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#hopefully all of this made sense but if any bit is confusing or i dont make sense please feel free to send me an ask or message <3
corpsoir · 2 years
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hello! so I don’t really know how to word this in a non word vomit kind of way so my apologies ahead of time! One of my further questions about art especially digital art is finding a nice in between style of realism & “cartoony.” I personally struggle with the realism kind of art somethin about drawing real people is extremely difficult for me, I don’t want to draw them like fully real like but I do think my art could improve if I figured it out. Do you have any tips or recommendations to help with finding this? My other question is a bit more into coloring, i think I’m getting a little better at it but I’m still a tad confused on things like shading how to do lighting all that extra stuff people add when it’s not just flat color. Hopefully I make sense? I’ve been watching videos on digital painting & it’s helping but sometimes the ones I watch kinda go over my head & I was wondering you had any other tips/tricks or could dumb it down for me. Please & thank you sm again I really appreciate your help 💘
yeah sure i have lots of tips and thoughts im sure other people might find useful or fun to read as well!
i just wanna preface this by saying this is how just i do things and by no means am i saying im doing it "right" or that there even is a right way to do art. have fun! art is just a by-product of being human, nobody can do art more correctly or better than anyone else, its just art, its like breathing!
the best tip i can give to anyone looking to improve their art, especially when it comes to drawing people and light and shade, is taking a real life figure drawing class!
i know it can be expensive depending on where you live etc but if you ever get the opportunity, DO IT! its seriously so valuable especially if you have a teacher who is good at explaining 1) how to think when youre drawing and 2) can point you in the right direction and give you tips personally according to your abilities
when it comes to balancing realism and a more stylised cartoony style the best thing here is also to learn how the real human body works and looks. and again a figure drawing class can help here but so does looking at pictures, looking at your own body and how it moves and how light plays on your skin etc! i think in order to stylise something its always helpful to have that background knowledge of how something looks like in real life, that way you can sort of abstract the thing youre drawing and simplify it with simple shapes. i think one of my favourite examples for this that a lot of people struggle with is hands. people tend to want to draw every single finger in detail, and sometimes that can look a little bit stiff. heres a bunch of hands ive scribbled lately, notice how theyre all just. idk. shapes? especially the little negative spaces that trick you into seeing a finger when in reality its just a blob with a hole through it.
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you read them as hands but theyre really just. blobs mostly.
there are tons of books on anatomy for artists as well and those might help! i dont have any tips there though, most of my knowledge on the human form is from figure drawing and looking at my own body and stuff :))
and COLOURS! so i always work with a limited palette for my art. instead of going in and picking new colours all the time and ending up with an inconsistent muddy mess like i used to, i have made a nice palette with colours i enjoy and that go together well.
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lots of reds and browns and purples here, but thats just my personal preference for how i work with colours lol
and im gonna be really annoying with this but when it comes to shading things "right" this is something you gotta practice practice and practice, by looking at real world examples and trying to replicate it on paper (or digitally i guess). i still have a lot to learn, i struggle with light and shade still too and its fine, its a learning process!
but anyways this is how i usually do the light in my art, and i think this piece is the best example because its a very bright light source and stuff
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excuse my handwriting lol my thinking when it comes to light is just. im trying to think about what im drawing as a 3d object, so in my head i try to visualise for example how the light will fall on their weird hair shapes and their skin and clothes.
oh and also i just found a compilation of a bunch of videos by an artist who is really good at explaining a lot of stuff i do too! its REALLY long but she's got so many good tips on how to think about art and its really helped me a lot since i stumbled upon them. shes also really great at explaining colour theory in a way that made it so much easier for me!
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hope this helps at least a little bit lol im not a good teacher sorry!!
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snugglebeans3000 · 2 years
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Okay I might not have explained it well but I don’t care I’m going to make this into a whole fucking theory so buckle uP
As I said in the meme that was inspired by the very REAL scenario that occurred last night, bey spirits do not have a set language, rather communicating through emotions. They can understand what their partners are saying but it’s not something you can describe verbally. Take for example Gingka ranting to Pegasus about burgers. Pegasus doesn’t know what a burger is, but with the happiness that comes along with Gingka ranting about it, he can start to grab bits from the fragments of emotions and use those to envision what Gingka was describing. Bey spirits cannot speak any language however if they take over a host (much like how the dark power talked to Gingka after he took Ryuga over) they can have the host process these fine tuned feelings into actual words. But this is not what I want to exactly talk about.
WHAT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT THIS. RIGHT HERE. It’s going to get confusing and I don’t know if I’ll describe it well but I DONT CARE. The reason why so many characters in beyblade exhibit nuerodivergency is most likely BECAUSE most likely they are, and beyblading is the thing that allows them to freely communicate without the use of words. They don’t have to strain to explain why they don’t know they don’t like something. They don’t have justify it. Beyblade spirits do not need an explaination because they are already FEELING what their blader is feeling. Do you think a bey spirit would understand, or even need to understand, what a social que IS??? NO. if all they do is communicate through emotions that means that them and their blader do not have to toil about wondering if there’s been a misunderstanding. Once they are bonded by their emotional frequency they are able to tell how each other is feeling without ANY OBSTACLES. They could communicate about a bladers special interest and all they would get from that conversation is the pure joy of their partner. But what about battles?? The two bladers talk right, so why the need for the bey spirits then??? And to THIS I HAVE AN ANSWER. Even if the person doesn’t have trouble communicating verbally their spirits still translate how they are feeling to their opponent, so in a situation where there might be a NT and a person with ASD the person with ASD would still be able to feel how their opponents feels and vice versa, SO THERE WOULD BE NO BARRIERS FOR THEM TO COMMUNICATE AND BOTH ARE ALLOWED TO BE THEMSELVES. The stronger the emotional connection the better the communication. That’s why we see bladers who are able to connect with their beys the most become the strongest, because while beys have an infinite amount of power, how much of that power that is able to be revealed depends on the friendship of the blader and their bey spirit.
I still don’t know if any of this made any sense. I think I might go back and fine tune this theory later, but I was so excited to share this revelation that I had to post about it. Hopefully this doesn’t sound completely bonkers.
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m1d-45 · 1 year
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ALL OF UR "DERAILS" ARE COMPLETE GOLD IN MY EYES, I LOVE UR THOUGHTS AN IDEAS ABOUT THIS AU DONT EVER APOLOGIZE KING
and omg what u wrote about the corrupted!archons with their limited control and how they hold themself back how their mind and body are disconnected and how they want more of your light but the opacity is down and it feels like their wandering complete darkness with only alternate!creator
I also read this as the alternate creater is reader alternative btw
who do u think in this scenario would help the reader out, if where imagining this as an imposter reader scenario. I like to think that the wanderer or tighnari or maybe Lisa bc id feel like she'd read her books to figure out what's wrong with alternate!creator or why she feels like somethings off (thinking about that maybe alhaitham & cyno too)
speaking about this au, WHAT ABOUT THE TRAVELER AND PAIMON? I mean their the prime vessel so would they be fooled too? or would they help us? is this like a completely worse case scenario with no way out or is their any hope of saving teyvat and it's people?
- 🍄 (I'm sorry if I'm sending too much asks btw, also @ teddy anon sorry for taking ur prompt and running with it, I hope u get back here and talk more with us. also midas your ideas/writings are literally liquid gold their so good pls don't ever apologize for taking inspiration and thinking, I love everything you have brought into this conversation)
1) never apologize for sending asks this is the most fun i’ve had all week 2) rip teddy anon hope you enjoy how we’ve taken it 3) i will always apologize for thinking, it’s kinda my brand /hj
anyway:
i think that, as i said at… some point- that it depends on the fundamentals of the persons faith, at least in this au.
people like cyno, alhaitham, rosaria, candace….. maybe collei but definitely tighnari (don’t ask why there’s so many sumeru characters) are all people i can see praising and praying for the actions of their god. people who pray for the results and not the process, and people i think would be freest of the corruption and most likely to help the reader.
on the flip side, barbara, jean, nahida, and notably keqing would be lore susceptible. they pray for more direct things? almost? idk how to describe it but like- they’re more “please grant us wisdom” or “allow us the strength” or anything that directly relies on the alternate!god, and hence opening their heart to the alternates.
like i… i can’t put it into words quite well, but like- ningguang is one who prays for profits, ganyu is the one who prays for divine guidance, you know? and hence ganyu would fall quicker.
it’s obviously a spectrum, but those closer to the first groups side are more likely to break through and help the reader.
i think…. not solely for plot reasons, but definitely influenced enough by them that i’m mentioning it… kaeya falls solidly in the second group, whilst diluc is firmly in the first.
diluc is the one that prays for a good harvest, for high sales, for the patience to deal with the damned hard in his tavern. kaeya prays for strategic wisdom, for their guidance, for answers when he’s lost and confused and the acting grand master isn’t behaving like she should.
..hopefully that made at least some sense. i’m kinda just wingin it here.
re: the traveller…. i honestly think they’d be treated the same as the archons. if the archons are corrupted, they will be too if the archons are replaced, they will be too. due to the traveller’s relationship with both the archons and the creator, i think the alternate!creator’s hand is a bit forced there. same can be extended to paimon BUT you could have paimon escape since she can pop into a different dimension. and/or they can both live in the teapot as like. vigilantes. idk.
i think that if this were to be written (100% by somebody more knowledgeable about the catalogue than i am) then a pov from one of the archons would be incredibly necessary. either to showcase the sheer power the alternates hold, that they have replaced literal gods, or to shed light on why the archons act as they do, and maybe influence the reader(meta reader, not character reader) and their opinion on them. seeing a blank slate suddenly become full of life at the sight of their savior…. or the archons trapped in some cell, chained down and miserable, lamenting over their mistakes. how foolish they were to trust the one with eyes colder than iron and a grip nearly as strong. how foolish to pray when their soul cried to stop. how foolish, how foolish, how foolish.
and as they sit, maybe one of them begins to pray, unwillingly feeding into the beast that trapped them there.
“o holy creator, maker of light and extinguisher of darkness, the foundation of the earth… please, deliver us from this evil.”
the false god smiles.
WAIT WAIT WAIT ME FROM THE FUTURE HERE:
ADAM DIDNT KNOW HE WAS AN ALTERNATE.
WHAT IF THE FALSE GOD DOESNT KNOW EITHER?
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tavs-kin-korner · 9 months
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hihi!!
i'm kind of looking for some kin advice , i am a kin of mephone 4 but i also feel like im a kin of steve cobs and hate cobs for what he did to me i just dunno im having a lot of confusions if should tell my friend too cuz they dont like cobs as well. and am i even really cobs? idk im just confused thats all - and is hating a kin a normal thing ?
hELLO! sORRY ABOUT THE LATE RESPONSE! sORRY TO HEAR YOU ARE HAVING SOME ISSUES RIGHT NOW! D:{ lET'S SEE HERE,,,
sO, pERSONALLY, i THINK THAT YOU SHOULD DO SOME MORE,, sELF SEARCHING, iF THAT MAKES SENSE? lIKE REALLY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF YOU ARE cOBS, yOU COULD TRY VIEWING SOME THINGS RELATED TO HIM, sEE IF ANYTHING FEELS FAMILIAR ABOUT IT, y'KNOW? iF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE ANY MEMORIES TOO, tHAT COULD BE A PRETTY GOOD SIGN YOU MAY BE KIN,, bUT IT COULD BE A FLICKER? (fLICKERS ARE MORE TEMPORARY RATHER THAN FULL MEMORIES,,, i CAN'T EXPLAIN IT WELL, yOU COULD DO RESEARCH ON THAT, iF THAT FEELS MORE RIGHT TO YOU!)
aS FOR YOUR FRIENDS, i WOULDN'T BRING IT UP UNTIL YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT IT IS FOR SURE, i'M SURE THEY WILL STILL ACCEPT YOU AND BE YOUR FRIEND! lIKE i HAVE SAID IN ANOTHER POST, pEOPLE SHOULDN'T JUDGE YOU BY YOUR KIN/ACTIONS YOU HAVE DONE IN YOUR CANON/MEMORIES,,, eVERYONE CAN CHANGE! iF THEY ARE TRUE FRIENDS, tHEY WILL STILL ACCEPT AND LOVE YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE, }:)
aS FOR HATING A KIN, pERSONALLY i WOULD SAY IT ISN'T UNCOMMON,, fOR ME, i HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE, aLTHOUGH IT WAS ME FEELING ASHAMED BECAUSE OF MY ACTIONS IN CANON AND POSSIBLY BEING DEPICTED AS A "BAD GUY" (jOHN dOE), bUT ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE COOL WITH IT AND i DON'T DO ANY OF THE BAD THINGS i HAD DONE IN MY CANON/MEMORIES, oF COURSE! i THINK MANY OTHERS ARE LIKE THIS TOO, sO i DON'T THINK IT'S UNCOMMON TO BE ASHAMED OR HATE A KIN,, yOU SHOULD LEARN TO LOVE AND ACCEPT YOURSELF, tHOUGH! dOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO APPROVE OF YOUR ACTIONS OR PERSONALITY IN YOUR CANON, oF COURSE, tHAT JUST MEANS YOU'RE STRIVING TO BE A BETTER PERSON AND ACCEPTING CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!
