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shadowbriar · 10 months

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Regulus Black - Asking for a Friend

Pairing : Regulus Black x (she/her) Reader Word Count : 4.4k Warning : I'm not sure if there's any, but let me know if I missed any. Synopsis : Regulus comes to the realisation that the admiration he holds of her was more than a platonic one and it just so happen that Valentine's day was just around the corner. Notes : Post no 2 for my 1 Year Anniversary Celebration. Don't forget to fill the form here if you'd like to be tagged for my future works. If you like this story and would like to support me, please visit my kofi page and perhaps get me a coffee?☕ Regulus Black's Masterlist click here. Taglist : @jsjcue @coffeehurricanes @ell0ra-br3kk3r @kaz-mf-brekker @sofiacblair @when-you-cant-think-of-anything

“Have you ever had a friend that you're just so fond of and you wish that your partner would be just like them?”

Regulus’ question broke the stillness of the table, making his study mates to look up. Now Pandora, having been known to be the most studious of the group, has always hated it when someone causes any distraction in their study sessions yet for this one particular topic, she seems to be intrigued rather than looking bothered. It isn’t everyday your best friend of 5 years would talk about their romantic interest, after all.

“Elaborate.” Pandora says, her brows knitted together.

“I mean, you know.. You wish that your partner would be just like them.”

Evan squints his eyes, seemingly confused at his brief explanation, “I’m not sure I’m following you, mate. Doesn’t that just simply mean that you fancy them?”

The nonchalant expression on Regulus’ face turns blank in an instant. As if someone has just flicked the light bulb on top of his head, clearing the haze that has been fogging his mind. The sudden clarity has knocked him for six. Is that truly what it means? Days spent silently praising her beauty and nights wasted recalling their conversations were because he fancies her?

Over the years Regulus would find more of her personality to be his weakness, growing the softest spot in his heart specially reserved for her. He would always admire her witty comments, how she always conveyed her mind with the most articulate and intelligent words. Her friendly and warm nature is always something he adores and the way she would always listen to every worthless remark Regulus has with that magnetising smile and understanding eyes, it was impossible for Regulus to not wish his partner would be someone like her.

“So,” Barty asks, nudging on the raven haired boy with a teasing smile “Which friend do we fancy?”

Regulus’ cheeks turn rosy. All hell would break loose if Barty or Evan found out about it. Those boys are as good as a toothpick for a door bolt. The moment they knew about his growing affection for her, they would most immediately spill the beans and make things awkward between them.

And no, Regulus could certainly never have that.

“No one.” Regulus lies as he looks back down to his parchment paper “We fancy no one.”

“Oh come on now, Big Boy.” Barty whines “You’ve ripped off the bandage, might as well show us the scar.”

Regulus rolls his eyes, attempting to look as nonchalant as he could, “You’re fond of Evan’s presence, doesn’t mean you fancy him now, do you?”

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t say that’s impossible.” Barty jests as he begins to make fake kissing expressions to Evan.

“Oh, my Darling, Barty Bear.” Evan indulges in his best friend’s stunt, fake snogging Barty.

Regulus’ lips twitch into a smile, amused at the play-act his best friends are performing. He let out a relieved sigh, knowing that he’s just flee himself from being pestered by questions about his crush, but when he turned his gaze to the only girl at the table, Regulus knew that the little smirk plastered on Pandora’s face would be a form of nightmare he’ll be facing from that day onwards. He knows that she wouldn’t rest until he gives out a name and though she looks like she already knows who the lucky girl is, Regulus is certain that Pandora wouldn’t show him any mercy from the teasing and taunts.

—-

Dinner has been hard to swallow ever since the realisation of his budding infatuation for her. Regulus finds it impossible to not glance at her table, watching her from his peripheral vision as she chats and laughs with her group of friends. Whatever joke Barty throws or moans Evan has about his class have entered and left his ear like an insignificant noise, mind completely enamoured with her candid beauty.

His grip on the fork only tightens as he realises that she was walking to their table, a brilliant smile decorating her face as she takes a seat next to him, “Evening my favourite Serpents.”

“Fantastic, you’re here!” Evan exclaims gleefully, taking her hands to his that made Regulus’ stomach drop a little “Regulus here has been so out of it since this afternoon, we think he’s broken.”

Barty nods eagerly, “He didn’t even twitch a muscle at my joke and mind you it was bloody brilliant!”

She let out a chuckle, looking at Regulus lovingly (at least in his mind) before turning back to face Evan and Barty. Now the words exchanged between the five of them have gone from a trifling noise to a completely deafen sound. His eyes were glued on hers, taking mental notes of all the little gestures she made. How she would close her eyes shut whenever she laughs, how her brows crinkled more often than not, and how her cheekbones pop wherever she smiles, making her look a thousand times more hypnotising.

Now it was nothing out of the ordinary for Regulus to be the most quiet party of the table, but the little to no words uttered by him was making her suspicious. Sure it wouldn’t be the first time he would watch her intently and just agree with whatever is being discussed, but something’s different this time. The way his shoulder relaxes and how the small curl on his lip never waters was making her feel a little bit flustered to say the least.

“You’re awfully quiet,” She says as she turns to the lovestruck boy, resting her chin on her palm to stare back at him “Cat caught your tongue?”

Regulus blinks, gulping at the close proximity, “Just— Didn’t really have anything to say, is all.”

“Really?” She asks with a raised brow “That’s very unlike you.”

“How is it unlike me?”

“Well, you always have something to say. Whether or not you speak of it is an entirely different conversation to have, but you always have something to say, Regulus.”

Regulus bites his inner cheek. How is it that she could read him like an open book? Was he really that transparent or was he really that spellbound in her charms?

“Don’t bother him. Big boy here is trying to sort his feelings out.” Evan retorts.

“Really?” She replies, amused “What sort of feelings?”

“The loving, sappy kind of feelings.” Barty mocks “Regulus is in love.”

“Shut up, Barty!”

Regulus turns to her, uneasy over the fact that she might figure out his little secret but the look on her face was disheartening. As much as he wished he could have just half of her ability to read him, it was nearly impossible for Regulus to decipher her expression. She was staring back at him, her brows knitted as if she’s trying to read through him too but wasn’t sure on what to look at. It was a whole new expression he’s never seen before.

“Reggie wouldn’t give us the name,” Evan continues, completely oblivious of the awkward tension rising “Can we take a guess, Reg? Say yes if we guess correctly?”

“I bet it’s that girl Regulus always sits next to in Potion.” Barty mutters.

“Or that girl Regulus did his Herbology essay with. They spent weeks on that assignment, remember?” Evan counters “Or maybe that Gryffindor—,”

“It’s not any of those girls,” Pandora cuts.

“How would you know?” Evan asked.

“Oh, I just do,” Pandora says with a confident shrug, turning to Regulus “Don’t I, Reg?”

Regulus shakes his head, still trying to do the most possible damage control though he knew that such effort seems fruitless now. Cat’s out of the bag. It would only be a matter of time now until she realises that she’s the girl he’s been swooning over.

Ironic how long it took for him to realise that he fancies her yet it took no time for the secret to be spilled.

“Don’t push his buttons, guys,” She says with a warm laughter “If Regulus doesn’t want to drop names, then let him. It’s not our business now, is it?”

Now Regulus frowns a little. Her words sting a way he was never familiar with. What does she mean that it isn’t their business? Does she not care about who he’s crushing on?

“If you say so,” Pandora said to her, winking as if there was some secret message sent between the two.

Regulus studies her expression intently, trying to see if Pandora has cracked his secret and is now spilling it to her. Salazar, Regulus hopes that that wasn’t the case. He needs time to sort out his feelings, as Evan said, and if she found out about his budding infatuation before he could figure out a proper way to profess it— Well, Regulus hoped that it would never get to that point. Ever.

—-

If Regulus was ever asked, which of the following could ever compare to the beauty that is her: sun, moon, or star, Regulus would argue that she is the beautiful crescent moon with its bright yet soft light washing over his skin as he stares at her silently on his window pane. Regulus would argue, if he ever allows himself to be so bold, that she is his ideal. Her intelligence not to mention beauty would be the sweet honey to his tea, the butterfly to his garden of flowers.

But Regulus was never half as confident as she is. Never half as open and friendly to others. He was reserved, quiet, oftentimes perceived as cold and callous. But not to her. She could always see him through his distant exterior, involving him in every discussion they would have and perhaps that was the one thing that made him yield his heart to her.

Regulus never paid any mind to big dates and celebrations, but something about the upcoming Valentines date shakes his core. Perhaps it was the fact that it fell on the very day of their Hogsmeade trip this week, or the fact that all of his friends were buzzing about who they're going to ask to be their Valentines date, or maybe the fact that for once, Regulus might have a proper chance to ask her to be his date.

Chance. That word felt too optimistic for his presumptive mind. It was as if she ever looked at him that way.

“Regulus?” She called and squeezed his forearm lightly, making him burst his bubble of thought. He turns to her, cheeks slightly rosy from the shame of having ignored her. Just how pathetic he is to zoned out about her when she's sitting right beside him “Are you alright? You've been off of it all morning, I’ve noticed.”

He nods, flashing a shy smile, “All is well, no worries.”

She smiles, taking her hand off of him and continues her work.

Regulus turns his head, stopping at the sight of some Ravenclaw boy asking some Hufflepuff girl by the library entrance. The bashful gesture he’s showing and the giddy smile she shows makes it easy for him to tell the situation is happening at the spot. Another couple for the Valentine's Hogsmeade trip, he reckons.

A little twist in his stomach grows. With the many people asking each other out for the Hogsmeade trip, it would only be normal for him to ask her too, right? The timing was right, they could just go as friends in the worst case scenario. All he has to do is ask, but why are the words stuck at the tip of his tongue?

“Actually,” Regulus starts, secretly playing with the hem of his robe in nervousness “I have something to ask you.”

She looks up, meeting him with a warm smile, “Shoot.”

“I was wondering if you have a date for the Hogsmeade trip?”

“Oh,” She answers, utterly taken aback by his question. A hint of rosiness spread on her cheeks, something Regulus has to convince himself has nothing to do with his question. She always has that natural flush on her face, surely it must be nothing as pleasant as his stupid heart is hoping for “No, I don’t have a date at the moment. Why do you ask?”

“Just.. Asking for a friend.”

Regulus mentally slapped himself, having to be defeated by his anxiety once again that he has to come up with a lie. She stares at him with a confused look, the glimmer on her eyes dims down from the words he uttered. It was as if she was disappointed at his answer.

“I see,” She says with a nod “Do you plan to ask anyone?”

“Not sure,” He answers truthfully “Do you have anyone you hope would ask you?”

She plays with her quill, tapping it to the parchment paper as if she was piecing the right words to reply to him, “I suppose I do but I’m not counting on it.”

Regulus frowns, ignoring the slight crack of his heart, “Who?”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

Regulus pursed his lips, acting to be in a deep thought, “No.”

She chuckles, turning back to her paperwork.

“But, if—” Regulus calls again, not wanting to end their conversation just yet “If my friend were to ask you, would you say yes?”

“Well it truly depends on which friend you’re talking about now, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but what is the possibility of you saying yes to my said friend? 50%? 60%? Or are you fully waiting for your prince charming to ask you?”

She stares at him with a smile, looking completely amused at the questions thrown at her. If she didn’t know better she would think that Regulus was asking for himself from all the persistent queries, but then of course, we all know how Regulus Black is. No girl in this castle is good enough for him and this rule applies to her too.

“Why don’t you just tell this friend to come to me himself, hm?” She answers, resting her chin on her palm and stares at him fondly “I truly can’t give you any answers unless you give me a name, Reg.”

“It’s Evan.” He blurts, cheeks feeling hot from her gaze.

“Rosier?” She asks with a raised eyebrow “I thought he’s going with Pandora? I was sure she told me he asked her last week.”

“Did I say Evan? I meant Barty.” Regulus fake coughed, clearing his throat “Barty wanted to ask you to be his date.”

The soft and gentle expression on her face turns into an appalled one, bewildered at the answer Regulus gives. His brain has haywired that he neglected the fact that Barty was her cousin, and though cousin romance is deemed acceptable in the wizarding world, Barty and her would never pursue each other romantically for one too many reasons. If Regulus could just tame his nervousness for just a degree, he would’ve realised how idiotic his answer was.

“Barty wants to be my date?” She asks, trying to confirm his answer that sounded like a death sentence for her.

Regulus nods, “He does.”

She narrows her eyes, trying to catch his lie but the stern and rigid expression on Regulus’ face makes her question her own mind. Regulus was never one to be deceitful yet the idea of Barty wanting to ask her to be his date is just as illogical. The only plausible reason behind such a stunt would be them trying to pull some prank on her, but even with that, Regulus was never one to ever indulge in the mischief her cousin and Rosier would always find themselves in.

“I— Well, I guess you should tell him to ask me himself?” She answers, questioning herself.

“I’ll do that,” Regulus nods firmly, trying to keep his act in place “I’ll tell him you said that.”

—-

A couple of days has passed ever since that incident of him blurting Barty’s name at the library. Regulus was still ever so stressed out to ask her himself that he still hasn’t realised the stupid mistake he’s done. Now with the Hogsmeade trip coming closer, Regulus really has no other time but now to ask her.

Yet before he could do so, the universe crushed his dream.

Barty entered the Slytherin Common Room with the brightest grin on his face, making Evan, Regulus, and Pandora look at each other from the strange sight. He jumps to the sofa, sighing with delight as he lay on it and rests his feet to the hand rest. Barty turns to see his friends who now still look at him with a baffled expression, enjoying the sight and looking forward to stomping on one of them in the next minute.

“Gentlemen,” Barty greets before turning to Pandora “My Lady.”

“What’s with you?” Evan asks, an amused smile plastered on his face “You look like you’ve just won a lottery.”

“Even better, I just got a date.”

Regulus raised an eyebrow, “A date? Who?”

Barty coos, saying her name.

“Wait, isn’t she—”

“Brilliant, indeed.” Barty cuts, not letting Evan to correct the fact that they’re cousins. He shot him a look, one that conveys I’ll tell you later and Evan nods in understanding.

Colour drains from Regulus’ face. Just when he finally gathered enough courage to come forward, he just has to be beaten to the race. By Barty of all people. Supposed she came and asked Barty about their conversation that day and knowing Barty, he would never let such an opportunity slip. Who would ever not want to have her as their date after all?

“Who would’ve thought, right?” Barty fawns, pouring Regulus’ jealousy with petrol “Barty Crouch Jr having such a beautiful bird as his date for Valentine's.”

Evan was eyeing his friend with a sceptical look, clearly lost at the scheme Barty was pulling, “Barty, can I see that Transfiguration homework you promised me now? I have quite a lot to catch up on.”

“Sure,” Barty says, catching Evan’s bullshit right away as he stood from the sofa “It’s in my room.”

And so the two boys left, leaving Regulus who looks like he’s second away from vomiting all contents of his stomach and Pandora who’s casually flipping the pages of a magazine in her hand, an all knowing smirk present on her lips.

“Pandora,” Regulus calls, eyes still vacant “Do you have your wand with you?”

Pandora hums.

“Please hex me to death right now.”

The girl laughs at his request. Pandora put down the magazine and looked at Regulus with a teasing smile, “Why would you ask me that, Reggie?”

Regulus glares, “You know why. I saw your smile the other day when she came to our table. You know about it, don’t you?”

“About what?”

“That I was crushing on her.”

Pandora shrugs, “Maybe.”

“Ugh,” Regulus crowls “What am I to do now?”

Pandora chuckles, patting Regulus’ shoulder in an attempt to console him. Pandora felt cruel now to be the one to suggest the prank, to tell her and Barty to go on a fake date just to mess with Regulus. In her defence, out of the five of them, it seems like Regulus is the only one who doesn’t realise his growing affection for her. It was a public secret for the group now that he’s been sending her heart eyes. All he needed was a push and Pandora felt like it was her duty to help him.

Even when Regulus would surely throw a fit once he knew she was the mastermind behind his distraught now.

“Why don’t you just come to Hogsmeade, Reg?” Pandora suggests, playing the innocent supportive friend now “If their date doesn’t go well, you can go and rescue her.”

Regulus turns to see Pandora, his eyes hopeful at the advice, “You think so?”

“Yeah,” Pandora encourages “I mean, how many similarities does she have with Barty? Almost none. I’m pretty sure their date will turn downhill the moment they step into Madam Puddifoot’s shop.”

“How do you know they’ll go to Madam Puddifoot’s?”

Pandora shrugs, “Don’t all couples go there?”

Regulus bites his inner cheek as he gives it a thought. The idea of her going to such a sappy tea shop with Barty peels his skin. It should be him and her, not Barty and her. What was in her bloody mind to ever say yes to Barty’s invite in the first place?

“Fine,” Regulus says with an exasperated sigh “I’ll go to Hogsmeade.”

—-

Regulus’ tea has long gone cold, untouched as he impatiently waits for her and Barty to enter the tea shop. He figured, if they wanted to have their date here, where else would be the best place to spy on them than the very shop itself? So he got himself a table, ordered himself tea and biscuits that only served as props on his table, while his eyes were glued to the door. Every jingle of the bell felt like an invisible blade thrown to pierce his heart.

He looks down to his watch. It’s been more than an hour now. When would they come? How long should he wait? Will they even come to this tea shop like Pandora said?

Before his head could explode with more questions, Regulus’ breath was held on his chest as she finally entered the establishment. Her cheeks were rosy, probably from the cold wind outside. Regulus wished he could take a picture of her now because Merlin, just how hypnotising could she be?

To think that she dressed up for a date with Barty crushes him, but where even is Barty?

Regulus’ brows were raised now. Did Barty stood her up? Is that why she’s alone now? But she doesn’t look the slightest bit annoyed or sad if such a scenario did occur. She has her eyes scanning the tables now, looking for something, someone, and when their eyes meet, her smile blooms and walks closer to him.

“Hello, there,” She greets, pointing at the empty seat in front of him “Is this seat taken?”

Regulus shakes his head, in loss of words as he tries to assess the situation happening.

She happily took her seat, ordering herself something to drink before turning back to Regulus. Her gaze met his, hands clasped on the table. Her brilliant smile was still evident and it’s making Regulus feel like he could melt and die right on that instant.

“So,” She started, her tone cheerful “What are you doing here, Regulus?”

“I— Uh—” Regulus stutters “I— I was supposed to meet someone.”

“Really?” She asks, intrigued “Who?”

“Just— No one important.” He answers, running his palms to his trousers in nervousness “What are you doing here? I heard you have a date with Barty today. Where is he?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Did he stood you up?” Regulus asked, his anger starting to rise. How dare he stood her up?

“Oh, no, he didn’t. I just cancelled our date.” She says nonchalantly “I find it too cruel to proceed so I bailed on them.”

