you whisper. "What do I need to do?"

"Let's form a pact," it says. "You and I."

...

You emerge from the cave.

Gengar and Lucario head over; the Pokemon are pleased to see you and as you meet them, you and Gengar share an embrace once more.

“What happened? You were inside for a long time. Did you find it?” Gengar asks as you pull away with a nod.

“I found it,” you reply, smiling, “I know what to do. Everything's going to be okay now. Let's go back.”

Gengar nods; he does not fail to notice the distinct shade of your eyes, which is a curious shade of red.

…

EXTRA NOTES: (these are from AO3, I added them incase anyone is confused -

Deimos was actually meant to converse a bit more with Reader, but the more it did, the more it lost the mystery that surrounds it.

Honestly I wasn't sure myself if this was the right direction to go but I didn't think it would be convincing if Deimos turned out to be a pokemon - Darkrai for example, or even a pokemon I made up because I think that would be hard to imagine - so I've kept Deimos as this cosmic entity/eldritch horror that resides in a cave which is only accessible by those who possess an extremely high level of aura.

It's kind of similar to Mirage Island, I guess?? but it will also not appear unless the individual possesses a high level of aura too. Reader is a late bloomer, which is why it took her so long to reach this stage. Deimos and Phobos are kin, but Phobos is evil and Deimos can be considered good. If you have further questions please feel free to ask.

#pokemon #pkmn #jeralee #fanfic #fic #reader #reader insert #leon #leon x you #leon x reader #dande #pokemonswordandshield #pokemonshield #pokemonsword #pokemonshieldsword #pokemonshieldandsword #Comfort in Despair #archive of our own

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patandpran · 4 years

Text

What love feels like

Pairing: Tin x Can

Summary: It really was like Tin had adopted an adorable, helpless stray dog that had just randomly wandered up to him one day.From the beginning of their friendship, to Tin wanting something more, to a re-imagining of their first kiss, Can teaches Tin what love feels like.

Slight canon divergence from season 2, mixing bits of pieces from the canon of season 1/2.

Can was like an annoying little puppy that Tin was not sure what to do with. Tin just knew that he had to feed him regularly, keep a napkin in his pocket at all times because Can tended to messy and always be ready for a barrage of sounds to be constantly thrown his way when Can went off on one of his rants. It really was like Tin had adopted an adorable, helpless stray dog that had just randomly wandered up to him one day.

Can was quite feisty and in those hotheaded moments was when Tin thought that Can was the cutest. He looked like a little kid having a tantrum and his words would start to string together in non-sensical patterns and Tin would just nod and try to make sure Can knew he was listening. It was hard to keep the smile off of his lips in these moments because of how freaking adorable Can looked.

Tin had never met somebody so energetic, whether it was positive energy or negative energy, Can ran at full gas all the time which is likely the reason he needed to eat and rest so often: to refuel. He was like a firecracker compared to the way that Tin moved calmly and slowly through the world, in an attempt to be unnoticed. Can made such a scene wherever he went it was like he was wearing a ‘Hey, look at me!’ neon sign, even though he did not seem to care much about the attention that his antics brought him. He was just being Can.

Whether he knew it or not, Can forced his friendship on Tin in an almost violent attack. They went from being complete strangers who were at odds with each other to Can looking out for Tin’s wellbeing and forcing Tin to take him out to lunch as a reward. While they did not exactly get along at the best of times, Tin found himself quietly amused at the way Can seemed to care about him and have a shockingly strong moral base, despite how erratically he operated in every other part of his personality.

Tin also loved that Can did not give a shit about his last name or what that meant. Can, for whatever bizarre reason, seemed to truly enjoy Tin’s company and care for him in a way that was completely separate from the money that Tin had. He was not used to people treating him well unless they wanted something, either a familial connection or sometimes even money itself. Because of this, Tin had developed a cold outer shell to ward people off and built a wall of innate distrust between him and the rest of the world. He would wade through his life untouched if people didn’t even bother to approach him.