hOPEFULLY THIS ALL MADE SENSE AND HELPED YOU A BIT! sENDING YOU LOTS OF LOVE AND SUPPORT! <3 /P
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thedevilsrain · 10 months
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waw personal post about having sisters and radicaI feminsm underneath
had like. an interesting chat with my sister about... basically trans issues yesterday. she isnt a full blown t3rf, she basically agrees Trans People Exist And Are Not Perverts (a thought my other sister doesnt share), but she agrees with a lot of transphobic and t3rf sentiments, mostly out of sheer ignorance
i broke down to her a few stereotypes, such as that there is a binary between trans people and their appearance (transfems are always feminine, transmascs are always masculine, non binary people are always "androgynous"), told her there are trans people who dont go on t, and that trans women literally never equalize their upbringings to that of cis women - they equalize their upbrings to that of other trans women
also told her that the fact transmascs are rarely seen in media/news arent because of "misogyny", its because the media finds it much easier to attack a "man" dressed as a "woman", than a "woman" dressed as a "men" (which then reveals their own transphobia because they just think the latter case is a "confused woman" while the first is a "pervert" if that makes sense)
and like.. it was good. she listened. again, most of it came from ignorance - hearing all the shit our other sister says, and not knowing any trans people herself, besides from the videos of Bad Trans People she would see shared around
(specifically, she brought up a video she'd told me about before, of a trans person at a rally saying "Iesbians will suck dick!" and saying she was baffled by it; to which i calmly explained there were not just trans women who were lesbians, but cis women who dated them, and that the matter of genitaIia isnt, for the lack of a better word, "ignored" or "forced" upon cis women)
funny enough the only thing we hit a wall out was the word t3rf itself - i told her at the end that it was nowhere close to being a slur like the T slur, and she said "t3rf is to feminits what the T slur is to trans people". when i told her "being called a t3rf doesnt get you killed in the streets" she scoffed and said "of course it does", even she stated herself braziI remains the country that kills the most trans people
i gave up after that mostly because we were both kind of tired, but another thing i hit a roadblock at was when she said "i'm honestly just tired of this whole discussion", and it honestly hurt me a bit. not because she didnt want to continue discussing it, but idk, just the way she said it made it seem like "oh can we discuss if trans people deserve to live some other day"
and on a darker note when i told her our sister wants trans people to die, she said (jokingly) "no she doesnt, she just wants them like.... to go away", and i said "yeah, go away, hide in the closet, and die" and she actually laughed and agreed because we both know that its the level our other sister has reached
overall again as i said, surprisingly good talk. shes very hesitant to mention the topic of trans issues with her Igbt friends because of her own bigoted friends, and i hope shes at least more willing to learn now
also she hopefully learned that jk roIando (as i call her) Is Bad because shes literally associating w friends of neo nazis now lol
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gaoau · 5 months
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Afterword
The Girl Upstairs
first of all, thank you so much for reading! onto the real issue here. i chose a very sensitive, if you will, topic to write about. mental health, and battling mental health, and suicide. it sends a strong, negative message to have the mc, struggling with mental health, commit suicide at the end of the story, doesnt it? i realized this when i was already 11 chapters in and it was too late to go back on my plans. not like i had wanted to go back on my plans. im not here to preach anything and by no means do i intend the message of this fanfiction to be "go ahead, kill yourselves." mental health is an incredibly tough battle against something you cant even see. i made sure to not give the mc's condition a label. i didnt want to shrug it off as "she's depressed" or any other existent disorders. the only actual thing i gave her was these "episodes" in which she "loses herself" and everything becomes blurry and confusing and scary. i did base those off my own anxiety attacks, but its not to say the mc's got anxiety. whether i did this for more relatability or just to avoid giving explanations, i dont know. keep in mind i was still figuring some things out a month after publishing. to anyone out there struggling with a mental illness, dont let this story written by a high-schooler influence your decisions or give you any ideas. the only reason the character i created committed suicide was because i deliberately built her in a way in which she believed suicide was the way to go. but everyone reading this is not a character; you are all real people, with real life struggles. you do you. there was a lot of stuff around me telling me not to kill the mc. i saw posts saying stuff like "make your character go through shit and then reward them" and more like that. everything i saw, i interpreted as a message yelling at me that i shouldnt make the mc commit suicide. but it didnt seem fitting to me, i didnt want to censor something like this. the character i created was stubborn and dead set on her ideals and beliefs. she lied to "protect others" until the very end. she kept most things to herself while still being open about wanting to die. sure, maybe i couldve had akaashi barge in seconds before she hanged herself to stop her, cause i did think about that. but that didnt make sense. akaashi trusted she would be fine on her own, and she was. just that their definitions of "fine" differed a bit. i think this is everything i wanted to say. i wanted to justify why i went with such a bold decision and hopefully it makes sense. it's fine if it doesnt, i dont really need to justify anything anyway.
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yibo-wang · 3 years
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RULES: When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!
i was tagged to show this , this  and this one by @suibianjie​ @cherryysundae​ @fengqing​ @wangxianbunnydoodles​​ and @still-snowing​​. 
it was really nice seeing the similarities and differences in everyone’s processes and i’m truly in awe with all of yours creations (*˘︶˘*).。.:*♡ and ali i really enjoyed reading your art process! it’s was so interesting and your art is wonderful!
(special thanks to @lan-xichens​ @suibianjie, @highwarlockkareena, @nyx4, @aheartfullofjolllly for organizing this (´。• ᵕ •。`) ♡ you all are amazing!)
[I didn’t have the psds saved so I had to remake them but as far as i remember this is how I made the original ones too since my process hasn’t changed a lot since then.]
Planning
Surprisingly all three of the above gifsets were part of my the untamed x color series so not a lot of thought was put into the panning since the scene or characters were already chosen for me. 
If a scene isn’t specified like the last two I go through the episodes or clips to pick out the scenes i want to gif or those which would look good based on the general theme of the set.
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(this is a part of the cql folder where i’ve clipped out the major/ defining scenes. please excuse the ridiculous names asjjsd it helps me remember what they contain)
Creating
For this tutorial/process I’ll explain the wangxian in purple one in detail and then go over the other two briefly since it’s almost the same process.
So I selected the exchange between wangxian where wwx’s talking about helping out with the yin iron and imported it.
Then I converted to timeline before converting the layers to smart filter. After this I start my base coloring process which is just messing around with the curve and selective color layer until i get the skin tones accurate and the over all, the gif more brighter.
Now since the request called for purple/indigo I added another selective color layer and the adjusted the cyan and blue options under it to make it purple instead. **what i usually is that I adjust the colors slightly in one layer and then adjust a little more after adding another layer. 
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it resulted in three more layer (which sometimes get adjusted even in the end if it looks like it needs more tinkering.
Overlay:
The hunt for overlay usually takes the longest unless I don’t already have it saved. I was just going through my folder when I realized it might look good with this. So I opened, cropped and resized the snow gif and then after converting it to smart filter duplicated it onto the lwj gif.
I play around with the blending options (for this one I used color dodge) and since this doesn’t obstruct the main gif I only used the layer mask for lwj’s face after decreasing the opacity like this.
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Then after adding my watermark I finally convert everything to smart filter again, then smart sharpen my gifs (using the settings 0.5) and adding gaussian blur (setting it to 0.3) before exporting it and saving for the web.  
Here’s the finished result as compared to the original.
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Posting
Like Monica I can’t keep gifs in my draft more then a day (and that too is a stretch lmao, the itch to post is real sjdjdsj). So i either queue it for the next day day if its getting really late or just post it right away. I don’t save any psds unless I really like the coloring of it and even that gets deleted after a week. (the only gifs that get saved occasionally are gfxs for future reference).
2- Coloring for Wangxian x Rainbow
For the rainbow series, I had to make a list of all the scenes I wanted to add ( i wanted to include all the landscape/scenic ones with wangxian so that involved going through a lot of episodes). The whole process is nearly the same apart from the coloring which required more selective color layers and masking (i forgot to save the picture after applying the masking in this one, oops!)
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@wangxianbunnydoodles​​ Hao I’m sorry I couldn’t do a separate one for the xue yang post cause I was in a rush, but I’ll definitely try to do that in the future
Tagging:
@manhasetardis​ with this one (it’s definitely my favourite one! the way your coloring is always so consistent and just this concept! i love it
@wei-gege​ and this one (your glitter series and their coloring is so wonderful, i always look forward to them on the character birthday events)
@xiaodaozhang​ and this one! Eva I love each one of these so much! the masking the text style!
@petekaos​ and this set (rahul i don’t even go here but the coloring in this is so gorgeous I couldn’t stop looking)
@veronaprincess​ and this wangxian lotus lake date one! i adore the coloring.
@kaonoppakao​​ and this one! it’s so pretty!
no pressure though (´。• ᵕ •。`) ♡
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bubblyhoney · 3 years
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can i request a fic where sapnap takes the reader to his hometown? like the classic going to places he went to when he was younger. maybe playgrounds and ice cream shops idk
places i used to go
warnings: language of course, an allusion to virginap, my uneducated guess of what sapnap was like in highschool, tiny detail of long haired!sapnap, singular canon detail of underage drinking, jokish about marriage
tags: sapnap x gn!reader
words: 2191
A/N: you are a god, anon. i love comfy and nostalgic fics like these and it was so fun to write. if you hate it dont tell me but if you like it lemme know akskdjd
inbox/requests: open
-
The wind whips fast on your bare fingers, cool and quick and raising goosebumps in its wake. You blink in the haze of the early sunset, head lolled to the side of the headrest. It feels good.
“That’s where I went to high school.” Sapnap interrupts your thoughts and points a finger at a collection of tall brick buildings down a side street. The silver of the lettering is dull, but you can still feel the nostalgia.
“And you’re about to see the park that me and my friends used to hang out at after work and—actually, nevermind.” His arm drops to the middle console and he looks straight ahead with slightly pinker cheeks.
“Do what?” You ask, voice all sweet, and a grin grows on your face. You turn towards him and wiggle your eyebrows.
“Nothing. Homework.” He avoids your eye contact and hikes his hand up higher on the steering wheel. “Anyways— Do you want to get some food before we head out? I know a great place.”
You two were just coming to a close on your little trip to visit his family; it was his step-mom’s birthday and you decided to make a week of it. It was your first long-term trip with Sapnap, and also your first time meeting his dad’s side of the family. You were proud to say she loved you. His little sister took a little more effort to talk to you of her own volition, but soon enough she was on your side.
You have a couple hours to kill before making your flight back home, so Sapnap has taken it upon himself to give you a quick tour of his hometown.
“Yeah,” you decide, bottom lip popped out. “Can we get ice cream after?”
“Uh, duh.” The Neighbourhood’s Stargazing starts through the speakers and he reaches to turn it down. “I’m so ready to get home and sleep.” He stretches his neck in his seat, letting out an uncharacteristically inappropriate grunt when his bones pop. You make a disgusted face, nose wrinkling, but stretch your own back, slumping down in the seat. The day had been full of packing up and this horrible hike his dad liked to do early in the mornings, so you two were pretty beat.
“Okay, we’re here,” he announces three sleepy minutes later in his best attempt at a whisper. Lifting your head off of the corner of your seat, you blink in the setting sunlight as a yawn splits your face. “You’re so cute.”
“Shut up,” you mumble, and struggle to get your seatbelt off in that post-nap haze. You’d barely been asleep for thirty seconds, damn it. The air is a swampy heat when you step out of the car onto rocky gravel and nearly twist your ankle climbing over the curb. Sapnap catches you by the lower back, trying to hide his laugh but failing miserably. You slide him a dirty look, smacking his shoulder as hard as you can manage while limping towards the front entrance.
The door jingles when you two breach the doorway, alerting a bored-looking hostess that the circus has arrived. She looks at Sapnap a second longer than she should, eyebrows screwed together in silent confusion. But she leads the two of you to a booth near a large window, handing you sticky menus and promptly fucking right off to the host station. She nearly runs.
“Do you know her?” You ask, inconspicuously hiding your face in the search for their 24/7 breakfast menu. You feel his eyes on you.
“Don’t think so.” He leans on one elbow and slides his phone out of his jeans’ pocket. In the 25 seconds it takes for you to find their french toast and sides menu, he has browsed and closed his phone with an animatedly shocked look on his face.
“What?” You give him a weird look and put down the menu.
“I totally went to homecoming with that girl.” He eyes the hostess. You glance over at her again, meeting her gaze, and offer a polite smile. She turns away quickly, eyes wide.
“She’s cute,” you say, voice high and fake, and he drums his fingers on the tabletop as an amused look makes its way onto his face.
“Are you—?”
“What?” You reply right back.
“Nothing.”
Thank God the server comes up to your table then and starts asking for drink orders, or else you’d have to admit (sheepishly) you were a tiny eensy-weensy bit annoyed. Only a tad. But after requesting a Dr. Pepper and a water the conversation surrounding the nervous-looking hostess dies.
“I’m so hungry I think I feel my stomach shrinking.” You flop your head onto your arm on the table top and make a whiny noise into the stack of napkins your server left at the table. Sapnap rubs his thumb into the side of your forearm, touch warm and nearly dissolving the pangs of hunger and jealousy.
“You weren’t hungry an hour ago.” He lifts your hand to his face and plants a kiss on the back of it. Oh, pulling out the big guns, huh? “I would have made you something.”
You tilt onto your chin, pouting, and stare up at his cute face. His cute, scruffy, perfectly-kissable face.
“I think I got hungry staring at you for half an hour.” A mischievous grin grows on your previously-petulant face and he just shakes his head.
“I do have that effect,” he admits with cockiness in his tone, lifting his eyebrows and leaning back into the booth with his lips pursed.
The server returns with two glasses and takes your food orders onto their little yellow notepad. You chug the water down when they leave for the kitchen, getting your lap and chin thoroughly wet in the process. Sapnap just snorts at you and shoves the napkins your way.
“So,” you start, patting dry your jeans. “tell me what you were like in high school.” You cross your arms and settle into the booth, smirk on your lips.
“What I was like?” He parrots, sipping at his soda, looking thoughtful. “Firstly, a virgin.” You make a noise. Duh. Dude had a buzz cut his junior year. (You’ve seen the pictures. His step-mom particularly likes them.) “Secondly, I was actually— well, I wasn’t popular, but I had a lot of friends. We were all semi-athletic lonely band kids but we had fun. Had one girlfriend senior year but she went to Cal Tech in the fall and I didn’t. I, um, worked at a Dairy Queen in the summers and gained so much weight I had to lose all over again for Unified Track.”