“Cruel? Them?” Regulus asked, confused “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you sweet soul,” She says with a gentle chuckle, taking one of his hands softly and caressing the back of it with her thumb “Who is it again that you said was asking me for a date?

“Barty.” Regulus says with a nervous gulp.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t truly him now, was it?” She asks “Cause I’m pretty sure Barty would never be interested in me in that way, seeing that we’re cousins.”

Regulus closes his eyes, letting out an embarrassed sigh. That day in the Common Room must have been some sick joke the other’s were pulling at him. How Barty entered with such a huge grin and Pandora’s pitiful yet teasing look at him. They both must have been the miscreants behind this humiliating act.

“I’m going to kill them,” Regulus mutters, not meeting her eyes.

“Please, don’t,” She answers with a laugh “They mean well, I promise you.”

“They’re making me look pathetic in front of you.”

“That’s debatable,” She remarks “I find it cute and adorable, to be honest. And to be fair, it was you who lied to me first. They’re just following your ruse.”

“I’m sorry,” Regulus says “Are you angry at me?”

“No,” She says, shaking her head “I was appalled at first, but then I realised that you might just be shy about it so I just brushed it off.”

Regulus nods, smiling at her weakly from her understanding.

Now what? He thought. Cats out of the bag, for good this time. What should he say now? What should he do? Would she like him to say anything about it? Do anything about it? What if she’s just here out of a friendly gesture? That she doesn’t want to embarrass himself further in front of the others?

But the tender gaze she gives to him now, the understanding smile and the gentle touch she’s giving him, it all feels like a supportive push for him to go forward. To finally embrace his realisation of affection and hand his heart to her now.

“So I guess you know already..” He begins “About my feelings.”

“I have a rough idea of it.” She teases.

“What do you think about it?”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, do you think it was okay? For me to fancy you?” Regulus asks, uncertainty bleeding out of his voice “Would it be okay if I like you?”

“If it wasn’t okay with me I wouldn’t be here with you, would I?” She argues, her kind smile still tugging on her lips “I do have to confess that I expected more than just ‘fancy’ or ‘like’. I thought we’ve gone past that phase already.”

“We?”

She raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t really think that this flows one way, did you?”

“I— I don’t know.”

“Oh, you blind child,” She chuckles “I fancy you too, Regulus. Perhaps even more than that.”

“I— Really?” Regulus asks, blushing yet still trying to understand her words as if she’s been speaking in a different language “This better not be another prank you and Pandora or Barty or Evan is pulling on me.”

She chuckles, “It’s not, I can assure you.”

“Prove it.”

She squints her eyes, giving his challenge a thought before standing a little from her seat. She begins to lean in, inching closer to his face and closing her eyes when their hot breaths begin to meet each other’s skin. She gives the lightest brush to his lips, so soft that it felt feather-like but still sent jolts of electricity down his spine.

She pulls away a little, still so close to him that their noses brush with each other. She gazes into his eyes, lovestruck and content, “Was that enough of a proof?”

“No,” Regulus breathes, whispering “Do it again.”

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look-at-the-soul · 11 months

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The way to a man’s heart

Tommy Shelby x reader (dark) -minor smut mentioned

Wrote this for my dear Lee @zablife 1.8 k celebration 🎉 congratulations my dear Lee! I wanted to write this for you remembering how much you made me enjoy dark stories and it’s a great excuse to wish you a thousand more followers, thank you for being so kind always, for always having something nice to offer and the absolutely brilliant ideas you share! ✨👏🏻

My first (and probably only) attemp to write a little “corrupt” story, this idea came to me naturally and I hope I was able to deliver the main point since it’s so far away from my usual fluff 🥰

They say food it’s the way to man’s heart. But to a man like Tommy Shelby who rarely eats and has a whiskey and cigarette for breakfast, that doesn’t make a huge difference.

Those methods wouldn’t work with a man like Tommy, he needed other kinds of resources.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Y/N fixed her hair and reapplied her lipstick. Stepping back into the bedroom, she found him in the same spot he was when she got up; lying on his back against the headboard and his eyes lost in some point at the ceiling, one of his hands touching the hem of the sheets covering his lower body.

She definitely took his breath away, it was easy to tell judging by his post-sex drunk state. Who was she trying to fool? Y/N knew the kind of power she held over him.

His blue eyes covered by his specs followed her every move as she walked towards the bed wearing only the bottom part of her silky underwear, her hips swaying to a tune that him weak, not only physically, but emotionally.

“You’re so quiet darling.” She purred in his ear, after climbing back into the bed.

“I missed you.” He admitted bluntly. “I don’t want you to leave ever again, you understand?”

Y/N started running her fingers over his chest hair. “You know why I did it, your family hates me.”

Tommy turned his head towards her.

“I’m so sad you believed them, over me.” She pouted. “I’d never betray you.”

“Nothing they do or say matters anymore, I know you didn’t… I trust you.”

“But they will try to tear us apart.” She complained, looking at her hands.

Tommy changed his position on the bed, leaning on his forearm, he used his other hand to make Y/N look at him. “I’ll protect you, from now on you’re my only priority.”

“How could they even imagine I was the one who got them arrested? You never mentioned anything to me.” Y/N batted her eyelashes, one of her fingers removing an invisible tear.

“I shouldn’t have listen to them, I made a mistake but I’m trying to make it up to you for that.” Tommy’s fingers caressed her chin gently. The last thing he wanted was to upset her more than he already had. “I’m taking over this, I will demand every single one of my family to apologize to you.”

“No, Tommy that’ll cause a confrontation, specially with your aunt… I’m just so glad they got released on time, it was so close.” With a loud sigh, Y/N leaned her head on his shoulder, her soft hand running up and down his arm.

“You never told me how you were able to get the letters, those must be some pretty important contacts.” He recalled the really late night when she knocked on his door with a copy of each letter to release his family from the death sentence, Y/N saved them from getting hanged last minute. He would be forever grateful with her.

That’s when Tommy realized how much she loved him, how she was willing to do anything for him.

Y/N noticed his piercing eyes on her. “What?”

“Something is bothering you.” Tommy stated.

She shook her head. “It’s just… it’s not fair for you Tommy, look at everything you have gave your family, power, money, their lifestyle, everything they have it’s because of you… it wasn’t your fault the police took them.” She looked at him, batting her eyelashes. “And look at how they treat you? The lack of respect makes me feel annoyed, they won’t even talk to you although you somehow managed to save them from getting hanged.”

“They are all angry because of what happened. It must’ve been a shock to be so close to death.”

“Don’t try to justify their attitude towards you darling, you’re too good for them, you’re always cleaning up their mess, helping them with everything… they don’t deserve you.”

Tommy sighed, defeated, thinking of her words… she was right, his family couldn’t even thank him for getting them out of jail in one piece.

“Look at this place, just the two of us, this is all we need. Just cut a little their privileges and you’ll see how they’ll come on their knees.”

“I understand they’re angry, but over time, they will come around.” He tried to reason.

“And then what? They will create more drama around me and try to make you turn your back at me, just like they already had, I’m worried because they almost succeeded.”

“I’m so glad you showed up in my office to explain me what happened with Pol.”

“She can’t stand that you’re better than her, I’m sure she wants her son to take over your place, you should be careful with your cousin I’m sure he’s after you.”

Tommy shook his head. “Michael isn’t like that, he’s just a lost kid, wants to blend in with the family.”

Y/N moved her hand lower, to a dangerous zone, over his hip bone. His member started to grow involuntary at the sensation of her warm palm close to his manhood.

“Arthur never listens to you and look at Finn, he’s always doing as he pleases.” Tommy hissed as her hand wrapped around his shaft and started dancing up and down. “You need to tighten the reins around your family or they will ruin your plans.”

But Tommy was already focusing on the feeling of her legs straddling him and the movements of her hand, taking him to a better place where he didn’t have to argue or yell or demand anything, she knew how to please him, she listened to him and his loud mind. In no time, he found himself inside of her, the only place where he could forget about every worry and doubt, her velvety walls fluttering around his hard member, her nails on his chest scratching him.

Demanding only pleasure from him.

And he delivered returning the pleasure she provoked in him.

Later the doorbell made her open her eyes, heavy from their love-making, Y/N looked down at the man sleeping in her arms. Careful to not wake Tommy up, she slid from under his body, covering her naked frame with the jacket of his suit.

Pretending to be surprised by the woman in front of her -because she called his aunt on behalf of Tommy-, she made evident the mark on her neck that Tommy left.

“Sorry for not inviting you in, but your nephew is sleeping.”

Polly shot her a shocked look mixed with all the contempt in her heart after realizing how she had fooled Tommy and turned everything around in her favor.

“Who’s it?” He asked from the top of the stairs.

Quickly, Y/N pulled Polly for a short hug to whisper in her ear:

“Next time the letter won’t arrive on time to save you from getting hanged. I want you and every fucking member of the family out of Tommy’s life.”

“You can’t do that.” Polly looked at her with terror in her eyes, why was she back with Tommy? After finding out all the lies she had him wrapped in, Polly tried to make Tommy open his eyes, but everything turned out wrong and they were back together.

“I’ve him by the balls, that’s stronger than any blood ties. It’s up to you if you want me to turn him against all of you.” Y/N gave Polly one smile that assured her victory before turning around to face Tommy. “Your aunt said she wants to talk to you, just be quick darling, I’ll be waiting in the bedroom.”

Standing on her tiptoes, Y/N pulled Tommy by the neck for a passionate kiss, she devoured his mouth completely, demanding the same response from him. Just one kiss and he was put into some kind of spell.

Tommy made sure Y/N was out of sight before grabbing Polly by the arm to make her stand closer to the door.

“Y/N explained me everything, I want you to apologize to her tomorrow and after that I want you out of the Shelby Company Ltd. I won’t be tolerating one more intrigues from you, she didn’t lie to me.”

“She’s manipulating you!” Polly hissed, shocked to see her nephew completely blinded by that woman.

“Pol stop! You thought you succeed but nothing you can do will take her away from me, she loves me and she forgave me for doubting her words.”

“How can you be so fool? She’s using sex to-”

“That’s what you came for? Ey?” Tommy raised his voice. “That’s all, I want your resignation letter tomorrow morning.” He placed his hand on Polly’s back to guide her out of his house.

“She lied!”

“Stop this bullshit Polly, Y/N didn’t know you shot Campbell because I never told her.”

Hiding in the dark, but close enough to hear, Y/N smiled pleased, Tommy didn’t know how much he could talk after several strong drinks and mixing it with the mind blowing sex and he could turn into the most talkative person.

But her smile grew bigger as she heard him yelling at his aunt, saying things Polly would never forgive him for, breaking their business partnership finally, just like she had planned all along.

“I knew she would try to tell you more lies about me.” She crossed her arms against her chest and slowed down her pace, hiding her grin with her hair.

Tommy’s arms found their way around her waist, in a comforting motion.

“I know you’re not lying to me,” he stated firmly. “We’re going to start over, away from this shit, ey?”

“Is that a promise?” She gave him her best puppy eyes.

“I swear to you, no one is coming between us.”

She felt Tommy kissing the top of her hair.

Now, she only needed to get rid of his brothers and convince him to put the company under her name.

****

Master List

Tag list: @lyarr24 @runnning-outof-time @cillmequick @datewithgianni @cloudofdisney @gretelshelby @gypsy-girl-08 @lespendy @onlydeadcells @fastfan @stevie75 @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @esposadomd @forbidden-forest-witch @ange-thoughts @moral-terpitude @elenavampire21 @forgottenpeakywriter @thenattitude @winchestergirl22 @heidimoreton @imichelle-l-rigby @allie131313 @already-broken144 @peakyscillian @babaohhhriley @shelbydelrey @shaddixlife @sloanexx @sydneyyyya @adaydreamaway08 @pono-pura-vida @thomashelbyswife @darleneslane

#That’s what Cill said #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x fem!reader #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby x you #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby fanfic #tommy Shelby smut #peaky blinder imagine

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shiny-jr · 2 years

Note

Oh man, just got caught up on all the Vil stuff of the last few days, and we simps be eating good!

So here’s my contribution to the ever-growing shrine: pre-confession darling always being polite to Vil, but a little distant, a little too star-struck to relax around him. Vil starts to wonder if he’s doing something wrong, if he isn’t good enough…

But THEN *dramatic music* darling’s bag falls over somehow, and some little Vil fan item falls out. Nothing crazy, maybe a button with his face on it, or a perfume model he advertised for that has his picture on the bottle. Something unmistakably fangirl-ish.

Darling only notices when Ace or Deuce points it out, then gets utterly mortified when she sees that Vil had also noticed. Stuffs it back in, tries to laugh it off, but can’t get away from the teasing that yeah, even though they’re still new to this world, they couldn’t resist spending some hard earned thaumarks, and that they’ve grown to admire Vil after the SDC.

Can you imagine? I’m sure Vil would be very nice and not too teasing in the moment, but the second he’s alone? Cue all the embarrassing squealing and rolling on the bed he’d never let anyone see. And the SMUGNESS!! Oh, he’ll be on cloud nine for the next few days, randomly smiling and causing heart attacks in the student population.

Even better, now knowing Darling is a fan, it’s SO much easier to get closer, to offer exclusive tickets to his next movie, to invite darling along on his next photo shoot. And any time darling gets embarrassed and tries to refuse, he can just catch their chin in his hand, and force eye contact as he pouts and reminds them that they’re his fan…

Warning: Yandere. Gender-neutral reader.

Characters: Vil Schoenheit.

Summary: Vil being a fucking simp for a fan MC.

Note: Y'all Vil simps have taken over this blog now. ARE YOU HAPPY? Had to write a bit for this because I saw it so vividly in my head. Normally I like to imagine MC kinda oblivious to trends and celebrities of Twisted Wonderland so they casually approach the elegant star Vil like "wazzup" but your idea is pretty fun too. Had to bust out my Vil playlist to write this one. ADDED: I just finished it. Have not edited or checked for mistakes. But I feel like its mid? Like, it’s not bad but it’s not good either. But I didn’t want to keep it in the drafts after completing it and I didn’t just want to delete it either. So I’ll post anyways, even though I’m not happy with it.

Normally the class consisted of the first years, you'd sit beside Ace and Deuce, usually with Grim seated in your lap. Sometimes Jack, Epel, and even Sebek would be in the same class. But this time you were alone, despite the class being busier than ever.

Ace, Deuce, and Grim were caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing, as per usual. And they were promptly sent to see the Headmaster. Surprisingly you weren't called up, probably because you had been in the bathroom when it went down so you were exempt from detention. Jack, Epel, and Sebek made it to class on time, but they had arrived when the only seats left were across the room. Leaving you seated between unfamiliar third-years because of the joint class today. Well, most of them were unfamiliar, not all of them. Seated directly on your left was Vil Schoenheit, third-year, dorm leader of Pomefiore, and celebrity.

Schoeneheit had greeted you amicably with a rather friendly smile and a how are you? To which you responded with your own nervous smile and a polite response. Truthfully, you believe he only sat beside you because it was one of the only seats left, but you'd like to believe it was because he saw you in a good light now. Were you friends? Probably not. Maybe simple acquaintances was a better term.

If you were being honest, he still intimidated you. You could recall the looks of disdain he often gave you and your companions before the audition, then there was his strict nature and the fact that he literally cursed your friends with a cake you were five seconds from taking a bite of. Not to mention his overblot and how his unhinged form seemed to focus on you so intently... Yeah, talk about nightmare fuel. But, you decided to give him another chance at possibly being friends. You knew he was famous, but you didn’t know he was famous enough to draw crowds. Which sparked your curiosity and led you to looking him up. What you found were various films, shows, advertisements, and magazines. He was like the actor Emma Watson, singer Britney Spears, and influencer Kim Kardashian all rolled into one. You still can’t believe you had no idea who he was and you had offered him a bowl of cheap instant noodles when he and the others were staying at Ramshackle. Embarrassing...

You sat rigidly as Vil checked his appearance in the small hand-held mirror, making sure his looks were up to his standards before class began. Uncomfortably you shifted, deciding to occupy yourself by removing your notebook and writing utensils from the bag you kept as a barrier between you and the super star. As you did so, you failed to notice a tiny object fall out of your bag, but he noticed out of the corner of his eye. Curiously he plucked it up between his gloved fingers, about to return it when he took a closer look.

It was an enamel pin, shiny and sparkling. However, it resembled his face. Or, to be more accurate, one of the characters he played in a recent series. It caused him to freeze, processing what this meant before he moved to tap your shoulder and held out his open palm with the pin on it. “You dropped this.”

Confused, you turned your head and raised your eyebrow. That’s when you saw it. Your pin in his hand, the pin that looked exactly like him. Mortified, you quickly snatched it, attempting to laugh it off, but heat only began to creep up your neck when you noticed his smug smile.

Vil propped up his elbow on the table, holding up his head as he remarked slyly, “I didn’t think you were a fan.”

“Ahaha, yeahhhh... Sorry, is that weird?”

“Not at all. I’m a little flattered.” Those amethyst eyes of his were studying you so intensely, watching your every little reaction. “I’m simply surprised. Most people tend to not like that character I portrayed, since they’re a villain and all.”

“What’s wrong with that? I think villains are better than good guys anyways. They always have a better fleshed out backstory or reason for what they do. They’re more relatable, you know? And you did a really good job and making the audience feel for the character! They became my favorite! And–– Ah...” Realizing what you were doing, you shut your mouth. “I mean, you probably get that stuff a lot, huh? I’ll stop now.”

His eyes were sparkling, surprised as his listened. When you paused, he insisted, “No, no, continue! Any and all feedback is appreciated. Besides,” Vil took the pin from your hands, and he lifted his fingers up to the upper half of your uniform where he pinned the accessory on your clothing. Beaming pridefully at the sight of the accessory, with his face on it, on your uniform, he hummed, “You said, I was your favorite, didn’t you? We still have a few more minutes before class. You’ll indulge me with more conversation, won’t you~?”

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

Once alone, Schoenheit allowed his bag to slip off his shoulder. It was a long class, three hours to be exact. Three hours... with you. He released a shaky breath, clutching the spot over his heart that was still beating at a faster than average rate. He could hardly believe his luck. When he heard that today there was to be a joint class between first-years and third-years, he instantly began prepping. He put more effort into his makeup, making sure it was perfect down to the exact particle. He sprayed on his sweetest smelling perfume and picked his cleanest uniform.

