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#did I get scared I’d get your aesthetic wrong and make two
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i’ve been staring at this text box for ten minutes because I don’t even know how to explain this story right now but I have to write it down so maybe I can  get it out of my head. my sister texted me while I was at work, and she basically said she was stressed out because a friend of hers sent her photos of her carving into her own skin, and for the record, I mean carving. not cutting, not I don’t even know, her skin is wide open, and I know this because my sister was so stressed out she sent the photos to me, so that I could fully understand her stress, and this girl has done this before. it’s her old roommate, and my sister has baker acted her before. she has bipolar disorder, and she’s struggled with suicide and self-harm for years, and she’s on medication but she also drinks, and it makes her episodes worse, and she texted my sister like hey look i’ve been trying to kill myself, here are the photos, and I knew that this girl struggled like this. my sister updates me on her all the time. they’re not super close or anything, but two month ago they got their babies together and my sister sent me cute photos and said she was doing really well, and then today she sends me the most gruesome photos i’ve ever seen in real life like and I just don’t know how to process it.  her arm looks like it was mauled by some sort of animal. the largest gash in the middle is more than an inch wide, more than four inches long, and is so deep, that you can see the yellow bubbles of fat underneath and it’s surrounded by several other thinner gashes. like two on each side, and two more thicker ones above and beneath. and the gash on her leg is just as wide, but it’s bleeding so profusely you can’t tell quite how deep, but it’s more than six inches long, and the bottom of her pant leg is soaked in blood, and the next photos are photos of her covering them up, giant gauze bandages soaked in blood and a white tourniquet  that’s completely turned red, and I don’ know why she sent these to me. on one level, i’m horrified. my heart breaks for this girl. i’m so fucking scared for her. i’d call the hospital myself if i knew where she lived, i’m legitimately concerned she’s going to bleed out or get an infection just form those wounds alone, even if she decided she didn’t actually want to kill herself, even if her family is there because my sister said her brother went there, but they aren’t taking her to a hospital and I”m just like, this girl needs your help, i’m legitimately so stressed out for her and on another level, i feel so absolutely uncomfortable & guilty for even seeing these photos like. she wasn’t exactly hiding it. she sent the photos to my sister, and my sister said she’s probably not the only one she sent them to, but she did not send them to me. feels like i’m invading on some private trauma she never consented  to me being a part of, and I wish I never saw it at all because how horrible is it to have your suicide attempt shared with someone else against your will.  i hate it. and also. i’m fucking embarrassed. i feel like i want to throw up. because i’m a horrible, awful person who has this sick fascination with blood. with bruises. with knives and sliced skin and gory, awful things, and this is not the same. this should not be the same because this isn’t some horror movie. this isn’t some doctored tumblr image I can reblog for the aesthetic. this is a real human being. a real, traumatized, hurting, struggling girl who’s live I genuinely fear for. this is someone’s pain. and i can’t stop staring at it. I couldn't look away. this image i probably should have never even seen is seared so fucking deep into my brain that I’ll probably dream about it tonight, and it feels so wrong. it feels so horrifying to be fascinated by or drawn to the very real image of someone’s skin being ripped open by a pain that may actually kill them one day. i wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I wouldn’t. I’d never do that to myself, I’d never do it to anyone else,  I don’t want to see people struggling, it hurts me so fucking bad to even think about it, like I’m shaking. I feel everything so deeply and the idea that this girl was so crushed that she did this to herself, I can’t stand the way that feels and still. still i have the urge to look at the images again. I’m shaking and afraid for her, and I feel so fucking bad, and still i couldn’t look away. I hate the way that feels. 
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l4verq · 3 years
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i thought i lost you again
steve rogers x reader
in which steve is scared of losing you again after the blip took you away from him for 5 years
tags : flufffff w a little angst bc that’s the best kind of fluff, mentions of death (endgame can go suck my left tit)
fic : one shot
masterlist
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|| gif by @imaginedreamwrite ||
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Steve knows he’s just being paranoid.
However that doesn’t stop him from racing around the house, your name on his lips.
The two storey house tucked away in the outskirts of a small town Steve set up for the both of you. The smile that crept to your face as you tried to adjust your eyes to the bright sunlight when he took off the blindfold, priceless.
He sprints past the framed photographs that you’d meticulously picked out to fit the “aesthetic” of the wall. Bowls of popcorn you two had been too lazy to wash last night were still sprawled on the coffee table facing the tv.
He can feel the panic rising in his chest cause he can’t go back. He can’t go back to feeling how he did for five years. How empty he felt without you. How he longed to hold your hand and tell you how much he loved you. How he hated walking up to an empty spot next to him.
Taking a deep breath, he tries to focus and calm down. Craning his ears, he can almost make out light footsteps trailing up to him. It’s faint but it’s all it takes for Steve to dart out of the house and follow the sound.
You walk up the steep hill leading to your house, carrying a basket of strawberries that a new friend had graciously gifted you with. A friend? Maybe a new acquaintance was the correct term.
You could imagine Nat teasing you with her lips curled up into a shit eating grin about how domestic you’ve gotten.
Picking strawberries? Maybe it’s time you went for the monthly community meetups.
You’d roll your eyes, pushing back the grin creeping up your face. Get in a punch or two.
If she’d let you.
Two months. That’s how long it’d been since everything became normal. Well, semi-normal.
But it still felt like yesterday when you were on your knees, crying for Nat. Vision. Tony. His 5 year old he left behind.
It’d been Steve who held you tight, rocking you back and forth. His own heart breaking at the sight of you.
It was always Steve. Who smelt like that one laundry softener he always used cause once you’d drunkenly spilled that you liked the scent. Steve who always ate the yolk cause it tasted like “slimey goo” to you.
Steve, who was running up to you in a daze.
You let out a oof as he crashes into you, your basket dropping from your hands.
“You do remember you’re 220 pounds of just pure muscle, right?” You chuckle, nesting your head right in the crook of his neck like always.
You can hear him smile, his lips ghosting around your head.
But something’s off.
“What’s wrong?” Pulling your head back, you look up to his cerulean blue eyes that had you swooning over him the day you met him.
“S’nothing.” He smiles, his hands still wrapped around your waist, gripped a little too tight.
“We both know I’m gonna get it out of you.”
A deep bellowed laugh rumbles from his chest as he leans in to kiss your forehead.
“It’s stupid, really. I woke up and you weren’t there. The next thing I know, I’m back there. Back there during those five years without you.” He mumbles, his voice trailing off.
You place your hands on his cheeks, tiptoeing slightly.
“Steven Grant Rogers, I’m not leaving you. Ever. Unless Tom Hardy comes in the picture.”
“I’d just take him out of the picture.”
“America’s spangled sweetheart murdering an innocent man? What will people say?”
“That he did it for love.” He gives a smug grin, patting his chest.
“Ew.”
It’s a long time of you two just holding each other, before he notices the strawberries all over the ground.
“Did you go rob a garden or something?”
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hello :) can I have a serious argument with sirius headcanon pls? :) ty! also can it be post-hogwarts in the original order when james and lily we’re still alive 🥺 ty!
suresuresure always in a sirius mood
he does not know how to express his anger well lmfao
he really tries, and he's gotten better about it over time
but honestly he wasn't allowed to talk back to his mother and he got hurt when he did so he just,, didn't
so you really have to do some digging to get him to say anything
he makes it obvious, he just won't talk about it
he broods
he sits on the balcony, hair in his face, eyes locked on some nonexistent spot on the horizon, cigarette between his lips
this time he was angry that you hadn't told him that you'd signed up for a rather dangerous mission that sirius had specifically asked you not to volunteer for
but Alice Longbottom had been captured and you'd be damned if you let your best friend die because you were too scared
You all came back alive, but a little scraped up
he was pissed though lmfao
he's sitting on the balcony when you get back, and he definitely hears you come outside, but he doesn't turn, you just see the smoke coming from his cig and know that you're in for it
"I'm sorry that I went."
"I asked you not to."
“I know but-”
“But? But what?”
He doesn’t often express this kind of thing but he’s really pissed (scared but it manifested itself into anger)
“But she was in danger.”
“And? Your solution was to go and put yourself into danger? Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
“But it did! We both got out safely. She’s downstairs, and I’m right here. And it’s never wrong to risk your life to save someone you love.”
“Even if it wasn’t wrong, you could have died! It was stupid! You were stupid!”
“If I was stupid I wouldn’t have made it out alive! Listen, I know you were scared-”
“Scared? You don’t understand what we’re up against, do you? This is the end of the world, Y/N. This is not a home invasion. This is life or death, and you chose death.”
“Sirius, what if it was me? What if he’d taken me, and Lily wanted to go, and James told her no? What would you say? Wouldn’t you want someone to go after me, even if it meant they might not make it back? Wouldn’t you want someone to try?!”
He stands, and for a moment you’re worried he’s gonna slip off the balcony from the momentum he’s gathered
He whirls around to face you, eyes red-rimmed and cheeks tearstained as he tosses his cigarette to the ground
“Of course I’d want someone to try. But that’s not the point, the point was that I was scared to death! You can’t do that to me, you can’t just leave without telling me! That was a terrible thing to do, and I’m allowed to be angry at you for it! Of course I understand why you did it, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy with you about it.”
“Well then what am I supposed to do? How do I fix this?”
“I don’t know.” He looks down, stepping on the butt of his cigarette and grinding it into the ground, “I asked you not to, and you told me you understood, but you did it anyways. You broke my trust.”
Now you’re crying
Because you didn’t mean to do this but you know that what you did was for the right reasons
You open your mouth to say something but then he cuts you off
“Just give me time.”
You think he means alone time so you move to leave
“Don’t you dare. Come sit with me, I thought I was never gonna see you again.”
You crack a teary smile and the two of you sit together, his arm around you, your head on his shoulder, staring out at the horizon 
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whaleofatjme1920 · 3 years
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Searching for Hidden Things (Ticci Toby X F!Reader)
Searching for Hidden Things
[Ticci Toby X F!Reader]
[Warnings: it's kinda sad? Language, blood but only slight.]
[AN: Another good one from Eris]
You are convinced that your home is haunted now more than ever. While you are not particularly ghost believer inclined, as a witch, your mind is open to these kinds of happenings but that’s not your field of study - you’re much more inclined to herbology and green witchery as opposed to medium and seership into other planes of existence. The natural, real world is what you are focused on. Not some spectre that happens to like little knickknacks that you don’t even claim ownership to.
How on earth did you end up here?
Simple. Fresh out of college and working from home, you decided to leave your stuffy city and come out to the countryside to get back into nature. It took forever to find a place that piqued your interest, but a small town smack dab in the middle of Alabama. You’re almost dead certain there’s barely five thousand people in the area. Though, you hardly stick around long enough to find out.
You only dip into town in the evenings and get the groceries that you can’t grow. Let’s just say you really enjoy living off the land and that practice helps you further your own craft. It’s anything a hedgewitch might dream of. The people that live here are pleasant, but they’re silent.
It was a normal evening visiting your favorite curiosity and occult shop run by a sweet girl and her partner who have come to expect you weekly on Saturdays. You usually stay for tea and a cupcake or whatever baked good Zinnia and Briar have set up for you, and it is from one of these little sit downs that you found out your home isn’t exactly normal.
“It’s so nice to see you again, love bug!” Briar smiles widely, their arms opening to greet you.
You smile back and walk into their arms and hug back just as tightly. “I could never miss tea time with my two favorite curio owners,” you chuckle.
Zinnia pops out from the back, her hands are covered by oven mitts. “I just made some brownies! Also have some angel food cake from last night. Come, come. Briar? Get the tea,” she says as she rushes to the back to set up the table in the sunroom.
Briar nods and puts their hand on your upper back, guiding you to the back. “My wife thought you would’ve liked the angel food cake. She’s been talking about it all night,” they explain, a giggle on their lips.
Zinnia is buzzing around like a bumble bee while her partner attempts to get her to sit down. She’s a good host, you’ll give her that. This is your fourth sit down with them and she’s like this every time.
“Reader isn’t going to care about the plates-” Briar attempts to say before getting shushed by Zinnia.
“I like being aesthetically pleasing,” she says as Briar absentmindedly ties her curly black hair into a ponytail. “Unlike you,” she giggles.
You roll your eyes playfully at their sweet gestures. “Aesthetically pleasing or not, those brownies and the cake look delicious.”
“See? Reader gets it,” Briar lightly ribs before bringing the tea to the table, Zinnia following close behind them with platters and plates. “So,” Briar hums. “How is your place?”
You begin pouring yourself some tea and shrug. “I don’t think I ever mentioned it to you, have I?”
The couple shake their heads as they get comfortable in their seats. “Where have you put your boots down?” Zinnia inquires.
“There’s this little house in the woods,” you begin to explain before sipping at your tea. “Had a great garden and was already furnished, asked the realtor and she practically threw it into my arms.” You put down your tea cup and cut a brownie for yourself before raising a brow at the couple’s shocked and slightly confused expressions. “What’s wrong?”
Briar blinks a few times before shaking their head. “It’s nothing! Just, it’s the house in the woods?”
You nod in confirmation. “The house in the west woods, near the pond with water lilies?” You continue in an attempt to further their understanding, getting the feeling there’s something you don’t know but should. “Guys..?”
“S-Sorry,” Zinnia suddenly says. “It’s just that…” Her eyes shift around for a few moments before she leans in close, as if she was telling you a secret. “That house is haunted.”
Your eyes go wide before you laugh. You laugh and laugh and then when you realize they’re silent, you blink. “Wait what? Why do you say that?”
“Someone used to live there a few years ago, we moved in after her… disappearance,” Briar explains. “She just,” Briar makes a poof shape with their hands, “like nothing. No trace, no leads, the house was empty but everything of theirs? Still there.”
“Who was the person that lived there before?” You ask, intrigue kicking up before you bite into the brownies and then try the angel food cake. Zinnia was right, you do like it.
Briar shrugs, “we don’t know. Whispers say it was the girl named Natalie. She kept to herself but from the people I’ve talked to so far - at least, those who would talk about it - said she was sweet and spunky.”
“Guy at the grocery store, Mr. Wu? He said that Natalie was his regular. They were friends,” Zinnia adds on. “He used to visit her house every now and then and said near the end, her behavior got kind of squirrely. One night, he went to visit her and saw her running. Of course, guy is like seventy, got scared and ran back home. Called the police over it. They got there? Nothing.”
You nod as you listen to them give out their theories on what might have happened to Natalie. It’s one of the most interesting things you’ve heard of since you moved in.
When you returned home, you couldn’t help but shake the thought you were a guest in what used to be Natalie’s home. Your hands flew over the slightly dusty shelves and found it wrong to really touch anything that might not be yours. There’s books about boring things, encyclopedias, general knowledge, young adult fiction, but nothing that tells you who she was.
As you stand with your arms crossed in your living room, you search for the things that were left from her. Your room is entirely yours, you’ve already managed to find a room and clear it out for your witchy things, the kitchen was empty and there is no basement. This house is small, more like a cottage. If there were any signs of who she was, they’re not easy at making themselves known.
All you have to go off of from her is the living room and is undoubtedly Natalie’s and not yours. The shelves and other knick knacks are things that don’t match your aesthetic at all. Seems she was fond of the color green, just not plants like you are.
It’s by the living room that you’re able to learn some things about Natalie, even if they’re minute. For instance, you can tell that either she likes costumes or she’s missing an eye due to a small box of eyepatches varying in color and design. She’s got a frew petal pressed flowers - tulips - and last you checked, that meant a declaration of love according to the standard Victorian language of flowers.
You know absolutely nothing about Natalie other than her name and that she may be missing an eye and that she has tulips, but she permeates your mind like a virus that refuses to go away. You’re entranced with her, and want to know more of her.
When you work on sigils, you make one for her and put it in the corners of the front windows and in the doorframe. You wonder if she’s out there, and if she is, if she’s safe. If she is, you hope the runes and sigils you’ve made for her will keep her that way.
One evening at the grocery store, you have the privilege of being able to speak to Mr. Wu when ringing up some craving you’ll know you’ll inevitably have.
“Natalie?” He hums as he rings up your items. “She was a nice girl,” he continues. “Very kind, had a good sense of humor.”
You furrow your brows and smile sympathetically at him. “I’m sorry for-”
“It’s no matter,” Mr. Wu brushes off. “I don’t know what happened to her, and I’d like to think she’s still out there,” he begins checking the register for the total. “I’d like to think that when she was running, it was towards better and away from whatever it was she couldn’t get here..” His old, weathered hand reaches out to show you the total on the screen. You notice he’s put on a 50% discount. “On me,” he smiles.
Ever since then, Natalie has consumed your thoughts entirely.
So, how does this all tie into a little sparrow figurine going missing? You think it’s haunted. Genuinely. Have you angered Natalie’s spirit by messing with her house? You’re not so sure. You don’t communicate with spirits, though you’re considering picking up a pendulum and attempting.
Ever since you’ve heard about Natalie, things in your house have been getting moved or straight up lifted. It doesn’t help that you hear, no, you think you hear, things outside lurking around your home. Spiritually, you’ve protected the place more than you think is necessary. The not deer, skinny legends and Wendy boys really shouldn’t be knocking around her mostly because the place is just one giant protective bubble. Still, as you sit up late in the night and look at the moon as it reflects the water from the pond and the peer through the darkness of the trees that hang much too low, you know something is out there that shouldn’t be.
This has all come to a head when you wake up one morning to see that the sparrow figurine is gone. It makes you startle and almost drop your mug in response.
“How the hell..?” You say as you stare at the empty space. Its little circular base has left the real shade of the wood it sits on open. The dust has accumulated around it. You saw it here just yesterday! Little brown and tan sparrow and now it’s gone.
On instinct, you open your front door. It was still locked, and it doesn’t seem that anyone came in. But you know that you didn’t move it either. You haven’t touched any of Natalie’s things, you wouldn’t because you’re worried you’re going to upset her spirit or something. Who took it?
Unfortunately, that’s not even the first time it’s happened. A few days later, the little robin is gone too. Now you are absolutely convinced your home is haunted.
Of course, you call up one of your friends who also practices witchcraft like you do to see what you can do about making amends with a spirit. He’s a death witch - he should know.
“Wait what?” He says, his voice conveying nothing but confusion.
“You heard me,” you sigh as you plop down on the couch. “I think she’s been like, taking things because she doesn’t trust me with them?” You say in a slightly confused tone.
“But you really haven’t moved anything in the living room, right? From the pictures you sent me, you left that space as hers. She shouldn’t be upset considering you never touched her stuff.”
“But these figurines are still missing. How did they just get up and go?” You ask in a slightly exasperated tone, staring at the empty space.
“Y’know what you should try?” He begins, a small audible smile on his face. “Find something personal of hers and return it to her. Maybe she’s looking for something and is just settling.”
“Do you have a protocol for that or..?” You trail off.
“I’ll send you a page from my grimoire, sounds good?”
Here you are, late at night, not able to sleep and looking for something personal of hers. You don’t think it’s anything out in the open that she wants because why would she want that? It’s in her line of sight. You’ve practically turned up your home looking for it - her home? You’re not sure what kind of terminology you should use in regards to this house, but you know you’re hellbent on finding something, anything of importance to her home.
“Come on, Natalie,” you mumble to yourself as you head to your bedroom and begin overturning things. “I just need something of yours, help me make it make sense,” you say. “Natlie, Natalie, Nat, Nat-” and immediately after that nickname tumbles from your lips, you get the overwhelming urge to check under your bed.
Like a mad woman, you dive down to the floor and begin pulling your storage boxes out from under it. One of them snags slightly, and when you tug on it, you pull. Odd. You tug even harder. That’s when part of the carpet comes up. You raise your brow and shove the box out of the way before crawling under yourself and use the flashlight on your phone. It’s dark, a little dusty under here, but you clearly know someone has been under here before.
Your fingertips creep around the edge of the odd piece of carpet before you pull it up, seeing that it’s already been cut up. And there, you feel a handle.
“Oh my gods,” you mumble creeping further under the bed before yanking at the small handle. It doesn’t give right away. In fact, it makes you bump your head from the sheer force of trying to open it. It’s almost as if it was a secret and you’re violating the parties who knew it existed. Still, you continue to tug on it before it finally pops open. You move your phone over to see that there’s a box with the lid loosely placed on. Your hand gently reaches in and scoops the box up. You hold it like it’s glass. “Thank you, Natalie, thank you,” you mumble as you roughly and awkwardly crawl out from back under the bed.
You sit on your bedroom floor now, your phone now forgotten as your fingertips gently trace the box. You mentally ask for Natalie’s permission to open it and when you get the feeling of something warm, like a hug, you do so. Inside the box that you gingerly open, you see that there are letters, letters upon letters in a writing addressed to her.
“Can I read these, Natalie?” You ask softly, your eyes scanning over the one you hold in your hand dates from a few years ago. You feel that warm hug again, and the night alights with songs from the birds on the pond. You know you have her permission.
‘March 16, 20XX. Dear Natalie, how are you? I just wanted to apologize for the other day. I shouldnt have left that soon, but you know hoy my dad is. Anyways, just wanted to check in. Hope to see you soon.’
‘March 22, 20XX. Dear Natalie, I wasn’t actually expecting you to get back to me after what happened! I - thank you. Things have been just fine with me, but I miss being in Alabama. No reason, just miss the woods by your place.’
‘May 5th, 20XX. It’s funny you mentioned that, I saw something last night that reminded me of you too. Y’know how you’re always going on about time and being punctual? The other day, me and my comrades were walking through an antique store. Whole bunch of clocks. Made me think of you:).’
You keep reading the letters and piecing together the story of these two as it picks up through the years as general friendship to something more. This person that Natalie was writing to told them a lot of things - everything from the general happenings of the day to more quieter, intimate things (that you tend to skip over out of respect for Natalie.)
Reading the letters to Natalie becomes a daily occurrence for you. There’s so many that you decide it wouldn’t be right to read them all in one day. So, you read two a night and piece together their story, learning of their love and finding out just who they were. Natalie left some letters that she never sent to her love, mostly the ones that she must have considered duds or the angry ones that she decided not to send when her fire had died down. What? All couples go through those patches. It’s whether you can fix it and get back on the road or hitchhike with another driver that determines the outcome. And them? They loved each other so much, looking at another driver to get to their destination was never an option.
It takes months for you to get through the letters. Even reading two a day, it’s hard to get through a few years worth of content. They wrote to each other often. You’re able to see the full spectrum of emotions from them two, even if you’re on;y reading the letters addressed TO Natalie and not from her (for the most part). You read them smiling, and can hear their tears alongside their laughter. They no longer feel like names on paper, but real, once breathing people.
Eventually, you reach a letter that finally completes the story as you know it. It’s dated from right around the time you know Zinnia and Briar moved in. It explains a lot.
You know that whoever Natalie’s love was working for was NOT a good man. He struck the fear of the gods into them. He was called ‘The Operator’ and apparently had eyes everywhere despite being faceless. The way Natalie’s love writes about him has you feeling chills down your spine. Them too, because it was enough for them to want to run away. Natalie’s love was called a proxy, and from what you can understand, that means he’s a person who does work for someone else because they don’t want to get directly involved. The Operator treats those who work under him like cattle, and nothing more. He was a scary, scary man, and the society he runs is one you know is not intertwined with yours.
The letter that’s in your hands is the last one before their escape it seems.
‘August 31st, 2018. Dear Nat, are you nervous? I’m nervous - you can probably tell by my writing. Tonight we leave everything behind. We run. I hope you know that it’s never too late for you to back out. Because after this, we can never go back to what we used to. I’m so sorry that being around that tall fuck-but did this to you - and shit, by extension, me. I’m so sorry for hurting you, but this is it. This is it. This is the final stop.
Who knew that me striking up a conversation with a cute girl behind the counter of some hippy’s coffee shop would lead to a love like ours? You mean the world to me, Nat. I’m more and more thankful every day that I think about you and receiving your letters has me up to the moon. If you asked me about this kind of thing before I met you, I would have told you that I would never have gotten rid of the proxy lifestyle for a human. Humans are… Well, according to the Operator, they’re dangerous. They’re not worth us.
But you? Oh gods, you? You changed everything. You made it worthwhile. You came into my life like a splash of color in a world so grey and cold and bathed me in warmth until I could reciprocate your love and make room for it to grow. I love you, Natalie. I love you so, so much. After tonight, we won’t ever have to worry about this - the space and the distance between us. No more hiding. No more secrets. Just us and our transparency.
I love you, Natalie. I love you so, so much. I’ll see you tonight, backdoor as per what is our usual. To the moon and back! Love, Toby.’
You don’t know why, but Toby’s letter makes you tear up. It’s like you can feel exactly how Natalie must’ve felt when she received it. The tears that prick your eyes roll down your cheeks and you can’t help but take a few moments. You’d always known their story ended with something sad due to the whispers in the town, but getting confirmation that Natalie ran… It didn’t work. It just didn’t work.
You’re wiping away your tears when you hear your backdoor get thrown open. No one comes out to your neck of the woods, and it makes you panic. You can’t find your phone - dang it! Must’ve left it in the kitchen. You scramble around your room as you hear whoever just broke into your house walk confidently without a care in the world to the living room.
“W-Who the f-fuck lives here n-now?” You hear a male voice mutter as they pass your bedroom door. “A-All this w-w-witchy shit,” they continue.
You mentally huff. Rude. You then quietly slink around before grabbing a large chunk of amethyst. It’s rough to the touch and weighty, and unfortunately, one of the only things you have as a weapon now. Your heart is pounding as you quietly move through your hallway to the living room.
