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tbyfandoms · 1 year

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Invisible String | Austin Butler x Reader

Pairing : austin butler x actress!reader

Word Count: 11.6k

Summary: y/n and austin have known each other for years. each harbors feelings for the other yet they remain clueless to it until an accidental slip up from austin leads to a series of events that reveals just how destined for each other they've always been (requested)

Warnings: mild swearing

Masterlist/Request Form | Ask/Tell/Request

A/N: when i got this request, i knew immediately i had to write it. i adore the thought of soulmates and second chance romance and this request was perfect for that. i loved writing this story full of these two completely missing the signs they’re supposed to be together, and i hope you love reading it just as much. it is dialogue centered, so a lot of explaining and talking is done (hence the word count) and i just wanted to give ya’ll a little warning! Make sure to keep track of who’s saying what. I feel like I’ve structured it in a way that makes it easier, but still. anyways, to the user who requested this, thank you and i hope you like it! :)

psa: i tweaked dates of when certain interviews came out and what happened during them. also kaia and austin aren’t dating in this. all for the sake of the fic, but i just wanted to say something about it in case anyone gets confused!

Fourteen years ago

“So-uh, was that-was that okay?” Austin reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. The blush on his cheeks is evident, even under the grime the makeup artists have piled on his face. The sight makes you giggle, leaving the boy’s cheeks to flush deeper.

“It was more than okay,” you reply, your voice dropping to a whisper. “It was perfect.”

The blonde gives you a lopsided grin and you can’t help but to give one in return, feeling like you’re floating. You and Austin have just finished your final solo scene together for the film Aliens in the Attic. The two of you are love interests; you playing the best friend of the character Bethany, and Austin playing her cousin.

To say the role was a bit of a challenge is an understatement. It’s not that you couldn’t remember your lines or you were suffering from stage fright, it was that you didn’t know how to act around Austin. The moment you got introduced to the boy, you knew you were done for. He was, is, charming and funny and beyond attractive. The two of you are both still teenagers. You’re not sure about him, but for you at least, you haven’t dealt with a whole lot of crushes or relationships yet. So it was a bit difficult to deal with more or less.

It’s like every time you would go to shoot a scene with him, your brain would short circuit and your pulse would jump higher than you thought it could. It didn’t help at all that he was so nice to you and did whatever he could to make you laugh in between takes.

The days leading up to your final scene alone with him—the kissing scene—you were a wreck. Both excitement and nerves coursing through your veins. You figured it was merely a little on the job attraction, of course you'd feel something for the person playing your love interest. You completely ignored the true feelings planting roots in your heart, as was a certain blonde companion.

Lips still tingling with warmth, you try to subtly lift your fingers to them, grazing over the slightly swollen skin. You watch as Austin takes his bottom lip between his teeth, still looking nervous as ever.

It's undeniable—the connection between the two of you. Although you haven't been filming for long, it took practically no time for you and Austin to become close. There was something about him you couldn't get over and he felt the same way about you.

Days and nights were filled with endless laughter and conversations you felt like you couldn't talk about with many other people. He made you feel special, seen. You can't believe it's all over now.

"Hey-" you both speak at the same time, simultaneously realizing you can't bear to let it all end like this.

The two of you laugh; Austin's blue eyes—that noticeably light up every time they spot you—shift to the floor for a second over his awkwardness. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to keep his cool around you.

"You first," you say, tilting your head to try and catch his eye again. Looking up from under the curls of his sandy blonde hair, Austin takes a breath before he goes to speak again.

"Would you um-." His voice gives a little and you have to hold back your smile at how nervous and unsure of himself he seems. The thought that maybe he's acting like this over you sends your heart into overdrive. Clearing his throat the boy continues, "Would you want to go-"

"There you guys are! You two lovebirds killed it! For a second I thought it was real!" Ashley comes up to you and Austin, wrapping her arms around you both while she laughs. You swear you couldn't love Ashley Tisdale any more than you already do, but God did she have bad timing.

Your eyes meet Austin's across from the girl and there's evidently something unspoken there between you. Was he going to ask you out? Was this more than just an innocent little crush?

"Thanks, Ash, glad it was believable!" The two of you laugh together, but you can't help the pull towards Austin, to get back to that conversation and find out what his next words were going to be.

Ashley instantly knows something's happened, she was always good with stuff like that. "Did I interrupt something?" She looks between the two of you, trying to grasp what it is she walked in on, but you're not even completely sure what it is.

"No, nothing at all," Austin says, barely looking at you now. You shake off the feeling of the tiny pang in your chest. "I was just gonna see if Y/N wanted to go hit up the snack table one last time, and now that you're here, we can all go together!"

Ashley doesn't believe it for a second, especially with the look on your face, she can tell there's more to the story. While the three of you walk over to the refreshments, Ashley holds herself back from butting in. It's too bad she did and that she's the only one who can see through Austin's lie. If she would’ve said something or if you would've noticed, maybe things would've been different. Maybe it would've been you on his arm a few years later instead of Vanessa Hudgens...

Present day

The memories of that final filming day swarm your mind as you sit with your jaw dropped to the floor while staring at the tv in front of you.

It took ten seconds, ten seconds, for your buried feelings for Austin Butler to come bubbling back to the surface.

And it’s all his fault.

Curse you finally having a night off to sit and watch television, curse James Corden for creating games that make people spill their secrets, and curse Austin Butler for causing your feelings for him you thought you buried long ago to claw their way out again.

He could’ve lied. You’re sure there are tons of guests who have lied on The Late Late Show to get out of embarrassment or scrutiny, and Austin definitely could have. There is no way what he said is true, no way.

But why you? Why say your name out of hundreds of others. When James pressed for who his celebrity crush is, why did your name come up first?

The blush on Austin's face is clear as day, even through the screen. He's fidgety and chuckling as he rubs the back of his neck, the audience 'ooo'ing at his confession. The sight is all too familiar.

Your mind reels over what's happened. You're shocked but you also can't help the tiny feeling of giddiness that's making your stomach flutter. Brushing your hand over your face, you grumble at the warmth of your cheeks.

Damn this man and his affect on you. It's been fourteen years, fourteen, since you've seen him in person, since you've talked practically. And yet he still makes you feel just like you did on that movie set; jumbled, nervous, and smitten.

After filming wrapped on Aliens in the Attic, you got a job offer you couldn't refuse. You moved to a different country to begin filming a show you never thought you'd get even a supporting role in, let alone the lead.

That role set you for life, it was a fan favorite, but it took up practically every aspect of your existence. Sure you were able to come back home to visit family and friends once in a while, but those visits were few and far between. To even think about meeting up with Austin was out of the question. It just wasn’t in the cards as far as you could tell, especially when he was attached at the hip with his girlfriend or off filming his own roles. Even if you could’ve met up with him, the fact you couldn't admit those feelings you had for him would’ve crushed you. You couldn’t bear the weight of keeping those feelings hidden while he fell so deeply in love with another woman.

When your show wrapped, only needing a few seasons to tell the creator's full story, you figured it was back to square one; time to go home and face everything, but that was so far from what happened. That leading role was a once in the lifetime opportunity and it boosted your career to a height you could've only dreamed of. Due to the popularity of the show and your evident acting chops, you were on every casting director's radar from then on.

You booked movies with franchises like Marvel, Godzilla, and even Star Wars. The offers poured in from every angle, and majority of them you graciously accepted. To say you were nonstop busy for years would be an understatement. You barely even had time to think about Austin anymore, and to be honest you wouldn’t allow yourself to anyways.

He never admitted any feelings in the short months you stayed in contact over the phone after Aliens in the Attic wrapped, and even if he did have any, he clearly moved on. You took it as a sign to cut your losses, shake the feeling that he felt the same about you, no matter how much it hurt.

Still, It's crazy to think about how long it's been since you've talked to Austin. The both of you had such a strong bond, one you have yet to find with another. It blows your mind how easy it was to sever something so special.

Breaking you out of your thoughts, your phone starts rattling on the table before you. Picking up the device, there's a name across the top of the screen that you're not totally surprised to see; Ashley Tisdale.

"Ash-" You're cut off immediately, Ashley's voice rapidly spilling from the speakers.

"Y/N! Oh my god, girl, are you seeing this!?" There could be a million things your best friend of over a decade could be talking about, but you know instantly what she's referring to. What else is there, really?

"I have yet to pick my jaw back up off the floor." Ashley laughs and you can practically see her now; standing in her living room, probably holding Jupiter on her hip as she paces back and forth in front of the tv. It's hard to keep her still when she's excited. Ashley that is, not Jupiter.

"So what are you gonna do about it? You’re gonna reach out to him, right?” Your eyes widen instantly at Ashley’s questions, the idea seeming absurd to you.

“What!? No, no way! Ash, you know how long it’s been since I’ve spoken to him! That’s out of the question. There’s no shot I’m gonna call him up and say, ‘Hey saw you on tv saying you had a crush on me! Wanna hook up?’ Absolutely not!” The blonde’s laugh cuts through your phone speakers and the sound makes you smile, even with the present state of disbelief you’re in.

“I mean, it could work! He’s a simple guy,” she teases, and you roll your eyes even though she can’t see you. “In all seriousness, though, this is a big deal. I know Austin and he wouldn’t just say something like that and not mean it, no matter how nervous he was.”

You let that roll around in your head for a second. It makes sense and Ashley would know better than anyone, she is his best friend for God’s sake. But still, it just doesn’t seem right to you, it’s too out of the blue.

In reality, it’s your fear of being hurt again, of once again thinking falsely about how someone—how Austin—feels about you that’s preventing you from letting this be something positive.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just stuck on the fact it’s happening now. Why after all this time? It’s been fourteen years, Ashley.” Your voice is timid and your friend can tell even over the phone that you’re scared, even if you won’t admit it. She decides now is the time to let it all out, if only for your sake. It’s better late than never.

“Y/N/N, I have to tell you something.” The sentence makes your throat go dry. As if anything else could happen tonight. You clear your throat and urge your friend to continue.

“What is it?”

“When we were wrapping Aliens, do you remember when I came up to you and Austin after your final scene together? After your kiss?” Your blood runs cold. As if you hadn’t just been thinking about that memory.

“Yeah, what about it?” You’re confused and anxious. This shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it is, at least for you. Because it’s not just some guy or just some crush. It’s Austin, the guy you can honestly say now that you were falling in love with all those years ago. The guy who made you laugh and feel special in a way that no one’s ever been able to replicate. To think you missed something, to think maybe there could’ve been a chance, sends you reeling.

“When I walked up to you I could tell I interrupted something. I think the whole time we were filming I knew there was something happening between you both but I never said anything because I didn’t want to make things awkward for you. I knew when Austin asked if we wanted to go get snacks that he was lying. We may not have known each other for that long at that point, but he was so easy to read it was ridiculous he even tried hiding what he really wanted.” You wince at that, but keep quiet. You wish you could’ve been able to read him that easily, maybe things would’ve been different.

“I never asked him about it, but I think it was two years after that when he admitted everything to me on his own. You were off filming your show and Austin and Vanessa were just starting to get serious. We were hanging out like we always do, we had a couple drinks, and were trying to find a movie when suddenly Aliens in the Attic came on! We watched it just for shits and giggles but then the ending came when you guys kiss and I could tell Austin wanted to talk about something. I paused the movie and turned to him and took one look in his eyes and knew I was right about the two of you before he even said anything.

“He liked you, babe. Like really, truly liked you. He didn’t say it but I think it was more like loved you. You should’ve heard the way he talked about you, about what it was like between you both. I asked him about that day, called him out on his lie, and he told me straight up he wanted to ask you out but got too scared. Austin said he wanted to tell you so many times when you would talk on the phone, wanted to try and make it work even though you moved countries, but he just couldn’t admit it. Convinced himself it wouldn’t work. And then I introduced him to Vanessa and things took off from there. He said it was for the best and that he felt good with V.

“After he said all that he tried to play it off, make it seem like his feelings for you were gone, that the past was the past and it just wasn’t meant to be. But I could tell there was still something there. I know he loved her so much, Y/N, but I swear to God after that night I never once saw his eyes shine again like they did when he talked about you.”

Sinking into the couch, you feel as if you’re in some kind of dream space. Nothing quite seems real as you stare at your television and watch as the man of the hour laughs at something James has said, while you try your best to process all that Ashley has revealed.

“Oh my god,” you croak out, your mouth feeling incredibly dry. Mind racing, you can’t quite find the right words to articulate what you’re feeling.

“I know it’s a lot and kind of sounds crazy, but it’s all true. Hell, I don’t even know if Austin remembers it happening, but I’ve never forgotten it. I’m sorry I kept it from you but I figured it was best; Austin was getting serious about Vanessa and you were busy with your show and casually dating at the time. I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary drama or hurt. Ugh, maybe I should’ve told you sooner. I should’ve said something that last night of filming!” It’s obvious the girl feels bad about it all, conflicted even. Even in your shocked state, you immediately put a stop to her worries.

“Ash, please don’t blame yourself for anything. Even if you had told me what Austin said or if you had done something when we wrapped, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I still would’ve gotten the show offer and still would’ve moved. Austin and I didn’t deserve to jump into something just for us to be torn apart. Besides, he and Vanessa would’ve crossed paths anyways. It was never going to be him and I. If not Vanessa, Austin would’ve found some other girl. Our lives just didn’t line up back then, that had to be some kind of sign we weren’t meant to be.” Your voice trails off, mind traveling back to those years and how hard it was to keep your closest relationships afloat. You can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like trying to keep a romantic relationship going, especially being separated by an ocean.

There’s a part of your brain that tells you you would’ve tried with Austin despite the obstacles, would’ve done anything to keep him close and not lose contact like you did. You shake it off quickly before it can consume you.

“You’re right about the timing and distance I suppose, but you're wrong about you and Austin not being meant to be.” Ashley pauses for a moment, thinking about her next words. She takes a breath and then, “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be back then, but what if it’s meant to be now.”

Your breath catches in your throat and you do your best to not choke on it. “I don’t know about that. I-It’s been too long. We were just kids back then. I don’t even know who he is anymore. Besides, even if he’s being serious about me being his celebrity crush, that’s all it is. It’s not like he said he’s in love with me.”

Bringing your feet up on the couch, you hug your knees close to your chest, needing some sort of comfort and a way to ground yourself. This past half hour has been one of the craziest of your life, and that’s saying something.

“He may not have said it, but he’s sure shown it.” Ashley goes quiet for a moment, you can hear shuffling and small noises from Jupiter; she must be putting her to bed. The lack of conversation leaves you a moment to ponder what your friend might mean. How has Austin shown he loves you? You haven’t even been in the same room together for over a decade. She must be mistaken.

Before you get a chance to dismiss her claims, the actress chimes in again. “Just hear me out on the things I’m about to tell you, okay? Over these past few years since Austin and Vanessa’s breakup, I’ve noticed certain things that make me believe Austin at least still thinks about you, and I say 'thinks' since I can tell you don’t want to believe it’s love.” There’s a joking edge to her voice and you lightly laugh at the way she’s able to know your thoughts without even being with you in person.

The whole thing seems absurd. You don’t really understand how you got to this point; discussing with your best friend how a man you knew fourteen years ago might still have feelings for you, but here you are. There is a tiny part of you that thinks maybe it isn’t so absurd because maybe, just maybe, you still have feelings for him too.

“Okay,” you decide. “Lay it on me.”

“Alright so I’m just gonna be honest and tell you he hasn’t said anything to me about it upfront, but like I said he’s easier to read than Jupiter’s baby books so I can tell this man is hiding something from me.” The both of you chuckle and you shake your head. This girl truly never misses a beat.

“First of all, he hasn’t dated anyone in three years, Y/N/N. Sure he’s hooked up with one or two girls, but every time I ask if this new girl is the one, he says it’s not gonna work out, that she’s not the one. And when I try to get it out of him who he thinks the one is, he looks at me like a little boy afraid to say he has a crush on a girl at school and then changes the subject.”

“Ashley-“

“Wait! No, okay, I know what you’re gonna say. You’re gonna say ‘that could mean anything, that doesn’t automatically make me the girl he’s talking about’, and that’s what I thought at first too, but then he started asking about you.”

Heat rushes to your face, your chest beginning to tighten as a fluttering feeling takes over your body. He asked about me? You bite your bottom lip and rub your hand over your face, preparing yourself for what Ashley is going to say next.

“It was subtle, I know he thinks he got away with it, but I knew every time he brought you up, it was because he was trying to find out more about you, trying to figure out a way to get close to you again. He was slick about it at first, would ask how you are when a commercial for one of your movies came up, but then he would straight up ask if you would be coming to the parties or hangouts I would have.”

“Oh my God,” you whisper, once again at a loss for any other words as excitement and disbelief course through your veins.

“I don’t know why he didn’t just ask me for your number, he knows I have it. I should’ve just given it to him but I didn’t want to overstep with you, didn’t know if you would want me to. I knew how busy you were and figured you wouldn’t have the time or maybe just wouldn’t want to considering how long it had been since you guys talked. I should’ve just been my normal scheming self and handed it over. To be fair I did try to get you guys together without either of you knowing over these last few years after I realized what he was up to-“

“Ashley!” You shriek, laughter erupting from within you and ringing out across your living room.

“What!? I couldn’t help it! It was clear to me Austin was into you, or at least wanted to reconnect, and I kinda wanted to see what happened! I told you I knew there was something between you guys way back then so I figured you probably felt the same as him. It never worked though because every time he would come to my functions, you couldn’t, and every time you would come, he couldn’t! I for sure thought it would finally happen when we had Juju’s party, but you had to leave to catch your flight right before Austin got there. It’s like you guys kept missing each other.”

Every single one of those instances floods your mind as Ashley says this. To think you guys could’ve been reunited, but something or someone pulled you away from it every time. And Jupiter’s birthday? The fact you missed him by mere minutes. You don’t know whether to take this all as a good or bad sign, clearly Austin wants to be in your life, but the universe seemingly has other plans.

“I don’t even know what to say,” you breathe out. “I mean, that’s crazy, right? It’s like we’re on the same path to each other, but we’re taking different routes, just missing each other every single time.”

"I know you're probably thinking this might be a bad sign, but I don't think it is. You and Austin had a bond that not many people get to have in their lifetime. You don't just forget about something like that. Sure you haven't talked in years, but that doesn't mean you still can't care for each other. Sometimes the universe has a plan that may not always happen when you want it to, but it's there. Like you said, it's like you're on the same path to each other, and maybe it's finally time the two of you are meant to be back together."

Ashley's words hit you hard. On the outside it might look like you and Austin just aren't supposed to cross paths again, but there's no way that could be true, not with all that's happened.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," you say. "All this time I thought I lost him for good, that he never felt the same as me back then." Tilting your head back on your couch, you let out a short, breathy laugh.

"And to think it's all because Austin just had to spill his guts on television." Once again you find yourself laughing with your best friend. To think you met two of the most important and special people in your life on the set of a silly little alien movie is so crazy, but you're glad it happened. You really don't think you'd be where you are today if things had been different, you definitely could say it was fate.

"So what do I do? Damn, I really am gonna have to call him and say 'Hey saw you on tv saying you had a crush on me! Wanna hook up?', aren't I?"

Ashley snorts on the other line and the sound makes you giggle. “Okay honestly, for once I’m gonna go back on what I’ve said. I definitely think this is too much to discuss over a phone call. You two need to be face to face when this happens.”

“I guess start your party planning then because I have no idea how else I’m supposed to meet him in person without having to call him first.”

While you sit on the couch and begin to nibble lightly on your bottom lip as you contemplate, an idea immediately comes to Ashley’s mind, and she knows the second she thinks of it that you’re not gonna like it.

“What if-,“ she hesitates, tossing the idea back and forth in her head, trying to decide if it really is the way to go. She decides it doesn’t hurt to at least suggest it. “What if you talked to him at the Met?”

You blink and then your eyes go wide. The thought of meeting up with Austin at the Met Gala hadn’t even crossed your mind. To be fair you’ve been trying to block it out since you found out you’d both be attending. The prospect of running into him for the first time in fourteen years during one of the biggest nights of the year sort of terrifies you.

“I-I mean I guess I could but-,“ shaking your head, you let out a huff and lean back into the couch.

“I know it’s not ideal, but this is your chance! I know you guys have obligations in the beginning, but the rest of the night is yours! You can find a cozy little corner to chat or whatever…” Ashley giggles and you gasp.

“Ashley, seriously!?” The girl laughs and you just roll your eyes, fighting back a smile.

“I’m sorry! I know this is serious, I’ll stop. But honestly, Y/N, this could work. It’s two weeks away, you have plenty of time to prepare. I know there’s no guarantee of anything happening, but don’t you at least wanna see what happens? This could change everything.” Ashley’s tone is light and supportive, you know she’s rooting for you and Austin, apparently always has been.

You know she’s right, that this could really be it. Maybe the universe really did have a plan for you and Austin all along, sure it wasn’t when you wanted it to happen, but it’s better late than never. There’s only one way to find out.

“Okay,” you reply. “I’ll do it. I’ll talk to Austin at the Met Gala.��

*****

The last two weeks have been…interesting to say the least. When Austin’s interview aired, you thought nothing of it in terms of media and fan attention, surely nothing would come of it. The only ones who would notice and mull it over would be you and Ashley, but boy were you wrong.

For fourteen straight days your socials have been filled with tags, comments, and mentions of you and Austin. All of which include photos or videos of the two of you from your days working on Aliens. There were so many people picking apart everything they could, theorizing, and making absurd assumptions. Majority of the time everything was light hearted and funny, but you couldn’t shake the feeling of how weird it all felt.

While looking at everything and seeing all the comments, it made you feel like you were right back on that set, like you were fourteen years in the past and you couldn’t make your way out. The whole thing made you feel like a teenager again, made you feel like that naive girl who was falling for her costar.

It’s funny how easy it is to slip back into those feelings, how some photos or clips dug up from strangers on the internet can suddenly transport you back to a time you tried hard to forget about and move on from. For the past few days you’ve been fighting with yourself on whether you’re taking that as a good or bad thing, but for now the jury is still out.

It’s almost time now. Any minute your car would pull up to the Met and you’d find yourself climbing those stairs and making your way to the one person who’s taken up space in your mind for two weeks.

Anxiety is definitely starting to rattle your bones and for once it isn’t because of the paparazzi or fans. It’s because of a boy, a man.

Times goes faster than you would’ve liked and suddenly you're stepping out to a swarm of flashing lights and excited screams. Somehow these things calm you, ground you. You choose to ignore the reason for this; the chaos drowns out your thoughts of seeing Austin tonight.

Staff ushers you along as you make your way towards the entrance of the building. Even with the fluid movement of everything, there’s no doubt you’re turning heads, almost forcing everyone to stop what they’re doing in order to get a look at you.

