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hops-hunny · 3 years

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Girls Like Her

Pairing: Kyoya Ootori x Black!Reader

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 1.7k

Request: N/A

Summary: In which Kyoya is smitten and not afraid to show it.

Warnings: None! Fluff.

A/N: this is so self indulgent and I don't even care I NEEDED some Kyoya with a black girl bc where's all the color in the ouran community??

Kyoya had a fine eye for spectacular things. Running the host club with Tamaki required it. He was always looking for something of interest that he knew the guest would like and that would bring in a nice bit of money as well. That's why he was mesmerized when he saw (Y/n). Sure, Kyoya had seen girls that were deemed "beautiful" by whatever measure of beauty the rest of his high class socialite peers thought. However, he had never put much thought into what he personally found beautiful but now thanks to her, he didn't need to.

Sure he had seen women with nice skin. It wasn't very uncommon. Going to school with girls whose parents made most people's yearly salary in a day meant they were well cared for. They took care of their skin with the finest of products, as did he. However her skin was unmatched. Nice hues of brown which glowed beautifully in the soft daylight of music room 3. Not a blemish or wrinkle in sight. Smooth and brown all over like a bewitching goddess. And sure other girls had hair. It was all a blur to him however, nothing he could point out or was anything but ordinary. All of it was the same straight hair in the same bland style. But hers however?

She wore some of the most elaborate styles he had ever seen. He didn't know the proper names for them at first but the more she visited the host club, the more he'd overhear her speak about them to the other guest. Box braids, goddess twist, faux locs. Each style suited and complimented her well. Anytime she'd change it up he'd observe it carefully, viewing every bump and turn on the art that was her hair. His favorite though was when she'd wear it naturally.

God was it a sight. A large, picked to perfection afro atop her head like the crown a princess, no, a queen of her caliber should have. It reminded him of the clouds in the sky he'd see on a nice summer afternoon except far more eye catching and far more mesmerizing.

"Tamaki?" Kyoya questioned, looking up at his blonde friend. The last few of the guest had trickled out by now.

"Yes mommy dear?" He quipped, walking over to his raven haired friend.

"Is there a reason we don't see Lady (L/n) any time other than the host club? How come I've never seen her in any of our classes?" He asked, trying to ignore the stupid look Tamaki had on his face.

"Kyoya, are you in love?! Oh how amazing! I always knew this wo-"

"Forget it, this is a waste of time." He began to head to the door but stopped as Tamaki stopped his path.

"Wait! (L/N) as in (Y/n) (L/n) right? She's a year below us, that's why you probably never see her outside of class. We don't have any classes with her except lunch if you count that." Kyoya hummed at the man's words before walking to the door, opening it.

"Thank you." He said, giving him a nod of acknowledgement.

"No problem, dear friend."

--------------------------

Kyoya stood behind his podium, greeting guests as they came through. He offered each of them the same fake smile he'd give, confirming their host choice for the day. He never cared too much to remember faces, just the different things they'd enjoy and how he could make profit off of them. Well everyone except-

"Kyooo! What's up? How ya doin today?" She chirped, leaning close to him as she offered him a bright smile from behind her supple plump lips. He smiled down at her, a genuine one (not that he'd ever let anyone know that).

"Ah, lady (L/n). A pleasure to see you as always. Your usual I presume?" He said, searching for the twins' names as he went to check the mark.

"Actually I thought I'd switch things up today!"

"Really? Who will it be then?" Whoever it was would be so lucky to be graced with the girl's presence. Her smile grew wider at his question as she leaned even closer.

"You! You do host right? I haven't seen anyone come to you for some time." She mused, resting a brown hand on his arm. Normally he'd remove himself from anyone's touch but for her he didn't mind so much. He'd even go as far as to say he enjoyed it. "Any excuse to stare at that nice face of yours longer."

'The same could be said even more so about you, darling.' Is what he wanted to say but consumed by his own nerves he let them get the best of him. "Usually I find myself too busy to," he started, noticing her face drop, "However I can always make exceptions for ladies of such high beauty as yourself, princess." She smiled, heading over to the empty table that Kyoya rarely hosts at. She sat on the couch across from him, fiddling and moving around as usual. (Y/n) was an unusual energetic girl who found that she couldn't sit still for more than a few seconds, which was a trait that usually drove him up the wall but when it came to her he found it to be quite cute.

“You’re not going to eat or drink anything?” (Y/n) asked, shoving her mouth with the tiny tea cakes that sat on the silver cake stand. Kyoya let a soft smile take his face as he watched her. He always kept them hidden in the back because he knew they were her favorite and they were far more expensive than anything else they served. The cakes themselves were imported from France daily which was obviously a pretty penny but, he didn’t mind. The smile on her face made it worth the extra bit of cash.

“I’m not much of a fan of sugar, it’s bad for your skin.” he stated, looking down at the little black book in his hands. She hummed processing his words before wiping her mouth off with a napkin.

“Well what do you usually drink? I wanna have the same thing as you!”

“I’m a fan of earl grey served black. No sugar, no cream.” he said. She eyed him carefully before giggling. She leaned in close, looking into his dark eyes as he stared back.

“Yeah you seem to be quite the fan of,” she cleared her throat to hide a giggle. “Black things.” Kyoya set his cup down, choking on the liquid. (Y/n) sat back in her seat satisfied, laughing loudly as she threw her head back. A few of the guests stared at her with angry eyes, upset by her mild disturbance. But, she didn’t care. She never did. Once his choking died down, she sent him a wink. “I’m only messing with you, Kyo-chan! Lightin up will yeah? Anyways I’d like to have a cup of what you're drinking. It couldn’t be too bad, right?”

Wrong, she had been deeply wrong. Kyoya smiled in amusement as she sputtered out the tea, coughing dramatically. “Is it not to your liking, dear?” he asked in a sarcastically cheerful tone.

“Like hell it is! This shit is gross.” she began to pout, pushing the cup away from her. “I’d like my usual back please.” she said, looking up at him. He felt his face heat up slightly as he nodded his head, grabbing her cup before heading off with it. He searched the shelves carefully before finding her usual and preparing the way he knew she liked it. Too much sugar and too much cream. He chuckled at the thought, 'it suits her.'

(Y/n) smiled as he returned with her cup taking a sip as she let out a sigh of content. "As much as I'm enjoying my time with you today, my lady, I'm curious about your sudden shift. You always without a doubt choose the twins." He questioned, watching as she delicately set her cup down on the wooden table. He admired her presence. She was graceful but in a way he had never seen before, unique just like everything else about her.

"Do you want the real answer or the fake answer?" She questioned, biting the inside of her cheek nervously. Kyoya had a split second of a confused look before offering her another smile.

"Honestly is the best policy, my dear."

"Well- you see- ugh!" She huffed, slouching back in her seat. He couldn't help but find it adorable how the big ugly yellow dress swallowed her whole during that action. "I always wanna request for you Kyo-chan but you always seem so busy, so distant. I figured I'd let you have your own peace." She leaned forward on her hand as she rested her elbow on the table. "And besides, I've seen you reject to host much prettier girls so why would you host me?"

Kyoya's eyes widened at the (h/c) haired girls announcement. Prettier girls, than her? Too busy, for her? He chuckled some catching the girl's attention. Before she could ask him what was up he began to speak. "I don't mean to laugh in your face princess but I think you've got it twisted." He stood up, pulling the girl close to his chest. The other host watched with wide eyes and their mouths open at Kyoya's uncharacteristic behavior. "There are no prettier girls nor is there anyone I'd rather spend my time with," he tilted her head up bringing his face closer to hers, "Than you." (Y/n) stood there breathless at his words. Her eyes gleamed brightly at his confession.

"Are you busy this weekend?" She asked him faintly.

"Well, I'd have t-"

"Well now you're not. Take me on a date." His eyes widened at her forwardness before laughing softly. She did have a way of doing that, leading the way in any conversation no matter what the topic.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" He teased, pulling back from his hold to push his glasses up his nose. "Either way, alright dear. How could I say no to you?"

Tamaki watched from a far with a hand over his heart, genuine tears falling out of his eyes. In all his time he had known Kyoya, he had never seen him passionate about much of anything. To see his friend so sure of himself, so content in his emotions moved him. Thank god for the sun that had taken away Kyoya from his rainy days.

#kyoya x reader #ohshc kyoya #kyoya ootori #kyoya x you #kyoya x y/n #kyoya ootori x reader #black!reader #black reader #poc!reader #poc reader

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rowanaelinn · 3 years

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Fire on Fire - Chapter Three

Chapter two // Chapter four

“My head’s gonna explode,” Elide Lochan sighed before she drank two big gulps of water as if she had been thirsty for days. Aelin knew the feeling. She’d been working for two hours now but it felt like ten. The bar was so hot and the music so loud, she couldn’t wait to go home and come back to the silence of her room.

Today was her first day and of course, it was a Saturday night, the busiest night of the week. The uniform, which was basically only a tight white shirt and a pair of black booty shorts, was one of the other reasons Aelin decided she hated this job but only stayed for the money. Aelin had been lucky today if you can call it that, but unfortunately, that luck didn’t extend to Elide.

Some douche-bags slapped her ass when she served him his drink, and of course, all his friends howled with laughter. As if sexual harassment was some kind of joke. The moment Elide mentioned this incident, Aelin had wanted to slam the guy's head on the table but Elide stopped her. The customer was always right and both Aelin and Elide needed this job too much.

They had decided not to tell their co-worker Manon about that, Aelin and Elide had already worked with her before and Aelin knew where Manon was, violence usually followed. It was something Aelin loved about that woman, and she also found it hot as hell. Okay, maybe she had a bit of a crush on the white-haired woman. But in Aelin’s defense, Elide did have a crush on her too. It was like a general experience.

“Do you think we’ll be fired if we don’t go back?” Aelin put her cold bottle of water against the back of her neck, in an attempt to cool her down.

“Definitely, Rofle is a dick. I mean have you seen this outfit?” The brunette turned on herself and gestured to the more than revealing clothes. Aelin agreed, if her cousin saw her in this outfit he would have a heart attack. She was suddenly glad this bar opened last week, at least Aedion didn’t know this place. Yet.

“Girls,” Nesryn interrupted them. “Break’s over. Go back to work.”

Aelin undid her ponytail, a forbidden hairstyle in this bar apparently, and went back behind the counter. She wore her best fake smile and ignored the lingering looks on her breast or her backside, winked and flirted back when clients thought they had a chance of taking her home with them. Aelin hid her disgust of these men pretty good, she was proud of herself for it.

She would quit if she wasn’t low on money lately. For hell’s sake, Aedion was paying half of her rent. It had been a very long discussion between them, Aelin would rather live on the street than depend on someone. Aelin got convinced when Aedion made it clear if she didn’t accept he would call her parents. So Aelin put her pride aside and accepted, at the only condition Aedion let her pay him back whenever she could. He had argued but accepted. The Ashryver family wasn’t very good at compromise, but at least they tried.

“Aelin, go take the order of table nine,” Manon yelled at her over the background noise. Aelin gave her a thumb up as she kept pouring alcohol in the shaker.

When Aelin was done making this cocktail she wiped her hands and walked toward table nine. She looked down to grab her little booklet and pen she left in one of the pockets of her apron as she said, “Hi, welcome to the sea dragon, what can I-” She stopped as she took in who was sitting in front of her. Lorcan Salvaterre, Fenrys, Connall Moonbeam, and of fucking course, gods-damned Rowan Whitethorn. She took a deep breath and smiled, but she knew her fake smile wasn’t as convincing as it was minutes before.

She focused on Fenrys and Connall, the only ones she could stand at that table. “What can I get you?”

Fenrys had an amused look on his face, accentuated by his smirk full of wickedness. “So this is your new job?” He asked, and if she didn’t know him the look could be considered genuine.

“You knew it, Fen. I told you hours ago.” Rowan’s head whipped to Fenrys, and Aelin’s face suddenly mirrored Fenrys’s. She didn’t know what the blonde had in mind, but if it annoyed Whitethorn, Aelin was on board. Rowan’s head turned back toward her and he narrowed his eyes. “Got something on my face, Whitethorn?” She couldn’t help it, she had to always argue with him.

“Yeah, all that make-up,” his eyes roamed over her body, it took everything in her not to move under the weight of his gaze. “What’s that outfit anyway?” His disdain was quite obvious.

“My uniform, dumbass.” She tightened her grip around her pen and notebook so much that her knuckles turned white. “Be careful, it almost sounds like you care.” It was one of the most sarcastic things she had ever said in her life, the look in his eyes was enough proof.

“Why would I care about you when you’re dressed like a stripper?” He crossed his arms and Aelin had to force herself not to stare at his muscles and at the tattoo on his arms. He was a handsome bastard and it made him quite hard to hate.

“So, no respect for sex workers, Whitethorn? Why am I not surprised?”

“No, actually I respect them a lot. You’re the only person I don’t respect.” It took everything in her not to punch him in the face right now, but that’s what he was waiting for. It was like he loved to see her lose control.

“I’m going to enjoy spitting in your drink.”

“Do that and I’ll have a nice chat with your boss, good luck to find another job, princess.” He was getting angry, Aelin loved that, it meant she was winning their little game.

“Feel free to do it, it just means you’ll have to share that splendid bathroom with me longer.” She winked at him and wiggled her brows. Rowan clenched his jaw, another sign of his anger.

“Can you two stop for a minute? I’m thirsty.” Lorcan Salvaterre interrupted them and Aelin rolled her eyes. She wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with Lorcan either, but instead of always arguing as she did with Rowan, they just ignored each other.

“Who are they?” Elide asked as Aelin prepared her roommates’ order. The four of them wanted a beer, classic.

“Two of them are the bane of my existence and the two others annoying but very pretty.”

“I want him in my bed,” Elide said as she bit her lip. Aelin whipped her head toward the guys, trying to know which one she was talking about.

“I have no idea which one you’re already planning to get naked but one of them is gay and the other three aren’t good options.”

“Great, I don’t want good and I don’t want to be good. And It’s the tall one.” Elide winked and left before Aelin could say anything. Of course, Elide would be attracted to Lorcan. Alein went back to their table, accidentally spilling a little bit of Rowan’s beer on him when she accidentally tripped. He swore at her but she decided to ignore it, instead, she pushed him so she could sit next to him to be right in front of Lorcan.

“You,” She pointed at Lorcan, with her smile full of mischief.

“Don’t look at me like that.” She shook his head and she heard the twins laugh.

“What’s your type of woman?”

“Everything you aren’t.”

“I’m gonna look past that insult because I am an amazing woman,” she was cut off by Rowan’s snort. “You shut up, you’re thirty and still single.” She looked back at Lorcan but heard Rowan correct her on his age. His highness was still twenty-nine for three months. “What about 5”2, brunette, very very scary. She’s also one of the prettiest women I’ve ever seen, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have good taste. I’m not her type but you are.” She winked at him. Rowan muttered something that sounded a lot like “We aren’t teenagers anymore” but she ignored him.

Lorcan furrowed his brow, Aelin could see him hesitate. “Where?”

“Want to see her dance?” Aelin didn’t wait for the answer and walked back to the bar.

Rowan was mesmerized.

The moment Aelin Ashryver Galathynius started dancing was the moment he lost his mind.

He hated her for it, hated her for being the first thing anyone looked at when they entered a room. Hated her for being the most attractive woman he had seen in a while.

She had been raised to become this. Well, not to become a barmaid in a piss-poor bar in Doranelle. But to become the type of woman everyone looked at, everyone wanted.

With Evalin Ashryver as her mother, how could Aelin become something else? Her mother was an incredible actress, and one of the most famous ones. She was also known for being cunning, ambitious, and beautiful as a sin.

And with Rhoe Galathynius as her father, Aelin knew how to captivate an audience. Rhoe was a legend of football. Whenever he played, all eyes were on him. He was smart and as cunning as his wife, a perfect match if you listened to the papers. That’s probably why he was a coach now, and that’s also why his team almost always won.

So Aelin was born with amazing genes, a talent to bewitch everyone who looked at her, and a bank account bigger than anyone should have. That’s why he didn’t understand why she would be working here and living with five guys instead of just having a big apartment in the richest part of town. But Aedion had told everyone to never mention her parents, so they all listened. Everyone was careful to do just that, maybe because Lysandra had threatened to cut their favorite body part and to make them eat it if they ever mentioned Rhoe’s or Evalin’s name. All that the day they met her when she was one month away from turning eighteen.

Now this she-devil had him under her spell. He couldn’t stop looking at the way her hips moved perfectly on beat with the music, at the way her hands wandered over her stomach, the side of her breast, and then lifted her hair in the air. Or even at how close she was to her friend, the one who is apparently interested in Lorcan. Both of them were giving a show, and when Rowan finally looked away from the blonde it was to find almost every man with their eyes on her. She knew what she was doing, he knew she did. It made him want to yell at her, even at work she couldn’t help but want attention.

Aelin turned her head, and their eyes met. Rowan sat straighter, swallowing. Her sinful mouth turned into a smirk and she accentuated her hips’ movements, aware of Rowan’s eyes on her. It was also something they did, along with arguing. They caught the other checking the other out, but wouldn’t call them on it. They would never bring it up, it was like a secret between them. He shouldn’t find the idea of sharing something with her so exciting.

She never stopped looking at him as she danced, sometimes she would bit her lip, sometimes her hands would wander on her breasts. He had to stop himself from growling as his cock hardened. Aelin was a sin.

Who did she think she was? He hated her, he made that clear. She hated him, and she had also made that clear. Why did she feel the need to tease him? She was trying to mess with him, and it was working.

The bubble broke when one of Aelin’s coworkers interrupted her, telling her and her friend she was dancing with to go back to work. Rowan couldn’t help but stare at her ass as she walked back behind the counter. He would have felt bad for it, wasn’t it for the slight sway of her hips and the look she threw at him when she started serving people again.

“I want her.” Lorcan almost grunted, and against his best wishes and even if they weren’t talking about the same girl, Rowan agreed.

Aelin wasn’t tired, no, tired wasn’t a strong enough word to describe what she was feeling. It was almost three in the morning and her shift ended in one hour, thank god she wasn’t supposed to close the bar today.

A customer asked for another sex on the beach, his fourth of the night. Aelin smiled as she prepared it but decided it would be his last of the night. Rofle didn’t want his barmaids to stop clients from drinking because more drinking means more money. But all the money in the world wasn’t worth the customers’ life. She would never forgive herself if someone had a car accident or became an alcoholic because of the drink she served. She gave the drink and took the man’s car keys, saying she would call a cab when he wanted to leave.

Aelin’s phone started ringing and when she saw who was calling her she sighed. If she was tired now it would be worse by the end of the night.

“Hello,” She answered as she got into a cupboard to find some quiet.

“Hi, you’re Aelin Galathynius?” A deep male voice asked. From the tone of his voice, the man must be as exhausted as Aelin was.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Aelin already regretted picking up this gods damned phone.

“I’m sorry to bother you but a guy’s at my bar. He’s tall-”

“Yeah, I know exactly who it is. Let me guess, he is drunk and absolutely refuses to call a taxi because taxis are disgusting. He also told you to call me, didn’t he?”

“You got it all right.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “Where’s your bar?” She nodded when he told her the address and told him she would be here in half an hour.

Aelin went to Elide, apologized, and asked her to cover the rest of her shift. Elide understood, it wasn’t the first time Aelin had to leave for the same reason. Elide was pissed but not because she had more work, but because she didn’t want Aelin to go.

Aelin took her car and drove, maybe a little slower than she should but it was night. Roads were dangerous, especially on a Saturday night. Aelin parked right in front of the sidewalk. She took her phone and wanted to text Aedion to tell him she would be late but her phone was dead. Amazing.

