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uhohdad · 10 months

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EXPERIMENTAL - Konig Fic Part 2

Summary: Konig helps Researcher!Reader with a new technology they’ve been developing.

Part one: X

AO3 Link: X

Warnings: Flirting, Sexual Content, NSFW, Reader x Konig, talk of standard war stuff, Reader is a bit of a pervert. Non-con Voyeurism. Reader has anxious thoughts/low-self esteem-ish? No use of y/n, abduction, bondage, blood and injury.

Word Count: 7.2k

Reader gender/sex is incomprehensible cause I do it for the girls, the gays, and the theys

NSFW under the cut

It probably didn’t mean anything, right?

How common is your name, really? He probably was just thinking about his girlfriend or wife at home who just happens to share the same name as you, the same wife he didn’t happen to mention during your introductions - even if it would have been a really good icebreaker.

Yeah, that’s it.

It couldn’t have been about you.

Could it?

Your thoughts are spiraling now, not giving yourself the room to dissect one detail before your brain throws another at you. You still haven’t moved, wide eyes watching warm light reflect on his skin as he basks in post-orgasm bliss.

He’s still for a while, and you’re wondering if the finish had tired him out enough to lull him into a nap.

After a few minutes of watching the rise and fall of his chest, you decide the show was over and closed out of the software. There was some part of you, some part you’d hoped wouldn’t ever come to light, that decided to keep his feed connected.

You’ve crossed so many lines already. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

You feel like you’ve ruined whatever chance you’ve had with him, violating his privacy like this. This was a man that wasn’t even comfortable showing his face, how did you think he was going to feel knowing a stranger has not only seen him fully naked but watched him jerk his cock to completion?

He doesn’t have to know. No one has to know. It’ll be our little secret and we’ll just pretend it never happened.

Yeah, you acted real casual today when you hadn’t done a horrible, awful, perverted thing. I’m sure you’ll act real casual the next time you have to look him in the eyes.

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

You rest your head on your keyboard not-so-gently, accidentally booting up an ancient mail software that was sure to kick your laptop’s fans into overdrive. An audible groan leaves your mouth.

Who knew non-consensual voyeurism would leave such a horrific feeling of guilt in the pit of your stomach?

That and the arousal that sits right underneath. Your underwear now had a wet stain from watching the show, unconsciously rubbing your thighs together as you had.

There was no way you were going to be able to focus on work now. You had been planning on staying late, but there’s no way you can analyze today’s data. Review his feed. Replay your conversations. Hear his breathing…

No, you just can’t do it right now. It’s too much.

You do a quick round of the lab, performing a sloppy iteration of your closing procedures, pack up your things, and head out for the day.

Before you do, you decide you might as well round out the horrific deed by doing one last terrible thing.

You pair your personal cell phone to the software and send yourself the erotic recording of Konig.

You’ll start fresh tomorrow, you decide.

————————————————————-

You most certainly did not start fresh tomorrow.

The next few days are a vicious cycle.

Go to work. Review Konig’s simulation footage. Fantasize. Feel guilty. Review raw data. Think about Konig touching himself. Feel aroused. Feel guilty. Rewrite codes. Go home. Watch erotic recording. Feel aroused. Get off.

Feel guilty.

You can’t help it. You’re out of control, an addict desperate to get their fix, ashamed of their actions but lacking the willpower to quit.

How are you supposed to stop thinking about him when all day at work you’re watching him fight his way through the shoot house, strong hands gripping his gun, and hearing to that laugh?

How can you go home and ignore the recording of him finishing while moaning your name?

You must have replayed it a thousand times. He moaned it like he was begging you, pleading with you. Such a powerful man choking on your name. Even after a full week had passed, it still had the power to excite you in ways you haven’t felt in ages.

Your next meeting with Konig was scheduled for today and if you had to judge solely by the feeling in your gut, you would’ve guessed you had eaten rocks for breakfast. Your brain tells you to flee and fast but your body is promised to these four walls. Your leg bounces as you pick at the fingers that beg for something to do besides type code.

You wanted to call it off. Tell Konig you weren’t feeling well and you’d try again next week. Or maybe hit the bricks entirely. Just walk out of the building and never look back. Forget about everything.

You’re reconsidering your career choices as a steady knock on the lab’s swinging door rips you from your thoughts.

Your wince before you look up, quickly plastering what you hope is a convincing smile on your face.

He catches your eyes through the glass and you notice them crinkle, unable to place an emotion to it. You’d been dreading this moment all week. Even going so far as to avoid looking at his live feed after the incident, just in case you weren’t able to feign the natural responses of hearing his recounts for the ‘first’ time. That in addition to the intrapersonal understanding that you couldn’t handle carrying anymore guilt-rocks in your stomach.

Looking him in the eyes was as hard as you imagined it to be. He pushes open the door and steps in, standing hesitantly near the entrance like he did last week. You notice he has a notepad in one hand, and it looks so comically small compared to his size. Like a giant holding a sticky note. In the other he holds your earpiece in an open palm, as if hesitant to wrap his fingers around it.

It doesn’t help that the first word that left his mouth as he entered the lab was your name. Flashbacks to his sweaty body, shuddering in pleasure as he came all over his rippling muscles grab your attention.

He had followed it up with something, but you had been too distracted to catch it. You close your eyes, touching your hand to your forehead.

You were not doing a very good job hiding your fluster.

“I’m so sorry- what’d you say?” You give a small laugh, partly to ease the tension in your chest and partly at the situation itself. It’s not funny, you know that. It’s terrible. So terribly ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh at yourself for getting yourself into this mess. Your hand follows through the rest of your hair in an effort to soothe yourself before falling back down at your side.

“Good to see you.” He repeats, tilting his head, taking just a few careful steps closer to you. His eyes dart to the side briefly before returning to you, “Is everything okay?”

You give another weak laugh, “Yeah, sorry. Just still in the zone.” You gesture vaguely at scattered papers and devices on the table. You don’t give him a chance to pry further, “How was it?”

He takes a moment to eye you carefully, and you are sure he’s about to call your bluff before he responds, “Remarkable.”

You swallow, breaking eye contact with him again. It’s always been hard for you to accept a compliment. You're hoping he doesn’t notice the warmth creeping up your cheeks, but you know you have absolutely no right to such a request after what you’ve done.

He clears his throat before he continues, “I promised you I would have feedback. It wasn’t easy.” He holds his notepad up briefly as he steps up to the table to carefully set it down along with your earpiece. You can see from across the table he’s got a few scribbled sentences spaced out on the notepad. You take note of his sloppy handwriting from across the table, before realizing he didn’t write in English.

He looks down at his notes and you’re thankful you have something to stare at that’s not Konig’s eyes or intimidating frame. You’re trying hard not to think about the body filling out his gear. You’ve grown so accustomed to seeing him naked that it’s almost strange to see him with his uniform on.

You can tell he takes a deep breath before continuing and you wonder briefly if he’s nervous about sharing his feedback, worried he will hurt your feelings. “You mentioned before that it scans objects?” The end of his sentence lifts, almost like he’s asking you a question, “I think it would be good to make sure that the user is always made aware of landmines. I’m positive it will save lives.”

“Yes, absolutely. That’s a great idea.” You nod as you jot his ideas down on your laptop, a reminder to update your code.

You’re happy to be talking shop. Even happier to be talking about defensive designs instead of offensive ones.

The way he rubs his bicep with his opposing hand triggers a realization. You finally look at his eyes, his still staring down at his notes, and watch him for a moment.

The idea didn’t come from thin air.

You wonder what he saw, what traumatic memories are being replayed behind the downcast eyes to inspire such an idea.

You feel an ache in your chest for him, the desire to alienate his discomfort but unequipped to do so. Instead you look at him, your eyes swollen with sympathy and the corner of your mouth pinched in a frown.

He takes a moment before looking back up at you. He notices your warped expression but misinterprets it, “Am I overstepping?”

Your voice is low and you press a hand to your heart, “No, Konig, not at all. This is very helpful.” You’re not sure what else to say to him. What do you say to a man haunted by the violence he’s witnessed?

The only thing you can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.

You’re not working for the government anymore, you decided. You’re going to work for Konig. To tailor your device with the purpose to save and protect him.

So you stick to the topic at hand. “Any other ideas?” You ask, voice still soft with empathy as you glance down at the notes written in German.

“Uh,” He clears his throat again and touches the back of his neck over his hood, the fabric pulling a bit on the front, “Sometimes when we’re in the heat of things, I can’t always get to my remote.” He gestured to the band on his wrist. “Do you think it would be possible to have voice command?”

Your brain’s mulling over the possibility. You’re surprised you haven’t thought of it yet. You could eliminate the remote entirely, you’re sure your supervisor will be elated with the big savings on material costs. The earpiece already has a microphone for the comm, it wouldn’t be hard for you to configure it to an additional feature.

“Absolutely, voice control. That’s clever.” Your brain is already running with alternatives to the wrist remote as you type his ideas, “Do you go on a lot of missions that require stealth?” It’s easier to make eye contact with him when you’re discussing work. He nods, and you continue, “In addition to voice command, I could also add hand controls, able to identify and respond to the signal you give it - totally silent.” You tap your fingers on the table twice, “The only draw I can think of is having to memorize control signals.”

