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crazychaoticizzy · 1 year

Text

Pretty Portraits

What happens when you, Kugisaki and Itadori find that Fushiguro left his journal behind?

WARNINGS: none. just pure fluff. maybe a tiny bit of angst if you squint really hard.

Word Count: 4.6k

Masterlist

You were just about to leave the booth, only to pause at the sight of a black notebook waiting on the seat. You recognized it at Fushiguro's journal, and when you flipped the cover to see the name written on the inside your suspicions were proved to be correct.

"Hey, Fushiguro forgot his notebook," you said to Itadori and Kugisaki. They both looked away from whatever they were doing, eyeing the notebook in your hands. "Do you guys remember where he said he was going?"

"Uhh, I don't think he actually said where he was going," Itadori said. "If we don't run into him in the school hallways, then we can just leave it in his room."

"Or." Kugisaki drew out the word, sidling up next to you. "We could take a little look inside. See what kind of a person Fushiguro really is."

"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" Itadori asked.

"Not if he doesn't know."

"I don't think that's how that works," you pointed out.

"Come on, it'd just be a little peek. Besides, he's most likely a really boring person. He probably takes notes on techniques and how he can improve himself. If anything, this will be a learning experience for us if we decide to look through it.”

Kugisaki was right, there was nothing embarrassing in there. You know because you asked one day when he seemed especially invested in his journal. He showed you pages full of notes for different classes and a couple small doodles in the corner. Despite knowing this, you still didn’t want to look through it because you didn’t want to invade his personal belongings.

You shook your head, holding it out to Itadori. “No, I still don’t want to look through it.”

Kugisaki shrugged, taking it from Itadori’s hand and sitting back down in the booth the three of you had just left. She opened it, flipping past the first page, the one with Fushiguro’s name on it. “Okay. Then I’ll look through it and you two can just so happen to look through my shoulder.”

Damn loopholes, you thought. In all honesty, you were curious about what Fushiguro had added since you last saw the contents of the journal.

Despite your better judgement, you sat down beside Kugisaki.

It was just as you had expected, notes about Fushiguro’s classes for a good chunk of the journal. When Kugisaki got tired of staring at Fushiguro’s neat handwriting, she let out a breath and closed it, opening it again to a random page.

More writing, but this page was accompanied by a portrait that looked eerily familiar. The name of the person drawn was on the top of your tongue when Itadori suddenly said something.

”Hey, that kinda looks like Y/n, don’t you think?”

You were way off. You were going to say it looked like a fictional character you had told Fushiguro about a while ago.

”Oh my gosh, this is a letter!” Kugisaki exclaimed. “Hold on it starts in the middle of it on this page.”

Kugisaki flipped back a couple pages, finding that the letter was longer than anticipated. She found the beginning, a grand three pages front and back away from the drawing, and started quietly reading.

”’Y/n, I doubt I’ll ever give this to you or say anything about this, but just know that this is for you.’ Holy shit is this a love letter?”

”Wow.” Itadori stared at the page in awe. “I didn’t think he’d actually write it.” He took the book from Kugisaki’s grasp, flipping through a couple pages.

”You knew about this and didn’t think to tell me?” Kugisaki yelled. She was shushed by a nearby waiter, and she quieted down.

”Fushiguro asked me not to tell anyone, so I didn’t.” Itadori shrugged. “He told me forever ago about this, said he wanted to give it to you when he finished it, but I guess he never did because look at the date.”

He pointed to the corner of the page, where the written date was almost exactly four months ago.

”Damn,” Kugisaki said. “He must have been super inspired about something to write this. Listen, he quoted a couple books. ‘You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.’ God damn, he really used that Pride and Prejudice quote.”

Itadori continued flipping through the pages, now laying the notebook flat on the table for the three of them to see it.

there were multiple pages filled with drawings of you. The pages filled with notes from class were almost completely gone, being replaced by your portraits and short writings accompanied by this reminded me of them to the side.

You stared as they continued flipping through the pages, watching as the drawings improved. The last one was of your side profile, laughing as you held a straw to your lips, about to drink from it. You realized it was from today, and softly ran your fingers over the drawing.

So that’s what he was doing this whole time.

Since that was the last page with anything on it, Itadori closed it and slid it across the table back to you. You didn’t move to touch it, only continued to stare at it.

”Y/n? You okay there?”

You nodded in the general direction of Itadori, moving your hand to grab the black journal. “Yeah. Uh, I’ll take this back to Fushiguro, if you don’t mind. I know you two are busy later anyways.”

Neither of them objected. You assumed this was a situation where they both knew something you didn’t and were most likely over the moon that Fushiguro was finally going somewhere.

You may not be the smartest, but you could definitely piece things together when you’re given enough. You were still unsure, though, so you didn’t want to confront him about it right away.

—

Your knuckles rapped against the wood of Fushiguro’s door, and you gently tapped your fingers against the surface of the black notebook in your hands as you waited for him to answer.

The noise of the door unlocking and opening threw you off guard. It was such a stark contrast to the quiet hallway, and your thoughts had drifted elsewhere completely.

You noticed that Fushiguro stood a little bit straighter when he saw it was you. You briefly wondered if he always did that, or if he only did it for you.

You pushed the thought from your mind not wanting to think about it now.

You took in what he was wearing—gray sweatpants and a black sweater. He looked like he was about to go to bed. It was still early, but you couldn’t blame him. Despite them being your best friends, hanging out with Kugisaki and Itadori could get tiring.

”Uhm, you left this at the booth earlier,” you awkwardly said, holding out the journal to him. “I wanted to bring it back.”

He gently took it from your grasp. “Thanks.”

He didn’t close the door. Instead, he tossed the book to his bed and stepped further outside his room, leaning against the doorframe.

”Where else did you guys go? After I left, I mean,” he said.

”Oh, we just kind of walked around Tokyo for a bit,” you replied. You hid your hands behind your back, playing with your fingers. “We went into a bookstore but didn’t buy anything. We kind of lost Kugisaki and Itadori was summoned by Gojo.”

Fushiguro nodded thoughtfully, putting his hands in his pockets.

You wanted to ask about the drawings in the journal before he continued talking, but you weren’t sure how to bring it up without making it blatantly obvious that you had gone through it. You decided to take a shot, letting your inner self decide what you said.

”Uhm, it fell and I saw some of your drawings,” you said. “Your notebook, I mean. They were really good. I didn’t know you liked doing that.”

Fushiguro’s eyes widened for a brief moment before he returned to his usual stoic expression. His face changed so fast you almost didn’t notice it, but the way he brought his hand up to scratch the side of his neck—one of his nervous ticks you had noticed—told you everything.

”Yeah, I picked it up a few months ago,” he replied. “I do it sometimes at the end of the day to wind down. It helps me relax.”

You nodded. You weren’t sure how to continue the conversation, but you still wanted to know if your suspicion about why he drew you so much was correct.

”Oh, that’s cool. Itadori saw the drawing and said it looked like me,” you decided to say.

”Did he now?” You had caught him with his pants down. He reached up to gently scratch his neck again. “Well, it might have been you. I draw you sometimes for practice. You have a pretty face for that.”

He paused at his own words, crossing his legs at the ankles. He hoped you didn’t notice his wording.

You did. And this time you were the one caught off guard.

”Thank you,” you said. “If that was a compliment. Thanks for saying I have a pretty face.”

He nodded once. “Yeah.”

Awkward silence ensued again. You weren’t sure how much longer you could beat around the bush for. This same routine had randomly started one day and continued almost daily for months. It was annoying, and you wanted it to end.

So you decided to take a leap of faith.

“Uhm, I actually brought that up because I think I know something, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

An indirect leap of faith, but a leap of faith nonetheless.

Fushiguro was listening to you, you could tell because he was looking directly at you, into your eyes. It made you nervous, and you almost brushed off what you were about to say and walked away.

“So, I wanted to tell you my feelings first. And then you could decide how you feel about them. If you want to, that is.”

“Yeah, of course. Do you wanna come inside?” He motioned towards his room. “To get more comfortable, if you want.”

You nodded, following him in. “Sure.”

He gently closed the door behind you, leaving it open a crack before sitting on the bed with you. It was silent for a few moments before he motioned for you to speak.

You took a breath. “So, I’ve been debating telling you this for a while, I just haven’t. But with Kugisaki and Itadori earlier I decided that I should.” You paused for a moment, putting together the next sentence in your head before you said it. “I kind of like you. Like a lot.” You paused again, deciding that was all you needed to say and shrugging with your hands.

You seemed a lot cooler with this confession that you though you would be. You thought you would be a stuttering mess, trying to beat around the bush so much you wouldn’t even know what you were saying. But you didn’t, instead you feigned outward calmness, but you could feel your heart pounding violently against your chest.

Fushiguro’s eyebrows raised as he took in the information.

The action worried you, because he didn’t move for a few moments after that. You sat, waiting for his response. You almost apologized and excused yourself from his room, meaning to hide in your dorm for a couple days until you would be able to face him again, before he gave you a small smile. He stood up, sauntering over to his dresser and opening the top drawer.

When he closed it and turned around, he revealed a square of white paper and held it out to you. You took it, realizing it was an envelope.

“Open it.”

You did as Fushiguro said while he moved across the room, this time opening the bottom drawer of his desk and pulling out a stack of papers along with a small notebook.

You took the paper out of the envelope as he continued what he was doing, opening the folded sheet.

It was a letter. Addressed to you.

You started reading. It had a similar structure as the one you read from his journal earlier, using some of the same wordings and comparisons.

Fushiguro assumed his previous spot on the bed next to you, setting the papers and notebook down beside him. He watched intently as you read the letter, not saying a word as he took in your reaction to his written words.

You were speechless reading it. You didn’t know he could be so wordy and poetic. He never said much. You assumed that he was just a quiet person that didn’t have much to say. Someone that liked observing more than contributing to conversations.

Your assumptions were mostly correct. Except you didn’t realize he noticed or had this much to say. It shocked you, and you weren’t sure what kind of response would match his words.

You were genuinely shocked that he shared the same feelings. You assumed that the dry conversations between the two of you had started because he found out about you liking him. You thought he found that awkward.

But this letter, an explanation for all those awkward moments between the two of you.

Apparently he thought the same thing you did.

Your eyes quickly drifted over the words when you finished. You truly didn’t know what to say, and figured at least trying to form a response in your head would be best.

Your mind drew a blank on what to say. But you had to say something. You would see Fushiguro getting anxious for your response.

When you looked up to meet Fushiguro’s gaze, he was staring at you. You smiled at him, deciding to speak truthfully about what was going through your head.

“I don’t know what to say,” you whispered. “This is the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read. Do you really mean everything?”

“Every single word,” he responded. He handed you a piece of notebook paper from the top of the pile he had brought over. “This was my first drawing of you. I just did it without thought one day and continued. You’re really the only thing I draw.”

You gently took the paper from his grasp, looking it over, admiring the graphite lines, imagining the way his eyes might have followed his pencil, focused.

“Are all of these . . .” You motioned towards the stack of papers beside you, and Fushiguro nodded before you finished your question. “Wow . . .”

You were in awe, returning your gaze to the piece of notebook paper before looking at a couple more.

Fushiguro gently took the paper you held from your hand, putting it aside and taking both of your hands in his. He reached for your jaw, softly redirecting the way your head was turned so you looked directly into his eyes.

“I’ve liked you for a long time, Y/n. I want to be more than friends.” There was a small amount of fear in his eyes. He was terrified you would reject him, despite already knowing how you felt.

Your eyes were wide, your mouth slightly agape. He hadn’t even said anything monumentally heart-wrenching, but just the sound of his voice could leave you speechless.

“Do you really want that?” You quietly asked.

He nodded with complete confidence in his answer. “I do.”

You couldn’t help the smile that overcame your features as you gently squeezed his hand. “Okay. I want that too.”

He didn’t kiss you, and you didn’t kiss him. Not yet. It wasn’t the right moment, and he wanted it to be perfect. So he didn’t kiss you, even though he desperately wanted to. Wanted nothing more than to feel your lips against his, to run his hands through your hair.

Not yet, he told himself. He could wait just a little bit longer.

—

You and Fushiguro (you’re proud to call him Megumi now, even though you still get flustered when you say his name) had been dating for weeks. By now, the news of your relationship had spread to the other first years, who spent a short amount of time exchanging money before congratulating and bombarding the two of you with questions.

Tonight was the first night the two of you had alone since you had gotten together. Itadori and Kugisaki were out, and Gojo was currently over seas for a mission. You and your boyfriend spent the night in the middle of the training field on a couple blankets, snuggling as you stargazed. Though, you weren’t doing much stargazing, instead talking while he showed you his most recent portrait of you.

You were asleep in the drawing, your arm resting under your head as you gripped the blanket in your hands. You were embarrassed he had caught such a moment. He interlocked his pinky with yours, moving your hands from your face as he told you it was cute.

He left a soft kiss on your knuckle, pulling you to sit up with him as he grabbed his journal.

“Can you look at the sky for me?” he asked.

You obliged with a smile on your face, looking at the sky as you began counting stars.

Fushiguro had recently become more open when drawing you. He had asked you to pose for him more, occasionally gently nudging you into the exact position he wanted. He even sometimes did so in front of Itadori and Kugisaki without shame.

You listened as his pencil rubbed against the paper, enjoying the sound. You snuck a glance at him, turning your head to watch as his eyes followed his pencil along the page. Eventually he looked up at you, smiling before he put his hand under your chin, redirecting your gaze.

You apologized with a light chuckle. He continued his drawing, the sounds of his pencil returning. “You’re just so pretty when you draw,” you said.

You heard his pencil suddenly stop. You turned to look at him to find that he was already staring intently at you.

You peeked at the drawing in his notebook, noticing the vague background. “Oh, are you adding a background to this one?”

He moved his gaze to his lap. “Yeah, I like drawing you at night. The sky reminds me of you.”

“How so?”

He took your hand in his, rubbing his thumb along your knuckles. “Well, I realized that you weren’t the sun in my sky.” You raised your eyebrows at him. “I say that because I’ve only ever squinted angrily at the sun. I don’t do that with you. No, I stare at you in wonder and look away when you meet my eyes. I smile when I see you and watch your every action in awe of what you do. I want you to always be present. To be there to help me calm down because just seeing you lifts weight off my shoulders when I’m stressed. Before I met you it was the night sky that did that. It was the night sky that I wished would stay, that I wanted to see to help calm me down.”

Megumi Fushiguro was the only person in the world that could make you speechless, not knowing how to react. And he didn’t even know he was the only person that held this power.

You could feel your eyes burning with tears. He’s constantly moving the bar higher, constantly speaking his mind around you in the most beautiful, poetic way imaginable, constantly taking you by surprise with his words.

You feel bad for never having anything to say in response to him, but he understands how you feel. You usually find yourself replying to him with a tight hug, squeezing him as though if you let go he would disappear.

But tonight, you truly didn’t know what to do.

Watching as your hand moves to cover your mouth, your hand lightly squeezing his own, something in his brain decides that now is the right time. Now is the best time.

He takes a leap, moving his hand to cup your jaw as he gazes into your eyes. His eyes briefly flicker to your lips before he’s slowly leaning in, giving you a chance to reject him if you want.

You don’t reject him. You let him kiss you, freezing as his soft lips met yours. Your eyes were closed, but you didn’t know what to do.

He pulled away, a faint smile painting his lips. “You have to kiss me back, dummy.”

“Sorry,” you apologized. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

He hummed, leaning forward ever so slightly, his lips ghosting yours. “It’s okay.” He kisses you again. This time you kiss back, moving your hand to grip his bicep as if to pull him closer to you.

When you momentarily break the kiss he chases your lips, making you chuckle into the kiss.

“Megumi,” you whispered. He hummed, trying to reach your lips again, making you smile brightly. “Gumi, give me a second.”

He stopped, still holding your hand. “What happened?” Worry was laced in his voice, scared he had done something wrong.

“Nothing, just give me a second.”

You grabbed the notebook from his lap, moving the ribbon to mark the page he was drawing on, closing it and moving it to the side as you shifted closer to him, practically sitting in his lap. He tentatively placed his hands on your waist as you kissed him again, wrapping your arms around his shoulders to try and bring him even closer.

When the kiss broke, this time neither of you moving to kiss the other again, your foreheads rested together as you simply basked in each other’s presence.

He felt the overwhelming urge to say it, something he had been thinking about for a long time. He’s not sure what took possession of him, but the words, “I love you,” were slipping out of his mouth before he could even process it.

Your eyes snapped open, and you pulled away from him just a little bit. He did as well, bringing a hand to cover his face as he began apologizing profusely, saying that he didn’t mean to say that.