Aelin walked into the bar and realized she didn’t take time to change clothes, she was still in her uniform. She crossed her arms, trying to cover her chest as best as she could. Even if she had liked to have Rowan Whitethorn watching her tonight, she didn’t want anyone else to look at her this way.

It didn’t take long to see who had called Aelin, she walked toward him, the bartender looked relieved someone would come to pick him up. “I’m gonna take that.” She told him, and he gave her the car keys. Aelin turned her head to grey eyes watching her body, of course, he would notice her lack of clothing. “Let’s get you home,” Aelin said, trying her best not to let her anger out, it’s not going to help tonight.

“Hello, darling,” Arobynn purred.

tag list:

@sheharahu // @morganofthewildfire // @thestoriesyoutell // @fromthelibraryofemilyj // @swankii-art-teacher // @itsforeverinnocent-blog // @becarefuloflove // @imnotsogoodatthis // @rowaelinismyotp // @a-court-of-milkandhoney // @feysand-loml // @surielandiareendgame // @live-the-fangirl-life // @story-scribbler // @mx—spelled //

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin fic #throne of glass fanfiction #throne of glass #fire on fire #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #aelin galathynius

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closetedotaku01 · 4 years

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can i rq for insecure s/o that have a beautiful body but she recently gained weight and kept overthinks it, but none of her friends are helping her out cause they think her body is nice and keeps taking her insecurities lightly.. for kuroo and oikawa pls

Imagine for Kuroo & Oikawa with insecure FEM S/O lacking a support system.

A/N: Wow I love this ask with my whole heart. Even chose two of my favorite characters. And may I just say these two might be the best in this situation, given that they’re captains, and aside from Bokuto captains are very aware of their teams and the general mental state and morale of every person on their team, so they might be the best people for this situation.

TW: Body image issues, self-esteem issues

Now: Imagine time!!!

Kuroo Tetsurō

-Kuroo would notice you spending more time in the bathroom. More time picking out outfits. And your generally more disgruntled demeanor

-He can tell you’re unhappy, but he cannot tell what about. As far as he knows there’s nothing that’s happened. But he figures you’ll tell him in time whatever is bothering you.

-And then one day he’s out with you and your friends and one of them compliments your outfit and your body.

-He sees the way you immediately flush and reject the compliment. It’s not a humility thing or a simple deflection out of embarrassment, he can see you wholly and fully rejecting the compliment. You don’t even look like it made you feel good.

-He takes your hand in his and is about to ask you if everything’s okay when one of your friends whines about how pretty girls always fish for compliments

-He notices how your chuckle is feigned and your eyes look beyond hurt, watering a bit. How you squeeze his hand slightly.

-Your mutter out something he can’t quite make out over the sound of everyone else talking, but it’s something along the lines of you mentioning your weight gain. And it clicks for him.

-One of your friends talks about how you still look “fine” and he can’t take it anymore. You’re far from fine. As far from fine as it gets. You’re magnificent, an absolute treasure, and fuck them for not noticing that the most beautiful girl in the entire world is not happy

-Fuck them for not seeing it. Fuck them for hurting you. He is not having it.

- “I’m sorry everyone, we’re headed home now,” he says, already standing up and grabbing your purse to hand to you.

-You follow his lead solely because you’re scared if you don’t you might burst into tears in front of everyone and you don’t want to cause a scene.

- “Awww come on where’re you going? Why can’t you guys stay?”

- Kuroo doesn’t miss a beat, “I need some alone time with my gorgeous girlfriend.” He turns to you, speaking barely above a whisper, “You ready to go, love?”

-You nod at his gentle words and head back to your apartment together.

~~~~

When you enter your apartment, Kuroo immediately pulls you into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispers to you, tucking his body into yours, head into your neck, arms wrapped tight around you.

The tears you’d been holding back fall freely from your eyes and into his shirt, “I’m sorry, Tetsu I--”

He pushes you back, holding your shoulder at an arm’s length, “What are you apologizing for, love? You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.” You can’t meet his eyes, forcing yourself to stare down at the visible extra weight you’ve put on.

“For… not looking like the girl you fell in love with,” it’s all you can say before the sobs start pouring out. Hating your body. Hating yourself. Hating yourself for putting the most caring man you’ve ever known through this with you.

The sobs tear through your body leaving an aching wreckage in your chest and your stomach and your back and your throat. There’s nothing left undamaged. Every bit of you is in so much pain and is shaking, like the pain you’ve been feeling finally exploded and is trying to escape by any means it can, fighting to escape even through your shaking fingertips.

Kuroo puts his hand to one cheek and wipes the tears on that side, he bends down so his face is in front of yours, “Look at me.” His voice is soft and comforting filled with the love, care, and respect you had grown used to, but these words were packed full of them. Even when you knew you didn’t deserve all the affection.

He inhales deeply, “Deep breath in through your nose,” he exhales softly, smiling with his eyes as he blows lightly on your tears sending coolness into your burning cheeks, “And out through your mouth.”

You copy him as he repeats this until your breathing steadies. Until your heart has stopped slamming against your chest. Until the pain in your body is reduced to a dull ache.

Your eyes are still on his, and he’s looking at you with passionate love and fierce compassion, “There she is. There’s my beautiful girlfriend,” he says with a shy smile.

“I’m not---” a sob threatens to reappear, but you catch it in your throat.

“Love, you are beyond gorgeous. Your body is so sexy and still so adorable and pretty. I don’t know how you do it,” he kisses the crown of your head, “you mean the world to me,” a kiss to your forehead, “and if you call my world anything less than a goddess, anything less than perfection,” he kisses both of your eyelids and the tip of your nose in quick succession, “I will have to fight you.” He punctuates his sentence by planting a kiss on your lips.

“Tetsu, just because you’re my boyfriend, doesn’t mean you have to lie to me. It actually means you shouldn’t lie to me. And I know I don’t look good like this.”

His shoulders fall. And he has a sad expression on his face, but his eyes are still happy and you can see the smile tugging on his lips as he looks down, “Oh I get it,” he takes a long pause, “you think I have bad taste.”

You hit his arm playfully, “Tetsu, I’m serious!”

“So am I!” he shoots back, chuckling lightly.

“Okay, love, I know you don’t believe me. But you are seriously gorgeous. Completely, out of this world gorgeous. Beyond any person, place, or thing I have ever seen. The whole cosmos comes together to make the Earth and everything in it and around it, and the only part of any of it that’s worth seeing is you.”

His words feel raw and sincere, but you’re about to reject his kindness when he says the words you’ve been waiting for, “But you don’t see yourself that way. And that means you’re wrong…. But you do deserve to feel as beautiful as you are. And to feel as happy as you always make me. So if you want to come with me on my runs or if you want me to help you with anything let me know. I think you’re gorgeous but more than anything you deserve to be happy with how you look. So I’ll be right there by your side to get you there safely and healthily.”

You start to tear up again, your chest welling with love for the man before you. You collapse into his hold, and he holds you tight. He pulls away slightly to get a look at your face, “On one condition.”

You nod.

“I disagree, but I still believe that you don’t see yourself as beautiful. So even if you disagree ... can you please believe me when I say I know you’re absolutely bewitching.”

You nod again, and he pulls you in close to his body, happy to have brought you peace.

Oikawa Tōru

-It wasn’t intended to wound you. In full honesty, it wasn’t intended for you. But you’d heard it nonetheless and it was roaring through your mind.

- “Pretty people never date down.”

-You’d heard in passing as you walked down the street. But the words bounced around, rattling everything in your mind.

-You never thought of yourself as particularly pretty, but you’d certainly done yourself no favors by putting on a healthy amount of “relationship weight”.

-You tried going to your friends, desperately craving some semblance of comfort or hope for your relationship with THE universally recognized pretty boy Oikawa Tōru.

-They shot back sarcastic comments about your “pretty girl problems”

- “Former pretty girl problems" was the only thing your brain could shoot back, determined to push you into a hole with the crushing anxieties you had about your body now doubled up with losing the person you loved and trusted most in your life.

-You walked into your apartment, your boyfriend on his laptop watching and rewatching one of his games, taking notes on his performance as well as the performance of each of his peers.

~~~~

“Hey baby how was your day?” his words are unfocused. Almost like he’s reading from a script as he jots down more notes and rewinds to rewatch the same play again.

“Terrible,” you say, honestly believing he’d be too caught up in his game to care. Who’d care for the ugly girl they were stuck with anyway? He probably stuck with you out of sheer pity.

He immediately paused the game and turned back to face you, “Aww no, what happened, baby? Come here.” his arms were open wide for you on the couch.

“You know you can leave,” you said before you could think better of it. You regretted it. You didn’t want him to know that. You selfishly wanted him to stay with you forever, even if only out of pity. But… he did deserve better.

“What?” he asks quirking a brow, aware of how serious you sound, “I don’t want to… leave. Do you just need some alone time, Y/N? I can go on a run or something if you need some time to clear your head.”

“I meant ... leave me,” you say, your voice weaker and higher this time as tears that you hadn’t even felt forming started blurring your vision threatening to spill any moment.

He was in front of you in a heartbeat, “I’m sorry. I’ve been focusing too much on other things, haven’t I? I promise I don’t wan--”

“No the problem is you’re focusing too much on me!” your voice comes out as a yell and you see the half-step he takes, backing away from you, “you deserve better Tōru. You should want to leave.” With that, the tears spill over and your legs give in as you fall pathetically to the ground.

This moment is the very reason he should leave. You can’t even hold yourself together. You’re not pretty, you’re not strong, you’ve yelled at him when he’s done nothing wrong… you hardly deserve him.

You feel his hand meet your cheek and you flinch slightly at the contact, but neither of you move. His hand drifts down to your chin, lifting your face up so your eyes meet his. Your anger and sadness triple down on you when you see he’s got a fake smile on, his eyes rimmed red, tears forming because of you.

“I love you. I am not leaving you. Full stop. So please tell me what’s bothering you, baby.”

You want to ignore him. You want to grab your things and leave so he can get started on finding a better match so he wasn’t stuck dating down. With his body and mind and humor and kindness, he’d have no trouble. He had a million fans on standby at any given moment anyway.

But you don’t. You don’t pack. You don’t leave. You instead, pull his body into yours, desperately clutching his shirt with whitened knuckles, sobbing into him.

With time you let his strong arms bring you peace. With your body molded tight against his, you eventually match his breathing, steadying yourself. His smell grounds you, the feeling of his hand in your hair calms you, and the soft, gentle praises he coos into your ear center you. Effectively, he slays every intrusive thought in your mind.

“You’re so perfect for me.”

“I never want to leave you.”

“You’ve made me the man I am today. I wouldn’t be here without you.”

“I know the path to being my best self, is a path I’ll only be able to walk with you by my side.”

“You’re my whole world, baby. Please stop discounting yourself.”

“I wouldn’t change one thing about you, baby. Not even your stupid jokes. Not even the way you tease me.”

“I love your mind and the way you think. How kind and passionate you are. How you support me through everything. How you take such good care of me and everyone you love. God, I love the way you love. I love how wholly and completely you give love. And I love your body, baby. I love how pretty your face is, how perfectly your body fits with mine, how completely, mind-blowingly sexy you are. All of you. There’s not one part of you I am not head over heels in love with. We’re an absolute knockout of a couple, but you are by far the better half. Baby, please believe that because it is the truth.”

Every word is woven between kisses and touches and the easing of your whole body and mind. There was no way these words were planned. They were genuine. You could hear the authenticity in his voice, even though the unpleasant raspiness that had formed as he desperately tried to hold back his own tears. He had you whipped. Completely convinced.

You belonged here right in his arms. Right up next to him. As close as the world would allow any two people to get.

After you’d calmed down completely he asked without looking at you so he could keep you close, “What happened?”

You told him everything. The words you heard. How they beat around in your head, leaving a cold thunderous ache throughout your body. How your support system had failed you. How he had saved you from the treacherous thoughts that were certain to continue sending you spiraling downward if he hadn’t fixed everything simply by being him. And how much you treasure him.

He let out a breathy laugh, that soon grew into a full-on laugh as the tears finally left his eyes.

“It’s not funny Tōru!” you pout, basking in the sweet sound of his deep laughter.

“I know,” he says, still laughing. He clears his throat and does his best to stifle down the laughter, but it keeps bubbling up, “I know, baby. I know. But you know how I feel and you know that’s not going to change.”

“Then why are you laughing,” you ask, giggling as you wipe the last of your tears from your face and wipe the ones from his.

“All I can think of,” the laughter breaks through his sentence, but he regains his composure, “is that you think I’m the prettier one.”