The past few years when it comes to the Met it’s no secret that people have been disappointed in certain looks, disappointed in a clear lack of on-theme fashion. But that’s so far from what’s happening with you tonight.

People would bet money that if Anna Wintour laid eyes on you right now, she would fall to her knees in both gratitude and awe over how on theme and brilliant you look. And that is saying something.

The fact that what you're wearing is even a topic to be discussed leaves you giggling and shaking your head, being a celebrity sure is crazy sometimes.

For a moment, you take a mental step back and really take everything in. It's crazy to you how far you've come, how much things have changed in such a short time. In just over a decade your whole life has been turned around. You've had experiences you've only ever dreamed of and it just keeps getting better. Not a day will ever go by where you aren't thankful for what's happened to you.

Sure, maybe you would've changed some things, taken different paths, or tried a little more with certain people. But at the end of the day all of that led you to where you are now—right here.

Keeping that in mind, you allow yourself to take a breath, to stop obsessing over what may or may not happen with Austin—if you even get a chance to talk to him. Stressing out over what ifs will do nothing good for you, and you know that. Whatever's meant to be, will be. Good or bad—with or without Austin—tonight will happen as it should.

You tilt your head down and close your eyes for a second, smile at the thought if it all, and then proceed to head inside.

*****

As the night goes on, it's clear to you that there's a possibility you really won't speak to Austin this evening. Somehow, you haven't seen him at all. You wouldn't have even known he showed if it wasn't for one of your friends gushing over how great the whole 'Elvis ensemble' looked earlier.

To be fair, you haven't really gotten a chance to even look for the guy. It's like everywhere you turn there's a friend or work colleague pulling you every which way and wanting to talk to you. It warms your heart to be speaking with so many lovely people, but if you wanted to even have a chance at letting something happen between you and Austin tonight, it would have to happen fast. The night may be young, but people would be leaving the museum soon to attend the countless after parties thrown throughout the night.

Who knows, you think, maybe Austin already left...

*****

Unbeknownst to you, Austin had seen you countless times tonight. Each time he caught a glimpse of you he was awestruck, as if he had never seen such a beautiful person before. But it was more than that too, it was the way he would watch as you laughed at something your friend would say, the way you would smile when greeting someone. Austin so desperately wanted to walk over to you—to hear that laugh and to have you smile at him like that. He had missed it so much.

But each time he would gather up the courage, someone would pull him away towards some producer he just had to talk to, or to some chairman he didn't even know existed until tonight, or to just someone who wasn't you.

Austin did his best to not look like a creep as he kept sneaking quick glances at you as often as he could. There was a part of him that hoped maybe you were looking to catch his eye as much as he wanted to catch yours. Every time you'd scan the area—as if you were looking for someone—his pulse would jump. You'd be just about to see him when someone would call your name or pull you away. You were constantly slipping through his fingers, have been for the past fourteen years from what he could gather from Ashley, and he wants that to end now—he needs it to.

"Austin." The blonde nearly jumps out of his seat as he's ripped from his thoughts. He clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck, hoping and praying he didn't just get caught staring at you as you speak to Daisy Edgar-Jones.

It's Priscilla and from the knowing look on her face Austin can tell he's busted. "M'sorry, what did you say?" Austin does his best to look fully invested in the woman sitting beside him, but no amount of fake attentiveness could fool Priscilla Presley.

"I said," Priscilla smiles. "When are you going to stop staring at that girl and go talk to her?"

Austin can feel the heat rising to his face and he tries to collect himself as much as possible in order to not let on to anything. "I-uh, I don't-." He chuckles, not totally sure on how to salvage this.

"Oh c'mon, Austin. You've been looking at her since the moment we got here. I didn't think anything of it, but when Baz was talking to you earlier and all you were doing was looking over his shoulder at her, I could tell something was up."

Austin immediately feels a small sense of shame, "I hadn't realized. M'so sorry, Priscilla. I didn't mean to be disrespectful or anything, especially not to you and Baz-"

Priscilla shakes her head, placing her hand on Austin's arm to let him know she's not trying to reprimand him. "There's nothing to apologize for! Trust me when I tell you it went right over Baz's head. He's so invested in this whole thing and drunk off the champagne he didn't even notice. I'm saying this to you because I want to know why you haven't gone over to her yet. We've just been sitting here for over a half hour, there's nothing stopping you from reaching out to her."

Austin can tell by the look in Priscilla's eyes that she knows something is up. She can tell he cares for the girl and wants to talk to her, she just can't understand why he hasn't already. You don't look at a woman like that and not go up to her.

"I just-I want to it's just-" Austin feels at a loss for words. His eyes flick to you across the room and his heart nearly bursts at the sight. He doesn't understand how he could care for someone so much even after how long it's been since you two have spoken. He's never been able to shake the way you make him feel, even after he fell in love with someone else and buried his feelings for you deep down, they were still always there. You were still always there.

"I know it may not seem like it, but I am hip to what goes on online. She's that girl you worked with a long time ago that everyone's talking about, isn't she?" Priscilla's eyes and smile are warm, inviting. She has this way about her that's always been able to calm Austin. Even when he was nervous as all get out when he met her for the first time, she was able to ease his nerves. Able to make him feel like he had someone to talk to, someone looking out for him.

The actor can feel his shoulders relax, feel some of the tension melt away as he decides there's no better person to open up to about love than Priscilla.

"Yeah, she is," Austin smiles. "If I'm bein' honest with you, I'm pretty sure I've been in love with her since I was seventeen years old. Sure I fell for other people, but I think there's a part of me that's always known no one else has ever, or will ever, make me feel the way she did-does."

There's a sense of relief Austin feels as the words leave his lips. He never thought he'd ever admit that to anyone, especially not out loud, and yet here he is. And if someone were to ask how it feels, he'd say it feels damn good.

"That's a beautiful feeling to have, and to know it as well. Not a lot of people find that person that makes them feel such a way, and they definitely don't always get the chance to have them back in their lives when they do."

Austin reaches out to grab Priscilla's hand and she places her other on top of his, squeezing it lightly. "No, they don't."

There's an unspoken understanding passed between the two. A nod to a past love and the chance a different ending can be written for a present one.

"I may not know a lot about the two of you, but it's clear to me you care a lot for this young woman and you can't let anything hold you back from finally going after her, from telling her how you feel. Love is one of the most important things in a person's life, and you've got to do everything you can to hold it close while you still can."

Austin nods his head, understanding completely what Priscilla is telling him. He knows with all his heart she's right; that he can't let anything or anyone hold him back any longer from the one he truly loves, not even himself.

"Go, Austin. It's obvious there's something destined to happen between you both; timing doesn't align like this for no reason. Now is your chance." Priscilla lets go of Austin's hand and there's a glint in her eyes Austin's only ever seen a few times before, all for the same reason.

As the blonde begins to stand up, he stops for a second. "Thank you, Priscilla, truly."

The woman closes her eyes briefly, nodding her head. Austin smiles once more before turning and walking straight to the person he's wanted to talk to for fourteen years, not stopping for anything.

*****

Taking a final sip of your drink, you stand from your chair. Half your table has cleared out, leaving with excited mumblings of after parties and late night escapades.

Part of you aches to stay longer to try and seek out Austin, but you really have no way to. All of your friends have already gone, the only one left being Daisy, but she wants to leave now too. Sure you could stay on your own, but who would be your cover? You don't really want to go walking around asking if anyone has seen the Elvis star—not with everything that's been going on in the media lately. You'd hate to draw attention to your desire to seek out an old friend and have it spin into something it's not.

"Ready?" Daisy asks from beside you, a light smile on her lips. Nodding, you return her smile before taking one last look around the extravagant room, hoping to catch a flash of familiar sandy hair somewhere.

"Yeah let's-"

Cutting yourself off, your neck nearly snaps at the speed in which you turn it back around. It was only for a second that you saw him, and only out of the corner of your eye, but you would recognize that face anywhere. It's Austin. And he's coming straight towards you.

Daisy notices your sudden change in demeanor instantly and it doesn't take her long to figure out what's happening. She sees the blonde and connects the dots. It's hard for her to contain her smile.

"I'll talk to you later, yeah?" She says, drawing your attention away from the approaching actor. Your eyes widen a little as you turn towards her again. There's no shot she missed your reaction, but you're glad it's Daisy who's caught it and not someone else. You told her a little about what's going on the other day when you were catching up, and you know she'd take everything to her grave if you asked her to.

"Yeah, of course." Reaching out to grasp her hand you whisper, "Thank you."

Daisy squeezes your hand in hers, nodding. "You're welcome and good luck." The girl gives you a knowing look before grabbing her clutch from the table and following the steady stream of people towards the exit.

Even over the constant flow of chatter and light music, you hear when Austin's steps stop behind you. You know that this is it, the moment you turn around everything will change. This could mean nothing, Austin could simply want to exchange pleasantries and catch up, but there's a part of you that knows that's far from what's going to happen.

Turning on your heels, you're met with ocean blue eyes you never thought you'd see in person again, and suddenly your mind is completely numb. All previous thoughts and anxieties are thrown out the window as you get lost in those big blue orbs.

"You look...beautiful," Austin gasps out. The comment leaves your cheeks feeling flushed, but you do your best to not shy away.

"Thank you," You whisper, your voice failing you as you're hit with so many emotions. If you thought seeing those old videos and pictures of you and Austin would be bad, it's got nothing on how you feel with him standing right here in front of you.

It's been over a decade and yet it's as if no time has passed at all. He's the same boy from that movie set all those years ago. Sure he's older, more defined, but he's got those same warm features. That same inviting and comforting aura that drew you to him in the first place.

"How long's it been?" He questions, but you can tell he knows exactly how long it's been. You can see it in his eyes, in the way he looks over your features as if he can't get enough of you, as if he's been waiting ages for this day.

"Fourteen years," you both say at the same time. There's a beat of silence, the weight of that revelation being spoken to each other for the first time hanging in the air.

The way it makes you feel is odd. There's a rush of sadness that passes through you and it passes through Austin as well. It's funny how quickly time flys. How it never really affected you because you had always been so busy. You didn't have time to think about what could've been with Austin, you didn't allow yourself to. You practically built a wall to block out the what ifs and the feelings you knew you had to let go of.

But knowing what you know now—that there could've been a chance and the fact he’s here with you—makes it all come crashing down.

In an instant you find yourself lunging towards the man before you, wrapping your arms tightly around him and falling in an embrace you haven't had in a long time.

To hell with the gossip, you think, let them talk. I missed him.

To anyone else the way Austin holds you so tightly might feel uncomfortable, but for you it's the most comfortable you've felt in a while. You bask in the way his scent and warmth envelops you. It's all so strangely familiar, yet you also had forgotten the way it felt to be wrapped in his arms. You wish with all your heart that you never had to forget in the first place.

"Why did you never reach out to me?" The words leave your lips so fast you surprise yourself. It could be seen as hypocritical asking this of Austin because why didn't you reach out? But the difference is, you always thought Austin never felt anything for you. You were under the impression he found his match and that was the end of it. You felt rejected only to find out there was something there all along. Why didn't he let you know sooner?

Austin takes a breath, sighing into the side of your head. It's obvious he has a lot to share with you, to explain. You want nothing more than to hear all of it and to have everything make sense. You’d sit with him all night if you have to.

Releasing his arms from around you, Austin takes a step back and softly turns you towards your table. He places a hand on the small of your back and leads you to your chair. The both of you sit down and you turn towards Austin to show him he has your full attention.

Unlike just a few moments ago, Austin looks anywhere but at you. He’s nibbling on his bottom lip and contemplating how he’s going to explain himself. There’s definitely a reason for the fact he didn’t try to contact you sooner, why he didn’t make more of an effort to keep in touch, why he didn’t fight for you.

He just doesn’t know how he’s going to explain it to you. Austin’s struggled to admit it to himself for so long, so admitting it to the woman it all has to do with is borderline terrifying for him.

“Aus,” you say, reaching out to give his hand a light squeeze. “It’s okay. You can talk to me, you know that.”

The blonde slowly raises his eyes to yours and sees how genuine your concern is. He can tell that you need this. It breaks his heart knowing how long he’s left you hanging without any explanation as to what he felt. Austin feels like an idiot over the fact you thought he felt nothing for you while the whole time it was the opposite.

All because of my own fears, he thinks, my own insecureties...

Austin shakes his head, essentially shaking off his nerves. He can't let them hold him back anymore. He can't let himself hold him back from going after what he really wants, who he really wants. Austin wants to be honest with you, he needs to.

"Y/N, I never reached out to you because I thought I wasn't good enough for you."

The statement practically knocks you over. Your head jolts back in confusion and your eyes go wide, disbelief clouding your features instantly. "Austin, why in the world would you think that?"

You don't want to diminish the importance and validity of Austin's feelings and fears, but the fact he believed he wasn't good enough for you is beyond mind-boggling.

A small smile tugs at a corner of Austin's lips, realization dawning on him that maybe it was a little silly to feel that way. But it's what he's always felt as soon as you left for your tv show, and he hasn't been able to shake it since.

"I-I don't know. You left the country and I saw how big your career was gettin' and I thought I wouldn't be able to compare, that you could do better, that you could be with someone more on your level. I know it may sound stupid but it's true. I also didn't want to come between your success or hold you back in any way. Trust me that not a day went by after we wrapped on Aliens that I didn't want to do better at stayin' in contact, but I figured with your big break that it was no use. You shouldn't have to choose between trying to make a relationship or your career work. So I just let it go. I let you go when I shouldn't have."

"Austin," your lip trembles as you try to not be consumed by your emotions. The fact he felt like this, no matter if it had even been a little bit, hurts your heart in a way you've never experienced before.

The actor lifts his hand in an effort to try and halt you feeling bad for him. "Sweetheart, please don't get upset over this, okay? It was all on me, I should've done something about it instead of keeping it from you back then. Lettin’ our relationship crumble is the worst thing I've ever done and I'm sorry.

"I thought after a few years that I had gotten over it. As you know I was in a committed relationship and I felt a good balance during it. I thought I had grown and that I could handle the fact my career wasn't at an extreme height compared to my partner's. So when that relationship ended I had a lot of time to reflect and figure out what it was I really wanted. I came back to America after filming Elvis and I swear to God when I stepped off that plane one of the first things I saw was a billboard with you on it for one of your new movies at the time.

"I figured this had to be some sorta sign or somethin'. But the more I kept thinkin' about it and figurin' out how I could reach out to you, the more I started to doubt myself. I felt like I was a teenager again questionin' if I was good enough for you. You were in all these huge films and seen with these other guys who are so much more successful than me, and I didn't know if you would even wanna talk to me considerin' how much time had passed."

Austin takes a breath, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. It was a lot to admit, but letting you know exactly how he felt all these years is such a relief. He's kicking himself for not doing it sooner, for letting more time pass that he could've spent with you—as a friend at the very least.

He shouldn't have relied on possibly running into you at Ashley's parties, he should've just taken the leap and gotten your number. What's done is done though and there's no going back, but he sure as hell is gonna do everything he can to stay close with you going forward.

“Austin,” you start, feeling very much overwhelmed in both a good and bad way. No matter how you’re feeling though, you won’t allow Austin to think he’s inferior to you or that you wouldn’t want to talk to him because that’s so beyond far from the truth. “Never would I ever not wanna talk to you. If anything you’re one of the only people I’ve wanted to talk to these past few years. I’ve missed you like nobody’s business and I hate the fact you’ve ever felt anything less than equal when it comes to me and my success, and that those feelings forced you to stay away.

“No matter how many movies or shows I do, or what famous people I’m seen with, none of it will ever change the way I feel about you or make me see you in a different light. You’re one of, if not the, most honest and kind people I have ever met. I may not have known you for long way back then, but every single moment we spent together has stuck with me, and the way you treated me and made me feel has never left my mind. No one’s ever been as special to me as you were, Austin—as you are.”

The way Austin's eyes shine with emotion is indescribable. Somehow they get even more blue, a pale color you could get lost in for hours if given the chance. It's clear how impactful your words are on him, so you let him take a moment to just gather his thoughts.

"Y/N, I-I don't even know what to say," he chuckles, rubbing his fingers over his chin. "There aren't really enough words out there to describe how much that means to me, how much you mean to me. Gosh, m’just so sorry I let so much time pass between us and that I let my insecurities get the best of me."

You had begun shaking your head before Austin even finished what he was saying. "Don't be sorry. We both had our own part in everything and I would never hold that to you, especially when it comes to insecurities. I just hope you know how much I appreciate you being honest with me and letting me know everything. It definitely answers a lot of questions I had back then."

Austin nods his head and smiles lightly at you. It's a relief for him to know that helped you in some way. He knows finally letting it out absolutely helped him.

"And hey," you continue, a teasing tone poking through. "There's no way you can still feel like that, Mr. Elvis Presley himself! Like are you kidding me, Aus? That's incredible, I'm so proud of you and how far you've come. You deserve this so much and I know only a little bit has been shared, but I can just tell you're going to be amazing in that film. I can't wait to see it."

Your smile is wide as you watch Austin get shy, his cheeks reddening and his hand immediately rubbing the back of his neck. The sight makes you feel giddy.

"Thank you, Y/N/N. I appreciate that a lot. I really hope you do enjoy it when it comes out." There's a timid tone of pride as Austin says this. It's so surreal for him to think about how this film is actually real, and even more so that people are excited to see it. He's grateful for all the work he's ever done, but this is beyond his wildest dreams, and he can't wait for you to see it.

"You're welcome," you grin. "I'm sure I will."

There's a comforting stillness that surrounds you both for a few moments. The two of you just staring at each other fondly, feeling a fourteen year weight off your shoulders. It's a lot to take in all at once, especially after so much time, but it feels good and as if you're picking up right where you both left off. The questions and doubt you've carried for years finally roll off your back and you feel like you can start fresh with Austin, like things can be different after all.

"So, there's a lot to catch up on, isn't there?" Austin says, a coy smirk playing on the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, there is," you reply, settling more into your chair as you eagerly await the endless stories you know are coming.

"Where should we start?"

You ponder that question for a moment, thinking of where the best place to begin your catch up would be. It doesn't take long for the only correct answer to surface in your mind.

"How about right where we left off?" You suggest.

"Sounds perfect."

*****

You're not sure how much time has passed since you and Austin started reminiscing, but from the state of the gala around you—or at least what's left of it—it's been a while.

In the time you've spent chatting with Austin and getting to know who he is now, you realize just how aligned your lives have always been.

There's this little café in Los Angeles that you always pass by when you're out and about, and they have the best drinks and food you could imagine, so you stop there in the mornings before you start your day. Turns out Austin goes to the same place, except instead of in the morning, he goes at the end of his day right before he goes home.

Another thing was when Austin brought up how he saw your billboard when he got off the plane, it reminded you of how you had the same experience when you got back to LA from filming your tv show. While you were on your way home from the airport you saw a bus with an advertisement for the show he had been on at the time, The Carrie Diaries, and it had made you want to reach out to him as well. Of course you never did, though.

All of these things coming to light had made the two of you laugh so many times throughout your conversation. It was crazy to think about how many times you missed reuniting with each other, either unknowingly or knowingly.

Despite the time lost, you're honestly just grateful to be back in Austin's life now. Maybe him spilling his guts on national television wasn't so bad after all. Without it, you really might never have crossed paths again, even with being at the Met together.

"Austin," someone says off to the side of you. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Baz is making his way out and I figured you'd want to say goodbye before he leaves."

The voice is gentle and calm, and when you look up to see who it belongs to you nearly fall out of your seat. Priscilla Presley in the flesh. You have to bite the inside of your cheek to keep your jaw from dropping.

Austin basically startles, suddenly realizing where he is. He got so caught up in listening to your stories and telling his own that he completely forgot he was even at an event.

"Oh absolutely, thank you, Priscilla. I'll be right there, I'll be just a moment."

Priscilla smiles warmly at Austin, and then her gaze quickly shifts to you. You can feel her kindness and compassion without her even having to say anything. She looks back towards Austin and you watch as she reaches up and lightly squeezes his shoulder, a knowing look passing between them.

You wonder what it is she's communicating to him, but something tells you it has everything to do with Austin coming over here to speak with you. The thought makes you feel warm inside.

In an instant, Priscilla's gone and it's just you and Austin once more. You know he has to leave now to say his goodbyes, so you begin to stand up from your chair. Austin does the same.

"She seems amazing," you say, staring in the direction Priscilla set off towards. You catch a glimpse of her as she laughs at something Baz Luhrmann has said.

"Yeah, she's incredible," Austin gushes. "I'll have to introduce you two properly sometime."

There's a shyness in Austin as he awaits your response. He doesn't want to overstep or push you into anything. From what he can tell he thinks you want to be back in his life as much as he wants to be back in yours, but still he doesn't want to just assume that there will even be a next time between you two.

"I'd love that, Aus," you reassure. His blue eyes meet yours and you can see how happy he is. You're sure your eyes show the same.

Austin looks quickly towards his table and knows he doesn't have much time left with you, so he speaks up before any more time can pass between you. "There's somethn' I wanna ask you. It's somethin' I should've asked you about fourteen years ago."

An airy laugh passes your lips and your heart swells at the idea of what the blonde is about to ask, a familiar feeling settling in your bones. You nod your head for him to go on.

Austin leans in, a little flustered but somehow still exuding the utmost confidence. "Would you wanna go out with me sometime?"

There it is. The question you were hoping he'd ask you all those years ago. It sounds even better than you thought it would.

"You have no idea how much I wanted you to ask me that." Austin laughs and the sound practically rattles your body. You'd never get tired of it. "Of course I would."

Austin wastes no time in wrapping his arms around you, bringing you close to his chest and holding you there. Once again you find yourself basking in it, wishing you didn't have to say goodbye already. The fact this won't be the last time you see Austin keeps you happy, though. The fact you have a date with him really seals the deal.

"You ever feel like, I don't know, there's somethin' that ties two people together sometimes? Like they're always gonna be connected, that they were destined for each other or somethin'? Sort of like a-" Austin cuts himself off, trying to think of what it is he's referencing.

"Like an invisible string?" You beam, pulling back to look up at him, knowing precisely what he's getting at.

"Yeah, exactly," he murmurs, staring at you with such adoration you swear you could melt right here.

You lightly squeeze Austin's waist before whispering back to him, "Then yeah, I absolutely do."

*****

It's been a couple weeks since you reunited with Austin at the Met Gala. It had taken a bit of rescheduling and careful planning, but you two were finally able to go on that date, and to say it was one of the best nights of your life would be an understatement.

