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hitnran · 3 years

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OBSESSIVE EX (gender neutral! reader)

how they deal with you having an obsessive ex

includes: ran, rindou

CW: obsessive behavior, cursing, stalking (ran), phone harassment (rindou), the haitani brothers lowkey kinda scary here (not to the reader) 💀 but i’m just trying to make it fit within their character

— RAN HAITANI

Getting into a relationship with someone like Ran, half of the charismatic brother duo that ruled Roppongi, almost means guaranteed safety wherever you go. His title itself is one that is feared when murmured. Whenever you two leave, he always has an eye and a hand on you. Ran knows well that even if he is feared, he can also be challenged and the last thing he wants is for you to get involved — you would make an easy target for his enemies.

You two were out together on a stroll around the city. Although there was nothing neither of you needed, Ran’s favorite thing is showing you off. Sometimes you start to feel similar to his younger brother, thinking that you’re just a shadow and only known as ‘Ran’s partner.’ But Ran’s intentions were opposite. He wanted everyone to know that it was him that belonged to you and it is him that people would have to deal with if you were ever tested.

As you two are walking, Ran noticed your eyes consistently checking itself to the side. He took note of that and eventually brushed it off since you stopped. But then he noticed that you were being especially keen and scanning the whole area.

“Are you okay, love?” Ran slightly hunches down, getting your attention as your face turns his way. He lightly smiles at you. “Did you see something you liked?”

You swallowed down hard. You could’ve sworn you saw a familiar face, but after trying to scan the area numerous times for the past few minutes, you thought it was just you being paranoid. The last thing you wanted was to worry Ran and cause a scene.

“I’m okay,” You shook your head, returning a light smile. You grabbed on his arm, this time a little tighter. “Let’s turn into this corner.”

Ran knows when you’re lying. He knew something made you uncomfortable, but he wasn’t going to force you to tell him. Instead, he’ll make it his own problem too and deal with it himself.

This area was his territory and everyone knew it. It was almost as if Roppongi, a city known for liveliness, calmed down ever so slightly if one or both of the brothers were out. Everyone’s gaze wound be kept low and their conversations would go mute as they walk by.

At that moment, Ran could feel a pair of eyes staring your way. He won’t make it obvious though.

“Love,” Ran called out to you. You looked up his direction and he placed a hand against your lower back. “Rindou’s gonna throw a fit if I don’t bring back food for him. How about you go into the restaurant and order first while I call him and ask what he wants?”

You felt at ease hearing that you two were finally going to be in somewhere indoors, but it made you nervous that he would be separated from you for just a little while.

“Don’t wanna bring something back he won’t like and have him complain,” Ran lightly laughed, trying to ease your clear discomfort. He placed a hand over your head. Taking out his phone to add to his act. “I’ll be quick.”

After some hesitation, you gave in. It was a public space after all, so it shouldn’t have been anything to worry too much about. He watched as you entered the place before turning around, sending chills to the person who had been following you two around this whole time.

“Would be a shame if I left them alone for too long, wouldn’t it?” Ran gave off a sinister grin, slowly walking towards the person. “Wouldn’t want anyone to take them away…especially someone like you.”

Ran knew who this person was. He was an obsessive ex of yours that just would not leave you alone and accept the separation despite it being years passed. He gulped hard, nervously stepping back, not thinking that he would get caught.

“You were so bold to even follow us in the first place, why so shy now?” Ran smirked, hiking up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “This is the first time you’ve heard of me or something? I should introduce myself to you well and hard then.”

Almost ten minutes had passed since you’ve been waiting for Ran. You sat patiently and waited. Your best guess as to what’s taking him so long revolves around Rindou. Maybe he was complaining about how he wanted food from a different place or being picky about menu opinions. Just as you were about to raise yourself from your seat to check up on Ran, you saw him enter.

“Did I make you wait too long?” Ran appeared, seating himself in front of you. The worse case scenario you had in mind was that he got into a fight, but in front of you, he looked just as how you last saw him. “You know how Rindou is.”

Your chest became relaxed and you gave a small smile, shaking your head, “What did he want from here?”

“I didn’t even listen to what he said,” Ran teased, opening up his menu and leaning back against the chair. You felt his legs sandwich your calves from beneath the table. “He can order it himself. All my money is going to you today.”

And that was how Ran liked it. Although Ran wanted everyone to know that he belonged to you, he knew how important it was for others to know that you belonged to him too. The image of the face of your ex is burned so clearly into his brain — face all bloodied up, mauled almost, as he failed to even whisper for forgiveness.

“I think there’s only one way I’m gonna let you outta here alive,” Ran kicked his body down with force, hearing something shift in his jaw. He couldn’t give half a damn about it. “Do you know what that is?”

Your ex was visibly beaten and weak now, barely able to even blink or properly form a sentence. Though, with his adam’s apple slightly moving from fear, Ran took it as a response.

Grabbing him by his hair upward, Ran bent down, looking straight at him, “You’re gonna leave them alone and never show your goddamn face again. If it wasn’t fucked already before, it sure is now. I promise you I’ll know if you’re even barely visible or a mile away, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

Ran thought it was so disgusting how someone like you could ever have your time wasted on someone low like this ex of yours. Even if Ran saw him and his brother above everyone else, he always put you above him.

“Maybe even after this, I’ll send one of my men to go and beat the shit out of you every day so you could suffer for as long as you’ve tried to bother Y/N.”

— RINDOU HAITANI

Rindou can’t even remember what it took for you two to even reach this state of your guys relationship. He convinced himself that it was Ran, his older brother who wouldn’t shut up about how he was going to take you if Rindou didn’t make a move.

It genuinely surprises himself even whenever he looks your way, observing every detail and soaking in the idea that you are someone he can call his.

You two were watching a movie, or rather, supposed to. Rindou was too focused on side-eyeing you every now and then. You caught him a few times, but he would brush it off with comments like “this movie is boring” or “I’m just checking to see if you fell asleep.”

He would snap himself out of a trance after hearing your phone ring beside you. You eyed it once, looking at the caller ID and ignoring it. It wasn’t enough to cause Rindou to worry - it’s not his problem if you just didn’t wanna answer a call, it was your guys’ time anyway.

But then it rang once more again. Your ringtone dragged itself out halfway through before Rindou slightly raised his hand from your hip, pointing to the phone on the side of the couch.

“You not gonna answer that?” He asked.

You shook your head, eyes focused on the TV, “It’s fine. It’s an unknown caller ID.”

Rindou shrugged, ignoring it once again, but after a few more calls and your phone receiving back to back text messages, it was starting to irk him. He was close to just grabbing your phone and answering the call himself, but you were quick to act before him, just shutting it off.

“It must be spam or something,” You sighed, sitting back down.

“Yeah, well whatever it is, good thing you shut that damn thing off. That shit was annoying,” Rindou sighed, curling his arms around you again. “Let’s change the movie too or something. This one is boring.”

One thing about dating Rindou is that he seems uninterested in absolutely everything he does. Although you avoid thinking like that when it comes to your relationship with him, you always remind yourself that Rindou is someone who deeply cares for you. He shows it very differently compared to others, but you know.

He can recall a memory from a few weeks ago where you kept getting calls in the middle of your guys’ date. It annoyed him, but not as much as it annoyed you. You’ve pressed the red decline button at least five times now, stressing over it and spilling out everything about your previous ex.

At the end of your rant, Rindou grabbed your phone, picking up the call and saying words as simple as “leave them alone.” It was so simple, but for the next few weeks, it was silent. You finally thought you were free of harassment thanks to your boyfriend, but recently, they’ve been coming back as unknown caller IDs and more frequent than before.

Halfway through the movie, Rindou felt your body become more loose and relaxed beneath him. Your breath became slower and more steady. You had fallen asleep. He thought it was ironic to have someone as angelic as you in the arms of someone like him - a gang member always involving himself in trouble, even just for fun.

He stared at your phone just a reach away and then back at you. The last thing Rindou wanted was for you to be uncomfortable, or really, anything that isn’t where you aren’t happy.

When you woke up, the TV was shut off and you felt a blanket drape over your body. You realized you had fallen asleep from earlier, but you were expecting to find your boyfriend with you as well. That was when the door swung open and you were greeted with Rindou.

“Rindou?” You slowly let out, still adjusting from waking up. “I didn’t know you left.”

He raised a bag up midway in the air, it’s a bag from a bakery you often bought from, “You kept murmuring about it in your sleep. Didn’t want you to wake up all grumpy.”

“I don’t wake up grumpy!” You protested, watching as he took his seat next to you and unpacking all of your favorites.

“Yeah, okay,” Rindou joked. He listened to you puffing out before wrapping yourself around his arm.

“Thank you though,” You murmured out of embarrassment - maybe he was half right.

“It’s nothing,” He replied, softening his face into a grin. “Must’ve been hungry though if it got you talking in your sleep and drooling on my arm.”

You didn’t even know about half of the things he does for you, but he didn’t mind it, because if you were happy, then that was all that mattered.

It made Rindou feel guilty to turn on your phone and look through it. It wasn’t something that he ever felt the need to do - he trusted you and it felt wrong if you weren’t aware that he was using it. Though, at this time, he felt like it was for the better.

While you were silently sleeping, he browsed through your texts. It’s that same person - your ex back again to bother you. Rindou scoffed, making sure it wasn’t loud enough to wake you up, but he was angry. He clicked his tongue whilst composing a message.

Rindou knew you would never be so stupid as to meet up with someone like this, especially not after already experiencing it once. It was a good thing that it was just Rindou posing as you though. How delighted your ex felt to have finally received a response to you - ‘Let’s meet up here.’

Rindou thought it was so pathetic. This guy had no idea what he looked like, let alone that you even had a boyfriend. So when Rindou’s immediate reaction upon seeing him was to throw a punch, he was shocked.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Your ex cried out, trying his best to dodge his attacks but failing in between his words and attempts.

“Me?!” Rindou snapped, pushing him to the ground and twisting his arms. “Speak for yourself.”

The man beneath him screamed in pain, “I-I’ll call the cops on you and have you arrested!”

“Yeah? You think they’ll give me less time if I tell them I was just trying to teach a creep a lesson?” Rindou pulled back on his arms a little harder, tendons and muscles stretching themselves out of place.

“T-The hell are you talking about?!” He stuttered out.

“Don’t bitch around. Might end yourself up in there if you keep this act of yours up - I’ve been once before,” Rindou smirked, pulling back more and more on his arms. “It was fine for me. My big bro and I even got some respect while in there, so what’s gonna happen when they hear about your name from me? You’re fresh meat to them.”

“W-Who even are you?!”

Rindou scoffed, “The same guy who warned you once to leave Y/N alone. I should’ve honestly went to find you myself personally and beat the shit out of you, but I hate wasting my time.”

Your boyfriend let the man go. If his arms weren’t all bent out of place and dislocated, he’d be crawling away by now. It was a sight that Rindou would laugh at. Upon seeing that his phone had fallen out of his pocket, the same phone used to consistently harass you, Rindou stomped down hard, breaking it into bits and pieces.

“Don’t waste my time again. Next time you do, call the cops, I promise you I won’t care if they catch me killing you,” Rindou turned his back around.

#tokyorev x reader #ran haitani #rindou haitani #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x y/n #ran haitani x reader #rindou haitani x reader

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fa-headhoncho · 3 years

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Untitled TFATWS Fic: Part 1

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Prompt/Background: After turning yourself in to the government following the events of CA:TWS, they lock you up for the crimes you committed during your time at Hydra. Spending years there until Captain America got you on parole during the blip to help fight Thanos. Now, after doing community service acts and helping the broken society, when they give the new Captain America the shield, you’re thrown back into a life you didn’t want.

Word Count: 1871 (ahaha, yea)

Reader: Female

Warning: parole officers might be triggering??? idk

Author’s Note: I’ve decided to end my 141 part Wattpad Sebastian Stan imagine book and post on Tumblr instead :’), a happy day. Also, I’M SORRY THAT I LIKE SLOW BURN SERIES OK? Schedule for this series is every Thursday. ALSO IF YOU HAVE TITLE IDEAS FOR THIS SERIES, LMK! PLEASE

Masterlist

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

=====

The sound of your heels echoed throughout the dimly lit room as you make your way through the exhibit. The walls take you back in time, reading how Captain America came to be and all his past accomplishments. They even updated from the last time you were here, documenting the events on the Blip.

You didn’t even know where you were going, absently letting your emotions and feet lead to where it felt you needed to be.

“For a former spy, you’re not really good at sneaking up on someone.” Rhodes’ voice greets you once you open up the curtain to a different area. A small smile sneaks its way across your face seeing the two men in front of you.

“Bit out of practice.” You spit back, walking towards them. “It’s nice to see you again, Rhodie.” You open your arms out to him and he gladly takes the hug. “Hopefully life’s been treatin’ you well.”

“For the most part,” He chuckles out while pulling away from the embrace. You move on to the other man, him happily wrapping his arms around your waist as you wrap yours around his shoulders.

Sam lets out a breath into the crook of your neck before pulling back. “You doing okay?” You ask, looking at his face for any sign of emotion. He nods but there was something in his eye that told otherwise.

You open your mouth to push him for the real answer but Rhodes cuts you off, “Well, I have to get going. It was good seeing you, (Y/L/N), hopefully, we work together soon. Remember what I said, Sam.” With that, he leaves the room to leave you and Sam alone.

The room fills with silence as the two of you turn to the iconic suit and shield in front of you. You try to watch Sam from the corner of your eye but he just stands with his back straight and his eyes forward.

“You know, I’m sure Steve would understand.” You decide to say, clasping your hands in front of you. “I didn’t become as close as you did, but from my time with him during the Blip, he tried his best to help everyone. He had a lot of responsibilities and issues of his own along with having a whole country looking up to him...

“It was a lot… he opened to me about it one night before… you know.” You admit which makes him finally look at you. “He told me what he was going to do and all I could do is support him… I asked him what he was going to do with the mantle and he said give it to you.” Turning your head, you make eye contact with him. “I asked him if he was sure.”

He lets out a snort at that, shaking his head at you. “Really gotta do me like that?” He wipes his hand across his face then stuffs his hand in his pockets as he turns to face you. “I thought we were having a nice bonding moment and then you had to drop me like that?”

You can’t help the giggle that escapes your lips at his whining. “I’m being serious, Sam, stop.” You hit him on the shoulder. “He said there was no doubt in his mind that you do what needed to be done with the shield. He trusted you and your judgment, Falcon.” You emphasize his hero name which he just rolls his eyes at you.

“Yea, I’m sure he did.” He smiles and then changes the subject, “How’s parole treatin’ ya, still got the collar on?” He gestures to your ankle causing you to lift your dress pant leg, flashing the electric bracelet around your ankle. He lets out a hearty chuckle at it. “Still can’t believe that they have you on a leash.”

“Price you gotta pay for freedom.” You shrug and drop the cloth. There’s a beat of silence between the two of you, both of you taking a glance back at the exhibit and the shield.

“Have you talked with Bucky recently?”

“No, I was going to ask you.” Your heart sinks at the realization. “We’ve been texting a bit but I haven’t seen him since I spent the weekend with him a couple of weeks ago.” You shyly admit and look down at your feet.

“Weekend, huh?”

“Shut it, Sam.” You knock your foot against his. “We didn’t do anything, he doesn’t like me like that. Plus, he wouldn’t even let me spend the night. I had to go to a hotel, he sleeps on the floor, Sam! I’m worried about him.” It took weeks for you to convince him to let you come over and you finally knew why when you step into his apartment. It made your heart sink, it looked like if a Hydra cell got a remodel. “He has two chairs and a tv.”

“Living modestly I see.” He snorts out, covering up whatever he was actually thinking. It’s now your turn to roll your eyes at him, frustrated that he isn’t willing to talk about this. “Hey, he’s still figuring stuff out, okay? He just got all his memories back and he’s still working on living with his past. You should know better than I do to give him time.” His tone is soft as he lightly scolds you. You hang your head at his words, knowing he’s right.