The smile that was slowly growing on your face fell. You knew that sometimes his thoughts got jumbled together, making it somewhat difficult to voice them. This had to be one of those situations, but hearing him say he didn’t mean it made your heart crack.

He seemed to realize his words, because he cut himself off, going into another tangent.

“No, that’s not what I mean. I do mean that, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” he admitted. “I don’t want to force you to jump into things too early. If you don’t feel the same way then don’t say it back. Tell me and I won’t say it again until you want me to, I promise.”

His words pulled at your heartstrings. All he wanted was to make sure you were comfortable with the relationship, but in the process he disregards his own feelings. It hurt you. You wanted him to be open, to allow himself to be vulnerable around you, even if it was just for a few minutes.

“Megumi, I want you to share your thoughts with me. It doesn’t matter what it is, if you want to tell me something then tell me. You won’t make me uncomfortable, I promise.” You leaned forward again, capturing him between your arms and squeezing him. “Because I love you, too. I have for a while. I want you to be comfortable with me. I want to be someone you can talk to, your rock. Please share things with me.”

You felt him wrap his arms around you, squeezing you with just as much force as you were. He rested his head in the crook of your neck, taking a deep breath. He loved the way you smelled—lavender, curtesy of the products Kugisaki had bought you for your birthday.

“I know your trying,” you said into his shoulder, “and I love that you’re letting your walls down for me. I’ll wait for you to open up for me, I don’t care how long it takes. I want to know everything about you, I want to love everything about you. Take as long as you need, I’ll still be here. I promise.”

The two of you stayed in your embrace. You felt your heart pounding in your ears as you awaited his reply, hoping you didn’t take it too far.

He gently kissed your collarbone, knocking both of you over so you laid on the blanket. You quietly yelped upon impact, not expecting the action.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. You smiled, readjusting your position so you faced him. You wrapped your arms around him, running your hands through his black hair.

“You smell so good,” he said suddenly, making you laugh. “I love the way you smell.”

You thanked him, feeling your eyes droop. You snapped them open, hoping to stay awake just a little longer, hoping you would be able to spend just a few more seconds with Fushiguro in this moment.

Alas, you fell asleep, but not before you quietly said, “I love you, Megumi,” into his hair.

He smiled at your words, repeating them before he realized you were already fast asleep. He grabbed a blanket from nearby, throwing it over the two of you as he admired your sleeping face before he dozed off as well.

—

You awoke the next morning to a blinding light being shone in your face, followed by the shutter of a camera. You groaned, opening your eyes and yawning before seeing what was happening.

It was no surprise when you saw Gojo, accompanied by Kugisaki and Itadori, standing above you and your still sleeping boyfriend.

“Oops, I forgot to turn off flash,” Gojo said.

You rolled your eyes before closing them again, resuming your previous sleeping position and closing your eyes. “Leave us alone,” you muttered.

You felt Fushiguro stir next to you, assuming he was awake when he let out an exasperated breath.

“See, we would leave you alone. However the second years need to train and you two love bugs are lying in the middle of the field.”

You groaned, forcing yourself to sit up along with Fushiguro. You shooed the other three away as you started picking up your things with your boyfriend, stacking the blankets and taking them from Fushiguro’s grasp as you stood. He followed suit, and the two of you ignored your classmates and teacher as you walked towards the dorms.

“We don’t have anything to do today, right?” you asked.

Fushiguro nodded. “It’s just a day off.”

You hummed in acknowledgment. “I think I’m just gonna go back to sleep, then.”

Fushiguro took hold of one of your hands, the one that wasn’t carrying the blankets. “Do you mind if I join you?”

You let out a fake, exaggerated gasp. “A boy in my dorm? How scandalous, don’t you think?” He chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “Of course you can. I’d love it if you did.”

He smiled at you, continuing the walk to your dorm. Upon entering, you plopped the blankets down in a random area o the floor, continuing to drag Fushiguro onto the bed and under your covers.

“Sorry, it’s kind of a mess,” you said as the two of you readjusted yourselves. “I’m normally the only one that comes in here.”

“It’s fine,” he whispered, kissing the crown of your head. “Just go to sleep.”

You nodded against his shoulder. “I love you.”

He smiled into your hair. “I love you, too.”

And the two of you would continue saying that. At every chance you got. You would never allow the other to forget that fact for as long as you lived.

This was a late birthday present for one of my friends. Anyways as i was writing I was seriously debating turning the fic in a different direction and going down an angst route. I don’t know I might add a part two to this or something because I do have ideas.

Idk what do y’all think?

Also this was copy and pasted from my notes app so I apologize if it doesn’t look right 💀

#fanfic #writing #megumi x you #megumi fushiguro #fushiguro megumi #jujutsu kaisen #jjk fluff #jjk megumi #jjk x y/n #megumi x y/n #megumi fushiguro x reader #megumi x reader #megumi fluff #izzy’s imagines ❀

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moriartyluver · 2 years

Note

Hello dear! I'm really glad to find your blog cuz i've been searching for new writers for the past two days, so here's my request: student sherlock x reader (it'd be nice it they were 16 since i'm that age). Remember that scene on Noahitic (idk if it written like this?) When some women were asking Sherly to guess pepole living? Ok it happens in the class where some asshole girls hate reader and askes him to guess her living, they thought she wasn't hearing but she definetly did so when he was about to talk about her she stopped him saying that's her private life which made him curious about her and the girls got pissed and started arguing with her, for his surprise she has a good speech and she kept pissing them off till he stopped them, at lunch time he asked her to have the meal together, they chatted and laughed togehter and he fell so hard for her. Uummmm, I know it's long and really sorry for that T_T (if you could do pt 2 tell me pls so i can tell you the rest in my mind🙈 really sorry for bothering❤)

A/N: thank you for your request and you are absolutely not a bother at all!! I’m very excited for this because I’ve never written for Sherlock before but I’ll do my best! I hope you like it <3

warnings: bullying, mentions of age gap (not between reader and Sherlock)

Character: Sherlock Holmes from Moriarty The Patriot x reader

Genre: fluff?? Angst?? Just general ig

Prompt: above ^^

format : oneshot

University lectures were always boring. The sound of the chalk scratching against h the dry blackboard was going to be the death of you. Still, not many people like yourself got a chance at learning in a university so you sucked it up and continued writing your notes as ink stained your fingers.

Once the bell rang to signal the lecture was over, you rushed in the direction of the library, careful not to accidentally bump into anyone, especially not your classmates.

Because you were a lower class girl who somehow managed to exceed in academics and get into a prestigious university, a lot of people looked down on you and projected their insecurities onto you. Was it wrong of them? Of course. But was it also understandable..?

Nah.

Once the doors on the library had swung open, you prayed that the book you had seen the other day would still be there.

Thankfully, it was. It took you a while to reach onto that top shelf as the university campus was more designed for people…older than your 16 year old self.

Once you had taken the book, your rushed over to your usual seat, only to realise that a group of girls a few years older than you, clearly in the university only to study more feminine courses as told by their wealthy parents, had made themselves comfortable in your usual place.

They were sat surrounding a tired and almost frustrated looking boy who seemed to be your age.

To you, he resembled a bird. A raven to be more precise. His dark locks were tied into a messy ponytail and a small baby hair had turned into a curl on top of his fringe. His dark eyes were narrow and if your looked close enough, you could see faint traces of eye bags and dark circles, indicating he didn’t sleep well.

Now you were faced with an issue. Would you go and tell them that you would like to sit there and stand your ground. Knowing those girls, who disliked you a bit too much to not be considered obsession, they purposely sat there only to annoy you.

Or would it be more suitable for you to walk over to one of the couches in the corner, a good distance away from them so you could read in peace.

You chose the latter, of course.

You walked passed the girls, noticing glared and dirty looks from the corner of your eye as you walked passed. As you sat down, there loud and high pitched giggles, clearly trying to either gain attention from male peers or they were trying to make you jealous of their so called ‘friendship’ that relied so heavily on wealth and status, had resumed.

After a few minutes of reading and then getting distracted, you noticed that the library had gotten quiet. Your eyes remained on the yellowed pages but your attention drifted back to the group of girls surrounding that boy.

They were now speaking at a low whisper. You deduced they were trying to hide something from you based on the glances they gave you and the small gestures in your direction.

As you recalled, the only words you had heard from the tired boys mouths was him making deductions on the lives of other people. Nothing too scandalous just things such as hobbies or pets. You’d seen the girls pester the boy, asking him for more juicy gossip rather than just boring guesses.

Being the quiet kid meant that you had grown used to people talking about you or making remarks such as “I didn’t know she could speak!” In attempts to offend or irritate you but for you, it meant that you succeeded in keeping your personal life private, something very few noblemen and noblewomen could achieve.

You began to eavesdrop on their hushed conversation, and you came to the conclusion that they wanted the raven-boy to make deductions about you.

Sherlock Holmes. That was his name. He had grown popular around campus for his intellect and flawless deductions. It surprised you that you had realised so late as you were almost always aware of everyone and everything going on within the student community. Then again, you had expected him to be slightly more lively and sociable.

‘Maybe the girls were beginning to annoy him too.’ You thought.

“The quite girl in the corner? Well she-“ Sherlock was interrupted by your voice suddenly appearing behind him.

“I’d rather you not gossip about my personal life.” You glanced around at the girls who stood before you with a glare

“You really aren’t all that you think you are, (last name).” One girl chimed in.

“Yeah!” Said another “how do you know we were talking about you anyways? You’re so stuck up! Thinking your worthy of being in such an establishment!”

You deadpanned stay their pathetic attempt to cover up their gossiping habits.

“Really? I understand that you failed most of the tests to get here, Miss Penelope, but surely you could come up with a more intelligent lie.” You raised an eyebrow “or is your smooth brain incapable of such activities?”

“Why you-!”

“So what if we were talking about you? It’s not like you have anything to hide, right, (last name)?” One of the taller ones asked. You hadn’t seen her before so you didn’t know her name. She had long auburn hair and blue eyes that angled upwards to accompany her cat like smile.

“Thankfully I don’t need to hide anything, unlike Miss Sophie’s father who is currently having an affair with a girl of her age but that’s not my business.” You brushed a hand through your hair as you nodded to a blonde girl who was on the verge of tears. “ If your lives are so dull that you have to fantasise about my life, perhaps that’s a you problem. Get a life.” You walked off in silence and sat back down on the couch, smirking secretly at their defeated faces.

Unknown to you, Mr Holmes was watching you, in awe of your ability to shut them down so fast. He was grateful you had given him the opportunity to sneak away and have a cigarette instead of letting his brain cells deteriorate in such foul company.

The older girls of the group had attempted to go and continue arguing with you, hoping you could physically assault them and maybe even get yourself expelled but Sherlock was quick to come to your defence.

“Ladies, if there’s anything I can deduce for you, is that that plan of yours won’t work. Miss (name) is way too calm and composed for that.” He said before giving you a quick glance and then rushing out of the library to have a cigarette before his next lecture.

After the encounter in the library, Sherlock had been thinking about you for ages, hoping to get to know a girl like yourself. Someone who wouldn’t make his brain rot like the rest of his peers.

He was slightly nervous when lunch came about to go and talk to you while you ate in the cafeteria. What if you thought he was pretentious or rude?

Still, he sucked up all his worries and approached you while you sat in the corner, one empty seat opposite you.

“Hey!” He smiled as he sat in front of you. You raised your head to meet his now brighter blue eyes and gave him a polite smile “we met in the library. (Name) (last name), is it?”

“It is. You must be the oh so famous Sherlock Holmes, correct? I heard you could deduce the most interesting things from these perfect nobles.”

“It is I!” He laughed. “You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?”

“Go ahead. As long as you aren’t anything like those girls from the library…”

“Right, right. Sorry about that-“

“It’s alright. I could tell you didn’t want to be there any less than I did. I’m impressed that you made it out with a fully functioning brain.”

As the conversation continued, Sherlock had only grown more and more infatuated with all the little things you did. The furrowed eyebrows when you thought deeply about something, the fidgeting of your hands indicating you were nervous at first that managed to fade. Everything about you was beautiful to him.

“You don’t mind having a meal together..like soon?”

“How soon?” You asked, a hand pressing against your soft cheek

“Maybe tomorrow? I’d like to get to know you better.” He stuttered, a bit embarrassed.

“I think you’re not the only one. I’ll grant you the ‘honour’ of getting to know me, Sherlock.”

He grinned in triumph “You won’t regret it, (name)!”

As time continued, you and Sherlock had grown close and he could only fall harder and harder with each encounter the two of you shared.

You would always listen to him talk and understand his fast paced and intelligent mind. You reassured him that he was good for you.

You had also grown fond of him. Every little deduction he would make about you made you feel understood for the first time in your life. He never inquired into your personal life although he already knew as much as he needed to.

“What are we, (name)?” He once asked you while he sat next to you, gazing at the night sky.

“Lovers.” You smiled

#moriarty the patriot #sherlock holmes #Moriarty #moriarty the patriot x reader #sherlock holmes x reader #Sherlock mtp #Sherlock moriarty the patriot #x reader #oneshots #anime #anime x reader

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aho-dapa · 9 months

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hi i just found your account and i just realized we kind of have the same problem with sjm but went 2 different ways about it. i read the books in like a week during a depressing episode so i didn't retain all that much and the parts i didn't like i just replaced (mostly bc i felt like the books were lacking in so many aspects that i don't feel bad basically rewriting it in my head). but the way i went about it is mostly changing the characters i want to like (rhysand, feyre, nesta) and just pretend they didnt do things that didnt make sense to me or they had good reason to do it. i was always bored with tamlin and the high lord of the night court is so up my alley so i just make rhys a little better in my head. i hate that sjm set him up to be morally grey but didnt make the darker parts in the right place if that makes sense? like i dont mind questionable morals in a character if it's to protect their family or people which is kind of what sjm started doing but then made him kind of a bad high lord? and i dont think she even sees it like that tbh bc i know she loves rhysand so i think she left the shitty situations in hewn city and illyria like that to set up plot but didnt stop to think what it would mean for rhys to not do shit about those situations. i know some people have theories that rhys might end up being a villain and is just manipulating feyre and the sisters but i think that's giving sjm too much credit tbh. i think she really leaned into the romance and the rest kind of morphed into the background but honestly i do love romance so i feel like i ended not minding it as much as other people at times. i'd rather have romance than a messy plot which is what sjm gave us (especially in acosf). also none of her characters have that much depth to them (feyre, nesta and rhys are probably the ones that have more but their actions don't always match with how sjm led us to believe they were) so i dont mind just making stuff up in my head like for example mor, she barely has a personality so i made her up one bc i wanted my proper lgbt representation.

anyway im sorry im ranting on your blog like this but it's interesting that so many people can agree that sjm set up a good world but the plot and characters ended up falling flat. and it's funny that the readers end up making the characters more interesting in fanfiction whether it's making rhysand the villain or making up how i think sjm meant him to be

I completely understand!! When I first read ACOTAR, I did the same for Rhys and Feyre because I truly didn't mind them until ACOWAR and sjm's constant inconsistent character writing caught up to me and my suspension of disbelief.

Also I think rewriting characters her characters in our head to make them more entertaining or relatable is something this fandom thrives on. A lot of people like Nesta because they relate to her even if the cabin years are a narrative mess. I personally relate to Tamlin too because of this both because and despite how his character was written.

Yeah, I also don't really mind rooting her or liking morally grey characters or even downright horrible people because sometimes they're just more interesting to me personally. In a sense, Rhys has a bunch of contradictions that don't mesh well because of sjm trying to make him some paragon of moral goodness when his character never even functioned that way even in the beginning.

I also like the villain manipulation Rhys hc but I also don't think that's where sjm is going with it. She fumbled too hard with Tamlin’s arc of abuse to suddenly make the mastermind move with Rhys.

Tbh it's really fun (and tiring) making up new canon adjacent personalities for her characters. I think the maybe unintentional problem with this is that the fandom uses those characterizations in critiquing characters or even hating them.

#sorry for taking so long #got lost on the path of life #anti sjm #sjm critical #pro tamlin

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kalid-raven · 1 year

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The Littlest Angel (Mia’s backstory)

Mia Langlee had a relatively normal childhood at the start. Only child with a mother and father, and though he drank a bit much, she didn't have any bad memories of him until after the accident. When Mia was five years old, her family ended up in a terrible car accident that ended with her mother dead on impact, and leaving her in a critical state. Her father, Charles, suffered a broken arm, some cuts and bruises, but nothing worse.