You hit his arm as you two laugh on the floor behind the couch, perfectly at ease with the man who you adore, and who adores you.

~~~~

Also just a reminder: Weight =/= beauty. So whether you are plus-sized, or thin, curvy, or flat, your body is perfect as it is. Just please stay healthy and happy and that’s all it takes. “Fat” does not mean ugly. “Skinny” does not mean ugly. Please stop associating these words. They’re not the same.

Beauty is your kindness and your compassion and your integrity. Your will to fight another day, your will to stand up for others, your will to give voice to the voiceless. It’s the way you look when you’re passionate and the way you constantly bring joy to others. So while I personally do understand associating my worth and my beauty with my weight, we all know that it’s just incorrect. Beauty does not fall into any physical mold, so please don’t try to hold yourself to a mold that was created by people who profit off your insecurity. You are you, and that is a goddamn blessing. You are you and that is more than enough. Your body is perfect. Please be kind.

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liron-ao3 · 3 years

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Barking up the right tree

College AU Malec oneshot

Magnus looks up from his books as a student he doesn't know takes the seat opposite him on the study table in the library. The dark-haired man sends a shy smile his way and pulls a notepad out of his bag.

Magnus glances at the book titles. Medieval arms. A history undergrad, probably. He looks at his own textbook again, trying to fall in love with Shakespeare's sonnets, but strangely failing. He loves his major, but funny enough, he hates the English bard. But studying isn't about loving something, it's about understanding. So he tries again for the nth time.

Soon enough, a rustling of pages opposite him pulls him out of his analysis again. The student seems to look for something in his notes. His forehead creases in concentration, and Magnus suppresses a chuckle. The other man looks so cute like this. Maybe he would enjoy the sonnets more if Shakespeare had written about a beauty like him.

The other student seems to feel his gaze on him as his eyes dart up and surprise Magnus with their brightness and warmth. "Do I have something on my face?"

Magnus takes a moment to process the perfect voice fitting the perfect face, adorned with the most perfect blush dusting his cheeks. "No." The other man's lips twitch a little in amusement. "Just the most beautiful smile I've ever seen," Magnus whispers and the other's blush grows even darker.

Magnus leans back and raises an amused eyebrow. How can a gorgeous man like this be so easily flustered? He surely receives compliments left and right. But he stares at his notepad as if his life was depending on it. Such a shame, Magnus thinks and returns to his own notes.

Now and then, Magnus chances a glance at the beauty on the other side of the table, and more often than not, he catches the other man doing just the same. They share soft smiles and return to their study material, just to meet again after half a minute or so, repeating the same ritual again, and again, and again.

Magnus can't concentrate on studying anymore and goes through his best pick up lines, searching for the perfect one to bewitch the angel opposite him. But none of them seems to fit, maybe because Magnus isn't at a party, ready to get laid. So, the next time their eyes meet, he simply asks, "I'm Magnus. What do you say we get out of here and grab a coffee?"

"Alec," the other student says, smiling shyly at him. "Oh, uh…" he stutters but doesn't manage to end whatever sentence he was going for as a blond man comes from behind and whispers something in his ear.

Alec flinches away but moves back after a shocked second and turns to look at the blond, giving him a bright smile. He leans in to whisper something in return, Alec's lips nearly brushing over the shell of his ear.

Magnus has seen enough. He detests cheaters with all his heart, not only since Camille. But he for sure won't sit here and watch as Alec talks with his boyfriend right in front of him.

He packs his stuff, maybe a little too loudly for the quiet library, but he doesn't care. He thought they had a moment. Hell, at least 25 moments. What a disappointment!

Without another look, he stalks out of the library and over to the bus stop. He'll have to put his new noise-cancelling headphones to good use to block out Raphael's emo music when he has to study in their dorm room.

He runs a hand through his hair, annoyed that he forgot how much time it had taken him to style it only hours earlier. He should have stayed in bed today.

"O, call not me to justify the wrong

That thy unkindness lays upon my heart;

Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue;

Use power with power, and slay me not by art," he hears someone saying behind him, the voice louder than the first time he heard it back in the library.

Magnus scoffs in disgust and swirls around. "Really? Shakespeare? You're barking up the wrong tree, mister. Maybe your boyfriend likes to be serenaded with stupid sonnets."

Alec stares at him for a long moment, then reaches out his hand holding the book which he had just read from. "You dropped this," he says. "And I don't have a boyfriend. But do you have any suggestions with what serenading might work when it comes to barking up the right tree?"

Magnus hasn't blushed for a very long time, but he does now, crimson. "Um, T.S. Eliot, maybe. I love cats."

"The musical?"

"No, the animals."

Alec smiles warmly at him. "Good that I'm not allergic then."

Good indeed.

#malec #malec fic #malec fanfic #malec fanfiction #malec fandom #students #misunderstandings #college au

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malecsecretsanta · 3 years

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Merry Christmas, antisocial-af!

For @antisocial-af: (HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!)

*****

Why did I even agree to this in the first place?

Alec wondered to himself as he checked his watch again for the tenth time in the last five minutes.

His date was late, exceedingly late in fact, and he was beginning to feel pathetic; the waitress had been giving him a look of pity for the last half an hour.

Alec had begrudgingly agreed to be set up on a blind date by his sister. It had become the general consensus among his siblings that he needed to get out and finally meet somebody.

“You need to get laid big brother.” Isabelle had said with a smirk as Jace had laughed.

“She’s right man.” Jace had agreed wholeheartedly. “At the very least it’d lighten you up a bit.”

Alec had been incredulous. “This is really none of your business and I don’t think—”

“I know someone!” Isabelle piped in suddenly with a grin.

“See! Problem solved Alec. We’ll get you laid soon enough.” Jace had said clapping Alec on his back.

Why he had eventually agreed to the blind date was anyone’s guess, even Alec himself was questioning it, especially since the guy had apparently decided not to show.

“That’s it. I’m—”

“I am so sorry I’m late!”

Alec looked up startled. In front of him was what had to be the most uniquely beautiful man he’d ever laid eyes on. His hair was swept up in an elegantly wavy coif with blue highlights, his eyes were traced in black eyeliner with some kind of shimmery eyeshadow that helped bring out the beautiful bronze of the man’s eyes. His lips were plump with a slight pink gloss to them, which Alec wanted nothing more than to kiss.

Wait…what?

Alec shook his head and closed his eyes.

Get a hold of yourself Alec.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, finding his blind date looking at him with wide eyes.

“Look, you’re probably angry with me, which I totally get, but I have a very good excuse I swear—"

The man stopped rambling as Alec held up both his hands indicating that the other man should stop.

“You’re here now, which is all that matters, right?” Alec said straightening up and focusing his attention on his date.

The other man smiled softly at Alec and gently nodded his head.

“Right. Let me formally introduce myself, I’m Magnus, Magnus Bane.”

“Alec.”

The two men shook hands and neither one could keep the smiles off their faces.

“Wow, Isabelle really hit the nail on the head with you.” Alec couldn’t help but say, feeling himself blush as his own words hit his ears.

The other man, Magnus, was quiet for a moment, looked unsure before a Cheshire grin spread over his face.

“Can’t say I heard as much about you, but I don’t think words could do you justice Alexander.”

Alec paused a moment, his full name coming from the man in front of him causing a shiver to radiate up his spine.

I like that.

Alec chuckled and smiled back at the man who seemed like such a force of nature, all he wanted was to try and contain it just for himself.

So, the two men chatted and laughed and drank together for the next couple of hours. The waitress who had previously been looking at Alec with pity was now looking on at him with envy. It felt really good he had to admit to himself.

Magnus was an impressive man. He owned his own night club (he’d been helped out with a loan by his grandmother), but he’d been the one to turn it into a successful venture. He was also an artist; painting was his main forte, but he also enjoyed writing poetry every now and again.

“Maybe one day you could show me a piece of your work.” Alec had said nonchalantly.

Smirking Magnus had replied with, “Maybe one day I’ll let you see my piece. I’ve been told it’s quite impressive.”

Alec had nearly choked on his food at that.

“I didn’t—That’s not—”

“Alexander, relax,” Magnus had said reaching forward and clasping his hand over Alec’s. “I’m just flirting with you, no need to get flustered, though I must admit you’re even more adorable now than you were ten minutes ago.”

“I’m sorry gentleman, but we’re closing in five minutes.” It was their waitress who did have guilty look on her face.

Magnus swiped the check from her before Alec even had a chance.

“It’s on me my dear Alexander. I was late after all.”

Alec couldn’t stop the stutter that made its way out of his mouth as he tried to protest, but it was a losing battle. The man before him had bewitched him. Everything about Magnus Bane left him feeling hungry for more. His sister sure knew how to pick guys.

They ended up exchanging numbers, promising each other to text when they made it home safely.

Magnus took Alec’s hand in his and placed a gentle kiss to the top of it. Alec’s eyebrows were up to his hairline as Magnus looked up meeting his gaze.

“Goodnight, sweet prince.”

And in a flourish Magnus Bane was gone.

Alec was in a daze most of the way home. He also had the biggest smile on his face. Izzy definitely had outdone herself.

His phone rang suddenly, and he answered without thinking.

“Hello?”

“Alec?”

“Hey Isabelle, what are you—”

“Did Jason show up?”

Alec looked at his phone in confusion.

“Um, who’s Jason?”

“Shit, what an asshole, I should have known.”

“Iz you really need to figure out what you’re saying because I just had the best date I’ve had in years, and you’re kind of freaking me out here.” Alec said stopping.

“Well, I don’t know how that would have been possible Alec, because the guy I fixed you up with turned out to be a total prick and decided not to show. I had been so scared you’d just sat there all night alone…"

“Ok Izzy wait a second. So, if the guy who you set me up with didn’t show then who the hell did I have dinner and desert with for the last two and a half hours?”

“Oh, Alec I—I’m not sure. Two and a half hours, really? That’s Amazing!”

“Not the point Iz.” Alec said impatiently trying not to freak out.

“What was the guy’s name?”

“I don’t think that matters—”

“Alec just tell me the guy’s damn name.”

Sighing Alec shook his head. “Magnus Bane. That’s his name.”

There was a moment of silence before Isabelle started to scream on the other line. Alec had to hold the phone out from his ear.

“Iz? Isabelle? Can you stop screaming I kind of need my hearing.”

Laughing Isabelle stopped her yells and took in a few deep breaths.

“Alec, Magnus Bane? He’s only one of New York’s most prominent eligible bachelors. He frequents bars, restaurants, and night clubs sometimes. And he, Oh! He must have seen you were a damsel in need of rescuing and decided—”

“Isabelle, I am not a damsel.” Alec interrupted, feeling all the hope and excitement from the date drain from him.

There was another moment of silence before she answered.

“Alec listen, I didn’t mean anything by that. Magnus Bane has very high standards when it comes to those he takes interest it, he might have a reputation of sorts but he really is a good guy, at least from what I understand.”

“Iz if you think that’s suppose to make me feel better—”

His phone buzzed and he noticed a text message from Magnus.

“Not home yet, but I can’t stop thinking about you. Tonight, was fantastic, but I have a confession to make. I wasn’t your blind date. I saw you sitting there looking absolutely stunning and the idea of leaving you alone seemed cruel to me. So, I took a chance and I am glad I did. If you forgive me, I’d like to see you again. What do you say?”

Alec felt the wind knock itself out of him, and he actually smiled.

“Isabelle, I’ll call you later I have a text to respond to.”

And without letting her respond he hung up.

#antisocial-af #malecsanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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hilarieburtonmorgan · 3 years

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Ten Years Later, the One Tree Hill Cast Is Setting the Record Straight

Ten years after the finale of One Tree Hill, the actors Hilarie Burton Morgan, Sophia Bush, and Bethany Joy Lenz have never been closer. Despite their shared experience growing up on screen, the trio— who played Peyton Sawyer, Brooke Davis, and Haley James in the heartland-set high school soap for nine seasons—were kept largely isolated from one another during those years.

That distance began to dissipate with age, and when the #MeToo movement alerted the actors to some of their common experiences while working on One Tree Hill. In their new weekly iHeartRadio podcast Drama Queens, the three actors unpack the moments—nostalgic and traumatic alike—that unfolded behind the scenes of the wildly popular drama. To celebrate the podcast’s success, Burton Morgan, Bush, and Lenz joined us for a bit of reminiscing. —BRIAN ALESSANDRO

———

HILARIE BURTON MORGAN: Sophia, you were the person that called me about a podcast. What was the catalyst for you to be like, “It’s time”?

SOPHIA BUSH: When we first finished the show, I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to touch it. I didn’t want to be close to it. And then as time went on, and we all started being able to get together, and share stories, and talk some shit. We all finally told each other the stories we’d been afraid to share — I wish we’d been able to have the friendships we have now back then! — and hearing everyone’s stories really made me so furious. It lit that fire in me, and I thought “well, we just have to burn it down.” But, I also had to remember how much our fans love the show, and to realize that despite so much that was insidious we also had fun. We’ve shared stories about what was painful and hard, and I think especially because of what you were put through, I wanted to call you first and just say, like, “Does this idea feel triggering?” You said “No, this feels quite cool.”

BURTON MORGAN: What was your first reaction, Joy?

BETHANY JOY LENZ: I was definitely hesitant about more One Tree Hill anything. But the more we talked about it, I was like, “Wow, this is actually a chance for redemption.” Also, I don’t want to throw shade on the show that did give us amazing opportunities. I always try to temper my frustrations with a good bit of gratitude. But as for the bad stuff, I really do love the opportunity to redeem that. Some of it was us being young and stubborn twenty-year-olds, but a lot of it was the people around us who were using our youth and naïveté to keep us from arguing back. It was always, “Joy, you’re the odd man out. Sophia, you’re the odd man out. Hilarie, you’re the odd man out.” So we never reached out to each other. I’m incredibly grateful for the relationship I with you amazing women now.

BURTON MORGAN: I left the show first, and it was the divorce of my life, because I’d committed so much to being the good soldier. “I’ll do whatever press you want. I’ll go on whatever mall tour.” And so, the loss of that was traumatic. But the next relationship I got into professionally was with White Collar, and the best person I could have ever encountered was Tiffani Thiessen, who was an icon to me. She told me right out of the gate, “Don’t bad mouth the show that got you started. Defend your character, forget the bad guys, take what’s good.” That was such great advice. She was someone whose opinion meant something to me, because she’d been a teen idol of mine. Who were some women on TV that that you felt like we were trying to emulate while we were doing the show?

LENZ: I don’t think I ever really knew how to process it. I actually feel like I missed a lot of the excitement because I kept asking myself what it all meant.

BURTON MORGAN: I was the opposite! I like experience. But I made terrible choices.

BUSH: I’m with Joy. Now, I over intellectualize everything because back then, I was always soaking up all the experiences and I got my ass handed to me. So now I’m like, “What does it mean? What is it all?”

BURTON MORGAN: How many years out are we now? Like 17 years out from the first year?

LENZ: I don’t even know how to process that.

BURTON MORGAN: 18 years out? Jesus, we could have children in college at this point. Why do you think people still care?

LENZ: Comfort food. I mean, that’s it, like especially now that there’s so much content. I can only speak from my experience, but when I settle in to watch TV, I will spend 20 minutes scrolling before saying, “You know what, fuck it,” and turning on Frasier. And that’s what I watch because I know those characters, and I just want that familiarity. I honestly think the over-saturation has played a huge role in our fans’ need for One Tree Hill.

BUSH: And I would also say that there is something about how — as outlandish it got at times — there was also a lot that felt honest. People write to us about how they feel seen, how they feel represented, how they see their own struggles in our show. When I meet new people who are just discovering it and I think, “You could be watching anything! Why? Thank you?”

BURTON MORGAN: Honestly, having an older kid, and seeing the things that he’s drawn to, he loves watching TV shows from our era. Probably the same reason I loved watching Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and What’s Happening – it’s retro. They’re mystified by it because there’s no social media on our show and so people are actually talking to each other. You actually had to show up at Karen’s Cafe to have that important conversation. It’s a wish fulfillment for these younger kids where they’re like, “Oh, my life doesn’t look anything like that.” We are the time warp, which is super fucked up.

LENZ: And we were also the last show that was doing, dare I say, wholesome content? I mean I know our show, like, jumped the shark several times in many regards, but in terms of the“hometown kids, middle of America, just dealing with regular emotions and life stuff,” those shows became very rare. Everything that came after us was like rich kids—Gossip Girl and The OC, and then it was all brought to a high-concept place like the Vampire Diaries, Riverdale stuff. And I don’t know that there’s anything out there that’s kind of gotten back to the roots, like One Tree Hill.

BURTON MORGAN: Can you imagine pitching One Tree Hill now? Like, “it’s about some kids. Two of them play basketball, and the rest are just moody.”

BURTON MORGAN: What episodes are we all excited to review the most? Some of them are cringey as hell.

BUSH: I’m sure a lot of them will be.

BURTON MORGAN: I like the Halloween episode we did at Tric [the “all-ages” nightclub]. That was batshit. It was 1000 degrees in there and everyone was dying and miserable and we’re dressed up like cartoons.

LENZ: I know. The one with the car, where they made me fucking siphon off gas.

BURTON MORGAN: That was fun cause that was really the first time the three of us were put together.

BUSH: Having to pretend to be high on pills when I never had been, I was like, “I’ll try!” Hilarie, your wedding episode was…

BURTON MORGAN: Christ.

BUSH: That was such a shit show, man. You said the Halloween episode — you’ll cackle when you see we did a Halloween episode after you were gone. And I had to be dressed up as one half of A Clockwork Orange, but was abandoned in my costume, and I was written to be dressed as a giant orange and Carol (Cutshall, costumer) papier-mached a workout ball and drilled armholes in it, and I had to wear it. AND I directed that episode!

BURTON MORGAN: That’s perfect! That’s a chef’s kiss.

BUSH: I had little T-Rex arms, being like, “well, if you go over there” – And they’d say “Where?” And I’d be like, “I can’t show you! I’m stuck in an orange!” It was, it was so humiliating. But when I think back on it, great comedic fodder.

BURTON MORGAN: What is your favorite keepsake from the show?

LENZ: I have the Julius Caesar book that Haley gives to Lucas in the pilot.

BURTON MORGAN: I have the leather jacket that Peyton takes after Ellie [Sheryl Lee] dies. That was an intense crying scene for me. My body has a physical reaction to that jacket.

LENZ: What’s yours, Soph?

BUSH: I have, like, a bin.

BURTON MORGAN: You have everything!

BUSH: There’s like this sad episode where Brooke celebrates her birthday alone in her room with a cupcake. I have the photo album from that scene, which is very sweet because it’s all photos of you and I, Hilarie…

BURTON MORGAN: You have that?

BUSH: Oh yeah, I took that immediately. There are real pictures of us from growing up, because it was this story of these friends who grew up together…

BURTON MORGAN: Joy, we’re gonna photoshop you in.

BUSH: Honestly, we should just make a new one. Of all the stuff that feels sentimental, that “Brooke Davis for President” pin kills me. It’s up on the wall in my office, because it makes me laugh. When I think about why that’s the one thing I’ve displayed—next to a photo of the three of us— it’s because it symbolized something that at the time really embarrassed me, but now I respect. Brooke Davis took the thing she was made fun of for, and turned it into an anthem. She was this bad bitch who owned her shit. That’s something I’ve tried to emulate.

BURTON MORGAN: One thing that I keep thinking is, “we deserve this.”

LENZ: Because we do! It’s hard to say that as women, I think.

BURTON MORGAN: What makes you two feel like we deserve this?

LENZ: Because we’ve worked our asses off, and because it’s beautiful to experience friendship with each other in a way that we were robbed of in our younger days.

BURTON MORGAN: We were really good girls. I’m excited to set things straight.

#hilarie burton #sophia bush #bethany joy lenz #drama queens oth #one tree hill #interview #2021

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jeonggukkiepabo · 4 years

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KILLER QUEEN [KTH] ♦ Secret Easter Bunny

IT’S POSTING WEEK! You, my love @yongcherie are my victim, hehe. I wrote this piece for you inspired by 5SOS’ cover of “Killer Queen”, I hope you like it. <3 Truly yours, lavender.

SUMMARY: She’s all over the news, but she’s never been seen. Everyone talk about the Killer Queen, everyone wants to be the one to catch her. Police Officer Kim had a rough day and goes home with a woman he’d never seen but was yet so familiar.

WARNINGS: smut, sexual content, dom/sub tones, mentions of crime, hate sex, unprotected sex, choking, spitting.

WORD COUNT: 3.5k

To the world, you were almost a celebrity - loved and hated at the same time. To him, you were a mystery. You would never get caught, you would never leave anything behind that could help them find you. But, all of them knew who you were. Well, at least they knew the name you went by. The “Killer Queen” had her first appearance in the late 1930s when you started robbing banks all around Seoul. Women in crime weren’t a thing yet, most of them were still located at home, not allowed to leave their houses while taking care of their many children - unlike you. You were independent, not needing a man to buy you diamond rings, not needing a child to keep you company. All you needed, all you wanted, was the thrill of swimming in freshly stolen money.

He had never seen you, but your name was known worldwide, ever since you’ve started to leave delicious looking pieces of cake behind you whenever you left the crime scene.

“My love. My enemy. You will never find me, never get me. But don’t be sad, eat cake instead. xx Killer Queen”

You loved the game, the thrill of those policemen running after you but not being able to even come near you. You’d get secret invitations from them, who were you to decline the chance of a bank robbery? Little did they know that you’ve always been there before them, sometimes even hanging out in the bank while they were there, enjoying those beautiful men with masculine features and furrowed brows, screaming while realizing you were gone, once again.

Of course, neither of them knew what you looked like, nobody knew about your curly red hair, the green emerald eyes that were always surrounded by smokey eyes. Your beauty mark right above the corner of your lip that you tugged into a knowing grin whenever you walked past a police officer.

By now, you’ve had more than enough money, you wouldn’t even need to commit crimes anymore but you just loved the fun and games. You loved getting dressed like a fine lady, but having a gun hidden in your stockings. You loved wearing that one black dress that stopped right above your knees - a shame during those years -, but your overknees were hiding the piece of skin that you always showed whenever you needed to bewitch someone. Some man.

You knew you were pretty, beautiful even. You had several men walking after you, buying you whatever you wanted from caviar to cigarettes and you were well versed in etiquette to always smile and take their offers. Of course, you’d never take those men home, because literally none of them were the slightest bit attractive. Fat snobs with more beard than the Chinamen just weren’t your type. You loved the attention, but you weren’t a whore. To be exact, there was only one man on this world that you’ve laid your eyes on.

Kim Taehyung, one of the youngest police officers this decade. He just turned 21 when he absolved the test and ever since you’ve been playing that lovely game of cat and mouse with him. The first time you’ve seen him you were speechless. You knew all of the policemen, Min Yoongi, Kim Namjoon and even Jeon Jeongguk, their apprentice. But Kim Taehyung was a whole other level, his beauty almost being the reason you got caught because you kept staring at him for too long. At his black, permed hair. Those beautiful deep brown eyes with a glint of anger in them, but also… curiosity? Your favorite part of him was his defined jawline, sharp and precise like a strong Greek god. Obviously, you’ve had never seen him without his uniform, but you knew from experience that he had to be toned - they always were. At least Jeongguk was. But that’s a whole other story. Taehyung was taller, much taller than yourself, although your long legs had always been admired by men all over the world. But Kim Taehyung, he was a giant. Everything about him was huge. Even his hands, large and long, built to wrap around your throat easily. Just the thought of him was overwhelming you and ever since that day, you knew you had to get onto him.

Today would be the day, the lovely September breeze blowed through your freshly curled hair, causing you to shiver here and there. You were wearing your favorite black dress with lace details and heels that would never allow you to run, but you never needed to anyways. You even used your favorite perfume, the one that came straight from Paris, and applied some plumping gloss before you went out of your house, picking up a piece of cake from the bakery that you sprinkled with some gunpowder until a cursive KTH was readable on the pink icing.

For today, you didn’t plan to rob a bank, you wanted more. Your first official meeting with Taehyung should be special, you had planned this for months now. Knowing his exact working schedule, you decided that today would be perfect.

It was early afternoon, around 4.30 PM and you knew that Taehyung would be working until 9 PM the least. As of today, it was your biggest crime ever. Murder, just to get Taehyung's attention. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, right? In the beginning, you opted to kill his roommate, Park Jimin, but his cute squishy cheeks and bright eyes just screamed innocence. Instead, you opted for some random jogger, did what you had to do as you hid in the trees to leave a piece of cake behind after you called the police to report a crime.

Hours later, it was around 11 PM, you were sitting in Taehyung’s favorite bar, enjoying some cocktails by yourself while you waited for him to arrive. Once the door opened and Kim Taehyung walked in, not wearing his uniform anymore but a white shirt and black jeans instead, you couldn’t help but sit down right next to hime. “Hello stranger. You seem distracted”, placing a glass of his favorite bourbon in front of him, you sipped on you own cocktail. His eyes scanned you from head to toe, until he decided to give in. “Yeah, I am. Work stresses me out, I’m in need of a break but I can’t because we’re working on this one case and we can’t rest until we found her and…” “Oh, you’re a police officer? You seem so young!” You smiled politely at him while looking him right into the eyes. “You should take a break whenever you need it, stranger. Work won’t pay you once you’re suffering from burnout, right? Take you wife and go on a road trip, calm down and once you’re coming back, you could always return to your case. I mean, you’re not the only one working on it, are you?”

Taehyung laughed bitterly, swallowing his entire drink in one go, catching the last drop on his lips with a flick of his tongue. “No wife, just me ‘n my hyung. It’s not that her bank robs aren’t enough for us to handle, no. She just fucking killed someone! Ugh, sorry, you probably don’t want to hear me rumble”, he twists his glass before looking at you again.

“I’ve never seen you here, what’s your name? I would always remember someone as beautiful as you.” You giggled at his lame pick up line, placing one hand on his shoulder while leaning over to his ear. “I’m Koya. But don’t tell anyone, please. I want to keep being the mysterious red haired girl at the bar”, you winked at him before ordering another round of drinks for the both of you.

“So, officer. There’s no wife, right? How? You’re handsome, you’re successful. What are you hiding inside that pretty head?” Crossing your legs, you accidentally brushed his by doing so. “I don’t know, really. It’s just that this case follows me everywhere. You’ve probably heard about the Killer Queen, she’s always in my head. I even dream about her, almost every fucking night. I don’t even know what she looks like, yet she won’t leave me alone!” He grabbed your hands in his much larger ones, squeezing them lightly. “I’m obsessed, Koya! Obsessed! She ruins my mind without even knowing it.” You just laughed it off before placing one hand on his forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe someone should take you home, officer.”

Taehyung shudders under your touch, sighing. “Maybe, yes. But my hyung’s home and I don’t want him to worry about yet another mysterious case. I’ll just stay here and-” “Or you’re coming home with me? I know how to take care of a lonely man, c’mon, pretty boy.” You held out your hand for him to take and once he reached out for you, you pulled him out of the bar.

“You’ve never told me your name, officer. How should I call you, once you’re balls deep inside me?”, you were leaning over to Taehyung who already seemed a little tipsy. He turned his head in surprise, watching you carefully. “Tae… Taehyung.” “Alright then, Taehyung. Let’s take you home and I’ll take good care of you.”

Once you headed back to your apartment, you drag him into your bedroom, pressing your lips to his delicate neck and started to suck around his jawline, pressing kisses to his adams apple. You hadn’t even started - yet he was a moaning mess under your touch. In one swift motion, Taehyung grabs your chin, forcing his lips onto yours and kisses you roughly. You know you just won. Taehyung is yours for the night, all your wet dreams will be coming true and you almost forget what you had to do to get him into this position.

Taehyung’s hands hungrily roam your body, grabbing your ass and giving it a light slap that causes you to jump. “Who do you think is the one in charge here, babe?”, you bite his earlobe softly, pulling on the dangling earring while slipping your hand down his tight pants. Taehyung moans, head thrown back in pleasure. Giggling, you grab his aching cock through his underwear. “You’re right, it’s me. I’m the one that will make you feel good, that will make you come. You’ll do what I say, understand, darling? Be a good boy for me.”

Taehyung laughs and shakes his head with a wide grin before throwing you onto your bed. The bounce almost presses the air out of your lungs and you can’t help the huff that leaves your lips. “Nah, love, I don’t think so.” Taehyung’s lips find your sweet spot way too easily, his tongue tickling the skin of your neck. You groan, trying to push him off, but his hands slip around your wrists to pin them above your head, his beautiful teeth smirking down at you. Once his mouth is right next to your ear, he huskily whispers.

“Remember that I’m a police officer and domination is my job. Don’t you think you could change that. Mhh, you’re lucky I don’t have my cuffs with me, angel. Now, what does a pretty girl like you do in a bar? Drinking pretty drinks alone? Don’t fool me, Koya. You’ve been waiting for me, yet, I’ve never seen that angelic face of yours. Who are you, mysterious girl?”

His fingertips slowly trail down your cleavage before he dips them in between your breasts. You try your best to hold back any moans, but you can’t help the whimpers falling past your lips as you breathlessly answer. “I already told you who I am.” Even though you’ve alway been the dominant part in any of your sexual relationships, you can’t help but submit to Taehyung. It’s like you’ve been waiting for years to find the right one to show you where your limits are. And you’re desperate to know.

“You’re not just the girl in the bar. You’re not just Koya. Tell me, what do you do? How do you know me?” Taehyung bites the soft skin behind your ear, fingers trailing down you legs, not caring to remove the heels that made them look so much more elegant. Sitting up, he looks down at you, trying to mesmerize your face. Those bright red curls, framing your head in contrast to your pale skin. Those green eyes, full of lust and admiration. Those lips, tainted by a knowing smirk. Your voice as you whisper your answer. “I’ll tell you once we’re done, as long as you’re being a good boy.”

Taehyung huffs, his lips leaving a wet trail right above your stockings. “Then I’m not going to touch you unless you beg for it, love. And your lips already made me wonder what the rest of you might taste like. Now c’mon, hurry up. Tell me who you are.” He ruffles your dress up to your stomach, your emerald lace thong now fully exposed to his starving eyes. “God, you’re a queen”, he lets out a shaky breath, growing even harder by just looking at you.

You giggle, whispering a soft “little do you know” before pulling that dress off your body. Then, you point at his shirt, raising an eyebrow. “That needs to be off, I want to see how trained officers really are.” Taehyung raises an eyebrow as well before a cheeky smirk replaces his expression. “Mh, your smug tongue has to go, princess.” With that, Taehyung lifts his shirt over his head before stuffing it right into your mouth, smearing lipstick all over the fabric and your chin. “Sad enough that you can’t beg like this. Look at you, all dripping wet for me even though I didn’t even start yet.”

His fingers quickly pull on the expensive fabric of your thong, roughly ripping it in half, leaving the shreds wherever they landed before dipping one finger between your folds. “Mh, isn’t it sad that you don’t want to talk to me? Instead you’ll just have to lay here, watching me and enjoying the show, not getting any of it. You could’ve gotten my tongue, my fingers, my cock. Poor you.” Taehyung stands up, opens his jeans and pulls them and his boxers down his toned legs. His knees dip down besides your legs again, but this time his hands don’t explore your body. Instead, Taehyung roams his own chest, contours the abs that you want to lick so badly. His left hands reaches down to grab and massage his balls while he takes the right thumb between his soft lips, sucking on it slowly. “Mh, I’m still tasting you, Koya. Wish I could taste more of you, so delicious”, he hums with closed eyes.

Thumb still in his mouth, Taehyung grabs his cock and starts to glide his hand up and down, not being able to hold in the growl that leaves his chest. You try to sneak one hand between your legs, wanting to find at least a tiny bit of friction, but Taehyung wasn’t having it, slapping your hand away while flicking his index finger against your clit. He stops pleasuring himself for a second to pull his shirt out of your mouth. Are you still sure that you don’t want to tell me who you are? C’mon, angel, be nice. How. Do. You. Know. Me?”

You just roll your eyes, bored of his little games as you chew on your bottom lip, guiding two of your fingers in front of your mouth to spit on them. Saliva was running down your chin as you moisten your nipples and pinch them slowly. “I can play that game too, Tae.”

You move your fingers down your stomach, closer to the wet heat that throbs between your legs, circling your clit quickly before plunging two fingers into your cunt. “And I love playing games. If you don’t want to touch me, no problem. I can do it all by myself, just keep watching.” Your fingers move faster and faster while the other hand massages your breast. You know you’ll be close soon, this entire day has been riling you up enough already. Taehyung seems to notice too, pressing one hand onto your stomach to press it down, leaning over your pussy as he opens his mouth with a knowing smirk. Your eyes widen, not being able to hold back anymore as you come with a loud scream, messy and all over the bed - and Taehyung’s face.

Looking down at Taehyung, your eyes widen as you see him trying to catch every drop with his tongue before swallowing down all you gave him. “Oh angel, look what you’ve done.” His thumb starts to rub over your sensitive clit again. “You’re such a bad girl, if I was on duty I would’ve probably gotten you arrested for your behavior, Killer Queen.”

Your smirk vanishes as you watch him with nervous eyes.

“What are you doing now, hm? You can’t run, you can’t hide. It was stupid to think I wouldn’t know, wouldn’t figure it out. Leaving a piece of cake, just for me, huh? I wish I could shove it down your pretty throat and leave you choking on it, love. I despise you. You’ve ruined so much for me. And now, killing someone just to get me to fuck you? You’re so pathetic. But I’ll take your wish for granted, slut.”

With that, he turns you around quickly, pulling you up on your fours before slapping your ass in such a pace that you couldn’t even count how many times Taehyung ended up spanking you. Then, without any warning, he slips right into you. Stretching you out so painfully, but oh so good. “You like that, bitch? Getting fucked by someone you’ve been running away from so long? Is that your game? Just to get my attention? You’re so pitiful.” Something wet lands between your shoulders, running down your spine to pool in the curve over your ass. Taehyung just spat on you. And you loved it. “I’m sure you want to feel like the guy you killed? Want to feel every little bit of oxygen leaving your body?” He whispers against the shell of your ear as he grabs your throat in his large hand. “Yes, Taehyung, fuck. Yes. Yes!”

You’re a moaning mess under his touch, obviously enjoying his roughness and dirty talk. “I’ve been watching you for so long, Taehyung. Always been there when you arrived at the crime scenes. I loved watching you getting angry, but also flustered at my remains. You never knew what I looked like, but you always wanted me. Don’t flatter yourself, Tae. You’re just as pathetic as I am. And-”, you let out more and more moans, nearly screaming as Taehyung pounds into you faster now.

“Shut up! I can get you arrested at any time now that I know what you look like. I could never forget those tits”, he roughly grabs them with his free hand, “or this sinful mouth”, he turns your face to spit directly in between your gasping lips, “and you know that. You’re mine now, Koya. Mine.”

With that, he pushes into you one last time, feeling your walls clenching merciless around him, your wetness trailing down both your thighs. “Turn around”, Taehyung demands as he waits for you to face him, not hesitating to shove his cock between your lips and down your throat. You swallow him down like the good girl you are, playing with his balls and looking up at him through teary eyes. His gaze was rough, not a tiny bit of affection was written in his eyes as a growl escapes his mouth, sweat dripping down his forehead onto his chest.

He pulls out just before reaching his orgasm, just to paint your face with his cum. After one last moan, he sits back down, still looking at you. “What am I supposed to do with you, Koya? You fucking killed someone, I couldn’t let you go, even if I wanted to. I must call my team. They’ll be here about twenty minutes after I’m gone, maybe even less. Be smart, Koya.”

Taehyung sighs while getting dressed, looking over just to see you lightning a cigarette without any rush. He shakes his head. “They will kill you, you know that? You’re a criminal. That’s your chance to run and never come back. Now that you’ve had me, nothing holds you here anymore. Be fucking smart!”

You just laugh it off, wiping the remains of his cum from your lips as you exhaled the toxic smoke. “And where would be the fun in that, Tae? C’mon, get them boys. Try to catch me.”

Frustration overcomes Taehyung as he grabs your cheeks. “I’m trying to help you, Koya. Run!” He presses his lips onto yours one last time before heading out the door. The last thing he heard was a faint “See you soon, Taehyung. Same place, same time? Maybe I will kidnap your little Jeonggukkie that time?” before he made his way towards the police station to report your address.

All he could do was hoping that you were long gone before the squad enters your home. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a single chance to see you ever again.

#secretbunny #kim taehyung #yongcherie #ksmutclub #bangtanarmynet #smutcentralnet #vantaenet #maknaesmutsociety #magicshopnet #bts smut #kim taehyung smut #taehyung smut #maknae smut #easter #jeonggukkiepabo #masterlist

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flowerpowell · 4 years

Text

Unexpected (Drake x MC)

PART TWENTY - FINAL PART

A/N: Here it is! The last part! It took me a while to finish it; I was super busy in June but I hope it’s okay! There might be an epilogue after that, if you’re interested ;) As always, characters (except for Dani) belong to PB!

Rating: PG-18 (??? suggestiveness maybe? and madeleine is here too)

Word count: a bit over 3000, but who’s counting, right? it’s the finale, lol

Tagging: @gardeningourmet @delightfullypinkglitter @hopefulmoonobject @desireepow-1986 @dcbbw @kingliam2019 @the-soot-sprite @thequeenofcronuts @badchoicesposts @burnsoslow @annekebbphotography @alesana45 @ao719 @axwalker @walkerduchess @texaskitten30 @lodberg @cordonianroyalty @emichelle @siriusxxvideos @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @samihatuli @choices-lurker @i-miss-trr @nikkis1983 @innerpostmentality @msjr0119 @bascmve01 @mind-reader1 @edgiestwinter @drakesensworld @queenjilian @princessleac1 @saivilo @yukinagato2012 ♥

Riley opened her eyes, woken up by a nightmare. She was in the middle of her burning restaurant again but this time no one was coming. The heat was consuming her.

Except that in reality, the heat was really consuming her. Drake was spooning her and the combination of September’s warm weather and Drake being a living furnace left Riley feeling as if she was still in the middle of fire.

But she didn’t mind it.

It felt so good to be in Drake’s arms, safe at home, home with him that she didn’t mind.

Riley gently turned around to face her husband, a very unexpected husband but she grew to like, no, love him and she couldn’t imagine not having this grumpy, whiskey-loving man in her life. She closed her eyes, inhaling the smell of Drake; it smelled like a forest early in the morning, it smelled like man she loved, it smelled like home. Drake was her home.

She smiled as she stroked Drake’s cheek with her finger. She heard a quiet groan before her blue eyes met with his brown ones.

“Good morning,” she said as he blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up.

“Mornin’,” he leaned down to kiss her and it immediately made her even warmer. Still, she didn’t mind.

She deepened the kiss and they were making out for a moment before Drake yawned in the middle of their kiss.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling away, “I’m still not fully awake. I need a gallon of coffee.”

“Or,” Riley raised her eyebrows, “we can wake you up in a different way.”

“Riley.” Drake looked at her chidingly. “You were in an accident like yesterday.”

“I was dismissed from hospital yesterday, the accident was two days ago,” she corrected and Drake shook his head in disbelief.

“A day and a half ago, then.”

“Oh come on, Drake, the doctors said I was fine! Besides, they said I should what I felt was okay to do and this is exactly what I think is okay to do.”

“Riley…”

“I’m just trying to be nice and help you wake up, that’s all,” she pouted. Would that make her feel even hotter than she already felt? Yes. Would that make her feel like she was on fire? Yes. Did she mind? Nope.

“Riley…” he groaned before leaning down again and kissing her passionately and in that moment she knew she just won their first married fight.