“Relatable,” you comment, drinking noisily at your water. He fiddles with the paper straw wrapper and crunches it up into a ball. It goes soaring into your drink with a quiet “Kobe” and you just give him a look. He smiles toothily right back at you. “Stop being cute, I’m trying to listen to your story.”
“Oh, my bad,” he mocks. “Anyways. That’s what I was like in highschool.” You fish the paper ball out of your water and flick it wetly at his arm. It sticks and you choke on a laugh, cheeks puffed.
Two plates of warm food are set down loudly onto the table and you thank the server with a surprised smile, Sapnap mirroring you.
Two minutes of wordless chewing passes, minds occupied just by “food, me eat” instead of anything related to your previous conversation. You realize that Sapnap is one of the loudest chewers ever, and he realizes that you fail to notice the streak of maple syrup in your hair.
“C’mere,” he mumbles through a mouthful of omelet and hash browns and beckons you with his hand. You lean closer, chewing slowly, as he pats a napkin at the strands of hair trapped in syrup.
“Thanks, baby.” You take the napkin from him and pause your assault of the warm french toast before you to clean the sticky sugar out of your hair. He just watches you, half of a smile on his lips.
You two finish your food in record time. It’s borderline vacuum-like. There’s a short grace period where you just sit like two lazy cats, slumped down in the booth and holding your full stomachs. But the check comes soon after, and you both pay your way and are out of the restaurant without any mad dashes for the bathroom. A miracle, really, because of the American-like amount of butter you both consume.
“I’m a much more functional person now,” you mutter into the cotton of his shoulder, swinging your hand in his. He just hums in agreement.
“I guess we’re not getting ice cream, then,” he teases, and you just groan in response.
“I don’t feel like having diarrhea on a plane, unfortunately.” You sigh heavily when you have to split and get into your respective sides of the rental car.
The entire trip (somewhat roundabout because of the amount of side quests to show you things from his childhood) to the airport Sapnap is a chatterbox. He’s like this when he has sugar: either bouncing off the walls with energy or talking your ear off.
“That’s where my dad proposed to my step-mom. I was kinda young but I remember being surprised at how big the ring was— dude broke the bank for her.” It’s a little gazebo you catch a glimpse of through the trees in a park. It probably was an incredibly picturesque moment, and you can sense how much she must have loved it. With just meeting them this weekend, you can already see how much love those two have for each other.
You hope people can see how much you love Sapnap.
“Oh my God, it’s still there.” He points out the side of your window to what looks like a Dairy Queen that has been through World War 3. “My buddy Eric and I once spilled a gallon of that liquid ice-cream-shit all over the men’s bathroom.”
You shoot him a horrified look. “Why was it in the bathroom?”
He just smirks.
“—And that’s my Uncle Ron’s house. Had my first beer there.”
“And last, hopefully,” you add, pulling a disgusted face. The two story bungalow is cute, and one of your favorite colors: olive green. “That shit is nasty.”
He just shrugs and continues down the side street.
“Is this the park you were talking about?”
He pulls into the gravelly parking lot of a small clearing of tall trees, a picnic table and campfire sat squat in the middle. But he doesn’t respond, just turning the car off and climbing out. He reaches the passenger door without speaking, and opens it for you. You climb carefully out, confused.
“Come on.” He takes your hand and starts for a small path to the left of the picnic table. The mid-sunset shade envelopes the both of you.
“I hope this isn’t where you kill me.”
“No,” he snorts. “I just wanted to show you something.”
It’s just a few moments of stumbling through the damp underbrush before you’re coming face to face with a small, mossy pond that sits right underneath an incredibly old willow tree. He stops right on the edge of the rocky path and turns toward you.
“This your make out spot?” You ask between a grin as he snakes an arm around your waist and tugs you flush to him. Your innocent smile fades when you feel the press of his lips to the side of your neck, light and ticklish. Oh.
“No,” he murmurs, and just breathes you in. “I came here once—the night before I graduated highschool. And I told myself when I really really loved someone I’d take them here with me.” He sways with you in his grasp, a gentle and song-less dance.
You grip his shoulder tighter in your hand and lean into him.
“That’s— awfully romantic, huh?” Your voice is quiet. Almost nervous. He just makes a noise of agreement.
“So here we are.” His voice is the opposite of yours, all strong and confident.
You two just move together for a moment. The sun breaks through the tree canopy, shining bright orange down onto the glassy surface of the pond. Crickets and frogs chirp back and forth as the willow vines swing in a cool evening breeze. You watch nature come alive around you, suddenly grateful for the man in your arms.
“Don’t propose,” you whisper, breaking the gentle tension. A laugh breaks the silence and he’s pulling away to look at you. Maybe in disbelief. A strand of hair falls into his eyes and you brush it away, fingers stilling on his temple and sliding down onto his cheek. Stubble scrapes against the skin of your palm and he stares at you through those meadow eyes.
You realize in that moment that he is exactly himself. Of course he is. He’s Sapnap, and everything that encompasses that. Dark and light and fiery and cool. He always has been, and always will be.
You realize you wouldn’t mind if he proposed.
-
A/N: ask or send me some stuff!! requests, rants, anything. let me know what you think
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ethernetchord · 3 years
Text
lets talk: popular iwwv criticism
(disclaimer: i know criticism is subjective and thats why im doing this, i wanna look at some common points made against iwwv and dissect them just a little bit in the opposite direction. also none of this is directed at any individual- it’s all based on the general talking points i’ve seen surrounding the book.)
SPOILER WARNING !!
lack of exploration into james and oliver (+ gay characters feel performative)
i’ve seen loads of people say that oliver and james’ relationship felt very performative, a way of including the queer romnce which clearly is very important to the plot but not actually giving it any space in the novel, nor developing it to the same extent which meredith/oliver was.
oliver and meredith had a very strictly physical relationship and while he did love her, he wasn’t in love with her the way he was with james. the juxtaposition in the way that oliver/james is delivered and the way meredith/oliver is delivered is, i believe, far too repetitive to not be intentional. i actually realised upon re-reading how much focus there really is on meredith’s sexuality, even in subtleties in the book. meredith and oliver get more blatant sex scenes, get more physical parts because oliver was (to an extent) using his attraction to meredith to distract himself from his infatuation with james.
we also have to remember that oliver and james didn’t get their real moment of honesty about their relationship till extremely late into the book. i’d honestly see it as more ‘performative’ to then after or in the middle of kind lear throwing in some wild sex scene between the two. it wouldn't have fit.
“why didn’t james and oliver get together earlier then >:(((“ because the slow burn between them, the subtext, the subtle-ness, the yearning, they were all crucial to the decision which oliver made at the end. the fact that they burned so bright for each other but (oliver particularly) were so desperately repressed, that was what made this such a tragic romance. yes its tiring to read stories about queer people being repressed, yes its tiring to see the bury your gays trope. but like oliver says, it goes beyond gender.
if oliver’s second love interest was a girl, and treated this way, we’d be a lot more on board with these tropes- but the fact that james is a man, and this therefor becomes a queer relationship, makes it feel performative. i can’t convince you of anything- but i like to believe that their relationship being treated like this not only makes it so much more “heart wrenching because why! why couldn’t it work out, why couldn’t it be better!” - not because its a queer relationship but because they were soulmates.
alexander wasn’t performative. not in the slightest, rio just didn’t make being gay his entire identity. same goes for colin. just because they’re queer doesn’t mean it needs to be the only thing about them. this isn’t a lgbt novel- characters dont have to be gay just for plot. they can just be gay.
i’ve also seen people complain about not just making oliver bisexual. guys. did you read the book? he was bisexual. he was emotionally and physically attracted to both meredith and james. guys that’s literally what bisexual means.
i'm totally on board with the coming out scenes! and realisation of feelings and all that stuff- but again, not an lgbt centric novel and also- these were things oliver probably did and realised far before this book. remember that its set in 4th year, at an art school. he knew he was fruity ok. not every queer character in every queer book have to have these grandious coming out scenes or realisations. the lack there of doesn’t equal performance.
the ending was rushed and bad
believe what you will, but i don’t think james is dead. there’s a little too much ambiguity in that ending, in the extract he leaves oliver, in the “his body was never found.” so if your main quarrel with the ending is that “bury your gays” situation- please know there’s a chance- and that giving it that chance opens up so much more discussion and reader response.
yes, the ending is sad. but it’s not rushed. “but that is how a tragedy like ours or king lears breaks your heart- by making you believe the ending might still be happy until the very last second.” doing king lear, doing macbeth, doing romeo and juliet, the plays are chosen not only for reader convenience (they’re plays readers will most likely be familiar with) but also because they all, so very deeply, foreshadow a “bad” ending. killing james, makes sense. as much as people don’t want to hear it, from an authorial perspective- from the reader’s perspective and as a human being it makes sense. why do keep arguing that he “should’ve stayed alive for oliver” or that “if he really loved oliver he wouldn’t have done it” - why are we limiting a character’s entire existence down to their love interest. yes, they were best friends, yes they were set up as lovers but that doesn’t mean that that would be enough to keep james around. james was a fragile character- he was always checking with oliver if he had upset him, he was always worried, overthinking, james wasn’t strong minded- and he was suffering. the only person he had left to depend on was in prison, he was plagued with the guilt of causing the death of a classmate and letting oliver take the blame, if he did kill himself, it sure as hell doesn’t have any reason to sound forced.
“its not nearly as good as the secret history!!!!”
to be honest here buds, why the fuck do we keep comparing them so insistently. they are not the same book. iwwv wasn’t trying to be tsh 2.0, yes there are similarities because hey! guess what! books in similar genres tend to do that! always comparing it tsh when they have different motives, different plots and vastly different execution makes no sense. the only reason that they are compared is because tumblrtm dark academics like to group the two together. and yea- makes sense, but stop trying to belittle iwwv because it isn't as grandiose as tsh, because it’s a little more literal, because it’s not as intertextual as tsh. half the people saying iwwv isn’t as good as tsh are practically just subtly going “shakespeare isn’t as complicated as ancient greek huehue” stop forcing the two together and let them be separately appreciated.
the characters were flat/archetypes/etc
sigh. okay.
these characters are actors. this book shows us their transition from themselves entirely into a conjunction of the roles they’ve played and the stereotypes they’ve portrayed.
“we were so easily manipulated - confusion made a masterpiece of us.”
“for us, everything was a performance”
“imagine having all your own thoughts and feelings tangled up with all the thoughts and feelings of a whole other person. it can be hard, sometimes, to sort out which is which.”
“far too many times i had asked myself whether art was imitating life or if it was the other way around”
“it’s easier now to be romeo, or macbeth, or brutus, or edmund. someone else.”
are you seeing it now? this focus on their archetypes, this focus on the character they are; the way they see themselves not merely as human but as a walking concoction of every character they have turned into and out of. they depend on their archetypes to give them meaning. rio uses these archetypes to remind us of the submersion of her characters. they weren’t flat, their intentional lack of dimension due to their pasts is what makes them so intricate. furthermore, there's an evident subversion- the tyrant becomes a victim, the hero becomes a villain (they all become villains really), the ingenue becomes corrupted. like mentioned before, i think we forget ourselves easily reading this book but there is a great deal of emphasis on this being their last year- which is so important. the damage has been done and a lot of the issues people have with the content (or lack thereof) in this book has to do with the fact that it’s all things that would have occurred in books focusing on previous years at delletcher.
“it didn't live up to expectation” (also leading on from read tsh to this and being ‘disappointed’)
i cant argue this because its entirely subjective. whatever expectation was created for you, i cannot know that and appropriately respond however- if you liked the secret history and understood the secret history then there's a good chance you also liked and understood this book- even if not to the same extent but you must be able to recognize the authorial approach and its significance. i think a lot of ppl read iwwv (and a lot of “dark academia” texts and films) and hope to be able to romanticize the aesthetic or the concepts and then are disappointed when they are presented with mildly unlikeable and overwhelmingly human characters who aren’t easy to romanticize.
a great majority of these books are criticisms of the very culture you’re trying to romanticize, and the only time you’re willing to admit that is when boasting about the ‘self-awareness’ of the people indulging in them, and then a moment later complain about those same qualities because they don’t serve this idealized expectation.
bad rep for arts/liberal arts/ humanities students as being pretentious/cultish
as a humanities student with a great love for eng lit- all of these things are indeed pretentious and cultish. not all the time and not always and not every person- but it is a common theme. academia is overwhelmingly obsessive and extremely white-washed. people become so fast to believe that they are indulging in finer arts and are therefore a higher standard of person. academia is problematic. and the recent influx of people interested in it is good, very good because hopefully, we’ll be more diverse, more open-minded, more accepting. that's what i hope at least. if you know, as an individual, that you’re not a pretentious academic who places themselves above non-academics then that's wonderful- but there are dangers and negative sides to academia that need to be understood so that we can see to not perpetuating them.
i cant refute all points, mostly because there's a lot of good and well-explained criticism because no book is perfect. and my intentions are not to belittle anyone's opinion. these are merely opposing arguments, food for thought and to be fair- a critical look into why not everything is always going to be what we expect of it and why every ‘problem’ can be assessed.
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callmecyan · 3 years
Text
First time doing something like this so here we go I guess?
Hermittober Day 1 - Wings
List by @/ink-ghoul
Since I don’t know how to draw I decided to write! I have some headcanons at the end so ye :D
 It was the start of a new season, season 7, saying he was excited wouldn't even be close to describe how he was feeling. Grian was so, so happy and excited, it's like the last season was all a dream he had, a good dream, he couldn't believe it was real. He was here, he's part of hermitcraft, he is a hermit. And it's awesome, just like when Mumbo told him that Xisuma wanted to talk to him, that he got invited there.