He thinks it over for a moment and shifts in his spot, “That’s even better.”

“I think it’ll be best to have both.” Your keyboard clicks under your fingers as you enter the ideas coming to you faster than you can get them down.

This is great. I’m not even thinking about-

Stop it.

“These are great, Konig, really. Anything else?”

Your encouragement makes him look away. You follow his stare as it darts to the side and then down to his notes. He places one hand on the table next to the notepad as he leans his weight onto it.

You briefly picture yourself between him and the table, his arm pinning you in as he towers over you, hunched to watch you like you’re his prey, chests so close they’re almost touching.

You quickly push the thought to the side, moving your attention back to your laptop. The only way to survive this meeting is to repress.

Repress your memories of what he looks like with his cock in his hand, arching his hips into the thrusts. Repress the sound of his moans and your name echoing clearly in your brain. Repress the guilt from the breach of privacy to the highest degree.

Please, just until we get through this.

You close your eyes and take a breath to collect yourself while he’s not looking.

He’s got other things written on the notepad, you’re sure. Unless the two ideas he’d already pitched managed to take up the whole page. “No.”

Your brows furrow, the question leaving your mouth without thought, “You’re sure?”

He pauses. You can tell he’s sitting on a thought, but you don’t know what.

“It’s okay. Like I said, it’s just a prototype. You won’t hurt my feelings.”

He straightens his posture before he speaks, “No. That was all I could think of.” He swallows, “If you feel I didn’t make good on my promise, I can fix it.”

“No, no!” You say with urgency, a hand shaking in his direction, “Those ideas you gave me were perfect. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t holding back on me.” A weak laugh escapes you. “I can’t stress how helpful this has been. I’m glad we’re doing this.”

Konig looks at you, those intimidating eyes staring at you from across the table. You wish you could see his face, hoping it would give some insight on what was going through his head. Even if you could you don’t think you’d be able to maintain eye contact.

He knows.

No, he doesn’t, shut up.

“I’ll keep thinking.” He says definitively, like he’s trying to right a wrong.

“You’ve only had it for a week,” you reassure, “Besides, you’ve given me plenty to work with.” You force a smile at him, not even caring how it’s coming off because you’re just hoping not to choke on the tension suffocating the room. You wonder if he feels it too, or if it’s all in your head.

He nods, and you look to your laptop in a futile attempt to thwart the dread suddenly pooling in your stomach. You’re reminded of what you’ve done when he crosses his arms, and your eyes are drawn to the same bicep on the arm that he used to pleasure himself. You’re picturing how it looks under his uniform, comparing it to your filthy reference. Your heart quickens and you can’t help but take in his build, even from across the long lab table. You feel extra small sitting on your stool while he stands, arms still crossed, staring.

The air between you two is definitely weird. Him getting off to probably-not-you and you watching but him not knowing that you know will certainly fill the room with a tension unlike any other.

These drawn-out silences are smothering you, not knowing what goes on being his hood.

He looks disappointed in you.

He knows.

“How can I help you in the meantime?”

You can’t help but breathe a small sigh of relief. You were planning on taking him back out to shoot house, running a few more simulations, and having him give feedback on a few more overlays.

You scrap that plan, looking forward to expanding on his ideas while your synapses are still firing.

“Well, here’s my thoughts so far. Landmine identification, the coding for that will be easy. The device already has the scanning capability for obscured objects. All I have to do is enable the specific object for full-time recognition. The hard part will be testing. I’ll have to meet with weapons development to develop prop landmines for simulation.”

You glance at the notes on your laptop, “Voice control - easy. Mic’s already installed and all I would have to do is add speech-to-text recognition, repurpose the wrist control coding, and then…testing.” Your hand finds the side of your face as you think it over, “Well, I may need to sample voice lines from you and a couple of your friends…” You loosely gesture with the same hand as you continue, “But there may be workarounds to that. Put a pin in that.” You’re on a roll now, “Now the hand controls - that might be more complicated. I’m thinking I’ll have to start fresh with the hardware.” You look up, “Then again… it already has the scanning capacity. I could probably just teach the current model with software alone. But the coding will take some time to figure out.”

Your eyes find him again. He’s staring and as per usual you can’t decipher it.

“Y’know,” you continue with a smile, “You could help me come up with hand signals?”

He nods.

He doesn’t give you much to work with, does he?

“I’ll need references of your hands. To teach the AI, is that okay?”

He looks down in a way that makes you feel so, so ashamed. If he is hesitant about recordings of just his gloved hands, how would he feel if he found out about what you did? About the video living on your phone?

After a moment he looks back up at you, “I’ll do it.” His voice is stern as usual, always treating everything with importance, with determination.

You give him another shaky smile, “Might be awhile. Wanna sit?”

He pulls up a stool to his end of the table and you instruct him to put his earpiece on as you return to your software on the laptop, trying not to trigger the memory of the last time you watched his feed. You pretend to resync your devices, glad he can’t see your screen. A wave of shame washes over you.

You’re both collaborating for some time, you offering a prompt and him stiffly coming up with a corresponding hand command. You supervise his feed, having him tilt his hands so the AI has references from multiple angles.

The rest of the meeting is professional and you manage to steady your obsessive thoughts as best you can. It’s hard to observe his hands and not think about the video, about what you watched those same hands do.

About how those hands would feel mapping all of the curves of your body.

How they would feel gripping onto your hips as you rode him.

How they would feel sneaking up your thighs, teasing you.

Somehow, you make it.

Once you decide you’ve covered enough references, Konig heads out, and you hope to continue staving off your thoughts by wasting no time on incorporating his ideas into your design. You’re hoping to have a least one rough draft done before next week’s meeting, so you plan on hunkering down and forfeit your Friday night to work overtime.

—————————————————————-

It’s late in the evening, you can tell by how your eyes are burning, strained from staring at your bright screen. You don’t bother to check the actual time. It would just bum you out. Spending your Friday night working. Not that you would have been doing anything partially exciting if you hadn’t. You probably would have just spent your evening analyzing footage anyway, just of a more perverted genre.

When you finally call it quits, the base is barren. Everyone’s gone home or retired to their quarters by now. It’s quiet after the base door shuts behind you, automatic locks clicking into place.

You’re feeling better after today’s meeting with Konig. Somewhere in the previous week you’d convinced yourself that he knew, that at any moment he was going to report you, and at any moment security would bust in the lab to escort you out.

Seeing him again, even though you couldn’t always figure out what he was thinking, reassured you that he hadn’t somehow telepathically figured out your terrible deed. You don’t think he would have bothered to keep helping you, or even be able to look at you without disgust if he did know.

The meeting also re-sparked your feelings of arousal and excitement. The knot in your lower abdomen made its presence known again. So much more desirable than the spiraling guilt. You’ve come to lean into the highs, enjoying it while you can, knowing soon you’ll be feeling nauseous at the thought of yourself.

You don’t know how much longer you can take the rollercoaster. This week has been exhausting. You can’t believe you’ve allowed this man to root himself into your life, seeping into every facet.

Career, personal, sexual, and - well, you’re still in denial about the romantic feelings - but it’s incredibly impressive how this man was capable of fucking your entire life up for the small price of a couple of hours and a few exchanged words.

When you finally get to the privacy of your home, you let out an audible groan. Loud enough to carry but quiet enough to not disturb the neighbors. You just needed to let something out, it was getting frustrating.

You didn’t want to think anymore, you didn’t want to think!

“Long day at work?”

You freeze, and the sound of heavy footsteps fill your ears. Two armed soldiers with fully equipped gear stride from the depth of your home, meeting you at the entrance.

The sight of them alone is enough to intimidate you. You instinctively back against the locked door, your trunk obscuring a hand moving towards the doorknob.

“Tsk, tsk. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”The taller of the two soldiers wears a black balaclava with a skull stitched in, his unimpressed stare drilling into you. You hear a click, and your wide eyes lock on to the gun in his hands, pointing right at your core.

You slowly release the doorknob, raising your shaking hands so they could see your palms.

“That’s good babe,” The other soldier speaks, but you’re too busy staring down the barrel of the gun to worry about it.

“I have to admit I’m a little upset with you,” Skull-face, as you appropriately nicknamed him, speaks as his eyes bore into you, “You kept us waiting a long time.”

He’s got some sort of thick accent laced into his grave voice, they both do, actually, but you’re too busy trying not to piss your pants to be able to place the region of origin.

A lump forms in your throat and you don’t think you‘ve taken a breath since you heard the unfamiliar voice in your home.

It’s violating. Them being here. Where you go after a long day of work to relax. Where you eat, sleep, shower, and just be.

How dare they defile and taint your safe place, where you hide away and pretend the exhausting world around you doesn’t exist?

You’re stuck, unsure of your next move and paralyzed with fear.

“We think you have something we want.”

You’re not sure what they mean, but you nod in compliance anyway. Not much you can say no to against two heavily armed men. You finally break your gaze away from the gun and take turns making frightful eye contact with them. You speak after a failed attempt of swallowing your fear, voice soft and broken, “Take it.”

They exchange a knowing glance with each other, the man with his face exposed bears an irritatingly smug grin.

Skull-face approaches you threateningly, sending fear down your spine and making your skin crawl as you push yourself further into the door. He leaves no room for pleas as he flips his gun around, the stock coming down on your forehead with enough force to knock you out cold.

