Tumgik
#but I’m so happy liking gravity falls is a universal experience
waynes-multiverse · 1 year
Text
Everything I Wanted
Tumblr media
Summary: For once, Dean Winchester had everything he ever wanted and was convinced he’d found a glitch in the matrix of bad luck and heartbreak – until his dream turned into a nightmare. Alternate ending to On The Beach.
Pairings: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader (past)
Warnings: angst, heartbreak, hurt, death, mentions of a disease, no happy ending
Word Count: 1.1k (painfully curated words you wish I never wrote)
A/N: In hindsight, I’m really glad I didn’t put this into the OG fic, but this is for the ones that love to be tormented with that twinge of pain... 🖤 Inspired by everything i wanted by Billie Eilish. Listen to that song and watch the video for another layer of heartbreak.
Feedback is writer’s fuel, so make sure to fill my tank. Thank you!
Dean Winchester Masterlist || Main Masterlist
Tumblr media
It’s cold and dark. There is no moon, no stars in the black and bleak night sky. He can sniff the below-zero temperature in the air, in the wind that howls around him, but he can’t feel it stinging, can’t feel the harsh needle pricks of idle winter. There’s no amount of physical pain that could bother him, not anymore, no awakening jolt that could compete with the ache in his chest – until that last human affliction went away as well.
His skin, his bones, his heart – it’s all numb, lifeless and empty like the body he’s burning on the pyre.
Flakes fall around him, coming down like the snow he has watched so many times on this beach before, hand holding hers in a vice-like grip, hoping the knot is tied firmly enough to keep her boat from floating away from his shore. Anchored to each other forever.
This time, however, the snowflakes are not white flickers of hope. They don’t announce a new beginning, no lighthouse shining its beam to guide her back to him. There is no happy ending in sight. This time, it’s a gray swirl of ash, a storm of forlornness. Death and doldrums.
She came like a dream, a flame that melted the pricking ice, which had slowly crawled through his red-blooded veins and festered in his heart over decades – years of torture, travail, and torment. But she was magic, the truest and purest form he’d ever witnessed. She cast a smile on his face without even trying, and boy, whenever she did try, he was deep in trouble – the good kind and never the bad.
For a moment, the usually unkind stars in the universe aligned. For once, he got everything he ever wanted. A small and cozy house he called a home, a love that warmed his blood and soul, and a tomorrow he was excited to see and experience. Two fated hearts found each other and connected in an impossibly cold world, an invisible string tying them together for eternity, defying improbable odds like defying gravity. No pair of scissors, no knife, no cruel weapon of life could’ve snapped that bond. He thoroughly ensured the knot was tethered firmly. God, he swears he did…
“You know, when I wake up, all I see is you with me,” Dean whispers in the dark as they lie face to face on fluffy clouds of pillows, a reluctant smile twitching on his lips as he softly brushes a few rogue strands of hair behind her ear.
Y/N mirrors his smile and catches his lips in an ever-lasting and reaffirming kiss as she nuzzles impossibly closer. “Funny. I was gonna say the same thing. You’re a daydream, Winchester.”
He playfully rolls his green eyes, orbs sparkling with flustered love. “Okay, now you’re just making fun of me.”
Her teeth sink mischievously into her bottom lip as she shakes her head, giggling. “Never.”
The hunter can’t help but snort at her teasing, his heart warming so much that it’s competing with the burning furnace in the bedroom as the annual winter blizzard ravages outside the bay window. “You know, sometimes I’m not sure I even deserve you…”
“You do,” she tells him without a quiver of hesitation. “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. If you did, you wouldn’t wonder for a second why you’re here with me.”
He swallows the anxious lump in his dried throat, a constant reminder that the happiness, the love – it all could be fleeting, disappear and disintegrate with the inhumane snap of someone’s fingers. Gone and dusted in a blink of a distracted eye.
“As long as I’m here, no one can hurt you, sweetheart,” he assures her and, most of all, himself, calloused and beaten fingers caressing her soft and rosy cheek before he locks his promise with a searing kiss that vows to tear worlds apart if someone dares to challenge it.  
She left like a nightmare. It wasn’t a monster, a demon, or a force of evil that took her. It wasn’t something or someone he could fight. There was nothing and no one he could blame, not even himself. There was no weapon, no spell, and no miracle that could save her. There was no potion that could cure her.
It started with harmless coughs, a common winter cold, which suddenly morphed into terrifying sounds and formidable scarlet stains on white tissues during one unsuspecting movie night in front of the fireplace – a calm and quiet night like any other. Soon, however, the calmness and peace were things of the past. All there was left then were only endless scans and prolonged hospital stays and hopeless statistics and experimental medications and helpless attempts to find a way where there was none and silent prayers of desperation in sterile chapels.
No one could ever hear him, though, no matter how loudly he screamed for help. His head was underwater, pleas echoing in empty vastness as his heart capsized and sunk to the bottom of the deepest, darkest sea. His lungs filled with salt water with each despondent breath he took. His flailing arms grew tired the more he struggled against the current, trying to swim back to the surface, trying to pull himself ashore and rescue her with him. He tried till there was nothing left but drowning.
And then, one morning, when the sunbeams filtered through the slats of the bay window like a cosmic joke, his lost emeralds fluttered open and couldn’t see her anymore. All they found was an empty space on the mattress, a cold side of the bed, and an untouched pillow without a head resting upon it.
Y/N wasn’t with him any longer, the knot loose and the string broken.
As the fire burns down and the last flame flickers to stay alive, his knees become so weak he relinquishes the remainder of his strength and sinks into the cold sand, his boots flooding with ocean water as he wishes he could get swallowed by the waves.
“Dean, it’s time,” Sam’s voice tears through the numbness before the green-eyed hunter feels the warmth of small arms around his neck and press against his back.
“I’m still here, Daddy,” his four-year-old daughter reminds him in a soft whisper, and Dean knows then and there that he has to keep fighting. He made a promise.
Tumblr media
See? It’s like a partially happy ending... Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m an asshole. Love you guys 😘 *hands out tissues*
Everything Jensen Tags: @extraterrestriali​ @this-is-me19​ @writercole​ @awkward-and-indecisive​ @eevvvaa​ @panicking-outside-the-disco​ @globetrotter28​ @imherefordeanandbones​ @dean-winchester-is-a-warrior​ @xlynnbbyx​ @jassackles​ @maggiegirl17​ @perpetualabsurdity​ @deans-spinster-witch​ @deandreamernp​ @foxyjwls007​ @roseblue373​​ @lyarr24​​ @deanwanddamons​​ @deanwithscissors​​ @mrsjenniferwinchester​​ @justrealizedimmascifygurl​​ @akshi8278​​ @flamencodiva​​ @chriszgirl92​​ @lhymer1995 @wittyboldsoul​​ @djs8891​​ @leigh70​​ @snowlovespie​​ @b3autyfuldisast3r​​ @recoveringpastaaddict @ladysparkles78​​ @muhahaha303​​ @mimaria420​​
Dean Tags: @parinarain​​ @hobby27​​ @fromcaintodean​​
76 notes · View notes
normiedoctorwho · 9 months
Text
Venting about the 12th Doctor and nuwho experience so far
So I’ve been working my way through nuwho for about a year and a half now, and since it hit 12 it’s been extremely slowly. The reason it’s been so slow is while there are episodes I like, I cannot for the life of me get invested in these characters, the major exception after the s9 premiere being Missy.
I love her.
Dearly.
I’m just gonna pull off the bandaid now, I liked Clara more with 11. I know heaven sent is gonna be amazing and gives a great tragic goodbye for her, the fact is as of now, I wish she would’ve left either after kill the moon, or after the s8 finale.
And I’ll stress that I am extremely biased towards more classic who feels for episodes. That’s where I got into the series and if you know me, you’ll know I DESPISE new who’s constant raising of the stakes. As in then Modern day earth/the whole universe has to be on the line.
I’ve reached a boiling point with the 12th doctor because Moffatt’s inability to commit to his dramatic plot points.
I’m not expecting Missy to actually be dead. It was obvious she survived. And she was the best part of the s9 premiere, but like… more of a buffer guys.
Speaking of a buffer, once again we have a perfectly fine companion break up that’s undone by the Christmas special because god forbid new who has a good companion exit/commits to it outside of Martha’s.
(Opinion context: Rose’s first exit worked, then Journey’s end happened. Jack’s was straight up bad, just forgot about him for two seasons, Martha is good as stated, Donna’s was horribly contrived and fucking stupid actually happy that’s getting a do over, Amy and Rory had their good exit at the end of s6, which got ruined by the Christmas special, and now Clara with the same shit.)
Magician’s apprentice in particular annoyed me because it felt like it was spinning it’s wheels while also yet again making the stakes impossibly big when they did not need to be. At least at the start. “The Doctor is dying. Airplanes are frozen in mid air! The master is back! What do we doooo?” When the initial conceit of the Doctor being torn between helping a kiddo Davros or letting him die was way more interesting. And I won’t lie, not all of this criticism is fair. I’d heard this was the premise of the episode for months if not years in advance, and got excited and built my own picture of what it could’ve been. And when the episodes themselves seemed to be actively avoiding the interesting thing in favor of Davros and 12 sitting in a room reading their character analysis’ of each other while Missy and Clara run around a radiation filled planet with no side effects, I got bored fast.
Like Moffatt, I know you got the idea for this episode from 4’s speech in genesis. You don’t have to literally play the clip from the speech. It’s not necessary and just eats up time. Just role with the dramatic irony and have fans notice the reference.
I will say I liked that 12 didn’t fall for Davros’ obvious lies and that 12 had a real plan to kill all of the daleks on the rebuilt skaro. 10 seemingly backtracking to pre remembrance character development never sat right with me. And 11 never truly contemplating the gravity of the consequences of choosing to save the earth over destroying the daleks in victory of the daleks was also annoying. So to give 12 this chance to get rid of it all and have him actually go through with it was nice.
I fully expect Davros to return at some point, but at the very least, it won’t be because the Doctor showed him pity. They are well and truly past that now.
But then he almost falls for Missy’s bit to trick him into killing Clara? Ugh. More importantly though, this episode relies wayyyyy too much on the audience’s classic who knowledge of thecharacter dynamic and what happened to Skaro. As far as I can remember, nuwho does not ever explain the Doctor destroyed it.
Listen I like it when classic who comes up in nuwho, but nuwho needs to stand on its own. And if it’s gonna take cues from classic who, then for the love of god stop having 3 save modern day earth plots per season and let the timelords be actual forces in the narrative. Vs some tragic backstory you lean on b/c you’re convinced the doctor’s mysticism is why we like him so much.
I swear nuwho downplaying that the doctor is a renegade timelord b/c Galifrey is no longer a factor in the plot outside of “waaa I destroyed my home planet in the time war,” is just so annoying. The writers focus on the stole the tardis aspect and not “my people had time and space travel but they sat on their asses vs using it to explore and help people.
I’ll clarify that I do not hate all of new who. I like it overall. And I like older doctors too. Plz I don’t hate capaldi as an actor I think he does a good job with what he’s given. But god does where I’m at feel like the show is just running on fumes while also having it’s head up it’s own ass.
I bet Clara’s clear trauma at 12 nearly killing her and being unable to explain who she is will totally get addressed in the next story.
/s
7 notes · View notes
bribrush · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
All of these works are done by the amazing, talented @elentori-art! They have been an artist I’ve absolutely loved ever since I was in middle school and started shipping Bill Cipher x Dipper Pines. I aspire to draw as pretty scenes as they do one day!
THINGS I NOTICE
Lighting - One thing I notice looking at all of these is that there’s always attention given to where the light is and how it interacts with objects in the environment in terms of bloom and reflection.
Male Form - I’m also surprisingly never weirded out by the male body in their artworks, though often times I am in art and irl. I’ll need to dedicate some time to studying how they draw males. Though I do wish there was more variation in body shapes they draw so I could see how they break the mold. I’ll need to look at another artist for more plush character designs.
Faces - Very simple, it looks like. But I’m not sure if that’s cuz I have limited experience or not.
Landscaping - Fills the frame and is part of what makes the art really stand out. I’m absolutely enchanted! I think the style is influenced by Steven Universe and Gravity Falls-- both shows, I’d also like to study the art of.
Line Art - I LOVE the way everything is drawn. I feel like if it was all black and white, I’d still be very happy to look at these. The color really brings it out, but still!
OKAY! That’s all I can see for now, but I’ll likely look at this again! Onto finding more artists and practicing!
0 notes
waveypedia · 2 years
Text
I wore my Mabel sweater today at college and got SO many compliments it’s like you are not immune to gravity falls
5 notes · View notes
ladyartemesia · 3 years
Note
Since I'm in love with your writings and your taste in reading too. I know that your favorite is Brother's best friend or Best friend's brother, I would like for you to recommend me some of them please ❤️❤️🙏
Tumblr media
꧁Brother’s Best Friend꧂
Clandestine by @junghelioseok is fantastic. Jeon Jungkook is the best friend of the reader’s slightly younger brother. He’s sexy and charismatic and DEFINITELY knows what he wants. The growth of his (clandestine) connection with the reader is utterly delicious. This one made me laugh and swoon.
Guarded by @xjoonchildx is basically legendary in my book. The lady in this story is not only Hoseok’s best friend’s sister—she is also his BOSS’s sister and by boss I mean mafia. This is the first installment in Ana’s amazing Rap Line Mafia Universe and it delivers on every level. Hoseok is tasked with protecting the boss’s sister after she is being threatened by sinister forces unknown and sparks fly.
Plums and Melons by @winetae is THAT FIC. The fic I just daydream about sometimes. It’s a fic about two people caught hard in eachother’s gravity. It’s so sexy and cerebral and the main characters are so hot. Jimin is just a guy trying to live his life, but whatever is brewing between him and his best friend’s sister is driving him insane. He wants to be a good guy, but she just isn’t playing fair.
Are You Sure? by @cutechim is such a swoon-worthy and touching piece of wonderful. I tell you I was MOVED. This is beautiful and emotional and EXTREMELY satisfying. Taehyung’s best friend has a sister who he has always secretly adored. When she comes to him and asks for some intimate experience, he isn’t strong enough to say no—not when she’s everything he ever wanted.
Drivers License and Detour by @gyukult is sweet and tender and just a fantastic coming of age story. The reader has been in love with her brother’s best friend, Park Jimin, for almost all of her youth... but what is going on in his head?It’s a tender story that really warms the heart. AND I am happy there is more coming. I would read about these two all day. She published the second part and oh my gosh it’s so incredibly perfect I could scream. This was just such a beautiful journey every step of the way.
Milestone by @1kook is probably one of the first brother’s best friend BTS fics I read and it is amazing. I adore it so much. Because Jungkook is your brother’s best friend he is there for every milestone in your life. But you’ve both grown up now and neither of you are kids anymore. It’s hot. Like really hot. Dialogue and set up are so sharp and fast paced I really loved every second.
Young God by @njssi is scorching hot smut with complicated feelings and warm revelations. You think it’s going somewhere and then it goes somewhere else and honestly it is so awesome the whole time. Jungkook was always your brother’s sweet little friend, but he’s returned determined to show you that he is all grown up.
Tease by @caiuscassiuss floored me. I loved it so much! I spent the whole story just squealing happily about everything. This story has it all. It’s scorching hot. It’s enemies-to-lovers. It’s Taehyung. Jungkook’s sister and Kim Taehyung do not get along AT all—so she decides to bring him to his knees by making him desperate for her. It’s a wild and completely awesome ride.
Wasabi by @ironicarmy is a classic. Hobi is a bad boy that Namjoon vehemently refuses to let near his precious baby sister. But love is too strong a force and soon Hobi and the clever object of his desire decide that some things are worth fighting for. It’s a really sweet story of facing challenges and relying on the people you love. Warm and fuzzy feelings abound, but it’s also super hot.
Forbidden by @btssmutgalore is a masterwork blueprint for this trope. Hobi is a carefree player who falls brutally for Taehyung’s sister. They two of them eventually give in to a VERY steamy series of secret encounters and feelings get very involved. This is hot, suspenseful, and emotionally satisfying. Excellent characterizations as well.
Prohibido by @personasintro is an office AU with a twist. Namjoon is not only her brother’s best friend, he is also her boss and the two of them have incredible chemistry. Watching them pretend that they’re not insanely attracted to each other is so endearing and hot. Reader is convinced her feelings are one-sided. It’s lovely and fun. Definitely a slow burn, but worth it.
Strawberry Kisses by @kimnjss is a fic that I devoured in one sitting and then re-read again immediately. Jeon Jungkook is a player who matches with a girl on a dating app and has no idea she is the sister of his revered mentor and close friend, Min Yoongi. I laughed. I cried. I GASPED OUT LOUD a bunch. It was a whole thing. This is a hybrid social media/written AU and it’s pretty much perfect.
Tempestuous by @ppersonna is so special to me because it was written at the very beginning of my friendship with Lindy. She was looking for requests and I was quick to request my favorite trope. Lindy is bae now and this fic she wrote is marvelous. You are forced to spend the weekend in the same house with your sexy arch-rival Taehyung who just so happens to be your brother’s best friend. Naturally snarky hotness ensues.
Off Limits @floralseokjin is basically a famous entry when it comes to this trope. It’s a Jin fic and Miss Jordan writes EXQUISITE Jin characterizations. There is a hint of mistaken (or unknown) identity in this one which makes it even more fun. Sparks fly between you and a devilishly charming Kim Seokjin at a party. You don’t find out until later who he really is—and why he’s off limits.
And finally I’ll recommend my own Brother’s Best Friend fic All I Want for Christmas is You featuring a charming Taehyung who falls for Jimin’s sister. Jimin basically blackmails his best friend into escorting his sister to several holiday galas. Tae and Jimin’s sister have never gotten along, but they soon discover (through multiple pranks and mishaps) that love (and desire) are out of their control.
Not Your Fairytale by @yeojaa is incredibly sweet and tender. Erin really does emotion so well and her Yoongi characterization is honestly so nuanced and brilliant. This story is about a girl who had her heart broken and instead of canceling the cake tasting she scheduled with her philandering ex-fiancé, she wrangles the tsundere best friend of her brother to pretend to be him.