 He was so nervous the first season, even when he was at the war, even when he was the one who started it, he was so scared that he could be stepping over a line. But god it was so much fun, and everyone was so nice.
 He was living in the jungle now, with other hermits as his neighbors, Scar, Mumbo, Stress and Iskall. And it was amazing, as much as he had to get used to mining and grinding again, he loved it, he felt like as the season kept going everyone would focus more and more on their own individual big projects, that this beginning was nice, he would see the others quite a lot and they would chat and help each other and it was just amazing.
 Something he found out is that the meetings they would have, that he thought were monthly meetings just so X could see how everyone was doing, were way more frequent at the beginning of the seasons. So everyone could talk about their plans, if they needed help with anything, plan mining sessions together, or even to just chat about anything, and of course for X to check on them. At first he thought it would be a bit awkward since he really didn't really knew much about all the things they had on hermitcraft or even knew anyone besides Mumbo, but they proved him wrong once again, everyone was so nice to him and he even remember the hermits ‘fighting’ to see who would get introduced first, who would show him around etc.
 They decided to meet up where the shopping district would be, he directed himself to the center of the island where he could already hear some of the voices. As he got closer Mumbo and Scar were the first one to notice him and they started waving at him, he wasn't the last one to appear, some people were still missing from the messages he saw on the communicator.
 He placed himself between Mumbo and Scar as he greeted everyone. He could feel Scar looking at him, so he looked up with a questioning look
 ‘'What's up?’’ Scar seemed a bit embarrassed, and he could feel some of the hermits looking at him too.
 ‘‘Uh- just- uh your wings? They- it's not purple anymore?’’ and he finally realised ‘oh’.
 He could feel Mumbo holding a laugh at his side and he could feel himself blushing a bit out of embarrassment, he put a hand on his neck
 ‘‘Yeah, I- uh I kinda forgot to tell you guys this is actually my bad. But my wings change whenever I’m in a new smp, world or somewhere that I wasn't before. You can say they kinda ‘adapt’ themselves into what I’m doing and working on basically, its weird really, not even I understand much of it I just got used to it’’
 ‘‘So’’ - False started, and he could see how the others were curious but probably afraid to ask, maybe scared of offending him accidentally?- ‘‘Do you know why they were purple before? Or you like- you don't know the reasons?’’
 ‘‘Uh it depends really, like how I said most of it I can try and break it down to why they would look like that, but it's never something certain’’ - he was trying to figure out how to explain things in a way that, hopefully, would help the others understand- ‘‘I think they were that purple color so it could look like an Elytra, I mean it was basically the first time I found out and even had contact with one, and I don't know, maybe because i really didn't know any of you guys? So it was kinda the way my wings found to ‘fit in’ I guess? So they would be similar to everyone else?’’ - as he looked at the others he could see how they were thinking about it, probably processing everything he said or trying to understand his explanation.
 ‘‘Knew’’ He heard Xisuma saying, he looked over to the admin and he could tell he was smiling.
 Grian made a confused sound, he heard other hermits laughing a bit and he heard Mumbo saying under his breath ‘‘oh my god’’
 ‘‘You said you didn't know any of us, but you do now. You’re part of the hermits, you are part of the family now’’
 ‘‘Yeah’’ he felt Scar putting a arm over his shoulders and basically giving him a side hug ‘‘you dont troll someone with a zombie spawner on the first day of the season if you ‘dont know’ them’’
 He couldn't help but laugh ‘‘aw c'mon Scar it was funny, you can't hold that against me the entire season’’.
 He saw Scar putting his other hand under his chin as he pretended like he was considering this possibility ‘‘hmmmm nope! I think i can do that’’
 After that everyone started laughing and the meeting continued, with a lot of them asking about his wings, how they look in other places, and it was fun, it was home, and he's so happy to be part of this family.
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Some of my headcanons around the wings
Grian - his wings, as said, change depending on where he is. For example if he goes on somewhere his wings already ‘adapted’ themselves then they change to that.
Season 6: light purple wings, similar to the elytra color.
Season 7: parrot wings, the red ones with the yellow and blue details.
Season 8: a very dark blue very similar to black.
Creative worlds: white fluffy wings.
Watchers: he had two pairs of wings, in a darker purple.
Stress - unlike Grian, she can't ‘carry’ the wings outside of Hermitcraft, its a specific thing from Hermitcraft. Like when players have specific skins to specific smps? If that makes sense?
Stress wings are bug themed unlike Grian who has bird ones.
Season 6: dragonfly wins, with very soft light blue and pink.
Season 7: blue morpho butterfly.
Season 8: cicada wings with green and the golden-ish color.
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angelicmichael · 3 years
Text
Imminient Annihilation sounds so dope, chapter nine.
Michael Langdon x reader
Summary: Reader and Michael finally learn how to communicate and decide to start being mostly civil and learn how to tolerate eachother. 
Words: 5.6k+
Warnings: Mentions of bruises and falling, unhealthy relationships, manipulation, reader and Michael are both pretty mean in the first half of this part LOL, some Millory flirting <3, extreme enemies to lovers, extreme slow burn, reader is going through inner torment like always LOL, lots of cussing, witch! reader
A/N: First of all - i just wanna say I'm so sorry for not updating this in like 5 months LMAO. That's why I decided to make this chapter a bit long 😌. Still no romance but, reader and Michael are finally starting to warm up to eachother so hopefully yall like this chapter :)
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
Dull, aching pain was what welcomed you when you woke up. It started off subtle; faint enough to ignore until you started to stir in your bed.. wrong fucking move.
Your entire body was throbbing. Saying that you felt like complete shit was definitely an understatement at this point.. You almost wanted to think perhaps this could be a result of partying last night but then again.. this pain was different. You knew for sure this was not a result of being hungover.
You winced as you pushed back the covers and stood up, wandering over to the closest mirror as you pushed up your shirt - wanting to examine your ribs - where the pain seemed to ache the most. Your skin on the left side of your ribs had turned into a ugly, mixed palette of blues and purples. Turning around only proved that the bruises had traveled to your back as well. You couldn’t help but wince at the sight and let out a painful moan when you traced your fingers across your skin - feeling the bruises. What the fuck happened last night??
You let your shirt fall back down as you stood - puzzled and thinking about the previous nights events.. and.. oh fuck..
You swallowed as you conjured up the memories from last night in your mind; you remembered Mallory.. going to the party.. drinking.. Michael.. going back to his apartment.. talking.. falling.. and then nothing.
What the fuck happened?!
You roughly swallowed, your eyebrows furrowed together as you turned around looked at your surroundings - something you should’ve done sooner. You felt a wave of Deja vu wash over you; as well as a wave of fear. Being in a room with no recollection of how you got there was hauntingly familiar. Too familiar for your liking. However, you knew you were you.. looking again in the mirror reassured you of that but.. that didn’t solve the issue of how you got from Michaels penthouse to.. wherever you were now.
You stared at the room; puzzled. You were trying to put your finger on why the room looked so familiar; and then it clicked. The hotel room you were currently in wasn’t a penthouse but it still looked similar and resembled Michaels hotel room that you were in last night. Which could only mean you were staying in the same hotel.
Your heart stopped when you came to the realization that Michael must've got you this hotel room. That's the only way any of this made sense. You wanted to think for a split second it could’ve been Mallory who came to your rescue but, that didn’t make sense because you knew she wouldn’t have left you alone in the morning. It had to be Michael.
The gesture almost would’ve been cute under normal circumstances.
The room looked practically untouched besides the bed you had just climbed out of. Your phone resided on the night stand, and as you quickly went through your phone - nothing seemed tampered with. Thank god.
Although, there was a message from someone in particular that you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at. Of course he messaged you. You quickly opened up the message fully, reading through it rather quickly.
‘How are you feeling?'
You bit your lip as you crafted up a soulless response. At least he had enough of a heart to check in on you. I mean it was the very least he owed you at this point.
‘Oh I’m doing just peachy keen. How the fuck do you think I’m doing with bruises everywhere?? Did I get a concussion last night?’
You sent the message without thinking twice. You felt your face getting hot and your heart beating faster. You grinded your teeth; the fact you could feel yourself getting angry and agitated so early in the morning was beyond aggravating.
You paced around the hotel room, phone still in hand. You compulsively checked your phone nearly every second as you paced until you finally saw the notification you were waiting for.
'if we're going to keep talking about last night then it needs to be done in person. How about meeting me at the café across the street, asap. And bring Mallory. I'm not interested in talking to you alone.'
“Motherfucker," you muttered with a quick roll of your eyes.
Of course Michael wanted to meet immediately; it was foolish to expect anything less of him at this point, honestly. Luckily getting ready would be a rather quick ordeal since the only belongings you had were on you. You quickly paced to the mirror and attempted to make yourself look presentable before grabbing your phone and hastily running out the door before dialing Mallory's number.
//
Thankfully getting Mallory to agree to witness whatever torture Michael had planned for you wasnt hard; Although the pair of you were still confused on why Mallory's presence was required in the first place. But atleast you knew Michael was feeling better if he was still acting in character, being unpredictable as ever.
The café wasn’t hard to find; and neither was Michael. He sat at a small wooden table that was meant for four. A dim light hung from the ceiling above the table.
You grew increasingly more nervous as you approached the table. What could Michael even want to say to you that was so important that it had to be said in person? With Mallory?
A pit resided in your stomach - a feeling that something bad was about to happen stayed present within you even as you and Mallory sat down next to eachother. You offered to sit directly across from Michael, so that you could spare Mallory from having to deal with his crippling stare - but of fucking course, Michael chimed in and demanded that Mallory sat directly across from him.. and Mallory being the way she is obliged naturally. It made the pit in your stomach only grow.
You only wanted to cut all of the bullshit that you knew Michael was about to pull; you just wanted to talk to Michael and have a normal fucking conversation for once. Separation at this point seemed to give you a ridiculous amount of unwanted torment; emotionally, physically, and this point possibly even spiritually. You knew you were meant to be around him - there was no point in fighting the connection you two had. So.. that was why you felt justified in your choice of atleast attempting to have this conversation with Michael, and to make the effort that he barely had the balls to do.
"Hey, It's nice to see that the both of you bothered to show up," Michael sneered.
"Of course we did, Michael. I actually try to stay true to my word - it's not like you can say the same," you stated without missing a beat while maintaining direct eye contact.
You were aware that you probably sounded harsh to any eavesdroppers listening, but you remained unapologetic. You didn’t offer a smile with your words; and you tried your best to remain stoic. A quick glance to your right told you that Mallory was trying her best to avoid Michael's gaze still, most likely uncomfortable at you and Michael's vicious banter.
"Someone seems to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed,” Michael said with a dark chuckle.
“Ha. Funny," You spit out. Glaring daggers at him as you spoke, “As if you slept well either."
"I didn’t actually; but maybe you would've known that if you've been so kind to ask," Michael bit back. 
You gave Michael a long, scorching glare - silently cueing him to shut the fuck up and to consider someone else's feelings for once.. but, you dont really know if he was capable of doing that after all.. but it worked.
You felt bad for Mallory; who was awkwardly staring at her hands and fiddling with her thumbs. You could practically feel how uncomfortable this conversation was making her, and not to mention it was painfully obvious.
You weren't surprised in the slightest that Michael seemed to pick up on her sudden dispirited aura, as well.  His light blue eyes quickly traveled from you to Mallory; and it was absolutely revolting to see how fast he could go from having a expression of pure exasperation to.. fondness and concern when he looked at Mallory. It almost reminded you of his reaction to finding Madison after you completely kicked her ass but.. the way he looked at Mallory was different. It was more delicate. It would've been cute if.. you weren't in the current, complicated situation you found yourself in.
"Mallory.." he spoke her name with such softness your surprised she didn't melt right then and there.
They finally met each others gaze; and Mallory met him with a smile which Michael only mirrored.
"Are you okay?" he affirmed.
Mallory nodded, the smile quickly vanishing from her lips as she looked over to you, and then back at Michael.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just happy you two survived last night."
This comment made all three of you smile, but yours was definitely fake. You were grateful that the weird, heavy tension that was between you and Michael had been temporarily lifted though. Maybe having Mallory around to mediate all of yours and Michael's conversations wasnt a bad idea.
"I-"
"Me too. I dont know if (Y/n) told you but, the reason why im bothering to meet with you two today is to figure out what happened last night. Due to (Y/n)'s track record, I'd rather hear things from your perspective.. if you dont mind, Mallory," Michael said.
Essentially cutting you off and once again from speaking directly to Mallory.
Michaels eyes, which normally looked soulless and held a degree of ruthlessness in them (in your opinion) had lost a bit of their edge and fury when he looked at Mallory.. but she didn't seem to take notice how interested he suddenly was in her. Right now, she just seemed flustered and put under the spotlight. Her cheeks were spotted a uneven red color from the unwarranted direct attention Michael was giving her, and it was obvious that she was nervous. Her black, painted nails were tugging mindlessly and restlessly at the thin, decorative gloves she was wearing. A typical nervous habit you noticed she displayed.
Your gaze stayed focused on Mallory but you could feel Michael's hot, glaring stare on you. It was only for a split second after he was done talking - but after that second, he was right back to Mallory. Mallory. His seemingly new, favorite infatuation.
It wasnt jealousy that made you question why Michael was suddenly being so nice to her. It was the fact that you knew Michael truly was a scheming asshole at heart. At this point you were guessing he was only being so nice to her because he needed a favor done.. the mere thought made you bit your lip to suppress a eye roll.
"I-I can try but I wasnt there for the entire night-" Mallory stammered.
She looked at you for support but all you could offer was another meaningless smile in return.
"That's fine. Whatever you remember will do," Michael pressed.