~~~~

“Where are you taking me?” Danielle asked as Liam led her out of the palace. After the revelation about Madeleine, Liam canceled all his meetings and waited for the news from Karlington. Besides, there was still one thing he desperately wanted to do before the confrontation with Danielle’s parents, which was scheduled for later.

“I want to show you something. Something special,” just like you, he thought to himself. They entered the maze and Liam turned into an alley which eventually led them to a small rose garden.

Liam stopped by the little bush of roses, in the most beautiful color Danielle ever saw. It was something between pastel pink and lilac, a color she never saw.

“They’re so beautiful,” she whispered, admiring the view.

“These are Eleanor roses,” he explained. “This was the color of the flowers my mother had in her wedding bouquet. My father had these planted for her as a birthday present. It took a few years to make these roses look like that but my mom loved it. I’ve been coming here whenever I miss her. The smell reminds me of her.”

“Oh Liam. This is such a sweet story. These are gorgeous, I’ve never seen anything like it!” Danielle exclaimed. “Roses are my favorite flowers! And the color is just unreal! Although I’ve always been a fan of coral ones.”

“I know,” Liam admitted. “I figured after you picked up coral roses for the date we set up for Drake and Riley.”

Danielle chuckled, “they brought them luck!”

Liam smiled but it faded and his face was serious again. “I… I asked the royal gardener to plant them here. Next to my mom’s roses,” he admitted. “I thought… if you wanted to stay here… even if it’s just because of our baby, I thought it’d be nice to have your favorite flowers here.”

Danielle looked at him, her eyes wide open and full of tears, threatening to fall and water the roses.

“I’m sorry if it was a stupid idea, I—” Liam started but Dani threw herself at him, not letting him finish.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she said in between kissing him and crying. Liam stood still at first, not even registering what was happening but he quickly recomposed himself and kissed her back.

They were both breathless when they parted.

Liam took Danielle’s hands and pulled her closer, their foreheads touching.

“Please tell me I didn’t misheard something and you really said you loved me.”

Danielle chucked as she felt Liam’s tears on her cheek. “I love you, Liam. I don’t know what I did to deserve you but I don’t want to question it.”

“I love you so much, Danielle Brooks.”

“Danielle Eleanor Brooks,” she said with a smile and Liam took a step back to look her in the eyes.

“Your middle name is Eleanor?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded and chuckled at his disbelief.

“Now I am sure it was my mom who sent you to me,” Liam said before pulling her into another kiss.

“Now that I know how you feel about me,” Liam started when he pulled away a few minutes later, “I think I finally have the guts to do this.”

“To do what?” Dani asked confused but she understood as Liam got down on one knee. “Liam…”

“Danielle Eleanor Brooks,” he took out a velvet box out of his pocket. If she only knew how heavy that box was, holding their whole possible future inside. “My whole life I knew I was supposed to marry for the crown, I knew love wasn’t in my cards. I mourned this almost every day but I was reconciled with it. I thought my chance at real love was lost… and then I met you. I tried not to get my hopes up but the truth is, you bewitched me completely. You made me believe in love again. You made me love again. You’re making me a father.” Liam took a deep breath and noticed Danielle was already crying. If he hadn’t been taught how to keep all his emotions inside as a monarch, he’d probably be a sobbing mess himself. “I love you, Danielle. I love you and I love our baby and I want us to have a future. Will you marry me?”

Liam didn’t even have a chance to open the box before Danielle threw herself at him, knocking him down and covering his face with kisses.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she sobbed into his face, his hair, his neck. Liam managed to slip the ring onto her finger before she attacked him with even more kisses.

They were kissing under the Eleanor rose bush, next to Danielle rose bush, starting their new life together.

~~~~

“Sir, Mr and Mrs Brooks are here,” Bastien announced as Liam entered the throne room.

“Great, bring them here,” he said and Bastien nodded.

After the proposal, Liam admitted he invited Danielle’s parents to discuss a few things and she said it was okay. What he didn’t say was that he was actually accusing them of treason rather than wanting to only discuss. Luckily, Danielle didn’t want to come with him, and she stayed in the room, trying to call Riley to tell her good news.

“Mr and Mrs Brooks,” Bastien said as two people entered the room behind him.

“Thank you Bastien,” he nodded and looked at Danielle’s parents.

“Your Highness, it’s an honor!” Dani’s father exclaimed while his wife was admiring the room.

“Your Majesty,” Liam corrected, trying to keep calm.

“Of course, your Majesty! Why did you wish to see us? Have you heard of me and my little business in America?” Mr Brooks asked with a smile on his face; his wife was now looking at a portrait of his mother.

“No, actually. You’re here because you’re accused of treason,” Liam explained as the smile from Mr Brooks’ face disappeared.

“We… what?! I can promise you we never hurt anyone! Who… Against who did we…?”

“You are accused of treason against the royal heir, against my child.”

Mr Brooks’ eyes widened, and Mrs Brooks finally looked at Liam.

“We… would never! Children are… such a blessing, we would never! I didn’t even know you had a child, I never even met you! This must be a mistake!”

“I assure you, it is not. Wasn’t it you demanding that my fiancée aborts the baby?”

“Umm… I don’t think so, I mean, I never met your fiancée, your High—Majesty.”

Danielle’s father looked so confused that Liam had to control himself to not start laughing; his wife on the other hand seemed to have a confused face naturally.

“Trent,” she whispered, “when did you try to abort a royal baby?”

“Never!” he hissed.

“Oh?” Liam asked. “My fiancée, Duchess Danielle Eleanor Brooks claimed otherwise.”

“The… what?” Mr Brooks stared at Liam in disbelief. “Duchess… what?”

“What a coincidence! Our daughter’s name is Danielle too!” Mrs Brooks exclaimed happily.

“Yes, I am aware, madam, as I am speaking of your very own daughter,” Liam explained calmly. “I can’t even imagine how a father can ask his daughter to so such a thing and have no shame, whatsoever.”

“Your Majesty, we had no idea it was your baby. If we knew we wouldn’t—”

“So it is okay to do unless it is a royal baby?” Liam couldn’t believe it.

“Of course! If Dani’s pregnant with the royal heir that means… that means… we are a future King’s or Queen’s grandparents!”

“Oh my gosh, we are nobility!” Mrs Brooks gasped.

“And if Dani’s a duchess now… we should get a title as well!”

“You what?�� Now it was Liam who was confused.

“Our daughter is a duchess. Our grandkid will be a monarch. It’s only natural that we get a title too.” Mr Brooks explained.

“Imagine Karen’s face when we tell her we are Cordonian nobility!” Mrs Brooks laughed loudly and Liam wondered how Danielle could bear with them for so long.

“ENOUGH!” Liam yelled and both of them stopped talking. “You are getting no titles! You mistreated my fiancée, you mistreated Riley. Instead of supporting your daughter, you wanted her to abort the baby, against her will. And you think you deserve a title?” Liam was mad. Very mad. But he also thought of Danielle. What would she say about this?

“You’re marrying our daughter, I would say we do deserve at least the title of the Lord.”

“You deserve nothing,” Liam hissed.

“Well then, I don’t agree for you to marry her. Where is she? I’m taking her back to States. No title, no Dani.”

“Bastien, have them arrested immediately. For offending the King, the Duchess and the treason.”

“What?” Mr Brooks asked, losing his confidence.

“In the meantime, get someone to pack their belongings. They will be in jail until their flight back to the U.S., after that feel exiled from this country forever. You are not allowed to set your foot here, ever. If you break that rule, you’ll be arrested. Is that clear?”

“But…”

“Is that clear?!” Liam repeated.

“Yes, your Majesty!” Mr Brooks replied and his wife nodded. For the first time since they walked here, both of them looked genuinely scared.

Bastien led them out of the throne room and Liam sat down for a moment, taking everything in. He could only hope, Danielle and Riley’s parents wouldn’t bother them anymore.

