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#he can eat his dry food and drink water without problems
hellenhighwater · 11 months
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Hi Hell, congrats on the exciting foster kitten news!
I just applied to adopt a kitten and had my interview for her today. The woman seemed most interested in convincing me of how terrible dry food, traditional litter (she preferred clay), and tap water is for cats. She said the carbohydrates and ingredients were terrible for their kidneys, the dust in litter is bad for their lungs, and the chlorine in water is harmful. I have a 12 year old cat named Scipio who has been using those things all his life, and now I feel guilty and scared for his health. He seems perfectly healthy to me but she said “cats are stoic.” What do you use with the Tiny Terrors? Is she extreme?
Well, I'm not a vet, so the actual answer is that your cat should be getting what their doctor recommends. But I've had those conversations with people before, and I can give my two cents--just take it with a grain of salt.
So...it's basically always true that you can spend more money on fancier 'health' options and there is, to some extent, benefit to the pricier choices. But there's a point at which that benefit is pretty minimal compared to what you get for the midrange price options. This is as true for pet health as it is for people health.
It's true that wet food is usually a better option for cats. Among other things, it helps them stay at a healthy level of hydration, can be easier on their digestive systems, and is often more palatable for cats who are elderly or have dental problems. But that doesn't mean that dry food is inadequate--Mal and Vice used to split a can of wet food daily, and graze dry food whenever they wanted. They're currently eating almost exclusively dry food, because Vice is on a sensitive skin and stomach diet to help address his overgrooming. I would avoid the bottom-end dry foods, because they seem prone to contamination, but that's more manufacturer quality than an issue with the dry food generally. Dry food is usually a nutritionally complete way to feed a cat, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Mal and Vice drink tap water. They have a bowl of still water, and a fountain with an inbuilt filter. The fountain is because if they don't have running water, they will make running water by splashing their bowls all over. I can't speak to chlorine but it's definitely healthier than drinking out of puddles, which is what they would be doing if left to their own devices.
They use clay litter because that's what's effective and affordable. When I'm changing it out I generally give it a few minutes for dust to settle before I let them at it--someone always wants to make a deposit in the clean box--but there's pros and cons to all the litter options out there.
In a perfect world with infinite resources, I'd be feeding the cats a careful balanced diet of fresh-prepared meats and filtered spring water, and they'd take dumps in a tiny kitty toilet that cleaned itself without my help. But that's not really practical or achievable for me, my life, or my cats, and frankly, it's not necessary. I want them to have a good life. It doesn't need to be a perfect one. If your cat is doing well, and their vet is giving them a clean bill of health, you probably have nothing to worry about. I'm not a professional; you should consult your vet and research options for yourself (which is what I do) but you're not doing anything wrong here.
I will say that when I was going through the process of adopting Mal and Vice, some places (usually private rescues) wanted me to jump through INSANE hoops to even apply. I respect that their hearts are in the right place, but... There are hundreds of kittens in shelters right now that need homes desperately, and the quality of the cat has very little to do with the quality of the rescue--they might have more or less vet work done, depending on where they're coming from, but nobody's managed to fundamentally change the nature of the beast. If you can provide a safe home, food, clean water, and attention to a cat, that's really all they need. The rest is just gravy.
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skyward-floored · 9 months
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Very curious about the Legend/Marin/Windfish??? Situation in the incredibles au. Does Marin figure out the hero identity and gets her mind wiped? Does she die??????
There are just so many avenues you can go down and I'd love to hear what you've come up with
Sorry I’ve been sitting on this for a few days anon, it was mostly because I couldn’t quite decide which way to go XD
The big problem is I haven’t totally decided what I’m doing with Marin. I have several ideas, and this fic is one of them, but I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with this particular idea or tweak things or do something entirely different in the end, so this is in with the ambiguously canon works.
Scene from the second movie, hehe.
———
“Why did we drive clear across town to have dinner again?” Legend asked, his arms crossed over his middle as he waited for his brothers to all sit at their table. “Couldn’t we have just stayed home?”
“Yeah, what’s so great about the... the Windfish Eatery?” Wind asked in confusion.
“Ha! Windfish!” Wild laughed, and pointed to the flying whale on the menu. “Look Wind, it’s you!”
“I just thought we’d try somewhere a little different,” Time said as Wind threw a pepper shaker at Wild’s face, making Hyrule sneeze as pepper went flying. “Aren’t you kids sick of drive-in food?”
“I like drive-in food,” Legend muttered, and Time held back a sigh.
His son was still mad that Impa had erased all memory of him from his crush’s mind. Marin had seen Legend in his super hero costume without his mask, and Time had told Impa as a precaution, but selective mind wiping was... not an exact science.
It was now like Marin had never met Legend at all, and Legend was, understandably, rather upset she no longer knew he existed. They’d even had a date planned that she’d entirely forgotten about, and Time felt horribly responsible for the entire thing.
Which was why he’d decided eating dinner at Marin’s family’s restaurant was what they were doing tonight.
He hadn’t fully thought it out, but he had to do something— the guilt was eating him up, and Legend only grew more and more moody. It probably would have been wise of him to call Malon and just admit to her all of the problems their sons were having that he was dealing with, but he’d told her he could handle things while she was away.
So that’s what Time was doing. Handling it.
“Do they serve anything here that doesn’t have mushrooms in it?” Hyrule asked as he looked at the menu, a wrinkle to his brow.
“Try the back,” Twilight suggested, and Hyrule perked up as he saw the list of desserts.
“Since this isn’t drive-in, do we have to have vegetables?” Four asked with a frown, and Time nodded as the same person who’d handed them their menus came by and poured them all some water.
“It does. You don’t have to get peppers, but something green would be preferable,” Time said, and more than one of his sons groaned.
“I wish we could’ve had take-out again,” Wind grumbled.
“I’m sick of take-out, and drive-in,” Twilight said, looking eagerly at the menu. “Look, they have meat that isn’t hamburgers!”
They all began to chatter about hamburgers and junk food and the other items on the menu, but Legend merely put a hand on his cheek and stared out the window with a foul look on his face.
Time sighed to himself as Four asked Legend a question, and Legend took a large sip of water to avoid answering.
“Good evening everyone, may I take your orders?” a musical voice asked, and they Time glanced over to see that Marin herself was their waitress for the evening.
Legend looked up at her, and water spewed out of his nose.
“Ew, gross!” Wind yelped as he dodged the water, and Legend began to cough, cheeks flaming as he tried to stop choking on his drink.
Twilight immediately started thwacking him on the back, and Time grabbed a handful of napkins, drying off the water rapidly spreading across the table.
“Are you okay?” Marin asked in concern, and Legend looked away from her, coughing harshly into his arm.
“Legend, are you okay?" Time repeated, and his son's cheeks darkened even more.
"Fine, nothing to see here," Legend half-growled, still coughing into his arm.
The rest of the boys finished mopping up the water, Marin handing them more napkins, and Legend's coughing finally waned, his cheeks still bright red.
"Would you gentlemen like more water?" Marin asked once the mess was entirely cleaned, and Time cleared his throat.
"That would be nice, thank you. This is my son here," he said, jumping right in as he gestured to Legend. "Who I'm... sure you must know," he said a bit haltingly. "From... school. Since you seem the same age."
"Wow dad, smooth," Twilight whispered, and Time just barely held himself back from giving his son a look. Inwardly though, he was wincing at his own words.
Why couldn't romance ever be easy?
"Oh, hi," Marin said politely, and Legend's face somehow turned even redder.
"His real name is Link, but most of us call him Legend," Wild added helpfully, and Marin blinked over at him.
"Hello Legend," she greeted again, and Legend looked like he wanted to crawl under the table and die.
"Legend," Time prompted, "say hello to—"
"Don't push it, Dad," Legend bit out.
"I'm Wind, I'm his brother!" Wind said with a grin, and leaned across the table to shake Marin's hand. "These guys are the rest of his brothers too. There's a lot of us, and actually all our names are Link because one time mom sneezed when they were filling the birth certificate and—"
"Nice to meet you," Twilight interrupted, kicking Wind under the table.
"Hello," Marin said to the rest of them when they waved. She looked rather confused by the entire encounter, and Time felt the situation getting rapidly out of his control.
"This is good water, it's really refreshing," Four suddenly piped up, eyes a bit purple. "is it spring water?"
"Oh, I think it's tap," Marin said a bit apologetically, but Four just shrugged.
"Well I think it's really good," Four said, and Wind nodded.
"Excellent tap," he said in a posh accent, and clinked his cup with Hyrule's.
That was Legend's last straw.
"Excuse me," he bit out, sliding past his brothers and nearly running from the table, Time's stomach sinking as he disappeared from view.
"Well, nice to meet you," Marin said in the sudden awkward pause, then walked away as another table called for service.
"Where'd Legend go?" Wild asked, leaning across the table.
"Hm. Probably to find a good place to be angry," Twilight said, and Time sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose as a sudden headache throbbed behind his eyes.
Maybe calling Malon wouldn't be the end of the world.
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andywinter16 · 1 year
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FFXV and Assassin´s Creed AU
This AU is for @versusthirteen. Don´t worry, I will write the bickering fic just need some time (lot of time, because the other asks that I need to post first). But instead have some of my quick headcanons when the two worlds collide :) (I have some more, If you wanted?)
--
Due to Isu and Astrals shenaningas Noctis with boys ended in other dimension. With their luck, in middle of assault on the assassins. Noctis uses his powers which reacts even more violently in this world. “ Who the hell are you, dudes?” said man with white hood, while covering. “Well, I am -” Gladio turns his head “ Less talking Noct, more fighting.” Desmond and others took boys with them to their hideout, even if Lucy and Shaun were mistrusting at first. 
- there is so many questions about their origin and powers, it was intimidating 
- Noct showed them his arminger “ That is remarkable! Becca, do you think we could replicate something like that?” “ Shaun, I am tech not a damn magician.” “ But with the right equiptment and Isu artefact, it could be possible, no?” Lucy said thoughtfully.
- Ignis ultimately wins them with his cooking. “ Pardon me, but you can´t seriously eat fast food all the time, right?” Becca repairing computer answered. “ Not all the time, we also have some energy bars.” Needless to say, Ignis was horrified. He prepared for all of them 5 course meal. “Ignis, you are the best cook ever, aren´t you in need for a wife?” “ Or husband, If you swing that way.”
-  Ignis and Shaun bicker with each other like a married couple. They even had a three hour debate about “Why is tea better than your stinky muddy coffee, Scientia.” “ I would rather drink mine than your tasteless dry leafes with hot water, Hastings.” IT.WAS.SCARY.
- Desmond thinks of Noctis and Prompto as younger brothers that he never had, of course they are his partners in crime (Wish he could intruduce them to Clay, who would also loved them)
- Lucy shares with them the three tenets of assassins:  Stay one's blade from the flesh of the innocent; draw not attention to oneself whenever possible; and never compromise the brotherhood. “In other words” Des joined in the conversation,” don´t stabby stab wrong people, be good at hide and seek and bros before corruption.”
- “ Hey, Becca, Des wanna hear a joke?” “ Sure, sunshine.”  “ Hit us with it, Prompt.”  “ Okie dokie, do you know without what you can´t spell assassin? “ Lucy, Shaun, Ignis and Gladio side-eyeing him. “Without what Prompt?” inquired Noct. “ Obviously, without ass, sass and sin.” “ And I have all of it!” exclaimed Des. “ Desmond, bloody hell!”
- Rebecca shows boys her “Baby”, which are impressed with her skills. Prompto is allowed to help her.
- Gladio is jogging every morning with the girls. He´s being very supportive and shares fitness tips
- But boys weren´t the only one, who was accidentaly send to this dimension ...
“Oh, well hello there, young man! What a nice abodement you have here.”
Daniel is shocked and pulls out a gun. “ Who the fuck are you!?” The man before him looked so real, was the Bleeding effect kicking in again?
“Now now, young man. Why such animosity? I believe we can fix each other problems.” 
Daniel´s eyebrow quirks. “ What problem?” “ Oh, isn´t that obvious? You´re looking for some trouble maker named Desmond, correct? I can help you find him, but I also want something in return. A little service of gratitude, so to speak.”
Daniel studied the man´s face. He didn´t trust him, but he would lie if he said he wasn´t intrigued. “For the record, I don´t trust you. But I am kinda impressed you´ve got through our security.” which would be fired, when he wraps it up here, “ but I am not the one who you should ask for favour, If if it turns out that you are valuable asset.” 
“ Oh my, so guarded. But believe me, you´re not gonna regret it.” 
The man smiled creepily. Daniel shivered at that. He had unshaky feeling that he just get into some clusterfuck. 
 The man tips his hat.“ Oh, but where are my manners! Let me introduce to you, my name is Ardyn Izunia.” 
Please, read this in Ardyn´s voice. It gets much better XD
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youraverageaemondsimp · 7 months
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Hiii. Again. I've brought you my thought again... Yeah... Sorry.
It's been almost six months since you've been living in King's Landing. In fact, you still don't understand, how your mama let you come here. Then, you look at your queen, your future mother-in-law, and still don't understand, how she let you in here. And then, you look at your almost husband, and you understand everything. Ah, the more you think about all this, the more your head hurts... Need to eat something delicious or take a bath...
It's been six months, and you're still not Aemond's wife. Although Aemond himself says, that you are obliged to marry him, from the moment you meet. But you've been able to delay this moment for six months. You're lucky, that the one-eyed prince listens to you. One day, your queen spoke unflatteringly about your appearance, and Aemond snapped at her, like a chain dog. From the accusations of the prince of treason to the crown, and the queen from death was saved by you, who covered her with your body. You loudly admitted that, yes, you also think, you look bad today, but that's because you don't feel well. And at that moment, another task clicked in Aemond's head. He grabbed your arm painfully and dragged you to your shared chambers, to take care of you. You quickly glanced back at Alicent, and noticed pity and regret in her eyes. Besides the fact, that your fiance is crazy, and a bunch of other aspects, there are two more problems in this situation. First, you lied. You don't feel bad. But if you had succumbed to a fleeting grudge against your almost mother-in-law, then she would have clearly died. Actually, yes, you were offended, that she so loudly and publicly condemned your appearance, but... Um, well... Never mind. The second problem is, that these chambers, which Aemond calls your shared ones, are actually your personal ones. This room was allocated to you, when you first arrived at the Landing. But the prince decided, that your room was too far from his, and that you would be scared and lonely alone, in an unfamiliar place, and that you would miss him. Therefore, he enters your chambers as his own, without knocking or warning. You can calmly, peacefully, sweetly doze on your crib, because it's too hot today, and then suddenly, your almost husband enters the room, stomping his boots loudly, and climbs to hug, because while he was training with a sword, he missed you. All sweaty, dirty, smelly and demanding attention. He completely ignores your protests, that it's too hot right now, that he will stain the whole bed with his dirty clothes, he needs his hourly dose of love. Ah...
But things have been getting even worse in recent days. It looks like the prince is very ill. He has practically stopped eating and drinking, you force and persuade him to drink warm, sweet water and fatten him with various fruits and dishes, that are not difficult to digest. In a very short time, Aemond has lost a lot, even too much, weight. His skin became extremely pale, and then, covered with strange, large, dark spots. And he's constantly throwing up. A lot and strongly. And what comes out of him, looks very strange... It's sticky, black, lumpy and sometimes there are streaks of blood... And every day his condition is getting worse. His skin is very hot, but he is constantly covered in cold sweat. His eye looks cloudy and his gaze is meaningless. From constant nausea, his lips became very dry, cracks began to appear in the corners. Almost everything, you feed him, comes out of his mouth. At first, you thought, that he was food poisoned by something, and treated him accordingly, but in just a couple of days, his condition became simply terrible. Even the maesters didn't know, what was wrong with him. It was the first time, Aemond wanted to sleep in his private room, because he doesn't want you to see him like this, but you didn't let him go. You may not love him, but you can't leave him alone. Not like that.
The prince sleeps most of the time. And when he doesn't sleep, he gets sick. You hold him and his hair, and you wipe his face. Then, you help him into the tub, wash him, and then, put him back to bed. And so an infinite number of times. The prince has lost so much weight and he is so weak, that you could easily break him in half. You have to be very careful with him, because bruises easily appear on his emaciated skin. And these strange spots still don't come off. The queen and the maester advised you to stay away from him, so as not to get infected, but you still haven't been infected. And you continue to take care of him.
Even Rhaenyra once intercepted you in the corridor, when you were, once again, returning from the common dining room, with food for your still sick stalker, to ask how he was. And she looked genuinely worried, in a good way. You didn't let her go into the room, only peek in. The eldest of the royal children looked at you with sympathy and, patting you on the shoulder, left.
And that night he began to rave. You woke up from the fact, that the body next to you is violently tossing and muttering something in the language of his ancestors. You couldn't make out much because of your poor knowledge of the language and his slurred speech. But you could make out one word. Name. A name you've definitely heard somewhere before. You told the maester about it, but he said it is okay, because the prince has a fever. Fever, yeah, of course... And so it went on for several nights in a row. Aemond was tossing around on the bed, mumbling something in his sleep, and you were wiping his forehead and neck, stroking him and whispering consolations.
Now, as already usual, you were collecting a plate for your prince, from the common table, when you heard, that Alicent pronounced a name familiar to you. The very name, that Aemond pronounced in his sleepy delusions. It was one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting. According to her, this young woman was just an angel in the flesh. But you didn't listen, you just grabbed a juicy apple and, saying goodbye, quickly left the dining room.
A young lady was standing near the Aemond's door, shifting uncertainly from one foot to the other, she clearly wanted to knock. And when she saw you, this lady followed you, constantly asking about the prince. At some point, you got tired of it, and you shouted at her, that you didn't have time. And at that moment you managed to get a better look at her. Well, you have to admit, that the queen is right, this lady is incredibly beautiful. Both her voice and her appearance, all in her, was the epitome of beauty and aesthetics. Without a doubt, this is the same woman, whose name is pronounced in a dream by Aemond. Very well... You gently apologized to the lady-in-waiting for your rudeness, and tried, without wasting time, to explain, that the prince is ill, that he is very ill. With every word you said, her sweet face became more and more distorted by fear and something else, resembling shame, but you don't have time to figure it out. Apologizing again, you hurried to your almost husband. He was throwing up again. This time, right on the carpet, near the bed, he could not crawl to the bucket. Poor boy...
Finally, he fell asleep again. You're so tired... You, too, can finally close your eyes.
You jumped up abruptly in bed, not feeling the hot and wet body next to you. You looked around the room. Aemond was pulling on his shirt. God, he is so thin, and his skin is so transparent, where there are no these terrible, dark spots, that it seems, that you can see his insides... You asked, where he was going, asked him to go back to bed, you will bring him everything, he needs. But the prince was silent. He looked at you with a completely blank look. His eye was still clouded and his voice was hoarse. He said your name several times, as if tasting it, and then pursed his lips. He hesitantly said, that he doesn't love you... Or not... He's not sure... He need some time... And almost ran out of the room. You tried to stop him, but you didn't have time. Where in his exhausted and weakened body there is so much strength and agility, this is a good question.
In the evening, you went out to the training yard and started asking, if anyone had seen the prince? No, no one has seen him. Before going to bed, you visited the Dragon Pit, but even there the prince has not been seen since the morning. The next morning you went to the dragons again, but neither the dragon nor the rider was ever seen. In the afternoon, you even visited a couple of brothels, but Aemond was not seen there either. But you found Aegon and brought him home.
By the evening of the next day, the day of another unsuccessful search, a disheveled and panting Aemond burst into your room. You already wanted to jump up to him, but he was faster. In a couple of big steps, the prince was on top of you, hugging you as tightly, as his condition allows, kissing you as hard, as he can, at the moment. Aemond clearly tried to have sex with you, but you pushed him away, scolding him. Where was he? What the hell? You've already started thinking all sorts of bad things! He needs to eat! But he just grinned, pulling you to him. His gaze was still clouded, and he was staggering. Aemond smugly purred, that he had already been told, how you were looking for him, that he so happy, that you were worried about him, that he love you, he would definitely eat, but first... And then, a loud voice called your name from the corridor. Alicent, without knocking, clearly furious, entered your room. Noticing her son on you, she shouted, that someone would bring something. Several servants and a couple of guards entered, and between them, the lady-in-waiting... What the hell is going on? The servants unfold something, and it turns out to be a medium-sized portrait of a one-eyed prince. There are some symbols and signs painted on it with something red. Looks like blood... Another pair of servants held in their hands some kind of bowl, seemingly ritual, a decorated dagger, a brush and bunches of dried herbs. The lady-in-waiting, who was as beautiful, as an angel from heaven, hung almost limply between the two guards. And next to all this stood an enraged queen. You just wanted to ask, what it was all about, but the prince's mother beat you to it, loudly offering you, and her son, to admire it all!
Aemond said, he didn't understand anything. Alicent loudly and angrily offered to explain to her maid of honor, but she only cried, so the mother said everything herself. This bitch tried to enchant the prince! You tried to say something, but you're too shocked, and Aemond has a complicated thought process in his head.
You got out of bed and approached this lady. You look her in the face, asking why she did it? And then the queen's maid of honor screamed, that she loved the prince, always loved! That she was more suitable for him! That she is the best couple for him, they would be happy together, that they are a beautiful couple! And then, you couldn't stand it. You yelled at her, that this love spell almost killed him! But the lady continued her tirade, she turned to Aemond, she appealed to his heart, asked him to confirm, that he loved her. But he was silent. And while his mother's lady-in-waiting went on and on, he dryly told her and her witchcraft tricks to be taken away from his eye. The queen promised, that she would make her remove the spell, to which the prince simply nodded, extending his arms to you for a hug. Kissing your hands, he softly purred, that you were his only and best medicine. Alicent called her son by name, to make him take the situation more seriously, but Aemond politely asked his mom and everyone else to leave the room.
You see, dear Y/n, it's just like he said. No one and nothing can separate you. Your love is stronger, than any love spells and conspiracies. Your union was created by the gods themselves. You were born to be his wife. No one and nothing can take you away from him. He is your destiny.
Pretty soon, Aemond was almost completely cured, and his recovery process is still ongoing. And, of course, he demands your presence and your love. This incident has only strengthened his faith in your sacred and strong love.
THIS WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL READ OH MY GOD, THE 'LADY IN WAITING' MADE ME SO MADDD I WAS HOPING SHE'D DIE AHDWJDJ
THE FLUFF? THE MOMENTS BETWEEN THEM? HIM LOVING US??? DAMN 😭💞💞💞
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wouldntyou-liketoknow · 9 months
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Caliban’s cravings are so fascinating to me. Can we get a story of when Caliban’s cravings first return? Him trying to hide them at first and maybe when Azalea is beginning to catch on?