But, of course, Can had been the wrecking ball to bring that wall down in a matter of seconds. Sure, there was still still times that Tin had the instinct to build it back up again but Can always proved his suspicions wrong and any conflict between them was particular to their interactions and had nothing to do with Tin’s last name or trust fund. Every second that he spent with Can was a breath of fresh air and Tin soon became addicted to that feeling.

Tin began to go out of his way to run into Can, making excuses about his promise to Pete about checking in to see how Ae was doing so he could get away with being on the Thai Program campus. Can seemed confused by his presence at first but quickly got used to the routine of Tin ‘randomly meeting him’ after class to take him out for a meal (when Tin had actually made a point of memorizing Can’s class schedule) and ‘just happening’ to drop by after Can’s football practice with a cold bottle of water (Tin had bribed Techno with concert tickets to send him the football practice schedule). Can was always pleasantly surprised to see Tin and it quickly became their norm.

Tin had never wanted been the one to pursue friendship with anyone so the experience was completely foreign. He sometimes called Pete to ask what was appropriate and not (every time that he did, Pete asked when Tin and Can were going to make it official but Tin just laughed it off). Can was blunt and honest about everything so when Tin something out of line, like try to buy Can’s Mom and sister designer bags, Can shut that down really quick and was kind enough to explain why it was not what friends did.

Can sometimes said some pretty hurtful things to Tin when he got frustrated but would always apologize seconds later. Sometimes the damage was done, though, and Tin would throw on his armour and throw venom right back at Can. There were some pretty heated moments but Can knew how to bring Tin back down to earth, usually by making puppy dog eyes up at Tin and suggesting they go for a walk to get some air.

Tin wasn’t sure when things changed between them but Tin found himself wondering if Can would start to annoyed by him. They texted all day, usually met up at some point before or after classes in person and made a point of talking on the phone before either of them went to bed. Tin attended each of Can’s football games, to the point where Techno and Champ started teasing Can that Tin was his ‘cheerleader with no cheer in him’. Can always laughed off their jokes and made a point of thanking Tin for coming to the games to support him. This always did something funny to Tin’s chest, making his heart feeling it was going to leap right out of his ribcage.

One time, over a meal, Tin found himself staring at Can’s lips for an extended period of time. They were so pink and soft and Tin just couldn’t keep his gaze off of them, even though Can was in the middle of some rantfest as usual. It took a few minutes for Can to notice where Tin was looking and he asked if there was something on his lips. Tin felt his cheeks grow hot and muttered an excuse before shoving a napkin in Can’s face. Can didn’t react further after wiping his lips and launched right back into the story as if nothing was amiss. Tin, on the other hand, was still consumed with the urge to look back at Can’s lips and the bright idea of how pleasant it would be to press his own lips against Can’s.

After this interaction, Tin tried to put some distance between himself and Can. It didn’t seem fair to Can for Tin to force his feelings on him and, to be honest, Tin started to wonder how long he had felt this way when Can clearly just wanted friendship from Tin. It felt wrong for Tin to keep being around Can when he wanted much more than just platonic companionship. The worst part was that Tin didn’t want to ruin the best friendship he had ever had just because his stupid feelings were getting in the way.

Tin had given a valiant effort to avoiding Can and letting Can have some space but because of their established routine, Can probably thought Tin was backing away from their friendship entirely rather than just trying to pull the reins in a bit. Tin felt like he was being tortured when he was around Can because all he wanted to do was reach out and slips his hand into Can’s - but that’s not what friends did. But then the texts and calls started coming in at alarming rate and Tin couldn’t just ignore Can, could he?

“Hellooooooo. I’m hungry. I thought we were going to meet up for lunch today. And by meet up, I meant I thought you were going to buy me lunch today.”

“Tin. I didn’t see you at all yesterday or today. Who am I supposed to tease if I can’t tease you? I miss your dumb face. Call me.”

“…. Did I do something wrong? I am trying to think back over what happened the last time we hung out and I can’t think of anything in particular… Is there something going on with your family? Is your brother being an asshole to you again? I will come beat him up for you. Just let me know when and where.”