“Where i-is it?” He continues mumbling to himself as he tears your living room apart.
You’re able to see him by the faint light of the moon. He’s got brown hair and twitches slightly. Is he nervous? He’s still tearing up your living room though and touching Natalie’s things, and that's unforgivable in your head. So, you raise your chunk of amethyst pillar and quietly creep behind him.
He turns around to look at you, genuinely surprised someone is here when you whack him as hard as you can with the chunk of amethyst. “Are y-you fucking s-serious?!” He yells as he pushes you back.
You look at him with confusion as you back up, still clutching the amethyst before you notice that he didn’t react in the way he should. You hit him really, really hard and in the back of the head. He’s back up and glaring at you like you mildly inconvenienced him. And now? Now he’s pissed and looking at you like he’s going to kill you. You notice that he has hatchets on the sides of his waist.
“C-Come here,” he taunts, eyes narrowed and slowly closing the distance between you.
“Stop,” you shout in an attempt to command him back. “I will hit you-”
“With t-that?” He sneers.
“I swear to the gods I will-”
He looks like he’s ready to pounce when he suddenly stops, a certain sadness and pause rushing over his body and his face as he looks at the letters in your hand. You’d honestly forgotten you were still holding them.
“Where d-did you g-g-g-get those?” He asks quietly, his shoulder dropping.
“What?” You ask, surprised he can do an impression of a human being.
“Those l-letters! They’re n-not yours!” You pull back hard when he tries to grab them from you and swing the amethyst at him and sneer when he ducks. “They’re not yours either!”
“T-The hell t-they aren’t! I-I wrote t-t-them!” He shouts back.
You immediately deflate. “You’re Toby?”
He freezes and flails his arms slightly as if to ask nonverbally, ‘you read those?’
You sigh deeply and rest your hand on your forehead before you rest your arms down slowly, showing that you’re not going to fight him. It’s a pleasant surprise that he slowly copies your movements. “Do you know how a keurig works?”
He nods slowly.
“Make us some coffee. We got a lot to talk about.”
“So, t-t-that’s why you’re here,” Toby hums as he dumps another unholy amount of sugar into his coffee cup. “I-I thought y-you were some s-squatter in Nat’s h-house,” he admits with a small chuckle before scratching awkwardly at the back of his neck.
You take in a small breath and nod, a small smile pulling your lips upwards. “This is what you were looking for, huh?” You say as you push the box full of memories towards him.
He puts the cup down and takes it into his hands carefully before hugging it to his chest. He then takes in a deep breath, relaxing. “Y-Yes, this is t-them,” he says quietly. “That’s a-a-all I really w-wanted.”
“And the little figurines?” You hum, a knowing smirk on your face.
Toby flushes slightly and nods once more. “T-They just r-r-reminded me o-of her.” He then places the box in front of him and leans back, his eyes blinking upwards towards the ceiling before he stares up at the ceiling. “I lost h-her that n-night,” he says, voice so soft and scared as if he’s reliving it.
“Toby…”
“That w-w-was our thing, y-y’know? W-We were gonna b-b-be free. My b-b-boss found out,” Toby hisses as he picks one of the letters up and gestures with it, “a-and he s-sent my own c-comrades to…” He closes his eyes to stop the tears from welling within them.
-
Natalie was grabbing her backpack from her room with everything important when Toby came to the doorway and smiled at her. “What’re you doing here?” She chuckled, her green eye flashing with amusement. “Thought you were gonna be getting stuff ready in the kitchen and watching the door.”
“Just d-don’t like being a-a-away from you,” Toby said, a small smirk on his face as he came up to Natalie and brushed a long strand of brown hair from her face. “You’re s-s-such a p-pretty girl,” he complimented.
Natalie blushed slightly and took his hand that rested on her cheek into hers. “Go. I’ll be fine in here.”
“W-Whatever you s-say, p-princess,” he teased before pressing a kiss to her forehead and hesitantly leaving her side.
Natalie rolled her eyes with that smile never leaving her face as she continued getting the last of her things ready for the leave. When she was absolutely certain she was ready to go, she slid the backpack on and headed to the living room. She was ready to go and start a new life with Toby, the only man who ever made her heart skip a beat.
“Are you ready?” She asked, her arms wrapping around Toby’s waist as he finished his cup of coffee.
“S-Sure am,” he replied before turning around and wrapping her in his arms. “You g-gonna miss t-t-this place?”
“Absolutely not,” Natalie laughed. “I can’t wait to get out-”
What happened next was pure chaos. The back and front door were both breached by men in masks, and Natalie quickly deduced that they were Toby’s comrades. His boss found out. Toby reached for the front table and palmed his hatchets and swung them at the man in the white mask.
“Run!” Toby shouted, pushing Natalie towards the open front door. He watched his heart run out and shake off the backpack to gain speed as she took off into the night. Masky hit him, but he did not flinch.
“Fucking hell, Toby!” A gruff voice shouted.
The young proxy then watched in horror as a flash of yellow zipped out into the night to chase after Natalie. Toby felt worry cloud hsi every movement as he dodged and hit Masky. Hoodie’s specialty was tracking and hunting. He had to get out there to help Natalie.
Toby took a step back then ran into Masky as hard as he could, slamming his leader into the floor before attempting to brutalize, but not kill him. When he was sure that Masky was going to need a moment, he shot up and sprinted out of the house and into the darkened forest to find Natalie. He must’ve prayed the entire time he ran.
He ran over the heavy forest growth and cursed the roots that almost tripped him before he felt his world go quiet.
Natalie was screaming.
Toby heard his name cried out in the trees and his heart sunk down to the forest floor as he ran wildly to the source. He felt hot tears as they rolled down his cheeks as he finally found that same damned hue of yellow waiting for him.
“Was wondering when you’d show up,” Hoodie mused as he dug his boot onto Natalie’s skull, making her cry out in pain and fear. Her arms reached out for Toby, his name permanently on her lips.
“You f-fucking bastard!” Toby roared as he lurched forward, attempting to beat Hoodie within an inch of his life when something hard smacked into the back of his head. Toby turned around to see Masky. His brown eyes were full of murder as he stalked towards Toby.
“I should kill you for this,” Masky sneered as he got within arm’s distance of Toby.
Toby glared and swung his hatchet again at Masky, now out for blood when Hoodie slammed his boot back into Natalie’s skull, a crack sending Toby into a fury.
“You won’t touch him if you know what’s good for you,” Hoodie said, his hands loosely hung in his pockets. “Leave him alone and focus on your girl.”
Toby felt chills down his spine as he turned his full attention to Natalie. “My g-g-girl,” he whispered as he fell to his knees to hold her. “M-My s-sweet, sweet g-girl.” His hands shoved Hoodie off of her skull, giving her room to breathe. After that, he turned her over on her back as she cried out in pain. He rested her head on his lap and let her sob.
“Toby,” she croaked in a voice like sandpaper. “Toby, it hurts,” she cried, hands reaching out to his face.
“I know,” he said as he gripped her hand. “I k-know, baby, I k-know.” Tears were pouring from his eyes just to see someone he loved in such pain. “It’ll b-be over soon, I p-promise.” His other hand that wasn’t being gripped by Natalie’s went to pet her hair and give her some comfort.
“Over real soon,” Masky huffed. “You better finish this.” Masky continued. “Or I’ll make Hoodie put a bullet in her skull.”
Toby sent another glare up to Masky and protectively held onto Natalie just a bit harder to not cause her physical body anymore pain.
“We need to run,” Natalie whispered as she reached up to hold Toby’s face. “We can still go-”
Toby hushed her as his eyes scanned over her body. She was beyond repair. Hoodie had broken her legs and bent them at angles that should not exist. “You n-need to r-rest, okay? W-We’ll go in t-t-the morning, I p-promise.”
“You do?” She asked, her beautiful green eye beginning to see the world more in shapes than in
“Y-Yes,” Toby promises. “Have I e-e-ever broken a p-promise to y-you?” He hummed before leaning down as best he could to kiss her forehead. “I l-love you, s-so, so m-much.”
Natalie sleepily giggled and allowed her tears to cascade down her face. “I love you too. To the moon and back?”
“T-To the moon a-a-and back,” he said as the grip she held on his hand weakened.
“Toby, my Toby,” she said softly, her voice growing softer as she repeated the words like a mantra. When her breathing slowed until it was nothing, her hand went limp in Toby’s.
Toby closed his eyes as his heart fell into millions of pieces. He refused to let Natalie go that night, and his teammates, who had acted on behalf of a father who did not love them, let him.
-
“A p-part of m-me died with h-her that night,” Toby says as he lovingly looks over the letters. “I still c-can’t breathe r-right without her.” He closes his eyes and allows his tears to fall. “I d-don’t think I e-e-ever will.”
You get up from your seat and pick it up, silently moving it to rest next to Toby as he begins to cry. You know he must’ve held this one in for so, so long. After planting your chair down next to him, you take him into your arms and allow him to cry.
Toby holds onto you and doesn’t let go. It’s like he views you as a comfort blanket or a teddy bear. And you let him. You let him get it all out.
You feel tears well in your eyes and let them fall too.
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so since you're gonna do the avatar!mc au with the entities you think each brother would fear the most (SO excited for that btw, my friend can attest to the fact that i've basically been rambling about tma x om nonstop since the first post you made that put the two together), i'd love to hear your thoughts on which entity each brother would *be* an avatar of, if you're cool with sharing! personally i love the ideas of specifically vast!levi and dark!belphie but i'd love to hear your takes on the concept! <3
So because of how time works, despite receiving this ask on July 12, by the time you see this it’ll be August! So the entire Avatar!MC series should be out by now, which I hope you will/have enjoy/ed. I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of Vast! Levi, which I’ve talked about before (as you know ;) ), but I will happily ramble about it again!
These aren’t gonna be short fics though bc I do Yearn to save that energy for The Longfic, which is still in the planning stages because a) I can’t pick a timeline, and b) trying to match up the timelines of Obey Me and TMA is hard, especially when I tend to have a violent disrespect for actually paying attention to the timing of plot events in both. I already fucked up a part of the plotting because I forgot the order we get pacts with the brothers lmao
Content warnings: Mentions/allusions to tma-typical Spookies, yet another installation of my Cursed Crossover idea, lengthy debates about what makes someone choose to become an avatar of fear, spoilers for Lesson 16+ of Obey Me and S5 of TMA
What Entity Do I Think The Brothers Would Serve? (Cursed TMA x Obey Me Crossover)
Lucifer
So I put him as falling victim to the Eye/Beholding bc of his whole thing about Secrets and Pride being about wanting control over your own image
And he does have a creepy tendency in canon to always know when his brothers are up to some Dumb Shit
BUT! You know what we see in Lucifer’s character that we see in a certain Entity?
A simultaneous manipulation of others and submission to being manipulated by a higher power
That’s right, I think Luci would be a Web avatar
But Winter, Lucifer wouldn’t wanna take marching orders from someone/thing else! He’s too proud for that— You’re right! He doesn’t want to. But he will.
He willingly submitted himself and his family to Diavolo for eternity to get what he wanted (saving Lilith)
And from how much we see him work, it’s safe to say that he’s a pretty damn essential part of running the Devildom
If he really wanted to, he could probably successfully pull a coup on Diavolo
But he doesn’t, because he’s trapped himself by his own honour code
Thus, the sexual tension bromance we all know and love/insist is Deeply Problematic and blacklist (depending on how much you like/hate dialuci lol)
10/10, would fill with spiders again
Mammon
I put Mammon as falling victim to the Buried for pretty obvious reasons
But admittedly picking a fear he’d serve is trickier
I had to get a bit abstract with it, but I think the Hunt might suit him
Not necessarily the primal *cough* and police brutality *cough* parts of the Hunt tho
More like how Basira was considered an avatar of the Hunt in the fearpocalypse because of her mission/promise to Daisy
See, Greed can stem from fear
Fear of losing what you have, of no longer being able to support yourself, of being preyed upon by others
So people become greedy as a defense mechanism, to protect what they have
If they’re on the offensive, they won’t be targeted
Also, if you’re constantly pursuing more more more, there’s no time to think about anything else
Like consequences, or guilt, or Feelings
If Mammon let his little tough guy act go too far for too long, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say he could start heading down the path to avatarhood
After all, people pay big money for hitmen and bounty hunters…
Leviathan
As I said last time, I can see why people would associate Levi with the Lonely first: he’s a shut in, he acts like he wants nothing to do with people/would rather be alone, and I get it
BUT! All of that actually stems from the fact that Levi has terrible self-esteem and thinks he deserves to be this gross shut in loser
While envy can make you want to bring others down to your level, so to speak, Levi tends to just shun “normies”, not actively conspire to sabotage them
He actually does crave understanding and to have people in his life, he just doesn’t know how to go about it
Boy’s got Mega Social Anxiety is what I’m saying (funny how both the Lonely and the Eye can be real bad for that, huh)
But the Vast? Nihilism? Takes all the pressure off
If everyone is a small, insignificant speck in the face of an uncaring, unfathomably large cosmos, who cares what you do? Who cares what people think of you?
Yeah, you’d be kinda weird too if you stared into the infinite abyss of the ocean and realized it was just the maw of a gargantuan sea monster too, Karen, lay off
Plus aesthetically, the great Awful Deep most people fear in the ocean is a comfort to Levi
And again, THE VAST IS MORE THAN JUST THE SKY
I WENT ON A BOAT ONCE
LIKE REAL FAR OUT, SO I COULDN’T SEE LAND FOR DAYS
IT WAS JUST ENDLESS B L U E
AND I WAS ON A CRUISE IN THE CARIBBEAN
I SAW A FRACTION OF THE OCEAN’S S U R F A C E AND IT WAS I M M E N S E
Did you know we’ve only explored like 5% or whatever of our oceans? Think about that! Every Single Thing we know about what’s in there is just the tip of the iceberg!!! GOD KNOWS WHAT’S DOWN THERE!!! PROBABLY FUCKED UP FISH IS WHAT
*ahem* anyway, fishee
Satan
Another tricky boi
I marked him down as fearing the Desolation, as a reflection of what he fears most in himself
I probably could have also gone with Slaughter, but I’d say that’s more baby/early-Satan
Desolation is also about destruction of potential, and Satan has very carefully built himself into a non-rage-monster person
So tearing that all away from him is :)))
But what would Satan give himself over to?
Ceaseless Watcher, I want that twink OBLITERATED—
Satan clings to knowledge and erudition to distance himself from the rage he was born as
“Watch and learn” is literally how he became a person
I find it deeply funny that it could also easily be how he becomes a monster once again
Also if you think the avatar of Wrath wouldn’t have a use for supernatural blackmail you’re just straight up incorrect
Couple that with Satan’s various connections and he’d be a Force to Reckon With
Asmodeus
I put him as a victim of the Corruption bc I found it extremely fitting considering the duality of his romanticized image vs the “dirty” fluid-filled nature of Lust.
Lust can be really nasty, but as licentious as Asmo’s supposed to be, he’s surprisingly coy
(now part of that comes from the fact that Obey Me isn’t strictly 18+/full-on porn, but still)
There’s a lot of Interesting Ideas to unpack there with attitudes towards sex vs sensuality and idealisation vs reality
Now as for an avatar… I debated this for a very long time, tossing around Eye, Stranger, Spiral, even Web for like one second
But I think I’ve got it
Slaughter!
Specifically the musical/random outbursts of violence side (not so much the war side)
Why? Well for one, Biblical Asmodeus is said to “"transport men into fits of madness and desire [...] with the result that they commit sin, and fall into murderous deeds (Testament of Solomon, verse 23).”
But also, Obey Me Asmo’s affair with that portrait chick from the earlier lessons started a whole ass war
Like it or not, the boy is very good at instilling manic violence in people
They don’t call it bloodlust for nothing
Beelzebub
I paired Beel with an End avatar MC bc the boy fears losing his loved ones like he lost Lilith
You could argue that Desolation would fit there too but I liked how it fit Satan better
Now as for a Vibe…
I’m tied between Flesh and Corruption tbh
Though corruption is mostly bc buge :)
So I’ll talk about the Flesh
So uh, mass consumerism, meat is meat, cannibalism… see where I’m going?
Ignoring the Hans because that was super racist, the two Flesh avatars I remember best are Jared Hopworth and The Guy Who Stuck His Arm in a Spooky Meat Grinder To Feed His Buds
I think of Jared in relation to Beel not because of the gym thing, but because his very chill/apathetic attitude towards his patron is similar to how I’d picture Beel’s approach to all this
Like “well, guess I’m here now”
I love Beel as much as everyone else, but he’s not exactly apologetic about his… habits
Not to the degree that he’d actually try and change them anyway
So if he got started on the path to Flesh avatarhood, he’d be pretty fucked
Belphegor
I put Web for him as a fear almost entirely because of the concept of Uno Reverse Card, ngl
It does technically tie into his whole thing about being trapped in the attic, since he’d denied all agency and freedom in there, but… Uno Reverse
Dark!Belphie is an interesting concept, and MAG86 “Tucked In” is iconic, but tbh I don’t really… Get the Dark
Don’t get me wrong, put me in a dark place and I will be scared, I don’t like not seeing things, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why one would become an avatar of the Dark
It’s not a very “primary” fear imo? Like, I’m scared of the dark bc I can’t see what’s there, ie. a threat could be there and I wouldn’t know, but intellectually I know it’s just the absence of light. That’s not really spooky on its own.
I guess what I’m saying is I can attribute spookier things related to the Dark better to other Entities, so I’m not sure what its draw is specifically
According to the Entity Sexiness Survey I did a while back, there’s apparently some Catholic stuff going on with the Dark so maybe that’s why i don’t get it lmao
Anyway I’d put Belphie down for Spiral
“What lies behind a smile” indeed cowboy
Apparently it’s getting choked
Is it because MC’s entire relationship with him is originally founded on a lie?
Is it because the Spiral deals with distortions in your perception, gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing, as well as foggy liminal mental spaces like between sleep and consciousness, death and life?
Is it because I think Belphie would absolutely delight in driving someone bananas by fucking with their dreams until it bleeds into their waking life?
Is it because being a person or consistent being at all is too much effort, consistent internal geography is hard, fuck it, just be an endless twisting series of hallways?
Yes :)
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TDA Characters on TikTok
Julian: doesn’t post very often because he is a father but when he does it is always him painting or drawing something with lofi music or him sharing a tidbit about one of the children or other family members (Kieran, Cristina, Diana, Emma and Aline included and always with their explicit permission). 
- He’s very popular without even trying and most assume he is a young single father (which isn’t wrong).
-  Mostly finds himself on cottagecore or parent side of tiktok. 
- doesn’t understand all the thirsty comments he gets because “I don’t even show my face, Emma, why would they think I’m attractive?” but always shares them with Emma because they make her laugh.
Emma: Does it for the girls and the gays, that’s it. Posts nearly every day and page is generally a mixture of self defense videos, vintage makeup/dress tutorials, and videos slamming the patriarchy but also always does the latest dancing videos and other trends.
- always tries to get others to join in on her trend videos, mostly joined by Mark and Cristina when she can rope her in.
- Nearly broke tiktok when she got Julian to do the “You could have been nicer to me” trend because NO ONE KNEW THEY WERE DATING  AND EVEN THOUGH THEY COULDN’T SEE HIS FACE EVERYONE RECOGNIZED HIS VOICE AND HE WAS SO SWEET WHEN HE OFFERED TO TAKE HER TO HER FAVORITE THRIFT STORE AND BUY HER SOME DRESSES AFTER HE PUT THE “BABY” DOWN FOR HIS NAP. 
- - everyone knows the “baby” is actually at least seven but no one ever said his name because he’s too young so everyone collectively knows him as “the baby”
- solidly on gay tiktok even though she’s straight. 
Mark: Daily blogs. Everyone thinks he’s shit posting because it’s all wild things like standing in a middle of a circle of flowers and talking about “this pixie named Aelia lives here and she’s a BITCH”. Often shows videos of him cooking or baking wild concoctions that range from “Okay, I’d try that” to “this is why God has abandoned us”. 
- Does dancing videos with Emma all the time and often acts as the “creeper” in her self defense videos. 
- Caused a meltdown on tiktok when he casually mentioned his “partners” and started creating videos to raise awareness for polyamory. 
- Revealed Julian was his brother when he posted a video of Julian yelling at him for a solid minute because “the baby is covered in honey, why is the baby covered in honey, Mark? We don’t let the baby bathe in honey even if he really wants to Mark -” 
- solidly on cooking and gay tiktok, often takes a sharp left into “crackhead” tiktok
Kieran: Posts videos of cats he finds and rates them. The lowest ever was a 9.5/10 because “she bit me fairly hard but I scared her and I deserved it for trying to pet her without permission”. 
- does not do any trends or reveal much personal information. 
- Was always considered wholesome until he (on a dare from Dru) posted a video joking about choking a bossy sub that rounded up on kinktok. 
-- everyone went through a brief freak out trying to figure out if he had a partner but it was never solved. 
--- No one noticed that Mark posted a video joking about how “one of his partners was absolutely in the doghouse” accompanied by someone sitting in a cardboard ‘doghouse’ around the exact same time. 
- solidly on animal tiktok but occasionally veers into kinktok with more (less explicit) dom/sub humor. 
Cristina: Does not have her own tiktok but often appears in videos with Emma and occasionally shows up in Mark’s. 
- Absolute sweetheart always, even when she is demonstrating a self defense move with Emma, and is always commended for trying Mark’s foods. 
-- especially commended when trying the foods while, offscreen, their other partner yells about “Hell food” 
- is flattered with all the comments begging her to start her own tiktok but doesn’t feel like she has the time to fully commit to one properly. 
Livvy: (She’s alive, don’t @ me) Does absolutely all the new trends and also does various acting POVs 
- her soulmate POVs are most popular but she also is known for dueting act-along POVS with other popular creators
- also occasionally posts videos rating the best male actors/superheroes and once got into a long drawn out back to back war with someone on whether or not Captain America really had “America’s ass” 
- had a very popular multiple-part series about being a girl in the MCU dating the various Avengers but ended it abruptly after Endgame because “Natasha Romanoff deserved better and it hurts too much”
-she used to post occasional videos where she laments on being the “only single person in the family” but she started getting some very creepy duets and comments from actual adults so she told Julian and they both agreed it would be better for her to stop them
-- Julian did take the time to duet the people being inappropriate and explained very clearly that their actions were wrong and directed towards a LITERAL CHILD and shamed multiple accounts into flat out deleting
Ty: Posts literally whatever interests him. Has two animal series - one where he shares facts about his favorite kinds of animals and one where he showcases various animals he’s found in the tidepools or around the house. 
- has done several video series of rescuing animals and has at least one where Julian could be heard lecturing him on trying to raise wild animals in his bedroom again 
-- tiktok freaked out because this happened right around the same time as Julian calling out all the creeps on Livvy’s tiktok and no one knew that the twins he talked about were them  
- also does videos about his favorite literary works - notably Sherlock Holmes - and true crime/mystery videos 
-- he always makes sure to carefully put in warnings for anything remotely violent or triggering and has never had a single video taken down for violating the rules even when he did a multiple part series on the Black Dahlia and how her crime was ‘absolutely solved but because the man who did it was rich and white, he got away with it and probably also killed at least two other women, one of whom was killed in the Philippines” 
-  sometimes does twin videos with Livvy because she likes them and it makes her happy. 
Dru: Queen of witch/horror/true crime tiktok. 
- got in trouble with Julian for showing actual runes in videos but everyone just thought they were for the aesthetic so it was fine
- most popular videos is a series where she rates horror movies on how they do on the bechdel test 
- sometimes duets Ty’s or Livvy’s videos just to drag them (with love) 
- Has a very popular series on “women who snapped” and is known for almost rarely during part 2s (and therefore having to speak very very fast) 
- also complains constantly because her videos will get taken down even if they aren’t that violent and includes clips from far worse videos from male creators to point out the double standard
- occasionally dives into tiktok drama just to dabble and then sits on the sidelines and watches it happen
-- 100% built a balloon arch to flex on That Balloon Girl 
- solidly on witchtok and horrortok
Kit: King of petty/messy tiktok who also posts random videos about crime and occasional blogs
- switches from either sharing no information to borderline oversharing childhood trauma
- shares videos on borderline illegal ways to get back at exfriends/expartners/exfamily members/general enemies 
-- putting fish in people’s vents, subscribing them to magazines under various similar names, sending them glitter in the mail, opening their oreos and taking out the middle of all of them, putting baby locks on their cabinets and in the outlets they can’t see (like under the bed so they can’t get plug in their cellphone charger at night), etc. 