There was a small part of you that was worried you had exhausted your topics to discuss while at the Met, but the way you and Austin fell into an easy rhythm while going out felt incredible. He made you laugh more times than you could count and just being in his presence again after so long felt like a dream come true. You missed talking to him and feeling a genuine connection with someone.

So, you were ecstatic when he kissed you goodnight. There aren't really words to describe the way it feels to kiss Austin Butler. All you know is that it definitely left you dizzy and wanting more. Needless to say, you can't wait for your next date.

Now, you find yourself in what feels like a full circle moment. Just like Austin was over a month ago, you're sat with James Corden on The Late Late Show. Luckily, you're not playing Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts like Austin had, but you're sure the topic of the two of you will come up soon enough.

The internet was kind of a mess since the Met, even more so than it was before. Word got out that you and Austin had spent the night talking—with a few added assumptions—and it hasn't been the same since. When you got papped while out on your date, that's when it got even worse. It was all so crazy, but all you two really cared about at the end of the day was that you were finally together.

"So, Y/N, I have to ask," James turns the questions to you now instead of your fellow special guest. "There are a few rumors flying about you and a certain blonde heartthrob—care to comment?"

Scattered 'oh's and 'ah's make their way across the audience and your heartbeat picks up a little at the sound. You knew this was coming, but it still makes you feel a little nervous. This relationship between you and Austin is fairly new, even if you have known each other for over a decade, but it's special and you'd hate to make it out to be something it's not.

"What would you like to know, James?" You're willing to throw a bone here and there, it's not like you and Austin are keeping your relationship a secret. You'll only dish out a little, but then it's lips sealed, at least for a little while longer.

"Anything, really. I mean is it true you and Austin reconnected at the Met and then proceeded to go out on a date?" James scoots forward in his chair a little, as if not wanting to miss a single thing you say.

You nod your head, that's obvious enough. Not too personal. It takes a quick search of your names over the past few weeks to connect those dots. "Yeah, it's true. The Met was actually the first time we saw each other in person in fourteen years. It was pretty crazy."

James and the audience react accordingly, finding that little tidbit to be fascinating. It kind of is, in a way. "That is pretty crazy! You know when Austin was on the show a while back and he said you were his celebrity crush, I was just so happy. I knew you guys had worked together a long time ago, so the idea of a reconciliation just seemed so cute to me."

"Thank you! Yeah it was great to meet up with him again. We definitely had a lot to catch up on, and I guess I really have you to thank for that considering it was Austin's comment on the show that sort of set everything in motion," you smile.

The host laughs and then grins before pretending to brush off dust on his shoulders. "Well you know they do say I tend to bring out the best in people. It's a gift, matchmaking."

Everyone laughs and James claps his hands together before shaking his head. "No, I'm joking, but really, Y/N, congratulations on everything. I know it's a tricky subject to bring up so I'll leave it at that, but I'm happy for you and wish you all the best."

"Thank you very much, James, I appreciate that." The man smiles at you before a thought appears to dawn on him.

"Okay wait I lied. I have one more question and then I'm done with you, I swear." You bust out laughing, along with everyone else, and shake your head at him.

"Sure, hit me with it," you giggle, interested to know where this is going.

"Y/N,” James pauses, building up the anticipation in the room. “Who is your celebrity crush?"

You don't even hesitate.

"Austin Butler."

#austin butler x reader #austin butler x y/n #austin butler x you #austin butler fanfic #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fluff #austin butler angst #austin butler #requested

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evermorehoon · 5 months

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❣︎ ⎯⎯ goodbye, my past pt2

idol pairing: sunghoon x reader

wc: 2.1k

warnings: a little angst, mostly fluffy, children being children, he's so whipped for his gf, he gets sad a little here and there

synopsis: you finally have the chance to do something special for sunghoon, who seems to have finally come to terms with his ordinary life

A/N: welcome back to my fave series!! sorry for the long wait omg but thank you for waiting, hopefully I can be a little more consistent lmao. honestly y/n is pretty cute, I like writing her😭 feedback and whatnot is greatly appreciated!! Enjoy <3 lemme know if you wanna be tagged or smth

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It was saddening to see Sunghoon try denying that he really wanted to be there. It was evident in his eyes whenever he scrolled through his social media that he wanted to support his friends. And yet:

"Nah, I don't wanna go."

"You're getting closer to your due date, I'm scared of missing it."

"I can't afford to go."

He texted them often when they had breaks in between practice. They all seemed so excited at the prospect of him being there, but he kept shooting it down, even if they wanted to give him a free ticket.

He often found you sitting on your bed with your hands on your rather round belly. It was comforting so it allowed you to think better.

'How can I make him go?'

You'd been wondering this for days but you had to think fast. You didn't know just how popular they were so you could easily miss out on buying his ticket. As much as you wanted to be there, it felt almost like you'd cause too much stress on him. Someone could bump into you, you could lose balance and fall etc.

While he was away at his part time job, you ended up texting both his and your parents. You could use the extra help, seeing as you wanted to act in his best interest.

But it seems they thought it was a good idea as well. After all, wouldn't it be great for him to support his best friends who just succeeded in achieving their dreams?

Everyday, you sat in anticipation. You waited for those ticket sales to be open. You were going to get that ticket, even if it was the last thing you would do. You had the money which your parents and his had graciously helped with.

But even with your laptop sitting in front of you, you were beyond nervous. Your hands were clammy and your heart was racing. You needed to calm down, this amount of stress wasn't good for the baby.

Yes, think about the baby. Surely that'll calm you down.

Just a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes. Just a few-

...

Was getting a ticket always so hard?? You wondered this as you managed to secure it. Online waiting lines were quite new to you, you weren't really paying attention to the capacity of the concert hall.

You sat with a satisfied look, waving your hands in the air in excitement.

"What's all the excitement about?"

You jumped slightly upon hearing Sunghoon’s voice. He had an intrigued look on his face as he crossed his arms against his chest.

"Nothing, nothing!" You said quickly, waving him off.

"I finally passed this level I'd been struggling with.."

Sunghoon knows when you're lying. He's known you long enough to read your every movement and expression (not in a creepy way of course). But he doesn't say anything further. You probably have your reasons for hiding something from him, he trusted you.

"I see.. since when do you play games on your laptop?" He seemingly snickered since he'd never seen you playing anything other than mobile games.

"New hobby to pass the time," you smiled almost awkwardly. Now that you think about it, playing rpg games was something you used to do.

"So, how was work?" You had a big smile as you rested your hands on your belly, closing your laptop to listen to him.

His eyes always seemed to light up when he spoke about his work. He was lucky to have landed this job, but the owner of the ice rink seemed even more overjoyed than he was to have a former professional figure skater teaching young kids.

He loved listening to the kids ask for help, watching their little faces get excited when they could move without falling. He especially thought it was cute hearing the little voices calling him 'teacher'.

"One of the kids has this very interesting habit of telling me she loves me."

He chuckled as he spoke. He would recall little fists gripping his pants leg to prevent themselves from falling. He had a special talent and incredible patience, which made him suitable for this. Maybe he could even do this full-time.

But he'd agreed to stay part-time for now. Maybe he'd continue doing this after the baby was born. All he knew was that he was going to be there for you, no matter what.

Days went by, even though they felt like years. You were so excited to give Sunghoon his gift that you could hardly wait. You even went the extra mile to craft him a special banner for him to hold up. It was bright with sparkly hearts, surely not a craft Sunghoon would make but would definitely get attention.

Both your parents and his helped you prepare everything. Crafting this felt like an art project you were making late at night on the living room floor. Sunghoon’s sister even gave her own input, even though she wasn't one to meddle in his life.

It was agreed that you would be the one giving him this gift. It wouldn't be hard to make him go, given all 6 of the special people in his life went through all that effort. He could never say no to you, therefore he couldn't deny all of you.

Everyone wanted to make you rest up a little more since it was clear you were becoming more tired as time went by. But it didn't feel special enough if you didn't give him this gift yourself. No amount of pain or constant bathroom trips was gonna make you stop.

You were quite aware of the chances of going into labour at literally any point now given how far along you've been. And, if you had to be honest, it scared you.

As excited as you were, you were just as afraid, often questioning whether you could be a good mother or whether you would be able to give your child the life they deserve.

Sunghoon had grown increasingly stressed as well. The mere sight of you wincing from a sharp kick was enough to send him into a small panic, then immediately followed by him wanting to feel it for himself.

He'd often found himself singing a little to the unborn baby, introducing himself and everything. He loved singing you to sleep as well as it seemed to be one of the few things that could calm you down enough.

And when you'd fallen asleep in his arms, he would lay in contemplation. He was finally able to use his talent of singing even if it hurt him a little to do it. He wondered what his former members really felt about his departure. He wondered just how much stress he put on them, even though they said it was okay.

In truth, he did wanna go to their showcase. His face was never really revealed, so no one in the crowd would recognize him. But, to his slight disappointment, the tickets were sold out by the time he got there.

He sighed mentally but eventually it got him thinking.

‘Maybe I could use that money to buy a ring.’

He so badly wanted to propose to you. He didn't have enough for the shiniest, glittering ring he believed you deserve but he knew that he could propose with a lollipop ring and you wouldn't care.

It wasn't much but he'd been crafting paper rings in his free time at work. Whenever he had even the slightest break, he'd attempt yet another. Some of them would break, some of them were too small or too big, some wouldn't even stay put.

“Teacher!” He heard a small yet high voice coming from the entrance of the ice rink. A smile crept onto his face as he immediately opened up his arms, letting the little girl run into him.

“Yes?” He asked with a gentle tone.

“What are you making?” She pointed down at the stash of paper rings next to him.

A little blush appeared on his cheeks as he chuckled softly before whispering to her. “If I tell you, you have to keep it a secret.”

He held his index finger in front of his lips, making a “shh” sound, her immediate response was to do the same.

“I'm going to ask my girlfriend to marry me.” He couldn't stop the smile on his face as the little girl covered her hand with her mouth.

“Teacher is going to get married?” She whispered back to him, getting quite excited.

He thought for a split second before nodding. “Yes. I am going to get married.”

She had let out a rather interesting sound before running off and, in that moment, he remembered that kids can't really keep secrets.

After the lesson, the kids were surrounding him on the ice, their little voices piling on top of each other as they wanted to know more about their teacher's soon-to-be wife.

“Guys, guys, calm down…” He chuckled as he quieted them down, slowly guiding them to the exit of the ice and letting them walk one by one to the dressing room.

“Teacher, teacher! Is your girlfriend pretty?” One of the kids asked him as he helped undo their skates.

He nodded. “Very pretty. The prettiest girl in the whole world.”

A series of ooohs and giggles erupted as they continued to ask about the girl that stole their teacher's heart. They were very straightforward with their questions, letting out little giggles when they saw him blushing.

“See you guys!” Sunghoon waved them all off as they walked with their parents. He couldn't stop smiling as he remembered everything he said about you. He didn't see the point in trying to swerve away from the truth, he couldn't really lie to his kids. Everyone knows kids tend to pry a lot so he may as well just tell them.

On his way back to his house, he had a bit of time to think. He was still in contact with his former members but they couldn't speak to him much as their debut showcase was the next day. He leaned his head against the window of the bus, somehow always ending up contemplating everything.

But he has you, his family, a soon-to-be stable job, and a baby on the way. He had a perfectly average life now.

By the time he reaches home, you're already waiting in the living room. You had to try containing your excitement as you tried to imagine the look on Sunghoon’s face when you gave him his gift.

A sparkly banner sat on the living room table with tons of hearts and its message in neon paint to shine in the dark.

“What's that?”

The sound of his voice made you jump slightly as you were lost in thought. He was pointing at the sparkly banner.

“It's something for you to take with you.”

You struggled to get up for a second before approaching him with the biggest smile on your face as your hands were behind your back.

“Where am I going?” He tilted his head slightly, setting his bag down before folding his arms across his chest.

You immediately pulled out the ticket from behind your back, earning the most surprised expression you'd ever seen on his face.

“What?” He sounded like he was in disbelief when he muttered, reading the ticket carefully.

“I really want you to go so I took out some of my savings and our parents helped out too!”

He blinked in response, somehow feeling a little guilty about you putting in so much effort, especially since you were broke and fresh out of high school.

“But.. I don't know, I can't,” he muttered as he gently held onto it.

“Are you saying no to me?”

He looked up at you, seeing that your eyes were slowly watering, sending him into a tiny panic.

“No, of course not! I could never say no to you.” He gently stroked your cheek with his thumb. “I'm just…”

“Are you worried I might go into labour tomorrow?” You held onto his hands, the space between you was a little awkward given how nearly round your belly was.

He nodded slightly. “What if I miss it?”

“I highly doubt it. Our baby loves you too much to come out without you at their birth.”

It took a few more minutes of conversation and him questioning the banner before he finally accepted, giving you a gentle hug as the excitement set it. He was actually excited to see his best friends again, even if it was from afar.

The kids are kinda cute ngl

Taglist: @dracena-somnolenta @seolboba @heeseongism @nyanggk

#enhypen fic #enhypen sunghoon #sunghoon fic #enhypen sunghoon fluff #enhypen au #enhypen headcanons #enhypen fluff #enhypen drabbles #enhypen scenarios

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frustrationinexcelsis · 2 years

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So, I just finished The Last Command, and boy was this a ride.

I’m going to use this post for my thoughts on both the book and the trilogy in general -- and, fair warning, heavy spoilers ahead.

I really enjoyed these books. I tried to pace myself through the last one, but towards the end I just tore through it.

More specific thoughts include:

Luke. Luuuuke. This is how you write Luke Skywalker -- like, if there’s one thing that should stand out from Return of the Jedi, it’s that this man is forgiving to an almost pathologic degree. This is a man determined to see the best in everyone, even if he has to dig through mountains of badness to get to it, and Zahn definitely understood that. It’s especially notable in regards to Joruus C’Baoth -- like, this man is a dangerous, evil lunatic, but what Luke sees is a sick man who needs help. Until the absolute last moment, Luke keeps trying to reach to him and get him to accept help -- for the simple reason that C’Baoth needs help, and Luke can give it to him. It’s obvious to everyone, Luke included, that it’s a long shot, but he keeps trying until C’Baoth’s final breath.

Seriously, this is an ideal to aspire to. If someday I’m quarter as forgiving and empathetic as his version of Luke, I will die happy.

(Some may wonder if I’m a little salty still about how Luke was portrayed in certain works I won’t name.)

(Some may be correct.)

Leia was also great. I love how quickly she saw through Mara’s denial, and seeing her get to show off her Force sensitivity is always a treat.

I also love that Han’s reaction to suddenly finding himself face-to-face with a master of the Dark Side is still to pull out his blaster and try to shoot him. No hesitation, just draw, aim, fire. It didn’t work this time either, but hey -- credit for the attempt!

Mara. Mara. She was wonderfully written. There’s some real interesting writing there in her struggle with her sense of identity and indoctrination by the Emperor. What I found especially interesting is that, between having spent her entire life as the Emperor’s servant and having his last order echoing in her head for the past few years, she has some real trouble with distinguishing between her own desires and the Emperor’s orders -- she’s spent so long with the latter in the former’s place that she’s never had the chance to actually explore her own desires and autonomy. Luke and Leia see through this a lot sooner than she does, but towards the end I think that she’s also in denial -- the impression I get is that, after the life she’s led, starting to think of herself as her own person is alien and intimidating enough that she’s reluctant to make the jump.

Also, going in generally aware of Mara’s status as Luke’s primary EU love interest, I was kind of worried that there’d be a rushed romance arc, and was very glad to find those fears unfounded. There is not so much as a whisper of romance or romantic feelings, or at least nothing that’s explicitly that. The majority of Mara’s page-time is given to establishing her character and working through her narrative arc as she works past her indoctrination and obsession with vengeance, and showing how she comes to eventually like and trust the other protagonists. There is, by the end of The Last Command, clearly some kind of bond between her and Luke -- but there’s nothing really indicating that it’s anything beyond the comradeship that you get between people who have gone through hell and back together. Obviously more is going to come in later books, but Zahn evidently chose to use the series to introduce Mara as a character and build a foundation for whatever future developments may come, and that was absolutely the right call.

(Like, seriously, it takes some good writing to make something like Luke giving Mara his own father’s lightsaber seem like something he would logically do with or without the presence of romantic feelings, but here we are.)

Fey’lya’s part was also unexpected. It does help impress the situation’s gravity when the last book’s shallow, selfish politician stereotype is suddenly so terrified of what Thrawn could do with Palpatine’s old toys that he’s suddenly all business, no political games, just get that mountain destroyed right fucking now.

Thrawn was a memorable villain, for sure. What I found especially interesting about him was how Zahn is careful to build him up as a hypercompetent figure, always in charge, with a plan, and three steps ahead of everyone else -- but partway into book two the reader is shown a major variable, Leia’s relationship to Vader, that Thrawn does not know, a vulnerability he doesn’t plan for. For the entire later half of the trilogy the reader is given a pretty good idea of how exactly Thrawn will fail and of the primary gaping flaw in his carefully tailored grand strategies -- that he’s a genius but not infallible, and that this, this right here, is how it will all come crashing down. I find that very interesting.

Also, in the last few chapters you can practically feel Rukh’s frustration seething through the pages -- he knew exactly what he was doing in that little “stealth exercise” he sprung on Pellaeon. Continuing to stand guard over Thrawn after learning the truth must have been infuriating -- but the Noghri needed vengeance over the Empire, not over Thrawn personally, and he had to wait until he could truly screw the Empire over.

Joruus C’Baoth is... interesting. The impression I got was that he was doomed from the start, in the end -- he was powerful and dangerous, sure, but also unstable, erratic and deluded, too blinded by his ego and delusions to truly understand his enemies, his would-be servants and the world. He was always going to self-destruct or overreach and doom himself some other way; the only questions were the when, the how, and how many people he was going to take down with himself.

C’Baoth is also an interesting exercise in the concept of villain redemption or lack thereof. A hero being willing to offer redemption is all well and good, but it’s only half of the equation; the villain must also accept it. Darth Vader was willing to accept Luke’s hand in friendship when it was offered to him; so was Mara. C’Baoth was not -- he rejected every offer of reconciliation made, and in the end his death was of his own making. The only thing that makes a person truly irredeemable, I think, is their own refusal to accept redemption.

Now of course I’m going to have to deal with my usual depressive mood after finishing a great story, but talking about it always helps... and it was so artistically done.

#star wars #star wars legends #star wars legends spoilers #thrawn trilogy #the last command #luke skywalker #leia organa #han solo #mara jade #borsk fey'lya #grand admiral thrawn #rukh #joruus c'baoth #frustration reads #now there's the question of where to go next #I'm thinking probably the jedi academy trilogy as a logical followup #but then I might head back in time a little to tackle the x-wing books #then maybe I Jedi and then the hand of thrawn?#we'll see

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beccascribbles · 4 years

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hcs series detailing what it is like to be a manager for the various haikyuu teams

karasuno | seijoh |

warnings - swearing, karasuno being their usual selves with the addition of a chaotic manager

word count - 1.7k

being their manager was chaotic enough without the addition of the new first years

you were a second year, joining as a manager in your first year at the insistence of ennoshita, who had not wanted to deal with the likes of tanaka and nishinoya by himself

however, while kiyoko was the calming presence that warmed the boys hearts, you were her more chaotic counterpart

often, you could be found playing pranks on the boys, filling the club room with volleyballs, hiding the bibs

kiyoko was the one to rope you in, stop you from messing around too much, especially when your pranks had increased after the broom incident. you had just wanted to cheer everyone up, but it had only annoyed them

daichi had become irritable and snappy, while sugawara, despite the smile, looked exasperated

tanaka was the only one who didn’t seem too annoyed, giving your hair an affection ruffle

anyway, with the arrival of the new first years, you were determined to turn over a new leaf, make a good first impression

that plan didn’t work out

expecting it to be tanaka, ennoshita, kinoshita and narita walking towards the gym, you had hidden yourself in preparation to scare them (how you managed to mistake the sound of two people for four was beyond you but you did)

you leapt out from your hiding place, letting out a loud roar only to be greeted by a blonde beanpole with glasses and a freckled boy cowering behind him

you then proceeded to let loose a torrent of swear swords

“shit. fuck. sorry. shit. i can’t believe i did that. can we start over?”

you stuck out your hand towards them, the blonde looking at it with disdain while the other moved forward and grasped your hand

“i’m l/n y/n, and i’m one of the managers of the volleyball club,” you said, giving his hand a firm shake, a grin on your face. “this wasn’t how i planned to introduce myself. i thought you were the second years and i wanted to scare them. i promise i’m not always like this.”

cue sugawara piping up from seemingly nowhere, the rest of the team trailing behind, “don’t be fooled. she’s always like this”

“kiyoko is the responsible, lovely manager,” sighed tanaka, causing you to shoot him a glare, “and y/n is the chaotic one but we love her anyway”

“speak for yourself,” scoffed daichi, the ruffling of your hair as he walked past enough to tell you he was only teasing

“rude,” you mumbled before turning back to the two first years with a grin. “anyway, what are your names?”