At first he was worried that perhaps he was doing something wrong. You always appeared so... timid whenever he appeared. You could be joking and chatting animatedly with those pesky friends of yours (which he held a raging jealously towards), but when he entered the room, you would go quiet and avoid his gaze. He questioned and scolded himself for everything he did. Why did he used to look at you like a stain? Why didn’t he realize you earlier? Were his efforts at redeeming himself in your eyes, not good enough? Was it something about the way he dressed? Or acted? Or spoke? All this paranoia seemingly evaporated when he striked up a conversation. For the first time in weeks, you talked to him! And it wasn’t just a little chat about homework, or responsibilities, or school rumors. You spoke to him, about him! He knew by the pin and how you spoke about the series, that you had seen him on the show. You had been thinking about him! It quelled all his worries, as just yesterday he feared that you may have secretly loathed him for what he’s done or tried to do.

As the memory came back to him of what just occurred, Vil clutched himself and squealed. He was already on the bed, rolling around on the sheets and pillows, resisting the urge to simply jump on his mattress and leap with joy! He could vividly recall the way you allowed him to scoot closer to point out some important material in the textbook, as you whispered a witty remark to him which he very quietly chuckled to in order to avoid being caught by the professor, and you even gave him your number! Of course it was to exchange notes and tips, you had said. But he’d use it for so much more than that.

This was good first step, wasn’t it? You had officially bypassed the acquaintance stage and were now well on your way to the friend stage. Then, more than that, by that was all in due time. For now...

Vil stopped his squirming, again feeling his heart that was now beating rapidly. Do you know the things he would do just for your attention? Oh, you truly have no idea of the lengths he would do, just for you. Gingerly picking up his phone, he read over the newly registered number. Your number. Slowly opening up a chat, he was partially disappointed to see it was completely empty. You hadn’t sent a thing. But, if all went well, it’d be full and constantly busy by tomorrow evening. His fingers danced across the screen as he typed out his message, reviewing what he wrote over and over again for any errors, any grammar mistakes, or another way to better word what he wants to say. Finally, after a good five minutes of anxiously staring at his screen, he pressed the send button, and watched the text come up in the chat.

V: [ It was nice to talk to you again. If you’re willing, we should meet again. I got word that Professor Trein plans to have another joint class promptly, and he’ll assign a project so that the first years and third years work together. Would you like to get ahead and research in the library soon? ]

Then he waited. And waited. And waited some more. After ten minutes, he feared he wouldn’t get a response. Had you given him the wrong number accidentally or purposefully? Was he coming on too strong? What if––

Ding!

Instantly the screen lit up, displaying a new unread message which he hurriedly read.

Y: [ Vil, right? Thanks for the heads up! Sorry for the kinda late reply Grim took my phone to play games. Anyways, yeah, that sounds good. I can meet you as soon as classes are over tomorrow, if that’s a good time for you?? ]

V: [ That sounds perfect. ]

You poor thing, you truly don’t have a clue about what you’re getting into, do you?

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

Again, Vil was prepared. He dressed flawlessly and got to the library early in order to have all the books necessary and stacked up on the table. He greeted you with a friendly smile, and you immediately got to work together. The blonde sat across from you, watching as you sketched out a rough look for the presentation that you wanted to show him and ask for his opinion. As he waited, he ignored the open book in front of him and instead watched at the way you focused on the paper, your hand moving with the pencil to create lines and shapes on the sheet. It was incredible that even the simple little things about you could captivate him.

After a moment of watching you with a gentle smile and great intrigue, he opened his mouth, “Do you have any plans for afterwards?”

You paused, looking up in confusion, “H-Huh?”

“Do you have any plans for afterwards?” He repeated. “I mean, after our study session together. Do you have anything planned for afterwards?”

“Oooh.” You shrugged before getting back to the sketch, answering as you finished up the drawing. “I mean, I left Grim with the ghosts but he gets grumpy if he doesn’t get tucked in. The Headmaster said Grim wasn’t allowed out, except classes, for at least two day. But, I might go buy some instant foods from Sam’s shop. Then I’ll lead home.”

“Instant foods...?” Vil murmured incredulously, his smile immediately dropping. All those times he’d spied on you as you ate lunch with your friends, he always thought it was strange that you never ate when he saw you. Despite your company and even Grim eating. But now this? Instant foods? Was it possible that you didn’t have enough money to eat lunch? He was mortified. Swiftly he grabbed your wrist and carefully dragged you out of the library, “Come. Now.”

“Wh–– What?? Where are we going? What about the project!”

“A simple project can wait. Our stuff will be where we left it.” He continued to escort you down the hallways, towards what you recognized was the path leading to the cafeteria. That’s when he spoke again, his tone oddly stern, much different from how softly he spoke just minutes before. “You haven’t been eating properly, have you?”

Your gaze drifted downwards, gazing at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, in order to avoid his stare. “... Hot pockets are still food.”

“I mean real food.” When there was a lack of response, Vil became angry. Not at you, but at who was responsible. “That wretched crow hasn’t given you a decent allowance, has he? Tsk. I’ll be having a chat with him, but for now...” He led you to the front of the cafeteria, where there was no line. Other few students present were chatting at tables, having a late dinners after their clubs or study sessions. Vil stood behind you with his arms crossed as he instructed, “Order. And I’ll be watching to be certain you have enough on your plate.”

You were quiet, gazing at the pastries, plates, meats, salads, and other delectable dishes past the glass counters. The menu overhead appeared endless, with a huge variety of food and drinks and desserts. It made your stomach grumble. It was a horrible reminder that you had barely eaten that day. You only had a cheap bag of chips that morning. Ashamed, you avoided his gaze once again as you muttered, “Vil, I can’t afford any of this right now...”

“I wasn’t asking if you could afford it. I was instructing you to choose what you wanted. I don’t want your money, you could just pay me back in another manner.” When one of the ghost chefs came over, Vil placed a hand over your shoulder and used his other hand to point at several dishes, “My companion here will have one of these, two of those, and five of that. Yes, that plate right there. Oh, and a smoothie as well. Thank you.” Once the ghost was gone, Vil gazed back down at you. You still couldn’t look him in the eye. Carefully he reached forward, gingerly lifting your head up by your chin so you were forced to look at his eyes. His eyes that were normally so cold and judgmental, gazed at you so fondly. “Why won’t you look at me? Aren’t were close?” He pouted to sell the act. “I’m not about to neglect my own darling fan and let them go hungry. That’d be far too cruel. To pay me back, you can accompany me on one of our days off. Say... to see a new movie in town? Well, do you agree? Or shall I order you more plates and see your time to pay me back grow longer~? Surely spending time with me can’t be that bad?”

#twisted wonderland #twst #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twst #vil schoenheit #twst vil #yandere vil schoenheit #soft yan vil

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diluclover300 · 3 months

Text

Just One Week (7)

Gojo Satoru x Female Reader

also posted on my ao3 account: diluclover300

CHAPTER INDEX:

I H8 U

My Kinda Fun

Balance

{S] Awake

Eggs and Rice

Wait, but I'm broke

Couple's Discount

CHAPTER 7: Couple's Discount

...

Satoru is beyond ecstatic, his vision sticky and gooey at the insane amount of silks and wools carefully hung and displayed. There's a catalog of clothes, an array of expensive clothes. Top-tier luxury brands, ones you'd catch celebrities sporting like a pair of pajamas at the local airport. Ones that he can caress between the delicate friction of his fingers as a warm smile spreads across his face like butter on toast. Oh, how lucky he is.

To reunite with his long-lost friend, whom he spent years tracking down, whom he was able to convince into allowing this moment to blossom into reality. He feels like a kid in a candy store, ogling at each piece of fabric, at each suit jacket and pant. And how tempting the sight is, how it tempts him to envelope himself in pure greed like a creature of sin.

The assortment of colors, the breathtaking pigments, the unique textures of each cloth...

The excitement is so wonderful, so captivating that he doesn't even begin to notice the woman greeting him at the door. He takes off like a rocket ship, roaming around the men's section. A maze that he hasn't ventured in, yet one that feels familiar and natural to navigate through pure instinct.

This must be heaven.

"I think he, uh... I'm so sorry if he causes trouble." You half-groan, head threatening to hang low at Gojo's energetic aura. "Thank you."

The woman nods, a typical response that you'd expect from someone working customer service. You've been in that position before, squeezing out an exhausted smile at something you had no idea how to respond to. Funny enough, your cheeks sting from the muscle memory.

You think to apologize once more, but you refrain, biting your tongue as you dejectedly follow after Gojo. He buries his head in a ring of hung-up clothes, swiping through each shirt like a potential match on Tinder.

"Oh? Do you frequent here often?"

You turn back, confusion overcoming your face.

"No, I've never been, actually." You slowly shake your head, examining the woman for a moment. "Why?"

That low bun of hers wrapped in a red scarf, and that sleek, white uniform doesn't ring a bell. Does she know you?

"Oh, sorry, it's just that your jacket... I couldn't help but notice that it is from our brand."

"Oh," You smile, the interaction as awkward as awkward gets. "That's weird, I never noticed."

You walk away with an understanding nod, fumbling with your lips as you fidget with the black jacket lying in the crook of your arm. Now that you think about it, it does feel like silk, expensive silk at that.

Maybe your memories have faded over the years. It's possible that you snagged this from another one of those annual holiday sales, sort of a bad habit you've accumulated. You always browsed for coats and blazers when no one was around to watch, hunching over that compact cubicle as you frantically refreshed your search engine. Occasionally, when someone would walk past or start conversation, you almost let out a guilty flinch out of fear for getting caught. Almost.

Nonetheless, the suggestion doesn't strike you. There's not a single instance where you, the loyal slave to some measly corporation, could justify the selfish purchase of a fancy coat. A coat was a coat, no matter the price. It would have torn up in that monster of a washing machine you own either. Not to mention the void and guilt that would stem from such an unnecessary purchase.

"Is that my jacket?" Weird. You don't expect it, but you recall the events from this morning. The skeptical look on his rather punchable face.

Your fingers trace over the sewn-in label, mumbling the brand to yourself. Even that leaves a pretentious, bitter taste on your tongue.

Nope, it doesn't ring a bell.

You suppose it's French, and to be honest, you don't have an opinion on the French. There are far more significant matters, at least in your opinion, than some species of European folk. Why would you spend your precious paycheck on such a useless thing?

Everything tells you, everything desperately grasps you by the shoulders and shakes you to your senses. And then you finally uncover the answer as to whether or not you "frequented" such a snobby, stuck-up place.

"I must be remembering things wrong.." Yeah, remembering things wrong, my ass, you think.

He lied. Oh dear, you really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And that certain white-haired culprit is currently nowhere to be seen. Quite frankly, you have no idea where you are either. You've lost yourself in the garden of consumerism, swarmed by the amount of clothes and designer bags laying in front of you. A landfill for the rich, you call it.

But it's peaceful for a bit as it is overwhelming. You're oddly calm when you take in the privilege of Gojo's absence, as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. A heavy one at that.

Five years was, and is too short, much too measly of a distance. If you had it your way, if the Earth rotated to the drumming of your feet, then you would have never known the words "Gojo Satoru". His face would have been an imaginative blur, those eyes nothing but a mere gaze, and those memories would become one of the infinite "what-ifs" of this universe.

And if you ran into him on a fateful spring day?

You would have abandoned destiny a long time ago, parted ways like ex-lovers. The occurrence would leave you as you were.

Still, steady, and normal.

These three values would have stuck with you, through thick and thin. But which one was it? You don't know what to call this incident. Was this the thick? Or was this the thin?

You wonder, mull over it for a bit before you're chained back into the prison of his presence. It's a game of push and pull.

This punishment of a game.

"Yo! Over here, Y/N." You look up from the leather jacket folded on the display shelf below you, eyes hooked onto that raised hand of his.

You seem to be on the receiving end, on both sides of that hellish spectrum.

"Okay." You make your way over to "here", that sigh of yours halted. You have something to ask him anyways, something about that jacket of his.

His hand is still held up high in the air while the rest of his body entangled in a rack of clothes. Stupid is as stupid does.

His and Hers, You regrettably read and fully understand the sign hanging overhead from the ceiling, along with the bolded words: NEW Spring Collection.

"Did you find something?" You only ask as a precaution, monitoring his spending habits. An awful habit that solely relied on you and you only for support.

That hand of his flails around before sinking down into the sea of clothes before him.

"You're here?" His hands scour and fish into the abyss, voice muffled into the ridiculous amount of suits and dresses stuffed in his face. "I'm surprised-"

A groan follows, the sound of plastic material ringing against his skull. A sound that you would have ignored because it seamlessly blended into the rapid snare of the radio-pop tune playing on the store's speakers. You could have paid it zero mind if not for the sheer amount of second-hand embarrassment that ensued from your witness of the scene.

"Careful there," You sneer, watching as his back contorts like a gymnast. "The higher-ups wouldn't want you to come back a complete moron."

Satoru chuckles, scrambling once more before putting an end to his short-lived visit to Narnia.

"I'm thankful for the concern." There's an array of clothes folded over his arm, and oh, does the sight worry. "Please continue to take great care of me, Y/N."

You give him a strange look, your lips curling in disgust. By no means were you concerned about him, worried about this bafoon of a man.

"You're dumb." It's a conclusion you should have come to earlier, really.

"Remind me," Satoru's gaze trails off into the air before landing on you. "Who was the one that lost to me last night?"

You're stumped, mouth opening before it shuts again. That unlucky "who" was you, the loser.

Gojo takes your defeat as an opening, a chance.

"Wanna try this on?" A dress is shoved into your face, along with that cheeky smile of his that peeks behind the cloth.

Your attention darts from Gojo to the pink, girlish dress.

The long-sleeves are puffed just by the slightest bit, and the material a bit translucent until you notice that there (thankfully) is a white cloth underneath to keep yourself covered. Your eyesight was just playing tricks on you. Okay, a bit of decency, you appreciate it. However, you think the skirt is just a little too short, but the sweetheart neckline does look kind of gorgeous, you'll admit.

"Whaddya think?" He reveals more of that hidden smile of his behind the blinding cloth, along with his now enlarged starry eyes. You don't take that as a good sign, it's more of warning. "Hm?"

Emotionally, you don't exactly feel inclined to wear it, nor does the idea entice you. Logically, you can't and don't want to afford a dress you could easily get for way cheaper on the internet. Besides, you'd rather focus on controlling the inevitable loss of your sweet, hard-earned cash if possible. And with the sleek look of the fabric, along with the carefully stitched in details - the item is nothing but a pure fantasy.

You intend to keep it that way.

"No-"

Again.

Again, again, and again! Satoru groans out of pure annoyance. You're using that word again. That boring word, the word which cages him in like a helpless bird, the word which is so draining, so terribly cruel, absolutely inhumane.

No.

How he resents the very existence, the very creation of that word. That word which rolls of your tongue without an ounce of hesitation.

"No?" Satoru interrupts, raising a brow before yanking off his glasses.

"Um.."

When you look into those eyes laced with the pure malice of the devil, your flesh tenses. Your muscles contract, a reaction not one of muscle memory, but one of cold-blooded fear.

"I, um..." Think, think, think! You can't seem to put two and two together no matter how much your brain tells you to.

When his eyes release a frosty residue into the air, when you watch the air melt against him, you lose your resolve. Stripped of it, left with the stubbornness lying underneath.

Telling Gojo Satoru "yes" - you'd rather lie cold in your grave.

"Is it still a no?"

No doubt about it, Satoru notices. Your stubbornness surprisingly (as if he hasn't calculated this reaction) clashes with his want.

Without a single word, you begrudgingly snatch the dress out of his loose grasp, eyes searching around for the dressing room as you turn on your heel, slumping with each step like a deflated skydancer.

"To your left." Satoru directs, burying the self-conceited excitement down his throat. "You're welcome."

Patience is a virtue, he repeats to himself, over and over as you disappear behind the racks of clothes in front of him.

...

You don't want to.

Oh, you really can't stand the look of it because the feeling this dress evokes in you is criminal. The definition of bi-polar, heck, even multi-polar as the fabric drapes around you.

A part of you, the mature side of you, loathes the sight. You feel girlish, frail, and overly-feminine, like a total joke of a woman. You gaze upon the mirror and shy from it, covering your eyes before you peek through your fingers out of pure embarrassment.

You were well-into your twenties at this point, a young age, but still... weren't you a little too old for this? You can't help but feel that way. With those bags underneath your eyes you look like a princess fresh out of a zombie apocalypse, not some cute, innocent-looking chick. Maybe you look a little fucked-up, honestly. Completely out of place.

Oh, whatever. You lightly squeeze and pick at the skirt, tracing the pleated lines.

There's another part of you as well, and you suppose it's your immature side. The side that pokes through your doubts like a roses' thorn.

It's pretty. You feel kind of special, like an actual princess or some kind of tacky, knock-off Barbie doll. Fluffing your hair, a pit forms in the bottom-left of your stomach, plague pooling up inside of you.

Envy, desire, selfishness begin to settle in. And to think that you strayed, parted ways with these three "friends" years ago. Only now do they make their grand reappearance.

So this is what it's like to be normal, isn't it? You ask yourself, only to receive no answer. Surely, this is what it's like to have the world at your fingertips, to have all your wants and desires served to you in silver platter, right?

You should be jumping up and down right now, squealing like a damn schoolgirl at the idea that you were living out a childhood fantasy of yours.

"It's nice," You mumble, almost as if you're trying to convince yourself to agree. The words don't stick as well as you hoped.

You're jealous, almost angry you've never got to experience something so trivial, so materialistic. Jujutsu training took up more than half of your youth and those high-school memories you so deeply craved only remained a simple dream. A selfish goal you could never achieve no matter which plan or path you took to get there. The consequences of your choices would always haunt you, and you suppose this is one of those instances when you see the faintest image of a little girl. A little girl with a pair of eyes all too similar, with a nose much like yours, with lips of the same nature.

You want to scream when your chest compresses against itself, eyes stinging and reddening.

How tormenting, you would have never imagined your reflection to be one of a burden as your fingers still against the fabric of that dress, lips rolling over each other as a ship sinks to the very bottom of your stomach's oceans.

You remember. You remember it all too well, those years in elementary school. One question stuck with you in particular.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

To first-grade you, that was a simple, easy question. So you churned out an answer with very little thought.

"I want to be happy! Like... forever?"

Hah. Simple.

You think, no, you thought that such a simple, inoffensive wish would allow your life to show you a bit of grace, a bit of fulfillment. You were wrong, damn it, you were so wrong that you let out a choked, cowardly sniffle. The little you wouldn't even want to see you face, she'd rather die than accept her reality-

"Yoo-hoo. It's been ten minutes, you done yet?"

You flinch at his voice, blinking profusely as you touch up your watering eyes. Being sad was one thing, but you were not going to cry around Gojo Satoru. Never.

"Hello-"

You swing the door open, feeling your eyelashes water before you speak. The sound of your voice is stupid as all can be, but what could you do? You were just crying to yourself like the main character in some cheaply-produced Disney movie.

"Hi." You frown, crossing your arms as you feel the wind blow against your bare legs. You don't even want to look at him right now. Why? He's not scary.

