#hopefully my horrible Spanish wasn’t noticeable..

[regretisstoredintheme]

Can you try a oneshot with a gender neutral shy reader who has a crush on Rise!Leo but they’re not really fond of his over competitive personality? (Really loved the yokai feline!reader you did a while ago so hopefully this isn’t too much of a request ^ v ^; )

Do do do d— OH?? WHATS THIS??

A Request? 

*snatches paper*

“Can you try a oneshot with a gender neutral shy reader who has a crush on Rise!Leo but they’re not really fond of his over competitive personality? (Really loved the yokai feline!reader you did a while ago so hopefully this isn’t too much of a request ^ v ^; “

A/n: hooohohooo… YOU! My friend, are a bright mind, I hope I have enough energy for this one *cracks knuckles* (ALSO TY!! IM SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT >v<)

———

Priorities. (A Oneshot)

—

Warnings(?): Leo being a dumbass, slight angst? Idk yet. 

—-

A perfect night, it was. 

Leo, sitting in his beanbag. you, right next to him in your own, the little puffs pushed against each other.. your favorite movie on the television — well, favorite Jupiter Jim movie. Leo was pointing out all the little details that you had grown to notice but wouldn’t mention, noting how his eyes sparkled as he ranted about it. A soft smile appeared on your face, your heart gently fluttering at his antics. 

It was hard to get Leo to sit down and actually watch something - especially something he knew inside and out, so you couldn’t exactly blame him when he would do sit ups, stretch, refill popcorn, or even just wave his hands around anxiously. You didn’t mind. What you did mind, however…

“Tag!!” Mikey swooped in unnoticed from his late night out, bonking his brother on the head and scrambling to get away. “Oh no you did not!!” Leo laughed, jumping up from his seat and knocking over one of the empty popcorn bowls. You paused the movie, leaning back with a sigh. There was no telling how long this one would last. 

As you watched your favorite boy run around with Mikey, you couldn’t help but wish he could prioritize you a little more.. but then again, it’s not like you were in a relationship or anything.. It hurt to think about, but it was true. As you lounged in the projector room, watching the two scramble on the upper levels, you heard a scoff from next to you. 

You nearly flew out of your seat as you saw Raph, practically looming over you but staring at his brothers as well. “JEsus…” you breathed, a hand over your heart - which you were SURE had just jumped to outer space - where the astronaut on the projector was.

The red-clad turtle didn’t seem to notice, in a world of his own. He was grumbling to himself, something about ‘manners’ and ‘how to treat someone’… and then you heard something that made your ears perk up —- ‘Leo’.

At the idea of asking him about said turtle in blue, your hands felt clammy, yourthroat constricting and mouth like the Sahara desert, but you had to try. “Raph..?” You squeaked, just loud enough to get the gentle giant’s attention. “Huh?” He snapped out of his tizzy, giving you his full attention “what’s up, Y/n?” 

You opened your mouth, closed it, then opened it again, searching for the words as your mind went blank. Cmon Y/n, think! God!… was it always so hot in here..? 

“Uh.. well— what you — hh— talk- THINKin about, Raph?” A weak chuckle escaped your throat as you mustered that sentence, your cheeks warm with embarrassment. Unfortunately for you, Raph caught on really fast, giving you one of his knowing, big-brother smiles. “Oh, you know...” He waltzed on over, casually sitting in his pops’ recliner chair, “Just how horribly Leo treats his dates.” 

Can you say.. Rojo? :D THAT means Red in Spanish!! As well as your face once he said that. ♡ :) 

“Date?? Woah- hah- this wasn’t— I mean.. heh.. he didn’t- I wasn’t—“ grasping for excuses, you felt yourself slowly sink further into your beanbag, ashamed at how badly you were trying to play this off. Raph shook his head, laughing to himself, “Please, he practically rented the projector room for you two! If you can’t tell from that, then you two really are hopeless.” 

You hid your face completely now, too embarrassed to even think about denying it anymore. “Hopeless? I beg to differ.” 

Oh no.

You knew that cocky voice anywhere. 

You weren’t sure if you wanted to turn around, but unfortunately.. curiosity killed the Y/n. Turning your head, you saw none other than Leo right above you, his arms at either side of your beanbag- preventing escape. He looked down at you, smile never fading, “Hi there~” 

“H— how much—?” You gulped on your words, anxiety crawling up your throat, “how much of that did you hear..?”

Leo shrugged, “not too much, actually” his smile dropped , “just Raph ratting me out.” He grumbled, giving his brother a glare before turning back to you with a smile. “I won, by the way!” Beaming, he completely missed your demeanor change, feeling one of disappointment as he left your side. “I beat Mikey at tag! Aren’t I cool?” He chuckled, before perking up— hearing one of his brothers call his name. 

And just like that, he left your side, hands behind his head without a care in the world. He was leaving you! Again! You couldn’t help the disappointed sigh lurking in your throat as he welcomed his brother in purple back home, asking if they wanted to compete to see who could eat the most pizza at Run-Of-the-Mill. 

“You know, when we were kids and I wanted Leo to sit still..” Raph leaned over your shoulder, talking quiet as to not alert anyone.. including you. “I would just lay on top of him, but I guess you can’t really do that… so I can only wonder what the alternative is..” He mused, leaving you to your thoughts as he walked to the kitchen. 

Leo moseyed back into the projector room, collapsing onto his beanbag with a huff. “Donton just wanted help unloading groceries.” he muttered, disappointed, and this time, you weren’t able to stop the sigh from leaving your lips. 

Your eyes snapped open, knowing damn well he wouldn’t miss a chance to point that out.

“Hold on.” He sat up, looking at where you now hid your face. “Was- was that a sigh?” He chirped in surprise, analyzing your anxious form. “No way.” He squinted, trying to tell if he was dreaming. “Y/n, shy Y/n. Who’s too nervous to tell the cashier they got the wrong change — just sighed, at me.” He half laughed, actually impressed, “Donnie owes me 20 bucks.” 

You grumbled at the last comment, mixed feelings on the fact that he competed on you. 

“So~” he smiled, scooting closer and leaning in, “What did I do to upset my Y/n this bad?” Usually, Leo avoided conflict like the plague, but seeing how flustered you were, he could only hope it was because you were jealous. And boy did he know how to fix that. 

Fire was climbing up your throat, you couldn’t tell if it was frustration or the flustered feeling he had given you from calling you his. Maybe it was a bit of both. “God you— you’re such a—“ you covered your face, yelling into your hands with all your might. 

Cold hands gently pulled your wrists away from your face, revealing Leo sitting in front of you calmly, waiting for you to express your thoughts the way you wanted to. Words echoed in your head, giving you a reckless, stupid idea. 

“You know, when I wanted Leo to sit still…”

You couldn’t— you were sure you would die. Immediately. Just die right there and never come back from the pits of HathSin. But.. before you knew it, your hands had wrapped around the back of his head, pulling him in to a gentle hug. You couldn’t stop yourself as you nuzzled your face into his shoulder, grip tight as you could only hope he didn’t push you away. “I just wanted you to stay with me.” You muttered, eyes fluttering closed. You were ready to accept the disgust, the anger, the pain at losing your best friend. You felt hot tears prick your eyes, fear consuming you as you heard…

….

Churrrrrr….

…

What? What was that? 

Finally pulling back, you caught a glimpse of Leo’s cherry red blush, hidden under his blue bandana. He seemed shocked at both your and his own actions. Because of the noise, you hadn’t even noticed his hand coming back to graze your spine, wanting to hug you back— you only noticed how he pulled away, head in his hands as he scolded himself. “Are you kidding me? Now? Yeah that’s real charming, Leo. Way to ruin the moment, dumbass..” 

Him! Flustered! Now you were both breaking the laws of physics. 

———-

I HOPE THATS SOMETHING LIKE WHAT YOU WANTED OKAY GOODBYE 🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃💨💨💨

#ROTTMNT #ROTTMNT x reader #ROTTMNT Leo #Regrettable requests #regrettable writing #rise of the tmnt #Leonardo x reader #ROTTMNT Leonardo #rottmnt leo x reader

[yannowhatigiveup]

My One And Only - Chapter 8

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So this chapter is longer than the previous one and hOpefuLly my writing will get better with each new chapter. One can only hope. And I’m updating this daily cuz I wanna be caught up with all of my chapters so I don’t forget to post one by accident. But the daily updates will unfortunately stop after chapter 13, I guess. For now, enjoy! *totally not debating if I should post chapter 9* also Gabriel, no

Uncle Jagged: Nettie! I got everything ready. Wanna record a bonus track for my new album?

'Oh god'

—————————————————————

Marinette kept rereading the message to make sure she had read it correctly. The message never changed. "Oh Tikki what if my voice sounds horrible? Uncle Jagged will be disappointed and then he won't have me as his designer anymore! He'll probably tell everything to everyone, to Gabriel Agreste, Clara, Chloe's mother and to the whole public!"

"Calm down Marinette!" Tikki flew out the bag and hugged the bluenette's face. "I'm sure you'll do just fine!"

"Thanks Tikki" Marinette said hesitantly. She then approached the hotel doors and towards the elevators. She had felt the gaze of the receptionists and one of them had got up with the intention to talk to her, only to be dragged back down by the fellow receptionist, the one who Marinette talked to yesterday. The bluenette had taken full notice of this but chose to ignore it. She then reached Damian's hotel room and knocked on the door. She heard something metallic drop on the floor followed by a slightly muffled word. Marinette knew exactly what he said but she was confused. She then heard the same voice again though much clearer this time.

"You can come in, the door is unlocked"

~~~

Damian had just finished showering, he was half dressed when he got a message from 'Angel'. He had changed used this nickname as her contact name.

Angel: I got an hour and half till my meeting with Uncle J, you want me to come over?

Damian smiled. Honestly, if he could he would give all his time to her.

Me: Sure, come over whenever you want I don't mind

He was about to put his shirt on when he got an urge to practice with his katana, which he did. He made a mental note about getting dressed soon and he went to the case which his katana was located. He then practiced different stances as well as practicing different motions with the blade. He thought of the bluenette. When he first met her, she struck him as someone defenseless and vulnerable. But he now had the feeling she could take down someone twice her size. Though, that didn't stop him from feeling obligated to protect her. He had become so focused that when someone knocked he tensed. Not that much but enough to loose grip of his katana. The blade sunk into his skin and left quite a deep cut on his upper arm and on the right side of his chest, causing him to drop his katana.

"Scheiße!" He didn't react to the pain, it was the thought of Marinette walking in on this situation. 'Since when do I know German?' "You can come in, the door is unlocked" 'Damn it that's not what I meant!'

Marinette opened the unlocked door to see a shirtless Damian. She probably would've metaphorically died at that point if she didn't take notice to the whole situation. Not only was he shirtless, he was bleeding. 'How did-' she noticed the katana. 'Oh, makes sense now'. The bluenette then sprinted into action. She closed the door behind her, put her bag down quickly but still being mindful of Tikki and turned her attention to the now flustered Damian. She grabbed the arm that wasn't cut and carefully dragged him onto the sofa, she also looked at the katana on her way there while taking some mental notes. 'Looks clean, no rust or scratches that could contain bacteria and seems so have been cleaned thoroughly before use. Great! That makes my job easier'.

"What are you-"

"Hush Shaytan" Marinette interrupted while going to the bathroom, searching for one of those medkits. "Let me take care of you" she said while getting one of the disinfectants in the kit. Marinette then carefully rubbed the liquid into his wounds.

"It stings" he grumbled.

"Awww don't worry little Dami, it will stop stinging soon" Marinette said lightheartedly, as if she was comforting Manon.

"Tt I am not five" he grumbled again. He shifted his body so that Marinette could properly bandage his chest and right arm. After she was done, he flexed his arm. 'She did extremely well' "Thank you, Angel. You really are a life saver". He subconsciously smirked when he saw her face turn a shade of pink.

"Thanks, did I bandage it correctly? I hope I did, oh no what happens if it doesn't heal correctly? What happens if-" she suddenly stopped as Damian had pulled her in close to his chest.

"Honestly you did perfectly Habibti, there's no need to worry" he stroked his fingers through her deep blue hair as a way to calm her down further, but he himself enjoyed it. He knew how Marinette would always think that she's the one at fault and he came up with a way to calm her down. From the looks of it, it was working.

Marinette blushed when Damian had pulled her into his chest, even more so when she felt his fingers brush through her hair. It felt like it had genuine emotion with it, not only just to make her feel better. She took advantage of being close to his chest, his wounds, and used her powers outside the mask to let the wound heal faster. Now knowing that it would heal soon, she enjoyed his embrace, burying herself further into his muscular body. The she remembered something. "So what are we gonna do about your spilt blood?"

"You say that like I deal with this often" he said with a smug looking face. Marinette then had a 'I know you do' face. He jokingly sighed. "I shall clean it and before you object, I feel fine enough to do a simple task such as this." Her giggling brought a smile to his face. "Also have you worked out what Jagged Stone has in mind for you?"

"I'll tell you that after you tell me how you know German" Marinette shifted so that he could get up. "If I recall, you told me that you were fluent in French, Arabic, English and Spanish and that you were learning Japanese. I don't remember German ever coming up" she said in a jokingly serious tone.

"Actually I'm fluent in Japanese now" Damian murmured while getting something from one of his cases, 'Something to clean the blood I suppose' "I was taught an easy way to learn languages, I might have crossed German once before but if so I just forgot about it. Also, how do you know German?"

"Well if you have any interest in learning a new language you'd want to know the swear words, am I right?" She giggled.

"Fair point" he chuckled while allowing his blood to soap into something he brought, a tissue or towel perhaps. "Now, do you know what Jagged Stone's surprise is for you?"

"Yeah, he wants me to record a bonus track for his album"

Damian paused just as he had finished disinfecting his katana. "Wow, that's great Angel!"

"Yes I'm very grateful to Uncle Jagged for organizing all this but what if I sound horrible? I do want to do it for him really, I don't want to turn the offer down but I-"

"Angel, there is no need to worry. If you're not comfortable with it you can tell Jagged, he'll understand. But I'm sure you have a beautiful voice"

"You really think so?" Marinette murmured. Damian nodded. She gave him a thank you smile before saying, "So, what's this quick way of learning a language? I've got 30 minutes"

Damian chuckled. "Well the first thing you would want to know is..."

~~~

'Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the only one in class whose been able to stop herself from getting akumatized. She must be very strong, physically and mentally. My point was proven when she became Multimouse, wearing nearly every miraculous that I've ever heard or come across. Ladybug must trust her greatly. I must find a way to akumatize her'

Gabriel Agreste stood in his observatory after recently detransforming. 'She can control her emotions well but when she's angry, it's incredibly strong. This girl could be one of the strongest in Paris, she could be one that senses auras. I must find a way. I will use her to eliminate all of heroes. All I need is time'.

———

Taglist: @little-bluestar, @miracleofadisaster, @frieddonutsweets, @jjmjjktth, @genderfluidmoma, @starlit-dreaming (ur the one who wanted to get tagged right? I’m so sorry I forget to write your name down so I’m not sure-), @icerosecrystal

#daminette #damian x marinette #maribat #maridami #marinette x damian #mlb x dc #did I get the taglist right please correct me if I didn’t

[jawabear]

I have no idea if requests are open, so feel free to ignore!

Javier x reader, enemies to lovers with an injured and quietly scared reader?

Not impossible (Javier Peña x Reader)

Not my GIF

A/N: Hey! I’m sorry this took so long anon! I’ve had a lot of stuff to do outside of writing with sucks but I’m slowly working my way through my other requests so hopefully it won’t be too long before they’re up as well! Thank you for being patient with me. Also, I’m not very good at writing the whole enemies to lovers trope so this is about as good at that gets... but I hope it’s good enough for you. Enjoy. Sorry for any mistakes. Stay safe.

Genre: Angst, fluff

Warnings: Fem!reader, mentions of injury, mentions of blood, Javi is a struggling man, hospitals, Steve being a smart ass, my terrible writing

Summary: In his job, Javier gets proven wrong about a lot of things he though impossible, and he’s about to get proven wrong again

“You’re a real fucking piece of work, you know that?”

“Oh, and you’re not?” She retorted as she pushed him out the way. “Why do you have to be such a dick all the time, Peña?” She muttered under her breath as she began pressing the buttons on the copier.

“I could as you the same thing” he said, folding his arms over his chest as he watch her take her sweet time, intending to piss him off. And it was working. “Could you be any slower? Other people have work to do as well you know?”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m sure the girls will be happy to wait for you a little while longer” she taunted giving him a sweet smile. This only angered him further, more many reasons. But the main one being he hated that that was how she thought of him. But he had only himself to blame for his reputation.

The copier beeped a few times and she pulled out the few sheets of paper there was. “There, happy now?” She said before walking past him, purposely bumping her shoulder against his.

“Very” he muttered as he went about doing his own work, but his eyes wandered over to her, watching as she walked away. Watching the way her hips swayed slightly with every step. How her hair bounce to. And how she always walked with such purpose.

He knew he was in deep for her, but it was clear she didn’t feel the same.

He didn’t exactly know why they had the relationship they did, but ever since she started working for the DEA, they had just clashed. They had never seen eyes to eye and disagreed on just about everything. The only thing the did agree on being that they didn’t get on. And every agent new it. They didn’t exactly try to hide their distaste for each other. They made it very obvious.

This lead to obvious speculation about the true nature of their relationship. It came down to the classic “they’re only mean because they like you” sort of idea. Every other agent was convinced that they were actually together. And with relationships between agents being pretty much forbidden, they all seemed to come to the same conclusion that they were in face horrible to each other as an excuse to spend more time with each other and not let on that they were in face dating.

But this wasn’t the case. Unfortunately. They’re weren’t dating. Much to Javier’s dismay.

“You still with us?” Came a voice from beside him pulling him from his thoughts.

Javi looked and saw Steve standing beside him “yeah..” Javi said, clearing his throat and collecting his copies.

“What took you so far away?” Steve teased as he followed after his partner back to their desks. Javi just huffed in response, he never gave Steve a straight answer to questions lien that. He knew that what ever he answered he would just pester him about the same thing over and over again “it was (Y/N) again, wasn’t it”

For fuck sake.

“No Steve” Javi lied “it was about going home to get away from this shit”

“Well, to add more shit to the pile, Messina wants to see you”

“When?”

“Now”

“What the fuck for?” Javi sighed rubbing his forehead.

“Didn’t say. But it doesn’t look like you’re going to be alone for whatever it is” Steve nodded his head over to Messina’s office. Javier turned around and saw (Y/N) walking in. Javi only sighed again and pushed himself away from his desk and took his time walking up to Messina’s office.

-

“Me and...(Y/N)? Ma’am, all due respect-“

“Messina” she corrected for what seemed like the hundredth time “or boss. And are you questioning my decision?”

“W-Yeah actually I am. I don’t think sending me and (Y/N) out into live fire is a good idea”

“You two are DEA agents. Not children. You are both going on this mission whether you like it or not, and I expect the two of you to behave appropriately and professionally” Messina looked between the two of the, (Y/N) being all too quiet beside Javi. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, boss” (Y/N) nodded, those were the first words she had spoke in a while. She shot her eye over to Javi who had no choice but to agree.

“Yeah, fine...” he mumbled.

“Good, I expect you on site with in the hour. And be careful both of you. Look out for each other” Messina told them as she handed (Y/N) a file with the location and target.

(Y/N) nodded her head, taking the file and leaving, Javi following close behind trying to get a look at the file. She held the file up to him and he took it from her. “You only had to ask” she muttered. They both found themselves standing in her office, she walked around to her desk and pulled her gun out of her drawer while Javi stood in the doorway looking through the file.

“You can’t kill” he told her quietly, his eyes not leaving the page with the target on. This was a murder mission. And he knew she couldn’t kill anyone, even if it was for the sake of the job.

“But you can...” she said.

“You make it sound as if I enjoy it” he scoffed “as if it’s easy...”

“I know it’s not easy Javier. If it was, everyone would do it. But it takes a whole lot of bravery and courage to pull the trigger and end someone’s life, regardless of who they are. You are braver and more courageous than I could ever be”

He let out a light laugh and lifted his head to look at her “(Y/N), that almost sounded like a compliment”

A hint of a smile ghosted over her perfect lips as she averted her gaze from his back down to her gun “yeah well...don’t let it get to your head. I need it clear if we’re both going to make it out alive”

“Eso es frío” (that’s cold) he chuckled with the shake of his head.

“You know I can speak Spanish right?” She told him.

“Since when?” He asked a little shocked, but now questioning himself as to whether he’s ever let slip his feelings for her in his native tongue or not. She hadn’t ever said anything.

“Since always. So, whilst you can probably talk about Steve behind his back, you’re going to have to try harder do to it with me” she said before walking past him.

“Eres algo más” (you are something else) Javier muttered.

“Lo sé, pero tú también” (I know, But so are you) she called back to him.

Well, if he wasn’t already head over heels for her, her definitely was now.

-

She examined the room, her gun held steadily in front of her as she looked, but it was empty. There was no one there. She lowered her gun and reached for her radio, holding down the button “there’s no one here Javi” she said.

“There has to be” Javi’s voice came through, it wasn’t the clearest audio but she knew what he was saying. “Where are you?”

“Upstairs in the-“ she didn’t get a chance to finish before she heard a creek in the floor boards beside her. She looked and saw their target emerging from a cut in the walls, gun raised and pointing straight towards her.

(Y/N) reached for her gun but it was all too late for that. She somehow managed to manoeuvre herself so that the bullet didn’t go through her head, but she wasn’t quick enough to dodge it completely.

Her leg seemed to just...stop. She fell to the floor crying out in pain as like a wounded animal. The bullet was hot as it imbedded itself into her thigh. The gun had dropped from her hands and fallen to the floor. Her hands were of better use holding her thigh she thought.

The guy was shot dead and Javi quickly appeared in the room, but she could barely make him out through her tears. In all her time as a field agent, she never thought she’d ever get shot. She was too focused, but it seemed this time, her feelings for Javier got in the way.

“Fucking hell (Y/N)!” Javier yelled as he raced to her side, his gun too being forgotten on the floor next to hers.

“Javi...I-It hurts” she sobbed.

“I know baby” he whispered. She didn’t really take much notice of the name, nor did he. There were more pressing matters at hand that his slip of the tongue. He reached around her to the back pocket of her vest, knowing she would have a bandage of some kind in there. He smiled a little to himself as he pulled it out. “Hold still for me (Y/N)” he said gently as he moved her hands from her leg.

“D-Don’t touch it” she sniffed.

“I’m not gonna touch it. But I need to wrap it so you don’t bleed out” Javi carefully began wrapping the bandage around her wound tightly. She let out quiet whimpers of pain for which he apologised.

“Can you stand?” He asked when he had finished wrapping her wound.

“I-I think so..” he took her hands and helped her get to her feet but her leg gave out again sending her into his chest. His arms instantly wrapped around her to make sure she didn’t fall back to the floor.

“I’m sorry..” she whispered as she tried to stand again.

“It’s fine” he whispered before lifting her into his arms bridal style. She didn’t really have the strength to protest, and she didn’t want to either. It felt nice to be held in his strong arms.

Javi took it upon himself to bring her to his car and drive her as quickly as he could to the hospital. She struggled to keep her eyes open but he kept talking to her and holding her hand as often as possible to keep her mind active to insure she didn’t pass out on him. “Stay awake for me (Y/N). You’re going to be okay”

-

Javier sat outside her hospital room, his head in his hands and his leg bouncing nervously. He hadn’t moved from that chair since he first sat down in it about three hours ago. He was too scared to leave. Scared the nurse would come out and he wouldn’t be there. Or (as unlikely as this was) (Y/N) would ask for him and he wouldn’t be able to see her.

He was far too stressed out to do anything. And he was too scared to move.

“Javi!” Steve called to him as he jogged down the hallway towards him. Javi looked up at his partner but didn’t have the energy to actually respond with words. “How is she?” Steve asked when he stopped in front of his friend.

“Alive...at least” Javier muttered “they’re uh..running some tests. Want to make sure she doesn’t have an infection or anything. My attempt at patching her up was shit and wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding...”

“Fuck man” Steve said as he sat beside Javi “I’m sorry this shit happened. Did you get the bastard who did it?”

Javi just nodded and lowered his head rubbing his hands together. “Hey, just think, it could’ve been a whole lot worse” Steve tried to offer him some comfort but he didn’t really know what to say.

“It could’ve been a whole lot better” Javi retorted.

Steve didn’t get a chance to say anything else before the door to (Y/N)’s hospital room was opened and a nurse emerged. Javi and Steve immediately stood catching her attention.

She gave a gentle smile to them “Ella está bien para tener visitas. Pero ella puede desvanecerse dentro y fuera de la consciouncia” (she’s okay to have visitors. But she may fade in and out of consciousness) she told them quietly. Steve didn’t get a lot of what she was saying, something about ‘she’s okay’ and ‘conscious’.

“Gracias” Javi nodded to her. She smiled again before leaving them.

“I didn’t get a lot of that” Steve admitted.

“She’s okay. But she’ll probably fall in and out of sleep if we go in there” Javi translated for him. “Do you want to go in first?” He asked pointing his thumb at the door.

“No, you go in first. She’ll be happier to see you than she will me” Steve said patting Javi on the shoulder.

“She hates me...” Javi mumbled.

“Yeah, sure she does” Steve nodded a long, a knowing look on his face “I’ll go tell the boss. Take your time in there” Javi couldn’t reply before Steve was walking away leaving him alone.

He looked towards the door and hesitantly reached out for the handle before pushing it down and opening the door.

She was awake when he walked in. Staring out of the window on the opposite side of the room. Her fingers scraping anxiously against the blanket that was draped over her. He drew in a sharp breath before walking into the room, closing the door behind him. He didn’t say anything to her at first he knew she was aware of his presence.