the freckled one gave you a grin in response, introducing himself as yamaguchi and saying he was pleased to be playing for the team. the blonde refused to reply, walking past with a haughty tilt to his chin, though yamaguchi was quick to introduce him as tsukishima

but you were quick to wear him down, his coldness towards you gradually thawing the more you talked (although he insisted you were just being annoying)

he clearly wasn’t that annoyed as he would often share his music playlist with you

yamaguchi was quick to warm to you after the little scare. you were one of the first he told about wanting to learn the jump floater serve and happily encouraged him

meeting the monster duo of kageyama and hinata went much smoother, considering you had bribed sugawara for information on the pair before you met

the key to kageyama’s heart was milk, so when you introduced yourself and gave him a cartoon, he already knew you would be a great manager

honestly the boy is probably going to become a bit attached to you, constantly asking you to toss the ball to him to practice

definitely asks you to help tutor him as well if he knows you are good at school. kageyama feels far more comfortable with you than tsukishima

hinata was just a literal ball of sunshine, enthusiastically greeting you

probably comes to look up to you a lot and will help you play pranks so long as it doesn’t interfere too much with volleyball practice (you teach him all he needs to know, and enlist his help in executing the great balloon fiasco at the end of your third year)

all the third years definitely see you as a little sister

daichi is fiercely protective over you, steering you away from any volleyball boys who show an interest. literally stares down kuroo when he speaks to you at the training camp

sugawara is definitely the more relaxed one, sitting with you as you gossip about boys. he knows about all your crushes before anyone else. has let it slip on occasion but only to tease you (and to see the way daichi will immediately list off everything wrong about the person and why they don’t deserve you)

asahi is so soft for you. if you’re thirsty, he will scramble for a water bottle. you’re feeling tired? he will give you a piggyback. you don’t even need to ask him directly as he will just do it on instinct at this point (although he was very hurt after you told him off for abandoning the team)

you and the second years are the ultimate friend group, equal parts bitchy and calm

your group chat is constantly pinging, whether you’re in class or not (this is mainly due to tanaka and nishinoya being very bored and deciding to play games together. you will occasionally join in if it’s bowling or pool)

kinoshita and narita know all the gossip. they are your gossip buddies. tanaka walked into a wall while staring at kiyoko? they’ve got photographic proof and a whole video

if you want to know who’s talking shit about who, go to them. honestly, it pays to be quiet sometimes. the stuff daichi lets slip when he thinks no one is listening…

ennoshita is the group mum. he’s responsible for getting you all to practice, though this mainly includes tanaka and nishinoya. the rest of you are very responsible

in ennoshita’s mind, however, you are clubbed in with the two idiots. he believes that without his constant reminders, you’d never be anywhere on time. this is true but you aren’t going to tell him that

the dynamic between you, tanaka and nishinoya is so chaotic. for one, you’re all simps. you indulge their kiyoko obsession and they will listen to you thirst over the people you find attractive. no judgement goes on in these simping sessions, though you do use it as ammunition when you annoy each other

also definitely overprotective of you as well, though constantly show you and the other managers off to other teams to demonstrate karasuno’s superiority

kind of pisses you off and, while kiyoko walks off with yachi, you will hit them on the backs of their heads and tell them to shut up

they would prefer it to be kiyoko but both ultimately agree that you are hot when you are angry so will find out ways to do it more often

yachi and you get on well. personally, you think she’s an adorable mess (the perfect compliment to your chaotic energy)

though she is mainly kiyoko’s responsibility (daichi agreed with kiyoko when she said it would be better that you didn’t show yachi the ropes), you are the one to make her feel more at ease with voicing her opinion. she’s seen you rant at the boys enough times to know they won’t be offended

team sleepovers are a mess (honestly, you wonder why you still host them. answer - team bonding and tradition)

after hinata and kageyama tried to play volleyball with a cushion in your living room, resulting in sending a coffee table and all the glasses it was holding clattering to the floor, you refused to hold them at your place

this is also the reason why daichi, along with kiyoko, requested permission to hold a sleepover at the gym every two months

truth or dare gets crazy, though daichi draws the line when you are dared to strip and run around the school

“tanaka,” he barks, shooting the boy a glare, “that is very dangerous. it is cold. do you want y/n to get hypothermia?”

he will look sheepish and amend the dare to something a bit more tame and school friendly

there is always arguments on who gets to sleep where. when nishinoya and tanaka tried to sleep either side of kiyoko, daichi declared, while ennoshita pulled them away, that boys and girls would slip on opposite sides

you poked your tongue out at a pouting nishinoya and tanaka. you got to sleep next to the love of their lives. you were oblivious to the pout hinata was sending your way. he’d wanted to sleep next to his senpai and was now sandwiched between tsukishima and kageyama

sometimes you will prepare snacks for the boys, much to their horror (while you like to pretend you can cook, rock hard rice is not edible)

surprisingly, the only one honest about it is kageyama, who will hold the food away with a frown. “what is this shit?”

he’ll be hit over the head by tanaka, who shoots you a scared look. he was too slow and kageyama is now at risk of your anger

you plaster a sickly sweet smile on your face. “i won’t be tossing to you for extra practice today”

the worst punishment you can give him. he has to secretly ask the others until yachi finally agrees, too soft for her own good

you and the team are like a family, a messy family that argues and fights, but a family none the less

when the third years left, you may have shed a tear while you were crushed in a group hug and made them promise to keep in touch (which they were obviously going to do)

and, when you and the second years left the year after, you promised that you would keep in touch, that you’d be waiting to see kageyama and hinata on the world stage, threatening tsukishima to ensure he would reply to your messages, crushing yamaguchi and yachi in a hug. ennoshita had to pull you away otherwise you probably wouldn’t have left

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aeempress · 3 years

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Apritello Express Evidences, part 2

Khem-khem, ladies and gentlemen, we shall continue out praising Apritello's episodes. And yeah, this part will be dedicated, in entirety just one episode.

Purple jacket. April and Donnie's episode.

I really love this piece of masterpiece, because it show April and Dee relationship, better reveals them as characters, and demonstrates their connection. (My previous points at this whole situation)

The episode begins with Donnie sneaking into April's school under the pretext of helping her. Soon, April stated the reason why she called D - her science computer project. Actually, she could take a photo of the code and sent it to Donatello, and I'm sure, he would send her the correct one right away, he's coder, he's prodigy, no probbles.

But still, April just asked him to come over and help her without stating any reasons. And he, indeed, came at speed of the light.

I want you to understand what exactly does that mean.

First: April is aware how much Donnie is into human culture. He wants to study in normal human school, do some average teen stuff. Especially, he is loving school and science-related stuff, all these science school projects, visits to botanical gardens, experiments and laboratory work. Because it's his field. It's exactly his domain, where he's good at. His family does not share his interest in science, and April is only one who can understand him. Probably.

Also, April know, how badly Donnie wants to go to school, which gives him an excuse, even if not the most solid one, but an excuse, nevertheless, to visit her school again.

Why again?

Because he has no problem navigating there. Donnie went directly to April's computer class.

He loves this place. And he'd already helped April with her projects.

Even so, knowing that every time she asked guys, especially Don, for help, it turned into a cataclysm, April still called him to help.

It's just a weird, indirect way to say, " Let's hang out, I know how much you like this whole situation with science, school and etc. Here ya go, buddy"

It seems like April did that to make something pleasant to him, something small, but nice to make him feel better. Because, as I state before - he likes to help April (praise, doing something useful for April - still counts as a motivation) and he likes school.

Second: khem-khem, D came at her school, as it seems, right away she called/texted. He didn't even know the proper reason, but c'mon: April ask for help, plus, her school. Sounds legit, don't you think?

Anyway, April has always been being the reason and excuse for teetles, but especially for Donnie. Clear? Clear. Good.

Donnie also tends to not think things through when he is excited. Because he went at the daylight in place, full of people just to help April.

ROTTMNT shows us how turtles were really afraid of human reaction and possible consequences. They have plan "H" to pretend they are going to Galaxy Con, brothers have explanation why they look weird and it's definitely not because boys are mutants, uh-huh, no, plus, guys go on surface at evening or night hours, when there are not so many people, and it's dark, obviously, to cover them and keep unseen.

Yeah, of course, Donnie seems more capable then his brothers to handle the surface (he has cash, D's dressed up as old ladies more than once, according to Leo, he was in April's school before, so yeah, no big deal) and I suspect that his friendship with April is one of the reasons.

Third: do you remember how April worried about looking "normal" when she was finally invited to a school party? She even forbade Mayham to appear nearby, just not to look like the lizard boy. Because cool kids don't bring pets to school. April doesn't have many friends, or rather, there are none at school, and she's been trying to solve this problem by getting close to Taylor Martin, the coolest girl in school.

And April O'Neil just calls Donatello, an objectively strange guy (since when is it normal to be a fan of school? Pretty questionable) in place, where her reputation is hanging in a balance. Our girl does not try to hide Dee, as it usually shown in shows for kids, and April do not pretend that she sees him for the first time in her life because, you know, Donnie will catch everyone's attention being himself and may embarrass her in front of her classmates. But no - April says with all her actions: "Yes, I know him. Yes, that dork is with me. And I don't give a damn about your opinion. Your problems, not mine. And yeah, I'm fine with him being here."

I mean it, guys. The devil is always in the tiny details.

The way they behave around each other.

Donatello is way more, MORE relaxed and just being himself: dramatic dorky nerdy ninja with current obsessions. The way he sneaked in school and April's classroom, the way he behaves alone with her is contrasting the way of his attitude while his brothers are near.

Don has a specific way to shown up. Instead of texting her, Donnie used shurekens. Yes, he almost fell off the lamp, but still, that's... quite an entrance he makes there.

April worries about him, when he fell from ceiling.

Our girl feel relaxed enough around Donnie, so she winks at him.

A wink is a fairly casual gesture that shows some expression of sympathy, trust, and togetherness. It's both good for saying "We're in same boat, we're team" and show the playful attitude towards someone. Isn't that an indicator?

Ironically, that being the best friends April and Donnie do not have any secret handshake/brofist/special greeting, as it usually the besties have at kid's series. Like Kendra and Jeremy have.

I can do only one possible logical conclusion: their relationship is far beyond "friends," "best friends," and "family".

Btw, about this certain phrase about secret five.

- Nay, fair April. A secret five[...].

Once again, nice wording, Donatello. Fair April? Maybe I'm too critical, but often when someone wants to convince their interlocutor and at the same time show one's condescension to them, it's usually uses "my dear ..." or something like that. I understand that semantically the difference is not very big, but in the first case, you can feel Donnie's personal attitude, even though he uses a book word. The second is just formal politeness, which emphasizes the difference between the rightness of the disputants.

This phrase were interpreted on official Russian dub as (okay, it's really hard to choose the correct word, because there's a lot of synonyms in English that sits quite well, while on Russian it's just one word, damn) "Нет, милая (No, honey/sweetheart )". Actually, a strange choice of wording, 'cause this is not what usually friends use to say to each other. We prefer use words like " my darling", "my dear", to demonstrate leniency. And again, most often this prerogative belongs to the older generation. Russians rarely throw around such words as "honey", "dear", "sunshine", because this deprives these endearments of any meaning, and a person using them, as a rule, is familiar. Of course, there are people who use them on a regular basis, but I HIGHLY doubt that Donatello is one of them. It's not his style.

But still, maybe I just too critical at this point.

April, as it is shown, have some kind of power to cool and calm him down and bring Donnie back to life reality.

1. Don awakes from his daze while heard April's voice

2. He's literally coming back to life, when April said about his broken jetpack.

3. Dee obediently interrupts his touching farewell to the jacket when April yells at him.

Oh, and his face. I remind you, fellas, we're talking about Donatello, "I really do not like to express emotions"-guy and "I will die if someone broke my bAbEyS"-guy.

And what do we see? Donnie's emoting. And feels free to do that. He's even drooling. (What seems kinda interesting without context, if you're understand what I'm talking about ;))

Dee doesn't seem angry about broken jetpack. And his wide smile, while he's assuring April he can fix it? A few minutes ago, he was steamed when his stuff was stolen, but when the jetpack was broken, he doesn't even raise an eyebrow. Very eloquent.

April is his support

April also supports Donnie whatever he's up to. Yes, she hadn't been excited when Othello had expressed a desire to join the club. However, she also introduced him to Kendra and company. Yes, she showed by her whole appearance that she did not share his joy, but nevertheless, our loyal captain O'Neil was there for him, by his side all this time.

And her sweet facial expression. From "Srsly? Join this jerks?" to "If you dare to even think about to hurt him, I'll smash you".

And one more cute detail about Dee. Even if he does whatever he wanted so badly, Don constantly looks around at April, looking for her approval.

- Be honest, April, do I look fantastic, or SUPERBLY fantastic?

- You look like you drop a juice box in a laundry. (Play nice, April, don't be mean)

He cherishes her opinion.

April had even called him late at night just to, technically speaking, say that his tech were stolen. And what's the big deal with all his outfit? It's late night, they can just sneak out into Nakamura in their usual form. But noooo, April give a special ride on her bicycle. Just. You know. Our girl carried her own weight and his all the way without stopping. And then she went up 53 + floors running non-stop because Donnie's equipment was stolen. And then she had to chase the her classmates, dodge and jump out of the window. Because Purple dragons stole Dee's tech. Like shooting fish in a barrel, no big deal at all.

And it's definitely not because he will be totally crashed or he'll do stupid things during his anger, which will then come out sideways.

And April comes along with him to very end.

By the way, their phone conversations.

Donnie is the very case when "Call at any time of the day or night and I will pick up the phone".

When April called him when he needs D's help with Albearto, when something is definitely going on behind.

As it says in transcript of the episode:

[April takes out her phone, scrolls to Donnie’s listing and calls him. Donatello appears on screen. Behind him a flying microwave wearing boxing gloves shoots lasers at his brothers.]

Don: "You are conversing with Donatello."

April

[Crouched on floor in hiding.]

Dude, I need your help."

Don: "For you, anything. As long as it does not involve bees, or spiders, or beach balls.

[There’s an explosion behind him and his brothers cry out, which he ignores.]

And yeah, he took her incoming immediately, he ignores absolutely and totally everything around him, because... April? Expositions, bloody flying microwave bot turned to destroy mode, his brothers screaming and being in life-threatening situation? Naaah, it can wait.

Donatello was at Todd's, building "the puppiest place on Earth" and was very enthusiastic about to finish this thing. But he paused anyway to answer April.

We already know how obsessive with work Don can be: if something interesting gets into his field of view, he begins to do it all day long. Remember "The Purple Game" - a very revealing case. Yeah, we weren't shown how much Donnie is into engineering, but I can guess that point remains the same.

April called him at late night and Donnie picked up the phone.

April, unlike Donatello, is a teenager who is burdened with social relationship such as family, school, and work periodically, which implies a more or less strict schedule to follow and some conventions, such as " April, you can't go out late at night to catch robbers, you are underage and you have to go to school/work tomorrow). However, she was watching the news late at night, so she called Dee. ( I have a lot of questions, but I'll never get answers, as it seems)

D, in turn, doesn't have so many contacts with the outside world. I highly doubt that anyone else outside of the family and April has his number. And yet, when he hears the call late at night he takes it. Yes, he had awaken from the nightmare, but still.

And what's up with his usual "You're conversing with Donatello"? He didn't even understand what's going on, as it seems, he's too sleepy to play his usual image and playfully attitude as we could see in "Hypno Part Deux" and "War and Pizza".

Adorable couple-like D&A arguing

April very rarely uses "I told you so" against anybody, or rather, this is almost the only case. This phrase is more suitable for Leo or Donnie, and you know," I told you so! " we usually use on people we know well, and we want to tease 'em about them being wrong. Which, in fact, once again highlights and proves how close D&A are. And I don't even get started about the fact that this is more like a couple's quarrel, not a friend's.

And one more time - in the end, when April suggests using the jacket to stop Kendra.

Their teamwork

I stated that before, I'll tell it one more and more times. The chemistry of their team interaction is incredible. It's as if they can feel each other, and each knows what the other is capable of doing in the next moment. April easily adapts to Donnie's attack, realizing his plan.

Donnie also throws them both out of the window in order to continue the pursuiting Kendra on the jetpack. Don is one hundred percent sure of April, that she will understand what he wants to do, Dee trusts her with his life without hesitation, and she has never used his jetpack. He just puts her before the fact: April will be using the tech.

Up for Donnie!

I really like how this scene was made. Donatello struggles with his own tech, somewhat he made by himself, having invested almost whole himself and his soul, but what "betrayed" him in end. When Dee finally managed to shake one of his battleshell, which almost choked him, Donnie feel so scared and unsecured. We can see his anxiety - Dee's coaching position with covering his head with his hands and tucking his knees.

Defenseless, helpless, and mostly lost, and then, just in time - hero comes to save his life. She uses Donnie's name as battlecry, look how furious she is.

Funny fact: on Russian dub April yells "Don't touch Donnie! (how dare you, madafaka)

April fits in Donnie's type of girls. She's cute (obvious) and mean (not so obvious).

I can't say that meanness is the main feature of April's character, as we can say about Kendra. But this personality trait is still present in her and sometimes it does not manifest itself so widely. April's meanness is not so pronounced, it is much softer and smoother, and it is not exposed.

But April becomes really mean when someone messes up with Donnie.

She's his support and prop. Literally. Just look at first frame, okay-okay, jokes aside

She's genuinely enjoying of kicking bad guys ' asses, even letting go of witticisms and barbs.

Last scenes

Don survived a rough night: he was used, his tech was stolen, so he and April had to chase the satin robed punks. Donnie was hit in the head with a hammer, he fell from a bird's-eye view, passed out and then his battleshell tried to strangle him. And April is here to comfort him, to cheer him up.

Yes, we don't get any hugs (because it's kids show, bleh), the tactility is kept to a minimum, except for April's comforting hand on his shoulder, but they don't even look at each other. But the softness of her voice, the intonation with which she utters a phrase (that is usually sent to the friend zone, but "pal" is really neutral word, and the most important how she said that) turn the scene upside down. It is not what April did to comfort him matter, it's how she did this.

I said "yes" to you way too often

April mirrors Donnie with his "Anything for you". Yes, of course, she said this with a certain amount of grumbling, but her voice and her demeanor suggest otherwise - she is not at all averse to going to giving in him.

And the way they're look at each other.

This one

And one more detail

It's really tiny, it's hard to catch from the first watching the episode, but still, it's possible. I'm talking about graffiti on the walls of the alley where April and Don had landed.

This one

Yeah, if we speak about reality it's quite normal to see graffiti like this. But we talking about TV-series, where everything has its own place and meaning. And if there something, it must be there, it's not just whim of artist who put it in there. But this little graffiti changes the mood of scene.

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remosdeerica · 3 years

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Batshit AU Pt #2: The Grandkids

So I mentioned in the last post Batshit AU Pt. #1 that I cover Dick and Jason's kids but since I've been thinking (read: fantasizing) about the future of the Batfam I figured I'd just do a post with ALL the grandkids!

Just a heads up: this is a LONG post.

First we shall start with the Grayson's:

Mar'i and Jake (Jake is not my original name I've seen it pop up in other media- dunno if it's canon in any timeline but I'm going with it).

Mar'i Grayson: Mar'i is the biologically daughter of Dick Grayson and Koriand'r of Tamaran (aka Starfire). Kori is unknowingly pregnant after one last one-night-stand with Dick before going back to her home planet to take over as queen. Unfortunately, because of Kori's sister Komand'r (aka Blackfire) causing civil unrest to try and usurp the thorn from her, Tamaran becomes unsafe for Mar'i as she is Kori's only heir.

-Kor'i goes back to Earth with an infant Mar'i and begrudgingly hands her over to Dick so she can live with him and be safe from Blackfire.

-Kori of course visits while she can but has a lot of responsibilities on Tamaran. When Mar'i is older she is able to go back to Tamaran to visit her mother.

-A few years later when Dick and Barbra get married, Barbra officially adopts Mar'i. Seeing both Kor'i and Barbra as her mothers Mar'i decides so call Kori "Mama" and Barbra "Mom/Mommy".

Jake Grayson: don't have much of an exciting backstory for him. He was basically just an orphaned infant Dick and Barbra decided to adopt after his bio-parents had been murdered.

Now he have the Todd family:

Because I am a heartless monster I decided that since Roy died in the comics without any sign of Lian and Jason was pretty fucked up about it, I would have Jason adopt Lian because Roy wasn't round to take care of her. So this is basically what happened:

Lain Harper-Todd: 1 year or so after Roy's death, Jason is visited by Jade Nguyen (aka Cheshire) who is carrying an infant Lian. Jade explains that she hadn't realised she was pregnant with Roy's child until after he was already dead and since she is not ready to give up her life as an assassin she states that Lian is better off without her. She then asks Jason if he would be willing to take Lian in as Roy's former partner (read into that how you will).

-Jason agrees, and decides to hyphenate her last name Harper-Todd so that she will always have a piece of Roy with her even if he can't be there for her in person.

it's not that I don't think JayRoy is cute! It's just that I honestly I don't really picture Jason dating anyone in my mind and the thought of him being a single dad is just precious. I'm also allergic to OC's (of my own making) so I usually try to keep to characters that are at least canon in some timeline and Lian was the first to come to mind.

Also I'm a angst-hungry monster so...

Drake-Wayne/Dowd/McGinnis household:

Lol, this family has too many names.

I already went over Terry and Matthew McGinnis' backstory in Batshit AU Pt. #1 but if you are too lazy/ don't feel like reading it I'll try to make sure to cover the important details.

Terry & Matthew McGinnis: A few years down the road, Tim is the current Batman and married to Bernard Dowd (my new fave batship). One night on patrol he finds the boys hunkered down behind an garbage container and approaches them.

-Terry is extremely protective of his younger brother Matt and becomes immediately aggressive, swinging a baseball around and threatening Tim to leave them alone.

-Tim finds it admirable/endearing that Terry is willing to face Batman alone in order to protect his brother and tells him so. He then asks them where there parents and and Matt (trusting Batman) tells Tim that they were killed by the 'Bad Men' who are now looking for he and Tarry.

-Tim is worried for the boys safety and offers to take them to the Police, but Tarry only says that they already tried that and that there are spies in the GCPD who ratted them out to the 'Bad Men'.

-Tim figures out that the boys are in more danger then he first realized and takes them home with him in order to protect them.

-Tim eventually finds out about Project Batman Beyond, an experiment orchestrated by A.R.G.U.S. in order to create the perfect child to usurp the Cowl and give A.R.G.U.S and 'in' with the Justice League and the super-community as a whole. A part of this project is making sure the children are biologically Bruce Wayne's in order for them to also gain influence over Wayne Enterprises.

-Tim realizes that there is no real safe place that he can send the boys and after discussing it with his husband, Bernard, the two decide to adopt the boys.

I think this adoption story is one of my favourites. Especially because I find the idea of Bernard not at all being surprised by his husband brining home black-haired blue-eyes orphans, hilarious.

Bernard: I figured since you are now Batman it was only a matter of time.

Tim: >:(

Wayne-Kent situation:

DamiJon is one of my absolute favourite ships in existence. But since both boys are so young in canon my version of their future relationship truly is creature of my own design, I will explain them a little and then the kids. I'll be quick about it. Promise. (There is also a 2 part series I'm working on that goes into my version of events called "Jon and Damian" if anyone is interested. Jon's chapter is done but Damian's is still in the works).

Jon: he is the one that I really have to explain. I call my version of him "Dark-ish Jon" or 'dark ish jon' for the tags. For those of you who already know the deal (or don't really care) y'all can skip to the *** for the kids.

-basically Jon was kidnapped by Jon-El (Clark's Kryptonian Bio-dad) in order for Jor-El to mold Jon into the perfect weapon for his plan to conquer the universe. They have a machine that Jumps through various timelines so no one can find them, and Jon-El trains/tortures Jon for 2 years.

-Jon eventually discovers new powers that allow him to kill Jor-El and escape but he ends up spending the next several years trying to find his original timeline.

-He eventually meets the Legion of Superheroes that help him get home, but once he arrives home he realizes that for him it has been 7 years since he was kidnaped, but only 2 weeks for his family/friends.

-Because of this he and his family find it hard to adjust to the new situation and Jon ultimately decides to return to the Legion but visit occasionally.