That's so sweet of you to say! Thank you so much!
I've already talked about this in a few asks (mainly this one, this one,  this one, and these two. Major kudos to the anons who sent said asks in, btw! I've really gotta start making an emoji list so I can recognize people). But I'm happy to expand on it a bit more. Even if I do want to keep some things vague. . .
(Trigger Warnings: implied murder/death, implied cannibalism, implied violence, mentions of blood, cravings/hunger pangs, mentions of eating/drinking, implied abuse/neglect. Please let me know if I missed anything.) 
(Also, just to clarify: this snippet takes place years before Caliban and Azalea joined The Pentas Family)
___
His world is a blur thanks to the violent movement he’s fighting against. . .
Caliban’s eyes felt dry and heavy. One of them twitched as he stared into the darkness of his room. Even as he kept tossing and turning in his bed—the same one he’d had to hide under so many times before—he couldn’t seem to close them.  
For the first time in years, the house was quiet. Not calm (a place like this would never, never be calm. Not to Caliban or his sister, at least), but quiet. It had been ever since. . .
Caliban flinched badly as a long, low, sickening growl reverberated under his skin. 
. . .Or, the house was relatively quiet.
Logic insisted that the noise wasn’t as loud as it felt, that Azalea couldn’t hear it through the wall in the room next door. 
A small voice in the back of Caliban’s head chastised him for still trying to look for logic, considering exactly what he’d done. 
Caliban swallowed a lump in his throat, trying to take deep, slow breaths.
It didn’t steady him at all. In fact, it almost seemed to amplify his stomach’s demands. 
His teeth click-click-clicked against one another as he started moving his jaw up and down without knowing or meaning to. 
Caliban hadn’t even realized that he’d started shaking until he felt himself curl into the fetal position, his arms snaking around his abdomen.
As if that would do anything to drive the aching and gnawing and churning away. 
The skin is soft and warm under his teeth, tearing far too easily. . .
Several hours came and went, and Caliban found himself in the kitchen with his sister. It was a wide, open area, providing more than enough space for a much larger family to use. That luxury ultimately meant more things to clean, but that wasn’t too much of a problem right now. 
Azalea paced back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen, transferring what she and her brother had used from the table to the cabinets.
Caliban, meanwhile, stood before the sink, soap suds nearly reaching up to his elbows. He’d always found it pretty damn stupid that so many types of cutlery couldn’t be put in dishwashers, but he wasn’t about to complain.
He could barely remember the last time he’d eaten a full meal, a proper meal.  (Azalea had smuggled food to him whenever she had the chance, of course.)
Now that the two of them had free-reign of the house. . .
Both the pantry and refrigerator were decently-stocked. There was nobod—nothing to withhold any of that food from him now. 
Still, he needed to be careful with it. He had to make sure there was plenty for his sister. Aside from that, it would only last so long. 
The siblings may have learned how to properly stash any money they managed to come across. (Hell, they’d found plenty more sometime on that fateful day, when they’d entered a room they’d previously never even been able to breathe in the direction of.) But they needed to be cautious about that money, needed to use it sparingly until they figured out what the hell they could do about their circumstances. 
Caliban moved to the side as Azalea came up to the sink to soak a spare rag with soap and water. She paused, peering at him, then offered a small smile as she went to wipe down the table. Caliban smiled back. 
Earlier, they’d worked together to make a small feast. It truly seemed that Azalea had been born to cook and bake, and Caliban was eager to learn what he could. 
It’d been so. Damn. Refreshing.
Being able to just coexist with Azalea, help her, enjoy this new freedom with her. . .it’d almost been enough to distract him. 
Almost. 
But when Caliban finally turned the faucet off, when he began drying off the things he’d washed, when he took a gleaming steak knife into his hands. . .something crawled into his mind.
The blade was clean.
It shouldn’t have been clean.
It should’ve been be dripping, should’ve been slathered in red, should’ve been slicing into—
It clattered back down into the sink as Caliban’s stomach began to roar. 
Caliban ground his jaw. He almost immediately felt cold sweat begin to form on his skin as his sister froze, slowly turning to face him. 
“. . .We literally just ate,” Azalea mentioned, tilting her head, eyes filled with concern. “Are you feeling okay? Is your stomach upset?”
“I. . .” Caliban’s reply was shaky, as something in his throat was trying to pull his voice down. “I’m not sure.”
Blood gushes out, dark and crimson and rich on his tastebuds. . .
Caliban had trouble settling onto an armchair at one corner of the living room. It wasn’t uncomfortable; the leather was plush, and it seemed to give the perfect amount of support for his back.
He just wasn’t used to actually enjoying this space. If anything, this room was one that he and Azalea had typically tried to avoid. 
Speaking of Azalea: she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She’d all but covered the coffee table in colored pencils and fine-tipped markers, and her eyes were glued to one of the adult coloring books she’d had hidden away. 
She didn’t seem to be feeling out of place or tense, but Caliban had been wrong before. 
Caliban lightly shook his head, trying to focus on the book in his lap.  
The carpet was smooth under his feet.
The carpet also still carried the smell of dish soap. It wasn’t as strong as it had been on that day, (and even then, it definitely wasn’t as strong as bleach would’ve been), but it hadn’t faded away. 
A chill raced up Caliban’s spine as he chewed at the inside of his cheek. It’d seemed impossible that he and Azalea had been able to clean the carpet so quickly. Especially with how he’d felt something stir as he’d stared at that huge, dark red stain. . .
He caught movement in his peripheral vision. He glanced at his sister, who was scanning the coffee table instead of the page she’d been working on (an abstract drawing of an octopus, which now boasted pretty blue rings along its tentacles). Her brow was furrowed in confusion; she was obviously looking for something. 
Caliban’s eyes wandered to the floor. Sure enough, he discovered a pale-gold pencil resting near one of the armchair’s legs. He reached down and plucked it up, then audibly tapped it against his book. The noise caught Azalea’s attention, and she swiveled her head to face Caliban. Her slight frustration melted into a smile as her brother handed the formerly lost pencil to her. 
“It’s healing,” she murmured. “Shouldn’t take more than a week.” 
Caliban’s own smile flickered as tilted his head at the statement.
Azalea fidgeted in place, probably wondering if she’d actually meant to say that. “Your eye, I mean.”
“. . .Oh,” Caliban replied. “Right, right.” He subconsciously raised a hand. His fingers brushed against the skin around his left eye, which was a dull shade of purple. It was still sore, but the swelling had definitely gone down. 
Although. . .well, it certainly wasn’t the first black eye Caliban had ever gotten. And even if he’d somewhat adjusted to the throbbing, stinging sensation that always came with black eyes. . .he hadn’t exactly had time to focus on the pain that followed this particular one. 
Another awful groan shuddered through his intestines. Caliban flinched, biting back a gasp.
He saw Azalea freeze, saw her slowly bring her pencil to rest against the page, saw her begin peering at the room around them. 
Caliban forced himself to stare at his book, turning the page and almost accidentally tearing it out. He shifted in the armchair, hoping that the way its leather squeaked would somehow cover up the noise.
Shut up, he repeated the words like a mantra in his head as he pressed a hand against his midsection, his nails digging in through his shirt. Shutupshutupshutupshutup!
The smell of iron (or maybe pennies?) is so strong, completely filling his nose, to the point where his eyes are nearly watering and he can feel it creeping along his brain. . .
Caliban wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he’d crept out of his bedroom, had trudged down the stairs, had been pacing back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. 
The house was dark. Like the past few nights, it also wasn’t entirely silent. 
He was careful to walk slowly, to keep his movement as muted as possible. He didn’t know why he bothered, though. 
It wasn’t like he could hear his footsteps through the cries of his stomach.
It felt like the acids were alive, and that they’d somehow formed claws. 
So how the hell could his stomach feel so empty at the same time?!
He hovered in front of a door in the corner of the pantry.
The basement was unfinished. There was no carpet down there, no insulation, no windows.
No matter what the weather outside was like, the basement was always very, very, very cold.
The basement had always been a cluttered wreck. On one hand, that made it even more unsavory than its darkness and temperature. 
On the other hand, the mess down there had helped him and Azalea to hide the body. 
Caliban stared at the doorknob. It looked smooth, polished, even. But his instincts swore that the material would drag along his skin and leave a bloody gash in his palm if he grasped it. 
That didn’t change the fact that he needed to open the door. He needed to go down to the basement. He needed to stop feeling SO GODDAMN HUNGRY DESPITE HOW HE’D FINALLY BEEN ABLE TO EAT ON HIS OWN TERMS—
The kitchen light was suddenly beaming down.
Caliban whirled around to find Azalea standing just a few feet away. Her eyes immediately drilled into his, full of stress and hurt.
“Cal,” she pronounced. “You need to tell me what’s going on. Right now.”
Caliban’s mouth opened and closed a few times. No words came out. 
“I know something’s wrong,” Azalea insisted. “I know you’re not okay, and I know it’s not just because of what happened. The only thing I don’t know is why, and I can’t just—”
“Since when have either of us ever been okay?” Caliban finally replied, voice shuddering.
“That’s not the point.” Azalea argued, taking a step closer to him. “The point is that you’re my brother and I’m your sister!” 
Another step. 
“I care about you! I want to make sure that you're safe and happy!” 
Another step.
“But I can’t do that if you’re trying to hide things from me when I’ve never hidden anything from you!” Azalea’s voice grew weak, choked-up. She stood in front of Caliban, eyes now glistening.  “You never had a problem talking to me before. And I’ve never had a problem listening. So why now?”
 “Because I’m scared, Aza!” The words forced themselves out of Caliban’s mouth. “I’m scared because I don’t understand what’s happening to me!”
“And I can find a way to help you understand it!” Azalea almost shouted. 
Eyes starting to burn, Caliban nearly yelled back, “Well, what if that leads to you being scared of me?!” 
Silence
The seconds dragged by, jeering at the two siblings. 
“Do you. . .” Azalea tried, a tidal wave of emotion crashing down on her features. “Do you not trust me anymore. . ?”
Caliban felt his heart sink. “N-no, no! I do trust you, I swear! You’re probably the only person I can ever trust!”
It’d been a miracle that she’d helped him clean up the mess.
It’d been a miracle that she hadn’t fled the house screaming.
It’d been a miracle that, after seeing him hunched over and covered in blood, she’d approached him and snapped him out of that daze.
“I’m sorry—I just—I-I-I can’t—!” Caliban hardly felt dull pain flaring in his knees as he collapsed onto the floor, tears pouring down his features. It took effort to feel Azalea wrap her arms around him, to feel himself hug her tightly. 
He could barely feel anything other than hunger.
His sister was right.
He had no choice.
“I liked it, Aza,” he confessed, his voice caught between a whisper and a sob. “I enjoyed what I did, and I’ve been starving ever since I did it! The taste was so good and it was everywhere and I’ve just been wanting more!”
And with that, Caliban waited. He waited for Azalea to turn pale. He waited for her to push herself away from him, to stand up and start running.
He waited for what felt like hours and hours.
But she never did any of those things. Instead, he saw her push her hair out of the way before she rested her head on his shoulder. Still embracing him, still drawing circles on his back. 
“. . .That’s not your fault,” Azalea finally murmured. “You had your reasons; we both know you did.” 
Even though his crying had tapered down into hiccuping, Caliban wasn’t sure how to answer. Relief flooded through him, of course, but it was still overshadowed by shock.
“We can figure this out,” Azalea promised, carefully pulling back to look her brother in the eyes. “You and me.”
Like him, her face was covered in tear stains. But Caliban didn’t see a single trace of disgust or anger or fear.
“You and me,” he echoed. 
The screaming keeps coiling inside his ears long after the thrashing eventually stops. . .
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sickiesope · 11 months
Text
Twenty four hours
Sickie: Jungkook
Caretakers: Jin and Namjoon
TW: emeto
Summary: Jungkook gets sick with a temporary bug. His caring hyungs look after him.🌡
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Jungkook has been feeling kind of off today. He woke up still feeling tired, despite having a full night sleep. He sat down for breakfast with the others but wasn't exactly digging in. For some reason his stomach feels kind of uncomfortable. Jungkook yawns, slumped in his chair.
"Kookie, everything alright?" Hoseok notices he isn't as perky as usual.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just kind of tired" JK sits up straighter. He isn't exactly lying -- he is still tired. He drinks water and goes to get ready. They have rehearsal scheduled for today.
When the guys all leave Jungkook is doing better and he's more awake. He just needed to eat and keep himself hydrated.  He chats with Taehyung and Jimin on the ride there. They get started right away.
But two hours in he begins to feel warm and more prone to sweating. Is the building too hot? No, the other members seem to have no problem. They chatter amongst themselves, not noticing that Jungkook has gone quiet and staring into space. He's starting to feel nauseous. The food in his stomach isn't sitting well at all.
"Jungkook? Are you okay?" Namjoon finally asks.
"Um..I think I need the bathroom.." JK says quietly.
"You do look kind of pale" Taehyung mentions.
"I feel--" Jungkook is cut off when his stomach unexpectedly lurches and he quickly makes for the door. He races to the bathroom with a hand over his mouth. Namjoon and Jin follow behind. They find him bent over the sink, breathing heavily and spitting out excess saliva. Then without warning he vomits. It comes out fast and messy. He gasps in shock and grossed out at the sight, making him throw up again. Namjoon puts a hand on his shoulder "awwh it's okay Kookie, just let it out" he holds the younger by the waist to keep him balanced. Jungkook heaves and retches again, his stomach contracting in Namjoon's hold. The older winces as he feels it and JK jerks forward, throwing up more of his undigested breakfast. The eggs and toast he had now just a mess in the sink. Jungkook spits out the remainder and rests his head on Namjoon's shoulder.
"Finished?" The leader asks gently
"Yeah.. I think so.." JK answers feebly.
"You should go lay down" Jin pats his shoulder and gently leads him towards the exit. But Jungkook suddenly gags again, making him hastily turn around and run back to the sink to vomit one more time. His stomach is really messing with him today.
"Ah, Kookie.." Jin rubs his back gently.
Jungkook whimpers and starts to feel dizzy. "Hyung.." he reaches out his hand desperately, Jin taking it. "It's okay Kookie. You're okay"
The next thing Jungkook knows, he's lying on the couch with a thermometer in his mouth. He still feels queasy and his stomach hurts. Namjoon is sitting beside him, his face looking deep with concern. He takes the thermometer from JK and confirms that he has a fever.
"Gosh you're burning up Jungkookie" he feels his forehead that's warm and slightly sweaty.
"I'm okay hyung, I just puked" Jungkook blinks and tries to sit up.
"Yeah, quite a lot" Namjoon states.
Jungkook wants to say they're overreacting but another wave of nausea comes. He grabs the garbage bin nearby and heaves up more of his stomach contents. He can see traces of his dinner from last night.
"Joon hyung, I feel terrible" he whined, laying back down clutching his stomach.
Namjoon gently rubs his shoulder "I know Kookie, we're gonna get you home, you need to rest"
Jungkook tried to keep his pride, he doesn't like being sick and unable to work. But his stomach decides for him, making him puke once again. Everything he ate today and yesterday coming back up, followed by dry heaves. His throat is sore and burning from the efforts. He must be almost empty now he thinks. Jungkook feels exhausted and wants to fall asleep on the couch but his hyungs Jin and Namjoon are actively moving him and guiding him to a car.
"Come on Kook, let's get up. Yep, just like that" Namjoon instructs. He complies and lets them take charge. JK drifts in and out and his hand doesn't leave his stomach the whole ride home. He had a few close calls of getting sick in the car but he seemed to be out of everything. He just coughed and dry heaved a couple of times and took a five minute nap leaning on Namjoon.
They walk him to the dorm, both hyungs arms holding up Jungkook, his weight leaning on them. They take him straight to bed and place a garbage bin beside it. Namjoon goes to get water and Jin sits beside the ill maknae.
"How's your tummy feeling?"
Jungkook groans as his stomach gurgles in distress. He runs his hand over it, his doe eyes looking up at Jin. He just wants relief of this awful feeling. He's so nauseous he can barely talk. The older looks at him sympathetically "do you want the hot pad?" he tries. Jungkook nods his head slightly.
Namjoon returns with a glass of water and the hot pad. "Want a drink of water Kookie?" he offers.
Jungkook gulps, he doesn't like the thought of ingesting anything right now. But his throat hurts so he decides to have a few tiny sips.
"I think you have a temporary bug, Kook" Jin says to the youngest.
Jungkook sighed. He really went downhill quickly. The water felt nice on his throat but his stomach isn't having it. He immediately throws it back up, hurting his throat again. He whimpers in pain, tears forming in his sickly eyes. Jin and Namjoon both looked at him and then each other with sad looks of great worry. It's hard to see their poor sweet maknae in such distress.
Jungkook sighed tiredly, he just wants to stop throwing up and go to sleep. The hot pad helps a little but his tummy is still sore. "Hyungs.. I'm sorry.." he says in a quiet hoarse voice.
"No Kookie, don't say that. It's not your fault" Namjoon reassures.
"Yeah, you just focus on resting for now" Jin says, gently brushing his hair back.
Jungkook closes his eyes and eventually drifts off. He slept for half an hour but then his stomach woke him up, churning harshly.
"Oh god not again" he huffs in frustration. It seems to never end. He grabs the garbage bin and watery vomit pours out.
Jin returns to the room "awwh Kookie.. your tummy still hurts huh?"
Jungkook continues to throw up, light yellow liquid pouring into the bin. It fades off after a few more heaves and then he's just bringing up bile. Everything hurts, especially his throat and his stomach. Jungkook lets out a helpless whine.
"I think you need some medicine" the oldest decides. He doesn't know what else to do, JK can't keep water down.
"Mhm.. I guess.." he mumbles. Usually Jungkook doesn't like taking medicine but he's desperate to feel better. He takes it and yawns, burrowing himself in the blankets again.
Awhile later Namjoon goes to check on him and finds the youngest fast asleep. He looks so peaceful and relaxed that he decides to let him be.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jungkook wakes up the next morning. His hyungs let him sleep in, which he's grateful for. His head feels significantly less heavy and he finds himself getting up with ease. He looks in the bathroom mirror and his face doesn't look pale and sickly anymore. Jungkook is finally feeling better. He washes up and gets dressed with his newfound energy.
His stomach growls, indicating his appetite is back. Or at least he hopes that's what it means. He really doesn't want to get sick again, the thought of it makes him shudder. Jungkook patted his stomach. It's completely empty, he hasn't eaten anything since yesterday. He realizes he's actually really hungry. JK decides he's well enough to eat something and heads to the kitchen.
His hyungs greet him happily "Jungkookie! So glad to see you up again!" Namjoon smiles.
"How are you feeling now?" Jin asks
"Much better hyungs!" JK replies. "What's for breakfast? I'm starving!"
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chimpukampu · 3 years
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He was high as a kite lol
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devilyn · 3 years
Text
leave a message at the tone | kuroo tetsurou
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— alexa, play: stay by kid laroi ft. justin bieber
I do the same thing I told you that I never would I told you I'd change, even when I knew I never could I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey
— synopsis: kuroo can't stop drinking, and only realizes what he cares about most when you're gone. — genre: angst, happy endings, sad kuroo — word count: 1.6k
He knew he shouldn’t have done this again. Drinking late at night and stumbling home in the dark. He knew you’d give him that look again. That same look you gave him each night you’d gently rub his back while he threw up, and each morning while begging him to stop going out so often.
He knew, but it was like he couldn’t control himself. He could escape daily life when he drank--pretend like he was satisfied with himself and didn’t have an ounce of responsibility. Yet, when he sobered up, you’d always be right there, laying in bed next to him and fast asleep. With your presence always came the overwhelming guilt of being a burden to you, and dragging you down with him.
As he kicked his shoes off, he heard you shuffling around on the couch. When he looked up, you were already standing in front of him and rubbing the sleep from your eyes. His vision blurred, and he couldn’t help but drunkenly smile at the sight of you.
“I’m leaving.”
It took his inebriated brain a few seconds to process your words, but when he did, his smile dropped instantly.
“What do you--”
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked you to stop this,” you cut off his slurred words. Now that he was looking closer, through his blurred vision, he could see the redness in your eyes and the familiar swelling in your lower lip where you bit down to try and suppress your cries.
“I’ve had enough, that’s all I can really say now,” you continued, voice shaky and hands trembling. Kuroo swayed a bit on his feet, still trying to process what was happening right in front of his eyes.
“Wait--” he struggled to grab your hands, fumbling a bit, even though you didn’t bother to resist. “Please, I’ll be better. I’ll--I’ll drink less often, I’ll come home earlier--”
“You say that all the time,” you told him calmly, “but nothing ever changes, does it?”
He was afraid. He’d rather you yell and scream at him, call him a piece of trash and abandon him fully. Tell him he ruined your life and you never wanted to see him again.
But you didn’t. You never would.
“I really loved you,” you said instead through tears, “I’m sorry.”
Loved. Loved. Loved...?
He stood still, unable to say anything more as you pulled your hands out of his own and flashed him a watery smile. You grabbed your packed suitcase that he didn’t even realize was sitting right by the door, and slipped past him.
Out of his apartment with you, and out of his life.
Kuroo couldn’t remember how the rest of the night went. When he woke up the next morning, he felt the familiar urge to vomit and quickly stumbled to the toilet.
A nightmare, he thought while washing his face after throwing up anything he might’ve consumed in the last 12 hours. It must’ve been a nightmare. He’d walk back to his bedroom, and you’d be lying there on your side of the bed, half awake and waiting for him to come back to sleep.
But when he trudged back to the bedroom, his heart sank to his feet when he saw it was empty.
He must not have noticed the night before--must’ve passed out before he could even register what had happened--but every semblance of you was gone. Your clothes, your familiar knick knacks, your favorite pillow, even polaroids and pictures you’d set up of you and him--they were all gone.
How cruel of you. You didn’t leave anything behind for him to remember you by.
His hand weakly smoothed over your side of the bed, where he remembered you were just yesterday morning. His head throbbed as he recalled the way you gently kissed his forehead while murmuring something about making him a cup of coffee.
Kuroo laid in bed for the rest of the day, eyes closed, and not bothering to drink water to soothe his dry throat or take any painkillers for the pounding in his head.
Maybe it was his way of repenting for his mistakes in your relationship. For hurting you, and for chasing you away because he couldn’t give up the numbness that came from alcohol.
Now, it seemed he didn’t need it anymore. The next day, when he monotonously went through the motions of going to his classes, eating lunch, completing his assignments, and studying for his exams, he no longer felt anything.