It's a silence so thick that follows, so thick that you can't even take in proper breaths from the air that lies between the two of you.

Gojo Satoru stares, and you hate it. You hate that equally thick stare lying behind those glasses of his, seriously. You want to hide away, crawl into a hole when he hums like that, sucking in his lips as he examines you like a zoo animal. You're going ballistic and all you can do is stand there with your arms crossed as a defense. It's insulting because you're aware of how ridiculous the thing looks on you. Insulting because he makes it so obvious that you look like a little girl playing dress-up.

"What?" You say, tone flat. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Oops. He swallows, guilty as charged when he stiffly rubs his neck. Satoru feels like a perv, the memories of that night flooding into the dam of his mind.

No, you're a friend.

Just a friend.

Only a beloved childhood friend of his, so there's no reason that these troublesome fireworks should be going off, bouncing off the barriers of his skin.

"Like what?" He looks away, hands stuffed in his pocket as he occupies his mind with the displays surrounding him. "I wasn't doing a single thing except looking at the dress."

Your lips tremble, and you feel dumb. Super dumb. Maybe it's those leftover feelings from earlier that begin to explode out of you, little by little. You can't seem to stop it, and it's killing you as your armor cracks.

"Is it that bad?" Your voice cracks, and he begins to panic as if he wasn't a nervous wreck before. "Be honest."

"What? Of course it isn't-"

"Stop lying." You let out, eyes burning up into ashes as they redden like cherries. "I mean it."

"Why would I lie? You- you look pretty." Damn it. He's let the cat out of the bag, fingers covering his lips before he decides to just accept his terrible fate.

No, that wasn't- that wasn't what you wanted to hear. You toy with the flesh in your mouth, the skin of your forehead scrunching and bunching up.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... You shouldn't be mad at him, he was just looking at the dress, he wasn't judging you, you just made him call you pretty. Wait, you're pretty?

You ignore that, your skin crawls at the compliment. You hate it, you hate him, everything about him.

Your eyes are - Ugh. What are you doing?

"Well, it was just because... because.." You stammer, fiddling with the syllables of your words as the image of that particular black jacket appears in your mind.

"Because?" Satoru questions, taking in a deep breath. He feels strange when your eyes swell up like that, so strange that he can't put it into words even if he tried.

"Are you crying?" He doesn't know if he should ask, and he's especially scared of sounding like a total asshole. What if the tears just poured out when he asked? But, it felt too wrong, so wrong to just watch you fume up like this without adressing the elephant in the room-- the warm beads flooding the crevices of your eyes.

"You lied." You use the knuckles of your fingers to pat at the corners of your eyes, breathing in a shaky breath as you do, chest slowly rising. "Why did you-"

Okay, he could understand you were beyond frustrated, but falsely accusing him of lying. Oh, he couldn't stand it, even if it was you pointing fingers at him. Even if it was his dear, beloved friend.

"When did I-"

"Hello, I just couldn't help but notice that dress on you, ma'am. It looks wonderful."

You turn around, looking like a deer in headlights at the saleswoman who probably watched that whole shit-show with front-row seats. Gojo, on the other hand, takes in a sharp breath, rubbing his cheek before acknowledging the fact that they were in public, fighting in public, like a-

"Oh? Are you two a couple? We actually have a His and Her deal going on until the end of this month. Would you be interested?" It's the same woman he accidentally ignored, the same woman who unknowingly directed you to Gojo's lie. She's back, this time to upsell you on products you really don't need and can't afford. You thought you had formed some kind of alliance, but alas, she was just doing her job. Unfortunately, you were her target.

Now this, this was the reason for his visit in the first place. There was no way he was going to leave without purchasing color-coordinated outfits, the same ones he's been anticipating the release of since the beginning of winter. Usually, he'd be the type to despise such a release, one that didn't serve him any purpose, but because of you, and solely because of you he was...

"Yes. We're interested-"

"No-" You protest, the tears drying up against the dry of your eyes.

"We are interested." He grits his teeth at you, pulling you in closer to his side, saving face with a smile as his arm wraps around your uneven shoulders. "There's a matching suit for this dress, right? I saw it in the catalog."

"I-" You try to refuse, but they've already beat you to it. What was this? Your unlucky day?

You've been having a lot of those recently. And this day is no different when his arm sticks you to him like glue, feeling the outline of his body against your hip. You shudder, skin crawling once more at the mutual warmth. His fingers press against the fabric of your shoulder, giving you a light squeeze and pat. You might as well bark and get on all fours like his dog at this point, that was how you felt. Like Gojo Satoru's pet, always at his service.

The woman gives him an eager nod, "I'll get the sets out for you two. Please give me a moment."

Your eyes shoot up at him, and it's an angry look, no doubt. First, your vision traces his fingers that hold you, then at the knowing smile on his face. He knows you hate it, and he's just going to continue this torture of his until he's satisfied. You didn't even have to go through another cycle of defiance only to cower at his Six Eyes. Like a dog, you've been trained into obedience, without a single treat in your bowl or stomach.

In other words, you're at a loss. Advantage-wise, speech-wise, physically-speaking, emotionally-speaking... all of it.

Even though you eye him with such venom when that neutral expression looks back down at you, those beads still linger. You don't know what to make of your own conflict anymore, having a difficult time as the ground fills your line of vision.

"Hey, why did you tell her that?" You whisper-hiss, as if those words were meant to be kept a hidden secret. "Now she thinks we're a couple..."

There they are, Satoru takes notes of those tides as his arm slips from your shoulders. They're clashing, the gritty sand soaking those waves dry.

"Are you okay?" Did he have the right to ask such a question? To show an ounce of his care? Was he allowed to?

"It was for the discount." Is what comes out instead as he widens the small gap between the both of you. Ironically, this much more appropriate response leaves him questioning his own intentions. "Why? Does it bother you?"

No, it shouldn't bother you. It doesn't.

"You ass..." You mutter, hoping that somehow a miracle occurs. One so miraculous that his memories of your vulnerability erase.

However, such miracles never seem to hit you - they miss by a large shot.

"I hate you."

Or maybe they do as Gojo just nods. At least this once as you break contact with him, a comfortable silence settling in.

"The feeling's mutual, don't worry."

Satoru doesn't want to test the validity his words.

"You lied."

That isn't so far off from the truth.

...

"How is it?"

Your reflection is disappointing. The colors that swallow you are lackluster, they trap you.

"I don't like it." What outfit was this again? You lost track.

"Oh, that's too bad. Does it fit?" Satoru crosses his legs, resting in a fancy, maroon velvet armchair.

"...Yes." You answer, rubbing your arm. You're losing.

"What was that?" He tips his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I just can't hear you."

As if.

"It fits." You speak up, tone numb as you tell him what he wants to hear.

"Good."

This, unfortunately, has been the norm of your conversations for the past two hours. Gojo would pick out an outfit from the spring catalog, force ask you to try it on, then he'd ask for your optimistic opinions which he held zero regard for whatsoever before buying or trashing it.

"Excuse me," He holds up a hand before pointing at you. You blink at this, dread filling you whole. "She'll take this one as well."

You did not say that, but you must be remembering things wrong.

The saleswoman nods. "Of course, sir."

She moves to pack up a fresh set, but quickly presses onto her own breaks when he opens his mouth to command speak once more. Poor thing, you can't help but feel your own foot ache at the amount of times she's had to deal with this.

"Also, I want all the accessories."

"A-all?" She raises both eyebrows, masking her shock with a boxy smile. "Are you-"

"I'm sure." Satoru nods, finally looking at the woman.

"Yes, sir. I'll get started on that right away." She scurries off with such urgency that you'd think she was held at gunpoint.

Your lips flubber as you exhale, taking in your reflection. Today has weirdly been all about you, in the worst way imaginable. You can't seem to catch a break with the absurd amount of haughty-designer outfits thrown onto you. This one in particular was your least favorite.

A blue shirt, reminiscent of those soul-sucking Six Eyes, short-sleeved with a slight puff in the shoulders, adorned with buttons of a similar shade. Though it is soft to the touch, it's more than unbelievable to you that this costs around three-hundred yen. The white lace skirt draped all the way down your ankles is no cheaper either, but a couple hundred yen was like child's play for the rich. Another regular day, nothing new.

Furthermore, Gojo hasn't tried on a single thing. He just assumes he'll like his side of the outfit based on yours, a total gamble of your money.

"Is there anything else...?" You decide to follow routine, but of course, it doesn't work when you finally accept your fate.

"Nah, you can go change now." He rolls his shoulders back before getting back on his feet, the chair as empty as he found it. "I'll be waiting outside, yeah?"

You carefully nod, studying his sudden change in demeanor as he whistles to himself, that stern expression wiped off the surface of his face. Now that was bipolar.

"Okay." You'd hate to send him into another frenzy of playing dress-up with a doll that was more than unwilling because you would also like to move on from whatever this was.

One piece after another, as if you're being timed, you strip down your clothes only to re-dress yourself in your original (work) clothes. Oh, how you long for that nine-to-five lifestyle, how you miss being stuck in that stiff office chair. Today taught you that being rich and ambitious was not for the weak, that you, the weak, suited the likes of a corporate, forty-hour work week. Not this pretend fantasy, this mere illusion.

Right now, you'd do anything to escape this hell-hole of a place and that demon of man.

"Oh," Your hands reach for your jacket- sorry, his jacket.

"You lied."

You forgot to prove your point, the evident truth that Gojo Satoru was a liar.

...

You can't believe it. Not a single bit.

"For the last time, and I say this with all due respect, but your items have already been paid for, ma'am." The bald man at the counter sighs, holding a receipt before you.

You cautiously scan the very long paper, fingers grabbing it's very end as your eyes widen at the total.

"But... but-"

You profusely rub your eyes, blinking over and over. You might as well go into cardiac arrest at the seven bolded digits, grasping the thin receipt between your shaky fingers.

"Correct," His voice cuts through your multiple stammers. "You didn't pay, your boyfriend did, ma'am."

B-boyfriend? Gojo Satoru? That man?

"He didn't, and he's not my-" You don't even get the chance to make your case clear.

"The signature is at the very bottom."

You stuff your face into the very butt of the paper, eyes flickering between the signature line and the uncanny smiley face drawn on top it. What an eyesore.

How in the world did he pay? You chew onto the flakes of your lips, releasing a deep breath from the very depths of your lungs. You were under the impression that Gojo came here with absolutely nothing but himself. And the flowers. You almost forgot those flowers, and you accidentally remember how ugly and spacious they look sitting on the counter of your kitchen island.

"Ah, I... I see now, sorry." You let out an involuntary laugh, shoving the receipt down your pocket. "I'm sorry for taking up your time, let me just-"

You grunt, looping one bag onto your arm after another, the worker behind the counter blankly staring as you visibly struggle. Jeez. Were you the one working customer service or was he?

"Have- Have a nice rest of your day." Somehow you manage to carry all six bags, three on your left and three on your right as you head towards salvation. Which was better known as the exit of this damn place.

"You too, ma'am."

Thanks, you mouth to yourself.

You have a feeling the rest of your day will be anything but nice.

...

#ao3 fanfic #ao3 writer #enemies to lovers #eventual smut #fanfic #friends to lovers #romance #archive of our own #jujutsu gojo #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #jjk gojo #satoru gojo #gojo smut

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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alexa-fika · 4 months

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Lasting Memories (Shanks x gn!child!reader)

A/N: Yall I am so sorry, I thought I had posted this earlier today but I just checked and I was like wait I din’t , oops. I think I COOKED, PLEASE TELL ME IF I COOKED OR NOT, read this post to see what it was inspired on, cause I don’t want to make you read it twice if ya already know

Dividers by @/Saradika

“Captain, there's a kid out there; they said they want to talk to you,” Yassop said, entering the bar

“Hmm? Hardly a place for a kid to be” he said glancing at the bar him and his crew were currently staying at

“I think you’re going to want to see this one,” he said, grinning

“Well, let’s have a look, can’t leave the kid hanging,” he said. The captain stretched his arm out. His eyes gleamed as he took one last gulp of his drink, walking behind his officer until they came outside of the bar where a small child sat at a bench swinging their legs until they spotted him coming out of the bar

They smile, jumping off the bench and facing the Captain, their bunny-like ponytails raising in happiness

“Are you Captain Shanks?”

“That’s me. And are you the one asking for me?” He says teasingly before he bends down, coming to their level.

“Yeah”

“And what’s your name?”

“Reader”

“Reader, and how old you are you, Reader?”

“Six”

“Six, young lass to be wandering around, what can I do for you?”

“Do…do you remember me?”

Shanks pauses; he tries to recall this child, this face.

“I’m afraid not, but you look somewhat familiar.”

They grin

“You were always Closer to sister; she was older; I was just two, so back then all I knew was that you meant home, safety.

Shanks furrows his eyebrows in thought

“Im sorry, Lass, but im not sure what you mean; who was your sister?”

“You must remember better her better, your former musician, Uta.”

Shanks's eyes widen as he is hit with the sudden realization. Of course, he’d never have forgotten about his daughter.

"You’re…."

“Hi, Dad, it’s been a while,” they said, tears pooling in their eyes

Shanks is utterly taken aback by this moment; his jaw completely drops in shock.

"Y-you're really...I always wondered what happened to you, and I never stopped looking, either. Look at you; you were but a tiny lass always glued to Uta’s arms last time i Saw you"

“Uta told me that sometimes she had trouble getting me out of your arms; she always talks about you, especially after the music guy took over her; she keeps saying how you saved her.”

Shanks's eyes light a loud laugh escaping him after hearing of Uta’s fond memories about him.

"I can't believe it, all of this time I spent searching. . I can't believe my little lass found me instead”

“After the bad guy, sister has been taking a well-deserved break from all the craziness, and well, I was wondering if maybe I can stay with you for a while until sister charges up?”

He grins, scooping the small child up and ignoring their surprised squeal as their feet left the ground, turning around to his crew, who had by now left the bar to see their captain’s reencounter with his child

“Lads, we got a crewmate back; this calls for a celebration!”

They look up at their father, a smile growing on their face as they continue staring at his features. It had been a long time, and they were small the last time they had seen him; the features had become blurred over the years, but now there was no hurry. They had no need to hold onto figments of past memories that needed to be puzzled together just to have a vague remembrance of what their father look as now they would have the chance to create new memories, to wake up and see the face in front of them rather than in their murky memories

“Hm? Do I have something on my face, lass?”

“No, im just happy I found you.”

Shanks gives a bright smile as he sees his kid’s happy expression.

“So are we just going to stand out here, you little rascal? Come on then,” Shanks says, carrying the small one on his hip back to his ship.

“You guys have better start being careful from now on; we’ve got ourselves a child on board,” he said, glancing back at his crew. The smile On his face, betraying any serious tone he was trying to portray

“But dad is the reckless one,” Reader piped in

“Hah? What are you trying to say, reader?! Ask Beck; I am the epitome of responsibility, right Beck?”

“No.”

“Hey! Reader, don’t listen to him; Uncle Beck is just being silly!” he fusses

“Be careful around that one; take your eyes off him, and you’ll end up on the sea.” Lucky Laughs

“OI”

Im sorry for starving you guys, I just started classes so I’ve been trying to get ahead as I always do but eventually when I get ahead I will be much laidback so I will be more consistent ( Hopefully)

Taglist:

@imaginarydreams

@amethystviolin

#one piece x reader #one piece #one piece imagine #shanks x child!reader #shanks x you #shanks x reader #one piece shanks #shanks #red pirates #red haired shanks #akagami no shanks #uta

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streets-in-paradise · 1 year

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Undying Legends - Achilles x Princess!Reader

Troy (2004) Oneshot

Requested by Anon

“Not sure if you're taking requests right now, but when you are...

An Achilles x princess!reader that was captured by a foreign kingdom to be married off and he goes with an army to save her. Forbidden love basically, and he is just smitten with her, and her with him. She has a kind personality, but firmly believes in her own freedom to love(cause they're not supposed to be together) and he admires her for it. Maybe for a dramatic ending, the readers father puts Achilles to death and he accepts it as they weren't supposed to be together, but she puts on a scene like clinging to him so nobody would hurt him. Sorry I have a lot of ideas.

You can think up different details for her capture, or the ending, if you want to. I wrote a lot, sorry."

( I loved to write this, anon. i sincerely hope that you will enjoy it because i loved it.)

Word Count + 4K

Warnings: Mentions of an abduction to enforce marriage. No proofreading, possible mistakes on my part regarding greek geography.

Summary: When a princess that fame threatens with turning into the new face of deathly desire gets kidnapped the greatest warrior of all times gets involved on the difficult task of bringing her back home. Historical remembrance of passed incidents regarding many other damisels in distress across the time of heroes seem to point out that fate would leave him no choice but to fall for her. However, unlike the remarkable men that came before him, Achilles is unfortunately aware that his is a woman far away from his reach and strictly forbbiden for him.

Notes: This post by @creativepromptsforwriting served me as inspiration for the dialogue.

Prompts 2 - "You’re so beautiful, it’s hard to directly look at you”.

5 - “ I feel completely safe when I'm with you."

Tags: @mysticaldeanvoidhorse @helie-brain @spideyanakin

Singular heroic works were always more rewarding than fighting for Agamemnon. Achilles found the rescue mission an interesting change that was also good for his image, since it had potentiality to soften the brutal undertones his legend was acquiring. To prove himself as more than the attack beast of that cruel king he needed to triumph on heroic tasks for better causes and the corinthians needed his help. Their city, one of the richest in the mycenaean region, was going through a hard time due to the suffering of their ruler. His most valued treasure was stolen from him, one he would do anything to get back: the splendid daughter that he adored.

The news didn't surprise the greek world, since the victim was a heavily desired young maiden. The corinthian princess became the next great target once the mythical beauty of Helen got an official owner through her marriage to the spartan king. Before the herds of suitors could start to invade another country all over again one of the many interested men acted quicker than all the rest. The clever king of Athens found his way to kidnap her and refused to return her unless the father would legitimize his pretensions with a wedding officially celebrated at their comeback. Rage unleashed to the indignant details of the story, Achilles accepted the personal begging of the royals and was designated as commander of the corinthian army on the mission. However, not everyone around found that decision fitting.

A council of the most powerful kings on the Peloponnesus took place in order to decide the common fate regarding a situation that, despite affecting one city, could always end up involving everyone else. Mycenae and Sparta were eager to declare full war, Pylos was calling for discretion while the argive king recalled on his well earned title of heroe to offer himself as leader of the operation alongside the corinthian soldiers. Careless as he was to hear the kings talking, Achilles ignored many warnings about some risks of the task. Most were doubtful, but the sons of Atreus had no self restrictions on openly judging him absolutely incapable of succeeding on his own. The observations,of course, had nothing to do with his skill.