It took some time for you to come to terms with your past when you turned yourself in after Hydra and SHIELD fell. You took accountability for your actions during your years at Hydra and spent a few years in jail before Steve took action to help you get on parole. That didn’t mean you weren’t fully recovered.

“When are you joining me on the field, anyway?” Sam changes the topic noticing how you went silent and your eyes looked past him. “I could use you on some of my recon missions.”

A large smile forms on your face at the mention of your parole. “A couple more check-ins and I’m good, I think.” You excitedly inform, “They actually want to talk to me about something, and then it’s the last three months. Saving the world made my good behavior skyrocket.”

“I’m sure it did.” He smiles, “Well, let me know what happens. I’m heading down to Louisiana soon and my sisters want to meet you. She heard about your work with the soup kitchens in New York and she wanted some insight.”

“Really? Give her my number, you know I’d be happy to talk with her. I’ve been thinking about trying to get my officer to convince the big guys to expand my tracking radar so I reach out more.” You start to ramble about the ideas you’ve been having for more community service actions. During the blip, Steve got you into volunteer work and it sparked something inside of you. He said it might give you a new purpose and he couldn’t have been more right.

The two of you spend the rest of the day together, catching up on everything that’s been going on. You didn’t realize how much you missed his snarky comments and banter until he smothered you in it, “making up for lost time”, he said. He continues the bullying by texting back and forth for the next few days.

It was nice to have a friend after everything that happened over the last few years. Steve and Nat were gone so the friendships you built up during the blip were just a memory now. Yea, Bucky and you were friends but it was a bit more complicated than that.

It’s a few weeks after that and they’ve already named some prick the new Captain America. You were frustrated at Sam but you realized that he couldn’t have known that this was going to happen. Especially since when you reached out to him and he was more furious than you were. Bucky was a whole other story. When the press conference aired, he immediately called you and went off about Sam. You couldn’t offer answers so you just told him to talk to him about it. This didn’t involve you.

Now, you were sat at some random government office in DC. You were beyond nervous, leg bouncing and fingers tapping. Kevin, your sweet parole officer, had called you in for an emergency meeting. He didn’t mention anything about the content of it but he assured you not to worry. It didn’t help, though, your mind was scrambling trying to think of anything you could’ve done to break your parole or anywhere you could’ve gone that went outside your tracking radar.

“(Y/L/N)?” The familiar voice echoes through the lobby makes your head snap up. Kevin, your knight in a cashmere sweater, stands there with his hands in his pants pockets. He nods his head, gesturing for you to follow him.

He leads you down a long hallway, stopping at the end of it and holding the door open for you. You send him a grateful smile before entering the office. It was very different from his usual office. The tall windows lined the wall from floor to ceiling, making the already large room feel even more spacious. It was a bit unsettling compared to his close-knit office space located in an old house on the outskirts of DC.

Kevin moves you two to the large conference table on the other side of the room, having you sit before he does. He takes the chair at the head of the table, sighing as he opens the folder and takes a few papers out.

“Sign these.” He slides them over to you but you furrow your eyebrows in response.

“What’s going on?”

“You’re being released.” He announces, leaning back in his chair with a tight-lipped smile on his face. Your jaw drops and your heart picks up but you can’t help but question it. You quickly compose yourself and look down at the papers.

“Isn’t it a bit too early?” You ask while briefly scanning the papers. “I still have two months left, not that I’m not grateful but where is this coming from?” This was happening too suddenly, Kevin was good with warning you about the activities that go on behind the scenes of your parole and he didn’t even mention the thought of an early release.

The brunette man lets out a sigh, running his hair through his long hair. He then leans his elbows on the table with his head propped up on his palms, he opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by the office door opening.

The new Captain America and his sidekick come waltzing in, a few of his goons following as well. He didn’t need the uniform or shield for you to recognize him since his face has been plastered on every channel since they came forward with him. He’s all everyone could talk about.

“He released you.” You barely hear Kevin as your mind goes into spirals. What the hell did this guy want? Why is he even here? What the hell did he want with you?

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #avengers imagines #james buchanan barnes #james barnes #tfatws #avengers fanfic #mcu #james buchanan barnes x reader

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erosia-rhodes · 3 years

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Top 9 Newbie thoughts on Supernatural after Six Months of Madness

I started watching Supernatural a week before the series finale, and full disclosure, it was only because I heard about the gay angel. I loved me some Good Omens, so I decided to check out a series my only previous thoughts about had been, "Is that show still on?" In the past six months, I've watched about fifty percent of the episodes scattered across all fifteen seasons. I've also spent time following the bonkers-in-the-best-way fandom on Tumblr, and here is what I have learned:

1) Everyone who loves Supernatural also hates Supernatural

No one is capable of praising this show without also trashing it. Supernatural is as awful as it is awesome. Watching Supernatural is like hate-fucking your nemesis against a wall; you're totally conflicted about it, but it's enormously pleasurable and you know you're going to do it over and over again. No one has a pure, untainted love for this show. They only have complicated emotions. This is because…

2) The fact that the show needs to be fixed is an essential part of its appeal

Strangely, if this show were better, it wouldn't be as popular. If you love a show that is perfect, you watch it once or twice or thrice, make a bunch of memes, and move on with your life two years later when you find something else to hyper-fixate on. If you love a show that's broken, you spend the rest of your life obsessed with fixing it. It's the crooked photo hanging on the wall that yearns to be straightened (because, you know, this show is bad at making things straight). It's the stray dog you know would be adoptable if you fattened it up and socialized it with your other dogs, and just like some people can't stop rescuing animals, Supernatural fans can't stop thinking about how to fix a show that isn't great, but could be with a flea bath and a trip to the groomers. Supernatural fans are not fans of the actual show, but of the show they imagine it could be, one that only exists in an alternate universe. They are in love with the Platonic ideal of Supernatural. That's also the reason why…

3) The fans understand the characters and themes better than 95% of the people who worked on the show

The people who watch Supernatural have thought about it way, way, way, more than anyone who produced it. I have read complex essays about what the color of people's clothing imply and how the state of the Impala reflects the state of Dean's mental health and other things I'm certain this show did not do intentionally. People can find depth in the shallowest aspects of this series. Any random fan could explain the complicated dynamics of the Winchester family and the overriding themes of the series better than most of the people who worked on it. That includes the LGBTQ stuff, which leads to the fact that…

4) The show is simultaneously too gay and not gay enough

On one end of the spectrum are fans who are offended you would dare to suggest one of the Winchesters might like kissing a boy and they'll shove you in a locker and duct tape your butt cheeks together for it. On the other end of the spectrum are fans who think it's odd that every episode doesn't end with two attractive men dry humping in a dark corner of the bunker library. No one is happy with the level of gayness on this show. It's always got too much "No Homo" or too much queer subtext, which is why I've concluded that…

5) The audience this show wanted is not the audience they got and they are resentful of it

The original pitch for this show targeted a male demographic who’s into toxic masculinity in a non-ironic way. It was about bros and beers and muscle cars and shotguns and hot chicks who will be killed to further the man's storyline. However, when making that show, they accidentally created a show that attracted female viewers who liked speculating about the queer subtext of each scene while looking at pretty men with traumatic backstories fight back their man tears. The show depends on the unintended audience segment to survive, but is bitter about it, which they remind you of time and time again by killing the female and non-white characters and toying with endless queer-baiting. It's like the writers got a plane to Rome, ended up in a gay nightclub in Amsterdam instead, and even though the canals and tulips make it a lovely city to visit, they wanted to go to Rome, damnit, and they'll never let you forget it! I also suspect that…

6) The people who made this show were at constant war with each other

This show has such a split personality. Sometimes it leans into the gay stuff and other times it makes fun of it outright. Sometimes they'll introduce an interesting side character that could make the show more diverse and then they'll slaughter that person for practically no reason. Sometimes they praise free will and other times they force people down pre-destined paths. The writers feel like a dysfunctional family stuck at Thanksgiving dinner endlessly squabbling with each other—who then had to write a TV show together over dessert. That's why it's such a weird hot mess. The show's unevenness makes me think that…

7) Some people's attachment to the show can only be explained by the fact that it imprinted on them when they were young

Some fans have mentioned they started watching Supernatural when they were kids. It's a pretty common experience to go back and watch things you loved when you were a kid and realize they were…not so good. Your memories of them are far better than the reality of them, but you cling to them anyway. The shows you watch when you're young imprint on you in a way you never forget. Supernatural fans are like a baby duck who looks up at a cat and assumes it’s their mother. Then that cat slices open their poor little hearts, leaving them wounded but not dead, forever be toyed with in agony. The only relief is that…

8) The fandom is batshit insane in the best way

I started following the Supernatural fandom on Tumblr in November of 2020 and OMG, it was AH-MAZE-ING. It was total insanity. I didn't understand half of what was going on, but it was more fun than a yard full of puppies doing zoomies. People were posting detailed PowerPoint presentations theorizing how the series would end, citing extensive physical evidence like the background in Misha's hotel room. People learned election results through Supernatural memes. Destiel went canon every other week. When the Spanish dub was released, Tumblr literally crashed! Obama's Twitter was following a Destiel account. There was a Twitter wedding for Destiel on Valentine's Day, which made the one-month anniversary on Pi Day.

It's been a ride, y'all. I have no idea how you guys survived fifteen years of this. The fandom has been so much fun that I actually sat down and watched more than 100 hours of this show so I could understand everything better. It's like the show is an extension of the fandom instead of vice versa. If anything sums up Supernatural for me, that's it. It's all about the fandom and the show is secondary to that. It's like the fans willed the show into existence as part of some partially botched spell. And part of that twisted spell is that…

9) The show will never die until someone finds its bones and burns them

This show has been off the air for more than six months now and it keeps trending on Tumblr consistently. Misha recently trended on Twitter simply because he was at the Oscars. That was it! He didn't even do anything there, he just attended, and some people figured it out by the reflection in a photo posted by someone else! And just as I was proofreading this post, Destiel started trending again because John Cena is a stan or something? This fandom is crazy and unpredictable and I love it like Dean loves pie! If there ever does come a time when this show stops trending, that will be the moment when they decide to reboot it or revisit it.

There is a lot more I could say about this show, but these were the elements that seemed most unique and bizarre about it. I wouldn't say Supernatural is a ride-or-die fandom for me, and I have no intention of watching another 100 hours of this series, but it's been hella' fun to drop in for a while. The show is just as much a dysfunctional mess as the Winchester family and I guess that's why people love it, right?

#supernatural #spn #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #jensen ackles #jared padalecki #misha collins #destiel #the cw #tv #television

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fireinmoonshot · 3 years

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SPIDER | BUCKY BARNES x READER | PART FIVE

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR Summary: Bucky doesn’t know what to make of you when he meets you. You’re friends with Sharon, and you seem pretty easy to read on the surface. But the more time he spends with you, the more he seems to uncover, and the more he becomes tangled in the web you unwittingly weave. Pairing: female!Reader x Bucky Barnes Fandom: Marvel / The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Word Count: 2,501 Warnings: SPOILERS FOR THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER. A/N: I had honestly intended to squeeze the rest of Episode 4 into this part but this one particular scene ended up being longer than I’d expected it to be, so I decided to put it all into one part and I’ll just do the rest in another part. Especially because this particular scene is quite important to the relationship between Bucky and reader. Thank you once again for reading and do let me know your thoughts!

The plan had been simple. The four of you were going to head to Donya’s funeral and try and talk to Karli. Sam had spoken to Sharon – you’d been a little annoyed that you hadn’t been able to talk to her, though you’d pushed that to the side for now – and settled on a plan.

Not too long after your conversation with Bucky, you’d left Zemo’s apartment to head to the location of the funeral. And then you’d turned a corner and spotted the unmistakable suit of blue and red. The wannabe Captain America had found you.

“Karli Morgenthau is too dangerous for you guys to be pulling this shit!” Walker calls, heading down a flight of stairs at speed towards you. It’s the first time you’ve ever seen the man in person and honestly, you’re not phased by him. Even when you’d seen Steve Rogers on TV, it was obvious how different he was, how special. To you, John Walker seems like nothing more than someone trying to be something that they aren’t. It irritates you to see him in the suit.

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Ah! How’d you find us now?”

Despite the fact that there were several people on the street, attention hadn’t been on you before. Now that Captain America was here, and yelling at that, every single set of eyes was on you. You shrink a little at the attention, shoving your hands deep into the pockets of your coat and shuffling a little closer to Bucky and Sam.

Bucky notices and moves closer to you unintentionally.

Lemar chuckles. “Come on. You really think two Avengers can walk around Latvia without drawing attention?”

“We were certainly doing fine before now,” you mutter.

“No more keeping us in the dark,” Walker continues. “You could start by telling us why you broke him out of prison. And who the hell this new chick is and why she’s with you. Last I checked, she’s not an Avenger.”

Bucky stands a little taller. “He did that himself, technically. And she’s a friend, not a chick. That’s all you need to know about her.”

“Oh, this better be an unbelievable explanation!”

Sam steps up and holds a hand up to stop Walker as the two groups finally come together. “Hey, take it easy before it gets weird.”

Walker looks pissed off. Honestly, you feel the same way.

“I know where Karli is,” Zemo steps up. He says the words, figures that they’re all he needs to get by and starts to go around Walker, intending to lead the way. Instead, Walker stops him.

“Well, where?”

“All we know is, it’s a memorial. So we’re gonna intercept her there.”

You look past Zemo and spot one of the children he’d been speaking to earlier watching you all anxiously. The sight of her makes you want to throw a punch Zemo’s way, and you hate that he made this innocent child trust him so easily. Bucky can sense the change in you. He nudges your shoulder with his and you snap to look at him. He doesn’t need to say anything for you to understand what he means.

“That means civilians. High risk of casualties,” Lemar adds.

“All right, good, we’ll move in fast. Take her by surprise.”

You roll your eyes. “Good? How is that good?”

Bucky snorts.

Sam ignores both of you. “No, I wanna talk to her alone.”

“I’m not losing her again,” Walker shakes his head.

“Look, the person closest to her died, she’s vulnerable. If there’s any time to reason with her, it’s now,” Sam argues.

The words strike a chord with Walker. He hurries ahead in front of all of you, forcing you to stop. “What? No. Wait, no! No! Stop. Hold on. Stop, okay? I think we’re way past reasoning with her, unless you forgot that she blew up a building with people still in it.”

Lemar agrees. “Sam, you walk in there cold, she could kill you.”

“And if I go in hot and the op goes wrong, more people will die.”

You step forward. “Then I’ll go in. Karli doesn’t know who the hell I am, and maybe it’d help – woman to woman, you know? And hey, if something goes wrong and I die, at least it’s not an Avenger dying at her hands. It’s just me.”

Bucky’s head snaps up at your words. Fear strangely spikes in his veins that you’d even suggest that and he shakes his head instantly. “No. No way are we sending you in there alone.”

“I mean, it’s not a bad idea,” Walker admits with a shrug of his shoulders. “Look at the alternative. You letting your partner walk into a room with a Super Soldier alone. Would you really let him do that?”

“He’s dealt with worse. And he’s not my partner.” He says straight-faced. “And she is not going in there either. It’s a damn bad idea and we all know it is.” He turns to you. “You included.”

Sam sighs and walks past the both of you so he’s face to face with Walker. “I used to counsel soldiers dealing with trauma, okay? This is right in my wheelhouse.”

“Yeah, I know. And I know those soldiers, which is why I know this is a bad idea. That’s why it’s a better idea to send the girl in there – like she said, it’s better her dying than an Avenger, right?”

You see Bucky take a step forward out of the corner of your eye and twist to stand in front of him before he can get to Walker, a hand going out in front of you and resting on his chest. You push him gently. “Don’t, Bucky.”

“You’re not going in there.”