————————————————————-

Your splitting headache was the first thing you registered when you came to. You can’t seem to concentrate, the fog in your brain so extreme your thoughts are incoherent. You let out a meek whimper as you attempt to open your eyes, the lights in the room stunning you and intensifying the throbbing pain in your skull. You wince, closing your eyes again to block it out.

A few moments pass - and the next thing you notice is the dryness in your mouth, unable to manage a swallow from the dehydration.

Water.

The only intelligible thought you’ve had after registering your discomfort, the instinctual desire stronger than the dizzy haze clouding your brain.

You lift your head, trying to move but your weakened muscles fail you.

Your muscles are weak, yes, but what’s really keeping you in place are the restraints.

You wince again, eyes scrunched to block out the brutal light as you tug to confirm you’re secured. Your wrists were bound behind you, your shoulders overextending around the back of the chair you were planted on. Your ankles bound to either leg of the chair. There’s another restraint wrapping under your arms and around the back of the chair, keeping your upper half upright. There’s a rashy burn underneath the coarse ropes that dug into your skin as your unconscious body leaned into it.

You let out another whimper from the back of your coarse throat. While you weren’t alert, every instinct within you notified you of the danger you were in.

Gotta move.

You try to squint one eye, but it still doesn’t save you from the flash intensity of your headache. Your eyes are stinging on top of it and you realize you’re partially blinded, vision blurred and doubled, stained red with your own blood.

You grit your teach, determined to figure out where you are. You try to concentrate your vision but to no avail.

Even so, you can tell you’re not at home, and you’re not on base.

Once you make your discovery, one that expended what little willpower you had, your eyes clench back shut, desperate to alleviate the migraine.

A secondary location, you thought to yourself through the pain, I’m fucked.

You can’t hear anything, the ringing in your ears deafening you.

You let out one more defeated whine before resting your chin on your chest, pinching your eyes closed.

You have no idea how long you drift in and out of consciousness for. During the brief moments you come to, you’re so disoriented you can’t make sense of your thoughts, and that coupled with the debilitating pain in your head is unnerving enough to make you cry tears of pure confusion.

It’s your neck snapping back to follow the hair yanking on your scalp that jolts you awake, and try to open your eyes to find the threat but they’re still not working as they should. Underneath the debilitating ringing, you can hear the sound of muffled male voices, unable to make out what they’re saying.

You gave up.

You were wounded & trapped, and in nature that meant a death sentence. You were in no shape to properly defend yourself. Couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

You were as done as the toast made from your own designs.

After wincing, your eyes screwed shut, you go limp and give in to the man physically controlling you like a sadistic puppeteer.

The muffled voices are louder, you still can’t make out their words but you can tell they’re having some sort of argument. They’re yelling at each other, and your scalp becomes collateral as the one tightens his grip on your hair to match his escalated volume

He’s right in your ear now and it’s not helping with the headache.

Just hurry it up, You manage through the haze, just hurry it up and put me out of my misery.

He throws your head forward to the position it was in before, slumped over as much as the ropes would allow with your chin pointed to the ground. The force rattles your skull in a way that makes you see a searing white behind your eyelids. What little water you had left in you was escaping through your swollen eyes lids and down tear-stained cheeks.

Just kill me, please.

——————————————————-

When you come to again, you’re no longer sitting. You’re flat on your back. Your neck secured so your head is in line with your spine. Your headache takes the front stage but the pain has noticeably subsided. You try to open your eyes again, but the lights above you are still excruciating.

You let out a low moan and shut your eyes again.

Your ears still ring, but a good portion of your hearing has returned to you. You hear your name, followed by, “are you awake?”

You grunt in response, unable to form sentences.

“Can you open your eyes for me?”

You wince, trying to shake your head but unable. Instead, you grunt again before parting your lips. You tried to say, “Lights,” but your voice is so hoarse it comes out broken and cracked.

“What is it?”

You try and clear your throat, putting all your power into your strained voice, “Lights.”

They understand, and while you still can’t hear the flick of the switch, you can tell from behind your eyelids they’ve been shut off.

You try to mutter a “Thank you,” but give up a quarter of the way through.

You slowly open your eyes, still burning but blood wiped away from them. Your vision is still blurry, but no longer doubled.

“Do you remember what happened?”

You try to shake your head, but can’t. So you force a weak, “No.”

“Do you know where you are?”

“No.”

“Do you know what today’s date is?”

You just grunt, closing your eyes again. You didn’t know the answer but you were too fed up with the questions to respond.

“Can you see?”

You grunt again.

“Okay, how ‘bout this? Can you wiggle your fingers for me?”

You try to lift your arm in the direction of the voice but your action is cut short, your arm jerked still by a restraint on your wrist. You open and close your fingers slowly at the maximum range the restraint will allow.

“How ‘bout your toes?”

Your toes move slightly, your calves aching at even such a mild movement.

“Good, thank you. How’s the hearing?”

Kill me or leave me alone, you think.

You eventually freeze the owner of voice out, finally leaving you alone to rest.

The next few days are a miserable, confusing blur. Somewhere along the way you’re informed you’re in medical, being treated for your extreme concussion. No skull fracture, thankfully, but they suspect the bruising is severe if it was enough to knock you unconscious.

The concussion had scrambled you good, and you were not nearly as sharp as you usually are.

It took you a whole five days, not that you could keep track of the passing time, before you realized that you were not at medical on your base.

You were in medical, restrained to a hospital bed-

in enemy care.

————————————————————

There was nothing you could do. Restrained to your bed, sedated with painkillers when they thought you were becoming too active.

“To help you rest.” They told you, but you couldn't trust a word that came out of their mouths.

Medics are supposed to be neutral, bound to an ethical code to heal the injured, enemy or not. That didn’t stop some medics from harboring grudges after years of patching up their own soldier’s brutal wounds of war.

The next time the medicine wears off for a long amount of time, with no medics in sight, you conveniently get visitors, the soldiers that had visited you in your home.

The events had been beaten out of you, but the traumatic event had seeped somewhere deeper into your psyche, and you knew deep down you were in trouble at the mere sight of them.

Skull-face especially, you don’t know how or why, but your intuition tells you he’s responsible for this. “Ready to answer some questions? Or do you need me to put you back to sleep?”

You can tell by the sharp edge in his voice he doesn’t mean the painkillers.

“Maybe I’d be able to answer your questions if you hadn’t given me brain damage.” Your patience is running thin, and an ember ignites a flame inside you, “Who knows what information you knocked out of me.” You stare directly into his eyes, brows furrowed, the tone of your voice inviting trouble in.

He already took everything away from you. At this point you don’t care if he puts you under. You’re begging him too. Every time you wake up you just want to go back to sleep. You don’t want to deal with it, any of it.

Skull-face makes a move to advance but the maskless soldier stops him by putting an arm out, laying it firmly across his to hold him back.

You don’t flinch, eyes now staring down the soldier with a stubbled jaw and a mohawk that ended in a widow's peak. It’s a haircut you find highly unusual for a soldier.

Your face doesn’t crack, but you squint at the pair, “What do you even want to know? I don’t even work on the field, I have no information.”

Skull-face looks down at you, “Oh, we know.” That stupid accent and that stupid mask. If you weren’t restrained you think you would have launched at him, risking it all to get a few good scratches in with your fingernails. He reaches into his pocket and your eyes widen and your brows retract at what he pulls out.

Not a weapon, no.

It’s your design, the AI-powered earpiece, and your wrist remote.

Skull-face notices the realization that sets across your face, “Awh, looks like your memory is working fine after all.”

The flame inside you laps at your skin, your features flushing with anger. A lot at Skull-face, for being such a cocky prick, but mostly at yourself.

You did this yourself. You figured your day of reckoning would come eventually. That karma would bite you in the ass, and those who are affected by your designs will stand by and laugh at your demise.

You should have just stuck with redesigning kitchen appliances.

“Why don’t you show us what you’ve been cooking up, huh? We know you’ve been busy.”

The pair share another knowing glance, Mohawk snickering at your expense.

“How did you get that?” You ask through gritted teeth, knowing there’s no way they could have gotten into the highly secured base.

“What is it?” Skull-face asks.

“It’s an intercom.” You grit, the ache in your head pulsing. You miss the painkillers.

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not.”

Mohawk steps in, “It’s okay, we all get embarrassed about our porn.”

You furrow your brows at him.

What the hell was he talking about?

Skull-face elbows him in the side, but it doesn’t keep his partner from smiling, “What is it?” He asks again.

“It’s an intercom.”

He’s getting sick of this game and he goes to step to you again but Mohawk cuts him short. “Ghost!” He says firmly.

Ghost, that was Skull-faces name. Or call sign, at least. You hated him, but you’d wished the other soldier would just let him at you. You didn’t care anymore.

Mohawk looks at you, “Look, there’s only so much I can do,” gesturing to Ghost, “Can’t we all just get along for a little bit, yeah?”

“How about you get along with deez nuts.” You laugh at your dumb joke, a laugh influenced by the daze of concussion and painkillers. You’re in hysteria, the laugh spills out and doesn’t let up. A release of built-up stress and frustration and anger that seeped out uncontrollably. Cackling at yourself for ending up in this situation. Only you would be capable of such hijinks. The laugh leaves you out of breath and with eyes full of tears. You don’t even care how it exacerbates the headache, or how you’re coming off as insane. It feels too good to let out the pent-up emotions, one way or another.