" The honor of your beautiful daughter is safer with the kidnapper than with this shameless bastard. " The mycenaean king advised the corinthian. " The best for your girl is us burning Athens to the ground. Go to war with me and I guarantee you will still benefit from the strength of his arms but someone will be keeping him under control. "

" I have orders and I plan to stick to those. " Achilles defended himself, calm and composed as he was rarely seen. " I can stay loyal to my purpose."

" Since when? All you do is disobeying me in ways that are always impossible to predict."

" Your impulsiveness goes against the requirements, Achilles." Menelaus followed from a less insulting standpoint. " Being impulsive is precisely what brought the athenian king into this madness. He lost his mind for that girl, she is almost as beautiful as my wife. Even my brother over here has reconsidered marriage for an instant the last time we saw her and you know him enough to understand how strange that is. "

Agamemnon ignored the well intentioned tease to keep his persuasive speech.

" My dear friend, don't let desperation take over your reason. Achilles is a weapon you can't wield, Diomedes would be a far better choice. If endangering your friends is what worries you because you don't want a king risking his life, take any other of my best warriors. The mighty army of Mycenae is at your disposition. "

" I am not taking any risks. " The corinthian stated. " If Achilles says he can bring my dear daughter back to me, I take his word. Legends claim him the greatest warrior of our times and I have seen how wars are won or lost depending on his fighting inclinations. Losing is not an option to me, not this time. "

The matter was decided, but the end of the meeting didn't stop the repetition of similar warnings. Less as a king and more as a friend who was in touch with his perspective, Diomedes was the last trying to dissuade him.

" It's said it took a one week visit for the athenian to decide he wanted to kidnap her, others claim he arrived here with the idea in mind. In either case, be careful. You can lose a lot if she gets under your skin. "

" I will be like a herald and that girl is a package I'm supposed to carry. " Achilles calmly replied. " There are plenty of gorgeous women in Greece, she is just the one high nobility wants to fight over now."

The demigod warlord was truly convinced of his position, reinforcing it over and over during the journey against the skepticism of the local soldiers he was meant to command. In the collective imagination formed by bards at the time of heroes there was no way for him to save that princess without ending up wanting to claim her his. As it happened to Perseus in the rescue of Andromeda, or Hercules after meeting Iole, Achilles was expected to develop an unstoppable passion for the captive girl. Not being found of prophecies that wouldn't come from his mother, Achilles simply discredited the claims until reaching Athens.

The one single battle that was recklessly fought became a tragedy for the city. The king opted for staying trusting of the numerical advantage in his forces, commiting the terrible mistake of underestimating the rival.

Hopes returned to you, but you weren't feeling entirely good about that. You knew your father and your city would never abandon you, but you couldn't help pitying the athenian men dying prisoners of their king's wishes. Escaping and never having to see him again was all you wanted, but you wouldn't wish death upon persons that were as powerless as you. The people couldn't be blamed for your captor's actions yet they were taking the worse part of the punishment. At first you thought that seeing their suffering was going to show that man his mistake, but whenever you would try to exhort him of doing the ríght thing he would accuse you of manipulations.

All he achieved with that paranoid attitude was delaying the inevitable, the golden haired heroe found you and sent that king directly to his downfall.

Amazement happened on both sides. You couldn't believe how far the warrior had came for you, easily murdering the man who dragged you there against your will, but he neither could believe your initial reaction to that. You gave some cold comfort to the agonizing kidnapper in front of you. Achilles could tell it wasn't sympathy, just kindness shown to a dying man.

It was not your beauty, as many men augured, the first of your traits that he found interesting.

" That man kidnapped you and could have taken advantage of you in more severe ways, he doesn't deserve to die with a smile on his face. " He simply said, showing to have contextually recognized you. " He wouldn't have stopped for anything, you were lucky I am here to make him stop. "

You glanced at his direction to deliver an answer, but felt unprepared for the encounter with his beautiful blue eyes.

" His people claim he once was a great king, this unfortunate outcome comes from his previous loss of two wives. Pain blinded him, he wanted to be happy again and he didn't mind the cost to satisfy his wishes." You calmly explained. " I despise him as it is normal for a prisoner to hate the captor, but I can still show respect. "

The warrior stared at you in silence, as curiously and intensely as you were doing with him.

" May I know my savior's name? I shall honor it in the highest esteem."

He couldn't help smiling for you. Even if it was brief, that reaction was the hardest to achieve from him in that sort of context.

" Achilles, son of Peleus." Was his sweetly delivered introduction. " I'm at your service, princess. It was given to me the task of bringing you back home. "

Not self satisfied with the conflict's resolution, Achilles demanded a real retribution to be given to you before acceding to retree the troops. Formally accepting you as an abduction victim, the main protection mechanism for your honor, the city had to pay with gold to your father. Once all the arrangements were done, you finally abandoned Athens as a passenger on the myrmidon's chariot feeling safe and comfortable alongside him on the triumphant exit.

Mutual curiosity developed immediately. You were guilty of demanding more resting stops than what was needed on the journey just because you wanted to get to know the mysterious man in a non controlled environment. On his part, he could have been blamed for indulging your requests a bit too often for the same reason. The unusual kindness perceived on his first impression of you amazed him for real and he couldn't stop himself from wanting to know you better. Achilles would show you his softer side with particular dedication given the horror you have faced before and in return you were giving him your trust.

In the scarce time the travel provided he accomplished what the troubled king lost his life trying. You were spending most of your time with him willingly and happily, refusing to leave his side because of how well he made you feel. The otherwise rather silent traveler would talk for hours with you about anything you wanted. Among other things, you listened to some stories about his past adventures feeling in absolute awe. You even clapped your hands at the end of one, gesture so cute and pure that he began to understand why the ruler of a great city died willingly for you.

" The humble feat of my rescue sounds boring in comparison. " You commented regarding what you heard. " Sorry for that, although I must admit I am relieved to know my father hired you and you are not part of some aid sent by Agamemnon of Mycenae. "

The mention of his most hated superior in the chain of command brought to his mind the odd words of his brother.

" Has he bothered you before?"

" His generosity always comes with a price. In this case, it could have been me. " You replied, not an affirmation or denial. " Do you know why he wasn't a suitor of Helen? His brother wanted her first and he would never risk upsetting him. Horror tales are being told across the continent about the hate that grew between his father and uncle over his mother. The atrocities committed must haunt him. "

The mere thought of that despicable old pig trying to get on the top of your suitors list was repulsive to him.

" Your father is a smart man. " He comforted you. " Nobody sensed the wit past his pain, he rejected all involvement from other kings and sent a man who will never have any ríght to you. I can't ask to get you as payment when we will return to your kingdom, so you are safe with me. Don't expect second intentions. "

" You have been shamelessly honest and for that I thank you." You answered, holding chuckles. " I can tell it's real, men who act nice for me as a performance think I don't notice... but I do. "

"... And to think Oddyseus truly thought it was going to end once Helen would be married. It never ends, they just move on to bother someone else. "

" Greece needs undying legends and she is the biggest in our times, at least after you. " You followed with some intentional praise. " A moving myth built on desire is a problem in so many perspectives. The flame inside those men wasn't ready to be extinguished with her marriage. She can no longer be openly wanted without it constituting an offense to a very powerful king, but Corinth is not that far from Sparta and I am not married yet. Someone has to fill that gap, they want me to be her because they need her but they fail to see i will never be Helen. "

" Being yourself was enough for the fool who thought kidnapping you was a good idea. "

His casual comment made you chuckle and he internally cursed himself for enjoying it.

" My father is not like Tyndareus, that's something he figured out quickly. As you know, the most common way to obtain a younger bride is to bribe the father by either buying his consent or threatening him. My captor knew that was impossible and that was why he stole me. The mycenaean king feels confident thinking that when the time comes my father will sell me to keep his scepter because that is what he would do in that position. He underestimate us, my father is not a coward and neither I am"

Achilles felt slightly prideful of your statement and that made him smile.

" Glad to know I am not merely delivering you to someone worse."

" I would never allow it, that's what I mean with men not realizing I will never be Helen. There is no man, mortal or divine, that would ever force me to endure a marriage like hers. I would rather die at the flower of youth than living a bitter life submitted to a despicable man I will never love. "

The passion in your voice awakened something in him and his usual defense mechanism for that sort of feeling didn't help at all.

" What does a man have to do in order to get your attention and not die trying?" He asked, a cheeky taunt to the whole situation. " Many young heroes, friends of mine that hold more political power than me, would love to know the secret."

" Good conversation is an excellent start, especially if he manages to make me laugh. " Was your quick comeback. " Saving me from a fate I despise above anything also helps. "

The indirect was too obvious, typical behavior of a young girl who never had much chance of speaking to a man she truly likes.

" Be careful, princess. I have been warned about this. You shouldn't be playing with fire..."

" ... Says the man that could have burned the athenian palace by himself just to find me. " You teased back in a lovely tone. " You are an extraordinary man, the warriors of my father would have never gone that far. Your serenity outside of the battlefield is pleasant but intriguing and there is a soft light in your precious eyes that makes me never want to stop looking at you. "

His glance followed you for an instant and you smirked, a gesture that came up more sweet than provocative because you delivered it with tenderness.

" You are so beautiful, it is hard to directly look at you. " He complimented you through a confession. " I never had this problem with Helen, no matter how irresistible people say she is "

The myrmidon did a pause and deviated his stare to concentrate in some random point of the horizon with a very contemplative expression, as if he needed to stop looking you to keep talking.

" It's not only in your pretty smile, or your soft skin smelling like arabian esences that match perfectly with the sweet notes the breeze gets from your hair when it caresses it. Your courage is beautiful, your passion wasn't written on any warning I received and that must be because no other man has sensed it. I don't know you enough yet I am proud for what you have accomplished. Not only you kept yourself safe until my arrival, you forgave the man who caused you harm at his time of dying just because his people told you a sad story about how he used to be good to them. I would have never done that, kindness as yours would be out of the question if the choice would be given to me. I try to understand you and fail, but there is beauty on that. You are precious: not as a jewel up to be seen, but like a comeback embrace after a long war. "

Acting on your feelings, you approached him for a surprising hug that he had no clue on how to interpret. Gratitude motivated comfort, perhaps, because it was too early to think of something else.

Achilles was aware of the effect he had on women and the possibilities of it reaching you. The conversation was crossing dangerous territory because he liked you, but he wasn't expecting you would openly reciprocate so early.

" Are you comfortable like this? Being so close to me? Doesn't it scare you that I could want to break my pact with your father to take you with me? That's what everyone thinks I am going to do. " The warrior joked as an indirect way to express a real doubt. " They fear that if we get too friendly I will not want to let you go. "

It didn't bother you in the slightest. On the contrary, you intensified the closeness and laid your head against his chest.

" I feel completely safe when I am with you. '' You replied almost immediately. ``Maybe I am the one who doesn't want to leave your side."

Near the time of your arrival you were head over hills for him and he was smitten by you. Firm believer in your freedom to love, a belief that intensified after someone tried to take it away from you, you remained careless for some obvious opinions of the men around you. None of them had the courage to openly call out Achilles, but you could tell some noticed your peculiar favoritism for him. Some of them weren't even surprised, as if you would be following together a path to the most predictable outcome.

Perhaps you were, but you didn't care because you were falling in love with a handsome hero who effortlessly stole your heart. It wasn't meant to happen, he wasn't planning to win you over. He wasn't there for the rumors, wanting you from before even meeting you like all the others, but only doing his work and you were the one desperate for his attention.

On his part, Achilles had a personal battle with his impulsiveness. From time to time during the journey he would remember only of Diomedes's advice because it was the only sincere one and it pointed in the ríght direction. To a man so used to follow his heart's desires in any ocassion, hot headed and stubborn as he was, falling for you was torture. Aware of your own infatuation, if you would have been any other woman he wouldn't have tried to resist his crave for you. Biting his lip before daring to kiss you or being careful with his touch to avoid getting intimate were acts he wasn't used to performing, especially in a situation where the romantical tension was clearly mutual. You weren't shying away and that made things harder. Knowing you reciprocated him was the greatest obstacle for his titanic efforts to handle you back at Corinth as untouched as he found you.

The King, your father, selected him as your rescuer precisely because you were strictly forbidden to him. He counted with his awareness on how impossible it was for him to be with you, but the comments that consistently reached his ears made that faith fade. He had a test prepared for your glorious return, a simple trial he was planning to make him go through in order to measure the danger he feared to have exposed you to.

After the emotive receivement in which your family encounter developed the palace was preparing for celebrations and the enlisting of payment for the leading hero. Your mother, happy as she was to have you back, begged to your father that anything Achilles would want would be conceded to him and he seemed to agree on that. However, he also had the small treasure destined to him ready. Gold, bronze and weapons were the first half of it, but he claimed he wanted to give him a gift that would feel more personal. Since giving him a horse would be pointless, because Achilles had the fastest in Greece, the corinthian king offered a woman.

The most beautifull concubine slaves were presented in front of all of you so the myrmidon would pick his prize. Powerlessness and jealousy ruined your prior happiness for being back home, since there was nothing you could do against it. The payment was normal and perfectly valid, a common gift for men that want to seal friendship. Achilles realized it was a trap crafted by your father and he sensed some will of emulating the famous trick Odysseus pulled on him when he was a kid.

If he would choose a woman, he would break your heart. If he wouldn't, he would be exposed.

" I fought to free a woman, accepting to be paid with another one can be insulting to the suffering of your daughter. " He pointed out after barely looking at the line of girls, an observation he judged neutral enough to not sound incriminating. " Gold and weapons will be enough this time."

You dissimulated a smile to avoid looking hopeful, but both of your parents knew you too well and the tension was escalating.

" This is the least I can do for you. Take the one you find the prettiest to your home." Your father insisted. " I can't offer you a wife because the unwed daughters of my friends are beyond your possibilities, but nothing impeeds you from taking a slave girl to be the company keeping your bed warm. "

Your blood boiled to the implications of that comment. He spoke as if, because Achilles was a mercenary, that was all he could aspire to have. You loved your father but despised his attitude and were trying so hard not to confront him. He had no idea of who that man was for real or how insulting his words were. That foreigner he judged fitting only to mantain sexual unions with prisoners of war was the only man you have ever wanted to be with.

" When I want company I seek it myself. " Achilles defended himself, way more careless than you were for the insults. " That isn't a problem that needs to be fixed. "

" Don't take me for a fool, Achilles. You know that isn't of my concern. " The king prepared his last strike, revealing his true intentions. " It is my honest opinion that the sight of my daughter has numbed your perception and you can no longer find any other girl desirable. Your wish will never be indulged: even though I am grateful for your services, that is not something I can allow. "

To his signal the women were retired and the room was filled with men of his personal guard on prior orders of restraining the warrior. Achilles picked up his sword, but didn't throw himself immediately on a rageful combat to end with all of them as it would have been expected on other occasions.

Instead, he looked at his main opponent at the eye with a deathly serious expression.

" Your daughter is not my mere desire... I am in love with her. If you want to kill me for it, do it, but get at least the decency of fighting your own battle."

Light peeked through the sorrow saddening your face. It would have been easy for Achilles to fight his way out of there and never come back, but he loved you and he dared to confess it in front of all those people that clearly wanted him dead for it.

Careless for anything but his safety and eager to show him your love, you stepped in front to shield him with your own body before any of the soldiers could start the battle.

" If you want to kill him you will have to kill me and all the blood splattered on my name would be in vain. How are you going to explain that to the families of the soldiers that lost their lives trying to save me ?" You called your father out from your secure position. " I will not allow this, father. If there is something the nightmare i endured showed me is that I never want to have my own will to choose be putted in question."

Abandoning the reprobatory speech for an instant, you deviated your attention back to your beloved myrmidon.

" Achilles, my heart has chosen you and that is the gift I want to give you. It's mine to give to whoever i want and it will be yours if you want it."

The sweet confession amused him.

" Princess, I am ready to die for you ríght here and now... How dare you doubt that I want it?"

#troy 2004 #achilles #brad pitt #achilles x reader #brad pitt x reader #troy fanfiction #troy

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trueshellz · 2 years

Text

Warmth

Part of my Invisible Illness Series

Warnings: endometriosis, heavy bleeding, pain, cramping, reader crying, cuddles, tummy rubbing, female reader.

Summary: As if a 'normal' period wasn't bad enough...

Shugo dropped his bag in the hallway as he opened the door, eyes squinting in the dim light as he flicked the hallway switch. He couldn't hear you singing in the kitchen like usual, didn't hear the TV blasting a random movie like usual, there was no singing from the bathroom as you sat in the tub surrounded by bubbles.

It was utterly quiet.

He had been a little concerned when you hadn't attended the after game party, you were usually happy to meet his teammates and go out for food. He had trouble keeping Hinata, Bokuto and Atsumu calm while you were around. They were so adamant on showing off and being loud, each of them vying for your attention and causing a scene. But today you had barely spoke to him, one or two word responses to his texts and declining his calls. Instead of staying out with his team he had chosen to leave early and figure out why you were avoiding him so much.

"Babe?"

Head peering around the door he sighed in relief when he saw you lying on the bed curled up on your side. He could hear the small whimpers of distress, each noise tugging at his heart and when he walked over to you, he could feel the wetness on your face from a mixture of tears and sweat. As he squatted down he saw the hot water bottle on your stomach, the plethora of medication on the bedside table and the could see you massaging your stomach in tight circles.

"Sweetheart, why didn't you tell me?"

You shook your head adamantly, you had watched the boys play and celebrated their win at home by yourself. You had been all ready to go out for their post-game meal but your cramps had gone from niggling and irritating to flat out stabbing and devastating. Even after your strongest medications, a heat patch and hot water bottle you could barely move, your boobs were so painful that even your t-shirt against your nipples made you whimper in discomfort.

"Shh, I gotcha. Don't worry."

You couldn't help the whine of pain when the bed dipped, Shugo's hands pulling up your top gently to free your aching breasts. One hand tucked under them to take some of the pressure as he massaged them gently, the other hand rubbing small circles on your stomach. You could feel the heat radiating from his chest against your back, he must have taken his top off and lay behind you. He was always so warm, like your own life sized hot water bottle and had no issues with you using his warmth to ease the pain.

"Any better?"

"A bit... my boobs hurt so much, Meian. And the pills aren't working, I bled through two outfits and got one of your t-shirts dirty too. I'll wash it later, I'm sorry."

"Hey. Hey. Listen to me, do not apologise for this ok? Seeing you in pain kills me and I dont give two shits about my shirt. Just throw the damned thing in the trash, burn it for all I care."

"I just-"

"Baby, listen. Clothes and belongings mean shit all to me, you are the most important person in my life. OK?"

"OK."

Between the warmth of his body and the lull of his voice in your ear, the last thing you recalled was Shugo telling you the crazy antics of the team as your eyes drifted shut and you fell asleep.