“Tin… I am sorry for whatever I did. I hope that we can still be friends because… as much as I hate to admit it, I really care about you and even though we’ve only known each for a few months, I think you’re one of my best friends. I just… please call me.”

Listening to the voicemails and reading the texts that came in during their time apart made Tin feel ill wit guilt. He owed Can an explanation and with how open and honest Can had been with him throughout their friendship, Tin owed Can the truth, even if it meant the end of their friendship. It seemed like a risk worth taking.

“Meet me at the football field.”

Tin knew that Can would be getting out go class soon, as long as he actually attended his lecture (which Can often didn’t) but Tin hoped that today would be the exception to the rule. Once he stepped onto the turf of the field, he felt his heart begin to race at a million miles an hour. How could he possibly put into words how he felt about Can? This was particularly a challenge for someone who didn’t use many words in the first place.

“Tin?”

Tin tensed as soon as he heard Can’s voice but was relieved to hear it as well. It had been painful to be away from Can and as Tin turned to face Can, he felt himself relax entirely knowing that Can was only a few feet away from him. Can looked exhausted and his eyes looked a bit weepy, as if he had not been sleeping well or he had cried recently.

Immediately, Tin approached Can and put his hand under Can’s chin, gently tilting Can’s face to closer inspect him. The worry that spread through Tin, seeing Can look so unlike himself, once again confirmed exactly how he felt about his friend. “Can, are you okay?”

“I… I missed you.” Can began to blubber, his eyes filling with tears. Tin was once again reminded about how vulnerable and sensitive Can was and felt guilty for ever ignoring him. Can continued as Tin wiped his tears from under his eyes, “Why did you disappear like that?”

“I’m sorry.” Tin responded, feeling as if his heart was being torn to pieces right then and there. “I didn’t realize it was going to upset you this much. It won’t happen again…. unless you don’t want to see me after what I’m going to tell you.”

Can pressed his head against Tin’s chest and wrapped his arms around Tin, pulling him into a tight hug. “What could you ever say that would make me not want to see you? That’s ridiculous.”

“I was scared of how you would react so I tried to give you some space so I could sort through things in my head.” Tin gently pulled away from the hug so that he could look into Can’s eyes again but kept his arms wound around Can. Can looked up at Tin with confusion so Tin continued, “I… I have feelings for you.”

“Feelings?” Can repeated and Tin was reminded of just how naive Can was. “I mean, I have feelings too, I’m crying right now! I know you have a hard time being open about your emotions but surely you can trust me enough to be open with how you feel.”

“Can.” Tin grumbled, wishing that Can was a better listener. “I have feelings FOR YOU. As in, I like you…”

“I mean, of course, you like me.” Can beamed up at Tin. “We’re friends.”

“I don’t know how to make this any clearer.” Tin groaned in frustration. “I guess I’ll just have to

show you what I mean if saying it doesn’t make sense to you.”

Before Can could utter another question, Tin kissed him. The kiss was gentle and exploratory, and Tin hoped that it wouldn’t change everything between he and Can. He wanted to make up for the pain he had caused his friend and wanted to share with Can just how important he was to Tin. Shockingly, Can did not pull away from the kiss but remained still for a few moments and Tin’s heart hammered immensely against his chest, wondering what could possibly be going through Can’s mind.

Tin slowly pushed away and separated from Can. Can’s eyes were still closed but Tin watched as Can’s eyes slowly opened and revealed that a look of pure fascination was reflected in them. Tin smirked slightly and murmured, “Does that make things any clearer?”

“It still doesn’t explain why you were avoiding me.” Can was clearly still processing what had happened but a flash of pain appeared on his face and his gaze dropped to their shoes. “You didn’t want to hang out with me because you want to kiss me?”

Tin chuckled slightly at Can’s blunt thought process. “I suppose you could put it like that.”