Javi sat in the chair beside her bed. She was facing away from him and he didn’t know what to say to her. Anything he did say probably wouldn’t mean much to her. Anything he wanted to say wouldn’t mean anything either.

So for a while they sat in silence. The only other sounds were the quiet shuffling and muffled noises from outside the room and the annoying but somewhat comforting beeping of the heart monitor she was attached to.

Javier’s eyes trailed up and down her body. Her leg was slight elevated and wrapped up in a few layers of bandage. A wire attached to her arm. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like any of what he was seeing. But he was glad she was alive. But he knew she wasn’t okay.

“What’s wrong with me Javier?” She asked quietly. Her voice and question startling him slightly.

“You were shot (Y/N). They’re just running some tests to see if you have an infection-“ He answered but she cut him off before he could completely finish.

“That’s not what I mean” she said turning her head, their eyes meeting and he hated the sadness and pain he saw within them. “What’s wrong with me?” She asked again.

Javi didn’t answer for a moment. He was trying to pull his thoughts together, he wanted to give her the honest answer but he didn’t think now was the time for him to confess his love for her.

“You’re human (Y/N)” he told her quietly. Javi hesitantly reached out and took her small cold hand in his larger, warmer ones “No one can expect you to force yourself to do things as drastic as taking a life”

“That’s my job Javi” she laughed weakly “What kind of DEA agent am I if I can’t even do my job?”

“You’re one of the best agents we have. These things happen (Y/N), don’t beat yourself up over it” he told her.

“They don’t happen to you...” she said. “These things don’t happen to you Javi”

“No” he agreed “far worse things happen to me. I have a far worse pain to deal with”

“What’s that?”

“I have to watch the ones I care about get hurt or killed. And all I can do is stand idly by and watch...wishing it was me instead...”

Her bottom lip began to tremble as she watch a look of sadness wash over his face. She tried to squeeze his hand in reassurance but she was too tired and too weak. But he must’ve felt something because he looked to their joined hands a smiled a little. “Javi...” she sighed quietly. “I don’t want it to be you...” she told him.

He removed one hand from hers and brought it up to rest on her cheek, gently rubbing his thumb over her soft skin. She leaned into his touch and managed to squeeze his hand gently. Maybe it was just the drowsiness getting to her which was making her more affectionate towards him. But he wanted to believe it was because she liked him back, but he knew it was impossible.

The hand on her cheek brought her unbelievable warmth and comfort and it was making her sleepy. She struggled to keep her eyes open, her head falling deeper and deeper into the pillow.

“Maybe you should get some sleep” he said quietly.

“Will you stay?” Her voice was small and quiet but she couldn’t open her eyes when she asked her questions, slowly she found herself falling asleep, still holding his hands.

“If you want me to” he smiled.

She hummed “want you..to...” her voice seemed to trail off as her head rolled to the side a little more than it already was.

Javier waited a moment before he voice her name, testing to see if she was in face asleep. When she didn’t respond he came to the conclusion she was in fact asleep. He let her be, knowing she needed rest after the traumatic events of the day. But he wasn’t going to leave her.

Whilst in there, the nurses flittered in and out making sure she and he were okay. And even as the sun began to set, she show no intention of waking up. But the constant beep of the heart monitor was comfort enough for him to know she was still alive.

He rested his elbow on the bed and raised her weak hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles before resting his forehead against it. “You know, I have half a mind to tell Crosby and Messina to ban your from field duty after this. To save me from having to go through this again” his voice was quiet as he spoke, he was scared of waking her but also he didn’t want her to hear what he had to say. “Fuck (Y/N). You got lucky. That could’ve been a whole lot worse. You could’ve-“

He stopped himself quickly, feeling a lump beginning to form in his throat and his eyes burning with tears “but you’re okay. That’s what I have to remember. And...and when you wake up...I’ll tell you. Tell you how I feel. Tell you I love you. And that I’m sorry I’m such an asshole to you. It’s a shitty excuse but...I’ve never felt like this about someone before and...it’s fucking scary. I guess I...I just don’t know how to...deal with it...”

She drew in a deep breath and shifted slightly making him look over to her face to see if she had woken up, but it seemed she was still completely out of it. Javi pressed another kiss to her hand, longer this time before bringing it back down to the bed. “I’ll let you rest (Y/N)” he whispered before leaning back in his chair. His eyes and hand never leaving her before he found himself drifting off to sleep as well.

When he woke up again, it was due to the light filtering through the window on the far side of the room, and also the sound of the nurse flittering about the room and checking on (Y/N) who was still asleep. Javier groaned as he attempted to stretch his arms above his head but he was hindered slightly when he noticed that their hands were still joined at her side.

“Buenos dias, Agente Peña” the nurse smiled gently over to him. Javi was a little concerned at the fact he had fallen asleep, he didn’t know what time it was. Was he late for work? And why did he suddenly care if he was?

“¿que hora es?” (What time is it?) he asked.

The nurse looked at the watch on her wrist “9:32” she told him.

He was late. Very late.

“Fuck” he swore under his breath.

“You might like to know that a man who you were with before came by to tell you not to come in to work today” she said, her English wasn’t the best but he understood what she was saying.

(Y/N) groaned from the bed catching both of their attention. Javier leaned forwards slightly and tightened his grip on her hand. “(Y/N)?” He said quietly.

“Javi...” she managed a soft smile as she slowly opened her eyes to look at him.

“How are you feeling?” He asked her.

“Happy..” she said.

“You’re the only person in the world then that has felt happy after being shot” he laughed quietly.

“No...happy because you’re here” she told him.

Her words caught him a little off guard and he looked up to the nurse but she had at some point slipped out of the room. “I think you’re still a little hazy from whatever it was they put in you”

“No Javi. I know what I’m saying. I owe you my life. You saved me”

“I’d hardly call it that...” he muttered as he looked away. She squeezed his hand tightly, proof that she was coming back to herself. “I was doing what you would do”

“I’m not just talking about yesterday” she said “I’m talking about every day before that...I know that...we have a strange relationship...but...just having you in my life...it gives me a reason to go on”

“What are you talking about (Y/N)?”

“I’m...I like you Javi. A lot. And I didn’t ever saying anything because...well you never exactly made it easy” she laughed “but I...you probably don’t do relationships but...” she didn’t finish her words. She turned her head to look away from him and pulled her hand from his. She felt like an idiot in confessing to him. She knew it was impossible that he would like her back. He hated her.

But he didn’t.

“(Y/N)” he whispered as he reached over to press his hand against her cheek to turn her head to face him again.

“I’m sorry” she apologised.

“For what?”

“I feel like I’ve now...made things even worse between us...”

“Hey, I may be an asshole but I am capable of feelings. And I like you too”

“Y-You do?” She spoke in barely a whisper, she was a little too shocked by his words. He nodded to her. Her face broke out into a bright smile and reached over to take his face in her hands pulling him closer and pressing her lips to his. She wasn’t quite in control of her actions but that didn’t stop her from continuing. And he didn’t hesitate in kissing her back.

“And it’s about time too” came a voice from the doorway making them both jump away from each other. They looked over to the door to see Steve standing there looking all to proud of himself. “About time you two got together. It’s a real pain in my ass trying to be the middle ground between you. And it will also settle the chatter around the office”

“Do you know how to knock?” Javi asked.

“Yeah” Steve nodded.

“Then go out and try it” Javier pointed to the door and Steve laughed and left the room, closing the door behind him, but there was no knock that followed.

“It seems like we’ve apparently made a lot of people happy” he chuckled. She nodded and gave him a gentle smile.

“Are you happy?” She asked him quietly.

“Beyond happy”

18/01/21

Taglist: @linkpk88 @phoenixhalliwell @lunaserenade @harrys-stan (let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list)

#javier peña #javier peña x reader #javier peña fanfic #narcos #angst #fluff #pedro pascal #fanfic

[ohheyitsokay]

congrats you angel, you deserve all the love and praise for your writing bc holy shit you’re so talented!!! for the soulmate au celebration, i’m thinking either javi or jack (your choice bc i can’t choose) with the soulmate goose of enforcement au 💕 ik it’s a bizarre au but the potential for chaos is insane 😂 anyways ily and i hope you’re having a great day honey

...not me, having JUST reread your javi/jack fic, considering both... definitely me

Anyway, thank you, jj, you absolute gem of a human. I swear I had to turn up the fan reading this I got so flustered. I hope you have a great day too! And I hope you enjoy- I had to do a little research, and made it shorter than I wanted to, so hopefully it fills your chaos cup still!  (You'll understand, and hopefully forgive my delay when you see what's under the cut :) )

wordcount: 2.5k

warnings: strong language, lil angst with happy endings all around. mild menace meeting menace shenanigans 

Okay this is written as pt 1 Jav, pt 1 Jack, pt 2 Jav, pt 2 Jack, bonus pt 3. If you’re only in it for one of the boys, it makes reading a bit weird, but I liked the format for the whole thing. Sorry!

>>

Javier wanted to hit it with a bat. Or a car. Or anything. All that mattered is that maybe then it would leave him the fuck alone. Of all the stupid, infuriating, ridiculous guides the universe could have given him to find his other half, he was sure this was the worst. Rumor was, he couldn't even kill it if he tried.

It's not that he didn't want to find his soulmate, but he... well, he didn't want to find his soulmate.

There were all sorts of excuses to spout - work, obviously a priority, inconvenience, not wanting to give up his way of life. Not to mention following a damn goose was an impossible task, plus the fact that the stupid thing didn't even like him.

It would appear seemingly at random, honking insistently or flapping erratically, and then be gone before anyone else could bat an eye. To say that he had become increasingly irritated would have been a huge understatement.

The truth of it was that Javier was afraid. No one in the world liked to feel like they were being controlled. People liked to know what was going on, and this just didn't fit the bill. He didn't like that he didn't know you, couldn't be chosen, by you.

His life was already complicated enough - messy enough - that a soulmate would only make it worse. He had made it this long, this far without needing one, so he was fine without, thank you very much. Even to himself, his lie sounded okay.

It was hard to face, the idea that there was someone out there, a relationship that he couldn't have control over. And someone who would love him unconditionally? Terrifying.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to do nothing, because it seemed like every direction he turned there was a goose from hell wreaking havoc on his life.

They had reached an impasse - glowering at each other as it had planted itself in front of his door. Little feet pacing angrily, unreasonably long neck, all of it was just begging to be kicked. Except, for all he was a seasoned DEA agent, Javier was almost afraid the thing could go a few rounds with him. Feet shuffling uneasily, his hand twitched for his gun, even though he knew he couldn’t, wouldn’t shoot.

It was stupid to have a staring contest with a goose. And even more stupid that the goose won .

Javier turned away, spitting spanish curses in a stream that would make his mama smack him. Maybe it wasn't too late to find a hookup he could use to crash, he was thinking, and that thought was apparently the final straw. The goose reappeared in front of him.

Hissing.

More curses, a quick turn on his heel. This time, it didn't move in front of him, it left a sharp peck on his calf, before dodging his kick.

It was herding him, against his will, to you.

-

When he saw the goose, Jack thought he was delirious. The Statesman lab must've screwed something up because he'd seen that horrible, wonderful, stupid goose once before, in another life.

And he never, ever thought he'd see it again.

He did a lot of thinking, that night and the next day and the next. Strangely, he did a lot of feeling, too, noticing how light his shoulders felt, how kind the ache on his heart had become. He visited their grave, pressed his forehead to the headstone, and breathed some deep breaths.

And when he saw the goose again, he lassoed it.

It wouldn't have died even if it was powered up, but he didn't take the chance, determination and longing filling his being like blood, pumping through his heart to each and every part of him.

Miracle of miracles, it let him, with all the glare a bird could give. Knees only making small pops, Jack settled on his heels, looking at it sternly.

"Can you take me to them?"

The expression on it's tiny, smug face didn't change, but it also didn't disappear to free itself, so he waited.

And he waited. And waited. And eventually, watching it with half an eye, he grabbed a doughnut and offered it to the stupid soulmate goose god.

It considered the doughnut, pecked it as Jack yanked his fingers out of reach, and apparently accepted. After it was finished, it began to tug him along, waddling on its makeshift leash as Jack's heart leapt into his throat. He grabbed the bag of doughnuts and his hat before getting dragged along, to you.

-

At his very core, Javier was a man driven by his personal sense of justice. Being herded by an immortal goose of mischief was unfair, it made no sense that he had to find you, somehow needed more, and wasn't allowed to choose. It pecked and honked and bullied him all the way to a crowded bar, which was a perfect example. 

Just as he was thinking, trying to convince himself he would've come here on his own, it disappeared again and he sighed.

He needed a drink. And, he needed to make some of his own goddamn decisions. Defiance and determination, he told himself. Not stubbornness. There was nothing to prove, it was just defiance and determination, to take his fate into his own hands and make his own choices. And if he was going to do that, he wanted to look for someone who wasn't an informant or a one night stand. His gut was looking for someone he could pull to his side and to show the universe that the goose was right to give up on him.

You were a perfect fit. Slightly disgruntled for whatever reason, even through the crowd he could see the faint, telltale wrinkles of someone just as... determined as he was. Shoulders held the same defiance he was so proud of, and he would be lying if he wasn't physically drawn to you as well. The inconsistent lighting could make anyone look good if you wanted it enough, but you... were something else.

There was a line of pink neon reflection from the top of your ear, across your cheekbone, and just grazing the line of your upper lip as you looked thoughtfully at something he couldn't see. Javier thought he wouldn't mind tracing that path with his fingers, and then maybe his own mouth, and his feet were already carrying him to you to look for an open door. The rest of your form came into view, and Javier noticed the bass of the music was turned up a little bit more than necessary- he could feel it thumping in his bones.

Talking to you went smoother than maybe it ever had before. You seemed resigned, at first, which was a reaction that caught him off guard, and that combined with the weariness of his week, making him unusually candid. In turn, you opened up to him like a flower turning towards the sun, fun and thoughtful and refreshing. 

He liked the way you laughed when his lines came out a little awkwardly - open and appreciative, and it made his chest puff out a little. He liked the way you spoke, too. There was kindness and romance in your soul, just whispering at the edges of the words, and while he didn’t pick up on that, per se, they made him feel special, handsome, worthy, but also trusted and comfortable and safe. Neither of you noticed at first, that you had shuffled into a quiet corner of the bar, that his body had moved close, a gentle shield boxing the two of you into your own little world.

When the question came - what brought you here, anyway? - he found himself answering honestly about half being led by his guide, then wanting to make his own path. His confidence faltered at your quiet laugh. His heart ached. A glance at the clock told him it had been two hours since he'd found you, and already he wanted to... choose you. To have you choose him.

He felt stupid that he had confessed so soon, but...

Oh, you were kissing him. There were hands shooting off sparks into his soul against his chest and his jaw and you were kissing him. Javier kissed you back.

When you pulled away, his mouth chased yours, not ready to give up the contact so soon, but you stopped him, laughing again.

"I have a confession," you whispered, and he paused.

“My guide led me here, too. I thought when it gave up on me when I saw you,” your next kiss was more chaste, “I think we got tricked.” Noticing he liked the feel of you in his arms, even if he didn’t remember pulling you there, he tightened his hold.

Javier felt light, understanding your laughter, and blissfully unafraid. “No,” he said, knowing already you’d understand him. 

“I chose you.” 

- 

Jack was running out of doughnuts. It was easier, safer to have the dumb bird half hog-tied, but he still didn’t feel any closer to you, just halfway across town. He dug in his boots and sunk onto a bench, yanking the goose to a stop, too annoyed to beg for a break. 

He wasn’t giving up and running away, absolutely not, he was just... running out of options. Or, doughnuts. And breath. If this pace kept up, he wouldn’t be able to tell you all the things he had planned out in his head. 

Eyelids closing against the southern sun, he let out a long, slow sigh. His heart was still racing, and he wondered if he was really as ready as he wanted to be, to meet his next soulmate. A sturdier inhale grounded him. He was ready, he knew he was. Whoever you were, you had to have the patience of a saint - it would be alright, he just needed a breath. The ground under his boots was sturdy, the breeze over his skin cooling, and the goose was mercifully quiet. 

“That’s one strange lookin dog you have there, cowboy,” The voice was teasing, but not malicious, and he grinned, eyes still closed. 

“She’s a purebred,” he replied, and he heard a huff of laughter like the first few notes of music. Waiting for your footsteps to carry you away, he savored the moment, feeling silly as he hoped his soulmate would like to laugh as much as he did. 

There was a weight on the other side of the bench, and he wondered at it, as you said, “Want to talk about it?” His smile was softer, this time, intrigued by the moment, but not wanting to be tempted into flirting, not when his soulmate was on the horizon. 

“Nothin to tell,” he replied, feeling suddenly strange. Jack opened his eyes, looking at the rope in his hands, feeling the fibers run through his fingers. “Just a free range chicken... taking a break from tryin to chase down my second soulmate.” He winced, definitely not wanting to look at you, after the second had slipped out. 

It wasn’t judging, though, the voice that said, “You seem like you want to talk about it.”

For once in his life, Jack didn’t know what to say, slipping off his hat to run his fingers through his hair before replacing it. He heard your half-laugh again, and it felt refreshing, like sweet tea on a southern summer day. 

“Okay,” you said, and he heard amusement this time, like you had something to say, some thought you were chewing on. 

Then, there was that terrible honk of the goose, not from his feet, but from where, assumedly, you were. Snapping his gaze to the other side of his bench, he saw a sight for sore eyes, half backlit, glowing like something he never thought he’d see.

There was an indignant goose in a cage at your ankles, now making grumbling bird noises in indignant conversation with the one at the end of his lasso. 

“I thought you were never gonna look at me,” Your arm was across the back of the bench as you grinned at dynamite smile at him. 

Jack returned it, feeling bashful and eager, dropping the rope to grab your closest hand. 

“I promise I aint making that mistake again, sugar.”

-

bonus ending:

Jack was clinging to your hand, grinning like a fool as you introduced yourselves, when another movement caught his eye. There was a man, walking up behind you, a resigned look on his face. Whiskey’s hackles should have been all the way up, yanking you into his arms at the way this man was approaching you, but instead he was dumbfounded for the second time that day. 

He was backlit, too, with shoulders that carried as much weight as the man in his mirror every morning, and he could see the shape of a gun as he knelt next to his soulmate. The stranger’s eyes when they looked at you... were as adoring as he was sure his must have been, a moment before, and he was familiar with you, like you’d known each other before now. Jack wanted to swallow, but his heart felt like it was in his throat, beating like he’d gone a round with a bull at the rodeo.

“This is probably a lot,” Javier said, taking you other hand and quirking an eyebrow. The geese made some loud, obnoxious noises and he looked at them appreciatively. “I wish I had thought of that,” he gestured at the lasso, and you smiled at him. 

“This is Javier,” you said, and you let go of them both to stand up and brush yourself off. Warm hands and strong grips were exchanged, and you watched them curiously as they shook, murmuring names and titles again. They were sizing each other up, certainly, but you felt a rush of relief as you saw a familiar spark of attraction in Javi’s eyes. 

“You got any more surprises for us, then?” you looked up at the cowboy, confused, only to realize he wasn’t talking to you. The goose in your cage was free halfway down the walk, the one in the lasso hissed. The poor man had been an RV in an earthquake and come out the other side overwhelmed and happy, of all things, but there wasn’t much more he could handle. To your surprise, he grabbed a crumbled paper bag and tossed the contents to the bird, before it gave a final honk, and waddled after it’s friend. 

“I guess that’s a no,” you said, suddenly shy at the fullness in your heart. 

“That’s alright,” Jack picked up his lasso, before looking at you and Javier, his eyes happy, and glinting with something stronger. “I think this is more than enough.”

And you agreed.

<<

taglist:

@fangirl-316 @scribbledghost @writeforfandoms @beautyagegoodnesssize @princess76179

for whiskey:

@0celestialbitch0

#why am I like this #did this get away from me? #yes #absolutely #soulmate requests #soulmate goose of enforcement #Javier Peña x reader #jack daniels x reader #agent whiskey x reader #jack x you x javier #i guess thats a thing now #on this blog #don't ask me to write a part two or i swear #i'll probably do it #maybe i don't know people #also im a touch delirious sorry if this is as much of a fever dream for you as it is for me

[dandyxrandy]

After-Shoot

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Reader

Rating: Explicit

Length: 3k

Warnings: Protected Sex ; My Spanish sucks so Google translate helped. If a phrase is wrong, PLEASE reach out to me so I can correct it. Also not beta read. So if mistakes found, again, reach out. The easier for you to the read, the happier I am.

Gif Credit: @pedrospascl

It couldn’t get any worse, you told yourself. It really, really couldn’t. This was the first time you were invited to have coffee with another in God who remembers how long and you ended up being late. Not only were you late, but you were cold and soaked to the bone from the rain that ended up being a whole hour earlier than the forecast predicted and really, you should've known better than to listen to any predicament of weather because it was usually wrong anyways.

You checked your phone again and it was still dead as a door nail. You had dropped it in a puddle earlier when you tried to answer the call from Pedro, no doubt wondering where you were, and it shorted out the motherboard. You would have to replace it whenever you got home and you honestly had half a mind to just turn around and do just that. That would seem silly, however, with you being more than halfway to Pedro’s apartment where he had invited you for an afternoon coffee get together the day before when you worked together on the Style Magazine photo shoot.

    You were really, really tired of having a shit day. Frustrated and in near tears you saw the place that Pedro was staying in for the time being while he was in your state. It was a nice condo type home with large front windows that overlooked the city, the style modern and sleek.

    You let out a small breath, even as the storm crackled above you, and tried to muster your resolve up. You were a mess, but hey - you were here, right? Hopefully he wouldn’t be too upset with you. It wasn’t exactly your fault that you had to park six blocks away because there wasn’t any closer parking nor was it your fault the weather was wrong.

    You took a deep breath and rang the doorbell and before the small chime even ended the door swung open, Pedro filling the entire frame. Oh. He looked absolutely stunning. His soft curls were slicked back against his head and he wore one of the outfits from the shoot the previous day. One of the ones you had commented on, to be precise. His eyes took a long drag over you, from head to toe, his jaw working from one side to the other. His irritation seemed palpable.

    “I see the coffee isn’t the only thing that’s cold.” His hand slid down the door frame before dropping to his side, a hefty sigh heaving from his lips. “Come on, let's get you inside and warmed up. I have some spare clothes that you can wear.”

    You felt sheepish following him inside. He didn’t even give you time to explain and once the door was closed you were able to try.

    “Pedro, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to be late.” You, shuffled in behind him, following him to the bathroom where he grabbed you a towel.  “There wasn’t any parking and my phone died and I just - please don’t be mad.” And you did feel like crying then. You could tell he wasn’t happy with you and that on top of being cold and tired, you felt a little part of you break.

    He reached out with the towel and brought it to your face, gently wiping away the raindrops that stuck to your cold skin.

    “You have nothing to apologize for, guapa.” He brought his other hand to your cheek and you couldn’t help but lean into the touch a little. You blame it on how he was so warm and you weren’t. “I was worried that something had happened. And then worried you stood me up.”

    “Stood you up? Yeah - okay…” You laughed at him but when you caught his gaze you saw it had softened considerably. He looked relieved and you noticed the slight part of his lips as he turned away, going to another room and reappearing a moment later with a pair of sweatpants and a shirt that looked like it would even be big on him.

    “Why don’t you change into some dry clothes. We can throw your wet ones in the dryer.” He nodded to the clothes dryer that was in the bathroom. “I’ll go make us some new coffee while you swap out.” He set the clothes down on the toilet seat and gave you a half smile. “Mi casa es tu casa.”

    He left you then with a soft closing of the door and you felt a flood of relief course through your body. He wasn’t mad or upset or hell - anything that you thought he may be. Instead he was kind and courteous and worried, and you’d be damned if that didn’t make your heart melt even more. You thought of the moment when he had opened the front door and the dark look in his eyes and the tick of his jaw. It made a low heat curl in your belly at the memory.

    Was it wrong to think those things of someone who clearly wanted what was best for you at that moment? Pedro was, in all essence, taking pity and caring for you and all you could think about was warming yourself up by crawling into his lap. You were horrible, you decided, but the kind of horrible that could be forgiven later.

    You did change out of your clothes then, pausing as you tried to decide if you were going to keep your bra and underwear on but argued they would just soak the dry clothing. Off those went and joined the pile in the sink. You did a quick rub down with the towel to at least try to get most of the water off and then squeezed it through your hair before you stepped into the sweatpants and large tee-shirt, silently thanking the world at how warm they were. You wrung out your clothes as best as you could before you tossed them in the dryer and pressed ‘start’.

    When you opened the door the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit you and it instantly set you at ease. You padded your way into the kitchen but didn’t find Pedro there and instead turned to find him sitting on the couch without his red suit jacket on. Two cups of coffee set on coasters in front of him and a small spread of sugar and cream were there, too. The entire set up screamed ‘casual but obvious effort.”

    “Hey…” You rounded the side of the couch and sat next to him, unsure if this was alright. It was just your nerves.

    “Hey. I see everything fits well!” He teased lightly. “I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee so I figured I would let you do your own. I also turned the heat up a little to help get you warm.” Which would explain the missing jacket.

    Pedro took one of the cups and pressed it into your hands, his own wrapping around yours for a moment. “If you’re still too cold I can grab you a blanket or a sweatshirt.”

    “I think I have enough of your clothes on. If I end up with more I’m afraid that you might not get something back.”