Brother’s Best Friend by @bts-hyperfixation is a short and sweet moment between two people who have been fighting their attraction for each other. It is so hot and delicious I tell you. You’re in trouble and the person you call is probably the person you shouldn’t—but you aren’t the only one willing to take a risk tonight.
Off Limits by @kaddiiction will break your heart and put it back together again. This one was recommended to me by a reader and I cannot thank them enough. It is fantastic. Jimin is a player but he crosses the line when he begins a liaison with his best friend’s sister. Still there is far more to this situation—and Jimin—than meets the eye.
꧁Best Friend’s Brother꧂
Orectic by @gimmesumsuga is one of my favorite fics of all time. It is a hybrid fic where the reader is a cat hybrid and Hoseok is the brother of her best friend who comes to stay with her while her bestie is away... It is so tender yet SO HOT. I’m telling you I cannot even keep count of how many times I have read it.
Theophany by @ilikemesometaetaes was a JOURNEY. It made me so emotional. Like the story centers around art a lot, but let me tell you, this fic IS art. Jimin is just the man of my whole dreams in this piece as the brother of a former best friend with an irresistible allure. It is a coming of age story with the most beautiful twist. AND THE LOVE SCENE—oh my gosh I screamed it was so good. This story is just so so good.
Run by @neonlights92 is Jungkook’s story in the mafia universe I am COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH. You don’t have to read the whole series to understand it (BUT YOU SHOULD). This is best friend’s brother meets arranged marriage and honestly it’s fantastic. Jungkook doesn’t do love and affection and being forced into an arranged marriage with his sister’s friend who has always had a crush on him is just a blow to his freedom... or is she? GAH! This story—like all the stories in this universe—is superb.
The Magic to Happiness by @readyplayerhobi is a best friend’s brother meets teachers AU meets Hogwarts AU. Now... all of those are top tier tropes so finding them together is like winning the lottery. Hobi was once just a skinny kid who had obvious heart eyes for you (his sister’s best friend) but now he’s tall and confident and really attractive. The magic of this story is evident in every word of the sweet relationship that blooms between these two.
Problem with You by @monvante is so sweet and kind of hilarious. I giggled so much! Jungkook is your best friend’s brother and he is kind of too perfect and too handsome and he’s always around and you hate him and he hates you... Right? When you cross paths with the infuriating Jeon Jungkook at your best friend’s wedding, you discover that you may have been wrong about a great many things.
Show Me Yours and I’ll Show You Mine by @ktheist is so so SO fabulous. I was obsessed with this (now complete) series from the very first installment. You and Tae are besties who have know each other since you were little kids, but lately Tae’s older brother Jin has been lookin mighty fine. Just how far can you push him till he breaks. And if he breaks.... what then?
This list is BY NO MEANS exhaustive. I just used it to compile some of my FAVORITES in this particular trope.
➪ IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER BROTHER’S BEST FRIEND FICS I SHOULD CHECK OUT PLEASE COMMENT (seriously please I love this trope so much) AND I WILL ADD THEM TO THIS LIST.
➪ Newer Additions are in PINK!
➪ Newest Additions are in BLUE
3K notes · View notes
anna-scribbles · 3 years
Text
an announcement
hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that my tumblr and instagram accounts will be inactive until further notice. more information under the cut, but long story short: I have had an incredibly fun and positive time sharing my art with you all over the last year or so. however, I’ve noticed myself making my internet presence way too much of a priority in my life, and it’s become unhealthy for my relationships and my faith. I’ve decided to take a step back. if I ever feel like it’s a healthy choice for me to come back to these accounts, then I’d love to--but right now it’s not. thank you for understanding.
if anyone needs to contact me, I’ll still be available on discord or through my email [email protected]. my accounts will not be deactivated, all my content will stay up, I just will not be active here anymore.
(head’s up: I’ll be talking about my Christian faith in the explanation)
About six months ago, I was facing a really big life decision and one of the big questions I had was what my art was supposed to be for. Before I began posting my art online a little over a year ago, I never thought much of it; I drew characters that I liked because it made me feel happy. But after the pandemic hit and quarantine began, I felt bored and sad and I decided to finally make a tumblr account and post some pictures on it. About a week after I made the account, I drew a comic that was a crossover between steven universe and gravity falls, and it blew up. I started getting thousands of followers every day, and I’d never had followers on anything before in my life, and it was exciting, and I didn’t want it to stop. I did feel God impressing on my heart back then that I needed to ask Him for permission to do this, but I was so worried of losing the momentum of my rapid following that I ignored Him.
Since that week, my follower base has grown to 17k on tumblr and 20k on instagram. To be honest, I think about it all the time. All my free time is spent creating content, or consuming content, or obsessively looking through the reactions to the content I produce. All this to say, the events of the last year have caused me to see my art differently, to believe that it was good. Not because of what God says about me, but because of what strangers on the internet did. And this newfound belief in my artistic skill caused me a newfound source of pain and confusion: I became worried that I was wasting it. I was worried that I should’ve gone to a better school, should be practicing more, should be more focused on how to get a career in the industry. And six months ago, when I was faced with a big life decision, I asked God what my art was for. I wanted Him to give me a career path, a degree. But that’s not what He told me.
I was reading in the book of Lamentations that day, and it struck me that it was a book of poetry. It was gorgeously intricate and structured and beautiful, and it was art. It was art that wasn’t for anyone but God, not intended for anything but the act of offering up a prayer and a praise to Him. And God revealed to me in that moment that He didn’t give me art so that I could pursue a certain career path or degree; He gave me art so that I could give it back to Him. So that I could worship. This revelation filled me with a joy I haven’t often felt--one that brought my heart back to life and filled my mouth with praise. God spoke to me in that moment, asked me to give my art back to Him in worship, and then... I let the moment pass. I chose to ignore Him, again. I was still too afraid of losing it all, this little kingdom on earth I’d built.
A few weeks ago I was at church and the Lord impressed upon me, again, that it was time to give it up. I knew that God told me to give my art back to Him in worship, and I knew I had ignored Him, and I felt His Spirit imploring me strongly again to give it up. And still, I was afraid to walk away. I liked how it felt, receiving dozens of nice comments every day. I liked watching the numbers go up, watching my skills as an artist improve and gain recognition. I liked feeling like I made people laugh or smile or have a better day. I told myself that it was harmless, good even. (But, as it turns out, God has a reason for the things that He asks of us. As it turns out, God sees the whole picture while we live our lives grasping at a single piece of the puzzle. As it turns out, it is often the most mundane of things that can separate us from God.)
Recently, someone very close to me told me she’s been feeling distant from me for the past year, that I’ve shown so little interest in her life that it’s gotten to the point where she’s been anxious to even talk to me. This is something I admit with the heaviest heart. I’ve been so focused on building myself up that I’ve been neglecting the people God’s put in my life. I’ve been centering my life on something that’s not Him, and when I do that--no matter what it is that I’m centering my life on-- it hurts me and it hurts those who are around me. God has sent me a wake-up call and He is asking me to obey, and this time I am saying yes.
If you have ever enjoyed my account or anything I’ve had to say, this is the only thing I can tell you that has any real significance: God knows you and loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. I say this not because it’s what I’ve been taught, but because it’s my actual lived experience. I wouldn't be doing this if He hadn't asked me to, and if He hadn't proven to me that I can trust Him to take care of me through it.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been so kind to me. I’ve made so many friends through this experience and felt so inspired and happy and loved here. From the bottom of my heart, I’m so thankful for your endless kind and encouraging words. The last year and a half have by far been the hardest of my life but this community has brought me happiness through that. I know, though, that it’s time for me to give it up for now and focus on what God has for me. Thank you for reading and understanding.
So much love,
Anna
561 notes · View notes
themonotonysyndrome · 3 years
Text
REDACTED verse - Those that stood above the rest
Summary: Everyone in D.A.M.N simp for the power couple at least a little bit - the Vampire Prince of Dahlia and the Electro Energetic. Gavin and the Freelancer would be lying if they said they haven't been watching them... respectfully. 
TW: [Swearing], [Profanity], [Explicit implications courtesy of Gavin, of course] & [Oblivious narrators]
Apologies for any grammatical or spelling errors because I wrote this the whole night and only edited it once. I’ll do the editing process again tomorrow morning.
-
Life as a student in D.A.M.N is nothing like regular colleges or universities. While the environment is hectic with exams, assignments and teachers with sticks up their asses - there's also a hint of craziness thrown into the mix. You can never really predict how your day would go here in the academy, and to most of the students, it's the typical college experience you'll get everywhere. Just... taken to the next level. 
That's what you get for a magical academy, after all. 
An Air Elemental would accidentally shatter the windows in a classroom with a powerful gust of wind on a random ass Tuesday because she was laughing too hard. A Graviton Energetic would sneeze, and suddenly, the gravity in the music room would stick the instruments on the ceilings. The entire soccer team would fall flat on the grassy field, snoozing because the Serenity Daemon playing as the Goalkeeper uses too much magic to calm their anxious Sweeper during his first play with the team. 
With so many Empowered creatures of all kinds attending D.A.M.N, there's never a dull moment. You learned that the moment a loud growl came from the Debate Club on your second week as a student. A Wolf Shifter had gotten into a heated argument with a Vampire about the toppings that should and shouldn't be on a pizza. 
So yeah, typical college life with magic thrown into your daily shenanigans. 
Today, you can't help but wonder what sort of excitement would occur as the large clock above the lecture hall ticks by, counting down the second before the class is over. 
You check the clock and sigh. Just ten more minutes to go, but it feels like time is creeping forward at such a snail-like pace. Tapping your pen on the open notebook laid before you rather irritability, you just want the lecturer to stop yammering already so you can grab lunch at the food truck parked outside of campus. 
Something gently knocks against your knuckle. You tilt your head to the side and meet with Damien's unamused stare; it looks like this is the third time he caught you losing focus in class. 
"I told you to grab a snack before class started." Damien whispers, mindful to keep his voice even so the lecturer won't catch them chatting. Sadism Daemons are scary when you piss them off, and the way the lecturer's eyes sweep through the students is more than enough to have them all shut the hell up the moment he begins their topic of the day. 
"I was meeting up with Lasko and we lost track of time." You hiss back. Yesterday you made a promise to catch up with the Air Elemental before your first class started to organise the date and invitations for the next game night. Once Lasko starts talking about the things he's comfortable with, he loses his stutter and launches into an animated one-sided conversation. You didn't have the heart to stop him, not when he looks so happy and cute. 
Buying that Arkham Horror board game was the right purchase to surprise him with. 
While your mind replays the morning you spend with Lasko, Damien rolls his eyes. "Of course you did. Here." He pushes his coffee cup towards you. His fingers linger on the cup for a few seconds to make sure that the coffee remains hot enough to drink. 
You grab the cup, grateful for his consideration, and take a big swing. The coffee settles pleasantly in your stomach as warmth spreads within your body. 
You're more a tea drinker - the classic Early Grey and Gunpowder Green - but at this instance, coffee would hopefully kick your focus back into gear. 
"Thanks, Damien." You said before passing the cup back to him. You peeked at his notebook and wasn't surprised to find that it's packed with notes written in different coloured pens. "Hey, want to grab lunch together after this?" 
Damien switched the yellow pen for a red one when the lecturer mentioned something about a topic for the upcoming test. You absentmindedly wondered if it's worth your life stealing his notebook. "Sure. What are you in the mood for?" He asked. 
Finally, the lecturer dismisses the class. Chatters erupt as students pack up while some scurry over to the podium to ask a few questions.
You lean against your seat to stretch your back; your notebooks and stationery are already in your school backpack. You're just waiting for Damien now. "I'm craving for a burger and some cheesy loaded fries with a boba tea." God, just thinking about it is already enough to make your mouth watered. 
Being a health nut, Damien throws you a judgemental look at your food choice as you two made your way towards the main campus entrance. He easily follows your lead through a crowd of students, and Damien even gently pulls you closer to his side when a student whizzes by on her skateboard. 
With so many people talking and laughing around you and Damien, you can't help but hear the conversations hovering around you. 
"...had class with them yesterday? Dude, you're so lucky! Did you sit beside them!?" 
"Are you fucking crazy? No! I sat two rows behind them, but it was enough to smell their perfume. God, they're so gorgeous - I couldn't focus the entire time!" 
"I've heard a few players from the Earth Elemental team tried to invite them to their party this weekend, but they were shot down. Apply cold water on burned area." 
"Well, duh. You can't just walk up to them like that! They're one of the hottest people in this academy."
"Yeah, but those players are in one of the most well-respected sports teams in all of Dahlia, and even they can't stand a chance against them!"
Students parted ways as you and Damien approached the gates. Rows of food trucks parked across the street with tables and chairs placed about. The conversations tapered off behind you, along with the hubbub of the academy. You have a pretty good idea of whom those students were talking about. It's been a topic surrounding the academy ever since the start of the new academic year. 
Even as an introvert who prefers to hover to your few but close group of friends, you couldn't escape the latest academy gossip.
"Finally, I thought my ears would've fallen off before we could escape," Damien mutters. It's a cloudy Wednesday; dark clouds are rolling above them with an occasional burst of strong breeze cutting through. "You'd think they would just give it a rest already." 
The food truck you and Damien stop by displays a menu with a wide variety of food and drinks. From burgers to pasta and desserts ranging from ice-creams to Thai banana pancakes, your stomach begins to growl. You place your order in a hurry, whereas Damien selects a hearty sandwich stuffed with juicy and tender slices of slow-smoked beef brisket with veggies of his choice and chipotle mayo in between two crusty loaves with a bottle of water. 
You and Damien grab your meals to sit at one of the vacant tables and enjoy lunch together. Good food and good company - what more could you ask for? Well, other than Damien's tsk-ing and wiping the barbecue sauce that smudged the corner of your cheek like the mother hen he constantly denies to be. 
"Can't you eat your food properly, Freelancer? You're getting your fingers dirty too. Give me your hand." Damien demanded halfway through his sandwich. You grin impishly and offer your left hand for Damien to wipe with some tissue while the other is holding a burger. The thick sauce begins to drip. 
Soon enough, a familiar voice shouts at them from across the street. 
"Yo, Damien! Freelancer! Are you guys, like, having lunch? Can I join!?" 
You can't help but beam and wave your hand (that was still holding the burger) high up when Huxley crosses over. Damien squawked with eyes wide in horror when the barbecue sauce got all over the table. He hurried to wipe the table clean while you greeted Huxley. 
"Hi, Huxley! Are you grabbing lunch too? Take a seat, man!" 
"Thanks a bunch, dude. It's been a while since I hung out with you two." 
"We literally had a class together two days ago." 
"Two days too long, Damien. I miss you guys." 
"Aww, that's super sweet of you, Hux!"
"Oh, for the love of - just go buy something already before the next class starts." 
Huxley happily gives Damien two thumbs up before grabbing his food and drink. When he returned to their table, he brought a tray of smoothie consisting of kale, spinach, banana, orange, and vanilla blended into green mush in a plastic cup and a plate of vegan quesadillas. 
The moment Huxley sat down, you took a sip of his drink and made a face. 
"Yeah, I ask them to hold back on the honey because I like the vanilla more," Huxley explains before tucking in. "Oh! But I can ask them to add more honey if you want. That’s like, totally cool." 
You quickly shake your head and clean your palate with your sweet boba tea. "It's cool, Hux. Just wanted to try a sip. You're really into these crazy healthy smoothies." 
"They're the bomb, dude. My Mums introduced a few recipes to me when I was a kid, and I basically hooked ever since." The Earth Elemental explains after gulping down a good chunk of the green goo. 
"Yeah, well, with the calories you burned up during practice, I guess you can't go wrong with smoothies," Damien added thoughtfully. His sandwich is all gone. He props an elbow on the table and cradles his face in one open palm. "Anyway, what's up, Huxley? Anything new happened?" 
"Nah, it's been nothing but the same shit lately. Classes, assignments and practices for the upcoming Elemental & Energetic Games - normal stuff. What about you guys?" 
"More or less the same." Damien replies, soundly ignoring your "We're hitting the tournament arc!" outburst. "Planning to organise a study group for the upcoming tests. I expect the two of you will be joining, by the way." 
At Damien's words, Huxley beams brighter. Any brighter, you'd need a pair of sunglasses. "For real, dude!? You're like, the best friend ever, Damien! C'mere - lemme give you a hug!" 
You snicker when despite Damien's frantic protest, Huxley shoot up from his chair and quickly hugs the Fire Elemental tightly before he has the chance to weasel away. 
Also, you didn't miss the chance to snap a quick picture of them to show Gavin tonight. 
Unaware of your phone, Damien grumbled when Huxley finally released him, and they sat down again. The three of you continue to chat about everything and anything. Soon, the topic shifts from tests to plans for the weekend. 
Huxley snapped his fingers when you mentioned Lasko's gaming night and the tabletop game you recently bought for him so they could all play together. 
"I totally forgot about the party! A few guys in my team are having a party this Saturday, and I want to invite you guys and Lasko. Oh! Gavin too! It's going to be a blast, and on Sunday, we can play that new board game."
You and Damien exchange a glance. "Sounds fun. Actually, we've heard about the party just now. How many people are your team members inviting?" You asked, curious. 
Huxley takes a moment to ponder before shrugging. He's nearly done with this food. "It's supposed to be just with a few close friends. Nothing too crazy, you know? After the last party that ended with fireworks exploding in someone's bedroom, they want to keep it lowkey." 
"Huh. Close friends, but they tried to invite a certain Energetic," Damien interjects. "What's up with that?" 
"You heard about that too?" Huxley replied, surprise coloured his tone. "Word travel like, super-fast around campus! It happened, like, yesterday morning!" 
Damien let out an annoyed groan and ran a palm down his face. "I think it's safe to say that everyone in this fucking academy is talking about it and nothing else. God, no matter where you go, you can't escape it." 
You pat Damien's arm in a comforting manner. "They're hot and popular; people will be talking about them until we all graduate." 
"And if it isn't them, people would be talking about their boyfriend," Huxley pointed out, stirring his smoothie languidly. Huxley smiles and offers it to you when you critically stare at it for a tad too long. Against your better judgement, you try again. 