Mallory gave her gloves (which she was still fussing with) a quick glance and then continued; looking at Michael while she spoke.
"Well, it was nothing really remarkable. I'm sure (Y/n) could tell you more than I can but, I saw you get drunk. Incredibly drunk and then.. well that's it. I went back to Robichaux's after that."
Her words left you astonished. How was that all she had to say?? Where was the part where she came back for you? Wasn't she the one who put you into the bed in the hotel room you woke up in, this morning? You knew it was most likely Michael who put you in the hotel last night but, a small part of you was still hoping it could've been Mallory.
"Wait.. what? But that's not everything, it cant be.. I-" The farther your words progressively came out of your mouth the longer your sentence ran.. or as long as Michael allowed too before once again interrupting.
"Mallory.. I think me and (y/n) will be good talking about things one on one from here. As much as I've enjoyed your company; I can only tolerate so many witches and.. according to nature; sadly it has to be this one," Michael flickered his eyes toward you, obviously referencing you in the latter part of his sentence.
Profanities that started with every letter of the alphabet ran through your head at his attempt of trying to be sweet. He extended his hand out to squeeze Mallory's - and after she said her goodbyes, she was quickly gone. Out of the venue.
Looked like it was just you and your favorite villain again.
As much as you loved Mallory and cherished the friendship you two had - you were kind of glad she was gone. The fact you could admit that to yourself with confidence shocked you but.. you felt as if you had to act like a nicer, polished version of yourself that just wasnt truly you around her. As much as your hatred for Michael still ran deep, you were free to act authentic around him - and atleast now you were completely free to call him out on whatever bullshit he just tried to pull off.. and that realization that you now had no bounds was.. completely freeing.
"So, what the fuck was that?"
"What?" Michael asked.
His voice was raised in a defensive, annoyed manner.
"How you were treating Mallory.. what do you want from her?"
You studied the man sitting across from you at the table, and you smugly noticed how even he seemed to be more relaxed now that Mallory was gone.. He was slightly bent over the table now with his elbows resting on the surface, but after your question - he brought one of his ring adorned hands up to his mouth, a poor attempt to stifle a laugh.
"So you noticed," He commented.
You watched as he dropped his hand from his mouth back down to the table in one swift movement.
"It was hard not too," You said.
The predator like focus was lively in his eyes again as he studied you. He was moving a bit in the chair he was sitting in - fully shifting and angling his body towards you. You knew you had his full, undivided attention now.. but this time you planned on taking full advantage of it.
"But.. just please leave her out of it, Michael. I'm serious. Mallory has enough on her plate already, she doesn't need... to be involved," you added.
You struggled to find the proper word to use for last part of your sentence. Labeling whatever this situation was still felt incredibly odd and- just really added to your point that Mallory didn't need to be involved or kept in the loop about things anymore.. It was obvious that Michael was starting to finally warm up to you and.. it seemed he was almost starting to trust you too. Almost.
Michael solely smirked at your words and gave a brief hum as a placeholder for a laugh, like your words weren't worthy of being praised or encouraged by something as gracious as a full on laugh.
"Oh, Dont worry (y/n). I wasnt planning on involving her. It was satisfying enough just to see someone with so much power and potential reduced to a blushing mess.. but - I'm done talking about your dear friend Mallory."
You dont realize that you've slowly stopped breathing until you feel the slow but urgent feeling of gradual suffocation constrict your lungs.. Was it possible he was alluding to you, and maybe not Mallory at all in his last sentence?
Was it really stupid at this point to consider that maybe him flirting and being so stupidly nice with Mallory was just another manipulation tactic.. to see how you'd react? Maybe.
"I only.. wanted to thank you for what you did," Michael stated - finally getting to the point.
Your stomach flipped. The emotions you were feeling before were already laced with confusion and uncertainty but - pining how you felt now never seemed more impossible.
"What I.. did?"
You looked at Michael's body language for answers while he verbally stalled. Both of his elbows were now resting on the table, both hands clasped together as his cheek rested on them. He looked soft.. vulnerable too, but it still didn't compare to how he looked when he gazed at Mallory earlier.. or even Madison. The way he looked at you was completely and utterly different. It was the way that his eyes darkened whenever you two happened to make prolonged eye contact. You thought maybe his pupils could just be dilated but then again, Michael was nothing like normal.. Or that's what you tried to  tell yourself anyway. It was creepy to say the least, and deeply unsettling. Even when his eyes nearly changed to black; the rest of his face still upheld a sad, genuine, softness. You still weren't scared of him.
"Yes. What you did.. last night. You didn't have to do what you did but, I just wanted to tha-"
"Wait, you remember?" your words come out; rushed and sonorous. Striking like thunder.
Just the mere thought that Michael could've possibly remembered last nights events had your heart beating wildly in your chest. You felt the nausea in your stomach for a split second until you felt it start to spark up into your throat - you were only seconds away from getting sick. How fucking embarrassing was it that he remembered everything.. was he even truly drunk, at all?
The sudden, rash embarrassment that you felt must've been apparent to Michael because.. he looked concerned for you. His eyebrows were slightly creased and the light blue in his irises were darkened and swarmed with emotion.
You started to move to get up; at this point you weren't concerned with finding a bathroom necessarily - you just needed a fucking break. Michael's company was intoxicating; exactly like a drug.. no matter how much you truly hated him and wanted nothing more than to see him put in his place; he still managed to pull you in effortlessly. The type of territory you were headed into with Michael with purely dangerous.  You remember Cordelia warning you not to get attached; and you certainly weren't so far.. so far.
The affect Michael had on women (and men, and really all types of people) was blatantly obvious. He drew people in so fucking easily, he was basically a magnet. He was beautiful, charismatic, had money, and was goal driven (even though his goals were horrific, like ending the world) - he met all the qualifications and standards most people had for a boyfriend. Including your own.
You couldn't decide whether it was painfully ironic or tragic that someone that seemed.. almost built for romance was really made for destruction. Destined for it even. But you knew that if Michael wanted too, it wouldn't be too hard to just.. make you fall for him. You suppose when it came down to it, that's why his prescense was so overwhelmingly suffocating.
It wasnt Michael that you were truly infuriated at; it was what this whole situation stood for. Sure, your life pre-switching wasnt the best but.. you missed the normalcy and the routine. The lack of chaos was something you dreamed about. Now, you were beyond fucked - going from having basically no powers to being stronger than Mallory herself, as well as being destined to help set up your soulmates death was far too much to handle. But.. at the same time it wasnt, because everyone in the coven made sacrifices and you know that if any of them were put in your situation they would do it without a doubt or complaint - so why were you hesitating?
There was no denying that when you were away from him you craved and hungered for his attention, his precense.. and it was the realization that you didn't really care how you got his attention that made you try to finally stand up and leave. For the second time.
Michael put his hand on your forearm, an inch right below your wrist. His touch was soft but firm -  you reflexively tried to pull your arm back but he continued to keep you under his grasp.
"Dont go. I'm not going to beg but.. I just; need you to understand-" Michael's voice started to break.
"Need me to understand, what, Michael? What is it this time? I need to know that your being honest, you cant keep.. treating me the way you have," the words you were forced to chose made you squirm and bite your tongue.
You wanted to call him out on his pathetic lying but you chose a safer route instead. One that wouldn't burn his ego so bad. Being forced to tell a sort of.. half truth was annoying. It felt like he was in control again, over you, over your emotions.. and he was. He had total control over you, and it seemed as if he barely put in any effort trying to do so. Although, it was obvious he was trying to shy away and deny this whole.. weird arranged marriage as much as you had; but he was finally succumbing to the urge.. and so were you.
"I never lied. Every time I've seen you, I've never said anything that wasnt true.. but, I haven't exactly let you in - either," Michael's hands separated and dropped low to the table, his hands nervously fiddling with his rings. "I'm sure that your already well acquainted with my past or that you have pre-conceived notions about me but.. nothing in my life has been easy.. and that includes switching with you. I dont easily trust anything, or anyone so seeing how you acted last night.. made me realize that I want.. to try to make this work."
Flames of embarrassment licking up your body, first from your chest until the feeling infested up to your cheeks is how you first reacted to his words. Then it was shock that quickly numbed the feeling, like a acute natural anesthetic.. if only the feeling were stronger and could actually make you unconscious for whatever the fuck was occurring now. You licked your lips, completely uncertain of what you wanted to say but you started talking anyway.. letting the words find you as you went.
"I dont want to argue either, Michael. I never did to begin with.. and as much as I dont want too, I forgive you.. and hopefully you can forgive me too - along with Madison.. I'm sorry. I really, truly am and I hope you remember that from last night," as much you tried to sound confident in your words as you spoke, your voice unwillingly stumbled and wavered as your sentence drew on.
Your words came out quickly and unwillingly before you could even truly think them through logically.. Were you really apologizing to Michael, out of all people? The one person who had done so much fucking damage to you, and yet here you were - pathetically begging for his forgiveness. It was past heart-rending at this point; the feeling and realization of how much you yearned for Michael was hurting you, in every way imaginable. You had to remind yourself to not unconsciously hold your breath as you stared at him, but you only found kind - blue eyes staring back.
His lips slightly upturned at the corners, in a odd close mouthed smile. He made direct eye contact with you; Which at first you sheepishly tried to avoid but.. as much as you tried to avoid his eye contact, you surrendered and ultimately gave into it. After all; his eyes were fucking marvelous to look at -  and what were you really trying to avoid anymore, after all?
"I remember every word you said (y/n), and I dont take what you said lightly.. I know you were telling the truth and that it wasnt easy to say.." His words drifted off almost unwillingly as he ultimately drew silent.
You watched as he hastily licked his lips nervously; and your stomach did another flip.
"But; if you were open to this.. I honestly want to get to know you and to try.. to atleast be civil. But you have to understand that.. I need your full transparency. I have to know that this is something your truly wanting to commit to because, i-"
Michael shifted and twitched in his chair, and wore a expression as if he was.. insecure.
Even though all you had heard about Michael in the past was complete rumors and you really had no solid grasp on what had happened in his past.. you felt an odd, wave of memories pass over you - but you were well aware that they didn't belong to you. These memories were accompanied by odd, foreign feelings. Ones that were stuck with you for only a split second but left you nearly in fucking tears. What the fuck was that? You met his gaze again, and it's like he fucking knew that you knew how he was planning to finish his incomplete sentence.
You bit your cheek to suppress the overflow of emotions you had just felt, and it was working for the time being but.. you figured that was just another distraction. Something else you to had to suppress and fight.
You first sat idle, your mouth incredibly dry and your throat painfully aching. Screaming for you to stop halting and just to fucking speak. You then realized that Michael didn't stop because he thought you were going to speak.. he purposefully cut himself off. There was something he was avoiding here but.. still expected you to know. Since Michael apparently was so focused on your apparent 'relationship' you figured it wouldn't hurt to start putting effort in and take initiative.. right?
"You dont have to say anything more, Michael. I get with.. what you've had to endure in your past on why you would be so guarded, even counting what I've done to you," you take a deep breath in "and, I dont know exactly how committed you want me to be but I know that at the very least that.. I'd like to get to know you too."
This was as far as flirty that you'd decide to be for the night. Even though Michael's guard was apparently as far gone as your current sanity; you decided that there was no way that you were going to be so carefree when it came to handing over your peace to him.
The time whilst you waited for Michael to react seemed to stretch impossibly long. The minutes feeled like long agonizing hours; your heart beating impossibly fast in tandem with every agonizing second that slipped away.. until he spoke, naturally.
"Are you sure you know what you're agreeing too?"
You didn't shy away from his gaze this time.
"The same could go for you," you challenged.
A sinister giggle escaped your lips, but Michael didn't back down. His blue eyes looked into yours in a way that spoke more words than he ever was capable of producing out loud. It proved that even now when he was attempting to be soft and civil with you, he was still trying to assert dominance. Fuck that.
"I think I'm more than capable of taking you on, (y/n)."
You scoffed.
"Okay, so.. what does this all mean? Like, what does this mean for us, Michael?" the words you spoke burned hot on your tongue with regret as soon as you said them.
"It doesn't mean anything except that I just.. would appreciate if I could see you.. regularly from now on."
His eyes held contact with yours.. It relaxed you a bit to notice how he looked as if he was holding his breath too. So, you weren't the only one that was nervous, right?
You breath haltered; he was still ignoring your question. What were you two? You knew that Michael's intentions with you were crystal clear - for the time being he seemed strict on his 'friends only' rule which.. of course couldn't really happen if Cordelia was expecting you to still carry out the plan that she had intended.. which she did. Certainly she did.
"Yeah well.. Cordelia-" your words fell flat and naturally died off on their own.
You had no idea why you even bothered to mention her name. You knew what you had to inevitably tell him eventually about Cordelia; but you knew now wasnt the time. It was too soon, you needed to wait until Michael got more comfterable with you before you exposed the coven.. and that's if you chose to do that.
"Look, I'm not stupid. It's obvious how strong your powers are.. and your still scared of Cordelia?" Michael looked at you now as if you were saying a joke.
A insult burned at the back of your throat. You tried your best to contain the fire you could feel, coercing you to open your mouth and to act on your immediate feelings rather than on logic.. but, to respect Michael and how vulnerable he had previously been with you - you held your tongue.
"Its not that I'm scared of Cordelia. I respect her and theres a difference. You have to understand where I stand between you and Cordelia, as well as the coven."
"You have no business being stuck in the middle though - which is why.. I have a solution," the left corner of Michael's lips upturned slightly.
Unconsciously you leaned forward in your chair.. a solution? You flinched as you saw Michael turn and pull something out of his jacket pocket; and suddenly threw it at you. A flash of silver caught the light as it passed through the air. It didn't take long for you to realize that he threw you a pair of keys. What?