Your elation is cut short with a squeak as a gloved hand cuts harshly into your trachea. Ghost squeezes, roughly lifting you by the neck before shoving you back down on the hospital bed, his grip tighter than before. His voice is low and filled with caution, “I am getting sick of you.”

If you could breathe enough to talk, you’d tell him the feeling’s mutual. Instead you gag and sputter, which he takes as a sign that you are still getting air, and forces more of his weight onto your neck.

Your hands fail to defend yourself, the restraints holding you from fighting back. You’re getting close to blacking out, your laugh having already knock most of the wind out of you, but Mohawk pulls Ghost off of you, his hands firm on Ghost’s shoulders, “Stop! Stop.”

You involuntarily gasp, desperate for air, trying not to choke on your own spit. For a moment all you can hear is the blood rushing in your ears, flowing desperately to replace what Ghost restricted.

“Come on, last try.” He warns, and you can tell in your voice he means it.

You eye him carefully, still heaving for air. When you collect yourself, you speak, “I’ll show you.” You say, voice weak and breathy. You try to hold out your hand, but get stopped by the restraints.

Mohawk glances at Ghost, but Ghost keeps his stern eyes trained on you. He stays still for a moment, studying you with his arms crossed.

You roll your eyes, your chest still huffing as you reclaim your air, “Don’t trust me? Fine. I’ll walk you through it. Put the fucking bracelet on.”

He stares for another moment before taking the device from Mohawk. Must of handed it off so he could strangle you better.

He puts it on his wrist.

“Now tap the top.”

He follows your instructions, the wrist remote’s projection displaying above his wrist.

“Go ahead and open your settings.” You guide him through it, activating a few select overlays. “You got it. Now put the earpiece on.”

Ghost hesitates, looking over to his companion before he slowly reaches up underneath his balaclava, attaching the earpiece.

“Yep, and while you’re in there, go ahead and hit the button on the base.”

You watch as your design activates, displaying the transparent overlay over his eyes. He’s taken aback, unnerved by the unidentified design being so close to his vulnerable eyes.

“Ta-da!” You say sarcastically, showing off the full range of the restraints as you offer weak jazz hands. “So I’ve given you some information. Maybe you can give me a little information, yeah?”

He doesn’t say anything as he removes his hand from his mask.

“Where am I?” You ask.

“You know where you are.”

“How’d you find me?”

“We tracked your cell phone.”

You squint, “Why were you tracking my phone?” It doesn’t make any sense, there’s no way they would have been able to pin your cell phone information back to base. You don’t use it for work and there’s no way you had connected to the private Wi-Fi. It’s apples and oranges, you think.

Mohawk steps in front of Ghost and holds out his phone in your direction. It takes a moment for the image to come into view, your vision still impaired. When your eyes adjust, the screen shows you something that makes your blood turn cold.

It’s the video of Konig jerking off.

“Okay! Okay.” You wave your hands, “Just put that away, I get it.”

When you connected your phone to your software to transfer the recording of Konig, it briefly connected to your laptop.

Base internet has state-of-the-art firewalls and encryptions to prevent surveillance, hack-in, key logs.

Cell phones do not.

So they’ve been tracking you all week, and who knows what kind of information they were able to pull from your software? From your laptop, containing dozens of government secrets?

No, you think, they wouldn’t be going through the trouble of keeping me alive if they had the information on my laptop.

“What’s the matter? Embarrassed that gettin’ your rocks off caused a security breach in confidential information regarding warfare development?” Mohawk mocks.

Well, yes you were, now that he mentions it. You’re actually very worried your perverted little stunt will somehow end up forever immortalized in history books.

In the moment, though, your main concern was making sure that Konig wouldn’t find out, as you had started transmitting the device’s feed to him as soon as Ghost turned the earpiece on.

Part Three

#könig cod #könig mw2 #konig x you #konig x reader #call of duty #fic #smut #konig fic #modern warefare ii #konig #konig call of duty #könig call of duty #könig #konig modern warfare #konig mw2 #experimental #x reader #uhohwriting

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vancruejovi · 2 months

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IHNMAIMS Theories

Okay so a lot of people have a problem with the IHNMAIMS game for many reasons, but mostly because Ellen's storyline doesn't make much sense with the others. Nimdok is getting tortured by AM because he was a Nazi, Ted was being tortured because he was a playboy and a liar, Benny let his comrades die, Gorrister possibly sent his wife to an asylum, etc. But Ellen was only sexually abused. That is the furthest thing from her fault, and certainly one of the cruelest things that AM does. So why does AM torture Ellen? I think I have an explaination that might explain things.

First of all, AM isn't torturing the survivors because he wants to teach them a lesson about their past mistakes, because obviously Ellen doesn't have one, at least not one to be tortured over. Plus AM's just not the vigilante type. I think he's doing these things to make them recognise their fears - not face their fears or get over them - but recognise them, to see them, using their own guilt and fear as a weapon. Like that scene from A Clockwork Orange, he's keeping their eyes wide open.

-Nimdok's fear is his heritage, and his shame for his horrific experiments on his own people. He feels guilt not only for the experiments and for throwing his own parents to the Nazis, but that he knows he can never ever atone. His crimes are too great. He's also one of the more obvious cases of AM trying to force them to look at their fears. Nimdok doesn't remember his past, so AM forces his eyes open to see.

-Gorrister's fear is him being at fault for his wife's mental illness, and his guilt over her being put in the asylum. His guilt (and his other tortures from AM) are partly the reason for his attempts at suicide. But of course, AM can't have that, so he punishes Gorrister by, again, forcing him to face his fears.

-Benny's fear and guilt is never knowing if his comrades forgive him, if he is actually a changed man or if he is still an animal inside (and outside, thanks to AM). Benny in the book was gay, before being forced straight by AM. Benny in the game was a soldier who killed his commrades who were seen as weaker, that had shown weakness. The graves themselves say that Brickman is the one that Benny has to apologise to the most. I may have been the only one, but I thought that maybe Brickman could have also been an ex-lover of Benny's, which could have been seen as this supposed 'weakness' of Brickman's. Benny could have been so afraid of being discharged, especially as a drill sergeant, that he killed his lover Brickman so that nobody could have found out. That is why Brickman is seen as more important to apologise to, and why Benny feels that he has to prove himself a changed man even more.

-Ted's fear is his lies being revealed, he's mentioned to be paranoid (though that point was more obvious in the book) which could be due to constantly wondering if he was going to be called out on his behaviour. And his storyline could be reexamined as his fear of if he actually did fall in love with someone, that he wouldn't be able to pretend to be 'knight in shining armour' anymore. I don't believe he was actually in love with Ellen, the book made that part very clear, but because she was the first woman he had actually spent time with, without a mask or an act, that made her even scarier to Ted. Ellen knew who Ted was, without his armour.

-And Ellen. Ellen's story is told in a fantastic way. When we first start her story, she has panic attacks about the colour yellow, she has panic attacks over enclosed spaces. But later on it's revealed that it's not these things on their own that scare her, they're painful reminders of her attacker. It's how after trauma you can only remember certain parts, and not often the full picture. And AM does this to force Ellen to look at her fear full on. Not just yellow, not just small spaces. But of course, if you play the game right, she fights back and gains control of her fear again. But it's clear that Ellen is never 'cured' of these things, she's still scared. But she's probably the least willing to put up with AM bullshit. Her guilt is related to her rape, a lot of people such as myself who have been sexually assaulted/abused do feel guilty, and no matter what people say to assure you, you do often feel like it's your fault, or that your life has ended here, much like how Ellen started slowing down her education after the attack. And due to her being a black woman in the 60s/90s depending on the story, of course she wouldn't exactly feel safe coming forward with anything. This doesn't make AM's torture any less cruel than before, in fact it's probably more so, but it makes more sense than AM punishing Ellen for nothing.

I think it's a really interesting way of looking at it, and it makes a few of their storylines like Benny's, Ted's and especially Ellen's make a bit more sense. If you have any ideas of your own I'd like to hear them!

#i know this is a bit different from my normal post but I just wanted to get this out there #ihnmaims #i have no mouth and i must scream #harlan ellison

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positive-omens · 2 years

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Our Flag Means Death is very gay but also very gender.

Here is my trans reading of Blackbeard's character arc!

First of all, David Jenkins choosing Blackbeard as his lead in a show about unlearning toxic masculinity was such a 3D chess move. While I think a majority of the themes can be related to the experience of being a feminine gay man, Ed's obvious euphoria at wearing soft clothing and choosing to shave his facial hair is some unignorable subtext that i'm gonna read into.

When we first meet Ed, he's already created the macho, confident, violent (and dare I say, over compensating) persona of Blackbeard. While Stede struggled to meet the masculine expectation of a pirate captain, Edward went above and beyond, creating an impossible caricature of a man than even he can't live up to; though he's surrounded by people who expect him to.

Seeing Stede be a pirate captain without all the pretending seems to unlock something inside of Ed that he was trying to bury. For the first time, he realizes it's possible to be different, and to have all of the things he's been longing for. With Stede aboard, he feels more comfortable trying new things; pretending to be someone else at a party, putting effort into his appearance, letting his guard down around his tight-knit crew. You know, baby trans stuff.