Blek! It still tastes the same! Huxley just chuckles and finishes the rest of the smoothie while you seek solace with your boba tea again. 
"Besides, it's not often you see an Energetic and Vampire couple walking around," Huxley continued. "I think they're living together too. I mean, that's what I heard." 
"Don't tell me you also have a crush on them."  
Before Huxley could say anything, you tentatively raise your hand as if you guys are in class. Now you bear Damien's annoyed glance. "I was kinda hardcore crushing on them and their boyfriend before Gavin and I officially got together. They keep to themselves and their boyfriend most of the time, but they're super nice in classes." 
The Elemental and Energetic courses often have classes that intermingle every week. However, they're primarily compulsory lessons like magical history, laws regarding coverts and taxonomy of various Empowered creatures. 
So you're practically classmates with the hottest Electro Energetic in the academy and had even sat beside them a few times during class. Unlike many of the students who simp for them at a distance. 
The power couple of D.A.M.N is certainly interesting, to say the least. 
You narrowed your eyes at Damien when he refused to let up his disappointed stare. "Don't lie to me. You simp for them too." 
Damien huffs and crosses his arms. "Both of them look good, alright. Anyone with a working pair of eyes could tell from a mile away. They're gorgeous, and the Vampire is hot - so what?" 
"They're both super strong too." Huxley unknowingly throws more wood into the fire. 
By the time their lunch ended, Damien had demanded they talk about something else, so you jump into plans for the weekend. Party on Saturday and a gaming session on Sunday. 
Typical college life.
-
When the time on your phone displays 10.30 PM in glaring bright light and you're still on campus, you know what death feels like. 
It's quiet in the cafeteria, save for a small group of students huddled together around tables scattered in various places. Their heads are hunched down as they go over textbooks and assignments. One of the students happens to be a Vampire judging from the blood bag beside his laptop. 
A red swirly straw juts out of the bag, and for a brief moment of exhaustion, you entertain the image of the student sipping the blood bag as if it was a Capri Sun. 
Just like those students, the reason why you've stayed late in the academy's cafeteria is because of assignments. You know that if you bring your homework back home with you, you won't get any of it done. It's better to stay here and slough through them instead. 
Damien would scold and drag you home if he knew. Huxley would be sad and plead for you to rest, and Lasko would put on his guidance counsellor voice and advise you that a good night's sleep would help you think better. 
The boys mean well, and you love them for it, but you know yourself better than anyone. If you don't finish these assignments tonight, you would just procrastinate until the deadline punches you right in the face. 
You sigh and rub your temple in frustration. You've made good progress so far, but there's still a few left and you want to complete them all before going home. So you resume writing down the essay about the importance of convert and the Department on your laptop, fingers deftly flying all over the keyboard. 
Nighttime at D.A.M.N is not as busy as it is in the morning. The students that are going in and out of classes are mostly Vampires and nocturnal animal Shifters. The academy's faculties are also lesser in terms of numbers compared to their morning counterpart. 
Twice you've experienced the nightlife at D.A.M.N, and tonight would be your third. You wondered if Gavin is at home already. Hopefully, you can return to the apartment before him. Better wrap this up, then. 
The steady rhythm of your fingers on the keyboard and quiet discussion from the group of students slowly lull you to sleep. Hang in there just a little more! 
The sound of a Daemon Rifting into this world startles you awake. 
"Here you are, Deviant," Gavin said, his ordinarily seductive voice laced with conceal anger. Oh shit, you're in trouble now. "I thought we talked about this." 
You have no choice but to face him. Gavin looks devastatingly as sexy as ever; his black t-shirt snugly fits his body to the point that it showcases his biceps tastefully. A pair of dark blue jeans that he just so happens knows will get your heart racing and accompanied by a pair of shiny black Doc Martens boots. A rainbow-coloured bead bracelet is on his right wrist; a gift from Caelum. 
You would've swoon at the sight of him if you weren't seconds away from face planting on your laptop. 
So instead, you greet him with a, "Whaaa... Gavin?" You rub your eyes and blink at him. "W-What are you doing here? I thought you'd be - " You break out a yawn before sighing. "At home by now." 
"Funny. I thought the same thing about you but colour me surprised when Caelum reached out to me while I was grocery shopping — saying that you aren't home even when it's close to midnight." Gavin explains and tilts his head to the spread of books you have before you. "So, want to explain why you're at the campus cafeteria right now instead of in our bed?" 
The gears in your head are scrambling to come up with an excuse that's good enough to appease Gavin. So lost in your thoughts that you didn't hear the whispers coming from the nearby students. 
"That's the main boyfriend..." 
"Holy fuck, an Incubus? Damn, they're insatiable!" 
"How often do you think they have orgies? Twice a week?" 
" - collecting them like Pokemon!" 
Oh fuck it, you can't come up with anything decent. "I'm nearly done with my assignments, Gavin." You assured the worried Incubus. "Just need to write down a few more paragraphs..." 
Gavin is undeterred. "Freelancer, we talked about this. It's not healthy that you're making a habit of staying over at campus late at night because of assignments. You're going to burn out like this." 
Well yeah, you could feel your body is already seconds away from collapsing but like hell would you admit that to your boyfriend. It's been a long day and an even longer evening. It's a good thing that tomorrow's the weekend. 
Gavin startles you once more by leaning against the table and cupping your face in his large hands, so you're forced to look straight into his eyes. He's many things, but to those he deeply trusts and loves, his eyes would always betray the worry and concern he has for you and Caelum; even if his words aren't as forthcoming at times. "My stubborn, enticing Deviant... Are you being a brat again? Not listening to your Dom like you should be?" He purrs. 
All of a sudden, your throat suddenly feels like sandpaper, and your heart skips a beat at Gavin's tone. You're very familiar with that tone - it always promises punishment and pleasure mixed together until nothing else exists except for your boyfriend. 
But the question now is, how far can you actually push him. So with Gavin still refusing to release your face, you swallow and reply as nonchalantly as you can, "Oh, I don't know about enticing, Gavin. I-I mean, I've been running around campus the whole day. Probably have some barbecue sauce stain on my jacket and - Ow!" 
You puff out your cheeks when Gavin pinched them. 
"Are you purposely trying to test me, Freelancer? You know that just means more fun for me, and you tie up and helpless on the bed, right?" Gavin is all too happy to remind you, cocking one eyebrow at your impertinence. No doubt he already has your punishment in mind when the two of you are home. 
But you're not going to budge that easily. Sensing your stubbornness, Gavin lets you go and unleashes his ultimate move with a sigh. 
"I can see the Knots on you, Freelancer, and if I can see them, Caelum can too. I'm not covering your ass when he comes over for breakfast tomorrow and starts crying." 
You gasp and immediately recoil. "Low blow Gavin!" You counter, but you know that he speaks the truth. Your heart will literally break if you're the reason that Caelum cries. 
Gavin smirks when you switch off your laptop. He helps put your things away and offers a hand to you. With a small smile, you let yourself be gently pulled up by him and sling your backpack over a shoulder. 
"Are you hungry?" Gavin asked as the two of you stepped into the large hallway, hand-in-hand. "I didn't manage to make anything when I put the groceries away, but I can whip something up real quick when we get home." 
It's a sweet gesture, and you made sure that he knows how much you appreciate it by squeezing his hand. Ever since you two started living together, Gavin is determined to feed you properly. According to him, it's only fitting since you've constantly been feeding him too. "I'm more sleepy than hungry." You reply after a yawn. "I'll just eat a big breakfast tomorrow." 
"I'll hold you to it. Also, look alive, Deviant. Hottie approaching at 12 O'clock." 
That got your attention immediately, and snapped your eyes forward. Your jaw would've dropped if it weren't for Gavin lightly nudging your side when you saw who was walking towards the two of you. 
It's them — the Electro Energetic that became the talk around campus. 
They're as breathtaking as ever, even after a whole day of classes and club activities. Not a single hair out of place and clothes unruffled. Their body language stood out to you; their gait is a little hesitant but friendly, while their eyes are kind. 
It's easy to see why so many people harbour crushes on them, and you've always been a sucker for cute faces. 
When they finally approach you, they pull out a pair of wireless white earbuds from their ears. That's when you hear intense music playing:
It's the Pumpkin Patch King 
With the corpse with the ring
And she'd fuck my best friend if I die here today...
"Um, hi. Good evening. I'm sorry for bothering you guys so late like this. Are you heading home?" They inquire tentatively. 
Gavin waits for you to take the lead. "Hey, man. Yeah, we kind of are, actually. Want us to walk you home?" You could feel how pleased Gavin is beside you. The offer just crosses your mind, and besides, it's not nice to walk alone this late at night. 
That's what you're telling yourself despite the small part in your brain whispered that walking them home would be a great step of getting to know them better. It's just a harmless crush anyway. 
Unfortunately, they decline the offer. "I'm waiting for someone, actually, but when I saw you, I wanted to talk for a bit." 
Your heart skips a beat for a second time tonight. They specifically sought you out? You? When they've never done so towards anyone before? 
"O-Oh," You embarrassingly squeak, clutching Gavin's hand tighter.
The Electro Energetic nod. They tilt their head like an indulged, curious cat and god, that simple gesture shouldn't look so hot. "I don't know if you notice me, but we share Covert Laws - "
If you notice them? If you notice them!? They have a stronger presence than the lecturers themselves! They radiate magic like thunderstorms - intimidating, powerful and commanding that you have no choice but to submit to it. 
Sitting beside them was an experience and a half! There's no way an Empowered creature could ignore them despite their quiet demeanour! 
" - and I was wondering if you would like to be partners for the final project this year? Um, I heard that you're really good in that class, and I promise to pull my weight with the research and - "
You don't know how to react. Is this really happening? One of the most popular students in the academy wanted to be your project partner? You thought this sort of situation only occurs in animes! 
"They'd love to." Gavin smoothly answers when you're too shocked to say anything. "It's always nice to make new friends after all. Especially with a walking wet dream such as yourself." Here, he purposely pauses to appraise the Electro Energetic. 
Just like his Freelancer, Gavin has heard all about this Empowered human and even basks in the delicious energy coming from the thoughts and emotions his partner has for them. As an Incubus and their boyfriend, it's hilarious that his Deviant thought he's not aware of their crush. It's cute. 
Hmm... it'll be nice if he and the Freelancer could invite the Energetic and their Vampire lover into their bed one of these days. Regardless if they've been Marked; honestly, that just made the couple as appealing as the biblical Forbidden Fruit. 
And besides, Gavin has a strong feeling that the Freelancer wouldn't oppose the idea. It'll be the perfect anniversary present for his Deviant. 
"...Was that supposed to be a compliment?" They ask warily. Oops, looks like he's coming on a little too strongly. Time to take it down a notch. 
"It's whatever you want it to be. Anyway, now that you guys are... partners, what say you get to know us better, hmm? My lover has been eager to be friends with you." Gavin explains. You whip your head at him incredulously. Is he seriously doing what you think he's doing!? "I'm Gavin, by the way. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." 
The Energetic look confused, and you can't blame them. You need to save them before Gavin proposes something as crazy as an orgy on your behalf! 
You laugh awkwardly, bringing their attention to you. "Right! Partners! I'd love to be yours - I-I mean, uh, for school stuff! Yeah! Can we exchange numbers?" 
"Smooth, Deviant." Gavin teases. Something caught his interest, not that you notice as you and the Energetic trade contact information. They compliment the cute picture you have as your Home Screen (it's a selfie shot of you and Gavin, Lasko, Damien and Huxley during the previous game night. It's a shame that Caelum couldn't appear), and in return, you ask where did they buy their sick phone cover. 
While they still feel like the human embodiment of a fierce thunderstorm, it's nice to have a casual conversation with them. They're thoughtful, kind and fun that you soon find yourself calming down a little. 
"Not to cut this riveting conversation short, but are you sure that you don't want us to walk you home? It's getting really late, and we're more than happy to have you crash at our place for the night." Gavin interjects with a seductive grin, eyes half-lidded. 
"Umm..." 
Whoa, what happened to being friendly, Gavin!? You shoot him a look; he's going to drive them away! 
"We have an extra guest room at our apartment." You hurried to explain. "So it's totally cool if your place is far away or something." 
Their hesitation melts to understanding. The last thing that you want is a misunderstanding between you two. 
"You guys are sweet, but I'll be alright. Actually, I'm about to leave the campus too. I'm just going to hang out at the cafeteria until he arrives." They said. You have a pretty good idea who 'he' is judging by their soft smile. 
Gavin, for some reason, amp up his game. With a smirk, he cajoles, "Since he hasn't shown up yet, how about you hang out with us for a bit? There's a bar not too far from here - "
You flinched, and Gavin automatically shuts up and pulls you close to his side when a Vampire appears behind the Electro Energetic. It was so sudden that his appearance was a blur at first. 
"Vincent? You're done with class already?" They blink. An arm snaked around their waist as the Vampire pulled his Mate close to his chest. The Energetic had to crane their head up slightly to look at him. 
He's as tall as Gavin. Dressed in a casual black coat that screams money with a dark grey shirt accompanied by a pair of black jeans and boots. His silver studs, rings and watch glimmer underneath the fluorescent lights. Everything about this man reminds you of a panther sizing up its prey. 
You gulped. He's currently glaring daggers at you and your boyfriend. You're itching to stutter out a, "This isn't what it looks like!" for some reason. 
Now, ever since you learned about the existence of magic and Empowered creatures, you did your best to be open-minded. Even that whole ordeal with Vega didn't stop you from reaching out to the various Daemons attending the academy. 
However, you haven't managed to befriend a Vampire due to their night classes, and even the few times you stay back like today, most of them are running back and forth through the hallways to catch their next lesson. 
So to be the target of a pissed off Vampire made you uncomfortable. You want to fidget, but Gavin's arm secured around you ease some of that tension. 
"Mm-hmm. I'm on break right now, so I can drive you back home. You done with that talk with your guidance counsellor?" The Vampire inquired, eyes still glued at you and Gavin. 
"All done. We lost track of time when we discussed next semester's timetable for the Energetic course and potential careers once we graduate." His lover explains, unaware of the displeasure rolling off like waves from their boyfriend. "I think I need some time to go over them again. It's a bit much to take in."
The Vampire hums in acknowledgement. "We can go through them together this weekend if you like, Lovely. Maybe we can ask Will for help since he's coming over on Saturday for dinner too." 
Oh, you suppose that's why they reject the Earth Elemental players' invitation to the party. 
But the Vampire wasn't done. He assesses you and Gavin with narrowed eyes as if you were stains on the bottom of his boots. What the hell? "By the way, are these guys bothering you?" 
A chill sweeps through you, sending goosebumps crawling on your skin at the sudden shift of tone. He was warm and affectionate when speaking to his lover, but now? It's colder than ice.
Gavin, whose smirk turns into a shit-eating grin, is utterly unfazed at the Vampire's hostility. In fact, you would go as far as to say that he's relishing it. "We're just keeping your gorgeous Mate company while they're waiting for you. I was just about to propose that we move the conversation to a bar so we could all get to know one another a lot more... intimately." 
Oh god, they're so fucked. You have no idea why your boyfriend is trying to start shit up, but you're too tired to deal with this drama. So again, you try to salvage the situation. 
"Just as friends!" You quickly butt in. "We decide to be partners for an assignment in Covert Laws, so hanging out at a bar sounds like a good idea as friends." You're sprouting bullshits at this point, but you hope it's enough to save both of your asses. You also made sure to emphasise the word 'friends'. 
The Vampire quickly looks at the Energetic for confirmation, and they readily nod. His aggressive body posture relaxes somewhat, but he's still wary of you and Gavin. 
Maybe this is the best time to introduce yourself to him. 
"Uh, it's a little silly that we didn't introduce ourselves right away, but I'm a Freelancer." You mutter out rather awkwardly. Should you offer a hand to him? 
Gavin saves you from doing so. "And I’m their boyfriend, Gavin. An Incubus." 
"...Vincent Solaire." The Vampire - Vincent - reluctantly replies. 
Wait - his surname sounds familiar, though. You think you heard it in one of the classes about the supernatural factions in Dahlia... It's on the tip of your tongue... 
"Oh, we've heard all about you, Your Highness." Gavin slyly quips. "You and your lover are quite the celebrities around here." 
Holy shit. Solaire! The most powerful Vampire clan in the city! You remember now; the King has two progeny - A Vampire Princess & Prince. You didn't expect the Energetic boyfriend to be the Prince himself! What a twist! 
"Celebrities?" The Energetic - Lovely, as Vincent calls them - pipes up in confusion. The way their eyebrows furrow is adorable, but you wisely keep that to yourself. 
They really are a mesmerising couple. You detect the perfume that lingers around Lovely is sweet and misty. It's calming yet so light that it dances just out of your reach; like a coy lover. Slowly driving you mad with desire. Vincent's cologne reminds you of husk and cedar. Subtle, but once you catch a whiff of it, it'll stay within your mind for hours on end. Wondering if that particular scent will ever return - like the perfect one night stand. 
It says a lot about the couple. 
"We haven't done anything wrong." Vincent Solaire stated, voice as hard as steel. "I don't know why you're trying to rile us up, Incubus, but I don't appreciate you and your lover hitting on my Mate when I made it clear that I Mark them." 
Ooooh, he's jealous! Wait - did you come across as flirty to him!? Did Gavin purposely flirt with Lovely to make Vincent jealous? You've completely lost the plot. 
"Consider it as an act of public service," Gavin answers, easily brushing off the Vampire Prince's irritability. "Besides, how can I not when you both are half of the student body's recent fantasies." 
Lovely 'eeped' when Vincent bare his fangs at your boyfriend. "Back off, Gavin. Lovely is mine. Not yours or the Freelancer's." 
Whoa, whoa! A severe misunderstanding is boiling here! No one is stealing Lovely away from him! 
Fortunately, Lovely has gotten tired of the conversation. With a put-out sigh, they pat the arm around their waist to capture Vincent's attention. It worked. "No one is stealing the other's partner, Vince. It's all good; chill. You know you're the only one for me, right?" Here, they peck his cheek. "When did you get so possessive?" 
Vincent grumbled but didn't explain himself, so Lovely just shook their head. 