"W-what is this?" Your voice shook as it raised to an higher octave.
"It's keys to an apartment. This will make things easier; in terms of us having access to eachother and it'll wean you off of having the covens support."
Your lips slowly turned into a frown, and your fingers nervously played with the keys as you put off having to look Michael in the eye.. it was clear to you now that even though Michael had been pretty open with you.. Michael was clearly misconstrued about your.. exact situation and with where you sat with the coven. He had no idea how involved you were, you could only guess.
However; your loyalty with the coven really had nothing to do with the fact you couldn't accept Michael giving you an entire fucking apartment.. There was no way you were going to let him hold this over your head, no fucking way.
You held the keys up and looked at them in a unsure manner before flinging them on the table in Michael's general direction. Ignoring the many dirty looks you got when the keys clashed loudly against the table.
"Even though I appreciate the gesture, theres no way I can accept that, Michael and you should know that."
"Your being stupid, I basically have all the money in the world at my disposable - at the tip of my fingers.. Take the apartment," the last three words sounded as if they were meant to be a threat.
His pronunciation on each last word was stern and final.
"I can't just move wherever you want me too; you realize I'm still a member of the coven, right? And if I just leave- it's going to look suspicious."
"Do you want to leave?"
Your breath came out as shaky when you exhaled. Now that was a good fucking question.
"I.. I mean maybe. Its been hard to live there to say the least recently and it would be nice to get away but I just.. I dont know if this is a good idea," your voice shook as you spoke.
This was the most candid you probably had ever been with Michael. Even when you were intoxicated, you made certain that every word that came out of your mouth around him was carefully planned and strategic.. but, just speaking and telling him what you were thinking right off the bat was a bit nerve wracking to say the least.
Your nails nervously dug into the skin of your palm as you waited for his reaction.
"What's holding you back?" You heard his voice ring out.
Your gaze fell down from his eyes back onto the silver keys that lied on the table. You couldn't help but to think - would it really be that bad just to take the apartment? If worse comes to worse you could always just move back to Robichaux's.. right? After all, it's not like Cordelia wouldn't approve - it was her idea for you to fucking seduce the dude in the first place. And Mallory would surely be understanding, if anything she would probably be excited. Fuck it.
"Yeah no, your right.. I'll do it."
You snatched the keys back from the table in an act of defiance - even though it really wasnt because once again, you were giving Michael what he wanted. Motherfucker.
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jpegjade · 3 years
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Confessions - Spencer Reid
frens and ferns, IM OUT OF SCHOOL FOR A MONTH. so here’s a new fic about something i’ve been struggling with lately...
summary: With emily gone, Spencer is having a hard time coping with her death. After a little prodding, he finds comfort in y/n, who is struggling with their own demons.
gender: neutral (i think. i tried not to point to any gender terms so hopefully i did okay at it bc i dont feel like proofreading.)
Warnings: talk of addiction but nothing more
———
Getting home from a case was always, hard on you. There were days when it was harder to get up in the morning because of the physical and emotional toll the job put on your body. Ever since that un-sub broke your ankle, everything has been even harder.
“Y/L/N, nice to see you back." Morgan said as you exited the elevator.
“You too, D." You said, plastering a fake smile on your face. In truth, you wished that you were off for one more week but the world wasn't that kind to you.
The doors to the elevator were slowly closing when you heard Spencer shuffling quickly toward your direction.
Before you had the chance to throw your arm in the way of the elevator sensors, Spencer's slender body slipped through.
You were a newer member to the team. Well... You were the only new member to the team. Being a replacement for agent Emily Prentiss, the team getting to know you was a process. Derek trained you so he already knew what you were like in action but this was the first case the rest of the team saw you on.
The silence in the elevator was loud and thick with anticipation. Spencer was looking over at you in quick glances when he wasn't staring at his converse.
“You didn't press a number." Spencer said, barely loud enough for you to hear.
"Oh... I guess that explains why if felt like I was going nowhere." You chuckled at your joke and winced when you met Dr. Reid's blank gaze.
"Do you..." He paused.
Spencer shook his head, clearing the thought from his mind. You continued staring but he dropped his gaze back to his shoes as if he hadn't started and dropped a question.
The elevator doors opened, showing an empty garage. The two of you gestured for the other to exit first but you ended up going first.
“Did you want to ask me something. Dr. Reid?" You said, watching him hesitate.
"Spencer." He said, ignoring the question. "My friends call me Spencer."
"I didn't think we were friends yet." You blankly. It wasn't meant to be funny but you couldn't help but smile.
“My team consists of my friends. As you are on my team, we're friends." Spencer's face never changed.
"Okay, Spencer." You looked at him. If you weren't so worried about getting home, you would've indulged in the moment. But all you wanted to do right now was be alone with some pizza and take the edge off from today.
"If that's all..." You tried to close the interaction with him by taking a few steps back but Spencer took just as many slow steps forward.
"Actually," Spencer began, "how do you do it?"
You faked a chuckle. "Do what?"
“Hide your addiction so well." Spencer was so pointblank sometimes.
"What are you talking about?" You tried to control the beads of sweat that threatened to pool.
"Everybody knows.” It's your ankle that started the painkillers and you couldn't stop. It took you away from the pain, the humiliation.
“How could you be so stupid as to get caught? You're even dumber for finding solice in the feeling when you've got all of this support around you? You've got a family who..." Spencer trailed off.
Your head was still reeling from the beginning of his statement. Everyone knew... But how could that be? It wasn't obvious but something was off about the distant look in Spencer's eyes. It was like he wasn't looking or talking to you. The anger laced in his tone wasn't for you...
“Spencer," you took a step towards him, "Are you talking about you?" Spencer stopped talking. You weren't used to seeing him so quiet.
"It's been a while." Spencer looked down at his converse. "Emily was there. When it got bad, I would cuddle up with her cat on her couch and try to forget the thoughts. She wouldn't make me feel like a burden at 2 a.m., when I was screaming myself awake. She always told me to stay as long as I needed, even when I was positive she was fed up with me. I wish I believed her. I wish I stayed." Spencer tapered off into silence, sniffling.
A pipe dripping. Footsteps in the stairwell. A car alarm chirping. All of those things sounded louder than they normally would. This wasn't Spencer cornering you. This was a confused and hurting boy that was begging for help. He just didn't know how to say what he needed right now.
“Do you..." You started but stopped because it didn't feel right.
Where do you start with someone who is just like you: broken, hurting, and alone.
How do you comfort someone without enabling them to do something destructive that might make everything worse?
How do you avoid hurting someone when all you wanted to do was hurt yourself, in a way.
"Do you like pancakes?" You asked, startling him out of his thoughts. "Pancakes? Sure." Spencer slowly lifted his head and shrugged.
You started walking to your car, motioning for Spencer to follow.
The car ride with Spencer was filled with silence. The whole time, you were thinking about ways to explain the situation to Spencer without making it worse. Spencer was trying to decide if talking to you was a good idea after all, considering you were taking him somewhere pancake related.
Pulling up to the run-down diner, you looked over at Spencer, who was staring out the window.
"I promise the pancakes are better than the place looks." You chuckled, getting Spencer's attention.
"I wasn't really worried about the taste of the pancakes..." Spencer trailed off.
"Good, I guess." You said, a little bit defeated.
You and Spencer walked into the diner, where you were greeted by a friendly older woman named Janice. She knew your name by heart, since you were a regular, and she seated you at your normal booth.
"Actually, would you mind seating us at 12? This is Spencer, the guy I've told you about..." You blushed, hoping you said everything low enough for Spencer not to notice. His mind was elsewhere so he wasn't listening as he normally would. A part of you was grateful for that.
Janice did a once-over at Spencer, softly grinning, and brought you to table 12.
Despite the outside looking dingy, the inside of the diner was cleaner than Spencer thought it would be. He wasn't really fond of booths but these weren't the pillow seat booths where children could hide things between the bottom seat and the backrest. This was the plastic seats that hurt your butt after a little while. But what he noticed that was different about the seating at the table was that one half was a booth and the other half consisted of two four-legged chairs.
"I know you don't like the germs in booth seats so I figured this would be a better option." You said, unable to meet his eyes.
Spencer was shocked as you slid into the booth seat, avoiding his eyes. Spencer pulled out his chair, temporarily distracted by the fact that he never mentioned how much he hates booth seats. You paid attention and noticed that about him. What else had you noticed?
"So..." Spencer folded his hands in his lap nervously.
"Let's order and then we'll talk." You said, trying to focus on the task at hand.
Placing your orders, you went with your usual breakfast at midnight and he just ordered the same thing you ordered.
"It'll be good, I promise." You said, giving him a small smile.
"You never answered my question." Spencer said, looking up at you.
"I know." You were getting nervous again. The nerves hadn't stopped since Spencer asked that question in the parking lot but you were trying really hard to find an answer to it.
"How do you do it?" Spencer asked again.
"Spencer, it's not that simple. I can't give you an answer like that over something so complex. Why do you want to know?" You asked, trying to focus on meeting his eyes.
Spencer's gaze was intense when he wanted it to be so you settled for staring at the tip of his nose.
"I'm struggling, y/n. Emily was... She was family to me. If Hotch is the dad, Rossi is the cool uncle, JJ is the mom, Derek is the older brother, and Emily is..." Spencer's voice caught in his throat. "Was the big sister. I lost a sister the day she died and I'm lost without her."
"Spencer, I'm so sorry..." You said, wanting to hug him.
A tear slipped down Spencer's face as you watched him frustratedly wipe it away.
"It's not fair, you know?" Spencer continued. "I survived the worst days of my life. I got to live after experiencing torture and she didn't do anything but fall in love with someone who wasn't..."
There was a moment of silence as you let Spencer get his feelings out. While the two of you said nothing, Janice brought your food and drinks to your table. She must have sensed the tension between you and Spencer because once you thanked her, she didn't hover or make additional conversation.
"It just hurts and I don't... I don't want to feel it. I just want to escape the constant pain and be happy again, just for a little while. It doesn't have to stay forever but I don't want this pain to hurt like this for now." Spencer cut into his pancakes, taking a bite. His face changed into something of contentment.
"I come here when I have a... I guess you could say craving." You started, "Carbs and sugar are good for the itching feeling you get when you really need a fix."
A moment passed as the two of you enjoyed the food in front of you. After downing half of your food, you decided to speak again.
"What's your drug of choice, if you don't mind me asking?" You quietly said, your eyes staying trained on the way your butterknife slowly cut into your pancakes.
"Dilaudid." Spencer was so upfront about it. You thought you would have to pull it out of him but he made your job easier.
"Ah... Opioids are a bitch to kick. Controlled substance so I won't ask how you got it but I understand it's not easy. There was this study we had to do in training. This one agent got captured and tortured and the BAU had to watch as he was drugged, tortured, and almost died... I guess you would know them, right?" You asked, trying to figure out which team member it was.
"That was me." Again, Spencer being upfront.
"Oh...Spencer, I'm so sorry... I didn't know." You were remorseful, you shouldn't have brought it up.
"That's where it began. I begged for him not to do it the first time, not wanting the drugs. But after that? After the torture and pain and... Everything? I craved that release. And even after he died, I just wanted to get away from all of the stress in life. Feel warmth in my veins, mentally zoning out for just long enough to reset my mind and be reminded that there was something good in the world..." Spencer looked over your shoulder but his eyes weren't fixed on a particular spot.
That's the thing about being an addict... You don't realize how much it hurts to be alive until the high sends you crashing back down. And, especially in our line of work, all you want is to stay up for as long as possible because the horrors of reality will tear you apart..." You finished.
Spencer's attention came back to you as you spoke, making you a little uncomfortable. You couldn't meet his eyes.
"I went to a couple meetings in the past." Spencer said, thinking about his experiences there. "I didn't feel like I belonged. I have a good life. Stable job. I'm fortunate enough to have a roof over my head. My mom is taken care of by capable people. I don't have to worry about anything. And the guys there? They're struggling in many cases. They're fighting for the things I take for granted and I didn't know how I could stand to be in the same room with my privileges and pretend like my problem was important..." Spencer trailed off.
"Spencer, your addiction is valid." You were finally able to look him in the eyes and emphasize your point.
"Is it, though?" Spencer stared back at you, a challenging tone laced his voice.
"It's not fun..." You started, unable to look at Spencer any longer. "I don't do it for fun or because I want to stay high. I don't do it for the feeling it gives me. I do it because I feel like I have to."
"What do you mean?" Spencer tilted his head like a puppy who was trying to understand a new word.
"After I broke my ankle, I was prescribed these... Off brand pills. They didn't really help unless I snorted them. And even then, they didn't help my ankle or me. So I found something stronger. A friend of mine is a doctor and when I go to see him, I'm able to... I guess manipulate him into giving me the good stuff, the stuff that makes my thoughts slow down, calms the voice, gives me a sense of peace and not this constant anxiety." You said, hands tapping the table.
"Oh..." Spencer said, taking in what you were saying.
"I'm an addict not for pleasure but for pain. And my struggle is no greater or lesser than yours." You said, fingers still tapping away. "I struggle, like you, except the difference is I'm newer to the team so they don't know what it's like to see me in my chaotic neutral state. What did you do when you had cravings before? You must have been clean for a couple years now, right?"
"I went to Emily... I always went to Emily. I play back these moments when I snapped at her for wanting to help and I wish I just..." Once again, Spencer's voice was caught in his throat.
"She was your safe space when you felt like you couldn't turn to anyone else." You said, understanding. "You don't have to be romantically inclined to have a safe space with someone. It's whomever you find solace in, for any reason under and over the sun."
"I wouldn't feel this way if she were here..." Spencer said, more to himself as if he were trying to be convincing.
"Spencer, you have to be honest with yourself. If it wasn't this, it would be something else. And that something else might not have landed you with someone who was willing to assist you in your recovery to stay clean." You said, finishing your pancakes.