He feels protective. He doesn’t know why, but Sam has an idea. He watches the two of you, sees something pass between you, and furrows his eyebrows. He hadn’t seen it coming, that’s for sure. Hadn’t seen you to be the one to bring out the ever protective side of Bucky Barnes that Sam really hasn’t seen in a long time. He hadn’t seen Bucky acting this way over anyone. And yet here you were, days after meeting him, making Bucky fear for your life on your behalf. Sam doesn’t know what to think.

Bucky lets out a long, shaky breath and then finally looks at you and meets your eyes, tearing his glare away from Walker. “You’re not going.”

“Okay, fine,” you relent, voice soft. “I won’t go in there.”

He steps back and nods, trying to calm himself down, and you step away from him, not wanting to crowd him too much after your apparently bad idea. You hadn’t expected him to react so much. In fact, you’d expected Sam to be all for the idea, and for Bucky to go along with it. Even if he was starting to trust you, his reaction to your suggestion had been entirely surprising. You stare down at the cobblestoned street beneath your feet and frown. What was he thinking? And why had he reacted that way?

“John,” Lemar starts, once he senses the tension has gone down a little. “If Sam can talk her down, it might be worth a try. And since we’ve just established that she’s not going in there…”

Walker and Sam share a look before Walker finally gives up. He looks over at Zemo. “We’ll deal with you later.”

“I’m sure it will all come to an agreeable conclusion. My associate is just up ahead.” Zemo points to the child and begins the walk towards her again.

You, unwillingly, follow him. Bucky makes sure he stays close to your side, as if he’s afraid that you’re going to run off and do something reckless. You doubt he’d let you get the chance.

A few minutes into the walk, he finally talks to you. But his voice is quiet. You’re walking at the back of the group and he doesn’t want anyone else to hear. “Why would you even suggest going in there to talk to Karli?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” You frown. “It seemed like the best idea.”

He shakes his head. “You dying is not a good idea.”

“What does it matter, anyway? I said it. I’m not an Avenger. It was a good idea. And I think it could have worked if you’d let me. No one would miss me.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows. “Yeah, I find that hard to believe.”

“No, it’s true!”

“What about Sharon, huh? She’d miss you.”

You kick at a loose stone on the road. “She hasn’t even spoken to me since I left.”

“What about me, then?”

His question takes you by surprise. “You?”

He nods. “Yeah, what about me?”

“You would miss me?” You could laugh. “Sure. You barely know me.”

Bucky feels weirdly irritated by your words. He knows you, he thinks. He knows that he likes you. That you understand him better than any stranger he’s met recently. He knows that you scare him a little bit. That your way of thinking, of reacting, of simply being sets him on edge and makes him feel right at home all at the same time. He clears his throat, tries to come up with an answer that isn’t conspicuous and settles on: “I think I know enough about you to know that I’d notice when you’re not here.”

“That’s not the same thing as missing, Bucky.”

He opens his mouth to reply just as Zemo announces that you’ve arrived and the two of you are forced to pause your conversation. The child leads you into the back entrance of an old building and then disappears. No one questions the location.

As soon as you’re inside, your conversation with Bucky is long forgotten and the mission takes first place. Sam goes off on his own, heading further in while Walker handcuffs Zemo and claims that Sam has ten minutes before you do this his way.

You sidle up to Bucky. “Can I punch him now, or do you want the honour?” You mutter, only loud enough for him to hear. He smirks at your words, though you can see he’s still obviously on edge by the whole situation.

And not just by the situation. Because of you, too. Though you don’t need to know that, Bucky thinks. That, he can just keep to himself.

After a few minutes of silence, Bucky heads towards the stairs that Sam had gone up and leans on the railing, as if guarding the entrance. You suppose he probably is, not wanting Walker to get past him, and decide to settle down on the steps themselves, adding another barrier between Walker, Sam and Karli despite the fact that you’re honestly probably not much of a barrier compared to Bucky.

It doesn’t take long for Walker to get on your nerves. He’s clearly anxious about Sam wanting to simply reason with Karli instead of kill her on sight. He’s staring at the shield – the very shield that Bucky wants to steal – and you briefly wonder how he’s going to do it. Simply by the way Walker is holding it, you know he’s not going to give it up easily. He holds it tight, like it’s the most important thing in the world to him, and you feel like it probably is.

He starts pacing less than ten minutes after Sam leaves.

“Uh-uh. No, no, no. This is a bad idea,” he mumbles as he walks.

“It hasn’t been ten minutes, John. Just sit tight,” Bucky offers.

Walker speaks with venom in his voice. “Don’t do that. Don’t patronise me.”

“He knows what he’s doing.” Bucky is unaffected.

Tension rises in the air between all of you once again, as it always seems to do when Walker is around. It’s been a constant state of tension ever since he joined you.

He walks towards the end of the room, pauses for a moment, and then you can see the way his face changes. He hoists the shield higher, and then walks at speed towards you and Bucky. “I’m going in.”

Bucky stands up and stops him with a hand to his chest.

Walker, surprisingly, backs up. You think he’s going to listen to Bucky for just a moment before he looks up, staring at Bucky with a look you’ve only ever seen in a few people before, and never good people at that. You sit up straighter.

“This is all really easy for you, isn’t it?” He starts. “All that serum running through your veins. Barnes, your partner needs backup in there. Do you really want his blood on your hands?”

You can’t see the look on Bucky’s face, but you have a feeling you know how he’s looking at Walker. Slowly, you rise to your feet, placing a hand on Bucky’s shoulder.

“Back up, John,” you warn. “If Sam needed our help, we’d know.”

His eyes flicker to you. “Who do you think you are? I don’t even know you. What makes you think I’d listen to you?” He scoffs. “I’m John Walker. Captain America. You’re not an Avenger. You’re no one special, so I think you should be backing up.”

Bucky’s glare hardens. He narrows his eyes and takes a step towards Walker.

“Watch your mouth, John.”

Walker stares between the two of you for a few moments, and then before you know it, he slams the shield into your stomach, knocking you off to the side, and disappears up the stairs and into the building after Sam. You gasp for breath, the wind having been knocked right out of you.

“Asshole,” Bucky hisses, stepping towards you just as Lemar brushes past you.

You shake your head. “I’m fine, go after them.”

He looks worried. You’ve never seen him look at you this way before.

“Bucky, I’m fine. Go.”

He gives you a nod, promises to come back and then hurries out of the room after Walker and Lemar. He’s needed more there, anyway, and you both know it.

You rub a hand over your stomach as you try to breathe again properly.

“You okay?” Zemo calls over to you.

“Yeah, a shield to the stomach is nothing,” you roll your eyes.

It doesn’t take you too much longer to catch your breath, so when you do, you figure Zemo isn’t going anywhere and head out after Bucky, Walker and Lemar, even though you won’t be much – or any – help to them at all, but you can’t stay in that room with Zemo any longer, and truthfully, you’re worried.

Worried about Bucky, even worried about Sam. You don’t have any reason to be worried about them, and you know that, but you are. Bucky especially – he’s confusing you more than anyone has ever confused you in your entire life. You don’t know what to make of him, why he acts the way that he does around you. But whatever the reason is, you want to find out.

***

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#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine #tfatws #tfatws x reader #marvel #marvel x reader #spider

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echo-three-one · 3 years

Note

How ‘bout Jealous Soap x reader?

Hello Earthisdonut 🌍 🍩

I saw your ask while I was at work and I can't stop thinking about how the story goes... I had a lot of ideas but as I wrote, it kept on swinging on the other direction. Maybe it's my feelings being resonated into the words or an entire force telling me to go this way. Anyways here you go...

A jealous soap x reader fic.

Take me home

You take a deep breath and closed your eyes, clearing away the mixed sounds of random chatter, loud tv commentary and the all the yelling. 'Friday evening shifts are the worst' you thought to yourself as you make your way back to your station, wearing a smile on your face.

"Hey miss!" a customer whistled from the far end of the counter. You hastily walked to him and smiled.

"What can I get you?" you asked with sincerity in your voice. You've worked long enough to master the art of faking a smile when in fact you are tired, but this job is all you have and the tips kept the bills afloat.

"Two beers and roasted nuts, please." He ordered, you were impressed at how kind he was, unlike the other new customers who reeked of rudeness and bad manners.

"Coming right up, Sir!" you winked as you tend to his order, mentally noting his tab for later. You hand him over the beer, placed on a circular chip that served as a coaster, followed by a heaping bowl of roasted nuts.

This kind of scene continued throughout the night, just with different kinds of people with different combinations of orders. You feel tired but you tend to forget it when you look at the tip jar, the thing that kept you moving forward. It's also the thing that's holding you back from life, you remembered when your best friend told you that you should unwind sometimes instead of rendering overtime during your day offs, to which you replied : "Soon enough", and that was well over a year ago.

As you wiped off the recently left spot by the counter, a well built man immediately took the spot and sat down, you tilted you head upward as the action surprised you. There he was, you couldn't miss his look, he stood out on the crowd because of his haircut, a perfectly cut mohawk and a scar on his left eye. He grinned at you, his blue eyes looked excited as soon as it met yours.

"John? I didn't know you'd be home!" You gasped as soon as you realized he's actually there, quickly putting a shot glass and pouring his favorite drink.

"Hey Y/N! I knew I'd find you here!" his hand gestured for a shake but he quickly dismissed it as soon as he realized he couldn't do it while you're at work.

"Yeah, working as always." you replied, trying to sound contented. He smiled at you as he raised his glass and downed the drink. You couldn't help but look at the way his Adam's apple moved as he consumed the drink.

His face turned into something incomprehensible as he let the taste of the strong alcohol set in, making you chuckle a little. His eyes turned to you as he heard you laugh.

"What's funny?" he asked. You simple shook you head and poured another pint on his shot glass.

"I'll be back in a few. I have to serve drinks for these wild crowd." You informed him, but as soon as you were about to step out, you hear him stand up.

"What time will you be off?" He asked.

"Two more hours." You replied without looking back. You could feel your cheeks warm up and an uncontrollable smile plastered on your face.

"Okay. I'll be here till then." he yelled as you entered the door to the employee's area.

'Shit Shit shit shit.' you whispered to yourself as you regain composure. He felt way off. He didn't act like this toward you before. You could feel something odd between you two, and you're very distracted about it.

You made your way to your manager's office to request a five minute break. You knew he'd approve a breather from you because he was a accommodating to you since day one. You believed it's because you always give it your all in every shift.

You softly knock on his office door and pushed it slightly ajar, peeking your head through it as you saw him on his desk, doing some paperwork.

"Ah, Y/N. You need anything, love?" he greeted in his usual tone. His endearment didn't matter you as he calls every female "love".

"Can I take a five? Just needed to breathe." you huffed. He nodded in approval and stood up.

"Let's puff it out, yeah?" he smiled as he offered a stick of cigarette.

The cold breeze of the Saturday evening wrapped around your work uniform. The noise from the bar was muffled but occasional screams would echo across the street. You exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke through your mouth as the relaxing feel of nicotine coursed through your system. Smoking was your go-to activity whenever you feel extreme unexplained emotions, such as seeing John MacTavish after a long time.

"Tough crowd?" Your manager turned his head to you as you casually leaned on the cold metal railing.

"Not really. I just saw someone I least expected to see." You retorted, pressing your lips against the cigarette butt as you closed your eyes and inhaled the vice.

"Someone you hate?" He queried.

"Not necessarily. But at one point of my life, maybe... It's just... it's complicated." You complained, sighing at the thought of him once again. You mentally fought against yourself whether to reminisce or not, reminding yourself that the reason you went out here was to clear your head, not to fill it with memories of summer 4 years ago.

You fixed your posture and flicked off the cigarette butt to the ashtray. Your boss followed, escorting you back to the office.

"Thanks for the company. I needed it." You thanked him as you crossed the street. He hummed in acknowledgement as he opened the door for you. You couldn't help but scan the room quickly for a mohawk, but he wasn't around. Maybe he went to the bathroom, you thought to yourself as you get back to your station.

9:59 pm. Your eyes trailed to the huge digital clock by the door, rapidly moving across the crowd still no mohawk in sight. This actually made you sad, he wasn't the kind of guy who dissappoints, you always saw him as a man of his word. You did confirm that he already paid for his tab about an hour and a half ago, just after your short break.

Guess you're going home alone. So much for ' I'll be here till then' you mentally argued, frowning as you wiped off the last glass in the tray.

10:00 pm. You sighed and lazily grabbed your time card and let the huge metal clock record your departure. You felt your energy quickly deplete due to the dissappointment that is John MacTavish.

"See you on Monday!" you waved goodbye to your coworkers who seemed to notice your sudden loss of energy. You push the back door slowly and stepped outside. It was getting cold and you weren't prepared for it.

"Hey." A low scottish accent muttered just beside you, making you yelp in surprise.

"Holy crap, you scared the shit out of me!" you angrily punched his strong arm, hurting yourself in the process.

"I'm sorry." he spoke lazily, almost tired or drunk. You couldn't exactly tell, but it was far from his tone earlier.

"Pretty chilly, eh?" you asked him, imitating his accent. Something that you always considered a major turn on when it comes to him.

"A little bit. And your impression is way off, I don't say it like that." he retorted nonchalantly making you worry if something happened while he was waiting.

"You seem a little off, what's the problem?" you asked, playfully bumping him while you walked the empty streets on your way home.

"It's just... uh.. Nevermind." he trailed off, his secrecy was making you impatient and you stopped on your tracks. He continued walking, looking down at the ground until he noticed you're no longer beside him.

He turned back. "You forgot something?"

"I don't get you." you raised your voice. He slowly walked back to you until he's just inches away from your face.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I should've just asked..."

"Asked what? You told me you'd stay here till my shift is over and then you're gone like that?" you complained, the tone of your voice was demanding and you could see him flinch when words hurt.

"I didn't want to raise suspicion."

"Who would be suspicious of you?!"

"Shortly after you left, I took a smoke. But I didn't do it by the smoking area. I was way up here, enjoying the breeze." he said, turning to the smoking area which was very visible from up here. Was he sad because he saw you and your manager by the smoking area? What kind of eyes did he have? You didn't want to assume things so you started to supply him with questions to fill in the blanks.

"And? Was the area too sad for you to be all emo like that all of a sudden?" you complained, soing your best impression of an angry person, but you know deep inside that you couldn't get angry at this man.

"Yeah. You could say that." he chuckled. He couldn't even look at you anymore.

"Bullshit." you retorted. He slowly tilted his head and smiled as soon as your eyes met. The view was so gorgeous you almost felt like the world was in slow motion.

"You don't have to believe me if you want. Why are you walking with me home anyway. You could've said no. I bet he has some nice fancy car to drive you home." he blurted, fog started to huff out of his mouth as the snow started to fall from the sky.

"Where are you going with this, John?" you spat, letting the emotions get the best of you. If only he was clear enough then this wouldn't have happened.

"I saw the two of you smiling while talking, I thought to myself. Yeah, she's happy with that bloke huh, I wish I knew that before I invited her earlier." he breathed out. You almost felt guilty, but it wasn't your fault. He easily assumed things that weren't even true.

"What made you think we're together? Just because we're smoking together doesn't mean we're in a relationship. Is that what you thought?" you replied, fighting back helping him on his way to the truth.

He paused, it's as if his whole thought process was shattered when your words stung him.

"I got jealous. To be fair, I was gone for 4 years... I always thought you already found someone else within that time." he frowned. It was not usual of him to feel this vulnerable.

"Look-" you tried to explain but you suddenly felt his warm embrace wrapped around you.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered. The same words he said before leaving 4 years ago. The same words that hurt you back then and the same words that's going to hurt you at this moment. He was the one that got away, he was the one whom you shared your most magical moments with, but not the one who's going to be there until the end. He'll have to leave anytime soon, as his job requires him to save the world. You told him he could settle for less risky world saving endeavors but he insisted that this was his purpose. And you were not willing to let him choose again.