~~~~

It was already ten in the evening when Liam got a message from his detective.

“Found them”

Danielle was sleeping, snuggled to his chest after a day full of all kinds of emotions and feels. He quickly sent a message to Bastien and asked him to bring Madeleine to him, then he called Drake.

“Drake? Take Riley and come here as soon as possible. My guards found Savannah and Bertrand.”

“Hmm?” Danielle woke up and looked up and Liam. “What’s happening?”

“Savannah and Bertrand. Would you like to come with us or would you rather sleep some more?” He asked her softly.

“Mmm, I’ll come!”

“Are you sure? I know you’re tired.”

“I am. I want to see it for myself.”

They quickly got dressed and went to the throne room where they waited for Bastien with Madeleine and Riley and Drake.

Liam raised an eyebrow when Drake finally arrived… carrying Riley in his arms.

“Sorry,” Riley said, “Drake was practically running here and since I can’t run yet, according to him, he decided to carry me here.”

“You were in an accident!”

“That was three days ago!”

“Two and a half!” Drake argued and Riley rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, congratulations you two! I’m so happy for you!” Riley went to hug her sister while Drake high-fived Liam.

“I’ll be more happy for you when I finally learn what happened to Savannah. Are they okay?” Drake asked.

“They were found in a secret room, in a secret passage that Madeleine talked about in a recording from the restaurant. Godfrey had no choice but to tell the truth since they were found.”

“And? What’s the truth?” Riley asked.

“That it was Madeleine’s idea,” Liam shrugged. “He didn’t want to say anything else so we’re bringing him back here.”

“And Savannah and Bertrand?” Drake asked.

“Alive,” Liam said and could see Drake relaxing. “A little shaken up, Bertrand more than Savannah though.”

“And—”

“Why am I here? What is this circus all about?” Madeleine asked as she entered the room. Barthelemy was following her, and a few royal guards were making sure they wouldn’t run away.

“You’re busted, that happened.” Drake said and Liam put a hand on his shoulder.

“Let me handle it,” he said and Drake nodded. “We have just found Bertrand and Savannah. In Karlington.”

Madeleine listened, not even blinking. Her face showed no emotions, Barthelemy’s though showed a lot.

“What? But… they’re dead? What do you mean? In Karlington? Sweetheart?” He asked and Madeleine rolled her eyes.

“And? Karlington belongs to my father, should he be questioned?”

“He said it was your idea. Plus we have evidence on a camera from Riley’s restaurant, which you set on fire.”

“You’re lying. I didn’t do anything. You just want to take Bartie from us.”

“We don’t need to,” Dani interjected. “Bartie’s not the heir anymore. Liam and I’s baby is.”

“The WHAT?” Finally, Madeleine’s face started showing emotions. She was shocked, to say the least.

“Our baby,” Liam repeated.

“That’s not possible! That’s not—” she stopped.

“Oh I think you know it is possible. You just wanted me to believe it wasn’t.”

“My love?” Barthelemy asked. “I don’t understand anything.”

“Shut up,” Madeleine hissed. She looked so different now, far from composed and… a little crazy. “I can’t believe that little bitch ruined everything.”

“Watch your mouth, Madeleine,” Liam warned.

“And you should’ve watched your dick!” Madeleine snapped back and Barthelemy’s eyes widened at her outburst.

“Sweetheart…”

“SHUT UP! I didn’t put up with your old ass just to have my chance taken away from me!”

“Why did you even need Savannah and Bertrand? What was your point?” Drake asked.

“You’re so dumb, I can’t even believe you graduated college,” Madeleine rolled her eyes. “I needed them to disappear so I could be the only legal guardian for Bartie, the future heir.”

“But what for?” Riley asked.

“Your wife is dumb too I see. Because we wouldn’t have any kids with Liam. And it was easier for Liam to believe that he can’t have kids. I knew Liam would appoint Bartie, that’s the only kid he knows.”

“But… if you stayed with Liam… you’d be a Queen. Why would you complicate everything so much?” Dani asked.

“Why is everyone in this room so dumb?” Madeleine groaned. “Because I would be only a wife of a King. And after Liam dies, the royal heir would become the King, not me! And if something happened to him, his family would become monarchs, not me! Now with my plan, I would become the heir’s guardian so after Liam dies, Bartie would be the King and then Bartie would die and I would become the Queen.”

“Umm… and what about your husband?” Riley asked motioning to very pale Barthelemy.

“Oh, he would die to! I had everything planned so perfectly. Savannah and Bertrand in Karlington with my father. You not able to have kids,” Madeleine looked at Liam. “Riley and Drake divorced so they wouldn’t get the custody. But of course they didn’t want to get divorced so I had to kill Riley. Too bad it didn’t work out.” Madeleine sighed.

“I still don’t understand…” Dani admitted.

“I’ll explain so you can admire my genius. Savannah and Bertrand bye bye. I am the legal guardian for Bartie. Drake and Riley divorced, if not, bye bye. Then Liam goes bye bye and Bartie takes the crown. Of course, he’s not eighteen yet, the crown belongs to me and Barthelemy. Then one day, Barthelemy dies suddenly! He’s old so everyone would believe it. I am the only guardian now. I have the crown. Bartie never turns eighteen, bye bye. I am the only monarch, I am the Queen and the King. I have the power!”

“How… would you kill that many people without being caught?” Liam asked, risking a look at Barthelemy. He looked like he was about to get a heart attack.

“I would send them all to Karlington. Just like I did with Bertrand and Savannah. And then one day, Karlington would catch on fire! And everything, with everyone inside, would burn. No one would even find anything.”

“You’d kill your own father?”

“He’s useless as you can see. Killed Liam’s mother but wasn’t able stop your father from getting another wife. Lame,” Madeleine shrugged and Dani had to squeeze Liam’s hand before he’s pass out.

“But why?” Riley asked.

“Why? WHY?! WHY?? Because I DESERVE it. I DESERVE to be a Queen! I deserve to be admired and obeyed! I DESERVE to be powerful! I was born to be a Queen, not just someone’s sidekick. I was born to rule people. I am the power. I have the power! I don’t care about anyone, I don’t care how many I’d have to eliminate, I DESERVE to be a Queen. And a King. And I can’t believe this bitch ruined everything.” Madeleine nodded towards Dani. “Pathetic. You’re nobody. A nobody got pregnant and ruined my plan. And I’m going to ruin yours.”

And before anyone could react, Madeline took out a gun from her dress and pointed at Dani.

“Madeline!” Liam yelled.

“If anyone moves, and I mean anyone, even the guards, I’ll shoot her. I have nothing to lose but you have everything to lose. Let’s see how valuable she is to you. Send your guards away to that room. Now.”

“Madeleine!” Liam started but seeing she wasn’t joking, he obeyed. The guards slowly stepped back from the throne room and went into the small maintenance room. Still pointing her gun at Dani, Madeleine closed the door, locking the guards.

“Now, I still have a chance to be a Queen. If none of you survives, there will be no evidence against me. The palace could burn too, right?”

“She’s crazy,” Riley whispered and Drake nodded slightly.

“Madeleine the Queen of Cordonia… And one day… the Queen of Europe. Or the whole world!”

“Stop it!” Barthelemy threw himself at Madeleine, completely throwing her off-balance. She managed to shoot one, not even seeing where exactly, before she was knocked down by her old husband. Drake and Liam followed suit, making it impossible for Madeleine to get up and Riley ran to open the door and let the guards out.

They quickly seized her and led her out the room, straight into jail, where Godfrey was sent a few hours later, accused of killing Queen Eleanor. Since the throne room had many cameras, it was easy to prove that Madeleine was guilty.

Barthelemy admitted that he had no idea about Madeleine’s plan; he only knew about her wanting to be Bartie’s guardian. However, he did admit he knew about Godfrey and Liam had him arrested too.

Savannah and Bertrand were reunited with their son and Drake never felt happier having his whole family back.