    “Is that so?” The corners of his mouth quirked up in a devious smirk, hands coming to his own cup of coffee to lift to his lips, eyes peering just over the rim of his mug. “Well, I will have to take inventory of all articles of clothing before and after you leave.” Was he flirting with you?

    You hid behind your own cup of coffee, blushing. “What I mean is that it looks expensive and I could never afford some of the clothes you wear.” Even though you were pretty sure these ones were borrowed from the wardrobe department from the shoot.

    “Hm. Here I thought you were wanting a little memento from me.” He chuckled and you nearly choked on your coffee as you inhaled it a little too quick and it went down the wrong pipe. He was flirting, now, you decided as you tried not to die.

    “Hey, hey now…” His hand came to your back, patting you lightly to help you cough up the coffee. “Didn’t mean to make you choke! You okay?” He was finding far too much amusement in your predicament and you were caught between laughing with him and locking yourself back in the bathroom to wait for your clothes to finish drying.

    It took you a minute but you finally stopped coughing, your eyes burning and your pride non-existent. Pedro’s hand, however, was still on your back. He was no longer patting in efforts to help you but now his fingertips were stroking over the gentle curve of your spine, thumb pressing into the muscle just beneath your shoulder blades.

    “Sorry.” You croaked, voice scratchy from the coughing fit. “I wasn’t expecting to be called out so quickly. You certainly know my end game.” You hid your embarrassment with sass and you had to put the coffee down before you did any damage. Pedro’s hand stilled as you moved, but he didn’t stop touching you, not even as you leaned back again.

“You’re still cold. I can feel it through the shirt.” His arm slid across your shoulders as he tucked you closer to his side. You both sat in a stretch of silence as he waited for the silent permission of his touch. You realized he was stiff and not as at ease as you thought he would be. You rested your hand on his knee, fingertips curling against the red cotton of his pants as you leaned in against him, nose tucking against his side. You felt him relax then.

    “Thank you for this.” You whispered as you let your fingers trace his kneecap.

    “Of course. I couldn’t let a damsel stay in distress.” He let his other hand, now coffee less as he set his mug on a side table, come to yours on his knee, fingers lacing to hold your hand. “But I do have a confession to make, if I may…”

    “Hm?” You felt warm and cozy. You hadn’t quite expected that you were going to find yourself cuddling with this charming man today, but you weren’t going to complain either. The weather had taken a toll on you and you were quite ready for a nap. Pedro wasn’t helping either with the slow inhale and exhale of his breath that rocked you like a boat on a lake. Gentle and lovely.

    “I would very much like to kiss you.”

    He squeezed the hand on his knee before unlocking their hold and bringing his fingers to your chin, turning your face to his. He bumped your noses a moment, lips ghosting just over yours in a teasing breath.

    “May I?” He whispered. “Please, tell me what you want.”

        You shifted, your thighs rubbing together as you felt the curling heat span in your belly and you suddenly felt very, very hot. Pedro kept his gaze steady on yours, never once faltering as he waited for your consent. He was so close that you could smell the hint of coffee on his breath, the smell of the aftershave and cologne on his skin.

    “Please...yes, Pedro.” He tilted your chin a little higher, lips just touching. A mockery of a kiss as he smiled wickedly. “Please, kiss me.”

    He did then, his lips pressing firmly into yours as his hand slipped to cup your cheek. Neither of you moved for that moment, letting each other take in the press of your mouths until you let your hand slip a little higher, fingers tracing the seam of his pants on his inner leg and it broke the reserve he had. Pedro groaned low and he all but lifted you into his lap, your legs splaying on either sides of his hips.

    His mouth never left yours as he moved, his hands coming to grip the gentle curve of your hips, pulling you closer to him, yours breasts pushing steady against his chest. He groaned into your mouth as his hips rolled up and you felt the sudden hard length of him against your thigh.

    “Fuck -” You moaned out at the feel of him.    “I've wanted to do this since the moment I saw you, hermosa.” Pedro’s voice was husky against your skin as he moved his hands under your ass, fingers tight as he shifted your hips together, pushing his clothed cock up into your hand. “You lit up the room, you know. The moment you stepped foot into the light, I was taken away. Captured.”

    You couldn’t help but let your fingers curl around his length and give a gentle squeeze, testing the size of him and oh - oh, he was large beneath your fingertips. Pedro tipped his head against yours, lips ghosting along your nose.

    “Take off your clothes.” He breathed and you moved with him to pull your shirt over your head, his hands immediately coming to undo your bra and let your breasts hang free. His head dips to take a nipple in your mouth and you arch into the wet heat and you hiss when he sets his teeth against the sensitive skin.

    “Shit - Pedro. I need - “ You needed him out of his shirt, too. But it was hard to coerce him out of it when he was attached to you like he was. You pushed him away a little, trying to create space enough to get him out of his shirt, your fingers working at the buttons in a clumsy haste.

    “Bed.” Pedro grunts and you two move off of the couch, peeling from each other. You still kept your hands on him as he guided you to the bedroom and you both all but fell into the large bed. Pedro rolled to the side to flick on the bedside lamp to fill the room with a soft glow and the light highlighted the deep amber in his eyes. It was beautiful. He was beautiful.

    “C’mere.” You motion to him as you lay back on the plush pillows, arms stretched out to take Pedro in. He comes above you and rests on his forearms as he slides a knee up between your legs, making them spread wide and he settles there, his hips rolling into the crux of your thighs.

    You arch up to meet him again and he presses a kiss against your mouth, licking you open. He tugs at your pants insistently and you lift your hips up to let him shimmy them over your soft curves and down your legs. You kick them off in a haste and Pedro pauses, lifting himself to lean back on his knees, staring down at you. You blush under his gaze because it's so heavy, so slow. You don’t remember any man, any person for that matter, who looked at you like that. It was so needy.

    “Eres tan hermosa. You are so beautiful.” He reaches out and drags his fingertips along the side of your face, down your neck and across your collarbone. He keeps going lower and lower, mapping your body out with his touch until he comes to touch your between your legs. His fingers tease your outer lips first, a gentle drag of his knuckles and then he moves in deeper, pressing a thumb against your clit and circling.

    You moaned as he pressed a little more firm to work you into your pleasure and the tip of a finger teased you open and curled. Gods, he was good at this. You clenched around him and he added a second finger, curling up to rub against the textured spot inside you.

    “Pedro.” You moaned out as he continued to work you and you felt your climax climb, your body taught with need. “Pedro, I’m - fuck, I’m close. Don’t stop. Don’t -”

    “Por favor, mi amor. Cum for me.”

    You did as he told you, your eyes closing and head tilting up to close out the world as you focused only on your orgasm. He continued to stroke you inside, his thumb continuously applying the delicious pressure on your clit and only eased up after your thighs stopped trembling, returning to a soft stroke.

    Pedro caught your gaze as he brought his fingers up to his mouth, slipping them against his tongue, sucking in, tasting your orgasm that he brought out of you. He left you breathless. You parted your legs again as an invitation and his gaze dropped to the movement. Pedro shimmied his pants off, tossing them over the side of the bed and you wanted very much to touch him but he instead fumbled with the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a condom.

    You watched as he rolled the condom on with an ease and he moved over you again, taking your hands in his, twining your fingers together. It was an intimate gesture and one you adored. Pedro seemed like he couldn’t get close enough to you, even as he pressed his flush skin against yours.

    He slid into you easily with how wet you were and he bottomed out in you almost immediately, stretching you full. Pedro lets out a groan, his head dropping to yours as he rocked into your cunt. He was so intimate in this, so incredibly loving, and to a person whom he only just met. You felt him love with his entire being and it was a gorgeous act that he gifted you.

    “I won’t last long, I’m afraid.” He grunts out between thrusts. You bring your legs up and around him, pulling him closer and his thrusts turn into a grind. You were still blissfully sensitive from your climax earlier and you were more than okay with his admission. He took care of you first, above his own pleasure. “Please, Pedro. It’s okay. Please, just...it’s good.” You didn’t know what to say in his softness but you knew it was the right thing because he ground into you harder, his hips snapping as he tightened his grip. His mouth dropped open in a silent moan as he came, his rhythm breaking into stillness.

        “You will have to forgive me.” Pedro breaks into a wide smile against your neck as he relaxes against you, his weight dropping like a blanket. “You are far too soft for any man to last long.” He pulls from you and glances down to take off the spent condom and set it in the trash that was next to the bed. He settled beside you, his head propped up on his hand, his other tracing along your stomach.

    “You flatter me far too much.” You giggle, smacking his hand away. It instead settles against your face, his thumb brushing under your eye.

    “Will you stay with me tonight?” He asked.

    The offer wasn’t one you were expecting. In all honesty, you didn’t really expect any of this, but perhaps you were naive when it came to what coffee dates entailed now, not that you were complaining.

    “Of course.”

    You didn’t think he could light up any more than he already was, but he did. His face became childlike and gleeful. He was adorable, really.

    “Fantastic. I’ll make sure we get some proper coffee in the morning. Promise.”

#pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal #writing #well shit looks like i finally banged out another one. #ill throw this on Ao3 later #pedro #pascal #randywrites

[slaxl-rose]

1║THE ONE WHERE MONICA GETS A ROOMMATE

[ FRIENDS ] [ Season 1 - ? ] [ Joey Tribbiani x OC ] started: 12th/dec/2020

-> I obviously don't own F.r.i.e.n.d.s

-> This is a slow burn book

-> Updates will probably be every week. If not, every second week. (I've finished school for this year and i have a lot of time on my hands :) )

-> This book may include mature and triggering scenes

-> There are more chapters of this story published on my wattpad account @ -rogerscar   

--------

"I just....I just want to be married again!..." Ross Geller sighed.

A woman wearing a wet wedding dress pushed open the door and started frantically searching the room.

"And i just want a million dollars!" Chandler says as he extends his hand hopefully.

"Charis?" Monica says as she walked up to the woman.

"Oh Monica hi! I just went to your building and you weren't there and then this guy with a big hammer said you might be here and you are, you are!" the woman rambled as she spotted her dear friend Monica.

"Can i get you some coffee?" the waitress calls.

"Decaf" Monica says as she points to her friend.

"OK, everybody, this is Charis! Another Lincoln High survivor" Monica says as she pulls Charis towards her group of friends. "This is everybody, this is Chandler, and Phoebe, and Joey and- you remember Rachel? And my brother Ross?" She says as she points to each person.

"Sure!" Charis smiles as she waves her hand at Rachel. One of her old-time friends. She then extends her hand and walks over to Ross but his umbrella opened causing the two to jump back slightly. "Hi, oh!"

Ross sits back down with a defeated look washing over his face. Joey gives him a friendly pat on the back.

Once Charis sits down in between Phoebe and Ross on the couch, everybody looks at her expectantly.

"So you wanna tell us now, or are we waiting for four wet bridesmaids?" Monica says

"Well...it started about half an hour before the wedding. I was in the room where we were keeping all the presents, and i was looking at this gravy boat. This really gorgeous Limoges gravy boat. When all of a sudden- sweet and low?" Charis looks up when the waitress hands her, her drink. She then continues her story "I realised that i was more turned on by this gravy boat than by Barry! And then i got really freaked out and that's when it hit me.. how much Barry looks like Mr. Potato Head. I mean i always knew he looked familiar, but..... Anyway, i just had to get out of there and i started wondering, 'why am i doing this? and who am i doing this for?' So anyway i just didn't know where to go, and i know that you and i have drifted apart... but you're the only person i knew who lived here in the city"

"Who wasn't invited to the wedding" Monica replies

"Oh, i was kinda hoping that wouldn't be an issue" Charis says as Ross picks up a teaspoon and stirs her coffee.

»»————-　　————-««

Later on, everybody was at Monica's apartment watching a Spanish soap on T.V and trying to figure out what was going on.

"Now, i'm guessing that he bought her the big pipe organ and she's really not happy about it" Monica says while pointing at the screen.

"Daddy, i just- i can't marry him!" Charis says as shes on a phone call to her father.

"Ooh, she should not be wearing those pants" Chandler says amused while looking at the T.V

"I say, push her down the stairs" Joey answers

Phoebe, Ross, Rachel, Chandler and Joey begin to cheer "Push her down the stairs! Push her down the stairs!"

"C'mon daddy listen to me! It's like all of my life everyone has told me 'you're a shoe! You're a shoe, you're a shoe' And today i just stopped and said 'what if i don't want to be a shoe? What if i wanna be a.. purse! or a..a hat!.... No i don't want you to buy me a hat, i'm saying that i am a hat!.. It's a metaphor daddy!"

"You can see where he'd have trouble" Ross chimes in.

"Look daddy, it's my life.....w-well maybe i'll just stay here with Monica and Rachel!" Charis says.

Everybody turns around to face Monica.

"Well i guess we've established who's staying here with Monica and Rachel" She says.

"Well maybe that's my decision... well maybe i don't need your money. Wait, wait! I said maybe!" Charis says loudly as her father hangs up the phone.

»»————-　　————-««

"OK, just breathe, that's it" Monica says to Charis as she holds a paper bag up to her face and breathes heavily into it. "Just try to think of nice, calm things"

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..doorbells and sleigh-bells and some..thing with mittens. La,la,la something with string" Phoebe sings.

"I'm all better now!" Charis says while pulling the bag away from her face.

"And hey, you need anything, you can always come to Joey. Me and Chandler live right across the hall and he's away a lot" Joey says while placing his hand on Charis's shoulder.

"Joey! stop hitting on her... it's her wedding day!" Rachel says.

"What? like theres a rule or something?" He says.

[INTERCOM BUZZES]

"Please don't do that again, it's a horrible sound" Chandler says while pressing on it.

"Uh- it's- it's Paul!"

"Buzz him in!" Monica says immediately.

"Who's Paul?" Joey questions.

"Paul the wine guy, Paul?" Ross asks his sister.

"Maybe"

"Wait a minute.. your 'not a real date' tonight is with Paul the wine guy?" Joey asks.

"He finally asked you out?"

"Yes!" Monica says while Ross pulls her in for a quick hug.

"Ooh, this is a 'dear diary' moment" Chandler says from the kitchen.

"Charis, wait i can cancel" Monica says while looking down at her friend sitting on the couch.

"Please, no! go! i'll be fine" Charis reassures her.

Monica then turns to her brother "Ross are you OK? i mean- do you want me to stay?"

"That would be good" he replies

"Really-"

"No! go on! It's Paul the wine guy!"

Paul knocks on the door. "Hi come in" Monica says as she opens the door. "Paul, this is...everybody" She says as she notices everyone standing in a line behind her.

Monica motions for Paul to go sit on the couch and he does so.

"So Charis, what're you up to tonight?" Joey asks.

"Well i was kinda suppose to be headed for Aruba on my honeymoon, so, nothing!"

"Well, if you don't feel like being alone tonight, Chandler and I are going over to help Ross put together his new furniture!"

"Yes, and we're very excited about it" Chandler says sarcastically.

"Thanks, but i think i'm going to hang out here tonight" Charis says.

"Oh sure, okay"

"Pheebs, do you want to help?" Ross offers

"Oh, i wish i could but i don't want to" she says.

»»————-　　————-««

"Isn't this amazing?! I mean I've never made coffee before in my entire life" Charis says while placing two cups in front of Joey and Chandler.

"That is amazing" Chandler says

"Congratulations, while you're on a roll- if you feel like you got to make an Western omelette or something" Joey says before taking a sip of his coffee.

He scrunches his nose before tipping it in the plant that sits on the middle of the table. "Actually, i'm really not that hungry this morning"

"Morning" Charis says as she notices Monica step out of her bedroom. Paul steps out after her.

"Morning Paul" Joey says. "Hi Paul"

"Hi, Paul is it?" Chandler asks sarcastically.

Monica and Paul step out of the apartment and Joey, Chandler and Charis shuffle closer to hear what they are saying. "I had a really great time last night"

"Thank you, thank you so much" Paul says.

"We'll talk later"

"Yeah" Paul says before leaning in and kissing Monica. She waves goodbye and steps back inside. "That wasn't a real date!" Joey says while smiling. "What the hell do you do on a real date?" he asks suddenly.

"Shut up and put my table back" Monica replies while walking away.

They all move to shift the table back into it's original spot when Charis speaks up "So like, you all have jobs?"

"Yeah we all have jobs, see that's how we.. buy stuff!" Monica says.

"Yeah i'm an actor" Joey replies.

"Wow, have i seen you in anything?"

"Oh, i doubt it, mostly regional work" Joey says.

Soon, Joey and Chandler both leave the apartment and Charis sits down at the table beside Monica. "Did you sleep ok? Did you talk to Barry? I can't stop smiling" Monica says

"I can see that, you look like you slept with a hanger in your mouth" Charis says.

"I know.. he's just so... you remember you and Tony Demarco?" Monica asks. "Oh, yeah"

"Well it's like that, with feelings"

"Oh wow, are you in trouble" Charis says while smiling at Monica. "Ok, i'm just going to get up, go to work and not think about him all day"

"Or else i'm just gonna get up and go to work" Monica finishes.

"Ooh wish me luck!" Charis quickly stands. "What for?"

"I'm gonna go.. get one of those job things" She says.

Monica smiles at her and heads out of her apartment.

»»————-　　————-««

"Guess what?" Charis says as she runs into central perk where everybody else was sitting.

"You got a job?" Rachel asks

"Are you kidding? I'm trained for nothing!... i was laughed out of 12 interviews today"

"And yet you're surprisingly upbeat" Chandler replies

"Well you would be too if you found Joan and David boots on sale" she says while pulling out a box from her bag. "50% off"

"oh, how well you know me" chandler says

"They're my new i-dont-need-a-job, i-dont-need-my-parents, i've-got-great-boots boots"

"How'd you pay for them?" Monica asks.

"A credit card"

"And who pays for that?"

"uhh.. my father"

»»————-　　————-««

"C'mon you can't live off your parents your whole life" Rachel says as everyone sits around their table at Monica's apartment.

"I know that! that's why i was getting married" Charis says

"Give her a break, it's hard being on your own for the first time" Phoebe defends.

"Thank you"

"You're welcome, i remember when i first came to this city. I was fourteen. My mom had just killed herself and my step-dad was back in prison, and i got here, and i didn't know anybody. And i ended up living with this albino guy who was like, cleaning windshields outside port authority, and then he killed himself, and then i found aromatherapy, so believe me, i know exactly how you feel" Phoebe says.

"The word you're looking for is...'anyway'....."

"Alright, you ready?" Monica asks

"i-i don't think so"

Everybody starts chanting as Ross holds out Charis's card. "Cut, cut, cut, cut"

She grabs the scissors and cuts the card in half then into quarters. The group all cheer for her as Monica gets up and hugs her.

"Welcome to the real world! It sucks. You're gonna love it"

#chandlerbing #joey tribbiani #friends #f.r.i.e.n.d.s #monica geller #joey #phoebe buffay #ross geller #rachelgreen #tvshow #slow burn #angst #fluff

[percabeth4life]

Three Old Ladies Knit Socks of Death

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || AO3

I’m really glad that I have a clue as to what happened, even if the constant buzzing surrounding everyone is driving me nuts.

Someone cast a spell of some sort to trick everyone into thinking that Ms. Dodds never existed. The buzzing kept trying to affect me, but it couldn’t get me through my Purifying powers.

Thank Pontus for those.

But the buzzing is very, very, very, annoying.

One important thing I noticed was that Grover didn’t have any buzzing around him, which means that he is fully aware of Ms. Dodds. That and the fact that he’s a horrible liar.

Mr. Brunner’s buzzing didn’t lower at all, but nor did it raise.

I think he’s the source of the buzzing honestly, still not sure if he’s safe. He hasn’t asked for the pen that’s a sword that’s a pen back.

But everyone is denying that Ms. Dodds exists.

…

I may or may not be using it as practice for my purification powers.

…

It seems like a good idea (and keeps my mind off of…)

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okay so one person had to go to the nurses office cause I managed to get rid of the buzzing around her with my purifying powers, and whoops…

Apparently, mortals can’t handle that.

Everyone is saying she had a psychotic break yelling about a Ms. Dodds and how she definitely exists…

So, I’ve decided that I should not test my purification powers on helpless mortals.

Katara would be ashamed of me for testing my powers like that.

I’ve also decided to rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender for the twenty-fourth time.

Don’t judge me, it’s a great show and my teacher for waterbending!

And maybe I’ll see more about healing with waterbending, I can’t remember all the details and I need a way to learn without hurting myself first.

Purification is still cooler, but healing will definitely be helpful in the future. Besides, it’s practically a signature move for Katara, the whole world would’ve ended in the show if it weren’t for her healing abilities.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Carl was excited for my experiments with the water holder, I was messing with some ice and ignoring the growing sense of doom that was coming as exams got closer.

Triton would be disappointed in me for not paying attention to my lessons now, but I can’t help it.

It’s so hard to focus when you’re trying not to focus on the fact that you killed someone, sure she was a fury, but she had feelings and stuff too.

I shook my head, nope nope nope, not thinking about that right now.

Work on the magic portable ice fish tank.

I sighed, fiddling with the ice to twist it into the right shape.

I’ll need to add the runes-

“Percy!”

I made the ice shatter into a thousand tiny pieces and melt and nearly fell off the bed.

…

“You okay man?”

I nodded, pushing myself up and pretending like my face wasn’t on fire.

“I’m fine.”

“What were you doing anyways?”

Uh…

“I was trying to do a palm reading on my hands.” Nailed it.

“Baa-ha-ha, you do palm readings?”

“No, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I was trying to see if I could pass my exams.”

“If you study you might,” Grover bleated out.

I sniffed, raising my nose and hiding a smile, “Studying is for the weak!” I declared grandly.

Grover laughed.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar view, fields with misty figures as far as the eye could see.

I frowned.

Where am I?

I wandered forward, waving a hand in the face of one of the figures. They didn’t react.

Yep definitely a dream.

Now I just have to figure out where I am.

I probably should’ve gotten around to reading up on prophetic dreaming like probably dad Oceanus mentioned one of those times I was there, but I got distracted.

I wandered the fields, looking around in confusion, this place was very unfamiliar.

Except, a feeling of familiarity clung to me from one direction, so I started that way.

It felt like a low burn edging my senses, I’m not sure where I felt it before, I don’t really remember this feeling.

The sound of leathery wings made me look up, my eyes widening at the three figures.

Hades’s furies.

I suddenly realized where I was.

The itch of a curse made me want to scratch my arms. But looking up, Ms. Dodds, one of the furies, is alive.

It was like I could breathe for the first time in weeks.

I didn’t just kill someone who could think and breathe and feel like us.

I almost felt like sitting down right there, I let out a breath and held back the tears.

Thank Pontus.

I woke up

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I practiced my Ocarina more, sitting next to some of the plants Grover has and settling the music book in front of me to try one of the basic tricks. Growing plants.

Technically it’s supposed to be done with coral and sea grass and other undersea plants, but I don’t have those. So, I just have to make due with the plants that Grover has.

Grover came in while I was mid-song, but I ignored him, the plant seems a bit brighter, just a little taller.

I smiled, it’s going alright.

Not as much as it should be, but it’s certainly improving.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

School was itching at my nerves. The constant buzzing was driving me up a wall and I was snapping quicker at people instead of doing it the smart way like Triton taught me.

I watched more Avatar and tried to resist the urge to break something.

I have no outlet, I can’t go practice my waterbending, I can’t talk to Triton, I only have Carl who just plain doesn’t understand.

School studies are getting harder and harder for me to do.

I could handle Pre-Calc thanks to all of Triton’s help in the past, and Latin wasn’t that hard either (why is every language but English easier? Should I try learning Spanish or French?), but otherwise… I kind of just gave up.

The buzzing stayed in the back of my head.

I threw myself into my books from Triton, devouring the information on Siren’s Song that I had been ignoring so far.

I practiced my Ocarina and paid attention to my clubs again some. Triton said they were good for me.

The buzzing filled the rooms when there was even a moment of silence.

I ended up kicked out of Model UN because of my lowering grades but music club had pity on me.

I practiced more.

The buzzing didn’t stop.

I snapped at a teacher one time too many, I’m not welcome back at the school next year.

What an underwhelming way to get kicked out this time.

The buzzing was unrelenting.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I’m really glad for my starglobe. I’ve just been sitting here staring at it for the last hour.

Grover keeps giving me weird looks, but… It’s just sparkly and pretty and reminds me of Triton. It reminds me of the sea that one time my mom let me “sleepover” at a friends house. I got to see the stars from the sea and it was amazing.

“Did you know your eyes change colors?”

I looked up at Grover.

“What?”

“Well, they’re normally this sharp green, like, sea green, but you’re looking at your sparkly snowglobe and your eyes just turn like, silver-gray?”

I blinked, “Do they?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s cool.”

“Hmm, I guess I get it from my mom, her’s do the same thing.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

It was the night before my Latin exam.

As much as I don’t trust Mr. Brunner, I just couldn’t figure out this one translation, and I lost the answer key.

Ugh.

I decided to go ask him, at least he would know I was trying. As long as he didn’t like, try to kill me or something, it’d be fine!

…

Hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I was almost to the door to his office, but something was off.

I stopped, realization hitting.

The buzzing was quiet.

I was almost to his door, where the buzzing is usually very loud, and there was nothing.

I frowned, was he not there? But the light is on?

The door was ajar slightly, and I stepped closer, as quiet as I can be.

“… worried about Percy, sir.”

I stopped, tilting my head. That was Grover.

My heart sank, so I was right, he is working with Mr. Brunner.

“… alone this summer?” Grover questioned, “I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-“

“We would only make matters worse by rushing him,” Mr. Brunner interrupted, “We need the boy to mature more.”

“But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-“

“Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.”

“Sir he saw her…”

“His imagination,” Mr. Brunner insisted. “The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. He may still have the pen, but the Mist over it will stop him from realizing.”