"You know... you're not supposed to feel jealousy." you consoled, rubbing his well sculpted back.

"I know... I couldn't help it." he whispered.

"Let's get you home, John." you whisper to him as he pulls away from you, his face pouted like a baby whose candy got stolen.

"Why are you here anyway?" you added.

"I'm getting reassigned to a new task force. I figured I could say goodbye to someone I hold dear." he smirked, he felt normal, but then again you couldn't help but feel that this would be the last time you'll be seeing him. You we're thinking he won't be able to travel freely back here anymore or worse, he'll be the hero the world wanted him to be.

#earthisadonut asks for a fic #horRAYfic #no spoilers in the tags #but aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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x0401x · 4 years

Text

Violet Evergarden Movie Summary

The initial plan was to make this a short bullet-point thing, but I felt like there was too much to clarify and I had no choice but use novel references to explain certain parts, so I decided to just write a normal summary. Many thanks before-hand to my friend Yuuki, who gave me all this info.

Apologies for taking relatively long with this thing. Not even I expected that I would end up writing this much. Buckle up for the ride, ‘cause it won’t be fun.

Nope, not kidding. It really won’t.

First thing I need to make clear is: this movie is one and a half hour long and divided into three parts and two different timelines: the times when Violet existed and the times after she dies. Already in the beginning of the movie, Violet is dead.

Yes, you read this right. She’s dead.

Now, I don’t mean that she’s dead in the literal sense. This is 60 years in the future. She might be alive or not, but it’s never said. However, the timeline of 60 years later is considered an era without Violet, apparently because she has retired and her “legend” is over, so to say. It’s also a time where Auto-Memories Dolls don’t exist. That’s one good punch in the face. Let’s keep counting.

The movie is sort of like a tale being read by someone else, which at some point goes into Violet’s first-person POV. The whole thing is kind of a look back on Violet’s life tragectory and how it took a new turn when she decided to continue looking for Gil despite all the mess of the TV series.

The era where Violet exists is an era where telephones are being introduced to the people, so Auto-Memories Dolls are starting to become unnecessary. I would argue that the creation of the telephone isn’t enough for an entire occupation to start disappearing so quickly, since new inventions are normally extremely expensive and not everyone has access to them (or even knows about their existence) so immediately after their conception. Realistically speaking, ghostwriters would still be important as long as there were still so many people unable to buy phones. Not to mention that this is a steampunk world where compulsory education doesn’t seem to be a thing yet, so even in the off chance that everybody can buy a phone, there would still be a lot of people who can’t read or write on their own. But all of this clearly went over the animators’ heads, so not only ghostwriters but also the mail business in general are nearing their doom in the movie.

The one looking back on Violet’s life was Ann, who was telling it all to her granddaughter, Daisy (who, by the way, is voiced by Morohoshi Sumire, the same girl who voiced the seven-year-old Ann). Ann had kept all the letters that Violet ghostwrote for her mother, as well as the newspapers about the CH Postal Company. Looks like the article was printed after Violet left CH, since she isn’t in the picture with everyone else.

In this era, CH’s main office has been turned into a museum. Nerine is shown working in it. Of course, she’s a grandma by then. Speaking of the CH personnel, Erica also quit being an Auto-Memories Doll and became a playwright like Oscar. She appears in the newspaper, though, so she probably a while left after Violet did. Taylor also appears there.

Back to Daisy, she was writing a letter to her parents, in order to learn how to properly convey feelings with written word. The message of this scene seems to be that, no matter the tools, what’s important is that we convey our feelings to the people we love.

As we see in the trailer, Gil’s mom has passed and Violet runs into Dietfried when visiting her grave on the anniversary of her death. To anyone who is wondering: yeah, Gil never went to see his mother and she died thinking that he was dead.

Nobody knew that Gil was alive. Not his mother, not Dietfried, not the Evergardens and not even Hodgins. No one.

Here’s what happened to Gil in the anime: he survived the incident at Intense, of course, but got separated from Violet in that explosion. His tag miraculously stayed on the same spot, though, as we saw in the TV series. Now, since this isn’t explained in the anime at all, I have to make it clear: the tag is that necklace the soldiers wear. It contains their names and ranks, so that their bodies can be identified even when they’re irrecognizable. Without the tag, the people who rescued Gil had no idea who he was, so he was sent to a different place to get treated. He ended up at a monastery hospital instead of the one in Enchaîné. I would debate that his uniform alone is enough to identify him as someone from the Leidenschaftlich Army, or maybe they could’ve just asked him which troop he belonged to after he woke up and relocated him to where his fellow men were, but who even cares about all these plot holes anymore? Definitely not me.

Anyway. After Gil was discharged, he ran the fuck away. Like, literally.

If anyone out there was hoping that Gil would finally have his moment to shine as the self-sacrificing, thoughtful and ridiculously kindhearted character that he is in the novel, I have bad news for you. What we had here was even worse than it being Gil’s excuse movie. It’s like the whole thing was made to drag his character so deep through the mud that he’ll never be able to get up again. There’s pretty much nothing in this one and a half hour that actually justifies what he did to Violet. I’ll elaborate on this as we go on.

Anime!Gil became a nomad and went traveling. He offed his ass to the island where that lighthouse displayed in the most recent official art is located (that’s why Gil and Violet were at the beach on the movie poster). He doesn’t have a prosthetic in the anime because, apparently, he was more worried about disappearing as fast as possible to somewhere he would never be found, and never attempted to contact anybody. So nobody knew that he was alive, hence the grave, which, as we feared, was not a fake one. His family really did think he had died.

This is a point that I have already addressed before, but that also means Gil really did abandon Violet to luck. If anything dangerous ever happened to her (as it did, and it was always very obviously likely to happen, since she was the southern army’s most outstanding soldier and quite literally fled from the military), he wouldn’t even know. If word ever got to him, it would probably be too late. And even if it weren’t, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to help her. More than allowing her to live freely, it felt like he was running away from his responsibilities regarding Violet.

Punch on the face count is currently at six.

By sheer coincidence, Violet learns that Gil is living in that island. She goes to see him and Hodgins goes with her after trying to stop her at first. When Gil finds out that they came to see him, he outright refuses to meet them. It pretty much takes the near entirety of the goddamn movie for them to see each other face-to-face. I say face-to-face because all of the following shit happens:

Hodgins goes to talk to Gil. It lasts about 20 minutes.

Gil talks to Violet from behind a door. This one is about 10 minutes.

Dietfried also comes to the island to talk to him. Also about 10 minutes.

At long fucking last, Gil goes to see Violet. But that, too, is only for about 10 minutes.

Hodgins gives him a speech very similar to what happens in chapter 8. Now get ready to fall back from your seats: Dietfried basically goes there to tell Gil that he won’t run away from taking over the family anymore, so Gil can live freely. Yes, Dietfried is officially a better Gilbert than Gilbert himself. I crave death.

So, after much ado, they come to a conclusion: Gil will stay in the island. In order to completely free himself of the shackles of his bloodline, he stays behind, living the way he wants to. ‘Cause all anime!Gil wants is to rot away alone by the sea, apparently. Now prepare yourselves, for it gets worse. Ready?

Violet stays with him in the motherfucking island.

That’s right, ladies and gents. Another fear became true. She quits her job at the CH Postal Company and goes to live with him. Well, at least, not as a housewife. She starts working with mail services in the island, and Gil helps her with it. Her life goes on like this and she dies in the island as well.

This is where the timeline after Violet passes away comes into light, parallel to the era when Violet was alive. Daisy talks about what happened after Violet left CH, as if it were a tale from the distant past.

That’s it.

The movie paints this as a happy ending. I can hardly see it as one. I know it almost looks like everything was solved, but it just got swept under the rug.

The main point that makes me sad in this ending is that Violet’s character development did a 360 degree flip. In the end, she threw everything to the air and went to live in someone who she always put before everyone else, even herself, but who didn’t do the same for her (in the anime). She’s gone to a crammed little island, where she led an uneventful life away from everyone and everything that’s ever had a positive impact on her. All she has is Gil.

Of course, he’s all she needs, but he isn’t all she should have, and that was the entire point of pushing her to go live on her own. Which is exactly what she earns in the novel: two loving parents, a father figure, a brother figure, a best friend and several other friends and acquaintances whom she formed a bond with. She has all she needs, so she doesn’t have to cling to Gil for any reason. There’s no emotional dependance on him anymore. She doesn’t need him to be whole. She just wants him because he happens to be the best person she’s ever met.

Anime!Violet is most definitely not whole. She almost got there, but then she backtracked completely. And anime!Gil... in my friend’s words, is a weakling. There’s nothing in him actually worth all this undying blind love. Sure, he’s full of regret and shit, but it’s too easy to only act upon it now, by vanishing into thin air like a coward.

The deal with novel!Gil is that he looks around at everything he has, everything that had been burdening him and killing him on the inside all his life, and decides to make use of it for Violet’s sake. He continues being family head and working in the army, amassing money and connections in order to have every means possible to protect Violet should anything happen to her. And as it turns out, he does end up having to use those means, more than once, but he will keep this up for as long as he needs to, because he lives for her now. That’s what makes him worth all the blood, sweat, tears, mental sanity and even body parts that she gave away for his sake: he pays it back. Every cent.

Punch in the face count ends at twelve. Thirteen if I include the fact that the movie ends with a last shot of Violet after she and Gilbert do a pinky swear. Looks like they were really trying to buy everyone with tears.

Oh, well.

I hope this has been a good enough summary. Sorry if I rained on anyone’s parade. I’m pretty sure we won’t get a remake ever, so I really wish we all can get over this soon.

#violet evergarden #fyeahvioletevergarden #kyoani #kyoto animation #violet evergarden movie #summary #gilbert bougainvillea #claudia hodgins #dietfried bougainvillea

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livvi-ah · 3 years

Text

Types of Fanfiction AU’S

Enemies to lovers au

This is one of my favorite fanfiction tropes. It’s definitely an extremely common au but it makes sense. Two people have a hatred for one another that turns into a burning love for one another. Ugh I don't know. I feel like it makes for some really hot scenes. Imagine hating someone so much that everything they do just irks you but you can't help but have some hidden feelings for them because they're just so hot when they do literally anything. I don’t know, but I love them and can't really put into words how much they pull me in.

Friends to lovers au

Biggest cliche of all time. But the best stories. Best friends who have harbored crushes on one another for years but kept quiet in fear of ruining the friendship. But then someone else comes along and makes them realize that they care of said best friend and can't live without them and boom. They're together. Lovely. Love them.

Soulmate au

I love soulmate au’s. If I could I would LOVE to live in a world where I have a definite way of knowing who my soulmate is. It’s a cliche but I live for it. There’s so many ways you can link soulmates too. Timers, hearing each others thoughts, having connecting necklaces that nobody else but your soulmate has, tattoos, etc. And to top it off soulmate au’s are almost always beautifully written. It’s a Win Win (wink wink).

Alien invasion au

Okay, I haven't read a lot of au’s that have anything to do with alien invasions but the ONE I have was so good. It was a Namjoon fic and the reader and Joon were actually rivals at first at the academy while training to fight off the aliens. SO FREAKING COOL. These types of fanfiction’s aren't really my favorite because they make my anxiety spike with the thought of aliens really coming to earth and wiping us out but they still make for interesting stories.

Supernatural au

Supernatural au’s are some of my FAVORITES! There’s just something about them that pull me in. Mermen BTS? Yes please. Vampire Stray Kids? Yes lay it on me. Werewolf NCT? Yes just yes. It’s one of my favorite types of au’s because you can do so much with it.

Demon/angel au

Okay, so I know this can go under the supernatural au category but honestly these fanfiction’s deserve to be in their own category. I’ve read a few BTS demon and angel au’s and to say they were some of the best fanfiction’s I've read would be an understatement. Demon BTS is just so attractive. Imagine trying to summon a demon and suddenly MIN FUCKING YOONGI is in your living room and KIM FUCKING SEOKJIN is your guardian angel living next door to protect you from Yoongi who can’t leave because of the spell you used to summon him there. Literally a masterpiece. This is an actual story I read, can’t remember the name though but I’ll try to find it and link it. I’ll link any stories I referenced if I can find them.

Arranged marriage au

I am going to be honest. I don't like these. I don’t read them. I’ve read a few and they weren't bad but they weren't my favorite. But imaging being arranged to marry your bias of any group. I mean obviously normally the bias doesn't even want to be in said arranged marriage but hey, they learn to love you.

Mafia/gang au

I will say this a million times, mafia au’s are hot. I don't know if something is wrong with me but I am insanely attracted to the guys in gangs on Tv shows. Like in Riverdale I am in LOVE with Sweet Pea. Something about a man being part of a gang just brings me in and makes me salivate like Pavlov's dogs. ANYWAYS so imagine my happiness when I realized there's fanfiction about BTS, Stray Kids, NCT, literally any fandom being part of a gang or the mafia. I love these au’s and they are in my top three right next to Soulmate au’s and supernatural au’s. I am big on bad boys and it’s very obvious.

Magic au

I guess a magic au can also go under a supernatural au but man do I love these types of au’s. I recently started a BTS au where the boys are all a different kind of mythical creatures that has to be protected by the reader because someone or something is out to get them and it’s sooooo good. I don’t know just anything magic and fantasy related are great to read for me.

Alien au

I know we have the alien invasion au listed above but this one is a whole other category. This category has to do with aliens but they aren't invading Earth. One of my favorite fanfiction’s of all time is a Taehyung fic where Tae lives on another planet called Sehebon and the reader is part of the Interplanetary Relations Commission, which basically helps planets open up to other planets I guess? I don’t know how to explain but anyways, the reader is there to give the Interplanetary Relations Commission information on Izo Huen and its citizens. Reader meets Tae, Tae likes reader because she's a small human and he wants to learn more about Earth. This fanfic is called Sehebon by httpjeon. It is such a good fanfiction. I definitely recommend reading it! I love these types of alien fanfiction’s because they don't bring the war between human’s an aliens that alien invasion au’s do but instead bring two completely different species from different planets or even galaxies together.

Prison au

Much like the alien invasion au I have only ever read one prison au. I don’t remember much about it other than Namjoon saving the reader from getting hurt when she first arrives and she becomes part of their group. She ends up with Taehyung but the reader gets amnesia and yea. The fanfiction was great but not my favorite because of the ending. I’ve realized I'm a sucker for happy endings and sad ending’s just make my anxiety worse. BUT that doesn't mean the fanfic I just mentioned was bad. It was far from that. It was so good that it actually snagged itself a spot on my top 10 favorite fanfics.

When did this turn into me just saying my favorite fanfics instead of explaining what happens in the au’s usually? Anyways if you have any other types of fanfiction au’s you think I should cover let me know! OH! Below are links to each fanfic I talked about and can find!

Alien Tae au mentioned: Sehebon by @httpjeon

Magic BTS au mentioned: Different Skins by @writersrealmbts link goes to a masterlist for multiple stories! Different Skin’s is the second on the list.

Alien Invasion Namjoon au mentioned: Taking Flight by @rmnamjoons

Demon Yoongi Au mentioned: La Douleur Exquise by @cinnaminsvga

BTS Prison au mentioned: A Real Memory by always5hinee on Quotev

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fighterkimburgess · 2 years

Note

Fun Meta Asks For Writers

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22 and 23

Oh this is gonna be long!

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

I’m gonna divide this into the current multichapters I’m actively working on, as well as the oneshot that has invaded my brain (sorry Morgan!)

This Wasn’t Supposed To Happen - my Sylveride fic, where they’re raising Matt and Gabby’s son after their unfortunate deaths. I’m currently working on chapter 16, and we’re in angst central. It’s a lot of fun to write the angst. I love showing this what if, and getting to explore Sylvie dealing with this huge responsibility.

The Three Of Us - Burzek fluff. I’ve the epilogue half written, and if you think there was fluff this chapter just WAIT. It’s a fluff bomb.