After that experience, Mia found she could see terrible things. People who had died and not moved on haunted her, plaguing the child with their attention that she couldn't understand. What was more, strange things appeared on the living that weren't actually there. Faint images of wreaths or wings, fangs or horns, and so on that only really became fully visible if she focused on them. The nurses couldn't understand why she was terrified and screaming, pointing to empty spaces and begging for the scary people to be sent away. Concern for her mind quickly resulted in having her checked for any kind of damage, injury, or discrepancy in her mind.

Everything checked out. There was no physical explanation, so they began to wonder if it was child imaginings, cries for attention, or possible mental illness. None of these things mattered, though. When she was cleared to finally return home with her father, he would yell at her to shut up any time she saw anything. That's when she noticed his face... If she looked hard, it disfigured into something terrifying.

Her dad had become a monster in her eyes, and he proved it whenever he got drunk.

As a result, Mia grew up trying to stay out of sight, and hiding what she could see because no good would come of of acknowledging it. Her father would beat her for screaming, crying, or "lying" about seeing things, and the ghosts wouldn't leave her alone if they knew they were visible to her eyes. Some could even be violent.

The bullying at school for being the weird girl only worsened things. It was frustrating how some couldn't seem to forget her outbursts when she was younger, as if too bored and looking for excuses to take it out on someone, even if it was old news. She found escape in books, though. Namely, those written by a cousin she didn't often get to see, but was very fond of. She would read them over and over, amazed at her skill and imagination. It kept Mia afloat.

Where some might grow bitter and resentful from these experiences, Mia was timid and anxious, always looking for a way out of any social situations and a place she could hide with her books. She was getting tired of it, though. Desperate even, for something to change, to get better. By the time she was eighteen she had dropped out of school, not having the emotional or mental energy to deal with it anymore. Her depression was at it's height, and her father was only growing worse. She had gotten used to the comments that he wished she died if it meant her mother would have lived, that it wasn't right he was stuck with her, things like that... But the physical abuse?

It wasn't just when she was "being too much". It was starting to happen regularly when he was so deep in his bottle he couldn't walk straight. How had he kept a job, she never knew, and he never talked about it, but she didn't doubt he had gone through more than one. One night was especially terrible, resulting in her locking herself in her bedroom and pushing her dresser in front of the door, sobbing as he yelled and banged against the wood. She opened her brick of a phone and did the only thing she could think of, something she had been working up the courage to do; Ask for help.

As she typed between sobs, her father eventually tired himself out, and the house grew quiet apart from her stifled crying and sniffling. She had kept regularly in touch with her cousin, Percy, throughout the years. Now, she was pouring out the truth of everything in her home life, and asking for help, begging for some form of escape.

Mia didn't expect it to come so quick. Within hours she got a reply telling her to pack up what she could, that they were coming to get her. She heard that Percy had found herself love, and that must be who she was referring to when she said "they". Within a day of that, there was pounding on the front door.

Mia looked from the kitchen table to her dad, the man groaning from a hangover on the couch. She got up quick and answered the door.

It was Percy, and the man next to her must be Bo. He looked just like his picture, tall and strong. "Let's get your things, sweety." The woman said after tightly hugging her cousin, while Bo gave her a welcoming smile with surprising gentleness along it's edges. Soon his eyes moving past her to the man that was now getting off the couch, angry and indignant. Bo's eyes grew cold as steel. Percy walked with Mia to grab her bags while Bo walked square up to Charles, smiling like a fiend.

"What the hell are you doing in my house!? What's this about getting Mia's things!?" Charles demanded. Bo didn't seem the least bit bothered by the hostility.

"Now, sir... I'll be doin' the talkin' here." Bo spoke in his charming southern drawl, beneath it's sweetness was an unspoken threat. "That little lady came beggin' us for help, you see? So we're helpin' her. That's all a little shit stain like you deserves to know."

Charles' face flared with anger. "That's my daughter, I tell her where she can go-" His words were cut short by a powerful blow to the stomach.

Bo leaned down to his ear. "You should be thankin' your lucky stars, pal... If Mia weren't in the next room, I'd gut you right here. Now be a gentleman, and shut up." Just as he finished, the girls came out of her room, and his smile was as sweet and charming as ever as he patted her currently unsettled father on the back. "Ready, ladies?"

With that, they made their way to the car, loaded in Mia's bags, and put the house far behind them.

#mia #mia langlee #bo sinclair #percy #the angels of ambrose au #slasher fanfiction #slasher-verse

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tillinghastcorporatemedia · 10 months

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Often Dystopia (And how its gonna affect my art)

As much as there are some seriously good dystopian fiction. (yes im enamored with sci-fi) personally to me it almost feels tired but i understand the appeal and popularity

But how does this effect my art, and turn TillinGhast Corporate Media

Well first let me explain what TillinGhast Corporate Media is

TGCM was and is me taking what little part of my previous project that never took off and i never made it very far with, Tillinghast

Tillinghast was my outlet for my anger and isolation, and originally began after the death of my grandfather and the falling out of the people i had tried to gather for a band

I had written an ep dealing with my loss and an album that was inspired by election day 2016 and the amount of anger that i felt towards the establishment that i was already growing increasingly tired of

I ended that project after 2-3 years of trying to find vocalists/funds/and start making art

after that died i didnt touch any project and just wrote shitty electronic again, much like everytime i get bored with writing metal, but this time i had much more fun making just beeps and boops with no expectation of vocals and just making basic looping music

So where did TillinGhast Corporate Media come from?

If you notice i did keep the tillinghast name, as i found out when i first started this solo shit, isnt wasnt in use by any active musicians, and i only found one band that hadnt been active in over 8 years

But i wanted something new

something different

So i kinda let my focus on music, the thing i had been doing for over 10 years, go to the side to try and create elsewhere, right at the beginning of 2020

the first thing i thought i would try?

Writing a book

Which as a lot of people on here know, is really really really really really fucking hard to do, especially when you start this shit working a 9 hour overnight shift and writing on days off while everyone else you care about is asleep

And in figuring out what i had wanted to write then, i decided to not go big, but to try and keep me entertained, i needed more than just a few characters

So using a small chunk of info i had written down when i was trying to get into dnd and make my own scifi version of the game, i created a few planets, each with different species and histories and lore and economies

and i made a decision

Each planet would have different stories

to try and keep me entertained

which worked for about a year, and i havent updated since because i have trouble making myself create anything other than music, but i dont wanna get too recent or on a tangent

But why the name TillinGhast Corporate Media?

Well, because it sounds cool as shit. I used to love vaporwave and alternative genres and anything i could find that was "weird"

but also at some point i decided that if i do ever blow up, i want to hire other creatives and actually pay them well, and give them a place to really get out a message for the future

But its just me

So i get to have all the say

at least for now

But why a universe you ask? Why is this so damn long? Get to the point?

well at least for two of those im trying to be verbose and explain myself, and honestly if you read this far i love you and hope that youll stay here on this journey with me

I've always wanted to be part of a group, art creative, touring band, etc.

Ive gotten close only once or twice, but ive always been diy and taught myself shit so i figured i wanted to combine all of my loves into one thing, one giant sandbox where i can be creative in my decisions

And once again, i didnt want it to be just me. So TillinGhast Corporate Media will always be changing and evolving as i learn more about this giant world im having to navigate

I will say there will probably errors or fails, but i want this to be inclusive and open and loving so other people can use this as a means to escape, if even for a little bit, the harsh reality we all face.

Much like i got an escape in music and books as a kid and teenager

So why a universe? because a universe is big and can hold many stories and many perspectives, much like a library can hold many different pieces of knowledge

So to get to the final point, for those of you who actually made it this far based on the title

TillinGhast Corporate Media both as myself and as a future idea or brand

at least for now

Will not ever be a dystopia story

I have not forced myself to change and grow and evolve and continue to sit in my negativity and apathy and just general poopy pants view of the world

To not try with all my might to maybe write something that while not a utopia, is not dystopia and imagines a brighter, better, future where people maybe dont have to worry about as much, because they learned from our awful horrible past and actually refuse to repeat any of it

To try and make this more about characters and stories and music and the things that make myself and others smile, instead of regurgitated dystopias where even basic life is rough

does this mean everything will be all flowers and butterflies and my little pony?

absolutely the fuck not

Truth is often stranger than fiction and anything can happen even in a shiny place, but the point is to not be a negative nancy and have a bunch of shitty stuff going on all the time

One of the planets is a floating colony with what little remains of the human race

One planet is basically in the middle of an uprising of an exiled group

The book im writing (kinda spoilery but idk if ever ill finish this damn thing) literally has an act of terrorism being planned from someone who was radicalized by a really bad group that is basically space religion and its many parallels

All of my short stories are slice of life stuff that happens in a few scenarios where each character reacts to an outside force

But this wont ever be some dragged out for purely entertainment type angsty or edgy or anything like some books do with trauma

i want to look at stuff like we're building to something better, not something worse. optimistic but not utopia or something like that

(honestly this point ive already kinda gotten myself choked up so im gonna wrap it up)

But TillinGhast Corporate Media is basically my idea for a better future

and maybe im wrong and my stuff sucks and i need to change it

i have no idea because no one really follows my shit

so i just do what i want within the dumb boundaries and expectations i place on myself

but it is has been better before and it will get better again, and i am tired of that place being only in my head

so im creating this big huge universe with aliases that i call "artists" so it looks like there is actual musicians in this universe, i at one point started on a medium length animation series, and im trying to use my shitty computer to learn 3d shit

So stick around, at least you'll get some music out of it

and on that note i will mention i do have a few singles and 2 albums out, all of which is on youtube and streaming sites (its on spotify but i fucking hate spotify both as a company and some of the people they sponsor stream on any other site please you'll give more money to your favorite artists)

#tillinghastcorporatemedia #scifi #science fiction #scifiart #sci fi music #aliendancemusic #music #romance #creative writing #writers #writeblr #on writing #iknowtagsaredumb #honestlythoughireallyjustwannamakepeoplesmileifevenforamoment #idothisforfreeandfunsothisisntsponsoredoranything

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maglors-anion-gap · 2 years

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It's Adaptations All the Way Down

I've been trying to figure out why my guard has been up so strongly about the rings of power show, and I may have figured out (at least one of) the roots of my discontent. On positive and negative thoughts, and moving toward a more sustainable and balanced state. Under a cut in case I refine this later or find typos.

I will begin by saying that the more I learn about the cast, the more relieved I am. Even actors that I think were rather miscast seem to demonstrate in interviews a knowledge of canon and characterization that I think they will do a decent and perhaps even excellent job. I'm very excited about the news for tar-miriel, and I've always thought the new, non-canonical character introductions boded well for the state of the show. In general, I have very few issues with departures from canon. I think something that has helped me enjoy adaptations as they come out is to treat them like I treat fanworks in a way, and consider canon to be a sort of sandbox that we're all building different things in. In many ways, I like film adaptations that know when to diverge - the newish shadow and bone series did a very nice job of running two separate series side by side, changing the order of events of SaB as needed, and writing a whole prequel to SoC, introducing a flashy array of characters and doing a lot of world-building legwork for new fans who hadn't read the books. It felt very authentic to the characters, despite being a departure from book canon.

So I was having a hard time picking apart my frustration with the show outside of "I hate Amazon." Because I do hate Amazon, I don't watch Prime shows, and I think having a massively inflated budget is 1) chiefly for pissing contest purposes and 2) does not guarantee a good finished product. However, the issues of cast and crew being underpaid, overworked, and physically and mentally chewed up and spit out are not unique to Amazon. Pretty much every studio operates like that in one way or another. The back to back overtime days for crew members on music videos and Netflix shows. The injuries to stunt professionals in Marvel films. The reliance on CG by Disney because otherwise they'd have to pay for union costumers and set-builders. This is not to excuse Amazon or to say that we all might as well watch RoP because all the studios and companies suck. They do suck, but I couldn't figure out why I felt grumpy about RoP but would watch the new Netflix whatever-new-thing-just-debuted without much complaint. Until I realized the same burnout I was feeling about RoP, I was feeling about basically every adaptation that has come out in the last five (and especially the last two) years.

I just don't think I'm in a fantastic place to entertain new adaptations. If RoP had come out, in the exact same form, with the exact same casting and design decisions, when the PJ films came out, I would have been over the moon. If RoP had come out ten or even five years ago, I would have been ecstatic. Even when the news first broke, I was willing to entertain a certain amount of interest. Most of the mainstream stuff is boring, or cheaply written and designed, or both. I'm tired of the Marvel films that all look the same and have no real costuming or set design, and the actors don't even know the lines of their coworkers or which section of the movie they're shooting for, where you have to watch all ten preceding films to understand the new one. I'm tired of the Disney cash grab remakes-of-remakes that look bad and pay crummy lip service while the company donates money to christofascist political candidates. I'm tired of the hard scrabble tv writers go through, fighting censors and marketing executives, having to erase anything subversive or interesting in the show to make it maximally consumable. The revolving door of The First Gay Character.

Once upon a time, a series would have been a ship to new waters to explore cool things. Now, a series is "the executives know the concept will make money, so they'll put in as minimal effort as possible to tell a story that says nothing, all the while consolidating their industrial power, locking new and diverse talent out of the industry." At this point, I'm just not excited. I haven't watched much mainstream film recently. When I look for things to watch, I almost exclusively hunt for Indie productions and foreign films. I've started going to the library again and pulling things off the shelf at random. I'm tired and I want to see something new, not a rehash of the same old.

I think I'm primed to dislike RoP in a way I was not primed to dislike the PJ films. And anyone who knows me knows that I have a significant list of complaints about the PJ films. Hopefully the worst thing about RoP ends up being the unfortunate haircuts and the weird chain-mail-printed bodycon shirt (because they couldn't scrounge up money for armor in a 1/2 bil. dollar production, I guess). I'm sincerely hoping that RoP does all the good things that the PJ films didn't. The diverse casting is something PJ deliberately didn't do, and that has had a tangible negative impact on the state of the fandom and the cultural presence of the legendarium for the past two decades. I really want RoP to be the Something New (as much as it can be, as it's an adaptation of existing works). I'm worried the writing room is going to do the bare minimum and it'll be the Same Old - that they'll get everyone's hopes up for a more reparative adaptation of canon, make a ton of money on it, and deliver on none of their promises. I'm tired of feeling like the film industry is playing a crappy joke on us, laughing at us for hoping like Charlie Brown that this time will be good for real, and then pulling the football out from under us anyway knowing that we'll take the bait next time too.

All to say that I can't know how it will be until it comes out and we've watched it. I'm not going to give Amazon my foot traffic thought. I'm hoping RoP brings only good things to the fandom: more participants, more friends, more diversity, and new ideas. I, and many others, are also worried that the increase in popularity may also bring harassment and bullying. I worry that we'll get an influx of people trying to police what is good and proper and wholesome in the fandom, and invariably the first targets will be the trans creators like me that people already find disgusting and objectionable. I worry that the seemingly all-white Noldor cast is going to undo the slow fandom trend toward diversifying fan portrayals and deconstructing the association in tolkien's works between the "high" elves, inherent goodness, and whiteness. I worry that friend groups will dissolve with the changing weather instead of weathering the storm (as many people have already left over the current inhospitable and bigoted climate of the fandom). I'm not sure what to do about that, except set up discord groups to continue connecting with your close circle, block things you don't want to see, make a tangible effort to create interpretations you want to see (and to introduce newcomers to those interpretations), follow your favorite people on AO3, and reject unkind and abusive behavior before it becomes commonplace. Honestly, I think a lot of bad outcomes can be averted by being kind to newcomers instead of snobby; the LoTR fandom is what got me to read the silmarillion for the first time, and if your beef is with people not having an understanding of canon, you'll get more people to listen to you if you can get them to be your co-conspirator than your whipping boy.

This is getting very long, and I know there are things that I haven't touched on that could still be addressed. In particular, I have only talked about bigotry in the legendarium and the fandom at a surface level here, largely because I'm not the most appropriate voice for much of that.

If anyone wants to add onto this with their observations on how race, ability, religion, gender, sexuality etc, have shaped how fandom has treated you or what your hopes and fears are for RoP, please add to this post!

I would like to boost anything you feel comfortable sharing! And if you want me to share something you've already written, then send me that instead!

#meta #tol-himling #me: I cant read long paragraphs brain go brrr #also me: I cant write in anything except long paragraphs #sorry for my behavior. i will do it again.