There was something missing inside of him. Something that left him feeling empty. His pen moved over the paper as he took notes, but something didn’t feel right. His fingers flew over the keys as he typed up a report for his professors, but something was off. His lips parted, and he chewed his food as he usually did, but something was different.
When he glanced at his phone for the first time later that night in his empty apartment just to check the time, he realized.
Tears pricked at his eyes at the sight of his lock screen. Your bright smile, right next to his own.
Maybe that was when it finally hit him. You were gone. You had left him.
Kuroo buried his face in his hands, the dinner he bought left abandoned on the dining room table as he sobbed into his palms.
You gave him what he wanted. That numbness he was chasing after was here to stay, because you took a piece of his heart with him when you left.
“I’m sorry--” he mumbled to your voicemail later that night, just hours before his next class would begin at 8am. “I should’ve listened to you. Running away from my problems really doesn’t help.”
He could picture you scolding him over lunch, telling him that drinking would only help him hide from his life for so long. Telling him you were there for him, and you could get through this together.
Together.
God, he wished so badly the two of you could be together right now.
“I just wanted to apologize,” he told your voicemail again the next night, “...for taking advantage of you being by my side, and not cherishing you while I could.”
Everyday was the same without you. Eat, study, sleep, eat, repeat. Sometimes, his eyes would instinctively search for you in places he knew you two used to frequent together. Sometimes, he’d see you sitting next to him at the dining table at home. You’d look up from your phone and smile at him, and when he blinked, you’d be gone.
“That night, you apologized,” he murmured over the phone on another night to someone he wasn’t even sure was listening. He lost track of how many messages he’d left you. “It was never your fault. I just want you to know that. You did...everything you could.”
A few weeks after you left, he finally spotted you on campus. Your back was to him, but he recognized you regardless. The sight of you for the first time in such a long time warmed his heart. For a second, Kuroo contemplated calling out to you.
But you quickly disappeared in the crowd of busy students who could care less about the brokenhearted man standing in the center of campus.
And he clutched at his chest.
“I stopped drinking,” he admitted quietly in another message while laying in bed, “I have you to thank for that. I know it’ll never make up for anything, and I know it won’t bring you back, but...I like to think you’d be proud of me.”
He threw out every half-empty bottle of vodka that he’d hidden from you a few nights after you left. Somehow, it felt good to let go of something he was dependent on for so long.
He hoped that even if you weren’t here with him, you’d hear his message and you’d be happy for him.
“I love you,” he finally confessed in what he told himself would be his last voicemail, “I know you said you loved me, but I--I still love you. I’m sorry...you won’t hear from me again. I’m sorry for everything.”
He was sleeping better now. Before, there were nights where he’d stay up the whole night imagining what life could be like if you had stayed by his side.
Now, he’d close his eyes, and tell himself you were happier without him.
“I’m coming over. I hope your schedule hasn’t changed.”
He never expected to get a text from you. He also never expected for you to actually show up with an expression filled with relief when he opened the door.
For a second, Kuroo just took you in. It felt like years since he last saw your face, but you looked as beautiful as ever. You still used the same body wash he had contemplated buying just to smell like you when you first left, and you still had that familiar habit of fumbling with your fingers when you were nervous.
“...hi,” he greeted you quietly, and you smiled softly up at him.
“Hey,” you responded, reaching up to gently cup his cheek.
He instinctively leaned into your touch, relishing in the feeling of your skin against his own as his eyes closed.
“You still love me?” you asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Kuroo responded, eyes still closed, “I do.”
He heard you sigh, and he opened his eyes to see your weak smile as you took his hands into your own.
“...alright. Then let’s start over.”
He squeezed your hands, the coldness in his heart quickly washing away as tears started to well up in his eyes.
“...you’ll stay?” he asked tearfully as you reached up to gently wipe his tears away.
“I’ll stay.”
He wrapped his arms tight around you, his face buried in your hair as he cried.
Your hands gently rubbed his back, and quietly to himself, Kuroo hoped that you’d stay forever.
707 notes · View notes
earlgreydream · 3 years
Text
mission.
| stucky x reader | fluff | smut |
oh no, there’s only one bed trope
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“James!” You screamed, your voice getting carried off in the wind. You kicked backwards, knocking free from the grip of a Hydra agent. You ducked as a bullet whizzed past your head, slicing through the skull of your enemy.
A hand wrapped around your arm and dragged you forward, forcing you to break into a run. Blinded by the storm, your lost your footing in the slick mud. If it wasn’t for Steve’s grip on you, you would’ve fell face first into the ground.
“Be careful!” The shout was stressed, impatient.
You swore and ran through the field after the soldiers, nearly tripping over the uneven ground. Your muscles were burning along with your lungs, and the rain was so thick you couldn’t see.
“We can’t drive in this!”
“We don’t have another option!” Steve shouted back, his grip on you tightening as he helped you onward.
The mission had gone to absolute shit before it even started. Stark sent you, Steve, and Bucky to hunt down a Hydra agent, which you’d just taken out in the field. However, he’d gotten wind of your arrival, prepared with an elite security team you had to get through. They had nearly succeeded in killing Bucky, throwing the three of you off from the beginning.
The storm had made everything nearly impossible, and it wrecked any chance of you getting home soon. No plane, not even one designed by Stark, could fly you overseas when you couldn’t see two feet ahead of you.
You couldn’t see Bucky, or Steve really, only knowing he was there by the hand on your arm. You trusted Bucky was nearby, making his way back to the car with you to try to get out of the middle of nowhere.
You were exhausted, hardly able to stand, let alone run through the storm, covered in heavy mud and gear. You finally made it to the car, your shaking hands coming into contact with cold steel.
The three of you managed to get inside the vehicle, though it didn’t feel like it was going to do any good. You were soaked from the rain and covered in mud and blood, and you were shivering from the icy temperature.
Bucky turned the key in the ignition, deciding that you needed to drive to shelter, even if he couldn’t see the road ahead.
“Fuck! Bucky!” You yelled as cold air blew directly on you from the AC, making you feel like you were going to freeze death.
“I’m fucking taking care of it, Y/N!” Bucky snapped back, raising his voice at you.
“Hey, that’s enough, Buck.” Steve interjected, despite being on edge himself. Bucky turned off the air, pulling out into the road and blindly inching back toward the small eastern-European town.
“I’m sorry.” He finally said through clenched teeth, and you shook your head.
“It’s fine, we’re all just exhausted.”
You didn’t even realize you were clung to Steve until Bucky parked, somehow managing to get you three to a motel, alive. You muttered an apology, grabbing your backpack off the floor and running into the front office.
The desk manager eyed the three of you warily, and you sagged against the wall, struggling to stay upright. The floor felt like it was rocking under you, and you grabbed Steve’s arm to try to steady yourself. You were so cold, you felt like you were about to freeze to death.
Bucky started speaking to the main in fluent Russian, the conversation growing sharper and more annoyed as they argued. You didn’t understand what the problem was, and you started to cry, overly exhausted, dirty, and weak.
“Stevie,” Bucky whined at Steve to take care of you while he continued to deal with the manager.
“Y/N, take deep breaths,” Steve hugged your shivering body to his, and Bucky gestured at you and shouted at the manager.
He flashed his gun before he was finally given a room key, and he threw the door open, motioning the two of you to follow. Steve carried your backpack for you, gently pushing you after Bucky and praying you didn’t collapse.
Bucky unlocked a room, pushing you inside ahead of him, and you stared at the one bed. You were too tired to truly care, lethargy threatening to drag you under.
“It was all they had. He’d barely give me this last room.” Bucky’s tone was apologetic, albeit frustrated.
“It’s fine, one thing at a time,” Steve sighed, and you dropped to the floor, working your boots off.
“I need a minute, you can shower first,” you said hoarsely, and the boys nodded, Bucky tenderly touching your head as he walked to the small bathroom, tearing off his ruined clothes. He was quick, and Steve was in and out right after, both of them clean in under fifteen minutes. You sat on the floor, trying to catch your breath and drink the water bottle that Bucky had forced into your hand.
“Can you stand for a shower?” Bucky asked you, and you nodded, taking his hand as he helped you off the floor. You grabbed your one change of dry clothes from your backpack and set them on the sink.
“Don’t lock it please, Y/N,” Steve called, worried you would collapse.
“M’not!”
You stripped out of your ruined uniform, discarding it with the boys’. You stepped under the hot water, a moan escaping you as you finally got some relief from the freeze deep in your bones. You washed the mud off of your body and out of your hair, nearly crying from the relief of the hot water.
“Oh my god, fuck!” You shrieked when your clothes fell off the counter and onto the wet floor, the drain not doing much good.
“Y/N?!” Bucky’s concerned voice came as he cracked the door open.
“I’m fine, I...” you started crying again, feeling defeated and worn out.
“Doll, what happened...” Bucky’s voice was soft, the rare term of endearment making you cry harder.
“I dropped my clothes!” You shut off the water and peered around the dingy curtain. You grabbed a dry towel from his hand, staying behind the curtain as you dried off, the steam keeping you warm.
“Just leave your clothes. You can have Steve’s sweater. That’s all we’ve got, but it’ll be big, so...”
You were wrapped in the towel as you took the fluffy white sweater from Bucky, pulling it over your head once you were given some privacy.
It fell almost to your knees, the sleeves covering your hands. You wished you had something to put on under it, but this was the best you could do right now. You squeezed the moisture out of your hair before joining the boys in the small motel room.
“You okay?” Steve asked, and you nodded, thanking him for the sweater. They had only managed to raid a vending machine outside, and you were handed a package of crisps and another bottle of water. The television in the corner was playing some Russian telenovela quietly, the scratch of the fuzzy connection interrupting it.
You sat on the edge of the bed, eating the crisps and wishing you had some real food to satiate your stomach ache. You pulled an extra band from Bucky’s wrist, tying your damp hair up on top of your head, getting it off your neck.
Your two best friends wouldn’t let you lay down until you’d finished the second bottle of water, paranoid of your possible dehydration. You ignored their anxious nurturing, getting under the covers as soon as you’d finished it.
You had never felt so exhausted in your life, and your eyelids were heavy as they fell closed. The two super soldiers laid down on either side of you, surrounding you with warmth. They were like two individual heaters, pressed against your back and front in the small bed. 
You didn’t know when you fell asleep, but it was pitch-black when you woke up. You stirred, your eyes still heavy with sleep. The storm was loud outside, covering the soft breathing of the soldiers.
You felt metal between your thighs, Bucky’s hand gently rubbing your inner thigh.
“James?” You murmured, stirring.
“Mm?” He was barely awake. Steve’s arm tightened around your waist, holding you closer. You rubbed your eyes, snuggling deeper into Steve’s soft sweater.
Your mind was thick with sleepiness, and you were still stuck in a half-dream state. It was warm, dark, and heady, surrounding you in a settled calmness.
You felt Bucky’s fingers trail higher, finding you bare after the clothing mishap. You didn’t register what was happening at first until you felt him sliding along your skin, finding your bundle of nerves. You whimpered softly, your mind melting and your legs parting even though you didn’t know what was happening.
“James, what are you doing?” you whispered breathlessly.
“I can’t keep my hands off of you, doll. You’re just too irresistible,” Bucky murmured into your chest, curling up closer into you. His lips ghosted over your neck, hot kisses dotting along your skin. Your body ignited with the touch, and you couldn’t bring yourself to push him away.
“Wanna feel you,” Steve’s sleepy voice hummed through your hair, his hand moving up your sweater up to your chest. A noise escaped you as you felt Steve slowly begin to grind against your backside, hardening against your soft skin. You realized they were naked too, and you began dripping on Bucky’s fingers.
“Sweet girl, does that feel good?” he smiled against your throat, marking you up with hickeys. 
You nodded, tipping your head down to kiss him. It was a bit hesitant at first, but you couldn’t keep yourself from melting into Bucky. Your lips molded together, his gentle movements easing any doubt in your mind. Steve squeezed your breasts, teasing your nipples and making you sigh against Bucky. He slid his tongue past your lips, the warm muscle exploring your mouth. Metal fingers pressed slowly inside of you without resistance, stretching you out and rubbing your velvety skin.
Your soft sighs and moans filled the motel room, and you reached behind you to pull Steve into a searing kiss. Bucky pulled your leg over his, giving them better access. You whined a complaint when Bucky pulled his fingers from your heat, causing the boys to laugh softly.
“I’m just going to get you ready for Steve, doll. Is that alright?” Bucky’s silver eyes locked with yours, searching for any hesitation.
“Yes, but... go slow?” you whispered shyly.
“We’ll be gentle, sweetheart,” Steve promised, and you leaned your head back against his shoulder. You trusted the men, knowing they’d never hurt you, not purposely. Steve’s hand smoothed over your side, kissing the skin of your shoulder that peeked out above the neckline of his sweater. 
Bucky’s slick fingertip traced around the tight ring of muscle before carefully easing it in. Your fingers snaked into Steve’s hair, tugging lightly as Bucky worked to loosen you up. 
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” Bucky asked when your face squeezed up as he added a third finger.
“No, it just feels... strange,” you squirmed between the boys. Steve dropped his hand between your legs to distract you from the discomfort Bucky was causing. You slowly relaxed around him, smiling into Bucky’s gentle kisses. You adjusted your leg over his hips, pulling the soldier closer and smoothing your hands over his chest. 
You were restless, anxious for them to be inside of you. Your quiet begs sent shudders of anticipation through the boys, giving in without hesitation.
“I’m going to slide in first, it’ll go easier,” Bucky waited for your permission and you agreed, tugging on his long dark hair. He loved it, a deep growl coming from his throat as you pulled on the locks. Your giggles abruptly cut off as Bucky wrapped an arm around your hips, pulling you close as he sank inside of you. He mumbled profanities in Russian, overwhelmed by the feeling of your warmth surrounding his cock. Your leg draped over him allowed him to get a deep angle, feeling like he was splitting you open in the best way. He was bigger than anyone in the past, and you swore to yourself you could never go back after this.
“You’re fucking huge, James,” you whined into his ear, gasping as your words caused him to thrust against you, the friction sending electricity to your nerves. Steve laughed at that, waiting for Bucky to still before rubbing his leaking head against your other entrance. 
“Just breathe, okay?” Steve could see the nervousness in your eyes, even in the dark. You hid your face in Bucky’s chest as Steve pushed inside of you, squeezing your ass in his large hands. Bucky felt the friction against him, and he struggled not to thrust into you. 
The foreign fullness had your thoughts disconnecting, your body being overwhelmed with arousal. Your loud moans filled the silence, and you squeezed around them as Steve’s hips met yours. 
They only gave you a moment to adjust before both soldiers started moving, thrusting in and out of you, making you scream with mind-numbing pleasure. Bucky’s movements became more forceful, pulling sounds from the three of you. You couldn’t think or move, your only ability was to take it, soaking it up and igniting your body. You throbbed around them, throwing your head back against Steve. 
“You feel so good, sweetheart, you’re so tight and warm around us,” he praised, kissing your cheekbone. Your mouth opened with a choked moan, and he connected your lips, moving his tongue against yours. Bucky swore, even more turned on by the sight of his two lovers making out.
He lifted your knee higher, thrusting impossibly deeper. The pressure that had been building snapped, and you screamed as your orgasm hit you like a train. 
“Fuck, I’m so close, doll,” Bucky knew he couldn’t last long as you tightened around him like a vice. 
“Come inside of me, please, I want-” you didn’t finish your sentence as he came, throbbing inside of you as he filled you with hot ropes of release. You were reduced to mindless, incoherent begs, pleading for Steve to do the same. His strong arms held you still against him, keeping you from writhing as he came deep inside of you. Bucky swallowed your screams, and you sank weakly against them as you came down from the high that had all of you wrecked. 
You woke up slightly dazed from the post-sex sleep, exhausted from the mission and getting fucked by the two super-soldiers. You opened your arms with a sleepy whimper, making the boys laugh softly. Bucky pulled you into a hug, letting you drape your arms around his neck and cling to him. 
“How’re you feeling, doll?”
“Like I’ve had the life fucked out of me,” your voice was soft and amused, making them smile tenderly at you.
“In a good way?”
“In the best way,” you assured Steve.
“I want all of our missions to end like that.”
Bucky grinned cheekily, kissing your head and making you giggle. 
“The storm’s let up. I’m sorry, but we’ve got to get you out of bed,” Steve peeled the blankets off, making you cling tighter to Bucky in protest. 
“Your clothes are dry. C’mon, up, now.” Steve slapped your ass, and you slowly let go of Bucky.
“Help me, my legs are weak,” you held Steve’s hands as he assisted you in climbing off the bed.
“We break you?” Bucky teased, and you shook your head. You kissed Steve lightly before getting dressed, opting to leave his sweater on. 
Within an hour, you were on your way back to Stark tower, curled up on the private plane, your head in Bucky’s lap as he stroked his fingers through your hair. 
“So, everything went as planned on the mission?” Stark asked, debriefing with the three of you. You fought back a laugh, and Steve placed a hand on your back.
“Everything went great, Stark. We assassinated the target, and we all made it back alive,” Bucky confirmed.
As the three of you were walking out the door, Stark’s voice made you turn.
“Don’t think I’m stupid, I can tell what the three of you are up to!”
You squealed, running out the door with the super soldiers, away from Tony’s amused judgement. 
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patt-writes-stuff · 3 years
Text
Beach Days with The Genshin Characters!
Wc: 1.7k+
Type: Headcanons
CW: umm nothing except mentions of alcohol and maybe people being creeps? (None of the chars or you tho it’s very brief)
A/N: HI IM BACK FROM THE DEAD! These were supposed to be a lot shorter but I got too excited. If you by any chance wanna see some for your fav character lmk! I know it says request are closed in my bio but since it’s just hcs it’s a lot less (and I really enjoyed writing these so ajdhdhdk)
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🔥Diluc:
This man cannot swim. Tell me otherwise, I dare you.
Kaeya tried to jokingly push him off a lil diving cliff area when they were kids.
He almost drowned. Kaeya was in a lot of trouble.
So, good luck getting this man to actually get in the water. The most he’ll do is sit on the shore where it’s very shallow.
He usually prefers to just stay under an umbrella on the sand and keep an eye on you.
Calls you every two hours in advance and helps you reapply sunscreen.
He’s very pale so I feel like he burns pretty easily, meaning he needs to reapply super frequently otherwise he will become a tomato. He brings like three bottles of the good shit. Tch, rich boy.
If you ask him to build a sandcastle, he will pretend to be annoyed but do it anyways. Ends up finding it kind of enjoyable.
He has the maids prepare a nice picnic basket for the two of you!! It’s got all your favorite foods plus grape juice cuz y’know.
If any creepy peeps approach you, don’t worry. He brought his vision and his claymore.
Of course, he won’t have to resort to such violent lengths. Everyone in Mondstadt knows who Diluc is and they probably know you’re his s/o, so they’re usually smart enough to mind their own business.
If they don’t, don’t worry. Diluc’s glare is more than enough to scare them away.
All in all I definitely recommend a beach day with him! I’ll give it a solid 8/10 (-2 for not wearing floaties and getting in the water with you or letting you teach him how to swim.
🖌Albedo:
You guys definitely 100% take Klee out with you on a beach day.
You guys bring snacks, beach toys like buckets and shovels for optimal sandcastle building, a picnic blanket, etc.
Jean definitely packs a lot more stuff for you guys to take with you than you actually need.
It’s only cuz she’s worried for Klee and is nervous about not being able to go with you guys though! It’s very sweet really.
Klee tries to bomb the fish and cause havoc at the beach 😭
I think Albedo is a good swimmer and gets in with you and Klee so that he can help her (which is very cute omfg)
He’s set total workaholic, as we know, so it took a lot of convincing to get him to put down his experiments and accompany you to the beach (however, he’s particularly weak to yours and klee’s puppy dog eyes so he caved eventually)
Though, looking at you and Klee happily building sandcastles and decorating them with pretty seashells of all shapes and colors, he can’t really find it in himself to complain.
He, of course, takes this opportunity to take out his sketchbook and draw the waves, seagulls, you… Of course he won’t let you see the sketch book no sir. He’s a bit embarrassed to be honest, but an artist such as himself recognizes beauty when he sees it so he simply had to draw you. (God I love him so much)
If a creepy person approaches you,- well don’t worry. The sight of a small arsonist child blowing up fish is enough to scare them away 🥰
At the end of the day, all three of you are all ticketed out. Albedo has to carry Klee back to Mondstadt because the poor baby fell asleep the moment you started drying her hair with the beach towel. You’re, of course, carrying back Dodoco and your bags. (You also manage to sneak a peak at Albedo’s sketchbook and find some very pretty drawings of you and Klee with your sandcastle)
At the end of the day, you guys tuck Klee in and read her a bedtime story (she woke up and insisted). Afterwards Albedo takes you back home and thanks you for coming with you and Klee (which you ofc say wasn’t a problem because how could you not???)
All in all? I’ll give it a solid 10/10. You’ve got tasty food, fun times, your boyfriend and his cute kid adoptive sister (yes I am very biased idc)
🦋Xiao:
I think it would take a lot of convincing to get Xiao to go out on a beach date with you.
He’ll probably see it as a distraction getting in the way of his slaying of monsters and demons.
However, he also worships the grounds you walk on (hehe, simp XD), so I don’t think it’ll take that much convincing on your part (especially because it’s is self appointed duty to keep you safe so if you insist on going with or without him, he supposes he’ll have to go)
Is definitely a bit tense at first. He doesn’t know how to let loose and chill so while you’re sun tanning on a beach chair he’s like 🧍‍♂️ahdgshjsjd
Eventually calms down a bit though! You get him to relax and eat some almond tofu you brought along with you. It definitely gets him to perk up.
I don’t think he would mind getting into the water but I do think he’d rather walk along the shore and collect pretty seashells and sea glass.
He later gives the ones he deems pretties to you (he hands them over to you with a blush on his face and pretends it’s not a big deal and he definitely gets all pouty and grouchy when you coo at how adorable he is)
As for creeps, Xiao is both intimidating and well known in Liyue. No one is brave enough (or, let’s be honest, dumb enough) to approach you with any bad intentions.
Sure, Xiao has sworn never to harm a human/citizen of Liyue but that doesn’t mean he can’t scare the absolute shit out of them.
I think Xiao would definitely enjoy a beach day 🥺🥺. He’d find it very relaxing to go out with you and just hear the sound of waves and feel the sand under his feet.
He’d definitely hint at wanting to do it again later. Of course, he won’t tell you. No, that’s a foolish mortal activity and he has much better things to do.
Wait no, don't turn around, yes he will go with you next month.
All in all, I give Xiao a 9/10. It’s a very relaxing day (which he deserves 😤). And you get to see a whole new side of him.