“Sir, I… I can’t fail in my duties again.” Grover’s voice was choked with emotion. “You know what that would mean.”

“You haven’t failed, Grover,” Mr. Brunner soothed. “I should have seen her for what she was. Now let’s just worry about keeping Percy-“

I shifted back, a small creak of my rubber shoe bottom on the linoleum floors echoes through the halls.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

I slipped back, seeing a shadow of something larger than Mr. Brunner in a wheelchair pass the lighted glass. It was holding an archer’s bow.

I moved, sliding into the first door I could find and pressed against the wall by the door.

I could fight if I needed too, my trident charm in hand, but… I need time to process.

A shadow went past, clop-clop-clop passing by. Like muffled hoof beats.

A large shadow paused by the window.

Mr. Brunner spoke, “Nothing, my nerves haven’t been right since the winter solstice.”

“Mine neither,” Grover said. “But I could have sworn…”

“Go back to the dorm,” Mr. Brunner told him. “You’ve got a long day of exams tomorrow.”

“Don’t remind me.”

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner’s office.

I waited there, going through what I just learned.

They’re worried about me, whether about my health of something else to do with me…

The buzzing is probably this Mist that he talked about, I’m not sure what that is, a spell of some kind I suppose. When I can talk to Triton again I’ll ask. Maybe it’s a land magic?

Mr. Brunner, whoever he is, has no idea that I know about gods and mythical beings and the like. I can use that to my advantage if he is actually a threat.

They know about the winter solstice mess, all I know is that there’s been a theft.

I frowned, are they blaming me too? And what’s this about a summer solstice deadline? That sounds bad.

Why do they need me to mature more? What do they need to worry about keeping me from? What’s going on?

One thing I’m sure of, Mr. Brunner is definitely not human. Some human animal crossover based on the sounds I heard. Horse half? Centaur? That’s the best I’ve got right now. I’ll look into it more later.

I stood in the dark waiting.

Grover is working with him though.

My chest hurt, could I trust Grover? Was he just going to attack me? Try to hurt me?

I want Triton, I want Triton so badly. He would know what to do.

But I can’t. Triton said not to contact him until things calmed down.

Based on Grover and Mr. Brunner, things are definitely not calm.

I stood in the dark.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I returned to my room when I calmed, nodding to Grover and settling back down with my notes.

“Hey,” He said, bleary-eyed. “You gonna be ready for this test?”

I glanced over, trying to bury any emotions, Triton had said that Grover might have empathic abilities and I can’t let him know what I’m feeling.

I forced a smile, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I faked a yawn, “I think I’m gonna go to bed now though. Too tired to get much more done.”

And I am tired, I’m so tired of being here.

I just want to go home, see my mom, hug her, talk to Triton.

I want to be back in the still dirty (but much improved) river and cleaning it and talking to the fish and other sea animals.

I want to go to events with Triton and talk to my merfolk friends and trade notes on our powers.

I don’t want to be here wondering if my friend is going to betray me and attack me. I don’t want to wonder if my teacher is going to try to hurt me.

I just want home.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Honestly, I fell asleep trying not to cry, so when I woke up in my probable dad’s palace, hidden in an alcove, I kinda burst into tears.

It’s like my dreams are trying to comfort me.

I curled up and cried, this year sucks.

Everything first semester was bad, but since the solstice I’ve been so alone.

Everything aches I just want to see Triton, to talk to my friends, to not be so utterly alone.

I can’t trust Grover, I can’t trust Mr. Brunner, I certainly can’t trust any of the other students in the school.

“Oh dear…”

Soothing curls wrapped around me, banishing the cold currents that felt so like my probable dad’s palace.

A hand was on my back, I couldn’t really see through the tears though.

“Hush now little Half-Blood, it’s alright.”

I took a few minutes to calm my breathing, to stop the tears, the unknown person whispering soothing words the whole time.

When I could finally look at them, I finally saw the Titaness Tethys.

…

Oh no, don’t tell me I just cried like an idiot in front of my probable dad’s wife.

I want to curl up and die, why me.

She settled next to me in the alcove, her hand still rubbing my back, “Are you feeling better?”

I swallowed, nodding.

“Yes Tethys-ran” I whispered.

Using the proper terms of respect are important. Ran is for queen, which she is, Ari would be for king.

She smiled at me, “There, that’s better. Let’s get you something to eat hmm?”

I nodded, letting her tug me out of the alcove.

“We still have only caught the beginning of your name little half-blood, starts with a P right?”

I flushed, “It’s Percy, Tethys-ran.”

“Ah, then a pleasure to meet you Percy-tou”

I flushed, tou is used for children regardless of gender, it’s basically calling them cute little one.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you to, Tethys-ran.”

She led me to the kitchens it seems. There’s a lot of noise as they work on making the food.

Her hand was still on my back, it was grounding.

“Do you have any favorites?”

She was looking at me.

“Oh uh, I like water chestnuts? And uh frozen Plumose? Um…”

She smiled, “Any meats?”

“… tuna?”

She nodded, nudging me forward as she spoke rapid Halmaheran.

“Get something -- him to eat, something on the --- end. And something -- snack on. And some --- if you --.”

I couldn’t catch everything that she said, unfortunately, but I’m pleased I caught as much as I did. She was talking really fast and had an accent I don’t know.

It took only a few minutes before she was ushering me out, a few bowls of food in her hands.

I ended up sitting with her in another alcove, nibbling on the snacks she got me. And sucking clean water from one of the plants, usually used for that purpose. Not like you can have cups with drinks underwater.

She let us eat quietly, her gaze on me.

I glanced at her, then looked away again.

“You seem to find yourself in our palace fairly often Percy-tou.”

I shifted, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why.”

She hummed, “It’s no fault of yours, though you should learn how to control your dream walking.”

I frowned, “Dream walking?”

She smiled, “That’s what this particular branch of prophetic dreaming is called, though the technical name is Hioipihaiho.”

I frowned, Halmaheran.

“You mind effectively leaves your body and travels to another place. It is different from Ahioimua, which is looking into the future of the place you are, Imuaireira, which is seeing the future or other places, Ahiomuri, which is seeing the past of your current location, and Amuritereira, seeing the past of another place.”

I wished I had my notebook to take notes.

“Dream walking is simply traveling, it’s the most common form of prophetic dreaming in Half-Bloods. None of them technically require dreaming, though it is the easiest way to receive the visions of the other forms.”

Okay that’s interesting, so I could do this awake… How would that work?

“Though slipping through the shields of our palace to prevent entrance from those trying to come is impressive. I’m very curious as to how you’ve done so accidentally.”

I chewed on one of the nuts in my snack bowl, “I don’t know, I just started showing up here.”

She nodded, “Well, it’s certainly interesting.”

It must be because Oceanus is my dad? Is this more evidence towards that? I have a lot of really solid evidence now.

I kinda want to say that I know, but I promised Triton I wouldn’t ask or talk about my immortal parent. It would interfere with my safety.

So, I kept my mouth shut and resisted the urge to tell her.

“What had you so upset? When you first arrived?”

I nibbled on one of the tuna pieces, “I uh… Just had a stressful week.”

I ducked my head.

“Oh? Anything in particular?”

“I have a lot of big tests, and found out a friend isn’t actually a friend…”

She hummed, “A sad thing to learn.”

“Yeah…”

She ran a hand through my hair, I peeked up.

She smiled, “Friends come and go like the tides, it is good to learn from your time with them, and they will leave a mark on you. But don’t let them hold you back or cling to what has passed. If they are not your friend accept that and move forward, else you will drown.”

I relaxed, she’s not wrong. Grover was apparently not really trying to be my friend, he was spying on me?

Regardless of what he was doing, I just have to accept it.

It hurts, but… it would be better for me to move on.

I nodded, “Thanks.”

“Well, I believe it is time for you to wake. I’ve already held you here longer than you should’ve been.”

She gathered our bowls and flicked away.

Almost immediately I felt the yank at me. Like a strong current tugging me away.

“Stay safe Percy-tou.”

Oh.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I finished the Latin exam.

I know that I messed up like half the grammar, but the translation to English wasn’t too hard, I could use context for some of the grammar, and I’m good at the word definitions so that was easy at least. The few history questions were annoying, but I didn’t struggle too badly.

The buzzing in my ear made it hard to focus though.

I think I managed a C? Maybe even a B if my guessing for the grammar was good enough.

I’ll just have to wait and see I guess.

I started to head out when Mr. Brunner called me back.

I swallowed back my fear that he found out about me overhearing him last night, he wouldn’t call me out for that in front of the class.

“Percy,” he said. “Don’t be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It’s… it’s for the best.”

My heart sank, I know that I can’t trust him, really, I do, but… I couldn’t help but like him as a teacher.

It hurt to hear him say that, in front of the whole class too.

The other students snickered, Nancy sent me a smug grin.

“Okay, sir.” I mumbled.

“I mean…” Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn’t sure what to say. “this isn’t the right place for you. It was only a matter of time.”

What does he mean by that?! That I’m destined to be kicked out? That despite the high standards he’s been holding me to he had zero faith in me? That he was going to insure I would be kicked out if it wasn’t something else?

“Right,” I whispered.

“No, no,” Mr. Brunner said. “Oh, confound it all. What I’m trying to say… you’re not normal, Percy. That’s-“

“Thanks,” I blurted, holding back my fear that he could know about my power, “Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.”

I bolted, hearing his call as I fled.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The last day of term had finally arrived.

I gathered up my notebooks, my waterskin, my assorted gifts from Triton and my friends, Carl in his new transportable tank, and carefully put everything up in my two bags, my waterskin on top. My suitcase held the extra and all of my clothes.

The other guys were talking about their plans for their breaks.

They’re all juvenile delinquents like me, kids that can’t manage it in other schools, but they’re rich ones.

Doesn’t mean I have to let them know that I’m not doing much unless Triton can contact me soon. I probably shouldn’t even go to the river until Triton gets ahold of me.

One of them asked what I was doing this summer.

“I’ll be visiting some of my friends overseas. I haven’t seen them since winter break.” I flashed them a bright smile that hid the ache in my chest as they questioned me more.

“Where do they live?”

“Oh, on some islands a bit out. They’re a bit spread out, so I’ll probably move around some.”

“That’s cool, looking forward to it?”

“Yeah,” I grinned, “They’re a lot of fun.”

They went back to talking about their trips but did leave an opening for me to join if I wanted.

I didn’t, they were all kind of jerks to Grover, but I appreciated it.

The only person that I was nervous about saying goodbye to was Grover. Even with Tethys’s advice, even knowing that he may try to harm me, it’s so hard to let it go.

Turns out I don’t have to yet though because he’s coming with me. We have tickets on the same Greyhound bus to Manhattan.

Seems suspicious.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover is clearly very nervous, glancing around and down the aisles, watching the passengers. It was similar to how he acted every time we left Yancy. I ducked my head and didn’t say anything about it.

“Hey Percy?”

I glanced at him, “Yeah?”

“I uh, I know that uh, that we’re going different ways this summer. But…. I thought, uh, here-“

He handed me a card, “Just take this, in case you need me this summer.”

I took the card, which is in the most obnoxious fancy script that took me a minute of squinting at to read.

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

[phone]

My heart almost stopped, Half-Blood Hill.

What does this have to do with Half-Bloods?

“What’s Half-“

“Don’t say it aloud!” He yelped, “That’s my, um… summer address.”

I stared at him, is he trying to trick me into going into some sort of trap?

“Okay, so if I want to visit.”

“Or… or if you need me.” He nodded.

“Why would I need you?”

I couldn’t help the bitter words. How could I trust him after what I overheard the other day?

Grover blushed right down to his Adam’s apple. “Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you.”

I stared at him, the likely mythological being that I’m half convinced is supposed to be assassinating me.

“Grover, what exactly are you protecting me from?”

Could I have misunderstood?

Suddenly there was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced we’d all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everyone else, and my senses were on fire.

It was like a web of feeling, fabric flowing over me, almost sparking as it moved.

My head snapped around, on the other side of the road, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

There, next to it in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, sat three old ladies knitting the biggest pair of socks I’ve ever seen.

And those old ladies were... dangerous.

The energy I could tell was there, it was overloading my senses.

I couldn’t feel anything but the crackling fabric flowing over me.

The lady on the right knitted one of the socks, the lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn that made me feel like a knife was pressed to my throat.

The combined feelings made me want to claw at my skin, what is this? Who are they? What’s going on?

The three ladies were looking right at me. I rubbed at my arms.

Grover made a strangled sound and I glanced at him. Just barely resisting bolting from the area.

“Grover?” I said. “Hey, man—”

“Tell me they’re not looking at you. They are, aren’t they?”

I swallowed, oh dear.

“Yeah, why?”

The lady in the middle took out a pair of scissors, massive scissors—gold and silver, long bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

“We’re getting on the bus,” he told me. “Come on.”

I stood still, staring at the old ladies with the scissors that made my head spin, their presence that made electric fabric rub at my skin, and their yarn that felt like knives prickling my neck.

“Come on!” He called, prying open the door and climbing inside.

The old ladies still watched me, and the middle one lifted the scissors.

I could hear the snip of her cutting the yarn from across all four lanes of traffic. Her two friends bundled up the electric-blue socks and I felt the at this point familiar buzz fill my head. The three ladies were gone between one blink and the next.

At the fear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The prickling of a knife, the electric fabric, the head spinning all faded, almost entirely gone.

The passengers cheered.

“Darn right!” yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. “Everybody back on board!”

We got back on, the buzzing still nudging me. I pushed my power as hard as I could, shoving the buzzing trying to reach me away.

Grover looked sick, I didn’t feel great myself, but the buzzing had faded almost entirely.

“Grover?”

“Yeah?”

I hesitated, should I? I want to know… I need to know if he’s actually a threat.

I licked my lips, “What are you not telling me?”

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. “Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?”

“There were three old ladies, two knitting giant socks, one holding yarn. The one in the middle cut the yarn, then they left.

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers, one I recognized from my time with Triton. A symbol to ward of evil. With magic behind it, it can do small things. Otherwise it’s just a simple hand motion.

“You saw her snip the cord.”

“Yeah. So?” Who were those old ladies? Nothing has bothered my senses like them before.

“This is not happening,” Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. “I don’t want this to be like last time.”

I scowled, “What last time?”

“Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.”

“Grover,” I snapped, because I just want answers! “What are you talking about?”

“Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.”

I stared at him, there’s no way I’m letting him know where I live. I’m not endangering my mom like that.

“Sure.”

He continued to bemoan my fate, looking at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I’d like best on my coffin (Forget-me-nots so I can boss people around even when I’m dead).

#percy jackson #powerful percy #percy figures out how to control water young #percy calls himself a waterbender #waterbender percy #Avatar the legend of percy #avatar: the legend of percy #avatar fan percy #grover #Grover underwood #pjo #percy jackson fanfiction #pjo fanfiction #pjo fanfic #smart percy #strong percy

[cromulentbookreview]

Werewolves of Florida

I saw a werewolf with a parrilla menu in his hand /

Walking through the streets of Miami in the rain /

He was looking for a place called Novecento /

Gonna get a big dish of entraña /

Aaoooooo /

Werewolves of Florida /

Aaoooooo /

Sorry. 

(I’m not sorry. Aaooooooo!)

And by that, I mean: Lobizona by Romina Garber!

Well, if you’d expect werewolves to show up in America, where else but Florida?

Ha. Florida. The butt of so many jokes. It’s easy to make fun of Florida (fun, too!), so as a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest...I’m going to continue making fun of Florida, a state I’ve never been to and will likely never visit as I have no intention of being eaten by a gator or a python or a python gator or whatever insane creatures live down there.

I kid, I’m sure there are places in Florida that are perfectly lovely. They just happen to coexist with the insanity that is the rest of Florida. 

Anyway! Werewolves in Florida! It sounds possible. Seriously, could you imagine the headlines? “Florida werewolf brings drugs to a drug bust, gets himself busted”? “Florida werewolf charged with assault with deadly weapon after throwing alligator through Wendy’s drive-thru window”? 

In this case, however, there aren’t just werewolves in Florida, but Brujas as well! Both sound like people you would find in Florida. “Florida Bruja drops pants, licks man, dances naked in Waffle House parking lot”?

Where was I? Oh. Yes. Lobizona by Romina Garber!

Seventeen-year-old Manuela Azul (she goes by Manu) and her mother, Soledad, have been living in Miami illegally for most of Manu’s life. Manu has a strange eye condition, in which her pupils and irises look like stars so she has to wear sunglasses 24/7 to avoid freaking other people out. Though I’m certain if she walked into an optometrist’s convention with eyes like those she’d immediately be the most popular girl in the whole room, but since she and her mom are in the country illegally, that sort of attention would be very, very bad.

Soledad had to flee Argentina because Manu’s father, Fierro, was supposedly high up with some bad people who disapproved with his relationship with Soledad. So much so that they killed him, sending Soledad into hiding. If they knew Soledad was alive, and that Manu even existed, Fierro’s people would kill them both.

And, as if hiding from Fierro’s people were bad enough, Manu and Soledad are on a constant lookout for ICE. If their apartment building is raided by ICE, they could be deported, back to Argentina where they’d be sitting ducks for Fierro’s murderous family and friends. So Manu has lived a sheltered life within a tiny apartment with her mom and their elderly friend Perla, who has sheltered them for years.

And! As if being an undocumented immigrant with freaky-eye syndrome forever anxious that the next car might be full of ICE agents while stuck in a tiny apartment was bad enough, Manu also - also! - suffers from horrible periods. Joy. Every month, her mom gives her a special pill that puts her to sleep for three straight days just so she sleep through the pain. That’s shit makes PCOS sound like a walk in the park. (Note: do not go for a walk in the park right now and if you do remain 6 feet away from everyone else at all times). Also, where can I get a hold of a drug that can let me sleep through my period? I like the sound of that.

So Manu has spent much of her life dreaming of escape and a life without fear. Currently, her only hope is the knowledge that her mom is doing her best to get them both legal status. Then one day, Manu notices some strange people hanging around her apartment building. Then Perla is attacked and hospitalized. In a panic, Manu rushes off to find her mom...only to find that Soledad has been lying to her for quite some time. Soledad isn’t a maid for some rich lady - she works at an underground Miami clinic. And she never intended to apply for legal status for her and Manu. 

Just as she’s reeling from this revelation, ICE raids the underground clinic. From here, the story takes a weird left-turn. On the run, Manu leaps into the back of a truck, and, after a long ride that sounded way more comfortable than a long ride in the bed of a truck should sound (seriously, there’s no jostling, no being flung about, no wind burn...I get that Florida is pretty flat, but aren’t there potholes? Rocks? Also, isn’t it illegal for someone to ride in the bed of a truck? How did no one else not see her and call the cops?) she ends up deep within the Florida Everglades. After somehow hopping out of the guy’s truck without him noticing that she was ever in there (again, how??? I drive a truck and would absolutely notice if someone were hitching a ride back there. Hey, how come I’m fishtailing significantly less than I usually do? Oh, wait, there’s a human back there) Manu stumbles upon...

A secret school for brujas and werewolves. In the Florida Everglades. And she meets people her age who have eyes just like hers. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces start fitting together - her father must have been a part of this society, not some criminal organization. Manu is half magic. She’s living the ultimate Harry Potter dream! And, somehow, without paying tuition or applying, Manu is allowed to join the school. Finaly, Manu has somewhere that she belongs, and even begins to make friends. She even starts making eyes at a hunky werewolf named Tiago.

There’s just one problem, though. The society that Manu has found herself in has some pretty strict gender roles. Girls are brujas, guys are werewolves. Period, end of sentence. But, even though she definitely belongs among this magical society, Manu doesn’t really have the powers of a bruja. She’s something else.

And there is one thing her mom wasn’t lying about - Fierro’s people are still pissed. Brujas and werewolves are not supposed to have relationships with humans. It’s forbidden. Like, really forbidden. Ultra forbidden. If Manu is found to be half-human, she’ll be killed.

So Manu has traded living forever in fear being an undocumented immigrant in America...for living forever in fear being half-human in a world of magical creatures who think hybrids are evil.

Good luck with that, Manu! Also, there’s still the question of the whereabouts of her still missing father. Is he dead? Alive? And what is Manu, if she’s not a bruja?

(If you speak Spanish, the title is a dead giveaway. Let me give you a hint: Manu’s hair is perfect. Aaooooo!)

Despite a couple of hiccups in the beginning - the book starts pretty slow before taking that weird left-turn into the Everglades and Bruja Werewolf academy. And, as is typical in the first book of a series, much time is spent establishing everything, and less on giving us closure or answers to the big questions. Like, for example, the fate of Mimitos. See, Manu has one friend in the apartment complex, an adorable cat named Mimitos. Mimitos’s owner is a bit senile, so Manu takes care of him...only after Manu flees after Perla is attacked, Mimitos disappears and is promptly never mentioned again. What happened to Mimitos? Is he OK? Is someone feeding him or giving him water and pets and cuddles and WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MIMITOS, ROMINA?!!?! I demand answers.

Maybe he went off to live in the Cat Kingdom from The Cat Returns? Maybe? Probably? Hopefully?

Ahem. Well, my ability to render a serious and well-thought out book review in the time of COVID-19 has gone to shit, so I’ll be brief. Lobizona is gorgeously written and a fascinating blend of YA contemporary and YA fantasy. I also love the warring gender dynamics within the magical society of brujas and werewolves - not everyone loves the strict binary, or the fact that they’re not allowed to hang out with humans. Ultimately, Lobizona is a brilliant story of a girl looking desperately for a place to belong within not just one, but two worlds that don’t want her - that have deemed her wrong. Illegal. And Manu is tired of that bullshit. If the human and magical worlds don’t want her, damn it, she’s going to go off and find a place that does.

Go forth and kick ass, Manu!

Another aspect of the book that I really liked (your mileage may vary, depending on how big of a language nerd you are) is how Garber discussed how there are many different dialects of Spanish. Argentinian Spanish apparently has a sing-song quality which makes me wonder if the English dialect equivalent of Argentinian Spanish would be Upper Midwest English, you know, like in Fargo. The Upper Midwest was settled heavily by Scandinavian immigrants and the Scandinavian languages do have a sing-song quality to them, then, well...

I'd love to know more about the different dialects of Spanish. If only I'd learned Spanish. I didn’t. I learned German, Schwachkopf that I am.

Which brings me to my rant, because I do love to rant. This does have something to do with Lobizona. Kind of. Anyway:

One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is untranslated dialog. For some reason it really irks me, mostly because it reminds me of how dumb I am and how I should have learned more than just one other foreign language. I mean, seriously, I should have learned Spanish. I never did because I was that contrary moron who, upon seeing that everyone else was taking Spanish said, “screw you, I’ll take German!” Ultimately a bad idea, but, hey, Deutsch ist eine Wunderschöne Sprache. I don’t mind bits of untranslated stuff, so long as there are context clues as to what they might be saying. 

I also find it annoying to have a sentence in a different language, and then have the sentence immediately after translate the preceding sentence. For readers that are fluent in both languages, you just made them read the same sentence twice, unless there’s a bilingual bonus in there. For readers out there who don’t speak that language, their eyes just glaze over and they skip the dialog entirely, in favor of the translation. Why not just say they were speaking in [insert foreign language here] then continue on? 

I mean, I get wanting to show off your foreign language skills, or make the reader feel good about their language skills, or give a nod to fellow native speakers who also have had to master the cluster fuck of a language that is English (seriously, one of the best descriptions of the English language I’ve read is that English is basically three children in a trench coat pretending to be an adult, but as a language). Still, I find untranslated dialog super annoying. Because I dumb.

The worst example of this that I’ve ever encountered (and probably what soured me for any other instances of untranslated dialog ever in the future) was in this terrible translation of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain that I read in college - you’d think an English translation of a German book would be entirely in English...yeah no, 3/4 of the way in, I found myself facing pages - multiple pages! - of untranslated....French.

French! 

In a book that had already been translated from the German.

Damn it, translator, was there some sort of contract dispute in which you said, “well, they’re paying me to translate the book from German to English, so I’ll just leave these several pages of French conversation untranslated.”

Rrraaaage. 

I was already frustrated with that book (it’s not great) but slogging through several pages of untranslated French with zero footnotes or even a translation provided in the afterward made me want to set the book on fire.

What does this have to do with Lobizona? Very little, except there are a few instances of untranslated dialog that, even if you speak zero Spanish, you’ll be able to figure out pretty quick. It just gave me awful Zauberberg flashbacks that brought back all that rrrrrage.

Fuck it, guys, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and I promise cromulent reviews, not good ones.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone looking for an amazing blend of YA contemporary lit and fantasy that features kickass werewolves living in the Florida Everglades.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Bigots, assholes, people who use the word “illegals” to refer to other human beings, werewolves who hate brujas, brujas who hate werewolves, non YA fantasy fans, anyone who objects to YA fiction containing actual real world problems.

RATING:4/5

RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2020

WEREWOLF RATING:

HOW TERRIFIED I AM OF COVID-19 RIGHT NOW:

Ahahahahaha I’m scared you guys. I still have to commute via public transportation to work downtown in a major city. 

#lobizona #romina garber #werewolves #ya fiction #ya fantasy #ya book review #florida #ya set in florida #young adult fiction #young adult fantasy #book review #lobizon #bruja #brujamagic #ya werewolves #miami #argentina #spanish ya #latin america #latin american ya #immigration in YA lit #contemporary fantasy #contemporary ya fantasy #quarantine reads #covid 19 #what we do in the shadows #florida man #the magic mountain #spoilers #the cat returns

[gorogues]

Spoilers for Flash #76!

You can see the first three pages here.