“Why does everything have to be so complicated?” Can answered defiantly and looked back to Tin with a pout on his mouth. It took everything for Tin not to kiss Can again right then and there. Can continued, “If I’m hungry, I eat. If I’m tired, I sleep. If you are mad at me, we talk about it. If you want to kiss me, kiss me.”

“It’s a lot easier said then done.” Tin shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling a bit embarrassed by the conversation. “Plus, do you even like me back?”

“I’ve never wanted to spend so much time with someone. Whenever I’m not with you, I’m thinking about you and when you stopped coming to see me, I felt like I was going to lose it.” Can expressed urgently, the words practically tumbling out of his mouth before his lips could even form them. “I don’t know what love is because I have never experienced it but, if I had to make an educated guess, even though I’m not that educated, I think this is what love feels like.”

Tin’s jaw fell slightly slack as Can stated everything he was experiencing with such matter of factness, especially when Can said the word ‘love’ so casually. Nothing about this felt casual to Tin and the fact that Can was reciprocating the feelings that Tin had been so terrified to share with Can in the first place was a whole other piece of information for Tin to have to process. As usual, Tin felt overwhelmed while Can just looked happy to be once again sharing space with Tin.

“You are very smart, Can.” Tin shared and brought his hand up to ruffle Can’s hair fondly but Can dodged it easily. Tin rolled his eyes, “So I can kiss you without warning but I’m not allowed to play with your hair?”

“I am a man, not a puppy. I prefer kisses to being pet, thank you very much.” Can explained before putting his hands stubbornly on his hips.

Of course, this only made him look even more adorable so Tin swept in and dropped a quick peck on Can’s lips. After the kiss, Tin rested his forehead lightly on Can’s forehead and murmured, “I think you’re right.”

“Right about what?” Can wondered, staring up at Can through his eyelashes.

Tin smiled, “This is definitely what love feels like.”

#tincan #tin x can #meanplan #love by chance #lbc #love by chance 2 #thai bl #studio wabi sabi #my writing #cass writes

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ashtonq247 · 4 years

Text

SOKKA CENTRIC FICS

Here are some Sokka centric fics! Most of these works are not labeled as Sokka centric and so it’s very hard to find! There’s only 64 fics out of 15019 fics

Keep in mind I did not do any Zukka or Tokka fics bc I did not want to wade through that esp bc Zukka fics are 80% Zuko centric. It’s also possible that I missed some fics as, again, they are kinda hard to get a hold of. I literally had to block the Zuko tag at one point bc if Zuko was a character in the fic, it was going to be about Zuko, and it was just a lot to wade through to find that one fic where Zuko was a character but wasn’t the main character. I think my chrome shut down at some point which could have caused me to not include some fics. Basically I’m saying I didn’t get everything but I got MOST of it. Like 80% of it, even if I didn't include things I personally don't really like to read-sorry. Show this to anyone who says Sokka isn’t underrated! my man got 64 out of 15019 fics!

Also, PLEASE KUDOS THESE STORIES 👏👏👏👏 so many of them have far too little kudos and deserve more love! I think bc ppl are kinda bad with tagging, some of these stories hardly get any hits! Give them some love. And reblog this so other Sokka stans don’t have to wade through so much fics like I had to (seriously I’ve seen some crazy fics you would not believe *shivers*) bc it’s hard to find a needle in a haystack

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Aang

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14326722 - cute tickle fight (pure fluff :DD)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14984378 - Aang and nightmares, and Sokka and his big brother instincts

https://archiveofourown.org/works/488040 - Sokka and Tenzin, Sokka gets the news that Aang died (set in LOK)

-there is very little Aang and Sokka fanfic, let alone Sokka centric Aang and Sokka fanfic :(

Toph

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1885884 - Sokka makes smth for Toph

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15472509 - Toph dreams abt the airships

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720889 - “In the bad dreams, he loses his grip. In the worst ones he lets go”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229905 - Sokka teaches Toph to write her name

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718887 - Toph and hands, Sokka being her favorite hand to hold

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53498 -Sokka stuck in a cave

-there’s quite a lot of Toph and Sokka stories, not necessarily abt Sokka tho. They kinda go hand in hand, so it’s not really about one or the other.