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pojebalo · 3 years

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speedrunning crime and punishment is so fun. lalka could never

#by speedrunning i mean listening to the audiobook on 2x speed and reading alongside it #do not @ me this method gets the job done when i have like 400 pages to read in 3 days #especially when the book is boring / written in like a tiring and hard to read way u know #and i actually do retain stuff from the book id say just as much as if i were to read it normally #sometimes even more maybe #anyway i love waffling id need an audiobook to read my own tags <3 #/void therapy

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cinnamonest · 3 years

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Daily Life - Yandere Childe, Zhongli, Xiao

A continuation of the earlier post about Kaeya and Diluc

Content Warnings: n/s/f//w mentions/themes/stuff (but not like, explicit detail), fem reader, normal yandere stuff

==================

Childe's a busy guy. He wakes you up every morning, usually pretty sweetly. He'll nuzzle up against your face, mumbling a "good morning" into your ear. He's sweet, but, you gotta get up when he tells you to. And you have to be the one to make food, he likes watching you walk around.

If he's gone, he is again one to give darling a surprising amount of freedom. He has the highest quality of security available and all, so he allows some roaming. That and, in a sorta terrifying thought, he's one hundred percent confident that even if you got away, he could find you, so he's not even too worried about escaping. He's so confident that you'll never truly escape him, which frankly is pretty intimidating for darling to realize. He'll get you things you like and stuff to do, stimulate your mind and all that, probably as time goes on will leave you chore lists and things you're required to do for him or else.

When he gets back, he's very tired usually, will expect you to make him food and be sweet and greet him at the door when he comes back, preferably on your knees. If you're not, he'll get irritated, especially if you're trying to hide. If you're just asleep or something, he might excuse it and find it cute. But he does a lot for you, you know, the least you can do is this one little thing. If he's had a particularly bad day, he'll be extra irritated, so it's wise to follow this command, and be ready to have all of his irritation taken out on you the moment he gets back. You're his favorite little stress ball to stuff and squeeze.

For days off, as I've said before he's one of the few that will willingly take you outside, and unlike Kaeya from the last routine post he's not in a bad mood about it either. He likes to show you off, likes walking in public holding hands or with his arm around you so that people can see, it gives him a sort of pride, and honestly he likes mimicking a "normal" relationship. But just know you're on a tight leash. Not literally of course... yet. He lays it out very clearly exactly how you are to behave when going outside, not speaking to others and not going out of his sight. Any attempts to make a scene, try to get a stranger to help etc will be dealt with fairly harshly. And don't think about pulling some covert, sneaky shit like trying to look at a stranger with the "help me" facial expression or trying to silently mouth something, slip a written message to a waitress etc -- he'll be watching you closely enough to pick up on any of that, and honestly that will set him off more than blatantly trying to make a scene. You will be immediately headed home to get an attitude adjustment since you can't behave.

Later on, he'll want you to accompany him to his work sometimes, on those days that whatever he has to do involved more sitting down than fighting - paperwork, important meetings, etc. He likes your presence, of course, you make the time pass more quickly. But really this is, more than anything, because he's an arrogant show-off. He'll give you something to fiddle with but will just sit you on his lap throughout the whole time, gently stroking your thigh or resting his head on your shoulder, making you wear embarrassingly revealing things and making sure everyone sees, be it the entire group in a wide meeting hall or some subordinate come to have a one-on-one talk, or even his superiors, thanking them for them letting him bring his pet to work. It even allows him to get in some good de-stressing during the middle of the day when no one else is around. Expect lots of bring-your-fucktoy-to-work days like that.

Of course, not every day is spent out, though. He also has days he'd rather just stay at home. These days are usually after a long period of difficult work and late nights, so he's exhausted. Expect lots of naps, just cuddles and an arm wrapped around your waist (with a solid iron grip, of course). May or may not progress to slow cuddlefucking, who knows (yes it always does). He gets all whiny and demanding because he's soooo tired, so he'll make you get on top after a few rounds.

-------

Honestly we all envy my Zhongli's darling already, but God he's the best to wake up to. He just softly kisses the side of your face, running his hands down your sides. He can't let you sleep in too much, it's bad for your health! You can probably beg for a few minutes extra. And God, is it the best to wake up to. He's already got someone (probably one of the other adepti, a person, who knows) to make you food, and it's never skimping out either, it's always tons of food and your favorite things, too. Within limits, of course, can't have you eating nothing but things that are bad for you. He's also one that will get you tons of things to do throughout the day, virtually anything you ask for, he'll pay for (well... someone will, but you'll think he did, at least). He actually might also give you a list of very simple tasks to do, just to give you some motivation, since even if you have a lot to do, having no tasks and only play can get depressing without the sense of accomplishment. But he's much more lenient on your completion of all of them.

He's always reluctant to leave and gives you a lot of headpats and kisses before finally heading out for the day, always taking time to contemplate whether or not he can just take the day off. During the day you'll stay in the confinements of your cage, be that an abode or a building somewhere, making sure you stand zero chance of ever getting out. If you force his hand (read: multiple escape attempts), he'll reluctantly have to limit your roaming abilities, but once you're confined to a smaller cage and have some privileges taken away, he's certain you'll be on your best behavior to get out again, and maybe be a little more grateful and understanding in the future. Once he gets back, it's generally a very nice time, he likes to lead a quiet life and will want to hear all about your day, what you did, see the progress on all those little projects you've been working on for art or music or whatever hobby you've taken up to pass the time. If he's had a bad day, he'll probably tell you about it, but you know, put it in terms simple enough for you to understand, since you wouldn't normally get such complicated matters.

On very very rare occasions, not nearly as often as Childe, he might take you to on his day with him, probably not during normal workdays, but for some kind of special day -- a large meeting, or the opposite, a day where he has nothing to do but slow paperwork alone in an office. The sunlight is good for you, and he'll bring stuff for you to do too. To be honest, it's not as obvious nor as obnoxiously vocal about it as Childe, but he also does enjoy having your presence in front of others, letting them see you. The things you'll have to wear aren't nearly as obscenely lewd as Childe's either, but they're not entirely wholesome either.

He really likes having off days. On those days, he'll probably want to take you somewhere, generally will do whatever you want to do. He's incredibly knowledgeable on everything in the area, and would probably also really like going out somewhere secluded in nature, rather than in the city, like a nice view from the nearby mountains or the like, and just spend a day there. It's nice, and far away from prying eyes that can't recognize your face off the missing person posters or witness the obscene things that may or may not take place up there.

Spending time home is always nice too, though, just quietly going about the day and doing whatever you want, although inevitably taking breaks for much-needed... displays of physical affection. And he tries so hard to be gentle, but he also has a lot of stress pent up that may just come out and result in being a bit rougher than usual, but he's always apologetic afterward, making sure you're alright. He's also pretty strict about the time you go to bed. Making sure you get enough sleep and all that.

-------

Xiao's poor, poor darling. You always wake up to him shaking you awake. He's impatient. Once he feels you've had enough sleep, he'll get you up like that. Don't try to get more sleep-in time, he's not very gracious on that, will simply huff and yank you up. Otherwise, the mornings can be... Sweet. It's not like he's trying to be so cold all the time; if you're well behaved he can be pretty loving, even if he doesn't quite know how to be gentle. He just has... Low tolerance.

Xiao is very quiet for the most part, and the mornings have a sort of silent peacefulness provided it's one of your days that you don't choose to be difficult. He likes to watch you go about the morning. It's a little creepy to be honest? He just sits there nearby and watches you move around, make food, brush your hair or teeth or whatever. He'll eat whatever you make him, even if it's not one of his extremely limited liked items. He might complain, though.

During the times he IS gone, well, it's extremely boring for poor darling. Early on, or if you've done something to warrant it (read: literally the slightest word of disagreement, a tone of voice he doesn't like, even a facial expression he deems defiant) you'll be bound to the bed, hand and foot. Nothing to do whatsoever but stare at the ceiling. It's your own fault, if you were good maybe it wouldn't be like this, he says. When you are good, and have a nice long-time record of being extremely pleasant and sweet to him - and I mean a LONG time - he might - might - finally let you be unbound aside from a long anklet chain connecting you to the bed. Not like you have much else to do, though. Maybe he'll get you books if you ask nicely and grovel at his feet. But that's it. He doesn't like the thought of giving you too much entertainment. If being alone is mind-numbingly boring, well, you'll enjoy time with him that much more. Eventually you'll reach a point where you're begging him not to leave, he hopes, even if he would never admit to that. So what he'll do is balance it, give you just enough to keep your whining down, but keep making sure you're miserable when alone. He only allows you "activities" (read: a book) on certain days of the week, or every other day, every third day, something like that. And you can only get a new book once a month or so. And it's whatever he finds, not just what you want, so he'll start dropping you with encyclopedias and textbooks and other dull things. You can't complain, after all he IS giving you something to do. If you're gonna complain, well, how would you like to have the reading privilege revoked entirely? And that shuts you up. So, really, poor darling's days are very very bleak, dull, and empty, when alone.

He doesn't really have a "end of the day." His "job" is more or less a 24/7 thing, he goes when he's needed and when he's not needed he'll be with you. Usually it's a semi normal schedule but it can lead to odd intervals - you may have times he's gone for a full day or so, and then times where he's there for a whole day, etc. Spending time together is quiet, but he's surprisingly fond of physical affection. He spends a lot of time just... alone with his thoughts. Spacing out and thinking, looking up at the sky, except, well, now it's him, his thoughts, and you. You'll spend it with him too, iron grip locked around your waist so you can't pull away from his lap. He's also one to need to get out the... frustrations of life through physical activity at night.

Days he's there, again, it's pretty quiet, he's not much one for extensive conversation, of course. If you talk, he'll listen, but don't expect him to say much back. He likes the sound of your voice, one of the only people he doesn't prefer silence to, so long as you're not whining about wanting to leave. He doesn't really have a lot of sitting-down type of work to do, so if he's spending a whole day time with you, it means he's specifically worked it out so that he's able to do so for that purpose. He'll probably prompt you to speak, it's super awkward really. An awkward comment about this or that that he clearly wants you to start talking about, and he'll talk back just a little bit, with his own brand of harsh pessimism -- but that's just the only way he really knows how to communicate, he's not actually trying to shut you down when he responds to everything negatively. It's the most bizarre bonding time, but bonding nonetheless. He also likes to watch you do tasks -- to make food, even if it's just for yourself, to clean and walk around doing your little tasks. He may or may not eventually discover a fondness for forcing you to walk around naked, poor darling.

I've mentioned before that his drive is reactive - it gets heavier when he's with you. So really, your day will be filled with little fun intervals of very spontaneous fucking. Like, he has no sense of mood or timing. It's completely random, very forceful, will just loop his hands under your arms and scoop you up and carry you over to bed at any random moment, interrupting your speech even. Or, sometimes the bed is too far, and just bending you over is easier. And then, he'll just carry on like nothing happened.

He's not one to rant and rave about his day by default, and especially not early on. In the later stages, though, once he's comfortable with you, you might find him slipping out a frustration here or there, a passing comment about something upsetting that happened, and if you pry at it, he'll end up talking, much more than usual. He kind of doesn't even realize he's starting to ramble a bit, and if he catches himself he'll stop and mutter something about it being unimportant anyway.

Bonus little hc: He asks you how your day was. Every day that he's not with you. It's a routine - he started doing it because from his limited knowledge of human relationships, it's the "normal," so he tries to emulate what he feels like is normal in a relationship. It's kind of funny, well, not for poor darling, it feels mocking. Like, how do you think my day was, Xiao? All tied up and left only to stare at the ceiling? If you get all sarcastic with him like that, though, he might see it as grounds for punishment, so, be snarky at your own risk.

#yandere genshin impact #lena's asks

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hangovercurse · 3 years

Text

Nerd Love

After years of working together, Pete still manages to break you.

Request: “Hi! Can I get a Pete imagine where you guys work on SNL together and you have few skits together and during one of them you can’t stop laughing”

Pete Davidson x Reader

Warnings: Cursing

Word Count: 2237

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” You hear Kate and the host of the week announce before Lorne motions that the cameras had cut for commercial break. You and Pete had a sketch together in exactly 12 minutes and 45 seconds, and you were trying to cool your nerves.

You loved your job, writing on SNL was something you had dreamed of since you were in middle school, and now it was your reality. Of course, it was hard, the hours were long and the work was demanding. But having Pete by your side made it all bearable.

You had met on your first day, getting hired one season after him. You two were deemed the “babies” of the cast because you were the youngest, so naturally you got paired up. A lot.

At first it bothered you that you only really ever worked with one person, but after your first few episodes you grew to love Pete. Your energies matched so well, and whenever you wrote together you easily built of each other.

After 6 years of working on the show together, you had become really close friends. You were with him through all of his hard times, and you were one of the few people he let visit him in rehab. In return, he stuck by your side through everything, even when the internet tried to cancel you for an interview that was taken completely out of context.

You couldn’t pinpoint when, but at some point, you had developed real feelings for him. Obviously, you’d never tell him, not wanting to mess up your amazing friendship. But they still flourished, especially when you would be up until 6 am writing sketches and goofing around in the writer’s room. Of course, the comments from fans didn’t help your feelings either. They loved you guys. Anytime you posted Pete on your social media, they were all over it.

But you guys had denied the dating rumors countless times since they’d started 5 years ago. Even though having to hear the words “we’re just friends” over and over killed you.

You were lost in thought when Pete came up behind you, hands grabbing your shoulders and shaking you slightly. “Ready bookworm?” He asked, moving to stand next to you.

“Only if you are, Mr. jock-man.” You laughed, rolling your eyes.

The sketch you and Pete had written was a young couple on a really fancy date to celebrate their 6-month anniversary. Your character was going on the date with Kyle Mooney’s character. Both of you were the stereotypical nerd couple with glasses, suspenders, and everything else. Pete was playing your waiter, who obviously did not give a shit about his job. He was the stereotypical jock character. Your character was super attracted to him and kept paying attention to him. He loved the attention and would do things like show you his (reaaaallllyyy) lame tattoos, tell you about sports, and everything that nerds don’t like. Kyle obviously didn’t like that and kept trying to get your attention in the weirdest of ways.

It was pretty funny in rehearsals, almost too funny. Seeing Pete act so out of character was hilarious to you and having to overdramatically flirt with him felt ridiculous. You barely made it through in rehearsals without laughing, so you had to hope you could do it on stage.

“Y/N, Pete, and Kyle. You’re up.” The stagehand told you, and you grabbed Kyle’s hand, walking to the stage.

The sketch started and you were doing okay. You and Kyle had your conversation about your anniversary and your favorite Star Wars movies. But then Pete walked onto the stage in his ridiculous waiter getup. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the top and wrinkled, his black pants hanging low on his hips, and his apron only half tied. You bit your tongue to keep yourself together.

“Welcome to White Oyster, what do you want?” He said in a very bored voice. You acted interested, eyes raking up and down him. You felt ridiculous and had to swallow a laugh.

Kyle pushed his glasses up on his nose, “me and my girlfriend are here for our six-month anniversary, so we would like the couple’s special.” His nerd voice was incredible.

“Okay. Anything else?” Pete’s voice remained monotone.

You bit your lip, “do you recommend anything else?” You asked, trying to sound nerd-sexy.

You could see Pete struggling to contain a smile. “I mean, whatever. Food here is shitty anyways.”

Kyle’s mouth gaped, “can you not speak like that around my girlfriend, please?”

The sketch continued with you making flirty remarks towards Pete, him being very bored and unaware, and Kyle trying to direct your attention. After your second attempt at flirting with him, you could feel yourself breaking down.

“So, I was wondering. Do you have any tattoos?” You asked him, your elbow on the table, twirling a piece of your hair in your finger.

Pete nodded, pulling up his shirt to show the big MOM tattoo on his side that was drawn on earlier. You felt a giggle slip out, completely out of character.

You tried to cover it up and continue, “wow, you really must love your mom, huh?” Another chuckle leaving your mouth, “that’s kinda hot.”

Kyle looked at you with wide eyes, “Linda!” He screamed the name of your character

Pete shrugged, “Nah, I did it myself. It says WOW, like world of warcraft.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that fell out of your mouth, and one followed from Pete. This was a disaster. You tried to regain your composure, knowing Kyle was probably really frustrated right now. “I just think tattoos are so cool. You don’t have any, do you Darren?” You asked Kyle’s character, eyes narrowing at him. You heard a chuckle from Pete beside you and you bit your cheek.

Kyle faked looking flustered, “N-no. But I have all 7 of the Harry Potter books and 4 collectors wands.”

Pete nodded, “Oh cool, I have a Harry Potter tattoo.” He pulled up his arm to show his real tattoo.

Your eyes went wide, “Wow. That’s way cooler.” You batted your eyes up at Pete, making him break even more. Watching his face go red and his mouth lifting up with laughter made you squeeze your eyes to hide your laughter.

“But babe!” Kyle was starting to break now too. “You love my Harry Potter stuff!”

“It’s cool, I guess.”

The sketch continued with you and Pete laughing anytime you looked at each other, your energies feeding into one another. You both tried really hard to keep it together, but something about flirting with Pete made you so giddy inside that you couldn’t help it.