💎Ningguang:
OK SO ORIGINALLY I WASN'T GONNA WRITE ONE FOR HER (at least not in this post) BUT THEN I THOUGHT OF LADY NINGGUANG TAKING YOU TO A WHOLE ASS PRIVATE BEACH
She knows you don’t care about how exclusive the beach you go to is (in fact, the fact that you don’t care about where you are or what you do is one of the things that make her fall more and more madly in love with you) but you deserve the best so she’s gonna go all out.
She’s a busy lady so days like this where the two of you get to go somewhere and be together are few and far between.
She knows it’s hard to be in a relationship with someone who is busy 24/7, so she appreciates how you remain by her side despite all hardships. (Y’all are a whole ass power couple istg)
The two of you spend your day relaxing. Sun bathing, drinking piña coladas, maybe taking a dip in the ocean. It’s all very pleasant!
Ningguang doesn’t quite feel like the type of person who would sit in the sand and make sandcastle, however you’re more than welcome to make some yourself. She finds it endearing <3
If you insist on her helping, she’ll eventually comply. She loves you too much to say no. I feel like she’ll either be terrible at it or like a total architect.
Sand is technically like tiny rocks right? So maybe she can use her vision to help her? If that’s the case, she’s making a replica of the Jade chamber out of sand.
If any creepy person comes up to you don’t worry. Ningguang will buy the whole beach and then use her right of admission as owner to permanently ban them from the beach you’re at.
The only downside to a day at the beach with Ningguang might be that there’s a big chance she’ll be called to tend urgent matters, seeing as she is the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing and all.
If that does happen, she’ll be sure to make it up to you somehow, whether it be rescheduling or taking care of the matter as soon as possible so that the two of you can get back to your day of relaxation and fun.
All in all?? Lady Ningguang will treat you like total royalty and the two of you will have an amazing time! I give her an 11/10 (she would literally buy a whole beach for you to be comfortable I mean c’mon)
🍃Venti:
BEACH DAYS WITH HIM ARE SO FUN!!
Swimming? Yeah, he’d love to! Sunbathing? Sure! He’ll ever conjure up a light breeze for the two of you. Sandcastle building? WELL OF COURSE WHY DO YOU THING HE BROUGHT ALL THESE BUCKETS AND SHOVELS?
No but seriously, he might be the best person out of everyone here to go to the beach with. He’s fun, free spirited, and he’s a traveling bard who’s been alive long enough to know where all the best beaches in Teyvat are. (He also knows a guy- er, well, dragon I suppose- who is willing to fly them to any place).
He’ll play some soft tunes while you doze under the sun.
HE PICKS PRETTY SHELLS AND GIFTS THEM TO YOU!!!
He will bring booze. I’m pretty sure this is a necessity. If you’re a little upset about it, he’ll probably “eheh~” his way out of it. That slick bastard.
If you really insist on him not drinking, he won’t consume much alcohol.
If some creepy person approaches you and tries to ruin you your day of beach time fun, all of their stuff will suddenly be blown away, causing them to scramble back to their spot and (almost embarrassingly) flail around trying to catch everything. What a shame…
At the end of the day, he’d be a little sad to leave. Definitely makes plans about tbe two of you going back soon.
I gotta give him a 10/10 he’s just so fun omg.
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anaiswriterr · 3 years
Text
The Dragon Kings Queen
Pairing: Dragon King!Bakugou x Queen!Reader
Rating: M
Warning: This is part four, I’d like to point out be aware: 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝗼𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝗺𝐞𝐬, 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐠𝗼𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐭𝐜. Please don’t read if you are not comfortable with it, and if you’re under the age of 18+ I will give a warning when it becomes NSFW but at the moment it’s SFW. Todays chapter does include gore, death, killing, hunting, sickness, etc.
<masterlist>
Synopsis: ➪ When the word marriage crossed your mind, you believed you’d marry someone you loved. Not this brute of a King. So here you are standing at the end on an alter, pushing away the urge to run and fight. Possibly start a new life, instead of being dragged into a loveless marriage. But for the sake of your people.. They say he’s not what rumors make him out to be, but how can you believe that when his eyes burn into yours; just as fiery as before. How could you, ever love someone as barbaric as him…
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- chapter five: the blood a trickster spills -
You grab onto a tree branch, grunting as you pull yourself up. It has been an hour since you've been aimlessly walking through the enchanted forest, your feet already burn in exhaustion. You managed a to find a stream, the land was smooth - perfect for a fire in the morning but right now your main priority:
Is to somehow climb this tree without breaking a leg.
You grumble incoherent words to yourself, enraged by the stubborn bark your hand could not grasp. You opted for another tree branch, pulling yourself up to a reasonably thicker branch - which you deemed was thick enough to wait the night out. Though sleep was definitely out of the question for you, a fall from this height was enough to put you out of commission and paint you dead.
You wrap your arms carefully around the trees trunk taking deep breathes in attempt to sooth your beating heart, "don't look down.. don't look down." you chant, the words stitching together like a prayer. But your eyes glance down - for only one second. One second and suddenly your breath hitches and fear burrows into your stomach. One slip and it was over. Your hands grasp hard onto the trees bark, imprinting your hand with small indents of patterns.
Your eyes grow heavy with sleep, exhausted from climbing. You mentally curse yourself for not taking advantage of the time you had in the carriage ride.
From beneath you, bushes rustle and heavy footsteps emerge.
Yet, you don't dare look down to peep what roams the dark night; growling and far away howls creep up your skin as you shiver. You were in a long night - a cold grueling night.
***
You shiver against the bark, as rain pours down from above soaking your boots and clothing. The rain clouds cover up the moon - as if the night couldn't get worse - you feel small rain drops drizzle down from the skyline. Tapping your nose and cheeks, falling hard onto the ground after a few seconds. You roll your eyes in annoyance, tightening you grip against the tree bark as the rain soaks you from head to toe. In this case you were going to get sick if you didn't dry up soon - and sickness in the kingdom was a true tragedy. Your grip is slippery, chunks of bark peels off the tree and onto the ground below. Startling the animals that roamed below - one snarls as it's hit on the head with one piece. Tightening your legs and arms you realize if you fall now, in this darkness, at this moment..
You would never see another night again.
Determined to survive you travel even further up top into the tree line, it wasn't the smartest idea, staying put in the position you were in and waiting the rain out seemed like a logical solution.
But you needed to get to the tree line.
The sky could tell exactly what time it was, where the rain was coming from, and when it would end. It was better visually, other than waiting for you to fall.
But that also was a thought, what if your foot slipped when you were trying to get further on top, surely by that height you wouldn't have to worry about getting eaten alive by creatures of the night - you'd simply die just by hitting the ground. In all actuality, you didn't wanna think about it, but each time your damned eyes just peered down you saw death. This entire forest reeked and felt like death, or was it a curse, a game? A game to see which Queen can be the most traumatized?
If so, you were pretty sure by the end of this you'd have to see the royal therapist. If there even was one in this kingdom you served.
Grunting you pull yourself up, cheering yourself on internally. You're just nearly there, one more step and the sky line would be clear!
Rain droplets splatter your face, gliding across your cheeks and drenching your hair. Just a few more branches, a few more pulls. The dark clouds peer through leaves above, and you can already see the rain clouds gathered together. You sigh in relief, the rain would stop soon, you estimated the rain would most likely stop in approximately five minutes. And the moon would shine down again. the clouds were just passing by.
You breath in the fresh air, ignoring the pelting rain.
You just simply needed to breath, tears run down your face as you stare off into the Kingdoms silhouette - staring angrily at the sky refusing to place your fate in another persons hands. Clutching onto your dagger your carve into the tree branch.
"I will not accept the fate you place me under, you scoundrel pieces of shit!" You say quietly under your breath, a promise you will get to retell to your future children when the time came.
***
Birds chirp all around you, it's officially the first day.
The beating sun scorned your skin, but the cough in your throat is enough to pull your attention away from the scorching heat. You are developing a cold.
Your throat tickles and your nose feels stopped up, your hand shoots up to cover the suns beating  rays off your face. It was early, if you had to estimate most likely seven in the morning. The sun came down behind the kingdom at exactly seven thirty, (you made sure to observe), which only meant you had had twelve hours and thirty minutes to find food, make a fire, track down a goblin, and lastly if you were lucky enough to stumble upon safe herbs to create a tea that would soothe the pending cold.
If an infection didn't kill you, it'd be a cold that would have a final say, but the cold was the least of your worries.
You had a goblin to track down, and those tricksters could kill you faster than any fever.
You slowly move down the tree, checking your surrounds.
You found yourself a loose rabbit wandering off into its borough, noting your next meal for the day was only a few feet away. Your boots crunch onto the dried leaves and wet dirt, you search for dried logs that survived the rain fall, along with rocks that you could create a pit with. You set up directly in the sun in hopes to dry out a few damp logs. In the meantime you went to the rabbits borough - it had two entrances and from what you learned from Kirishima it would attempt to escape from the back. You stealthily placed a large heavy rock at the back entrance blocking its way.
Intricately you back away, you weren't so immune to dead animals. Your father went on annual hunting trips all the time, but, this would be the first time you are hunting out of survival.
The entirety of the "game" was survival.
You check up on your logs, noticing they are now dry from the suns heat. You grab your sticks rubbing your hands up and down to create a spark - fire blazes in front of you. Normally you'd say it was to hot to start a fire, but at night you rather face the cold than a grueling hungry Ogre. Of all things you had to deal with in life at this moment, a bitch ass Ogre was not one of the problems you had the proper strength and patience to deal with.
You grab an end of a stick, lighting the other half on fire. Waving it as a torch, your meal for the day would be served.
You rush over to the borough, lightly throwing the stick into the hole before closing it off with the boulder. Running over to the other end you hold your dagger.
You felt bad for the poor thing.
But a girls got to eat.
***
You have no idea where to start.
When one thinks of a goblin one would refer to the story books that claimed they lived under bridges - shunned away from society maybe even deep into forests. But those were simply just stories, if you had to think like a goblin you'd live far away from the kingdom in fear of being killed.
Nobody prepared you for the hunt, only survival.
You decide you should move, being stuck in the same place wouldn't get you very far. The herbs you were in search for in the meantime for your throat weren't found so you inevitability gave up on the luxury of a warm leaf of tea. You cough into your arm, sniffling your nose from running. The heat rose your temperature to the point you had to stop your travels to lie down, mentally cursing yourself for wasting time.
Heaving, you look up towards the sky, noticing the sun has moved positions. Only a few hours away of setting and you have yet found a single clue where you could find a goblin. You crouch down beside a creak, cupping your hands and drinking away the water from your palms. Splashing your face with it as well to cool the rising fever you felt approaching. You only had three days and if you were gonna make it back to start on time by the third day the heart must be in your possession. Your feet ache, and your calves muscles cramp. The lower part of your back is sore and the sun is burning the sides of your feet - you were in complete misery.
Black dots appear in your line of sight, you stumble onto your feet holding back the urge to vomit what little food you had left in your system.
Your hand quietly slaps over your mouth, clamping it shut.
"Well well well... what do we have here?"
Before you can even answer your sight goes dark, and you feel your head hit the ground. It falls silent.
***
Humming.
The sound of a cackling fire.
And the warm rich scent smell of hazelnut soup.
You slowly open your eyes, "What the-" your heart rate rises in fear, where were you? Who's here? Why are you here, how are you here? You search for the dagger but are left bewildered when the sharp blade is nowhere to be found. You shuffle backwards, your hands running over the wooden floorboards - splinters penetrate your skin. But you could careless, you remember passing out from the heat - or was it from a fever? You didn't know, footsteps approach you.
"Oh well it seems like you're awake!" A females voice cheers, you scan her body, taking in her frame. She was tall, and very beautiful, her striking long brown hair and dark green eyes, a dark red gown adorned her body. Narrowing your eyes in suspicion, you bark at the woman, "Who are you-"
"Now, that isn't a way to speak to a woman who saved your life your Majesty."
"How do you know who I am-"
The woman chuckles, "Well I hear everything! The forest, it speaks to me. And not to mention the witches that live here love to gossip!" You stare at her, blinking your tired eyes. It still didn't make much sense, yes technically you ruled this land as well but it's so far away. You can feel your pounding headache even worsen, "So you're a witch?" You ask, pulling your feet in.
"Ha! You think I'm one of those people! How rude. See I'm just a modern lady sitting in a cottage, I don't suppose you would know that kind of lifestyle." The woman shrugs, sipping her cup of tea.
You nod, "I'm afraid.. I don't actually." All your life you were surrounded by jewels and gold's, fed the most expensive meats and the most tasty fruits. Living a fast paced life of "don't say that." "don't touch that." "sit like this." and "who told you to speak." Speaking to Mina about eventually running away from marriage, even planning to take her too.
"Well it seems to me you are part taking in those heinous games the Dragons throw women into. What a shame, you are beautiful too."
You arch a brow in curiosity at her, "What do you mean?"
"I mean this isn't going to end well for you. I mean, look at you! You look like you couldn't hurt and fly, I wonder what King Bakugou must be up to? You wouldn't stand a chance against a goblin!" The woman laughs manically placing her cup of tea onto the table, she steps towards you. "I managed to survive one night alone-"
"Oh please, If I didn't take you in the wolves would've had a feast. You should be thanking me." You roll your eyes in annoyance, "Now dear," she grins, "you look parched. How about some tea."
Tea.
Your body is practically begging for a warm remedy to sooth your raw sore throat, oh.. you realized that you're actually growing sick. The headache on the sides of your temples is beating - pounding against your brain. Your vision is cloudy. How could you not of realized. You were so distracted by where you were you barley remember you couldn't find the herbs you searched for.
The lady wags an empty cup in your face.
"Come on. Your cheeks are burning red, and whether that's just a sun burn or fever I'm sure you need a sip. You're burning up a storm."
A part of you wonders her name, but was it truly important? Could she possibly show you were you could find a goblin? You look over your shoulder out of the window realizing the sun was just barley going down.
"H-How long was I out?" You shakily ask, pulling your hands into your chest.
The woman arches a brow, "You know for a Queen you surely do stutter a lot. You've been out since noon."
Lord if you didn't have strength to be patient you probably would've thrown a wooden slab at her by now, you breath in heavily through your stopped up nose; coughing in despair. Blowing out a few pieces of hair from your face. "Well, then do you want the tea or no - your royal highness?" She asks in a taunting matter.
"No. I'm fine." You huff.
"More for me then-"
"What's your name?" You interrupt, "Id love to know the name of the woman who saved me after all." You grin tilting your head to the side. The lady clears her throat, "Marigold. My name is Marigold." You nod, finally knowing her name. "Well Marigold, do you know where I can find a goblin?"
The word seems to stop Marigold in her tracks. Her face grows pale for a second before returning back to her natural nonchalant expression. Blowing a raspberry she proceeds to laugh, "Well honey, that's a days trip. They live deep into the forest. You wouldn't make it there in time."
Hmm, you nod suspiciously. Recalling the last conversation you had with Kirishima.
"What do goblins look like? I've only ever read about them." You asked, moving beside him following him into the horse stall. He combs out the mane of his horse, "Well that's a tricky question my Queen. They are real tricky and can spew lies just to get you where they want... they promise you things. You have to be real smart to not fall for it - I've encountered one in my youth. It didn't look anything like those storybooks."
Your eyes wander her body; she looked normal. But to trust her would be a stretch, one that could kill you. Her voice sound normal. You watch her closely, "Where's my stuff?" You ask. Marigold arches a brow and shrugs her shoulders; "What stuff?"
You bark, "My dagger! My holster for it! Where is it?"
"Oh those things.. why do you need them?"
"I need to leave-"
"It's dark out, you wouldn't want yourself to increase your fever now would you. I promise this tea will sooth all your pains away. Even the ones deep in your heart."
You arch a brow, narrowing your gaze. Even the ones deep in your heart. Your brush her off as a bluff, "You don't know what you're talking about." You push yourself up from the floor, stumbling from the sudden wave of nausea. Sweat beats run down your forehead as you attempt to stand up straight. Marigold clicks her tongue, her long fingers run through her long brown locks. "No. No. It seems that... I do know what I'm talking about. A Queen who's too good for her new kingdom, thrown, stuck and forced into a loveless marriage; suddenly thrown into the enchanted forest to find a heart that she will be forced to eat? Poor unfortunate girl, you were better off dead."
Her words cut deeply, anyone could figure that out though. She didn't know you, how could she possibly think she had your life figured out. You were a Princess made into a Queen; it wasn't that hard to understand. To create peace between your kingdoms you had to marry Bakugou.
"Darling... you are unhappy." She takes small sips of her tea, "I can help you escape.. you don't love him you don't even know him. Come with me, and I can help nourish you back to health. You won't even have to return, I'm quite lonely myself. Now, have some tea. Your cheeks are practically scarlet." Marigolds grin is sinister, she taps her nails slowly against the table; that's when you realize:
Her fingers and nails are sharp, green, and coated with old blood.
Her green eye sharpen with each passing second - her pupils are almost snake like. You gulp down the fear that rose in you, ignoring the raging pound against your chest. What do you do? You can tell she's growing impatient, if you run out now with no weapon you could kiss your life away. If you stayed... no. You needed a knife, your dagger, anything even a wooden stake would do fine. "I don't bite, sit down." Marigold says menacingly, your feet  scuff the floor as you make your way to her. This is the time where you're supposed be strong, you guess.
Marigold lifts up her tea kettle, you notice her teeth for the first time.. how sharp they were.. separated and long.. how could she disguise herself as someone so beautiful?
"Remember.. they are tricksters. They are going to tell you things you wanna hear, they can be anyone and anything." Kirishima's words rang through your head, "Well wouldn't that make them a shape shifter? I've heard those are a thing too, how can I be certain?" You pout, how would you know. The creatures of the Enchanted Forest were so complex. He crosses his arm, "You'll know when they begin to turn.. back into the creature they were originally. Don't catch yourself entertaining, they'll slice your throat in a second."
Your breathing grows heavy, she's a goblin. She's what you've been looking for, her name wasn't Marigold - Marigold was a the woman who the face, the body belonged too. This thing... is morphing. You choose your words carefully, slowly reaching out for an empty tea cup and quietly asking her to fill it. If you could just lead her into the kitchen somehow you could possibly get a knife, "Well now that's the spirit my Queen. I promise this tea with sooth everything away, melting all the overwhelming emotions you may be feeling." The woman mutters before pulling back a hot tea kettle.
Hot.
Tea.
Kettle.
Boiling water is in there. Your heart prancing in joy, you have a chance. You had an opening, quickly, you stop her with your hand. "Actually, may I poor it? I-I sometimes like mines a little more full than usual." You smile nervously, "Oh why of course, here. Have as much as you'd like - it came right off the cauldron."
You nod, taking the handle away from her and carefully pouring the boiling tea into your cup. You make note of her wandering eyes, you've got to make this quick. You finish pouring, opening the kettle lid you ask aloud, "What kind of tea is this? It smells wonderful." You needed a distraction, a reason to open the lid.
"Lavender green tea with a speck of rose water-"
Your throw the boiling water over her head, her screams erupt in the as dining room; as her skin bubbles up. You throw the kettle at her head and knock back your chair, running towards the kitchen. "You wretched! Horrid- I'll slice your throat!" The Goblin screeches, you search the drawers and cabinets for something, anything! But to no avail you didn't find a single thing. Now you were completely done for.
Heavy footsteps and angered huffs make their way towards the kitchen - it's now or never. Throwing pots and pans you make sure to strike the goblin in the face, "After I saved your life! This is the thanks I get?" You hear, bending down to hide underneath the counter your eyes lock with a shining blade.
Your dagger!
Hidden behind the cauldron, you just needed a way to get back there. You needed a way to grab it, the goblins footsteps grow heavy. You silence your breathing with your palms, "I could've helped you, I could've been your escape. You greedy rat!" You hear tables being flipped over, cabinets being thrown open violently, "Wait till I get my hands on you.. I'll cut you open and gut you like a fish."
You attempt to keep calm, either way you were a goner if you hadn't left in that moment. When you hear the goblins footsteps move away in distance you shuffle onto your feet and zoom towards the cauldron. The crackling fire and boil contents bring you an idea. You hurry for the dagger, flipping it between your hands.
"There you are.." you hear a snarl from across the room, readying your blade to attack, you throw your hands up, "Thank you for the hospitality, but it looks like you have something I need." You point towards the goblins chest, the heart. A viable beating heart, only feet away. In mere seconds the goblin launches at you, reaching out to tackle you. You swiftly move out of the way throwing yourself to the ground, your palms throb in pain from the splinters lodged deep into your flesh - but that's the least of your worries. You scurry to your feet and push over the boiling cauldron over the goblin and stab your dagger deep into its head. Blood splatters your face in small droplets, staining your face and clothes.
You've never killed a "person" before.
Never did you think you could actually do it, but the small sigh of relief escaping your throat tells you that you are finally safe.
You proved what you had to prove. And for the night you had sanctuary.
Your mind races in adrenaline, you're alive.
Yet you had to kill in the process, does that make you one of them? No, you did what you had to do. It was a matter of kill or be killed. You pull your dagger away, out of its head, you didn't kill an innocent women. You killed a beast. Small gurgles and a moan fall from its mouth, the sound of death. You wipe away the blood on your forehead with your forearm and roll the dead corpse to the side.
The heart...
A token for the kingdom.
***
Blood stains your chest; dried up to the color brown as you stumble through the forest. Your eye lids feel heavy with every step you take yet you fight off the urge to fall to your knees and succumb to the dark black dots in your vision. It's tempting, yet you are so close to the finish.. you walked the full second day. With no breaks and no source of water on the way, your fever had returned full force as the sun blazed down your body.
You cough into your arm as your second hand clutches onto the heart you were meant to return. Fresh blood coats your hands from the animals you had to fight off for the heart, the trip back was just as worse, your eye lids flutter, opening and closing with each step you nearly fall to the floor.
You look like a dead girl walking.
Your feet shuffle and kick at the ground below.
Your back is sore and your throat feels dry from the cold of the night - the forest was ruthless. You can hear the tribal drums from afar, the sound edging closer and closer, increasing its volume with each step. You stumble to the ground, exhausted, thirsty, and sick. You consider staying down, to tired to even pull yourself up. You hear voices, they sound so close.
"I told you already, she'll be here."
Bakugou?
The king, your husband.
"Give her some more time."
It must be near afternoon then, you push yourself up when you heard Kirishima's voice agree with your husband. Providing you some more time to make it to the finish line - you assume the politicians want to speed up the process. You swore they must have something against you.
Your body feels sticky from the old, dried blood on your chest. Fingers still freshly coated in blood and dirt you push yourself off from a nearby tree - edging closer to the entrance of the Enchanted Forest. The setting suns sunlight peers through the small branches and leaves of the trees above, kissing your exposed shoulders, reddened from the sunburns that littered your skin. You wipe the sweat off your forehead; smearing a combination of dried and fresh blood all over your face. But you don't care, you just had a few more step till sanctuary.