"Anyway, we better get going before Vincent's next class starts. It was nice meeting you two. I'll text you soon so we can plan on how to tackle that project." 
You give a shaky smile and a thumbs up. "Looking forward to it." 
Immediately after you said that, Vincent bares his fangs to you next. Oh my god, this guy needs to fucking relax! 
"We're going! We're going! C'mon, Vincent. You're driving me home. Now." 
And with that, you watch as Lovely drags the Vampire Prince to the parking lot. It's a strange yet comical sight. You only sigh in relief when they're out of your view. 
"I thought I saw my life flashing before my eyes!" You complain. Those were the single most stressful moments that you’ve encountered— second to Vega invading your home. 
"I think that went well, Deviant." Gavin objected, very pleased with himself. "He's pissed now, but he and his Mate will be thanking us soon." 
So you were right; Gavin purposely flirted with Lovely just to rile Vincent up, and for what? Possessive, sexy time later tonight? Oh, whatever. That's enough drama for one night; you seriously just need to pass out now. 
And with that, the two of you head home without realising your interactions with the power couple of D.A.M.N didn't go by unnoticed by the several students who were hovering close. 
-
"Are you hurting anywhere, Lovely?" 
"I'm alright, Vincent. The hickeys and bruises are healing nicely; my body still feels a bit sore but not enough to cripple me, so stop hovering near the door." 
Vincent guilty did as he’s told and takes a seat on the corner of the bed. He watches you apply some light makeup on your face and neck in front of the vanity table as you're getting ready to head out to the academy. Your outfit compliments your look and, most importantly, hides any patches of skin except for your hands. 
Vincent really went all out last weekend after his night classes ended. It's obvious that Gavin unleashed something within your lover, and you will freely admit that an unrestrained Vincent makes for a very fun and wild night. 
The moment Will came over and realised that Vincent re-Mark you an hour before he arrives, he graciously decided to take a rain check and promise to have dinner with the two of you some other time. 
Once Vincent gets it out of his system, he teased before leaving you gobsmacked and Vincent a blushing mess. 
"You know, your guidance counsellor wouldn't mind if you're absent from classes today, Lovely. Probably." Vincent tries; a part of him doesn't want his Lovely to attend their lessons while their body is still healing. Then again, that part also whispers that the Incubus and his lover would be around them without his supervision. 
Nope. No. Bad Vincent. Lovely is more than capable of taking care of themselves. They don't need him acting like a jealous, clingy boyfriend. 
However, something that the Incubus bothered him. 
"You and your lover are quite the celebrities around here." 
What did he mean by that? He and Lovely had been playing good students the entire time they've been on campus! Their assignments are always delivered on time, grades nothing but above average, and they keep to themselves to avoid any typical college dramas.  
Is it because of his status? For some reason, Vincent feels like it's more complicated than that. What a headache. 
"Maybe, but I did promise the Freelancer that I’ll catch up with them to discuss our project," You commented and spritz your favourite perfume on your wrists and neck. You love this scent, despite it being cheap and common. "Vincent, honey, you're making that face again." 
"It's my face, Lovely." 
"Yeah, well, you have your happy-snappy-neck face again, Vincent." You dryly point out before sitting beside the Vampire. "Did that Incubus really rub you the wrong way?" Your voice is gentle. You didn't get any bad vibes coming from Gavin and the Freelancer - just genuine, harmless, friendly flirting. In a way, you welcome it as their attempts helped you drive your anxiety away. 
God, walking up to them was hard enough. You always feel a little intimidated whenever you're around charismatic people. 
"I don't know... I thought they were making you nervous, and the words that kept coming out of that Daemon's mouth? He knew what he was doing; I just can't figure out what or why." Vincent admits, frustrated. 
Seeing him look so frustrated saddens you, so you propose a suggestion. "How about this, I'll ask the Freelancer what that whole thing on Friday was all about, and if it's anything gross, I'll give you a call so you can deal with them. How's that?" 
It assured Vincent. Seeing his tiny smile urge you to peppered his face with kisses until he laughs. With your boyfriend now properly appeased, you leave the apartment for D.A.M.N. 
It's a bright Monday morning. You hope that this week will be a little kinder to you than the previous one. However, the moment you arrived on campus, everyone was glancing at you curiously. When you made eye contact with the stares, the students couldn't walk away fast enough. 
Weird. 
Your first class of the day is on the second floor, so you didn't waste any time heading for the stairs. Students mingle around as they go about their day; some grab breakfast at the convenient store, while others chat with their friends at the cafeteria and lounge room. A Water Elemental is performing simple tricks at the marble fountain to an adoring crowd.
Just as you rounded a corner, the crowd parted ways with a subtlety of a serial killer in slasher movies, which is to say, absolutely none whatsoever to reveal your new friend. The Freelancer is flanked by their boyfriend, Gavin, on the left and on their right, the famous player in the Earth Elemental team Huxley and one of the academy's guidance counsellors, Lasko. 
You couldn't help but notice that everyone is giving them a wide berth. Not that it matters when Gavin's body is positioned to shield the Freelancer from bumping into any of the passing students. Huxley passes a bottle of orange juice to them while Lasko is staring at something behind the Freelancer. He mutters something under his breath.  
A loud voice suddenly bounces off the walls. "What happened to my water tumbler, Freelancer!?" 
You and every other student in the area watch as the Freelancer turns around and loudly replies, "Don't worry! I already got you a new tumbler, Damien! It looks exactly like your old one. Except it's pastel pink with kittens on it, and the shape looks like a really fat snowman with bunny ears for straws." To make a point, the Freelancer rummage inside of their backpack and proudly present the weirdest looking water tumbler you had ever seen in your life to their boys. 
"AAAAAHHHHH!" 
"You know you could at least see it before you judge it, Damien." The Freelancer grumbled and shoved the tumbler back. Huxley gently pats their shoulder in a comforting manner. Lasko laughs nervously while Gavin continues to protect his lover silently, all the while looking at ease. 
Everyone knows of the Freelancer and their boyfriends. They're the most popular group in D.A.M.N for a reason. Friendly, yet no one can be a part of their group due to the tight bond they have with one another.
The Freelancer is quickly shaping up to be a remarkable magical individual in their own right, marching to the beat of their own drums rather than the world's. Unwaveringly kind and friendly, constantly making sure the people around them are comfortable and safe. 
In terms of academic performance, Damien remains unchallenged among his peers. Everyone could tell that he would undoubtedly change their world for the better the moment he graduates, especially in governing. He's also known for his fiery temper, yet that fire becomes a hearth when it comes to the Freelancer. More than once, students have stumbled upon them huddled close in the library, softly discussing the future they wanted. 
If Damien is known for his academic excellence, then Huxley is famous for his prowess in the field. His mastery over his element made the younger Earth Elementals look up to him as their role model while his teammates view him as their ace. Charming, cheerful yet a bit absentminded at times, and even then, you can't help but be fond of him. You can find the Freelancer cheering him from the bleachers during his matches, and once Huxley won the game, he would immediately launch himself at them. Sweats, dirt and grass all over him, but the Freelancer would laugh as he hoisted them up in his embrace. 
Lasko is an odd addition to their group, but once he drops his stuttering, he shows just how capable he is as one of the academy's guidance counsellors. Acknowledged as one of the most powerful Air Elemental of his generation, Lasko is well on track to graduate D.A.M.N with honours, and while the future might be uncertain, students like to speculate that he will remain with the Freelancer and the others no matter what. Sometimes you can even catch a glimpse of them hanging out at one of the local cafes and see how bright and alive Lasko can be when around the Freelancer. 
Gavin came with a mystery trailing his saunter. See, no one knew how exactly he and the Freelancer first met. Speculations range from a cute, accidental meet up in a random convenience store to the Incubus boldly inviting them into a threesome when the Freelancer stumbled upon him mid-feeding. Lovely wonders if there's a betting pool going around the academy. The seniors would recognise Gavin, for he was their peer before he suddenly dropped out and vanished for a while. But judging by his frequent presence around the Freelancer, some say that he's looking forward to retaking his previous course. But whatever the reason may be, no one can deny the chemistry he has with the Freelancer. How fiercely protective he is of them when the Freelancer isn't looking. 
They're certainly an intriguing group, that's for sure. 
And when Gavin notices you were watching them, he winks at you. No doubt as an Incubus, he could scent what you and Vincent had been up to the entire weekend. 
That's what you get for a magical academy, after all. 
-
PS: Everyone in D.A.M.N (including Lovely & Vincent) hilariously assumes that the Freelancer is in a poly relationship with Gavin, Damien, Lasko & Huxley when in reality, they're just with Gavin. BBBBuuuttt... Gavin could detect the romantic/lustful feelings the other bois harbour for the Freelancer but kept it to himself for now. He's just waiting for the Freelancer to feel the same way so he could give them all The Talk™ and then go buy a bigger bed!
Anyway, I seriously had a lot of fun writing for this oneshot! It's been a while since I had that writing fever again so I hope you guys enjoyed it!
88 notes · View notes
chuckaf · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Chuck Fic Rec List: Updated
So my fic rec post was in my notifs again the other day, and I noticed a while back that the formatting on the post has gotten all messed up and it’s also had like three reblog additions to it anyway meaning there are three versions out there lol. so, I wanted to do another list of chuck fic recs! I’ll keep the other one up still, so I’m not gonna repeat every fic here, just some I really recommend. I’m also adding the fic summaries, which I didn’t on the old post, and some more of my own opinions so, buckle up for a long post!
Chuck Versus the Steampunk Chronicles | Steampunk.Chuckster
1896. A world powered by steam, where humans and machines coexist, and airships are the fashionable mode of transport. The US Empire's deepest and darkest secrets arrive at Chuck Bartowski's doorstep. Have they fallen into the wrong hands? Or will the inventor prove his mettle, even while he's forced to hide from the very people he's protecting? AU, ongoing chronicle, Charah.
A genuinely incredible AU story, with an entire crafted world and universe, so detailed it frequently blows my mind. There is heart and family and infuriatingly brilliant slow-burn, plus a buttload of danger and super fun historical/steampunk action. Oh how I LOVE it.
Chuck vs the Charade | somedeepmystery
When computer nerd Chuck Bartowski returns home to an empty apartment and a dead girlfriend he finds himself embroiled in a deadly game of espionage and deceit. Everyone around him is playing a part to get what they want and when he starts falling for the new woman in his life, he can't help but wonder if he can trust her or if she's the one he should fear the most.
An action and twist-filled AU based on the movie Charade, which is just such a brilliant fic concept I absolutely adored it from the start.
Two Sides of the Same Coin | dettiot
When you're a spy, there's all kinds of occupational hazards when you work with another spy. For Sarah Walker, though, one mission becomes a life-changing experience. Because working with Charles Carmichael leads to protecting Chuck Bartowski.
The first time I read this fic my mind was just blown to its genius. Such a brilliant interpretation of what the Intersect and its concepts set up in the show could be, and ooooof the Chuck/Sarah interactions, my HEART. Related to it, its companion piece:
A Flip of the Coin | dettiot
What made Charles Carmichael agree to become Chuck Bartowski? Well, to start, it wasn't as much of a change as you'd think. A companion to the early chapters of Two Sides of the Same Coin from Carmichael's perspective.
Chuck vs The Butterfly Effect | n7agentbartowski
Chuck Bartowski is a normal guy who just hit rock bottom. No girlfriend, no career and no super computer stuck inside his head. It isn't until Chuck meets a gorgeous stranger on the beach that he begins to think his life is about to change for the better. An AU Chuck fic without the Intersect. "Change one thing and it changes everything."
I said it on the OG post, but this story has one of my top 5 Chuck/Sarah fic meetings. So funny, so... very Chuck. The story is a little angsty overall, but a great read.
Chuck vs the Rogue Spy | Crumby
When a rogue spy from Chuck Bartowski's past shows up to help him during his first solo mission, Chuck hopes that he'll finally find out what happened to Sarah Walker. Post-S2 AU.
There’s a lot of Season 3 fix-it fics out there, which I don’t usually read bc I actually love season 3 lol, but this one’s a good one! A twisty deviation from canon, but still feels really true to character.
Chuck Versus the Nerds Rewrite | Steampunk.Chuckster and David Carner
What happens when two nerds talk endless hours about their favorite TV show? A new take on the show you know, but with the flair, twists, and turns you've come to expect from Steampunk . Chuckster and david . carner. Somewhat canon. Charah.
As the summary says, a different take on the show, which honestly makes a couple changes I would too, but also adds a bunch of fun twists and plots that make it totally new and fresh. Seeing Chuck and Sarah’s thoughts in the more canon sections is just delicious, too.
The Trapped Assassin | SarahsSupplyCloset
After a mission goes awry, the CIA's most lethal assassin is ordered to take vacation while her superiors figure out what to do with her. But when she meets a disarming tourist, their immediate connection only adds to her disillusionment with the agency and her career. Will he be enough for her to finally take the plunge and leave the only life she's ever known? Charah AU
A warning for the very justified M rating if you don’t like that sort of thing, but this is definitely a plot-heavy fic, too. A really neat Sarah-heavy AU, with a whole lotta Chuck/Sarah fancy French vacationy goodness.
Chuck vs the Second Chance | malamoo
AU from mid-season 2 and onwards. Chuck and Sarah part ways only to be reunited years later. COMPLETE.
Literal, crying-at-my-screen angst. Not even a super happy ending. But a brilliantly written, part-reflective/flashback fic, exploring what would’ve happened if Chuck and Sarah’s relationship really was an assignment all along-- and the aftermath. It’s heartbreaking. But if you want a little heartbreak, this is your fic.
Ready at Your Hand | dettiot
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a Catholic plot against the queen comes to the attention of spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. To protect Elizabeth, he develops an unusual plan: hide the passing of intelligence between two agents by a false romance. When Lady Sarah Walker and Chuck Carmichael meet, though, their pretend flirtation becomes much more.
I love Chuck fic for the very reason that it’s inspired such adventurous and totally unique AUs. Here’s some Elizabethan fake-dating Chuck and Sarah! They have to be so Proper, it’s like that hand moment from Pride and Prejudice but Elizabethan and times a billion. The pining!!
Sarah Versus Getting Married | Steampunk.Chuckster
Sarah Walker is getting married. Canon. Charah.
I’d recommend all of SC’s fics if I had the room, and I’m already recommending a ton sksks but most of my fic recs are AUs, and this one isn’t! It’s canon, and covers some of in the gap in 4x24, with Sarah just before the wedding itself. Super sweet, heart-tugging, brilliant.
A Chuckmas Carol | Mikki13
A new twist to Dickens' beloved "A Christmas Carol". When Sarah begins to shut out the world around her, three spirits come to show her the error of her ways. Season 3 AU.
Another Season 3 AU, this one written pre-series so it definitely doesn’t fit to canon, but it’s still wonderfully rich in character depth and angst and it also made me cry. Plus, festive!
Chuck Versus Thin Ice | Steampunk.Chuckster
On the doorstep of the Olympics, top American curler Sarah Walker has lost her mixed doubles partner and her boyfriend in one fell swoop. Her coaches throw newbie Team U.S.A. curler Chuck Bartowski onto her team and thrust them into the Olympics, hanging America's curling hopes on two people who only have a short amount of time to learn to trust one another. Charah AU.
Do you like curling? Or the Winter Olympics? It doesn’t really matter because somehow this fic made me extremely invested in both of those things, as well as Chuck and Sarah and them being INSUFFERABLE. Catch me now knowing a ton about curling thanks to this fic.
Walker’s Eleven | Moonlight Pilot
Not the same plot as the movie. Sarah Walker never got out of the con game or became a spy, and now she's on her final con. What happens when true love and betrayal get added to the mix? Twists, turns, and Jeffster!
Con!Sarah always interests me, and this fic is full of her. Lotta con plot, lotta Chuck and Sarah.
The Detective and the Tech Guy | thecharleses
Sarah Walker is a Pinkerton detective. Chuck Bartowski is an electronics genius. They wouldn't have met except for a case of mistaken identity and murder. Will the detective and the tech guy solve the mystery, distracted by the riddle in their own hearts? An homage to The Thin Man film series. Formerly co-written by Steampunk . Chuckster and dettiot, now ONLY Steampunk . Chuckster.
Everyone in this fic is so damn cool. There are so many martinis. But also great heart and family and like, standing up for who you love, and later also Chuck with Baby Clara content which frankly the show robbed us of. Also, PI!Sarah!!!
Gravity | Poetic4U
AU. Sarah makes a decision that altered her life forever.
This is just a one-shot, which many of these stories are not, so a good one if you don’t fancy a big read! Just because it’s short, though, doesn’t mean it’s lacking; a really awesome what-if AU, and heavy on the Chuck and Sarah.
A Yuletie Tale | Steampunk.Chuckster
Sarah Walker was dumped the day before Christmas Eve, and her Plus One at her work’s annual Christmas Eve Soiree is now officially a Plus Zero. Her best friend Ellie Bartowski has a solution to her problem, and Sarah finds she isn’t quite as sure about it as Ellie is. AU Christmas Charah.
I’m particularly in love with this fic because, instead of beginning with a meet-cute, it involves Chuck and Sarah already two years into a friendship-- Sarah is Ellie’s best friend. And she’s been crushing harrrd on Ellie’s brother. Also Chuck is in a tux. It’s pretty.
Set, Spike, Dive! | Frea O’Scanlin
Chuck never expected to even make it to the Olympics. Everything is working against him: he's too tall for a diver, too inexperienced for a medal, too much of a wildcard to really make his mark. But an unexpected meeting at the airport, some intriguing new friends, and a whirlwind romance on the sand just might set up London 2012 as the time of Chuck Bartowski's life.
A London 2012 AU, because why not. This is just a fun Olympic-y ride!
OTP (One True Pairing) Prompts | David Carner
A series of Prompts I found online about different times and places in Chuck and Sarah's life. Mostly AU, mostly one-shots. I assume mostly fluff, but I might get deep. I doubt it, it's me. Charah...ALWAYS (It says complete, but if an idea strikes me...)
If you’re not so into long stories, this fic is perfect. Individual set-ups and stories, all Chuck and Sarah, and all super cute. You could dip in and out and just pick a scenario you enjoy.