But the happiest part for him was the fact that Bartie was no longer the royal heir. Everyone sighed with relief when Liam announced Bartie wasn’t the heir anymore.

~~~~

“This is so crazy,” Riley commented when she and Drake was going back home from Dani and Liam’s rehearsal dinner. Their wedding was just in a few days and Riley still couldn’t believe her sister was going to be an actual Queen.

“I know, right? Everything feels so… unexpected. Madeleine’s plan, Dani and Liam… you and I…”

Drake kissed her gently and smiled at her. “Sometimes love can be unexpected.”

“Love, huh?” Riley smirked. “You love me!”

“I didn’t say that,” Drake chuckled. They said those three little words a while ago but Riley still made a big deal out of it.

“You loooove me! Looooove me!”

“I’m going away!”

“You loooove! La-la-la loooove me!”

“If you don’t stop, I’m getting a divorce,” Drake threatened, still laughing.

“You wouldn’t. Because you loooooooooooooooove me!”

And he did.

THE END.

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the-inquisitive-hobbit · 3 years

Text

Alright since it's the holidays, I decided to give y'all a gift of my own😚 Since I like to think about holidays being a time for healing and rejuvenating, here's some fluff and comfort.

Feel free to add your own ship and rb it, hope this post makes your day sweeter!

Edit: I was supposed to post in the winter holidays but, well here you go!

1) Sterek Xmas

Derek is alone. Which isn't what's unusual. His usual scowl is missing from his face and he's actually smiling, as he looks down at the well packed lasagna which had not-so-mysteriously arrived on his door, with a note saying:

Use those deliciously huge muscles to get a Christmas tree in the loft, it better be decorated by the time we arrive, sourwolf!

|~~~~~~~~~|

2) Stucky

Steve Rogers is confused. And possibly nostalgic, Sam's voice echoes in his head. Waking up 65 years into the future has not been ideal for him, the only friend he's made is flirting up a storm with Natasha, his colleague. Steve takes his eyes off Sam and looks down at his drink again, swirling it around as he contemplates sneaking out of Sam's Christmas party.

Just as he's about to stand up, someone definitely inebriated invades his personal bubble at his side. Steve looks down to see the most bewitching pair of steel blue eyes he's ever seen. The guy looks in his twenties, his hair is dishevelled in a way that Sam would probably call 'Sex Hair', and his mouth is the most perfect Cupid's bow Steve has noticed since he woke up. He's broken out of his stupor at the smooth baritone of the guy's voice.

"Sorry pal, didn't you see there!" Possibly Angel says sheepishly.

"No worries. So how do you know Sam?" Steve asked, not wanting the conversation to end.

"I used to work down at the VA, now I'm running a bakery with my friend Darcy though." Sinful lips explained.

"You know what, I've been looking for a good bakery. I need to someone to remake my mother's walnut pie, I remember the recipe but I think I missed something. It never tastes the same when I try to make it on my own." Steve confessed as he recalled blurred memories of his mother's kind eyes and delicious treats.

"Aw, pal listen. I'm going to my best to figure out the missing element alright? Here's my card." Downright Beautiful stated, one of his hands coming up to squeeze Steve's shoulder as the other handed out his card.

"Well, I should be heading out now. Merry Christmas... " Truly Perfec- Bucky, trailed off as he waited for the older man's name.

"Steve."

"Merry Christmas, Steve." The brunette whispered before turning away from the supersoldier.

Smiling genuinely for the first time in decades, Steve looked down at Bucky's card. Something hopeful and warm bubbling up in his chest as he thought of the gorgeous brunette.

"Merry Christmas and see ya soon, Buck."

|~~~~~~~~|

3) Thorki

Thor, sniffles wetly and traps Loki in a bear hug.

"I can't believe you kept that 'Best Brother' brooch all these years! I thought Mother threw it away after I challenged Volstagg for your honor."

Loki, grumbles and half-heartedly attempts to slip out of the embrace.

"I couldn't just throw away evidence of how mulish you were, brother. You wer-...are the best brother." The God of Mischief muttered..

Thor, tightens his arms around Loki, as he says "Thank you for this gift. Happy Yuletide, brother!"

"It wouldn't be for much longer if you don't unhand me this instant, you giant oaf!"

"Eh, I'll take it."

#thorki #sterek #stucky #what else would i be doing

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princess-of-riviaa · 4 years

Text

Bewitching the Witcher Part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Summary: Your sickness plays its last hand. As Geralt rushes to save you, will anyone’s efforts be enough to keep you alive? Or is this where you meet your death?

Series summary: You and The Witcher aren’t meant to be together. In fact, the only thing you two should be doing is getting as far away from each other as fast as you can. You shouldn’t. You really fucking shouldn’t. But he’s just too tempting to resist.

Author’s note: This is the final chapter in my first series for The Witcher fandom, and also my first series that I’ve written on tumblr. When I wrote the first part to this I never imagined that the story concept would get as much love as it did. So thank you everyone who has read to this point. SIDENOTE: this part doesn’t contain smut. It’s written purely for the plot. However, the parts prior to this chapter all contain plenty of Geralt love, and I will also be writing more oneshots/headcanons for both the infamous Witcher and his Bard.

You knew it was the last day of your life, but you kept that knowledge to yourself. If you brought it up to either of the protective bastards you’d come to love in the last six months, they wouldn’t let you enjoy it. And you’d be damned if you didn’t enjoy the hell out of your last day on earth.

So you didn’t bother to elaborate when you asked Geralt to make his famous roasted pork. He hunted down a worthy animal in less than twenty minutes and cooked it slowly over the fire, just how you liked it.

And you didn’t let Jaskier evade you when you cornered him in the woods and asked him the question that had been burning a hole in your brain for weeks: “Why did you never try to fuck me?”

Of course, you enjoyed the way his entire body seemed to go red as a tomato in a matter of seconds. “W-what?”

You rolled your eyes at his innocent facade. “Oh, please. You’ve groped everything that breathes. You’ve lied with every woman from Cintra to Nilfgard. So why didn’t you ever try to sleep with me?”

He looked everywhere but directly at you.

“Do you not think I’m beautiful, Jaskier?” You almost laughed at your own question. You hadn’t seen a mirror in a few weeks, though you had no doubt that you resembled a skeleton more than a living, breathing person. You’d never been further from beautiful than at this moment.

But you remembered who you used to be, when the Witcher blood ran strong in your veins. You’d been the perfect height--tall enough to look down on most people but not too gangly--with legs for miles. Your muscled body had curves in all the right places. Your breasts had been huge, your ass even bigger. Eyes followed you wherever you went, as did a line of drooling men. Back when you��d been a goddess of beauty, you hadn’t cared about any of it. Now you longed for it.

“Of course you were, Y/N,” Jaskier replied, then quickly added, “I mean, of course you are. Are, not were.”

“Just tell me why, then,” you pushed.

He laughed, clearly uncomfortable, though he knew you weren’t going to drop it. “Honestly?”

You nodded.

Jaskier kicked the fallen leaves and small tree branches at his feet, still avoiding your gaze. “I used to tell myself it was because you’d probably cut my manhood off if I tried anything.”

You couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped you. Jaskier had once been terrified to get within five feet from you. Now, of course, he was like your protective, annoying older brother. That might have been the one good thing that had come out of your sickness: your newfound relationship with the ridiculously talented bard.

“I wouldn’t have gone that far,” you finally got out, still grinning at him.

He shrugged. “I know.”

“So that wasn’t the real reason,” you realized.

Jaskier finally brought his blue eyes back to yours. “No.”

You sighed. “Don’t make me beg for it, Jas!”

He hesitated. Then, “Because I knew--even from the night Geralt and I first ran into you and you tried to kill him and nearly did--I knew that you were his. You were always his, Y/N, and he was always yours. I’ve never believed in soul mates. I actually think that concept is complete bullshit. We get to choose who we love in this life, that’s what I believe. But you and Geralt... if there’s a better word than soul mates to describe the two of you, then I don’t know it.”

Oh.

You hadn’t been expecting that. Not from Jaskier. Not now--not today.

“Is that a good enough answer for you?” Jaskier wondered, breaking the silence.

All you could do was nod.

...

You convinced Geralt to take you on a hunt. There was no better way to end your last day alive than by killing a monster. And so, after an hour of pleading and convincing, he finally agreed, though probably just so you would shut up about it.

It didn’t take long for you two to find a creature roaming through the woods: a berserker. You found it ironic. On another hunt for a different berserker in a different mountain range during a simpler time, you and Geralt had finally revealed your feelings for each other. A berserker had started all of this. It was only poetic that a berserker would end all of this, too.

But before you could even strike the killing blow to the creature, your nose began dripping. Geralt beheaded the monster for you, much to your annoyance. You wiped your nose with the back of your hand. Geralt’s eyes widened when he glanced back at you. You didn’t have a chance to ask him what was wrong before you were doubled over in a coughing fit. When you pulled your hand away from your mouth, it was stained with blood.

Your nose was bleeding.

You were coughing up blood.

You didn’t have to be a medic to know that your time was just about up.

Geralt, on the other hand, wasn’t about ready to accept it so easily. In a flash you were in his arms and he was running back to your makeshift camp. He didn’t even explain himself to Jaskier before throwing you over Roach and climbing onto the horse behind you. Roach ran like he was desperate to save you, too.

You arrived at the nearest town in a matter of minutes. Geralt carried you in his arms, screaming wildly in the streets for a medic. Finally one approached you. Geralt followed after him.

All you were concerned about was the horrid, metallic smell of your blood. You were covered in it now. You’d also managed to dampen Geralt’s clothes with it, too. If he didn’t always wear all black, his clothes would have been stained.

You laughed at the thought, though it wasn’t particularly funny. Both you and Geralt knew it was a hysterical laugh; your time was down to minutes now.

“Hold on, Y/N,” Geralt muttered to you. He spoke so softly you could barely hear him. “Hold on for me.”

You stared at him as he carried you in his arms. Something hit you, then. The infamous Witcher, the wild beast of a man that Jaskier had written about and made famous throughout the land--most people feared him because he resembled a monster more often than he resembled a man. But with the fear in his eyes right now he looked so... human.

Your fingers were moving through his hair before you’d even realized you’d told your hand to move. “You’re so beautiful, Geralt. Such a beautiful human.”

“Y/N...” There was a warning in his voice, though you couldn’t figure out what he was warning you about.

“It’s okay, my love.” He had to know you were okay, that there was no better place for you in the entire world than in his arms, feeling his Witcher heart beat slowly against your head. “My love... you’re my love, Geralt.”

The world faded around you. All you could see was a man in the distance--a gloriously beautiful man. His dark hair was clipped short and his shining blue eyes looked longingly at a woman just a few paces from him. The girl’s blonde hair flowed in the wind, circling her tiny body.

The girl was--the girl was you. You, as a human. You, with no Witcher blood inside of you.

And the man who looked at you like you were the center of his universe--

That man was Geralt. Human Geralt.

You tried to cry out to him, to get his attention, to say something, but you had no voice. All you could do was watch as the Human You neared Human Geralt and looped your hands together. He kissed the top of your head and you swear you could feel it on your own head, your Witcher head. And then Human You and Human Geralt walked side by side until you disappeared in the distance, never needing to look back because all you needed was right beside you.

You wanted that, you realized. You wanted a long life with Geralt. More than you wanted to be a Witcher. More than you’d ever wanted anything.

You wanted him.

You wanted to be happy because of him.

You wanted him to be happy because of you.

And you’d be damned if you weren’t willing to fight tooth and nail to get that happy ending.

...

The medic told Geralt and Jaskier that you were dead before the medic could have tried to save you with a potion or elixir. The news made Jaskier erupt into a screaming fit, only occasionally broken up by a painful wail. Geralt, by contrast, became still as a statue. He didn’t move for several minutes. Those long minutes eventually stretched into hours. The night passed. Still, he never left your bedside, despite your body growing colder with every passing minute.

“G-Geralt,” Jaskier finally dared to speak up in the first light of dawn.

He didn’t reply. He didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t do anything but stare at your body like his gaze could bring you back to him.

Jaskier called his name again. “She deserves...” He swallowed back a hiccup before beginning to sniffle. “She deserves a proper burial.”

Geralt didn’t even acknowledge Jaskier’s presence.

Jaskier moved towards your body on the other side of the bed. Finally, Geralt broke out of his trance. He jumped up and threw his arms around you, cradling you into his chest. Jaskier froze. Geralt’s gold eyes were wild and frantic, his sharp teeth blaring, and Jaskier knew that Geralt would kill him before he could get his hands on you. The Witcher resembled an untamed beast claiming his territory. Jaskier wasn’t about to get in the middle of it.

Jaskier left once the sun had fully appeared in the sky, off to get food for him and Geralt and--though he didn’t include this part--to get flowers for your corpse. Months ago, he’d heard you say that lilies were your favorite, so he went off in search of those.

Geralt remained by your side.

It was surprising, in the end, how your witcher had failed to notice anything changing within or outside of your body. His Witcher senses picked up nothing--not the first beat of your heart, a heart which now beat as fast as a human’s and not a Witcher’s; not the way the heat returned to your skin, bringing a pale color with it, brightening your cheeks and reddening your lips; not even the way your eyelids began to flutter like you were dreaming.

In fact, he was oblivious until Jaskier returned and pointed out that you looked eerily far off from dead. That you looked like you were alive and breathing and--

And that you no longer looked like a Witcher. The physical improvements that had transformed your body after you’d passed the witching test--the longer legs, the muscles that rarely tired, the nimble limbs that allowed you to move as fast as the speed of light--were gone.

Geralt watched you with a frozen awareness, waiting for--for something. He didn’t seem to know what to expect. Neither did Jaskier, which became obvious when he squeaked and moved to the corner of the room upon seeing your eyes open.

Your Witcher eyes had been silver. Not gray, not a soft shade of blue, but silver. They’d glowed as ominously as Geralt’s gold ones did.

But now, the eyes that blinked up at the two people you loved most in the world were an undeniable shade of jade green.

Neither Geralt nor Jaskier moved, unsure if you were a ghost or the undead or what.

They watched, Geralt’s hand moving to hover over the dagger strapped to his side, as you lifted yourself into a sitting position. The room was deathly quiet as you took in everything around you. You must have been staying in an infirmary, which you guessed from the sight of a million tiny jars of potions and healing ointments on the table beside your bed. That was the only decoration in the room besides the bed that you currently occupied. It was completely impersonal.

Your eyes flicked to Geralt. It was strange and unexpected, the feeling of terror that crashed through you. You’d only ever known him as a Witcher yourself, and the sight of another mutant like you hadn’t scared you. But now... now your heart was beating fast, and that was human fear running through your veins. Still, despite the warning signs in your mind screaming for you to run from him, you took in the sight of him with relief. Geralt. Your Geralt. Your Witcher.

You never thought you’d see him again.

The tears blurring his gold eyes were the only sign of his relief. His hand still hovered over his weapon, always cautious. There were deep, dark circles under his eyes from the stressful eighteen hours he’d just endured. But he’d never looked more beautiful to you.

You forced yourself to look away from him and turned towards Jaskier. The satchel at his side was full, probably stuffed with bread and cheese and cheap wine for him and Geralt. Orange lilies were crumpled in his hand as he took in the sight of you--very much alive, when you hadn’t been the last time he’d seen you.

“Those flowers are beautiful,” you said. Your voice sounded strange even to your own ears. Not as loud or as demanding; it no longer contained the strength of a Witcher. “But I don’t think they’ll be any good funeral. Perhaps a wedding?”

“You’re... alive.” There was no connotation in Geralt’s voice, the shock too great for him to generate a tone of voice.

You smiled at your Witcher. “I’m alive, my love.”

“H-how?” He blinked his tears away, though a few slipped down his cheeks. You resisted the urge to wipe them away. “The medic, he said you--”

“That Witcher we found a week ago,” you said, a thoughtful frown on your face, “her words finally make sense to me.”

The men just blinked at you, unable to follow along.

You closed your eyes, remembering the words of that ancient Witcher: “The only cure for my sickness is death.” The men were still frowning at you when you looked back at them. “I had to die before I could get better. Death wasn’t the sentence; it was the antidote.”

“You’re... better?” Jaskier asked, looking doubtful.

You looked between the men. “Well, that depends on your perspective, I think.” You looked down at your hands, thin and bony and small--not Witcher hands. “I’m no longer a Witcher. I’m human.”

Geralt sniffed. You looked to him, thinking he’d begun crying, and realized that he was sniffing the air--for your human scent. He paused when it hit him. His eyes went wide. “You are human.”

You hesitated. “Does that... disgust you?”

He didn’t answer with words, but rather with a quick kiss to your mouth. He held you tight against him, his arm wrapped so tightly around you that you could no longer breathe, but you didn’t dare ask him to stop. His mouth moved against yours, every touch a declaration of his relief.

Jaskier cleared his throat.

You two broke apart, looking over at the bard.

“So you’re just... you’re okay now?” He asked you. “You’re not sick?”

“I don’t think so, though I’m not sure,” you admitted. “But I think my Witcher magic was enough to fight the sickness. I think, now that I don’t have my magic anymore, I don’t have the sickness either.”

“So you’ll be okay?” Jaskier’s eyes widened hopefully.

You let yourself smile. “Yes. I’ll be okay.” You looked back at Geralt, whose eyes had never left your face. “Geralt, I’m human.”

He smiled back at you as he tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear. “So I’m hearing.”

He wasn’t getting it. “We can be together now.”

He frowned, the realization finally hitting him. “We can be together.” It came out as more of a question than a statement.

You looped an arm around his neck and pulled him back against you, giving his mouth a whisper of a kiss. “Marry me, Geralt.”

He pulled back, surprised. “W-what?”

“I want to be with you,” you said. “I want to spend every second for the rest of my human life by your side. I want to be yours--and I want you to be mine. So marry me.”

He laughed. “I never imagined myself being married.”

“Well you should start,” you told him as you slowly rose to your feet, unsure how stable your human body was. “Because I want to marry you. Not in a year, not in a month. Now. I want to marry you today, Geralt.” You pointed at the orange lilies in Jaskier’s hand. “And I want those to be the flowers I carry down the aisle with me.”

#geralt #geralt of rivia #geralt x you #geralt imagine #jaskier #jaskier the witcher #the witcher #netflix the witcher #geralt the witcher #bewitching the witcher #the witcher series #the witcher tv show #jaskier imagine

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lov3nerdstuff · 4 years

Text

Elysian

*Tom Hiddleston x reader*

Words: 7.1k

Warnings: none (minor mention of blood)

Summary: You're an aspiring actress who has landed a minor role in the newest Marvel production. What could possibly go wrong in a scene including you, Tom and a real golden dagger? Maybe what seems like one giant mistake to you is all it takes to change your life forever. And definitely not in the way you anticipated.

Request: by @lady-of-lies , you definitely get some villain vibes here, dear 😁💗 hope you like it even though I changed some stuff 🙈

Also check out my Masterlist!

______________________________

"You have no idea who you are up against… I'm a god!" He roared, black hair tickling his neck as he dodged a sharp shred of reality-shaking energy. The young woman in front of him stared right into his soul with her incredibly piercing eyes as she strode closer with a threatening elegance that made him shudder as he stumbled backwards.

"It is the gods who created mortals, and who taught them how to fear. I am who created the gods." Her velvet voice wrapped around his senses as he tripped over a helmet lying on the blood soaked battlefield. He fell backwards, landing first on his butt and then on his back, seeing stars once his head hit the hard ground a little too forcefully for his own good. A brief glimmer of irritation flashed through her eyes, but passed as quickly as it had appeared.

Just as he was about to scramble back onto his feet, she had closed the distance between them and he knew it was over now. It was done, there was nothing he could do but stare up at her with wide, frightened eyes.

In a slowness that bordered on torture, she drew a golden dagger from beneath her bloodied garments, taking her time as she sat down on his torso to keep him pinned to the ground. Not that he could've moved anyway… it was as if she had bewitched him, caught him in the trap that was her beauty, only to finally grand him the honor to find his master at her own hands.

The heavy, sleek metal of her dagger met the heated skin of his neck as she softly drew the blade along his throat, with too little pressure to cause serious harm and yet with too much to leave the skin unharmed. She let out a sigh, a moan that lay on the thin line between alluring and insane, tracing the thin bloody line she had left on his throat with one single finger.

His chest rose and fell faster than the seconds that passed as he couldn't help but watch her, parted lips, breathing in the lethal aura of danger that radiated off her like the sweetest perfume.

His heart skipped a beat as she lifted her fingers to her lips, licking his dark crimson blood off her fingertips as her eyes remained fixed on his. Maybe the line between alluring and insane was even more narrow than he had known…

The dagger lay heavy against his throat yet again, and he closed his eyes with a wicked grin of his own. "Do it, darling… I am ready to meet my creator."

He didn't see it, but heard it clear as day, as night in your sweet and gentle voice, the same grin, the same twisted sense of humor. "Oh, but sweet god of mine… You already have."

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"Cut!" A loud voice bellowed through the open air of the current set, followed by an overwhelming silence that was nerve wrecking in its depth. Then a sheer incredible amount of people erupted in chattering and talking. Bright lights came into focus, white reflective screens, fuzzy microphones…

You let out a shivering breath, closing your eyes for a second. That… had been more intense than expected, deeper, more difficult to come back from. Then you gazed down at Tom, your scene partner on whose chest you were still sitting, as he looked at you like a deer in the headlights. A deep blush came onto your cheeks immediately as you moved off his torso as quickly as possible, standing next to his large frame on the ground in awkward silence.

After a second of being overwhelmed by the intensity of the previous scene, you finally offered him a hand to get up, which he took reluctantly at first, but then with certainty. God, that Loki costume was heavy as hell… and Tom was too freaking tall.

After helping him onto his feet, you looked at his overwhelmingly handsome yet stunned face for a second longer, then quickly down to your feet. Slowly you came back to your right mind, becoming Y/n once more instead of your nameless character in the movie.

You'd clearly overdone it with the scene, you realized that only now… oh gosh, you'd literally hurt him! Physically cut his real skin with that stupid dagger! Who on earth had deemed it a good idea to give you a real fucking dagger?! Oh no… you'd actually hurt Tom! The cut on his throat was still bleeding a tiny bit, and your lips parted in shock at what you had done. This was your first major movie, and even though you only played a minor character that literally had only this one appearance, you had managed to screw up even that and cut a fellow actor with a dagger. Tom, of all people! The main character of this movie, and the sweetest human being in existence. Going by the unusually loud chattering around you, you had severely screwed up. Did Tom even know your name…? There were so many minor roles in this movie, so many extras… He would need your name in order to make an official complaint.

Your eyes snapped back up to meet his wide ones as your mouth opened and closed a few times, no sound coming out.

"I… I'm so sorry!" You finally breathed as tears welled up in your eyes, threatening to spill down your cheeks in small rivers. Then a swarm of assistants came rushing to his side, tending both to his costume and the small wound you had caused. Everyone was ignoring you for now, everyone but Tom, whose eyes were still fixed on yours intently. You opened your mouth to say something, to apologize over and over again, but by the time your mind had caught on, someone had taken a hold of your arm and dragged you off the current set, and out of Tom's earshot.

"I'm so sorry!" You rambled over and over again, not allowing yourself to cry just yet. "I'm so incredibly sorry! Please, let me talk to Tom… Or at least let me do the scene again, I promise I won't screw up this time!"