So Mick's back to blowing up buildings and killing people again.  He's also gotten upgraded flamethrower tech from Len, as part of Luthor's unspecified "offer" he's agreed to, and the two of them are planning to get the Rogues back together and upgrade them as well...which we know will happen thanks to upcoming covers/solicits and promo art.  I'm disappointed to see the return of vicious angry Mick after he was healed by the Sage Force, but it's not surprising in a villain-centric event, which tend to be kind of edgy to make the villains more threatening.  Question is, what exactly is the offer and what does Lex want from the villains who join him?  Does he simply want them to serve Perpetua and/or join the Legion of Doom, or is there something more specific?  It seems like there might be something else because nobody specifically says what Lex is asking for, so the villains might find themselves stunned and on the defensive if they eventually learn that Lex wants something horrible from them.

And now I want to know whether Mick was speaking Spanish or Catalan, since he was in Barcelona :>  

We saw Barry rebuilding the Flash Museum last issue, and in this one we learn that he and Commander Cold have created a secret speed lab within its walls.  That all but guarantees the Flash Museum will be destroyed sooner rather than later, but presumably the Flashes are used to that by now.  Barry's trying to patch things up with Wallace and Avery, who are understandably wary of him and his promises, but they too have noticed they're slowing down due to the other Forces affecting the Speed Force.  Steadfast says it's dying because the other Forces were never meant to be freed.  But although Barry offers the younger Flashes his trust and the space to do their own thing, he says he wants them all to run "together again as a family", so it's nice to see the potential rebirth of the Flash Family as has been hinted in recent issues.  Hopefully we'll see less squabbling amongst themselves and less resentment too.  People don't have to get along all the time and it's unrealistic to expect that they will, but I'd like to see the Family back and see less hostility between people who clearly care about each other.

But then the Black Flash shows up, and we all know what that means -- or perhaps not, as it seems that it's actually after Steadfast and wants to kill the "new Forces".  Since the Speed Force is apparently dying due to the other Forces, it seems like the Black Flash is trying to protect the Speed Force rather than simply acting as the incarnation of death for its speedsters.  That's a bit unusual, but of course we hadn't seen the other Forces in previous runs, so the Black Flash may not have had to take on that role before.  It may be the Speed Force's caretaker or manifest as its avatar when necessary.  So that's an interesting idea, and I'm curious to see where this story goes with it.

I liked the Flash Family parts of the issue and the scene with the Black Flash, but Mick's scene was a bit disappointing because of his violent cruelty.  Good to see him as tough and competent and able to hold his own even without his flamethrower, but I'd rather he wasn't burning people to death again.  Like I said earlier, these types of stories are often edgy to make the villains scary, but that's why I tend to be leery of these stories even if it does give added focus to my favourite characters.  The solicit for Flash #82 sounds like the Rogues are going to get even more cruel (the solicit even uses that word), so I suppose we'll have to be prepared for that.  One wonders if Apex Luthor has been corrupting people by his very presence in the world, so maybe that's why the villains are getting more vicious.  Anyway, we'll see where this story goes, both in terms of the Rogues' antics and the nature of the Black Flash and the Speed Force.

#Captain Cold #Heat Wave #the Flash #Tar Pit #Girder #Commander Cold #Kid Flash #Avery Ho #Black Flash #The Renegades #spoilers: comics #reviews #horror #queue

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale 3.10 Thoughts *Spoilers*

- Jughead deadass tried to make us think that Archie was dead when we knew for a FACT that he wasn’t. What a dick lol

- FRED SEEING ARCHIE AGAIN. MY HEART.

- So… it took you being attacked by a fucking bear… to realize that you should have come home/stayed home because Hiram is a crazy, whiny ass piss baby? You literally lost your girlfriend for that but great job you’re the last one to know baby

- VERONICA SEEING ARCHIE AWWWW MY POOR BABIES

- The fact that Archie thinks that he wouldn’t get recognized without red hair… lmao dude sometimes, somehow, red hair looks like brown (some variations of it, anyways, I’ve noticed) so your “disguise” is shit but we still love you baby

- Why would Archie think that Veronica would never want to talk to him? Just because he broke her heart doesn’t mean she doesn’t still care for him, or a part of her loves him. Probably this “new, darker” Archie that no one wanted. Literally the writers need to leave Archie alone he’s so precious and innocent and that’s why we loved him! Hopefully when we slowly get him back to normal he can bring Betty with him and make her realize what she needs in her life/love life and finally the show can rise to a slightly better show.

- I don’t like that Varchie have sex because of Reggie but for everyone hating on her… fuck OFF man she’s currently SINGLE so she can fuck who she wants… I just feel bad for Reggie bc my poor boy is going to have to watch Veronica make this hard decision of who she wants to be with and ultimately it may hurt him. And I don’t want that. But I don’t write the show so yanno what the fuck can I do?

- He got a root beer float so signify that he’s not the same Archie anymore (I’m guessing) uhhh alright sure

- “New vacant look in your eyes…” Jesus fucking Christ Jughead can you ever be considerate, like, ever? At least Betty is showing she truly cares about her future husband (because we KNOW they are endgame okay we KNOW THIS) 

- SO NOW THAT HE’S GONE THE SERPENTS ARE HELPING HIM? DUDE IF YOU WOULD HAVE SUGGESTED SERPENT PROTECTION BEFORE HE WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD TO LEAVE. I mean sure we needed to see a change to dark Archie (why the fuck was it a bear attack that did it though? A dream would have simply sufficed but sure) but wow you guys are horrible at plans if you come up with them wayyyyy too late

- I’m still mad at Jughead for sending Fangs deep undercover and risking his life to get his spot in the Serpents back. It’s clear that Jugrat has wanted to find someone to send in, but was too much of a whiny piss baby to ask, so he waited until he could pretty much blackmail/emotionally manipulate one of the Serpents and so he chose Fangs. (Also he did Choni wrong and Jugrat is dead to me until he finds some sense and ultimately ends up with Veronica)

- Can’t wait to see how much chemistry Archie and Betty have that Betty and Jugrat don’t

- I hate Betty but I feel bad for her about what her mom did. She’s so fucking mind washed and it hurts because the Alice we all know and love would NEVER do this shit.

- DADS OF RIVERDALE COMING TO INTIMIDATE HIRAM YES BITCH!!! FRED SAYING HE’D KILL HIRAM YES BITCH FP JONES NOT TAKING CONTROL/TAKING OVER FRED’S MOMENT YES BITCH

- Archie has to repeat Junior year? I mean it makes sense but I know the fear of not being able to graduate with friends… god lEAVE ARCHIE ALONE DAMMIT HE’S BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH

- REGGIE’S BIG ASS HAPPY ASS SMILE WHEN HE’S WALKING TOWARDS VERONICA I’M— HE’S SO FUCKING IN LOVE WITH HER MY HEART!!! He cares so much, she didn’t text him (because she was with Archie 😬😬😬) BUT HER PUSHING HIM AWAY MAKES ME SAD. I mean I know WHY it just HURTS

- “I get it, Archie’s back. Enough said” REGGIE FUCKING GULPED DOWN HIS EMOTIONS I’M SO SAD HE DESERVES THE WORLD.

- But also realizing that Reggie and Veronica were openly affectionate at school means that Betty and Jughead know? And they DIDN’T rat on her to Archie the second he came back? Mmhm ooc but thank GOD

- Oh yeah deadass forgot “Claudius” was a thing like he hasn’t been here for fucking years lmao

- See, this Hiram, the forceful “this is not a request” Hiram would have been a MUCH better villain than “I’m torturing this boy just for kicks” but wbk the Riverdale writers are on crack and can’t see/make a good storyline.

- We know FP becomes Sheriff which I guess will be good against Hiram and for the Serpent’s CRIMINAL ACTIVITY (fuck you Jugrat for not knowing how a GANG works you fucking idiot) but let me ask this… why the flying fuck aren’t they just giving SHERIFF Keller his job back? Like we know he knows how to be a fucking Sheriff so why are they going through the trouble of finding another one? Like what the fuck guys it’s NOT THAT HARD

- I wanted BARCHIE to study but BARCHIE AND JUGHEAD but I guess I’ll take what I can get

- FANGS MY BABY BOY. Thank God Barchie can be alone ❤️❤️❤️

- So because I don’t care about spoilers I already know who the Gargoyle King is (which I’ll rant about when it gets to that point) BUT IF HE KNOWS FANGS WHY DOES HE TRY TO FUCKING RECUIT HIM INTO HIS INNER CIRCLE LMAO *ps my baby Fangs looks so scared! If Jughead fucks this up and gets Fangs hurt I’m sacrificing him to Hiram myself

- “There he is” BITCH YOU CAN’T TELL ME BETTY IS SO FUCKING IN LOVE WITH ARCHIE LIKE WE NEVER SEE HIS THIS TRULY HAPPY!!!

- AWWW A WELCOME HOME/STUDY PARTY. Poor Reggie having to hear Veronica call him lover… but the angst… I’m here for it

- VERONICA SINGING IN SPANISH BITCHHH FUCK ME UP SHE SOUNDS SO FUCKING GOOD! But being able to see Reggie behind Archie reacting to Varchie is so angsty and incredible

- Archie having an anxiety attack my poor child LEAVE HIM ALONE JESUS CHRIST WRITERS

- See, this mind game shit that Hal does to Betty is where they should have gone. I mean, only that not the sudden ass black hood shit. THIS is a good villain. But they ruined it before it even began.

- Both Veronica and Reggie have a point. He’s different, but Reggie sweetie you gotta realize that he’s going through a tough time right now? I just know the writers are going to manage to fuck this up. God can’t they do ANYTHING right

- “You got some pretty big coconuts” ummmm what the fuck I didn’t realize Reggie was Cheryl… But again having Reggie get mad at Archie for having an anxiety attack is ooc and NOT THE FUCK IT Literally it pisses me the fuck off that they’re doing this to Reggie like sure he can be jealous but this is over the top and NOT IT THANK YOU NEXT

- “Hiram… no.” BITCH YES HERMIONE! Also I didn’t realize she had to appoint a sheriff but that still doesn’t answer my question as to WHY NOT SHERIFF KELLER? But the fact that she chooses FP is such a fucking “fuck you” to his Lodge saying last episode that I’m not going to search out lol.

- Hal being the OG Gargoyle King… wow… they really can only use characters they can make us hate, huh? But if he killed back then, why was he “normal” up until Betty’s stupid, somehow inspiring speech? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE RIVERDALE WRITERS BUT I’M NOT SURPRISED

- Alice comes in every Monday? SHE WOULD NEVER. I mean of course rn she’s not in her right mind but he literally almost killed her? We know Polly was trying to get Alice and Betty to forgive him bc of her time with the Farm but come the fuck on why would Edgar want his “star recruiter and source of money” to visit her killer ex-husband

- I love how Fangs is getting more screen time but it’s scaring me because he’s not Betty or Jughead… and also what about his bEST FRIEND SWEET PEA. But Fangs looks so scared my baby!!! If anything happens to him… well you probably read what I’d do to Jughead

-What kind of fucking twig costume is that lmao and how is he making that weird growling sound (and why)

- SO FP AND JUGHEAD ARE HERE BUT WHAT ABOUT SWEET PEA WE KNOW HE’D BE HERE TO PROTECT HIS BOYFRIEND BEST FRIEND. Also we are NOT allowing another kid to be branded. We just aren’t.

- oh nvm he is here lmaoooo it’s okay I’m good now

- LMAO EVERYONE SCATTERS BUT THEY LEAVE THEIR KING AHAHAHAHA WHAT LOYALTY I’M QUAKING

- So didn’t we LITERALLY see Tall Boy die? I could have swore… or is this some mandella effect kind of shit

- So Jugrat what happened to “no crime” yet you kidnap a man and beat the shit out of him… so if he’s breaking his own rules lets kick him out YES LET’S DO IT But wow Jughead is so weak he can’t handle anyone calling Betty a bitch… even though she is…

- SO JUGHEAD GETS TO PUNCH HIM FOR CALLING BETTY A BITCH, RIGHTFULLY SO, BUT HE STOPS SWANGS FROM GOING OFF FOR KILLING THEIR FRIEND AND MOST DEFINITELY FANGS’ EX BOYFRIEND? Does Jughead deserve rights? let’s not discuss because that’s a BIG FUCKING NO

- REGGIE ON A DATING SITE MY BABYYYYYY he passed by all those girls bc he loves Veronica just saying :)

- First of all… Archie no sweetie you can’t cheat on your SAT’s… and Reggie just fucking spilled the truth oops

- NO JUGHEAD YOU CAN’T SACRIFICE YOUR “BEST FRIEND” but of course it’s going to happen…

- Did Betty just call Penelope “auntie” ummm no. Also Penelope gets screen time but Choni isn’t here to take their SAT’s? That is HoMoPhObIc

- “Are you one of those sickos who fantasize about serial killers?” Betty… your stupid ass does realize you’re basically talking about yourself, right? I mean obviously not in a romantic way that you’re insinuating but that’s still who you are. You and Jughead get your rocks off to serial killers and trying to solve them even though you’re shit at being detectives… but I’m all for going after Penelope so whatever

- Oh jk so it wasn’t Hal… damn my rantings about it are now void thanks Riverdale lol

- It’s funny how Betty never realizes these kinds of things despite how “great” she is at being a detective. She never gets anything until she’s told about it and that’s so fucking annoying. if you’re going to shove Betty (and Bughead) down our throats AT LEAST make her good at it

- “Because I will never be coming back here again” lmao we know Betty is going to come back like next scene lolol but alright

- RONNIE CRYING IN HIS BED MY POOR BABY

- It’s a good thing they didn’t ruin Archie by having him angry at Veronica. By him asking her to stay with him, we been knew that Veronica is one of his weaknesses. ALSO VARCHIE SEX MY BABIES.

- Am I just blind when tf did Archie get that cut above his eyebrow lol. Also he’s literally me taking a test aha

- “Why do you think I sent him instead of going by myself?” BECAUSE YOU’RE A COWARDLY CUNT THAT’S WHY

- Oh poor Hiram got shot… oh no… so sad… But if they think they’re making us believe he’ll die… we’ve literally seen him on set recently so this bitch ass of course will survive. Honestly just kill off who you’re going to kill off already and get it over with. I want to know if it’s worth it to watch the rest of this season!!!

- They’re really going to regress and make Veronica act ooc by thinking that Archie would actually try to kill Hiram… what shit heads. We know he’s going dark and wants Hiram dead but he would never ACTUALLY do it because he cares too much about Veronica. But also I know that’s her father but after everything he’s done why does she care that he got shot? I mean that’s like Betty watching her dad die… she wouldn’t care. But then again Betty is a mean bitch so her heart is darker lol

- SWANGS FREAKING OUT OVER ACCIDENTALLY KILLING TALL BOY AWWWW BABIES! But also does this mean Swangs didn’t take the SAT because Jughead made them babysit Tall Boy? I mean it makes sense bc Tall Boy would escape otherwise but my Serpent babies deserve a chance to get out of Riverdale. I’d want SP to become a doctor and yes slightly bc of his role in Hospital Show

— Imagine Sweet Pea becoming a doctor, and flipping off every person who told him he was just some lowly south side scum, and telling them he made it as a fucking doctor like come on I need this, he needs this

- Jughead doesn’t know what to do mmhmmmm great leaders need to be able to think quickly

- “Fangs sobbing” hey subtitles… STOP

- Fangs says “okay” as if “we’re gonna throw a party” makes absolute sense. What the… fuck? Also I LOVE my boys we know this but they KILL Tall Boy and Jughead’s okay with it but Choni steals an egg from his enemy and he kicks them out like a whiny bitch? Jughead is homophobic and we know he only kicked Choni out bc they could easily take over his Serpent King title lmao what a fucking loser, Jughead

- “Veronica and I broke up” um you broke up awhile ago just bc you had sex doesn’t mean you guys got together again but alright

- So speaking of Archie being on the run and breaking out of jail… why is he able to come back as if that didn’t happen? Wouldn’t they have a warrant out for him?

- SEE BETTY VISITED HER FATHER AGAIN.

- REGGIE COMING IN WITH A “CONGRATS IT’S A BOY” BALLOONS. HE REALLY LOVES HER SO MUCH HE JUST WANTED TO GET HER FLOWERS AND SHIT AND HE WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION I’M—

- Sweet Pea’s “woo” do I need to say more

- So now it’s canon that my boys drink alcohol but I’m definitely going to say it’s only for celebrations and shit okay? okay

- FP why the fuck would you scare them like that? Like, they get arrested for literally nothing and you roll up like a bitch… that was cruel

- Poor Fangs he’s so fucking scared… he can’t even be happy that he’s a part of the Serpents again (but ofc Choni doesn’t? Jughead you’re so fucking—)

- No… no you’re going to make Archie a fucking alcoholic? Really? Fuck Riverdale lives

- “It looks like a cell in here” FRED WHY WOULD YOU POINT THAT OUT TO ME NOW I’M SAD

#Riverdale #Riverdale 3.10 #Riverdale The Stranger #Veronica Lodge #Archie Andrews #Varchie #Betty Cooper #Jughead Jones #anti-Bughead #Sweet Pea #Fangs Fogarty #Swangs #Jeronica #Reggie Mantle #Veggie #Regonica #reggieronnie

[imagining-supernatural]

The Darkness Within: Morning Alarms

Part 11 of The Darkness Within Series (Spanish Version)

Summary: Bucky is on a self-imposed mission to kill the leader of a small country who wronged him and isn’t expecting there to be any witnesses. But then he is spotted by a young woman who doesn’t react how he expects

Word Count: 1910

Warnings:  Mentions of suicide. Angst. The usual for this story.

“What are you watching?”

Bucky was startled out of his red haze by Y/N’s voice. She was still laying down, but her eyes were open and trained on him.

“You look like a caged rhino who just watched something eat its babies and now you want to attack.”

Well, she wasn’t too far off the mark. Shuri had been able to whip up a program rather quickly once Bucky explained what he wanted. Instead of him having to go through the hours of horrifying footage, the program did it for him. It cut out all non-essential footage, and if there was essential dialogue during particularly horrifying times, the program stripped the audio to the bare essentials.

It still brought out Bucky’s full-fledged anger and disgust, though.

“It’s not fair that you all expect me to answer your questions,” she said when he stayed silent, “but you never answer mine.”

“There are some things you don’t need to know.” His voice was tight, barely able to escape his lips. She rolled over and stood up, prompting Bucky to close his laptop. At her raised eyebrow, Bucky knew he had two options. Either answer her question or change the subject. “How’re you feeling? Need a hangover cure?”

Her eyes rolled as she strode towards the door. “Not sure I can even get hungover anymore.”

“Y/N?” Bucky asked just as she started to turn the door knob. She stopped and looked back at him expectantly. “Last night you said—”

“A lot of things I shouldn’t have.” She finished for him. “And I don’t want to talk about any of it.”

Before she could get the door open, Bucky was right next to her, hand on the door above her to keep it closed. He needed answers. He needed to hear her voice. After everything he’d watched in the last five hours, he couldn’t let her just go like that. “Y/N.”

“Stop saying my name.”

She kept her eyes trained on the door in front of her, body tense, purposefully not looking at Bucky. “Then tell me what you meant when you said you literally can’t kill yourself.”

“Didn’t take you for an idiot. I thought that one was pretty self-explanatory.”

He took a deep breath. Steve was better at this than he was. Getting people to open up. Using words instead of fists and bullets. But Bucky found himself in this position once again, somehow knowing that Steve wouldn’t be able to get through to Y/N. Hell, he didn’t even know if he would be able to get through to her. But he somehow knew that, out of everyone in the compound, he had the best chance at getting her to open up. “Y/N, I get that this is a really shitty situation for you. You’re in a different country and everything seems—”

“Save it for someone who cares, Soldier,” she spat out. “That stupid psycho-babble stuff might have worked for you, but it’s not going to do shit for me.”

“I’m just trying to say that I know what you’re going through, Y/N. You can talk to me.”

“That’s rich. You know what I’m going through. Using the torture you went through to somehow form a bond with me and the torture I went through. There’s one tiny difference you’re forgetting though.” She finally turned and looked him in the eye with a mask devoid of emotion. “You had someone to pull you back from the edge. You still have Steve. It’s been, what, seventy years? And you still have him. But I don’t. I don’t have anyone. So save your breath, Bucky. Because you don’t know what I’m going through.”

This time when she opened the door, Bucky let her.

“I’ll meet you and Steve in the conference room in twenty minutes. Give you some more information.”

Just as she turned a corner, Steve came from the opposite direction, raising his eyebrow at her retreating back and Bucky’s form leaning against his open door. “Anything new this morning?”

Bucky nodded and headed back into his room, Steve hot on his heels. “I called Shuri and she worked her magic so the computer is sifting through the footage and only pulling out the important parts. Once it’s done with everything, I’ll get you the censored footage. It’s still horrible and I’d rather not have to watch any of it but…”

“But she’s still a Chinese puzzle box?”

“She… she’s messed up. Suicidal, but she says she can’t kill herself. Literally. As if it’s physically impossible. Hopefully some of the later footage will help us understand that, because when I asked her about that this morning she completely shut me down.”

Steve clapped his friend on the shoulder and waited until Bucky looked up at him to speak. “Don’t beat yourself up about this, Buck. You’ll figure out what’s going on sooner or later.”

Bucky watched Steve’s retreating back and thought about his last sentence. Figure what out, exactly? Why he felt drawn to Y/N? What the General had done to Y/N to change her? What Cherut was planning? There were too many questions, and Bucky couldn’t untangle the knots enough to even see what he wanted answered.

Nonetheless, he watched a few more minutes of the footage before trekking across the compound to the conference room. Maybe he’d learn something to clear up a bit of his confusion. Or maybe Y/N would just talk in more half-riddles and tangle everything up even more.

“I understand that you’re quick and agile and whatever, but I’m just saying, that shield isn’t covering much,” Y/N was saying as Bucky approached the room.

Steve responded, “A bigger shield would be harder to maneuver during battle though.”

“You’d easily be taken down by a well-trained team. Someone goes for your head, someone goes for your legs… If they had even an ounce of the element of surprise on their side, you’d be down. That’s all I’m saying.”

“You know, I don’t depend on just my shield.”

“I would hope not.”

“When did you become such an expert in shields, anyway?”

Bucky entered the room just in time to see Y/N smile slightly at the question. This was the first genuine smile he’d seen from her. It wasn’t much, but it felt like a huge step. Y/N glanced at Bucky before going back to answer Steve’s question.

“My sister and I used to stage battles in our living room. She loves history and even as a kid she’d read so many books on the battle of Troy, the Crusades, the Peloponnesian War… anything she could. Anyway, Grandma had this platter that Jen would use as protection against my yarn bullets. Throw one at her head, and immediately follow up with one for her legs… She always fell for that trick.”

Her smile faded along with the memory. The insight into Y/N’s life back when she still had all of her innocence made Bucky even more enraged with the General. Gone were the two little girls throwing yarn and giggling in a fake battle. Now one was dead and the other was a shell of herself.

“Anyway,” Y/N sat up straight and imperceptibly shook her head, as if chasing away the memory. “The other day we were talking about the Delarave Cartel.”

Bucky really didn’t give two shits about the Delarave Cartel. Steve would be able to figure out if there was anything pertinent in what Y/N was saying, which gave Bucky the latitude to study everything else about Y/N.

He’d made it through the first few months of the footage. He’d watched Y/N grow up about six months in the span of a few hours. There was still nearly a year and a half to watch, but he felt like he had a good enough handle on her body language to note the differences between the Y/N that spent time in the General’s room, and the Y/N that sat in front of him now.

Here, she wasn’t nervous. She held herself stiffly, sure, but there was an underlying ease as she explained what she knew about the threat to her country. In the videos, Y/N’s movements around the General loosened considerably as she followed his rule to make him believe. To an untrained eye, her act would have been believable. Anyone looking from the outside in would believe that she was eager for her weekly trysts with the man. But Bucky knew better. He’d been in her position. Manipulated by agents of Hydra, stripped of all will… he knew what to look for. She’d hated the General. Hated those meetings. And, even in the six or so months he’d watched, he had been able to see her growing to hate herself as well.

Sitting in front of him now, Bucky saw that hatred still soaked into her very being.

It took a minute, but Bucky withdrew from his thoughts long enough to notice the complete silence. His eyes focused again and saw Y/N staring straight at him with narrow, thoughtful eyes.

“What?” He asked, looking between Y/N and Steve.

“You know something. Something about me that I didn’t tell you.”

“What makes you think that?” Steve asked, drawing her attention away from Bucky for a brief moment.

She glanced out the window and pursed her lips before answering. When she finally spoke, it was directly to Bucky. “You’re really good at hiding things. You have control of your body, no doubt your training with Hydra, or maybe in the forties. But you have this look behind your eyes. You’re comparing something and since you’re obviously not listening to me… it’s something else.”

“What is it, then? Sounds like you’ve got everything all figured out.” Bucky leaned forward and challenged her. She was offering an insight into her thought process and he wasn’t about to turn this chance down.

“It’s not what I’m saying…” Her eyes stayed locked on his while she thought out loud. “So it must be something I’m doing. But you’ve only known me for a few weeks… Two or three days, really, since our first meeting was very brief. That doesn’t leave you much to compare. I’m not sure what—oh.” And now she completely shut down, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. “You found the videos. The General’s videos.”

“You know about them?”

She stilled completely and sat in silence. Steve opened his mouth to break the silence, but a quick glance from Bucky shut up him. Y/N would talk. She always did to fill the silence.

And he wasn’t wrong this time. “You know how athletes re-watch their games so they can figure out how to improve? The General made me do that.”

Fucking sick bastard.

“And now you’re angry. See, Bucky? You’re not the only one who knows how to read body language.”