- is always eating some sort of snack, no matter what he is doing
- also posts videos about personal safety like what locks will actually keep people out and what ones are easy to break into
--caused several minor freakouts when he casually mentioned his father taught him how to do it
- occasionally posts videos with an adorable toddler and a young couple who he refers to as “mom and dad” even though they look at MOST five years older than him and he often makes parental abandonment jokes/comments
- no idea where he lives because he speaks in an American accent and talks constantly about American/California life but everything around him looks very British 
- absolutely dives head first into every tiktok drama and will go for the throat for anyone who makes ableist/sexist/racist/homophobic comments without hesitation
-- his drags are legendarily savage and he has caused numerous problematic accounts to just straight up disappear
- duets videos from Livvy, Dru, Mark, Emma and Julian ( with lots of savage drags) but no one knows how he knows them because he is absolutely somewhere in the UK and all of them are based in California/US
-- he also notably NEVER duets Ty
--- the mystery is finally solved when Kit does a livestream and reveals that he met all of them because he was briefly living with them before getting placed with his family, the young couple who actually are his mom and dad 
---- he is very vague about the living situation but everyone assumes he was a foster child 
- he once caused a mass freakout on Tiktok (that actually spilled over to twitter and buzzfeed) when he announced he was going back to the US to visit friends and then posted a video with the caption “when you see your boyfriend in person for the first time in MONTHS but he’s too distracted by some wet 🐱” 
-- the video panned out from Kit’s unamused face to Ty gently rubbing a tiny wet kitten  with a soft cotton towel 
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jobean12-blog · 4 years
Text
Bewitched
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader
Word Count: 1,062
Summary: You and Bucky attempt to make it through a haunted maze and get more than a scare (sort of friends to lovers) 
Author’s Note: This is for the HBC’s @the-ss-horniest-book-club​ continuation of drunk drabbles and the fun prompt below by @buckys-henley​ and the Fall in Love challenge- corn maze theme-hope you enjoy this! Thank you all for reading! Much love always! ❤❤❤
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Warnings: Halloween scary themes (very light), protective Bucky, soft and sweet fluff, a kiss, friends to more, some laughs- it’s fun! 
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“Are you cold?” You look up at Bucky, his eyes soft when he starts to take off his jacket. “Um, I think so?” you say apprehensively, holding your arms tight to your body.  He stops with one arm in and one arm out, “you don’t have to take it. You just looked cold.” Your hands shoot out, “no, no, that would be great, thank you.” He smiles, draping it over your shoulders and helping your get your arms in.
You’re drowning in it but it’s warm from his body and smells like him. “You look really cute.” Looking down at your feet you say a quiet, “thank you,” and start walking again, staying a few steps ahead of him near Nat. She turns to you, “is that his jacket?” she whispers, and you nod. “Yes!” You giggle at her enthusiasm and peek over your shoulder to find Bucky’s eyes on you while he chats with Steve.
Turning back quickly you take Nat’s hand and continue walking toward the haunted maze. Your heart starts to beat faster, and your stomach is in knots by the time you reach the entrance. Everyone piles up close while you show your tickets and walk in. Steve, Sam, Clint and Nat start teasing each other about who will scream first and Rhodey, Tony, Wanda and Vision are arguing about whether or not they can use their powers against any ghouls.
You haven’t walked through yet, your hands clasped tightly in front of you while you try to calm your breathing. “Hey doll, you ok?” Bucky’s soft voice startles you, his warm hand resting on your lower back as he looks you over. “Yea. Yea, thanks. Guess it’s time to go in.” You gulp and take a step forward, leaning into his hand only slightly as you concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.
“Where did everyone go?” he laughs from behind you. Your eyes scan the nearby bales of hay and large stalks of corn, no one else in sight. “They left us,” you whisper, starting to feel more freaked out by the second. “Well you’re not alone. Come on, we can do this.” Bucky determinedly starts walking ahead and you fall right in line next to him, your hands touching softly every so often.
The night is cool and clear, small smatterings of stars twinkling above even through the bright light of the full moon. “It’s so quiet,” you mumble, wrapping Bucky’s jacket tighter around your body. “I know right. I don’t even hear any animals.” You look at Bucky and give him a weak smile, “they are probably in on this.” You both let out a small laugh, not realizing that you’ve taken a wrong turn in the maze.
“Hey Buck? I think we may have gone the wrong way.” You stop walking and spin in a circle, starting to feel dizzy. “Yea, it looks like it.” His voice is quiet, like he’s trying to make sure he doesn’t draw unwanted attention your way. The two of you end up back to back in the middle of the row, Bucky’s hand reaching back so his fingertips lightly brush against yours. Slowly, his pinky curls around your pinky and each finger follows suit until you’re holding hands.
Your skin tingles with a spark of electricity from his touch and when you turn to face each other his grip on your hand tightens, “it’s ok babe, we’ll find our way out.” His thumb gently caresses the top of your hand and you give him a squeeze, almost forgetting your current situation when his eyes drift down to your lips. “Yea, we’ll be fine,” you whisper, inching closer to him. He pulls his gaze away, clearly trying to focus on the task at hand and not the feel of your body so near.
“So um, which way should we go?” you ask, looking around. When you don’t get an answer you look up, “Bucky?” His eyes are locked on yours and his hand reaches up to cup your cheek. “Uhhh, I have no idea.” Giving him a knowing smile, you grab the front of his shirt, your other hand still holding his, “me either.”
Just when his lips are a breath away you hear the rustle of hay and leaves, Bucky’s arms shooting around your waist and pulling you into his chest protectively. “What the hell was that?” You can feel his heartbeat against your cheek, and you close your eyes, too scared to open them and look. “I don’t know Bucky!” He rubs your back soothingly, keeping his eyes glued on the two dark rows of corn in front of you. “It’s ok, it’s fine,” he whispers into your hair, walking you both backward.
Another strange sound pulls your attention to the left and before you have a chance to register what it is someone jumps in front of you and screams. Bucky’s metal arm shoots out lightning quick and knocks the person down, the loud and annoyed groans of Steve echoing through the night.
“Jeez, Buck, ouch.” Shaking your head, you finally register what happened and watch as the rest of the team comes out of the shadows. Steve stands and rubs his cheek, glaring at Bucky, “you didn’t have to try to knock me out.” Bucky takes a step forward, “I had to protect my girl, you scared the shit out of us!” Steve’s glare softens and his lips turn up into a smirk, your own doing the same when he winks your way.
“Your girl huh?” Bucky clenches and unclenches his fist, opening his mouth to speak then snapping it shut. “Yea. That’s right,” he huffs out, throwing his arm around your shoulder. “Thanks for interrupting us.” Everyone starts laughing, including you as you snuggle closer to him, “I’d love to be your girl, Bucky.” He beams, a cocky grin thrown Steve’s way before he leans down and cradles your jaw, “then let’s make it official.”
Maybe time stops when his lips meet yours, but the flutters in your stomach only intensify. Your heart pounding in your chest as your knees get weaker. You can only focus on how soft he feels against your mouth, how addictively he invades all your senses. The cheers of your friends die away as he parts your lips, hungry and intense and silencing all thoughts.
@aesthetical-bucky​ @auro-ora​ @bugsbucky​ @book-dragon-13​ @buckstaybucky​ @buckys-henley​ @buckosawrus​ @buckys-broody-muffin​ @buckys-minty-breath​ @bucky-on-my-mind​ @breezy1415​ @chuuulip​ @eurynome827​ @hiddles-rose​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @hawksmagnolia​ @ikaris-whore​ @imgaril-lindru​ @itsunclebucky​ @jhangelface0523​ @jewels2876​ @lorilane33​ @addikted-2-dopamine​ @lokilvrr​ @littledarlinhavefaithinme​ @littleredstarfish​ @loricameback​ @lookiamtrying​ @mushyjellybeans​ @marvelandotherfandomimagines​ @marvelgirl7​ @nano--raptor​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @randomfandompenguin​ @sallycanwait68​ @softpeachbarnes​ @tuiccim​ @this-kitten-is-smitten​ @the-wayward-robot​ @yansi1923​ @tales-of-spring​ @hopefuldreamers-world​ @survivor-reborn​
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karanoid · 3 years
Text
about top joe discord
LET ME ADDRESS A FEW POINTS:
There has been many fear and anxiety regardless the top!joe discord I made. I understand how it gives my discord a bad reputation. Somebody has kindly reached out to me to ask me addressing several points, which I’m now gonna clarify:
1. I am racist, I asked why, and they said mostly because of my dismissive behavior to people who called me out for drawing yusuf adorned in gold jewelry which made their friends feel unsafe. So, I am a muslim and was raised in a muslim household and community. I am fucking brown.
I didn’t say it because you don’t need to know that about me. What bothers me is how some people feel the need to come to my inbox informing me “maam yusuf is a religious muslim who prays 5 times a day and do all the supplementary prayers all while he drinks alcohol and fuck nicky in the dailies, he wouldnt be wearing gold maam no maam.” as if I didn’t know any better. so please, now don’t do that. If you care so much about the littlest details like wearing gold then you’ll also call out yusuf because he draws living beings and drinks champagne. yes it’s true muslim men are forbidden from wearing gold AND silk but let’s not forget, nothing in the comic and movies imply yusuf has ever been religious. It’s easier to see nicolo as religious because he was a fucking priest. Yusuf was a fucking merchant, it’s easy to see that he’d be less faithful because he would have been travelling and seen many kind of people to broaden his horizons and not contained to a little bubble of hyper religious community. However, let me remind you: whether yusuf AND nicolo are religious or not is entirely UP TO THE AUTHOR/ARTIST. It’s totally fine to make him religious and if you can respect it THATS GREAT, I ALSO LIKE HIM THAT WAY, but please remember it’s not even canon and hey sometimes I just draw things because I like the aesthetics. Also please, do not harass writers for getting a thing or two incorrect, even white people cannot get christianity correct, even between two muslims could be a disagreement whether this fic’s yusuf is problematic or not. I wouldn’t even expect anything more and THAT’S OKAY. Just don’t be an ass to muslims of color in real life and don’t fall into the believe that it’s a religion of violence. you can say that greg made him that way bc he knew nothing better but hey, I have no problem with that. again, it’s fine to make him religious, I’d be delighted but it’s ALSO fine to make him not religious.
2. I think that people only write Top!Nicky out of political correctness. OKAY. I apologize for this. I thought like this because I have accounts telling me that they were pressured into writing top!nicky or they wanted more readerships so I make a BIG assumption. I realized this is only a small part of switch and top!nicky fics and the big bulk of this must be out of genuine care. So yeah, I apologize for thinking that people only write top!nicky out of political correctness. I think writers should be allowed to write whatever they want. Yes this includes top!Nicky. And in whatever kinks they want it. However, this still doesn’t change that the discourses do scare people away from writing top!joe. Write top!nicky however you want, but stop vague-blogging about top!joe. racism isn’t inherent to top!joe and you can always remind people to be mindful with their writings but discouraging people from writing top!joe is not the solution. 
3. Top!joe is racist and people in the discord are racist. Okay, I am gonna touch several aspects why top!joe discord is considered racist: (1) because I don’t like to switch them, therefore I am racist. Sorry that’s not how it works. I have a clear preference and that’s just how I roll. Besides, a lot of people in the discord (including me) think either they switch (because they are 900 yo) or joe just doesn’t like bottoming. I’m not the kind of people who refers to reality for fiction I consume but people who prefer to top or to bottom exist (2) i want to be away from accountability and responsibility. Nope. The reason I made it is because I wanted to gather people with same interest as mine. 
4. I paint Yusuf as aggressive and the whole discord like him being an aggressive top. I think this is the only reason why the discord is seen in a negative light. Because wow what a coincidence that someone vagueblogged my discord at the day I celebrated about Nicky suggesting 20 years and wrote a post about how Joe is allowed to be angry. And beside someone made the WRONG assumption that we are focusing on Joe’s anger and violence (what). Okay, I don’t know how to break this down. But I will try. First, yes I was overjoyed at the news. Because I’m one of the people that do not like feral!nicky headcanon. I liked it at first bc it was funny but then it was twisted into Nicky being cold. So I don’t like it (lol), I still like it though but like I don’t seriously think that way. However, I never liked the idea that Nicky suggested higher than Joe. Because then his character just doesn’t click with me, there was a cognitive dissonance for me because joe clearly says nicky’s heart overflows kindness, you can see nicky as a medic in the credit montage. Also, from their body language and from the way the movie set em up, I think Joe is the one who suggested higher and I am glad to be proven right. Second, I did write a post about how Joe is allowed to be angry at Booker. People agreed with me, so I was not alone. But the reason I wrote that post is not because I wanted to paint yusuf as aggressive, but because I’m tired at people who think Joe shouldn’t display any negative emotions. I think it’s out of character. I do NOT think Joe is aggressive. That is NOT his wholeass personality. If you looked at my tog art tag, never once I portrayed Joe as anything aggressive. If I do, please show me. Third, people are conflating this with my post where I reblogged with a comment that implies aggressive Joe isn’t racism. Okay in this, the context is IN BED. It’s Joe being aggressive in BED. It’s literally BED ROLES AND FANTASY. I don’t even have a particular scenario in my head when I reblogged that, the original post clearly refers to bed roles with manhandling and kinks etc. like, why would you spank someone in public? Lastly, about the discord, NOPE, most people in the discord agree that Joe is either a GENTLE DOM or SERVICE TOP. But in my opinion, if someone likes Joe as an aggressive top (again, bed roles baby) I really don’t think it’s racism. It’s just... projection? 
anyway, back to joe’s emotions, these are posts from a moroccan man (paragraph #7) and a brown woman whose posts I agree with. Let’s be real, people of color are expected to shut up in favor of white people’s fragile feelings.
Now, about racism in fandom. I understand the concern because muslim men are painted as violent and aggressive. You know what I will never forgive those radicals for taking away innocents lives and to leave a lasting damage in how muslims are perceived in the west. However, you have to keep in mind, Joe in the movie is far from being stereotyped. I mean, Gina and Marwan practically greenlit him? Now, you might have concerns that writers are gonna turn him into a walking stereotype which is... okay, I understand that concern. But the solution is to communicate this ‘hey I think you make him too stereotypical in this etc etc’ not “write more top!nicky AND shame top!joe” because again, top!joe is not inherently racist.
also some people mentioned that they hope I recognize racial bias in the ship. dude, that goes without saying, all aspects of your life will be influenced by racial biases. however, this kind of thing is not specific to fandom/shipping. Like I said I’m fucking brown, friends and families with facial features that cater to white expectation are treated better. I did say at the bottom of this post, yeah I did notice why it’s always a brown character who’s always openly mad. And that’s in itself a form of racial bias. Racial biases affect everyone, white or POC, it doesn’t matter. But I got an issue with how people think this is racism. like how convenient, if by falling to racial biases mean you are a racist then what about those white people who created this racial biases in the first place? and I noticed the persons who got the audacity to cry about everything in this fandom is white?? I mean okay, they don’t know what I am, but not everyone is comfortable with sharing their private information like ethnic group, faith, etc. what if they really don’t want to share it? Because like you said, racial bias, whether good or bad will affect me. Now, I don’t know what white people are feeling, I’m not white. However, based on my interactions with them. We’re all just people sharing same interest, it could be they fall into racial biases, but all we shared about are just regular HCs. Even people making a conscious effort to combat racial bias still in essence fall for racial bias. You just cannot escape it.
According to this post, fandom assumes that the bottom is the proxy of writers, I don’t think this is applicable to everyone but let’s just say it’s true and people tend to write about their projection better so I’m gonna assume the racism part comes from the fact that..yeah I do think the bottom usually gets more fleshed out as a result of them being the writers proxy, so somebody posted this in the discord which I agree because yes I do think there’s a lack about yusuf’s background especially when it comes to crusade era:
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but since I know most writers aren’t muslims, to me it’s not so much about racism but they simply know nothing about it, and not always out of ignorance either but in this climate, if you get a thing or two wrong you’d get harassed. so *shrugs* I understand the reluctancy. But here’s the thing, this is not about top/bottom issue but because most of the fandom are white so they have more freedom in writing the white character. Anyway, plenty of people have projected themselves into yusuf already, the whole “top/bottom” thing in this fandom is not even a thing. Yes, some writers project on the bottom so if you prefer bottom!joe that’s fine, somebody in the discord is doing a research and it turned out top!joe wasn’t even a CLEAR majority in JULY. So clearly they got their share already?
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so please, let’s stop with the vitriol. if people are preferring top!joe it’s clearly because of different preferences. it’s not that deep. it’s the same way with how some people are preferring top!nicky. But we’re being driven out based on a hypothetical scenarios? like what do you want? for us to cease existing??? don’t be ridiculous.
I know people won’t listen to me. So this is my suggestion: LETS JUST IGNORE THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE. LET’S ALL JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE. 
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annab-nana · 3 years
Text
2020...
You were probably the worst and best year of my life for several different reasons.
Worst because you took away my normal college experience. Worst because mentally, you haven’t been kind. Worst because you have taken several people who have meant a lot to me and many others. Worst because people I’ve thought of as good friends don’t speak to me anymore or turned out to not be who I thought they were.
Best because for some reason being stuck in quarantine brought my best friend and I a whole lot closer. Best because I found new hobbies that I love. Best because I’ve grown a lot as a person. Best because I’ve grown a lot on here and made writings that people have enjoyed. Best because I have impacted others in a positive way and helped people. Best because I have felt the happiest I have ever felt and the most love I have experienced as well. Best because I have made many new friends that mean the world to me and I just wanted to say a small thank you to all of these people.
@rebelemilu • Emily, I remember months ago when I reblogged an edit of yours and you kinda geeked out that I did that. I thought it was the cutest thing ever and it was shocking to me that someone who didn’t even know me loved me and my stuff. Then later in July when I first ever showed my face to this hellsite, I inspired you to do the same and I got to see your beautiful face and smile and I was so happy that I was able to do that for you. You have always been so kind and supportive of me and I will forever be grateful to you for that. Now I get to talk to you almost everyday and you send me the best gifs of our favorite men and I couldn’t be happier. You are an amazing friend Em and I love you so much! You have no idea how much you mean to me.
@x-lulu • Lulu, this past month or so has been amazing! You are one of the strongest, sweetest, and most supportive people I know! Like you said, you feel like you can come to me with anything but that is how I feel about you. You have a soft warm safe presence about you that makes me feel comfortable and appreciated when I talk to you. Loneliness is my biggest struggle and I hate talking about it with anyone because it feels stupid when I say it but with you, I feel like I could discuss that with you without any judgement. Now that I know you I don’t think I could be without you. You’re just so wonderful and I wish everyone could have a lu as a friend. I don’t know what I’d do without my aesthetic queen that I love so much.
@https-luna • Luna, you are my luna bug! What else can I say? I love you so much and we’ve only really talked for the past twoish weeks but I feel like we will be friends for a long time. You are so incredibly smart and I love each and every one of your random fun facts. That makes my days so much better with your sweet personality. I feel like we’ve grown a lot closer these last few days and I wouldn’t change that for the world. You are a talented writer and I love getting to see that first hand. My love for you will never die, luna bug.
@sguymon21 • Sara, I honestly don’t remember how our friendship started. I want to say it was because we started talking when I was reading your story, All Of My Wrongs, because I fell in love with it and then we just started talking. And then we exchanged Instagrams and then Snapchats and we’ve talked for a while honestly. You are such an amazing writer and a sweet and kind soul as well and I know that at times that people haven’t been that kind to you but I promise you are so much more than what people say. You are gorgeous love and your heart is even prettier.
@samcolbylife666 • Zach, I know this is probably weird considering we haven’t talked in several months but I still wanted to thank you. You were the first person I ever really talked to on here and I hope you’re doing well. I remember the random things we’d discuss right before all hell broke loose with corona. I was literally talking to you when I had to pack to leave my dorm for our “two week” break and I was excited that our spring break had been lengthened. I’m pretty sure your plans to go to Disneyland for canceled due to everything but I hope you still get to go soon. I don’t know if you still get on here but I’d love to talk to you again.
@xgingerblue19x • Ella, my love from the other side of the world haha I love you so much. Our journey started the night Sam broke his back. I was lowkey freaking out about it and you were there to calm me down and you sent me updates about it too. It was nice to have someone to talk to when I was super anxious about someone I look up to and care deeply about. Then a few weeks later, we all lost someone really important to us, Corey, and once again, you were there. You talked with me and I am not one to easily open up to others especially when I’m upset but with you, I felt safe and you made it easy. Since then, we don’t talk super often but we can always pick up where we left off and it feels normal and not awkward at all and I love that about our friendship. You are someone I know that I can lean on and I hope you know I’m here for you as well sweetheart.
@socialanxiety-queen • Becca, I love you so much! We were both scared to reach out to each other and anxious about making new friends but I’m glad that we started to message each other and play a little game of twenty questions. Even though we don’t talk that often, I will always love and support you and I know that I can talk to you about whatever I need to. Your heart is so pure and it is a beautiful thing inside a beautiful person. You make me so happy and I love how you remember the little things about a person and make them feel so loved and appreciated and I hope you feel as loved and appreciated as you make others feel.
@toriswrites • Tori, you are such a cute little bean and I love you! We started talking right before I combined blogs on maybanksbaby and you were the one who helped me gain the courage to finally combine my blogs after I had been thinking about it for a loooooong time. I don’t think you know how grateful I am for that because it was the best decision I’ve ever made and I couldn’t have done it without you and your encouragement. So thank you for talking to me through that because I probably would’ve never done it or I would’ve pushed it off for a while if I hadn’t brought it up to you.
@heaven-with-mark • Babe, I honestly have no idea where our friendship started. I think it was you posted something and I came to check on you and then we just started talking. And then we talked almost every day all day for like a month. We’d be going crazy as we stayed up late. You’d show me all your pets and tell me their adorable and unique names which I loved. We’d talk about several random ideas and we’d talk about our problems too. I know we haven’t talked that much recently but I really miss you and I hope you are doing well.
@lonely-xplr • Bree, you are someone I’ve always looked up to. Ever since I started writing on this app and joined this fandom, I’ve looked up to you. You are so smart and so nice to talk to. I know that if I ever need someone to talk to, I can go to you. You always seem to send me something nice right when I need it and I am so grateful for that and you. I love you so much and I hope you know how much you mean to me.
@fttayla @ilovejjmaybank @demxters • Liv, Nat, and Elle, I love you all so much! You are so kind and super supportive and I thank you guys for that. Y’all are so cute too and your friendships have made me so happy.
@reinad-snc @goddess-of-time-and-magic @reddesertcolbs @xplrtrash @sarcasmhadachild @colbylover99 @cartiercolby @ygsucks @starrybrock • to my @traphousedaily babies and Kayla, you all made me feel welcome in this Sam and Colby tumblr fandom family. When I joined this group of wonderful people, I felt like I wasn’t alone and just posting my fics. I felt like I apart of something greater and I made great friends because of it. Each of you are so incredibly sweet and amazing people and I am so happy that I have gotten the chance to meet you all and become friends with you too.
@itsnotgray @ilguna @tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar @xplrvibes @golbrocklovely @golbrockstar @turnupbrock @socialwriter @mrsmaybankhere @spilledtee @bricksatlandyswindow @dmonchld @killingbxys @nxsmss @mxltifandoms06 @uwubonebabie @rafej-cambanks @drewstarkeysbitchh @faithie-brock-gillespie01 @cognacdelights @tovvaa @moniamaybank @themaddies-obx @cuddlycolby @xplrsworld @makebank @rafeyybabyy • there are so many more but there is a tag limit to each post so I’ll probably comment to add some more but each of you have made my 2020 better. Some on small ways and others in bigger ones but each of you have brought me happiness and made me smile more so for that, thank you.
So after that reflection, I have realized that 2020 may not have been the greatest year of our lives but at least for me, the great points outweigh the bad ones tremendously. Here’s to 2021 :)
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bular · 3 years
Text
Welcome to Live Commentary
I had no one to talk to while watching the movie and I hate being alone with my thoughts so I wrote everything down in my notes app. It's not coherent! Enjoy!
Aw yeah 1.5 seconds of Bular that is all I needed! Might as well stop now I've seen my boy I'm satisfied.
Why is there a nearly 4 minute recap as if I haven't watched the show at least 50 times. I should be the one giving the recap.
The beginning felt a bit forced to me but maybe that's just me? Like they just tried to squeeze too many things into a small timeframe without any buildup, it just didn't really work. Congrats on the engagement! This is my OTP so I'm very happy! But it came out of nowhere.
Nari in Douxies body is so wrong and I love it and hate it at the same time (positive)
Eli is BIG. I knew he was gonna be tall but I was not prepared for that chiseled face. Or the fact that he stepped off the ship without glasses? I wear glasses and I would not choose to step off a spaceship blind.
OkAY who had mpreg on their bingo card?
AAARRRGGHH actually said a full sentence 🥺 there is no heterosexual explanation for this scene and I'm here for it
Arcadia being the center of the universe really does make a lot of sense. I hate how much sense it makes. Despise it.
Strickler in a Christmas sweater is something i didn't know I needed. Jim's jacket too but that's just adorable, Jim's adorable. Oh sweet baby you're about to get fucked over so bad.
Love seeing Barbara actively participating in battle too. Good for her! Power family!!
Where are the kids tho? Is NotEnrique babysitting? Either that or they hired the girl from the Incredibles movie.
Nomura is so talented I love seeing her fighting on the good side. I can't explain it but I love digitigrade legs they're just so pretty?? Aesthetically pleasing??? Fuck yeah, legg! I could watch Nomura run around and be badass all day.
WAIT NO OH SHIT HOW DARE YOU FUCK
STRICKLER DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE NOT YOU TOO THAT'S TOO FUCKING RUDE DON'T DO THIS TO ME
THERE'S NO WAY HE'S DEAD RIGHT WE SAW NO BODY
Barbara does not deserve this I refuse to accept it. He's fine he'll be back they wouldn't kill two Changelings at once. Also Nomura is with Draal now I take no criticism.
So my favorite characters were Bular, Draal, Gunmar and Angor. And before this movie I always half-joked that everyone I love dies, how I still like Strickler and Nomura but apart from them all of my faves were killed in the very order of favoritism. AND NOW LOOK AT THIS. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I LOVE A CHARACTER. MY LOVE IS TOXIC.