Damian: Honestly I don't think I really have to explain much about Damian for y'all to get the kids but I do want you to know:

He has long hair

He has peirced ears

Possibly tattoos?

He's has more of a slim figure than Bruce's bulky one

He is a fashion icon and kinda has 'bitchy white girl' energy

Bacically he very pretty and looks a LOT like Thalia

And yeah. The two eventually reconcile after Jon is done moping in another timeline and they decide to retire from crime fighting and build a cottage/farm and live in peace.

***

Athanasia: So she is actually Bruce's bio-kid from the Injustice timeline. And for my AU she is still Bruce's biologically and she does recognize him as her father, but because she and Damian are 13/14 years apart and she knows him better she lives and defers to him as her caretaker. I shall explain:

-Athanasia was created by Thalia in a fit of madness after Damian's death. Because of what happened to Damian, and because Athanasia turned out to be a girl (and therefor Ra's would have no use for her), Thalia keeps the little girl locked away and a secret so that no one can harm her.

-Years pass and Athanasia has never seen the outside would. Eventually something happens (will depends on the Fic -because I will get around to writing this shit eventually) and Athanasia is given to Damian (the only other person Thalia ever told her about.)

-At this point Bruce is getting older and most of his current children already have their own kids, so both he and Damian agree that because Athanasia is mostly attached to Damian and doesn't really know who Bruce is outside of being her father, that she will live with he and Jon.

-Athanasia get's older and eventually meets another girl at her school named Carrie Kelley. The girls form a quick bond, Carrie's louder personality complementing Athanasia's more quiet one.

Carrie Kelley: being best friends with Athanasia leads to Carrie spending a lot of time over at her house. This allows Jon and Damian to get to know the girl and become quite fond of her.

-one night after a sleepover at Jon and Damian's house with some of their other friends, Carrie's father comes to the house drunk and carrying a shot gun. He accuses Jon and Damian of being pedophiles because of their sexual orientations and calls them a variety of homophobic slurs.

-It's his attempts at shooting Jon that leads to Carrie calling 911 and having her own father arrested.

-Because her mother had already left and Carrie only had her dad to take care of her, Jon and Damian offer her a place in their home and eventually adopt her along with Athanasia when the girls are teenagers.

So, yeah! That's it for now. I am absolutely obsesses with this AU. I just love the idea of Bruce deciding to take in Dick leading to him having an army of children and grandchildren so large that all family gatherings have to happen at the Manor because nowhere else is big enough.

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shes-a-gryffindor · 3 years

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Of Apples and Psychological Lapses

A @jilytoberfest submission. Prompt #12 - One overhearing something they're not supposed to.

That day, on an otherwise uneventful morning, it started with an apple, of all things.

James Potter sat straddling the bench at the Gryffindor table, poring over what Lily supposed was a textbook, elbow on a knee with an apple in his hand.

Only half listening to Mary’s recitation of the ingredients for the Draught of Living Death that they were supposed to be brewing later that day, she chanced upon another look at him…. the muscles in his jaw jumped as he bit into his apple, and as she watched him laugh at something she couldn’t hear, Lily found herself wondering whether he’d always had that dimple in his cheek… before she’d had the chance to mentally scold herself for her apparent loss of self-control, James caught her eye; grinning roguishly, he winked at her before taking another bite…

“You’re doing it again,” said Mary,

Lily’s neck snapped so quickly away from James she thought she might have whiplash, “doing what?”

“Making love eyes at Potter” she sniggered.

“Don’t be daft,” responded Lily dismissively, “I was not giving him love eyes” she added, silently cursing the blush now creeping up her neck, “…anyway, the ingredients…for today, you were reading them…” a lame attempt at a change in subject.

Mary smirked at her for a moment before returning to her textbook; relieved that she’d been let off the hook, Lily focused intently on Mary’s recitation, despite already knowing the ingredients from memory, she was determined not to look over again at the group of boys sitting only a few feet away from them.

Thinking they’d get a head start on the swarm of students that would soon be filing out of the hall, they packed their books and downed the last of their pumpkin juice. As she stood, Lily glanced quickly over at James again, he was in animated conversation with Sirius, the apple hanging loosely from his fingers at his side… and a ridiculous idea crossed her mind.

Deliberating over it in the seconds it took them to reach the spot where he was sitting, before she’d even really decided upon it, she’d snatched the apple out from his hand, twisting her head round to wink back at him, before taking a bite of what was now her apple.

“Shut up,” she smirked at Mary, who was looking at her with raised eyebrows.

The rest of the day continued in a similar fashion; she felt his eyes burning into the back of her head during Transfiguration, then found herself loitering after class, trying to chance perhaps walking out at the same time as him… before realising she was behaving like an idiot and walking quickly out alone.

History of Magic was, in particular, a challenge. It was, as usual, rather impossible to focus on the monotony that was Professor Binns' lesson.

Serenely unaware that no one seemed the least bit interested in his thorough breakdown of wand legends through time, he droned on… “The Death Stick, The Wand of Destiny…” and by the time the lesson was over Lily and James had shared several silent exchanges across the classroom.

Potions that afternoon was perhaps, although short-lived, her only reprieve. Lily was quite comfortable in her element, happily brewing her Draught of Living Death. Having already reached the ideal halfway stage, she smiled contentedly down at the smooth, black currant-colored liquid in her cauldron.

Just as she was about to start chopping her roots, she caught James, brow furrowed, curiously observing her potion, before looking back at his own - which appeared to be eliciting a sort of blue-ish haze, not horrible but certainly not what it should have been doing by that point… better, if nothing else, than Peter’s… who was looking more distressed by the minute at the now foul smelling, brown concoction bubbling in his cauldron.

“Care to share your expertise, Evans?” Asked James, grinning over at her. With his sleeves rolled up over his elbows, his forearms were tense as he shifted his body weight onto them, leaning over the table toward her… and Lily thought quietly, that the dimple in his cheek was obviously not the only thing she’d failed to notice.

“Afraid not, Potter,” she responded, “see If I told you, I’d have to kill you… although, could be doing myself a favour there,” she added, smirking at him.

“Better not then, otherwise you might actually get some peace and quiet… can’t have that,” he said seriously.

“Merlin forbid,” she mumbled, in mock exasperation.

“Merlin forbid,” began Sirius, “all this terrible flirting makes me throw up in my cauldron.”

Mary and Peter burst into a fit of giggles, even Remus, it seemed, found it amusing, while James just grinned down at his cauldron.

“Your potion can’t get any worse than it already is Black… I say try it,” Lily mocked.

Sirius, however, had cast his attention elsewhere.

From the corner of the next table over, having apparently overheard the entire exchange, Severus was looking darkly over at them. His eyes flickered briefly between James and Lily before returning to his potion. She knew she’d been shamelessly flirting with him, for days, weeks really… what she hadn’t realised was how blatantly obvious it was becoming, to everyone even beyond their friends; blushing furiously and feeling rather sheepish, she scowled at Sirius, who was still grinning smugly over at Severus, before returning to her own potion.

As she made the last of her rounds that evening, her mind once again wandered to what was fast becoming something, or rather, someone, she thought about much too often. He’d looked a little too smug after catching her at dinner - watching, as a Hufflepuff in the year below them asked for his help with a Transfiguration essay that weekend… in addition to self-control, she was now apparently also losing her common sense… it was perfectly acceptable that he help another student with an essay, why should this bother her…? But honestly an essay over the weekend, she thought… ask the bloke out and be done with it, what a stupid excuse… Surely he knew the girl fancied him.

The sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought of them, tucked away in a quiet corner of the library poring over an essay together, was extremely disconcerting, this sudden interest in who he was spending time with… He’d made his existence impossible to ignore for the better part of six years, perhaps now that he wasn’t asking her out at every turn her mind was playing that stupid game, the one where you only want something because it’s not as easy to get anymore, not because you genuinely want it… some psychological lapse in judgement… yes that must be it; so trying to force her thoughts back into some semblance of order, Lily resolved to get a grip.

She met Remus in the dungeons and together they checked the last of the corridors before heading back up to the common room, chatting about weekend plans, their upcoming exams and whether they had anything planned for the summer holidays before their seventh year.

Lily was careful to steer the conversation in another direction anytime it got a little too close to James, so she wasn’t exactly thrilled (maybe a little bit) when they stepped through the portrait hole to find James, Sirius and Peter sitting alone in the common room. With a warm smile, Remus bid her goodnight and went to join his friends in front of the fire.

“All right, Evans?” Asked James, grinning that lone-dimpled grin as she walked past.

Shooting him a quick tight lipped smile, she trudged up the staircase to her dormitory with an infuriatingly pink face; she had just reached the top of the staircase, however, when she heard Sirius snigger -

“Reckon she might actually prefer you to the giant squid now.”

Failing in her resolve to get a grip before she’d even begun, and apparently not above eavesdropping now either, Lily stopped and stood there at the top of the staircase, dead silent, craning her neck to listen to them.

“What?” Asked James, “What makes you say that?” In his voice, Lily heard a hint of what she thought sounded like hope.

“Are you daft? Or do you just want to hear it all back?”

“A bit of both I think,” chuckled Remus.

“Did you not see Snivelly’s face in potions? Even he can tell she fancies you mate,” said Sirius, dryly.

“Looked a bit put out, didn’t he?” Chuckled James.

“A bit? Looked like he didn’t know whether to cry or hex you,” chortled Peter, “d’you reckon him and Evans… you know-”

“What? Asked James, cutting him off, “went out?”

“Nah,” answered Sirius quickly, “who’d want to go out with that? Didn’t they know each other from before school, or something?”

“Yeah… they were friends,” said James, with finality in his voice.

“‘Till he showed his true colours,” scoffed Sirius, “…bit naive of her though, don’t you think? To think that he’d be anything but the slimy git he is.”

Lily had half a mind to go down and give Sirius a piece of her mind, until…

“Nah,” said James, “I reckon she knew who he was the whole time… she just chooses to see the good in everyone, y’know? Even a slimy git like Snivellus.” When no one said anything, he added, “Personally, I don’t think she should change that about herself.”

There was silence… and then someone made a dry-retching sound like they were throwing up, followed by scuffling and a series of thuds, “gerrof!” Came Sirius’s muffled voice, over Peter and Remus’s laughter.

Deciding she’d heard enough, Lily tiptoed quietly into her dorm; and as she pulled the scarlet hangings of her four-poster around her that night, she thought perhaps her interest in James Potter wasn’t a psychological lapse in judgment at all.

#jily fic #jily love #jily fanfiction #marauders fic #marauders and lily #marauders era #the marauders #james potter x lily evans #pining #mutual pining #harry potter fanfiction #hp fanfic #jilytober fest #jilytober

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beyondspaceandstars · 3 years

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While You Sleep

Chapter 15

Relationship: Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: mentions of panic attack, mentions of violence Summary: Soulmate!AU - Throughout life, you’re given glimpses of your soulmate through dreams. As you sleep, memories flash in your mind showing you the life your soulmate has lived. Everyone around you raves about how their soulmate reads great books or volunteers in their spare time. But you can’t relate as your dreams end up being more like nightmares. Through initial images of death and violence, you come to learn your soulmate is the Winter Soldier.

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

“Would you like to explain to me why you’re here?”

“I think you already know why I’m here.”

Your therapist eyed you annoyingly at the bitter response. After your little episode during sex, Bucky had finally put his foot down. He realized you clearly weren’t getting anywhere on your own and he wasn’t the most equipped to give you the care you needed, so he set up a therapy appointment for you.

The therapist was under the same practice as Bucky’s own but he made it very clear you two couldn’t see the same doctor. You’d never admit it, but you were thankful for that. You couldn’t imagine sitting across from the woman who Bucky also dumped his trauma onto.

So, that was how, after some intense back and forth with Bucky, you ended up in front of a therapist you couldn’t remember the name of. It was pathetic, really, but in your defiance, you hadn’t learned her name. As if that somehow kept you disconnected from the whole process. At best, you knew her name started with a G and that’s all you were going to go off of.

“Sure,” Dr. G shrugged and glanced at your file. “I know what happened to you but why are you here? What made you want to see someone?”

You sighed. “It was just time.”

“Why?”

You slammed your hand on the side of the couch in frustration. It had been this weird back and forth for the last ten minutes. Honestly, you were hoping you could just drain the time but this doctor wasn’t giving either of you the luxury.

“What would you like me to say, huh?” You spat out, a new kind of anger springing within you. The dam wall had broken. “Do you want to hear about how for almost my entire life I haven’t been able to escape the nightmares of my soulmate? Or about how I get one little moment of peace with him and then it all goes to absolute shit? Because that’s just how the cookie fucking crumbles, isn’t it?” You bit your lip, holding back from the sob rising in your burning throat. But you certainly weren’t done. You forced on, “Maybe you’d like to listen to me ramble on about how my own goddamn apartment feels like a prison. Or how I can’t even have sex with my soulmate because everything, every little fucking thing, reminds me of that night. And it’s not just enough to remember it, I guess. Huge shoutout to whatever kind of soulmate bond this is.” You paused. “I was barely gone for two days and somehow it hurt me, it damaged me. But, really, it shouldn’t have, right? It was nothing compared to-,” Him. His experiences. Your words got stuck as you gasped, letting the sadness roll over you. The tears were flowing freely now.

You just didn’t understand. You didn’t understand your reaction to any of this. You were barely touched, never even experimented on yet you couldn’t seem to actually escape it. You were flinching at touches. Backing out of sex. Not to mention the images of Bucky. Real images, no longer just dreams, but almost like your memories came into play. You were forced to be stuck in a tragic playback of that time. Over and over, every night, and you were to move on? Yet how does all of this come about from being gone for a few hours? You felt there was maybe more to this all and anxiety gnawed at you about it.

Your therapist sighed and placed your file on her side table. She leaned forward, hands clasped together. “Trauma is trauma, no matter how small or insignificant your brain thinks it is.” She passed you a tissue which you accepted.

You dabbed your eyes. “It’s just not fair,” you mumbled. “I finally found him and now I fear I’m ruining it.”

“You aren’t ruining it,” the therapist insisted. “You went through something catastrophic and your mind is reacting. It’s beyond justified. Don’t you think he, out of everyone else in this world, understands that?”

You gave a pathetic shrug knowing she’s completely correct. But that wasn’t how this was supposed to work. You should’ve been his rock, right?

“Well,” Dr. G sighed as she leaned back in her seat, “I think he understands and you have no reason to beat yourself up over it. You aren’t responsible for any of it. You’re just responsible for recovering and, sorry to say, that isn’t exactly done overnight.”

You scoffed. “Well, where does it begin?”

“Talking,” she said. “Brainstorming. Shooting the shit. Whatever you want to call it, just find a way to let it out of here.” Dr. G motioned towards her heart. You felt your own pounding.

***

Bucky was right where you had left him sitting in one of the chairs in the corner of the waiting room. He didn’t notice you at first as he was engrossed in some technology magazine. You couldn’t help but notice how interested yet relaxed he was. He really did have a bit of a nerdy side to him.

“What’s so fascinating?” You asked, taking a seat next to him. He jumped a little at your sudden appearance. You held back a chuckle, finding it quite amusing you could surprise the ex-assassin.

Bucky looked back at the magazine and shrugged. “Some new tiny cameras this company in Europe developed. Smaller than your pinky yet has the quality of a full-fledged camera, or so they claim.”

You smiled at his light skepticism. For a man that was easily wowed by the world he sure was hesitant to indulge in it - hence the flip phone he still kept insisted on.

With a sigh, Bucky closed the magazine and placed it back on the table. He looked towards you again and asked, “How did it go?”

Truthfully, you didn’t want to talk about it, but that also sort of beat the purpose of getting guidance from a therapist. She emphasized that communication was a major key - for both of you. You didn’t want to dismiss that advice right away but you also didn’t exactly want to make your soulmate more concerned than he already was. He had insisted on coming with you to this appointment despite being confined to the waiting room. Bucky didn’t mind, clearly overshadowed by the worry showcased on his face.

“I have to tell you a few things if you’d like to accompany me back home.”

“Home?” He frowned. “Home as in-,”

You shook your head. “My apartment.”

Wordlessly, Bucky stood and outstretched his hand towards you. You mustered up a smile the best you could, letting him guide you out of the building and onto the city sidewalk.

For as many concerns as you had running through you, you were finding some new sense of pride walking down the street with Bucky. Your soulmate. You had felt something there beyond it all.

How many times had you walked these streets simply letting your gaze wander about hoping to just spot him? And then you didn’t even find him in the most conventional way.

But you had to remind yourself of that hopeful gazing you partook in for many weeks. All you had to go off of was his actions. His violent, albeit unwilling, actions. And yet, in all that, you still wanted to meet him. Wanted to hear his voice and maybe get a peek into what he may be like. You certainly got way more than you had bargained for. And you wanted to keep it. Maybe you had been forgetting that in your worries of ruining it. These worries stemmed from wanting. You just had to remind yourself.

You two had been lost in your own worlds. You were quite surprised by how quickly you had arrived at your apartment building. Everything outside of it was the same like the world had just stood still. You dropped Bucky’s hand and began fumbling for your keys. He kept a protective arm around your waist, trying to offer some comfort for the daunting task.

After a shaky moment, you led him inside and up the stairs where your apartment door sat, seemingly untouched. You knew that wasn’t exactly the case. Agents had been in and out of your apartment upon your disappearance, Bucky had explained, but they must’ve been stealthy ones. It looked like every other door.

And, really, that’s all it was, you told yourself. It’s just a door. It’s a first step, your therapist had claimed, but it was also just a door. You had wrestled with yourself over this concept for a while now and here it was in front of you.

“You don’t have to do this.” Bucky’s voice broke your concentration. “You’re more than welcome at the compound. No one would blame you if you - you wanted to stay.”

“I know,” you sighed. “Thank you but I don’t want to wallow in it.”

Bucky didn’t say anything more and just nodded his head once in understanding. Taking a deep breath, you unlocked the door and flung it open.

You didn’t know what you were expecting. Part of you was ready to be ambushed by Hydra men. Another part of you thought the place would be a wasteland. But neither of those was the case. It was just...normal. It looked exactly how you remember leaving it in all its worn-down glory. Relief washed over you.

You walked in as you had a million times before and threw your bag on the couch. You headed straight for the kitchen, pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge. Bucky didn’t comment on anything and just took a seat on your couch, waiting.

Making your back to the couch, you offered Bucky water but he declined. Amazingly, you floated around the apartment with no worries. It felt like you never left while also felt like you were reclaiming.

You took a seat next to Bucky, keeping some space between your bodies.

“What’s on your mind, doll?” Bucky suddenly asked. You glanced back at him nervously. If he was at all anxious, he sure wasn’t showing it. Damn that assassin mentality.

“That nightmares have come back,” you admitted. The words landed like a million little bombs around the apartment. Bucky leaned back on the couch, his eyes wide with concern.

“What?” It was all he seemed able to manage to say.

You shifted on the couch uncomfortably, mentally working up the courage to continue on. “It all started back up after that… that night,” you explained. “I-I was suddenly seeing you fighting those men. I was seeing pretty much into your brain, feeling all that anger and relentless rage.” You paused. “I couldn’t believe it, really. I hadn’t had a single nightmare ever since we got together and now...it’s like a million steps back and I don’t know how to fix it. The doctor suggested talking and that’s what I want, Buck. You can’t turn away. Not right now.”

Bucky wasn’t looking at you anymore, instead taking strong interest in picking at your couch cushion. He seemed quite uncomfortable, which was beyond understandable, but he also had to have heard your pleas.

“Y-You see all that?” He finally asked, his voice just barely above a whisper. “Just on a playback loop? Despite us being connected, really connected.”

You didn’t know what to do besides nod in confirmation. Bucky let out a deep sigh.

“And this, on top of everything else, hasn’t been helping you to recover, has it?”

You shook your head. Bucky now looked like he wanted to put his fist through your door. Tears welled in his eyes.

“Of course not,” Bucky mumbled. “I-I thought it was supposed to get better.”

“Me too,” you admitted. “I didn’t tell the therapist this but I… Well, I fear there’s something faulty with this bond.”

The thought had initially popped in your head out of nowhere. One night you were half-awake, already witnessing the shine of Bucky’s arm as his hand contracted around the goon’s throat, when you began trying to think about the good memories. The reader Bucky you got to see. How lovely that was to bring up. How the conversation that followed was refreshing, fun. You wouldn’t be able to bring anything like that up again because you lost them. It took a bit for your theory to prove certain but once it was, you realized, you were stuck.

But you also hadn’t exactly wanted to act on this theory, figuring this could be handled on your own. Date night proved wrong.

Bucky eyed you, curiously. “What do you mean?”

“It’s very challenging to recover from something when it’s the only thing you’re reminded of, right? Well, that’s the case, nightly. Despite how serious we are in this relationship, it’s cutting through, even though it seemed like in the beginning…” Your words trailed, a bit unsure. You changed the focus. “The memories and thoughts are still transmitted disturbing reminders. I can talk about it until I’m blue in the face, but I just don’t think that’s all there is to it. The bond isn’t letting me move on regardless of our circumstances. Everything you saw...”

Your soulmate nodded in his attempt to understand where this was going. You even had to admit, it was sounding a bit bizarre. You did think it was just trauma and in many ways, it is. It all comes back to the trauma derived from the situation but to have to relive it through your soulmate’s eyes. To have to see him personally killing someone was just… It was a whole new level of memories. You were personally attached to them. You weren’t just living through it in some fucked up metaphorical way - you actually had lived it. Besides - it shouldn’t be this way.

“You think we need to see someone about it,” Bucky concluded.

Hesitantly, you confirmed his suspicions. “Are there really doctors who study it? I've heard rumors but I’ve never seen someone.” Thinking of it now, you never knew why you didn’t. Probably because those who studied soulmate bonds were truly myths. There wasn’t exactly anything tangible to study. Who was going to waste their time?

Bucky shrugged. “I think I may know someone.”

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sunshineseung · 3 years

Text

Little Secret // Changbin

🍄 | genre: smut mini-series ☁️ | pairing: Seo Changbin x female!reader 🌿 | wc: 2k 🌸 | includes: plot *yawn*, masturbation, fear of being caught, actually being caught, most of the hot and heavy stuff happens in the other parts lmao

☀️ | synopsis: Seo Changbin is your brother’s best friend. He comes over all the time, and you practically grew up together. If only you hadn’t gotten a crush on him. If only he knew how hard you had fallen for him.

You and your brother had never been as close as your parents had hoped. Jisung was always loud and obnoxious, making friends everywhere he went and never looking back. You were much more comfortable by yourself, spending night after night alone while Jisung was out partying. Your shelf was full of books and fandom memorabilia while your brother’s shelf was covered in dust and toy robots from his youth he refused to get rid of. His GTA V poster covered the wall next to his bed while the only decoration in your room was the fairy lights and fake vines around the perimeter of your walls. These fundamental differences pushed you away from your brother, and after several years, you turned more into a punchline for Jisung to discussed jokingly with his friends while he was just the annoying older brother you’d wished would move out.