Although Stede escaping from the expectations of his loveless marriage and his judgemental society feels like a powerfully queer moment of deciding to stop living a lie, the sea comes with another set of expectations about Masculinity. Stede, who simply can't help himself in that regard, makes do but Blackbeard has spent a lifetime internalizing and projecting those expectations. Being around a new set of people who don't have those expectations of him allows Ed to consider that he could actually change and be the person he wants to be, but when people like Izzy and Calico Jack are around he slips into his old habits.

When they are given the Act of Grace, it's Ed's new leaf. He gets to leave all those expectations behind. He can go by the name he likes, and shave his facial hair and wear soft clothing and just be with the one person who actually sees him. It's such a wonderful and vulnerable moment and it's clear that for him, escaping the pirates life is similar to how Stede felt about leaving his wife; he's going to escape and finally stop pretending.

When Stede leaves and, in his eyes, rejects him after he laid himself bare for the first time, it makes complete sense how he dove right back into his old persona and coping mechanisms.

In conclusion, OFMD is a masterwork of symbolism and I really appreciate how it looks at masculinity and sexuality as separate but equally interesting things. The pirates life is simulatously a queer escape from heteronormative society and an oppressively hypermasculine space. And Stede Bonnet is the solution.

#our flag means death #ofmd #my post #ofmd essay #edward teach #blackbeard #stede bonnet #trans pirates babyyyy #trans stuff #lol can you tell i'm questioning my gender and projecting very hard?#anyways ed looks very good with the beard but he also looks very good without the beard & if u don't get on board then you're off the ship

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poison-rat · 3 years

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@the-dead-and-the-decaying asked: Anxcietmus for the ❣ asks!

Anxceitmus is my fucking JAM oh my god. My wife was a hardcore Prinxiety shipper, then I got her to ship Dukexiety (the superior ship imo), then I showed her Anxceitmus and it was just downhill from there.

Who is the little spoon?

Remus and Virgil compete to be the little spoon. They're both touch starved and love the warm embrace, but more often than not, Remus will end up the little spoon.

Who sings in the shower?

All of them sing. Virgil has his typically emo music and Remus loves to join in either while sitting in another room or he even jumps in the shower with him. He does the same with Janus. Virgil and Janus don't join Remus in the shower when he's singing, but they listen from the other rooms.

Who plays pranks on the other?

These three love to prank each other. They never put anyone in harm's way or try to hurt them, but they'll constantly try to one-up one another with their pranks.

Who is the one who listens to pop music?

When Virgil is in the car, he puts his Bluetooth on and they listen to his music that contains no pop music. They all jam to it anyways. When it's just Remus tho, he will listen to the radio and belt out the songs like he's yelling to the gods above. Janus prefers silence.

Who brings the other a random cup of joe?

Remus brings his mess of sugary coffee to Janus when he's working. Virgil doesn't drink coffee, says it makes him too jittery. He never knows how to make Janus' coffee so he doesn't really bring him any.

Who picks the cheesy movies for date night?

Virgil does actually. He likes horror and thrillers, but he really loves comedies. The dumber, the better.

Who is more likely to feed the other in public?

Janus shares his food with both his boyfriends because he's the only one who orders new things at restaurants and his boyfriends will sit there and eye his plate, saying how it looks so good and how they wish they had gotten that.

Who gives the other random little compliments?

Janus is probably the most vocal about it. Whenever he calls either of them kind or pretty, Virgil gets embarrassed and hides in his jacket. Remus cries no matter how many times Janus says it because no one calls him pretty but him. Virgil will sometimes say something kind but then do the tsundere thing and pretend he didn't say anything and it's not like he likes them or anything. Remus is always more NSFW with his compliments, but he loves to drop nicknames and comments.

Who is always stealing food from the other’s plate?

Remus is the worst about it. Virgil does it every once in a while, but not often. He doesn't want to embarrass himself and get caught.

Who is more likely to let the other borrow their car?

Janus doesn't want anyone borrowing his car because his boyfriends are messy as fuck. Virgil and Remus don't care who uses who's car. Both are a mess, both have technical issues, and both barely have any gas in them.

Who makes the list before they go grocery shopping?

Virgil's is a crumpled list in his pocket, stuff he wrote down right before he left. He winds up calling Janus and Remus to make sure he didn't forget anything. Janus makes an organized list and makes sure they don't have to add anything before they go. Remus doesn't have a list because it's smeared across his face.

Who makes sure the other takes their meds when sick?

Virgil is actually really good about taking his meds, as is Janus. Remus will forget constantly and have to be reminded often. Virgil has suggested they hide his medicine in his food and for some reason, Janus shoots the idea down, but really, he wonders if it would work.

Who watches sports and has to teach the other the rules?

They don't watch sports. They're gay.

Who pulls the other to their feet for a dance in the living room?

Remus and Janus are typically the dancers, expelling energy and swaying to a soft song. Virgil loves to just watch them move. He doesn't think he could dance well, but on the rare occasion he does get up, he dances really well, and Remus and Janus love those moments the most.

Who has to keep reminding the other to hurry or they’ll be late?

Janus makes sure both of them are up well in advance. Virgil tends to oversleep and zone out, so he'll be late just because he sat in bed an extra ten minutes. Remus just has a hard time getting up, easily falling back asleep, or being too focused on another task.

Who is the one most likely to get a tattoo with the other’s name?

Janus doesn't think name tattoos are a good idea ever. Remus gets a tattoo of their names anyway. Janus' name is hidden in the markings of a snake winding around his wrist and Virgil's name is written in a spider web on his chest. They both love it so much. Virgil wouldn't get a full name, but he would get something subtle like a J or R hidden on the inside of his arm or something, or maybe a symbol like a snake and a tentacle in the shape of a heart.

#sanders sides #anxceitmus #anxcietmus #ts remus #ts virgil #ts janus #raccoon.ask #the dead and the decaying #i LOVE anxceitmus so fucking much #theyre the main ship in my human au actually

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thebrotherssalvatore321 · 3 years

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Keeping Secrets Ch. 51

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

A/N: According to the TVD universe timeline I’ve been using, Hayley was pregnant with Hope for like, a year and a half or some crazy crap. So just so you guys know in this story, Baby M. was conceived in late March, putting Katie’s due date in late December or early January.

Late October (The day after Rebekah left)

Katie, sleeping with her back to Klaus’s chest, was woken up by the feel of him slipping his fingertips lightly up her bare arm, skipping over the strap of her pajama top as he moved them over her shoulder and across her chest. Curious about what he’d do next she kept her eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep. He traced back over his previous path then down her side and over her thigh that he gently gripped. The touch sent a tingle throughout her body, but she tried her best to hide her reaction.

Since that didn’t wake her he slowly moved his hand up and under her pajama shorts and she almost had to bite her lip to hide her reaction to his teasing. He knew she was awake, not from her relaxed face or slow even breathing, but from the beat of her heart, that skipped at his tempting touches. With his hand now on her hip he pulled her closer then went back to lightly slipping his fingertips over her smooth exposed skin. When he moved his hand back to her chest and pressed his palm to it, his fingertips touching the hollow of her neck, her heart skipped again and he couldn’t hold back his chuckle. “You are an amazing actress, Little Phoenix, but the beating of your heart betrays you.”

She smiled, but didn’t open her eyes. “I’ll work in it.”

“Why do you attempt to fool me?” he asked, letting his eyes skim her face.

“Because I’m afraid if I open my eyes you’ll stop touching me like that.” she answered then opened her eyes to see him studying her face. “I missed you.” he placed the backs of his fingers on her cheek and stroked it with his thumb. “When those witches took you I…” she narrowed her eyes and shook her head, “I hated not being able to help you, not knowing where you were or what they were doing to you. How did they manage to take you down anyway?”

“While Elijah was saving you from that burning house, Sophie Deveraux stabbed me with Papa Tunde’s blade. I passed out and woke up in the sanatorium.” He answered then dropped his hand to rest on the side of her neck.

“Well, the next time I see her I’m going to bust one of Bonnie’s magic muting bombs in her face and break her neck.” Katie said through gritted teeth.

“I would pay to see that, Little Phoenix, however someone beat you to the punch.” He told her getting a curious look from her. “Sophie is dead, Elijah didn’t tell you?” he asked and she shook her head no.

“So what happened to you, at the sanatorium?” Katie asked, getting back on topic.

“Genevieve shackled me to a chair, took the blade out, kept me weak and linked my mind to Rebekah’s. While we were linked Genevieve forced Rebekah to take a walk down memory lane revealing her betrayal.” he answered.

“Why? What did Genevieve get out of it?” Katie asked with a frown.

“Revenge against Rebekah.” Klaus answered.

Katie gave him a confused shake of her head. “I know Rebekah used her to bring your father here, but that doesn’t seem reason enough to completely wreck someone’s family.”

“When Genevieve found out exactly who she brought to town and that Mikael would kill me she threatened to come to me and beg for forgiveness for what she had unknowingly done. Rebekah could not let that happen, so she infected Genevieve and her nosey little friend with Spanish influenza and had them locked in quarantine until they died.”

“Do you happen to know the name of the friend?” Katie asked curiously.

“Clara I think.” He answered, “Why?”