Chuck vs The Frontier | ninjaVanish
AU: Chuck was enjoying a simple life as a 19th century watchmaker until an encounter with a beautiful Secret Service agent thrust him into a world of intrigue and adventure he never wanted. But then, with Agent Walker around, it can't be all bad, can it?
This fic gets props for being historically-set but still including the Intersect. Again, a historical AU, so the pining!! the need to be Proper!!! But besides all that, there’s a lot of action fun as well.
Chuck Versus The Crosswalk: Remastered | WvonB
Will a last minute mission help our two favorite characters finally get together? This is the remastered version of my first story.
The original version of this fic is on my first list; this is the updated version! It’s not a complete AU, instead a story that diverges from canon, so if you’re more into canon characters and setting than a new AU scenario, this is a great fic for that.
Little Girls, Paper Wreaths, and Choc Chip Cookies | DanaPAH
Very AU: Sarah Walker is a single mother whose Christmas spirit needs a boost after a tough divorce. She isn't quite ready to go looking for romance, but her little daughter's affection for their new neighbor may lure it right to her doorstep, anyway.
An incredibly sweet AU one-shot where Chuck and Sarah are new neighbours, and Sarah has a super cute little girl. So much sweetness and love and hope. I love this fic so much it literally led me to write my own neighbour-kid-AU, so, not to toot my own horn but I’ll link it here anyway.
May Your Walls Know Joy | halfachance
Looking for a fresh start after some tough times, Sarah and her three-year-old daughter move to LA. When they meet a sweet curly-haired nerd who lives next door, though, Sarah realizes they might just find more happiness than they'd ever imagined, if only her past doesn't catch up to her first. AU.
It’s what the summary says; if you wanna read, feel free!
Chuck vs the Sound of Music | quistie64
AU. Chuck, nerd extraordinaire, is a man with seven children and Sarah must protect them all from Fulcrum's evil designs. Warning: there will be singing.
I mean. Not much mystery as to the concept with that title and summary lol, but this is a super fun, soft ride with a lotta sweetness, and yes, singing.
Just Two People | David Carner
Meet Sarah Walker PhD, Psychologist, specializing in personality traits. Meet Chuck Bartowski, man who has left THE electronic company of 2020. When Burton Consultants tries to figure out what is wrong with the morale of Orion Industries, what happens when a guy named Chuck meets a woman named Sarah. I'll give you a hint, it's me writing.
David’s done something pretty special with this fic. It’s Chuck and Sarah centric, but very much an ensemble piece, too, with a lot of Team Bartowski and other familiar faces throughout.
Chuck Versus the Con Game | Steampunk.Chuckster
AU. Chuck and Sarah are partners in the con game. It's an existence wrought with danger and violence. Every day could be their last. Every mission could be the end of the line.
This is where I freak out SC and declare this fic the reason I ever got hooked on Chuck fic and then wrote Chuck fic, and the reason I still love it today but. that is true lol. Just so. so good. It’s also written with the chapters out of chronological order, which is super fun from a reading perspective. But con!Sarah AND con!Chuck?? Best. The kind of fic you will be thinking about for days (if not, y’know, years).
As you can tell by the repeats, I highly recommend just about anything by Steampunk.Chuckster, dettiot, or David Carner, but there are a TON of amazing Chuck fics and authors out there. I’ve never known a writing community so wildly creative-- there are so many unique AUs and canon explorations and story concepts that this show has manifested, and it’s all so much fun.
Most of the Chuck fic community is still over on FFN rather than AO3, so if any of these whet your appetite, feel free to have a browse there for more stories. I’m sure you’ll find something great. Personally, all the incredible writing there has also led me to write a buttload; I’m at halfachance on FFN, so if you see any of my stuff or wanna chat fic, feel free to message me there or here.
Happy reading, folks!
104 notes · View notes
Text
Hi. The following is my attempt to systematically hash out the “Mr. Infodump” controversy in the TS fandom. It’s primarily for my benefit, but I’m posting it on the off chance it helps someone else who’s just as confused/dismayed as I was. I’m not attempting to argue for blind absolution (”Thomas is an angel who can do no wrong!”) or cancellation (“He’s no better than the likes of J.K. Rowling!”), just to present as intellectually honest an assessment as I can make of what happened and the degree to which the TS team is responsible.
Laconic: Thomas Sanders, a content creator on youtube, posted a skit in which a character calls an aspie-coded character “Mr. Infodump”. Several fans have expressed hurt and anger over the use of a trait associated with neurodivergence as an insult.
My own initial impression: I’m on the autism spectrum myself, and personally, “Mr. Infodump” didn’t register as offensive to me; in fact, as a huge Logan kinnie, I liked that a neurodiverse trait I see in myself was being explicitly linked to my favorite character. That said, there are many in the community who feel deeply hurt and betrayed, and it would be a) irresponsible and b) close-minded to handwave their concerns. Thus:
[Abridged version: Bolded]
Context for use of the word:
Line from Roman: “I was going for regal sophistication [in last commercial pitch], but Mr. Infodump over here [*gestures to Logan*] wasn’t cooperating.” Defensive tone, alluding to the fact that Logan’s commercial pitch included excessive product information that would leave buyers disengaged.
History: Roman regularly invents nicknames for fellow sides and employs them in a manner that can range from fond teasing to a juvenile way of insulting the side he’s presently bickering with.
Names previously directed at Logan include “Calculator watch,” “Egghead,” and “No-Funsen Honeydew… Doo.” They generally play off of Logan’s tendency toward being uptight, stereotypically nerdy, and eager to furnish the group with information in the capacity of a teacher.
In this particular instance, I doubt anyone would say the word’s use was “malicious,” but it wasn’t “affectionate” either. Roman is visibly preoccupied and defensive in the scene, throwing out a nickname offhand.
Power Dynamic: There is no imbalance of power between Logan and Roman that would indicate anything resembling a bully-victim relationship. Logan responds to the word in the same manner he does Roman’s other antics and displays no particularly hurt reaction.
In-Universe Response: No character corrects or condemns Roman’s use of the term. This may, however, be because Logan is the first to respond, armed with his own complaints about the others’ commercials.
Meta-Level Implications: The audience is not encouraged to agree with Roman’s sentiment that infodumping is a negative trait anymore than they are his other commentary on Logan via nicknames like “Egghead,” because Logan’s role in the story consistently proves it wrong; all that infodumping saved an unconscious Roman from his murder-happy brother, for one, and the audience knows it. Given the posturing and defensiveness that accompany Roman’s delivery of the line, it’s clear the creators were communicating that he was in the wrong to say it. That, and Logan will almost certainly reinforce this by verbally decimating someone in the next episode, as per usual.
I think that last point is key. People will accuse others of infodumping in a negative way IRL—I know I’ve been called far worse for failing to mask—and to pretend that such things don’t exist in fiction is misrepresenting reality. Instead, creators can and should include minority characters (race, sexuality, gender, neuroatypicality, etc.) *confronting* discrimination, dealing with it complexly, and showing both the misguided character and the audience how wrong they are. Logan resonates with me—and other aspies, I think—largely because of how he clearly struggles in dealing with the other sides’ occasional criticism of his eccentricities, but he ultimately remains committed to his identity and ideals. If the TS crew continues to write a show that reinforces the fact that his neurodivergent qualities are what make him strong—and god knows there's not much media that does this well—, they’re doing something incredibly important for us.
The issue here, then, wasn’t the show promoting ableism as a message, because its handling of the conversation here doesn’t. Rather, it was the use of a term that many consider inherently ableist as an insult. So:
“Infodump” the word:
I find this fascinating, actually—Science is discovered. Math is discovered**. Language? Language is unequivocally invented. We’ve create these words with combinations of mouth-sounds, and we’ve assigned them meaning.
But the thing is, people have different backgrounds and experiences that define both who they are and the nuances of the meaning they tie to those mouth-sounds
Basic example of varied mental prototypes: I live in the northeast USA, so when I hear the word “bird,” the first thing that pops into my head is a bluejay or robin. If you ask my friend who’s studying in Brazil, though, he’d likely think of a macaw or toucan. 
For me, “spring” = my mom’s pink zinnia garden and “chocolate” = a square of hershey melting against gooey marshmallow. This idea of memories and experience informing word-meaning mapping, of course, extends to a) more nuanced concepts and b) a more subconscious level of understanding. Poetry in particular, I think, tends to play with this to invoke the sensory experiences it does... I could infodump about translated poetry but that’s a whoooollleee other thing and I’m getting off track.
But essentially, an individual’s experience of any given word, to a degree, is subjective. Our dictionary definitions are merely approximations of a collective understanding of that mouthsound-to-meaning mapping, and we have to update those definitions as language evolves (remember when “Google” couldn’t be used as a verb?)
So, what happens if I look up “infodumping”? TVTropes tells me it’s a “type of exposition that’s particularly long and wordy”. UrbanDictionary says its “used to deposit large amounts (usually entire articles) of information in online forums without summarizing or paraphrasing the information.” I reach the resources that explain it in the context of autism and ADHD over halfway down the Google results. The word “infodumping” has quite a few circulating meanings, and the one associated with neurodivergence isn’t as visible as we’d like it to be.
From what I understand, Thomas Sanders and co. merely knew “infodumping” as the practice of talking at length about a subject, like closing a rant with a friendly “aw, sorry for infodumping on ya” and such. This was exactly how Logan opens his commercial, so they stuck it in as a—frankly, kinda feeble—nickname á la the creative genius behind “Mr. Smarty... Pants”. They had no knowledge of the term’s gravity to the autism and ADHD community, because they haven’t been exposed to settings that use that definition.
So, where does that leave us on accountability? If they’re ultimately not producing ableist content, do Thomas Sanders and his team have the responsibility to be aware of how an insult featuring this particular word might be inherently triggering to a community?
Many accounts show that the inclusion of the term caused real emotional harm and as content creators—particularly ones with a relatively young fanbase—the TS team should have taken more precautions. A more diverse staff/writing room may have caught this, given how egregious some fanders found the error. Furthermore, why shouldn’t it fall on neurotypical people in general to “educate themselves” on these issues, as in the cases of other minority groups?
That said, however, can any creative team be reasonably expected to know of any-and-all potentially triggering content? I’ve avoided speaking of Thomas Sanders’ personal character to maintain some impartiality, but a long history of promoting representation and careful content warnings does suggest a genuine commitment to self-correcting. Accepting the well-intentioned criticism of fanders—many of whom are so broken up by this precisely because of the amount of faith they place in the TS team—and taking active steps to change is ultimately the best course of action, and I, for one, will be sticking around to see the results.
71 notes · View notes
bluepinetree · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
I posted 413 times in 2021
9 posts created (2%)
404 posts reblogged (98%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 44.9 posts.
I added 1,143 tags in 2021
#gravity falls - 364 posts
#stanford pines - 206 posts
#fanart - 162 posts
#stanley pines - 155 posts
#lol - 50 posts
#fanfiction - 48 posts
#video - 45 posts
#mabel pines - 44 posts
#dipper pines - 37 posts
#headcanon - 32 posts
Longest Tag: 114 characters
#i am missing my copy of journal 3 and ive moved teice in three months and im scared i might have keft it somewhere
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
Dimensional Parallel Theory
I’ve been thinking again, and my brain is going in circles over the concept introduced in Journal 3 where if two dimensional parallels make physical contact, they cause the collapse and demise of themselves and the dimension in which they exist.
On one hand, it explains a lot of Ford avoiding his other selves throughout the multiverse, fearing a recurrence of such an event, but on the other hand, we only have a single known incident of such an occurrence. A single known incident because the parameters to conduct an experiment to confirm the occurrence is not only unfeasible, but legitimately impossible to carry out without catastrophic consequences.
What if that incident was the exception to the norm? What if contact between parallels is not only feasible, but relatively common? After all, the multiverse is a vast and intricate network of multiple realities whose rules don’t always mesh with one another, and really the only truth of the multiverse is what you personally experience and that truth can change and develop over time. What if that incident occurred, not because it was a universal constant, but because it was a fear that the individuals involved in the incident believed to be a truth, and because they believed in that truth, it became a self fulfilling prophecy.
I cannot in good conscience believe that with all the multiverse realities that exist, parallels would not occasionally and unknowingly bump into each other and make physical contact. But because of that lack of knowledge, incidents fail to occur and dimensions go unscathed because the BELIEF of that occurrence is what caused it to happen, not a basal universal truth. Which again, universal truths are only as consistent as one can make them, and in the multiverse, literally ANYTHING is possible.
...look, I just want there to be a Ford Space like there’s a Mabel Dimension where scared and lost Fords can find comfort and companionship while traveling to find home OKAY?!
17 notes • Posted 2021-04-28 21:04:32 GMT
#4
People keep thanking me for starting the Round Robin that became the Knock Out AU and I never intended to start a thing, I just wrote a drabble and the fandom came together and I’m getting to write and chat with some of my author idols and I am going to goddang CRY from how happy I am with everything.
@verysorrytobother​ @roseverdict​ @mother-ofthe-universe​ @nelson-and-murdock​ @shipper-of-many-many-ships​ @presidentstalkeyes​ @detectivejigsawpines​ @leesbian42​ @ramblesanddragons​ and anyone else I can’t quite recall atm I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Tumblr media
35 notes • Posted 2021-05-25 06:09:16 GMT
#3
Tumblr media
The GF Round Robin Discord is going off on ideas of Multiverse Ford and his shenanigans.
Finger Dimension Hand Model Ford.
46 notes • Posted 2021-05-27 05:29:32 GMT
#2
Does anybody else have moments while perusing Journal 3 wishing there was an audiobook version with all the voice actors?
Cause I would totally be down for a Journal 3 audio book with JK Simmon, Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal reading the various entries in character.
49 notes • Posted 2021-05-12 20:30:25 GMT
#1
Pines Family Musical Taste
So, I was listening to some of my older CDs on the way to work today, and I got to thinking-
People have lots of ideas and considerations of what the various Pines family members could be ASSOCIATED with musically, but what to they actually LIKE?
We do have some ideas given to us from the show- Mabel goes for rock ballads and boy bands, Dipper enjoys Icelandic pop music, Stan was pretty big into the dancing scene of the 70s. Ford? Not a dang clue, except for really not enjoying Fiddleford's banjo playing.
Did Stan go through a punk rock phase? Did he listen to the Beatles or Paul Simon? Ford, big nerd that he is, maybe went for the deeply nerdy filk music that became a big deal thanks to the fandom surrounding Star Trek.
Please reblog with your thoughts, cause I can't stop imagining Stan singing along to "Diamonds in the soles of her Shoes" and it is KILLING ME.
84 notes • Posted 2021-05-14 21:26:39 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
7 notes · View notes
the-voltage-diaries · 3 years
Text
Το Βόρειο Αστέρι μου - Lucifer x Diavolo
AO3 Link
Το Βόρειο Αστέρι μου: Greek for ‘My Polar Star’
Word Count: 1859
A/N: I don’t know what this is. All I know is that @simpingw0lfi3​​​​​​​ refused to do it, so I did. Of course, please don’t expect this to be perfect because... it really isn’t. 
Vote of thanks: @akaiiro-yume​​​​​ for checking and correcting all the grammatical fuck ups I did, making sure I didn’t stop writing this halfway and going through any mental breakdown I might have had instead for me. And, of course, @some-ikemen-snob​​​​​ for making sure this SCREAMED Lucifer energy this way and that. only for now, but ily both.
Tumblr media
Devildom 14th February, 20XX Saturday, 7:57 PM
Dear Diary,
      I suppose I've never written a journal entry such as this in the past, for I haven't found either the desire or the will to task myself with writing my thoughts down in a manner wherein I speak to an inanimate object. That said, I have been told writing is, in a manner of speaking, therapeutic, and I believe I could do with some of that right now. It would be false to assume I don’t still harbour any inhibitions towards using my time in this manner, especially when I'd much rather be by Diavolo’s side. The very same Diavolo who, as a matter of fact, happens to be the subject of this writing session today. Strangely enough, and if I recall correctly, he was also the one who introduced - which is putting it rather mildly - me to the “art” of journal entries. I admit, I haven’t given this activity the kind of gravity which was probably expected out of me, but then again, today is a little different from the rest. I'm not entirely certain as to where to begin, but I do believe I have been told in situations like these, one should do whatever... feels right.
      Diavolo is... well, where do I even begin? He is the future of Devildom, as a few might call it - myself included. While he does appear to be quite the cheerful and at times careless lord, it’d be a lie to deny that he is just as wise and compassionate underneath that wave of buoyancy radiating off of him. Honest to a fault, but with his moral compass always pointing towards the best interest of those around him. I’ll admit, sometimes it proves to be rather difficult to believe that he indeed is a demon. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to compare him to the Polaris considering he does quite radiate the charisma from himself, shining admirably amidst a dark sea of onlookers. While in name he rules over all the demons in the land of Devildom, the right set of eyes won’t take too long to deduce the eloquence with which his fingers reach out to the soul of every single resident of the land, holding them together better than gravity ever bound humans to the earth. 
      Saying that is all there is to him would be a lie whiter than the wet snow, making its way to the tips of my fingers and sliding off gently onto this page. That, of course, doesn’t mean describing how I feel towards him is no herculean task. There are some cases when a language -  no matter the plethora of vocabulary it offers - just isn’t sufficient enough, and this certainly is one of those cases. For the time being, let’s just owe my lack of articulacy to the bond of mutual respect and trust Diavolo and I share, built over centuries upon centuries, braving the ravages of time, and even perhaps the less than pleasing antics my brothers tend to pull. But while the impression the ruler of all demons and I tend to emit may seem to be distanced by a careful degree of professionalism, I don’t believe anybody knows that that might not be the case. Even Diavolo himself. Doesn’t come as a surprise, really, for they simply can’t know.
      Why do I believe that to not be the case, then? Well, I would wonder why I felt so strongly about it had I not known the reason myself. The very same reason which is now a secret so surreptitious that I can’t help but consider burning this piece of paper once I finish writing to ensure it is never revealed to another set of eyes. Such dastardly is the nature of this emotion, tricking one into its delusive warmth, encompassing them with the belief that nothing truly is impossible, that what they feel might just be true and meaningful enough to be returned by the other they feel for, only to cackle with glee and turn away when the reality doesn’t match the fantasy it was believed to turn out to be. The very same emotion which in layman’s terms is apparently called... love.