As much as you wanted to leave home and go to a prestigious college, your parents insisted you go to the same local college as Jisung for at least a year “just to try it out,” a.k.a they didn’t have enough money to send you away, which was reasonable. You and your brother, still under the same roof, fought to no end over the smallest things: loud music, messy bathroom, eating each other’s leftovers. Just about anything was fair game when the light-hearted hatred was so tense.

There was one bright side, though. Since Jisung entered Kindergarten, he was close to a boy named Changbin. You grew up with Changbin at your house, and even when your family moved 20 minutes away from him, he would always be there. There was nothing separating Jisung and Changbin.

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t have the slightest crush on Changbin. While Jisung was only one year older than you, Changbin was two years older, and that initially intimidated you. His intimidating and off putting nature is what drew you in, but his glowing smile and gorgeous face only made you fall harder. You couldn’t explain your feelings for Changbin when you were in middle school, and even now, it was hard to describe the overwhelming nervousness that overcomes you when you’re in his vicinity. As high school went on, you knew you couldn’t be with him, but while you had your head in books throughout high school, Changbin was going to his college’s gym. His smile was one thing, and that was good for a middle school crush, but his insane arm and chest muscles send you through the moon in high school, and the image of Changbin shirtless at your neighborhood pool has been etched in your brain since your junior year of high school.

But now you’re in college. You’re a greasy little freshman while Changbin is a worn-out junior. There’s no way in hell you can shoot your shot, even if you’re both adults. And to make things even more impossible, Jisung would never allow his best friend to date his little sister. That would ruin him.

As improbable as it was, you still loved to fantasize about Changbin, spending most of your time alone daydreaming about his sculpted body above yours, praising you and making you feel like the only girl in the world.

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

“Sis, could you put on some actual clothes, jeez.” Jisung covered his eyes dramatically as you entered the kitchen in your very appropriate shorts and tee shirt. You rolled your eyes and scoffed at him, punching him in the shoulder lightly.

“Changbin’s been coming over for how long? It’s fine.” Your response sounded steady, but your mind was buzzing. You didn’t know Changbin was coming over! Why are you never told about these things?! At this point, you should have assumed given it was a Friday night, but you’d still like some warning.

“Just because he’s used to it doesn’t mean he should be subjected to it!” Jisung went into the living room, arguing with you under his breath. Another stupid mini-fight for a stupid reason.

If anything, the information that Changbin was coming over would have only prompted you further to wear shorts and a thin tee shirt with no bra. As shy as you usually were, you still had the inexplicable want to be noticed by Changbin, even for a moment. Unfortunately, your brother adamantly tried to hide you from his friend, probably knowing Changbin always gets what he wants.

Jisung always babied you infront of Changbin, so you usually just stay in your room to protect yourself, and you’re sure Jisung would prefer that. Your parents worked late nights attempting to pay for their children’s college tuition, so when they came home well after midnight, they’d go straight to bed, uncaring for their adult children’s wearabouts. This gave Jisung the perfect opportunity to be as loud as he wanted in the living room, whether it was with a girl or one of his friends.

Tonight was going to be one of those loud nights, but that was nothing new. You always had a surefire way to fall asleep, regardless of the chatter going on downstairs.

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

It was midnight. Why was he still here? You wanted to sleep more than anything, but the ruckus of your brother and his best friend chatting loudly downstairs prevented you from getting any sort of shuteye.

However, the only thing that can help you sleep is Changbin, or at least the thought of him. You reached to your bedside drawer and pulled out your bullet vibrator. If anything was going to help you sleep, it was an orgasm while imagining Changbin railing you like you’ve always wanted him to do since high school.

Although you hated to admit it, your thoughts of Changbin had been drifting towards the smuttier side since those days at the pool. All you could think about to get yourself off was Changbin, and no amount of other casual romantic partners could satiate your burning desire for Seo Changbin to fuck you on every surface in the house, including in your brother’s room while he was away. Every time you’d overhear Changbin talking about a new girl or his plentiful sex life, your face would flush red and you would wish that one day, he’d talk about you, but maybe not to Jisung. That would be too weird.

You undressed lazily, tossing your shirt and shorts onto the ground. You hesitated to take your underwear off, but there was no way you could properly get off with them on. Your panties joined the pile of clothes on the floor, and you spread your legs, tracing your fingers through your own heat, spreading your wetness across your holds. Your free hand eases the cold vibrator onto your clit, pressing the button at the top to turn it on. You bucked your hips into the toy, shutting your eyes and pretending that it’s Changbin holding it onto you, teasing you gently with every movement. His voice from downstairs echoed to your room, and the more you imagined his voice whispering the dirtiest sweet nothings into your ear, the closer you got to release.

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

This was just supposed to be a fun little game of truth or dare, a common occurrence between Changbin and Jisung. Truth or dare was their way to let their feelings out and have a bit of fun. Before suggesting a movie, Jisung offered his friend one last truth or dare.

“Dare.” Changbin crosses his arms, waiting for Jisung to respond to his response.

After a moment, Jisung’s face contorted into a smile like that of the Grinch before he stole Christmas. Changbin knew nothing good could come from that expression, but nevertheless, he was interested in what awful, terrible, no good idea his friend had come up with.

“I dare you to go upstairs and scare my sister.”

“That’s it?” Changbin was beyond confused. He’d thought Jisung had come up with a dare so evil, so vile, so wicked, that only the devil himself could come up with it, but to be fair, Jisung could easily have been more sinful than the devil.

“That’s it!” Jisung clapped his hands together in seeming victory. “Sneak up those stairs, go to the second room on the right, barge in, and give my good little sister a good little scare.” Jisung wasn’t letting go of his smirk. He still looked sinister, even after explaining such a boring, and honestly disappointing, dare. Changbin sighed, shrugged, and stood up from his seat, but before he could turn around, Jisung had one last thing to say: “Don’t take too long up there! I want to finish this movie.”

Changbin rolled his eyes and trudged on, tip-toeing up the stairs so you didn’t even hear him coming. Jisung was vibrating with giddiness, but Changbin couldn’t see. All he saw was the door to your room, looking more menacing than ever before. It’s such a lighthearted prank, why was Changbin so scared now? He reached for the doorknob, turned it quietly, and pushed the door open as fast as possible.

His first scream was that of a shitty jump scare in a horror movie, but his second scream was that of terror with a high-pitched tone. Nothing could have prepared him to see you, his best friend’s sister, a freshman at the college he was a junior in, with a vibrator pressed against your nether region. You were totally naked aside from your shirt that was pushed up over your tits. The sight made his body go pale, and he felt his soul leave his body. He didn’t run away; he was just frozen, but you hardly would have noticed him if it hadn’t been for his stereotypically girly scream. You threw your duvet over yourself, wrapping yourself up like a burrito.

“What the fuck, Changbin?” You raised your voice slightly, hardly able to yell since your voice was hoarse from the orgasm you’d just been denied by the rude interruption. Changbin couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even think, let alone defend himself. He stood in your doorway, eyes blown out, hand practically glued to the door handle. Jisung’s manic laughing can be heard from downstairs, but both your mind and Changbin’s were too fuzzy to tune in, although your minds were fuzzy for differing reasons.

Changbin let go of the handle and shut the door behind him. You squirm under your blanket burrito, adjusting yourself and getting ready for an attack from Changbin, but he doesn’t come near you. His back hits the door, and he holds his chest where his heart is. Once he calms down for a moment, he’s finally ready to speak.

“Y/n, I’m so sorry.” He takes a step towards you, but you lean back, scared of what he’s going to do to you. “Jisung dared me to scare you, and I- I didn’t know you were up here… doing that. I-”

“Changbin,” you cut him off, “just get out.”

He doesn’t move. He collects his thoughts one last time and takes another step closer to your bed. “Did you finish?”

“Changbin!” Your vocal cords had healed since being hoarse just seconds ago, and you were finally able to fully raise your voice.

“I’m gonna go back downstairs, but when that movie’s over, text me.” Fuck, you forgot you had his number. “I want to make it up to you.”

You’re beyond hesitant, but after a minute, you nod, and Changbin leaves your room without a word.

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

An hour passes, and you reach over to your nightstand and grab your phone. Your messenger app stays open on the window with the empty text screen under Changbin’s contact. Ow, this is hurting your brain to think about. How could you ever get over yourself for fucking your brother’s friend, let alone the friend that’s watched you grow up. This was a mistake. Turn back now. Don’t text him, don’t text him, don’t text him.

Fuck it.

Your fingers fluttered over the screen, repeatedly typing and deleting the same message until it was perfect.

Is the movie over?

The ellipsis text bubble appears in the corner and your heart drops. You know your face is bright red, but you can’t help be excited while simultaneously feeling terrified.

The movie ended 10 minutes ago. You ready for me, princess?

No no no no no no no no

Ready when you are ;)

Oh my god oh my god oh my god

Come out to my car. I want to take you to my apartment so your brother can’t hear us.

No turning back now.

#skz smut #stray kids smut #seo changbin smut #changbin smut #skz changbin smut #stray kids changbin smut #kpop smut

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acceptsonlynttnightwing · 2 years

Text

So have you read RHATO beyond the first couple parts because like Roy wasn’t a sidekick in the story. He hung around and helped but at the beginning Jason leaves after rescuing him and Roy later catches up on his own. Also Kori had several arcs about her past as a slave and ambassador who fought to free people. The free sex thing is only an aspect of like the first three comics. Also people do connect silly early Batman with darker modern Batman. Regardless it was a reboot not a straight jump. And I think some people feel like Roy was helped by RHATO was because it allowed a reset from Cry for Justice/Rise of Arsenal. Then Rebirth smoothed over the issues RHATO had. The two kind of worked together to save Roy’s character from the grim dark early version.

—-

Okay, I don’t particularly want to post so much about RHATO so after this one, I’m not going to reply to your submissions unless you send them as (anon if you want) asks I can reply to privately or message me directly. I don’t particularly enjoy the repeated implications that I haven’t read the series I’m criticising either, just because I disagree with you.

Yes, believe or not, I did read RHATO before deciding out of the blue, without reading it, that I didn’t like the series.

And yes, Roy was quite firmly slotted into sidekick roll throughout RHATO. I’m guessing that you’re a Jason fan and so you probably don’t see it. Sure, Lobell might have Roy make the choice to go after Jason, but in all the scenes they’re together, Roy is firmly a supporting character, only around to support and make Jason look better and give him a popular, well known friend. He calls himself an idiot (and acts like an inexperienced one). Even after like 20 issues (when you’d expect him to be a little more, I don’t like the Roy we used to know and love) he just gets relegated to glorified tech support?

It wasn’t call Red Hood and the Outlaws because ROY and KORI were the leads.

As for the stuff about his and Ollie’s relationship and portraying Ollie as the world’s worst father and acting like the Titans abandoned him, well that WAS Lobell’s choice - when questioned he just said he found his Roy interesting, not that editorial or someone was trying to push a certain narative. Plus, even other N52 and Rebirth stories DIDN’T go with the Ollie is the world’s world father angle (canonically, Ollie was just about the best superhero dad of all the Titans’ till they used Snowbirds as a PSA - you’d know if you read previous GA and titans comics), so yes, I can blame Lobell and RHATO for the anti-Ollie and anti-Titans portrayal.

And the NTT and NT series did most of those stories first: about Backfire and Tamaran and Kori’s past as a slave and how it affected her, her relationships, and her outlook on crime. RHATO just comes across as a pale, vaguely familiar copy where the stakes never felt very high and the characters were strange, watered down shadows of themselves.

As for ‘The free sex thing is only an aspect of like the first three comics.’, well that was still 3 comics too much - the way she asked Jason 'is there’s anything I can do for you?’ ugh. How about the thing where he went 'to her kind humans are little more than scents and experiences’? And sure, around halfway through the series they find out that Kori was lying about her memories, but the why is never explained (again part of why I found RHATO all over the place and badly planned). And it’s not the free sex that bothered me, it’s the fact that she had no authority anymore and asked JASON (and guy who’s atleast 10 years her junior) what to do? It’s the fact that she wasn’t shown as intelligent or capable anymore - just as an emotional, explosive character, without any of her previous nuance. A lot of the time, she was just around to be female, shoot starbolts and arc her back sexually - whereas in the ntt, she acknowledged that she was unfamiliar with Earth, but pointed out that she wasn’t stupid. She’d led the Titans before, and seeing her looking to some guy for leadership was really annoying.

All in all, her portrayal in RHATO was softcore porn at the start, and while it improved, her characterisation didn’t really change. Lobell seemed to feel the need to have her and Roy in bed a bunch as if to establish they were a couple (despite both being too bland and uncomfortable to have any chemistry). Plus, who sleeps with their previous best friend’s fiancé? The whole thing was just super uncomfortable.

Some people? Well, everyone has some strange ideas - there are people who like Grant Morrison’s rapist version of Talia. I don’t think (and I’ve explained multiple times) Roy was helped in the least by RHATO since it got rid of his decades of experience and close relationships to tons of heroes, not to mention Lian.

Also, I explained previously that, yes, characters change, but while Batman changed slowly over decades and decades and soft reboots, Roy and Kori were just SUDDENLY these strange new characters in a JASON TODD book with almost no explanation.

Lots of characters get through dark periods without needing the cause of said dark period completely erased? Like, Bruce got past Jason’s death, Wally past Barry’s, etc. Roy’s 'dark period’ as you put it wasn’t that terrible - Lian could have easily been brought back to life in a bit. Also, Ollie’s killing was a pretty chilling moment. Like I said, I don’t think it needed to be rewritten, and DEFINITELY not like in RHATO.

Also, like, Rebirth didn’t fix all the problems with RHATO - Roy in the rebirth Titans was still very different from OG Roy Harper since it went with the RHATO version of the Titans apparently abandoning Roy (Which they didn’t do in the two original versions). IMO they didn’t save the character, 1, because he didn’t need saving and 2 because they sucked.

2. I didn’t understand what you were saying in your next submission - would appreciate if you sent it as an ask and framed it a little more clearly?

#submissions #seriously #send me an ask or something #I'm not taking anymore submissions about this

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gamesception · 3 years

Text

So I beat that new metroid game. 100% item completion, 11 hours for the initial run, at a fairly casual pace. I liked it, and want to kind of blather on about it a bit. Spoilers below, though. Also long post warning.

I have some minor nitpicks - the soundtrack is perfectly serviceable but not particularly memorable by series standards. The omega beam business was a bit awkward and made a lot less sense in universe than the obvious alternative of the EMMIs just having some sort of force field that would shut down when you kill their core unit. The 'Luke, I Am Your Father' twist was particularly ridiculous in this franchise, etc.

Also the difficulty might be a bit high for those without much 2d platform shooter experience. To be clear the the game isn't exceptional or unreasonable by genre standards. There are plenty of harder megaman games, for example. And while some of the shinesparks required for 100% item completion were obnoxious, overall I found them to be less so than in Zero Mission and Fusion. But given that it's likely to be a lot of players' first metroid game, and that 2d games aren't the dominant game style these days, some might find it off putting. A generous checkpoint system does help here - tough boss fights & tricky EMMI sections will never put you back further than the preceding door - but when EMMIs kill you instantly and most bosses will drop Samus in a few hits, you might find yourself dying repeatedly in a situation where you don't even have time to figure out what you're /supposed/ to be doing.

These minor complaints are more than made up for by the game's strong suits. The EMMI sections, while not really scary imo, are a tense and exciting change of pace from the more typical metroid exploration stuff that surrounds them. The visual presentation is quite strong - I'm not typically a fan of '2.5d', but imo it really works here. Samus in particular looks great, especially in the Gravity Suit. Most importantly, the gameplay just feels good, probably the best gameplay has felt in a metroid game. It's not perfect - there are a few too many buttons to manage by the end game - but just moving Samus around, running and sliding and jumping and shooting stuff, that's never felt better.

As a 2d action platformer, the game is fantastic, really worth your time if you're into that.

...

I do have some bigger complaints about the world. The overall map is suitably large and interesting to navigate, full of neat little nooks and crannies crammed full of little puzzles and gameplay challenges that reward you with extra missile and etank pickups. It all looks both cool and importantly is quite legible, even when interesting stuff is going on in the background.

But the various zones kind of blend together, making them overall less distinct and memorable. Like you get that there's individual themes, but those themes are kind of generic (cave zone, hot zone, cold zone, plant zone, water zone, temple zone), and they bleed into each other, for a few reasons. Most notably, because the EMMI areas in several of the zones look pretty much the same, so all the major zones have large recurring sections that are aesthetically interchangeable. That's the biggest thing, but even beyond that the areas sometimes step on each others toes (there are hot rooms outside of the hot zone, cold rooms outside of the cold zone, etc), and the main progression path has you criss crossing between zones pretty frequently early times, which works against getting a distinct impression of each AND is a bit obnoxious due to the long loading times between zones.

Thinking back to Metroid 1 and 3, if you were in, say, Norfair, you /knew/ you were in Norfair. The music was different, the atmosphere was different, the walls and floors and enemies were different. That's just not the case for any of the zones in Metroid Dread with the exception of the underwater zone. At least, not to the same extent. This really weakens what is probably the strongest aspect of the series overall - the atmosphere.

Especially towards the end of the game. In Metroid 1 & 3, when you get to Tourian the creepiness ramps up, with the wight high-tech themed architecture and the series titular Metroids as the only enemies between you and Mother Brain. Heck, even in Metroid 2, with the limitations of the Gameboy hardware, there is a huge change in the feel and tone when you get to the last area in the run up towards the Metroid Queen. Metroid 4 was a bit weaker in this regard, but sadly Metroid Dread is probably weakest in the series.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't want Dread to just repeat Tourian outright. I give the game a ton of credit for /not/ including the titular Metroids at all, but there's really nothing that suitably replaces them here. The EMMI might have, they're so defining throughout much of the game, and an especially long and difficult stealth section evading a final EMMI before the last boss might have really worked here, but instead the last EMMI is a story beat in a cut scene and nothing more, and it's like... that was the selling point of your game, Metroid Dread. And instead of a capstone EMMI segment, or even a rehash of Tourian, we get several fights more or less in a row against essentially the same X-corrupted Chozo Warrior with hardly any difference between them.

Anyway, I'm not saying there are no distinct zones in Metroid Dread, but they are fewer and less distinct than in previous games in the series, and the run up to the last boss was the least distinct and did the worst job building climactic tension of any of the mainline 2d metroid games (not counting remakes & spin offs, not all of which I've played), and it makes the overall world of ZDR less memorable for it.

Not bad, mind. It's still a quite solid Metroidvania map overall, and again Samus just feels great moving around in it so it's pretty fun in the moment. But it doesn't stick in the mind the same way.

...

A tangential, but related, complaint is the lack of free exploration. In the original metroid you've got Brinstar, Kraid's zone, Norfair, Ridley's zone, and Tourian. You Start in Brinstar and end in Tourian, and have to go through Norfair to reach Ridley's zone, but apart from that you're free to pretty much go where you want. It's undirected - which can be frustrating, especially with how obtuse some of the paths are, but makes the exploration feel real and engaging, in a way that it just isn't if the game is always pointing you where to go. Compare to the remake Zero Mission, which is dramatically superior in presentation and gameplay, but loses a lot of the sense of exploration since you've always got objective markers leading you around by the nose.

Dread isn't that obvious or obnoxious about it, it doesn't pull you forward with objective markers, instead it simply starts with relatively few places you can go, and closes off the paths behind you at roughly the same rate that it opens them up in front. Eventually the map does open up, but only relatively late in the game. This is better, it is less obtrusive and more subtle, but it still results in a situation that feels less like you exploring a world and more like the game designers showing you a slide show of their own exploration.

The big point of comparison for me - since it's currently my favorite game in the genre - is Hollow Knight, which has a narrow progression path until you pick up the wall jump early on, and then opens up its huge world to let you go almost wherever you want. Maybe you follow Hornet to the City of Tears and find the ground pound in the Soul Sanctum, or maybe you challenge the Mantis Lords and get lost in the Deepnest until you find the Tram Pass and end up in Kingdom's Edge. Maybe you buy the Lantern and pass through the dark tunnel from the Forgotten Crossroads into the Crystal Peaks and grab the super dash, or drop down into the Resting Place where Seer is waiting with the Dream Knife.

Metroid Dread doesn't completely lock you into a set progression routes, there are ways to seemingly jump the rails, get upgrades early, fight bosses out of order. The game has an intended sequence, but there are 'sequence breaks' built in. But those breaks are just that - built in. Heck, several of them come with fancy animations, showing just how intended they were by the devs. You're not jumping the rails, you're just switching tracks. They're also not something most players are likely to stumble across by accident. Most require pretty significant knowledge of the game's map and mechanics, at which point you're not really exploring an unknown world anymore, you're demonstrating your mastery of a known one.

In Hollow Knight, like the original Metroid, it's not so much that there are 'sequence breaks' (i mean, there are, but bear with me) as that there just isn't one singular sequence to begin with. The world exists, and you *explore* it. Super Metroid is somwhere in the middle, opening up later than Metroid and Hollow Knight, but way earlier than Dread, with multiple zones still undiscovered.

To its credit, Dread is significantly less 'on the rails' than Fusion was. In particular, Metroid Dread put lots of effort into setting up intended sequence breaks, where Fusion put that effort into preventing them. But the emphasis on action, on challenge, on game play, on a guided progression path, on carefully crafted set pieces and sequences - instead of on having an open world that the player can find their own way through is clear, and it creates a very different feel. Maybe more fun and exciting in the moment, but maybe not as lasting. Though it is really too soon to say.

There are trade offs here, it's not completely a better/worse situation. Hollow Knight's way of handling things isn't overtly superior. A relatively restricted progression path allows Metroid Dread to have a significantly more balanced difficulty curve than Hollow Knight does, adding mechanical complexity at regular intervals and including challenges that combine the abilities that the game has given you in a way that Hollow Knight just can't for most of it's length, because it has no idea what abilities you'll have when you get to a particular point. Likewise the original metroid - the only thing it can be sure players will have when challenging Ridley and Kraid is some missiles, so fighting them is just about spamming those missiles. It's not until Tourian that you're asked to do anything even as intricate as combining both the ice beam and some missiles, where Dread has you hanging from ledges to avoid damage zones, jumping over tail swipes, aiming for weak spots, and breaking projectiles with lasers to get missiles to shoot at those weak points, and melee countering for massive damage from the very first boss, and only adds to that as you go. Part of this is hardware capabilities, of course, but still.