“Things are making so much more sense now.” Katie said with a look around and a shake of her head. “In 1919 Celeste was using Clara’s body. Both Celeste and Genevieve were victims of Mikaelson mistakes and Bastianna went along with everything because she was mad at Father K. and Marcel for screwing up the harvest ritual.”

To change the subject Klaus slipped his hand over her growing stomach and asked, “How is our little princess?”

“I haven’t felt her move in a while. I’m worried.” Katie admitted as she slipped her hand over his and looked down at her dark blue pajama tank top covered stomach.

“Her heartbeat is as strong as ever.” He told her as he brushed his thumb back and forth over her stomach. “We can find a doctor in town to take you to if you need more reassurance.”

She was about to take him up on the offer when the baby kicked hard, making their hands move. “Nope, I think I know what the problem was.” Katie told him as she gave his shoulder a push then moved to straddle him.

“Yeah?” he asked, placing his hands on her hips as she settled into his lap.

“She, like her mother, simply missed you.” She was about to lean in and kiss him when her phone on the bedside table chimed so she leaned over and grabbed it.

“If that is Nate I’m going to get jealous.” He told her with a bit of a smirk.

“It’s Hayley.” She replied as she opened the text. “Did you know the crescent wolves have been cursed to only be human on the full moon?” she asked and he shook his head no. “Elijah told me about it and Hayley came to me the day before yesterday asking for information in exchange for helping keep the peace between us and the wolves. Turns out Celeste cursed them while hopping a ride in a Deveraux witch’s body.” Klaus slipped his hands up her sides as she read the text, going back to caressing her like he had been before they started talking. “According to this message Hayley got to Celeste before Elijah killed her and got what she needed to cure her people.” Katie texted back, “Awesome.” and a smiley face emoji then put her phone away. “On the subject of Nate, who’s not gay just so you know,” Klaus gave her an I-knew-it look. “Oh don’t look at me like that. Straight or not he’s not interested in me like that. Besides, I doubt I’ll be talking to him anytime soon considering he’s been banished from the quarter. It seems it’s not meant for me to have friends here.”

“Why not get Bonnie to make a daylight ring for Josh?” Klaus asked. “He’s completely loyal to Marcel and you’ve expressed the desire for his friendship in the past.”

“Bonnie doesn’t make those rings for just anyone. She didn’t even want to make one for me, but Damon and Elena talked her into it and I had to promise that I wouldn’t feed on people before I could have it.” she said with a shake of her head. “And I kept that promise up until I stopped clinging so tightly to a relationship that was doomed from the beginning.”

“So that’s why your compulsion sucked when we first met.” He said with a small smile at the memory of the guy that Klaus almost killed at homecoming.

“Pretty much.” She nodded. “And after getting compelled by Elijah I have to wonder if all compulsion feels that invasive and violating or just what he compelled me to do.”

“You’re livid with him for that, aren't you?” he asked, seeing a spark in her eyes.

“Livid is an understatement.” she answered with a nod as she dropped her eyes to his shirt covered chest. “That slap was not satisfying enough.” She looked into his eyes. “I’m guessing you’re mad at him for defending Rebekah.”

“As well as a plethora of other things.” He replied then slipped his hand over her cheek and pulled her down for a slow, sweet kiss. “Less discussion.” He whispered then started kissing his way to her neck, pulling a sigh from her when he grazed his teeth over the sensitive skin. “Show me how much you missed me.” he whispered then kissed her earlobe as he threaded his fingers through her long, wavy auburn locks at the nape of her neck. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes as she grabbed the hem of the grey wife beater he’d worn to sleep and pulled it over his head. His hands settled on her sides as she tossed the shirt aside then turned her eyes to his torso, slipping her fingertips over his shoulders, his collarbones, down his chest, over his perfectly toned abs and around to hold his sides. She leaned forward and kissed his chest slowly working her way up to his neck where she nibbled, pulling a sigh from him as his hands lightly squeezed her hips.

She kissed just below his ear before she whispered, “Tá tú gan locht.” “You are perfect.” Her words, spoken seductively in her native tongue, made a toe curling groan slip from his lips and he wanted to take her right then, but after two nights without her, he wanted to make the moment last. So she kissed down to his chest, "tá tú dathúil." "You are handsome." she kissed over to one of his nipples and swirled her tongue around it making him sigh and back to the nape of her neck, his fingers tangled in her hair. "Tá tú blasta..." "You are delicious..." she pulled back and looked into his lust veiled eyes, “and...Kingdom or no kingdom…'' She moved to sit on her knees beside him, "village or no village," removed the blankets from his lap then slipped her fingertips up his inner thigh stopping at the line of his boxers then leaned up and caught his lips in a kiss that quickly heated up. When it finally broke she opened her eyes, her bright greens meeting his steel blues, "beidh tú i mo rí go deo." "you will forever be my king."

A gasp left his lips as he whooshed to his knees, one hand still on the back of her neck and the other pressed to her lower back, holding her as close to him as her belly would allow. Her hands pressed into his back as he caught her lips with his. Every ounce of passion, how much what she said meant to him washing over her like a tidal wave. As his tongue found hers her hands slipped down to his lower back, lightly scratching him as she moved her hands to hold his sides, steadying herself. He broke the kiss and cupped her cheek in his large hand as he looked into her equally lust clouded eyes. “Tá tú, mo bhanríon, ar meisciúil.” “You, my queen, are intoxicating.” She’d known he could understand her when she spoke Irish, but she didn’t know he could speak it and doing so caused an overwhelming amount of love and desire to wash over her.

A smile spread over her lips before she bit her bottom one and let it slip between her teeth. “Say that again.”

“Tá tú meisciúil.” “You’re intoxicating.” He repeated as he brushed his thumb over her cheek.

“The other part.” She told him with a smirk.

“Mo bhanríon.” “My Queen.” He picked up her left hand from his side and looked down at the tiara on her finger, sat it and her other hand on his shoulders then grabbed her butt with one hand and her back with the other, picking her up. A laugh left her lips as she wrapped her legs around him and he laid her back cutting off her laugh with his lips on hers.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie stood in the kitchen making a late breakfast when Elijah walked in. “Where is Niklaus this morning?” he asked as he leaned on the frame of the archway that led into the room.

“His studio.” She answered flatly, not looking up from the banana she was slicing. She was hoping he’d go away in pursuit of Klaus, but instead he walked over to stand beside her, leaning his hip on the edge of the counter.

“I owe you an apology.” He told her as he set his hand on the bar next to the cutting board.

She flipped the knife around in her hand, slammed it down into the back of his hand. He looked at his hand and the knife that she still held onto then back at her. She looked into his brown eyes with a glare that he was unfortunately getting used to being aimed at him. “I am getting, so sick of your apologies.” She told him through gritted teeth. “Thanks to you, in the back of my head I am still unwillingly coming up with ways to excuse what Rebekah has done.”

“You are the one person he listens to. I needed you to talk him down.” Elijah reasoned.

“Playing mediator was not my job or my wish at that moment.” She argued angrily as she jerked the blade out of his hand and tossed it into the sink. “He looked like death warmed over and all I wanted was to be there for him, however he needed me. Rather that was simply nursing him back to health or talking him out of killing his sister.”

“You made it perfectly clear you had no intentions of that.” Elijah pointed out.

“I was angry with her and pissed at you for stabbing him!” She yelled at him, but she stopped, closed her eyes and placed her hands on the bar as she took a deep breath then let it out. “I said things I didn’t mean. If you seriously think I’d ever really want him to kill her,” she looked back up at him, “for him to live, knowing that he was the one that took her from this world…then you really don’t know me at all.”

“Yes, well, you were not the only one who was angry.” He pulled the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood from his hand where she had stabbed him.

“Oh I’m aware.” She used her hand to scrape the banana slices off of the cutting board into a bowl of honey nut cheerios. “Klaus and Rebekah aren’t the only ones who inherited the Mikaelson temper. You, in your anger, kicked a friend of mine out of this house.”

“You made a friend amongst the riffraff. Why does that not surprise me?” he asked, his air of superiority pissing her off.

She grabbed the jug of milk out of the fridge and took the cap off. “Just because they were loyal to Marcel and Klaus does not make them unworthy of being in the presence of the holier-than-thou Elijah Mikaelson.” She poured some milk in her bowl then capped it and looked at Elijah. “My friend's name is Nate and he is welcome here anytime I damn well please.” She grabbed her bowl of cereal and took a bite.

“If I find out he has less than honorable intentions for you I will put an end to them.” Elijah warned her.

“I’ve come to expect no less from you.” she replied and started to walk off.

“Katie.” She turned back to him with a sigh and an eye roll. He walked over to her, placed his fingertips on her cheek then looked into her eyes. “You are free of my compulsion.”

She blinked out of the compulsive state then took his hand off her face. “Thank you. Now, if you ever compel me again, you can expect more than a slap to the face and a knife through your hand.”

TVDTVDTVD

Later that evening Elijah led Katie to the court yard where Nate stood near the fountain. “He asked to speak to you.” Elijah told her as they walked down the stairs.

“Nate, what are you doing here? Elijah could have killed you.” Katie asked as she walked over to him and the other two vampires.

“I don’t want to leave the quarter. It’s my home.” Nate answered. “Most of the others are across the river following Diego, but I have a different leader in mind.” He made a motion at her with his hand.