Eventually the scene ended and the lights went down. You knew the cameras probably caught an extra few seconds after the close of the sketch, meaning they caught you and Pete breaking down into fits of laughter.

You somehow made it offstage, faces red. “We’re so gonna get fired.” He said through giggles.

“I’m so sorry,” You started, trying to take breaths through your laughs. “I don’t know why I couldn’t hold it together.”

“You looked ridiculous.” Pete laughed, pointing at your glasses.

After the show you made your way back to your dressing room, changing into your day clothes and getting ready to leave. You finally checked your phone, which had been off the duration of the show.

Your twitter feed was filled with clips of you and Pete laughing through the sketch.

They’re so cute together #goals

Love their friendship

Get you someone who looks at you like Pete looks at Y/N

Poor Kyle ☹

The way they can’t get through a skit because they’re too in love

And they say they aren’t dating…

Can’t believe the unprofessionalism

Pete and Y/N are dating… no one can convince me otherwise

The flirting!!! The looks!!!

I would like Pete and Y/N to get married and adopt me please

Your heart melted at all the comments, a sigh leaving your mouth. You watched the video and noticed the way he looked at you anytime you broke character, it was the same way you looked at him all the time.

You shook your head, convincing yourself you were imagining it. You couldn’t afford to think like that, it would ruin your friendship.

A knock at your door pulled you out of your thoughts, “Y/N, wanna go grab a drink with me?” It was Pete.

“You can come in.” You called, and he did so. “I don’t know, I was thinking I might just go home. I’m pretty tired.” You really just wanted to go home and sort through your feelings for the umpteenth time that month.

He nodded, watching as you tossed various items in your bag, “you were great tonight.”

You giggled, “Pete I barely made it through our sketch, it was a disaster.”

He rolled his eyes, walking over to where you were at your vanity. “I messed up too, but it was fine. No one noticed.”

You leaned into the mirror, fixing your makeup slightly. Pete was very close to you, watching you through said mirror. “Trust me, Petey. Everyone noticed.” You laughed, standing up straight again.

Your back was inches from his chest, and you could suddenly feel a different sort of tension in the air. But you didn’t make any move to shift away from him. He gave you a quizzical look through the mirror and you took out your phone, turning to him.

You took in a breath at the proximity. You weren’t close enough to kiss or anything, but his chest was only a few inches away from you. You shook away the thoughts you were having and opened your twitter, letting him scroll through the tweets. He chuckled and shook his head as he read them, eventually handing you your phone back.

“People really like us together.” He said, smiling.

You rolled your eyes, “They have for the past like, 6 years, Petey. We’re funny.” You smiled moving to turn back to grab your bag, but his hand grabbed your hip and made you stay facing him.

Your mind went blank at his touch, trying to figure out if this was real or if you were just really really tired. “That’s not what I meant.” He said, quieter.

You laughed, looking away from his eyes, not really knowing what to say. “I mean, people have always thought… stuff like that.” You mumbled, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Pete’s eyes were searching your face, taking in every detail. “Have you ever thought about, like, why people think we’re…” He trailed off, but you knew what he was implying.

You blushed, looking down at your toes. “I mean, I guess we’re together a lot and we get on well. People just like to make assumptions, I guess.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure it doesn’t help that I can never keep my eyes off of you, even when the cameras are rolling.” He said, a chuckle following.

You smiled, looking back up at him, your brain trying to process what he just said. After a few moments of silence, you spit out a “why are you bringing this up?” Your voice was soft, almost a whisper.

He sighed, hand moving from your hip and rubbing his face lightly. “I don’t know, I’ve just been thinking a lot.” You gave him a look that told him to continue. “I mean, I think it’s kind of obvious that I like you.”

Your mouth dropped, “obvious? Pete Davidson you have been far from obvious about your feelings.” You really thought you were dreaming, hearing those words from him was just impossible.

“Are you kidding me? How many sketches do I have to write just so I can flirt with you? Have you not picked up on the fact that literally every sketch I write for you to be in we’re playing some sort of couple?” He laughed, stepping towards you, and grabbing your hips again. “Dude, and I thought I was oblivious to this shit.”

“In my defense I’ve spent the past like 6 years trying to convince myself you didn’t feel the same way.” You said, a smile crossing your face.

Pete rolled his eyes, leaning closer to you, “now why would you wanna do that?” There was a playful tone in his voice, but you couldn’t help your serious answer.

“Because I didn’t wanna read the signs wrong and mess up our friendship.” You sighed.

Pete’s smile softened, “Y/N I literally want to kill you right now for making me wait this long.” You giggled, leaning closer to him. “But you’re cute so I guess I can let it slide.”

“If I kiss you will it make up for it?” You asked, batting your eyelashes.

Pete pretended to think about it, “hmmm, maybe. You should definitely give it a shot to see.”

You rolled your eyes, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him into you. Your lips touched his and it was like everything in the universe suddenly aligned. His mouth moved against yours in soft, perfect motions. His hands pulled you closer into him, your bodies molding together like it was meant to be.

When you finally pulled away for breath, he pressed his forehead against yours, a wide grin on his face. “So, about those drinks?”

#pete davidson #pete davidson imagine #pete davidson x reader #pete davidson fluff

617 notes · View notes

may-fanfic · 3 years

Note

Reader is a shakespeare nerd and Wanda has had a bad day so she reads Wanda an excerpt of the play she’s reading and Wanda actually comes to like Shakespeare. Just something super soft and fluffy pls 🥺🥺

Bud Of Love

summary: when a mission goes wrong, wanda is in need of reassurance and you’re more than happy to give it to her.

warnings: mentions of death,

word count: 1,128

masterlist

a/n : hope you enjoy this, anon 💕

(feel free to send in any request you may have))

--------

when you took a break from fighting crime with the other Avengers, you spent the remainder of your time, wrapped tightly in your blanket along with a cup of tea somewhere near you, reading whatever book that had been of interest at that moment. you hardly read new books because you always seemed to be drawn to the couple of Shakespeare books that you've managed to collect over time. they were always your favorite and whenever you tried to read any other book, you found yourself bored of the words that had been written.

Shakespeare's was different, you could feel the words as you read them. it wasn't just a jumbo mess, each word held meaning and you were always infatuated by the stories he told.

when you and wanda began dating, she'd spend her time cooped up in your room with you. she liked the silence and never minded spending her time with you as you read. there was something about watching you read, that always left the girl feeling at ease. you always liked having her around whether she was busy doing work or simply cuddling up to you. the time you would usually spend alone quickly became quality time with wanda.

wanda watched as you rubbed at your eyes softly. she could tell you were tired but you seemed determined to finish whatever you were reading. the smile tugged at the corners of her lips, setting aside her own paperwork to take the book from your hands. you snapped your sleepy gaze over to her in question.

"come here, baby," she whispered, patting her lap softly to which you rested your head against. her hand quickly found your hair, playing with it softly. you finally allowed your eyes to fall closed after hours of trying your hardest to ignore the sleep that was calling your name. you couldn't fight it off for much longer as her soft voice filled the usual silence in the room.

wanda reading to you quickly became a sort of ritual, especially before bed. you found it hard to sleep if the girl's voice hadn’t been soothing you sleep and wanda honestly loved it so whenever she could, she would and you appreciated it.

---

you hummed softly as you moved through the compound, oblivious to the tension in the tower until you crashed into a body, looking up from your book, you gazed at Natasha. she looked worried and concerned, it must've been a tough mission, it only dawned on you now that wanda had attended the same mission.

"what is it?" you asked softly, a frown tugging at your lips. Natasha let a soft sigh out before she spoke. "have you spoken to wanda?" you shook your head, fear made your stomach dropped and Natasha seemed to notice.

"she's fine, things just didn't go as planned." she shrugged before encouraging you to look for her. you didn't need much convincing as you closed your book and tucked it under your arm, you had already been walking away from Natasha.

when you reached her room, her eyes had been cast over the large tv. you watched the news that was played loudly in her usually silent room. she noticed you before you even spoke, frowning lightly as you listened carefully to what they were saying about her. "it's my fault." she spoke, her frown deepened when you looked at her and she could hardly stand your pitiful gaze at that moment.

"It happens." you shrugged lightly as if she wasn't the very cause of innocent people's demise. your nonchalance made her let out a shaky sigh, letting her shoulders drop in defeat. "it could've been avoided." you let out a breath, moving so you were sat beside her on the bed.

you knew wanda would be tough on herself because of this, you knew there wasn't anything you could say to make it any better but that didn't stop you from trying. "think about all the people you saved." you muttered, placing your Romeo & Juliet book down in your lap so you could reach out for her hand.

"you can't save everyone," you stated bluntly, caressing her knuckles to ease her. you stared down at her soft hands, trying your hardest to figure out how the less threatening part of her body held so much power. you never really thought much about what wanda could do but when you did, you were always so amazed by her. "I wish I could." her lip quivered when you leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her fingers.

"We all do," you uttered out, her gaze had been fixed on you the entire time. wanda knew you were her anchor, she didn't know what she'd do without you.

the thought of losing you made her stomach hurt and then she was imagining all those innocent people who must've been somebody's everything and now she was the very reason they'd never see each other again. she could throw up from the guilt she felt.

"but, it doesn't always work out like that." you used your free hand to brush back some hair that was in her face, smiling weakly at her. the silver lining was that she prevented future attacks and as result, probably saved millions down the line.

"I'm proud of you, wanda," you whispered, your hand cupped her cheek. she could cry right now if she let herself, she was an emotional mess. you were so sweet to her, she had been so lucky when it came to you.

"you are?" she uttered out softly, her voice breaking up as she did so. you only nodded, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to her lips. this is all wanda needed right now, you and your comforting words.

she was drained so when you uttered out for her to get into bed, she didn't hesitate and you climbed in beside her, tugging her closer so her head could rest against your chest. she nuzzled closely into you, letting out a breath. the only thing you could think to do was what you knew best, her eyes fluttered closed when you started.

"Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be. Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night! This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet." wanda never really understood your fascinations with those Shakespeare plays but as you read to her, she could finally appreciate the words, feeling nothing but your love coursing through as you softly read her to sleep.

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff #wanda x you #wanda x y/n #scarlet witch #scarlet witch x you #scarlet witch x reader #wanda marvel #wanda #wandavision #avengers #the avengers

289 notes · View notes

20moonchild21 · 3 years

Text

𝗦𝗲𝗵𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵𝘁 [𝗯𝘁𝘀]

⇉ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 11

[pairings]

JK x female!oc, Bunny!JK x human!female!oc, Jin x female!oc, Leopard!Jin x human!female!oc, Jimin x female!oc, white Tiger!Jimin x human!female!oc, Taehyung x female!oc, black Tiger!Taehyung x human!female!oc, JK x Jin x Jimin x Taehyung x female!oc

[warnings]

self-doubts, mentions of an abusive past

[words]

4.0k

[author]

Hey there! I really hope you had an amazing week so far. For me, I finally finished all my exams this week. This means I will have finished school forever in only 4 weeks!😱 How crazy is that?!

Important information:

Next Wednesday I won’t upload a new chapter, because I am at a funeral, and I don’t think I will be in the mood to do anything that day anymore. I hope you can understand🙏🏼

If you don’t want to wait until next Sunday for my next chapter, I can only recommend you to check out Inferiority complex written by my friend @starlightauroras-main. It’s a super cute and exciting story about Hybrid!Jimin and the reader. Please, leave her a lot of likes and comments, because she deserves it!

Here in Germany, it is Easter weekend next week. Do you celebrate Easter where you come from?

Stay safe and healthy!

Mꨄ

[chapter 10 ||| chapter 12]

Jungkook was sitting crossed legs on his favourite spot in the middle of the hallway, looking dreamily at the photo wall, where now the photo of him and Jin was hanging as well. It was one of the day were he had nothing to do at all.

In the morning, he had already finished his sport routine, ripping Jin out of his sleep as well when he had punched against his bag. After breakfast, he had practiced the guitar and read in his book again, before he helped Jin to get ready for his grocery shopping tour with Hope. Hope always offered that they could join her when she would go buying groceries, because she wanted to offer them as much freedom as possible.

They had put Jin’s long, fluffy tail down the leg of his trousers, while a black beanie had covered his ears from the other people’s glances. Lucky for them, autumn had arrived in New York, so it wouldn’t be strange to wear a hat when going outside. The both of them had left a few minutes ago, and since there was nothing else for Jungkook to do, he had sat down and looked over the photos.

Sometimes, it all felt unreal to him. Just about 2.5 months ago, he had been strolling around the streets, not knowing what the next they would hold for him. He had thought that his whole life would have to include fear and submission, because that was the only thing he had learnt in life. Never had he thought, that he would do simple things like watching TV, sleeping in his own bed or just sitting at the same table as a human.

Not once Hope had askes anything from him, since she had taken him and his brother in. She gave them anything, showing them that they were worth it all. In the past, he had several thoughts about not worthing all the things she offered. It was stuck in his brain for too long.

He often asked himself why people were so cruel these days. Hope had told him what had happened a long time ago, and how the people told themselves that their minds had changed. Since he had been living with the girl, he somehow didn’t felt that different anymore. He was just living his life with his brother, doing the things he liked without being punished for it. He wanted everyone to have that possibility.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door behind him opened with a small squeaking sound. He didn’t need to turn around, because by now, he knew Jimin’s scent. The smaller tiger and his grumpy brother had been staying with them for over 1.5 weeks now. Jungkook wasn’t that happy in the beginning when they crashed into his life without warning.

Especially, when that grumpy tiger growled at Hope that one evening or when he showed off his fangs. Though he hadn’t sharp tooth like him, he would not have been afraid to kick them out of the flat, but he had tried to calm himself down when Jin used his stern tone on him. His brother was right, a few weeks ago, him and Jin had been in the same position as Jimin and Taehyung. They laid scared and injured on the girl’s sofa, begging for her to help them.

“What are you doing?” Jimin had stepped out of the room and was now standing behind Jungkook, looking curiously at the bunny Hybrid.

Jungkook had to admit that he somehow like that white tiger. Jimin was a calm person to hang out with. He wasn’t sure about him in the beginning, because he had thought he was like his grumpy brother, but once he had talked to him a few times, he had developed sympathy for him.

“I look at those photos.” Jungkook turned his head and looked at the smaller male.

Jimin’s white ears stood up in attention, while his tail was slightly wrapped around his left thigh. He was looking at the photos on the wall, before he took a step closer and carefully sunk himself down next to the bunny. Jimin had definitely changed since the first time he came here, Jungkook could tell. He had become braver, talking and joining them sometimes while eating or watching TV.

Jungkook didn’t mind thought. He had wanted a friend (who wasn’t his brother) for a long time, because when Jin was cooking in the kitchen and Hope was working on her computer, he often got bored.

“Are you only looking at them all day long?” Jimin had crossed his legs as well, as he carefully studied the pictured on the wall.

“I –“ Jungkook stopped. It was hard to explain his affection for pictures. “It just – when I first came here, I was so scared that maybe Hope would be as cruel as my – as my last owners. But then she showed me around and when I saw those pictures and she told me the stories behind them, it just felt right. They made me feel – safe and like I was home, you know? It’s hard to explain, but I just love that wall.”

Jungkook pulled up his knees towards his chest, before putting his head onto them. Jimin next to him just hummed in response, but he wasn’t saying anything for another few minutes. Jungkook knew it may sounded selfish when he talked about his now happy life, while he knew that Jimin and Taehyung technically didn’t have one. After all, they weren’t living here.

“It must be great to have Hope as your owner.” Jimin suddenly said, his voice held a lot of sadness. “Since I can think, Taehyung had been my only family. It had always been just him and me.”

“Jin and me were alone for a long time, too.” Jungkook turned his head to look at the older male sitting next to him. “I always thought that I would spend my whole life with those cruel people. I thought that I was destined to live like that, but then I met Hope and everything just turned upside down. She is just – she gave me everything I could have ever asked for.”

Jungkook didn’t realized that he was already rumbling about the girl again, but Jimin did.

“You are talking about her a lot.” Jimin just stated, as they looked into each other’s eyes. “You like her, don’t you?”

Of course Jungkook liked her. Hope was the only human he knew who would actually treat him as if he was a real person and not just some animal. She gave him a real home. A home that he loved to wake up in every morning, and a home he felt safe to go to sleep in the evening.

In addition, Hope was a really beautiful girl in his eyes. He always like the way her skin would glow in the sun when they sat at the breakfast table. The way she always closed her tired eyes, as she sipped at her coffee mug, or how that two dimples would form on her cheeks every time she laughed along with him. Somehow it would always make his own cheeks reddened when caught himself thinking about her.