OKAY I LOVE GUN RO- WAIT NO I DON'T LOVE HIM FUCK ABORT ABORT
It's great tho omg
I didn't realize it was Gun Robot when I saw it in the trailer this is amazing
Okay but imagine you're chilling in your trollmarket minding your own business when some misfit group of strangers waltzes in, steals your favorite shiny and celebrates your death before running off
"I AM GUN ROBOT" IS THE HORN LMAOOO
Nana better show up at some point to reunite with her boytoy, I'll cancel this entire franchise otherwise
Something bad is going to happen to Toby isn't it. He's getting too much screentime
Jim's hand got DEEP FRIED
ARCHIE NO
We can play Scrabble okay if they don't free them (which they must) I want an after credits scene of them playing scrabble
Douxie and Nari's bond 🥺🥺🥺
Nari pls just say what you fuckin mean the world is ending
Oh god is she going to remember killing Nomura oh nooo
Claire don't make the portal you will die again. Your hair gon be white all over
EVERYONE AVOIDING THE SCHOOL JUST RIGHT THERE LMAO RIP
I love how Darci is just with the school bus. Civilian girlfriend. But also love how the world is ending and Coach is like "fuck that I'm gonna teach these kids"
Does he know his son is pregnant
"Going back to the city where it's safe" buddy have you been to that city
Whatever happens, Nari has the coolest looking titan. Giant four legged gremlin. I'd adopt him.
WAIT SHE CAN FEEL THE PAIN?
Me: oh i love that titan
The titan 5 seconds later:
Did Nari just fucking die what the FUCK
Oh of COURSE the pages are stuck together RIGHT THERE
Seriously tho how do you not notice an entire nougat nummy in a book
Wait so Arcadia has another heartstone? Or OH SO IT'S ALIVE. OKAY GREAT. GUNMAR COULDN'T EVEN DO THAT RIGHT HUH
Love how the Heartstone has been dormant/dead for months and apparently heard Blinky say it's alive and decided to wake up RIGHT THEN
Finally they're evacuating the city. This is like, the third apocalypse there. About time.
Okay so you can't pull Excalibur from the rock, but you CAN carve out the stone. Couldn't you just carve it off the sword as close as possible and like. Use that? Just swing the whole damn rock around?
God i can NOT get over Steve's pants. I mean I read a spoiler he was gonna be pregnant but I thought it was a prank or shitpost. I did not see this coming and I am never going to be over it. I love how he and Aja just roll with it and nobody else even cares. They've seen weirder stuff. So he's pregnant now. Whatever.
Jim's hand is bandaged and his ribs still hurt. I love that they're actually consistent with his injuries. I mean sucks for him but hell yeah for hero that doesn't always win!
Okayyy here comes the heartstone. Why not!
IS HE IN LABOR
So if you kiss an Akiridion 7 times you will have 3-5 babies in a few hours. How are they not overpopulated?? Also Aja couldn't have WARNED STEVE BEFOREHAND?
Eli is so supportive omfg
So uh where are the babies gonna come out of? I'm not into mpreg how does this usually work
OH STEVE THANKS FOR ASKING MY QUESTION
Oh good thing he happens to have 8 friends still alive. Otherwise this would've never worked. Nomura had to die otherwise there would've been 10 of them.
Why is everyone bowing to Jim? Did they rehearse this?
Stuart if you hadn't taken a bathroom break you would've thrown off the math and doomed the world. That was a poop of fate my man
Ahhh the signature quote. Where did Douxie and the Akiridions learn it? Did they rehearse this too? It's really cliché but I do like it tbh
If Strickler were dead we'd see more Barbara right?
WOOO BLINKY DRIVING
Ah Jim just used she/her for Bellroc! Finally we're learning some pronouns. I've been wondering this whole time.
MY VIRGIN EYES. WHAT IS GOING O N
How are they not dying with all this lava?
She really just yeeted Varvatos
Did Claire just tell AAARRRGGHH to jump off the titan and he did it without question
I want to say I like Stuart and want him to have more screentime, but I won't say it because I don't want him to die
Jim's poor ribs
Toby can drive yoooo
Tobyyy you're scaring meeeee
So did they really need the different stone or was the amulet just waiting for Jim to choose death over giving up
I saw the armor before but it looks VERY COOL
Also I didn't mention this before but I love that they cut Merlin's name from the incantation. Good for them.
Toby you lost your helmet noooo
For real tho I'm terrified for Toby rn. I saw a comment somewhere earlier that just said "Toby no" with no context and I am AFRAID
So do Bellroc's eyes work after all? I thought she was blinded back in Wizards in the past.
DID SHE JUST FUCKING STAB MY BOY
TOBY YOU SHOULD NOT BE THERE GET OUT THE TRUCK
Bellroc maybe screaming "i'm powerless" in front of your enemy isn't the best idea
She sploosh
DID JIM SURVIVE THAT FALL AND ALSO IS THE TACO TRUCK OKAY
How is he lifting Claire like that buddy you have bruised ribs and just got stabbed
ELI HI CAN WE SEE THE KIDS
SEVEN KIDS! AND ELI JR I LOVE IT
This show really loves to give people more than the recommended amount of babies with no warning huh
She immediately knows which one is Eli Jr 🥺 okay listen I'm not the biggest fan of comic relief sideplot surprise babies, but I have to admit they're cute. Cute couple. Throuple. Eli is in on this. He even has a Junior.
I TOLD YOU WHERE'S THE DAMN TACO TRUCK NANA WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU AND NEITHER WILL I
Oh yea he better fuckin be alive I will commit murder
HE BETTER FUCKIN BE ALIVE BITCH
FUCK YOU
THAT'S A WHOLE ASS CHILD HE ISN'T ALLOWED TO DIE IT'S ILLEGAL
JIM IS GONNA LOOK DOWN AT THE GREEN GLOWING BITCH AAARRRGGHH CONVENIENTLY THREW THERE AND SEE HIM ALIVE OR SOMETHING
YEAH USE THE SWORD TO UNDEAD HIM! THAT'S HOW YOU USE SWORDS!
Unbecoming Part 2
So is Jim just gonna Groundhog Day it until everyone is fine? There's only 13 minutes left we're gonna need a bigger movie
Also I screamed so much about everyone's death and now everyone reading this after they already saw the whole thing is gonna shame me for clowning huh
The scene where Blinky is giving his goodbye speech, there are no babies and Steve has a round belly? Did he reabsorb them?? I mean I know Jim is about to un-birth them but he hasn't started yet
JUST HOW FAR BACK IS HE PLANNING TO GO
WAIT HOLD UP EXCUSE ME WHAT
Oh they did NOT just do that. I though he was just gonna go back to like, the start of the movie maybe. Not all the way
Imagine being in your early twenties with as much trauma as this kid has and having to pretend you're 16 again
Somewhere Unkar is complaining because "oh sure NOW it's a good idea"
I know Jim is wondering where Toby is because he was there before. But before, he made an entire meatloaf AND did his homework before leaving the house, so honey maybe wait a minute
For a second I thought Toby wasn't gonna be there and Jim would return to the right time. But there he is!
Alright so they're in school now, did they take the canal and just didn't mention the amulet on screen or did they pass it as if the Unbecoming episode hadn't been that traumatizing? Jim you know what happens when you ignore it
Jim maybe you're being too obvious here lmao
Soooo. Anyway. These whole past years I've rewatched this show over and over and over again are cancelled now?
OKAY AT LEAST WE SAW NANA FOR A SPLIT SECOND THAT'S IRONIC TIMING
So we get the quote again. And Trollhunter Tobias is nice. Cool. Cool AU I mean, but I don't know. I don't knowwww. I've been way too invested in everything to just accept that it never happened?? So uh. Hm. How about this.
Strickler survived because fuck you, and Toby also survived and just has scars now. Maybe a wheelchair but he's fine, also he can use the Warhammer for super speed and make it awesome once he's used to it. Archie and Charlie get freed once they rebuild the bridge (and they were playing scrabble to pass the time). Nomura is still dead because she died on screen and I can't really deny that but she's with Draal so it's okay. Everyone is traumatized but they'll be fine. NotEnrique is still babysitting 500 babies and Steve is about to bring 7 more.
In summary, I reject Groundhog Day ending but everything else was great, as long as it actually happened. It was a good movie. But you can't just cancel years of passion. Having the prospect of a million "canon AUs" sounds great for writing but at the same time nooo you can't do that he didn't have to go back THAT far HHHHH
I liked the movie. It was a great watch and a satisfying end to a franchise, but I gotta say I do not fancy the ending of it so I will from now on be in denial. I honestly feel kind of betrayed that this show was my whole life for so long, I learned every smallest fact, and they basically deleted it from existence. I know what they were going for, I think, but no thank you I will be going with my own opinion. Still gonna rewatch it a few dozen times though ✌🏻
And that concludes my live commentary that was supposed to be a small handful of notes. Feel free to shame me for my opinions. See ya!
25 notes · View notes
remuswriting · 4 years
Text
resentment; k. tobio
Kageyama & Twin! Male Reader
Summary: Kageyama believes Y/N, his twin brother, is the complete opposite of him, which means they have to hate each other.  The only thing is that Y/N didn’t get the memo.
Pairings: None
Warnings: Angst, swearing, and some fighting.
Word Count: 7,193
Notes: I’m still struggling to write reader insert things.  This was actually my first one to write, so I hope it’s not too bad.  Also, feel free to send in requests.
*****
It typically felt like everyone forgot Kageyama had a twin brother, and he fine with it.  They were nothing alike, which also caused Y/N to ask him what the point in even being twins was.  Tobio would just remind his brother was bitter they didn’t have any special twin powers, and the y/h/c boy never disagreed.
Y/N was pretty good when it came to school; he studied, made good grades, and teachers really liked him. He said it was because he could actually focus without thinking about which play to bring up to the team next practice, and Kageyama always threw a pillow at him for it.  When Kageyama was desperate to be tutored and went to Yachi, his brother actually got angry with him.
“We literally live in the same house and I make the same grades as Yachi-chan!” Y/N yelled one night when Kageyama couldn’t figure out a problem.  His brother had offered to help but declined.
“I never asked for you help!” Kageyama screamed, and soon enough it was just a screaming match.
There came a time where it had been decided one would be good at school and the other wouldn’t. It was accepted to think that, even if Kageyama refused it by saying he was good at school too.  No one ever said anything about it to him on how he was wrong even if Y/N always made over 80’s and Kageyama had never gotten anything close to that.
 *****
Y/N had a lot of friends. He could just smile at someone for them to talk to him and they were already calling him Y/N-san, never using his surname.  Kageyama was sure it was because he was ashamed of being related to him, but he had to admit it was easier to know who was.  They were fraternal twins, so it wasn’t like it was hard to tell them apart but when speaking about them or speaking to both of them at once, it helped.
Y/N always went on about the fact that if Tobio just spent time trying to talk to people and how to smile, then he could be so popular.  He didn’t have to wear things that Y/N did, because ‘it wouldn’t fit your aesthetic’ but he could just dress to impress more.  Kageyama constantly told him to stop teasing him, even if Y/N kept telling him he wasn’t trying to.
His brother could get anything he wanted if he just barely tried.  He was extremely pretty and used it to his advantage.  He could smile, unlike Kageyama, and it was his biggest weapon. Y/N wore sweaters nearly every day, sometimes a pastel orange hoodie, and all the girls constantly talked about him.
“Did you see Y/N-chan today? He looks so cute today,” a girl said in Kageyama’s class during lunch, and he rolled his eyes.  If only she knew that he dressed cute just to manipulate everyone into thinking he was a good person.
Kageyama walked past the two, going to the vending machine like he did every day.  He had to walk by the girls who were speaking about his brother though.
“Oh, I always forget he’s related to Kageyama,” one of them whispered as he passed. “Y/N-chan is so cute and nice unlike his brother.”
It never really bothered Kageyama, the whispers, because it came with being related to someone apparently so cute.  It pissed him off when he was compared to his brother by those who didn’t know them. If they spent that time talking about the differences in the two, they could instead be talking about the volleyball team and how they were going to win nationals.
When he made it to the vending machine near the gym, Y/N was waiting next to it with a milk in hand to give to his brother.  He was smiling at Kageyama, and it pissed the setter off for some reason.  Maybe it was the fact he heard those girls comparing the two as he left the class, or maybe it was the fact Y/N knew where he always got his milk from.  He was just pissed.
“What are you doing here?” Kageyama barked at his brother, and Y/N didn’t look fazed by the angry outburst.  It was the way the black haired boy spoke, why would it faze him?
“I wanted to eat with you. I noticed you forgot your bento box, and I made enough to share,” Y/N said with a small smile that only his family saw. “We could eat on the gym steps.”
“Don’t you have friends to eat with instead?” Kageyama asked, and the y/h/c boy retreated slightly into himself.
“I guess, but I wanted to eat with you,” Y/N said before a wide smile appeared on his face as turned to pull something out his bag. “I have something I’ve been meaning to show you!”
“I don’t want to see it,” Kageyama snapped before the other could even put his hand in his bag. “I don’t even want to eat with you, leave me alone.”
His brother frowned as he zipped his bag up and shoved the bento box into the other’s chest. “Okay, you need this more than me though.  Sorry for bothering you.”
Y/N walked off without looking back at Kageyama.  It was obvious he was extremely annoyed, but Kageyama was sure he didn’t care about that. He opened the bento box to see all his favorites packed in it, even things his brother hated.  Maybe he had given him his own bento box instead sharing his. Either way it annoyed him that the other thought he was being a knight in shining armor by just giving him food and some milk.
*****
Girls really liked Y/N, and Kageyama could see why but didn’t know why.  His brother was known as a pretty boy, every girl spoke about him at least once when talking about attractive boys at Karasuno.  It seemed like he was always being confessed to, but he was the worst as rejecting them.  Multiple girls had ended up crying because of it.
“Yachi-chan,” Y/N said as he walked into the gym before the team’s afternoon practice.  The blonde girl looked over at him with a squeak from not knowing he’d be there.   The first year boy had somehow managed to already change out of his uniform into a pastel blue t-shirt and black shorts.
He made eye contact with Kageyama across the gym, there was a hint of mischief in his gaze.  A small smile played on his lips before turning into a charming one as he looked back over to Yachi.  The sight of his brother made him want to scream, he hated when his brother came to practice without permission.
“Oh, Y/N-chan, what are you doing here?” Yachi asked, and the y/h/c boy’s smile turned into a small pout, which caused Yachi to go into a small freak out. “Not that it’s an issue you’re here!”
“All I want is to see my favorite brother play volleyball, is that not allowed?” Y/N asked, his voice sounding even sadder than he typically did whenever he wanted something. “I understand if it’s not.
“I’m your only brother, idiot!” Kageyama yelled from across the gym only for his brother to look over at him with sad eyes, which made Tobio want to scream even louder.
He hated how his brother could get nearly anything he wanted with just a single look.  His smile got him the most things, because it was just ‘too cute’ and Kageyama had always been slightly jealous that he couldn’t smile like the other could.  All of the photos of the two in their house had a smiling Y/N holding up peace signs and a frowning or attempting to smile Tobio next to him.  They would always share as children though, Y/N would get something if Tobio hadn’t gotten it just to share or give to him.  One day Kageyama told him he no longer wanted the other’s things, and he’s always say it was a pride thing even if he wondered if it had put wedge between them.
“You don’t actually want to watch me play,” Kageyama said, voice angrier than before but not as loud. His brother threw his head back with a small groan before he looked over at Kageyama.  Everyone was watching them, because they rarely had actual conversations around the team.
“I do want to watch you, but I’m also trying to avoid a girl who wants to confess,” Y/N admitted as he started to walk over to Kageyama.
“Why not just let her confess?” Suga asked as he put his water bottle by the wall.
“Last time I rejected someone, she begged me to consider just dating me without even liking her because I’d eventually fall in love with her.  I kept telling her it wouldn’t happen, and she started crying, and I’m scared this one will be like that one,” Y/N said with a stressed look in his eye.
“Okay, I understand your fear now,” Suga said, and Y/N groaned once again.
“Why don’t you just go to the club room like you do every day?” Kageyama snapped. “She won’t find you there.”
“O-oh,” Y/N stuttered out slightly as he looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that.
“You never think, dumbass,” Kageyama snapped at his brother, and the other first year looked up at him with an amused smile.
“Says the kid who has never passed a test,” Y/N said with a smirk before turning to everyone else and walking out of the gym. “See you after practice.”
“I wish your brother was on the team!” Noya exclaimed when he got in the gym, it was obvious the two had just passed each other. “It would be cool to have two Kageyama brains.”
“I don’t think it would ever be a good idea to have them on the same team,” Suga said with a chuckle, and Kageyama looked over at the third year. “They argue constantly.”
“I think it would be a great idea!” Hinata exclaimed as he picked up a volleyball. “He tells me my jumps are all gaah, and he’s so nice and pretty and he makes me feel like we’re actually friends!”
“He’s definitely nice, too nice for his own good,” Tanaka said before yelling. “Why must all the girls like that pretty boy!”
“Maybe because he’s not an idiot,” Tsukishima said coolly, and Yamaguchi snickered next to him. Tanaka growled, and Kageyama was pissed.
Volleyball was supposed to be his thing, even they had played together as kids.  Y/N stopped playing volleyball their first year of junior high and joined the creative writing club, where he actually did pretty good in.  He had won some award for a short story he wrote that Kageyama never read because he was mad his brother had quit volleyball.
When it just became Kageyama on the court, he didn’t want to hear Y/N’s name.  It reminded him of betrayal and hurt.  He also wondered what Y/N would’ve been like with Oikawa, if his charm would’ve worked against the senior.  Seeing Y/N in the gym and hearing his name while he played the one thing that was his, just made him livid.  Why couldn’t he just have one thing?
*****
Everyday Y/N waited for Kageyama in the club room so they could walk home together.  He worked on homework as he waited, sometimes wrote for his club activities, but never said much when the team would come in after practice.  He was normally chatty, but in the club room it’s like he turned off that part of him, and Kageyama was sure it was to piss him off.
Kageyama was livid from his brother coming into the gym hours before, and when he entered the club room to see his brother leaned against the wall on his phone; something in Kageyama snapped.  He stomped forward to tower over his twin, who looked up at him curiously.
“Why do you always wait on me?” Kageyama snapped, his brother’s eyes widened in shock.  They’d never acted like this in public, because they never fought in front of people because it was considered rude by their mother.
“What do you mean?” Y/N asked as he squint his eyes up the boy.  It was almost like he was trying to test him without actually doing it. “Are you saying you wouldn’t wait for me?”
“Why would I wait for you!” Kageyama screamed, and the other was soon on his feet.  They were in each other’s space, and Y/N still had some lazy smirk on his face.
“We live in the same house, dumbass,” he said with a roll of his eyes, and Kageyama didn’t know why his brother wasn’t livid. “Also, one of us always forgets the key and it’s always empty.”
“I’d rather it be empty than you be there,” Kageyama snapped, and Y/N took a step closer into Kageyama’s space as a fire come alive in his y/e/c eyes.
“What’s your deal,” he asked, venom dripping from his voice, and Kageyama took a step back only for Y/N to take a step forward. “Why do you hate me so much?  Come on tell all of us!”
The team had filed into the club room, but no one had done anything to intervene.  No one knew if you were supposed to step in when siblings were fighting, or if you just let it happen.  Kageyama caught Suga’s gaze, which screamed for him to just stop and drop it, but the first year didn’t.
“You’re you, that’s why,” Kageyama sneered as Y/N smirk disappeared into a thin line with his jaw clenched. “I don’t give two shits about anything you do, but everyone else does! I just wish I didn’t have to hear about you or see you!”
Suddenly Kageyama was being pinned to the wall by his brother, who was in his face more than ever now.  They’d never had a fight like this before, one where Y/N actually got physical.
“You think you’re so tough and scary!” Y/N screamed, and it was obvious he was about to hit the setter when he was pulled away by Tsukishima and Daichi.  Suga held back Kageyama.
Kageyama went to surge forward, but Suga grabbed his shoulder and Tanaka grabbed the other one. The sight of his brother wearing some ridiculous pastel orange hoodie with shorts being held back by his teammates made him laugh.
“Oh, so this is all so funny to you?” Y/N screamed, obviously a lot angrier than the other. “Well congratulations, Tobio!  You don’t have deal with me ever again!  Have fun home alone!”
Tanaka had thrown the y/h/c bag over to him, and the first year glared at Kageyama as if he wanted him dead.  Sure, the black haired boy was angry, but it was almost as if the tables had been turned until his brother spoke again.
“See you never, dickhead!” He called out as he flipped the setter off and exited the room.
Kageyama was now having to be forcefully held back from leaving the room.  He was on the verge of only seeing red.  How dare his brother speak to him like that.  What was wrong with him?  The setter usually went to play volleyball after their fights, to calm him, but he knew it would anger him even more.
“Hey, Kageyama, take a deep breath,” Suga said as Daichi walked over to the two setters.  He looked pissed, but the first year didn’t care for once.
He noticed Hinata behind Daichi with a lot of the other teammates, he looked shocked for some reason. Probably because his precious Y/N turned out to not be what everyone thought he was, even though Kageyama had always known.
“What’s going on with you?” Daichi snapped, which made Kageyama look the third year in the eyes with a sharp look.
“Why do you care?” Kageyama asked, and he really meant it.  Why did they care about him right now, usually people were running off to comfort his brother at this point.
“Because you’re my teammate. You matter to us,” Daichi said sternly, and Kageyama rolled his eyes with a scoff.
“Why are you so mean to Y/N-chan?” Hinata asked, and Kageyama glared at the ginger from across the room.  If he could, he probably would’ve already been fighting the middle blocker.
“I’m mean?  Did you not just see how he treated me?” Kageyama snapped. “He’s the one who is being mean!”
“Dude, all he had been doing was waiting on you to go home,” Tanaka said, causing Kageyama to look at him. “You started acting like a dick for no reason.  He treated you that way because you treat him that way.
“Why are you still defending him?  He showed you that he’s not what you guys think he is!  He’s not charming or nice or cool or whatever you say!” Kageyama screamed, and he could feel himself getting so angry he could cry soon. “He’s an asshole just like me!”
Suga turned him to look at him, and he scared the first year a little.  There was so much annoyance and anger in his eyes, and it reminded the first year that his upperclassman wasn’t just a soft and reassuring person, but also aggressive.  It was obvious the third year was ready to go off when the door opened to reveal a very angry Yachi.
“What did you do?” Yachi asked as she pointed at Kageyama, there was anger in her voice but not enough to scare him.
“Nothing?” Kageyama questioned, not sure what she was asking.
“Oh, so me running into an extremely upset Y/N because you told him you basically don’t want to be his brother is nothing?” Yachi asked, and now she was starting to get scary.
“It’s none of your business!” Kageyama yelled for the blonde to flinch slightly. “Just leave it!”
Yachi looked conflicted before she took a deep breath and stared at Kageyama with a challenging look. “No.  I’m not going to leave it when one of my best friends is upset.”
“Do you know if he even wants to be your friend or if he’s manipulating you?” Kageyama asked, and he knew that Y/N was just trying to take his team away, he couldn’t actually befriend them.
“Enough with it, Kageyama!” Suga yelled as he yanked the other to look at him. “We all know he’s an asshole!  You two are so alike there, but he just knows how to hide it better than you!”
“We’re nothing alike!”
Thy couldn’t be alike, because they were different.  Fraternal in everything, especially the way Y/N had left Kageyama when he needed him most; Tobio wouldn’t have done that.  His brother was something else, maybe worse than an asshole, and no one was seeing it.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re alike or not,” Yachi said as she walked closer to the setter, never getting too close to him. “You two are family!”
“You don’t know anything about our family,” Kageyama sneered slightly, because he knew he only had Y/N in the house with him now since Miwa had left and mom rarely home.
“I know that he loves you,” Yachi said, not backing down. “He started making a scrapbook for this season, but it mainly focuses around you.  We became such close friends because he needed help with something that was meant for you.”
“A scrapbook?” Kageyama asked, and he remembered how his mother used to make them all the time when they were really young.  Miwa would help her as Y/N stared at it in amazement, and Kageyama practiced outside with his volleyball.
“Yes, he said you may really like it.  He made sure to buy one big enough for three years, because he wants you to have something to remember years from now.  The scrapbook is done now though, he said there’s no point in continuing if you hate him,” Yachi explained, and Hinata stepped up beside her.
Kageyama couldn’t help but think about all the times Y/N had been running cold water on burnt fingers with the excuse of burning himself with candles. Or the countless band aids on his fingers from actually getting into thorns.  It made sense for it to end up being from making a scrapbook, but the first year didn’t want to accept his brother wanting to do something for him like this.
“He went to every game you had just to buy tickets, asked me to bring him a schedule from the Tokyo training camp, and there were mainly photos of you he had taken at games.  I told him to just become a manager, but he told me that you’d hate it and he’d just stay on the sidelines,” Yachi continued, she trying to not scream but everyone could feel it coming on soon.
“How was I supposed to know any of this?” Kageyama barked back. “It’s not like he told me!”
“Kageyama, how is Y/N supposed to know to tell you anything when all you do is push him away?” Daichi asked as he placed a hand on the first year’s shoulder, and it made Kageyama fall silent for a moment before started to get angry once again.
“You guys don’t know anything!” Kageyama screamed, pulling out of Daichi’s grip. “I was the one who was pushed away, not him!”
“Kageyama, calm down!” Suga screamed as he made him look at him, maybe now he was going to say what he wanted. “Y/N is your twin brother, and it doesn’t matter who pushes who away or how different you are!  You guys are actually really alike, but neither of you see it!”