Class of 2006 - this is a prequel to Thank God For Hometowns. It’s the high school years of Kim, Erin, Sarah, Jay, Kevin, and Kelly going from starting high school in 2002 and graduating in 2006. It starts with Kim and Erin saving Sarah from high school bullies their first day, and ends with Kim and Jay saying goodbye as he leaves for boot camp and she prepares to start college. It’s amazing finally getting these headcanons I’ve had for ages down on paper. I’m about halfway through chapter one.

Thank God For Hometowns - After Kim goes through a tragedy that means she’s lost almost everything she moved back to her hometown and in with her Aunt Trudy. When Jay’s too late to save his wife and the army tries covering it up he’s forced to retire with his best friend Mouse, and they move home. What happens? I’ve the fic fully plotted, and ridiculous parts of chapters written. There’s so much love and healing and I adore it. It’s the best idea I’ve ever had and I cant even apologise for that.

And on the oneshot front, I’m working on one called Sacred Child. Kim grew up in a cult, and she escaped the day she turned 18, leaving her best friend and the boy she was supposed to marry that day behind. When child abuse is reported from the cult - and Kim recognises the voice as Adam - she has to fight her demons to go undercover to save girls from going through what nearly happened to her. Even her own sisters.

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project.

There’s three big scenes in Thank God For Hometowns. The first is when Voight asks Kim to take over as Chief of Police in Appleton. The second is when Jay calls Kim out to a car crash and they discover the sole survivor is a six year old girl. And the final one is a really emotional one between Jay and Kim talking about the things they’ve recently lost in their personal lives.

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Oh god so many!!!! The biggest one is I’ve always had an idea of a fic with Kim and Trudy after the miscarriage. The way she was with Kim after the engagement ended? I think they definitely had a long conversation, and I’d love to write it. But I’m pretty sure it’s going to kill me to write.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

The Sad Solo Adam Smut (this is completely explicit but I ADORE this paragraph so much.) from Fearless chapter 3.

Instead his tv was off as he undressed, his cock rising at the memory of the sex he could have had that night. He lay back, fisting himself slowly, images in his mind blurring together. Emma’s face morphed into Kim’s, and then he was lost in memories of their last night together, the night they’d made their child. He moved faster and faster, remembering the feel of her around him, her breathy moans and sighs as she bounced on him. Adam’s release hit him like a freight train, spurting onto his stomach and chest as he breathed out Kim’s name like a prayer. He got up and cleaned himself up, before lying back in his lonely bed and falling asleep to dreams of holding her.

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Definitely. I love crackships taken seriously (I’m reading one fic that look I will take how much I love this ship TO MY GRAVE), I love angst, I love found family. It’s a thing.

11. What do you envy in other writers?

The way they write inner thoughts and surroundings. In particular @kim-ruzek’s ability to do inner monologues and @sylvies-chen’s ability to build a scene. I wish I could do that so well.

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Summaries. Titles I can usually get from song lyrics, but summaries are painful. I tend to do the good old fashioned three paragraph format for tradpub inquiry letters.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

So many. So, so many. I’m just gonna go with unintentional for this not even sorry.

Nadia was almost a boy.

Kim was going to transfer out of Intelligence when Jay was undercover instead of revealing the pregnancy. I had it plotted that she changed her number and moved before he got back and just ghosted him, and even wrote about 2,000 words of it.

It was originally supposed to be a joke that Will was Kim’s babydaddy because she wouldn’t reveal who he was.

Al wasn’t going to come back

Kim almost accepted Adam’s proposal

Originally Jay found out he was a dad because Kim got into a car crash and was unconscious. Which tells you how long I was plotting this fic for because it was before the Walton storyline even happened.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

TOO MANY COMMAS. I need to get better at not using them.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I always try to put in foreshadowing. I’m not always great at doing it cleverly but in my multichapters there’s always something.

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

Yup! Mostly because there’s never enough Burzek fic around. There’s a lot I want to change, and I want to completely rewrite fearless, but overall I’m still so proud.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

Prey. I came up with that…god? Maybe back in July? It’s been on the long finger for forever but I love it anyway and it’s getting worked on slowly.

#cíara answers

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astrovian · 3 years

Audio

Richard Armitage interviews Harlan Coben for the Win audiobook (released 18/03/21)

Full transcript under cut

RA: Hi, I’m Richard Armitage. I played Adam Price in the Netflix series The Stranger, which was adapted from Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name. With me is the man himself, Harlan Coben, number one New York Times bestseller, the author of over thirty novels, including the one you’ve just listened to. I’m delighted to be talking to Harlan about his book, Win.

Okay Harlan, thanks for taking the time to chat about your audiobook and thanks for sending me a copy of the book. Um, it was so nice I ended up wrapping it up and giving it to my brother for Christmas.

HC: *laugh* You’re supposed to read it first, but okay, thanks Richard.

RA: No, I got the electronic version so uh, so I’ve had a good read. Congratulations, a great story. Brilliant, brilliant central character. I mean the first question I’m gonna ask is – because people listening to this have just been listening to the audiobook – are you, um, a big audiobook listener yourself?

HC: I – I go through stages, um, because my mind wanders, I sometimes have trouble focusing. But when I’m in a car, um, that’s most of the time that I’m- that I really love to use the audiobooks because it does make the ride just fly by. However, I’ve set up my life that I don’t have to commute to work every day, so I don’t have it steadily – it’s usually when I’m doing a nice long ride, I get a really good audiobook and time just flies by.

RA: And have you- have you got any favourite audiobooks that you’ve listened to recently, or any podcasts or what is it that floats your boat?

HC: You know, it’s funny. I still remember when I was a working man, way back when, when audiobooks were really first starting out and we had them on cassette tapes, I listened to the entire Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, um, it was about thirty hours long, going back and forth to work for almost a month. And I still have memories of that experience, and it’s probably, well god, it’s probably 1990 I did that, 1989, something like that.

RA: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean I’ve got a- I’ve got a few journeys up and back from Manchester this year, we’re about to start working on Stay Close, so I’ll happily – I’m happy to take any recommendations of any good books, so maybe I’ll listen to Bonfire of the Vanitites.

HC: Well I tell ya, a lot of people – first of all, it’s a brilliant book, it’s maybe a bit dated, but I doubt that, um. I think Richard, I get more people telling me to listen to any book that you read.

RA: *laugh*

HC: I said, “Hey, I spend a lot of time with this guy, I’m about to do my second television show that stars Richard Armitage. No one I think has starred in two shows that I’ve done ever, so I get a lot of him anyway.” *laugh*

RA: You don’t need my voice in your head when you’re driving, that’s – that’s torture.

HC: That’s right, I’ll be hearing notes on, on scripts in my head if I hear you going. For those who don’t know who are listening, y’know, Richard starred in The Stranger, um, and now is going to be starring in Stay Close, uh, based off two of my novels which I’m sure you can get on audiobook.

RA: And on that note, what um, you’ve had so many adaptations now that have moved from page to screen – what is it like when you go through that process? When you’re – ‘cause you’re very hands on in the way that you kind of collaborate with not just the actors, but with the producers and y’know, the writers. I mean, you’re – you’re writing it yourself. Um, what is it like through, through that whole process, from starting to developing to seeing it kind of realised on screen?

HC: I think the key for me is not to be slavishly devoted to the novel. I think that’s a mistake that a lot of people who are trying to make an adaptation make. So, I go into it, ‘what is the best TV series we can make?’, if it’s true to the book, great. If it’s not true to the book, also great. Um, so I move my stories to various countries, we’ve changed characters around, we’ve changed motivations. Because they’re two very different mediums – a book is a book, and a TV series is a TV series. They should not be the same. One is a visual medium, one is not. Even, even um, audiobooks are slightly different um, than what you read. And they should be. Um, y’know, there’s a performance involved.

Also, because I’ve spent most of my life alone in a room coming up with writing a book, um, where I am just everything – I’m writer, director, actor, key grip. I don’t even know what a key grip is, but I’m that. Um, it’s really nice to collaborate. So um, you’ve worked with me, I hope you agree – I like to collaborate, I like to hear the opinions of other people and um, I really enjoy that aspect of it. I look at it like I’m – like I get to be captain of a World Cup football team, rather than being a tennis player where I’m standing there on my own, which is what happens with a novel.

RA: Yeah, and actually it’s the same when I get to narrate an audiobook, like you say – you get to be director, you get to be the cinematographer to an extent ‘cause you’re setting the scene, but one thing that I’ve – I really appreciated about working with you was having read your, your books and sometimes you’ll pass by a character that is useful to the, to the narrative that you’re telling, but when that comes to developed for TV or film you’ll take a bit more time to investigate that character, and you’re very open to treading those paths, which makes for a very kind of dense narrative with the screenwriter.

HC: Well that’s what I think we’re trying to do. If you think about The Stranger, um, y’know in the book the Stranger is a sort of nerdy teenage male.

RA: Mm-hmm.

HC: And that just – we even tried out some people, and that just didn’t work. And it was really my idea – and I don’t say it in a bragging way, I say it as a way to show how open we all are – to change the character from being male to being female. And once I saw Hannah John-Kamen do it, then I pictured her in a room with you in that first great scene in the bar, um, or at the club when she tells you the big secret, it just worked. Um, you have to be willing to, to sort of stretch your imagination all over again and re-think your story. Which is also fun.

RA: Yeah, and also I suppose because y’know, as much as we love a faithful adaptation of a novel, um what you don’t wanna do is just deliver the novel in screenplay. You want to, for everyone that has read it it’s a new and exciting surprise, and for everyone that hasn’t it’s, y’know, it’s gonna be the same. So, um, it’s nice to kind of have a, to have your audience ready for people who have read a lot of your work, and there were, y’know, a guaranteed audience of people that had, had looked at The Stranger but what you gave them was something really surprising.

HC: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. And Stay Close, there’s a change in the ending to that which will hopefully shock everybody but especially the people who have already read the book, who will smugly think they know exactly what’s going on.

RA: *laugh* And me, probably. I haven’t read it yet. Um, so when you’re writing – I’m gonna double up on this question now, so when you’re writing, do you write in silence? Do you have any music playing in the background or are you – do you have like a, a kind of sacred writing space?

HC: Um, my routine is not to have a routine. Uh I, I do whatever works until it stops working and then I change up. It’s like I’m riding a horse really fast, and then the horse dies so I gotta find a new horse. So most writers will tell you ‘yes, I use this space, I do it at this time’. Um in the days before Covid, I would go to different coffee shops all the time, I would try out different… any place. Y’know, my favourite example is the end of – when I was writing The Stranger, um with about three weeks left to finish it, I had to take an Uber for the first time. This was a number of years ago. I had to take an Uber in New York City, and I felt really guilty about spending the money on an Uber and trying to justify it, so I was sitting in the back of the Uber and I was writing down notes, and I start writing really well. So for three weeks, I took Ubers wherever I went just so I could finish the book *laugh*

RA: ‘Cause that was the magic formula.

HC: Yeah, that worked! Then that stops working and then I have to find the new, a new place. So my routine is not to have a routine. If you’re trying to write out there, the key to anything is ‘does it make me write more?’ – if the answer is yes, it’s good. If the answer is no, it’s bad. It really is that simple.

RA: I’m gonna make a note of that for when I start writing myself. Um, do you – do you speak any of your characters out loud, your dialogue or your prose passages, do you say it out loud?

HC: The very last stage um, of editing. Okay first of all, no writer gets it right the first time. I know a million writers, I don’t know any writer who doesn’t re-write and re-write a lot. Well, I know one but he’s the guy none of us wanna hang out with, you know what I mean?

RA: *laugh*

HC: So um, the last stage that I do, and it’s usually after I’ve done all the editing with my editor and everything like that, we’re ready to go. I will sit in a room and I read the entire novel out loud to myself. Um, because what happens is, it’s a little bit like a musical score. Where you can – if you read it out loud, I can detect false notes that I may have missed along the way. Um, I can hear them. So the last step is that. I rarely y’know, I’m not – I’m not crazy, I’m not sitting there maybe talking out loud to myself, I’m maybe testing out lines by doing that, and I do that a lot when I’m helping with the screenplays on our shows. But um, for the most part that’s how I do it.

RA: So, in that case, would you ever narrate one of your own audiobooks?

HC: I did narrate one, uh, many years ago called Promise Me. What had happened is we had - my Myron Bolitar series we did seven with the same reader and he retired. I hadn’t written um, I didn’t write Myron for about five or six years it was. And so they said, ‘hey, why don’t you do it?’ which was a huge mistake in many ways. One, I’m not a professional. But two, the people who were fans of Myron Bolitar liked the first guy, and it felt to them liked they had tuned into their favourite TV show and every actor had changed.

RA: *laugh*

HC: It’s really difficult to re-do or start a series, uh, when people know the- the old reader. So um, I also figure- it was also, Richard you know this of course, so for people who don’t know, it’s a lot of work. I’m a guy from New Jersey. I speak very quickly, which does not go over well in audio. I don’t do voices. I would have to sit with a pillow on my stomach because uh, my stomach would sometimes grumble and that would be picked up- *laugh*

RA: Oh, yeah!

HC: By the microphone. And it took me um, a week to record it because – and I don’t know if this is still the case – but back then, the abridged version wasn’t just a cut up version of the unabridged, I had to do a whole different reading for it. So um, it was – it was a lot of work. Um, and it’s a skill that I’m not sure I’m best to do.

RA: Yeah, it does take a lot of stamina. I mean what’s interesting is, having gotten to know you, and when I, when I now read your work, I can hear your delivery, I can hear your voice. And there’s humour in the dialogue, and there’s humour in the as well, and I – it’s an instant ‘in’ for me, so I – ‘cause, ‘cause often I read and I speak aloud when I’m reading alone in the dark, I say things out loud but I think people approach it differently. But I definitely hear your voice in, in these characters. And I think particularly in Windsor Horne Lockwood.

HC: That’s so interesting because Win, I think of my heroes that I’ve had, Win is probably the least like me. I mean um, when you think about Adam-

RA: *laughing* You have to say that! You have to say that because he’s such a badly behaved person, isn’t he?

HC: *laughing* Yeah! ‘Cause I usually like to think of myself as more of like Adam in The Stranger, who you played, or some of the other characters that – the ‘I’m a father or four’ or those kind of guys. What I love about getting into Win of course is that Win is something of an anti-hero. Um, he sort of says and does things that are not necessarily prudent or appropriate, and he can get away with that. Um, so I really loved – I loved getting in his head, it was really an interesting experience. But on the surface anyway, he’s probably the least like me of any uh, main character that I’ve ever written.

RA: Yeah, I mean I- I relate to that totally. It’s a little bit like- it’s probably a side of you, you daren’t investigate, but- but when you get the chance to do it in a fiction um, you can tap into those things that we’re not allowed to do or say in your, in your regular day. But um, where did that character spring from? What was the seed that germinated into his story do you think?

HC: Rarely is this the case, but um, Win is actually – y’know, he’s the sidekick in my Myron Bolitar series but um, when I first created him I based him off my best friend in college roommate, who has a name equally obnoxious as Windsor Horne Lockwood the Third-

RA: *laugh*

HC: Very good looking, blonde guy who used to say before he would go out to parties when we were in college, he would look in the mirror and say, “It must suck to be ugly”. And so I took him and I tweaked him and made him more dangerous, uh and that’s how I, I kind of came up with Win.

RA: And does this person know that you’ve based this character on him?

HC: Oh yes! In fact, some people know who he is, he uses it. He’s still a-

RA: Oh, really?

HC: Owner of all these fancy golf clubs, he’s president of one of the most famous golf clubs, um, in the world right now. He looks the part. In fact, he one time came to one of my books signings years ago and um, he’s sitting in the back, and I tell people the story of how I created Win, and I say, “I’m not gonna tell you who, but Win is actually in this room right now”. It took the crowd about four seconds to figure out who he was, and he had a longer line to sign books that I did *laugh*

RA: Amazing. I mean I have to say, it’s- you, you start reading the story and thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna like this guy’ but he really grows on you, warts and all. I wonder how many people are gonna go into Saks on Fifth Avenue and go looking for the vault.