Not to mention her scent, that was all over the apartment and the furniture. It was nothing he could describe or compare with something, but still, it was the most beautiful scent he had ever smelled in his life. He never wanted to miss that anymore.

He wanted to feel that closeness they had while they would be cuddling onto the couch, watching the Simpsons over and over again. As well as her small kisses on the head when she would say good-night to him, or when she would massage the back of his head. He wouldn’t even have a problem with her touching his ears by now.

“Yes, I like her.” He whispered back, confessing it for the very first time to another person.

Jimin pulled his eyebrows together in surprise and confusion. Of course, he had noticed that the girl was very natural and nice, which made her likable, but he also hadn’t known her for as long as Jungkook.

“Did you tell her that?” Jimin innocently asked the bunny Hybrids after a few seconds of silence.

“No, it’s not appropriate, Jimin.” He said quietly, fixing his eyes on the photo were the girl smiled at her graduation ceremony. “I am just a Hybrid after all. She would never get involved in something like that. She deserves better than me.”

Jimin just nodded in response, before he fixed his eyes on the photo wall once again, getting lost in his own mind. Jimin was clearly a person you could tell your matters and secrets without feeling judged un some kind. Jungkook felt really comfortable in the older one’s presence.

“Why is your brother even so grumpy all the time?” He suddenly changed the subject, wanting to cheer up the mood a little bit. “He is always pulling a face when I see him.”

Jungkook tried to imitate the older black tiger, making some funny grimaces that mad Jimin chuckle slightly. The white tiger shook his head, before he looked behind him to make sure Taehyung would not be standing behind them.

“Usually, he isn’t like that. Really.” He sighed, turning his attention back towards Jungkook. “He has been through a lot in the past. I swear, he would never hurt a fly, that would not be him. He can be really caring and protective, that’s why he reacted the way he did the other night. I am sorry for him, but he is only scared.”

Jungkook nodded, understanding Taehyungs reaction in some way. He probably would be the same way, if he would be in his position.

“I understand.” He mumbled, before a smile spread over his face. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he is a big, grumpy cat.”

“Oh my god, Taehyung.” The girl gasped, as she removed the bandage that had been wrapped around the older boy’s injured arm. “That looks much worse than yesterday. Did you scratch it or something?”

The black tiger’s arm had become much better over the past few days. The infection had been gone down, but now it looked horrible. The skin was red and swollen again, with some blood coming through the injured skin.

“I – ehm – no?” He stuttered around, not looking her into the eyes. She cocked her eyebrow up and gave him a stern look. “Okay, it was itching badly last night, so I scratched it a little bit. Are you happy?”

Hope just rolled her eyes when he tried to talk in his loud way. He could be so stubborn. I he would just had asked her, she could have gave him some salve which had avoid that scenario. But he, he was too proud.

“Taehyung, this is no joke.” She grabbed the wet glove and tried to remove the small amount of blood, which made Taehyung hiss. “Your wound got infected again. You have to be more careful. If it itches again, just come to me and I add some salve to alleviate it, okay?”

She sighed when he just rolled his eyes in response. She had tried to show him that he could talk to her in a normal way, without intimidating her with his fangs or snapping at each other, but somehow he seemed to isolate himself on purpose, and she couldn’t understand why, because Jimin was the complete opposite.

The white tiger had clearly opened up over the past few days, talking and joking around in his bubbly way that was nice to watch. He even got a tiny little bit closer with Jungkook. She sometimes saw the two younger boys talking or watching TV together.

“Where did you even got that injury?” She suddenly asked without thinking. As soon as the words had left her, she noticed her mistake. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to ask you that. It was inappropriate. You don’t have to tell me of course. I was just curious.”

Taehyung had bit his cheek inside his mouth, as she just turned her attention back towards his arm and continued to clean up the injury. For a short moment, she thought that he would again try to intimidate her with his fangs, but instead, he shook his head, before he turned his head away.

“After Jimin and I managed to get away from that audition – “ He hesitantly began to talk in a slow, deep voice. “ – they sent some chasers after us, that should catch us and bring us back. We ran for hours, when Jimin had suddenly spotted that old, rotten building. We tried to find an entrance, but we there was none, so we tried to climb through one of the windows. I wanted to jump from the window sill, when my arm got stuck at a nail, that I haven’t seen in the wall. That’s the beginning how I ended up here.”

Hope didn’t miss the bitterness in his voice when he talked about his escape. It took her much to not break out in tear in front of him, even though her heart broke at his story. She knew that inside in, Taehyung was just a normal boy with good intention, who deserves to live in a peaceful surrounding. He definitely didn’t deserve to live a live on the streets.

“I definitely need to be more careful the next time, what?” He suddenly joked, chuckling slightly.

It took the girl a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. Her heart skipped a beat when reality hit her. Jimin and Taehyung weren’t living here after all. She had told them in the beginning that they could stay until Taehyung was healthy again, and that day would come along soon.

Both tigers would leave the apartment again, going out on the streets an living their lives there. It broke her heart when she thought back how scared both of them had been when she had found them a few days ago in that abandoned parking house. In addition, winter would start soon and the temperatures were already falling. It would be crazy to spend the nights out there alone.

“Do you – “ She stopped, battling in her head if she you ask him that question or not. “Do you know where you want to – to go?”

Her voice was nothing more than a whisper. She actually didn’t want hear his response, knowing that it would stuck in her head and wouldn’t let her sleep anymore.

“No.” He whispered back, still refusing to look into her eyes. “We – we will just try to hide somewhere, I guess.”

“Goodnight, Jimin.” She slightly waved at the white tiger, before he closed the door, leaving the small girl alone in the hallway.

The conversation from earlier was still bugging at her brain. She wanted to take in any Hybrid that was suffering in this world, but she knew it was impossible.

Over the past days, she had often thought about Jin and Jungkook and how she had just taken them in. Should she ask Jimin and Taehyung too? After all, the apartment offered them more than enough space to stay and it seemed like Jungkook and Jin got along with at least Jimin. But maybe Jungkook just acted nice because he knew that they would leave at some point.

It was not a decision she could take on her own. Jin and Jungkook were living here as well. She would have to accept their decision like they had always respected her decisions.

A shiver ran down her spine when she thought about how she would have to tell Jimin and Taehyung that they would have to leave again. Where would they go? Taehyung had told her that they would try to hide on the streets again, with no one to protect them, with no warm place to stay.

Carefully, she turned around and walked towards her boys’ door. She softly knocked against the piece of wood and stepped in when Jin told her so.

“Hope!” Jungkook jumped off the bed and walked with big steps over towards the smaller girl.

Gladly, she accepted the bunny’s hug. He wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her closer until her face was pressed against his chest. She pressed her cheek against the soft fabric of his shirt and closed her eyes. Even though her nose wasn’t as good as theirs, she smelled his manly scent through the shirt.

When Jungkook let go of her, he took her hand and pulled her over towards the bed, before he sat down and pulled her next to him. Jin was sitting at the desk, writing something into his notebook when he spotted the girl. He closed the book and walked over as well, giving her a quick side hug when he sat down.

Hope was glad that Jin had warmed up to her over the past weeks. In the beginning, he had often kept his distance towards the girl when she was near. But by now, he wouldn’t pull his hand back when their hands would touch while they set the table, he wouldn’t move over to the end of the sofa while watching TV, and he even gave her small hug when they would say goodnight to each other.

“Why did you come, Hope?” Jungkook asked, as his big, brown orbs looked into her eyes.

He was still holding her smaller hand in his bigger ones, which made her heart beat a little bit faster. She had noticed that the small things he or Jin would do would make her cheeks redden or her heart beat a little bit faster. She told herself that it was because she never had such intensive contact with a boy and that she eventually would get used to that. What was going on with her body?

“I – ehm – “ She began to stutter, trying to remember the reason she came. “I wanted to talk to you about something. What – how are you doing so far? Did you feel different since I adopted the both of you?”

She decided to not jump into it right away. She was afraid that she would offend Jungkook with her huge request. Jin was another thing. She knew that he had a pretty calm and rational personality. He never let his emotion take over him like Jungkook, who spoke before he had thought about it.

“Amazing.” Jungkook swarmed, squeezing her hand slightly. “I feel so happy now that we can live here. But I wish we could do more to help you with everything. Sometimes, I feel bad because you have to most of the things alone. I wish that I could just do more.”

The bunny sunk his ears next to his head. His eyes were filled with sadness.

“Oh, Kookie.” She lifted her hand and carefully drove it over his thick hair. “You do more than enough for me. Look, you always help me doing the laundry and set the table for me, this is a big help, you know? One day, you can do anything you like, I promise, okay?”

Jungkook’s head shot up, before he nodded quickly. He rubbed his head a few more times against her hands, before he looked over towards Jin, who was slightly smiling as well.

“I – “ He stopped for a shirt moment. “I feel truly happy. Sometimes, I still think back at – the those people – but then – I am not scared anymore, because I know that I have Jungkook and you and then it’s okay.”

“That’s nice to hear, Jin.” Hope took his hand in her right on and squeezed it slightly. “But what do you think about Jimin and Taehyung? I know you didn’t like them being here in the beginning.”

Immediately, she felt the hand to her left side tense up at her question. Jungkook didn’t seemed to be so fond of that question.

“I like Jimin.” Jin said without hesitation. “He is fun to hang out with. He helped me cooking a few times. But that other boy, Taehyung, I have barely seen him, and if he was grumpy. I think he is still scared.”

“I hate him.” Jungkook hissed, pulling his hand away, before he crossed his arms over his chest. “He is angry all the time and I don’t trust him. He growled at you, Hope. Jimin is okay, I guess. It was fun to play the PlayStation with him, but that doesn’t mean I trust him completely.”

The girl sighed at the bunny’s words. That was what she had been afraid of to hear.

“What about you, Hope?” Jin had obviously noticed her mood. “What do you think about them?”

“I – listen, I know that you are no sure about them, and especially not about Taehyung.” Her voice was slightly shaking, as she began to speak again. “But I know that they do have any bad intentions. I just think that Taehyung is scared and worried about Jimin. I want to be honest with you. Taehyung’s arm is healed soon – “

“Good.” Jungkook interrupted her, a slight smile on his face. “That means they will leave again, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does.” The girl pulled her hands away and began to fiddle with the hem of her shirt. “But – but I don’t want them to leave again.”

At the end, her voice was nothing more than a whisper, still afraid to say the wrong words.

“What?” The bunny’s eyes went wide when he hear her statement. “What do you mean, Hope? Do you want them to live her with us? This is – ”

“Jungkook.” Jin spoke in a warning voice now. “Let her finish.”

Jungkook looked at his brother for another few seconds, before he nodded and took the girl’s hand again.

“It just doesn’t feel right for to kick them out, when I swore to myself that I would protect any Hybrid with everything I have.” Hope was near to cry now. “We have enough room here, and I really like the both of them, even Taehyung. He is not like that all the time, he talked to me yesterday. He told me about how they fled form those cruel people and how scared he is. I won’t let them stay if you don’t want to. I respect your decisions. I felt like telling you about my concerns.”

She hadn’t noticed the tears that were now sliding down her cheeks. Why did she had to be so emotional about anything? Jungkook had noticed it too, and lifted his arm to carefully whip the we stains away with the sleeves of his shirt.

“To be honest – “ A small smile was playing on Jin’s mouth. “ – I already knew that you won’t want them to leave. Jungkook and I know what they are going through, and we were more than lucky that you found us. I am willing to show them that there is another life for them, so it’s fine with me if they stay with us.”

“Thank you, Jin.” The girl whispered, the tears were still spilling out of her eyes.

She bent over and wrapped her carefully around Jin’s broad shoulders. He had gain more weight lately, so he wasn’t just the thin, tall boy anymore.

Jungkook was still sitting there, eyes flickering between his brother and the girl. Hope could tell that he was having a huge battle inside his head, whether he should agree or stay with his opinion. He sighed, before sinking his head, ears dropping down next to his face.

“Kookie, what about we give them a chance.” The girl let go of Jin and was now sliding over to the bunny. “You don’t have to be best friends with Jimin and Taehyung, but we can try to get along.”

Jungkook’s big brown eyes were looking up at hers. His brown orbs held a lot of sadness, as he carefully nodded his head. Hope smiled widely, before giving his a tight hug from the side.

“But if he growls at you one more time at you, I won’t hesitate to kick his butt.”

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firelxdykatara · 3 years

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If you interpret Katara’s aggression towards Zuko as romantic affection, then you have some serious issues of your own. Is a very dangerous message for teenage girls indeed. People who ship Zutara have to seriously analyze how unhealthy the message of the pairing would be. Katara hated Zuko for a valid reason, and to twist it into something it’s not is massively disrespectful to both the character. The outdated and ridiculous notion that a girl who acts like she doesn’t like a guy is simply “confused” and “denying her feelings” is so sexist and degrading. Take her emotions at face value. It's never been

Yawn. Boring. This is the same old tired argument I’ve heard a million times before--the one that proves a) you don’t actually understand how relationships work, and b) you’ve never read a single zutara meta in your life, because that’s the only way you could seriously get the ‘good girl is secretly in love with the bad boy and hopes to fix him’ read of a relationship that bares absolutely no resemblance to that particular collection of tropes either in the show or in our fandom.

But ok! I’ll bite, since you clearly want so badly to be educated and evidently don’t have the time to watch the show yourself, nor the reading comprehension necessary to understand the sort of media analysis that goes on in a lot of atla and zutara-focused meta in this fandom.

Which probably means that anything I write here will fly right over your head, but oh well, what can you do?

At any rate, the first mistake you’ve made here is assuming that I (or zutara shippers in general, but since you came into my inbox, I’m going to be taking this just as personally as you clearly intended me to) interpret Katara’s aggression towards Zuko as romantic at any point in the series prior to their reconciliation (after which point, there is no aggression from Katara aimed at Zuko for anyone, me included, to interpret romantically in the first place). I don’t, and I never have, and neither does a vast majority of the zutara fandom in the spaces I frequent (which encompasses tumblr, occasionally twitter, and the very large zutara discord server I’ve been an active part of for two years now). Pointing out oddly suggestive tension in early parts of the series (such as the “I’ll save you from the pirates” and “you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun” lines, or the fact that Zuko wore Katara’s necklace around his wrist for like nine episodes when there was absolutely no need for it) is just that--pointing out tension.

There doesn’t need to be feelings for there to be tension, antagonistic or otherwise, but that tension is the foundation from which their relationship arc throughout the series grew, developed, and eventually evolved. This is what is generally known as relationship development, and it occurs when two characters go from having one kind of relationship to another within the course of the story.

For example, enemies, who become friends, who become lovers.

Now, your mileage may vary on this next part (although I really hope not, cause Y I K E S), but I, personally, think that ‘if a boy kisses you without your consent, but he really really loves you, then you owe it to him to love him back, especially if he just saved the world, and you should never expect an apology because since you suddenly decided you return those feelings, that means the violation of your boundaries was ok since clearly you really liked him all along’ is a much more damaging message to send to young girls--and boys, to be frank, especially since learning about consent is hugely important at young ages--than ‘if a boy who was your enemy goes to great lengths to better himself, to the point where you forgive him for when he hurt you and become close friends with him, then it’s normal for those feelings to grow and change, even to the point of becoming romantic, and it’s ok to explore them’.

And guess which one of those is canon to the AtLA finale?

Next, you say ‘Katara hated Zuko for a valid reason’ as if that was ever in dispute. It wasn’t--certainly not on my blog. I know there are some people who hate Katara because she was ‘too mean’ to Zuko, but I don’t agree with them, nor do I associate with them, since I have no time, energy, or room in my life for Katara slander. However, do you know what the operative word is in that sentence? Hated. As in past tense. As in, ‘Katara used to hate Zuko, but by the end of the show that is no longer the case, and they are extremely close friends with a deep bond and multiple life-debts between them’.

Why are you so insistent on not only denying Zuko’s hard-earned and bitterly fought for redemption, but also Katara’s emotions and feelings, which you end this weirdly disjointed ask by insisting they be taken at face value?

And it’s actually really funny (ironic funny, not so much ‘ha ha’ funny) that you use the word ‘confused’ there, followed by the phrase ‘denying her real feelings’, and then call that ‘sexist and degrading’, as if that isn’t exactly what happened in Katara’s canon endgame in the show.

She said point blank that she was confused, she showed with her words, tone, and body language that she was not open to Aang’s romantic advances, she had completely forgotten about the last time he’d kissed her without her consent, rather than reflecting on her romantic feelings as one would expect of a girl who’d been kissed by someone we’re supposed to believe she’s had feelings for since book 1, and was completely taken aback by Aang’s reaction to the play and his weird believe that they ‘were gonna be together’, when she had never once indicated that she wanted to be with him in any romantic sense. And yet, he kissed her--and while she got angry about it and stormed off in the moment, he never apologized for crossing her boundaries, and they also didn’t have a single significant scene together between that moment and the epilogue.