"What?" Spencer did a double take. No one had ever offered to help him. He always had to be the first to make the move but even then, everyone was reluctant to take on the responsibility of Spencer.
"Isn't there an unspoken rule about addicts not being with each other?" Spencer asked, genuinely concerned.
He hoped not because he would love to have someone he could finally confide in, someone who wouldn't make him feel like a burden.
"No, that's about addicts not dating each other. But I think that as friends, we can understand each other in ways others cant. We can fight together. Have you notiiced the craving is gone, for the most part?" You asked, sure that Spencers single slice would be gone in a moment.
"Okay. Deal. We can confide in one another and maybe it'll help us get a grip on reality when we feel ourselves slipping.”
“Okay.”
taglist: @goldentournesol @averyhotchner @mggsprettygirl
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bookwyrminspiration · 3 years
Note
i was scrolling through your blog again today and i got down to that ask i sent you about chapter 11 and....wow. i just checked and it's.......7477 words. the essays i write for school are less words than that??? thank you for getting me back into writing????
amd im still thinking about chapter 11 and what it could all mean, too! i havent the faintest clue where this is going and i am so grateful for it. a lot of the time i have the unfortunate ability to guess where things are gonna go so whenever something stumps me i am !!!!
and i realized i never replied to your reply on ao3, so i guess i'll take the opportunity and do that now? thank you a lot for replying to it with your own thoughts! im very excited to see where the connection linh and marella have to the dragons goes. dragons are great since they can really be anything, too, so i dont even know what you're gonna have them look like! and if they are part-dragon, itd be really interesting if maybe they were different kinds of dragons, since it would make sense for linh to be a rain or river dragon, but marella has her fire and all. either way, im super stoked for the future of the wings au! thank you tons for writing it :']
(i still have no idea whats going on with oralie and bronte's messages, though....maybe ill reread what you said on that and see if i can find any hints. i should probably do a reread of the chapters so far, too, to make sure i havent missed anything....)
- pyro
welcome back, pyro!! also oh damn that's a lot of words--also several of my posts on here are longer than essays I turn in. Just the other day I wrote an answer that was 1200 words...and my paper due this sunday for my contemporary social problems class is supposed to be between 600 and 900 (haven't started it yet but i'll be fine).
I think you're talking about the post that starts "So. Chapter 11. I have many thoughts." But if it's a different one that's also fine! also you're welcome, I think! Anything I've done to help you write and be creative is super cool!! i'm always a little shocked when I see people creating things based on stuff I've done--fanart and asks and things like that in general! just people thinking! I was just scrolling through my blog and saw a few art pieces from you about the wings au and I just sat there for a moment like oh fuck ve made a thing for my thing. So cool!
I am also thinking about chapter 11 tbh (I think you sent this before chapter 12 was posted so you're probably thinking more about chapter 12 now but still!!) Also I'm so glad you're confused about where this is going--I get so worried that my twists are gonna be predictable and bland so it's always nice to hear that there are some surprises along the way! But even if you do guess things that's also excellent! because it means what I wrote made sense and is believable! there can be a certain amount of satisfaction in guessing, but it's also so much fun to be surprised. Hopefully the au is full of several more surprises for you because I am not done yet! I have so many plans and ideas and I want to share them all.
oh also this reminded me I never responded to your comment on chapter 12 on ao3. oopsie. that's what I get for having such a busy schedule I guess! but!! I think things will kinda calm down in the new few days and then I can get back to writing and answering asks more. Had several things disrupt me and make life very chaotic, hence less frequent posts recently--still trying to recover from that! so I will reply to that comment soon, I promise! (and to all your asks!!)
also all your thoughts and speculations about dragons are so cool!! that's actually something that's coming up very soon in the au so I can't talk about it a lot without spoiling! but if you couldn't tell from Marella sneaking out, there's gonna be a little more focus on her for a little bit. the dragons have actually gotten more complex in my head as the au has gone on. they're were accidental, so I didn't think to much about what they'd look like or their purpose aside form the immediate shock factor, but now...I have several thoughts about them!! and Linh's connection...was also an accident but I'm so pleased with it. Do we know exactly what that connection is? nope! but it's not the same as Marella's and it's gonna be really fun to explore what is happening to the two of them!
"either way, im super stoked for the future of the wings au! thank you tons for writing it :']" thank you for reading it! your enthusiasm has really helped me through some of the tougher spots and kept me going. it wouldn't be the same without you! I wouldn't say I cater to the readers, but knowing what excites everyone and catches interest helps me make decisions on what to focus on later! and also gives me ideas for things to add in! and I'm also very excited for the future of this au--I have some ideas that are probably gonna be a pain in the ass to execute but I can't wait to get to them! they're still a ways off but ahh!
and those messages...so much meaning behind them. so cryptic! this is actually one of those bigger ideas I was just talking about! so if you do figure it out (not that I would tell you) you might have an idea of what's coming in the wings au in the future! I don't remember exactly what hints I gave, but I do think it's entirely possible to figure out at least parts of the clue! what it leads to is mostly me making up worldbuilding things and drama, but the hints are drawn from canon!
also if you do reread the chapters...good luck? there's so many words I wish you luck. according to google the average reader would take five hours to read that, but that's at 200-250 wpm, and I don't know your reading speed! honestly I should probably reread the au for inspiration for future chapters...we can reread it together!!
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savnofilter · 3 years
Text
Another Year Together
Todoroki x 『GN』Reader
↬ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ(s): intoxication, mentions of partying too hard, injuries and cleaning said injuries, crack (?), fluff.
↬ᴡᴄ: 2.5k [10 mins].
↬ᴀ/ɴ: ahhhh i was bummed that i dont have any sfw shouto reqs *cough cough* send some- *cough cough* anyways so i made up a scenario of my own! i have more fluff ideas i'd love to put out but this may be the birthday fic or i'll post something else tonight if i can~ every time there needs to be a party, just know either mina or kaminari threw it. also its a little rushed because i wanted to get this out tonight and this is the longest sfw piece ive ever written. ;; pffft hopefully you all will love this as much as i loved writing it, happy birthday shouto!
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"Stay still." Shouto muttered to you as you squirmed away from the harsh sting the disinfectant alcohol caused your bruised skin.
"Mmmnhmm... M' sorry." You utter haltingly, your leg jerking once more from the sudden sensation. You look up at him with puppy eyes, guilt-stricken as you have already broken your promise.
He stared at you for a few seconds before his gaze softened as you stuck out your bottom lip with a sorrowful look on your face. As he smooths the cloth over your exposed thighs, he softly sighs under his breath, expertly concealing the roll of his eyes. Todoroki was relieved that your reflexes were still in shape, the abuse of the liquor not interfering much with your cognition... at least not too much. 
You two shared the same birthday. He had no idea that celebrating your big day of turning 21 would've been so hectic. As many things between you and Todorooki, you guys took today as a competition. The day started with you both trying to one-up each other since Todoroki’s lucky day was yours as well. First, your day with a breakfast made by him -- with the assistance of Bakugo of course. You couldn’t help the warm swell in your heart at how much effort he had put into it but it wouldn’t top you! While you two interned at the same agency it was pretty easy to surprise him with a big B-Day lunch and an obnoxious bouquet.
“This is a little too much…” 
“There is no such thing as too much for you, Sho.”
Truthfully, he felt that way because he wanted to wow you as well. He was glad that today was a calm day concerning his patrol watch, giving him time to map up his day today and think about all the other miscellaneous thoughts that roamed his head. The painting he had saved for this momentous day sat in the back of his head as he patrolled the streets, the small accessory along with it sitting next to the rest of his pee-pee pouches making him grow nervous. I had kept the small item with him in fear of losing it, the last thing he needed was it to go missing under his watch.
You on the other handheld no qualms about goofing off for the day. Now, you weren’t entirely wasting away the day, you just simply knew how to let loose. With the great news you’d be staying in the office you had more than enough time to help plan and finalize Todoroki’s surprise birthday party. You bit your lip as you checked in with your longtime friend, Kaminari, to host the momentous occasion. Your mind was mostly occupied with the thought of the party and the small but significant present that you had in your desk draw. You and Todoroki had the same mind, the only thing setting you apart is you somehow being more… airhead than him. 
Impossible, right? Not at all. That’s how it explains why he was busy cleaning up your injuries.
After being sent home early you had taken him out to lunch for some soba and well, boba as a great lunch treat — simple enough. You both were full upon going back home, giving you two a few hours to snuggle up and nap to rejoice with the sleep you two had lost from over the time having part-time heroes. Holding back the excited news of the party was hard to do, the first thing you did when you woke up was jump up and usher him to get up as well.
“What -- why??” Shouto glared as he was forced to sit up, rubbing his eyes with the free hand that you didn’t use to pull him up.
“C’mooonn! I just have one more thing to show you for today!” You beam brightly. Your facial expression was as bright as ever like you hadn’t just slept for 4 hours before that. Everything in his body wanted to resist but he couldn’t as he wouldn’t bring himself to. It took but only an hour for the both of you to get ready, sending Kaminari a quick text to make sure that everything was set for sure. 
“Honey, I know this might sound a little odd but I need you to put this on.” You hand him the blindfold once you find him dressed and ready. You couldn’t help but grin at his confused face when he stares at the piece of fabric.
“I thought you said we were going out?” He asks mildly confused, taking it and putting it on anyway.
You paused and gave yourself a moment to think about his response, your cheeks feeling hot at the insinuation. Todoroki’s small giggle makes you feel better about your flustered words, rolling your eyes annoyed when he teased you like that. “Just hold onto my hand okay?” You instruct, hand coming up to hold him as an example. He nods his head as he follows your lead, more excited than what he led on.
The trip from your apartment down to your car didn’t take too long, the assistance of helping him not trip over his shoes harder than you thought. It was hard to keep back your laugh as he fumbled here and there, the most highlight of your experience was helping him in his care (like he usually did with you) and even buckling in his seat (not something he did for you). You were practically buzzing in your seat in excitement as you took off as soon as you were ready, the journey to his place not too far from your own. You bobbed your head to the music of the radio as you vibed along with the beats, fingers tapping the steering wheel as you mumbled the lyrics to whatever song played. Had it not been winter time in Japan you would’ve had the windows down, but you had to settle with the subtle and gentle breeze of the heaters on your skin instead.
“We’re here.” You announced your arrival. You used the keycard Kaminari had given you as the entrance to his apartment complex and zoomed-in irresponsibly. It was easy finding a parking space on the higher levels conveniently the same as his home. You hopped out and helped Todoroki out from his seat and helped him to the elevator. “Promise me to have fun, okay?” The question was simple enough, but your level of fun always exceeded his. 
The sentence made him turn in your direction with confusion heavy on the top of his head. You took out the key from your pocket and jiggled it into the lock. As soon as he was about to open his mouth you yoinked the blindfold off his eyes, the first thing his eyes seeing your cheerful grin and everyone popping up from their hiding places and throwing the decorations up that they held in their hands.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” 
Todoroki was taken back from the whole thing. How many people were there, the familiar faces, the decorations, and just overall effort that was put into this. He couldn’t help but look over at you with the same adoration he normally did when you looked the other way. He was greeted by so many of his friends and mutuals, the overwhelming amount of gifts that sat on the table, and the arrangement of food and drinks that sat up in the spacious room. In the back of his head, he knew he would have to keep an eye on you, and he was right.
The group had gathered to get some cake to get it out the way, the bonus of ice cream filling your tummy with happiness. As soon as you had finished your dessert plate, you declared everyone should loosen up; since no one objected, you went straight for shots. First, it was one, two, then it was two at once, then it was some straight from Mina’s belly button. You held no restraint at your alcohol intake, taking the immature opportunity to drink to your heart’s content. While you were liberal with your amount, Todoroki decided to take in practically none. The verses of your habits are almost amusing to watch like your two contrasting but similar personalities.
Later in the night when the mayhem had started. You and a few friends decided to dance on a few more dangerous surfaces, guaranteeing the sacrifice of one of them being Kaminari’s glass table. 
“Holy shit—” Mina quickly rushed to your side, the same drunken posture and smile on her face as she tried to help you up, careful not to get the same glass shards that scattered the floor. “Are you okay-?!”
“YO Y/N WILDING!” Denki tries helping you up too, the help of the duo helping you somewhat.
You stumbled to get up, the flashlight of other people’s phones making you weary. “I-I’m fine-” You managed to let out, standing as you tried to clear your head and drink the water handed towards you. Either the H2O in that cup gave you courage or you simply went crazy. “let’s go again!” 
Todoroki was left speechless upon watching you continue to party on, knowing damn well he'd have to stop you soon. He wasn’t one to attend parties, and most times when he did they always ended up like this. It seemed after your fall that the knock had given you a sign to calm down at least, deciding to drink more beverages that didn’t hold liquor in it. After some time he had managed to get you in his lap, holding you as he monitored your well-being. 
As much as your reckless behavior would have annoyed someone else, he found it almost endearing. Well… not really in the sense you were drinking yourself silly, but in the fact that you still had the spirit to keep up and party even after the effects of your last hour of madness. It wasn’t long till you had gotten comfortable in his arms you had successfully partied yourself to sleep. Todoroki was careful in lifting you, thanking everyone from attending before quietly slipping out from the apartment. 
He took a deep breath as he somehow managed to find your car, maneuvering to get you into the car and hopping in on his side to drive you home. Todoroki made sure to drive carefully in hopes that you wouldn’t barf all over his car that you had used to get there. The drive back was much quicker than when you two had headed up since it was practically dead at night and the streets empty. He liked drives like these. A part of him was sad that you weren’t awake for it.
Your boyfriend repeated the same process when he had pulled into your apartment complex, picking up your body and bringing you up to your shared home. He was dedicated to getting you situated, prepared to take care of you as much as he needed to. That’s how he found himself tending to your scrapes and bruises right now.