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preet-01 · 15 days

Note

I mean 👀… T and John/Lewis because I love them and when you write them *chef kisses* 🫶🏼

T — Accidental Marriage

ahh thank you 🫶🏽😊 I hope you like this!

The bells of Maranello rang loudly as the country celebrated Ferrari bringing home a championship. Not the Drivers’ Championship, no Max had taken that despite everyone’s best efforts, but the Constructors’ Championship.

They’d won it in Vegas with the red cars of Charles and Lewis locking out the front row in every session. And with just a few tenths between them, they’d given Ferrari a photo finish for their first championship since 2008. But due to the triple header, celebrations for the championship couldn’t happen until after the season ended.

Charles was being paraded around the Ferrari headquarters like the golden boy he’d always been — a visible weight had been lifted from his shoulders and it had been like that since they’d crossed the finish line in Vegas. He’d won a championship with Ferrari, one of them at least. He had met one of the expectations that had been placed on him since he was just a teenager hoping to emulate his godfather.

Lewis had found a space for himself in a somewhat quiet corner of the room. Quiet was subjective as Lewis was surrounded by some of the Ferrari higher management as they plied him with wine and talks about how beneficial the partnership between him and Ferrari already was after just one year.

“Sorry, gentlemen, but I need to steal him away for a second,” John says joining the group. Since it was all said in Italian, Lewis only understood a few words. He could have understood more if he hadn’t been drinking, but that was neither here or there.

“What are we stealing?” Lewis asks, causing John to chuckle.

“Just you, tesoro,” John replies, now speaking in English for Lewis’ benefit. He was slightly tempted to keep speaking Italian just to see which words would stand out to Lewis and translate to English in his mind.

“Already did that last year,” Lewis retorts.

That’s the last thing he remembers from the championship celebration. John stealing him away and the ever present cheers all around them.

He doesn’t recall what happened afterwards, but when he wakes up the next morning, he does have a slight idea. Or at least he thinks he knows all that happened during the night.

He’s in a bed that he’d spent many nights in before. He’s naked. John is sleeping next to him and naked — Lewis had checked under the blanket to confirm that. There’s an uncapped bottle of lube on the nightstand with an opened condom wrapper.

He can put 2 and 2 together. Deciding that he’d done nothing outrageous the night before, Lewis moves closer to John and closes his eyes. A few more hours of sleep won’t hurt.

Turns out a few hours can hurt. And Lewis can’t put 2 and 2 together because the answer wasn’t 4, but a drunken wedding in Maranello officiated by Fred with Charles as the flower girl.

A joyous ceremony, he’s sure of it, if only he could remember anything other than John looking at him.

The only reason that they’d learned about the ceremony so quickly was because one of the engineers had posted a video of the wedding on Instagram at some point in the night. Had it not been for that video, Lewis is sure that they wouldn’t have found out until the certificate was found.

It hadn’t gained much traction until the morning when fans started to wake up and look for content from the Ferrari celebrations. That had gotten them calls from shareholders, sponsors, friends and family. Everyone they knew wanted to know if it had been planned or not, if it had been some drunken mistake while high from a championship win or not.

Lewis doubts anyone had expected a wedding to be a part of the championship party content, but the fans had taken it in stride and run away with their theories. Lewis certainly hadn’t expected to be married. “So what do we do?” he asks John. The older man has just gotten off the phone with concerned shareholders that their president was just marrying a driver all willy nilly.

“We could get an annulment,” John offers. A divorce would be too tumultuous with John’s net worth and assets. The shareholders would be even more concerned about a divorce.

“Or?”

“We could stay married,” John says. “While our wedding is not how I thought it would have been, it is something that I had seen in our future,” he continues.

As much as Lewis loved Fred and Charles, they did not exactly play a big part in what he’d imagined his potential wedding to be like. However, John was exactly who he’d seen standing opposite of him.

And as unexpected the actual wedding ceremony had been, Lewis didn’t want to make it null and void. “As have I,” Lewis agrees, “I wouldn’t mind staying married.”

#answered #elkilton #Lewis/john #accidental marriage

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freellamapersonpainter · 1 year

Text

* au where Jackson!Ellie is bffs with reader. NO SMUT IN THIS because they’re both 17. Just pure fluff and some tension. Give me requests for any other fic (smut or not smut) and I’ll def write it!!! This is my first time posting on tumblr (aside from ao3 so idrk how the app works but pls bare w me.) *

*also this is lowkey inspired by an experience I had with an old friend/situationship…☺️☺️enjoy bbs*

Falls in Jackson were serene. Having the sound of crickets and the lights of the town lull you to sleep only to be woken up by families of birds singing was something you could never get tired of. On top of that, your best friend, Ellie’s birthday lies right in the middle of all of this. This year she was turning 17, and you knew you had to get her something special since this was technically her last year as a kid.

You and Ellie met when you both were 14. Ellie and Joel went out on patrol together, where they found you and your older brother, Carl separated from your group on the roads—trying to find a place to stay temporarily before your group finds you guys again.

One week turned into two, then into a month, and eventually… you and Carl had given up on any hopes of your group finding you again, so Jackson eventually became a new home for you.

Ellie didn’t like you at first sight. She thought you were too quiet, as you kept your distance from the people in Jackson. But once you realized that you’d have to accept this place, you also accepted the people that came along with it, including Ellie, eventually.

You couldn’t recall exactly when or how you and Ellie became so close, but soon enough the two of you were inseparable. You grew out of your shyness with the help of Ellie, and you felt more comfortable with the girl.

Even though you were only a few months younger than her, you still looked up to her as if she was some sort of god. Everything she did, or taught you, you kept memorized in the back of your head, even years later. The fact that a girl as cool as her tried so hard to be friends with you, and refused to give up until you opened up to her, absolutely baffled you.

You’d both always talk about your 17th birthdays, anticipating it.

“Y’know, like before the world went to shit—17 was the last year of being a kid. Like when you turn 18 everything changes apparently.” You said to her on your 16th birthday, laying on your back next to the auburn haired girl in her bed.

Ellie was mirroring your position, laying next to you also on her back. She turned to face you, “ ‘S only a year away…” She trailed off. You saw her smile wide out of your peripheral vision, and you also turned to face her. Her smile was contagious, it could brighten the whole damn town of Jackson. You smiled back at her trying to hold her eye contact, but you turned to lay on your back again. You could never hold eye contact with the girl without getting nervous. You never understood why.

“Yeah. Yours too Ellie.” You said looking up at the wall.

Ellie sat up fast, causing you to do the same. “What about…” She trailed off in thought, playing with the sleeves of her grey hoodie. “We celebrate our 17s in a special way. Like we always celebrate our birthdays by watching a movie at my place— which is totally cool. But like, let’s surprise each other or something. I’ll plan something for you and you’ll plan something for me?” She looked up at you, both sides of her lips pulling upwards.

You held out your pinky, “Deal.” You looked at her with a wide smile, because who couldn’t smile at having a best friend as great as Ellie.

She intertwined her pinky with yours and nodded. “Deal.”

So you found yourself here, about a year later for Ellie’s 17th pacing around your room wondering if this is a good idea. You wanted to sneak her out to show her the stars tonight. You stole a telescope that you found one day at patrol which reminded you of Ellie. She always talked about space and planets and stars with you. And to be honest, you weren’t even so interested in that… you just loved watching Ellie talk about the things she liked with you.

You we’re worried about getting caught trying to leave the gates. Maria told you only bad things happen to kids who sneak out, and you didn’t know if it was true or if she was just trying to scare you out of doing it.

I mean, your brother Carl did it once. He said there’s basically no more infected out there. But you’re still preparing yourself for anything tonight. You put on a green sweater over your tank top and grabbed a pocket knife and a pistol and stashed that in the back pocket of your black jeans. You slipped on your boots and decided to sneak out the window, since you didn’t want Carl to be woken up by the squeaking of your old front door.

You jumped a few feet down and started walking across the street to get to Ellies house.

Even though it was midnight, the air was still warm. Lights in the town were still on and there were leaves everywhere, making you have to watch your step.

Five minutes later you stopped yourself in front of Ellie’s house. There was no doubt that the people in Jackson gave her and Joel the best house. Even though it was old and somewhat rusty, it was big and even had its own shed and an area where you could grow your own garden. You always told Ellie that she should take advantage of that garden and use it as something, but she never did.

You nervously ran your hands in your hair, knowing that if you got caught you’d never hear the end of it from Joel, who was the one that made you promise to keep Ellie safe once you guys became best friends.

You crept around the house and used the tree that was right next to Ellie’s window to prop yourself up and in front of her window. You lifted the large piece of glass easily. I know we could trust people in Jackson but this girl has to start locking her windows just in case. I mean, seriously, you thought to yourself as you quietly jumped from her window to the floor of her room.

You quietly crept so that you were towering over her sleeping. You took your time looking at her. You felt a little guilty waking her up in this state. She looked so peaceful while sleeping. The usual furrow in her brow was non existent and for the first time in a very long time, she looked completely at ease.

You never felt jealous, really, about how pretty Ellie is. You always just kind of admired it. How someone as beautiful as her tried so hard to get you to like her. You felt as if your beauty was incomparable to hers. She had a constellation of freckles across her face and the most perfect nose and vibrant green eyes you’ve ever seen on anyone, and while you never thought you were ugly, you just felt like you looked to basic next to her. You’d never tell Ellie that you thought she was pretty even though you meant to, she just made you too nervous to tell her. And you also didn’t know why.

You quickly put that thought away, though, and put your hand quickly over her mouth.

“Don’t scream.” You whispered to her as she opened her eyes.

She didn’t even hesitate to throw you off of her, grabbing her pocket knife out from under her pillow and tackling you to the ground while letting out a high pitched shriek.

“Shh!!! Ellie it’s me stop—stop.” You put your hands up in the air defensively while she was on top of you holding the pocket knife to your throat.

Her look of concern turned to a half-smile as she put the knife down and got off of you to stand up.

“Dude. I told you to stop trying to scare me every time you sneak in.” She rubbed her eyes. “A simple tap on the shoulder to wake me up would be fine.” She sarcastically smiled at you, making you chuckle back at her.

“But what’s the fun in that?” You asked as you stood up to sit yourself at the edge of her bed.

“Ok so…why the fuck are you here?? At 12:30 in the morning? You know you have patrol tomorrow.” Ellie said, looking up at you from the ground.

“Well first of all, happy birthday! And second of all, I have a surprise for you.” You looked back at her, standing up and offering your hand to help her up.

“What are you gonna kidnap me?” Ellie laughed as she used you to help herself up.

“No…” you trailed off. Why do you feel so nervous all of a sudden? “I was thinking…” you looked down and played with your hands, nervous habit. God get yourself together y/n, you mentally cursed at yourself. “We sneak out and I show you something interesting.” You stopped playing with your hands to look back at her. You felt as if her gaze was burning into your skin. You hated how she had this insane sort of power over you, making you melt with only one look.

“Like though the gates?” She questioned.

“Well duh.” You whispered which a slight laugh.

“Okay but, if we get in trouble this is all on you y/n” Ellie grabbed your arm to lead you out of her room while she used her other free hand to grab her shoes.

————————————————————————

* an hour time jump*

“So are you gonna show me something cool or are we just gonna keep walking?” She joked, making her steps sound way heavier than they should.

“It’s right here.” You said, pointing at the old building in front of you.

“Absolutely not. No fuckin’ way I’m going in there.” She turned around but you quickly grabbed her by her waist to turn her around and to look at her. Was she blushing? No, she wouldn’t be.

“Just trust me, okay?” You reassured her as you ran up to the door of the building and pushed it open.

You grabbed her arm and had her run after you up the stairs. “Okay. Close your eyes Ellie.”

She shut her eyes but you also put your hands over her eyes to make sure she wasn’t peeping. Both of you were in front of a door that led to the roof of the building, where you set the telescope you found on patrol.

You led her out onto the roof with your hands still over her eyes. The view was insane. Stars were everywhere and run-down buildings were seen for miles on end. You were surprised how you didn’t find this place any sooner.

Okay…open” you moved your hands off her face in anticipation. You really hoped she’d like this.

“Holy shit…” she said quietly, almost to herself, as she walked around the rooftop.

“How did you find this place?” She said, with the largest smile you’ve ever seen.

“That’s not even the best part…” you said, nudging your head towards the telescope.

“WHAT THE FUCK. Where did you find this??” Ellie exclaimed, running up to the telescope and toying around with it.

“Don’t worry about that. Just enjoy it.” You smiled at her eagerness.

She looked through the telescope as you walked up next to her, looking at the sky through your naked eye. “This is crazy. Look.” She said, stepping back.

You looked through the lens of the telescope, “Is that Jupiter?”

“No, Mars, I think.” She admired the way you tucked your hair behind your ears, and the way your tongue peeked out of your mouth in concentration.

After a while of taking turns on the telescope, both of you ended up laying on your backs, watching the stars.

“That one kind of looks like a bunny.” Ellie pointed up at the constellation.

“Really? I think it looks more like a fish.” You laughed quietly.

But instead of a usual jokingly snarky remark from the auburn haired girl, there was just silence.

It stayed that way for a couple minutes, to the point where you thought she might have called asleep, so you turned to see her face. Still awake.

“Do you think—if the world never ended like this— that we’d still be friends.” Ellie asked, almost in a whisper.

You sat up. “I dunno. Why?”

“Just wondering.” She also sat up.

Both of you stared at each other for a while, you broke the contact first though.

Ellie could’ve sworn, in that moment, that you didn’t even look human. The moonlight casted a glow on your skin and hair, which was perfectly tucked behind your ears, putting all your features on display.

“You’re really pretty y/n, y’know?” Ellie tried to look at your face, but you wouldn’t look at her.

“Sure.” You let out a quiet laugh that almost came out as a scoff.

“I’m serious!” She raised her voice, “I just don’t think you realize it.”

“What’re you doing?” You looked at her, trying to understand where she was getting at here. Was she flirting? Or was she just being nice?”

“Prettiest thing I’ve ever seen…” she looked down at her hands.

You smiled at her nervousness. There was no way she wasn’t flirting with you right now. She’d always hint things like this to you, but never like this.

You don’t know what took over you in that moment, but you reached out your hands to cup her face, closing the gap between your lips with a soft kiss. There was nothing intense about it. It was slow and soft. Her hands went to grab your waist to pull you closer.

She said your name in a whisper as your hands went from her face to her waist as well. Roaming up and down her torso to pull her even closer, if that’s possible.

She broke the kiss first and just looked at you. You couldn’t tell if she was scared or nervous until that all-too familiar smile broke out.

She brought her hands to touch her lips. “What now?” She asked.

“We’ll figure it out.” You grabbed her hand and held it in your own.

————————————————————————

#ellie the last of us #ellie x fem reader #ellie williams #the last of us #jackson ellie #ellie x you #ellie x bff!reader

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sizzlingpatrolfox · 6 months

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the way i thought hobi and taehyung will show the most support to jm during face and here comes taehyung with his closed mouth. I saw pjms saying thanks to him for letting jm see armys on his fanmeet but the way taehyung made me disappointed I'll never ever go back to liking this guy like never. He's there jm's bandmate and that's it. I don't care if jm loves him he's never gonna be same for me. Once i thought vmin were defination of soulmate but the way he behaved during face??? Nope, never, nada. I did got emotional yesterday seeing his bald head but that's that and I have that sympathy for all the humans no matter the person.

He has made it very clear that he's close with his wooga, jk and hobi and that's it. I just know they were having conflicts and somehow it got fine during the time jm went to his music show (the only one who showed some public support to him maybe apart from his wooga idk what they did but I'm sure they must have done something). I can bet my kidney that of jm didn't go to his music show he would have NOT asked jm to come to his fanmeet. i have Hardly ever been wrong about jm i just know that's how it was or would have been. Imagine being this selfish. This is why i wish jm drifts from those two cause They're just undeserving of his friendship his love and his support.

"I did got emotional yesterday seeing his bald head" I'm sorry this made me laugh

I've mentioned this when JK and Taehyung released their albums: JK and Taehyung never went anywhere to support Jimin, they didn't show up for him. Jimin was actually the one who showed up for both of them. He made his social media posts, and also was physically supporting them during a few of their activities. He's always been the one keeping both friendships afloat, and this year was just further proof of that, for me. In fact, JK ignored like crazy even existed until he had to do his own promo; same as Taehyung who only mentioned like crazy when he released his album.

I don't think he invited Jimin only because he went to the music show. That could've been his reasoning, but in my opinion he invited Jimin because he was the only one available. I'm sure he would've asked Jungkook to go, if Jungkook didn't refuse to involve himself professionaly with the other members.

I also came across this earlier today lmfao. I had forgotten about it.

If it was Jimin, he would've chosen a song from all of the members. Even when he went to the lee mujin show he was like, "Taehyung and Jungkook should come here since they have nice voices. Yoongi too". And Yoongi doesn't even sing... bffr Jimin!!

During some suchwita episode, Yoongi said that they went to celebrate Jungkook's bb #1, but none of them ever mentioned anything about celebrating Jimin's. Around those days, they got together because Jin was in leave if I recall correctly? But it's like... Jimin posted a photo at Hoseok's release party, then at Jungkook's release party; a couple with Namjoon while he was filming his stuff last year. He was publicly seen at Lolla, NYC, Taehyung's music show. There is factual, definite proof that he was cheering them on and happy for them in almost every step of the way. Meanwhile we had to assume, we had to imagine that some of them congratulated him. We should assume, we should imagine that they also went to dinner to celebrate his #1.

And it's like... the people want FACTS..! I was never one to assume that the things I believe to be true, are the reality. I don't want to imagine, I don't care to imagine that something nice is going on. I need to know that it's happening.

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xxwritemeastoryxx · 2 years

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*chants* Bucky, Bucky, Bucky

18. Just pretend we’re okay, just for tonight, just for show. I’ll be gone by sunrise.

(Pretty please)

Compromised

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x fem!reader

Word Count: 5873

Warnings: Betrayal, weapon usage/violence, angst galore. Canon timeline doesn't exist to make this fic work.

Author’s Note: Okay, hear me out before this one gets started. I'm sorry (That's a lie) for whatever pain comes from this one. But I also couldn't help myself and added a second prompt because it JUST FIT PERFECTLY and I couldn't help myself. I added prompt 10. You started this. The least you can do is finish ripping my heart out by telling the damn truth. The beginning of this fic is a bit misleading. Do not jump to conclusions! Also, I want to say that I'm still getting used to writing for Bucky, so any constructive critiques are welcome. Please note that Make it Angsty Requests are now closed. I'm posting them after the fact cause I fail at posting things in a timely manner. The divider is by the lovely @firefly-graphics ♥

I do not and will not ever give permission for my fics to be copied and posted on other sites. Don’t do it. Don’t be that person that ruins it for me and everyone else.

Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things. While likes are appreciated, reblogs are gold. Seriously, if you enjoyed this in the slightest, please reblog ♥

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It was almost a typical Stark party. However for once it wasn’t for his benefit of any kind. For the first time since Y/N had joined the avengers, they were celebrating her birthday. While it may seem odd that they hadn’t done so before, it was because Y/N didn’t want them to fuss over her. For years they had attempted to throw her a party, but she never wanted it and reminded them every time they had tried.

At first she refused to give up the date when she first joined to allow them to throw some kind of celebration. After FRIDAY gave up the day, Y/N always found out about the details that allowed her to evade every get together or surprise party they attempted. They’d throw the party and she’d never show until she was sure they had given up. Or she’d take on missions to avoid the compound altogether.

In truth, Y/N felt as though she didn’t deserve the party they had been so desperately wanting her to be a part of. She couldn’t ever recall a time where her birth had been celebrated. There weren’t an increasing amount of candles to blow out. After years of having nothing, it had become just another day to her. And now that several people wanted to celebrate her birthday, it was overwhelming.

That was until a few months ago that Bucky had been volunteered to convince his girlfriend to actually have a birthday party. If anyone could convince her, it’d be Bucky. He couldn’t get out of the small parties that Steve insisted they have for him. Unlike Y/N, he couldn’t escape his best friends tatics from it.

And after weeks of convincing and reassuring Y/N that it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to have a party thrown for her, she finally agreed to it. It also didn’t hurt to add in that any time he was forced to attend a party for his, she was a willing participant that helped him enjoy the night. For once he wanted to be able to see her enjoy herself on her birthday.

That was how she currently found herself surrounded by plenty of people that she knew and didn’t know. Many of them had been staff within the compound that she hardly ever talked to. If it hadn’t been for the conversations and words of encouragement from Bucky and her teammates, she would have bolted for the door hours ago.

But now, she was beginning to feel ansty and the one person that promised he’d by her side the majority of the night was nowhere to be seen. Even as her eyes scanned the crowd she couldn’t find Bucky. Usually she could pick him out rather easy in any room, but right now she couldn’t.

As her eyes finished her scan, she found Steve and Sam talking across the way causing her to start making her way over. As she had, her eyes kept looking for Bucky the whole time hoping he’d pop up.

“Have you seen Bucky?” She asked as she came up to them.

They had stopped mid conversation the moment she spoke. They both hadn’t missed the anxiousness that was visible in her eyes. While they hardly ever seen that side of her before, they both knew that this was a first for her. They expected there to be some hesitancy on her part.

Steve tilted his head towards the hall at the other end of the room. “He got a phone call a few minutes ago. Couldn’t hear over the music.”

She didn’t blame him. The music levels were just loud enough that some people had to speak louder just to be heard. Any louder and she was sure people would have to be mouth to ear in this place to hear anything.

“Thanks.” She said giving him a smile.

“We’re going to be bringing out the cake soon.” Sam added. “Don’t take too long.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No promises!” She said before she turned and started making her way towards the hall.

When she reached the hall, her eyes began scanning each room as she walked past them, looking for Bucky. She soon realized that only one room, at the very end of the hall had been closed. A small smile pulled at her lips once more as she made her way over to that door.

Her thoughts instantly going to the playful things she could say to him as she walked into the door. She could joke about how he was hiding away when he promised he’d be there. She could also joke that when his birthday came around, she would be able to hide away. The many things she could say just to help ease the anxiety that was bubbling within her.

“Hey Buck-” As she opened the door, she froze. The playful question about him hiding away never got the chance to pass her lips.

Bucky stood at the opposite side of the desk with a file opened and papers scattered. Several pictures were mixed in with the pages that had been on the desk. A document was in his hand as if he had been reading it moments before she had opened the door.

Curiosity should have filled her with what he currently had his eyes trained on, but it wasn’t. Fear filled her as she recognized the contents of the file he had been going through. All of the information in that file she had tried her hardest to destroy. The life she no longer wished to be a part of was contained within that file. The lies to her life laid out on display.

Taking a shuddering breath, she stepped into the room and closed the door. She kept her back to the door, with her hands on the handle. The simple need to grasp onto it just in case she needed to make a quick getaway.

“I need you to let me explain.”

The instant the words left her mouth, Bucky’s eyes snapped to her. He had heard her when she opened the door, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Not when his eyes were still scanning the document in his hand, taking in the information.

His heart had been in his stomach from the moment he opened the file. Before he opened it, he felt as though he shouldn’t and trust Y/N. He wanted to believe that there was no reason to worry and whatever was in that file was going to prove his recent suspicions to be wrong. But they weren’t.

Being free from the memories tied to it makes it easier to get the job done.

A simple phrase she had said weeks ago had stuck with him. A siren going off within his mind that felt wrong. For someone such as Y/N, who joined from SHIELD, shouldn’t know what it’s like to have her memories wiped. Then again, he had no idea what SHIELD was capable of doing behind closed doors.

It didn’t stop Bucky from wanting the answers himself without dropping a thousand questions on Y/N. He knew the sudden interest in her past would raise questions. While Bucky knew as much about Y/N as she was willing to give, she still had walls up and Bucky respected some of those walls. Just as she had with some of his. But now he had the answers directly in front of him and he hated himself for not seeing it sooner.

“Who are you?” His voice was loud enough for her to hear. His voice hardly held any emotion even though his expressions conveyed everything he was feeling.

“You know who I am.” She responded as she lifted her head up a little higher. Almost as if she was bracing herself for the blow.

“Obviously I don’t.” His right hand gestured towards the desk. “Your background was pretty extensive, I’m amazed that you made it through Tony’s security checks with how much I have sitting on this desk.”

“It’s not that hard for Hydra to create a false identity when you don’t exactly have one.” Much like the calmness in his voice, her’s matched. On the inside, her heart was racing. She was sure her eyes had displayed the fear and guilt she was currently feeling. Her eyes took in every bit of him. Studying him and keeping herself ready for anything she hoped wouldn’t happen. “The person in that file is dead. Has been for several years.”

A scoff passed his lips as he shook his head. “If she’s dead, who’s birthday are they currenty out there celebrating?”

They. He hadn’t included himself in that scentence and Y/N had picked up on that right away. There was a change from earlier this morning when he took her out to breakfast and left a gift on her bed side table to wake up to. She assumed that the time he took to celebrate her birthday ended when he got his phone call, no doubt signalling the arrival of the file.

“Still mine.” There was the slightest nod of her head as she tried to enure his questions were answered as quickly as she could without them seeming rehearsed, even though there were times where she practiced for the day she would tell him. “They-” She stopped herself. There was no use in avoiding the truth. “Hydra believed that if I had no ties to my former life, I would do as they pleased. But when creating a backstory, they used my real birth date. It was only after I left that I found out it was the right date. Everything else was different.”

His eyes took her in as she finished. He could see how she was almost in a defensive stance. Her arm behind her back no doubt holding the handle on the door. The defensive reflex reminding him of many times he had seen other soldiers hold that stance in a room that he was in. An easier way to leave when the opportunity presented itself.

He wondered how many other times there was something that had seemed so familiar to him that had gone unnoticed. For every memory that had been returned to him, he never knew who she was when they first met. He would have known if she was mixed in the sea of memories, but she never encountered him while he was under Hydra’s hold.

But now he kew that brief moment of a gut feeling when he met her for the first time was an actual warning he should have listened to. But it had been Steve, and occasionally Sam, that reminded him that once she opened up, she wasn't as guarded and neither of them had felt off about her presence. It turns out they had been wrong.

"I get it." She said a moment later when he hadn’t said anything. “This is a bunch of new information that you're taking in. Maybe you need a little more time to process." Her hand on the knob slowly turned. This would be the only chance she'd have to leave the room. While she didn't fear him, she was afraid of the emotions that would come from this conversation. She knew, without a doubt, he'd hate her afterwards. "I'll head back to the party and we can talk later. Just please don't say anything to anyone. At least not yet."

She had barely turned around and opened the door a little more than an inch or two before the swish of a blade flying through the air was loud in her ears. It was followed by a thud that caused the door to slam shut just as quickly as she had opened it. She looked up to see the knife barely above her head.

"We are far from finished."

When she turned back around, she found him standing within arms reach. His eyes were narrowed at her. Her heart aches that he had been looking at her like he was instead of the caring looks she had been used to. In the span of a an hour, she had become the enemy in his eyes.

Bucky could have aimed anywhere. He had half a mind to aim for the space right beside her hand or even right by her cheek. Something close enough to knick the skin as a warning not to leave. But the part of him that cared way too deeply for her couldn't bring himself to bring the knife that close to her.

He couldn't deny what was in front of him. The way she had been so calm about this had further proved the evidence. It was almost as if he could no longer recognize who she was. That the woman he loved was completely different from the woman who's life had been spread out on the desk behind him. Even the words leaving her lips that now came out so easily were foreign to him in the way their conversations usually went. Hydra was never spoken of and now it had been mentioned more times in the last few minutes than they had been in the few years they had known each other.

“How long?” He asked a moment later.

“Since before we met.” The words came out easily.

"What was your mission?"

Her eyes scanned his face for a moment. Just enough for her to collect her thoughts. She could lie, but she knew that would get her nowhere. She could tell the truth, and they could possibly find themselves at each other's throats.

“To infiltrate the Avengers." His features hadn't changed as she continued. "I was to gain their trust while I observed and reported anything of interest. When the time came I was to take down my target.”

“Who is your target?” He asked with a raised brow.

“Doesn’t matter, I couldn’t go through with it.” She said with a shake of her head.

That detail she couldn’t bring herself to give up. It caused her heart to ache just thinking about it. She never voiced it before and she didn’t want this to be the first time she did. Any other time she could redirect the questions onto something else. But this wasn’t just a casual conversation to be had anymore. This was Bucky interrogating her.

There weren't any playful conversations or plans for the rest of the night. There wasn’t the comfortable stance between them. Instead they both were on edge and the tension in the air thick.

“It does matter. You came here under false pretenses. Lied to everyone who believed to be your friend. I think it’s only fair that you own up to who it was.” It was no longer about knowing her past and what she had done. It was now about if she still posed as threat while still here within the walls of the compound.

“They’re still breathing.” She noted. “I almost went through with it. But I learned I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So it doesn’t matter who it was, Bucky. All that matters is that I turned my back on Hydra and never looked back.”

“And what’s to stop you from changing your mind and going after them?” He asked taking a step closer to her.

“What stopped you from killing Steve?” With his step forward, she began remembering the layout of the room. The details she could use to her advantage from being pinned against the door as she now was.

“Why can’t you just answer the question?” He shot back as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Because it isn’t necessary!” Her voice raised slightly. The emotions within her growing and she hated the fact that her eyes threatened to tear up. “I left. I made the choice to be better. You got to do the same. Why is it any different with me?”

“Because I don’t know how I can trust you without knowing all of the facts.” He took in a deep breath trying to calm himself. “I let you in. How do I know that everything you’ve told me isn’t a lie? I don’t know how much of it was you actually being you or if you were doing your job and just using me to get close to-”

He stopped himself when something clicked in his mind. The missing pieces of the puzzle being found as he watched the tears well up in her eyes and the words he had just said brought everything into perspective. He looked up at the knife that was still embedded in the door above her head before looking back at her.

“I’m only going to ask this one more time.” There was hurt in his voice and every part of him hoped that the answer he now had in his mind was wrong. “Who is your mission?”

The moment Bucky had cut himself off, Y/N knew he had pieced it together. It was written in his face and in his eyes. It had made her heart ache as she watched him piece it together. She knew this is where he would hate her. Even if she tried and denied it again, he still knew and there was nothing that could change that.

“You.” That was when the first tear fell from her eyes. His hands dropped to his sides as he took a step back. When she reached out to him, he hit her hand away. “Bucky-”

“Everything was a lie, wasn’t it?” His head shook as he looked at her. His heart ached in a way he believed he never felt before. He had felt and done many things during his lifetime. He regretted many things and several of them he wished on everything he could take them back. But the one thing he never regretted was meeting and falling in love with Y/N. At least that was until now. “You are pretty good at your job sweetheart, I’ll give you that.”

“I have lied about plenty of things, but my feelings for you weren’t one of them.” Y/N needed him to understand that.

Her confessions of care and love towards him hadn’t been faked at any point. Her annoyance in the beginning had been clear. It took months for them to warm up to each other, let alone work well together on missions. And while she was the double agent, it was only until her feelings had shifted, right along with Bucky’s, that she realized she couldn’t go through with her mission.

“Don’t feed me that bullshit.” His eyes narrowed at her. “Everything I have known about you has been a lie. From the moment I met you I should have listened to my gut.” He shook his head before running his fleshed hand down his face. “You started this by taking the mission.” He said as he looked into her eyes. “The least you can do is finish ripping my heart out by telling the damn truth for once.”

Her eyes widdened slightly as she took in his words. She knew that this was a justified reaction from him. But it didn’t hurt anyless to hear that she was breaking him. The first relationship he had away from Hydra and she was tormenting him by not telling him the truth.

She looked elsewhere for a moment as she tried to get her emotions in check. After all those years of training, she found them to be useless in that moment. Tears were falling freely with no intent to stop. They were silent and didn’t affect her in the way it would to someone else.

“You want the whole truth? Okay. Here it is.” If it would help in some way to either ease things between them or get them going for the inevitable reveal to the others, she’d give it all up. “Hydra caught wind that you were having your programming removed.” His eyes widened for a moment as he took in her words. “For the right price, there are no secrets, even in closed borders, you know that. Agents were trying to find their place after the fall of SHIELD. It was easy to have a background created for me and I was tossed in with the potentials. It didn’t take long for my skillsets to be noticed and I was brought in rather quickly. I was to observe and report what was necessary to my superiors. And when the time came I was to assess if the Winter Soldier could be returned and utilized or put down.

"I played my role and mingled with everyone. I reported back when necessary. Much like you with the hesitancy towards me, I had the same with you. Yes, I feared that you’d figure it out early on and kill me. I expected it from the moment you returned from Wakanda. I stayed on edge waiting for the moment that you would figure it out. But you never did. And when you managaged to actually hold a conversation with me for longer than two seconds, I knew I had my way in.” She watched as a glare formed on his face and when he opened his mouth to speak she quickly continued.

“Things started to change between us. I fought it because I was supposed to be doing my job and not falling for you. Your death was supposed to come that first mission alone together after it was agreed by my superiors that you were to be put down. You were so eager to get the mission done that you never realized you had a gun pointed at your head several times.” She wiped the tears from her cheek. Bucky had shook his head at her words. No doubt hating himself for not realizing it then. “Nor did you see how I struggled to get myself to pull the trigger. Because every time you looked back to check on me, all I could see was Bucky and not the asset that I was meant to put down. All I could see was the freedom and relationship that I craved and I couldn’t do it.

“The moment we got back from that mission I left for a few days. I said it was because I had a family emergency that I needed to take care of. That was the last lie I told you. Because I couldn’t tell you that I was going to either get myself killed or I was going to take down the base that not even the Avengers knew about.”

The moment she mentioned it, Bucky remembered that night. He remembered, for the first time in a long while, being anxious waiting for Y/N to return home from checking in on her family. The night she had left he was going to tell her how he felt. The feelings that had been developing for her, he needed her to know.

Bucky had been working up the courage the week leading up to the mission. But he couldn’t get himself to. And when they got back, he was on his way to her room to tell her when he caught word she had left rather quickly. The only thing anyone knew was something was going on with her family. So Bucky waited a little longer to tell her.

After almost a week and a half, Bucky woke up in the middle of the night to find Y/N sitting in the doorway to his room. At first he believed he was dreaming until he got up and walked over to her. He had expected to see some kind of smirk on her lips or some kind of joke about her being a lurker. Instead he found her face and neck covered in yellowing bruises.

“What happened?” He asked, quickly moving to sit beside her and take in the damage.

“Some times checking in on your family means getting your ass beat in the process.” It was a horrible joke but it had made her chuckle slightly as tears formed in her eyes.

He brought his hand under her chin and lifted it slightly, angling her face up and to the side to get a better look at her neck. “Should have called in for some back up. I gladly would have stepped in.” They chuckled and she shook her head.

“I assure you, they wouldn’t be able to touch anyone again.”

Her words caused an eyebrow to raise on his face. “Am I being sworn to secrecy with that statement? Cause I can-”

“You wont have to worry about anything.” She promised. “I’m free from anything incriminating.” She looked down the hall towards where her room was. “I’ve only been back a few minutes, I didn’t want to wake you. You actually looked like you were sleeping peacefully tonight. I just needed-”

“It’s okay.” He assured her. He stayed with her in that spot for a little longer before she excused herself to go to her room.

The next morning they received the news that a hydra base had been taken down with no idea who had done it. No mission had been scheduled. They didn't even know that particular base had existed. Yet it had been up in flames without anyone alive to explain what was going on. Local authorities had been the ones to find the base in shambles and it took some time to reach the compound.

“I should kill you right now.” His voice had been calm. The words had even shocked him as they left his lips. Maybe it was the mix of emotions, but there was no stopping them once they left his lips.

Without any hesitation, Y/N shot her hand up above her head, grabbing the hilt of the knife, pulling it free. The moment she had it free, Bucky had his vibranium hand wrapped around hers. He thought she had been attempting to use it against him, and as he tried to keep it from meeting him, she easily brought it closer to her, letting the tip of the blade meet her shirt right above her heart.

“Do it, you’d be doing both of us a favor.” For a brief moment she saw the way his eyes softened at her words and actions before they hardened just as they had moments before. “I never intended to fall for you. But you made me care and I couldn’t stop myself. You want to kill me, go ahead. I deserve it for what I’ve done.”

Bucky pulled the blade away from her and brought it down to his side. “You should have told me the truth sooner. When you knew you couldn’t go through with it. Or even that night. We sat up for hours, you should have told me. I would have let you go then instead of having to find out this way when you slipped up.”

“I know, and I understand that I should have. But you-”

“Leave.” He couldn’t let her finish what she was about to say. While he didn’t know it word for word, he knew she would say along the lines of ‘now he knew and they could start over, now he knew and once she told the others they could make their way past this’. Part of him wanted to let her be that selfish. But the other part that now saw her only as someone that used him, he couldn’t bring himself to allow her any of it.

She nodded her head. “Okay, I’ll give you some space.”

“I meant leave here completely. I don’t want to see you around here anymore. In fact I expect you to be somewhere across the world by morning.”

“What? No-”

“If you don’t leave, I will gladly walk out of this room and alert everyone that Hydra is within their walls.” He would quickly do it if it allowed him the peace of her being gone. He couldn’t stand to look at her right now.

"I am not Hydra anymore!" She was glad the music had been blasting down the hall or else she would have given herself away with how loudly she had yelled it at him. “If you’re going to take anything away from this, please let that be it.”