What happened to taking Katara’s emotions at face value? What happened to how ‘sexist and degrading’ it is to assume that if a girl says she’s confused, that must mean she’s ‘denying her feelings’? What happened to caring about Katara’s agency, even a little bit?

Anyway, I’m gonna wrap this up by saying: I do not believe Zuko and Katara should’ve been making out in the finale instead. I actually hate the fact that the final shot of AtLA was a romantic kiss (particularly for such a poorly written pairing), rather than a shot of the gaang together like it should have been to show what the series was meant to be about. I think that focusing on the romantic relationships in the finale undercut an already weak ending to an otherwise great (not perfect, but certainly good enough that it deserved much better closure) show.

That said, I also think a Zutara kiss would have been more earned, at that point in both of their narratives. Because Katara’s feelings had been the focus of their relationship throughout its entirety. Zuko’s feelings mattered, too, of course, (in stark contrast to how they were treated during his relationship with Mai), but Katara was the one who got to choose when and why and what she felt about him. She got to choose when to forgive him. She got to choose to help him, and to save his life, and her emotions were frequently the focus in a way they never were during her relationship with Aang, so nudging those into a more romantic light not only would have fit better with her character arc, it also would have been far less jarring to see that as the culmination of their respective storylines, rather than a romantic kiss coming out of nowhere when her very last scene with him was being kissed without her consent and storming off about it because it upset her.

My most fervent hope, anon, is that some day you actually watch the show, Avatar: the Last Airbender. Because Katara and Zuko are amazing characters, they have amazing storylines both separately and together, and it’s really a crime whenever someone misunderstands both of them so badly. I hope that when you do watch the show, you pay attention. You may see something amazing.

#atla #zutara #katara #zuko #kataang salt #not a ton but yk it's there so #salt for ts #asked #try harder next time anon #this doesn't even rank a 'you tried' star #Anonymous

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qqueenofhades · 3 years

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To be absolutely honest I really disliked mal, like he is so plain and boring and … single minded? Kinda dumb 🤷🏻‍♀️ i feel Alina and Kirigan are much more balanced. Well, if what you say it’s true and they’re gonna change stuff I really would like to see those two together!!!!! Tbh Mal is kind of the only character I disliked on the show, and the chemistry is nothing like Darklina’s. They gave me more siblings vibes

Aha. I don't do character or ship hate (and even when I feel it, I don't post it), but I do go in for media/writing analysis, so that's some of what we can do here. If you like Mal or Mal/Alina and don't want to read some critical views on that, probably best to scroll past this post; no hard feelings! I will also tag it mal critical for anyone who might want to filter (and for any future posts I make in this vein).

Anyway. I don't hate show!Mal (although book!Mal was definitely in my bad graces by book 2; I didn't read book 3 in part because I was like "ugh THIS guy? Really?"), but he's just... not... interesting. He is introduced to us in 1x01 with the slow-motion shot of him seeing Alina that is clearly supposed to invest us in the two of them as a couple, and from there, he just seems to exist either to worry about her or to serve her needs in finding the stag. This is no slant on Archie Renaux, who is a fine young actor and is perfectly acceptable in the role. Rather, it's a larger shortcoming of the writing and structure in both book and show, in which Mal and Alina are presented to us as Childhood Friends With a Crush and that suffices to build their bond, along with... twelve flashbacks to the meadow, or whatever it is. We're just told to be invested in them because the characters are when the story starts, but we don't get any sense of why that should be or who Mal really is as a character and why Alina is so desperate to be with him again. We're told that they are, but.... eh.

Mal is basically a plot device to give Alina motivation to reveal her powers, to provide a contrast to her life in the Little Palace, to help her get to the stag when she escapes, and be there with her when she leaves Ravka at the end of s1. And that is.. kinda how he stays, orbiting around her and being there to give her what she needs, at least some of the time. Book!Mal gets into that Yeah No Thanks territory of blaming Alina for her powers and being distracted with the Grisha war and angry when other men express attraction to her, and while they've made him (thus far) more palatable in the show, that's gonna veer hard into Nope Territory if it likewise happens. And if they do have to change the entire way a character is written in the source material to make the relationship work, that's.... not a good thing.

Leigh Bardugo and Eric Heisserer (the showrunner) have indeed said that the show will be "significantly" different from the books (as was apparent to anyone watching s1), but I doubt that will extend to changing the main character's endgame relationship. Alina's original ending in book 3, though, is just disappointing: she kills Aleksander (albeit in a poignant/tragic way), destroys the Fold, loses her Sun Summoner powers, and goes off to live with Mal in obscurity on a farm while everyone thinks she's dead. And like... I ask you... what is the point? She goes on this whole magical and epic journey and doesn't ultimately become or do or be anything more than when she started? Especially given that show!Alina explicitly says in her conversation with Genya that "Mal always dreamed of retiring to a farm, but I've never liked farms," are they going to have her arc be "oh yeah I was wrong about that, I really do like farms after all?" I repeat: eh.

Plus, aside from Aleksander, Alina has another relationship coming up (with Nikolai Lantsov, who we haven't met in the show yet), so if we're going to see her just insisting on staying with Mal because.... whatever, he's good at tracking and The Meadow, that's likewise not going to work in the visual medium and the narrative that they've set up. Especially when she's ALSO getting these hot-and-heavy Secret Midnight Visits with Aleksander and they're continuing to bond even while on opposite sides/at loggerheads. They're going to have to write something a lot more compelling than "Alina is clinging to her childhood/Mal even while Nikolai and Aleksander are objectively much more interesting and complicated characters who are both clearly into her and offering her different kinds of respect and empowerment," otherwise it's just going to happen because the narrative/writers said it should, and that.... (LOOKING AT YOU TIMELESS) doesn't... work. Especially when there's something that they don't want to explore just because it would ruin their pre-existing plan. So. Yeah.

Anyway, I'm old and tired, I don't do shipwars, I do know how things happen in the original source material so I'll just have to wait and see what or any of it they decided to change, and as noted, I am well practiced in using fic to change things, lol. So I'm not gonna get TOO worked up about it, but these are my thoughts.

#anonymous #ask #mal critical #darklina #(likewise for anyone who wants to filter)#shadow and bone spoilers

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bubblefina · 3 years

Text

King of Hearts chapter 5

Masterlist

Summary: Reader and Tom meet during their years at Hogwarts, but as the years pass a rivalry grows between the two of them, which leads from soft beginnings to tragic endings.

“Wait, tonight? Are you mad? Meeting that late without having a class will get us in trouble either way, no way am I-”

“You’re such a goody two shoes Riddle. Fine, I'll meet you right outside the dungeons near the Slytherin common room at 11:50, I’ll escort you to the tower. Be there or I won't be happy.”

Pairings: Tom x f!reader

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩

Chapter 5- Blackmail

Around 11:40 at night, you left the dorm room to head to the Astronomy tower for the last class of the “day”. The Astronomy tower was located at the tallest tower at Hogwarts, and the classroom was at the very top, in a wide open space.

Other first years walked beside you on the stairs, the stairway was lit by a few lanterns around every corner, but that still made it a little hard to see.

The Astronomy Tower was spaced out, telescopes around every edge, one for each student. Small desks were placed next to each telescope to accompany it.

“No desks? We have to stand for the whole class period?” a girl you didn’t recognize was complaining to her friends, alerting the teacher.

“Studying stars will not require you to sit down. Welcome to class, in Astronomy you will study stars and the movements of plants. To get started, you will have to find your desk. Each desk has a name card on it, go find it and set your things down.”

The students scattered to find their seats, and one by one each seat was taken. Walking around flipping cards, you couldn’t find your name, luckily after a few more seats you were able to find your seat at the right edge of the tower.

After setting your things down, you heard someone walk behind you and sit down next to you.

“You again?” you ask.

“Stealing my words now? How low, l/n. When I said you should expand your vocabulary, I didn’t mean you should take mine.” Tom Riddle had sat in the seat to your right, tucking the note with his name on it into his robe.

“It’s nice to see you again.” Looking at him for a few seconds, waiting for his response felt like a one-sided staring contest, he never gave you a proper reply other than a hum.

Rolling your eyes, you turned to face the professor who was setting new instructions for the class.

“Let’s get started quickly. Open up your textbook on constellations and stars and go to page 4 and find the constellation, ‘Capricornus’. Find the constellation using your telescope and map out it’s position using the instructions in your textbook. If you need any help, refer to the people around you and as a last resort ask me.”

You looked at the surrounding people, a girl that was talking with her friend on your left, and on your right was Tom, who was already adjusting his telescope.

‘So I'm stuck in between a rock and a hard place,’ you thought, adjusting your telescope to get good luck at the night sky.

The rest of the class time was spent charting nearby stars and filling out small worksheets that the teacher had given out to the students that finished early.

After class ended, the students were led back to their classrooms, being watched closely by prefects so that none of them would loiter around the hallways.

●・○・●・○・●・●・○・●・○・●・

The months passed quickly as Autumn turned into early Winter. It was nearing Christmas, just a few weeks away.

Sitting down in the Great Hall, alone, you were flipping the pages of your Transfiguration textbook, rapidly writing down notes on the wrinkled parchment that you had laying on the table.

Professor Dumbledore had a Transfiguration test during your second period, and it was a written test rather than a physical test.

Was it partially your fault for not studying prior? Yes it is, but it couldn’t be helped that the professors took the holiday time to assign more assignments than they did before, especially professor Binns. His assignments for History of Magic were more boring than his class.

The surrounding students started to leave their seats, signaling that class was starting soon. You had Charms first, and then Transfiguration. It was only Thursday, one more day, and you can relax for the weekend.

After your accident on the first day, you took your time and tried to gain the professor's favor in Charms by excelling in your lessons, and it worked. You might not have had the same level of favor as Tom, but you were getting there.

Being better than those three Slytherin girls made you happy either way, their taunting of your talents made you study and work harder until you were one of the first ones to perfect a Charm in the class.

In the spirit of the snow that was piling on the castle floors outside, the professor had a lesson that resonated with the seasonal changes that were happening.

“An Ice jinx, very simple really. The jinx itself makes a block of ice, but, if you use the stronger version, you can conjure multiple ice structures of different sizes. For now, you will work on one ice block.”

The directions had been simple enough, the incantation was, “Parva Glaciem”, and the students were left to try and succeed with the Charm.

You had a knack for mastering charms, and managed to perfect the charm with ease, earning praise from the professor.

He asked you to go around and help any students that seemed like they were struggling, and your eye was focused on one person in particular.

“Can I be of any help?” you ask.

“Depends, does your help involve hitting me in the face with an ice cube somehow?”

“It was one time, Archer! I’m doing this out of the good of my heart.” You sat down in the empty seat next to him and pulled out your wand.

“You have a heart, y/n? I find that hard to believe.” His teasing comment made you dramatically gasp and clutch your chest as if you had been hurt.

Over the past few months, you and Archer had grown closer. Since your flying skills weren’t the best, he had helped you every Friday after classes near the quidditch pitch. During those ‘tutoring’ times, he had given you tips on how to control your broom, how to stay on your broom if anything happens, and maneuvering techniques.

Most of the time was spent teasing each other about random things. He would make fun of your shaking hands around the broom as you flew higher and higher, and you made fun of him for not paying attention to where he was going when the both of you were flying around, causing him to crash into trees often.

In return for helping you with flying, you gave him tutoring lessons on subjects he struggled with. The main one was Charms, which you were fortunately excellent at.

“You know, I’m still surprised that you aren’t good at Charms, you seem good at everything else.” You motioned your wand as he watched your hand movements closely.

“I think you have me confused with someone else, y/n. I’m nowhere near perfect, maybe you’re thinking of Riddle over there. I heard he’s top of every class.” You looked to where Archer was motioning. The Slytherin area, where Tom was sitting. He had been talking to two other boys, which was odd, you always thought he was antisocial.

Focusing your attention towards Archer, you smiled and continued to help him with the Ice Jinx.

Unfortunately, no matter what you had tried, Archer still couldn’t perform the jinx properly. The most he could do was have a few pieces of cold air wisp from his wand.

“Okay, let's try something different this time,” you grabbed his hand and helped him with the motion of the jinx, the both of you were sitting so close, and to your surprise his hands were really warm, which helped with the coldness of the classroom, “now try it again.” You let go of his hands and watched him do the movement and recite the incantation.

A small block of ice appeared on his desk and he whispered a victorious ‘yes’ as you went back to your seat.

“Don’t even start, Naomi.” you said as you sat down.

“I wasn’t thinking of anything.” She held her hands up in a defensive motion, but the look on her face gave her away.

“I saw you looking at us, don’t say anything about this to Melissa. She’ll grill me for hours about the power of love.”

You made Naomi swear on it. When Melissa had heard about your flying lessons with Archer, it took her hours before she could stop babbling about the potency of your supposed ‘relationship’ with him.

●・○・●・○・●・●・○・●・○・●・

Another week has passed since that Thursday. You were in your bed reviewing the test that had been given back to you from professor Dumbledore.

For a person that didn’t study fully, you still had managed to pass the test. Maybe not to the best of your abilities, but it was still a pass.

Professor Dumbledore had grown fond of your magical abilities. Even if you messed up during class, you were quick enough to not let anyone notice and try again. He admired your willingness to get better, and you quickly became one of his favorite students.

Melissa and Azalea were both fast asleep, but Naomi was still up. She had a book in her hand and was reading it intently with her wand acting as a light.

You got out of your bed and headed towards the door, Astronomy was waiting for you.

“Leaving for class?” Naomi asks.

“Yeah, I’ll be back when it ends. You should get some sleep too, it’s not good to stay awake for this long.” Naomi gave you a small smile.

“I’d love to, but that frog that Azalea got in Diagon Alley is more than likely going to keep me up until it kills me, or I kill it. Don’t tell her that, though.” She held her finger up to her lips and went back to reading her book.

She wasn’t wrong. The frog that was stuck in a cage on Azaleas night stand hadn’t stopped croaking since she bought it, it's been keeping you awake for days.

You had gotten to the Astronomy tower a bit earlier than usual, maybe your tired state made you move quicker? When you opened the tower door, you saw Riddle sitting down on a stool near his desk, scribbling something.

Yes, the teacher had stools sent to the class because too many students had complained about standing through the whole class, some even managed to fall asleep standing up. The late night classes were not everybody’s forte.

“Early as usual, aren't we, Riddle?” you ask him as you slump your way to your seat.

“It's surprising to see you here this early too, l/n,” he stopped writing on his parchment and turned to look you in the face, his usual blank face turned into a disgusted one as he examined you head to toe, “what happened to your...everywhere.”

He most likely noticed your dark circles and lack of care in taking care of your appearance. Taking in a deep breath, you gave out the best explanation you could, “Azalea got a pet frog and it won't stop crying at night, no one's getting any sleep.”

“Why don’t you just.” he waved his wand around in an unknown motion, when you finally caught onto what he was implying you gasped.

“I will not kill a frog, especially one that belongs to a friend.” he rolled his eyes at your response and went back to writing on his parchment.

Taking advantage of the quiet atmosphere, you laid your head upon the table and closed your eyes. Class wouldn’t start for another 10 minutes or so, that was all you needed.

It felt like not even ten seconds had passed before your shoulder was being shaken. Groaning, you turned your head around to see your professor standing with her hands on her hips.

“Miss l/n, my classroom will not be used as a place for sleep. Please catch up with the lesson, and no more snoozing off.” She left the area you were in and went around to the other students who had watched the scene unfold, telling them to start working too.

After your eyes have adjusted to the scenery, you tap Riddle's shoulder rather harshly, making his head whip towards you in irritation.

“What do you want?” He asks.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“It wasn’t my responsibility, serve you right for falling asleep in class.”

It was partially your fault for trusting in him enough to wake you up in the first place.

You took out your textbook from your bag and turned to the page about Jupiter's rotation around the sun.

The class had been mapping different planets for the past few weeks, and learning about their cycle around the orbit system.

You looked into your telescope to find Jupiter, but couldn't see it everywhere. All the other students had been writing things down on their parchment about the placement of the planet, but why can they manage to find it, but you can’t?

Adjusting your telescope a little more, you moved it around until you could see something in the supposed blank sky. After looking a little, you saw something red flash before your eyes as you maneuvered the telescope around.

Quickly turning back to it, you zoomed in on the object and as you looked at it more closely, your mouth gaped.