Katara

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288189 - before they leave to fight Azula/airships

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946611 -Sokka sick fic :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22005709 -katara apologises for what she said to Sokka

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2277381 - Sokka wants to teach katara how to fight (also this is the first atla fanfic on AO3 that isn’t fucking weird lol)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2523782 - the gaang is too young and too starving :(

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18452795 - the only bender!Sokka story that has interested me bc it doesn’t take away from his character. It’s also vry satisfying to read

https://archiveofourown.org/works/404527 - Sokka’s feelings after his mom’s death- childhood

https://archiveofourown.org/works/404522 - “After the war Sokka says goodbye to his sister and the Southern Watertribe

-I wish there were more Sokka and Katara stories of before they met Aang.It’d be cute and angsty.

Zuko

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25243948 - The gaang plays hide and seek/train, Zuko and Sokka team up to make a prtty good team- Sokka is rlly bad ass in this ;D it’s one of my favorites ngl

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809161/chapters/60002182 - fire nation sokka- oof this one hurts :,)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22305031 - like the only modern au that I rlly like, featuring Sokka on cactus juice and… McDonalds employee Zuko lol

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24462145 - Sokka gets kidnapped. Sokka is… very Sokka ish in this

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21475717/chapters/51180856#workskin -Zuko is a fire nation spirit, featuring Jet

-Zuko and Sokka stories tend to be well written, but it’s rlly hard trying to find a story with both of them that isn’t Zuko centric, and even some of the stories I have here are borderline Zuko centric

Suki

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12270624 - what Sokka feels every full moon

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1338157 - stars, and both suki and Sokka contemplate being away from home

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24423484 - “Sokka and learning to let himself be loved”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/648200 - “she should be jealous, she knows, of this ghost that clings to sokka”- it’s short but I love this one

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290874 - set right after boiling rock before they go back to the air temple.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/334919 - Sokka and suki dig up the secret library and try to strike a deal with its caretaker

The gaang

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14348382 -basically a re telling of the Sokka’s master ep, but in Sokka’s POV

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16303286 - the meaning of tattoos, and non bender tattoos

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24426670 - “the gaang has a sleepover and Sokka manages to reforge bonds between the four nations while he’s unconscious”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22252 -Sokka thinks of his place in the gaang (set after season 2)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24439972 - the gaang needs a potty brake and Sokka is annoyed (pure fluff :DD)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559357/chapters/59308846#workskin - spirit sensitive Sokka! Very interesting I’m invested and there’s only 2 chapters so far TvT (featuring Sokka w/ white hair 😩👌✨)

Hakoda

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004614 - Sokka being a child soldier, and Hakoda’s regret

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22964113 - “how all the members of team avatar discover their bending abilities”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003291 - “Sokka gives himself his first warrior’s wolf tail” (pure fluff :DD)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24580543 -Sokka throws his first boomerang https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720004 - why Sokka never grew his hair out- child soldier/ insecurity stuff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384172 - Sokka tells his dad about Yue

Piandao

https://archiveofourown.org/works/686093 - Sokka asks piandao to continue training him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/582971 - Sokka visits piandao to make a new sword and ask a question

https://archiveofourown.org/works/570663 - kinda piandao centric, but also Sokka centric? Piandao’s backstory and father figure feels :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/566995 - Sokka believes he’s simply ordinary, nothing special about him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580402 - “we do not induct children into the Order, Piandao!”

-there needs to be more Sokka and Piandao fics and I’m pissed because there’s more Zuko and piandao fics then there is Sokka and piando what kinda bs is this??