“I can’t.” He shook his head. He moved towards the door to leave. As his flesh hand grabbed the door knob, she placed hers on top of his, causing him to look over at her with a glare.

“I know you don’t owe me any favors, and I definitely don’t deserve this, but please. Just pretend we’re okay, just for tonight, just for show.” She watched as his eyes hadn’t changed as he kept them on her. “Please. The others don’t need to hear about this right now and I promise that I’ll be gone by sunrise.”

He stood there for a moment, taking her in one last time. For the briefest of moments, this was his Y/N that he was looking at. The woman he had loved with everythin he could give. She wasn’t the enemy that had been standing in front of him. Nor was she the woman that broke his heart several times within their conversation tonight.

The pain in his chest shattered the illusion a moment later and all he could see and feel was the betrayal from her. The lies he had heard over the years on a loop in his mind as he looked into her eyes. He couldn’t give her the whole night she was asking for. He didn’t even know if he’d be capable of giving her any time longer than him walking out of this room.

“I’ll give you until your candles are out.” He said as he shook her hand off of his and opened the door. “That’s the only time you’ll get. After that it’s fair game.”

As the door slammed shut behind him, she closed her eyes and let a shakey breath out. She had expected him to say no. To tell her to leave once more before he left the room. She had expected to be running to their shared room and packing a bag to slip out under the radar. But he gave her smallest window of nothing being wrong.

Leaving the room, she quickly ducked into the nearest bathroom to collect herself. Thankfully there hadn’t been many people in the hall and there wasn’t someone already in the bathroom. Making quick use of her time, she ensured that not a single evidence of tears had been on her face and made sure her eyes didn’t hold the emotions she had been feeling. With one last deep breath, she walked back out to the party.

“There she is!” Clint yelled out, catching her attention. “We’ve been trying to keep Thor off of the cake.”

In the last few moments the music had been lowered significantly, to a decent volume. Thankfully they hadn’t decided to do so before she and Bucky had walked out of the room. If they had, she was sure she’d be greeted differently.

“Didn’t I tell you it wouldn’t be long before cake?” Sam teased.

“Someone couldn’t keep their hands off.”

Bucky’s voice had surprised her. As her eyes snapped to his, there wasn’t the playful gleam within his eyes. If anything, he was hiding the glare that wanted to form. He sent a wink her way before he brought the beer bottle up to his lips. The subtle message that he agreed and wouldn’t take it back. He’d keep the new charade up as long as she left just as he asked.

“Enough of that!” Nat said before Y/N could respond. She came over to Y/N and began leading her to stand in front of the cake. “Let’s sing and cut the cake before they decide to disappear again.”

The instant Y/N was in place, Nat began to light the candles on the cake quickly. But her eyes never left Bucky as he moved to stand closer to her for the time being. The others gathered around and it wasn’t long before a countdown started and the singing began. Taking Y/N’s full attention.

From the opposite side of the cake, she watched as the people who had become her friends over the last several years sing to her. The smiles on their faces as they had were something she’d never forget. And as her eyes landed on Bucky, he too had been participating just as she asked him too. The sparkler candles adding the right touch to the memory she was creating in her mind. The memory she’d keep with her for as long as she could after she left. The and only birthday celebrated with them all.

As the song came to an end, she could see the way Bucky’s eyes had been on anywhere else but her. He had even stopped singing mid song before the others had even finished singing. The ‘normal’ coming to an end.

While every one told her to make some kind of wish, Y/N couldn’t bring herself to. While she could wish for anything and everything to take back today, and even the last few years she would. But the damage had been done. There was no going back now.

I’m sorry. She thought as she blew out the candles.

In the midst of the cheers and the cake being moved away, Y/N was gone from sight. The only one who noticed it at first was Bucky. He watched her the whole entire time. He watched as she manuevored out of sight from the others and down towards the hall.

The moment she was gone from sight, Bucky’s body slumped slightly. The tension in his body leaving as he sat himself down in the nearest chair. The action hadn’t go unnoticed by some of his friends.

“You alright Buck?” Steve’s voice filled his ears as caught his movement in his peripheral taking a seat next to him.

“Give me the rest of tonight to give you an answer to that.” He said even though his eyes never left the hallway.

He had hardly got a grip on the situation himself. He was still processing the information, her words on a loop in his head, along with the hurt he was feeling had his mind spinning. Because how could he begin to explain that the woman they all cared for had been lying for years?

“Where’d Y/N go?” Steve asked keeping his attention on Bucky.

Bucky shrugged his shoulders, trying to keep his emotions at bay. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He finally brought his attention to Steve. “I just need time to give you the ‘why’ of it all.”

After years of freedom from the organization that manipulated, used, and tormented him, Hydra sure had a way of making its presence known in his life even after being destroyed. The relief of freedom he felt had been taken away from him the moment he had opened that file. And the genuine happiness he felt had been shattered to pieces the moment she confirmed his thoughts.

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king-paimon · 1 year

Text

Houseki no Kuni Chapter 101 Thoughts: Paradise Broken

Well... This was an interesting way to celebrate my birthday early.

I’m just going to jump right into this before I forget anything since...wow. I have some thoughts about this chapter. As always, please feel free to share your own thoughts and theories in the post! And sorry again if this ends up being long! This may turn out a bit messy, so when I get the chance, I’ll come back and make it pretty!

Paradise Shattered: Reality Setting In

So it looks like one of my theories from the previous chapter was correct to a degree. The little rocks do in fact contain remnants of humanity, and it’s this revelation that caused Phos to react the way they did in the previous chapter. And despite telling the little rocks that their reaction was out of happiness, their thoughts clearly indicate otherwise.

But what I didn’t expect was the revelation that a bit of the old Phos (as well as humanity) was still there inside of their new form and it may have influenced this new world in ways that Phos didn’t expect or want.

This new revelation has once again put Phos in a emotional spiral. After finally extinguishing what was left of humanity for everyone’s sake, but mostly their own, and after finally finding happiness with these little rocks... there’s a new chance that they will come back. And that’s the last thing Phos wants.

Phos doesn’t want any reminders of humanity to come back, whether they be in the rocks or themselves. They don’t want humanity or the suffering that goes along with it. Phos had finally found paradise, or what they convinced themselves was their “paradise,” and now there was a chance that it’d come back. Of course Phos isn’t going to be happy. It seems that once again, their goal for happiness was moved again, even though the pebble thinks otherwise.

With this in mind, I want to hear your thoughts on this. Isn’t it just me or doesn’t it feel that Phos’s interaction with the pebble after this feel... off? In the previous chapter, Phos seemed genuinely happy to be around with the pebble and was having fun but thoughtful talks with them. But now, after fully realizing that humanity is not fully gone and lives on inside them and the rock beings, Phos seems rather cold, giving small and delayed answers.

Maybe I’m looking too into this observation, but I definitely think it’s deliberate. And why this might not be a good thing will be elaborated further down. The only exception was Phos’s comment to the pebble’s comment about Phos’s happiness “going on forever.” I will come back to that in moment.

Before that, I need to talk about... THAT.

“THAT”: The Creature’s True Identity Theory

This was the first image I saw when raw leaks started popping up. At first, I thought the same as some of the other viewers asking myself “What the hell is that? Is that a new species?” But the more I thought about it, I came to this conclusion. No. That isn’t a new species. That’s Phos. Or another part of them that survived.

I’ll do my best to explain my reasoning.

Recall many chapters ago, back when Phos was destroyed by the Earth gems and put away for many years to then result with Adamant putting most of them back together. Many parts of them were missing that he didn’t get to add before being confronted, including their remaining Lapis Lazuli eye. That part Adamant kept. The other eye was the synthetic pearl eye that Aechmea put in on the moon and the missing Lapis eye was replaced with Adamant’s eye.

And recall after after being mostly put together, Phos transforms into an unrecognizable creature that is held together and driven by pure, unadulterated anger and despair.

Their transformation only intensifies after they return to the moon.Now I don’t know about you, but doesn’t their initial “berserk” form during these scenes seem very similar to the one eyed creature? And I find it interesting that the eye was not accounted for after Adamant disintegrated and after the descendants of humanity were (mostly) wiped out.

There are a few things that could disprove this theory, with the main one being the fact that I don’t know what the tendrils coming off the creature is made of. They don’t look like the gold alloy that Phos used to use. They look fibrous and organic. The droplets dripping off them look like alloy but I’m certain it’s water. This could be enough to prove that this creature is just another thing that formed over time like the little rock beings. But for the sake of this post, I’ll stick with this theory because I have another revelation that revolves around it.

Now, if this eye creature is part of Phos, what exactly is it and why is it attacking the rocks? I hypothesize that this creature is somewhat of a manifestation of Phos’s newly reawaken negative feelings towards humanity. Like how Phos turned into a puddle in the last chapter, this creature is clearly something new that hasn’t been witnessed before in this new world. I think Phos’s newly ignited negative thoughts about humanity had re-awoken this side of themselves, maybe through their inclusions, and had subsequently “given birth” to this new creature through the eye Adamant kept. This could be a farfetched idea, but after Phos came to the realization that they may have unintentionally influenced their new world because of the remaining piece gem inside them, it could be possible.

With this theory in mind, this leads me to another theory that I’m sad to say isn’t a good one.

Edit to add: Thank you @aspirationatwork and @modern-alebrije for your comments on this post! I’m glad I’m not the only one who believes that eye belonged to Phos. But you made a good point, modern. I saw another post explaining why the eye could be Adamant’s “older brother” and I think the OP’s reasons make a lot of sense! Ooh, this is very interesting... I hope the final reveal will be good.

Phos Wasn’t Fine After All... Time To Try Again??

Phos’s thought process through this chapter has sadly confirmed something I hoped wasn’t true. Before this and the previous chapter, I wanted to believe that Phos was finally moving on and that they had found peace with themselves. But after everything that happened up until this point, it’s more than clear that they didn’t. They hadn’t healed or moved on. The unfortunate truth is that Phos had just put on a metaphorical band-aid on their true feelings in the form of their little pebble friends and had instead tried to ignore those and hope for the best. Just like how the old gems used to deal with their issues.

So even after everything Phos learned and experienced through their own and other’s suffering, it seems old habits die hard.

And speaking of old habit... Phos’s dialogue in the last few pages are concerning.

What Phos said here to the pebble was ominous especially considering their change in tone and demeanor. And if my theory about the one eyed creature being a manifestation of Phos’s negative thoughts are correct...then I fear that the rocks aren’t going to exist for much longer. Because if Phos’s desire for humanity to stay gone becomes their new “wish,” I’m afraid this could mean that the rocks are going to be destroyed, and I think Phos is going to allow that to happen.

I’m sure that’s a fate fans don’t want to see happen to these little rocks. I mean, come on: they didn’t do anything to Phos. They are just little rocks who are enjoying their simple lives and Phos’ company. The only thing they are “guilty” of is containing remnants of humanity inside them, just like Phos.

But that reason might be enough for Phos.

It would be kind of messed up for Phos to allow these rocks to be destroyed for that reason after everything that Phos went through and how desperate they seem to want to get away from any reminder of the descendants of humanity...it might not be that surprising. They are kind of an expert at this point after all.

EDIT: This is all just a theory though! After stepping back for a few hours, I see how REALLY farfetched it is. It was the first thing that popped in my head after re-reading the chapter, and I admit it was far more cynical than I originally thought. I read another poster’s view of these events as Phos fearing that they may harm the rocks and they don’t wish ill-will on them. I think that’s true. But I still believe that the eye creature is a manifestation of Phos’s remnant anger towards the descendants of humanity and it may hurt the little pebbles.

Burn out

That’s all I have for now. This wasn’t a bad chapter, I overall liked it. Though I’ll say it again, I’m not as enthusiastic about waiting for these chapters as I once was. It’s mainly because I’m refocusing on important aspects of of my life and I’ve grown attached to new things; I haven’t posted about these new fixations of mine on this blog, but I might change it. Who knows. But despite this, I’m curious to see how the next couple of chapters will play out. I’m still hanging in there and I want to see how it’ll all end. But honestly... I’m more excited to see it end than continue on because... I’m getting tired.

#houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #HNK #LOTL #hnk spoilers #lotl spoilers #hnk phosphophyllite #hnk phos #hnk chapter 101 #hnk meta #hnk thoughts #HNK theory #hnk theories

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9w1ft · 9 months

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Hi :) Sorry to disturb but I’m not sure who to ask this to, and I think perhaps you might be able to help?

I’ve been a kaylor for the past two years but I still have my doubts on the timeline from the lover era and forward.

I was wondering if you believe that during these years taylor and karlie broke up. I first got the idea while listening to folklore, and realised that perhaps some of these “fictional” stories were not fictional at all so I’ve believed for a long time that kaylor broke up during the lover era and that lead to the very depressing songs on both folklore and evermore and others on midnights like maroon.

recently, though, I’ve started to have doubts cause I’ve seen some of your posts and there are a lot of coincidences that link karlie and taylor, like that pic of karlie in that blue thing hinting at 1989 tv.

Would you mind clarifying what you personally believe? Or do you have a timeline post that might help me?

sorry to disturb you and thank you if you read/answer this <3

hey! thank you very much for your ask

sorry it took some time to answer. in these trying times it’s always hard to gauge how much you want to lay it all out 😆

here is a post i wrote a little bit ago, though it is kind of vague as well

there is no timeline post i know of that explains the timeline that i believe, sadly. but i have never been in a rush to write one because i kind of think they would want to have this pocket of time that is forever ambiguous, because of the decisions they might have made.

at a base level i don’t think that it’s so difficult to comprehend. what’s the old phrase? first comes love, then comes marriage, then…. you can probably recall the rest. these are milestones that it’s not wild to assume someone might hope to achieve with the love of their life, you know?

i’m going to also assume you believe that they were together during at least part of lover era. seeing as how the lover music video shows the image of two parents in a house gifting their child a snowglobe with their love story inside of it. we see that taylor is already thinking ahead to the kind of life she might want to lead. and because of celebrity tiktoks we have this hint that taylor was very likely to have come out at the end of june 2019 in lover era, but did not.

so if we are to assume that this is what happened, that taylor got the rug pulled from under her and suddenly scooter was poised to profit off of taylor’s work, we might say that one thing taylor decided to do was halt her best laid plan. there may have been several things that froze her but one big reason, i believe, is because it would have led to an explosion of traffic from new listeners, all of which scooter would have financially benefitted from. there’s an interview out there where taylor talks about going out of her way to prove a point, and while you can infer she’s talking about re-recording her work to the interviewer, i think it goes beyond that.

think about karlie in this situation as well. if taylor and karlie were going to be publicly friendly again, that, also, would have led to so much publicity and attention on taylor’s back catalog, meaning more money for scooter. but also, karlie was still managed by scooter at the time, and it would probably have led to more bank for him via her because of taylor’s coming out. in my mind, i believe taylor and karlie decided to once again abandon working toward a public reconciliation, that you could argue they had been working towards for awhile, again. they had to tear down the banners again. karlie at once pared down what she was doing and stuck to several important partnerships. heck, she even gave up on hosting a television show that scooter’s company rebooted. with her adidas line, in the behind the scenes footage of her starting her partnership she gushes about how this is something she’s wanted her whole life. estée lauder as well, was something else she said she wanted since she was a kid. these along with carolina herrera seem to me like the precious few things she held onto.

sometimes i think about how karlie started wearing a necklace that said “i can and i will” in a distinctly tayloresque font as she continued being seen with scooter. how she wore this necklace and took all the heat from all the boneheads out there until eventually, we will get mad woman and vigilante shit. good wives always know. she had the envelope where you think she got it from, etc.. to me, this is the proof that they were still very much fine, although they may have been feigning it a bit to get a few things done.

i tried writing some extra stuff for you but sadly it is just more vague thoughts. but if you are interested, take a look below the cut!

before we get tracks like mad woman and vigilante shit, it is still the failed coming out era and taylor is wearing black jumpsuits with jackets tied around her waist and she looks sad. miss americana becomes a political documentary… sometimes i think about taylor’s explanation of the song hoax to aaron during lpss where she explains how she was mad at a lot of different things and people at once.

but then, it’s the strangest thing because the man music video is released, and while taylor bashes men —as she should— its also a very playful and upbeat video where she embodies this persona who is, among other things, the world’s best dad… and then there start to be all these dad jokes. oh yeah, and then the pandemic happened? taylor’s mother also had publicly reported health struggles. lover fest is cancelled. we are in a new landscape, where taylor is thinking about her life and how she wants to live it. she spends some time out west. karlie spends some time out west. karlie starts wearing the Courage onyx amulette de cartier again. jack leopards and the dolphin club release look what you made me do for finding eve.

oh also, folklore is being written from day two of the pandemic, and in time it gets released and then there’s a huge uptick in rumors and articles but in time karlie announces she is with child and everything gets quiet again. well, with a little clowning here and there for good measure but, a lot of fans who were on the kaylor fence hopped off of it. evermore. a feeling so peculiar that the pain wouldnt be forevermore. leave the chips on your shoulder behind, leave it all behind, and maybe there is happiness. interestingly, taylor says she wrote happiness last and like, a week before dropping evermore. she says its a song where she channels a friend who got out of a long term thing and how it’s about how does she pack everything up and put it (it as in… everything?) in a car and drive away (drive away with everything?) and what does she leave there. she also says that she doesn’t know what’s next, that she has no plans anymore. we are now on to no plan taylor. taylor in her no plan era. then we get bonus tracks and karlie —pregnant— gets so much hate directed her way. like if there was ever a soldier down on that icy ground moment for these two i wonder if it wasn’t here (though i think it was likely earlier) but like you say, the coincidences keep coming and the lyrics keep lyricing and things like renegade get released and all and all things continue to make a bunch of sense as to why they’re still connected to one another. oh and taylor wins a grammy for folklore in march minutes after levi is announced to the world. sometimes i think about how the meaning for the name levi is “unity” or “joined” and i think about the kinds of divides there were out there with the you’s and how across the great divide there is happiness, when you… leave… it behind. oh did i mention she continued to use that family crest symbol as she started her re-record journey?

just gonna skip forward to midnights. taylor releases an album that, for me, miraculously, was not just another ‘confessional’ album, but one that provided several songs that together gave literally all the key elements i was looking for in order to solve the mystery for myself. i can identify a potential reason for why things are the particular setup that they are right now and why not the other way around, i see —and hear— something about an important day, and something about an important period of time, and i see a music video that’s quite prophetic, and i hear taylor telling hard truths to the people that need to hear them, whether or not they choose to is still up in the air.

there are so many tour moments and moments during this tour that i could point toward but… i’m pretty sure most of those beats are fresh in your mind still so i’ll keep my ramblings to here for the time being, pending more signs that might suggest i’m on to something here. for now, this has been another freeform rundown of why i am sleeping fine at night 😌

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