      I’m not entirely certain I understand the extent of its exquisite existence myself, to be truthful. All I know is no matter how intensely I try to shut the door on its escaping fumes, it turns futile the second I lay my eyes on the man in question. While the rest of the known universe sees an omnipotent leader binding everyone together, making them sing the same tune in harmony, I see what I can only consider an anchor, grounding me, making it so that I can’t ever fall into the abyss of the darkness that breathes inside of me and float away. He is the quintessence of the best of what the world has to offer, with his golden eyes sparkling like stardust, weaving their ever-lasting magic into the hearts of whoever they come across - be it human, or demon, or angel - wrapping them in their never-ending warmth, letting them sink into the depths of benevolence they promise. His hair are the cerise of a raging inferno, sheltering beneath their canopy a quick, sensible, erudite mind. His smile is but a warm culmination of everything optimistic and positive, like a flame inviting moths to it, reaching out to give their innermost yearnings a hand to grab on to and never let go. Simply divine. And this is where the paths diverge, I suppose.
      They see a to-be Demon King, I see Diavolo.
      But alas, love is a fickle mistress. Getting too lost in the charm of her alluring arms will only result in a doom of them wrapping around your neck, enticing, until you realise their hold is tightening. Not to hold on, but to suffocate. I might have gotten so lost in that fiery gaze that I didn’t notice it start to crawl along my skin, leaving a charred, burnt path in its wake. The very anchor which I believed to be the one to ground me and hold me close etched itself deeper into the oceanic floor of delirium, drowning me. The threads of his stardust wrapped themselves around me and clutched hard enough to strangle. Before I knew it, the symphony of something meaningful became the cacophony of a nightmare.
      This red thread strung through itself earlier today the series of events I’d rather forget. I’ve known how I feel towards Diavolo for a while now, and I had been searching for an opportunity to come clean and let him know about it for the last few days. Not to say I hadn’t gotten said opportunities at all, but one could owe it to me being too prideful to admit I was finally opening up to the idea of accepting feelings and... emotions. Around that time was when Solomon let slip a few details about the significance of Valentine’s day in the human world as an annual occurrence to celebrate romantic love, friendship, and admiration, and with enough persistence, Asmodeus managed to convince Diavolo to declare the day as an official holiday. Just a few hours ago I walked along the empty hallways to Diavolo’s office, knowing him, Barbatos and I to be the only ones in the building, still choosing work over any form of inactivity. By then, I had talked myself into finally telling the most powerful of all demons about the feelings I harboured towards him. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I was indeed a tad hopeful, wishing for the feelings to be returned. Once I reached the door to his private office, my hand settled above the smooth hardwood to give it a knock. And that’s when I noticed that the door was already slightly ajar. I heard a voice inside, other than Diavolo’s, and I took the liberty to glance inside, only for my hopes to come crashing down when the realisation struck me: I shouldn’t have done that.
      Inside his office, Diavolo sat in his seat with his mouth pressed against another, a hand trailing across the small face with dark green locks framing it with elegance while the other held on to the person’s waist, pulling him closer. My eyes widened when the smaller man of the two let out a muffled whimper, perched on Diavolo’s lap. Barbatos. I felt my heart squeeze out a pained croak at the sight, and even though every single nerve in my body begged me to move away and forget I ever saw anything, my legs didn’t move. They stayed glued to their spot on the floor even as I felt it crumble beneath my feet, just the way my eyes stayed on Diavolo. My lip trembled with a longing I never thought I’d experience when Barbatos intertwined his fingers with Diavolo’s, smiling into the kiss they shared, like the perfect harmony which was always meant to be. It was when Diavolo broke the kiss, eyes meeting the other’s and whispers of love and confessions floating across the room until they settled on my ears, that I finally felt the mask crack. The facade I had worked on for centuries to lay the foundation of crumbled as my fists clenched, letting myself have a moment of weakness when a lone tear of frustration, delay, anger, and self loathing dripped down my cheek. I looked up at the ceiling, a voiceless laugh tumbling across my lips at the cognisance that the Polaris I was reaching out for, shining proud in the middle of a dark, cloudless sky, was beyond my reach, and... never supposed to be mine. How far I could stretch, how willing were my fingers to make one last attempt to touch it’s light and bask in it - all of that didn’t matter anymore.
      I exhaled a shaky breath, blinking once as I tucked away whatever it is I was going to tell Diavolo in some corner of my mind, crushing the key with a hard snap of my fingers. My eyes found Barbatos again, glazing over with a heartfelt wish for him to find his happiness, at least. It was with one last aching smile towards Diavolo and a euphoric laugh spilling from Barbatos’ lips that I turned on my heel, shaking my head at the fate I was handed. Needless to say, I hold no malice towards either of them - they’re both precious to me, as much as I dislike admitting it.
      I believe I have shared more than what was required, and I shall burn this piece of paper lest anyone finds it. One might call it wishful thinking on my part, but I do pray that watching the last signs of anything I harbour towards the one who wasn’t meant to be mine from the start burn as the embers of the fire consume it whole makes me put a lid on my feelings once and for all, for they were never supposed matter. They weren’t supposed to exist to begin with.
      After all, only a prince deserves a fairy-tale with a happy ending, and I am no prince.
Lucifer.
62 notes · View notes
Text
A short vignette I wrote as part of a discussion on a forum I post on, with past/present tense and other grammar and formatting and math somewhat cleaned up from the rough version I posted there, and I’ve given it a title; it is a stand-alone piece and is not connected to any of my main SF settings; I took the liberty of re-using some relatively generic planet names and taking a little inspiration from John M. Dollan’s Arcbuilder Universe (if you’re interested you can find links to a little of John M. Dollan’s more recent writing on his Twitter):
----------
Advantages of Specialization
As I departed Cordillera, I passed a sign of the times. There was one of the big Hegemony freighters, on its leisurely upward fall toward minimum safe distance. It was much too far away for unaided eye visual contact, of course, but Mariposa's telescope gave me a fine view of it. And Cordillera space traffic control had supplied all the relevant details, of course; planned trajectory and burn timing, alpha-numeric designation - and a name; the Humbolt. Humbolts are whales that sing. Appropriate, I guess; it was big. Next to it little Mariposa would look - well, like a butterfly flitting around a whale, I guess. Mariposa is 50 meters long and masses 100 tons, 500 tons fueled up, with space for about an elephant's mass in cargo. Mariposa could fit inside Humbolt's fuel tank. Mariposa could fit inside the nozzle of Humbolt's fusion rocket.
Humbolt had finished its escape burn from Cordillera two days ago and it was just falling up now, not very fast. Its orbital rockets had burned at a leisurely .5 MSS, only a twentieth of a G, and hadn't burned very long. It hadn't even reached escape velocity from Cordillera's sun. Mariposa had burned hard, 3 G on the way up from Cordillera's surface, then 1.2 G the rest of the way to outbound flight velocity. Mariposa passed Humbolt quickly; the velocity differential was huge. Mariposa hadn't just reached escape velocity from the local sun, Mariposa had reached escape velocity from the galaxy! If I never burned her rocket or did a hyperspace jump again Mariposa would fall up very long and very far, into intergalactic space, where she'd fall up until her atoms evaporated by proton decay or the Big Rip tore her apart or she disintegrated from the slow sandpapering of the intergalactic medium, whatever came first. Of course, that wouldn't happen. I'd reach the local hyperlimit and jump to hyperspace in three months or so, then it'd be a few days in hyperspace, then another two months to get from the 82 Eridani hyperlimit to Hyannis. Funny; a few months to cross a few dozen AU, a few days in hyperspace to cross dozens of light years, a light year is more than 60,000 AU. Our-space distances aren't applicable to travel in hyperspace, of course, but I still think it's funny. Lots of people do.
As I passed Humbolt I studied telescopic images of it, studied its weaknesses, and thought maybe a whale wasn't the right analogy for it after all. Something from an ocean was, but not a whale. It was more like one of those deep sea fish that explode when you bring them to the surface, into the light.
Humbolt hadn't landed at San Ysidro Spaceport. It couldn't have. It wouldn't have survived trying. Humbolt is a pure creature of the void, that will never know the kiss of air or the touch of ground. It unloads and loads cargo at space stations, leaving transport to and from planetary surfaces to specialized local surface-orbit shuttles.
Humbolt is long thin pillar more than a kilometer long, with the fusion rocket at one end, a spherical fuel tank and the cargo and a small crew section spun for centrifugal gravity at the other end, and huge radiator wings between them. The long pillar is to protect the rest of the ship from the heat and radiation of the fusion drive. The fusion drive has a maximum rated acceleration at full cargo load of 2 MSS - one-fifth of 1 G. If Humbolt tried to accelerate much faster with a full cargo load, its engine would melt with waste heat. And if by some miracle it got itself up to 1 G that long pillar would snap and crumble. Put Humbolt on the surface of an Earthlike world, and it would disintegrate into a mass of rubble. If Humbolt tried to land like Mariposa, it would have the aerodynamics of a brick, and pieces of it would snap off from air friction, and its great rocket wouldn't have the thrust to control its own fall, and its own weight would break its back before it even touched the ground.
Maybe a whale isn't a bad analogy after all. The blue whale is the biggest animal to ever live on Earth; it's easier to be big in the water.
It's about efficiency, see. Humbolt should never experience a force of acceleration much above 2 MSS, so it's not built to take more than .5 G or so. That's a good safety margin, given the gentle acceleration its drive maxes out at. Building it fragile like this is efficient. Saves mass. Saves construction material. Saves fuel. Saves money.
It doesn't even really have a cargo hold. They just attach stuff to the front. Lots of different configurations are possible. On that trip Humbolt's front end was a greebled sphere of snapped-together rectangular cargo containers half a kilometer across, with a sort of tarp draped across it to protect it from high-velocity dust. There must have been hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo in that greebled sphere of cargo containers. It must have been a non-trivial fraction of Cordillera's yearly offworld trade. Cordillera isn't a big colony; it's a dusty dry world with only a few small seas, marginally habitable, only 160 million inhabitants. The sphere is the most efficient shape for a container, and the protective tarp is light, and Humbolt doesn't need to worry about streamlining. Trucks and trains and planes and boats and Mariposa are long and narrow because if you have to worry about streamlining you want to minimize frontal area. Humbolt doesn't have to worry about friction, so its cargo can be gathered into a sphere, which is efficient.
Free traders like me with ships that can take off and land like Mariposa are still a lifeline on Cordillera. Until a few years back Cordillera had just one orbiting space station to service big cargo ships like Humbolt. The Hegemony gave them another one a few years back though. Gave them another space station. A whole space station. Just dragged it in all the way from Alpha Centauri. The Hegemony must have plans for Cordillera.
Humbolt fell behind quickly. After they'd passed a few million kilometers behind they sent a text message telling me they were about to fire up the big fusion rocket. The burn timing was already registered with Cordillera space control who'd passed it on to me, of course; it was just standard procedure. The Hegemony were sticklers for this kind of thing. The contents of the message were very standard too; if it hadn't been composed by a computer it might as well have been. I wondered if it was AI composed or some sort of standardized form they had a human fill out. There'd be an audio warning and check-in too.
The audio warning was less standardized. A male voice, with an accent that might have been Tolimanish, saying, "This is the Kentauric Hegemony nationalized transport KDY-442-A74F, the Humbolt, calling free trader Mariposa. Hello, Miss, uh ... Miss Cherinise? Did I pronounce that right? Just as per standard procedure we're giving you a redundant warning that we're going to fire up the big atomic flashlight in 600 seconds. Please acknowledge."
Mariposa and Humbolt were almost seven light seconds apart at this point; far enough apart for light lag to noticeably influence conversation. I could have fired up the subspace radio, but Humbolt hadn't bothered, and I wasn't going to spend power on it if they weren't.
I sent back, "This is free trader Mariposa, I understand and acknowledge your message. I see we have the same destination. Does that make this a race? Seems to be going pretty well for me so far if so; I left after you and I'm already ahead of you."
I couldn't resist the dig, even though I knew it was lame and wasn't even an effective one, it just drew attention to my own weakness. I made it sound happy, like I was joking and saying something to have an excuse to talk to somebody for a few minutes.
The voice from the Humbolt said back, "You'd lose. Might want to make sure any un-hardened electronics are protected before we fire the big rocket, and maybe put your fuel tank between your crew and cargo compartments and us, just to be extra safe. You should be OK at that distance, but it's gonna be some real Manhattan Project hours out here when we fire. KDY-442-A74F over and out."
I said back, "Mariposa's been in battles and flare star megaflares and I've had to navigate more than one particularly nasty gas giant and brown dwarf magnetosphere. My ship's built tough, I'll be fine. Free trader Mariposa, over and out."
For some minutes Mariposa and Humbolt fell up away from Cordillera's sun, glowing only with the warmth of life support and radar and power reactor standby power and cargo environment maintenance. Then Humbolt's main rocket fired.
Mariposa can do 4 G at a steady burn, more in a sprint. The big limit is my own tolerance. Compared to Mariposa's muscular rocket, Humbolt's great rocket is weak in thrust. It imparts the gentlest of pushes. Humbolt's great radiator wings soon sizzle with heat at a fifth of a G. It ejects less than 200 kilograms of fuel per second, for a ship that masses hundreds of thousands of tons fueled and loaded. It's built for fuel efficiency, endurance, not thrust. The big rocket fires continuously for more than two weeks, compared to Mariposa's 22 hour 1.2 G burn.
And that efficiency implies its own sort of power. That 200 kilograms flies out of the rocket nozzle at more than two percent the speed of light. Humbolt's big rocket is a butterfly's sigh in terms of thrust, but in terms of energy it's a nuclear bomb that explodes continuously for more than two weeks. Ships like Humbolt have to maneuver near planets using weaker secondary orbital rockets because of the damage that storm of radiation and high-velocity charged particles might do. Alerts squawked nervously as Humbolt became a dark speck at the end a brilliant comet of charged particles and radiation thousands of kilometers long, the brightest thing in Mariposa's sky except for the local sun.
Mariposa uses not a lot of energy to eject a lot of fuel not very fast. This gives it the thrust to blast off the surface of a world. It's like one of those gasoline-powered SUVs you see on a lot of low-population worlds with big stretches of hostile terrain; go anywhere no matter how bad the road, power over rocks and through sucking mud puddles. But it's like an SUV; it guzzles fuel. And fuel-guzzling, in space, ultimately means slow. Humbolt uses terawatts of energy to eject a little fuel very fast, and this makes it fuel-efficient, and fuel-efficient in space ultimately means fast.
The man was right. If it's a race, Mariposa will lose, I'll lose. Humbolt will reach the hyperlimit of Cordillera's system in a little over a month, reach Hyannis in a little over two months, well ahead of me. And with ships like Humbolt the Hegemony can charge shipping prices half of the minimum I can charge to stay in business and come out with a 20% profit. And they can ship high-bulk goods that are just out of reach for me. Mariposa is a flying fuel tank with an engine and a crew quarter and a cargo compartment attached, stuffed into something shaped like a delta-winged aircraft. Humbolt gets almost three times my delta V while being less than half fuel by mass.
Free traders like me kept trade flowing through the age of fragmentation and economic contraction after the disintegration of the Terran Empire. Our tough versatile little blast off from anywhere land anywhere rockets were just what human space needed back then. But it's getting tough for somebody like me to stay in business nowadays.
10 notes · View notes
f-society-arcade · 4 years
Text
Librarian - Abby Anderson x Reader
Sweetest little beauty, heaven in your breath, 
Simplest of pleasures, the world at its best
-Librarian by My Morning Jacket
Reader gets excited about some books. Abby’s silently swoonin.
Abby Anderson x Female Reader
I’m feeling some lil Domestic Fluffery today sue me
I think I’m just going to tag all my writings “im an abby simp”
OH also Abby thoughts are in italics
Tumblr media
“Hey Abby,” Manny starts, mumbling through his toothbrush. “If I bring someone back here tonight, make yourself scarce, yeah?” 
He’s brushing his teeth mid-day, she should have expected this question.
Why is he like this, Abby wonders, looking up from her book. “Uh, yeah. I was about to head to the library in a bit anyways. Should I just not come back?” 
“Yeah, I mean, that works. Thanks, Abs,” he spits into the sink. 
Placing his toothbrush back in the holder, he looks back at his roommate. “Okay then. See you tomorrow.” He’s about to walk out their front door when he calls out one last thing. “Hey and Abs? Go get her tiger,” he gives a wink and slips out the door
“Hey fuck you! ” she shouts, rolling her eyes at her no longer present roommate. “I wonder who he’s gonna bring back this time,” she continues, mumbling to herself as she turns a page in her book.
By the time she’s decided she’s finished with her tome, Abby’s unsure of how much time has passed, but she knows that it's nearly dark out and she should probably get going before Romeo comes back. She looks at the text in her hands and exhales slowly, thinking about you. C’mon Abby you can do this.
She can’t decide if it’s fortunate or unfortunate that the library isn’t far from her assigned living quarters. While it’s only Tuesday, Abby is all too aware that she’s been to the library probably three times in the last five days or so. All just to see you. Not that she would admit that to anyone, of course. Manny had kind of figured it out when he confronted her about her frequent visits to your humble abode. He said that if she wasn’t on assignment or at the gym, she was probably at the library. Which was not true!
Okay, it kind of was.
She just hoped it wasn’t that obvious to you. She was pretty sure you had flirted with her on a couple occasions, but she wasn’t entirely confident. You work in the library, it’s your job to be nice right?
She ducks into the bathroom closest to the library, quick to get in front of a mirror since there isn’t one in her room. She hurriedly tucks her front flyaway hairs behind her ears and for half a second, she considers taking out the braid and re-doing it before going in to see you. Making sure she’s completely alone in the bathroom, she discreetly checks her breath. Maybe I should’ve taken a page from Manny. 
...