“We’re not alike!” Kageyama screamed back, and he didn’t know why it made him so angry.  He remembered wanting to be like his brother when he was younger because of how much people liked him.  He wanted to be like Y/N because he always had everyone’s attention, especially when they played volleyball as kids.
“You are though!” Noya screamed, obviously getting riled up from everyone around him.
Kageyama noticed only the starting lineup, Suga, Yachi, and Yamaguchi were the only ones left in the clubroom with him, even though the majority of them hadn’t said a word. Yamaguchi looked pissed off, and Kageyama wasn’t sure as to why.
“No, we aren’t!” He screamed back. “Everyone likes him.  He’s smart, funny, cute, and someone everyone wants to be friends with!  He’s always had more friends than I do, and always had people who call him by his given name!”
Everyone stared at him as if he had confessed something so secretive.  It was common knowledge that Y/N was the ‘better twin’ in those aspects, and there shouldn’t be shocked expressions surrounding him.
“You’re both assholes,” Tsukishima said, breaking the silence. “That’s how you’re like each other. Just because Y/N is better at being secretive about it doesn’t mean you’re completely different.”
“It’s like he could tell you that you look like shit, but it seems like a compliment because of how he says it.  You just can’t hide aggression,” Yamaguchi added, and Hinata looked like he was on fire for a second.
“He’s also obsessed with writing just like you are with volleyball!” Hinata exclaimed, and Kageyama rolled his eyes. “No, really!  He’s always writing! The other day he was writing during lunch by himself as he ate!”
Kageyama stared at everyone and didn’t know what to say.  He wasn’t like Y/N, he just couldn’t be.  His entire life had been only seeing the differences from the way they looked to the way people interacted with them.  They didn’t understand what he meant when he said they were completely different.
“You’re just jealous, Kageyama,” Yachi said, she started look like her normal self; ready to run if things were too much or just freak out. “He’s jealousy of you too.”
“Why would I be jealous of him?” Kageyama screamed, and Yachi flinched as she took a step and bumped into Hinata.
“He’s got loads of friends and is super pretty!” Hinata exclaimed with a laugh. “It’s silly though because you have us and volleyball!”
“He used to play volleyball too,” Kageyama said quickly. “So, it hasn’t always been mine, just like you guys will end up being ours after a while.”
“He used to play!” Noya and Tanaka exclaimed, missing the entire point of learning that. “Why doesn’t he anymore?”
“I don’t know,” Kageyama snapped, before he took a deep breath. “He quit when we got to junior high.”
“Wait, what,” Noya said as a confused look made its way to his face. “How could Y/N even make this scrapbook; he doesn’t come to anything.”
“He’s come to every game we’ve had this year,” Yamaguchi said, and Kageyama looked over at the freckled boy. “He sits where you can’t spot him, well if you’re on the court that is.”
“King, you look so confused,” Tsukishima said, and Kageyama was confused.  Why would Y/N even do any of this?  The setter had been sure his brother hated him. “He never shows his face because he’s scared you’ll get angry with him.”
“I wouldn’t though!” Kageyama yelled, and he knew there was no need to.  Maybe he was yelling at himself instead, because he realized this was all his fault. “Why would I get angry at him for coming to a game?”
He knew he would’ve been angry.  There would’ve been a whole scene in the hallway where Kageyama told his brother he didn’t deserve to be there.  He’d be angry because Y/N didn’t get to take back what he had done three years ago.
“You need to ask him that yourself,” Yachi said before looking at her watch and shrieking. “I need to go now!  Bye!”
She dashed out of the room, and suddenly boys were getting ready to leave immediately while Kageyama stood still.  How was he supposed to ask Y/N why he felt too scared to talk to him?  It wasn’t really a conversation that most siblings had, especially twins.  A clap on the back brought him out of his thoughts.
“It’ll be okay, Kageyama, don’t worry,” Suga said with a smile, and Kageyama nodded.  Maybe things would be okay.
*****
Kageyama was walking home, already separated from the group at this time, and he hadn’t realized how lonely it was.  His brother usually kicked rocks and they had competitions to see who could kick the rock the farthest (Y/N always won somehow), or he’d hum whatever J-Pop song was stuck in his head.  Sometimes he’d sing, but his singing voice wasn’t the best; not that it was horrible by any means, just not the best.  Without all of that, it was just quiet and Kageyama didn’t like it.
The thought of an empty house made him cringe, because that would be another level of quiet. Typically, his brother was always doing something, whether is be playing music, humming, studying, watching tv, etc. he was always doing something that created noise in their house.  The setter had always thought of it as annoying, but now he couldn’t imagine his life without out.
He heard someone sniffling, as if they were sobbing, and looked ahead to see Y/N sitting on the sidewalk next to a small bridge.  His face was between his raised knees, and he looked like a mess just like that.  Who knew how long he had been sitting out here in the crisp autumn air.
“Y/N?” Kageyama asked, and the other looked up fast and he looked worse than before.
Kageyama had seen his brother cry before, it had never been something he enjoyed seeing, but this was something else. Red cheeks and eyes with tear stains that could almost be tattooed on him.  His hair was everywhere, unlike usual when he tried to keep it looking as nice as possible.
“Tobio?” Y/N asked as his voice cracked, and suddenly the raven haired boy remembered the last time his brother looked like this.  Their grandfather’s funeral.
The memory of his brother sobbing when they had gotten home from the funeral.  Kageyama didn’t like it at all.
“Are you okay?” Kageyama asked as he walked over to sit next to the other.
“What do you think,” Y/N said with a hurt laugh before he wiped his eyes as he looked at his brother. “It’s not like my brother basically said he didn’t care if I died or anything.”
The venom in Y/N’s voice made Kageyama flinch.  He should have known that would be what he was going to say, but it still hurt in a way he didn’t realize would.  Tobio looked down at the ground as he pulled his knees but to copy his brother’s actions.
“I didn’t mean it,” he said, before he sighed. “I mean I did, but I don’t anymore.  I’ve just been so angry with you.”
“No shit,” Y/N said with a laugh. “I just don’t know why, and I was going to ask but I knew you’d kill me if I did.”
Kageyama chuckled slightly. “You’re probably right.”
“I know it’s because I quit volleyball when we go to middle school,” Y/N said as he looked up at the night sky. “I had quit for a couple reasons, but it was mainly because I felt like you didn’t want me there.  I waited for you to reach out to me, but you never did though and then you confirmed it earlier tonight.”
“I never wanted you to quit volleyball,” Kageyama said as he looked at the concrete.  Neither of them could look at each other while they spoke, and maybe that was something they had in common.
“You didn’t?”
Kageyama finally made himself look over at his brother, who was staring at him, and the other still had eyes full of tears.  He looked happy though, as if he had never felt this relieved before.
“I didn’t,” Kageyama said slowly as he looked away. “I just didn’t know how to make you stay or why’d you leave me like that.  At the time, I was so angry that I didn’t care why’d you quit, I only cared that you had left the one thing we really had together.”
Y/N looked straight ahead and took a deep breath.  It was quiet between the two, but at the same time it was like the y/h/c boy’s thoughts were so loud.
“I quit because everyone always surrounded me, but never you,” he said eventually, and Kageyama looked up at him to see him still staring straight ahead. “I’d score a point, and no one ever complimented your sets, which were the real reasons why mine and everyone was able to spike so well.”
Kageyama remembered grumbling about it once to his brother.  He wished someone would tell him good set outside of Y/N, but no one ever did.  Every spike his brother did received a ‘nice kill!’ or ‘great one, Y/N’ but never anything towards him.
“People ignored you, and it just made me so mad.  You were the setter!” Y/N yelled as he threw his hands up. “You were the one who made it all work and they just ignored you!  I just thought if I left, then you’d get the credit you deserved, and I wasn’t all that great anyways; not like you.”
“You were great though!” Kageyama screamed, and he felt riled up from his brother’s frustration. “You deserved all the credit you got, because he hit my tosses no one else could hit! We were a great team!”
Y/N gave him a warm smile, one they used to share on the court when they won a game or had the perfect quick attack.  Tobio hadn’t realized how much he missed that smile, because it reminded him of the last time volleyball had been fun until he got to Karasuno.
“You have Hinata now though, Tobio,” his brother said softly, no malice in his voice.  He looked away with a sigh. “Remember how I won that dumb short story contest?”
The setter hadn’t expected for that to come up.  He did faintly remember it, but he mainly remembered that he didn’t read it.  There had been a whole statement out of not reading it and Miwa had tried to get him to read it because Y/N didn’t seem all that interested in forcing him.  He didn’t know what that had to do with any of this though.
“Yeah, why?” He asked, and Y/N chuckled as he wiped his eyes.  He wasn’t still crying, but his eyes were still watering because it took so much to calm down when he cried like that.
“I know you didn’t read it, so let me tell you what it was about.  It focused around a setter, an extremely talented one, but he struggled to find his voice on the court.  He tried silence, bare minimum, and demanding but he just couldn’t find the right voice. He thought he was alone, everyone had left him, but his brother was still there to encourage him to keep looking for that ‘right voice’ he needed.”
Tobio stared at the other, unsure of what to say.  Y/N had wrote about him throughout his years of volleyball, even years where Kageyama didn’t think they had each other.  He had been so angry about his brother quitting, he never actually paid attention to the other.
“So, you wrote about me?” Tobio asked softly, worried Y/N was going to tell him that was all a lie.
“I wrote it about us, or what I wanted for us.” Y/N looked at his brother, a look Tobio couldn’t figure out on his face. “I wanted you to see me, and that’s how I made it a reality in my life.  I went to every game, learned every annoying chant, cooked for you after every game, and so much more but you never saw me.  I was so angry even though I knew it was my fault, if I just stayed in volleyball, then you’ve still loved me.”
“I didn’t know you felt like that,” Kageyama said slowly, and his brother stared at his feet as if they were the most interesting thing ever.
Neither of them had ever been the best at expressing how they felt until it all just happened at once. They could say sorry without an explanation, because it was hard to explain to your brother how you had hurt him. Y/N was able to speak more than Kageyama could though, but it seemed to have gotten better since he had joined the creative writing club.
“It’s not like I ever told you, so you can’t help it.  I just,” Y/N paused to look at Tobio, y/e/c staring straight into him as if he was searching for the words in the other. “I just became so frustrated that I started to appear randomly where I knew you’d be because you’d react, and people would realize we were related.  I just wanted to be seen.”
Y/N quickly looked away after saying that, as if he was embarrassed.  Kageyama didn’t know what to say, because he never knew what to say in these situations.  They had never had to talk like this before.
“I just never realized how much it upset you that I quit volleyball, but I don’t think I would’ve stayed either way.  You have a team who loves you, brings out the best in you, and you don’t need me anymore.”
It was silent for maybe a minute or two, there was no way to really know.  All Tobio knew was that it was getting late, and they needed to get home soon, but they couldn’t until everything was out there.  They needed to talk, even though this was hard.
“Volleyball was how we spoke to each other when we were younger.  It was like our stupid twin superpower that you want so badly,” Tobio said, and Y/N chuckled. “When we played, we knew how the other felt and thought without having to ask or say anything.  You quit volleyball, and it felt like you cut off communication because you no longer wanted to be there with me.”
Y/N threw his head back with a groan as let out a deep sigh.  He wouldn’t look at Tobio, eyes going the opposite direction when he finally brought his head back down.  So much hesitation, and the setter wondered if this meant his brother had wanted to cut off communication.  The raven haired boy looked down at the ground as he waited for the other to speak.
“I miss volleyball.” Tobio’s head whipped up to look at the y/h/c. “I don’t think you understand how much I miss it.  You’re right, that is how we used to communicate, but I hoped we’d find a new way to.”
“I didn’t,” Y/N cuts off his brother.
“It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know!” He screamed as he stood up. “I left you all alone, and it makes sense for you to hate me!  I don’t even get the right to miss it.”
Tobio slowly stood up as he grabbed his brother’s things.  The other looked like he was about to cry again, and they both knew it was getting too late to just be sitting on the curb.
“Let’s go home,” Kageyama said, and his brother just nodded. “When we get there, we can play around with the volleyball a little.”
A small smile broke out on Y/N’s face, one that his brother missed.  It was the one he used when he complimented Kageyama on the court.  He was content.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
*****
“You have your lunch, right?” Y/N asked as he and his brother were about to leave the house to go school. “If you don’t, then it’s being locked away in the house.”
“I have it!” Kageyama yelled from the other room, and his brother wasn’t sure if he yelled out of annoyance or for him to hear; maybe both.
“Okay, then let’s get going.”
Y/N talked on the way to school, Kageyama chuckled occasionally or inserted a ‘dumbass’, but it was mainly the older twin speaking.  A lot of stories of how he had to deal with girls and a small part of how he wasn’t sure if he even liked girls before skipping past that as if he had never said that into his teachers.  Tobio never knew his brother could talk this much.
Hinata waited for the two of them, more like for Kageyama, and then the two raced as Y/N walked behind them.  He wasn’t in a hurry and was actually really tired from staying up so late, but it had been worth it.  He hadn’t been able to talk to Tobio like he did on his walk here in a long time, and his brother seemed to even enjoy the random stories.
“Y/N!” A voice called out and Suga was jogging to meet up with him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, everything is a lot better.  I’m really sorry you had to see me like that.  I would apologize for Kageyama, but I imagine you’ve seen him pissed off like that before,” he said with a gentle smile.
“That’s really good, I’m glad things are better,” Suga said as they walked, and he looked down at the first year’s attire. “You’re not in your uniform?”
“Oh, yeah.  Kageyama and I want to try something.  I didn’t think being in my uniform would be the best for it,” Y/N said, and Suga realized what Kageyama meant when he said the first year manipulated people.  Last night the y/h/c had been screaming, violent, and overall aggressive, but here he was, giving a smile to Suga that made the third year feel as if he had never done anything wrong.
“Oh, well I hope it goes well,” Suga said, and the other nodded as he walked to the gym as the third year walked to the club room.
Daichi had already opened the gym and had started stretching.  The first year followed his lead, but not stretching to the extent the other was.  He just didn’t want to tear something, because he knew that would be his luck. Attempt to spike in front of an entire team only to fuck up your body.
Tobio and Hinata appeared soon, and the setter had a smirk on his face when he looked at his brother. He turned to Hinata, who looked starry eyed like he did every morning.  Y/N wondered if the ginger was ever tired.
“Can you throw a ball for me and Y/N, we want to try something,” Kageyama asked, and Hinata nodded with a confused look.
“Don’t ask what we’re doing, you’re about to see,” Y/N said, and that somehow made the ginger seem less confused.
They got the balls out and the gym had started to fill up with players, but Y/N hadn’t noticed.  He had to remember how to get into the zone with this.  The embarrassment of it he messed up made him want to die just from the thought, so he had to get this right on the first time.
Hinata threw the ball and Y/N ran like he used to; quick.  He remembered thinking about how Hinata was a little faster than him, but Y/N’s main skill was his speed.  He jumped in the air and his hand hit the ball perfectly, making a sound that he had missed so much.  It slammed into the other side of the court, and he grinned at his brother.
“Hell yeah!” He screamed, and suddenly they were doing the handshake they had made up when they were 10 to impress everyone on the team.
“You never told us you could do that!” Hinata exclaimed with so much excitement, he seemed to be even more starry eyed than before.
“We’re the Kageyama twins, we’re geniuses,” Y/N with a laugh, and Tobio smiled over at him.
“You could always join the team,” Suga said, and Y/N was grateful Ukai had yet to make it.  If he had seen that, he’d either be pissed or excited.
“Nah, I prefer cheering you guys on.  You have to have a number one fan, don’t you?” Y/N asked, coming off as more charming than he had wanted to.
The team looked so touched, and he awkwardly looked over to his brother who started to laugh.  Well, that wasn’t what he wanted, but he knew it was a good sign.
“Guess I won’t be your biggest fan,” Y/N said to his brother who rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, right,” Kageyama replied before he went to go stretch, only for Y/N to let out a huge sigh.
“Not your biggest fan anymore, it was that easy!” Y/N exclaimed, and Suga laughed into his hand at how the siblings were acting.
“Shut up, dumbass!” Tobio yelled back, not even turning to look at his brother.
“Seems like they made up,” Suga whispered over to Daichi. “Kind of weird seeing Kageyama acting like this with someone he thought about killing constantly.”
“Yeah, but it’s nice, isn’t it?” Daichi asked.
“Yeah. Yeah it is.”
568 notes · View notes
twstarchives · 3 years
Text
This Happens, and I...
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Card: Lab Coat - SR Characters: Epel, Crewel, Jack, Cater, Vil (mentioned) Notes: Connected to Lilia Lab Coat
Chapter 1
—ALCHEMY WORKSHOP—
Crewel: The lambent flower, as its name suggests, is a plant that radiates light.
This plant is able to convert various nutrients into magic power and store them.
When it blooms, it releases all of the magic it had saved, making it give off a radiant shine.
Its petals won’t stop giving off that magic after it blooms, so it withers very quickly, and it’s difficult to breed them.
In fact, our own school’s botanical garden has hardly any at all.
For our Magic Potions lab today, we’ll be using nectar from lambent flowers.
Obviously, this nectar is extremely valuable. So be very careful when you take some from the jar with your droppers, puppies...
(Shatter!)
Epel: AHH?!
Crewel: The puppy that barked just now...
You’re Pomefiore’s Epel Felmier, yes? If you have a question, then quietly raise your hand.
Epel: I don’t have a question, I just... um...
I hit the jar of lambent flower nectar with my elbow... and broke it.
Crewel: You what?! ...Y-You spilt more than half of it!
Epel: I-I’m sorry... I-I was careless...
Classmate A: Oh, no... You really screwed up. See you on the other side, Epel.
Epel: Huh?
Jack: I heard from one of my seniors that if you make Professor Crewel mad, your life as a human ends for good.
They said he “disciplines” any student who makes some stupid mistake till they’re bowing on the floor crying their eyes out.
Epel: Th-They’re just exaggerating...
Crewel: Exaggerating. Yes, exactly, only exaggerating. That comment made it very clear what your stance is on this.
First you waste valuable lab ingredients, and then brush it off like that...
You’ve got some nerve, you mutt!!
          (Crewel brings out his whip)
Epel: Ahh!!
Jack: Th-That had a lot of force there.
Epel: I-I’m sorry... I really am! It wasn’t on purpose...
Crewel: Be quiet! Bad boys who make excuses must be punished.
You spilt one teacup’s worth of nectar. Collect that much again, and don’t miss a single drop.
I’ll give you... yes, two months to do this. If you don’t have it all collected by then...
You know what’ll become of you, don’t you?
Epel: ...*Gulps*
(W-Well, he gave me a chance to make up for myself. I gotta break my neck tryin’!)
Yes, I understand. I’ll go and get back all the nectar I wasted.
Classmate B: ...No way Epel’s really gonna be able to do it. He looks like seeing a bug would be enough to send him screaming bloody murder.
Classmate C: He should just call it quits and tell him “I can’t do it” while he still can. That pretty boy’s got too much pride.
Classmate A: Oi, cut him some slack!
What are you going to do when that sheltered little boy starts bawling his eyes out? Hahaha!
Epel: ......
—BOTANICAL GARDEN - TEMPERATE ZONE—
Epel: I’m getting that lambent flower nectar no matter what!!
...It’s been a week since I promised myself that. I’ve been coming to the botanical garden to check on the flowers everyday, but...
I only planted five flowers, and they’re still just buds. I can’t get their nectar if they don’t bloom...
But even if they did bloom, I still only have five flowers—I wouldn’t even be able to get a whole spoonful of nectar.
And I have to get an entire teacup full? How am I supposed to do this?
Cater: What’s this~? I see Mr. Cutie from Pomefiore over there!
Epel: That voice... That’s gotta be Cater-san.
How many times do I have to tell you? My name’s not “Cutie,” it’s Epel.
Cater: Yup, yup, you’re as cute as ever today ♪
Have you thought about starting a Magicam yet? I could show you how.
I’ve said this before, but I think someone as cute as you could absolutely be an influencer~
Epel: ....Hah. Right now, I don’t have the time for that.
Cater: What’s the matter? You look glum.
Epel: Well...
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Cater: So Professor Crewel told you to bring him one teacup’s worth of lambent flower nectar... I see.
Epel-chan, you poor thing. Wasn’t it obvious this was impossible from the start?
Epel: Huh?
Cater: Lambent flowers take about two to three years to bloom after they bud.
Epel: Whaaat?! T-Two to three years?!
Cater: That’s how long it takes to build up enough of that magic power they need to bloom.
So I don’t think there’s any way you could get a whole teacup in two months.
Epel: S-So then why did Professor Crewel tell me I only had two months to get the nectar?
Cater: Well, he lives by the motto “Discipline your dog till it stops biting the hand that feeds it.”
Epel: Discipline...?
Cater: He’s probably waiting for you to come crying “I can’t do this anymore~!” to him.
Epel: S-So, you mean... He was just being mean from the start?!
Cater: You got it~♪
Well, maybe it’s better to say it’s just his teaching style.
Huh? Epel-chan, are you listening?
Epel: ......
I... I’m not the best at studying... and yeah, I make a lot of mistakes... but... I always try to fix them...
And I... just want to be acknowledged...
So when he gave me a second chance, I thought “I have to put in everything I’ve got”...
But he was just being mean... My classmates were making fun of me too... I can’t believe this...
Cater: Wait, you’re actually really shocked?!
Epel: This happens, and I... I... and everyone got to... ah!
Cater: Hey, don’t cry, Epel-chan...
Epel: ...I want to prove them all wrong!!
Cater: That option?!
E-Epel-chan, you’ve actually pretty competitive, huh?
Epel: I'm not a mutt... or a pretty boy!
Cater: I think it’d be better if you apologized while you’ve still got time. ‘Cause this was an impossible game from the start...
Epel: It... can’t be impossible. I’m going to outsmart all of them!
Chapter 2
—INTERIOR HALLWAY—
Cater: Oh~? Are you heading back now, Epel-chan? Then let’s go to the Mostro Lounge together ♪
What do you say about making your Magicam debut by taking a selfie with me against a super aesthetic café backdrop?
Epel: Cater-san... Sorry, I can’t today, I think. I have to go to the botanical garden.
Cater: Botanical garden... What?
Are you still collecting lambent flower nectar because you want to prove yourself to Professor Crewel?
Epel: Yes, of course I am!
This is compensation for the valuable nectar I spilt. I’m going to pay it back.
Cater: You sure are stubborn. But remember we talked about how this was impossible from the start?
Apologizing ASAP will make everything sting less.
If you’re scared of Professor Crewel, want me to come with you?
Epel: C’mon! I thought I already told you “it can’t be impossible.”
Cater: Huh? What do you mean...?
Epel: Hehe... Here, come with me. I’ll show you something cool.
—BOTANICAL GARDEN - TEMPERATE ZONE—
Cater: Epel-chan, where are we going? We’re already really far into the botanical garden...
Epel: We’re almost there. Oh, here, I can see it.
Cater: Huh? Is something here...? Wait...
Whaaaaaat?
The flower bed is full of blooming lambent flowers!
Huh? You only had like five before, right? How many hundreds is this?
Plus they all look strong, and they’re already blooming flowers... No way...
How’d you do this?!
Epel: Hehe, it was as easy as a can of—er! It was very easy!
Remember what you told me, Cater-san?
About it taking time for lambent flowers to build up enough magic power to bloom?
Cater: Oh yeah, I remember.
Epel: Hearing what you said reminded me of something the teacher told us during class.
Crewel: This plant is able to convert various nutrients into magic power and store them.
When it blooms, it releases all of the magic it had saved, making it give off a radiant shine.
Epel: And in that case, if I just keep giving it nutrients, it’ll collect more and more magic and bloom quicker!
...Maybe? That’s what I thought.
But the store-bought soil you use for growing regular flowers wouldn’t work at all...
So I decided to give it a special fertilizer packed full of lots more nutrients everyday.
Cater: A special fertilizer?
Epel: I made it myself!
Cater: You say that in such a cute tone, like you just baked some sweets... but fertilizer, huh? You made some?
Epel: Yeah! It’s all inside this bag...
Cater: THAT STINKS!!
*Cough*... Wait... It’s making my eyes and nose burn!! What’s that disgusting smell?!
Epel: Ahaha, isn’t it normal for fertilizer to smell?
Cater: This is not normal!! This doesn’t bother you at all, Epel-chan?
Epel: It’s not that it doesn’t bother me, it’s just I’m used to field wor—wait, no, um... I’m used to gardening.
There’s so much fertilizer right at your disposal at this school! You could get as much food scraps as you want in the cafeteria.
Cater: Food scraps?!
Epel: And the most important thing to make this special fertilizer is...
Horse shit!
Cater: Horse... huh, what?
I just heard a word I never thought I’d hear coming out of the mouth of our delicate Epel-chan...
Epel: It’s horse shit. A horse’s dung. I’ve been getting some everyday from the horse-riding club.
The horses at this school eat really well, so they make loads of it everyday. It really helped me out.
Horse shit doesn’t just help grow the plants; it nurtures the soil too. It’s really the best fertilizer you could get!
Cater: D-Do you have to keep saying it so many times? Cay-kun is getting shaken up...
Umm, so, you’ve been collecting food scraps and horse dung everyday for two months...
Then mixed it together to make a suuuper smelly fertilizer, and that made the lambent flowers bloom at a crazy speed...?
Epel: Yeah!
Cater: Epel-chan, I can’t believe you! You’re way bolder than you look!
I’m actually blown away!
Crewel: Just when I thought I heard a ruckus over here... this is an odd pair. What are you doing in the botanical garden?