Yet, the middle aged assistant remained in silent indifference as he accompanied you to the costume department to get your garments and makeup removed. Only once the two of you reached his destination, he turned around to you once more with a sigh in resignation. "Your job is done, Miss L/n."

"What?" You frowned in irritation as your head spun a million miles a minute. "Am… am I getting kicked out?"

"The director said we're moving on to the next scene while we still have Mr. Hiddleston on set. He asked you to please wait here until further notice." The man looked at you so neutrally that you wondered if he had even been around to witness your disaster of a scene. At least he didn't seem to judge… but your own mind was doing enough of that already for a good dozen of people. Without another word he turned on his heels and headed back to where you had come from, while you tried your best to keep from crying as you stepped into the department.

Honestly, you didn't even care much for the three women working to turn you back into yourself, nor for their attempts at aimless chattering. Your mind was stuck trying to analyze what had happened, when things had taken a turn for the worse… how you could've gone THAT much into character to even turn the simplest scene into… whatever it had become now.

Probably because of Tom. Acting with him was like stepping into an entirely different world where being someone else was so incredibly easy… and being yourself was the hardest thing in existence. Not because you were scared of him, or insecure about yourself, but because you hadn't even spoken to the man in question up until two minutes before your scene. And you probably wouldn't be able to talk to him again, to apologize for what you had done… It wasn't like the extras got to spend a lot of time with the main cast anyhow, but now that you'd hurt him they probably would make sure to not let you close to him ever again.

Gosh, you'd screwed up big time. Nobody would ever give you a role again if the industry got notice of your failure here… Your career would be over before it had even started properly. Maybe your only defense was that they didn't prepare you in acting school, for the overwhelming package that was Tom. That was the poorest excuse ever, and just thinking about him brought a blush onto your cheeks and tears to your eyes. You just wanted to talk to him… to apologize a million times and maybe even get some advice on how to improve your acting so that this wouldn't happen again.

Once you had changed back into your own clothes, once you were ready to leave the role and this movie behind for good, the door was opened and another assistant stuck her head inside. "Is someone called Y/n here?"

"Yeah..." You almost yelled towards her from the other end of the huge hall, wondering just how many people were working on this set. Probably hundreds, at the same time. But this woman was younger than most others, closer to your own age, you saw that as you made your way towards her.

She looked at you with a bright smile. "Wow, YOU are Y/n? I could've guessed… You look all different without your costume and makeup… less scary!"

"Thanks, I guess..." You snorted as you packed up the few belongings you'd left here earlier this morning.

"Oh no, I meant it as a compliment!" She grinned excitedly, clicking her pen a few times too often. "Your scene was absolutely amazing! I was so scared just watching it from afar… but it was also kinda hot, really, I've never seen something like it! I honestly can't wait to see it on the big screen! I think the whole crew was stunned to silence for a moment back there, you scared the living daylights out of them!!!"

"Really?" You frowned at her deeply while a small blush crept onto your cheeks. "You enjoyed the scene?"

"Of course I did! You're an incredible actress! I feel so honored to work with you, even if only this briefly now." She kept grinning as she skipped on her heels in excitement and you couldn't help but give her a small smile in return. Maybe the scene hadn't looked too bad from the outside, after all, and your only fault was that you'd overstepped your boundaries in terms of both creative freedom and with the thing about the dagger… you still felt most wretched about that.

"You flatter me way too much… I think the producers didn't like that I improvised quite a bit. And I think Tom didn't like that I… cut his throat." You said in a twisted sigh as you nodded towards the makeup crew in acknowledgement before stepping outside, next to the nice assistant. "I'm fairly certain that everyone but you hates me now."

"Unlikely." She grinned even more, if that was even possible. "Mr. Hiddleston asked his assistant to ask you to wait in his trailer."

"You're his assistant?" You blurted out in order to keep your mind from registering the rest of the sentence.

"NO! I mean… no. His assistant asked their assistant, and they asked me to find you and tell you. I'm just a directorial trainee." She shrugged with a smile. "No one important."

"That explains it…" You gave her a half smile, and only continued once she frowned in irritation. "It explains why you're talking to me. Everyone else seems to be too important to be bothered with such a minority that is me."

"I'm sure that's not true…" She gave you another encouraging smile, and you found yourself really liking her indeed. Too bad you wouldn't be seeing her again.

"What's your name?" You asked out of sincere curiosity. Maybe once you'd been officially kicked out, you could at least bribe someone on set to get her contact info so you could buy her coffee sometime. For being nice to you, and for making you feel a little better in this moment of despair.

"Oh, I'm Emma." She chuckled. "Basically no one, compared to you guys. Just the girl who's sent to fetch coffee."

"I'm sure you're not no one!" You replied, feeling the odd need to comfort her as well. "Everyone starts out small… Believe me, in no time you'll be a director of your own. I mean at least YOU won't get kicked out for cutting anyone's throat today. You still have an entire career ahead of you! Nobody will want to talk to ME after this..."

"You're too kind, Y/n… For now I can only hope, dream, to move up the career ladder and become some famous actor's personal assistant. And I doubt that you will be fired though. Mr. Hiddleston seems fairly interested in talking to you, once he is done shooting for the day."

"Why?" You asked, a little too slowly for your own liking. While you really wanted to make things right with him, you also couldn't help but wonder why he would want to talk to you, out of all people. He didn't seem like the revenge kinda guy...

"Well, I have no idea. I'm only supposed to accompany you to his trailer now and make sure you have everything you need." She giggled as you followed her through the maze of the trailer city built a little offside the main set. It was still under construction, for this was only the first week of shooting. "Have you talked to him a lot?"

"I haven't talked to him at all outside of the scene." You sighed. "I mean I tried to apologize for what I did, but I didn't get to."

"Looks like you're going to talk to him now. Well, later today." She shrugged again, stopping in front of one of the most plain trailers on the whole ground, unlocking the door and holding it open for you. "He said you're welcome to make yourself at home."

_______________

It was odd at first to be alone in Tom's trailer, and you felt like you were severely intruding in his privacy. But he'd asked you to wait here, and you would not disappoint the man you admired so much yet again. Thus you had the smallest look around, eyes lingering longest on the small collection of books he kept stacked in a dainty shelf. With an unyielding curiosity that fought its way to the front of your mind, you picked out the most worn out looking book and flipped it open on the first page as you sat down on the small couch.

You didn't know how much time passed as you were completely absorbed into the story, the scenes and chapters playing out in your head like a movie on its own. It was so captivating that you completed forgot about the messed up scene, about your worries and about where you were, leaving you raw and open only to the world of the book.

Up until the door was ripped open, making you jump badly and drop the book into your lap with a small gasp. With a start everything came rushing back to you, the fear, the anxiety, the guilt, the request for you to wait here... but the person who was currently staring at you in equal confusion was neither blond nor tall. And definitely not informed that you'd been asked to be here.

"Hi." You blurted out in nervousness, staring at the bald man in the doorway.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? Where's Tom?" He rasped with a deep frown, scanning the trailer with his eyes before they basically dug into your forehead.

"Y/n; reading; I have absolutely no idea." You answered quickly, and he seemed fairly irritated at your answer for a second, then his eyes widened in recognition.

"You're the girl from the battle scene! The one everyone's talking about!" He uttered in surprise. "Almost didn't recognize you without all the makeup."

Once more you blushed upon hearing that for the second time of the day. Being recognized by anyone wasn't something that happened to you… You'd only ever been in very small productions after finishing acting school, and even if people like Tom Holland were roughly the same age as you, you were nowhere near as famous. You doubted you'd ever be. But this guy at least seemed to have seen your scene, and you didn't know if being recognized for THAT was really an achievement.

"Uh, yeah…" You finally managed to say, blushing even more. "That's me. Sorry."

"Sorry for what, dear?" He laughed, shaking his head to himself. "I must say… You did scare the crew quite a bit. And you scared poor Tom a very large bit! Didn't see that coming, and neither did he probably."

You opened your mouth to reply, but yet again didn't find the right words to express how sorry you were for scaring Tom, and everyone else. How incredibly sorry you were for hurting him, for changing the scene without talking about it. So you put on the best half smile you could manage and just looked at the man in hopes that he would leave soon.

"And… You're waiting for Tom?" He asked after a moment of awkward silence, leaning in the doorway as if he owned the place. But who were you to judge, reading Tom's books and all… However you didn't like that he was blocking the only exit, it was making you more nervous by the second.

"Yes." You replied in mostly faked certainty, wondering who exactly he was and what he wanted.

"Are you two… well acquainted?" He inquired further and you weren't sure if you were comfortable with where this conversation was headed.

"No, we… we actually haven't talked to each other much on set. Outside of the scene, I mean." You replied nonetheless, playing nervously with the zipper of your hoodie.

"So… You're not dating or anything? Good… I mean, uhm… Because whew, that scene you put on back there was pretty hot." He shrugged with a nervous laugh. "You… you played the little tease really well."

"I didn't play a tease, I played a goddess." You replied earnestly, giving him a deep frown. "I take my characters very seriously, and you might consider doing the same."

A deep crimson colored his cheeks a short moment later and he looked to the ground, then back at you with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I… I didn't mean to insult you. I was just honestly surprised that someone so young could have such an intense energy on stage."

"I will take that as a compliment, so thank you." You replied politely and returned a small smile. Maybe he was odd, but politeness was just one of the things you had trained yourself to show in any situation, no matter what. In the end, kindness always pays off.

After another short moment of uncomfortable silence, exchanged glances in awkwardness, you picked up the book in your lap once more and the man started pacing back and forth outside, in front of the trailer. The cold wind that blew through the open door chilled you in an uncomfortable way, covering your skin in goosebumps as you tried reading the words on the page… But you couldn't focus with that guy walking up and down outside the door. So your thoughts went back to Tom, to the scene… You wondered if the cut had stopped bleeding by now.

However you didn't get to dwell on these thoughts, or on the cruel emotions that followed, as the velvet voice of none other than Tom rang out to your ears. Immediately your head snapped towards the door, but you could see neither him nor the man who'd been waiting here for his arrival. But you could hear them talking about something you didn't quite understand.

"What are you doing here, Jerry?" That was Tom… So Jerry was the name of the odd chap who had been so ineloquent in telling you that he fancied you.

"David sent me… I'm supposed to let you know that your proposition has been thought through and calculated." He said in a hushed voice that clearly told you that you weren't supposed to hear about this. Obviously that made it all the more interesting.

"And? What do they think about the idea?" Tom inquired, and you could practically hear his frown. You smiled… just because he didn't know you, didn't mean you also didn't know him.

"I don't know what exactly the whole thing is about, they said it's under closure until the whole thing is officially through the books, so don't expect me to give you any information about that… but I was told that after 'serious contemplation', your proposal has been deemed appropriate and will be put into action upon your notice." Jerry said in one single breath and you could hear him breathing heavily afterwards. Weird man.

"That is absolutely amazing!" Tom said with such a joy in his voice that you had to smile as well, despite not having any clue as for what he was excited about. But knowing him happy, for whatever reason, made you feel happy yourself.

Jerry whispered something after that, and you couldn't understand anything but your own name. A second later he excused himself, and Tom came into sight as he stepped through the door and closed it behind himself.

You jumped to your feet immediately, hiding the book in your hands behind your back as you looked at him with a slightly worried expression. You had no idea what to expect…

The cut on his throat was still faintly visible, now that he'd taken off his makeup and costume too. You felt your heart sink upon the sight.

"Hello Y/n…" He smiled at you as he closed the door behind himself and moved to stand in front of you. "I'm very sorry for the long wait, and yet glad you waited for me nonetheless."

"I…" You started, lips parting as you looked at him in a search for the right words. He didn't look angry at all, and it irritated you a great deal. "Of course I waited. You asked me to."

"I did indeed. We didn't get the time to chat before, and I wanted to get to know the woman who made my legs shake." He smiled down at you, then peaked over your shoulder. "What do you have there?"

With a small blush you showed him the book you'd almost finished reading by now. Maybe you should've put it back before he had come here…

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snoop at all! But I was waiting for so long, and started reading… and somehow lost track of time." You confessed, still finding nothing but amusement and happiness in his face.

"It's a great read for sure… One of my favorites." He chuckled softly and your racing heart relaxed a little. Why was he being so nice to you after what you'd done to him? "Would you like some tea?"

"What?" You blurted out, completely irritated.

"Tea… You know, dried herbs and boiling water? I'm making tea." He smirked ever so slightly, moving towards the small kitchenette. "Earl grey or green vanilla?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?!" You asked instead of answering his question, for the tension building up within you was just becoming unbearable. "I hurt you, and I ruined the scene… and you want to make me tea like we're friends."

"I surely hope we can get to the point of being friends soon." He leaned his head to the side with the softest smile. "Now, black or green?"

"Green please." You sighed in resignation, sitting back down on the couch as you watched Tom boiling water and setting up two mugs. Only once he placed your cup on the coffee table and then sat down on the couch next to you, you finally dared speaking your mind once more. "Tom, I'm so incredibly sorry… For just everything! For changing the scene without talking about it first, for just letting them drag me off afterwards and especially for hurting you! I still can't believe they gave me an actual dagger! I'm so sorry, I don't know how I could get so carried away… I'm really, sincerely sorry. Does it hurt much?"

"Please, you don't have to be sorry for anything. It doesn't hurt at all, don't worry. I've had far worse accidents on set." He offered you a reassuring smile that actually fulfilled its purpose in calming you down. "One time, I had Chris punch me in the face in order to make the scene look real. We had to repeat that a couple times… And it hurt way more than the little scratch I got today."

"So you're not angry with me? Not even slightly upset?" Your eyes widened as they were fixed on his curious ones intently. There really was nothing but genuine curiosity and kindness in his face, and it made your skin crawl.

"You almost sound like you want me to be upset." He chuckled, carefully removing his tea bag from the mug and placing it on a saucer. "But I'm most definitely not. I'll have to wear a scarf or a turtleneck for a couple days, but it's winter after all. I'm all good."

You let out a long and quite shaky breath, closing your eyes for a second. Then you moved to follow his example in removing your tea bag from the steaming water.

"You still seem quite distraught…" He commented after a short moment of silence, without a smile this time, but with honest concern. "Is there anything I can do to ease your mind?"

"Well, I'm honestly glad that I didn't hurt you all too much, and that you're not mad at me… but I still screwed up my only scene in the movie. And I need to get accustomed to the idea of getting kicked out now." You replied honestly, finding it oddly easy to talk to him. Really, it was as if he just radiated some enchanting sense of comfort, a magnetic field you couldn't help but respond to.

"Oh dear, you really do think you messed up our scene, don't you?" He asked in a sigh, giving you another smile that made your cheeks flush and your skin burn up.

"I did think so, yeah… but then I had two people telling me that somehow, I scared the entire crew… And that I scared you." You admitted the last part rather quietly, looking down to the tea in your hands.

"Oh, you definitely scared everyone on set! And you really did scare me as well." He laughed, making you look back up at his face. "It was absolutely amazing. I mean, it doesn't happen every day that the director is perfectly happy with the very first take! Especially not with younger actors. That's maybe the biggest compliment he could've given you… not having us redo the scene. It really speaks volumes about the quality of your acting."

Your eyes widened for a second, then you couldn't help but snort in return. "Yeah, sure…" You laughed in sarcasm. "He probably loved me cutting you open with a dagger and going all psycho on you."

"Well, I loved it for sure." He grinned, taking a sip of his tea in amusement. "As Loki and as Tom. But probably for different reasons."

"You…" You started, but the words stopped on your lips as they just parted in honest surprise. At least you didn't blush yet again, like a silly schoolgirl. "You LIKED what I did with the scene? But… it wasn't scripted or anything. I mean you weren't supposed to trip over that helmet, and I wasn't supposed to even come that close to you. Leave alone actually sit on you… oh god, I actually did that. Well, my character did. I kinda let her take the lead a little too much." You groaned, hiding your face in your hands. "I'm sure you'll laugh at me for preparing such an in-depth character for such a minor role…"

"Do you want me to laugh? Because I most definitely could, but that wouldn't be very sincere at all." Tom still smiled at you so fondly that you were slowly believing him that he really did like your performance indeed. "No, in all seriousness, I think your skill is remarkable. You are an amazing actress, and I loved working with you."

"Thank you. Really, it means a lot to me." You finally allowed yourself to smile back. "It has been such a pleasure to work with you too. I mean, I probably wouldn't have done what I did if I hadn't been comfortable with you."

"Well, I'm honestly glad to hear that." He chuckled softly, looking down to his tea now. "And as for the director and the crew, I think they were immensely impressed with your acting as well. Of course, going off script isn't something most newcomers are expected or appreciated to do, but you just did so remarkably well that I think no one will believe you were new to the art in the first place."

"You flatter me way too much." You smiled at him, feeling truly comfortable and appreciated for the first time today. Well, maybe it was the second time you were appreciated. "It's rather easy to shine in your light."

"Now you're the one doing the flattering." He laughed and finally looked at you again with such a joyous twinkle in his eyes that you started grinning involuntarily. Tom was every bit the man you had thought him to be, and even more than that.

"Just telling the truth…" You shrugged. "You're kind and funny and smart AND talented, and I'm…"

"The perfect match for that." He smiled at you in an almost teasing friendliness that only made you grin even more.

"Too bad we only had one single take together. I'm sure we would've had a good time." You sighed, feeling greatly disappointed now that you had been forced to see your scene in a different light. And getting to know Tom wasn't making it any better, the man was freaking amazing. "But I'm sure you have a great deal of nice extras to drink tea with in the future."

Tom rose an eyebrow at you in amusement as he took another sip of his tea, badly hiding his grin with the mug. You closed your eyes for a second, cringing internally at how wrong that last statement had come out.

"Sorry, that didn't really sound like anything I meant to say at all." You groaned, hitting your head against the backrest behind you in annoyance at yourself. "I only meant to say that I won't be coming back, now that my only scene is done. I'm just silly for being sad about it now."

"You're not silly at all! It's always sad to let a character go, especially if one developed it on their own, like you did. Did your character have a name, by the way?"

"Not in the script, no…"

"I read the script, Y/n… I know that. But I would like to know the name you gave the character."

"Yeah… of course." You sighed at your own stupid mind, rolling your eyes at yourself and making Tom chuckle with the small gesture. Well, at least you were amusing him. "I called her Ivy, in my head."

"That's a great name." He replied softly, finishing his tea a moment later. "Ivy and Loki… flows fairly well, wouldn't you say?"

For rest of the afternoon, Tom and you remained sitting on his couch, drinking tea and talking about the movie, about your character development, your previous works… But once the evening rolled around, you also started talking about Tom's and your interests, your hobbies and preferences, anything that came to your minds. Conversation was so easy between you that once you found yourself wondering why he was even bothering to get to know a random minor actress such as yourself, you actually asked him without hesitation.

"You're really intriguing, Y/n. Special. I would like to be your friend." Was all he answered to that, with the brightest smile. So you just let it go and enjoyed the fact that you got to spend time with him.

Yet, once the early evening had made way for late nighttime, you realized that you might actually have to get going. But leaving now meant quite possibly never seeing Tom again, and the thought left a pretty painful sting in your guts, heart and soul. Well… you shouldn't be surprised. He was a top scale celebrity, and you were at the point where even your relatives forgot your name at times. Friendships spanning over such an enormous social gap were rare, if even possible at all.

Tom seemed just as reluctant to let you go, for you could tell he had been enjoying the conversation, your time together, just as much as you had. But once you had gotten up and walked to the door, put on your jacket and taken your bag, he just stood towering in front of you with a kind smile.

"I really enjoyed today. It was a surreal experience to be here, to be in a scene with you, but a very fun one." You smiled back up at him with a bittersweet feeling in your entire being.

"I did too. Seriously. Maybe we will see more of Ivy in the future, who knows… I will see more of you for sure, if you allow me." He grinned and you rolled your eyes with a small smirk and a nod, making him chuckle. "Friends?"

"Definitely friends."

_______________

It had been a week and a half since your rather out-of-this-world-amazing experience on set, when you got a text message from an unknown number, asking you to come to the studios' executive office for a change in your contract.

In the sincere belief that they would cut your payment, now that you'd only been on set for one single day, you decided to wear the most professional dress you owned in hopes to seem somewhat more experienced in these things than you really were. Then you made your way to the office.

Upon your arrival, you were ushered into a conference room full of people you had mostly seen only once before, but never spoken to due to your simple insignificance in this production.

A second after you had taken a seat at the far end of the table, the door opened once more and in strolled Tom alongside the director of the movie. The deep frown that showed on your face as they moved to sit down next to you spoke volumes of the deep unsettlement rooted within your mind, and you silently looked at Tom in question, for you didn't dare to disrupt the silence of the room with words. He gave you a reassuring smile, which eased your nerves only slightly. What the hell was all of this about? Surely they wouldn't ask Tom to come in if it was only about cutting down your payment.

"Thanks for coming, everyone, I hope we can make this quick and go back to production." A woman at the other end of the table took up the word and went on about how production was going well thus far. Your attention was only partially on her though, as you couldn't stop glancing at Tom next to you, who kept grinning widely behind his strategically placed hand covering his mouth. What did he know that you didn't? Very unsettling indeed. But if it amused Tom, it couldn't be all too much to your disadvantage.

"Due to some serious convincing from various people in the producing crew – I'm looking at you, Tom – there has been a slight alteration made to the cast and the script." She stated more or less neutrally, but you could tell that she was most likely annoyed by whatever was going on. Everyone else seemed rather pleased nonetheless.

"As discussed before, we will expand Miss L/n's part in the movie and make her character a regular." The woman stated and went on talking about how that would mean they had to redo most of the previous week's work, but your mind was still stuck at her first sentence. They were bringing your character back for more scenes? Even as one of the mains?! How the heck…. Hiddleston. Your eyes snapped to the man next to you only to find that he was already looking at you in both happiness and amusement. Oh, this had to be his work… you just knew it. You wanted to smack and kiss him for it at the same time.