The entrance is clear, open to the trail you followed.
You can see Kirishima from a distance, his rough shoulders tense in worry. Beside him, Bakugou stands with his arms crossed over his shoulders. An expression you couldn't make out contours his face.
You know you've finally made it out when a wave of heat smacks your face even harder - the setting sun beating on your body you stumble over to the King.
A smirk on your face as you hold up the heart, his eyes widen in surprise, taken aback you watch his lips move. But no sound comes out, it's all muffled around you. Black spots collect in your vision, "I-I did it.." you mumble, falling into his chest his hand reaches out to touch your forehead.
You lie passed out in his arms as he calls out to his guards, Kirishima collects the heart from your hand just before it could fall. "What do we do?" The dragon frantically says, Bakugou looks out for the Counsel men, his eyes fall onto the President. Glaring he announces, "We're taking her back to the Palace now!"
"You will do no such thing, your Majesty! She will be brought to the plaza hall, your people are waiting! Handmaidens, guards, take Queen Y/N, preserve the heart and bathe it in pigs blood. We are continuing the ceremony."
Your fever rose with each passing minute, and the exhaustion you'd expedited already was enough to kill. Bakugou breathes in heavily knowing he had no say in the ceremony. There was no way he could just simply override the parliament. Arms wrap around your body as the guards and handmaidens assist in take you.
They rip you away from Bakugou's arms.
"We'll take care of her after the ceremony-"
Kirishima interrupts the Counsel man, bearing his sharp teeth he growls, "I believe you will. I don't necessarily like the taste of humans." He threatens as they user you off. Bakugou stares in annoyance at the carriage that rushed you off to the plaza. Nightfall was close, and he could already feel the rumbling of ceremonial drums beneath his feet. A hand comes to pat his shoulder, the Counsels president, Hagoku Tekona, smiles. "You should probably head back to the plaza.. she might wanna see you as soon as we wake her up."
"You're just gonna wake her up?"
"We'll just drench her in pigs blood to wake her, she'll anyways have to. The tradition calls for the Queen to bathe in pigs blood as she intakes the heart to be fully part of the dragon clan-"
Bakugou, walks away, reaching out for Kirishima he taps his back.
"Make sure... they don't throw her around too much."
Nodding in agreement Kirishima fetches their horses, "I'll take care of her. Make sure she's conscious." The two jump onto their horses settling into the saddle, Bakugou mutters to himself, incoherent words bungled all in one sentence, he pulls back on his horse. Kirishima arches a brow in worry, eyeing his friend he doesn't know what to say neither what to do, the dragon mutters, "You seem surprised. Did you think she wasn't going to make it?"
Nodding Bakugou turns to face Kirishima, with notable surprise written on his face. "I thought I was going to have to find another wife..."
Chuckling Kirishima shakes his head before taking off with his horse, "Depending on how well tonight's ceremony goes.. it appears Bakugou that you have a wife beside your side."
"It appears.. so."
AUTHORS NOTES: Yooooooo! How are you guys, sorry for taking to long. This chapter was longer than the others so I’m happy with where this is going. I have been going through a few things, remember guys I’m just a teenager so it can be hard to fit things in on time. I just got a job, just waiting for the orientation, I have school work and I’m glad I have all A’s! Anyways I hope you liked it!!
TAGLIST: @loxbbg​ @urmomsshousee​ @samkysnks​ @mikithekiki​ @aegeanblues​ @mykuronekome​ @lowkey-a-faerie-in-disguise​ @orange-aesthetic-yay @katsukibabe​ @bnhaficswriter​ @vvanills @katiekat300​ @utterlyconfused-tm​ @learningasigo​ @bigkoalafications​ @bnhaficswriter​ @sugarandsoft​ @aegeanblues​ @tspice283​ @simpforeveryone​ @crackhead1-800​ @poetryandhoetry01​ @bakasbitch18 @riceballsandanime​ @franko-pop​ @lostmarimoismyhubby​ @junniev8​ @thirsthourdemon​ @cowward​ @the2ndl​ @reaperintheroses​ @bakugousmrs​ @maemi324​ @beautifulparisiangirl​ @commandertorinshepard​ @velosrantipole​ @kirishimaisthatbitch​ @soft-levi-girl-blog​ @chims-kookies​ @smtmusic​ @jokerloverparis​ @polpoes-blog​ @sunaswife​ @lordexplosion-murder20​ @lostmarimoismyhubby​ @awkward-bard​ @jazzylove​ @katsukibabe​ @whalerus​ @misssugarless​ @hikaru-mikazuki​ @greenchild​ @bubbzibubbles​ @the-fluffy-emo​ @anon-weeb-030 @cottonccandyxx​ @meri-soni-meri-tamanna​ @avocados-and-lemons​ @lucyheartfilias-wife​ @alisonhappy @wthrae​ @karitamaki @mydads2ndmistress​ @asemerose​ @chwlogy​ @foreverdebbie​ @bakugosbabie @bakuinred​ @thatkoicat @kkitakenma​  @bnhafan101 @meliapis​ @thecaoswitch @liviwivi1  @angie-1306​ @theinfamoushotdog @minibobabottle​ @honeylemondragonemperor​ @iloveitblackbnha @yokesmam​ @annepamgkrth​
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Things I Loved About Black Widow (2021).
*Spoilers*
Yes it’s been almost two weeks since release. Yes I’ve seen it almost three times now. Yes, all my thoughts are still a jumble. Somewhat ordering them for this post will be difficult.
Honestly, the entire first 53 minutes of this movie is perfect to me. Everything about it. The dialogue, the action, the way it’s able to convey so much without words, how it’s just Natasha, Yelena and Mason, everything is just *chef’s kiss*. (This isn’t to say the remaining 1hr 21mins is bad, it’s just not as perfect as the first act imo)
I have a thing for scores and god bless Lorne Balfe he really understood the assignment on this one. If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to listen to his composition, specifically ‘Natasha’s Lullaby’. I love when you can hear a story in music and I think this score does that really effectively.
Nat speaking Russian! Nat speaking Russian! The way she reverts back to it in the opening scene when she’s scared! I wish we’d gotten more of it honestly, especially in the family dinner scene, even something as simple as ‘pass the salt’.
Also, her Russian accent in the Budapest flashback! It was quiet but definitely there, and it showed that her American one was something she had to train herself back into once she defected, which I appreciated.
“I stashed that like five years ago” Is this a canon hint that Nat hoards her food? Maybe?! I’ll take what I can get to satisfy my headcanons thanks.
Natasha and Yelena’s fight sequence in the apartment is the best fight scene in the movie. No arguments.
So much of my inner monolgue while watching was just ‘imsogayimsogayimsogay”. That much leather and that many piercings??! The BRAIDS?? This movie is for the wlws.
Mason you absolute icon I love how much you care about Natasha I love that you’re sleeping everywhere because same. (You deserved better than to be a Taskmaster misdirect). Please turn up in more MCU properties as Yelena’s contact or something.
“But you’re not a mouse, Melina. You were just born in a cage, but that’s not your fault.” THIS LINE!!!
AND THIS ONE. “You took my childhood, you took my choices and tried to break me. But you’re never gonna do that to anybody ever again.” The emphasis on choice vs children, how it’s always been about bodily autonomy instead of the romanticised horror of sterilisation that Whedon went with. 
“I never let myself be alone long enough to think about it.” I GASPED.
HONOURABLE MENTION: “You didn’t work in the shadows, you hid in the dark,” (or something). There’s something really satisfying about that line. 
Everything about this film is so inherently female, I love it when things don’t reek of testosterone.
I’ve heard some critics say this movie felt really ‘isolated’ and ‘disconnected’ from the rest of the MCU because of the time jump and how many new characters there were and I have to hard disagree there. The appearance of Secretary Ross, name-dropping Tony Stark, and the continued references to the Avengers were not only realistic but also really cemented this oneshot in-universe for me. 
*cue me flapping my hands and opening another draft because every separate point is eliciting another two paragraphs of analysis that I absolutely cannot include on this post or it will never end*. Man I love this movie. See the read-more because this is getting longgg.
Similarly, how it actually carries through on a lot of previous set up, mostly from Avengers 1, like with ‘Dreykov’s daughter’ and “thank you for your co-operation”. I got very nervous when they announced they were going to tackle Budapest because a) I didn’t think anything they came up with would ever live up to the hype people gave that line so it would only end in disappointment and b) I’ve never particularly cared, to be honest. (it was a throwaway line in Avengers 1 that was repeated for nostalgia in Endgame in a context that now makes no sense, forgive me for being indifferent) but I actually loved how it tied everything together.
The way it reclaims her from every male creator that’s handled her (fuck the Russos and M&M) while simultaneously keeping the best of what they managed to foster (again, Avengers 1 is a heavy influence, and rightly so, but it gives a fat middle finger to AOU, also rightly so).
How competent Nat was shown to be without being unbeatable. She fully got her ass handed to her a couple of times, and yes, it’s very unrealistic that she was able to go through two car accidents, fall off that bridge, out of that window and then out of the sky without being seriously injured, but we finally got to see the physical manifestations of some of that pain! She was holding her ribs when she got out of the water, the bruises on her back, the dislocated shoulder, and the blood splatters were actual splatters when she broke her nose rather than delicate dabs.
This might be an unpopular one, because I know this was what a lot of people were expecting more of, but I was glad Natasha’s youth in the Red Room was confined to the opening credits. The aftermath of that training and Natasha as a product of it has always been more fascinating to me than the actual event.
As an older sister myself, the dynamic between Natasha and Yelena really struck home for me. Yelena’s pride in Nat and need for approval and validation from Natasha in conflict with realising Nat’s flaws, wrestling with her disappointment, seeing how human Nat is, were perfectly portrayed by Florence Pugh. I could completely relate to Nat, who, despite trying to convince herself otherwise, couldn’t fight her fierce protective instinct and specific brand of unconditional love that only an older sister will ever feel. 
A diverse set of Widows!
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of comics references in this movie. The frame where she jumped through the fire from the Waid/Samnee run, the pheromonal lock.
Now I have my problems with Scarlett Johansson, but I came out of this movie with a lot of respect and a little bit of pride in her. It’s clear that she put her everything into this movie, both as an actor and executive producer. She obviously cares immensely about Nat and how she’s portrayed, and it’s clear from interviews that the things she loves and finds fascinating about Nat are the same as the fans. (I also feel a little bit sorry for the way she’s getting brushed over in the coverage in favour of a new and shiny Florence Pugh, so this is me expressing some ScarJo-as-Natasha appreciation).
A big question I had going in was, ‘Natasha’s always reflecting the people around her, but what’s she like when she’s alone, and has only her own mind for company?’ and this movie really answered that for me. Seeing her out of her suit and wearing clothes that were for her, not for a cover or a mission, seeing her drink beer and eat ice cream and let her hair dry while watching a Bond film she’s obviously seen many times before, it was all perfect. The scenes in the caravan were a huge step for humanising women in action movies. 
I’ll probably be adding to this post a lot because this movie will not leave my mind and new things are occurring to me at the most random points. 
See my ‘Things I...didn’t like as much about Black Widow’ post here.
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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years
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Don’t Worry - Harry Styles
a/n: i’m so excited about this!!! this fic is my take on the song Don’t Worry by The 1975 for @harrystylescherry ‘s Playlist fic challenge! it took me a lot longer to finish this one, mostly because i chose to write about a topic that’s painfully close to my heart and life and i hope to help those of you who are struggling with similar problems. it’s a touchy subject and i really hope i can at least help just for a little by putting this piece out! also, huge thanks to Nat for this challenge and i can’t wait to read all the other fics!!
warning: eating disorder, lots of self-hatred but even more fluff and love!
word count: 3.8k
masterlist
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Your teeth sink into your bottom lip a little harder than they should, it’s starting to feel painful but you don’t even realize. You’re way too fixated on the Instagram post in front of you, swiping through the same four pictures over and over again, crippling anxiety crawling up your spine, clouding your every thought.
Oh how you wish you could say that you’re not the jealous type. Well, in a way, you are not. You don’t think your boyfriend would ever cheat on you or leave you, that’s just not him as a person. Your jealousy roots in your insecurities about your body and it creates more of a confusion in your head about why Harry, your boyfriend of three years is really dating you when he could have anyone, any model or super gorgeous singer, actress out there, yet he settled for… you.
Your thumb swipes across the screen again as you keep staring at the bikini photos Kendall Jenner has recently posted. She is stunning, the perfect model type with her long legs, skinny torso and snatched waist. Hell, she could make you question your sexuality on other days even, but today she is feeding your burning insecurities.
The thought that at one point in life, your boyfriend was with her makes you feel sick, because you are simply nothing like her. In every sense, you are what others like to call curvy, however you often use other terms, some not too nice ones on your worse days. Your hips are wide, holding quite some meat on them, your full thighs never heard of such thing as thigh gaps, not even when you were a kid. Your tummy brings you a headache sometimes when you want to wear something tight, the urge to hide it stronger than your fashion sense. It’s been ages since you last dared to step out of the house without a bra on, your full breasts always need the support if you don’t want them to sit a little lower on your chest than what you prefer. There are rolls, extra skin, stretch marks and all that jazz on your body and has been for a long time. No model looks like this and you are more than aware of that. But if your boyfriend can get any of them, why did he settle for you?
Tears are threatening to roll down your cheeks when you finally close the app and stop staring at Kendall’s perfect body. You ball your hands to stop them from shaking as you make your way to the bathroom in need of some freshening up. The cold water in your face feels nice, but the moment your eyes fall on your reflection you almost cringe at your own sight, as if it’s a reminder of everything you thought about in the past hour.
What is Harry doing with someone like me? The question keeps playing in your head on repeat and you wish you had a relevant answer, but your tainted thoughts keep bringing you back to the same point: He surely will realize it himself and leave me.
You try your best to shake it all off your mind, but it’s not easy. Sitting at the dining table you busy yourself with some work you brought home, hoping the files will keep your wandering thoughts at bay, however the attempt is not quite successful. And then you hear the front door open and close, followed by Harry’s sweet greeting.
“I’m home, baby!” he calls out and you can tell he is in a great mood just from his voice. You force your best fake smile to your lips, not wanting to ruin his mood with your petty party. He walks in, eyes falling on your sitting figure at the table and though you don’t know it, his heart flutters, like always, even after three years together.
Harry is obsessed with you, to say the least. Every little thing about you fascinates him, he loves everything about you, inside and out, just the way you are and he vowed to never stop telling you how much he adorns you.
“Hey there, wha’cha doin’?” he asks, kissing into your hair as he scans over the papers on the table.
“Oh, just… some extra work,” you shrug, chewing on your bottom lip again, the skin is about to break soon for sure.
“Baby, you work too much. Take some time off,” he tells you, shuffling around before he disappears in the bedroom for a moment before reappearing. “Fancy taking a bath with me?” he offers with a cheeky smile.
Bath, for that you’d have to be completely naked in front of him. That cannot happen in this state of mind.
“Um, I want to finish this. Maybe next time,” you tell him with a faint smile.
“You sure? I could massage your shoulders the way you like it so much, we could try that new bath salt we bought.”
“I really want to get this done, H. You just go and enjoy your bath,” you insist, the stern voice catches him a little by surprise.
“Everything alright baby?” His eyebrows pull together as he watches you from across the room.
“Mm, everything is fine. Just… working,” you tell him, eyes on the papers in front of you, pretending like you’re reading the lines, but in reality you have absolutely no idea what the words are saying. You hear him mumble a soft alright before he disappears again, leaving you alone.
A shaky breath leaves your trembling lips once you hear the water running in the bathroom. You bury your face in your palms, feeling so defeated and lost, the only thing that would comfort you would be Harry, but he cannot know what’s been going on in your head. He would never understand the struggle.
These thoughts usually only last for a few days. You always manage to forget about them eventually and return to normality, but not this time. Days turn into weeks and you find yourself sinking deeper into the hole you created for yourself. It starts to effect more parts of your life too. You’re having a hard time sleeping, always waking up several times during the night and sometimes you don’t even fall back asleep after one point. You lose your appetite, your mind tells you that you don’t need the nutritious food, that you need to lose the fat because that’s the only way you can keep Harry. You stop wearing your favorite clothes, always opt for the looser ones that hide every inch of your body and spend way too much time zoned out. You keep catching yourself completely lost in your thoughts during the day, thinking about how Harry might be comparing you to his exes every time he sees you, especially naked.
It’s been long since the last time you were intimate with Harry and you feel so bad for it, but you haven’t been able to bring yourself to bare your body in front of him. You always blew him off with some lame excuse and though there’s a chance he didn’t catch onto whatever was going on, now you know he is suspicious.
And you’re right. Harry notices every little thing, all the changes you’ve been going through. How you leave half your plate uneaten at dinner or how he finds you lying awake next to him in the middle of the night. He also notices how your favorite dresses and shirts remain untouched through the weeks even though you always wear them whenever you have the chance. Instead, he only sees you in big hoodies and loose pants, hiding the delicious curves of your body. But what truly pains him is how you’ve been ignoring all his tries to get close to you, the way you move away from his touch.
The last straw however happens on a Friday afternoon. You are sitting on the couch, mindlessly clicking through Netflix on the TV, trying to find something to watch when Harry is roaming through the cabinets in the bathroom, looking for the lotion he only uses when his skin feels extremely dry. He is going through every drawer and shelf, not finding what he is looking for, but then something odd catches his attention. Some weird named pills are sitting at the back of one of the shelves, hidden behind your perfumes so he hasn’t noticed it, but as he takes it out to have a better look at them, he almost throws them across the room. He has heard of similar pills before, they do more harm than help in weightloss, ruining your digestive system so badly you can actually get way more serious health problems if you use them too long. He frantically tears the box open and see that one third of the pills are gone, meaning that you’ve been taking them for a little while now behind his back.
With the box in his hand, he marches out to the living room where you are still and holding the pills up, he needs everything in him not to flip immediately.
“What the fuck are these?” he grits through his teeth. Your breath gets caught in your throat, he was never supposed to find those, but the cat’s out of the bad and now you can’t think of anything to bring up to your defense, knowing well he very much does not approve these kind of stuff.
“They are… I’m doing a cleanse,” you say, but there’s no use to lie.
“Drinking juice is for cleansing, this shit ruins your body,” he spats, throwing the box to the couch and you bite into your bottom lip, feeling the tears building up already. “Why would you even think about taking these?”
“Why?” you chuckle bitterly, your vision blurry from the tears. “Oh come on, don’t be so oblivious.”
“Y/N, these stuff are dangerous!” his anger turns into despair and concern as he sits beside you on the couch. “Baby, why did you take them?”
“Because I’m desperate, Harry!” you snap at him, the hot tears running down your cheeks. “You have no idea what I go through every fucking day!”
“Then talk to me! I want to know everything, I want to help you!” he pleads, reaching for your hand but you move away from him. “Please talk to me, baby!”
“So you can feed me lies? I’m not naïve, Harry,” you shake your head vigorously.
“What are you talking about?”
“Me! I’m talking about… this,” you growl gesturing at yourself. Harry runs his gaze down your body, but he still can’t figure out what this is about. You look beautiful, you always do in his eyes, he has no idea what the matter is. “I’m not one of your exes and all those models you’ve been rumored to date, Harry.”
“Okay and why is that relevant?”
“Because how am I the right person for someone like you? I’m not skinny, I’m not pretty and I’ll probably never be anything like the girls you dated. Why are you even wasting your time on me?”
By the time you get to the end, your tears are flooding and it breaks Harry’s heart to see you like this. Feeling so unworthy when in his eyes, you deserve everything. You’re perfect.
“I’m not wasting anything on you, baby. Why do you even want to look like them? I love every inch of your beautiful body!”
You flinch at his words. Deep down you know he means them, but there’s this barricade on your mind that tells you he is not serious, that he is only saying those things because he feels like he has to say them, not because he means them. That evil little voice in your head keeps telling you not to believe anything he says.
How could he love your body? How could a man like him be okay with someone like you? He doesn’t want to be with you. He’ll realize it and leave you!
You wish you could turn it off, you wish there was a switch that would shut out all these thoughts, but they just keep coming and coming. Harry watches you break right in front of his eyes and he has no idea what to do, panic is setting in. He feels like a failure that he let you reach this point.
“Baby, I fucking love you. Everything about you. Please don’t feel like you have to change for me. I love you no matter what, I think you are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. If you want to change, do it because you want to do it for yourself! You don’t have to change for me!”
He is practically begging, desperate to get you to understand that you’re perfect to him just the way you are, that he is in love with every inch of your beautiful body. He reaches out to your face again and though you move away again and it pains him so much, he still goes through with the action and cups your face in his hand. His clammy palm meets your wet cheek as he turns your head so he can look into your eyes, but you are relentlessly keeping your gaze focused anywhere but him.
You can’t bear looking at him or yourself, you just want to disappear, vanish into nothing, existence right now feels like just too much.
“Love, please look at me,” he quietly begs and you shake your head no. “Please, let me see those beautiful eyes I love so much.”
You wince at his words and try to turn your head away, but he cups the other side of your face with his other hand, keeping it in place. Your eyes are wired shut, you just can’t look at him, it would break you.
Harry is kneeling next to the couch now where you are curled up, your arms wrapped around your knees as you try to hide yourself. You feel so lost, so miserable and you wish he didn’t see you like this.
“I can’t, Harry. I can’t,” you tell him shaking your head vigorously. Part of you feels so stupid for acting like this, but you just can’t help it. It’s not you anymore who is in charge of your mind and actions, you feel more like just a witness who sees herself from the outside and she doesn’t like what she sees, not even a bit.
Harry pushes himself up from the ground and takes the thick blanket from the back of the couch, draping it over you as he shimmies himself next to you, arms wrapping around your frame as he pulls you to his chest, covering you with the warm blanket as if it was some kind of shield from the world and that’s exactly what you need. A hiding spot.
You let him pull you to him, face buried into his chest as you sob into his shirt, his strong arms holding you so tight, you feel like nothing can hurt you with his hold around you.
“I love you, baby. I really do. And when I tell you I find you gorgeous and that how pretty I think you are, that’s the truth. I love everything about you. Fell in love with you the first time I saw you and I’m not even joking. Please don’t ever think that you have to change for me.”
“But I can’t stop thinking about how I’m so different from the people you’ve dated,” you whimper shaking your head. His hands squeeze your upper arm as he kisses the crown of your head.