Hm? Don’t tell me I’m seeing... lambent flowers blooming in that flower bed?!
Epel: Professor Crewel, what do you think? I grew lambent flowers!
I’m really close to being able to get you one teacup’s worth of nectar... Please wait a little while.
If you’d like, I could even get a whole teapot’s worth.
Crewel: Heheh, hahaha! And here I thought you’d surely tuck your tail and come crying miserably to me... I didn’t see this coming.
You must have needed an extraordinary amount of dedication to raise lambent flowers up to this point, since they die so easily.
You’re a much pluckier puppy than I’d taken you for. Good boy, Epel Felmier.
Epel: Thank you...!
Crewel: However, don’t think I’m going to be lenient with your class and exam grades just because of this.
I’m just holding you in the same regard as the other puppies now.
This recognition is simply for making up for your shortcomings.
Epel: Yes, I understand. I’ll continue working as hard as I can from now on.
Crewel: Good answer. ...Keep this up and prove yourself to the other students too.
Epel: Okay!!
Cater: ...There you go! “Good boy” is Professor Crewel’s biggest compliment!
Epel: Ehehe...
Cater: All’s well that ends well, huh? ♪ Man, but anyway...
The sparkly, shiny lambent flowers, and a smiley Epel-chan. You wouldn’t even have to edit this; it’s already super photogenic.
Hey~ Is now the right time to make a Magicam account? I’m sure you’d go viral!
Epel: I’m sorry. I’m going to go to the library now... to study!
I’m going to keep doing my best in Potions... and maybe... I’ll even be able to surpass the Dorm Leader!
See you later, Cater-san. Excuse me!
Cater: Ehh~! Don’t be so cold~ Your super nice senior¹ will help you study~!
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1. Your super nice senior
Cater refers to himself as “oniisan” (big brother), but I tried to substitute with something more fluent-sounding that still conveys a similar feeling of familiarity/him being “older”
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mourntheantagonist · 3 years
Text
Billy Hargrove’s Exploration of Beauty
| part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 |
Part 6: Split Ends
also on ao3
***
It all happened so fast. Like he blinked his eyes and he went from behind an ice cream counter to a hundred feet below ground level. Tied up to a chair in front of his coworker who he had barely even known. Who he was beginning to like. And despite being told after the fact that whole days had passed, his little vacation didn’t feel so long. Having been blacked out and drugged out of his mind for the most of it. It was quick to be over with. Could have almost have been excused as a fever dream.
The events following his escape went by fast too. Coming up to the main floor only to find out that they might have just been safer underground. Hearing news of the mind flayer being back just went in one ear out the other.
Finding out Billy was among the flayed. That stuck. But he hid the fear. Suppressed it. Because they didn’t have the time to dwell on that.
Driving up to Cerebro felt quick. Considering he drove like a bat out of hell, that wasn’t that hard to believe.
Slamming into the side of the Camaro. He had his eyes closed for that one. But it went by fast. It had to. “It’s not Billy” he had chanted in his mind.
Everything was quickly paced. Moving from one thing to another swiftly. Nothing felt like it had dragged on.
Until he was up on that balcony.
And he watched as the mindflayer skewered his boyfriend through the chest. It was all slow motion. Felt like watching a movie that would never end. Watching as it went in and out. Tearing flesh and breaking bone. Collapsing to the floor with a loud thud that echoed throughout the mall. Lying there motionless. Bleeding out onto the disgusting mall tile. Dying. He was dying.
He’d later hear from Robin that when he was up on that balcony she had to hold him back from jumping over the ledge. Kicking and screaming. “I have to get to him!”
Everything following that moment felt like slow motion. Agonizing slow motion.
Driving to the hospital that held Billy. Max in the passenger seat. It was silent. And they must have hit every red light on the way.
The trip up the elevator to the floor he was on. Unbearably slow.
The line they stood in to speak to the front desk. Unbearably long.
The wait until they were ready for them to come back. It felt like forever.
And just as he was ready to pass through the glass doors into the hall of the ICU, there was a hand on his chest. A nurse of about five-foot-five looking to be in her mid-to-late forties had stopped him. “Family members only at this time.” She’d said. He wanted to yell at her. Say he’s the closest thing Billy has to family. But he kept his mouth shut. Bowed his head and ushered Max along, despite her protests.
“Go see your brother, Max. I’ll be okay.”
But he wouldn’t. Steve wouldn’t see Billy for the first time for over a month. The longest month of his life.
Months spent with Billy beginning to fade away in this never ending cycle of being alone. Waking up everyday to an empty bed. Not even being able to make a phone call just to hear his voice. Being without him in every way. Not hearing his laugh or seeing his smile or just feeling his skin against his. He tried to hold on to all of those good memories. But they were slipping away.
It all went downhill when Max had called him from the ICU. It was two in the morning and she was there with Chief Hopper, despite knowing she shouldn’t be. Steve hid his anger around Hopper, trying his best not to hate him. Because he got special privileges and Steve didn’t. It was two in the morning and he was sitting in his living room watching a random movie, curled up in a blanket and hugging a pillow. He hadn’t been sleeping very well. The left side of his bed cold and vacant.
Max didn’t usually call this late. The ringing of the phone startled him and made his heart race. Because something must be wrong.
“Steve?” Max’s voice came over the line.
“Is something wrong?” He had to get straight to the point.
The pause felt like forever. His breath caught in his throat, hands trembling waiting for her to say something.
“They want to cut his hair.”
June 10th, 1985
“I think I want to grow out my hair.”
Billy says it to him that day while curled up in his bed. Steve’s fingers tenderly combing through his curly blonde locks. It’s soft. Void of any hairspray and all natural in its full curly glory. Smell of cheap drugstore shampoo. Slightly minty.
“Grow it out? It’s already long.” Steve says. He’s not wrong. Billy’s hair is already shoulder length and that’s with his naturally tight curls. Wet and brushed out it’s even longer. About to his collar bones.
“I know that. But I’d like for it to be longer. Is that okay?”
“Are you asking for my permission? Because you know you don’t have to do that.”
“I know. Just wanted to know what you thought.”
“More hair to grab onto? Doesn’t sound all that bad to me.”
Billy laughs and leans into Steve.
Billy had been getting better about voicing his feelings about things. Finding it easier to settle into himself in the company of Steve. Gaining a trust that Steve wouldn’t look at him like others would have if they had seen a boy take pleasure in a feminine aesthetic. Painted nails and soft makeup and even sexy lingerie when the mood was just right. Things he’d never allow leave the walls of Steve’s house, but had been able to set free when he was inside.
“Can I ask what made you want to do this?”
“Max braided my hair last night, but it’s too short on top so it was all sticking out.” Steve couldn’t see the smile peek onto Billy’s face or the rosy tint on his cheeks. “But I liked it.”
Max and Dustin had come to learn about the two of them. About not only their relationship but about Billy. About the little things he does to feel beautiful. Billy wasn’t as open with the two of them as he was with Steve. But they were nice about it. Supportive like Steve was. Billy would say it was nice having someone else in on the secret. Even if it scared him shitless having even just Steve in the know.
“Good. I bet you look amazing with your hair braided.”
“Do you know how?” Billy seems timid in the way he asks. But not like he used to be. His voice is consistent in tone and there is an ounce of confidence there.
Steve’s in the middle of wrapping a curl around his finger until he reaches Billy’s scalp. “A little. I used to braid Carol’s when we were little. Not sure how good I am now.”
“Do you want to try?” Same voice as before. Hopeful tinge to it that makes Steve smile.
“Go get me a brush.”
- : -
Steve barely listens to the rest of the call. He’s already getting ready to leave for the hospital before he even hangs up the phone. Barely bothering to make himself presentable. Going out to his car wearing a pair of pajama pants and one of his father’s college sweatshirts.
Max had told him to come. So he was already out the door. Letting himself imagine what Billy might look like now. It’s been over a month so he surely looks a lot different from when he last saw him. Hopefully he looks much different considering the last time he saw him he was drenched in his own blood with a hole in his chest. Max had taken pictures of Billy at the hospital, but he couldn’t bear to look at them. He needed to actually be there the first time he saw Billy, or he might completely lose his mind. If he hasn’t already.
The hospital is a full forty minute drive outside of Hawkins. But it’s two in the morning and the roads are almost entirely empty. So he floors it. Driving fifteen over the whole trip. Releasing all of the anxiety and anticipation into the weight of his foot to increase his speed.
He’s driving like he’s heading there to say goodbye. Like he’s getting ready to say his last words to the dying man in the hospital bed. Tell anyone else he’s driving this recklessly over a potential haircut they’d think he’d be being dramatic. To put it mildly.
But it was more than just hair. Billy’s hair meant something more than just the evolutionary purpose of keeping your head warm.
Losing his hair would be like losing a limb. It was a part of him. So much of his identity contained within each strand of dirty blonde. The one thing he had control over. The one thing Neil never bothered to touch. Hair he had been growing out for the better part of five years having only recently begun trimming it, and even more recently begun growing it out again. The bulk of the hair on his head was the same exact hair that had been with him through all of it. Through every beating. Through every milestone. Always there sitting on his shoulders.
It was the thing that brought him comfort in knowing it was his. That it would always be there. It was like his coat of armor. It was like a shield. Something he always used to hide behind. Something that protected him. Something that made stepping out into the world just a little bit bearable.
But then with Steve he didn’t use it to hide behind. When he was with Steve he let it fall. He let it soften and lose the stiffness brought upon by too much hairspray. He let Steve comb his fingers through it. Touch the very thing that gave him a glimpse of comfort. Because Steve did too. Steve’s gentle and caring hands combing through tangles while they lay together in bed. The same hands braiding his hair while they sat in front of the TV. Billy on the floor with his back to the couch. Sitting in between Steve’s legs as he tries to incorporate the shorter strands at the front of his head into the cascade of woven hair. Slicking it down with water and hairspray only for the short strands to sprout up only after only a couple of minutes. Billy never did get his perfect braid.
They want to take it off. They want to take it all off. Even though it’s not necessary. They wanted to take away the one thing Billy had left after everything. After it was all taken away from him. Steve had already destroyed the Camaro. The only thing he’d be walking out of the mall with would be that fucking hair and thankfully his beating heart.
And he would have Steve. He would always have Steve.
If he still wanted him when he woke up.
Steve passed the “Leaving Hawkins” sign at a whopping seventy miles per hour. Paying no mind to potential police surveying the road. Wasting no time at all.
June 20th, 1985
Billy’s wearing a scrunchie in his hair when he comes to Steve’s house after his shift. His hair is still drying from the pool water but is still so bouncy and shiny in the evening sunlight, and the little blue scrunchie in his hair makes him melt. The way the pink and orange hues of a perfect sunset warm the color of each strand. The ways his ears are fully exposed, his earring dangling and perfectly reflecting the light. The way the little strands at the front of his head fall into his eyes. The way it’s so messy yet so elegant at the same time. His heart soars. He looks beautiful.
Steve tells him that. With a kiss on the lips before he walks through the front door.
“Where’s the scrunchie from?” Steve asks.
“Stole it out of Heather’s locker.”
Steve gave Billy a fake shocked expression. “My boyfriend? A thief? It can’t be.”
Billy walks past Steve and into the house. “Relax, I swear there’s like fifty of them in there. She won’t even notice.” He takes a seat on the right side of the couch, like he always did.
Steve sits beside him, leaning his entire body up against Billy and burying his head into the crook of his neck. Billy still strongly smells of chlorine and he used to hate that smell until it became a signal that Billy was around. Suddenly it had become one of his favorite scents.
“Well it looks like we’re just going to have to get you some of your own doesn’t it?” Steve starts twirling his finger around one of the loose strands at the front of his face. “It looks real pretty.”
Pretty.
That was a newer word for them. Dropping the ‘boy’ at the end because it didn’t feel necessary anymore. Sometimes even made him feel a little like he was implying that boys couldn’t be pretty, needing to add the specification. Billy was becoming far more comfortable with himself and embracing it all. Beginning to believe that men could be pretty and that didn’t have to detract from anything.
So Steve called him pretty. He called him beautiful and gorgeous and stunning because he was. Because Billy deserved to hear it. And because it made him happy.
“Showers weren’t working at the pool. Need to wash the chlorine out. You gonna join me?”
“Oh absolutely.”
- : -
The trip through the hospital gives Steve flashbacks. Flashbacks to the night him and Max anxiously made the trek to the hospital wing Billy was in. Every moment he was currently experiencing felt like the memory. Sweaty palms gripping the handles in the elevator while the cage slowly moves up to the fifth floor. Shoulders hunched, leaning all his weight onto the bar as he curses each time the elevator stops. Foot tapping in anxiety as he waits and waits and waits until finally the doors slide open onto the fifth floor.
Steve ignores the lineup of people at the front desk and heads towards the glass door through which he can see Hopper. He wasn’t going to wait anymore. Fully prepared to bypass the stout man they had guarding the door.
Two hands come in contact flat against his chest as he gets within a foot of the door. So close to grabbing the handle. Steve leans all his weight against the man. Straight faced like a man on a mission.
“Let me through.”
Steve knows how he looks. Adorning comfortable clothes looking completely disheveled. Hair a mess, sweat forming on his brow, practically foaming at the mouth as he attempts to push his way past. His voice determined as he repeats himself.
“I can’t allow that sir. You do not have permission.”
The man just stands his ground. Hands still flat against Steve’s chest, applying very little pressure, but enough to prevent Steve from storming through.
“Let me through.” It’s louder this time. Enough to where he’s beginning to cause a scene in the middle of the waiting area. Staff and the rest all turning their heads towards the disarranged man on the verge of a public tantrum. He looks all kinds of mad, like he belongs in a padded room, restrained and straight-jacketed. He repeats himself over and over again until his voice starts to break. The man is not budging, and Steve doesn’t have the strength.
Then there’s a strong hand grabbing his bicep. Steve’s haze still recognizes it as belonging to a separate party.
“Let the kid in. He’s with me.” It’s Hopper’s distinct voice that breaks him from the daze. The man blocking his way moves to the left and removes his hands from his chest, nearly causing him to fall forward.
Hopper guides Steve through the glass doors. This is the furthest he’s made it. He can feel Billy’s presence just right around the corner. He’s not sure if that’s just because he can hear Max’s voice echoing through the halls as she argues loudly with the nurses on call.
“Good thing you’re here. Max has been guarding Billy for an hour. It’s just hair. I don’t know what the issue is.”
Steve just looks at Hopper, completely stone cold.
“It’s not just hair.”
He storms past him and into the room where Max is standing in front of Billy’s bed with her arms outstretched while two nurses try to reason with her. Steve stalls when he finally looks past Max and gets a glimpse of Billy.
He’s pale, but still tanner than Steve. He has more stubble than he would have liked but it’s still trimmed. The mask over his mouth and nose block his view slightly. His eyes are closed and he looks very peaceful.
And his hair is longer. A lot longer.
Splayed across the white pillow underneath him, his tight waves look to be at the very least an inch longer than the last time he’d seen him. Bangs falling into his face extending all the way down to the tip of his nose. It looks soft. Shiny like satin under the hospital fluorescent. He looks heavenly and angelic and that freaks Steve out.
Heavenly and angelic.
Asleep. Dead to the world. Dead.
Except he wasn’t dead. The crests and troughs of the heart monitor proving such to be true. But it felt too close. Like it was right around the corner and he had to be careful not to alert death to their location.
Steve walked past the shouting fourteen year old without a word and approached Billy’s bedside. Upon closer inspection he notices how Billy’s body has frailed. Previously cut muscles, now soft and smooth. Yet he didn’t look sickly. He was still looking more built than Steve, even. Steve moves a fallen hair from out of his eyes, like it was blocking his vision out of his closed lids. Gently tracing his finger across his hairline to behind his ear where he tucked back another strand. His skin was warm. Blood still coursing through his veins. He was definitely alive. And somehow Steve felt his presence. Knew deep down Billy was still in there.
He’s not paying attention to the screaming match taking place behind him. And they’re not paying attention to him. He’s just staring at Billy. Like he’s looking at the Mona Lisa. Behind six inches of bulletproof glass. He can’t get to him. He can’t reach him. But he’s there. He can see him. And god he’s as beautiful as ever.
It’s not the ear piercing screams from an enraged teenage girl or the annoyed combativeness from the two young nurses that separates his attention from Billy. It’s a strong hand on his shoulder that somehow both gently and forcefully pulls him back.
“Alright everyone that’s enough!” Hopper doesn’t shout but his deep and full voice carries an intensity that shuts everybody up. “One at a time, please?”
“You have no right to shave his entire head! You only have to shave off a small patch for the surgery, you said it yourself!” Max is fuming. The only word that sticks in Steve’s head is surgery. He doesn’t bother asking. Not sure if knowing would make it easier to swallow.
“We actually do have the right. His father already gave us consent to do so. It’s you who doesn’t have the right kid.” Steve has to physically restrain himself. Looking back at Billy as his fists clenched and his fingernails dug crescents into his palms at the mention of Neil.
Neil having the final say over the one thing he never touched. That was something Steve had promised Billy he would protect him from. Not the hair. Protect him from Neil taking anything more from him.
“Besides, a man’s hair shouldn’t be that long anyway.”
If Steve didn’t have the self control he did, there would surely be a nurse with a broken nose. Instead he turns back to Billy again. Looking at him. Trying to pull some answers from him.
I wish you could just tell me what to do.
“When does it need to be done by?” It’s the first thing Steve’s said since he entered the room.
“His surgery is scheduled for nine this morning. So you’ve got around five hours.”
Steve hasn’t turned towards the nurses. Hasn’t turned his head away from Billy.
“Then give us five hours.”
Steve’s expression when he finally turns back to look at the two nurses is mean. Attempting to get it across that he’s not asking.
“Five hours.” They say as they nod their heads and walk out. Annoyed expressions on their faces.
“Steve you can’t let them -“
“They won’t.” Steve takes a long look at Billy. Taking a deep breath as he glances towards the scissors that sit on the medical tray. “I’m going to do it.”
Max doesn’t say anything, which is actually a good sign. An even better sign is when she finally removes herself from her guarded position at the foot of the bed to come join Steve.
He pulls down at one of the shorter strands at the front of Billy’s head. Pulled taut, the spiral reaches all the way just past his chin.
“You think it’s long enough for a braid?”
June 20th, 1985
After a very hot and heavy make out session against the shower walls, the two actually take a shower. Despite having done so many times before, showering together always feels so intimate. Standing with each other, naked and alone in a very vulnerable position,
just existing without jumping each other’s bones. It was nice. It was just more proof that what the two of them ran deep. Soaping up each other’s bodies. That was something so personal.
Steve was running his fingers through Billy’s soap covered hair. Billy’s back turned to Steve as he did it. Letting the water from the faucet rinse his front while he let Steve play with the individual strands of his hair.
Steve liked the way Billy’s hair looked when wet. Still maintaining a curl no matter how saturated in water it got. The way it darkened to a near dark brown and he could easily be mistaken for a brunette.
The shampoo smells like coconut. Stolen straight from his mothers bathroom. The fumes mixed with the steam of the hot water clearing his senses and making his breathing feel so easy.
Steve pulls at one of his curls until it’s completely straight. Careful not to pull too hard.
“It’s already getting longer, baby.”
Because his back is turned, Steve doesn’t see the wide smile appear onto Billy’s face. Because the water is falling into his face, Steve doesn’t see the tears of joy form into his eyes.
Yet Steve knows without seeing. He wraps his arms around Billy’s waist and pulls him in close. Presses kisses into the mole on the back of his shoulder.
“It’s gonna look so good.”
“You think so?”
“You bet. I’d say give it two more weeks and I can get these little suckers into a braid.”
- : -
Steve remembers saying that so vividly. Because exactly two weeks later would be the Fourth of July. The same day that Billy’s life would nearly be taken. It felt like some cruel joke.
Now Steve is sitting in a hospital bed with his comatose boyfriends sitting in between his legs as he brushes through his hair. Trying to hold it together in front of Max and Hopper.
Steve’s not entirely sure Hopper has been made aware of the true nature of his and Billy’s relationship. He figures he’s probably pieced it together by now. And he’s pretty sure he doesn’t really care if he knows or not. He’s too focused on Billy. Focused on the man in between his legs. Focused on making him look as beautiful as he can while his hair is still on his head. Trying not to focus that it’s going to be his hands that will cut it off. Because it has to be his hands. Or else it’ll end up inadvertently being Neil’s hands.
And he wouldn’t let that happen.
Max hasn’t said much since he’d arrived. He can tell she feels guilty that Steve had been blocked from seeing Billy for so long. Especially considering how easy it was to get him past those doors. She’s just sitting in the chair at his bedside holding Billy’s hand. He is angry. But not at Max. He’s not really angry at anyone one particular person. He’s angry at the entire situation they’re in and he doesn’t know how to express that anger to Max without screaming. So he keeps his mouth shut and gently brushes the tangles out of Billy’s hair.
“I’m going to head downstairs for some food. Do you want me to bring anything up for you two?” Hopper says. He too has been mostly silent. Clearly pretty confused about the situation.
Max’s eyes lit up. “My bag. It’s in your car. Can you grab it?”
“Sure thing kiddo. You Steve?”
“A cup of coffee would be nice.”
Hopper tousled his and Max’s hair. “You got it. I’ll be back in a bit. Please for the love of God don’t yell at anymore nurses. They’re just doing their job.”
Hopper leaves the two of them and Steve finally begins braiding Billy’s hair. Combing his hair front to back before taking three small strands and began attempting a French braid.
“What’s in the bag?” He asks.
Max smiles. Looking down at Billy’s bare fingernails. “My Polaroid. Thought maybe he might like to have some pictures.”
“I think he’d like that.” Steve’s looking down at Billy’s hand in Max’s. “You have any nail polish in there?”
“I think so.”
“That’s good, maybe we can paint them.” Steve’s being extremely focused on braiding. Making sure it’s clean and precise and making sure no strand is sticking out. And it’s going a lot better than usual. Only needing to slick down a couple stray pieces. All while carefully pressing kisses to the top of his head as he makes his way down the length of his hair. Down his neck until he’s reached the end where he finally ties it off with a hair tie off of Max’s wrist.
“How’s it look?” Steve asks.
“He looks pretty.”
Steve can’t help it anymore. Can’t hold back the stream of tears that have been bottled up and threatening to overflow since he got the call. The tears squeeze through tightly closed eyelids and roll down his cheeks as he just buries his face into Billy’s braided hair.
“He does. Doesn’t he?” Steve gently wraps his arms around Billy’s chest, careful around the dressing over his scar. Fully taking in for the first time that Billy is still here. For the past month Billy’s being alive was just simply something he was told. Never something he got to see. Now he does see it. Now he sees it and he feels the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. Feels his heart beat against his chest. He’s right there and he was going to be okay.
He had to be okay. That was the only way Steve would be okay too.
“I’m sorry.” Max apologizes. He knows why she says it. He doesn’t need clarification.
“It’s not your fault.”
Max gives Steve a half smile and uses her free hand to squeeze his shoulder.
“I don’t want to cut his hair.” Steve takes in a deep breath. “But I know it has to be me.”
“I could do it.”
Steve shakes his head at her. “No. I made a promise. It can’t be anyone else.”
“Well I’ll be here with you if it helps.”
“Thanks.”
“Thank you for loving my brother.”
They sit there for a while in just complete silence save for the muffled chatter from outside the walls and the occasional beeping from one of the many machines Billy had been wired up to. Hopper only arrives around ten minutes later with two coffees in hand and a red Jansport on his shoulder. He hands Steve his cup and Max her backpack and takes a seat in the other chair that’s near the door.
“You two alright?” Hopper asks. He probably noticed Steve’s tear stained cheeks and the somber atmosphere of the room he walked into.
The two of them nod. Steve goes in to begin nursing the hot cup of coffee and Max begins to sift through her bag. Pulling out her camera case and two small glass bottles.
“I have red and orange.”
“Billy hates orange Max! You know this!” Steve laughs.
“I know that. Was just messing with you.” She tosses the bottle of red nail polish over to Steve. “You paint, I’ll take pictures.”
Max takes a few shots while Steve coats Billy’s nails in a shiny bright red varnish. Still in the same position of Billy sitting in between Steve’s legs with a pillow on his chest for Billy to lay back on. He brings a coated hand to his lips to gently blow dry. All the while Max is snapping candid photos of the two, passing each piece of film over to Hopper for him to put into his shirt pocket to allow it to develop.
“You guys want one of all three of you?” Hopper asks. He’s been mostly silent the whole time. Nursing his own coffee while he watched Max prance around the room with her camera.
“That would be great.” Max says, handing the camera over to Hopper before she makes her way over to the bedside. Leaning into the frame. Steve pulls Billy’s braid forward so that it’s now draped over his shoulder and visible. Intertwining his fingers with Billy’s now dry and red coated ones. He smiles as the flash temporarily blinds him.
They take as many more photos as they can until Max has run out of film. Hours pass and the hour hand is approaching eight o’clock. Meaning it’s about time.
About time to say goodbye.
The process begins slowly. Undoing the braid being the first step. Undoing the thing Billy really wanted to see for himself. The thing he’ll only get to experience in pictures. It hurt to pull the elastic from his hair and run his fingers through the perfectly woven strands.
The next part was securing it all back up into a ponytail at the top of his head. That way all Steve would have to do was make one single cut and be done with it. Allow the nurses to shave off the rest.