"Miss L/n will get a new contract for the entire duration of this production. If she agrees to become part of the main cast, that is…" The woman's words made your head snap back towards her in an instant, drawing your mind out of its own depth once more.

"Yes! Of course, I… I'm honored! I'd love to." You spluttered the words in an unnecessary haste, as if this amazing opportunity could be taken away from you any second that passed without your agreement.

A little while later, as most of the people had left and only the guys for the legal stuff remained, along with Tom who was patiently waiting for you to finish signing the thick pile of papers, the woman from before came stalking back into the room on her way too high heels.

"Miss L/n…" She started, rising her eyebrows as she spoke in a slightly condescending way that made you frown in return as you signed the last of the pages. "I assume you do not have your own assistants, trailer or security as of yet…?"

"No." You replied easily, polite as ever. Hopefully you wouldn't have to see much more of her in the future.

"I didn't expect so… It is unusual for such not-at-all known actors to be added to the main cast of a major production." She chirped and you hid your distaste for her behind a polite smile.

"Oh, she will be known everywhere by the end of the day, most likely. Don't worry about that." Tom commented from the side and you gave him a quick but sincere smile. Somehow, you got the feeling that even though you were new to this world of fame and setwork, you would be fine, for Tom would be there to help you.

"Alright, then we will assign you any of our own people for this production… do you have a preference of gender?" She sighed, not even trying to bother with Tom. That was a fight anyone was doomed to lose, after all.

"Can I have Emma?" You asked out of instinct, for once not caring that making direct requests wasn't something you could allow yourself in your position. But maybe it would be, now…

"Who?" The woman frowned, then rose an eyebrow at you.

"Emma… a directorial trainee?" You asked with an insecure frown of your own, looking at Tom for help.

"Curly black hair, rather tall, bronze skin?" He asked, furrowing his brows in thought.

"Exactly!" You smiled at him.

"She's David's assistant's assistant's assistant." Tom shrugged, giving you an amused smile. "She's always been too scared to talk to me."

"You want a trainee as your assistant?" The woman asked in disbelief. "We have better qualified personnel for that."

"Well, everyone starts small. And as you put it so very accurately, I'm not one of your A-listers. So a trainee will be just fine for me." You replied politely and Tom snorted quietly off to your right, making it even harder for you to suppress a devious smirk.

"If that's what you wish for, then you will get it." The woman smiled in disgusting politeness. "And for a trailer…"

"Put hers somewhere close to mine." Tom commented yet again and now you had to bite your lip to keep from laughing.

"Of course." She replied in a breath. "Here's your new script, Miss L/n. Please be on set tomorrow morning for a runthrough with the writers." Then she turned to leave in as much composure as she still could manage.

Once the door fell closed behind her, you let out a loud snort and rose to your feet, picking up the script and flipping through the pages. "This thing is freaking huge!"

"Yeah." Tom chuckled, watching you as you sauntered towards him. "Looks like the producers liked some Ivy to their Loki."

Right at his words, your eyes fell upon a random scene right in the middle of the movie. They really had named your character Ivy… You took some very much unnecessary pride in it.

"How on earth did any of this happen?" You laughed incredulously, looking at a widely smiling Tom.

"I told you I wasn't the only one impressed by your marvelous acting." He shrugged, and together you made your way out of the conference room and towards the elevators. "But I might have made a few suggestions to a few people here and there…"

"You're unreal, Tom… absolutely incredible." You shook your head to yourself as you clutched the script tightly to your chest with the happiest smile on your face. "Thank you."

"Hey, I did it for entirely selfish purposes." He laughed, placing a gentle hand on the small of your back as he followed you into the elevator. "I get to work with you every day now. That was worth the trouble."

"Are you looking forward to me making your legs shake again?" You teased with a smirk, knowing full well that today marked the beginning of something very great yet to come.

"Absolutely, darling."

______________________________

Story tags:

@lokixme @catsladen @anxiousdreamersworld @nonsensicalobsessions @runningawaywithloki @letoursilencebreaktonight @miruwen @crystal-28 @thats-what-i-call-british @randomlokifan

General tags:

@its-remy-not-ratatouille @wegingerangelica @thidls12333 @tomstoobeautiful @dreary-skies-stuff @averyhill4445 @wiczer @lotus-eyedindiangoddess @theweirdlunatic @caretheunicorn @kthemarsian @lady-of-lies @sadly-falling-through-wonderland @strawberrysandcream @noplacelikehome77 @theoneanna @mishaandthebrits @mygodisloki @i-am-a-mes @nonsensicalobsessions @exygon @hiddles-lobotomy @rjohnson1280 @annwhojumps @spookycatqueen @salempoe @headoverhiddleston @fanfiction-and-stress @createdfromblue @halszka-potter @thecreatiivecorner @themusingsofmany @inthemarvelvoid @from-hel-i-with-love @kinghiddlestonanddixon @scorpionchild81 @foodthatsgoodforyoursoul

Hope you guys enjoyed it 💗✨☺️ please let me know what you think 😁 I'm always so curious for your thoughts 🥰

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston imagine #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston fanfiction #loki #loki x reader #loki odinson #loki x you #loki friggason #loki imagine #loki fanfic #loki (marvel)#loki of asgard #tom hiddleston x you #loki x y/n

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letterboxd · 3 years

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Watching John Malkovich.

To understand better why Letterboxd members set out on quests to watch specific actors’ entire filmographies, we invited Tim Rod to describe her dangerous and seductive journey through John Malkovich’s screen history.

For many film lovers, 2020 has been a year of catching up: on franchises, on directors’ filmographies, on historical gaps and top 100s. But for some Letterboxd members, the year indoors has been an opportunity to hyper-focus on a single actor and their work.

Jeremiah Lambert is on a Bacon Fest, Naked Airplane has embarked on a wild ride through the works of De Niro, Hackman, Hoffman, Nicholson and Pacino. Joey is preparing for next year’s centennial of The Kid by churning through Charlie Chaplin’s catalog (with David Robinson’s biography Chaplin: His Life and Art in hand). A quick Twitter survey found others churning through a performer selection as wide-ranging as Burt Lancaster, Parker Posey, Maggie Smith, Nicolas Cage, Cary Grant, Kevin Costner, Robin Williams, Adèle Haenel, Alan Arkin, Sam Rockwell and a Seth Rogen thirst project.

It can be a bumpy journey. In one performer’s oeuvre the quality will range widely, the genres too. But the rewards are many in a close study of craft, and there are revelations, whether it’s that Australia’s Miranda Otto deserves more recognition, or it’s “the total acceptance, lack of judgment, and vulnerability with which Alan Arkin has played so many of his flawed and wonderful characters”.

With Christian Bale in ‘Empire of the Sun’ (1987).

In 2020, no fewer than three movies and two television series starring John Malkovich have been released: Arkansas, Valley of the Gods and Ava, as well as The New Pope and Space Force. The legendary actor has kept himself busy, and I know this because I have seen most of his filmography—41 films and two series—in the span of a single month. I adore Malkovich, always have, and I came out of this experience with a deeper admiration for him, and with some thoughts about his unique, remarkable skills as an actor. (And, I had a really good time.)

Allow me to begin by saying that John Malkovich is the best part of every movie he is in. No matter the movie, Malkovich will always steal the spotlight, and he can turn a good movie into a masterpiece, or an average movie that wouldn’t catch anyone’s attention into one worth watching, if only to see him do his thing.

He’s starred in movies that are considered masterpieces by many: Being John Malkovich (1999), The Killing Fields (1984) and Empire of the Sun (1987). Movies that may be considered the opposite of masterpieces, like Supercon (2018), Eragon (2006) and the most recent Ava (2020), and he’s also starred in some gems that I knew nothing about but am glad to have discovered, such as The Convent (1995), Eleni (1985) and The Ogre (1996). Malkovich has brought to life iconic characters including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Tom Ripley, Hercule Poirot (in BBC’s The ABC Murders), the artist Gustav Klimt, and several of David Lynch’s people, in the short film Psychogenic Fugue (2016).

As Mitch Leary in ‘In the Line of Fire’ (1993).

Malkovich has received two Academy Award nominations, for Places in the Heart (1984), in which he played Edna’s lodger, the solitary yet kind Mr. Will, and for In the Line of Fire (1993), where he played the complete opposite: the psychotic Mitch Leary, determined to kill the President of the United States. Though Malkovich is not a classic action-film actor, his work in that genre is driven by logic, intellect and emotion, and the delicacy that he employs to challenge concepts of masculinity and keep us guessing. His soft and collected voice threatening Clint Eastwood over the phone is scarier and more effective than a deeper one would have been.

That voice. Malkovich has admitted that he hates the sound of it, that he would always avoid listening to it, just like so many actors avoid watching their own films, but I’m bewitched by his voice and I could never get enough of it. It can be tender, sweet and calming, seductive when the role requires it, and terrifying. With that versatility, it’s not surprising that he has done some narrating work as well, for films including Paul Newman’s The Glass Menagerie (1987) and Alive (1993).

Malkovich is at his best when seduction and villainy combine, as they do in Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont has been performed by many actors over the years, but I find Malkovich’s take to be the most memorable and exquisite. He captures perfectly the depravity and evilness of Valmont, but also the nuances, his journey from womanizer to man genuinely in love and, ultimately, his tragic redemption. He even brings a comedic aspect to the character that adds more depth and dimension.

With Glenn Close in ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ (1988).

Valmont is an awful human being, a monster even, and yet, every time I watch this movie, I find myself fascinated by his mastery of the deception, his sensuality and complete control of the situation, until the situation is “beyond his control”. In her review of the film, Catherine Stebbins calls John Malkovich “a sexual force of nature”, and I completely agree. If you want to see more of Malkovich’s sensual side, other notable mentions include The Sheltering Sky (1990), The Object of Beauty (1991) and Beyond the Clouds (1995).

And then there’s Being John Malkovich (1999), in which ‘John Horatio Malkovich’ displays so many facets of his craft. The fictionalized Malkovich is possessed by different characters, one of them a woman. Catherine Keener’s character falls in love with a subtly different version of Malkovich, when he is a vessel for Lotte (Cameron Diaz). Even though Lotte doesn’t have full control of Malkovich, he uses his femininity to bring the character-inside-the-character to center stage, delivering a subtle-yet-perfect performance. Even when we don’t see Lotte, we know she’s there.

John Malkovich as John Horatio Malkovich possessed by Lotte, in ‘Being John Malkovich’ (1999).

Not many actors could pull this off as brilliantly as John Malkovich does. To be fair, not many actors have been given the chance that Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman gave Malkovich: a film with his own name in the title.

I’ve discussed some of the most well-known of Malkovich’s performances, but I’d like to mention an overlooked one that I found heartbreaking and noteworthy. I didn’t know of the existence of The Ogre (1996) until I took a closer look at Malkovich’s filmography. It’s not without its flaws, but I found myself absorbed in the fairy-tale story of Abel, a naïve French prisoner of war who is taken to Nazi Germany and used to recruit children for Hitler’s Youth. Once again, the actor’s duality is on display, as Evan writes in his Letterboxd review: “Malkovich is both queasy and endearing as the (ig)noble simp who just wants to save the babies.” The Ogre tells a tragic story, but thanks to Malkovich’s tenderness, we can’t help but have sympathy for his character. At times it reminded me of the innocence of Lennie in Of Mice and Men (1992), another of the actor’s more noteworthy performances.

One of Malkovich’s great contributions to cinema is elevating an average movie just by being in it. One such role is as English conman Alan Conway in the bizarre true story, Colour Me Kubrick (2005). Malkovich admitted in an interview that he thought his performance was good, and I agree. If there’s one reason to watch that film, it’s to see Malkovich playing an eccentric conman who poses as Stanley Kubrick, using different voices and accents. As TajLV writes, “if there were anything to commend this film other than Malkovich, I’d happily rate it higher”.

As Alan Conway in ‘Colour Me Kubrick’ (2005).

One fun fact: I sometimes forget John Malkovich is American. Maybe it’s because he has starred in many European productions—out of the 41 films I watched, 18 were European. Malkovich is of European descent, has lived in France for a decade and speaks fluent French, which allowed him to star as the mysterious Baron de Charlus in Time Regained (1999), with entirely French dialogue. He also delivers lines in French and Portuguese in A Talking Picture (2003) by Manoel de Oliveira.

You’ve probably heard Malkovich use words, expressions and even entire lines of French dialogue on more than one occasion. He does this often, which gives him a certain European vibe, consistent with his own character, mannerisms and dress sense—elements that he sometimes brings to his characters. Maybe that’s the reason he has played so many intellectuals and artists: professors, scientists, detectives, painters, writers, a scientist and a robot, and even the Pope… It seems there’s nothing John Malkovich can’t do, including directing.

To end my marathon, I watched his directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs (2002), an assured movie adapted from a novel about the Maoist uprising in Peru in the 1980s, starring Javier Bardem. It was a nice surprise, and a strong start to what could have been a career as a film director, if not for the fact that he doesn’t have the patience to do it again. I recently read an interview where Edgar Wright revealed advice he always gives to directors, which is to make their second movie the one that will define them. I wonder if we will ever see John Malkovich’s second film, but for now, I hope he keeps gifting us with more unforgettable performances. At least we know that in the distant future, along with all the movies he has already appeared in, people will enjoy a never-seen-before performance when Robert Rodríguez’s short 100 years is released in 2115.

If there’s one thing I have learnt after watching most of his filmography, it’s that John Malkovich is one of the best and most versatile actors of our time, with the most unique voice I have heard in cinema, and with a rich filmography that encompasses every genre. And he’s not only a brilliant actor, but also someone I find personally fascinating. I truly find comfort in him. I hope we all get to enjoy his art for years to come, because his talent is limitless and I know he still has so much more to give. John Malkovich deserves all the praise for being a force of nature in the theater and film industry for over 40 years.

Tim is a Letterboxd member based in Spain, who has recently moved on from her John Malkovich marathon to a Sacha Baron Cohen quest.

#letterboxd #letterboxd community #john malkovich #actors #actor #acting #craft #acting craft #dangerous liaisons #most watched actor

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tonitheloftwing · 3 years

Text

UnShelled: The Freak The Mighty And Unwind Crossover No One Asked For

The image had stayed in Max’s head for ages. The image of Kevin, spraying chili powder into his father and captor’s eyes, sending him back to jail where he belonged. If this new law passed, there could be the possibility that his father could be unwound and shelled. Killer Kane, Killer Kane, a parts pirate soon to have no brain. He hadn’t known what shelling was originally, when he’d first heard of it on the news, so he’d asked Grim.

“Shelling’s a horrible thing. They unwind you and then throw out the brain. You’re not alive in a divided state if they shell you, I sure think,” Grim declared.

“Of course you’re not alive without a brain,” Max said. “No different than being a zombie then.” Even though Max was pretty sure he had no brain- he was a massive butthead. He wondered- would he want shelling to be his father’s fate, or was it too cruel? Better than the death penalty. At least his stupid body would be helping somebody.

“I heard the only type that shell is that foreign unwinding place,” Gram said with a shake of her hand. “What do they call it… The Zah Dey?”

“It’s the Dah Zey,” Grim corrected. “Something for flesh market.”

“Kevin said it’s Burmese,” Max interrupted. Kevin had… a very strong stance on unwinding.

“How unchivalrous! It’s a horrible practice, and should never be performed on anyone nor supported,” he claimed. “I know they can’t unwind me because I’m ‘unclean’. Well, I’ll show them unclean! I’ll protest against unwinding until this nonsense stops!”

Max had always admired his friend’s courage and way to speak his mind. He admired that he even had a mind, something Max always felt that he had lacked. Freak was his mind; together, they were Freak The Mighty, nine feet tall and with the biggest brain you’d ever seen. Even separate, they were a menace. Freak had led to the arrest of a notorious parts pirate, and Max had passed the eighth grade! They were unstoppable!

Max thought about unwinding a lot. No doubt if he’d been adopted out instead of taken in by Grim and Gram he’d be a pile of organs by now- a big pile of organs. He was probably worth a lot on the black market, an extremely tall, boeuf 13 year old, the prime age for unwinding. Maybe his dad would have raised him a tithe if he “found the light” earlier. Max chuckled at that. The thought of him, a tithe! He’d probably be the biggest tithe of all time. Maybe they could put him in Ginny’s World Record book or whatever it was called.

Max also thought about parts pirateering. When your father was someone who was so cruel to send his own wife off to be unwound by the Burmese Dah Zey, you had to. Iggy and Loretta were still tied up in that business, and Max vowed to stay away from them for that very reason. Even if Loretta had saved his life once. Maybe she was just eyeing up his parts. She always acted like she was, anyways.

One day, Kevin declared that he had a quest. “We must go to where I am to receive my robot body! To the Medical Research Center, noble steed!”

And so Freak hopped up on Max’s shoulders and they became Freak The Mighty once again as Max galloped off into the sunrise with the smaller boy on his back. This was Max’s favorite thing in the world; the wind blowing through his hair, Kevin on his shoulders, off on a wild quest to who knows where. He loved Kevin, Freak, whoever the hell he was, he knew he did. He wasn’t sure what that love meant or what kind of love it was, but it was there. His butthead was too stupid to figure out what it was. The only way would be to ask Freak, and then he’d know that Max was a butthead too stupid to understand love, and then where would they be? But Kevin never treated Max like a butthead. He seemed to be the one person in his life who understood that even if he was one, there was no need to treat him like one. Teach the big goon to read and write, eek eek. Then call him a noble steed.

“The castle looks just fabulously ravishing today, doesn’t it?” Freak said from atop his steed.

“Ravishing? Hungry?”

“No, that’s famished. Ravishing means beautiful, alluring, bewitching…”

“So all the things your mom is?” Kevin smacked Max with one of his crutches. “The noble steed will not make comments about his rider’s mother.” Max untied one of Kevin’s shoes playfully, a game they always played together. Kevin always pretended it ticked him off, but Max knew it didn’t. Then when he got off of him, Max would tie his shoe back up. Kevin was originally surprised he could even tie a shoe.

“So, when are you getting your robot body?” Max asked curiously.

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m really nervous for you,” Max admitted. “I mean, you’re getting a bionic body. That’s pretty freaky.”

Kevin sighed. “Max, it’s time you know. There is no robot body. It’s just as fictional as Arthurian legend. I came up with it to help myself cope with the inevitable, the inevitable being my soon but sure demise. It’s called manifestation. If I lie to myself enough, it becomes true to me.”

Max didn’t understand most of what Freak had said, but seeing the tears in his eyes told him most of what he needed to know. “You’re… going to die?” Kevin nodded. “My organs are just getting too big for my body, and since I refuse unwound organs, I’m not going to last long.”

“Why don’t you just take them?” Max asked, trying to plead with him. “The kids got unwound anyways.”

“Do you know how hard it’d be to find organs small enough for my body?” Kevin asked. “They’d need to unwind a three year old. And they’d have to make it so the organs couldn’t grow either,” he explained. “It’d be far too complicated. And possibly illegal.”

“But you can’t die!” Max exclaimed. “Without you, I’m just… The Mighty. I need my Freak.”

“That which comes cannot be avoided,” Kevin said seriously.

But Max would find a way to stop it. He knew he could.

First, he needed money. Lots of it. But where does one get lots of money? He swore to never be a criminal, but that might be the only way. Kevin would have called what he was doing a quest of the unnoble variety, but he needed the money. Enough money to bribe someone who probably had all the money in the world.

So, he ransacked all the abandoned houses in town he could find. Eventually he’d stolen one, two thousand dollars? He’d been able to find a diamond necklace he’d been able to pawn off, and he had his cash. Now, time to go to the people he’d needed.

“Loretta? Loretta, you in there?” Max asked, banging on the door. Eventually, the woman with the fake eyelashes and droopy lips greeted Max tiredly.

“What do you want, kid?” She asked. “No, I’m not lending you money.”

“Oh, I’m not asking for money,” he said with a smirk. “Quite the opposite. You’re going to become very rich.”

“So, let me get this straight…” Loretta thought, long and hard. “You’re going to pay us to take you to the Dah Zey?”

“Well, not quite. The money is to bribe the higher ups into letting me do what I want. But yes, I’m submitting myself to you as an AWOL. No one has to know, and the Dah Zey will still pay you.”

“Well, your plan’s crazy, but you got a deal, kid,”

Soon enough, he was on a plane to Burma, going to be unwound… maybe. He could admit he was scared out of his shorts, but this was something he needed to do, or else innocent lives would be over. He must do this.

Loretta and Iggy wouldn’t be making this journey with him, as they claimed that they were too small in the parts pirateering business to meet the owners of the harvest camps themselves. According to them, they didn’t even know what happened at the harvest camps, at least no more than anyone else knew. It had recently come out that the Dah Zey experimented on children, when the doctor had publicly made an appearance with his chimpanzee-footed assistant. Max had bigger dreams than being put on postcards, but he had a similar goal to Mr. Chimpanzee. To become an experiment of the doctor’s.

When Max arrived at the Dah Zey, they threw him in a cell, by himself. “Volunteers get special permission. You don’t go with others.”

Max wasn’t bothered by the man’s poor English; he was just anxious to meet the doctor. Only then did he realize how miserable the existence of the prisoners at Dah Zey were.

Despite being a volunteer, Max was given very little food or water, and only a bucket to eliminate himself in. For entertainment, he was given a crappy old TV with only movies buttheads would ever want to watch, and especially enjoy. But he put them on anyways, because he was a butthead. I mean, what kind of butthead would turn themselves into parts pirates for a friend?

Apparently an impressive butthead, as later Max received a private audience with the doctor.

“My name is Doctor Rodín,” he said, sitting down. “And you purposefully… volunteered yourself for experimentation?”

“Yes, although you’re only allowed to experiment on me if you do exactly what I want and as I say.”

The doctor snorted. “And why should I?”

“Because.” Max took out wads and wads of cash from his pockets. “I’ll make you very rich indeed.”

“Boy, I see more than that in a day,” he said, and Max couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or not. “But I love to meet someone with my same interest in human experimentation. So, pitch your idea to me.”

“Imagine,” Max started. “A nine foot tall giant, with a brain just as big to match. He’s super smart, like, super duper smart. He could probably invent world peace or something. Or something that’d make somebody rich.”

“I’ve already done experiments for giants,” he scoffed. “They went poorly, though. The person survived, but they’re completely bedridden. I’ll have to come up with another way than stacking spinal columns.”

“Sir, I’m already 7 feet tall, and I’m only 14. Imagine how much taller I’ll be when I’m older. Or you could give me, let’s say, a two foot spinal column addition.”

The doctor looked intrigued. “So, what exactly are you proposing?”

“I have a friend who’s a supergenius, but he’s going to die soon, his organs grow but his body doesn’t. So, why don’t you shell him…” “And then shell you…”

“And then put Kevin’s brain inside my body. Oh, yeah, Kevin’s the supergenius. And, we’ll be normal enough that we can pass as a normal person, someone who could maybe publicize your experiments as not cruel, but rather innovating.” Saying all these things made Max sick, but it had to be done to save Kevin’s life.

“I see. And what shall we call you?”

“Freak the Mighty.”

“I like that.”

Kevin woke up one day, no memory of what had happened to him or where he was.

That was when he noticed how big he felt. His hands felt heavier, his feet reached further down in the bed than they ever had before, and when he sat up, he felt two tons of extra weight. Well, not two tons, but that was what hyperboles were for.

He wasn’t himself. This wasn’t his body. He was Max.

He noticed a doctor looking down on him curiously. “Hello, Freak The Mighty.”

#freak the mighty #unwind #unsouled #unwholly #undivided #unbound #max the mighty #max freak the mighty #kevin freak the mighty #dr rodin unwind #tw death #tw organ harvesting

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