“Different is not bad, baby. I didn’t date my previous girlfriends because they looked the way they did. If I’m thinking about it, I should feel a little offended you think I’m so shallow to care about these stuff,” he jokes, earning a faint huff that’s somewhat a laugh from you.
“I just think that you’re not blind.”
“That is correct,” he chuckles. “I’m not blind, that’s why I find you so incredibly sexy.”
“I really don’t see how you can use the word sexy to describe me,” you mumble closing your eyes as a headache is starting to form from how hard you were crying just a minute ago.
“What do you think there is on you that I shouldn’t find attractive?” he prompts the question in all seriousness.
“Please don’t get me started because we’ll never get to the end of the list,” you huff bitterly. It might have come out as a joke but there’s just plenty of the truth behind your words.
“No, seriously. Tell me what you think I don’t find attractive on you,” he nags and you give up with a sigh.
“Okay, I… I have fat rolls on my stomach,” you start off with the first thing that’s on your mind.
“Everyone has them.”
“But not as big as mine. Yours aren’t as big as mine.”
“So what? I love your tummy. It’s soft, keeps your organs safe, especially the ones that will help us start a family at one point. For me, your tummy means that you are enjoying the wonderful foods of the world, that you are well and have a great appetite. I fucking hate it when girls are just poking around their salads, complaining about calories and all that stuff. Do you have any idea how much I enjoy watching you eat? I think it might be a fetish at this point,” he chuckles, making you laugh as you hide your face in his chest.
“Please don’t say that.”
“Why? I love it when you enjoy the food, I love trying new food with you, cooking with you, see you satisfied when you’re full, you have no idea how happy that makes me.”
“Really?” you ask in a whisper.
“Absolutely. I love your tummy, it’s just even more of you to love on,” he hums kissing the top of your head. “Okay, what’s next?”
“I have so many stretch marks,” you whine with a scowl. “They are everywhere, on my thighs, my ass, my stomach, fucking everywhere!”
“I literally have nothing else to say than… I couldn’t care less. Honestly, most people have them, baby. It’s natural, your body is changing, it’s just trying to keep up with the pace. But you know what I’m looking forward to?”
“What?”
“I can’t wait till you have marks from pregnancy, Love,” he huffs dreamily and you can’t help, but smile at his words. “Those marks will be a reminder to me how much you’ve gone through for our family. I think those are just so wonderful.”
“Why are you linking everything with having babies?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asks chuckling. “Because I can’t wait to have babies with you. I can’t wait to see you with a big belly, so I can love on you, take care of you and that our babies, I’m so excited for that.”
“You want all of that… with me?”
“Have I not made it clear to you?” he asks, looking down at you and moving your head your eyes finally meet his. “I’m not just saying all those things for nothing, Love. I see my future with you.”
Closing your eyes you let his words sink in and for the first time in a while, your mind is not trying to convince you that he is not telling you the truth.
“Okay, next,” he mumbles, his fingers dancing up and down your arm as he holds you tight.
“My boobs are weird,” you say out loud, cringing at your own words. You hate talking about this.
“Excuse me? What’s wrong with my girls?” he gasps, making you laugh.
“They are not as round as I would want them to be, a little saggy because of the weight gaining.”
“But they are boobs,” he points out, making you furrow your eyebrows.
“Yeah?”
“Okay, so that’s all that matters. Boobs are great, nothing else matters. Men are simple, baby.”
“I can’t believe you,” you laugh swatting his chest playfully.
“What? I mean it! Do you think I think about all that stuff when I see your boobs? My mind goes: Oh my God, boobs! And that’s it. I just get excited to see your tits.”
“You are such a pig,” you laugh, snuggling closer to his side.
“Are you shaming me for my preferences now?”
“Your preferences?”
“Yeah, you are my preference,” he remarks smugly, kissing into your hair again. “I literally don’t know how to say it differently, and I’m sorry for being so vulgar in advance…”
“Oh God,” you mumble, already fearing what he’s going to say.
“But you have nothing to worry about until you see my dick getting hard at the sight of you.”
“That was highly inappropriate.”
“Yeah, but it’s true. I find you sexy and there’s evidence. I can’t really hide it,” he chuckles and when you look up at him you see a dirty, twisted smirk on his pink lips. “Please don’t ever doubt any of my feelings for you, alright?” he asks in a more serious tone. “And if you feel like this again, I want you to tell me. Those pills and bottling it up inside you don’t help. I don’t want you to risk your health just because you have doubts about me. I love you, and when I say that I mean that I love all of you. Everything.”
“Okay,” you answer in a faint whisper.
“Don’t just say okay because you want me to get out of your hair. Promise me that you won’t keep it to yourself. I want to help you, I want to be there for you like you are always there for me.”
“I promise,” you nod, sinking your teeth into your bottom lip.
“Alright. Have you eaten today?” he softly asks and you fear to give him an answer, because you haven’t been able to push anything else down than just your morning coffee. “Okay, then let me make you something.” “I don’t… I’m not hungry…” you quietly tell him.
“Mhm, then I’ll make something for myself and being the romantic boyfriend that I am, I’m gonna share it with my lovely girlfriend as a cute gesture,” he says, rephrasing what he said earlier. You don’t argue with him, just let him slip out of your hold and go to the kitchen to make something for the two of you.
It’s a tiny step on a lifelong journey and you know that. You know that your feelings and opinion about yourself won’t change from one day to the other, but you slowly start to accept it. You have a lot ahead of you, the road might get bumpy sometimes and maybe other times you’ll have to take a few steps back. But at the end, you know it’s all going to be alright, because you will never be alone. Harry will be your greatest support through it all and now you can finally see that.
Don’t Worry - The 1975
When you're in love but you don't know what to do with it When blackness hangs overhead like a cloud
Don't worry, darlin' 'Cause I'm here with you Don't worry, darlin' The sun will shine through
When you wake up and you don't know what day it is When the pain flows through your heart and your bones
Don't worry, darlin' 'Cause I'm here with you Don't worry, darlin' The sun will shine through
When you feel no one knows just what you're goin' through When your insides feel much colder than snow
Don't worry, darlin' 'Cause I'm here with you Don't worry, darlin' Oh, don't worry, darlin' Don't worry, darlin' I'll always love you You
Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!
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heejojo · 3 years
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Love Isn't Beautiful But With You It Was
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✰ summary: y/n and niki's journey from being enemies to friends to much more than that.
✰ pairing: Niki x fem!reader (and a Jay apperance)
✰ genre: fluff, angst, enemies to childhood friends to lovers
✰ warning: a few sad scenes but I'm not sure they'll be too bad! death
✰ word count: 1.8k (the most so far tbh)
a/n: this is my first fanfic so please leave comments about what should be improved. if you have any requests feel free to leave them! it's past 12am now and I need to sleep but I hope you have a nice day!
prompt gotten from @moonlight-chi77 thank you!
“Love isn’t beautiful but with you it was”
Life disappears in the blink of an eye, but the memories created and the human connection formed does not. The memories created are embedded in our hearts and follow us through different paths of life. Whether those memories are good or bad, they become something we reflect on in later moments.
Nishimura Riki couldn’t exactly remember the first time he met you but all he knew was that he had never hit off with someone the way he did with you.
September 2012
Although Niki couldn't pinpoint the exact date you guys started talking, he knew it was in September of 2012. He knew at first he disliked you and wanted nothing to do with you because you had stolen his spot on the swings.
“That's my spot, I told Jay I was going to stay here forever,” he said while his friend who was behind him nodded enthusiastically, backing him up.
“Your name is not on it and you didn’t buy it so why should I leave?” you asked him without coming down because you got there fair and square.
“I called dibs on it,” he said while puffing out his chest.
“Dibs are for babies,” you say while continuing to swing. “I’m not a baby,” he retorts.
“If you say so, then why are you wearing a Talking Tom T-Shirt?” you ask and his face begins to turn red. “It's cool, isn't it Jay?” he nudges his friend asking him for support. “Cool man, girls just suck” Jay responds and they both leave. “At least I dress myself!” you yell at their retreating figures
After that day, Niki made it his mission to disturb you every day and never wore his Talking Tom shirt again after that day.
August 2016
“Niki!!” you screamed as you felt another water balloon hit your leg. At this point, your entire body was soaked. The young boy continued to laugh and run as you chased him. You were beginning to regret spending your summer break with him when you could be watching TV instead. Eventually, you give up chasing the blond-haired boy and go into the house to dry off. Thirty minutes later, Niki comes in with a bottle of orange juice as a form of apology. You snatch it without further thought and drink it. Looking up at him after you finish drinking it, you both burst into a fit of laughter. “You’re lucky I love food,” you say. Maybe spending the summer with him wouldn't be so bad.
December 2018
Your crush on Niki was painfully obvious to everyone but him. Your friends teased you, his friends teased you yet when you were together you denied it with so much vigour. Niki had liked you for a few months now. Everyone was enjoying the slow burn that was going on between the two of you; the soft glances across the room, the way you always looked for each other among crowds, the way he knew where your secret birthmark was even though your close friends didn’t.
It was the way you complimented each other that made everyone cringe and aw at the same time. The jacket you got him for his birthday was his most prized piece of clothing and the only person he let touch it was his mum. This year though, you gathered enough courage and told him how he meant to you and how you were content with being just friends even if it hurt a little. But you weren’t expecting Niki to say he felt the same way, even more so. Your friends heaved a sigh of relief and choruses of ‘Finally’ were echoed.
It felt good being with someone.
January 2019
Everyone argued with people they loved right? Your parents did, the old lady that sells fruit and her boyfriend did so you and Niki weren’t an exception. After being childhood friends for so long you’d think you could trust each other enough to talk about the things that bothered you but he refused to, claiming that he didn’t want you to see him in a different light and how it would hurt his pride. You would tell him that no one knew him more and cared about him the way you did. At times, you’d let it go not wanting to push him but that day you couldn’t take it.
“We need to talk. Why have you been avoiding me these past few days?” you asked him.
“I’ve just been busy” he replied.
“No, you’ve been avoiding me. I know you well enough to know when you're hiding something” you said.
He wouldn't budge, he never did especially when you cornered him like this. He started to get irritated and said, “I said I’ve been busy so forgive me if I can’t give you attention all the time. Not all of us are as clingy as you” You winced; it was your fault for pushing him to the edge like that. Nevertheless, you wouldn't give up. “ I just want you to say how you feel and what bothers you. I’d never look at you in a different light and you know that. You might want to be strong but it’s okay to show some sort of emotion, it doesn’t make you weak rather it makes you look like someone that acknowledges what is wrong and doesn’t try to ignore the problem or solve it on their own” you comforted him. As the words entered his ears, you could see the walls surrounding his heart crumbling. “It’s okay to ask for help or just to rant to someone. Even if we won’t be able to provide an immediate solution, it should help” you added taking a few steps forward and grabbing a hold of his hands. You squeezed them tightly.
“I...I’m just scared you’ll leave once you see the not so perfect side of me” he managed to say. “I will stay with you, why don’t we make the best of everything without worrying about the future?” you asked while smiling. He returned it and pulled you in for a hug. “Thank you, truly,” he said and you smiled under his embrace.
After a few minutes you spoke up, “Oh yeah, Niki?” you called his attention and he hummed in response. “Don’t ever shout at me like that again, I can deck you and you know it” you said.
“Got it, boss. Sorry for being a jerk”
June 2020
You usually went on diets and exercised a lot but you were losing weight at an extreme rate and you weren’t even on a diet. Niki was worried but you brushed it off telling him it was stress from school but it got worse. You found it difficult for you to balance yourself, you felt nauseated, getting even more frequent headaches and being tired all the time so Niki decided that enough was enough and took you to the hospital. Neither of you had expected the result of the scans that were run.
“I’m sorry but there is a tumour in your brain,” the doctor said. The air left your lungs. “You can choose to get the surgery and live in the hospital for 8 months or live with the tumour for 3 months” he continued. You thanked him and left the hospital. The elephant in the room was very much alive and neither one of you wanted to address it. Did you want to stay in the hospital for the rest of your life or did you want to say with your loved ones? You thought that they would go through and that won’t be worth it.
“Niki” you called out.
He looked at you with a sad smile and just pulled you in for a hug, careful not to hurt you. “Do you want to tell your parents?” You nodded. You couldn’t just leave without saying anything. Picking your jacket, Niki drove you to your parents house.
“I just wanted you guys to know, I couldn’t just leave without saying anything,” you said with your eyes cast downwards. You couldn’t bear to look at your mom who was already crying or your dad who was blaming himself even when it wasn’t his fault or your sister who was basically your best friend. Niki had given you guys privacy but you knew it was just an excuse for him to be with his own feelings.
“I’m going to stay close to home in the meantime so I can be closer to you guys,” you said. Your eyes were already becoming glossy with tears. You inched towards your mom, taking her hand in yours and said, “You did an amazing job of being my mom and I love you so much”. Moving to your dad, you said “You did a good job of protecting me so don’t think otherwise. Let’s make all the memories we want to now without any regrets”. At that, your sister burst into tears “I… I can’t bear to lose you” Your heart clenched. “I can’t bear to lose you too” She continued crying. Your mom wiped her eyes and said, “From today, live the way you want to. Eat what you want and do what you want.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Niki staring watching the whole scene. After an hour, I stood up and went home with Niki. The car ride was a long and awkward one. When we got home, we just slept hugging each other.
Starting tomorrow I was going to live.
July 2020
The pain is getting worse but the smiles on my family and friends faces are enough to keep me going. I wrote letters and got gifts for them. Niki looks at the calendar every day, I can’t tell him to stop because I can tell he’s hurting so much. Why can’t I just be okay for everyone?
August 2020
The time comes faster, Niki and I went on a getaway for a few days. He deserved a break from everything that has been going on.
September 2020
I never thought I'd die as silly as that sounds. I asked my parents and sister to leave when I got to the hospital. Niki refused to leave and stayed there till I took in my last breath. He kept crying begging me not to go and how he’d do anything.
“Does it hurt a lot?” he asked between sniffles
“No it doesn’t, it just feels like a needle” it hurt like a truck.
“Liar”
I chuckled and held his hand till I couldn’t anymore. “I love you’’ I say as the lights fade.
╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗
Dear Nishimura Riki,
When you see this, it means I’m already gone. First of all, don’t beat yourself up too much. I could write for ages about how much I love you but now that I need to, my mind goes blank. You’ve done so well for putting up with me, hats off to you. You might not want to but move on, even though id like you to remember me; let your heart heal and be happy.
Take care of yourself and don’t skip any meals. Eat well and be happy, make sure you visit the places we never got to visit and enjoy yourself. Live life the way you want it every day. Be nice to people and smile more.
Thank you for all the happy memories, my love, I’ll be forever grateful for you. You made my life colourful and worth living.
Love isn’t beautiful but with you it was.
Yours truly,
Y/N.
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Realignment
Prompt: I love when Remus is a lot smarter than he lets on, so I’d love a prompt where Logan is overworking himself and not taking care of himself and one tic of the clock away from either passing out or having a full on mental breakdown (not the type you can recover from in a day). Remus notices the little signs Logan shows, and hears the intrusive thoughts Logan has. Remus really becomes concerned when Logan’s intrusive thoughts start to involve taking breaks, going to eat properly rather than inhaling granola bars, and even sleeping. Remus storms in and is like “Logan tf????” Then gets hella soft once he realizes the state Logan is in
Thank you for the prompts, babe! I liked this one the best so I picked it. 
GUYS PLEASE VIEW THIS AS A C H E C K P O I N T if you've been scrolling for a while (and you probably have) pause here! drink water! get food! walk around the room for a little bit! stretch! do something please! you are very important to me and I care about you very deeply!
Read on Ao3
Warnings: discussions of self-harm, nothing explicit, some self-destructive tendencies and behaviors. 
Pairings: focus on intrulogical, background LAMP, DLAMP, DLAMPR, can be platonic or romantic i don’t care
Word Count: 2410
Realignment: to align again.
Realignment: to reorganize or make new groupings of.
* * *
Remus hears a lot of weird shit.
The problem arises when the shit he starts to hear isn't weird at all.
Remus hears a lot of weird shit.
 The more appropriate definition would be ‘fucked up like you wouldn’t fucking believe,’ but one of us has a problem with particularly strong language and shit doesn’t have to be censored in a lot of media anymore. Which is so convenient! For some of us!
 It’s fucking great.
Anyway. Point being. Fucked up shit.
 Intrusive thoughts literally fall under his purview. It’s the fun stuff! The stuff you don’t wanna think about that makes your skin crawl and your eyes pop open at the witching hour and stay awake until the sun rises. That’s Remus’s job.
 And it’s like the whole Mindscape is whack-a-mole that he gets to play with! Buttons here and there, squeeze this part and watch the eyes bug out of this part, bap this one on the head, see which one pokes up next. Who’s gonna have nightmares tonight? Who is having a nightmare tonight?
 It’s fun.
 Point. Right. Right.
 It’s normally pretty easy to tell whose intrusive thoughts are whose. They taste different. Patton’s taste like sugar so sweet it’ll fill your mouth with cavities. Virgil’s taste like spiders, crawling around his mouth. Janus’s taste like salt. So much fucking salt. Dry as hell.
 Roman’s taste like blood. Problem is, Remus’s mouth normally tastes like blood, so…
 Yeah, they gotta work that out.
 Logan’s taste like ink. Which is why it took him so long to figure out that Logan was having them. Not just because the nerdy wolverine was so convinced he couldn’t have them—rationalizing them as philosophy principles, come on—but because Remus isn’t exactly an expert on pens. Writing like normal people. Ugh.
 Normal people.
 What a lie, Janny probably gets a big kick out of those.
 No one is normal and normal is boring.
 Logan. Right.
 Okay, so here’s the thing.
 Logan’s thoughts aren’t really…standard? They are to some extent, you don’t really get a whole lot of variety from him—even when Remus has been so helpful in making his room safe for him to be in during bad days, there’s such a lack of imagination there that he wasn’t sure exactly how to feel—but it’s the recent ones that’ve been getting…weird.
 Remus chews thoughtfully on the kraken tentacle. He swings up to the chandelier and hangs by his ankles, letting the blood run to his head. Makes it easier to think sometimes.
 It hasn’t been very long since they found out…well, since they found out.
 Remus frowns. Why is he censoring himself? It’s not like he can’t fucking say self-harm, it’s not like he can’t describe what it was, it’s not like he can’t close his eyes and see it happening again.
 Then his mind jumps helpfully to the shocked, panicked look on Logan’s face and the soft, furious resignation on Roman’s, and his jaw snaps shut.
 Oh.
 Right.
 He cares. So he has to be gentle with them.
 He growls, swinging himself up to perch on the chandelier proper. He turns the kraken tentacle over and chews on the rubbery side.
 The others are delicate. Not that they’re more breakable than any other metaphysical humanoid, but their minds are fragile when it comes to Remus’s side of things. Could they handle the full spectrum of his side of thoughts and shit? Probably, they’re stronger than they give themselves credit for. Should they have to? Hell to the fuck no. But it means that Remus can’t just throw them in the deep end and see if the kraken spits them out whole or in chunks. Could they survive? Absolutely. Would they still be…them? Doubtful.
 Remus lets one of his legs go, hanging by one knee as he tips over.
 Plus they’re always a little more fragile when it comes to these thoughts anyway. Poking and prodding too much would hurt. Like, the bad kind of hurt.
 They’re not supposed to get hurt. Not like that.
 So. Gentle it is then.
 Right. The others. He has a point, he’s just gotta get there.
 Roman…fuck he’s missed his brother. They got—they got so much shit to still work out but they’re gonna do it together and fuck he loves his brother so goddamn much. Roman knows that, he knows that, and he’s always there to pull Remus out of his head when he needs it, hit him with a pillow, or tackle him onto something and hold him tight. He’s—his thoughts taste like blood and Remus hasn’t bitten anything since so that he’ll never miss it again.
 But with Logan...
 Logan is…odd. It hasn’t been long since they first found out—or rather, they confronted him about it, and Remus hasn’t tasted ink without it disappearing very quickly or knocking on someone’s door to please go get your fucking nerd, please. But the ink has only written the usual suspects, whispering the theorems in dark corners, muttering about the incompleteness of a set, the need for Logic, not Logan, and how to jump through the little loophole again.
 It’s not exactly hard for the others to tell.
 Lolo hasn’t been looking great. Sure, he’s all pressed and dressed, glasses perfectly in place, tie done up just so, walking around like everything’s just totally and completely fine, but it’s in his face. Object impermanence aside, normally when Remus bugs him, he reacts in some way.
 Sass is an emotional response and you won’t convince him otherwise.
 Whether it be a wry comment, effortlessly fixing whatever Remus has done to him this time, or even just a look, Lolo does something.
 Not anymore.
 Now he’ll just kind of…sigh and move on? He’ll fix whatever it is only if it’s directly interfering with what he’s trying to do, or when Patton or Virgil come round the corner and freak the fuck out because you’re bleeding! Then he’ll fix it.
 Remus wouldn’t say he’s bored, but he’s worried.
 Mainly because the intrusive thoughts…aren’t what he’d consider intrusive anymore.
 Take a shower.
 Eat something that isn’t just a granola bar.
 Go to sleep.
 Ask someone for help.
 See?
 If those are Lolo’s intrusive thoughts, then what the fuck is normally going on in his head?
 Remus waits. Waits. Keeps waiting.
 The instant his mouth tastes like ink again, with a question of whether or not Logan should take a break, he sinks straight into his shower. He washes his hair thoroughly, gets every single bit of grime off him he can, and puts on the softest pajamas he has—thank you, Roman—and drops himself outside of Logan’s door.
 He strains, mouth still full of ink, to hear anything other than the soft click, click, click of Logan’s keyboard.
 He can’t.
 Fuck.
 He knocks.
 “One moment, please.”
 Indeed, a few seconds later, the door opens to reveal Logan, looking as annoyingly pristine as he always does, surprised to see him.
 “Remus? Did you need something? Why…” he trails off as he takes in what Remus is wearing. “What’s wrong?”
 “Can I come in?”
 “Of—of course,” Logan stammers, moving aside to let him in, “are you alright?”
 “Should be asking you that, Lolo.”
 “Remus, you’ve just knocked, first of all, on my door and asked to come inside.” Logan adjusts his glasses as he sits at his desk. “This is extremely out of character for you.”
 “Uh-huh.” Remus flops onto the bed. “You know what else is out of character?”
 “Not wearing your costume?”
 “Not hearing intrusive thoughts.”
 Logan’s eyes widen. “Has—is there something wrong? Are you not hearing any? Do I need to get Roman?”
 Remus frowns. “Why’s it so easy for you to do that?”
 “Do what?”
 “Care. Try and take care of me.”
 Logan blinks. “Because you deserve to be taken care of, Remus. Your needs are important.”