You once again went back to Riddle's shoulder and slapped it a few times, making him groan in annoyance.

“What could you possibly want now?” He asks irritatingly.

“I found a heart.” was the only reply you could give him.

“A heart? How sweet, maybe you can show it to someone who will believe you, or go back to sleep, maybe you’re still dreaming.” He turned back to his desk, but was interrupted once again when you pulled him over to yours.

“Just look inside, I promise you’ll see it too.”

Reluctantly, he took a hold of your telescope and peered inside. His reaction wasn’t as big as yours,, but you did see a shift in his expression.

“Well, it's not exactly a perfect heart, but it is shaped like one.” he took a step back and continued to stare at the sky.

“Do you know what it is?” you ask him.

“No, why would I?”

“I thought you knew everything.” you mock him sarcastically, which results in him mocking you right back. The both of you didn’t converse all that much afterwards, but you were entranced by what you had just found, and continued to look at it through your telescope until class ended.

You flipped through your textbook to find anything about it, but nothing popped up.

‘Maybe it’s in an advanced copy?’ you would probably be able to find something about it in the library.

●・○・●・○・●・●・○・●・○・●・

The next afternoon was spent in the library, rummaging through multiple books about stars and anything relating to Astronomy, but not being able to find anything.

There had been a stack of books on the table you were sitting at, and they kept getting bigger and bigger.

Reaching for one of the last books in your stack, you noticed the weird title it had.

“Wizard's guide to the dark stars?” you whispered to yourself.

As you skimmed through the pages, you landed on one that talked of a heart shaped nebula that resided in the eastern hemisphere of the sky.

It showed a picture of the nebula. It was similar to the one you had seen last night, although it seemed as if it was painted rather than an actual photo.

Below the photo gave a description of the nebula.

“There has been a phenomenon among young wizards where they have been seeing a heart shaped cluster among the stars at night. Said cluster, only being visible through a telescope, is said to look like a heart. There has been discord among many scholars in trying to explain what it could mean and where it came from. As time has passed, the explanation for the nebula has come to light. It is said that not everyone can view the nebula, only two people can see it at a set time, and only those two people can see it. It has been theorized that if those two people see the nebula together, they-”

The explanation was cut off. The bottom portion of the page was ripped off, and any other continuation was cut off as well. Closing the book, you thought to yourself. It sounded like a potential prophecy in the making, but there hadn’t been any reasonable evidence behind it, and if there were it was cut off.

The paragraph had said something about only two people being able to see it at a set time, you had to tell Tom what you had found.

Stepping out of the library and into the corridors, you walked along the hallways until you found Tom with a small group of Slytherins climbing the stairs to another floor.

“Riddle!” you yell, starting to run after him before he could disappear behind the wall.

He and the other boys looked your way, watching you run towards them in a hurry.

“Well well well, aren’t you a lost little Ravenclaw-”

“Shut it, Malfoy. I don’t have time for you today,” your voice was slightly haughty, making Malfoy's face contort, before he had the chance to say anything, you grabbed Tom’s wrist, “you’re coming with me.” And without a moment to spare, you dragged him to a separate hallway, far away from any students.

“This is considered kidnapping-” Tom barely got to finish his sentence before you suddenly stopped and faced him, your face a little too close to his for comfort.

“I found something.” you say, skimming through the pages of the book you had checked out of the library.

“Found what, and loosen your grip next time, you nearly tore off my wrist.” As Tom rubs his wrist, you push the page with the prophecy near his face.

“Remember that thing we saw last night? The heart. Turns out it’s a nebula, and it says something that sounds like a prophecy, but the rest got torn off. I was thinking, we have enough information to go around and find out what it really means-”

“Hold on. What do you mean, we? I don’t remember giving my permission to be dragged into this.”

“Funny story, since you and I saw the nebula together last night, we’re kind of in it together.”

Tom looked uninterested, which was understandable. He didn’t really have an opinion on what he had seen last night.

“What makes you think I’ll help you? So what if I saw that nebula with you, I didn’t say I’d join this scavenger hunt of yours.” He turned around and started to walk away from you, but he didn’t make it that far before you cut in.

“If you help me, I won't tell anyone that I've seen you in the restricted section of the library late at night.”

Tom paused right in his step, he looked as if he was hit with a freezing jinx. He turned his head to you, his eyes slightly wide.

“How do you…” he began.

“For the past few weeks, I've been falling asleep in the library because of my lack of rest. Sometimes when I wake up I can see someone trying to enter the restricted section, and when I got a closer look, it was you.” you tapped the tip of his nose in a mocking manner.

“Would be a shame if someone like headmaster Dippet heard of a student going in the restricted section.” You crossed your arms and looked around the hallway, a small smirk was curling on your lips as Tom watched you.

“You’re...blackmailing me…?” he took a step back from you, eyes still slightly wide.

You closed the gap again, “Is that a yes or a no?”

You saw his nose scrunch up in anger, taking a breath before he answered, “very well...I’ll help you.”

“Wonderful, we’ll meet at the tower tonight, at midnight.”

“Wait, tonight? Are you mad? Meeting that late without having a class will get us in trouble either way, no way am I-”

“You’re such a goody two shoes Riddle. Fine, I'll meet you right outside the dungeons near the Slytherin common room at 11:50, I’ll escort you to the tower. Be there or I won't be happy.”

You skipped away from him, leaving him dumbfounded and alone in the empty hallway.

#tom riddle #tom riddle imagine #tom riddle x reader #tom riddle x you #tom riddle fanfiction #voldemort #daddy voldy #hogwarts #harry potter #original character #hocrux #King of Hearts

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fanfic-she-wrote · 3 years

Text

The Resurrection of Dracula: Part 1

Sequel to my Dracula Reincarnation imagine. Takes place after the events of AD 1972 and Satanic Rites. Hope you like it!

It was the year 1872, the day of Lawrence Van Helsing's funeral. It was a clear and sunny day, but a very solemn one. Church bells could be heard from Saint Bartolph's as the priest spoke one final prayer, the coffin being lowered into the sacred ground below.

Henry quietly approached the churchyard, being careful not wanting to be seen. He knelt down just outside the churchyard and began digging a small hole in the ground, listening to the prayer and the sobs from the funeral goers, not that there were many. It was only a small group of people who attended, including what he assumed was his son. How unfortunate. He thought. If only he had listened to you then everyone would be alive and the boy wouldn't be without a father.

After digging a small hole, he pulled the vial of Dracula's ashes from his pocket and poured it into the Earth before covering it back up again. Then he pulled out the stake that had pierced his heart and stuck it into the ground to mark where he was. "I will find her, master and I will bring you back. I swear it! If I'm not able to myself, then I bestow it upon my descendants. We will not fail you." Henry swore, before getting up. He quickly glanced over at the crowd and saw a familiar face standing there. It was the man he fought at the manor earlier that week. His head was bandaged and he looked paler than usual. He sneered, walking away.

"Should have killed him when I had the chance." He mumbled to himself, getting back on his horse and riding off into the distance.

Later that night, another figure approached the graveyard. Her slender figure gliding through the fog, her long black dress billowing behind her in the soft breeze. She came to a stop just above Van Helsing's grave, looking down at the tombstone by her feet. In the soft glow of the moonlight you could make out a grin slowly creeping along her face like a venomous snake.

"Poor Lawrence." She spoke, her voice peircing through the silence like a knife. "How foolish you were. You spent so many years hunting the one thing you despised most of all, only to end up marrying one. Blinded by your hatred for Dracula you never saw it coming. The great Van Helsing wasn't so great after all." She lifted up her hand, taking one last look at the golden ring upon her finger before pulling it off and slipping it onto the thorny stem of a blood stained white rose which she then placed on the ground in front of the tombstone. "Goodbye Lawrence. Rest well...if you can."

Henry never completed his mission. He made many attempts to find you, but never did. He had hoped that once he found you, you could help him resurrect Dracula. After a while, he started to lose hope that he would ever find you. Eventually and rather unexpectedly, he fell in love and had a child, passing on the task from one generation to the next. As time went on, you became all but a legend. A legend that lay waiting. Waiting for the day to finally come when you would be released from your prison and to be reunited with your one true love...

A.D. 1999

It was New Years Eve. Jessica Van Helsing was on her way home from work after a long shift. As she drove home, she could hear people all over London drinking and having parties to celebrate the start of a new year and a new century. Unfortunately, she wasn't in the mood to celebrate. Her grandfather had just died and under very mysterious circumstances. It tore her apart every single day not knowing what happened to him. The police provided no console or answers as to his death. She had spent the last several weeks trying to figure it out for herself, but came up empty. She wasn't half the investigator her grandfather was. Whoever, or whatever killed him was far more cleverer than she.

She recalled the day before his death. He was very secretive, which wasn't at all out of character, but he was more so than usual. All he told her is that he was on to something very important, something she presumed had to do with the occult or the supernatural. After he retired he became more and more consumed with it. It worried her and rightfully so. His life's passion might have also been the cause of his death.

Finally, she pulled up into the driveway of her home and parked her car in the garage, taking out the bag of food from the trunk as she went.

"Hi, mom!" Her son greeted her as she walked through the door. Her son, Charlie, was 20 years old and was the spitting image of her grandfather, which made her miss him even more.

"Hello!" She said, forcing a smile. "How was school?"

He sighed. "Eh, alright. What did you get?" He asked, helping her unpack. Charlie was a college student who was studying anthropology at Oxford. After the death of his great grandfather he decided to take a semester off to help his mother cope with the loss and to be honest, he needed a break. He was never much of a student and the pressure of all his classes had begun to weigh him down. He had only decided to study anthropology at his great grandfather's insistence.

"Pizza of course!" Jessica exclaimed, trying to sound happier than she felt not wanting to dampen Charlie's mood on New Years. She knew he could have been off celebrating with other people his age and having fun but instead he stayed with her, and for that she was grateful.

"Finally some good food. I was afraid it was going to be sausage rolls again. Not that I don't enjoy a good sausage roll every now and then." He remarked.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just haven't been up to cooking much lately." She apologized as she put away the remainder of the food.

"It's fine. I get it." Charlie said, shrugging it off. "How was work?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Boring. Bookkeeping isn't exactly the most exciting profession." She told him. It was boring, but it was normal and that's all she had wanted after everything that she went through with her grandfather and with Dracula. Forcing that time out of her head, she popped in the pizza and followed her son into the living room, where they had their own little New Years celebration waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

As it got closer to midnight, Jessica found it had become difficult to stay awake. No longer were the days of when she could pull all nighters. Realizing his mother was dozing off, Charlie shut off the tv and quietly retreated to the library. He had a paper due in the coming weeks and he was eager to get some research done. Quietly he shut the door behind him and he began rummaging about the books for something to write about for his intended subject, vampires. Luckily for him, he didn't have to search hard. The library was filled with all kinds of books about vampires, werewolves, and pretty much any kind of strange thing that was ever thought of.

He pulled out an old yellow book from a shelf. On the cover it read, "The Legend of Dracula, The Vampire" in black letters and underneath he saw that it was written by an ancestor called Lawrence Van Helsing...whoever that was. "Well, it's a start." He muttered taking a seat beside the window. Suddenly, just as he started to read he could hear the shouts of his neighbors. It was now the year 2000.

He read chapter after chapter, completely losing himself within the pages. He didn't know whether any of this was true, but it was fascinating. Especially the vampire, Count Dracula. It was morning when he finally finished the book, craving more. But he was tired and decided it would be best to get some sleep.

As he headed up the stairs to his room, he met his mother out in the hallway. "Were you up all night?" She asked as she brushed her hair, getting ready for work.

"Yeah, I was doing some research for my paper." He explained with a yawn.

"Oh, I see. Well, get some rest. I'll see you tonight." Jessica told him, tapping his shoulder.

"See you." Charlie said, yawning again as he watched his mother walk out the door.

When he awoke some hours later, he found that Jessica had already returned home and could be heard scurrying around in the kitchen. Much to his relief he didn't smell any sausage rolls. "Charlie!" She called out. He quickly threw on a hoodie and ran down the stairs. On the table he saw that his mother had made his favorite dish, chicken and rice.

"What's the occasion?" He asked, sitting down.

"Nothing. It's mostly an apology for sitting you through so many lousy dinners lately." She told him.

"Oh, you didn't have to. I was only kidding. I'll eat anything." He said, feeling slightly guilty.

"Well ok then, I guess I can put this away and we can have some left over pizza instead." She joked, pretending to get up to clear the table.

He quickly grabbed his plate, pulling it close to him. "But I'm more than happy to eat this!" He said.

"I thought so." She chuckled, sitting back down.

"Besides, I already ate the rest of the pizza." He confessed.

"Why am I not surprised?"

As they quietly ate dinner, his mind thought back to last night, to the book he read about Dracula. "I have a question." He started.

"What's up?" She asked as she chewed a bite of chicken.

"I was reading this book last night. About a Count Dracula." Jessica froze and looked up at him upon hearing the name.

"What about it?" She asked, trying to remain calm as the memories associated with that name tried to force themselves to the forefront of her mind.

"Did Lawrence Van Helsing write anymore about him?" He asked, biting his lip knowing how she was sensitive about the subject of vampires. Why, he never could understand. They were just fictional right?

"It's for the paper I'm writing." He added, noticing his mother's hesitation.

"I guess there's no harm in that." She mumbled, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "He has a journal. I'll get it for you after dinner...As long as it's only for your research."

"Of course. What else am I going to do?" He scoffed. Jessica gulped, not wanting to think about it. She was young once. She made mistakes. She just hoped that her son wouldn't make the same ones, but she trusted him, and that's all she could really do.

After dinner they returned to the library where she led him to a safe that was hidden behind a strange, creepy portrait of some man. She reached inside and pulled out an old brown leather book. "My grandfather found this under the floorboards in the basement. It's amazing it lasted as long as it has. Take care of it. It's old and it contains very important information." She warned him as she handed over the book.

"I will. Thanks!" He excitedly told her, walking over to the desk.

"I'll be in my room if you need me." She said, turning to leave.

"Ok. And mom?"

She stopped and faced him. "Thanks again. I appreciate the support." He told her with a sincere smile. From behind the desk he looked very much like her grandfather. It was almost as though he was alive again.

"Anytime." Jessica said, holding back tears as she left the room.

He dove into the book carefully reading every word, every sentence taking it all in. Lawrence Van Helsing had a very extensive knowledge of Dracula and vampires. How they couldn't go out during the day or be turned to dust and how they didn't have a reflection in a mirror, even how to kill them. He was very thorough as though he had first hand knowledge on the matter.

There were several pages written about Dracula. His history and how he came to be the prince of darkness. There was also a couple pages written about a mysterious woman called Y/N, who had fallen in love with the vampire. He talked about her like he knew her.

As he flipped to the final page, he saw a familiar looking face staring back at him. It was the strange portrait on the wall, but something was different about it. He got up from the desk and strode over to the portrait across the room. He stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. Why did they keep such a strange picture on the wall for? If only he could have a closer look...He thought, taking it down. Suddenly, it slipped from his hands and landed with a crash, the glass shattering across the floor at his feet. "Shit." He grumbled, bending down to pick it up. The frame was completely broken, only the picture remained in tact. His mother was going to be pissed. For some reason felt the urge to flip it over, curious to see if there was anything on the other side.

To his surprise he found something scribbled hastily on it. It looked to be a map of sorts with a small x drawn in the corner...but of where? He wondered trying to figure it out. It looked familiar, but he still couldn't place it. He went back over to the desk and opened a drawer where his great grandfather kept a collection of maps. He pulled one out and compared the two trying to figure out where the x could be deciding that whatever it was might be crucial to his research. Why had no one noticed this before? He wondered.

When Lawrence drew it, he must have been in a terrible rush. He could barely distinguish one landmark from another. He thought, feeling slightly annoyed.

Finally after several hours of twirling the maps around in the desk and swearing to himself, he figured out that the x was located in an old cemetery just outside of London. Charlie glanced at the clock. It was nearly 4 in the morning. Finding the mysterious x would have to wait till tomorrow night. He could feel his eyes getting heavy with sleep as he hurriedly cleaned up his mess, eager to get some shut eye. He carefully folded the picture up and stuffed it inside his pocket, hoping his mother wouldn't miss it.

Quietly he went up to bed. As he drifted off to sleep he wondered what he would find and he couldn't help but be excited. Perhaps it was some old family secret? Maybe there were some skeletons hidden in his ancestor's closet that no one dared to find out...

#i know its a little slow to start out but i had to build it up #jessica is also a single mom btw #i might get into that later #its the same house from ad 1972 #ill post the next chapter soon #probably sometime tomorrow #dracula x reader #hammer dracula #christopher lee #x reader #reader insert

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