HC: *laugh* Yeah, no, I made that up. But there is place in Saks-

RA: I know, so brilliant!

HC: -but the rest of it is completely made up, this involves an app that you’ll read about when you- hopefully when you, when you read book. But yeah, it was fun to do an anti-hero where he makes decisions and does things that you don’t like, and yet you still wanna hang around with him. I always think the key to a fascinating character is not um, that he’s likeable necessarily, but that you wanna spend time with him. Not that he’s a nice guy, but if you were at a bar and you could sit with somebody and have a conversation with them and learn about their life, would this be a person you’d wanna do that with? And that’s sort of the test whenever I do a character. And Win, I think, passes that with flying colours. There are people who love Win and wanna be just like him and there are people who loathe him! But everybody, or I hope many people, are fascinated by him and his life.

RA: Well, also you’ve given him such an incredible kind of tool kit, like a skill set. I mean, I think everybody would look at that character and wish they could do the things he does, maybe not in the way that he does them, but I mean he’s- he’s exactly the kind of character that you’d hone in on, certainly from an acting point of view. I look at that and if I was, y’know, like fifteen years younger, I’d be leaping on that character to play. Which is, it means – it means he’s sort of relatable or aspirational in a kind of anti-hero way.

HC: I’ve heard this a lot, and I think it’s one of the most flattering things that I hear from my actor friends – I think everybody would want to play Win. I mean, I think the- it’s an interesting challenge, um, for a lot of actors. More so than even Myron Bolitar who is my lead series character. Um, everybody kind of wants to play win and kind of wonders who would play Win. Uh, and I take that as a – as a compliment.

RA: Are we gonna see more of him? Is he ge- are you writing more stories for him?

HC: My guess is the answer’s yes. I plan each book as it comes, so I never know until I’ve started. Is it gonna be a stand alone? Is it going to be a Myron Bolitar? Is it gonna be a young adult? Mickey Bolitar is now going to be a Win, and I don’t know until I – each book, y’know when I finish a book, I’m like a boxer who’s just gone fifteen rounds and can’t even lift my, my arms anymore, I gave it everything I had, I can’t even imagine fighting again or writing another novel. So I don’t know is the answer. Probably? I do wanna see Win again, separately or at least back with Myron, so I do think we will see Win again. But the book I’m writing right now is a sequel to The Boy From the Woods, which is the book that came out in 2020, so that’s what I’m writing now. Will I return to Win? Maybe. Maybe. We’ll see how- we’ll also see how people react. Not that I would work necessarily off of commercial interest, but it people really love this book, y’know, we don’t live in vacuum, that would probably somewhat influence what I do.

RA: Right. I mean, because so many of your- your books are being developed and being snapped up to be turned into film or television – I mean, Myron Bolitar is, is a recurring series waiting to happen, and then you’ve got your spin off of Win – I, I- I wonder if, y’know when your first ever, uh novel, did you write with kind of cinema television in your head? Is that something that as modern storytellers we can even avoid? Um, did you ever dream that these would ever turn into sort of film and TV?

HC: Well, everybody dreams, but there’s sort of two answers to it. The first answer is when I’m writing a book, I never ever, ever, not for one second do I think ‘Ooh, this would make a really good movie’ or ‘Ooh, this would make a really good TV series’ because that’s the kiss of death for a book. It really is. It’s, it’s- it’s just a disastrous thought, and if you’re out there writing really don’t try it, because it’s, it’s a big mistake. At the same time, to be realistic and honest, I grew up watching TV. Who didn’t? That’s my – I mean this is what we grew up with. To pretend you’re only influences – y’know you ask a writer ‘What’s your influences?’ “Oh, Shakespeare and Proust and Yeats” – come on. You watched TV growing up. And so that’s an influence on how you tell a story. To deny that is silly. So writers today do think in terms of cinema more just because they grew up with it. Where writers of a different generation did not, so they wouldn’t have that influence.

RA: Yeah, I mean I- I think this all the time – it’s impossible to even de-program your brain not to imagine scenarios in terms of cinema. I mean I- I often think about sort of Victorian novelists that didn’t have y’know TV, and their trying to describe something that they’ve never seen or experienced. And we have references for so many things – I mean it’s almost impossible not to, we’re- we are and will always be influenced by one or the other, especially in the written word. But I- I find that it means that you can kind of uh, put aside the investigation and just get on with the storytelling. And maybe go even a little bit further. It’s like instant access. Y’know, I know exactly the world that you’re talking about when you’re y’know at the beginning of Win, but- but y’know at the same time I felt there was something very Agatha Christie like about the um, the backstory of uh, of this book, I really liked the fact that there was a historic event that was really informing what was happening right now.

HC: Well, y’know when I start a book, there’s- I’m always- I have a bunch of ideas and I’m trying to think which ones are going to go in the story, and it ends up being several. So for example, in this book, I wanted – I’ve always wanted to do an art heist. Y’know, like the Gardner Museum Heist, where they still haven’t found the paintings that were stolen, the Vermeers and the Picassos that were stolen in that particular – I can’t remember if it’s Picasso now, I know it was a Vermeer – um, stolen in that- that, heist in Boston years ago, I wanted to write a book about 60’s radicals – the Weather Underground and what would happen to people who were involved in that so many years later. I also wanted to write something about a kind of Patty Hearst-type character who was a famous kidnapping here in the 70s. So those were like three of the things that I wanted to like – to delve into. And I ended up delving into all three *laugh* which sometimes happens.

Oh, and the last one I wanted to do – I always wanted to do um, a hoarder that was actually someone famous. There was actually um, something of a case of this in New York City where somebody died who was living in a top floor of an Upper West Side building, and it ended up being the missing son – not really missing, but had just kind of gone off the rails – of a very famous American war hero. And so, I took all of these aspects, which would seem to make three or four different novels, and I make it into one novel if I can. It’s not that different from – again, I’m referencing um, um – The Stranger y’know, because you’re here and provably a number of the people listening to us have seen The Stranger on Netflix, but it’s the same thing with The Stranger a little bit, where I had a lot of ideas for secrets that could be revealed by the Stranger, and each one could have been a separate novel. And instead, the challenge is put them all in one story and find a way to hook them together.

RA: Yeah. I mean, it’s rich in a way that when I- I’m reading it and the producer head in me is saying ‘gosh, this is gonna be a great TV show’ ‘cause you know, you’ve got the present day, you’ve got the near-past and the um, the heist story, which uh, is kind of crying out for – you just want more of it, which is brilliant in a book. When you’re – you’re leaving the reader wanting to know more and wanting to, to know more about that family and what happens to them. It’s – it’s the perfect recipe, really.

HC: And so much of it does come from your life in ways that you don’t expect – right now, maybe a lot of people are watching this uh, the Aaron Sorkin movie about the Chicago Trials from the 70s, Abbie Hoffman, who is played by uh, I think Sacha Baron Cohen played him in, in the movie. When I was in college at Amherst, Abbie Hoffman was on the run, um, but he still showed up one day at our college and gave a speech, then disappeared again. And boy, that stuck in my head always. Man, I’d love to write a character that’s kind of like Abbie Hoffman. ‘Cause he had that charisma even then, y’know on stage he was funny as heck, I must have been eighteen or nineteen um, when I – when I heard him speak. And so that – I never consciously back then, I didn’t think that, but every once in a while those experiences come to head and you wanna write about it.

RA: Mm-hmm. You’ve been writing for quite a few years now-

HC: *Laugh*

RA: -you’re – I don’t know if you can even remember what it was like when you first stated your very first book. Um, and some people have said that books are like children in a way, you sort of rear them and then the more you do, the more familiar you are with that process. But would you – I mean, it’s difficult for you to answer this, but would you say you have a favourite book that you’ve written?

HC: I don’t have a favourite book that I’ve written. Um, this – this sounds self-serving, but it’s usually the book, the most recent book, that I like the best. Um, it’s a little bit like – and the way I try to explain this is – maybe you wrote a paper, an essay when you were in college which you thought was brilliant. You remember that moment in school and you wrote a paper and you thought it was brilliant and you find it now and you re-read it and you go, ‘wow, this wasn’t good after all’. It’s not that it’s not very good, it’s just that you have sort of moved on and you’re not that sort of person and so you see all the flaws. So in the older books, which I don’t re-read, I see all of the flaws. I always think, y’know even if you think of yourself, what you thought ten or fifteen years ago – you sort of go ‘ugh, what did I know back then, I’m so much smarter now’. So the same thing a little bit with books, where I think I’m learning more and the current book is better. One of the interesting experiences of working on these adaptation is having to go back and read a book – in some cases we’re doing one, the next one I think uh comes out in France for example, is Gone for Good, which I think was released in 2002! Or 2003. So I wrote it twenty years ago. And to have to go back and read it now, I’m always kind of cringing at some of the stuff-

RA: Mm-hmm.

HC: -some of the stuff I’m kind of thrilled with, like ‘wow, that’s an interesting twist. You don’t have that kind of ending anymore’ and some of it I’m like, ‘wow, why’d you go there?’ so it’s an interesting experience.

RA: Yeah, I feel the same. I very – I, uh, very early on in my career I would watch my work back in quite a lot of detail, thinking ‘I’m gonna learn something’ and then as I got older it was – it was almost unbearable to just do that. And I actually haven’t been able to do that, but it’s because when you’re – when you’re first starting out you throw everything you’ve got into that first breakout role that you do, and then your realise that you’re always in danger of repeating yourself and you think – ‘gosh, people are gonna suss me out that I’m only capable of doing one or two things’, but you live in hope that you can, y’know, find that one thing that you can completely reinvent. Y’know I still hope for that.

HC: I still think that everyone who I’ve ever met who is successful at what they do has imposter syndrome. If you don’t um, you’re prob- you have a false bravado and you’re in trouble. I always say, “only bad writers think they’re good”. The rest of us really suffer with that, and really questioning and always think we’re gonna be sussed out. And I can tell you, um, Stephen King sent me a book not that long ago because he’d nicely put my name in it and wanted my reaction. But even Steve, after all his success and whatever else, he still worries about the reaction, that he’s as good as he used to be, that people will still like it, he’s – I know him. He still worries about it. And when you stop, that’s when you’re in trouble I think as an artist, when you’re starting to doubt what it- when you don’t have the doubts, you start having an overconfidence that you sort of got this. It’s a little bit like my golf game, frankly.

RA: *laugh*

HC: There’s moment’s when I’m about to swing, y’know, I’m gonna be okay and then you get out there and you stink all over again. So-

RA: Yep

HC: -you’re constantly trying to get better and so I imagine it must be difficult to look at your old roles and you – you’re kinda cringing, right? You see all the mistakes you’re making. You see through you so to speak, right?

RA: Yep. Absolutely.

HC: And then someone will come up to you, right, and they’ll say, “Oh, my favourite thing you ever did was-“ and then they’ll list something you did twenty years ago, and you want them to pay attention to what you’re doing now *laugh*

RA: Yep. Yep. Seeing through you is, is one of the things that is quite haunting because I do, I see through me. I can’t shake myself off, if you know what I mean.

HC: Well, you are very cool, you don’t watch any of it until it’s all over. Uh, that’s correct right? You never watched any of our rushes or I remember trying to tell you that you’re doing great and all that-

RA: No, I watched, I watched the first shot-

HC: -and you had not seen any of it and I watch you every day when you’re on set working on our shows and I’ll comment if I see something or whatever, to either you directly or the director, uh, and most of the time I’m – I’m complimenting you, but you don’t – you don’t know either, because you’re not watching, you’re not getting lost in that.

RA: Yeah, I don’t like to watch or be somebody that studies myself to much, I don’t think that’s my job. I think my job is to be inside the character looking out, rather than the other way around. I leave that to the experts like you and the director.

HC: Also, I think it’s- I think if you start worrying about what – you’re right – and also you don’t have the distance. This is always an issue when I – I first start watching the cuts of the first episodes, and I read the book while I’m editing it, while I try to take time between my writing it and then seeing it, I have to sort of put myself in the position of being somebody who knows nothing about this, and doesn’t come in knowing the story already that I’ve already read or seen a thousand time. How do I keep it fresh in my head when I’m trying to be objective and watching it so we can make edits. Uh, both on the screen or on the page.

RA: Mm-hmm. What draws you to crime/thriller? What – I mean is that – I, I can’t often imagine you writing a romantic novel, but what is it that draws you to this particular genre?

HC: Well, y’know to me it’s uh, not really a genre. It’s more like – it’s a form. It’s more like saying it’s a haiku or a sonata.

RA: Mm-hmm.

HC: And within that form I can, and hopefully have, done everything. Um, I think The Stranger for example is more a story about family, uh, and the secrets we try to hide, rather than it is about who killed who – y’know, the mystery angle of it.

RA: Yeah.

HC: One of my most, uh well-known books, my first bestseller, was a book called Tell No One which was made into a French film starring François Cluze, and that’s really a love story, it’s about a man who’s madly in love with his wife and eight years earlier, she was murdered. And then eight years passed, he gets an email, he clicks the hyperlink, he sees a webcam and his dead wife walks by, still alive., And the pursuit, the wanting to get back, the hope for full redemption is really what drives the story more than ‘who killed who’.

RA: Mmm-hmm.

HC: So different stories do different things. But the great thing about the form of crime fiction is that it compels me to tell a story. I’m not getting lost in the beauty of my own genius, my own kind of navel-gazing. I have to continue to tell a story and entertain you. So any of the themes that I wanna tell, any of the things I wanna discuss, has to be slave to that story. And I think that’s probably a rich tradition. If you think about Dumas really, wasn’t that all crime fiction? Even Shakespeare is mostly crime fiction.

RA: Yeah.

HC: Most great stories, if I ask you to name a favourite novel that’s over a hundred years old, Dostoevsky, whoever, you will find that there’s almost always a crime in it. There’s almost always a crime story.

RA: I mean it’s one of the things that I get very excited about, um, I mean obviously I haven’t read your entire canon but I – there’s a signature, or a theme that you love to play on which is this idea that – that um, the people you know aren’t telling you everything about themselves, or that there’s something to hide and that in our modern world, with technology, we have this sort of ability to – to sort of lead multiple lives of truths or lies. And it’s something which I think we immediately recognise. ‘Cause I think we – we’re living that, that reality, and it’s a theme that I really enjoy about your writing.

HC: Well, first of all, thanks. Second, um, there’s a lot of things we’ve heard about the human condition. One of my favourites about the human condition that I used to write, is that we all believe that we are uniquely complex and no one knows the inside of us. And yet we think we read everybody else pretty well. We all think we are uniquely complex and the person across from us, we can kind of figure out. They’re not quite like us. Um, and that’s something I love to play with when I write. Because you’ve gotta remember that everybody is uniquely complex and on a humanity level, and on an empathy level, I raise my kids and I’m always teaching them that every person you see, the richest, the poorest, the happiest, the saddest – everybody has hopes and dreams. Just think that, when you see a stranger on the street, when you’re going to interact with somebody, when you’re getting angry at somebody, whatever it is – just remember, they have hope and dreams. Um, small little thought, but it helps me create a character as well.

RA: There’s also a- a kind of very strong level of self-deception involved, which I think can be quite surprising. Because you always read a character and go, ‘I’m not like that’ or ‘I would never do that’ and then if you really think about it, we – there’s a truth we tell ourselves about ourselves which isn’t always honest.

HC: Well, exactly. It’s really come to fruition in the world the last few years, where I kind of joked that I’ve been working too hard on making my villains sympathetic, the villains in today’s world don’t seem to be very – very complex at all.

RA: *laugh*

HC: But for the most part, people don’t think they’re bad guys. Even the bad guys don’t think they’re bad guys.

RA: Yeah.