 Remus idly toys with a loose thread on one sleeve. “Why?”
 “Why? Why are you important?” Remus nods. “Because you’re—you’re an important part of Thomas, you’re important to us, and we care about you.”
 “So it’s easy for you to care for me because…you do?”
 “As simple as that sounds,” Logan says with all the softness that should be directed at himself, “yes.”
 Remus nods. “I’m not having problems with hearing intrusive thoughts.”
 “You’re—you’re not?” Logan sighs, relaxing a little back into his chair. “Then why did you say you were?”
 “Because the thoughts that I am hearing aren’t really what I’d consider intrusive.”
 Logan frowns. “Like what?”
 Glad you fucking asked.
 “‘Take a shower,’” Remus says, his eyes fixed firmly on Logan’s face, “'eat something,’ ‘take a break,’ ‘go to sleep.’”
 He watches Logan’s face tense.
 “Sound familiar, Lolo?”
 “You—I—my apologies,” Logan manages after a moment, adjusting his tie, “I did not mean to be an inconvenience. You are correct, those are not intrusive thoughts, I’m not sure why you’re hearing them.”
 He turns to his desk and begins to fish around for a notebook.
 “That is quite intriguing, I wonder what the possibilities for hearing other types of thoughts are, considering—“
 “Lolo.”
 Logan pauses, turning back. “Yes?”
 Remus fixes him with a look, getting up and walking toward him. “They are intrusive thoughts, Logan. The issue is that your intrusive thoughts are about you taking care of yourself.”
 Logan freezes.
 “W-well, I’m sure that it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
 “So either you can admit that was a lie or Janny’s about to get summoned.”
 “Remus,” Logan sighs, “it’s fine. As you said, these aren’t what are traditionally considered intrusive thoughts, it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
 “No, Lolo, it is,” Remus argues, “because it means that the thought of you taking care of yourself is so foreign, so fucking out of the ordinary that not only does it happen to cross your mind—“ he takes Logan’s chair and spins it around— “but you try to force it out.”
 Gotcha.
 Logan looks anywhere other than Remus’s face and tries to stand. Only to wobble and crash back down.
 “Easy,” Remus says quietly, resting a hand on his shoulder, “you haven’t eaten in a while.”
 “But I have work.”
 “But you need food.”
 “Remus—“
 “Logan.”
 At Logan’s honest-to-fuck pout, he sighs, dragging the poor nerd up and out the chair and sitting him on the bed.
 “Why do you think you don’t deserve to be taken care of?”
 “I didn’t say that—hey!” Logan blinks up at him, scandalized and covering his stomach. “Why did you poke me?”
 “’S what I do when Janny won’t tell me the truth.”
 “I wasn’t—okay, okay!” Logan covers his stomach protectively as Remus readies another poke. “I just…I’ve already asked for help for this before. I shouldn’t have to again.”
 Remus sighs and lightly flicks the side of his head.
 “Hey!”
 “Virgil tries that too.” He stares hard at Logan. “Come on, Lolo, you can do better.”
 “It’s not your jobs to take care of me.”
 For fuck’s sake…
 Remus reaches out and tugs gently on Logan’s tie.
 “Remus, what—“
 “You taking more books outta Patton’s library now?” Remus tilts his head. “You don’t have to beat around the bush, Lolo, just be honest.”
 “I am being honest!”
 “You’re not lying, but you’re not being honest.” At the poor nerd’s confusion, he sighs and fixes his glasses on that cute nose. “Just talk to me, Lolo.”
 “I—“ Logan sighs and oh fuck why does he look so tired?
 Well, because he hasn’t been sleeping.
 Or eating.
 Or taking care of himself.
 Unbidden, part of his conversation with Roman flashes into his head.
 “Self-harm can be self-denial too.”
 “Lolo?”
 “It’s bad enough that I’ve made you all worry about me,” Logan says finally, “I would hate to be a burden.”
 Oh, Lolo. “You and Roman, huh?”
 Logan looks up warily. “What do you do with Roman?”
 “You know what I do.”
 Logan sighs. “May at least take my glasses off first?”
 “You might wanna change too, I’m not letting you up for a while.”
 Logan stretches to place his glasses on the nightstand and poofs himself into a t-shirt and boxers. He sighs and opens his arms.
 Remus takes two running steps and tackles the poor nerd onto his bed.
 “Ah!”
 “Am I hurting you?”
 “No, no, just—just a little startled.”
 “Mm.” Remus snuggles closer into Logan, his arms wrapped tightly around him. “So. Wanna try one more time?”
 Logan sighs, deflating them both to the bed. His head lolls to his left, eyes on his open computer screen. Remus follows it, barely suppressing a growl as he stretches his arm out to save whatever’s on screen and shut it.
 “I know what I’m supposed to be doing,” Logan whispers, “I understand the process, I am aware that healing is not a linear concept, I know it’s going to take time, I—I understand.”
 Remus looks down, giving him an encouraging squeeze. “But?”
 “It’s hard,” comes the soft confession.
 Oh, Lolo.
 “I know,” he murmurs, leaning down to hug him properly, “I know, Lolo, I know it’s hard. But you can’t try and do it all yourself, you’ve gotta remember that we’re here for you, we care about you.”
 “But why?”
 Remus smiles and cuddles him tighter. “You said it yourself, Lolo. We care because we do.”
 “O-oh.” He feels Logan’s throat work as he swallows. “Thank you, Remus.”
 “Of course, Lolo. I’m guessing that sinking us to the living room so everyone else can spoil you is a bad idea, right?”
 “Yes.” Finally, finally, he feels Logan shyly tighten his grip on him. “Can we just…stay like this?”
 “Do I have your permission to hold you hostage until you fall asleep?”
 “Yes.”
 “Then go to sleep, Lolo,” Remus murmurs, “I’m not going anywhere.”
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ackerfics · 3 years
Text
the parent trap — levi ackerman (iv)
— levi ackerman x female reader (modern au | the parent trap au)
— warnings: angst??? and feels, i think
— summary: after assuming that everything was starting to shift further away from the plan, the people in the ackerman estate found out the identity of the boy mirroring the twin they know so well.
— word count: 8.6k (i know, i had to do it bc it's been so long)
— author's notes: finally, after weeks of not touching this series, i finally updated it. this part is centered around the reveal in levi's side of things. to those who watched the movie, you know things will go down from here. happy reading everyone !!
part one | part two | part three | masterlist
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The news that was dropped on Altair last night stole away every ounce of sleep from him.
At first, he felt like everything collapsed on his shoulders. His mum is getting married? In what universe? There wasn’t even a decent man in a five-meter radius around his mother, well, except for her employees at the bridal shop. Nonetheless, all of the men trying to court her were turned down in an instant but why was she getting married to an idiot when he was away from home? The number of times he ran his hand through his hair and wishing everything was perfect can’t be counted on his fingers. First, it was that Cindy woman and now, an unknown man wooing you with serenades and God knows what in London has added himself in the list of pesky outliers. There shouldn’t be outliers in the first place. Throughout the night, Altair made his mind busy by making adjustments in their plan, eyes fixed on the ceiling in concentration.
The next thing he knew, daybreak dripped on his eyelids, peeking through the spaces between his curtains. Altair sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes free of sleep crust before turning to his alarm clock on the nightstand. A red 9:34 glared at him, telling him he overslept. The boy huffed and plopped himself back on the plush mattress, his pillows swallowing him whole as he tried to give himself more hours of sleep. His five-minute doze was interrupted with a knock on his door. It took everything in him not to shout ‘five more minutes' so he decided to might as well wake himself up by walking to the door and answering the person on the other side.
Petra’s face beamed at him and Altair had to narrow his eyes because Petra’s smile was too bright for his own good. It was like looking too long at the sunrise.
“Good morning, Al!” the redhead greeted him.
“Morning, Petra,” Altair replied, rubbing his eyes again. “I’m sorry I overslept.”
Petra waved him off. “It’s fine. I expected it yesterday since you just came home from camp. You must be so tired. Why don’t you go take a bath and change and come downstairs for some breakfast? I’m sure this will wake you up — I cooked your favorites.” The boy nodded at her suggestion. She tried teasing him by calling his name again, Altair turning around to acknowledge his nanny with a raised eyebrow. “You know, I’d probably oversleep, too, if I were up in the middle of the night making mysterious phone calls from my bathroom. It’s pretty quiet in here at midnight so I think that pretty much exposed you.”
Altair froze at Petra’s inquiring tone, blinking his speechlessness. In an instant, he doesn’t feel sleepy anymore. He scratched his undercut. “Uhm, it was a friend from camp. He just wanted to talk to me, that’s all.”
The redhead hummed as she crossed her arms. “Ooh-kay. Well, your breakfast will be waiting on the kitchen counter!” She shouted while making her way downstairs.
“Okay!” Altair yelled back.
He opened his closet and took out a blue flannel, a white undershirt, and a pair of jeans. Without wasting any more time, Altair got himself ready by taking a bath just as Petra suggested and made himself presentable once he reached the kitchen. His hair was still wet, a towel wrapped around his shoulders when he inhaled the savory smell of breakfast on the first floor. As Altair sat on the high counter stool, Petra turned around from cutting up fruits and placed too many plates in front of the boy with a smile. He couldn’t control the twitch in his eyebrows as he stared at his breakfast. Is his twin really eating this much food every morning? He realized he might be coming off as rude since he was only staring at the number of bacon slices on his plate so Altair took a bite of bacon and let the sound of knives against the cutting board flit through his ears.
“Petra?”
“Hmm?”
“Can I have a cup of rose tea?”
Petra stopped cutting the mangos and stared at Altair, who was immersed in doing small bites of his breakfast. The redhead stared for a moment and assessed the way Altair picked up his fork and knife — it was the same way a certain someone did back in college when Levi’s friend group and lover ate meals together. Now that Petra remembered it; when you gave birth to the twins, she mentioned how one of them inherited the shape of your eyes. It could be a trick of the light but Altair’s eyes were softer in the edges instead of the sharpness Levi adorned, the boy’s eyelashes slightly fuller than usual.
“Petra?”
The said woman jumped at the mention of her name, with Altair’s face scrunched up in worry at her lack of response. She cleared her throat while transferring the mangos in a small bowl, sliding it towards Altair. “Yeah?”
The silver-eyed boy rose an eyebrow. “Are you alright? You look like you were in a trance there.”
“I’m fine.” Petra washed her hands before wiping them dry with a clean towel. Her gaze went from the boy’s expectant stare to his unfinished breakfast. This was weird. Altair usually never leaves any leftovers on his plate, it was what Levi taught him since he could eat on his own. Pushing this matter at the back of her mind, she smiled. “You’re not going to finish that, Al?”
Altair looked down on his half-eaten scrambled eggs, bacon slices, and still full pasta salad. He only had a couple of bites from the last dish and wished he could eat more but the two slices of bacon and scrambled eggs made him full in an instant. His stomach couldn’t handle too much in an early hour. He needed the tea to wash all this down. “No, I’m not, I think I’m full,” he answered, patting his stomach with a grin. He hoped Petra wouldn’t notice that his appetite wasn’t like his twin. That idiot (his twin, never Petra) appeared small like him but the buffoon has a vacuum inside his torso, always hungry at the wee hours of the day. If this was roast beef, this was a different story. “Must be because I’m tired from the trip. I don’t feel like eating and moving around too much.”
Petra nodded in understanding, preparing the rose tea the boy requested. She was waiting for the water to boil as she glanced at Levi’s pride and joy. “So why rose tea?”
“Pardon?”
Pardon? With a suppressed chuckle, Petra turned around with an incredulous expression on her face. “Camp made you prim and proper, huh? So why rose tea, champ?”
“Because I thought it would be nice to try the flower teas instead of the fruit-flavored ones this time. I know Dad has been experimenting with flowers for the next blends.”
Petra hummed, letting the tea steep for a few minutes. The scent of roses immediately wafted across the kitchen, making the two sigh in contentment. Petra wasn’t one for tea but smelling the pink drink made her want to try one. She presented the cup of rose tea to the black-haired boy, who was leaning forward to finally have his drink, his silver eyes sparkling at the small petals floating on top of his tea. Petra knew she was watching Altair closely but all her doubts flew out the window when she witnessed the boy hold the teacup the same way Levi does. Maybe she was looking into this too much. She shook her head and took away the leftovers, placing them in containers.
She missed the way Altair blew out a sigh of relief, a small half-smile tugging on the corner of his lips.
Altair stood up from his seat, patting his lap from imaginary dust and placing the towel from his shoulders to the back of the counter stool. He took a long sip of his tea before grinning widely at his nanny. “Thank you so much for breakfast, Petra!”
“No problem, kiddo. Oh, and your Dad wants to talk to you about something. He’s in his office.”
“Okay!”
The black-haired boy walked past the archway leading to the living room, where the glass double doors to the patio were located. Snuggling on the floor and chewing on his toy was Levi’s golden retriever, Captain. Altair flinched when he saw the dog shift their head in his direction. A series of barks came out of the pet, making the boy hurry for the handles of the double doors. His heart was pounding when he couldn’t get the doors to open, pulling on them as Captain was now standing up to give him another round of barks. It caught the attention of Petra and the woman instantly shot to the living room but not before shouting something that made Altair’s ears turn red of embarrassment.
“Push, Al.” Petra was now wrapping her arms around the dog, eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
Altair stopped for a moment, twisting the handles of the double doors and pushing them just as Petra said. He turned around with a sheepish smile, chuckling nervously because this mistake might have lost him the plan. “Must have slipped my mind.” He had never gotten out of a house that quickly in his entire life.
Only when he stepped foot on the patio that he could breathe normally. Altair kicked a pebble on the pathway, hands snug inside his pockets, as he thought about what his father will tell him. He followed the pathway until he was met with a slope, a building looking the main estate was sitting on top of the small hill overlooking the plantation. With a bundle of nerves swirling in his stomach, Altair took a deep breath and trekked the hill. The higher he got, hectares of a variety of tea trees greeted his vision, mimicking the sea with its vastness. It was the first time he saw something so wide and before he knew it, questions started entering his mind.
If the Ackerman family held so much money, why did his grandparents make his mum go back to London? Why did they take away the only person who made her feel loved in every sort of way possible? She could’ve been happy here. Everything is so soothing and secure.
The sound of people talking snapped him back to reality. Altair shook his head and continued his small walk towards the building. It looked like there was more activity in here than he imagined. People were sorting out the tea leaves they harvested and others were manning a machine meant for grounding the leaves. It was so busy that he didn’t realize he stopped in front of the huge window showing all of the employees trying to keep Levi’s business booming.
A person rounding the building noticed his gawking and smiled a little. They clutched the flowers they picked for the new blends Levi was experimenting on and went to the black-haired boy. “Al, welcome home. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here yesterday to welcome you back.”
The silver-eyed boy turned around to the young woman sharing his features — the same jet-black hair, pale complexion, and shade of silver for the eyes (though hers were more on the bluish side of the spectrum). He tried recalling the family members his brother told him to remember. There was a woman with the same appearance in one of the pictures. She was hugging the Altair she knows, their smiles shining through the piece of shiny paper. She was the older cousin his twin was telling so many stories about since she was the only one closer to his age around the household. The Altair standing in front of her right now smiled, muttering her name, “Mikasa.”
Mikasa returned the smile with her own, sitting on her heels to meet the boy’s eyes. “How was camp?”
“My opponent in a fencing competition pushed me in the washing area of our pavilion.”
Mikasa winced, ruffling the boy’s hair gently. “Why did they do that?”
Altair shrugged, feeling proud of himself for doing that to his twin despite being guilty to this day. “Guess he was better than me at fencing. He has a teacher specifically for that sport back in their hometown.”
“Oh, wow. If you want someone to practice fencing with, I’ll gladly help you.” The young woman tilted her head with a smile. “That is if you want to go back to that camp next summer. I’ll even learn the rules for you.”
The older of the two had so many records in her portfolio. Altair recalled that his brother was gushing about how Mikasa was a part of the track and field team the entirety of her stay in college. She was also a part of a volleyball club when she was in high school. This young woman has everything in her belt and it would be so good if Altair practiced fencing with her. However, he also realized that Mikasa probably had her hands full with academic and familial responsibilities. “But you have your final year in college, though, and you’re so busy in the plantation.”
Mikasa once again tousled Altair’s hair, chuckling under her breath. “Anything for my baby cousin so don’t worry about it.” She looked down at the pile of flowers in her arms. She handed a single red lily flower to Altair. “Here, to brighten up your day.” Mikasa stood up and waved at Altair. “I’m testing these flowers out with some berries, kiddo. I’ll be in the kitchen by the sorting room with Annie. If we can get the right combination, we’ll let you try some. Your dad is in his office waiting for you.” With that, Mikasa turned around but not before ruffling Altair’s hair again.
Altair nodded at nobody in particular and entered the building with a slight skip in his steps. The office was situated on the second floor of the manor-like establishment. The color palette of red and olive green was still observed in the interior but the large, open balcony let in enough light to illuminate the second floor. There was a railing surrounding the middle space of the entire floor, perfect for looking down and observing the bustling life inside the house. Altair’s destination, however, was the door to the left side of the second floor down a painting-covered hallway. He tentatively knocked on the door with his father’s name pinned on it. Altair faintly heard someone call inside the room and opened the door to peek his head in.
Levi was behind his desk, phone close to his ear. “Yes, Erwin. I thought you will be visiting because of Altair today. I see. No problem. You can visit the plantation anytime.” He glanced at the opened door, seeing Altair meekly staring at him. He smiled a little before telling Erwin, “Al’s here. Yeah. The stocks are fine and the new blends are coming out great. Sure, I’ll send you some. Bye.” The silver-eyed man sighed as he placed his phone on the desk. “You can come in, Al. Usually, you just barge in here and wait for me on the couch.” Levi hummed, eyes softening at the sight of his son grinning in front of him.
Altair chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “I thought it was an important call.”
“It was just Eyebrows.”
“Whatever you say, Dad.”
The boy sat on the couch, eyes inconspicuously roaming around the office. He heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and Altair looked up to find his dad preparing a cup of tea in the kitchenette installed in the room. He looked away from Levi and shifted his attention to the framed photographs on the desk. Everything wasn’t facing him but there was one frame positioned to face the person behind the desk. Altair craned his neck to get a glimpse of the picture, his eyes going back and forth between the frame and his dad, who was waiting for the tea to steep. With his body draping over the couch and neck stretching as far as he could (the position was starting to hurt), Altair saw that it was a picture of you, his mum. The silver-eyed boy gasped because it was you in a wedding dress.
“Blimey.”
“Al?”
Altair dropped the position with a huff. He straightened himself to face a confused Levi, a tray of two teacups filled with raspberry tea held by his hands. “Thought I could just, you know,” he nervously chuckled, “get a good stretch after oversleeping. So what’s up, Dad?”
Levi hummed, placing the tray on the low table. He sat beside Altair, body facing the little boy as he surveyed the innocent smile plastered on his son as he sipped on his cup of tea, the two of them mirroring how they held their cups. Maybe it was because Al went away for summer camp in the last eight weeks or maybe he was just missing you and your presence in his life, but Levi felt his heart clench at how fast his little boy was growing. The summer camp must be a blessing in disguise because his boy came home with newfound manners and the whole time he was away, he thought hard enough to make a decision he won’t come to regret. Eight weeks was a long time, things are bound to change. So Levi cleared his throat and readied himself in spilling his carefully thought-out plans to his son.
“There’s something really important I want to talk to you about, Al,” Levi started, putting this teacup back on the low table.
“That’s funny because there’s something really important that I want to talk to you about.”
“Yeah? Well, you go first, kiddo.”
Altair shook his head rapidly, gulping down his tea first. “No, you first, Dad.”
“Hmm.” The black-haired man carefully formulated the words in his mind. The first order of business was to cut off any people who would dare hurt his son. Yesterday was just the catalyst in his ongoing debate with Petra all summer to get rid of the publicist leeching off of him. From the look on Altair’s face while he was wading in the pool, Levi figured that Cynthia said something to him that might have shaken his mind. He leveled his gaze with Altair’s and told him, “Okay, I want to talk to you about Cynthia, the hired publicist for the teahouse and plantation.”
The boy turned his body so that he was seeing his father eye to eye. “And I wanted to talk to you about Mom.” Altair furrowed his eyebrows in distaste. “Oh, so Cynthia’s her name. What about Cynthia?”
Levi blinked in surprise. He knew Altair was a smart kid but he didn’t expect him to pick up on things so fast. There was no one in the estate that he shared his current sentiments. Petra was known to be a person not careful enough to keep a secret hidden from Altair and Erwin will most likely tease Levi throughout the day if he revealed his plans. Not to mention that Mikasa will probably indulge his kid in spilling every embarrassing thing about him so that makes his niece out of the list of people worthy enough to be told a secret.
With a calm voice, he regarded his little him with a flat expression. “What about your mom?”
Altair groaned in exasperation. “Dad, I’m almost twelve. I’m at a point in my life to ask about the whereabouts of my mom. You can’t expect me to believe the stork story all my life!”
A slow inhale and a look at the ceiling was all Levi needed to compose himself. “You know what, that is a story for later. But first, we’re going to talk about the publicist. Did she say anything to you? Anything that might have hurt you in any way yesterday?”
One pair of gray eyes looked away from the other to examine the invisible dust gathering on top of the coffee table. Altair wanted to tell Levi that Cynthia was trying to exploit him, trying to wound him in her trap and to make him fall in love with her. But the way that his father was insisting on the topic of Cynthia instead of you didn’t sit right with him at all. To Altair, it looked like Levi was desperate to clean the woman’s name and to make him build a relationship with her when the time comes that she’ll be carrying the Ackerman name. He mentally apologized to his other half across the ocean for not having the strength to continue the plan. Because as he glanced at Levi, the man’s concern apparent on the glint of his eyes, Altair wanted his father to be happy — to love someone without any pain that spanned for more than a decade.
“No, she didn’t say anything to me. She just told me how happy she is to be on the plantation.”
As much as he was scared to be a father when his boys were born, Levi always knew if his son was lying after years of raising Altair alone (with the help of Petra but the nanny will always give him the credit). Right now, however, he couldn’t tell if Al was lying or not. “Al, are you telling me the truth? If not—“
The door burst open, bringing with it an overly dramatic woman. “Levi? Are you here, sweetie?”
Eld followed after Cynthia, his face betraying his aggravation at the woman. “Don’t just enter Levi’s office without permission, Ma’am!”
Cynthia scoffed, insulted at the term. “'Ma’am’?! I’m not that old, employee.”