“You know I’m never going to let you drink again.” Shouto teases you, smirking lightly at your sad expression.
“You’d never!” You argued back with the same teasing tone, moving to cross your arms, stifling the pain as you did so.
Todoroki snorts at your dedication to hold up the act, nodding his head as he finished cleaning up your legs. “You’re right. But don’t expect me not to monitor you from now on.” 
A smile tugs at your lips at his words, uncrossing your arms. The lingering drunk feeling still played in how you thought and spoke but not managing to affect how effortless it was to talk to Shouto. You blushed when he picked up your hands, kissing the back of your hands as he spoke to you once again.
“I have a present for you.” He mutters against your skin, eyes trained on the fresh bandages before looking up at you. He wasn’t looking for an answer and he didn’t wait for one either. He hoped that you couldn’t tell that he was weary, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet box. 
Your eyes widened at the realization of what he held in his hand, your heart beating faster as you sat up in your chair. “Sh-Sho?”
“It’s not what you think.” He responds almost defensively. Shouto bites his lip in anticipation, fiddling with the little box. “... it’s a promise ring,” Todoroki concludes. He felt like he had to explain himself for the slightly expensive jewelry. “If you don’t want it-”
You had engulfed him in a hug, pulling him tight against you as you had started to sob. You couldn’t think of words for how happy you were. The only thing that had taken over your body was actions. You nuzzled your face into his neck once his arms wrapped around your shaking your body. His hands soothingly rubbed your back, letting you get out what you wanted. He couldn’t help but laugh when you pull away with the most love-filled face he’d ever seen you make.
“You okay?”
“I’m perfect!” You hastily wiped your face with the help of Shouto, shakily laughing once he leaned into pepper your face with kisses. 
“I was afraid that I scared you,” Shouto admits. You shake your head as you grab his hands, placing his palms on your cheeks, appreciating his soft palms.
“No… your hands are really soft…” You mumble. Your mind went blank as you tried to remember the next line you were going to speak, pouting as you looked around for the answer. The shock of him handing you the ring has successfully shaken you into processing your brain a little better, the heavy impacts of your drinking still lingering on.
“Are you okay?” He asks, worried. You nod your head in affirmation. 
“A kiss could cheer me up.” You give him the same puppy eyes that you used before, weaponizing your cuteness to your advantage. He slightly cringed at the thought, hesitating before leaning in and placing a soft kiss against yours. He prepared himself to taste the alcohol against his lips. He pulled away once he deemed it ready, wiping his mouth and getting the ring he kept in his hand the whole day.
“I think you owe me by wearing the ring for making me kiss you.” He huffs, slipping the ring on your finger, his heart beating at the sound of your giggle.
“Nah you love me without the ring~”
“Yes, but I’d prefer you with it on.” He stands up and holds his hand out for you, taking you into his arms once again for the night and carrying you to your room. “For now get some rest, okay?” He sat you down on the bed and got you changed out of your clothes, sneaking in a few playful kisses here and there to make you laugh. Shouto’s main focus was just to get you situated to sleep peacefully for the night. 
“G’night, Sho…” You mutter to him as you got comfortable in the sheets. Although the returning soreness didn’t go away you had managed to close your eyes and get comfortable.
“Goodnight.” He watched you until you fell asleep before leaving the room to prepare for you the pain medication you’d need in the morning for your impending hangover. 
You never needed the promise ring to let you know he loved you; his actions always told you so.
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Note
boys with deaf SO?
💕💕 (most info I got from Jessica Kellgren-Fozard and some people I know in real life)
-------------
Being deaf doesn't necessarily mean you can't hear anything - so you're probably wearing hearing aids so you can hopefully hear a little bit. It also doesn't mean you can't talk - I mean, as far as my understanding goes that all has to do with the environment, sound of your voice and whether or not you became deaf later on in life or were born with it. Anyways, my point is, deaf isn't always that picture you see in the media.
There are so many different ways the boys could meet you. Maybe you're at the concert - quite literally feeling the music - and they want to talk to you because they love your vibe. Or maybe they meet you at your job in a local store and think you're cute. Anyways - no matter how they meet you - they see you and want to hang out with you. So, they ask. And that's when they realise you might not be able to fully hear them. You might be lip reading, or just look a little confused - and that's when Paul moves forward.
Instead of the usual questions of not looking deaf, or whether or not you can lip read, you're met with sign language. Paul - as he introduces himself - tells you that he and his brothers would like to hang out with you, and whether or not you'd like that.
They all seem quite hopeful and are pretty damn delighted when you accept.
By the way - the main reason why Paul knows American or British Sign Language (or Sign Supported English) is because he was incredibly bored one night. After complaining all evening the boys suggested he'd try to learn something new, and he picked sign language. He soon became very interested in it, and made sure he was up to date with it at all times. He thought it was pretty cool to know something the boys didn't - and now that they met their mate? Yeah - he's feeling pretty smug about it.
That evening he tries to teach the boys some simple sentences (introductions, how are you, you look nice) so they can talk to you tomorrow as well. Also, he advices them to talk clearly so you can lipread.
The next night they're pretty chill. They take you to some calm places, wanting to get to know you. They buy you dinner, Paul perhaps playing a tolk if needed, and ask whether or not you want to join them at their place.
They seriously do not mind you being deaf. It's part of you, so why would they mind? They try to learn your sign language as quickly as possible, and they make sure to let you know whenever they're talking to you, and that they speak slowly and clear.
If anyone ever gives you a hard time because of it (or maybe throws in a you dont sound deaf or something) they're quick to take action. You are theirs, and beside that, they all agree that any prejudice against deaf people should just be washed away.
So many jokes. Argument? You can just sign a 'sorry I can't hear you ' and the boys will probably forget what it was even about. Puns. Seriously - even when they or Star start a sentence with "Have you heard what happened in town today?" I mean - I'm guessing you'd have a lot of fun with that, and I'm certain the boys love it.
They're supportive of whatever you do - and they'll definitely help you when needed.
They tell you what they are and it's a bit frightening at first probably. But, things go well between you five and at one point you get asked if you want to change. You know about the improved senses, but changing doesn't give a guarantee to better hearing the boys warn you. Still, spending eternity with your four boys is pretty awesome, right?
Once they all know sign language they make sure to quickly sign sweet nothings whenever you look at them before walking off. They love the way it makes you smile, so it's all the more reason to do it.
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spookypotato · 3 years
Text
Happy Birthday @marauderss-hp!
I hope you have a fantastic day! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 Best wishes!
I hope you like this, as I couldn't get you a real gift, I made this.
This is also a small sorry or make up for yesterday
Perfect Difficulties
9th of march, 11.45 pm
"Hey", it came from the darkness of their dormitory, "can't sleep?"
It was Sirius voice.
"No", Remus groaned, almost loud enough to wake the others. "I just- what if I don't get one? I'm a werewolf we're not meant to have soulmates."
Remus could hear the other boy moving. "If you don't, then you don't." He could hear the blanket being thrown over the bed, bare feet touching the floor. "Doesn't mean you'll ever be alone, dont get your hopes up now, Moony." Steps connecting Sirius bed and his. He could hear and see now, his drapes being slid open. "Although I am pretty sure, people would actually kill to be with a beautiful," Sirius was sitting on his bed now. "smart," he looked back and Remus moved to the edge of the bed. "mischievous", moving the blanket he slid underneath it, next to Remus, muttering a silencing charm to not disturb the others with their conversation. "wonderful werewolf like you.", Sirius moved and just hugged Remus under the blankets.
He felt a bit better now. He felt the worry leave his body, even for just a few seconds. He felt almost relaxed.
His friend didn't let go and Remus was glad about it. He knew as soon as he moved, the dread would seep back into him.
"When did you get yours again?", he asked, still intervened with his friend.
"My birthday, my birth time. Do you even know yours?"
"5.37 am"
"Want to wait it out, or look at it in the morning?"
Remus would have said, that he didn't think he would be able to sleep with all the adrenaline in him. That he was too nervous. All the doubts and fears, everything that could go wrong, he had imagined. But somehow, Sirius tight hug, the feeling that no matter if his fear came true, he would at least still have his friends, he felt tired.
"I'll look at it in the morning. It'll be fine.", he said more to himself, than to Sirius, a yawn following a few seconds after.
Sirius didn't move away. He didnt go back to his bed and Remus was thankful for that. He could use the comfort. He even felt the others arms tighten a bit around his body as he heard a whispered, "I will be fine. Good night, Moony."
He could only manage a soft noise in response, before he fell asleep.
~
10th of march, 5.30 am
Remus was sitting in his bed. Next to him, there was Sirius, on his stomach, face turned in his direction. For all Remus knew, the boy could be a ancient Greek sculpture. He didnt move, and his aristocratic features could certainly belong to some kind of god.
Remus moved his eyes from his friends sleeping form, back to the problem at hand. Literally.
On his wrist, there were letters. Remus didn't know why they were already there. Sirius had told him, they would appear at his birth time. On his birthday. Well, they were here now. He guessed it could have something to do with the werewolf parts of him, maybe they had messed up the process. He just hoped they hadnt messed anything else up.
"I have a soulmate.", he whispered to himself, careful not to wake anyone. He couldn't believe it. He had a soulmate.
His eyes were transfixed on his wrist. He could see each white lines, forming white letters, forming a sentence. The first sentence his soulmate would say to him, after it appeared.
"Do you even know yours?"
Yes, that didnt really give away any characteristics, nor was it a compliment to him, like he had heard a lot of people get, but it was a sentence from his soulmate. His existing soulmate.
He imagined, what it would be like, to meet them. He thought about the context in which such a sentence would make sense.
"Hello, excuse me could I maybe borrow your phone? I really need to call my friend, it's an emergency. -shit, nevermind I can't remember his number."
"Do you even know yours?"
"Smooth move, stranger.", Remus thought to himself, shaking his head. This was ridiculous.
"HeLLo, StRanGeR! I might be a tiny bit drunk, but could I have your address so we can take this somewhere else?"
"Do you even know yours?"
Wow, yeah hopefully that's not how it goes.
He was shaken out of his thoughts, by the sleeping form next to him moving. "So he was alive", Remus whispered in Sirius direction.
"Happy birthday. Time?", was Sirius simple reply, but even though it was only a few words, Remus could hear the roughness in his voice from sleeping even then.
He cast a tempus charm and stated, "Thank you, and 6.25 am"
"Shit", Sirius scrambled up, which almost threw Remus of the bed in his surprise. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So?", he asked clearly excited, glancing at Remus, his eyes flickering to his wrist.
"Calm down.", he said to himself as much as to Sirius, as the other boys excitement brought his own back.
"You got one right?"
"Yes." A smirk was forming on his lips.
Sirius mirrored his expression. "Come on, don't leave me hanging, describe it!"
"Alright, alright.", Remus laughed, a bit overwhelmed by his friends enthusiasm as always. "So it's right here", he drew a line over the words and Sirius' eyes followed his finger. "and it's a cursive handwriting, very neat, a bit less than yours, but it looks nice. And it looks almost like a scar on my arm, so I fits with-"
"What?!", Sirius interruped him. "So it's not red?!"
"No? Is it supposed to be? My dad told me his is white.", he added as if to explain himself.
"It-", Sirius broke of. He looked like a mix of happiness and confusion, hesitation and determination. "Remus, it only turns from red to white, once you've heard the words. Once you know it's your soulmate, the person you'll spend the rest of your life with."
Remus was confused. Why hadn't he known the words weren't supposed to be white yet.
"Soulmarks will appear on your wrist, the day of your birth, at the time of your birth. They will turn white, once your soulmate has said the words on your skin, as the first ones directed at you, after your mark has appeared.", Sirius explained further.
"I-, I haven't talked to anyone since then. I was sleeping.", the fears crept back into his mind. Maybe it was broken. Maybe it was just there to taunt him. See what you could have had? Creatures dont get soulmates. It wasnt supposed to be. It was just a mistake in the algorithm of the universe. The words were never meant to appear. Nobody would say them. Nobody would speak those words to him.
"What does it say?", he heard a very quiet, very hesitant voice from his side.
No use to keep them s secret now, since there isn't actually a real soulmate to say those words.
"Do you even know yours?"
"Off course I do. There on my wrist, I could read them to you right now." He moved his arm out from under the blanket and read, obviously not noticing Remus disstress to be understood nor the confusion about Sirius just reading his words out loud. No one was supposed to know until the words were said and Remus was fairly sure there was no soulmate Sirius spent tim with behind their backs.
Sirius looked Remus in the eyes, which flickered back to his wrist quickly after their eyes had locked.
He read, "No, saying 'It's my birthday' won't get you into less detention for a prank."
Remus was frozen.
"Always the voice of reason, Moony.", Sirius replied smugly.
"You- You? You knew?"
"Could you sound any less enthusiastic?", Sirius voice almost sounded disappointed.
"No! No, Padfoot, I'm not. I'm just confused.", Remus told him, his hand brushing against the back of his friends. "The first words you said to me today were 'Happy Birthday.'. It doesn't make sense."
And then Remus remembered. Almost midnight in the dormitory. Arms tight around him, comforting him. Whispering voices.
"When did you get yours again?"
"My birthday, my birth time. Do you even know yours?"
"5.37 am"
And as it all came together, he felt - happy. Truley happy. Sirius was his soulmate. He looked at the boy next to him. Aware of their closeness now. He had never felt more comfortable. He took his friends hand, that he had been brushing against since they had woken up. Pressing a soft kiss to the others knuckles, he told him, "If I had been able to choose a soulmate, I couldn't have made a better choice than you." And it was true. He couldnt believe his luck. For the first time, he was happy about how the universe had led his life, right to this moment, in the arms of this incredible boy. His soulmate.
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