Yue

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2676488 - kinda Yue centric but like Sokka centric too? It’s about her sacrifice and why, and the love she feels for him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3443258 - it’s a full moon the night before Sokka and the other councilman judge a blood bender (set during that one ep in lok with that blood blender dude)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24872200 - Sokka and Bumi (katara’s kid) have a sleepover. Sokka and old wounds

-I’m surprised there’s not more of them. Yue is always mentioned in Sokka centric fics, but not really the center of it

Other

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24059851/chapters/57900052 - Sokka and Momo. I think this is spirit sensitive Sokka story abt Sokka being able to process his grief (also friendship with Momo yes)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/567004 - Sokka and boomerang, right after the war

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13064682 - an au of sorts, dealing with a spirit in the southern water tribe that steals ppl. And like it’s sorta the only Kya and Sokka fanfic out there?? As far as I’m aware anyway

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209895 - a Sokka character study: he has more to him than meets the eye

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24636988 - Sokka before Aang, this is explaining why he’s the way he is

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12611212 - Sokka meets a wolf spirit in the spirit world who questions his worth

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17201468/chapters/40447214 - haven’t actually read this srry all I know is that it’s time travel au, Sokka centric, and is one of the only stories with a lot of chapters (11 as of now)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/331690/chapters/535433 - “a series of unrelated drabbles centered around Sokka and his awesomeness” -29 chapters as of now (I haven’t read this one either)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/155711 -finally a story where Sokka is a strategic genius using his brains to help his friends and politics- set after the war

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15992618 - Sokka and Space Sword, an interesting take for what happened after the war, where there isn’t rlly any good guys in war, and Sokka tries to find his sword

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2960030 - set after the war, Sokka returns to the South Pole and finds himself again as just the regular guy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722083 - Sokka’s thoughts on himself

https://archiveofourown.org/works/259980 - an au ofsorts, Katara dies by Azula and Aang is missing, and wars don’t just end- Sokka is vry cool in this

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7547833 - Sokka and Kya II- Sokka has to sit through kya’s singing of secret tunnel (pure fluff :D)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/887394 - Sokka and Kaatang’s and One of Toph’s kids (Sokka babysits, also HE INVENTS DND WHAT MORE COULD U WANT!!!) pure fluff :DD

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4949257 - Uncle Sokka and Bumi’s relationship oof

-Uncle Sokka is highly underrated and so is Sokka’s relationship with his mom. I will also never get enough of character study fics

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What have I learned?? People who are writing a story about Sokka should tag that story as SOKKA CENTRIC. It’ll give ur fic more love, and make it easier for ppl who love Sokka to find a fic about him. Also, on tumblr you see all these great analyses on Sokka, with theories like Spirit sensitive!Sokka, or Sokka working for the white lotus, and yet there are hardly any fics on it??? The untapped potential?!?! We also have no idea what Sokka does in the future (still salty LOK) so this gives us a lot of room to imagine and create stories! Like I need a fanfic on how Sokka does wtf??? You’d have thought that with this atla renaissance and people gaining a new found respect and admiration for Sokka’s character, that there’d be more Sokka focused fics, but nope :(

I’ve noticed that those who like Sokka don’t contribute to the fandom fic wise and guys we gotta step up (like I’m one to talk lol I’m gonna try and write some fics I swear!)

Also if you still want more Sokka fics I suggest searching in the tags bender Sokka, water bender Sokka, and fire bender Sokka. I also suggest that you go to fanfiction.net. I know it’s old, but so is this fandom, which means a lot of fics are there too. It’s easier to wade through the fics on fan fiction.net than AO3 simply bc of how little tags you can put there, so if Sokka is tagged, you know he actually plays a part in the story (no shade on AO3 I love it but sometimes it’s hard to find stuff bc the tagging system relies on the people knowing how to use tags, and the avatar fandom does not, but that’s bc it’s old)

Anyway, LOVE SOKKA MORE and don’t forget to reblog and let other ppl get access to these fics bc I know I would have loved it if someone made an entire list! (And organized it lol I never thought I was capable of organizing)

And now I'm gonna tag the ppl who commented on that one post who wanted me to make it @talonsandsuch @ships-and-shitty-decisions @dearestpartnerofgreatness

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