“Hey Abby,” you smile at her as she walks in. You’re in your usual spot, lounging on one of the couches with a book in your hand and a giant stack on the floor right next to you. There’s a cardboard box to the right of the couch and a short coffee table directly in front of you, also covered in books. A cup of tea sits on the table in between stacks, half-drank and completely forgotten.
“So you do remember me,” she teases, recalling a previous conversation with you. When she had finally gathered the courage and introduced herself, you told her that you were bad with names, but would try your best. Stopping just in front of the coffee table, she thinks about how cute you look today. Your hair is up and out of your face for once, looking like it’s somehow being held together by a pencil and a prayer. You gently lay your book down in your lap, pages down, keeping the book open on your thighs and Abby thinks about what she wouldn’t give to be that book for just a second. “Just bringing you back your things,” she says to you, holding the book out to you, trying to erase her mind of all inappropriate thoughts. 
You take the book back from her and place it on the small table next to you; a new stack among the dozens of preexisting ones. “Well, I don’t get a lot of visitors, so it’s pretty easy to remember the cute ones. Learn anything useful?” You ask, looking up at her.
Abby is slightly taken aback by your bold comment, unsure how to respond, so she ignores it. “Uh yeah, there was some good workout tips in there. Might have to give some of them a shot,” she says back to you. Truth was, there really wasn’t a whole lot in there that she didn’t already know. 
This small talk was going to be the death of her.
She’s standing there awkwardly just looking down at you and she knows it. You giggle up at her. “Need me to show you where health and fitness is again?”
The fact that you’re laughing at her brings her back to reality and she struggles to answer your question. “No, no. I just, I’m looking for something different today, I just don’t know what. Got anything cool?”
You smile up at her and she can’t help but think about how beautiful you are again. Her thoughts are sappy and she knows it and still she swears she could just look at you all day. 
She notices the way your eyes sparkle before you answer her query, “Yeah, I got something cool for you. Come on.” You close your book and place it on top of her returned materials, nodding your head towards the back and she follows you as you weave through the maze of books towards the back of the library.
“So check this out,” you begin your story, heading down a walkway of fiction. You turn to look at her for a moment as you continue weaving through columns and boxes. She admires how you have this place memorized so well. “So you know how Isaac has been talking about having people clear out that University campus? Apparently, we struck gold in the campus library last week. I went out yesterday to do collections and--”
“You left the stadium?” Abby interrupts. She’s so shocked for a moment that she forgets that it’s rude. The thought of you potentially endangering yourself for books is bothering her more than it should.
“I mean, I wasn’t alone or anything. I went with Jonesy,” you replied, looking back at her over your shoulder once more and appreciating her level of concern. 
“Jonesy? Isaac sent you with that guy? That guy’s an idiot.” Abby briefly recalls her experiences with that particular teammate and wonders how he hasn’t gotten himself killed yet. She also considers her own whereabouts yesterday and realizes that she wasn’t too far from you during her regular patrol. Not that she could have helped if things went sideways, she didn’t even know you were out there.
“I also think this, but apparently he ‘volunteered’ and Isaac wasn’t going to say no to someone volunteering to go do collections with me. There was a few stragglers but--” You start to reply to her comment, but again Abby finds herself accidentally interrupting once more.
“You fought infected?” She asks incredulously. “I gotta talk to Isaac, he shouldn’t have sent you two alone. What if there had been Scars?” She knows that you’re a decent shot with a rifle and you can handle yourself, and she knows that the rising anger she feels is all for nothing. You’re here and safe and that’s what matters. 
Isn’t it?
That’s not jealousy she’s feeling in her chest, right?
“Anyways,” you say a little louder than normal, effectively dismissing her concerns. Abby follows you through a set of doors she’s not quite sure she’s ever been through before. There’s some type of strange miniature file cabinets along a side wall and boxes upon boxes stacked everywhere. Boxes of every different shape and size seem as if they have invaded the room, fully intending on filling it. There’s a small desk towards the front that’s covered in papers and various books, an open box sitting next to it, similar to the one next to your couch up front. There’s also a short, two-person couch that Abby had barely noticed as it’s also surrounded by boxes. She can hear the faint whispers of a record player in the room, the soft sounds of Karen Carpenter coming from somewhere.
“Just look at all this!” You shout, excited beyond words. “Isn’t it beautiful? I already asked Isaac to have some guys build some more shelves, but I can’t believe most of it was practically untouched. Oh Abby,” you turn around to face her, taking her by surprise because she was sure you had forgotten about her amidst your rambling. “It was so beautiful, you should have seen it.”
You think that's beautiful, you should see what I’m looking at, she wants to say as she looks at you in all your excitement. Instead she smirks and gestures to all the boxes with a hand, “And now it’s all yours.” She takes a moment to look away from you and take it all in once more. “God, how many trips did you guys make?”
“Oh my god,” her question falls on deaf ears as she watches you process the gravity of her previous statement. You appear overwhelmed for a moment, eyes lost in the vast ocean of boxes. “Now it’s all mine… It’s all mine!” Abby’s relieved to hear more happiness in your tone when you repeat yourself. She’d hate to spoil your good mood.
But now when she turns back to you, she can see happiness seeping out of your every pore and she starts to feel herself smile too. She struggles to recall another moment in her life where seeing someone else happy had made her happy as well. Genuine happiness and joy was difficult to come by in this life and to see you light up over something so simple? It made her heart soar.
Fuck, are all librarians this cute?
“But,” she notices that you sound a bit less excited now, “this is where all the work starts. Now, I get to go through all this, decide if each item is worth keeping, catalog it as best as I can, and then sort it accordingly so it can be shelved.” You sigh, looking at the vast mountains of cardboard in front of you.
“Well, you definitely have your work cut out for you.”  For a second, you look like you hate this, but she knows you don’t. With the way you were just talking, she knows there’s nothing else in the world you’d rather be doing.
“Yeah, no shit huh?” You laugh under your breath a bit.
Oh no. 
You turn to make eye contact and just judging by the face you’re giving her, she knows your next sentence won’t be good for her. 
“You wanna stick around for a bit? Help me get a jump start on all this?” You look at her, eyes large and hopeful.
“Fuck, not really,” she tells you, not knowing the slightest bit about your job and how you do it. How you stand it. Killing things is way easier from her perspective. But she does like spending time with you. “But I don’t have anywhere else to be. What do you need?”
“Um, the best place to start would probably be to use those big muscles of yours and pull that huge box down from the top for me,” and just like that, you’ve put her to work.
If she’s being honest, Abby doesn’t mind too much.
...
“Hey, is this all just garbage?” She looks at you, waving a stack of magazines in her hand. She’s cleared the couple boxes off the couch, giving her a place to sit and go through more boxes. She now understands why you’re always surrounded by piles when you organize things by subject.
A couple hours of sorting have gone by and now you’re hunched over the desk, pen vigorously scrambling in your hand. Two stacks of books are on both sides of you; cataloged versus uncatalogued. You’re working on cookbooks now. Surely the kitchen staff will be excited about the new materials, no matter how slim the pickings were.
You look up from your desk to see what she’s found, seeing the staple-binded pages in her hand. “No, I have a cabinet for those over there somewhere.”
“Are you sure? I think it’s all just gossip magazines,” Abby flips through the volumes, having absolutely no interest in any of them.
You get up out of your chair and walk over towards the blonde. “See Abby, you see just celebrity gossip. I see a fascinating story about humanity.” You take the top magazine from the stack in her hand and flip through it for a moment. “These tell us a fascinating story about what life was like before all this. Think about it. They had so little to worry about back then, this was the most interesting part of people’s lives. Worrying about, whoever this lady is and her ‘top 8 beauty must-haves’. Whatever that means,” you quote back from the cover. “These are archaeological artifacts now.”
Abby cannot take you seriously at this point. This type of content is so vapid, so shallow, there’s no way you could gain that type of insight out of this. “You know, when I asked for suggestions earlier, lectures on humanity isn’t quite what I expected,” she quips at you.
“Oh fuck off,” you walk away from her, intent on getting back to work but also knowing she’s being a smart ass. “You know what? Fine. This is my formal recommendation. Just read it and try to think past the surface.”
Another hour or so goes by and about halfway through the magazine, she stops reading and starts flipping through the rest, thinking about what you said earlier. Every page was filled with such trivial information and she realizes how easy people had it back then. For just a moment, she wonders what her life would have been like if it were in these times. Her dad would still be alive. What would her dad think about you? Would she have ever even met you? She likes to think so. She likes to think that she would have taken you to nice, romantic dinners like in the movies she’s seen. Maybe you guys could have even lived together in a small house, coming home to each other every night. Cooking dinner together. Sharing a bed every night. She considers how worry-free a domestic life with you could have been. Her chest aches at the thought.
How can you miss a life you never had?
Abby looks up from her magazine to find you asleep across your desk. The pencil must have fallen out of your hair at some point because your hair cascades around your shoulders in waves. The side of your face rests on a half-finished catalog card and she smiles at the thought of you waking with ink on your face. Your back is hunched over into what she is sure has to be the most uncomfortable position ever and your hand is still in an upright position, the writing utensil has since fallen flat on the table.
Abby exhales softly through her nose and smiles to herself. After taking a moment to admire your sleeping form, she gets up and takes a few steps in your direction, being careful as to not kick any piles on the way over. Slowly but surely, she pulls the small pile of cards from underneath you, putting them off to the side as your face now gently rests on the tabletop. She gently sweeps a piece of hair out of your face, tucking it behind your ear, admiring how beautiful you are even as you work yourself to the point of exhaustion.
As she sits back down on the couch, she yawns herself and decides you don’t have such a bad idea. Situating herself on the love seat as best she can, Abby takes one last look at your sleeping form.
“Goodnight, my sweetest little bookworm.”
299 notes · View notes
mundanewayv · 4 years
Text
time after time. / hendery w.
Tumblr media
A young astro-physists accepts a challenge from his crush. 
“I challenge you to build one.”
“A time machine?”
“Yeah. And if I’m in there, you get to take me on a date.”
“Don’t go back on your words then!”
fluff-angst - 3k
Some boys wanted to play football their entire lives while some wanted to run for office, but Hendery had bigger plans. He wanted to fly to the solar system. He wanted to have dinner in a place vaguely known to man with no gravity holding him back rather than tight tuxedos and fancy ballrooms. He didn’t want to settle for going on holidays with limited paid work leaves and annual holidays when he could orbit and sightsee the planets and all the celestial phenomena of the universe and float among the stars in his quiet sanctuary a hundred kilometers from Earth.
Undoubtedly one of the smartest kids on campus, Hendery and his group of fellow astro-physicists were isolated from the hustle and bustle of university. Sitting in their tutorial lab, they’re often huddled around some sort of blueprint while the outside world continues on with their own lives. Always brainstorming over different theories and calculating numbers that can be barely articulated by others outside of the faculty.
“Yangyang, I think there’s something wrong with the calculation for the negative temperature coefficient. It’s impossible for the reactivity of the nuclear reactor to increase as temperature increases, can you check the derivative again?” Xiaojun points out and traces the equation with his chalk as he squints at the calculation on the blackboard, struggling to find the error with the math.
“And for god’s sake, work on that penmanship please. I can’t even tell apart ‘3’ and ‘8’ when you write them this way.” Xiaojun complains once more as he directs his attention to Yangyang who was sitting on the lab counter sipping on his fifth can of cola for the morning and third box of pizza.
Hendery and Kun chuckled by the side as they sat on the side working on their own sets of calculations whilst listening to Xiaojun’s rant.
“Kun, I’m having problems solving these differential equations and I’ve been working on them for days and I’m having an absolute mental block, do you think it’s time to call for help?”
“Hendery, that’s quite unlike you because you usually solve them with no problem and it doesn’t help that this assignment is due in two days and Professor is still frolicking in the Bahamas while we’re stuck here.” Kun picks the stack of papers on Hendery’s table as he examines the messy cancellations and occasional tear stains and stray pen marks, numbers and alphabets also floating in circles in his head.
“Yeah, we definitely need help for this one.” Kun rubs his temples as he concludes that the damn equations on the paper were unsolvable even after showing them to Ten.
“Maybe you can ask Y/N? She’s pretty good isn’t she? Right, Sicheng?” Lucas suggests, tossing the football in his hands in Sicheng’s direction. 
“Who’s that?” all of them turned to look at Lucas.
“Y’know, the top student in the Applied Math Faculty. She went to the same advanced class as me and Sicheng in high school, maybe she can help solve your problem, Hendery.”
“I can bring her over if you want?” Sicheng taps on his phone looking for your number.
You walked into a room filled with these boys in which Sicheng had briefly introduced you to as he dragged you into their lab on short notice. Recognising only Lucas amongst the other foreign faces, you threw him a small wave. They handed you the questions and you took a quick look at it, dissecting it to bits before grabbing the chalk to solve it on the blackboard. With every line and number in the question, you felt the chalk slowly disintegrating in your hands as seven pairs of eyes burning holes in your back as you solved the question whose solution felt like it would take an infinite amount of years to write. But solved you did. White chalk covered your hands as you took a deep sigh of relief after completing the question. The boys stared in awe as they read the solution in fascination.
“It’s the Euler’s method, boys! I know it’s unconventional to use something from the ice age but it works best here!”
“How about this Y/N? Can you try this too?” Xiaojun led you to the other blackboard where he and Yangyang were working on.
You stared at the numerous equations on the board and though you were in a math major, all this math was making you dizzy too.
“I think you should check the numbers, it’s probably inverted or something since it is so long.” you chuckled.
“Always the best, Y/N.” Lucas comes over to give you a shoulder massage.
“Hi, my name is Hendery! Your math is outstanding by the way. I’m so impressed.” Hendery sticks out his hand to you.
“Well, hi there, Hendery!” you wiped the chalk on your skirt to clean your hands,
“Nice to meet you too and thank you. I’m flattered.” you waved his compliment off shyly.
From that moment on, you were well adopted into the team and before you knew it, you were spending hours and hours studying with the boys. Sometimes, the eight of you would skip frat parties to finish your research and assignments and head out to the local diner for some ice cream afterwards or sometimes drive out to the beach and all of you would just sit by the sea, watching the star-filled darkness while tracing the constellations in the sky, eventually falling asleep till right before sun rise.
To most of the boys, you were a close friend in their crew but to Hendery, you were something more. The more you impressed him with your intelligence, your humility and spontaneity, the harder he fell for you. He loved watching you as you excitedly trace the different stars in the sky and how you always wished you could visit the solar system one day, and hold one of the stars between your two hands. Hendery has never felt so compelled to know someone deeper until he met you as if the both of you, who are so similar yet a little different, were meant to meet as written in the stars.
“Y/N,” Hendery calls out as silence overcomes the crew as the other six boys retreat to their slumber.
“Yeah?”
“Do you see that ‘W’ in the sky? Do you know that that constellation has a story?”
“Tell me about it, Hendery.” you propped your body on your sides, turning to Hendery who was still looking up in the sky.
“It’s the story of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Despite how bloated the Queen’s ego was, the King loved her so much that he begged to be exiled with her. Crazy, isn’t it?” he chuckles quietly.
“Well, Hendery. Love works in a funny way. He probably thought of all the time he would have to be separated from the woman he loved so much and the tiny little disputes they had wouldn’t even measure up to the infinite amount of love he had for her deep down.” you replied to him.
“I meant to tell you something, Y/N. Well, since the guys are sleeping like logs, I might as well say it right now. I like you. Like, a lot.”
“I get that a lot, Hendery. But I need a little more assurance than that.” though you could feel a blush creeping over your cheeks, your heart ached a little. It was the little voice that kept reminding you that ‘I love you’ were just empty words without action and assurance. Every confession was just a small reminder of that hollow space in your heart that carved itself whenever your father said those three words to your mother but decided to walk out of both your lives at the end of the day.
“What kind of assurance do you need Y/N?” Hendery sits up with his legs crossed and facing you as the moonlight basks on your skins.
“I challenge you to build a time machine.”
“A time machine?”
“Yeah. And if I’m in there in the next 20 years, you get to take me on a date.”
“Don’t go back on your words then!”
Tumblr media
The idea of a time machine was just like a page out of a science-fiction book. No one has ever proven the theory behind the science of time travel and nor has anyone ever built one. Hendery reaches for probably the tenth book on the mysteries of the universe, which he had spent the entire afternoon reading and studying in the library.
“A wormhole?” Hendery stares at the article heading questionably, before reading on.
“A wormhole: a time-travelling portal created by energy fluctuations in positive and negative directions, each creating a curved space that opposes each other. When a connection is established, a wormhole is formed.”
“However, for a human to walk through the wormhole to travel in time, a supermassive black hole and negative energy is required to make a transversable wormhole.”
“One will then travel in the speed of light, known as time dilation. With the Laws of Special Relativity, a year away from Earth could be forty years into the future with this wormhole.”
Hendery takes a deep sigh, wondering if it's truly possible to build that time machine. He sat in his chair, swirling around as he chewed on his pencil.
“Well, if particles can pass through walls in Quantum Physics, man can surely walk through time.”
He worked day and night, analysing and experimenting different ways of creating that opposing energy to form a time warp. You came by occasionally to drop him some pizza or sandwiches, sometimes even blankets to cover him when he falls asleep in the lab while working. Sometimes, you would just sit by his side silently, both heads laying on the lab table. He always looked so happy in his sleep, his muscles eased and lips twitching into a smile once in a while. What were his dreams? Were you in them or were you just someone that will pass him by? Deep down you wished you didn’t propose the challenge to him and just let him take you out on that date, but the fear of not being there in his life or him in your life was probably enough to break you to pieces.
Finally, on one autumn afternoon, Hendery instructed the boys to stay out of the lab for a day so he could invite you over to watch him walk through the time machine.
“So Y/N, the time machine is done and all that’s left is to see if you’re in there and I can take you on a date afterwards right?”
“Yup.” you nodded, taking his hand in yours, holding them tightly.
“Promise to wait for me.” He asked as the both of you stood steps away from the machine.
“I promise.” you assured him, taking this opportunity to hold him in your arms.
“I’ll see you later, alligator! Plan on a restaurant, I’ll take you anywhere you want after this.” he waves, walking into the time machine and with a flash of light he disappears into the wormhole. Silence engulfed the room when you realised you were the only one left in the lab.