“The General taught you that, didn’t he?” Steve cut in, glancing quickly between Y/N and Bucky.

“Yes. But you already knew that.”

“Not the details,” Steve quickly assured her. “We’ve got the gist though. What was he training you for?”

“Pet spy. Now I think we’re done for today.” Just as she pushed back from the table and started to stand up, the entire compound lit up with alarms. Bucky and Steve immediately jumped into action and it wasn’t long before they were looking at Bucky’s tablet, staring at two jets that just landed on the grounds with Cherut’s seal painted on the side.

Read Chapter 12:  Too Late

#buckyxreader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #the winter soldier x reader #angst #marvel oneshot #bucky barnes angst

[earth-ambassador-jim]

The Missing Month Chapter 3

Loops 8-15

This is a fanfiction that explores what happened during the first 30 time loops that Jim was in in the episode D'Aja Vu. 

Ao3 - Fanfiction

8.

“We need to do what now?” Toby asked.

“We need to cancel the science fair,” Jim repeated.

He was making a croque madame for each of his friends this morning. Just because he was stuck going through the same day did not mean he was going to make the same breakfast each time. He was beginning to contemplate trying some of the more interesting recipes he’d never had the nerve to try.

“What for? I get all the time loop stuff, but how do a bunch of fake volcanos tie into this?”

“When we tried to catch Porgon last time people saw him and saw me don my armor. What good is stopping Porgon if we expose trolls to the world and end up getting taken in by the FBI in the process?”

“Ah. Right.” Toby’s face lit up as Jim presented him with his sandwich. “So any ideas?”

Jim sighed.

“Well I would try to find some way to convince Señor… I mean Principal Uhl to move it, but…”

“He doesn’t really like us?”

“Yeah…”

The three of them sat for a long moment in silence.

“So why don’t we just pull the fire alarm?” asked Toby.

“If we do that we’d have to do it immediately before the attack. Otherwise the fire department would come and find out it was just a prank and reopen the building again before the attack,” Claire said. “But if we do it right before and get the timing even slightly wrong the fire department will arrive either right before or during our fight and then we will have to explain some things we really don’t want to.”

She paused for a moment then added. “Best case scenario we manage to clear anything Troll related, but we still get arrested for vandalism and Mom files a restraining order against you guys and grounds me.”

Toby sighed.

“Don’t forget Jim and I getting another mark on our records… Man, if the world doesn’t end we won’t be able to get jobs with our horrible criminal history. Only 16 and already robbing museums and committing vandalism.”

Jim patted him on the shoulder.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that. What else have we got?”

“Maybe we could cause a water leak?” Toby suggested.

“That might work,” Jim said perking up.

“Yeah but won’t there be cleanup crews there evaluating the damage?” Claire spun her staff around in her fingers.  

“True.”

They lapsed into silence again.

“We could always make up a list of the possibilities and try them all until one works?”

Before they could get any father there was a thud  and the sound of something heavy coming up the stairs.

“Good Morning, Master Jim!” Blinky said cheerfully as he emerged from the basement.

“Hey Blinky,” Jim said.

Aaarrrgghh took a moment longer to join them as he forced his body through the door. Between him and Draal Jim was surprised that doorframe hadn’t broken yet. Or that his mom hadn’t noticed all the scratches.

“So any idea on what that strange cylinder Porgon has is?”

“None I fear,” Blinky said with a sigh. “Even if I still had access to my library I doubt I would find anything on it. Whatever it is I do not believe it is of Trollish origins.”

“Ooooo, you think’s it’s some sort of top secret spy thing… or something magic from like wizards?” Toby asked, bouncing a little in his seat. “Or maybe some sort of wicked awesome alien technology?”

“I’ve no idea, but for now it would be best to focus on getting it away from Porgon. Once we do that we can study it and create a solution.”

Jim sighed. He’d really hoped that Blinky would have something on what they were up against. Maybe if they knew what it was they could make it so the rest of the Trollhunters remembered the time loops.

“Well let’s get some more ideas for stopping the science fair,” Jim said straightening up. “And then we can head over to the planetarium.”

He gave a shrug and directed a wry grin at Toby.

“We may as well try the fire alarm this time. No point in making things too complicated.”

Toby grinned and pumped his fist.

“Great! Another misdemeanor for our record!”

Jim rolled his eyes and laughed while Claire shot them a concerned look.

 9.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting,” Jim said to Claire after he finished reading Toby’s text.

It turned out that the planetarium did not use the mail if they needed to cancel an event last minute. In hindsight he wasn’t surprised.

“It was worth try. Do you want to try something else?”

“No,” Jim said as he typed out a response. “It’s too close to the restart. Anyway I really need to get some practice in on my verbs.”

Claire nodded and glanced down at the list.

“Okay next one “to hear” in present tense.”

They managed to make it almost a quarter of the way through his backlog of Spanish verb practice before the day reset.

 10.

The stink bomb, courtesy of NotEnrique, certainly cleared out the Planetarium. Jim watched from the janitor’s closet as everyone evacuating the building holding their noses. One didn’t quite make it out before throwing up.

Jim himself was wearing a respirator and had no such problems. He assumed based on the way his eyes were stinging that it was extremely pungent. If this worked but they didn’t defeat Porgon he was going to wear goggles next time.

The building was just about empty when he heard the police sirens go off. Why did the planetarium have to be so close to the police station? Jim muttered a trollish curse under his breath and looked around.

The exhibits were all strewn carelessly. One or two were gone, rescued by their fleeing owners.

Jim pulled out his walkie talkie.

“Any sign of him out there?- over”

“None,” Toby replied. “But you might want to get out. The firefighters are gearing up to go in. –over.”

Jim grimaced. Right. They probably wanted to make sure that the smell wasn’t from a toxic leak or something.

There was about 3 hours until Porgon was expected to show. Jim sighed and slipped out the side door.

 11.

Between the firefighters, the police looking around for culprits and the cleanup, the Trollhunters didn’t get another chance to sneak back in the planetarium.

First thing in the morning this loop Jim had Claire portal into the Planetarium to call the school to cancel the science fair. Unfortunately the secretary had walked in on her so that plan was a bust. They had also recognized her, so she was out of the running until the day reset.

Having Toby sabotage Miss Janeth’s and Coach Lawrance’s cars had also failed.

The fake measles outbreak text Jim had sent after breaking into the school office only kept five kids from coming.

If Jim wasn’t so frustrated he would probably be worried about how completely fine with breaking the law he and his friends were at this point. As it was if he had to live through this day one more time…

 12.

“I think I may have overdone it,” Jim said.

“You think?” Toby repeated staring at the smoking wreckage of what had been a planetarium.

“In my defense I didn’t realize the electric panel was right there.”

“Guys,” Claire said nervously. “We might want to start running.”

“It’s too late for that,” Toby said eyeing the crowd that was forming at a safe distance. “They’ve already seen our faces. If we run now we’ll be fugitives. We’ll have to hide out in caves and change our names and stuff.”

They were saved from making a decision by detective Scott showing up at that very moment.

Two hours and a lot of yelling later, Jim was very relieved when the day reset itself.

 13.

“Okay are we all set? –over” Jim radioed in from the bushes outside the planetarium.

“Ten four!  Everything’s in place.–over” Toby responded.

“In position. –over.” Claire’s signal wasn’t quite as good.

“Roger, that! Commence mission. –over and out.”

Jim slid his walkie talkie into his pocket and strolled toward the planetarium.

Out of sight in the bushes he pulled out and donned the glamor mask Blinky had given him. Now a very professional looking older man with graying hair, Jim strode confidently into the Planetarium.

Finding the first employee he could, he cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Excuse me, I’m with OSHA. We’ve been told of some safety concerns here, may I speak to your supervisor?”

The man looked surprised, but immediately complied.

“I am so glad that actually worked,” Jim said with a sigh as they slipped through Claire’s portal into one of the side rooms.

“I told you it would,” Toby said with a grin. “We were very thorough in our safety violations. Even if they do think it’s suspicious, it will take them a while to confirm it’s fake with OSHA and to realize that the actual Inspector Thompson is elsewhere. It’s not like they can trace the false investigation back to us.”

Jim hummed in response and settled down to wait. He was just relieved that they had finally solved the problem.

Time slowly crawled by and Claire and Toby got more and more relaxed in their chatter. Eventually Toby frowned and turned to Jim.

“It’s about noon. Wasn’t Porgon supposed to be here by now?”

“Yeah…” Jim said.

Had he been wrong? Did Porgon really remember the loops? Was he off on his timing?

There was a flash of blue light.

 14.

Jim was up on top of the hill overlooking Arcadia again. The Creepslayerz had been roped into helping Toby and Claire sabotage the science fair.

Jim’s phone started beeping signaling it was noon. He tensed, watchful and alert.

For agonizing minutes nothing, then the whole world exploded into blue.

 15.

Easy peasy…

Jim drew in a sharp breath as he shut off the alarm and processed what had just happened. The flash had come from under Arcadia. Given that the whole town had lit up at the same time, he highly doubted it was from the sewer system. No… the source had to be deep within the earth itself. That left one place…

Jim paced around the living room.

“Why would he go to Trollmarket now?”

Blinky frowned and glanced at Aaarrrgghh.

“I don’t know, Master Jim. Everything I’ve read about time travel is theoretical at best. There’s no way to predict how it might play out in reality…”

“Does he remember the loops as well? It didn’t seem like he did,” Jim said, scowling.

“Maybe…”

“We were so close! We were finally going to be able to fight him without being caught and end this thing!”

“Master Jim!”

Two of Blinky’s hands settled on his shoulders and the other two grabbed his arms. Jim struggled for a moment and then, failing to dislodge them, settled for shooting the troll a glare. Blinky sighed and released him.

“Master Jim, I know you are frustrated. This is a very trying situation, no doubt far beyond what any of us are aware of, but you must remain patient. Even if it doesn’t feel like it you… we are making progress. If we keep working together we can end this cycle of repetition.”

Jim bit his tongue and looked away.

“Yeah Jimbo!” Toby came up and hugged him from the side. “We’ll get you out of this in no time!”

“No time for you guys maybe,” Jim mumbled, looking down so he wouldn’t see their expressions.

“We just need new ideas!” Toby continued voice deliberately light. “Hey! Blinky can’t remember everything maybe we could sneak into his library and…”

“No!” Blinky said sharply. “It’s too dangerous. Gunmar is no doubt watching all the entrances to Trollmarket. Who knows what will happen if someone dies in this time loop. We cannot risk it.”

Toby’s eyes widened and he held up his hands.

“Sorry, it just seemed like a good idea.”

Blinky’s shoulders loosened. He sighed and rested a hand on Toby’s back.

“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you… I just can’t risk losing any more of you.”

Jim watched them quietly. Now that he thought of it, there might be one major benefit to being caught in a time loop…

Technically half-way!! Yay!

Next up... Jim goes solo for a loop.

#Trollhunters #Tales of Arcadia #3Below #jim lake jr #Trollhunters Fanfiction #claire nuñez #toby domzalski #Blinky #AAARRRGGHH #The Mission Month #I've been looking forward to writing the next chapter for a while #My Writing

[reformedkingsmanagent]

Let me just say absolutely adore out of practice, had to fan myself a little after I read it. Would it be possible to request Charlie x reader, during The Secret Service Era, they have to do an undercover gala mission together and while collecting data almost get caught 'so kiss me, because public affection makes people uncomfortable' but Charlie actually enjoys more than the reader expects... maybe nsfw??

A/N: I really really really hope this is fine! I didn’t go proper nsfw, I’m sorry! But I hope to have some smutty smutty goodness out soon for the holidays?? Maybe. We’ll see how it all goes.

The new owners of the massive cathedral, recently repurposed as a home for the growing crime syndicate here in Madrid, were doing their best to host a party, but the reverence usually associated with setting foot in a place of worship wasn’t so easy to get rid of. Even for the not-so-religious, it was an exercise in learned respect and conditioning.

Must make them feel as if their schemes are god-given.

It was made easier, though, by watching a very questionable conversation being had in a corner. An uncomfortably intimate touch was all you needed to see to be sure you’d latched onto the right man.

“I’m glad I worked so hard to secure a spot as his date to this stupid thing only for him to go off chasing other women. What on earth was the point in inviting me then?”

“Are you jealous? Over that guy?”

Absolutely not. At least, you don’t think so…

You could hear Charlie’s very-much-amused laughter in your ear. “Don’t worry love, I still think you’re stunning—”

“Don’t even, Charles.”

“Please—”

“He’s walking over,” you interrupted, putting a fake smile back into place as your ticket into the massive gala event offered a glass of champagne as if he hadn’t just been running his disgusting hands up some woman’s thigh—

“It’s lovely, don’t you think?” he asked, his heavy accent slicing through your thoughts.

Still, the whole thing was making you laugh. Merlin suggesting you as a candidate for a honeypot mission? Well, honeypot-lite, perhaps. You still didn’t know how you managed to catch this man’s eye, but at least you hadn’t failed horribly.

Yet. There’s still time now.

You covered your amusement and discomfort as best as you could. The last thing you wanted to do was trash the whole mission simply by pissing him off.

“Mmhmm, very,” you agreed, glancing up at the incredibly high ceilings, taking in the elaborate chandeliers hanging above. It was a very old building, surprisingly well maintained, but for the moment it was cluttered with all kinds of decorations for the event, as well as fixtures like lights, a small stage, and the tables and chairs spread out across the room. One big change, an update made at the new owner’s request was a whole wall entirely composed of glass, giving a view out to a stonework terrace which offered an even better view of the Spanish capital.

You were sure the glass was bulletproof.

“This was added by a famous architect of Spain—”

“Yes, he’s a brilliant restorationist. Also did work on a few of the other big cathedrals around here, right?”

He is also familiar with the construction of vaults of all shapes and sizes, as well as hiding them in plain sight. You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you sir?

Your date for the evening raised an eyebrow. “Yes, yes he did. You’re very well-educated on our…architecture.”

Shit. Just keep your nerd side quiet, that was the one thing Charlie asked of you—

Thankfully a man in a dark suit very much like an unofficial uniform walked over and delivered a quiet message, one you caught the tail end of. You caught sight of the small earbud in his ear. Private security.

As soon as they were both out of earshot, you brought the glass to your lips to hopefully disguise them moving.

“Charlie, they’re onto you.”

“No, they’re onto my plant. I’ve already moved on. I caught wind of some people taking a private tour of the archives below and thought I’d take a look myself. Care to join me?”

You let your eyes close briefly in relief as a smile spread across your face, this one genuine. “I would love to.”

***********

“It’s alright, you can come out. They’re gone.”

You stepped out from behind one of the columns, heels in hand. “How did you—”

“You can’t sneak up on me, I’ve got ears like—”

“What, these?” you asked, flicking at one of them.

He jumped a bit, tucking his chin into his chest to try to hide them from you. “You’re lucky you’re you, or you wouldn’t have hands any longer,” he joked. You studied him while his attention was focused on the wall in front of him. He looked good. He was dressed in the same uniform that the man who’d pulled your date away was wearing. Charlie didn’t waste any time.

“What do we have?”

“Pretty basic security around here, Chump 1 and 2 are sleeping things off in a cabinet over there,” he pointed over his shoulder, “so we’re good for now.” After a few moments of pressing his fingers against the wood, a small round panel slid back within and revealed a round metal lock. “And would you look at that,” he mumbled in wonder. “Everything’s got to be behind this door.” He studied the lock tucked into the wood panelling, his watch scanning it. “I’ve got nothing with this. It’s not electronic, it’s just…ancient. Guess we’re not hacking our way in.”

“I thought you were the man who was prepared for anything?” you teased. He glanced down at you with a soft grin. After a bit of him not answering, you frowned. “Charlie, what?”

He looked away, back to the lock. “Nothing, just…didn’t get to see you before you slipped out for the evening, that’s all.”

You turned away to hide your reaction, pretending to at least be useful and watch the only way in or out of the large room as the heat faded from your cheeks.

“If we can’t get ahold of a key, we’ve got to pick it,” he announced.

“You sound disappointed. Did you forget your toolkit back home?”

You could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m prepared for a lot of things, but this—”

He cut himself off as you turned back towards him, reaching underneath your dress through the slit for the small card-sized folio tucked into the band of your stocking. “Whoa, whoa, what on earth are you doing?” he hissed, eyes wide. His face was bright red.

“Relax, Charlie, and thank me for saving your ass from one of Merlin’s ‘always be prepared’ lectures, god knows I’ve had plenty of those—”

“If they start spending too much time in there, somebody’s bound to notice. I don’t know why this meeting couldn’t wait until after we’ve cleared out all the guests hanging around. Keeping them out of here has been a nightmare.”

Both you and Charlie froze.

You tucked your mini lockpicking kit into the front of your dress, taking a moment to straighten it while Charlie looked around the two of you, eyes wide.

“There’s nowhere for us to hide,” he whispered.

“We’ve got to do something, Charlie,” you frantically replied.

He took a moment to compose himself, closing his eyes to concentrate. “Hiding in plain sight… Wait—”

“They’re almost in here,” you interrupted.

His hands reached for your face and you instinctively moved to stop him, but he held up a finger. “You have to kiss me—”

“What?!” You felt a light fluttering sensation in your stomach as you looked up at him, mind trying to wrap around just what he was suggesting.

“Public displays of affection cause people to feel uncomfortable, they—”

“You seriously think now’s the time to test that theory?!”

“Got a better idea?”

Not how you expected your night to go, at all.

Out of the corner of your eye you could see the guards step into view, but as quickly as they appeared, they were covered by the side of Charlie’s face. Milliseconds later his soft, plush lips smoothed over yours. You could feel that he was holding back, it wasn’t a proper kiss, but it did enough for you to subconsciously lean into him and grip both sides of his suit jacket.

“Are they buying it?” Charlie mumbled against your lips. As much as you were secretly very much appreciating what was happening, you didn’t think a chaste kiss would be convincing enough to excuse your presence there.

With a frown, you pulled him back in, your mouth opening beneath his. He groaned, his thumbs smoothing over your cheeks as his tongue found yours. Your back hit the disguised wall the two of you had been attempting to get through, and Charlie blindly moved a hand to press the wood back into place over the lock so they’d be none the wiser.

Always thinking of everything.

You were just doing your job, you weren’t enjoying the kiss or anything…

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Can you believe this guy? Thinks he’s being paid to fuck around?”

Charlie let you go and you did your best to appear shocked. The sensations low in your belly weren’t an act though.

“I—I’m sorry, I—” Charlie’s Spanish accent wasn’t horrible but it could use some work.

The one closest to Charlie clapped his hand against the side of his arm. Chump 3. “Relax, my friend, your little slip-up is safe with us.” The two men shared a look that made you very concerned. The last thing the two of you needed was extra attention.

“Excuse me, I have to get back,” you explained, moving to head past them to the main room. If you could get around them then perhaps they wouldn’t see you preparing to stun them.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The Chump 4 reached out and pulled you back over, tucking you in against his side. You pushed against him gently enough to not betray your true strength, but he wasn’t willing to let you go.

You shared a look with Charlie and he nodded ever so slightly.

“I really have to go—”

Chump 4’s hand grabbed your arm tightly, holding you out in front of him so he could look at you. He grinned. “What happened to your shoes—?”

Charlie used his watch on the man holding you, stunning him with a dart to the neck. He was a bit slow to react, releasing your arm and reaching for his neck, his eyebrows furrowing as he found the tiny dart. As Chump 3 watched his friend slump to the floor in front of you, you took advantage of the distraction and pulled a small knife from its home along your upper thigh. It seemed to distract Charlie too as he raised his eyebrows.

You reached up and pressed the knife in against Chump 3’s neck, right against the carotid artery. Charlie used a hand at the man’s back to keep him in place.

Teamwork.

“Where do they keep the key to this door?”

He swallowed. “Only two exist. And they’re both on the other side.”

You glanced over at Charlie who had his watch ready to go. “We’ll have to pick it.”

Charlie shrugged, an amused smile on his face. “Alright. What do we do with him?”

The guard raised his hands in surrender. “If you let me go, I promise I won’t tell anyone you’ve been down here.” Charlie readied the watch. “I can’t afford to get on their bad side, please, if they think I’ve not done my job my family is at risk,” he pleaded.

“…Amnesia?” you suggested to Charlie. He quirked an eyebrow but changed the setting.

“Thank you,” he sighed, clasping his hands together.

“Alright, now turn around. Don’t worry, she’ll let you go,” Charlie grinned. The guard did, heading back towards the entrance to the archives. “You’re in desperate need of a drink,” Charlie insisted.

“What?”

Charlie shot the guard with the less powerful dart. The guard didn’t break stride for a second and continued out of the room as if the whole thing never happened. As you put away your knife, Charlie dragged the stunned guard over to a large cabinet and shoved him in with the others.

You turned back to the wall, pressing in to expose the lock again.

“It didn’t work,” you mumbled, lips still tingling.

“What didn’t?”

“The…kissing.”

“Oh, but it did.”

Before you could explain that he was wrong, a large hand spread wide across your abdomen as Charlie pulled you back against his chest, his other hand moving to the top of your dress, fingers skimming over your skin.

“Charlie—!”

You couldn’t breathe.

“What?” He lingered, his fingertips ghosting along the edge of the dress. You reached for his hand but did nothing to stop him.

“We can’t—”

“Relax,” he whispered, his long fingers pulling the thin card-sized toolkit free. “Just needed this.” His hands disappeared and you stepped away from the lock, giving him space and taking a second to try to recover from where your mind had slipped away to.

A click and a quiet “aha” from Charlie brought you back to the present as the whole wood panel slid aside to reveal a narrow hallway.

Charlie turned to face you, the small case in his hand. You took it, still a little dazed. “Ready to go finish this mission?”

Before he had time to react, you pulled him in close and smashed your lips against his, moaning into his mouth. Something you never expected to do, but also something you found you desperately needed. After a few seconds of deep, deep kissing, you forced him back before you went too far. He leaned against the wall, doing his best to catch his breath and compose himself.

“Mission first,” you sighed, kicking yourself for willfully wasting the opportunity right in front of you. “When we get back to the hotel—”

“We’d better get going then, yeah?”

You stood up straight, fixing your dress and taking in a deep breath. “Yeah,” you agreed. “But I’m taking point.”

He raised his eyebrows as he smiled, that all-too familiar charm working its magic. “By all means, please, after you,” he conceded. As you stepped in front of him down the narrow hallway, his hand on your arm stopped you from getting too far ahead. His chest met your back and his lips pulled at your earlobe. “Don’t think for a second that’s going to extend to the rest of the evening though, love,” he whispered. You swallowed.

#charlie hesketh #charlie hesketh x reader #kingsman #writing #request #see look I can get things done #sometimes #hope this is okay!

[vocalfriespod]

Basque-ing in the European Sun Transcript

Carrie Gillon  Hi and welcome to the Vocal Fries Podcast, the podcast about linguistic discrimination.

Megan Figueroa   I'm Megan Figueroa.

Carrie Gillon   And I'm Carrie Gillon. And we have a little bit of housekeeping to do, so, once again, we have a Patreon now, and last month, our new patrons?

Megan Figueroa   Yeah.

Carrie Gillon   We'd like to thank you individually, so I'm not sure if people want me to use their last names, but I think... so in December, when I first picked it up. I didn't say originally that we were going to thank people individually and so I wasn't sure, but this time I said it, so hopefully okay if I use full names. Please let me know if that's not the case.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah,

Carrie Gillon   I apologize, but so Alyssa Crowley thank you. Talk the Talk another podcast about linguistics.

Megan Figueroa   Aw.

Carrie Gillon   I know. So if you guys are interested in lingpods, that's what I like to call them. That's another one that you should check out.

Megan Figueroa   Hashtag lingpod. Is that a hashtag?

Carrie Gillon   It should be. You know what? Let's start it.

Megan Figueroa   Okay.

Carrie Gillon   I'm just assuming it doesn't

Megan Figueroa   it seems like it would be some sort of creature that would be under the sea.

Carrie Gillon   then Ben Whedon Thank you also, and Chris Hengler, all the way from Hamburg

Megan Figueroa   Oh!

Carrie Gillon   Yes, and also, a former professor of mine from Toronto: Elizabeth Cowper. So thank you very much.

Megan Figueroa   Oh, that's so nice. I don't see any any professors of mine. I'm just kidding.

Carrie Gillon   Hmmm.

Megan Figueroa   That's funny.

Carrie Gillon   Oh, and related to the Patreon we have a new bonus episode. Where Tito Rios, my former colleague read one of his poems. So you get an extra poem.

Megan Figueroa   from the poet laureate of Arizona. And it's awesome because it's a poem that is actually at the port of entry at Nogales Sonara and Nogales Arizona so it's very cool. Y'all should really get on the Patreon if you want to hear all these cool bonus epis.

Carrie Gillon   Oh, dear. Think that makes you the Shoshana of this podcast. So before we really begin. I also want to apologize for my voice right now. I don't know if you can tell. But I it sounds much deeper to me. Because yesterday we went to a housewarming party, which was lovely, but it was very loud. So to talk over the music, means I'm a little a little hoarse,

Megan Figueroa   a little introverted voice got a little tired

Carrie Gillon   I'm not as introverted as I used to be.

Megan Figueroa   Wait, did you see Hamilton yesterday?

Carrie Gillon   Yeah, we saw that in the afternoon. By the way, it does live up to the hype. Yeah, I was a little worried because, I mean, there's a lot of times where things don't live up to the hype to me. So like Wonder Woman, I was like, eh. But this definitely I was like, no deserves every accolade it's ever gotten.

Megan Figueroa   Well, another one that you actually agree lived up to the hype. was Black Panther.