HC: They have some way of, of justifying. It’s one of the great things about human beings, or one of the most prevailing thing about a human being, is we all have the ability to self-rationalise, to self-justify. Um, and so I’ve always tried with my villains, and I hope that I did it in everything that we’ve done together, to try to make even the villain – you may not like the villain, but you get them. I don’t really write books – I don’t write books where the serial killer is hacking up people for no reason, that doesn’t really interest me. I prefer the crimes where you can say, ‘Yeah, I wouldn’t have done it maybe, but I can see why that happened. I can see if I was put in that position, um, where I may have done something similar’. That to me is a much more interesting villain than somebody who’s just cruel and evil.

RA: Yeah. Um, final question actually, is – I mean, as a listener/reader yourself – are there any other authors whose books you love and just go back – I mean, you’ve mentioned Stephen King, um I’m with you on that one – but are there any other authors who really kind of inspire you and, and y’know, like a little guilty pleasure reading for yourself and not for work?

HC: Yeah, well the problem always is that I start listing authors, and then someone will say, ‘well, what about so-and-so who’s a friend of mine’, and then I say ‘oh shoot, I forgot – I forgot that one’.

RA: *laugh*

HC: Y’know I saw recently that it’s the eleventh anniversary of the death of Robert B. Parker, who wrote the Spencer novels, if by any chance you haven’t found the Spencer novels, and I don’t know how popular they are overseas – they’re fantastic, wonderful detective series. Um, so that’s one guy I would go back in time and try to find for audio. But I actually like Philip Roth a lot on audio, even though he doesn’t do crime fiction. I’m a big Michael Connelly fan and I like Lee Child, um and Laura Lippman. Y’know, I could sit here just naming um, people all day. I’m always curious also – who is reading – who does it because of the reader and who does it because of the writer. I know there’s a number of people who will listen to anything you read, Richard, because it’s you. Um, which is really quite nice, but it’s interesting the combination of the audio reader. I have Steven Weber, he’s been reading most of my novels, though I’ve had a female lead – a woman named January LaVoy who’s fantastic – and I think Weber captures my voice. He sounds a little bit like me, we both have a similar background, similar sense of humour, so part of it with the audio is also the match you end up making.

RA: Yeah. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Because I certainly find I don’t often get to read something which is purely my choice, I have a stack of things that are work-related, or that I’m about to record. So I don’t think I’ve – I’ve chosen a book recently which is just been- I don’t know how I would pick something, it’s usually a recommendation, so I’ll certainly have a look at the Spencer novels, they sound – they sound brilliant.

HC: Yeah, and they’re fun – there was a TV series in America for a while called ‘Spencer for Hire’ – this is s or going back to the, I guess the 70s or 80s I think. Um, those were not great, but the novels themselves were sort of – Raymond Chandler to Robert B. Parker to the guys who are working now. So he’s a huge – he was a tremendous influence on most of your favourite crime writers. I said in his obituary eleven years ago, I said, “90% of writers admit that Robert B. Parker was an influence and 10% lie about it”. So um, if you can find Robert B. Parker Spencer novels that would be a good clue for everybody out there.

RA: Brilliant. Well, that just about wraps it up. And uh, thanks for talking to me. I really enjoyed the book and no doubt it will be another best-seller and fingers crossed it ends up as a TV series.

HC: Well, thanks Richard, and I look forward to seeing you work on uh, Stay Close. I know that uh, Armitage Army out there *laugh* that – your, your loud uh supporters and fans who just adore you are going to go gaga cause you get to play somebody quite different from Adam in The Stranger. Um, it’s-

RA: Yeah. Looking forward to it.

HC: Yeah, it’ll be a lot of fun. Thanks very much.

#this was actually more interesting that I thought it would be #sorry the audio ain't great I had to compress it a lot #it is longgg #richard armitage #harlan coben #win

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dialovers-translations · 3 years

Text

Diabolik Lovers GRAND EDITION for Switch ;; More, Blood ー Kou [After Story]

ー The scene starts outside by the lake

Kou: Oooi, Yui! This way!

Yui: Ah, yeah! I’ll be right there!

Kou: This lake is so pretty! The water is crystal clear!

*Splash*

Kou: Also, look! The sky is reflected on the water’s surface, dyeing it a beautiful blue color!

I can take a picture while we’re here, right?

*Snap*

Yui: ...Fufu.

Kou: Whaaat? Why are you laughing? Did I do something?

Yui: No, that’s not it. I didn’t mean it like that...

Seeing you have such a good time is making me happy as well.

Kou: Oh, that’s it? Of course I’m happy!

After all, there’s such a beautiful blue sky spread out right in front of me!

Yui: ( He’s right...I’m underneath such a pretty clear sky together with Kou-kun... )

( I feel blessed too. )

Kou: Say, Yui. Let’s look at the photos in the shade of the trees over there.

Our collection has grown quite a bit already.

Yui: Yeah!

ー They walk towards the shade

Kou: Let’s see...

Yui: Wah! So pretty...

Kou: These...If I recall correctly, we took them in the country we stayed at up till recently, right?

There’s not a single cloud in sight, it really just screams ‘the blue sky’!

Yui: Ah, this is a picture of the sunset.

We took it right as the sun was setting, so the blue and orange hues are mixing together, it really is beautiful.

Kou: You’re right.

I still like the blue sky the very best, but I’m quite fond of this sunset as well.

Yui: Really?

Kou: Yeah. It feels like the boundary between day and night, giving off a mystical vibe.

Yui: Mystical...

Kou: Ah. You just made fun of me a little, didn’t you?

Yui: I-I didn’t!

Kou: I wonder~? What you’re thinking always shows right away on your face, you know.

Yui: I swear I didn’t...! I was just wondering what exactly a ‘mystical’ vibe is like...

Kou: Whatever~

Yui: Geez...Hm?

Kou: Ah.

Yui: I-Is this...a photo of me!?

( I’m asleep...Which means... )

...You took this in secret?

Kou: Ahーah, I’m busted, huh?

Yui: Come on! Kou-kun! Taking pictures of me in secret is so mean!

Kou: Sorry, sorry~ But your sleeping face was just too cute, you know...

...Say? Forgive me? ...Nn.

*Smooch*

Yui: Nn...

...Guess I have no other choice.

Kou: Ehehe. Thank you!

Since you’ve forgiven me...Ey!

ー He lays his head on her lap

Kou: A lap pillow...You don’t mind, right?

Yui: ...It’s embarrassing.

Kou: Who cares? We’re the only two people here anyway. Right?

Yui: Y-Yeah...

Kou: Ah, but you make the cutest expressions when embarrassed, so can I take a picture?

Yui: N-No way!

Kou: Eeh~ That’s a shame.

Yui: ( Geez...Kou-kun... )

( But...Right now, he seems very precious like this... )

Kou: Ah, look at this picture.

Yui: Which one?

Kou: This one. I wanted to take a picture of the starry sky, but it wouldn’t show up very well...

I guess this old camera we got just doesn’t cut it?

Yui: You got this one from a cameraman you knew through your job, right?

Kou: Exactly. When he gave it to me, I never thought I would actually use it one day.

But right now, it has really proven its worth.

After all...There’s tons of skies inside this roll of film.

Yui: Yeah...You’re right.

ー Yui looks up at the sky

Yui: ( Ever since we left Kaminashi City... )

( We’ve been traveling around the world. )

( Visiting various places, experiencing different emotions (1)... )

( And every time we look up at the sky, Kou-kun will happily press the shutter of this camera. )

Kou: ...Why have you suddenly gone quiet?

Yui: No, it’s nothing.

Kou: Really? Okay then.

Being able to spend time together with you under the blue skies...

And resting my head in your lap like this really puts me in the best mood.

Yui: K-Kou-kun...

( Hearing him point it out again made me embarrassed. )

Kou: ...That just leavesーー There we go.

*Rustle*

Say, Yui. I’m a little thirsty...

Yui: Eh!? ...Ah, yeah...

W-Will this work...?

Kou: Yeah...Perfect.

I honestly never thought a day would come on which you willingly offer yourself like that.

Yui: That’s...I mean, right now I really have no reason to push you away...

Kou: ...!

...Geez...Don’t come complaining to me later after stirring me on like that.

Yui: Eh? Did I say something?

Kou: Not reallyー...!

*Rustle*

*Thud*

Yui: Kyah...!?

*Rustle*

Kou: ...Thanks for the meal~

ー Kou bites her

Kou: ...Nn...Nn...

...Nn...Haah...Your blood really is so delicious...

Yui: ...

( How strange... )

( I could have never imagined this when Kou-kun sucked my blood for the first time... )

( But right now...I think I want Kou-kun just as badly... )

( I feel at ease...Just by having him by my side )

Kou: ...Nn...Hah...You’re kind of out of it today.

Yui: Eh!?

Kou: Make sure to fix your attention on me (2)...Nn.

Yui: ...!? Ow...Kou-kun! You bit me on purpose just now, didn’t you!?

Kou: You’re at fault for spacing out. That proves you had something on your mind, right?

Yui: Well...

Kou: See, I got it right! ...I’ll make it so you can’t think of anything or anyone but me.

...Nn...Haah...Nn...

Yui: Ah...

Kou: ...Nn...You’re so cute...Yui...

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the town

Kou: Today was so much fun.

Yui: Y-Yeah...

( Personally I found it rather embarrassing though... )

Kou: Huh? Your face is red, you know? Could it be...You’re recalling what happened earlier?

Yui: ...!

Kou: Bull’s eye, huh? You really are so cute.

Yui: O-Oh come on! Stop teasing me...!

Kou: Fufu...

Yui: ( Uu...How embarrassing... )

Kou: Hey, Yui.

Yui: Y-Yes?

Kou: There’s actually one more request I’d like to make while you’re embarrassed anyway.

Yui: A request...?

Kou: Let’s hold hands.

Come on, you don’t mind, do you?

Yui: Ah...

Kou: There’s nobody who would recognize me here.

Yui: Yeah...You’re right.

Kou: Hooray!

Yui: ( Kou-kun seems happy...When he’s happy, so am I. )

Kou: ...Hm?

Hey, Yui! Look at the display over there!

Yui: Eh...?

Something on the public TV screen (3) caught your eyーー Ah!

( Kou-kun’s on TV...!? )

Kou: I wonder what they’re saying about me?

Yui: U...Uhm...

( I did learn this country’s language a little but...Hm... )

...The Japanese idol...Mukami Kou...has gone missing? ...I think.

Kou: Heeh...They’d actually report it all the way over here as well.

Yui: ( Right... )

( To Kou-kun’s fans, it must seem as if he has suddenly vanished off the surface of the earth... )

Kou: ...

Yui: ...

( I’m sure the people who liked him must be extremely sad... )

( ...I wonder if we did the right thing...? )

Uhm...Kou-kun?

Kou: ーー I don’t have any regrets.

Yui: Eh...?

Kou: I bet you were thinking if we did the right thing while looking at the screen, weren’t you?

Yui: Uu...

Kou: You’re such a fool.

Yui: A-A fool...?

Kou: You said that you’d prioritize me over anything and follow me.

I feel the same way.

I left everything behind too. ...Except for you, Yui.

Yui: Kou-kun...

Kou: Well, there’s of course times where I wonder how Ruki-kun and the others are faring...

However, I will no longer hesitate. As long as you are with me, I won’t have any regrets either.

So...Don’t worry.

...Okay?

Yui: Kou-kun...

You’re right. I don’t regret my decision either.

Kou: Mmh! Let’s head home then?

Yui: ...Yeah!

( Together with Kou-kun, we can overcome any hurdle )

( I strongly felt so the second we leaped into the air together. )

*TIMESKIP*

Kou: Are we done shopping now?

Yui: I think we got everything we needed, so it should be fi...Ah!

Kou: What’s wrong? You forgot something?

Yui: I forgot to buy pasta...

Kou: Ehー! But we actually got our hands on some clams! But we can’t make vongole bianco without pasta!

Yui: Sorry! I’ll quickly go back!

You wait here, okay?

Kou: You’ll be fine by yourself?

Yui: Yeah. It’s right there.

Kou: Okayー Come back soon, okay?

Yui: Mmh. I’ll get going then.

ー Yui runs off

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Phew. I successfully bought the pasta.

( Thank god I remembered before we got home... )

( Kou-kun’s waiting for me, right? I better hurry ba...Hm? )

Did this store always look like this...?

( Re-opening...It got a complete overhaul and became a jewelry store. )

( They’ve got a bunch of cute accesories out on display... )

( Ah... )

( This ring is so pretty...! )

( The blue is almost likeーー )

???: Hmm~ So this is the kind of stuff you like?

Yui: Eh!?

Kou-kun!

Kou: Geez~ I came looking for you because I was worried you were taking such a long time.

Yui: Ah, my bad!

Kou: It’s fine, really. Something caught your eye, right?

However, I didn’t expect to find you glued to the display window of a jewelry store~

I guess you’re finally reaching that age (4) as well, huh~?

Yui: T-That’s not it...It just happened to catch my attention...

Kou: This ring?

Yui: Yeah...Look at this blue gemstone inserted in it...

I thought it looked a lot like the color of the sky we saw together yesterday.

Kou: Yeah, you do have a point. It’s a clear, beautiful cerulean hue.

Yui: Right? It’s super pretty, so I was captivated by it...

Kou: Hm...

Ah! Your birthday is coming up soon, isn’t it?

Shall I buy it for you?

Yui: Eh?

I-It’s fine!

Kou: Eh~? Why?

Yui: We...should be careful with our spendings for now.

( We decided to choose where we’d settle after visiting various places. )

( So right now, we are living off the money Kou-kun had saved up through his job. )

Kou: Are you sure? I’ve got plenty of savings, you know?

Yui: That might be the case but...

I mean, that ring is really expensive, right?

Kou: Hmm, it is but I’d say this is a normal price for a ring?

Yui: Still, right now we shouldn’t.

Kou: So you basically don’t want a present from me?

Yui: T-That’s not true...! I’d be happy with anything you’d give me. But...

I’m still in no position to receive such a wonderful ring...

How to put it, I want to have grown to the point of feeling worthy before you gift it to me...

Kou: Hmm...?

Well, I figured you’d say something like that though.

Yui: I’m sorry for stopping by here.

Well, let’s head home then.

Kou: Yeah...

...

But, I still...

*Snap*

Yui: Kou-kun, what are you doing? You might get yelled at for taking pictures!

Kou: Ehー? Really? But it’s so pretty, you want to preserve a memory of it, no?

This makes for a proper blue sky as well after all!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to their home

Yui: Dinner’s ready!

Kou: Uwaah, it smells incredible! The pasta you make really is the very best, Yui!

Yui: Fufu, you still haven’t tried it, right? You might be even more impressed once you have a taste!

Kou: Oh!? Someone’s brimming with confidence, huh?

Yui: Today’s dish turned out extremely well.

So I’m sure you’ll like it as well.

Kou: Really? Let’s hurry up and eat then! Thanks for the meal!

Yui: Thanks for the meal.

Kou: Nn...Nom, nom...Yeah, it’s good!

Yui: Really!?

Kou: Yeah! No wonder you were so confident in it!

Yui: The clams were being highly recommended at the market today after all.

This has to be the dish I’m the most proud of so far...!

Kou: The taste might be the best amongst all the plates you’ve made as well!

Yui: Fufu, I’m glad.

Kou: Well, I’ll happily dig into any dish you make though.

Mm~ All done!

Yui: Eh? You’re already done?

Kou: Yeah, so...Seconds, please!

Yui: Fufu. I made sure to prepare lots for you, so one second please.

Kou: Hooray! I can probably go for two more plates!

Yui: Hang on tight, okay?

Kou: Roger!

*TIMESKIP*

Kou: Thanks for the meal~

Yui: Thanks for the meal.

Kou: Ah, I’ll handle the clean-up.

Yui: You sure?

Kou: You made me such delicious vongole bianco after all.

Let me do this much, okay?