Tumblr media
Hendery travels through the wormhole, watching moments of his life flash in front of his eyes: graduating university and going on a vacation with the boys and you in the Bahamas, buying his first car, entering graduate school and getting his first job at the Space Research Centre where he worked hard till he retired. He even sees his final days as he chased the Northern Lights in the cold night of Iceland. But, you weren’t there. He may have achieved all he ever wanted but you weren’t there, and everything else just became pointless to him. He wanted to run back to you and just tell a white lie for once, as long as he could keep you by his side, even if it wasn’t forever.
You returned back to the lab, it hasn’t changed much since you left, almost twenty years ago. You took a seat on the chair you sat when you waited for Hendery to return. He told you he would be back soon, but day by day, you returned to the lab but you were still alone and Hendery was still in the machine. The boys waited with you as they awaited the return of their friend. Nobody knew how long it would take for Hendery to return except for himself. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months turned to years. Now you are forty-five, your youth long gone and age slowly diminishing the glow your face once had, had two kids of your own and a businessman husband that was always too busy for the family. You wondered, would anything have been different if you knew the answer? You looked around the lab, reminiscing the days the crew and you spent, the best time of all your lives. 
“Y/N!” you turned around to the deep voice that called out to you.
Sadness slowly disappears as you were hugged by the six boys that filled your university life. All six of them looked as dashing as ever and glad to say that their cheerful positivity never left them at all. They turned to look at the time machine.
“He’s still in there isn’t he?” Lucas asked. It was always sad because Hendery was just like a crucial puzzle piece that was never found. The boys missed him as much as you did. All of you sat down and chatted and ordered pizza just like the old days. Ending the night, all of you slowly packed your stuff and got ready to leave the lab and return back to your own lives, hoping that the next time all of you reunite, the glitch in the time machine would have disappeared and Hendery would be back with all of you.
Just as all of you slowly walked to the entrance of the lab, a ray of light shines throughout the room, a thunderous noise sends vibrations throughout the room, turning around to see the antique time machine coming back to life. You swore you could hear the thumps of all your hearts racing clearly. A figure slowly forms among the bright light; slim, cladded in a checkered vest and coffee-colored pants and, hair pushed back with too much gel, just like Hendery’s. You couldn’t believe your eyes as you take slow steps forward, not wanting to get any of your hopes up. But there right in front of you, stood the man you wished had come back to you twenty years ago, Hendery Wong. Tears flowed uncontrollably as you couldn’t stomach the shock of finally seeing him after all this while. He still looked the same as he did when he hugged you for the last time. Time hasn’t caught up with him at all but it wasn’t the same for you and the rest.
“Y/N? Is that you?” Hendery’s fingertips slowly traced the tears that were rolling off your cheeks.
“Guys? Are you guys really here?” Hendery rushed into the arms of his brothers, embracing them as if he hasn’t seen them in a lifetime.
“You guys waited! How long have I been gone?” he asks, wondering why everything seemed to have moved forward except him.
“Hendery, you’ve been stuck in there for twenty years.” you told him, slowly sobering up from your crying, holding his hand and his fingers examining the band on your ring finger.
“Oh? You got married?” he asked, hurt apparent in his voice.
“I did…” your voice trailed off at the end.
“I waited for you to come back as promised, Hendery. But you never came back and we never went for that dinner you promised me to.” you could feel the tears slowly forming again.
That was when Hendery realised that what he saw in the wormhole was right; you were never going to be in there with him even till the last breath he took.
“Hey, don’t cry, alright? I’ll take you to that dinner okay? I promise. But for now…” he looks up reluctantly to face all of you.
“I’d like to go back. I have something important to do. And maybe we’ll see each other again.” Hendery speaks softly this time.
“See you again, brother.” Kun comes up and pulls him into a hug, his tears staining the cotton of Hendery’s vest.
“I love you, Hendery.” you said those three words, after twenty years of yearning. You wished that you could go back in time and right the wrongs and work against the tricks of time.
And with one last wave, Hendery enters the time machine once more.
Tumblr media
Hendery finds himself in the lab again, did the time machine fail?
“Hendery, you’re back!” you raced back into the lab, with snacks and chocolate milk.
“Wait, where did you go?” he asked in confusion when he saw your younger self instead of your matured self.
“I went to get snacks while waiting for you, silly. So how was it? Are you going to take me on that date?” you teased him.
“Let’s talk about it over dinner, it was a wild ride! You wouldn’t believe it!” he slings your arm in his as the both of you leave the lab in all smiles. Hendery taking this chance to fight against fate and time in this one, in hopes he can change the future he saw in that wormhole.
83 notes · View notes
haosvteen · 4 years
Text
I Found You | soulmate seventeen series
a/n: this is my first traditionally written imagine i’m posting here, so i hope you like it!! i’m a little bit nervous to post, so please let me know how you like it :)
minghao x reader | soulmate seventeen
~ - fluff
word count: 3.2k
main masterlist
All you could focus on is the ticking of the clock and the tapping of your pencil on the worn-out wooden desk. No matter how hard you tried to tune into your professor’s monotone voice lecturing about string theory, your mind kept wandering elsewhere. Literally anywhere else. At first, you started thinking about why you had to take this class anyway. It didn’t have anything to do with your major, so what was the point? But as soon as that thought came, it went, and you were trying to decide where to get lunch after the unnecessarily long class ended.
Leaning down to your side and reaching into your backpack on the floor, you pulled out a brown leather-bound notebook. Running your fingers over the intricate gold designs adorning the spine, admiring the swirls and flowers, you placed it on your desk and flipped it open. Gliding your pencil across the unlined, seemingly old paper, you wrote “What do I get for lunch? My stomach is about to grumble in class”.
You run a hand through your hair with a sigh and look back up at your professor, once again trying to figure out what he is attempting to explain. One-dimensional strings? Quantum gravity? It meant nothing to you. Thankfully, Hao had been helping you almost every night. Honestly, you felt a little bad because he was trying his hardest to make it simple for you, but the content was essentially impossible to understand. Your brain just doesn’t seem to cooperate when it comes to physics.
Looking back down at the notebook below you, you received a response: “What about that pizza place you like down the street from your apartment?”. Just the thought of the greasy slice of goodness makes your stomach emit an audible grumble, causing several heads near you to turn your way, judgmental looks behind their eyes. After taking a moment to apologetically smile at them and deal with your embarrassment, you jot on the paper, “Hao, you’re a genius how do you always know what I want?”.
Almost as quickly as you finished writing your sentence, you see Hao’s handwriting appear letter by letter on the page. “It’s because I’m your soulmate, duh”. You lean your head on your hand and smile to yourself, noticing the students around you start packing up their books and leaving the room, signaling to you that class had finished.
After closing all of your books and stuffing them in your backpack, you slung a strap on your shoulder and started to make your way out of the classroom. Before you had the opportunity to escape into the hallway, your professor called to you, “Ms. Y/L/N, would you mind seeing me for a moment?”
Slowly turning around, you made your way up to the front of the classroom where he was wiping down the blackboard for the next class. It felt as if you were walking to the gallows due to the tone of his beckoning. “Yes, sir?”, you asked, curious as to what this may be about. Had he noticed you weren’t paying attention? That you were writing in your soulmate journal?
“As you know, final exams are coming up and I am concerned about your final grade in this class. In order to pass, you need to earn at least an 85% or higher on the final,” he nonchalantly said, not even bothering to make eye contact with you as he began to pack up.
You knew that you were not the best at physics, but you did not realize your grade was so low. That you would basically have to eat, sleep, and breathe the subject until the end of the term. “I’m so sorry, is there any extra credit I could possibly do? I’ve been trying my best, it’s just that-“, before you had the opportunity to finish your statement, he had cut you off.
“You haven’t been trying your best, though. Far too often I see you writing away in that notebook of yours and I highly doubt your taking notes.” You didn’t even know what to say in response to that because he was right. You weren’t taking notes. But could you be blamed for wanting to talk with your soulmate? Somewhere along the way since your 16th birthday, you and Hao discovered that you lived in different time zones so there were only certain times of the day you could talk to each other…one of those times just happened to be during this class. If only your professor understood this.
As if the gruff man in front of you read your mind, he continued, “I am assuming that is your soulmate journal?” Silently giving a small nod, you internally cringed for what was to come because based on the raised eyebrow and demeaning glare, it could not be good. “You know all of that’s bullshit right?”. Your jaw slightly dropped because you were not expecting that to come from your professor’s mouth.
“Statistically only 32% of people actually end up with their ‘soulmate’? No one even understands the technology of these journals or where they come from. Researchers haven’t been able to find conclusive evidence of the accuracy of these journals. The odds are higher that you will end up with someone in this class rather than whomever you are speaking to through those pieces of paper. I suggest you keep this in mind for the remainder of the semester,” your professor concluded and hastily marched out of the classroom.
You are dumbfounded. You didn’t know what your professor wanted to see you about, but in no way did you suspect that. Alright, maybe you suspected him addressing you about your poor grade, but that rant? Probably would have been the last thing you guessed. After overcoming the initial shock of the encounter you just were on the receiving end of, you shook your head and finally left the room.
Walking down the street to your favorite pizza place (as Hao suggested), you couldn’t stop thinking about everything your professor said. Was it really true that only 32% of people end up with their soulmate? And now that you thought about it, having someone’s writing showing up in some magical journal you get on your 16th birthday seems a little impractical too.
After taking a seat at the small pizzeria, you took a bite, the cheese stretching, and about to fall off the slice. You wiped your greasy fingers off on a napkin before pulling out your soulmate journal to write to Hao, telling him his suggestion was an excellent choice.
While waiting for his response, you decided to do a little bit more research about the probability of soulmates ending up together. With a simple google search, thousands of articles came up about the illegitimacy of the journals, however, there were equally as many describing the validity of them while recounting people’s personal positive experiences.
After reading article after article, you couldn’t help but question if you would actually end up with Hao. You’d never had to think about it before. Your whole life, you had always been told: “whoever you write to in your soulmate journal is who you will find true love with and be forever happy”. You didn’t have a reason to question it either because you love Hao. Even though you had never seen him, you knew that you love him.
Your parents were connected through the soulmate journal and found each other, so they raised you to believe that the same would happen for you. The difference is that your parents had known each other since they were six years old. It was easier for them. You didn’t even know where Hao was from. You had your guesses considering his timezone, but you really knew nothing else. The journal would erase writing that held personal information (which sounds kind of…magical? but everyone has a notebook in which they can speak to their soulmate, so who’s to judge when that is an aspect of your world). When you first got your journal, you immediately wrote in it, providing your social media handles so your soulmate could find you. However, with every letter you wrote, they disappeared twice as fast.
There were many sleepless nights you complained to your friends about how hard it was because you just wanted to find him. You just wanted to be able to see his face. Hear his voice. Almost everyone you knew found their soulmates easily, but you were what felt like the only one left without your soulmate. Especially one on the other side of the world.
Becoming so wrapped in your thoughts, you picked up your pen again and wrote in the journal, “Hey…have you ever thought that we maybe…won’t end up together?”.
“What do you mean? Of course, we will end up together. We’re soulmates. That’s the whole purpose of this journal,” Minghao responded.
“I know, I know, but my professor just told me some stuff today. It’s stupid and I know I shouldn’t even worry about it, but he said that only 32% of people actually end up with their soulmate,” you explained. Sitting up in your seat, you started to get a little anxious. You know that Hao hated talking about this stuff.
“Y/N, I’ve told you this so many times before. We will find each other. I will find you. Don’t listen to the statistics,”. As you see the words appear on the paper in front of you, you can’t help but think…what if? What if you don’t find each other. Taking a moment to logically think about it, there is really no definitive way to track the other down. It all happens by chance.
As you placed your pen on the paper, about to write back, Hao’s handwriting appeared again. “I don’t want you to worry about this. The universe wants us together. It will find a way.”
With a sigh, you simply responded, “You’re right, I’ll talk to you later” and quickly drew a heart. You closed the journal, hoping it would help the thoughts leave your head, but you couldn’t stop the constant what-ifs running through your mind for the next days.
During that time, you did more research and truly discovered statistically how low the chances are that you will find your soulmate. There are 7.5 billion people in the world, what are the odds you find your person?
Things between you and Hao were never really the same after that.
It started out slowly. You would happen to forget your journal at home when you went out and instead of running back to get it (like you usually would), you didn’t bother. There were days that turned into weeks where you wouldn’t write to Minghao at all. Every so often you would maybe leave a kind message telling him to have a good day, but there were no longer meaningful conversations between you two. You even started seeing other boys. If statistically, you were not going to end up with Minghao, it was okay to start looking elsewhere.
Having been raised on the idea that this person on the other end of the journal is who you will end up with, no ifs, ands, or buts about it, didn’t allow you to experience young love the way many people do. When you turned 16, all of your attention went immediately to Minghao…because you were 100% sure you would end up with him. Now that you knew the small likelihood of that actually happening, you allowed yourself to find happiness. Even if it wasn’t with your soulmate.
Not to say that you forgot about Minghao. You could never forget about Minghao. But no matter how much you wished that it would work between you two, you knew the reality of the situation.
Several years had gone by. You and Minghao would write to each other in your journals sometimes, but never at the same time. Typically, you would write a message every several months to update him about what was going on in your life and he would do the same. Even years later, you still regret leaving him the way you did. You cannot imagine what providing little to no explanation did to him, but you were young. You didn’t know how to handle it.
But now, your life was completely different from those years ago when your best friend was through a journal. You had a career that you loved, amazing and supportive friends…there wasn’t more you could ask for. Except that you still hadn’t found someone. You thought that it would be easier to find a boy to spend your life with, even if it wasn’t Minghao, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Everyone was just looking for people to hook up and have one-night-stands with as they waited to find their soulmate. No one had accepted the reality of the situation as you had. While some might say that you were being pessimistic, you liked to think of it as being logical.
It was 8:54am and you were stumbling all over your apartment in an attempt to get dressed while simultaneously pack your bag for work. You were sure that you set your alarm for 6:30am so you had ample time to prepare and have a relaxing morning before you had to leave to catch your train.  The image of the 6:30am alarm on your phone being switched on was ingrained in your mind, you knew you turned it on. Technology works in mysterious ways.
While tugging on the first appropriate shoes you found, you swung open the closet door that contained your sweatshirts that were still appropriate for work. This was your go-to when you were running late and today was definitely one of those days. As you swiftly opened the door, a book fell down from the top shelf. Your soulmate journal.
The panic of the morning immediately halted. It had been years since you had even looked at it. You shoved it away in a random box while moving to this city for your job and you honestly hadn’t thought about it since. While the memories of your conversations with Minghao flooded your mind, you decided to pack it in your bag. Maybe you would write to him while you were on your lunch break.
Grabbing the last of your items, you hurried out the door, trying to make it to the next scheduled train. As you exited your building and began running down the busy sidewalk to the train station, the crisp air whipped against your face. Your nose and ears were numb, but that was the least of your worries.
Your lungs felt like they were on the verge of exploding as you approached the train and saw the double doors sliding closed. “Hey!!! Someone hold the door!!! Please!!!”, you shout breathlessly, hoping to catch the attention of anyone inside the warm transport. To your luck, someone heard you and stuck their hand outside. Little did they know they were saving you from having to wait another 30 minutes for a train.
As you quickened your pace to enter the train, you smiled at the man who held the doors open for you, “Thank you so much, if it weren’t for you I would even more late for work than I am now”.
“No problem,” he said while making his way to a seat. Taking a moment to smooth out your hair, you followed behind him trying to find a place of your own. After looking around, the only one you found available was right across from that same man.
You looked at your watch and couldn’t help but watch the seconds and minutes tick away, making you more and more late for work. Stealing you from your trance, your phone began ringing. Noticing that it was your boss, you couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh.
Before you had the opportunity to say hello, he was screaming into your ear, “Y/N where are you?! We need you here now!! This is unacceptable behavior.”
“I understand, I apologize. I’m on my way, sir. I will be there as fast as I can,” you responded, trying to keep your cool. After some more several unkind words, your boss hung up the phone. Running your hands over your face, you look up to see the man sitting opposite you, staring at you with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth. You gave him a small smile and looked away, trying to ignore the look he continued to give you.
“Y/N?” you heard him say.
“Oh, me?” you questioned, to ensure that he was talking to you. Hopefully whatever he has to say won’t take too long because the train was due to stop in three minutes and you had to get off immediately.
He responds with a nod, eyes still as wide as a deer in headlights, “I’m Minghao”.
With that, your expression imitated his. Minghao? As in your Minghao?
“Wait, I don’t understand. You’re here?” you asked because last time you read a message from him in the journal, he hadn’t moved or mentioned traveling. Well…the last time you had touched the journal was years ago.
Minghao quickly moved to rummage in his bag. After a few moments, he pulled out a brown leather-bound notebook…with gold designs on the spine…swirls and flowers.
Before you knew what you were doing, you also began to dig in your bag for your soulmate journal…that happened to fall out of your closet today…that you wouldn’t have opened if your alarm would have gone off…
You immediately opened the old journal for the first time in years. The first words you see are, “I found you”.
Looking up at Hao, tears began to form in your eyes. You hadn’t admitted it to yourself, but it had been so hard without him. It’s like whenever you weren’t with him, everything was so much worse. Even if you only knew each other through the soulmate journal.
The train came to a screeching stop and the people around you began standing and exiting to the station, but you two remained seated. There were some people giving you some strange looks, but they didn’t realize that two people who were meant to be together had finally met. That you and Hao had met.
“I’ve looked everywhere for you,” Hao said as he stood up. “I told you I would find you.”
You couldn’t help yourself, but run up and wrap your arms around him. The arms you wanted to hold you since you were 16. You could finally feel him. Hear his voice. See his face. You could be with him. Not just through pieces of bound paper.
You pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. Your cheeks were tear-stained, but you couldn’t help it. “We are not a statistic,” Hao softly whispered. His eyes flicked from yours, down to your lips. He moved his hands up to your face, using his thumbs to wipe the tears that won’t stop cascading down your cheeks. He leaned into you slowly, softly pressing his lips to yours.
“I found you,” Hao said so only you could hear, as he leaned his forehead against yours.
He found you.
165 notes · View notes