The blonde man bristled. He tried puffing his chest to remind the publicist that he has more authority than just a last-minute accommodation in the staff, but he stopped when he saw Levi starting to stand up from the couch. He had never seen his boss express anger in his years of being Levi’s secretary, however, the apparent look on the onyx-haired man will probably drive Cynthia more than six feet under the surface. Eld dismissed Cynthia with a roll of his eyes, focusing on the annoyed man walking towards them with terrifying footsteps. “Levi, she just went inside the building. Believe me, we were trying to prevent her from getting her head cut off by you but she wouldn’t listen!” The blonde glared at the woman who was gasping dramatically, manicured hand pressed on her chest. “Levi, you have to believe me. Mikasa even had to—“
“I understand, Eld.” Levi’s voice was uncharacteristically icy. Sure, he was known for being blunt and dismissive at times but that was the man's nature in forming social relationships. The employees were used to him being that way. Right now, though, his glare could have frozen Cynthia in place. “What is this, Miss Maryland? I thought I told you to leave a message to my secretary if you want to have an appointment with me. But I remember telling you that I’m not free this day.”
Cynthia pouted. “But I also told you that I wanted to have lunch with you! Is your job more important than me? Or are you just using that as an excuse to not make time for me?”
Eld looked scandalized at the woman’s reaction while Altair was wincing at the sound of Cynthia’s whine.
Levi was praying for his ears as well, pinching the bridge of his nose to calm himself down. He looked at Altair at the corners of his eyes. “I don’t recall you being on my priority list, Miss Maryland, and I have plans with Al today anyway. Horseback riding.”
“You’re lying!” The woman turned to Altair. “Is this true, Al, darling?”
The boy quickly took note of the hint of desperation from his father’s eyes so he smiled. “Yeah, I’ll be riding Nox since I miss my horse while I was at camp.”
“You heard my kid,” Levi drawled. “Now get out. You’re invading my privacy — sounds fitting for your job.”
Cynthia’s face scrunched in disgust, turning around abruptly, her hair hitting Eld in the face. The blonde man sputtered before incredulously staring at the retreating publicist. There wouldn’t be any need for Mikasa to restrain her if needed since she knew the way out. Eld turned back to Levi and Altair, his face showing how guilty he was. “Levi, I’m really sorry. If I’d known she’ll barge in here like this.”
“No, it’s fine. Thank you, Eld.”
“Alright.” Eld trailed off, shifting his attention from Levi to Altair. He waved at Levi’s son before pointing at the door behind. “Have a great afternoon, you two.”
Levi nodded at his friend, sitting on the couch with a sigh when the door closed. He had to get rid of that publicist, she was starting to become a headache. Levi then felt a small weight on his shoulder. Turning his head to the side, a head of onyx hair greeted his vision. With a small smile, he lifted his arm and wrapped it around Altair, letting him snuggle into his side some more. The two of them cherished the silence as if the room was their haven, away from pesky publicists and the bustling activity a floor below.
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Speeding through the plantation felt liberating for Altair. He wanted to raise his arms in the air as they zoomed by the small tea trees but that would mean having Levi being suspicious of him. At first, Altair thought that the predicament with Captain would be the same with Nox but the black beauty of a horse nuzzled his palm affectionately as if he was the real owner. Of course, it couldn’t happen without the help of the sugar cubes laid out on his palm. Now, he was laughing as he raced with his dad, their destination was the hill on the other side of the plantation. It looked like Levi was winning but Altair tried to spur Nox faster. A blur of black reached their landmark, a tree with a swing on it, and Altair whooped at the top of his lungs.
“I won!”
“You always win,” Levi told him, a loving stare directed at his son.
Altair turned his horse to meet Levi’s stare. “I do?”
A confused frown painted the silver-eyed man’s lips.
At that, Altair brightened immediately, realizing his mistake. “I do! Just slipped my mind again. I can’t seem to stop forgetting things. That’s so weird.”
Levi guided his horse to walk towards Altair’s. “Yeah, so weird,” he murmured until he was beside his son. They stared at the plantation with varying expressions. The boy looked so mesmerized at how the sun touched every single tree while Levi blankly surveyed the rows of what brought him to this moment. It was once upon a time when he brought you here during spring break in junior year at college, telling you his dreams of starting a tea plantation. You looked radiant against the sunset, the rays creating a halo that Levi wanted to preserve forever. Altair’s laugh when he won has the same smile as yours when you manage to outrun him in a race. Levi couldn’t help but think of a life with you and the twins here in the plantation and estate, the two boys growing up with each other and with both parents unlike now. The four of you wouldn’t experience the pain brought by the separation. But reality struck him hard when Altair breathed out an expelling sigh, eyes soft around the corners like yours.
“So, Al, do you think we’re lonely?”
The said boy looked at his dad, who was wistfully looking at the plantation like it was hurting him. “I don’t think so.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Altair’s grip on the reins tightened. “Why are you asking this, Dad?”
Levi took a deep breath. “Believe it or not, Al, but I feel lonely every night. The moon and the stars must be tired of my internal monologues to them, all wishing to have a normal night with our complete family. But with Maryland here, there seems to be someone at the back of my head telling me to make a move. You know what, Al, I want—“
“Race you back to the ranch, Dad!”
“What—wait, Al! Hey, slow down, kiddo!”
Tears were starting to blur Altair’s vision as he rode around the plantation. No, the plan wasn’t going to work. His twin brother was a liar when he said he had an amazing and genius plan. Everything was starting to burn in flames and Altair had no choice but to watch it fester until only ashes remain. When he reached the stables, he tied the reins to the post with hurried yet precise knots. And Altair ran and ran. Up the slope leading to the manor, past the building where the workers were happily interacting with another until he felt himself bumping into someone. He brushed off a concerned Mikasa shouting at him to slow down. Minutes later, Levi passed by the fretting young woman, the latter asking if Altair was alright. But the onyx-haired boy finally reached the safe confines of their manor, passing by the opened double doors. He started pacing around the living room.
Altair buried his hands in his hair, his accent coming out as he rambled. “This isn’t going the way he expected it to. Bonkers, this is a mess! I’m just a kid and I couldn’t handle everything at once. Now, Mum’s getting married to a person I don’t know and Dad is tying the knot with Cindy—Cassandra—whatever!” He leaned on the back of an armchair, body slumping on the plush cushion. “And I don’t even know Dad as much as he does. How am I supposed to fix this?”
“What are you trying to fix?” Petra suddenly appeared in the armchair. (She was there all along but she figured that by keeping quiet, she will learn more about why Altair acted strangely since he came home.) The redhead stood up, arms crossed on her chest. “Do you want to share something with the class, Al?”
Altair jumped back, placing a hand on top of his pounding heart. “You gave me a fright, Petra.”
Petra leaned back with an expression of disbelief. “What? Are you sure there isn’t anything you want to talk to me about? If you’re scared of your dad finding out your secrets right now, you can always tell me.” Altair remained silent as he stared wide-eyed at the nanny and housekeeper. “Care to explain to me why Captain doesn’t like you anymore when he has been with you since you were a toddler? Or how you can’t open the doors properly? Even your appetite change this morning. I have so many questions, Al, and it all stemmed from when you came home. Do you know something we don’t?”
The boy shrugged. That didn’t seem to alleviate the suspiciousness he carried. “I just changed over the summer, that’s all.”
Petra slowly took a step forward and tilted her head down to meet Altair’s eyes. “I’m starting to think you were raised …” She shook her head to dispel the thought and turned around to make herself busy in the kitchen. “That’s impossible. Never mind. I must be needing sleep from all these theories.”
“I am raised by who, Petra?”
She waved her hand to dismiss the question. “Forget it, Al. I’m not supposed to talk to you about this anyway.”
“Like I’m raised by [Name] [Last Name]? Like I’m the other half of one pair of twins?”
The redhead tensed at the question, her smile frozen in place. She managed to blink herself outside of her stupor, slowly regarding the onyx-haired boy, who was gradually turning into an image of you. Those eyes, though sharing Levi’s stormy irises, were reminiscent of your kind ones — always appearing as soft as they can be despite the intensity of a present glare. Petra was at a loss for words and she had to clear her throat a couple of times to find her voice. “How do you know her full name? How do you know that you have a twin, Al? How do you know about—?”
“About Caelum?” The boy pursed his lips, forcing himself to smile. He dropped the act because there was no use continuing their charade any further. Besides, this is Petra, the most loyal person from what he could observe during a full day in the Ackerman estate. She reminded him of Oluo, the way they stuck to each parent almost every day. His British accent came out when he said the next words, “That’s because I am Caelum.”
If this wasn’t a serious situation, Caelum would’ve laughed at Petra’s reaction.
“Altair?!”
Levi looked around when he stepped foot on the patio. However, he was surprised at the peculiar scenario welcoming him in the living room — it was as if Petra was looking at his son for the first time in years. The redhead had both hands covering her mouth, tears prickling her eyes, and an expression showing disbelief. He rose an eyebrow in incredulity because nobody paid him any attention. With measured footsteps, Levi placed a hand on his son’s shoulders, making the boy jump a few inches in the air.
“Hey, buddy,” his voice was so soft since his boy looked shaken up just as much as Petra, “why did you take off on me like that? I told you I wanted to talk to you about something.” His son looked up at him with wide eyes so Levi expectantly glanced at Petra. The woman was still silent with that constipated look on her face. “Petra, do you need to take a shit? Why are you looking at Al like that?”
Caelum was breathing heavily, eyes pleading with Petra to let him tell Levi the truth.
With a subtle nod, Petra wiped her eyes and turned to Levi, who had his face scrunched in perplexity. “Like what? I’m not looking at him in a special way.” She shrugged but with one look at the bright-eyed boy beside her friend, her voice started to falter. “I’m looking at him like I’ve looked at him for eleven years. Since the day he came home from the hospital, all wrapped up and squirming for contact with his parents.” Petra looked like she could cry any minute. (Levi was staring at her like she had grown a second head. He was ready to give her a day-off.) “Seven pounds, five ounces, 21 inches long. This is how I look at him.”
Caelum felt himself smile as Petra gestured at him.
“Can I hug him?”
Levi blinked and stayed silent for a second. He lifted his hand from his son’s shoulder and stepped back since Petra wrapped the boy in a tight hug. He felt the back of an armchair behind him, leaning against it with a sigh. “Everybody’s so weird.”
As the woman continued hugging Caelum, she exclaimed, “Oh, he’s so beautiful and he’s grown so much.” The boy nuzzled his head on the crook of his nanny’s neck, a large smile painted on his face.
For once in his life, Levi wanted to sleep the day off. Maybe everything might go back to normal.
Petra pulled away from the hug, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. She pointed at Caelum while trying to control her voice from shaking. “I’m going to make you something special to eat. What do you feel like eating? Anything? You know what?” She waved her hand once she reached the entrance of the kitchen. “I’ll just whip up something from everything we’ve got, okay?” With a last nod and an apologetic smile directed at Levi, Petra went to the kitchen whilst wiping her tears, leaving behind the two Ackermans’.
Now that heartfelt moment ended, Levi knew he had to tell his son what’s weighing on his mind for the past years. All it took were eight weeks for him to steel himself in making a choice he won’t come to regret. If only he had done this when you gave him your back, a baby looking like him snug in your arms and reaching out to a father he won’t come to have. If only he had chased you to London, fighting for your love in front of your parents, promising a life filled with enough luxury for your newfound family. If only he had the strength back then, none of this would’ve happened. So Levi gently directed his son to the couches, sitting in front of the boy on the low table. Their gazes matched each other and it looked like Levi was staring at his younger self.
“We have to talk.” The onyx-haired man’s voice was so soft, matching his visage that was contorted in slight wariness and expectation.
Caelum nodded. “Okay. Shoot, Dad.”
Levi nodded back. “I’ve been thinking about this since you were a toddler and this summer was the only time I could focus on debating with myself on it.” He took a deep breath, his heart thundering in his chest, and his cheeks burning. “Al, I want to get back together with your mom.”
The whole world stopped. Caelum stopped breathing for a few seconds. There was a lack of emotions inside him at first, him just staring like an idiot at Levi. Suddenly, he felt like jumping but that would look suspicious so Caelum abruptly stood up in front of his dad, tingles traveling in every fiber of his body.
“Al?” Levi asked, confused at the constipated look on his little boy.
Bright gray eyes stared back at Levi, Caelum’s grin erasing every doubt in his father’s body. “This is perfect, Dad!”
“It is?” The onyx-haired man trailed off before perking up a little, a small grin tugging his mouth upwards. “Yeah, it is. I decided that I will do everything right this time and have our family back again.” He looked down wistfully on the floor, fingers wringing with each other. He murmured under his breath, “I wonder how Caelum’s doing right now. Will he like me? I’m not exactly awarded with the best father of the year title.”
On the other hand, Caelum heard it and he couldn’t help but grin knowingly. He erased that on his face when Levi looked up at him. “So, Dad, what are you going to do about Cindy?”
“What about the publicist?”
Caelum sat back down, leaning forward to enunciate his next words. “Well, it’s quite obvious that she’s so enamored by you.”
Levi scoffed a disdainful laugh. “Why would she? I’m not interested in her in some way. I don’t even like women her age.”
“That’s the thing, Dad. I heard from her yesterday that you’re planning on telling me something. I figured it would involve her since she suggested it. It might be a different thing than what you told me right now.”
“Oh, that. I decided, with the help of Petra and the other workers, that you will be the face of the tea shop. Since I am not too comfortable with the idea of having my pictures posted on every branch, a majority vote prompted you to do the job. But Mikasa suggested that we also do that by putting you in the new label design. It doesn’t have to have your face on it, just your silhouette. I think Isabelle will do that well enough.”
“So,” Caelum prolonged the word, “you’re not engaged to her, right?”
Levi looked ready to barf his lunch. “What? Where the hell did you get that idea?”
A sheepish smile prevented the laugh that was bubbling in Caelum’s chest. “I tend to overthink at times, Dad.”
The silver-eyed man sighed, running his hand through his hair. “You get that from me.”
“I asked you that because yesterday, she told me you proposed to her because you wanted me to have a mother figure. She even told me you dated because you liked her at first sight. She mentioned that you went horseback riding in the sunset like a typical chick flick pairing and there you confessed that you felt lonely because Mom left you. Oh, I mustn’t forget how you reciprocated her feelings under a moonlit night. Hey, Dad, where are you going? Dad?”
“Don’t mind me, Al, I’m killing a bitch this afternoon and it’s best if you stay put while I do that.”
“Dad?!”
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Cynthia Maryland is a fucking menace to society.
It has been so long since Levi met a person who just by talking, brain cells are diminishing at every word they utter. The first one who made him feel this way was a genius, however, they were too much for his social battery. They always hung off of him at times during college all because they were your childhood friend, who followed you to America to make you feel like you had someone in a foreign country back then. That was seen as endearing but this time, it’s fucking irritating. Levi didn’t even have to control himself from showing how much he wanted this meeting to be over.
“Miss Maryland, can you please listen to me for one second?” Levi spat out, the stress coming to him in a migraine.
“I am listening, doll, and I guess those plans with Altair didn’t happen because you have me in your office — doors closed and just the two of us,” Cynthia spoke in a sultry voice that didn’t have any effect on the man slumped on his chair. “I will do anything for you, Mr. Ackerman.”
“Thank God for that.”
Cynthia was over the stars at that statement.
“Because I believe it’s time for your job as my shop’s publicist to be terminated. So I suggest getting out of here.”
“What?!” The brunette all but shrieked.
At the commotion, a knock resonated in the room. “Levi, is everything all right in there?” Mikasa asked. “Do you need me to restrain her?”
“No need, Mikasa,” Levi answered, not looking away from the distressed woman squawking in front of him. “Hey, Maryland, what are you whining about? Didn’t you hear what I just said? You’re fired. What are you still doing here?”
“Pray tell, why are you firing me?! You need me!”
Levi rose an eyebrow. “Why would I need you when I have capable people working on the plantation right now? It was a mistake hiring you. Eld was actually the one who wanted to have a publicist for the tea shops and if my secretary said it would be beneficial to the business, I will always say yes. But I guess he hired the wrong person. As for the question of why I fired you, let’s just say, you were spewing things that weren’t even true. And of all people, you said those things to my son. What are you trying to gain from telling him we’re fucking engaged? Money? My last name?”
The brunette remained silent, angry tears dripping on her cheeks.
“Let me tell you this, Miss Maryland, you’re not worth those things. So if you don’t want me to get fucking angry at you, get the fuck out.”
While the whole debacle with Cynthia was happening in Levi’s office, Caelum was in the kitchen rolling a pin over a chunk of dough. The silver-eyed boy was helping Petra with the afternoon snacks, something that the nanny suggested since Caelum looked bored out of his mind, staring into the high ceiling of the living room while lying on the long couch. Only half an hour passed since Levi stormed into his office, demanding Eld to contact ‘that hysterical fucking woman’, and only two batches of apple turnovers were ready for the oven. There were a lot of workers on the plantation, all of them having big appetites, so Caelum and Petra had a lot of work to do.
Caelum just finished his story of meeting Altair for the first time and his shoulders felt so light after spilling everything out.
Petra pensively gave Caelum a wistful glance. “I’m happy that you two found each other.”
The boy looked up at the redhead. An air of earnest gratitude exuded from her, the idea of two twins reuniting was worth being happy about. Petra wasn’t the only one thanking the moon and stars for granting a request, Caelum felt like his world expanded because of that summer camp. “I am happy, too. I got to meet you, Mikasa, and the workers. I want this stay to last longer than a day but Al and I will eventually go back to our rightful homes.”
“Why are you being sad, kiddo? Didn’t Levi tell you that he’s planning on courting your mom again?”
“That’s the thing,” Caelum mumbled. The dough became too thin to wrap around apple fillings at the force he was pressing down on the rolling pin. He sighed, starting over again. “Mum is engaged to someone in London. I can’t even do anything about it.”
Petra hummed casually. “But Altair can.” Beside her, Caelum once again shifted his attention from the dough to her side profile, making her smile. “One thing I know about Al through the years is that he will do everything to make his plan a success. That brother of yours is a stubborn kid but he’s determined to fulfill his goal, which so happens to be what Levi’s planning, too.” She placed the knife on the cutting board, leaving the apples unattended, and faced Caelum with a half-smile. “How about this, you want to make this a success?”
Caelum nodded.
“Then tell your dad who you really are.”
The boy’s eyes widened. “No!” He looked down, cursing himself for raising his voice at Petra. “I mean, he’ll be mad for sure.”
The redhead chuckled before pointing a ladle at Caelum. “That’s where you’re wrong. Levi was always praying every night to have a glimpse of his other son across the sea. Now that you’re here, you’ll be giving him the happiness he always wanted for eleven years. He deserves to hug you, knowing who you are.”
This is how Caelum found himself standing in front of Levi’s bedroom. It was inevitable anyway — his dad finding out his real identity. Letting out a sigh, Caelum twisted the doorknob with clammy hands, opening the door to the image of Levi reading a book on his bed. The boy smiled when Levi looked up at the sound of the door opening.
Levi took off his reading glasses and smiled. “Hey, kiddo, come in.” He lifted his covers as an invitation for the tentative boy. When Caelum got on the bed, Levi placed his book on the nightstand along with his glasses. For a moment, he only looked at his son with soft eyes as Caelum adjusted the duvet to cover his lap. He pulled him close with an arm around the boy’s shoulders, letting Caelum relax against him. “Did you have a nightmare?” Levi felt his son shake his head. “Is something bothering you?” At the silence, Levi looked down on Caelum's onyx hair. He kissed the side of the boy’s head. “I hope you will feel better once we spend the rest of the day tomorrow.”
“I can’t, Dad, I’m sorry.” It was a low murmur that Levi had to crane his head to hear. “I have to go somewhere tomorrow.”
“And where will this somewhere be? Is Mikasa going with you? Or did Petra invite you to go get the groceries?”
The silver-eyed boy squirmed out of Levi’s hold, burying himself in the think blankets.
“Al? Are you feeling unwell? Kiddo?” Levi tried tickling his son’s sides but was only met with muffled laughs. “Al.”
A British accent enveloped the words Caelum uttered next, “That’s where I’m going! I have to go see Altair.”
“And where might Altair be?”
A pause. “In London.” Levi froze. “With his mum, [Name] [Last Name].”
It was as if cold water surrounded Levi, dunking him in a fever dream. It was too good to be true. Of all the surprises he received for the day, this is by far the most responsible for taking away his voice and steady breathing. He couldn’t think properly at the revelation. So this was the reason why Petra looked like she saw the boy for the first time because she did, after eleven years. His heartbeat echoed through his chest, making a duet with his clattering mind. Levi didn’t know what to do. Should he embrace the son he never got to hug in almost twelve years or should he stay quiet and let the night go on, pretending that this was a dream? His eyes started to burn with unshed tears as he carefully lifted the edge of the duvet off the small figure lying beside him. There was no way this was happening. But as he finally got a glimpse of his son staring up at him, eye shape boring some similarities to yours, Levi let out a shaky breath.
“Caelum?”
Caelum sat up. “Yes, Dad?”
Levi’s vision became blurry, arms instantly wrapping around Caelum. He hugged him tightly, worried that this might be a trick of his loneliness, that this was Altair pretending to be his twin to make him happy. But no. He knew Altair like the back of his hand and if he hugged him like this, the little brat would whine at the long physical contact. This was Caelum, hands gentle like yours as they patted his back. He didn’t know he was crying until Caelum rubbed rhythmic circles on his back to calm him down.
“Al and I met at camp and we decided to switch places.” His breath hitched, nuzzling his head on Levi’s chest. “Dad, I’ve dreamt my whole life of finally meeting you. Seeing you waiting at the airport nearly made me cry because you were exactly like Mum’s vague stories. And Al wanted to meet Mum as well so we sort of made the switch impulsively.”
Levi pulled away, a smile present on his face. “Who exactly made this plan?”
“Never in my life would I suggest switching places with my twin. I told Al this is an idiotic plan yet here we are.”
Levi snorted a laugh. “Of course it’s Al’s idea.”
“But Dad …”
“Hmm?” The man waited patiently for his little heaven to speak up.
“I hope you’re not raging at the moment because I love you so much and I just hope that one day, you will love me as me — not as a mirror image of Al.”
Levi pulled Caelum again in a hug, kissing the boy on the crown of his head. “Did you know I was the one who named you?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Since your mom named Altair after a star, I thought it would be best if you were named after the realm the star is situated. You’re my little heaven, Cae, and nothing can change that. I’ve loved you your whole life. Stop being a mopey little brat — I meant that term in the most endearing way possible because your mother was the original one, she was my pain in the ass — and give your dad another hug.”
Caelum felt like he forgot something, choosing this moment to never mention you being engaged to someone and instead chose to let his dad’s warm hugs lull him to sleep.
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