Yui: Thanks, Kou-kun. I’ll be counting on you then, okay?

Kou: Yeah, leave it to me! ...Ah, you know, Yui.

Yui: Hm?

Kou: You really did like the ring we spotted today, no?

Yui: Hmm, I did think it was lovely. It was such a beautiful blue color after all.

However, I...

Kou: Okay, okay, stop! I know. You don’t want it (5), right?

Yui: Yeah...I don’t want anything.

I mean, I’m already so happy just to be living together with you like this.

Kou: I feel the same way.

I really am glad you’re here with me.

Say, let��s continue living happily together from here on out, okay...?

Yui: Yeah...!

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom

Kou: M-neko-chan said there’s nothing she wants but...

I still want to do something for her...

...Besides, a ring holds a special meaning...

Okay, I’ve made up my mind...!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yui: ( ...Hm, I just need to check the seasoning of the soup and then it’ll be ready, I suppose? )

Kou-kun! Dinner will be served soon!

...Huh? No response...

( Lately he’s been cooped up in our room quite often. )

( He never quite did that in the past, so I wonder what has gotten into him? )

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom

*Cling cling*

Kou: Geez, I never thought things would end up like this...

Ahー I can’t do it...!

*Cling*

Kou: It has improved a bit compared to my first attempts, but it’s still no good.

They said even a beginner should be able to pull it off, but this isn’t my cup of tea...

Ever since I was young, Ruki-kun has been telling me that I’m too careless of a worker...

*Cling*

Kou: But...I have to...bring this to a good end so...

Oh? It’s actually looking decent? Maybe I got the hang of it?

Okay then! Gotta keep going like this!

I told myself I wouldn’t give up, so better give it my all!

Besides, I’ll definitely finish it in time...!

*Cling*

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ( ...Kou-kun’s late... )

( Lately he’s been leaving the house on a whim more often. )

( I wonder if he’s out again? )

( Whenever I ask, he just says he’s going on a walk or something like that... )

( I wonder if something happened...? )

ー Kou enters the room

Kou: I’m backー

Yui: Ah! Kou-kun...! Geez, I was worried because you just wouldn’t come home!

Kou: Ahー My bad? My stroll got a little prolonged, you could say?

Yui: Ah...Right.

( If something were up...he’d for sure talk to me about it...Right? )

I’ll make dinner now, so hang on, okay?

*TIMESKIP*

*Chop chop chop*

Kou: Heey, Yuiii~

Yui: What’s wrong?

Kou: I’m totally starved!

Food, quick!

Yui: Fufu, it’s almost ready so wait just a little longer?

Kou: ...Don’t wanna.

ー He sneaks up on her

*Rustle*

Yui: Wah...Wait, Kou-kun...!?

( He wrapped his arms around me from behind...!? )

It’s dangerous to do this while I’m cooking, you know?

Kou: But I’m home now...

Yet you won’t pay attention to me at all.

It’s boring.

Yui: Well...I’m making dinner right now, so it can’t be helped...

Kou: Then you don’t need to make food.

Yui: ( Says the person who was crying about being hungry just now... )

Kou: But, well...

Yui: ...Hm?

Kou: This kind of makes us seem like newlyweds, don’t you think?

Yui: Eh!?

ー Yui drops something

Kou: Ahaha! You’re way too shocked!

Yui: But...!

Kou: But it’s the truth, right?

Yui: Uu...

Kou: Then, let’s do something that fits the image of newlyweds!

Yui: Eeh? What will you do then...?

Kou: Hmー ...Taste-test the food?

Yui: ( Pretty sure he just wants to have a bite... )

Then...Can I ask you to taste the soup?

Kou: Leave it to me!

Yui: Uhm, I’m pretty sure the spoons are over there...

Kou: Wrong, right?

Yui: Eh? What am I getting wrong?

Kou: You’ll feed me, won’t you?

Yui: Eeh!? Really!?

Kou: We have to act like newlyweds, so that should be a given!

Come on, you hold the spoon.

Yui: ...We’re actually doing this?

Kou: Of course! Come on, aaaahn~

Yui: ( ...This is embarrassing...But... )

S-Say ‘aaahn’...

Kou: ...Nn...Mmh~ It’s good!

Yui: Really!? I’m glad!

Kou: Then it’s my turn next, right? Okay, open wide!

Yui: Eh? ...I’m fine...

Kou: Why are you being so modest? Come on, say ‘aaahn’!

Yui: A-Aahn...

Kou: Fufu~ Well done.

...How does it taste?

Yui: I-It’s good...I guess...?

( To be honest, the flavor was the last thing on my mind... )

Kou: Then are you done cooking now?

Yui: Yeah. Seasoning the soup was the last task on the list.

Kou: Okay! Let’s hurry up and eat!

Yui: Good idea. I’m hungry too.

ー They move to the table

Kou: I’m digging in!

Yui: Thanks for the meal.

Kou: Nom...Nn...You knowーー

...Whoops, I shouldn’t talk with food in my mouth, huh?

...Nn...You know, Yui!

Yui: What’s wrong? Was it not very good, perhaps...?

Kou: Ah, that’s not it...But aren’t you forgetting something?

Yui: Forgetting something?

( What could that be...? Did something happen? )

Kou: Hahー By the looks of it, you’ve completely forgotten.

Geez! Get a grip on yourself! Tomorrow’s your birthday, remember!?

Yui: Ah...Right.

Kou: We’ll go out to buy whatever you want to eat tomorrow, so don’t forget!

Yui: No way...It’s fine, really.

Kou: Don’t say that! We have to properly celebrate your birthday.

I’ll buy your favorite food and even prepare a cake!

Understood?

Yui: Y-Yeah...

Kou: ...You don’t seem very happy though? ...You don’t like me celebrating your birthday or something...?

Yui: Oh no! That’s not true! It’s just...I didn’t think you’d say that so, I...

Kou: Stop! I’ll listen to the rest tomorrow, so don’t say it just yet!

Yui: R-Right...

( My birthday...I never thought Kou-kun would celebrate for me. )

( I’m looking forward to tomorrow...! )

Kou: That being said, we gotta head out early in the morning tomorrow to do the shopping.

So you better hit the hay soon?

Yui: Eh?

Kou: I’ll clean up too, okay?

Come on, you should hurry and get ready for bed!

Off you go!

*Rustle*

Yui: Wah! Hold on, Kou-kun!?

( I wonder what has gotten into him...!? )

Kou: Goodnight!

Yui: Y-Yeah...Goodnight?

ー He pushes her out of the room

Kou: Phew...I guess the coast is clear now...?

*Flip*

Kou: ...

...Tomorrow...huh?

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to town

Yui: ( Kou-kun acted a little off yesterday... )

( But today he seems to be his usual self...I guess? )

Kou: Yui, give me your bags.

Yui: Eh?

Kou: It’s heavy because you bought a lot, right? I’ll carry them.

Yui: Ah...Thank you.

( Kou-kun’s so nice... )

Kou: Are you sure you bought everything you want to eat?

Yui: Yeah, this is plenty! I was able to buy it all so...thank you.

Kou: Really? There’s really no need to hold back though.

Yui: ( Kou-kun says that but...I bought quite a lot already, I think...? )

( I wonder if we’ll be able to finish everything... )

( I have to make sure we can preserve whatever leftovers we may have. )

( I suppose I could turn the fruits into a jam...? )

Hey, Kou-kun...

Wait...Huh...? Kou-kun...?

( He’s gone...Don’t tell me ,did we get separated because I spaced out...? )

( Oh no... )

For now, I’ll look around these parts...!

ー Yui starts running around

Yui: Haah...

( What now...? He’s not here either... )

Kou: Ah! M-neko-chan!

Yui: ...Kou-kun!!

Kou: Thank god! I was wondering where you had run off to!

Yui: I’m sorry. Seems like I blanked out for a bit.

Kou: I’m sorry too!

Yui: No way, you don’t have to apologize.

It’s because I got lost in thought...I’m to blame, I truly am sorry!

Kou: ...Fufu~ We’re so weird! We’re both apologizing, huh?

Yui: But, I...I was shocked when you were suddenly gone...

Kou: I started panicking when I realized you were gone too, you know?

Either way, I’m glad I found you. Let’s head home holding hands so we don’t get separated again.

Come on, give me your hand.

Yui: Yeah...!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

*Cling*

Kou: Ta-dah! It’s time for the long-awaited cake!

Here you go. This is your slice.

Yui: Wah, thank you!

Kou: You really are a maiden at heart to choose strawberry shortcake~

Yui: ...What do you mean?

Kou: ...That it’s cute.

Yui: ...!

Kou: Geez~ You always start blushing right away...

You really are like a strawberry, you know? I’d love to eat you...is what I would say, but!

Right now, the real strawberries get priority.

I’ll give you mine!

Yui: Eh? ...But...Then you won’t have any.

Kou: I’m fine. You’re the star of today after all!

Yui: ...Fufu, thank you!

Kou: Fufu~ Ahー I guess I might as well sit next to you instead of across then.

*Rustle*

Kou: Pardon the intrusion~!

*Thud*

Yui: Well then...It’d be a shame to let the cake go to waste so let’s give it a taste?

*Cling*

Kou: Ah! Wait!

Yui: W-What’s wrong? You’re suddenly shouting...

Kou: You know, we have to do that! That!

It’s a birthday cake, so we should put a candle on top and have you blow it out!

Yui: Ah...I guess so?

Kou: Of course! That’s a given!

I’ll give it to you after I’ve put on the candle so hold on tight, okay?

*Rustle*

Kou: Hmー Here, all ready!

Yui: Thanks!

( I’m pretty sure I haven’t blown out a candle since I was a child... )

Kou: Well then...Will you blow it out soon?

Yui: Yeah! Okay...Here I go?

Pheew...

ー The lights go out

Yui: ( Wah! It’s pitch black! )

*Rustle*

Yui: ( Eh...? He grabbed my arm... )

Kou: Happy birthday, Yui.

Yui: Kyah...!?

Kou: Fufu! Mission complete!

ー The lights go back on

Yui: Geez...Everything went black all of a sudden, it spooked me.

Kou: I’m sorry, I wanted to surprise you.

Yui: ( Speaking of which, he said ‘mission complete’, but what does that mean...? )

Eh...?

( A ring...!? )

Kou-kun...This is...

Kou: Yeah. It’s my present to you.

Yui: ( It looks like the one we saw at the jewelry store the other day... )

( But the shape seems a little different... )

Kou: Hmm...I thought I did a pretty good job though.

Well, the fact that it’s a little oddly shaped is its charm, a selling point!

Yui: This, did you perhaps...?

Kou: ...Yeah, I made it myself. I’m no good at handiwork, so I couldn’t do a very good job though.

Yui: You made this ring for me...!?

Kou: Yeah, I sure did!

I actually wanted to give you something and went to go buy the one they were selling at the store.

However, it got sold right before me.

Then when I told the people at the store that I wanted the ring no matter what, they suggested I would make it myself.

That’s how I got them to teach me how to make a ring this whole time up till today.

Yui: Up until today...The whole time...

( Then all those times he was gone lately. )

( Or when he suddenly disappeared earlier as well... )

Kou: Also, look at this!

*Rustle*

Kou: This was my first attempt, but it barely even looks like a ring, huh?

...Look, it’s just an iron scrap, don’t you think?

I really gave it my everything.

Yui: Yeah...I can tell, don’t worry.

Kou: Also, I realized.

Yui: What did you realize?

Kou: That you probably wouldn’t have been happy, even if I got to gift you the ring which was up for sale.

Up until now, I always thought that it was natural to return the favor when a person gives you something.

...However, now I no longer feel that way.

Yui: ...

Kou: I don’t want anything in return.

Because I already know that something much better exists beyond that.

Yui: Kou-kun...

Kou: So, even if the appearance is a little shabby, this is the proof of my love for you!

Yui: Yeah...Kou-kun...I...

( Oh no...The tears are... )

Kou: ...Fufu, you’re so happy it’s making you cry?

Yui: Yeah...I’m overjoyed...! After all...You made this for me...!

Kou: Ah...

...Mmh. Thank you.

Yui: ( Kou-kun said the shape is a little strange but. )

( It’s such a lovely ring... )

( And above all, I’m happy knowing that Kou-kun made it himself. )

( I can tell just how much effort he put in... )

I’m happy...Kou-kun, thank you. Thank you so, so much...!

Kou: Ahー Come on, dry your tears?

Yui: But...Uu...

( I can’t...stop these tears... )

Kou: Well, I’m happy knowing you like it this much too though...

Oh, geez! Lift your face?

...Nn...

*Smooch*

Yui: ...!

Kou: ...Done crying?

Yui: ...Yes.

Kou: Your crying face is cute too though. ...Nn...

*Smooch*

Kou: ...Hey, scoot closer...

...Nn...Nn...

...Even your tears are sweet, huh? ...Nn...

Yui: ...Kou-kun...

Kou: ...Nn...Haah...

Yui...I love you...

...Thank you for being born into this world...Nn...

Yui: ( I love you too, Kou-kun... )

( Thank you, Kou-kun... )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the outside

*Snap*

Kou: ...Yeah, we’re having lovely weather today as well.

Oi, Yui! This way!

Yui: Wait, Kou-kun!

You walk way too fast...

Kou: Sorry, sorry~ The sky just looked so pretty.

I couldn’t sit still.

Yui: I do understand how you feel...The sky is so clear after all.

But even so, leaving me behind is just mean!

Kou: Like I said, I’m sorry! ...So forgive me?

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( Wah...Kou-kun embraced me... )

Kou: Hm...In the light, you can really see the flaws.

Yui: ...Hm?

Kou: I’m talking about your ring. It didn’t quite catch my eye yesterday though.

But the shape is a little crooked, don’t you think?

Yui: It’s not.

Besides, I will never take this ring off again.

After all...This ring is the proof of your feelings.

I could search far and wide, I wouldn’t find a single ring in this whole world quite as lovely.

Kou: ...Really?

Yui: Yeah! For sure!

Kou: I see...

*Rustle*

Kou: Hm...

Yui: Kou-kun?

Kou: ...Right. Won’t you let me slip that ring on your finger one more time?

Yui: The ring?

Kou: Yeah.

Yui: Yesterday, I gave it to you in the dark after all.

*Rustle*

Kou: And there just so happens to be such a beautiful sky.

I want to put this ring on you.

...Underneath the blue skies I admired for years.

Yui: Kou-kun...

Kou: ...Can I?

Yui: Yeah.

Kou: ...Ever since I was born, I have seen a lot of things.

I went through a lot of pain, and experienced many hardships.

Yui: Yeah...

Kou: But, I met Ruki-kun and the others, as well as that man...

I learnt about a blue sky which isn’t confined by a circle or a square.

And...I found you.

Yui: Mmh...

Kou: I thought I had nothing left, but right now, I have you.

That is all I need. I don’t want anything else.

I swear on this misformed ring, underneath the sky...

I love you...Yui.

From here on out, for eternity...

...How about you?

Yui: ...Me too...I love you...!

Kou: Yeah...Thank you.

Let’s be together forever.

I love you, Yui...

*Smooch*

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) Literally she says ‘to be emotionally moved by various things’ but that sounded rather stiff in English, so I translated it a little differently.

(2) Literally he asks her to ‘point her consciousness/awareness towards him’.

(3) I actually have no idea what these are called in English but they’re the large TV screens which may be attached to buildings or put out in public to display important events, etc. In Japan, these are super common in big cities but here in Belgium - for example - you rarely ever see them. ^^;;

(4) Kou uses the term 色づく or ‘iro-duku’ which is often used to refer to the ripening of fruits or the reddening of leaves during fall time. I assume in this case, he wants to imply that she is becoming more mature.

(5) The verb 要る or ‘iru’ literally means ‘to need’, but it is often used to reject something as well, in which case ‘want’ seems more fitting in English.

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #kou mukami #more blood #diabolik lovers translation #mbkouafterstory

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