Carrie Gillon   also amazing.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah, I am still thinking about it. I love princess Shuri and I love everything that I'm seeing on Twitter. All the fan art and the STEM the science technology. And what is the STEM sound for?

Carrie Gillon   you're almost there. Science, technology, engineering and math.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah, that's like I always say that I'm like really into STEM, but do I know what ie means? Yeah,.

Carrie Gillon   Well, now there's also STEAM, which adds the arts, which.

Megan Figueroa   Yes, I love the arts. It should always be in there. Do we really have math without art? I don't think so.

Carrie Gillon   I mean, there's math that- Yeah, I guess it always is kind of art already at some level, but you don't know until you see it visualized some way I guess. Or like unless you're a really good mathematician. You can't see but yeah, so I really and also Black Panther involves the arts as well. Like, oh my god, that costuming.

Megan Figueroa   Oh my god. I know.

Carrie Gillon   One of the outfits was like this onesie, sort of or a jumpsuit. And I was like, I wish I could wear that

Megan Figueroa   right?

Carrie Gillon   I'm too practical, though. You can't pee in it.

Megan Figueroa   I mean, you you could.

Carrie Gillon   Yeah, exactly.

Megan Figueroa   So also related to Black Panther. But it's no fault of Black Panther, Nyle DiMarco, the very handsome deaf model that is an advocate for the deaf community. And for ASL I would say right, he was tweeting about how he went to see Black Panther. But the captioning was just so horrible. It was skipping lines, like he had to leave. So it's one of those things where I realized that I have a privilege that I wasn't thinking about.

Carrie Gillon   Yeah, and I think to be clear, it was a technological issue. So it wasn't on the main screen. He had like some kind of technical some piece of tech.

Megan Figueroa   Right.

Carrie Gillon   He's stuck into the chair in front of him, I guess. I don't know.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah.

Carrie Gillon   And that was not functioning very well. So I mean, the captioning still could have been missing lines if it had been on the screen. But it was the piece of technology was not working fully. I think that was part of the problem. But you're right, we have of course, we have this privilege of being able to hear lines and I one of the times that I really noticed that actually it wasn't about being deaf or hard of hearing, but something that's related. So me having a privilege was watching movies with someone who was a second language learner of English. And he really strongly preferred having the captions on the subtitles on because he could get more of the English that way. And it hadn't occurred to me that, of course, that would be helpful, for someone like that. So it was a similar kind of thing. So he's advocating, I think, for, like, actual captions on the main screen. Yeah, and I think, you know, bare minimum Why don't have just have some special screenings with that like once a day, at least? I don't know.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah, he wrote something for Teen Vogue. So let's, let's, let's link to that when we have the link for this is episode.

Carrie Gillon   Yeah. Gotta make sure we have that.

Megan Figueroa   So let's, let's all examine our privilege. And also go see Black Panther. And enjoy that. Everyone's beautiful in it. Just, it's eye candy, the entire movie. And I don't mean if I just the people. I mean, like it's such a beautiful movie.

Carrie Gillon   Mm hmm. It really is. Oh, yeah. And there's also a one one language thing one language related thing to talk about with Black Panther and that's the use of Xhosa, I dunno, that's not how you pronounce it. But it's a language that's actually spoken in South Africa so some people some people don't like that because it's Wakanda is in the central part of Africa. And so people some people were complaining about that but I'm like, well, it's a fictional country so they can have whatever language they want and it's kind of nice to hear that language being spoken

Megan Figueroa   yeah alright so today we are talking to Itxaso RODRÍGUEZ-ORDÓÑEZ about Basque, which again, another week where Megan learns everything that she does not know. It's getting kind of embarrassing Carrie.

Carrie Gillon   Well, I mean, you had a lot less to learn about Chicano English than I did.

Megan Figueroa   I really appreciate that bone you just threw me. Alright, should we get into it?

Carrie Gillon   Yes, let's get into it.

Megan Figueroa   We're very excited to welcome Itxaso Rodríguez-Ordonez. She is an assistant professor of Spanish and linguistics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She received her PhD in Hispanic linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2016. Her research focuses on context situations, she incorporates linguistic attitudes and ideologies to explain contact and language change. Most of her work pertains to the best Spanish context situation. Spain more recently, she has also focused on contact effects, and the linguistic landscapes of Spanish and English in Pilsen, Chicago. Welcome, Itxaso.

Itxaso   thank you so much. It's so nice to be here.

Carrie Gillon   Hi. So I guess we'll just begin with Basque because I'm assuming many of our listeners do not know what Basque even is.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah.

Itxaso   Yeah. So first of all, I would like to say that I'm very excited to be here, especially to talk about one of my mother tongues with which I identify very, very closely. So talking about Basque for me is always excitement and pleasure. So what is Basque? Well, bus is an isolate language, it is spoken in the north of Spain and south of France. And the reason why it's considered an isolate is because we still don't know whether it belong to any other families. Meaning that we don't have evidence that there is any genetic relationship with other languages in the world. So they've done lots of research about, oh, why is Basque so different from other languages in Europe, is it actually connected to Hungarian, which is also different in many ways? And the answer is no. So for now, we actually doesn't know necessarily where we come from. Well, that's what people seem to say, others suggest were actually one of the first settlers of Europe, obviously, this kind of hypothesis has had a huge impact on how people identify as well, whether they claim themselves to be from there, how authentic we are, how old we are, how much we belong there, and stuff like that. So that's what Basque is, and Basque is spoken by about 700,000 people. And this is spoken both on the Spanish side and on the French side, although there are more speakers on the Spanish side, because it's, it's a little bit bigger, the territory is a little bit bigger, but Basque was spoken a bigger territory that was spoken right now. So it has been shrinking and shrinking throughout the centuries. So one of the interesting characteristics about Basque that make it different, maybe per se, with other European languages has to do with the word order. So we tend to say, if I want to say that I saw somebody right when I say I, somebody saw, so we'll put the verb at the very end. And this has been something that Basque people try to over-exoticize as something unique about languages. But then when we look at different languages in the world, we notice that this word order pattern is actually more common than we think, so the Basque people said, Oh, so we are not as unique as we thought. Okay,

Megan Figueroa   so I'm hearing that there's like a lot of pride with speaking Basque.

Itxaso   Absolutely. So it's actually so I grew up speaking Basque at home, and also Spanish. It's actually  a way of identifying yourself as an authentic member of the community. So and obviously, this is something that was going on, the fact that we need to maintain the language, one of the oldest languages in Europe, this is a big belief within the Basque community, that we have been able to maintain our language and our culture, even if we have been invaded by many, many people. And oftentimes, we talk about this invasion, that also speaks to the current political situation. And obviously, this is my side of the story. This is not the only side of the Basque story but there is a huge pride especially in terms of wanting to maintain the language, wanting to continue. This is a big part of our culture, this idea continuation, of generation to generation transmission is something that definitely takes a big load on on our identity as authentic members of the community and also wanting to maintain that history. We don't want to be defied, we want to be there and one of the stereotypes and obviously it's a stereotype that the Basque people are stubborn. So and this is something that in first works about descriptions that we have about Basque people, one of the main descriptions is that they are so stubborn that they're not willing to give up their language. My question is Who, who would want to give up their language, right?

Megan Figueroa   Right.

Itxaso   So it's not a matter of stubborn, it's a matter of wanting to keep yourself alive. And Basque people do take pride in that aspect, in the fact that we're still we're still there, and we're still wanting to be there.

Carrie Gillon   So what is the political background of let's say, Spain, like how how is Basque situated within the Spanish speaking country of Spain.

Itxaso   Right. So the context between Basque and Spanish is as long as the Spanish ever existed because Basque was already there, even before the Latin Julius Caesar, his friends came into the Basque territory. So going back into a little bit of more recent political situation. So I will start a little bit with, I would say, ever since the border between Spain and France was created along the Pyrenees, that it is not necessarily the first diversification of the Basque country. But he was actually one of the most important ones, the fact that Spain and France became two different countries, the Basque became politically very divided in that respect, there was this the boundary in terms of nation states. So going look at looking at it more from a more recent perspective, so Basque has been spoken there for a long time. And obviously, the contact with French and Spanish has also influenced the way those varieties have evolved. Right? So we do have a lot of Spanish words we do makes a lot the sounds even the sound so if you are in the Spanish side of the Basque country, you know, that you're in the Spanish size uh Spanish side, because some of the sounds of very similar to Spanish and when you're in the French area it is the same, there is a lot of French sounding sounds. But there's still some of the sounds are unique to the Basque language as well, so then we can just Spanish side so we had the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936. And this had a huge impact on on the Basque population. Because the town of Guernica, the very famous town of Guernica, that was a cultural center for for Basque, the Basque parliament was there and was bombed in 1937. And then after the dictatorship, sorry, after the civil war, the dictatorship lasted for 40 years up to 1975 until the dictator Franco died. So the language was prohibited. So you couldn't speak the language otherwise you could be taken to jail or you could be killed. And that's what happened to many Basque poets writers that still wrote in Basque. Obviously there was a huge loss of Basque speakers during that time because just started to be not spoken or transmitted, although is in some areas of the Basque country right now, the dialects also died out before then but in this respect the dictatorship did have a huge impact on but on maintaining the language. And this is where I was born. And this is where my sister was born. And we spoke Basque at home. My parents would only speak to us in Basque. But they were to speak to us the standard variety. So supposedly, I am a native speaker of the standard Basque. But right now I have to admit that I don't speak standard Basque fluidly. I can read and write in standard Basque, but I cannot fluently speak it. There is always some influence of my regional dialect, because Guernica did have a variety there before the standardization of Basque. So this is just a little bit of the background. I mean, I think I could go on or on, but yeah,

Megan Figueroa   That was perfect. Thank you. Is anyone here monolingual in Basque.

Itxaso   Actually not that we know of. So maybe there are a couple or a handful of speakers in very isolated areas. But it's very, very, very hard to find a monolingual speaker of Basque. And even if they say that they're monolingual, they probably understand some Spanish or French so I do have friends that have told me that Oh, my goodness, my grandma. She doesn't speak a word of Spanish. This is in the Navarre mountains in a very isolated area. And I say, are you sure she doesn't know any Spanish? I will. She doesn't speak a word she would never respond to do the Spanish. And I asked her Do you think she understands? And she says, Well, I don't know. Maybe she pretends to understand it, right. So it could be that there are a handful of speakers, but he would not be possible to navigate the area if you've done the other language as well. Although there are areas in which past is spoken almost by everybody. And he has a huge impact right there some zones in which are considered more my bilingual than others. And this has to do with the regions where boss was already spoken. Before this summarization those areas maintain quite high degree of bilingualism with the Spanish or with French, but in a more urban area, even if bad has the presence of us has increased compared to other regions is other regions is spoken by less less people. Absolutely. So I never met one only one speaker best I love to eat there any but I doubt that if there is any, there will be a remote area. I wonder if this hypothetical grandma who says she doesn't speak any Spanish? Is it because of pride?

Megan Figueroa   Is there a tension between Basque and Spanish.

Itxaso   Yes? Oh, absolutely. There is there is tension between the Spanish and Basque or at least, historically, there has been some tension between the Spanish and the Basque. Also, there's tension within different varieties of Basque or different types of speakers of Basque. So it could be that this hypothetical grandma  is hostile for all the war that she probably had to endure the fact that she probably had family members killed, she probably had to fight for her survival. So this is also a way to show that she's not ready to submit herself to such a horrendous cultural genocide, right? So it could be contributing to her pride. It could be contributing to who she is now because of the historical events in her life. Right? Yeah,

Carrie Gillon   Yeah. Can I ask a question about so the situation of Basque in France versus the situation of Basque in Spain? Is there a difference? Is this the same?

Itxaso   Right. Yes, there's some similarities and some differences. The major difference is that Basque is not official with French. So the French constitution only takes French as the official language of the state, French is the language of France, right. And that has had an impact because in the French Basque Country, language shift has been more has gone more rapidly, meaning that more and more speakers have shifted to the dominant language in French a lot faster than they did in the Spanish area. However, recently, or relatively recently at least in the last decade, France has allowed, or has given permission to be able to, to teach these regional languages. And not only the Basque country, but in other areas, as long as their French is not been affected meaning that they need to show that they're also fluent French speakers. So there is also a consortium of ikastola. So ikastola is the Basque word for Basque school, it means the place of learning. And there are lots of ikastolas in the French Basque country as well as the Spanish Basque country in which kids these immersion programs in which kids can go and can speak and learn Basque if they don't learn it at home, or to be able to be literate in Basque and then there is also something that they call Seaska, which is also a high school in the in the French Basque country. And this is located in the Baiona area, which is the capital of the French Basque country and the biggest city there is about 40,000 people, right. And there are lots of kids that go there and learn fast. But like in the United States, the immersion program, in which everything is being taught in Basque, and also they do have French as a subject so that they're also literate in French is starts to die out. Meaning that later on French is more dominant, even in the studies, right. But today, they're highly bilingual there are lots of people that are highly bilingual, but you can still see that French is the dominant language as well in the French Basque Country. Interestingly enough, I have, I have also done research on identity issues, language maintenance, language contact in both sides of the border. So one of the things that I noticed when I was there in the French Basque country in the Baiona area is that john people, there is a huge movement of young people wanting to maintain their language, right, they speak it, they celebrate it, there are lots of activism, there are radio stations, right, it's a way to put consciousness to the speakers. And obviously, there's also a mixture between French and Basque. And one of the things that I did notice there, as opposed to the Spanish side, is that everybody was able to speak Basque. Not everybody, but a large body of the speakers who can speak Basque fluently, or semi-fluently or whatever that means, they actually make a huge effort, right? This is different from other urban areas in the Spanish side of the Basque country, in the sense that in Bilbao young people, especially if you're younger than 25, or even 30, it's very likely that you learned Basque in school through immersion programs. But then that language is not been transmitted to the streets. So this is something that we call reversal language shift. Whereas before this standardization Basque was the language of the home, now for many urban areas in the Spanish Basque Country, Basque is the language of the schooling and then they would go home and there would speak Spanish, maybe because their parents don't speak Spanish. So there is alternative change in how Basque can be used and how it's been submitted. That has an impact on the transmission, and as I said, the vitality of the language. so I even interviewed a young Basque French speakers and who actually wanted to go study abroad in the Basque country. this is actually hilarious, because they're, they're going to study abroad in their own Basque-speaking territory. But it's  broad because the countries the borders divide us, right? And he was telling me how disappointed he was when he was studying in Bilbao for a year. That one of the reasons why he wanted to go there is because he wanted to have education in Basque, he studied engineering, and he wanted to be able to study engineering in Basque. And when he was there, he said, Yes, all classes were in Basque. But he was surprised to find out that there are lots of young people of his age that they actually use more Spanish in their daily life interactions. And he was very disappointed and sad to see that. So one of the questions is, why do we see these divergent patterns? Right. And I would say that one of the reasons that I have in mind is that I feel that in the French Basque country, they probably feel more oppressed because their language, the Basque language doesn't have at least any it's recognized as existing, but it's not necessarily being guaranteed by the government, meaning that they have to work really hard to be able to have it in the schools. Whereas in the Spanish side of the Basque country is is given to us, the government has worked really hard for us to be able to have access, so we kind of assume that we're going to have that access too, right. Obviously, there are other factors the country, but I would say that, that that is probably a big issue or a big potential explanation for that. Yeah.

Carrie Gillon   That's fascinating.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah. And then the the French situation sounds very similar to the situation in Spanish in the US to me.

Itxaso   Yes. Yeah. So yeah, it has some similarities and some differences, too, right? So in terms of the similarities is that the French Basque country, so the government does not necessarily support the schools, right? So they have to work hard for it. It's the same in the United States too, in the sense that these all these languages are not English, if they want to maintain them, then they have the families have to work really hard. The school system has to, there is a bottom up approach in the sense that this society gets involved with how they could provide these linguistic resources for the kids like literacy so that they can maintain the language. So in that respect, is very, very similar, right?

Megan Figueroa   Yes.

Itxaso   Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Carrie Gillon   So are Basque speakers discriminated against in either Spain or France?

Itxaso   oh, yeah, well, we can start even with the Constitution itself, right? And obviously, I don't think everybody would agree with me with what I'm saying right now. But so one of the beliefs is that Oh, yes, Basque now, it's been acknowledged by the Spanish government because Article 2 of the Constitution says that Basque is also co-official with Spanish, so Article 2 says that every Spaniard has the duty to know Spanish. But then Article 2.1 says that other is Spanish languages. So for instance, Galician in Galicia, Catalan in Catalonia, or Basque in the Basque country have the right to be able to use it, right. So in that respect, these these regional languages are considered lower in our state me that you also need to know Spanish, but not the other way around. So when you go to Madrid, and if I want to, I want to have kids and I moved to Madrid with my partner, I can't ensure that my kids are going to maintain the language, right. So in that respect, the Spanish constitution does not protect me as a Basque speaker or as a citizen of Spain. So in that respect, I do feel that there is a huge gap there. Yes, we have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. So also in terms of nationalism. So there is there is some oftentimes a belief that they only nationalist regions are the ones that speak another language other than in Spanish, but there is also Spanish nationalism, right? And this also has to do with power issues in the sense that nobody questions that knowledge of Spanish, but everybody keeps asking us about why do you speak Basque? And they said, Well, why do you speak Spanish? Right? So then other types of discrimination also have to do with politics. So language and politics has been very entrenched in the Basque country and in Spain. So when terrorism in the Basque country and in Spain was at its peak by ETA terrorist group, or yeah, so oftentimes, when these people were being convicted, they had the right to have a hearing or a trial that was in Basque but that right was not given to them, right. So there is stuff we do have some issues of language discrimination. And obviously, acts of terrorism, one of the most punishable crimes in Spain. And language has had an impact in how those people are also being treated. There was also a law passed in the 90s, and this is when the peak of terrorism was there, in which Basque so some members of ETA would be taken to jail farther away from their families in the Basque country. And when families would go and visit them. Many were Spanish speakers only but many also were Basque speakers. And the language of the home was always Basque. So many Basque families would go and visit their relatives for prison. And the Spanish policeman would not allow them to speak Basque so that they could I know what they're talking about. So I do have Yeah, it was. So my dad is a schoolteacher, and he's about to retire in, actually, next week.

Carrie Gillon   Yay! Congratulations to your dad.

Itxaso   And so he taught Basque, even if he was not a native speaker of Basque he was a Basque teacher in a small school where Basque is spoken by 95% of the population there. And he had a student as a kid, because he taught primary school and he had a student that she was born in jail, because both of her parents were taken to jail prison for certain acts that they have they committed or whatever. And so she grew up with a grandma, and oftentimes she would go visit her parents. And there were moments in which she said, I'd rather go back home, than speak in Spanish to my parents.

Carrie Gillon   Wow.

Itxaso   So a sentence, they would go visit them to the other side of Spain in Andalusia and say, well, and that's a 12 hour drive. So let's go back because I can't communicate in a language. It's a foreign language to us, right? Doesn't mean that we hated Spanish, but it's the language of law, and we are being not allowed to use it. So there has been issues of discrimination at that level. Absolutely.

Carrie Gillon   That reminds me just very recently, there was a man who speaks Hawaiian and English because, of course, everyone else speaks English in Hawaii. But he spoke, he speaks both Hawaiian and English. And he is one of the official languages of Hawaii is Hawaiian, and he tried to use Hawaiian in the courtroom, and the judge just refused to, like, let him use this language. And anyway, the whole situation was very upsetting, because if it's an official language, you should be able to have a trial in your own language. That's how I feel it's a Canadian, where that is the law.

Itxaso   Absolutely. The way I this Spanish law would respond to that would say, oh, but Basque is not an official languages of Madrid, and these, these acts were being convicted in Audiencia Nacional or with the Supreme Court in Madrid, right. But still, you do have the right to have a translator, right. If that is the case. Right. You should have the right to express yourself in any language that you feel comfortable with. Because you're being convicted, right?

Megan Figueroa   Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

Carrie Gillon   Yeah, if there's any time when you should have your right to your language is definitely in a trial because the heavy hammer of the of the law, right, you need to be protected.

Itxaso   Absolutely. And I have examples myself, I mean, oftentimes, I have to admit that I take a lot of pride in my Basque language. And as a sociolinguist, I also played with power dynamics a lot. So when I go to Madrid, maybe for you know, a layover, but I fly back to Chicago or something like that. Sometimes, they look at my passport, and they're like, obviously, they look at my last name, I'm just like, Oh, Rodriguez. You know, she's Spanish, Spanish passport. But then they look at my name. And my name is written with a 'tx' which is also very symbolic of the Basque language and they're like, Oh, so do you are Basque, and then make comments and sometimes I'm like, yeah, that should not be a surprise, right? Why is it that I have to know more about you than you know about me. So now, every time I have a layover in Madrid, I speak in English to everybody and you know, they think I'm American because my accent they cannot notice my foreign right I speak more fluent English they they think that I am American and then when I show my password they say, "but you're a Spaniard! Why do you speak to us in English?" And I said, "why not? I feel more comfortable in English than speaking in Spanish." "But you're a Spaniard!" I said, "I'm not a Spaniard right? I didn't pick my citizenship." And, you know, well, I use English because this is an international airport. So at the same time, I'm trying to give a lesson. And here I'm too idealistic of what it means to speak an imperial language. So yeah, I am using another imperial language to show what it feels like to be posed a language. I don't think my sociolinguistic lessons in the airport work that well.

Carrie Gillon   Probably not. But it's worth a shot.

Itxaso   But hopefully they go home and think about this weird girl. I mean, I don't know, but it makes me feel better about myself, though.

Megan Figueroa   Would you actually say, is it true that your English is better you feel your English is better than your Spanish?

Itxaso   Absolutely not.

Megan Figueroa   No? Okay. Okay. That's a lie. Alright alright.

Itxaso   Well, I would say I would say that I mean, in order to talk about certain topics I feel better speaking in English. So if I have to talk about linguistic issues, I think my English is the stronger in that respect. I had to think harder to find vocabulary, the Spanish and so it's better in that respect, I do think.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah.

Itxaso   And I also have sometimes I forget words in Spanish as well. And then I'm thinking "Am I losing my Spanish" or but then it activates very quickly, but it is not uncommon to have to forget certain words.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah, so that's definitely something multilingual people worry about. Right? Is Am I losing x? Or am I losing? Yeah, it's part of your identity, right?

Itxaso   Yes.

Megan Figueroa   It's so I wonder how do you identify when you when you think of all the languages you speak.

I feel Basque. I feel very Basque. However, I feel very conflicted, because I don't use Basque very often because I don't have anybody around me to speak it with. So at the same time, I have to admit that I have developed an identity of an English speaker too, right. Also because my most immediate loving person is an English speaker right. So I speak English with my partner and but at the same time I feel very Basque and the more farther away and the longer I remain in this country in the United States I feel more Basque actually and I'm just starting to realize that I'm becoming part of our diaspora myself, which is something that it's it's very common after you leave home for a long time, right. Although I still have strong ties with my homeland, right, but and then those issues of discrimination also transcend into the host country. So interestingly enough so my father My father still feels very discriminated against in the hometown that I grew up in. For instance, he he is the result of big migration of monolingual Spanish speaker from Spain into the Basque country that happened in the 60s so my grandfather moved to the Basque country to Bilbao to the big city of Bilbao for work and my my my dad was 10 years old so when he moved there and then he learned Basque. He learned standard Basque and then he mored with my mom to this small town Guernica that has a large population of Spanish migrants but at the same time very very Basque-rooted culture and a regional dialect so oftentimes they will comment on his Basque that people would say "oh it's interesting to see a Spaniard speak Basque, right, but at the same time your Basque is different for us, you didn't learn at home you are not one of us" right

Carrie Gillon   Yeah.

Megan Figueroa   So I remember interviewing my father and asking him "you lived in the Basque century for longer that you have lived in Spain or monolingual Spain" and say "do you feel bad?" and he would respond to me he said "it doesn't matter how I feel because everybody has made me feel as an outsider."

Carrie Gillon   Yeah

Itxaso   And that was very tough to hear because my parents did everything they could. First they have been big proponents of revitalization of the Basque  language they have played a huge role people like them and there are lots of people that praise them for that and by my dad he still doesn't feel like he belongs there mainly because of his ethnicity or because the variety he speaks and then I asked him "how do you how do you compensate for that or what have you done Have you hard Have you tried hard" and he said "oh absolutely" so for him being Basque is what we in sociolinguists call doing Basque because identity is a constant process of working forwardness. We are constantly practicing our identities, whether they're conscious or unconscious, I my dad has had a huge has been very conscious about it he always wanted to construct his Basqueness through different practices. So for instance, he, he goes to lots of Basque ritualistic events, he engages, he volunteers for teaching Basque to immigrants, other immigrants he also engages in there is a cycling club and cycling also has a strong connection with the Basque entity. So he's invested in capturing kids to sports, to the sports that are connected with the Basque country and mountains and those kinds of things.

Megan Figueroa   It's It's so hard to hear, just because I mean, it's all the same, right? So linguistic discrimination across the world, I'm like, oh, what's happening in the Basque country is what's happening in the US for for people that don't speak English. Or who want to keep their mother tongue?