“Me?” Katie asked with raised brows and a disbelieving tone. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Hear me out.” He told her defensively. “I understand that you have Klaus and Elijah, but they can’t always be with you. You’ve complained in the past about not being about to go out and about without one of them with you to make sure the witches leave you be. You need a body guard since your dad left. Besides, I kind of thought we had become friends and I don’t leave my friends even when an original tells me to.” He glanced at Elijah who was standing behind Katie then back at her.

“Don’t you have friends amongst the people that you’re leaving behind for me?” Katie asked with a narrow eyed head shake.

“Not really, no.” he answered as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “I’ve lived here for five years. Only a year of that has been spent with Marcel and his people and the whole time I was with them I never felt like I was one of them. You’re the first friend I’ve had here.” He finished with a shrug.

“Then how did you get a daylight ring so fast?” Katie asked.

“I was a vampire before I moved here. Not all witches hate vampires, as you well know.” He pointed out with a motion to the daylight ring she still wore. “If I have to follow a leader to live in this city then I choose you.” he told her with a shrug.

“I say he can stay.” Klaus’s voice hit their ears and they both looked at him as he walked down the stairs to stand beside Elijah. “Though, I’m not sure my opinion is the one that matters at the moment.”

“I would like him to stay here and be able to come and go as he pleases.” Katie said with a look at Elijah.

Elijah frowned in thought and crossed his arms over his chest. After a few seconds that felt like minutes he gave Katie a nod then looked at Nate. “Do not make me regret letting you stay.” Nate gave him a nod.

A Week Later

Katie sat at a chair at the hair salon in the quarter, the hairdresser cutting her long hair that hadn’t been cut in over a year, back into the style Katie preferred which was shoulder length with layers and side bangs. Nate sat in a chair outside keeping an eye on every person that entered the salon while pretending to read a newspaper.

“You know,” Genevieve said as she sat down in the empty chair next to Katie that wasn’t being used by a hairdresser, “You may have Klaus wrapped around your finger, but I’ll have that little knot untied in no time.”

“Excuse me?” Katie asked with raised brows as she looked at Genevieve out of the corners of her eyes, not able to turn her head for fear of messing up her stylist.

Genevieve propped her elbow up on the armrest of the chair. “Once he sees how powerful I am and that I can offer him things you could never dream of, he’ll realize you are nothing more than a has been.”

“You’re forgetting two little problems with your theory.” Katie pointed out, turning her head while her stylist sprayed her hair with water, to give Genevieve a glare. “I’m pregnant with his daughter, and he loves me. He’d never leave me for an overconfident little witch bitch like you.”

Genevieve looked at her painted red nails and shrugged. “We’ll see about that.” she gave Katie a confident smirk as she stood and walked away.

Not two seconds later Nate sat down beside her. “I tried to stop her, but she did that stupid thing witches do where they make it feel like your head’s going to explode.” He told her with a rub of his temples.

“It’s fine.” She told him with a shake of her head.

“Are you gonna tell Klaus?” he asked, sounding worried.

“That a witch got past you or that said witch is out to snatch him away from me?” she asked with a look at him before the stylist asked her to look straight ahead. So she did.

“Um…both?” he answered though it sounded more like a question.

“I have to warn him that she’s after him, even though she could try as hard as she wanted to and she’d never come between us.” she answered. “Don’t worry about Klaus. Unless you do something incredibly stupid like side with our enemies, you’re safe.”

Present Time

Elijah stood in the doorway of Katie’s recording studio watching her where she sat on the couch in the control room, practicing guitar that she’d been getting lessons to play. She’s also been getting lessons on recording and writing music. “What is that you’re playing?” he asked curiously.

“You mean other than a guitar?” she asked then looked away from her fingers on the guitar strings to give him a smile that let him know she was joking with him. He gave her a small, fleeting smile back as he walked in and sat down in the chair at the control table, facing her. “It’s a song of mine, ‘Lonely’.” She answered.

“May I hear it?” he asked hopefully.

“Mmmm…I don’t know…” she answered with a draw. “It’s kind of depressing and I’m not that good yet.” She reasoned with a motion to the guitar.

“I promise not to judge.” He told her with a serious look then gave her a small smile.

“Fine…” she sighed then turned her attention to her guitar and started playing a slow, melancholy tune and sang. “I’m slowly killing myself. Trying so hard at the back of the shelf. It’s just the same every day. I’m writing these songs that will never get played. I get told what’s wrong and what’s right. I don’t have a fantastic life. Everyone’s dying so I keep on trying to make ‘em proud before they’re gone. Can’t someone help me, please, someone help me. I don’t care, anyone or anything ‘cause I’m so sick of being so lonely.” She finished at what she had learned to play then looked at Elijah to see him frowning. “It sucks, I know…” she sighed and set the guitar on the couch beside her.

“No, it was good.” Elijah countered still with a frown on his face. “When did you write it?”

“The end of sophomore year, right after Elena’s parents died. Why?” she asked with a frown.

“Because what I just heard was a literal cry for help.” He told her, sounding really worried.

“Let me guess you thought I’d been feeling neglected by Klaus and lonely because he’s been…entertaining, Genevieve.” She said with a smirk that told him he was being ridiculous. He just nodded. “I knew what I was getting into when we started this whole thing. He’s not neglecting me. I still get just as much time with him as I always did. She gets his days, I get his nights and after Klaus’s wolf relatives and the crescent wolves have moonlight rings on their fingers…she gets dropped on her bony little ass.”

“You are aware that in order to keep up the charade Klaus will eventually be required to give her some of your nights, right?” Elijah pointed out.

“I’m aware.” Katie nodded.

“She will grow suspicious if she even so much as suspects that you and Klaus are still together.” He reminded her.

“And have I not played my part perfectly?” Katie asked, getting irritated with him.

“You have, which is what confuses me.” he told her with a frown. “How are you okay with him indulging her?”

“Because I know where his heart truly lies and that everything that happens between them means absolutely nothing to him and everything to her.” Katie argued.

“How can you so callously crush someone’s heart when yours has been broken so many times?” Elijah asked.

“Because after torturing him and Rebekah, threatening to take Klaus from me and therefore break up yet another part of his family she deserves to get dropped on her ass.” Katie answered then decided to change the subject a bit. “So how’s it going with your end of things?”

“I have gotten the new faction leaders to agree to a meeting this afternoon.” He answered. “Would you like to join me in leading it?” he asked, catching Katie a little off guard. “Diego and Hayley respect you.”

“Yes, but Genevieve will be there representing the witches. Witches, who I need not remind you, I have a special hatred of. Putting the two of us in one room together will be like putting two angry vipers in a tank and watching them fight to the death. It will be counter productive to the mission.” Katie pointed out.

“Yes, you are probably right about that.” he agreed.

“Is she gone yet?” Katie asked, missing the enhanced hearing she once had as a vampire.

Elijah listened for a moment. “No. She and Niklaus are talking, but it’s nothing of import. Would you like me to interrupt and urge her to leave?”

“Yes, please.” Katie told him with a thankful look.

TVDTVDTVD

That afternoon, while Elijah and Genevieve were at the summit, Katie and Klaus had lunch together. “So, how are things with Genevieve?” Katie asked before she took a bite of her b.l.t. sandwich.

“I believe she has grown suspicious.” He answered making Katie give him a curious look. “I noticed a willows hoop dream catcher, adorned with the bones and feet of a chicken, on a shelf in our quarters.”

“She’s spying on you.” Katie observed getting a look from Klaus that asked how she knew about the witch’s use of dream catcher spy glasses. “Fiona’s mother used them all the time to keep tabs on my father. That way she wouldn’t get caught healing my back.”

Klaus looked at her with sadness in his eyes and she knew it was because he too knew what it felt like to have his flesh split open with tiny strips of leather. He took a deep breath, then let it out and took a bite of his lunch. “Yes, she is spying on me. So we can no longer sleep in our quarters.”

“Because if you move or destroy the dream catcher it will only further her suspicions.” Katie sighed.

“And I’m afraid her suspicion stems from the fact that she and I have been taking it too slow. My actions do not match my reputation.” He added. “It is time I took the next step with her…”

“Well,” Katie paused to swallow the food in her mouth then continued, “we knew this was going to happen sooner or later.” she pushed her empty plate away and took a drink of water from the clear wine glass.

“I can not tell if you are hiding your resentment with indifference or if you truly do not care rather or not I sleep with Genevieve.” He observed.

“Klaus…” she sighed as she stood from the chair and walked around the table to lean her butt against it as she looked down at him, “I truly don’t care if you have sex with her. If you’re comfortable using it as a tool of manipulation then so am I.” she assured him. “All of this…Elijah working to unite the factions, us empowering the werewolves and manipulating Genevieve into doing so…it’s all to achieve one main goal.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “Create a safe environment for our daughter with you and the werewolves at the top of the totem pole. It will take time, but I have all faith that we can make it happen.” He scooted his chair back and grabbed her hips as she slid to stand in front of him. “I’ve asked you before and I have to ask again…are you comfortable using sex to manipulate her?”