Dread's more guided progression path also allows for a smooth sense of pacing throughout the game, smoothly cycling between slower paced exploration and platforming and tense cat-and-mouse EMMI segments, with the occasional exciting boss fight to add spectacle and punctuation. This keeps the moment to moment game play fun and exciting, which again is a strong point for the game overall.

Dread is, in more ways than one, a sequel to and evolution of the last main line Metroid game, Metroid Fusion on the Gameboy Advance. It's far more a follow up to Fusion than it is to Super Metroid, let alone the original game. In some ways it even feels closer to fusion than it does to Samus Returns. Like Dread, Fusion has a fairly set gameplay sequence, favoring exciting gameplay and a consistent difficulty curve over open exploration and immersive atmosphere.

This is maybe a concession to the portable format. With portable games the assumed play sessions are usually shorter, so instead of setting you loose in a huge world the game gives you a succession of bite sized versions of the metroid experience exploring the various sectors of its space station setting. The switch is likewise, at least partially, a portable system, and Dread's primary progression path is such that it's possible to make meaningful progress and reach a new save point is short sessions - with the area you have to scour for progression kept to a manageable size by the way the path keeps closing behind you. It's less overt about it than Fusion was, but that aspect of the design is still there. Fusion, like Dread, also used that linear progression to control pacing and to build a consistent difficulty curve, and in particular was significantly more difficult than the 2d metroid games before it then just like dread is now.

Like Fusion, you also have Adam there to deliver exposition. Which, I mean, it works, although early on there's a lot of tutorializing delivered this way. Adam's fine, honestly, but my main complaint about him in Fusion remains true here - the fact that every so often you stop to have Adam explain something to you significantly cuts into something else that was core to early Metroid games, arguably even more so then the exploration - an experience of isolation. In Metroid 1 to 3, You're by yourself. There's little to no dialog, brief set ups, what cut scenes there are are typically wordless. Samus - you - are on your own in these strange, hostile environments. That's a core part of the atmosphere of the games. The hours of intense isolation is a big part of why the few non-hostile interactions - the baby metroid in Metroid 2, the animals in Super Metroid - stand out so much and leave such a strong impression.

Compare them to Quiet Robe in Dread. Sure, Quiet Robe is only there for a moment, barely has time to deliver some exposition before dying. But even that little bit might have left more of an impression if he was the first person to speak to you after several hours of exploring ZDR alone.

There's also a weird moment at the end where it's seemingly implied that Maybe the Adam you've been speaking to in the game up to that point was Raven Beak all along? But it's really brief and unclear whether Raven Beak was impersonating Adam through the whole game, or just in that last conversation, or not at all. This is more of a nit pick, though, it could just be an awkward translation issue or maybe I just didn't catch the conversation right since it was late and I was pretty tired when I got to that point, and it's not a big factor in the overall experience anyway.

I guess that could also be a segue into talking more about the story but... eh. I don't care too much about the story. The narrative has never been particularly strong in metroid games, and that never really mattered since it was never why I was into them in the first place. The closest the Metroid franchise ever got to an compelling story is still Metroid Fusion, and even then that's less for the actual narrative and more for how the thematic subtext inverts the previous metroid games - in Fusion you're now the last metroid and the Sa-X is the invincible armored Samus implacably hunting you to extinction. Dread doesn't have anything that juicy. But Fusion is an outlier from the entire series on that front, so I don't consider failure to top that to be any kind of mark against Dread.

And as for, like, 'lore' or whatever, Metroid lore has been kind of terrible ever since they made Samus's backstory from the old Nintendo Power comic canon, and Sakamoto wasn't going to retcon that now, so it's, like, whatever. "There were bad Chozo, and the leader of the bad Chozo is the source of Samus's Chozo DNA, so he's kind of like her Father, which makes him a big dramatic final antagonist for the entire franchize to this point' is kind of silly, and it makes exactly zero sense that that guy and that guy alone on the entire planet doesn't get infected by X parasites. But WHATEVER. The story's fine. Serviceable, like the sound track.

I don't know. I'm rambling now. And looking back at this word cascade, it's mostly negative. But that's really only because the games that I'm most directly going to compare Metroid Dread to are A) Metroid - probably the game that left the strongest impression on me as a young child, B) Super Metroid - one of my favorite games from the time in my life when I was most into video games, one of the few games I go back to and replay every few years, probably the only non-JRPG from the super nintendo days that stayed with me that way, and C) Hollow Knight, my absolute favorite game /since/ my childhood.

Honestly, on its own Metroid Dread is a really good game, maybe a great game. I enjoyed it a bunch, enough to 100% it, probably enough to go back and play through on hard mode at some point. It's fun, it's good, worth your time, worth your money. An impressive return to form for Samus after long years in the dark. It's a solid addition to the Switch's fantastic line up of really top tier Nintendo titles. Worthy of a place alongside Mario Odyssey, Mario Maker 2, Breath of the Wild, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Smash Brothers Ultimate, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (a Wii U port, sure, but an amazing title none the less). Metroid Dread is a system seller, one of many on the console. It's actively pushing sales of the OLED Switch, and anybody who gets an OLED with Dread as their first game for it should not be disappointed. If you have a switch and haven't played it, you should give it a try. If you don't have a switch and are in the market for a new gaming console, maybe pick one up. Not like you can get a PS5 these days anyway.

My gripes about Metroid Dread are either nit picks or purely subjective, more rambling on my personal preferences within the genre and how those preferences have diverged from the evolutionary path taken by 2d Metroid since Fusion. That I've been able to talk this much about it is just my way of saying it's interesting.

#metroid #metroid dread #spoilers #metroid spoilers #metroid dread spoilers #long post #i did not intend for this post to be so long

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therealvalkyrie · 3 years

Text

Through the Mirror: Part 1

my body, my music

Pairing/setting: Detective!Levi Ackerman x Female!Ghost!Reader, modern!AU within the Walls

Summary: When you’re murdered one Tuesday morning, can Levi piece together the true circumstances of your death with your help from beyond the grave?

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: dead body, descriptions of blood, swearing, mentions of violence

AN: Welcome to my new series because I have no self control and can’t finish projects before starting others! Lemme just start off by saying updates may come pretty irregularly because I do have a lot of other WIPs to work on, but! I’m really excited about this idea and have a whole lot planned:) I seriously hope you enjoy. After all, who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? Drop into my DMs/askbox/comments/reblogs to let me know what you think! Be kind to yourselves and others. ~valkyrie

“Ah, shit! Hello!? I’m standing right here!”

The woman completely ignores you, stepping carefully over the puddle of blood and across your tiny living room. You cross your arms and pout. She ignores that, too.

“‘Scuse me, boys, let the experts take it from here,” she quips, gently pushing past the two detectives and crouching next to your body on the ground.

It’s ugly, but she’s probably seen worse, you muse from where you’re leaning against the door jamb. It’s only been lying there for a couple of hours, so at least you haven’t bloated to something out of an NCIS episode. Must smell horrid, though, judging by the mask the head detective has pulled over his face.

“So, you said the landlady called at about 7 am?” the ME inquires, cocking her head up to look at the detectives, nylon gloved hands held at the ready.

“7:07 exactly. Said a neighbor made a noise complaint, she came up to check it out, found signs of a forced entry, and called us.” It’s the taller blonde who speaks up, reading from an off-brand pocket notepad in his left hand. The kind you’d find on sale at Staples after Back-to-School season.

Interesting. You lean your head against the wall, eyes trained on the trio. You’d pegged the ill-tempered shorter one as in charge. Maybe he’s just the quiet type.

“Hmm, alright. Moblit, get off your ass and come take the pictures before we move her,” the woman calls to someone behind you, and you turn just in time to get a face full of Moblit’s chest as he walks towards you.

You cringe back with a “God, seriously?” to no response.

“Yes, sorry, right away, Hange!” Moblit hurries past- no, through -you, sidestepping the ottoman and the blood. It feels weird, like a strong wind, but not altogether unpleasant to have someone walk through you, you suppose. You look down at your chest to watch your misty body re-settle into itself before looking back at the group in your living room.

Were it not for the gruesome accents of blood flecked up the walls and your body riddled with stab wounds, you’d chuckle at how all four of them struggled to navigate the space. It’s cramped enough when it’s just you, fitting only a couch, a chair, a coffee table, your fern (Boris), and a narrow IKEA bookshelf. With the four of them plus a dead body, it’s like watching a freaking clown car.

“Sorry, excuse me, Captain, oh, was that your toe—?” Moblit’s struggling the most, having to move to capture different angles with his bulky camera. When he steps on the shorter man’s toe, he positively blanches, fumbling over himself to apologize while the ME laughs openly.

“God, alright, just,” the Captain pinches his delicate nose between a thumb and forefinger, then decides it’s better to wait in the kitchen. “C’mon, Gin, let’s chat in there.”

The Captain and the blonde detective both pass through you on the way back to the kitchen, but you only sigh and shake the tingly feeling of being incorporeal out of your fingers before following them.

“So,” the man called Gin takes the initiative, flipping back through his notebook and standing by the fridge. “I got statements from the landlady and two of the neighbors, numbers 303 and 304 down the hall. 301, directly across the hall, didn’t answer, but I got contact info from the landlady.” He pauses to read and scratch at his whiskery beard. “It was 304 who made the noise complaint, said she heard yelling this morning at around 5:45, and that she normally wouldn’t’ve said anything but it was, quote, the fourth goddamn time this week and I work the goddamn night shift, I deserve some fucking rest, unquote.”

You grin. Mrs. Sheffield was never one to mince words, something you appreciated when your ex-boyfriend got too loud and she took it upon herself to give him a piece of her mind. You catch a glimmer of a smile on the ornery Captain’s face above where he’s pulled his mask down before he gestures for Gin to keep going, keeping his thoughtful gaze fixed on the floor and his back against your countertop.

“Then after she called the landlady, she went to bed, only to be woken by us two hours later.”

“You said she called the landlady at 5:45 and that she works the night shift?”

Gin double checks his notes. “That’s right.”

“And she works at the hospital?”

“Yes, as a scrub nurse on the night shift.”

“But the night shift at the hospital ends at 6:30.”

“It was her night off,” you and Gin say at the same time before you catch yourself. They can’t hear you, anyway. This’d be a lot easier if they could.

Gin plows ahead. “But she says she keeps the same sleep schedule so she doesn’t, ah, fuck up her circadian rhythm.”

The Captain practically snorts at this, itching for a second under his silk cravat (can someone say pretentious) before settling back into a listening silence.

“303 says he didn’t hear a thing. College kid, looked exhausted. Said he was asleep the whole night after he got in at,” a page flip, “11 o’clock last night. Wasn’t much help, but looked genuinely upset when we told him about the murder. Wanted to know if there was anything he could do. Oh, but he did, uh, hang on,” more page flips, “He did tell us that he heard her and her boyfriend arguing a lot. Which is consistent with what Mrs. Sheffield told us.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” you correct into thin air.

“A lover’s spat gone wrong, then,” Mr. Pretentious Captain muses. You huff in annoyance. A lover’s spat. If that’s all that this is written off as you’ll have some serious PD haunting to do. Chris may have been an angry, loud, disruptive manipulator, but he wouldn’t murder you. He didn’t murder you. “Any info on the whereabouts of the boyfriend?”

“Ex-boyf—!”

Blondie cuts you off, “Not currently, but we do have a name: Chris Henderson, works in admin down at the University. Lives across town closer to the Bridge.”

“Send some uniforms to bring him in for questioning. No arrests yet, tell ‘em to keep it friendly.”

“Right, I’ll put Dreyse and Bodt on it.”

“Dreyse, really?” Captain Cravat gives Gin an incredulous look.

“Hey, she may look like a ditz but she gets the job done. And she might get him to let down his guard,” Gin argues, grinning.

“Fine. I’ll meet them at the station, you stay here and make sure that mousy-haired dunce doesn’t fuck up my crime scene.”

“Hey, who’re you callin’ mousy-haired, short stack?” Hange actually sticks her whole head through yours this time, to butt into the conversation, and you shriek and jump away to the other side of your tiny kitchen, now sandwiched between Blondie and Shortstack. The latter twitches and swats at the air by his ear, as though to dislodge a fly, narrowly missing yours. You give him a weird look then turn back to listen to the ME. She’s leaning into the kitchen at an alarming angle, one hand on the doorframe and the other on the end of the gurney you assume is carrying your body. You shudder at the thought of being toted around in a dark, musty, humid glorified coat bag. Ugh.

“—takin’ this baby”-she slaps the gurney twice and you flinch-“back so I can get started on the autopsy, Moblit’s staying to take more pictures and collect forensics. If Eld’s stayin’ here with Mob, does that mean you’re catching a ride with me, Levi?” The question is addressed to Captain Grump on your right, who gives a heavy sigh and pushes off the counter.

“I guess so. I get to choose music though.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” she’s wagging a finger, grinning. “My body, my music!”

“How about my body, my music?” you suggest, following Levi. “I deserve it after the day I’ve had.”

Again, Levi twitches and swats aggressively by his ear, nearly hitting you full in the face this time.

“You hear that, Gin? This place got a mosquito problem or something?”

“I do not have a mosquito problem!” and “No, sir, I don’t hear anything.” overlap in the air.

Captain Levi only grunts, then starts spouting instructions, which Gin notes down. “I want footage from any cameras in the building, and from the shops next door and across the street. I want statements from residents both upstairs and downstairs. I want names, addresses, and numbers of next of kin on my desk by noon, and lastly, I want no one, save for myself, you, shitty glasses, and mousy-hair, in or out of this apartment. Are we clear?”

“Crystal clear, sir.”

“Good. I’m leaving you Braus to help and to show her the ropes of this kind of thing. Even though she’s on the case, she will not set foot in this apartment. I don’t trust her not to leave breadcrumbs in the bloodstains.

“Yes, sir.”

“I expect an in-person report before shift-change this evening. See you then.” Then, he’s sweeping out of the kitchen in pursuit of Hange and the gurney, leaving you to scurry after. As you exit your home, he shoots a young auburn-haired woman in a crisp white blouse and wool slacks a look. “Braus. You’re with Gin. Don’t go in the apartment.”

She straightens up from leaning against the wall with a jolt and brushes croissant crumbs off her front. “Yes, Captain Levi, sir!” It’s slightly muffled by the pastry stuffed into her mouth.

“Tch.”

It’s fascinating watching how Levi and Hange manage to navigate the gurney down the narrow, twisting stairs of your walk-up apartment building. They’re both clearly used to this sort of thing, communicating only in short phrases and grunts when they encounter an obstacle. Occasionally, you offer up a pointer and watch as Levi becomes increasingly irritated.

“Watch out for Mr. Laslow’s cat, he likes to sneak up on ya!”

“Hange, do you hear— shit!” Levi hops to the side, narrowly avoiding the tabby tail as Tubbins McGee whisks past.

“It’s only a cat, Levi, dunno what’s got you so worked up today,” Hange teases, grin echoing your own as you chortle from the landing above them.

Eventually, they spill out onto the sidewalk and into the bright mid-day, and Hange groans loudly, stretching with both hands on her back.

“Ugh. Remind me not to die in there, I’d hate to put someone else through that.”

“Boof, tell me about it,” you commiserate.

“Noted,” Levi snarks.

Hange removes jingling keys from her pocket and unlocks the ME’s van parked along the sidewalk with a beep, then opens the back doors and steps in. You follow, leaning against the cool metal siding to watch.

When they both load into the front seats and the engine turns over, you lean forward between them to listen in.

“So,” Hange starts, smoothly pulling out into the road behind a silver minivan. “I’ll be able to give you a more solid answer in a couple hours, but my initial estimated time of death would be around 5:45 this morning.”

Levi nods, staring out the passenger window while he answers. “That lines up with the neighbor’s story.”

“Theories so far?”

“Well, there’s the boyfriend,” he muses, lifting a hand to rub his chin.

“Too obvious,” you say dully, not bothering to amend the lack of “ex” yet again. “Next theory.”

He’s quiet for a moment, then mutter, almost too quietly for you to catch: “Too obvious, hmm? Next theory....”

You’re momentarily flabbergasted, hand falling through the faux-leather seat back in your shock. Can he actually hear you? You shake out your hand while it re-materializes, tuning in to the conversation as Hange’s responding.

“—a little far-fetched, don’t you think? I mean, has there been any of that activity in this area recently?”

“Mm, I’ll have to touch base with Petra. If there has been, I think it’s worth looking into.”

“What is? Wait, go back,” you frantically plead, leaning further into his airspace. But Hange plows on.

“Oh, it’s Petra, now, hmm? Not Raggedy Anne anymore?” Her tone is teasing, and she glances over to Levi for a reaction.

He doesn’t give her one, just stares out the window pensively before reaching for the radio dial. The stereo blares up into an Oldies station, and you make a disgusted face along with Levi.

“You listen to this shit?”

“Hey, my dead body, my music, sweetcheeks. Don’t like it, you can thumb it back to the PD.”

“How about my dead body, my music?” you suggest again, reaching for the dial at the same time as Levi does. Just as his slender fingers touch it, your hand passes through the whole front console and the oldies are replaced with a terrifyingly loud static screeching.

“Christ, Levi, what’d you do?” Hange shrieks, lunging forward to punch the radio off as you remove your hand.

“Nothing! It just went berserk!”

They bicker while you stare at your offending palm. “Huh. Didn’t know I could do that.”

If you can actually interact with objects, at least to some degree, and if it turns out Levi can hear you.... This whole thing might be easier than you thought.

#levi ackerman x reader #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #aot fanfic #snk fanfic #aot x reader #snk x reader #captain levi x reader #female!reader #hange zoe #moblit berner #eld gin #sasha braus #through the mirror #valkyrie writes #tw:murder #tw:violence #tw:dead body #tw:blood

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elen-aranel · 3 years

Text

Down from Uptown

The Engineer’s Adventures

1-1 • 1-2 • 2 • 3 • 4

For @autumnleaves1991-blog Writer Wednesday. Pairing: Captain Christopher Pike x F!Reader (no Y/N) Warnings: Canon-typical violence; off-screen deaths of (young) adults WC: 6k Tag list: this isn’t the story I said I’d tag you for but it is Captain Pike X Reader @jusvibbbin ? does this count?? I can untag you! A/N: Me: it’s a one-shot Me: oh wait I can’t leave it there here’s a sequel @autumnleaves1991-blog: here’s another amazing Writer Wednesday prompt Me: I guess it’s a series of one shots now?? Also this is super long for me having written it in one day. Not sure where all these words came from. Other writers write feelings; come to me for a healthy dose of plot. tl;dr: Elen saw the picture and thought, what if Captain Pike, but driving a speeder?

It is all his fault.

You shouldn’t even have been here in the first place: you are an engineer. Not a diplomat. Sure you had read the briefing the comms team had put together, but maybe if you’d been better at reading alien body language, they wouldn’t have got the jump on you?

Now you’re sitting in what feels like a cellar, no windows, one flickering light panel above you, leaning against the wall feeling sorry for yourself.

Still. You will admit – having checked Chris over and determined, to the best of your knowledge from your limited field medic training, that he was probably fine – that you would rather be here with him than on the Enterprise worrying, powerless.

While you wait for him to wake you take an inventory of what you have, and think back to how you had gotten into this predicament.

“Are you sure, Chris?” He likes when you call him that, even if you’re on duty, so long as you’re alone. “It’s a first contact, and not even with a society that needs help from us. There’s got to be someone better than me?”

“Of course I’m sure. The Eloma value couple bonds; it would be strange not to take you. Unless,” —he peers up at you under his eyelashes, mouth quirking slightly,—”you don’t think you’re up to it? I could bring—”

“No, I’m up to it all right.” You bristle at the obvious manipulation attempt. You may not be as confident over away missions as the crew who go on them regularly, and your minor meltdown in Earth’s past still has you nervous about how you may react if things go wrong off the ship, but the only way to overcome worries like that is to confront them. You know you can do this. “Louvier’s going to be mad, that’s all. I promised him I’d oversee the shuttle upgrades.”

“You let me handle Louvier,” he says with a small smile.

“Well if I end up on gamma for the next two weeks and you don’t see me at all, you only have yourself to blame,” you say with a shrug.

“Being the captain does have its perks, you know. I can change the duty rosters if I wish.” He grins back, blue eyes sparkling and dimples on display, knowing he’s won this one.

The first impression you get of Eloma is calm beauty. You beam down to a roof garden high on a sky-scraper, with Captain Pike at your side, and Lieutenant Spock and Ensign James from security.

The garden is gorgeous. You meet your hosts on a paved area, but there are trees and flowerbeds all around, a few little paths winding between them, and you can see three ornate stone fountains behind your hosts, the largest of which shoots a plume of water into the air as you watch. You think you’d like to sit on one of the benches with a book – you would enjoy being able to hear the sounds of traffic wafting up from below (something between hover cars and shuttles by the sound of the engines), the horns beeping, and the occasional distant peal of laughter – it would be nice to feel part of all that but also separate from it.

You don’t have too long to dwell on your surroundings, however, because the captain is stepping forward to greet your hosts.

There are two native humanoid species who collectively make up the Eloma: the Mraden who are tall, grey haired with skin shades varying from sky through to ultramarine blue, faces humanlike apart from ridges beneath each eye; and the smaller, black haired, ice-white skinned Ginera who could almost pass for human if their skin was warmer in colour and their dark eyes didn’t flash silver at certain angles. A pair of Mraden and a pair of Ginera step forward to meet you, all wearing long white robes. You wonder if this is normal dress or whether it’s ceremonial, and you resist the temptation to smooth down your red jacket. The Mraden guards standing at attention behind your hosts are dressed more like you, though; a more practical black style.

“Greetings Captain, honoured partner,”—the Mraden lady looks at you as she says this, and you nod slightly in acknowledgement—”I am Nera, first lady of Eloma. May I welcome you on behalf of the first and second couples.” She gestures to her partner first, then to the Ginera couple, who bow. “We are delighted to open contact with the esteemed united Federation of planets, contact which I trust will lead to our mutual benefit.”

“Thank you, Nera. Myself, my partner and officers are grateful for your kind hospitality.”

You try to pay attention to the formalities between Nera, the Captain, and Lakir the first man, but you aren’t a diplomat, and beyond trying to keep your expression pleasant and listen out for anyone addressing you directly, your mind wanders a little. You wonder about the vehicles you can hear. You’re on top of a tall building, possibly the tallest you’ve been on, and as you look around past the trees and flowers you can see other buildings of similar heights. You think the gravity here may be a tiny bit lower than Earth standard, but this culture really does seem to use its sky space a lot.