Itxaso   Their mother? Yeah, absolutely. And we see that these patterns of discrimination, there's a lot of similarities. And in fact, it has to do with issues of power. But how those power relations are being established, obviously, has the consequences come from the historical events as well. Right. So how is it that Basque speakers are being discriminated against within the Basque country? Because that also happens, right? So in my own research, I'm able to show so one of the questions that I seek to ask is, so the revitalization of the Basque language has been considered one of the most successful ones in Europe. Why, because we went from only speaking, only few speakers would speak it. But after the standardization of Basque and the co-officiality with Spanish and the implementation of Basque in school, would you say that young people 90% of the young population and by young with mean 30 or 35 years old or younger, can actually speak Basque. They're competent speakers of Basque and Spanish. Obviously, there are varying degrees, but they have gone to school immersion programs in Basque and the government has done huge work on being able for Basque people to have those resources, but they use of Basque has remained quite stable, there has been some gains, meaning that maybe we had an increase of 5% or 10%. And obviously, these vary in terms of region. So one of the questions that I seek to ask in my research is that why is that the use of Basque remains low compared to the case so there are many bilinguals or all the gains in in bilingual speakers that we have been able to obtain. And one of the answers that we have, it has to do with identity. So many business, many speakers who learn Basque from early on they speak they learned the Basque the standard Basque variety in school, they start as early as three years old. So, but they don't consider themselves native speakers of the language, even if they are very, very fluent they still consider themselves non-native speakers, and, because of the ideologies or the mother tongue ideology, they also believe that they're not authentic enough, because they haven't learned it at home. So that's one of the issues that that is happening right now. And also, how is it that contact with Spanish and the contact features of grammatical aspects they incorporate in the Spanish contributes to their lack of authenticity, or actual authenticity, and here, it's very interesting because we see a pattern in which if you spoke if you learned a regional variety of Basque, and you use Spanish words, it's okay, because you are considered an authentic member of society of the Basque speaking community, because it's implied that you have learned the language at home, although it's not necessarily the case, right? But it implies that oftentimes, but what happens when somebody who speaks the standard Basque actually uses a Spanish word in it, or code-switches, meaning that they change, they say, a sentence in Spanish, and then another one in Basque, it actually contributes to their lack of authenticity. So many of the people that I interview they asked me, "Why is it that I'm not allowed to mix languages, when all those people who are very authentic are able to do it", and they're very aware that if they want to mix the language, which is common when you're learning a language, you should do it with the regional variety. So actually, one of the things that it's been suggested by other sociolinguists in the Basque country, is that, we should promote varieties in the classroom as well. So that these speakers have access to data authenticity. Yeah, so hopefully, that will pan out. But but we will see,

Carrie Gillon   I mean that makes total sense to me.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything that you want our listeners to take away from this about Basque? Let me tell you what I took away I am I just had no idea that people would refer to themselves as Basque like, I knew the Basque language existed, I didn't think about it as an ethnicity I just didn't think didn't think!

Itxaso   Yes. And if they just did that, because one one last thing I would like to say is that we have different labels for different types of Basque. So for instance, we called euskalu zaharra, which means old speaker of Basque, but that has nothing to do with age. That means that you, you, you probably learned the language at home, you probably speak a variety, a regional variety, old speaker of Basque means pre-standardization, right whereas euskalu berriaren, which means, euskalu means Basque, berriaren means new, which means that you are a new Basque, right? And you probably speak the standard, right? So you are from a different era, and now we're starting sociolinguists are starting to say, should we use this term? How racial is it, even if it's about language, it also brings into question issues of ethnicity and linguistic properties, right? And authenticity. So that this also happens in in in the United States and everywhere, right? with Spanish, what does it mean to be Spanish? What does it mean to be Latino, what it means to be Chicano, what does it mean to be other/American, right, and these kinds of diversifications that are obviously socially constructed, we do have that in the Basque country too. Yeah, I do feel very Basque. And I have to admit that I I wouldn't say that I take pride in it? Maybe some people will say, "Oh, my God, you're so stubborn." And I say "well, when your identity is being questioned all the time, you could be stubborn."

Carrie Gillon   There's the pull quote.

Megan Figueroa   Yeah, exactly. That's true. I'm sure there are a lot of people I feel exactly as you do about that.

Itxaso   Yeah. Why do I have to explain myself ALL the time?

Megan Figueroa   Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on and speaking with us. It was great.

Carrie Gillon   Thank you so much.

Itxaso   This was super exciting.

Carrie Gillon   And as we always say, don't be an asshole.

Megan Figueroa   Don't be an asshole. Bye!

Carrie Gillon   Bye!

Itxaso   Agur! Agur! That's the word for goodbye in Basque: agur!

CARRIE: The Vocal Fries Podcast is produced by Chris Ayers for Halftone Audio. Music by Nick Granum. You can find us on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @vocalfriespod. You can email us at [email protected].  

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

#Basque #basque country #linguistic discrimination #sociolinguistics #spanish #french #spanish basque country #french basque country #euskara #transcript

[tiinkers-tales]

i really need to take this out of my chest and mind and for some reason i think the best way to end up with this struggle is leaving it here. i feel that this hasn’t let me finish the last year nor start this year properly and since i want to update my blog, i think it’s necessary...

it all started at the end of 2017 and the very beginning of 2018, i think. i had this cat for years that wasn’t officially mine but it happened he came one day and we loved him as our pet and fed him, i called him Cheese (because of his blonde fur). parallel to this, my neighbours had three cats (all females), my neighbours are known for being a disaster of people (if they’re not doing drugs, then they’re drunk af) and mistreat their pets (they have a little girl around 10 or more that kicks and hit them, she even is the responsible of one of the kitten losing her right eye, so imagine that shit). knowing they never fed them, i started to leave food to one of the cats (the older one), eventually the three of them came to my garden because we became the saviour to them in a way (my dad and me gave them food and especially me gave them love). the neighbour (the woman) noticed this and started to do comments like “they’re a traitors!! they come here more often” or “they’re so shameless, they eat there and then come to eat here” (like thinking we were stupid enough to ignore the fact they did not eat at all). 

we didn’t give up on feeding them, i even put them names so i could identify them easier: the older one is Luna (the spanish form of “moon”, basically because when i was thinking a name for her, i spotted the moon from my room lmao), the middle one is Bette Davis (because she has big beautiful eyes) and the little one with just one eye is Toffee (because her fur is white, black and light brown, the mix of light brown and black reminded me of those sweets). 

even though, Cheese stopped to come home (whatever the reason is, if it’s because he was uncomfortable for seeing other cats, or because he was too old and he was still a street cat after all) and i haven’t seen him since late October, 2018, i prepared myself before this happened, so it didn’t affect me too much and i tried to take care of the other cats (even if technically they weren’t mine). suddenly, Luna stayed more here than at my neighbour’s, like she wasn’t theirs anymore, she was even inside my home and gave us a lot of joy. while the other cats didn’t stop coming for a bit of love and food, oh, and one kitty was included to the family (a Bette Davis’ daughter), i called her Milky (for the blur’s video character, from Coffee & Tv) and she was very cute and i really loved her. but Luna showed herself like being the favourite cat of us and the guardian one of my house. Those were really great times, you know? she gave me a lot of great times, a lot of laughs and company, like she cleaned my room with her energy. 

however, things started to get complex, because Toffee and Bette Davis got pregnant (my neighbour never took them to the vet for a surgery). First of all, Toffee had her babies in my garden and she had a little complication because it was the first time for her, but my neighbour and her stupid daughter came and took her, so we were fine. Then, it was the turn of Bette Davis... but first, we found out that Milky was pregnant too, yikes. here things get harder: one day Bette Davis just started to meowing at my window, persisting a lot, i knew something was going to happen and i went to check her and she basically was asking for me to prepare her a place to have her babies, i knew that i was going to get into troubles with my parents but i didn’t care and let her my room. 

So, the next day i had to face my parents, they were shocked but they didn’t make a problem over it. And things started to get even more stressful and harder to me, because i didn’t want the kitties went to my neighbours, because i knew they wouldn’t survive (ah, that’s another point, whenever the cats had babies, barely one of them survived) and the neighbour started to come here and ask for them, my parents... they were horrible, they were promising me that we would take care of them and everything was nice, but then as soon as mum changed her mind they both were against me, i had many, many arguments with them (just because they said me one thing and then change their minds and pretend i was fine with that). and well... i don’t want to get into many details, because they were the worst days of my life, i just wanted the kitties to be safe and felt loved, so i had to leave everything, i barely was sleeping well and i cried a lot, even had some breakdowns (and of course, i did my best to come here and try to reply messages or distract myself). besides since Luna was so jealous of the kittens and could attack them, i had to stop her from coming inside.

when it was finally settled down that the kitties were going to be here and we were going to find someone to take care of them (you know, new owners), i found out that Milky (the last pregnant kitty) had her babies and few days after died of unknown reasons. this was too hard to me to get over it, and i couldn’t cry enough because they didn’t even let me visit her and probably they just threw her to the trash. and i couldn’t do much because i was taking care of the kittens (Bette Davis at this point stopped to breastfeed them and she for some reason took care of Milky’s babies, so that wasn’t too bad). the days passed by, nobody came for the kitties.  until christmas, two people came for two kittens (they were 6 in total), i wasn’t ready at all even if i knew i couldn’t keep them all, and of course, it was the worst christmas i’ve ever had. since this left me a kind of trauma, i firmly said to mum that i would not give any more kittens and i would take care of the 4 left. everything seemed okay, i gave them their official names and such. but then, on the first sunday of january of this year, my mum gave two kittens to relative ones without my permission and this... this simply was the last thing. i was destroyed, i felt like they just destroyed my little family, my happiness, because even if i was scared of the future or what would happen next, the kittens were keeping me sane, giving me a reason to fight and then, it was just taken away from me. again, i had to push everything away and keep it cool, like nothing happened, but few weeks after i couldn’t resist anymore and i had a breakdown. these events that i didn’t “suffered” in time and tried to ignore, they ended up of me getting worse (it could be triggering to some people so i won’t get into details neither).  ...and all of this can be so stupid and meaningless to some (”meh, they’re just pets, get over it, lmao”) those kind of people, you know, but if to all of this you add the fact that i’m from a toxic ass family and i have depression, things aren’t that easy to deal with. 

i’ve known that Luna is living now at another’s neighbour and she’s fine, but i miss her so much, i miss those quiet and ‘happy’ days. i miss Milky so much but i’ll keep just the happy moments with her, it’s the best i can do. i miss the kittens that now have new homes, i really do hope they’re happy, i’ll keep the beautiful memories with me and hopefully their new owners will let me meet them again one day. 

as for me... now i have to take care of the two kittens (Jeremy and Frankie) i have left and hopefully things will get better. 

#personal #i didn't want to include any pictures of them because it would just make things harder to me #i'm already too emotional #so i'm so sorry if any of you wanted to meet them #and i apologize for everything

[btsex]

More Than Friends

Pairing: Yoongi x Female Reader

Genre: Smut 

Word Count: 3,330

Summary: You beg your best friend Yoongi to go with you to Jungkook’s party only for things to go horribly wrong, and the night ends with and unexpected turn of events.

A/N: Can we just pretend that his hair is green in this gif? If you read it you’ll know why. But it was so hot I couldn’t stop myself from using it.

Yoongi had been your best friend since you started high school. You spent all of your time together, and if you weren’t together then you were texting or talking on the phone. It was senior year and you were trying to make the most of it. You had just got invited to Jungkook’s party and you could not let this opportunity go to waste. “Yoongi, we should go to the party tonight! Please don’t make me go by myself, I’ll look like a loser,” you pouted looking over at your best friend. He scuffed and rolled his eyes, “First of all, you are a loser, and second of all you know I hate parties, (Y/N). Can’t we just watch a movie at your place?” You knew it was going to take some convincing because if there was one thing Yoongi truly hated, it was a bunch of teenagers either being wasted or pretending to be all in a small room together. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” you propositioned. “How about we go to the party and then we can leave early and go back to my place and watch a movie? You can even sleep over! I’ll convince my mom, I promise,” you squealed stopping in the middle of the hallway blocking his path. Yoongi rolled his eyes, “Fine, I’ll go, but only if you can convince your mom.” “Okay my mom will probably, well, my mom will definitely say no, but you can sneak in again! Thank you so much, really you’re the best.” You smiled sincerely looking down at your watch, “I have to go, I have Spanish third period. Thank you Yoongi! I’ll make sure you don’t regret it!”

Despite being your best friend, Yoongi thought of you as so much more. In fact the whole reason that you and him are friends today is because he wanted to get your phone number so he could ask you out. But that never happened, the timing was never right, and he was pretty sure that he had been permanently friendzoned. He really did hate parties, but the real reason that he didn’t want to go is because of whose party it was. You had a crush on Jungkook and you didn’t realize it but it was constantly hurting Yoongi, so the last thing he wanted was to go with you, his crush, to Jungkook’s party. He could never say no to you though, so he agreed to it, but he was going to do his best to keep you away from Jungkook. 

It felt like an eternity, but school was finally over. Your mom picked you up from school, it was something she had insisted on doing ever since you were in Pre-k. You walked to your room and praised yourself for buying clothes last week. You had been dying to wear your new white skirt and your green and white long sleeved striped shirt that Yoongi had forced you to buy. Before you actually started to get ready you were lost in thought thinking about what the night would bring. You honestly hoped you would get to dance with Jungkook, or at least get to talk to him. I mean he personally invited you to his party, he had to have an alternative motive behind it. Truth is you wanted him, you had for months now. What was there not to like? He was the MVP of the baseball team,he was top of his class, and he was dead down handsome.

You needed to make an impression. You felt like you and Jungkook had obviously met before, but you haven’t truly gotten to know each other. It didn’t take you nearly as long as you thought it usually did to get ready, must’ve been your  nerves. You were lacing up your combat boots before you were interrupted by a knock at your bedroom door. You opened the door only to see a green haired Yoongi. You smiled approvingly at his new hair color choice, “Oh my god, we’re matching! Your hair and my shirt! I’ll only be a few more minutes, I only have to put jewelry on,” you said trying to rush. “Take your time,” he replied nonchalantly laying down on your bed, folding his arms on his chest. You put a few bracelets on your wrist, a ring on your middle finger and attempted to put on your silver heart necklace. Your fingers slipped every time you got close to finally hooking it. 

You attempted several times, but could not seem to keep your grip on the clasp, it was impossible. You groaned out in frustration, looking over to where Yoongi was laying. “Give it here, I’ll do it” he muttered holding his hand out. He stood up behind you, just tall enough for you to be able to see his  nose in the reflection of the mirror. You pulled your hair around to your shoulder, allowing him to be able to see the back of your neck. He hooked the necklace with ease, moving your hair back to its original state. “How do I look?” you asked. His hands found their way to your hips resting there. He looked you up and down in the mirror, “You look beautiful.” His sincere words made your heart flutter, but he couldn’t say or do what he really wanted to. There you were practically in the palm of his hands. He would have took you right then and there. He wanted nothing more than his hard cock to be buried inside of you while he made you watch how good he fucked you in the mirror. His heart begged him to confess, and his cock begged him to take you. But his mind stopped him. He feared rejection and making things awkward between the two more than anything, despite how much he wanted you. He wanted to be close to you no matter what, and he couldn’t bare the thought of the idea that he could lose you. You hopped in the passenger seat of Yoongi’s car, hooking your phone up to the aux immediately.  You and Yoongi sung along to a few songs before you got curious and lowered the music down, letting the song become background noise. “What’s Jungkook like?” Yoongi looked over at you and then immediately back to the road, “Jungkook, is an asshole.” You shook your head in disbelief, “Aw c’mon, Yoongi, you know people can change.” He was quick with his reply, Jungkook was once someone that Yoongi considered a friend, “Yeah, people can change. Jungkook wasn’t always an asshole.” You decided to press any further, you noticed the annoyance in his voice.

You pulled up to the plain looking house, parking along the side way beside a red mustang. You could feel the vibrations of the music as you walked into the doors of Jungkook’s house. You hurried back to the kitchen to get a drink, and hoping to catch a glimpse of Jungkook. You unsuccessfully made your way back out to Yoongi who was leaning against the wall. You reached him his cup and you both took a sip of your drinks. Your eyes made their way to the living room focusing on the hopefully drunk people dancing. You took the cup out of Yoongi’s hands, “Hey, I was drinking that,” he pleaded. “Dance with me,” you smiled grabbing both of his hands. He shook his head grinning, “Dancings not really my thing sweetheart. I’d much rather stand here and watch you dance,” he cocked a brow. “Please,” you begged, “it’ll be fun.”

You drug Yoongi out to where the people were dancing and started to move your body to the beat of the music. Yoongi moved awkwardly and timidly. “Wow, you really weren’t lying when you said dancing wasn’t your thing,” you covered your mouth giggling uncontrollably. “Here, try it like this.” You placed his hand on the familiar place of your hips “Just follow my lead,” you whispered into his ear. You turned around so that way your back was facing his front, and the two of you swayed at the same pace. You were having fun letting go and cutting loose, until a dark gaze met yours. You locked eyes with a smirking Jungkook. You moved out of Yoongi’s grip, attempting to make your way over to him. 

You tried to maneuver your way through the crowded room. “Watch where you’re going!” A blonde girl scowled at you after spilling red liquid all over the front of your shirt. You looked down at the soaking and stained red material turning in the opposite direction. You ran the opposite way of Jungkook in attempt to find the nearest bathroom. 

With you gone Yoongi had no reason to be on the dance floor, so he decided to go back to the wall that he was comfortably leaning on before. “Yoongi! Long time no see, bro!” Yoongi heard a familiar voice scream from across the room. Jungkook walked over to where he was, still with a smug smile plastered all over his face and a drink in his hand. “Hey Jungkook.” Yoongi was already done with this conversation. For as close as him and Jungkook use to be, he couldn’t stand him now. “So, I seen you dancing with (Y/N), I and was wondering,” Jungkook paused, “are you and her dating?” “It depends, who wants to know?” He asked obvious annoyed. “I was wondering if maybe you could put in a good word about me to her and maybe feel around and see if she likes me? I think I’m gonna ask her out.” Yoongi wanted to knock that smug look off of the black haired boys face, but instead he just pretended to not care. “I’ll see what I can do,” he lied. “Great, thanks bro! I really owe you one,” Jungkook looked around before leaning closer to Yoongi’s ear, “I heard she’s a good fuck.” That’s where Yoongi snapped, he had lost it. He was right about Jungkook, still an asshole. He could feel his blood start to boil and he resisted every urge in his body telling him to punch him right then and there. “Noted,” Yoongi said through gritted teeth. 

Yoongi left his spot on the wall in search for you. He knew where you’d be, he seen it when that rude, dumb, drunk girl spilled her drink all over of you. He walked up stairs and knocked on the door of the bathroom, “(Y/N), are you in there?” Instead of answering, you just opened up the door. Somehow you had managed to make the big red stain look ten times worse. “You were right, we shouldn’t have went to this party,” you looked down at the red spot. “Here, come with me.” 

Yoongi knew his way around the house, and he brought you into the room that he knew was Jungkook’s. “You can wear my jacket.” Yoongi slipped out of the satin blue bomber jacket he was wearing reaching it to you. “Thank you,” you sat the jacket on the bed and started to tug at the bottom of your shirt, “turn around.” But Yoongi didn’t, “(Y/N), there’s something I need to tell you?” “What is it? This shirt is freezing me to death, please be quick.” Yoongi looked you up and down, impulsively speaking, “I love you (Y/N), I have for years,” his breath hitched. The tension was thick as you started nearing closer and closer to his lips, “and I want you (Y/N). I want you so bad.” You closed the remaining space between the two of you, bringing your lips up to his. His mouth moved flawlessly against your own, you deepened the kiss, grabbing a fist full of freshly dyed mint green hair. You pulled away to catch your breath “I love you too, Yoongi. I’ve always loved you.” “I thought you liked, Jungkook?” He questioned, you could see the confusion all over his face. You smirked looking at him, wrapping your hands around his neck. “That’s because I thought I couldn’t have you.” 

Yoongi grabbed you by your waist reconnecting your mouths. His lips moved down your neck, sucking harshly on the exposed skin, purposefully leaving a mark. “For so fucking long, I’ve wanted to have you like this,” he admitted. You playfully pushed him down onto the bed. You straddled his hips before removing your shirt. His hot hands clashed with your cold soft flesh. You leaned down kissing his lips once, moving down onto his neck. You left a trail of sloppy kisses down as far as you could and tugged on the bottom of his shirt. He removed the piece of clothing, revealing his beautiful pale torso. Your hands raked down his skin. You kissed all the way down to where his belt buckle was and undid it, trying to get to his hard manhood. You tugged down his black jeans and his boxers, the only thing standing in between you and what you really wanted. 

You wrapped your hand around his thick length, pumping your hand back and forth. You kissed the tip, looking up at him through your eyelashes. You seen Yoongi bite his lip and you placed your lips around the cock. You sucked softly and began to move your head up and down. “You look so pretty with my cock in your mouth, (Y/N)” Yoongi muttered moving your hair out of your eyes so he could look into them. You laughed slightly, sending vibrations down his manhood. He let a few shameless moans escape his lips. He bucked his hips off the bed when you reached down to his balls, lightly playing with them. You removed your mouth from his length and kissed all the way down to where your hands were. Your tongue made contact with one of his balls, earning a throaty moan. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum,” he breathed out. You moved your hands up to his hard shaft, pumping wholeheartedly. After a few pumps he shot his hot load all onto your hands, becoming a moaning mess. You gathered up what you could of his cum onto your fingers, bringing it up to your mouth sucking the liquid off of them. “Fuck, that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” Yoongi rasped out. 

“Your turn, baby girl.” Yoongi flipped you, laying you down in the same place he was only seconds ago. He caressed your face while looking into your eyes. His lips met your swollen ones, but moved away quickly eager to please you. He unbutton your skirt and slid it down your legs. You praised yourself for wearing cute underwear as he teased you through the thin material. His tongue made contact with your damp panties, to give you a preview of what’s about to happen. He pulled your panties to the side. He forcefully spread your thighs open more, giving him a better look at your sex. 

You felt a blush start, setting your face on fire. His fingers massaged your folds, rubbing your arousal all over your womanhood. “Yoongi, please don’t tease me anymore. Please, just do something,” you whimpered out, your body getting the best of you. “What do you want me to do to you, (Y/N)?” Yoongi’s finger rubbed your clit, causing you to try and push your thighs back together. “Oh no baby girl, keep them spread for me,” he put his other hand on your inner thigh pushing it back out. “Please, I beg of you, please finger me. I need you,” you pleaded. “Anything for you,” he said slipping two fingers into your wet core. You couldn’t stop yourself from whimpering at the feeling of his fingers enter you. His tongue flicked at your clit, setting your whole body on fire this time. His fingers pumped in and out of you while his mouth continued to attack your clit. His fingers curved perfectly inside you and his tongue moved with expertise. “I’m close,” you muttered grabbing fist fulls of Jungkook’s bedsheets. This only made Yoongi added another finger in attempts to make you cum hard and fast. The feeling of his fingers filling you was all too much, you practically screamed out moaning a few curse words here and there and his name. 

Yoongi removed his fingers and lapped at your core, cleaning you up. You tugged at his hair letting him know to come back up. “Yoongi, I want you to fuck me,” you said not breaking eye contact. He kissed you again for what felt like the millionth time tonight, but it was a feeling you felt like you were never going to get tired off. He positioned his length tauntingly, before sliding in easily. He placed himself and stayed there for a moment letting you adjust to his size, struggling to not move his hips anymore. After a moment you bucked your hips up wanting more. Yoongi pulled completely out of you, only to ram himself right back in. His hips met and left yours several times, the sounds of your skin slapping together making it so much better. Your sex tightens around his cock as he hit all the right spots, “Fuck, sweetheart. Yeah, just like that,” he growled. And suddenly that little pet name that Yoongi had called you for years had a whole new sound to it. You wrapped your arms around his torso, allowing him to thrust even deeper into you. “Mmh, I love you (Y/N),” Yoongi said in between a moan and a growl. Your hands tangled themselves in his hair and you brought his face to yours. You kissed him with passion as he harshly pumped in and out of you. Your orgasm over took you when he brought his fingers down to your already sensitive clit. You turned away from the kiss, moaning out in intense pleasure, “Yoongi, you fuck me so good!” You screamed. That was all it took to push him to his orgasm. He pulled out of you and wrapped around his cock. He pumped a few times before a white liquid was now all over your stomach.

  Yoongi collapsed next you you, reaching you your already ruined shirt to wipe his cum off of you. The two of your attentions turned to the door handle and you heard someone messing with it. “Who the fuck, is fucking in my room!?” Jungkook screamed out while pounding on the white door. “Get the fuck out now, party’s over!” You looked over at Yoongi, wide eyes and embarrassed. “Here put this on,” Yoongi reached you his jacket and you complied. You both quickly changed into your clothes, and opened up the door only to see a pissed off Jungkook. His arms were crossed over his chest, “What the actual fuck” he paused in between every word. You avoided his gaze and Yoongi shut the door behind him, “Go on out to the car, (Y/N). I’ll meet you out there. I’ve got something I’ve got to say to Jungkook.” You nodded your head wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. 

Jungkook rolled his eyes and balled his fist, but before he could say anything Yoongi spoke up. “You know what Jeon, you were right. (Y/N) was a good fuck.,” he said using air quotations. “Oh but sorry, I guess you’ll never know,” he shrugged. “We’ll see you at school, bro.” Yoongi left before Jungkook could reply, throwing a hand up waving with his back to him. He made he was down to the car that you were already in. “So, did your mom say I could stay over?” Yoongi asked with a suggestive tone. “I think you already know the answer to that,” you rolled your eyes not being able to hold back your laugh. “But you’re definitely staying over nothing,” you whispered placing your hand on his thigh as he drove to your place. 

- Luxe🍬👑

#bts smut #yoongi smut #smut #bts #yoongi #min yoongi #suga #suga smut #jungkook #jeon jungkook #jungkook smut #taehyung #v bts #kim taehyung #namjoon #rm #jhope #hoseok #jin #seokjin #jimin #park jimin #luxe #admin luxe