He knew it was going to be hard. But he didn’t anticipate it being this hard. Now holding an open pair of scissors above Billy’s head. All of his hair in between the blades. All he had to do was close his fingers together and it would begin. But he was stuck. Hands frozen still as he began to sob into Billy’s hair as Max and Hopper silently watched him. Max’s hand on his thigh and Hopper’s on his shoulder.
He couldn’t stop imagining Billy having to wake up like this. Wake up to the knowledge that his hair was gone at the hands of Steve. Wondering if maybe this would hurt him more than someone else doing it. He had to remember he made a promise. Even if it meant that Billy may wake up and hate him.
Steve’s fingers finally close the blades together and he can hear the sharp sound of cutting hair.
He made a promise.
September 19th, 1985: One Month Later
Billy’s awake.
Billy’s awake and Steve is there holding his hand as he does. It wasn’t planned, somehow fate just decided to work out in their favor.
Billy takes a while to come to. Nearly an hour before he truly recognizes who he is and where he is and who Steve is. Steve just sits there patiently while he does. Repeating over and over again that he’s in the hospital. That he’s okay. That “Steve’s here.”
Billy’s hair is short and curly now. A lighter blonde than before. It looks really good on him and he just hopes Billy is able to agree.
“Steve?” Is the first thing Billy says and Steve’s heart melts at the sound of Billy’s groggy voice.
“Yeah baby. It’s me. I’m right here.” Steve pulls Billy’s hand to his mouth and begins kissing his knuckles. Showing Billy his own painted fingernails. Maybe that will help serve as a comfort for him. “Welcome back.”
“How long?”
“Almost three months.”
Billy just nods. Then slowly moves a free hand up to scratch at his head and Steve’s heart stops. He thought he’d have more time.
His heart shatters when Billy’s hand makes contact and his half lidded eyes turn wide.
“My hair is gone.” He says before turning over to see Steve is crying.
“I’m sorry. I had to cut it. I'm so sorry.” Steve’s voice is broken and Billy takes a minute to finally register the situation. Spending about a minute pulling at the short curls in his hair before squeezing Steve’s hand with all of the strength he has. Which isn’t much.
“It’s okay.” He whispers. Pushing down his own sadness and grief over it to reassure Steve that he’s not mad at him. He couldn’t be mad at him. It hurt. It hurt to know that his hair had been taken from him. But he also knows Steve didn’t do it to hurt him. “It’s gonna grow back.” He’s not sure if he’s saying that to Steve or to himself.
Steve sniffles and apologizes again. And again. And again.
“Steve I’m too weak to kiss you so you better get down here and kiss me or I’ll fucking scream.”
Steve does as he’s told. Nose full of snot and cheek coated in tears but he does it anyway. And Billy tastes like coming home. Everything about right now feels so unreal and he just has to savor the moment before he wakes up from whatever dream reality he must be trapped in.
But he doesn’t wake up from any dream because there is no dream. Billy’s alive. Billy’s awake. And Billy is kissing him.
Things were going to be okay. He was certain of that now.
And so was Billy when Steve finally showed him the little Polaroid of him in his perfect braid. Held by Steve. Looking beautiful with his long hair. The hair will grow back. With new memories, better memories, attached to each inch.
Things were going to be okay.
next part
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slashingdisneypasta · 4 years
Text
Horror / Six: The Musical AU (X Reader) || Headcanons
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Explanation: So all the songs are being sun by different readers with different Henry’s (The Horror Villains of course) instead of one Henry. I think its pretty straight forward apart from that! I hope to make a second part to this where the readers actually meet up and complain about their times with their respective horror villains. This is fun XD Had the idea a couple months back and I posted it and one blog commented saying Six is their favourite musical, so this is basically for me and them haha XD 
Character Included: Michael Myers, Chucky / Charles Lee Ray (And Tiffany Valentine), Bubba Sawyer, Norman Bates, Mayor Buckman (And Harper Alexandre) and Jason Voorhees. 
Warnings: Murder of the readers (By respective Horror Villains and a non-explicit difficult birth in Bubba’s), birth / pregnancy, toxic / abusive relationships, sexual harrassment / maybe rape (All You Wanna Do- Buckmans), language, suggested mother / son grossness (Norman and Norma of course). 
I laugh in the face of those who would subdue my mad ideas. 
‘No Way’ (Reader as Catherine of Aragon): Michael Myers as Henry
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My name's Catherine of Aragon Was married 24 years I'm a paragon of royalty, my loyalty is to the Vatican So if you try to dump me You won't try that again 
You were in a, of course, very unequal relationship with the shape of Haddonfield. He saw you one day, was completely taken by you, and decided to let you live. He would come by and use you however he liked, kill the people you loved when they got your attention over him, etc. Like any other Michael Myers x Reader.
And, years and years later (Because it’s not like Michael finds someone every day that he gives even a bit of a shit about like he does - did, - you) he comes upon a new person. Someone he, like he was you, is drawn to.
And he tries to drop you like a hot potato.
And this infuriates you. You are not about to let go! He has ruined your life! You have no friends, no family, no life, because of him! All you have, is (regrettably) him and you are going to be his for the rest of your life. That’s what he wanted, that’s what the bastard’s going to get.
(Many, many years with him has caused your courage against him to grow spectacularly. You can say nearly anything to him)
|- ‘You must agree that, baby, in all the time I been by your side
I've never lost control’
‘I've put up with your sh- like every single day’ -|
You give him one more chance- if he can tell you one thing that you have done to him to legitimately hurt him… then you’ll leave willingly.
But he has nothing. And he doesn’t care.
|- ‘You got me down on my knees
Please tell me what you think I've done wrong
Been humble, been loyal, I've tried to swallow my pride all along
If you can just explain a single thing
I've done to cause you pain, I'll go
No?’ -|
//
|- ‘You wanna replace me? Baby, there's
N-n-n-n-n-n-no way
You made me a wife, so I'll be queen 'til the end of my life’ -|
He ends up strangling you to death when you won’t shut up.
‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ (Reader as Anne Boleyn): Chucky / Charles Lee Ray as Henry (And Tiffany as Catherine of Aragon)
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I'm that Boleyn girl and I'm up next See I broke England from the church Yeah, I'm that sexy Why did I lose my head? Well, my sleeves may be green but my lipstick's red 
Chucky and his filthy ass catches sight of you. Young, French and vivacious and he’s got heart eyes on the spot. He wants you, but he also doesn’t really want to lose Tiffany.
So... yeah, you end up living with them both for a while and its very awkward and a very hostile situation.
|- ‘Here we go
(You sent him kisses)
I didn't know I would move in with his misses
(What?)
Get a life
(You're living with his wife?)
Like, what was I meant to do?’ -|
You don’t like it. No one likes this. Chucky! Make up your mind!
|- ‘Three in the bed and the little one said
If you wanna be wed, make up your mind
Her or me, chum
Don't wanna be some
Girl in a threesome
Are you blind?’ -|
Tiffany is of course Catherine, and the fandom (The people of Britain for the sake of this AU) loves her (As we all know), so when you come along and insult her because Chucky is now your man (Supposedly.) and of course you two aren’t getting along with each other in the first place because of him … you get a bad name.
|- ‘Ooh, why hasn't it hit her?
He doesn't want to bang you
Somebody hang you
(Wow Anne, way to make the country hate you)
Mate, what was I meant to do?’ -|
When eventually Chucky is able to grow the balls to boot Tiffany out (My heart hurts writing this, trust me), he pulls a ‘Once a cheater, always a cheater’ kind of shit and has no loyalty to you or respect for the sanctity of your relationship, and starts having one night stands here, there and everywhere. He tries vaguely to tell you you’re being silly and that’s not true- but he has lipstick on his shirt collars and perfume smell all over him.
Its not a nice living condition.
So you, still very much being the vivacious bitch that he ‘fell in love with’, go and flirt with some other guys. Just to make him a teensy bit jealous! I mean, its not like he’ll really care, right? You just wanna spark the fire again!
|- ‘Henry's out every night on the town
Just sleeping around, like what the hell?
If that's how it's gonna be
Maybe I'll flirt with a guy or three
Just to make him jell’ -|
But he finds out as planned… and is p i s s e d. He threatens that if you do that again, he’ll fucking kill you.
You, not going to let him talk to you like that, flirt with one more man. Just to be disobedient. 
|- ‘Henry finds out and he goes mental
He screams and shouts
Like so judgemental
You damn that witch
Mate, just shut up
I wouldn't be such a b-
If you could get it up’ -|
And you find out that he very much meant it when he said he would kill you.
|- ‘And now he's going 'round like off with her head (No)
(No)
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he means it’ -|
‘Heart of Stone’ (Reader as Jane Seymour): Bubba Sawyer as Henry
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Jane Seymour the only one he truly loved (Rude) When my son was newly born, I died But I'm not what I seem or am I? Stick around and you'll suddenly see more 
You were an intended victim of the Sawyers, but like with Stretch, Bubba crushes on you instead. The difference here, is that you see the gentleness to him compared to his brothers, and how scared he is when one of them yells at him, and all the other little signs that he’s not as vicious or evil as his first impressions might convey. You have a big, brave heart, and you realise right there that its death and cannibalisation or understanding and caring for this man and you choose to love.
|- ‘You came my way, and I knew a storm could come too.’-|
//
|- ‘You've got a good heart
But I know it changes
A restless tide, untameable’ -|
So you take his hands in yours, all shaky and meaty as they are, and promise him that you will never leave him. You’ll protect him. You’ll take any mess he and his family can throw at you- you’ll always be with him. Your promise.
|- ‘But I took your hand, promised I'd withstand
Any blaze you blew my way
'Cause something inside, it solidified
And I knew I'd always stay’ -|
And he believes you, of course. Its so nice to be looked at so softly, especially by someone as pretty as you.
I- ‘You can build me up, you can tear me down
You can try but I'm unbreakable
You can do your best, but I'll stand the test
You'll find that I'm unshakeable
When the fire's burnt
When the wind has blown
When the water's dried, you'll still find stone
My heart of stone’ -|
And you prove yourself. You prove over and over again that no matter what he, or the twins, or Drayton, or even Grandpa throws at you- you’ll survive and you’ll stay, and you’ll never stop looking at him in that lovely soft way.
|- ‘You say we're perfect
A perfect family’ -|
You get pregnant of course because everyone in the Sawyers / Hewitts family has a breeding kink and you can’t tell me otherwise, and the birth is of course very difficult because Drayton isn’t about to pay for hospital bills. So you’re in their home, in all the mess and the dirt and with no sort of aesthetic, and…
|- ‘Soon I'll have to go
I'll never see him grow’  -|
You don’t make it. Your babies born fine and healthy, and you bring another strong Sawyer boy to the family, but you’re gone.
‘Get Down’ (Reader as Anne of Cleves): Norman Bates as Henry
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Ich bin Anne of Cleves Ja! When he saw my portrait, he was like Ja! But I didn't look as good as good as I did in my pic Funny how we all discuss that but never Henry's little- 
So, one day, Norman decides its time to properly settle down (Long after his mother… ah… ‘dies’) and get a partner, and because there isn’t really anyone around where he lives to date or, even, who wouldn’t get creeped out by him and his taxidermy, he turns to online dating.
He meets you there. You own and run your own hotel in the next state over, you don’t mind his taxidermy at all, and your profile picture looks… hauntingly familiar (If you look nothing like Vera Farmiga go by the original movie- she was but a skeleton there so she really could be anyone).
|- ‘Sittin' here all alone
On a throne
In a palace that I happen to own
I'm not fake 'cause I've got acres and acres
Paid for with my own riches’ -|
And you two get along great over messages! You online date for a good year before Norman proposes you elope and come to live with him! You think you’ve known him long enough, and you trust him!
So you fly right over, and he meets you at the airport, and…
He’s disappointed.
Like, ‘sorry, nah, you don’t look enough like mama so this isn’t gonna work’. In a more fidgety, quiet, subdued kind of way though. He’s so awkward with communication that he even suggests that you doctored your profile picture.
I- ‘You, you said that I tricked ya
'Cause I, I didn't look like my profile picture’ -|
And, understandably, you’re p i s s e d, and disgusted! But ya’ll already got married over the internet, so theirs no stopping that! This is your husband. You realise you’ve made a huge mistake and go right back to your home and your hotel to get divorce papers drawn up.  
You’re the queen of your own fucking castle, who needs him?
|- ‘I'm the queen of the castle
Get down, you dirty rascal
'Cause I'm the queen of the castle’ -|
You are understandably, very very mad. And you say some things to Norman about he and his mother, that… may be true… but that he certainly doesn’t appreciate.
When you finally get the papers, and you’ve been separated long enough for it to be legal, you go back to the Bates Motel to get Norman to sign them and stay over a night. You’ve calmed down enough that you’re able to have a pleasant conversation with him, and you decide that you’re too tired to take the plane back home right away so you take up Normans offer to stay in one of vacant rooms (*Cough* So you basically have the run of the place. Or they do. *Cough).
Norman is also pretty calm about the whole thing as well, like you! But… Norma, is still seething.
You don’t wake up the next morning.  
‘All You Wanna Do’ (Reader as Kathrine Howard): Mayor Buckman as Henry (And Harper as Thomas)
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Prick up your ears, I'm the Catherine who lost her head (Beheaded) For my promiscuity outside of wed Lock up your husbands Lock up your sons K. Howard is here and the fun's begun 
Right, so, you haven’t had good luck in love throughout your life, so you decide to give up on boys entirely. 
|- ‘So I decided to have a break from boys
And you'll never guess who I met’ -|
… And meet a man, not much later. A man in power; A mayor. A man who’s been married before and has a beard (So you know; He’s a man. XD No little boy.). This is of course Buckman. He calls you love, and you get a job in Pleasant Valley that keeps you comfortably busy. You feel like, finally, you’re where you belong. You feel fulfilled- no committed relationships are necessary.
|- ‘Globally revered
Although you wouldn't know it from the look of that beard
Made me a lady in waiting
Hurled me and my family up in the world
Gave me duties in court and he swears it's true
That without me, he doesn't know what he'd do
He cares so much, he calls me love’ -|
But then Buckman tells you that he cares about you. You have a connection. He doesn’t feel just ‘friendly’ feelings towards you- he wants more. And, though you are a little disappointed that your solitude didn’t last, you decide that he’s decent enough (’He is rather kind to me, and he does makes me smile a fair bit’, you try to reason with yourself that this is a good idea) and so you start to go out. Its not long before you’re married.
|- ‘So we got married Woo…’
Woo…’ -|
But being married to him isn’t easy. Not at all. You’re not use to politics; There are so many rules now, and he’s always too busy to help. And the rest for Pleasant Valley are a bit… odd. And you just don’t fit in. And this is wear Harper (Thomas) comes in.
|- ‘With Henry, it isn't easy
His temper's short, and his mates are sleazy
Except for this one courtier
He's a really nice guy, just so sincere
The royal life isn't what I planned
But Thomas is there to lend a helping hand
So sweet, makes sure that I'm okay
And we hang out loads when the King's away’ -|
And he’s so lovely and caring towards you (Never more then when Buckman leaves for business in other towns), helping you through the transition from your old life to this one. He’s a good friend, to you. And that is most definitely all he is, on your side of it. A friend. You don’t feel attractions towards him at all apart from that, and he doesn’t try to make any moves. Its wonderful!
|- ‘This guy, finally
Is what I want, the friend I need
Just mates, no chemistry
I get him and he gets me’ -|
… Until one day when Buckman has been away for a month, he tells you he cares about you. You have a connection. He doesn’t feel just ‘friendly’ feelings towards you- he wants more.
|- ‘He says we have a connection
I thought this time was different
Why did I think he'd be different?
But it's never, ever different’ -|
Lets just say one things leads to another, despite you at first turning him away and saying no. He’s so insistent, and a little scary, and you’re lonely because your husbands’ has been away so long, and… something happens that you regret and feel gross about.
|- ‘Squeeze me, don't care if you don't please me
Bite my lip and pull my hair
As you tell me, I'm the fairest of the fair
Playtime's over.’ -|
You tell Buckman when he gets home, and you watch as every bit of warmth and love in his eye disappears, just like that.
Its not long after that that his jealousy and betrayed rage takes over… and… you die with a rope around your neck and your feet swaying above the ground.
|- ‘Playtime’s over’ -|
(Alternatively, Sheriff Hoyt as Henry and Thomas as Thomas)
‘I Don’t Need Your Love’ (Reader as Catherine Parr): Jason Voorhees as Henry (Your last love was Jason when he was alive)
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Five down, I'm the final wife I saw him to the end of his life I'm the survivor Catherine Parr I bet you wanna know how I got this far I said I bet you wanna know how we got this far Do you wanna know how we got this far then? 
So, you’re like the leader of the ‘Slashers Ex Squad’ because you, unlike the others, survived your time with Jason. This is because Jason did, truly, love you (To an extent- not enough to let you go and live your life without him or be free). None of the others really did. Not like he did.
|- ‘Became the one who survived’ -|
Your story:
You and Jason had an adorable little 11-year-old puppy love relationship when he was alive. You were his only friend, and he had it bad for you because of it. Pamela loved you, too.
When he died you were of course devastated, and years later when you were 30 (Making him also thirty- not that you know that. You still think he’s dead at this point) you’re taken by the need to go back to Camp Crystal Lake and pay your respects to your childhood love / friend. Its just one of those nostalgic days.
When you go, and you set flowers down by the lake, Jason catches sight of you. He thinks about killing you… but then your features start to make sense to him. He recognises you, and for the first time since his mother was killed, he feels his heartbeat speed up and swell with hope.
Jason of course kidnaps you then, and keeps you hostage for himself. He missed you. He doesn’t want to survive anymore time without you. You’re all he has left!
… After you realise that this is Jason Voorhees, you quickly learn that this Jason is, of course, not the boy that you cared, and care, so deeply about. He’s done horrible things, and he is never going to stop; And frankly, deep inside… he scares you.
But its not like you can leave him! He would never let you, he’s made that clear. You are all he has, and now, he is all that you have.
|- ‘I don't have a choice
If Henry says "it's you", then it's you
No matter how I feel
It's what I have to do’ -|
So you write a letter to the old Jason (And your old life), saying goodbye, in admittance to the fact that you’ll never be able to get away from this new Jason. This is you letting go of your freedom and any preconceptions that anything will every be the same- with Jason, or otherwise.
|- ‘It's true I'll never be over you 'Cause I have built a future in my mind with you And now the hope is gone There's nothing left for me to do’
'Cause I have built a future in my mind with you
And now the hope is gone
There's nothing left for me to do’ -|
You never stop hating him for how he’s changed (How he’s taken your Jason away, and wont even attempt to go back) and how he’s stolen away your freedom.
|- ‘I'd say "Henry, yeah it's true
I'll never belong to you
'Cause I am not your toy, to enjoy till there's something new
As if I'm gonna give up my boy, my work, my dreams
To care for you"
"Ha, darling, get a clue”
But I can't say that
Not to the king’ -|
You eventually die of natural causes at, like, 60.
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clockworkgraystairs · 4 years
Text
HERE FOR YOU || Jurdan College AU Pt. 2
Warnings: None. Swearing maybe?
Tags: @slightlyrebelliouswriter23​ @aesthetics-11​ @hizqueen4life​ @duarteegreenbriar​ @mysweetvilllain​ @judexcardanxgreenbriar​ @nite0wl29​ @althekingshorses​ @thewickedkings​ @demydreamer-otaku-and-book-lover​ @thesirenwashere​ @b00kworm​ @acourtofmoonlight​ @queen-of-glass​ @random-llama-socks​ @jurdanhell​ @cardan-greenbriar-tcp​ 
[if I forgot to tag anyone or if you want to be tagged let me know!]
Summary: After finding a very ill and feverish Jude, Cardan takes her to the doctor. And deals with her usual stubbornness.
HFY Masterlist      Pt 1   Pt 2   Pt 3   Pt 4 [coming soon] 
AO3 link
My masterlist
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Cardan had never liked doctors. When he was a little kid, his mother had to apologize several times because he kept glaring and calling them creepy warlocks, claiming they cured people using potions that stunk and had a sour flavor. And even though he’d got over that phase of his life, the scent of medicine still gave him a slight skittish sensation. 
Now, after nearly an hour of waiting he was definitely not enjoying himself, except that this time he couldn’t quite tell if the feeling was because of the smell or not knowing what the doctor was telling Jude, making his muscles tense more with every minute that passed.
One part of him wished nothing more than yell at her for being so reckless and not seeking for help earlier. 
The other part though, kept thinking about that morning.  
He and Jude had agreed to meet every monday and  friday at 9:00 am to work on their final project. At the beginning their meetings had place at the school’s library, since they didn’t talk much. Not because he didn’t want to, of course. But after years of confronting Jude at class, he’d learn to give her space when she focused on something. And maybe because she was a little scary too. 
Within time, her frowning glares became curious eyes and her monosyllabic answers, full conversations.
By the third month, they had to look for a new place to meet. The library’s manager, tired of scolding them at least six times a day for talking and laughing too loud, had forbid them to enter the building together. Or being together in there at all.  
That’s how they ended up in a coffee shop near the campus. The place was small and cozy. The owner, an old sweet lady called Joanne, prepared the best cappuccinos Cardan had ever tasted. 
That morning though, he hadn’t been able to take a sip of his beverage. The two cups of coffee steaming on the table seem to mock him as he alternated his gaze between them and the door, waiting for her to arrive. His leg bounced uneasily and he felt his hands sweatier than usual.
 He glanced at the clock. 9:20 am. She was already twenty minutes late. Jude was never late. 
From the kitchen, Joanne whistled cheerfully the song that came out from the speakers. An italian song he couldn’t identify. When her eyes crossed Cardan’s she smiled and gave him an encouraging nod. He shifted on his seat, looking down at the small bunch of flowers he’d bought. The white peonies and daisies rested smoothly on the wooden table.  
Damn her. Of all days, she’d chose this one to be late.
When he woke up that morning, he was thoroughly decided to finally come clean. To finally tell Jude he was in love with her.
He sent her another message. Nothing. 
He called her. No answer. Again. 
Had she forgotten? 
Impossible, they met there twice a week. 
The only possible option left in his mind was that she’d remembered. And didn’t care.  
Anger pooled on his stomach. What an idiot he felt now. They had an agreement, imposed by her by the way, of letting the other one know about any inconvenience. Was he really that insignificant for her he didn’t deserve a simple notice? 
Bottle it up, he said to himself.
That’s when he remembered she’d been absent from class those last two days too. Even professor Noggle asked about her, a thing he didn’t do with most of the students. 
Cardan frowned. In a swift move he stood and walked out. 
He left the money for the coffee on the table, and the flowers next to it. 
The door opened, bringing him back to the present. As Jude walked out of the consulting room, he noticed her pallor had decreased. Not enough to relax him, but it was something. 
“How are you feeling?” he asked, raising to stand next to her. 
She shrugged. “Better, I told you it was nothing. Let’s go.”
“Ah ah,” The doctor started, closing the door behind him. “That’s not exactly what I said young lady.”
Cardan frowned at her. Seriously? Her only answer was a deep sigh and rolling eyes. 
“My exact words were that it didn’t seem like something too serious or life-threatening. Not that it was nothing.” He took a prescriptions block out of his coat and scrawled something in the front page. Jude groaned.  “It’s most likely a severe stomach flu, aggravated by the days it was left untreated. But since the fever was strong, I’d like to wait and see if it settles now.”
“Most likely?” Cardan repeated, his brows pulled together in a frown. What had he paid this clown for, then? 
“Well it’s always good to scrap any other possibility, I took a blood sample from miss Duarte so I can send it to the lab. But I don’t believe it will show any other result.”
He nodded. “So what now? We just wait?”
“Cardan.” Jude mumbled. He didn’t move his eyes from the doctor.
“Pretty much.” He handed him the prescription. “She got an injection for the temperature already. Here are scripted some pills she’ll need to take for the next three to five days, to help with the nausea. And of course, lots of water and electrolytes.”
“Thank you, I’ll get those right away.” She said as she snatched the paper from Cardan’s hand and put it away. 
“Miss Duarte, I’ll recommend you to stay under observation the next two days. Just in case the fever returns and you need immediate assistance.” 
“Of course.” Jude answered nonchalantly, already reaching for the exit. “I’ll let my sister know so she can come over. Thanks.”
Back on his car he drove in silence. ‘Never let me go’ by Florence + The Machine sounded low on the radio. With closed eyes, Jude leaned towards the open window, her brunette locks flying wildly around her head. 
Cardan glanced sidewards at her, forcing himself not to linger too much on her slightly parted lips. His mind went back to the moment she’d collapsed in his arms. Cheeks flushed and burning up in heat. Even if he never admitted it out loud, she’d scared the hell out of him. 
He pulled his attention back to the road and cleared his throat. “I thought both of your sisters were out of town. Is any of them back? I can call them if you like.”
Jude ignored his question. After a moment of silence she whispered. “Why are you doing this?” 
Cardan shrugged.  “It’s a little bit obvious isn’t it?” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “You have our full project on your laptop, Duarte. And it has a password. If you die, then how on earth am I supposed to recover it?”
A punch landed on his arm, followed by a soft chuckle. “Ass. And you don’t need to call anyone. It’s not necessary.”
“Meaning?” Now it was his turn to scowl.
“Meaning,” She sighed. “That I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, you already did more than enough. Besides you’re right, my sisters are far far away from here, right where they should.” 
He couldn’t believe his ears. Earning a honk from the car behind them, Cardan pushed the brake, leading the car aside so it could fully stop on the sideway. 
“Hey, calm down Toretto!” She shouted raggedly, grabbing the door handle for support. “What the fuck!?”