You’re also interested in your hosts; although your briefing said that the Mraden and Ginera were equals on the planet, all the guards are Mraden and you’ve barely heard your Genera host’s voices, never mind their names. You wonder whether they communicate telepathically, or whether first and second couples switch between the species periodically. That’s probably it, you reason, and probably the first couple is responsible for security. You turn your attention to the fountains – the middle one is in the shape of a tree, and you’re marvelling at the individually carved leaves, when Chris takes your hand.

“Still with us?” He murmurs into your ear, as you look up to see your hosts are leading everyone through the garden.

“Of course,” you reply quietly, before raising your voice a little. “It’s just so beautiful.” Nera overhears that and smiles over her shoulder, and Chris squeezes your hand, pleased.

You follow the group past the fountains and to a door you hadn’t noticed before. It appears to lead down to a stairway and some guards go through, followed by the second couple, Spock and Ensign James, the first couple, then you and the captain.

But as you approach the doorway you hear a vehicle get louder, and suddenly the guards grab you. Your combat training kicks in as you see Chris struggling – you lean back and stomp on the guard’s foot, eliciting a stream of profanities as you try to elbow him in the solar plexus. But he’s a lot larger than you and had the benefit of surprise, and his grip doesn’t loosen as someone else stuffs a cloth in front of you and you can’t help breathing in the fumes, and you try to hang on but everything goes dark.

It is all his fault.

But blame will have to wait until later.

You assess yourself – other than a mild headache, probably due to dehydration, and a slightly bruised left hip, you feel fine. And the bruising isn’t going to slow you down if you need to make a run for it.

You go through your pockets. Your pants pockets are empty, but you unzip your uniform jacket and the inner one hasn’t been found – the custom one you modified the standard jacket synthesiser program for, because you always need to carry more than the uniform designers planned on, and you didn’t want delicate tools getting damaged when you shoved a communicator or PADD into your pants pocket.

You always have some tools with you because wherever you go, whether you’re on duty or not, someone will say, “You’re an engineer, right? Can you just have a quick look at...” and you make a show of grumbling but actually part of the reason you became an engineer in the first place is that you like to get things working for people. You’re grateful today that that extends to away missions.

You’re surprised to find your communicator on the floor near you, but as you pick it up you realise why it was left: it’s damaged. It had been in your left pocket, and whatever happened to you happened to it first; the casing is all bent and when you try to raise the Enterprise, you get nothing, not even static.

Figures that this would happen again, you think as you examine your communicator, assessing the damage. The real reason you shouldn’t be taken on away missions is because of your terrible luck. This one isn’t totally fried, you discover as you pry it apart and examine the components, but while it will still function as a translator, the transmitter was crushed. The communicator will work again if you can find a compatible part, but there’s no chance of communicating with the ship, and they can’t even lock on to your signal. You pull out the broken transmitter parts and put the case back together, and as you bend the cover back into shape you hear a groan.

“Captain?” You get up and crouch by him. He is leaning against the wall of your windowless cellar, blue eyes squinting. “How are you feeling?”

“A little sore, but fine. You?” He straightens, focusing on you, reaching out a hand to touch your cheek gently.

“I’m fine. A little bruised.” You lean into his touch, briefly, before sitting back down next to him.

“What happened? I remember following our hosts, then a fight, and now I’m here..?”

“Wherever here is. That’s all I remember too. I hope Spock and James are okay.” Now Chris is awake your brain is allowing itself to worry. You frown. You can’t panic again like last time.

“What’s going on in there?” Chris is looking at you, concerned.

“Just... making a decision. To be strong. It sounds silly when I say it out loud.”

He leans over and places a soft kiss on your lips, and for just a moment you forget where you are – it’s just you and him, and the special thing that you have between you. “That’s a decision we all have to make,” he says as he pulls away, thoughtful. “It becomes... less conscious. With time.”

You nod, and you take a moment to breathe. You’ve got this.

“Seems like they’ve been through our pockets,” Chris says, getting to his feet. “My communicator is gone.” He walks over to the door, which is locked. That was going to be your next project.

“I still have mine but unfortunately it won’t communicate,” you say, standing too. “The transmitter got broken at some point. The translation functions are still operational though and it has power.”

“Can you fix it?”

“I’m good, but not that good,” you say, pulling the pieces of the component out your pocket to show him.

“Ah. Any ideas? Other than waiting?”

“After I failed with the communicator I was going to try to pick the lock,” you say, heading toward the door.

“With what?”

“With this.” You pull out a tool with a hook on it which you use to lever broken components off boards when they’re too small for your fingers.

“How do you–”

Chris’s question is cut off by the door in question opening. You just have time to put your tool in your pants pocket before two Ginera appear, brandishing energy weapons. You raise your hands and back away.

“Sit down,” the lead one says, waving his weapon, and you both comply. The other, also male, steps round him and puts two bottles of water on the floor, and a plate of what looks to be food.

“I’m Captain Christopher Pike, of the United Federation of Planets. I promise if you let us go unharmed my people won’t seek punishment against you, or retribution. If not, though, they will come after us.”

The boy, and he is a boy, you realise, twenty at most, snickers. “We don’t intend to hurt you, but we’re not going to let the best chance the GLG has had to be taken seriously go just like that. Sorry.”

“The GLG?” Chris asks, voice gentle. Unthreatening.

“Ginera Liberation Group. And no, your ship knows we have you, but they’re not going to find you. We called them on your communicator, Captain, and told them we had you, and not to look. We weren’t stupid enough to call from here, either,” he adds, and a little spark of hope in you flares out. “And there are 60 million people in this city alone, they’re not going to be able to resolve the life signs of... whatever you are, among all of us.”

“And what is it that the... Ginera Liberation Group wants?”

“To wake people up. To tell the Mraden”—he spits out the word like it’s a curse—”that we won’t take being treated as second-class citizens anymore. And to give the Ginera hope – that we can take back what’s ours. We don’t need their skyscraper cities, where they force us to live in the dirt. We don’t need their language or their stupid pair bonds. We had our own society before and we can have it again.”

Chris sighs, and leans back, looking up at the boy. “Take it from someone who is old enough to be your dad: taking hostages is not the way. The Federation won’t pay a ransom for us. The Mraden won’t listen to you while you have us. But if you let me go, we can have Federation diplomats come, and—”

“We’ve had enough of diplomacy, Captain. We’re taking matters into our own hands now. Enjoy your food.” He turns abruptly and stalks out, his companion in tow.

Chris examines the food – there are four pre-packaged energy bars. He passes one to you, opening one himself. “Might as well do what the kid says.” He takes a bite, grimacing slightly.

You are not hungry, but you take a bite of yours anyway – you know you need to keep your strength up. You grimace too – the flavour is a weird combination of sweet citrus and something almost cheesy. In general you like salt and sweet but this is not it.

Still you force yourself to finish it; you both need to keep your strength up. Thankfully the drink is just water.

After you’ve finished eating Chris speaks again.

“So how about getting out of here? How do you still have that tool, anyway?”

“I have a pocket in my jacket. I have done for years. It’s reinforced so you don’t see it from the outside – as an ensign my commanding officer cared more about aesthetics than practicality – and that’s where I keep my more delicate tools.”

“Ever the engineer, huh?” Chris’s expression is fond and you smile back, warm inside despite your situation. “Come on.”

He stands, and puts his hand out for you. You grasp hold of it and pull yourself up, appreciating the contact. You go to the door, hook tool in hand, and listen at it first. When you’re sure you don’t hear anything from the other side you gingerly put the tool into the keyhole. It doesn’t shock you, which is a good start, but it still takes a few minutes to work out the structure. Chris is patient while you work, not breathing down your neck. You smile in satisfaction as the lock softly clicks open.

“Well done. I figure we sneak out of here then try to alert local law enforcement. Hopefully they can put us in touch with Nera’s people, who can get us back to the ship.”

“Sounds like a plan,” you say, stepping back to let him take the lead.

You follow him along a little corridor then up a flight of stairs, pausing when he motions you to stop. You can hear voices coming from your left and he eases the door open then gestures you to follow again. You catch a glimpse of the room your captors are in on the way past, but happily they have their back to you, looking at a display screen. Then you’re past them, to the front door. Chris opens it as carefully as he can but the last bolt is stiff and scrapes as it opens. You sense movement behind you but you’re through, slamming the door shut behind you, racing across the street and into an alleyway on the other side before they get out. You keep going behind the building opposite, and then Chris has you double back to face the street you were on. You peep round the edge of the building – your captors are standing in their doorway, the leader berating his companion, although you can’t hear what he’s saying.

You step back into the alley.

“Well, the—” Chris starts to say, but he’s interrupted by a loud bang. An explosion. People are screaming and you smell smoke, see orange light from flames.

You follow Chris back onto the street but the building you were in, small, apparently, just three stories amongst all the giant skyscrapers, is billowing flame and smoke from all its windows, on all floors. There’s a crowd of people standing, staring in disbelief, as the last window shatters, sprinkling glass over the crowd.

You turn to Chris. “We—we were—”

“I know,” he says, reaching for your hand. You take it, hearing sirens getting louder. You walk toward the building, knowing there was no way the boys could have survived. You stand at the edge of the crowd, looking at the smoke billowing out, as the authorities arrive.

First there are some Ginera on what looks like a fire appliance. They begin to set up hoses, faces grim. Then some Mraden swoop down in a vehicle painted white with a green logo on it. The crowd, who you notice is made up mostly of Ginera, back away slightly. Chris tows you forward, toward the Mraden who are wearing the same uniform as the guards were in the garden, who knows how long ago. They’re not the same people; their skin tones are both quite pale, but to your horror as soon as they see you they raise their weapons and fire.

You’re running again, keeping up with Chris who leads you straight into the smoke and through, round the corner of the block, down the street, into an alley, out onto another street, into yet another alley, until he’s certain you’re not being followed.

You breathe heavily, holding your hip – you were able to run, and could again, but it hurts.

“That was... unexpected,” Chris says, deadpan, and suddenly you find you have your arms around him, holding tight.

“Too close for comfort,” you say, pulling away a little, as he pats your back.

“I really did think this mission was going to be normal,” he shrugs a little as you step away. “Definitely not worse than last time.”

“I mean I know in theory that away missions are dangerous, but I—I didn’t expect someone I thought was going to help us to shoot.”

“Yeah.” He shakes his head. “Seems like we were supposed to die in that fire...” he frowns as you both try to make sense of what just happened.

“What if it’s all a trick?” You muse aloud. “What if the Mraden are the ones who want us to die? Then they can blame the Ginera and crack down on them even further. And all they had to do was manipulate some kids...?”

Chris’s blue eyes are serious. “You’re right. That’s the only explanation that makes sense. We need to contact the ship. But we can’t trust anyone, and we need to get away from here.” He eyes you speculatively. “It’s an old-fashioned term, so I hope you’ve heard it before, but how do you feel about grand theft auto?”

“It’s called a speeder,” you say, frowning at the display. It hadn’t taken you long to find and break into a suitable vehicle. It was small, rust coloured and nondescript – not shiny and new, but not banged up either. You popped the doors up and open with ease; not that lock picking was anything you’d tried before today, not really, but you may have broken into a shuttle or two during your academy days.

Chris had got in on the drivers side, leaving you to puzzle out the on-board computer with the help of your communicator.

“I’ve hacked into the admin menu and changed the transceiver code; we need to use it to change lanes and stuff – to move up and down.” You scroll though the options in front of you, displaying in English now, rather than the the native Eloma language. Maybe the native Mraden language, you think wryly, as you find a setting which taps into the city’s store directory.

“There’s a hardware store in a block a couple of miles east of here. I know we can’t trust anyone but I think we may have to try. As far as I can tell it’s quite low down – only on the second level. I think it’s more likely to be Ginera than Mraden.”

Chris pauses from where he’s examining the controls. “We may be better off with the Ginera. I’m willing to bet our captors were a fringe group. I’m sure a lot of the Ginera agree with their goals, but probably not their means. They may be less inclined to report us to the authorities.” He nods. “All right. Strap in. Let’s get this show on the road,” he says, as he presses the ignition.

You look out the windshield at the street around you as Chris gets the speeder moving; with all your running away earlier you hadn’t paid attention to your surroundings beyond wondering whether you could be seen. It’s grey, down here. Drab, even with all the colourful advertising signs. There’s a layer of grime, something dirty in the atmosphere.

You stare out the window as you drive, keeping an eye out for law enforcement, but you don’t see any. As you get further east the traffic gets a little lighter. You eye Chris sidelong; he seems relaxed as he navigates the unfamiliar city.

“Time to go up,” he says, pressing a control and pulling a lever. You see a flashing indicator to see you have permission to change level, and then you’re ascending.

You’ve spent lots of time in shuttles, piloted yourself in an out of orbit more than a few times, but it feels different in a speeder. More immediate, somehow.

Up here the traffic is moving faster, and you see many different speeders, in all colours and all designs. Some of the buildings have balconies with people, mainly Ginera, sitting reading, hanging out washing – a slice of daily life.

You pass a major junction, impressed with how Chris is handling the traffic signals, and the buildings change – the road is a bit wider, and the shops have speeder parks outside.

You wish your briefing notes had mentioned the local currency, not that knowing about it would do you any good.

“I think we’re here,” Chris says, as he slows the speeder down and sets it down in front of a shop. You look at the sign – you can’t read it but it has the same logo as in the store directory. “Will you be okay to go in alone? I think I should stay here...”

“In case we need to make a fast exit? Aye Captain.” You catch his eye and grin, unplugging the communicator and climbing out of the speeder.

Louvier would love this place, you think as you look around the dark interior. The aisles are narrow and full of parts, a few of which you recognise, and most of which you don’t. There are bins with various components like resistors and capacitors, and power supplies, regulator circuitry, almost anything you could want. Except, as far as you can see, the thing you need – a transmitter.

At the back of the store, sitting behind a counter, is an older Ginera female, hair greying a little, screwdriver tucked behind her ear as she focuses on soldering a circuit. You wait for her to put the iron down.

“Excuse me? I’m wondering if you can help.” She looks up and her eyes widen – she can’t see aliens too often, you think.

“You—” she frowns, shakes her head. “You’re from that starship. But the news net said you were dead. Murdered by those GLG kids.”

“You, um... can’t believe everything you see on the net?”

“They said that the legislature was going to be recalled. That your people are going to come and punish us.”

“That’s—that’s not who we are, at all. Even if some kids had killed us the Federation would never retaliate like that. They would try to find us, if they thought we were alive, and it might complicate negotiations between our peoples but there would be no punishment. But... how many did they say died?”

“The two of you who were abducted from the first couple’s garden.”

Spock and James were safe. The fist bit of good news you’d had today.

“I really need to call my ship, let them know that we’re alive. But my communicator is broken. Do you have a micro transmitter? Something like this?”

You lean down over the low counter to show her your broken component.

“I’m sorry,” she says, shaking her head. “Nothing I’ve got here would be able to take the power you’d need for orbital communications. We don’t need things like that down here.”

Your shoulders slump. “Thanks anyway,” you say, straightening up.

“Wait. My cousin works in a shop at the shipyards by the spaceport. He’ll have what you need.” She rummages under the counter and produces a business card. “That will show you the way. His name is Jima. Tell him Asba sent you, he’ll give it to you for free.”

“Thank you, so much,” you say, taking the card and putting it in your pocket. “You don’t know how grateful I am, truly.”

“You’re welcome, love.” She turns her soldering iron on again, and smiles at you before getting back to work. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“So am I,” you say, as you turn to leave the shop.

“I have good news and bad news,” you say, as you plug the communicator back into the speeder and put the card into a slot that’s clearly designed for such things: a route shows up on the screen.

“Bad news first,” Chris says with a wry smile, easing the speeder back into traffic. “Although I can guess what it is considering we’re not calling for a beam out right now.”

“ I should have said great, good, bad and worse. You’re right about the bad news – she didn’t have the part. The worse news is that she thinks we’re dead and the Federation is going to come and get revenge on the planet.”

“The Federation will what?” Chris almost swerves into another speeder as he takes the turn late, narrowly missing and causing the other speeder to honk its horn angrily. “Sorry about that,” he adds, a little sheepish.

“My fault for not warning you before dropping bombs. But the good news is Asba in the shop gave us the route you’re following to the shop where her cousin works near the spaceport. And the great news is that we were the only ones captured – Spock and James should be fine.”

“Oh thank god,” he says, fervent.

You access the speeder’s admin menu again as he drives and change the transceiver code again, mainly for something to do, but partly in case the driver of the speeder you nearly hit decides to call the authorities. Then you review your route. The shop you’re going to is several levels higher than you are now; you hope your speeder won’t stick out too much up there.

There are plenty of new things to see out the window, though. As you get higher the buildings are cleaner, windows larger. The shops you see have more elaborate displays with fancier goods, there are more Mraden around, and, as the light begins to turn golden, you pass your first park, full of Mraden children playing.

“The GLG had a point,” you say, almost to yourself.

“In what way?”

“The higher you get, the nicer it is, and the more Madren I’m seeing. Obviously their methods are wrong but... I kind of get it.”

“When we get out of here, I’m going to tell the Federation negotiators that we shouldn’t agree to anything without conditions of the Ginera being discussed. It feels a little like letting the bad guys get what they want in a way, but you can’t make an entire culture suffer because a couple of kids make a stupid choice.”

“And they were probably manipulated, too. That doesn’t excuse them, but—” you lock eyes with a Mraden enforcer as you pass a junction. She recognises you, even through the glass, and mutters into a communicator of some kind.

”But?”

“We’ve been spotted. Turn left! Now!”

Chris makes the turn, speeding up as he also changes up a level. He weaves in and out of traffic, trying to shake your tail, while you hold on for dear life, glad that you strapped in.

“Relax,” he says, as he takes another alarming turn, flying away from another chorus of horns. “My first assignment in Starfleet was as a test pilot.”

“That’s... um... good to know,” you say, weakly, as he brings you up another level and slows sharply. He takes the next turn at a much more sedate pace, before spotting an empty lane in front of you and speeding up again.

“Are we nearly there yet?” You ask, getting a laugh.

“Actually we are.” As you look around you realise you’re on the edge of the industrial district. Ahead you can just see some star ships, a large freighter and shuttles flying around it. “And hopefully we lost them.”

You reset the transceiver code for the third time, back to its factory default, as Chris makes a right between two tall buildings. You switch the transceiver off completely before he makes two more turns; hopefully it’s owner will be able to pick up the signal when it came on again and find it.

“I’ll come too this time.” Chris says, opening his door.

“Thank you for not crashing,” you say as you exit the speeder.

“Any time,” he says, and you both laugh as you enter the shop.

Where the last shop was cramped, this one is spacious. You recognise a lot more components here; they’re not Federation but they’re ship components and you understand what they do.

You and Chris find the small bin with the piece you need pretty quickly, but it’s locked, and you look around for help. You feel eyes on your back and you turn to see a Ginera male looking at you curiously.

“Excuse me,” you say, tone polite and not too eager, “do you know Jima? We’re looking for him.”

“I’m Jima,” he says, stepping closer. Chris puts his hand on your back; for your sake or his you can’t say.

“Asba sent us. She said you could help me get a component to fix my communicator?”

“Is this what you need?” He indicates the bin you were looking at. He pitches his voice quiet and you match it.

“Yes. This is the one I need.”

He unlocks the bin, takes a couple of transmitters out, and beckons you to follow, keeping an eye on the only other customer, a Mraden male. You pass between the aisles to the edge of the store, quietly following his lead, and go through a doorway.

“Asba called me, said you’d be coming. She also said to keep you out of sight. You should be safe here, to fix your tech. Call me if you need anything.” He steps back through the doorway as you hear some other customers enter the shop.

You put that out of mind though, as you hand Chris the communicator while you get your tools out. You can feel tension radiating off him as you take it back but you ignore that too. This is fixing things. It’s what you do. You open the cover and slot the component in, bending a couple of pins to fit and adjusting the power output to compensate for the non standard part.

“They were seen in this area. The speeder they stole is just out here.” Even though you’re concentrating, you can’t shut off your ears entirely. The people you thought were customers when they entered? Law enforcement.

You shut the cover again and hand it back to Chris.

“Didn’t I see them with you, Jima? They must be in the overflow storage.”

You hear loud footsteps as Chris says, “Pike to Enterprise! Get us out of here now!”

He reaches for your hand catching hold as the Mraden enforcement officers come through the door, and the gold light takes you, leaving them staring.

You thought you were glad to get back to Enterprise after you were on Earth. But that was nothing to how you feel now. You keep it together, however, in front of Number One, Spock, and the transporter technician.

“They said you were dead,”Number One says in greeting. “They showed us the burning building. They showed us your burnt communicator with the power cell removed. They said that was the only thing that survived.”

“What’s the quote? ‘The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated’?” Pike shrugs, giving her a half smile.

“ ‘The report of my death was an exaggeration.’ I’m glad you’re okay, Chris, but don’t do that to me again. At least not for another month.”

You shower in your own quarters, having got your bruise treated in sickbay, trying to calm down. Away missions are still a lot. Chris told you to take twenty four before reporting for duty again, and you will, but you get a report written first – you need to make sure that Jima and Asba are safe, and that the ship sends some compensation to the person whose speeder you stole. That done, you check with the computer, change into civvies and join Chris in his quarters.

“Hey,” he says as you walk in, standing from where he was sitting by the window and drawing you into a hug, then a soft kiss. You bring a hand up to his face, running you fingers over the stubble that’s there after a very long day, and kiss him back, heated, your lips moving across his, his tongue licking into your mouth. You pull apart, staring up into his blue eyes.

“You were right,” he says, drawing you across the room to sit next to him on the couch. “There was a Mraden plot. Nera and Lakir have resigned, although they claim they didn’t know what was going on, and Tura and Sama, the Ginera second couple, have taken power until they can hold new elections. It’s going to be a tough road for Eloma, if they’re going to properly confront their problems, but the Federation will help.”

“I’m glad,” you say, leaning into him, enjoying how safe you feel with his arm around you. “I—I hope those boys’ sacrifice turns out to be worth it.”

“Yeah,” he says, kissing your head, and you sit in silence for few minutes.

“Dinner?” He asks eventually.

“Yes if we can have your chilli again. I think we’ve earned it.”

“Oh you definitely did,” he replies, standing to go over to the synthesiser.

“Lieutenant?” It’s two days later and you’re on your way to Engineering from the mess hall. You turn in the corridor, to see Number One standing there, an amused expression on her face.

“Commander?”

“Next time he asks you to go on an away mission, just say no.”

#christopher pike #christopher pike x reader #christopher pike x you #Captain Pike #writings of the girl from outer space #fanfic #fanfiction #star trek discovery #star trek strange new worlds #writer wednesday #The Engineer's Adventures

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