“What the fuck? That’s exactly what I’m asking you, Duarte!” Now he could fully turn to face her incredulous stare. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You passed out a couple of hours ago, you were burning up in fever. Do you realize that? Apparently not, because despite the recommendations, you still insist on not listening!” 
An exasperated sigh left his lungs. He grabbed the wheel tighter, trying to ease the growing pool of rage inside him. Calm down. He’d spent his life telling himself to calm down. Being terrible at expressing his feelings, he was used to get irritated every time he faced pain, or fear. Or pretty much anything, actually. But gods, how could she be so stubborn? 
Jude pressed her mouth into a thin line and looked down, her hands twisting faintly on her lap. She was indeed nervous about whatever illness loomed in her body, he noticed, trying to ignore the lips he so badly wanted to tug between his. 
“I’ll stay with you.” The words left his lips before he fully realized it. 
“You what? Don’t be rid-”
“The doctor said you needed to be under supervision.” He answered turning back to the road, and put his car on march again. She was probably giving him some murdering glare that he prefered to elude. “So you have two options sweetheart, either you let me stay at your place or you come back to mine, but a frat house it’s not exactly a place to rest. You are, by no means, staying alone.”
Half a second later, even the radio was muffled by her incessant ranting. Hardly determined to convince him of doing otherwise. 
Cardan just drove.
~
When he parked next to her building the sun was already setting. 
With her arms firmly folded across her chest Jude hadn’t stopped gritting her teeth all the way back. This was madness, she repeated to herself over and over. 
The man showed up out of nowhere, took her to the doctor, paid for her medicine and now wanted to stay in her apartment? No fucking way. 
The problem now, was that if there was anyone on earth even more stubborn than her, it was Cardan. A man that no matter how many times she asked him to just leave her on the sidewalk and leave, was now walking up the stairs next to her. A satisfied grin on his perfect charming face. If she didn’t feel as weak at the moment she’d slapped his way out of the place. 
Once inside she left the medicines and the gatorades on the table and turned to him. 
“For the hundredth time, Cardan. You don’t have to stay, everything is under control and I’m not feveri- what’s that?” She asked, noticing the hanging object on his shoulder.
“A backpack?” 
She rolled her eyes. “I‘m not blind, you ass. What are you doing with that backpack?”
“I always keep some extra clothes in my trunk. You know, in case I find myself in any unexpected situation.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her in a way that twisted her guts. Ugh, disgusting.
The repulse must’ve been written on her face too because he snickered for a second before throwing it next to the couch. “Becoming your hot nurse certainly fits in the category dear, you can’t deny that.” 
She blinked and pushed back the intrusive thoughts that emerged from his statement. Why was her mind against her today? Maybe the fever had burned her coherency brain cells, if she’d ever had any to begin with.
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“I know.” Cardan dropped himself on the couch, opening a book he’d taken from his pack. “Now take those pills, put on your weird pijama and go rest.” 
Maybe she could still gather the strength to slap him after all.
Trying to ignore the sour flavor that shitty pills left on her mouth, Jude stood in front of the mirror. Wearing the shorts and the t-shirt she’d put on before they went to the doctor, she found herself suddenly worried by her clothing and messy hair. 
Which was utterly absurd. It wasn’t as if he cared at all about her wardrobe choices.
Still, the idea of them sleeping under the same roof unnerved her. It had been a long time since she’d had someone from the opposite sex staying the night. Either way, her exasperating classmate certainly hadn’t crossed her mind.
She bit her lip.
Ok that was a lie. Being honest she might have thought about it a couple of times. Mostly drunk. She always felt guilty the day after. And pissed. It left her wishing she could hate him again, like she did on sophomore year when he was truly a rude idiot. But no matter how hard she’d tried, his wits and dumb jokes had slowly changed her perspective of him. Not to mention those deep dark eyes and wicked smile of his. It only took a pair of tequila shots to start fantasizing about running her lips along that jaw. FINE, it didn’t take any tequilas to do that. But sober she had a tiny bit of control over her too-creative mind. Drunk Jude had already undressed him in her dreams once. Twice?
And now Cardan was outside, lying down on her comfy couch. Staying the night.
Jude chewed her inner cheek. This was a nightmare. 
As quiet as possible, she opened the door and peered outside. He was nowhere to be seen. Maybe some ancient deity took mercy on her and vanished him to oblivion. That or he was probably in the bathroom, so she tiptoed her way to the modest kitchen. 
She’d just finished preparing her chai tea when the bathroom’s door opened. Decided to ignore him, she kept her gaze down. 
At least until she caught a glimpse of him with the corner of her eyes. That, snapped her attention back. Oh no, no no no no.
“CARDAN GREENBRIAR WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
“I...what?” 
“Could you please… I don’t know, maybe put a fucking shirt on?!” She could already feel her blood gathering on her cheeks. 
He paused and quirked an eyebrow. “For your information, Duarte, I tend to sleep naked. These pants are a sign of my consideration to you, since we’re at your place.” 
The goddamn idiot was made of marble. Jude knew he wasn’t precisely one of those big muscular men, not that it meant he didn’t have everything in place. His well formed shoulders and arms were visible even with clothes, and now she could admire the slightly marked muscles of his torso all the way down to the V that disappeared under his pine-green pants. His shoes were off too. 
“Are you blush-” He started, only to be cut by her murderous voice.
“Good night, Cardan.” Taking her cup, she crossed the place with big steps, slamming the bedroom’s door behind her. 
Leaning against the wood, she heard the couch creak as he laid down. Her breathing evened a little a few minutes after. 
Shit, that had been rude. Even if he’d imposed his presence there he was still a guest, her mind scolded her. A really hot guest. No no, don’t think of that now.
As silently as she could she opened the door again. And pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle her laugh at what she saw.  
Cardan’s legs hung over the couch’s arm. Which made sense, considering how tall he was, but right now it only looked bloody ridiculous, and kind of adorable. She tried to ignore the guilt that pierced her heart again. He seemed stiff. An idea shone on her mind. A terrible terrible idea.
“Cardan?” She whispered.
He hummed in response.
She swallowed and walked towards him. “You can’t sleep in there.”
He scoffed and looked at her through hooded eyes, dark and deep made her heart skip a beat. “If you’re trying again to convince me to leave…”
“I’m not.” Jude blurted, passing a hand over her curls. Somehow words seemed to stuck in her throat. “I mean- even when you are completely ignoring me about you not needing to be here… I guess I… What I try to say is-”
“Jude Duarte is babbling. Gods, now I’m intrigued.” He breathed, propping himself on his elbows.
She crossed her arms and tilted her head elusively. It was humiliating how easy it was for him to put her on edge. “Shut up will you? You can’t stay on the couch, it’s small and uncomfortable… And I, well, I happen to own a double bed.” 
Smooth, girl, smooth.
“Trying to lure me into your bed? So soon?” He teased, flashing her a smile, yet his joke didn’t reach his eyes. Something in them was different, they were wider, intense.
“You’re intentionally being an asshole.” She said, gritting her teeth. This time his tricky words and good looks wouldn’t affect her. She couldn’t allow it. “I just meant that we can both sleep there. Like, as far away as the bed allows but at least you could rest.”
For a second he just looked at her. Not mocking or rude, she couldn’t place the expression in his face. His jaw set, chest raising and falling slowly. “You don’t have to, Jude. I’m ok in here.”
“Don’t lie. Besides I’d feel better too. Not because- Ugh, I’d feel better knowing that I could at least make your staying more bearable, I guess.” That wasn’t so bad. Yet. And honestly she couldn’t tell if it was worse if he accepted, or refused. 
Back in her room an awkward silence filled the atmosphere as both laid side to side. Somehow, even if they were not touching, Jude could feel the heat of his skin. Her heart hammered so fast she swore he could listen to it.
“So…” He started.
Panic filled her senses, she needed to cut any conversation before saying or doing something she’d regret later. “There’s no need to mention it, just go to sleep… please.” She rolled onto her side, facing away from Cardan. “Good night.”
Jude barely heard him sigh. “Sweet dreams, Jude.”
~
It was hot. Really really hot. Fuck he couldn’t move. How much had he drank last night?
Wait. No, last night he didn’t go out with Locke. He’d said he would spend the weekend with his girlfriend, at least this month’s. Cardan had stopped mocking him for it long ago. 
Eyes still closed, he grimaced and tried to stretch but something held down his arm. As Cardan became more and more aware of his body, the memories of the day before flashed in his mind. The failed meeting with Jude, the flowers he’d spend almost an hour choosing, her body going limp against him, the useless doctor… Jude offering him her bed to sleep.  
That’s when something tickled his neck, startling him. 
No, not something.
Cardan’s eyes snapped open, he looked down and froze when he realized Jude’s body was pressed flush against him, one of her hands resting on his chest. Somehow their legs impossibly tangled. Terrified, he found his own arm encircling her waist, bare skin touching his fingers since her too big shirt had rolled up in her sleep.  
She shifted a little and her nose brushed his neck again, letting out a small breath that sent hot shivers down his body.
Any knowledge of how to move or think completely forgotten. He stared blankly at the ceiling. 
Fuck fuck fuck shit what the fucking fucks. 
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thorne93 · 3 years
Text
History Repeats (Part 12)
Prompt: Life’s hard, right? Well throw in a not so great job, a broken heart, and chasing a pipe dream in LA. But could someone come along to make all the bad shit disappear? Or is he just another heartbreak waiting around the bend?
Warnings: language, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, angst/heartbreak, adult themes (??)
Word Count: 3612
Note: Aesthetic made by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo because she’s absolutely amazing Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo . Brainstorming from @carryonmyswansong​
**Song Inspiration: Death By A Thousand Cuts by Taylor Swift
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dating Hayden was so easy, surprisingly easy. Talking to him during dates was the most comfortable thing you’d ever done. And oddly, it just felt right to go home together but go to separate rooms. You could take things slow and simple, and yet still be around each other all the time. And Hayden was great to you. He treated you nicely, complimented you all the time, encouraged you on your newfound work. In fact, one night, you were siting on the couch, writing a new song. 
“What’s that?” Hayden asked over your shoulder. 
“A new song,” you said as you hid the notebook, shielding it with your body.
“Ah, I see. Will I get to hear it?”
“With any luck,” you hoped. “I’m hoping Trey will work with me to record this one for the EP, I think it’s really good.” 
“I’m sure it’s fantastic,” he assured as he sat beside you on the couch. 
“Actually, it’s almost done… Would you want to… read it?” you offered timidly. It was a very personal song, but it also had a lot to do with him. 
“Are you sure?” he inquired, his brows knitting together. 
You nodded. “Yeah, you actually inspired it.”
“Oh, then I definitely want to look,” he said happily as he reached towards you. He grabbed the notebook and looked at your frantic handwriting. 
Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you're in my head?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)
Is it cool that I said all that
Is it too soon to do this yet?
'Cause I know that it's delicate
Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
Delicate 
He looked up at you and gave you the warmest smile. “I love it. You’re going to be the next top star, I swear by it.” 
You blushed and thanked him before leaning forward to kiss him deeply. 
----------------------------------
By now, the two of you had had a date a week now, and things couldn't be better for you. 
Your producer, Trey, invited you to meet some members he thought should join your band. You had a good sound on the demos you’d given him, but he said he wanted to boost your vocals with the best instruments and sounds he could. That’s where another producer, a drummer, and a guitarist came in. All were looking for their next project and wanted to meet you. 
He asked you to meet at a restaurant in the city. You said you’d have to wait until after your shift, but he said he didn’t mind waiting. So you finished your shift at 11 and headed to the exclusive lounge and bar. When you got there, there was only one party in the whole place. It seemed as if the place had closed. You frowned and greeted the hostess. She showed you to the table where Trey, a woman, and a man were sitting. You sat next to the man you didn’t know on the edge. 
“Ah, Y/N, you made it,” Trey greeted as he leaned forward. 
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it. Thank you so much for waiting for me.”
“Sure thing. So this is Stacia, she’s the other producer I work with from time to time. She heard your voice and really liked it. She’s worked with some great names before and I think she has a good shot at making you the next big thing.”
“Oh, wow, such a pleasure to meet you,” you said, reaching over the table and shaking her hand. 
“And this misfit beside you is Darren,” he said with a smirk. 
You shook his hand. He was lean as all get out, wearing a white wife beater, black jeans, and a black blazer with white pin stripes. He had a purple scarf wrapped around his neck and his hair was disheveled. 
“He’s a drummer. He’s damned good and I think he’d work well with your sound. Or the sound I think we should try to go for,” Trey explained. 
“That’s great! I’d love to start right away. We can start in the morning or --”
“Woah, slow down,” Trey said with a bit of a chuckle. The rest of the table laughed too. You felt a bit embarrassed and he could tell. “No, you’re fine. You’re excited. You should be. You’ve got a great voice and I can tell you’re willing to work with us on sound and marketing and advertising, the works, right?”
“Absolutely,” you said.
“Great, good, then we’re in good shape. We can talk business tomorrow. I want to get you in a booth, maybe polish up a few of those demos you gave me. I want to see what my team can do with you, and for you. But tonight, I think we should all just chat. Get to know you, your story, what your goals are regarding music…” He waved over one of the waiters standing by. He gestured to you. “What’ll you have?”
“Oh, uh, water?” you said, unsure what you were ordering. You didn’t know if this was a dinner, or cocktails or finger foods or what.
Trey gave you a funny look. “You don’t want a cocktail? Do you not drink? You sensitive to substances?” 
You shook your head. “Oh, no, nothing like that. I just wasn’t sure if I should be drinking walk talking business…? Thought it might be a bad mix.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Don’t think of this as a business meeting. I’m your friend, Y/N. Business? Yes, both you and I should always be professional and business-like, but I think we should build this out of friendship, right? So get a drink. We all will.”
“O--Oh, okay, uh, I’ll have a screwdriver,” you said quickly. 
“There ya go. Whiskey sour,” he ordered. Stacia ordered a cosmo and Darren ordered a tequila and tonic. 
They began asking you about your dreams, aspirations, goals, where you write, how you do it, what your inspiration came from, your current job. They talked a little bit about their plans for you. 
When it was all done, you called Hayden to pick you up. You weren’t sober enough to drive on your own. He asked you how it went but after a few answers, he realized it might be better to interrogate you later.
-------------------------------------
You continued to meet with Trey and his team almost every day or night. He discussed the future, plans, and contracts. In just a few days, you’d cut a contract to turn your demos into a real EP. He wanted to re-record the tracks on your demo, and add two more. 
It turned out he was more than a producer, he owned that lounge you were at and a few bars. It was pretty customary for people he produced to be at them. He didn’t care one way or the other if his musicians partied, as long as they showed up to the booth on time and did their work. 
You’d been to one party at a club and met several others that were in Trey’s circle and Darren’s. Some musicians, some singers, some other music executives. It was good to meet these people, to network, but after that first night, you learned to say no to the alcohol. You thought it was better to be on your best behavior when you met all these people. 
Hayden wasn’t thrilled about you going to these events or parties, but you stressed that you needed to do it for your career. You explained you were only meeting other people that would help and once you reminded him wouldn’t be drinking, he didn’t see much wrong with it and seemed to accept it.
You were having the time of your life. You had a new, great boyfriend who treated you well. You were on your way to your dream career. Everything was more perfect than it’d ever been in your life. 
One night though, you were talking with Darren, in a booth at one of the clubs. 
“I’m so nervous. I go in to re-record my first track tomorrow,” you said, giddy with fear and excitement.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll do stellar,” he assured. “But… if you want.” He glanced around for a moment before pulling something out in a small bag. “I do have something to take the edge off.”
“Holy shit. Is that coke?” you demanded, your heart already racing. 
He nodded his head subtly. “You want a bump or not?”
“Uh, no, I’m good. I don’t… I don’t do that. I’ll be fine,” you assured, holding your hand up.
“Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug. He tapped a little on his fist, and snorted. You bobbed your head before saying you were gonna go get another drink at the bar. You avoided Darren the rest of the evening. 
---------------------------
“You ready for this?” you asked as you plopped beside him on the couch with popcorn and cokes. 
“No, absolutely not,” he informed with a laugh. 
You put in the first movie -- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones -- and pressed play. “I’m ready. I am beyond excited.” 
“Ugh, this movie… I got so much grief over this,” he confided, cringing as he stared at the screen.” 
“So? Fuck ‘em,” you said easily.
“Y/N, you’ll understand better when you’re in the music business, but it does matter what some people think about you. Having a lot of critics isn’t a good thing, I hate to break it to you.” 
“No, I know that,” you assured. “But I also know that you were unjustly criticized for this. I think you portrayed Anakin exactly how he needed to be.” 
“Really?” he asked incredulously as he shot a glance your way. 
“Uh, yeah, absolutely,” you said defiantly. “I don’t think anyone else could’ve played him any better, I swear.” 
“Thanks,” he said quietly, shooting you a half smile that made butterflies erupt inside you. He could still do that to you despite dating for a while now and living together. 
The two of you watched more of his filmography all the way to the Vanishing. During a particularly jumpy scene, you ended up nearly jumping in Hayden’s lap. Your legs were on top of his, and most of your butt had scooted over onto his lap. 
Embarrassed a little bit by your needlessly scared actions, you turned around to apologize, blushing. 
“Oh, uh sorry,” you said as you eased yourself off his lap. 
He chuckled a low, sweet laugh. “It’s fine,” he assured. 
Just as you scooted off of his lap, the two of you were face to face, your legs still on his thighs. His mouth was just a few inches from yours. You stared at him, then stared down at his lips. You slowly planted a kiss on his lips that he reciprocated by curing his hand up to your hair. Gently, he began lowering you back onto the couch before continuing to kiss your lips, your cheek, down your collarbone.
You were breathing quickly. You wondered if you were moving too fast with him, too fast since Jason. But nothing had ever felt more right. You and Hayden had so much in common, he shared the same humor, you lit up when you saw him, you still felt both incredibly comfortable around him but still got butterflies when you saw him. He lived in the country and he adored children. He understood the music business and he supported you. He believed in your dreams. No one else had ever done that for you. 
He and you saw everything the same way. He was everything you ever wanted and more. He was kind to you and sweet to you. If you’d built him yourself on paper, you couldn’t have done a better job. 
The more his mouth moved over your body, the more you wanted him closer to you. You laid down with him hovering on top of you, and before you even really realized what was happening, you two were a sweaty heap on top of each other.
You spent the night chasing releases and exploring each other physically. You gave yourself entirely to him and you didn’t look back. 
----------------------
You didn’t tell Hayden about the drugs or the offer of them during the first meet up. It was the first of a few, actually. You had already started the re-recording, on your second track now. You typically went in before your shift at the hotel. On your days off, you and Hayden would set up a date, if he wasn’t beat from filming. 
By now, you’d been to three parties where you’d been offered drugs, and the last two times it wasn’t Darren. Everyone was cool about it though when you said no. Didn’t make you any more comfortable around them, but that was a hazard of the job.
Tonight was your tenth official date with Hayden. The two of you agreed to keep it simple since you were tired from working two jobs and he was filming for 10 hour days. Tonight’s location was a simple italian restaurant in the heart of the city. 
“So how’s the recording? I haven't heard much. Is it going well or better than you expected?” 
“It’s good,” you said, nodding. “Better than I imagined actually. I was so nervous the first day. I thought they’d rethink signing the contract. I worried they'd think I sounded like the worst thing they’d ever heard.”
He laughed slightly and said, “Oh my god. No, why would they think that?”
You shrugged. “I guess because this is too good to be true. Like, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me, or people like me. I’m just, I’m a nobody, and I’m being discovered by a guy who produces artists that top the charts weekly.” 
“But you’re great. This guy heard you sing in the lobby and then heard your demos and he wanted more.” 
You nodded. “Yeah, I know but still, it’s so hard to believe it’s real.” 
“I know the feeling. Believe me, it doesn't really get easier,” he informed with a smile.
“Oh, that’s so good to know,” you said, laughing. “How about you? How is filming going?”
“Really great. I really like this new project. I wish you could come on set,” he said, gesturing to you. “I think you’d have fun.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Just as you went to ask him something, a brunette woman walked up to the table. She wasn’t your waitress, so you had no idea who she was. She came up behind Hayden at first, then stopped just next to him at the table. 
He saw a figure out of his peripheral vision. He glanced over to her, then did a double-take. 
“Rachel?” he greeted, completely flabbergasted. “What--What are you doing here?” 
“I saw you, from the window, thought I’d come in and say hi,” she said before glancing at you. “And this is...?”
“Oh, sorry, uh, Y/N this is Rachel, Rachel this is Y/N.” 
You held out your hand before the name Rachel registered with you. Just as she went to shake  your hand, you remembered who she was.
His ex. 
The mother of his child. 
She shook your hand, smiling warm and friendly before she turned back to Hayden. “Could I talk to you for one second?” she requested.
“Uh, sure.” He glanced back to you before scooting away. “I’ll be right back.” 
“Yeah, I’m just gonna borrow him for one quick second,” she said. “So good to meet you.” 
“Yeah, you too,” you said, trying to hide your confusion and slight offense. 
You watched the two walk outside and they talked for a few minutes before Hayden rejoined you at the table. 
“Hey, everything okay?” you asked sweetly, putting your hand on his. 
“Yeah, fine.” He pulled his hand back and sat it in his lap. 
“Are you sure? You seem a bit rattled--”
“I said I’m fine,” he snapped. “Let’s just finish our dinner, okay?” 
Pulling away from him, you stared at him, concerned. “Oh, okay, yeah, sure.” 
The two of you finished your dinner in silence. You had tried to question him a few times, but nothing happened. When you two got home, the atmosphere had shifted. It was no longer this lovely, warm, sweet air. It felt cold, distant, tense.
“I had a good time,” you tried as you stood between the two doorways to the bedrooms. “If you want, we could watch--
“Yeah, listen I'm gonna hit the hay. I’m beat. Thanks though. Goodnight.” He barely looked at you as he shook his head while talking. He gave you a quick glance and then went inside his bedroom. 
You frowned, having no idea what you did wrong. 
------------------------
The next day, you saw Hayden in the morning as the two of you headed into work. You were on your way to the studio and he was on his way to film. 
“Oh, hey,” you greeted him happily. “So weird about seeing Rachel last night. Are you okay?”
“Huh, yeah, I’m fine,” he said as he poured a cup of coffee in his to-go cup. 
“Oh, good. If you want to talk about it, we can.”
He nodded. “Not now. I’m running late. I’ll see you later tonight, okay?” 
“Sure thing. See you later.” You went to kiss him but he just picked up his cup, smiled slightly at you, and swept around him. You frowned after him. 
When you got home that night, it wasn’t much better. He said he was tired and went into his room, barely even looking at you. 
This stayed this way for the next few days. You spoke to him, he would excuse himself and leave. You sat next to him on the couch, he’d get up to shower or go for a run. You’d offer to have a late dinner, he’d say he had already eaten. Everything you did, he found a way to avoid you. 
Until finally, on your day off, you stopped him as he came in the door. 
“Hey, can we talk? You’ve been kind of off lately, and I just want to check in with you.” You got close to him. “You’ve barely looked at me or talked to me.”
He began chewing his lip as his gaze cast to the floor. “I don’t think we should date any more,” he said. 
The air left the room. 
“I--I-- What did you say?” you stammered, frowning. 
“Look, I’ve thought about it and I think it’s best if we just remain friends. I really like you but…” 
“But… what? You decided to get in my pants and just leave?” you wondered, anger building up inside you. “I mean, was the sex that bad?” you asked, trying to lighten the mood, but also trying to sincerely understand what happened between you two.
He shook his head and ran a hand down his face. “No, that’s not it at all. I swear. I really do like you, I just…” 
“Just what, Hayden? I deserve an explanation. We were fine. We were more than fine, or happy, so I thought. I mean, what the hell?” you demanded, completely confused. 
“I just think… Look, you and I met under some shaky circumstances. I just don’t want just to be…”
“To be what?” you pressed. 
He finally looked up and looked into your eyes. “To be each other’s rebounds,” he informed. 
You shook your head. “You’re not my rebound. You’re… you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and now you just want to throw that all away?” 
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to keep dating. Rebounds often feel like they’re the best thing in the world, because it masks the pain--”
“I’m not masking shit! I thought I loved Jason, I really did. But after we broke up, I realized I just loved the idea of being with him. I got comfortable with him. I told you this. But you and I… I thought we were real, I thought we had a future.” 
“I thought we did too, but I’ve re-evaluated our situation, and I don’t think our heads are in this.”
Shaking your head, you were spinning. “I don’t understand. We were fine! Weren't we? We were having fun. I thought things were really good between us. Did I do something wrong?” 
“No, no,” he assured. “It’s nothing like that.”
“So, this is it then? You just think of me as a rebound and after you get in my pants to forget about your ex, you just want to throw me aside?” you shouted. 
“No!” He stepped forward and squeezed your shoulders. “I care a lot about you,” he started.
You wrenched out of his grasp. “Just not enough to stay with me? Hmm? It’s fine. I get it. All guys have ever done to me is use me. Get me to like them, I treat them well, just when I think it’s going great, I get dumped. Rinse, repeat. Whatever. I’m over this.” 
You stormed into your bedroom and slammed the door, turning your stereo nearly all the way up. You got ready for bed and curled up, letting the tears flow. Your chest hurt so bad from feeling this way, from feeling so… used, so betrayed. 
You were far from over this. You were far from fine. Out of everyone you’d ever been with, Hayden made the most sense. He seemed to fit you so perfectly. He fit your life so well. 
And now, he wanted out, like everyone else you ever got close to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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History Repeats:
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