“It’s nothing I haven’t done a thousand times before.” He answered as he slipped a hand over her stomach. “It’s easy when she means absolutely nothing to me.” she gave him a look that asked him to give her a straight answer. “Yes, I am comfortable with it.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.” She told him then leaned down and pressed her lips to his. “Though I worry a little,” she made a pinching gesture with her thumb and pointer finger, “that she will be better than me, all things considered.” Her eyes glanced down at her massive stomach.

“You needn’t worry about that.” Klaus assured her as he stood up and looked down at her.

“But I do.” She replied as she slid her hands up his chest. “I can hardly breath these days much less satisfy you…” her eyes slipped from his to look at her hands on his chest. “Besides, you clearly have a thing for redheads considering I found a painting you made of a very beautiful woman with long, wavy, red locks in the attic.”

“How do you know it’s one of mine?” Klaus asked with a tilt of his head.

“Because I’ve watched you paint enough to know your brushstrokes when I see them.” Katie answered.

“I’ll admit to having a predilection for red hair.” he told her before he pecked her on the end of her nose, “However, you…are the red head I crave every second I am away from you.” he leaned down and caught her lips in a long, slow, sweet kiss.

When it broke she looked into his blue eyes. “I love you, Big Bad Wolf.” He just smiled and slipped his thumb over her cheekbone. “So…how’s Father Kieran?”

“His lucidity is slowly deteriorating.” Klaus answered. “I’ve heard talk of him being replaced as the leader of the human faction.”

“By who?” Katie asked with a frown.

“Francesca Correa.” He answered. “She is the city’s leading philanthropist.”

“So she’s a do-gooder like Father K.?” Katie asked curiously.

“She also owns the biggest casino in the city and is the matriarch to a rather sizable drug trafficking empire.” He added.

“Okay…definitely not a do-gooder.” Katie drawled. “Have you spoken to Cami?” Klaus just shook his head as his cell phone dinged in his back pocket.

“The summit is over. No doubt Genevieve will be here soon.” He told her.

“I will be so glad when this is all done and she is banned from this house.” Katie sighed.

“That makes two of us.” Klaus told her then pecked her on the lips. “Until then we all have our parts to play.”

Katie simply blew air between her lips as she led her head fall forward to rest on his chest. Knowing what she was feeling he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

TVDTVDTVD

With Nate at her side Katie looked through maternity dresses on a rack in the local maternity boutique. “So why are you going to this party?” Nate asked as he looked through a rack then held up a black dress and she shook her head no.

“Because it’s partially my responsibility to help Klaus and Elijah make this place safe for my child to grow up in.” She answered and he held up another dress. “Ooh, I like that one.” She took it from him when he held it out to her and draped it over her arm. “And you wonder why I thought you were gay when we first met.” She commented with a playful smile.

“Hey, a guy doesn’t have to be gay to know what will look good on a woman.” He defended.

“Oh I’m aware.” she replied with a laugh.

“For curiosity’s sake why did you think I was gay?” he asked as he held up another dress that she liked and tossed it over her arm.

“You’re pretty for a guy.” She answered and he gave her a “get serious” look. “And I mean that in a very…Jensen Ackles kind of way.”

“Thanks…I think.” He told her as he held up another dress and she shook her head.

“You’re welcome.” She told him then looked at her arm to see that she had way too many dresses stacked on it. “I’m going to go try these on.” After waiting for what felt like forever for her to be done she stepped out of the dressing room in a dark blue form fitting dress that stopped just above her knees with a deep v cowl neckline and long sleeves. “Be honest, what do you think? Is it too plain?”

“I think if you wear that dress every male at the party as well as some females might have heart attacks.” He answered.

“Is that a good thing?” Katie asked with an unsure look down at the generous amount of cleavage that the dress revealed.

“Yes.” He answered. “And no, it’s not too plain.”

“It doesn’t look like I’m trying way too hard to be sexy when in reality I look like a blue whale?” she asked self-consciously.

“No.” he answered. “If your goal is to make Klaus remember what he left for a shapeless bean pole with no personality setting other than bitch, then this is your dress.”

“What would I do without you?” Katie asked fondly.

“You would be a hopeless mess too scared to leave the compound.” He answered, then smiled and shook his head. “Na, you’d be just fine, friendless, but fine. Now go change, I still need to buy something to wear to this fancy pants shindig.”

She ducked back behind the curtain of the changing room. “You’re coming tonight?” she asked knowing that parties weren’t usually his thing.

“You think I’m going to let you walk into a room of witches, werewolves and vampires without a bodyguard?” he asked as if her question was silly. “No. I’m your self appointed friend date.”

Katie just laughed to herself at his silly over protectiveness. “You know both Elijah and Klaus will be there right? Neither of them will let anything happen to me.”

“Yes, but Elijah will most likely be working the floor ensuring that everyone gets along with each other and Klaus will have his head up Genevieve’s butt.” He pointed out.

“Okay, fine, you can be my friend date.” She told him as she pulled her maternity shirt over her head then stepped out of the booth and shrugged her jacket on.

TVDTVDTVD

Loud dance music floated upstairs from the party that was kicking off downstairs and into the bedroom that was attached to the nursery where Katie stood at a vanity fastening a shimmering bracelet around her wrist. When it was secured she took off the necklace Klaus had given her and added some small shimmering beads to the chain dressing it up to match the form flattering dress. Klaus let himself in and quietly closed the door. Katie turned to see him dressed in a black suit with a black dress shirt and a black and gold printed tie. “Hello handsome.” Katie greeted with an appreciative tone that suggested if she had it her way they wouldn’t leave the bedroom at all tonight.

Klaus growled, low and deep, as he sat his hands on her waist then slid them down to her hips and caught her lips with his. “Was it your intention, when you chose that dress, to torture me all night?”

Katie laughed and he noticed a devious tone in it. “I chose it to show Genevieve that regardless of what she thinks even eight months pregnant I’m still sexier than she’ll ever be. Torturing you and making you think only of me all night was just a happy side note.”

He gave her an impressed look with his lust filled eyes. “You haven’t peeked at the nursery have you?” he asked considering he knew it was tempting to do so, but he hadn’t finished it yet and didn’t want her to see it until he was done.

“I promised you I wouldn’t.” she told him with an eye roll and he gave her a look that told her to be honest. “No, I haven’t peeked at your unfinished project.”

“And you remember your role for tonight?” he asked, getting back to business.

“Yep, hang out with Nate, look defeated when I see you with Genevieve, help keep an eye out for tension and if need be distract Genevieve catty, immature banter while you’re talking to Jackson who is the alpha of one of the two branches of crescent wolves.” She answered then slid her hands over the smooth skin of his neck.

He smiled down at her but it faded when an uncomfortable look flashed across her face and she placed her hand on her stomach. “What’s wrong?” he asked, suddenly concerned.

“It’s nothing.” She assured him with a shake of her head as her face relaxed.

“Katie.” He drawled in a warning tone.

“Klaus.” She mimicked back. “It’s just Braxton hicks.”

“You’re sure?” he asked with wide worried eyes.

“I’m sure.” She assured him then dropped her hand from her loosening stomach. “I know what contractions feel like. I’ll tell you when I start feeling the real thing.” He breathed out a heavy breath and rested his forehead on hers. “I know you grow more anxious the closer we get to the due date…” she sighed as she grabbed his hands off of her hips and threaded their fingers together as she looked into his steel blue eyes. “But we’ll be okay.”

It was rare for him to let her see him vulnerable, but every time he did it just reminded her how much he cared for her and trusted her. Eventually, as the music outside grew louder, Klaus let go of her hands and pecked her on the lips. “Let’s get this show on the road shall we?” he asked as he held his hand out to the door for her to go first.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Nate were sitting at a table munching on some hors d’oeuvres when Genevieve and the three harvest girls walked in from one entrance. At the same time, a group of people led by two rustically handsome men, one with long blond hair and the other with shorter, but still long brown hair, came in from the second. “I’m guessing those guys are the crescent wolves?” Katie asked Nate.

“Yep. Something tells me it’s only a matter of time before this party gets interesting.” He answered then noticed her plate was empty so he grabbed his then motioned to hers, “you done with that?” she gave him a nod so he went to pass the plates off to a waiter. While he was gone she watched Elijah join the party and Katie was going to go talk to him and compliment him on his party planning skills, but another woman beat her to it and started flirting with him. “Feeling jealous?” Nate asked as he joined her at the tall table and handed her a champagne flute of sparkling white grape juice.

“What?” she asked looking away from the woman and Elijah, to a smirking Nate. “Why would I be jealous?”

“Um, probably because you two were a thing once upon a time.” He answered getting a frown from Katie considering she never told him about her past with Elijah. “It’s kind of public knowledge that you were soul bound to him and the link only broke because your soul shattered. The recovery from which led to you being able to get knocked up by Klaus when you were still a vampire.”

“My life’s story is public knowledge?” she asked with raised brows and he nodded. “Wow, that sucks. But to answer your question, no I’m not jealous. I’m curious.” She told him with a sigh then looked to see that Elijah was elsewhere, but the woman still stood at the table choosing desserts.

“You’re curious?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Last I heard he was dating Hayley. So when I see him flirting with whoever that chick is, yeah I get a touch curious.” She defended.

“That chick is Francesca Correa.” Nate informed her with a smirk.

“Would it completely and totally annoy you if I asked you to be nosey and tell me what Elijah and Diego are talking about?” Katie asked with a nod of her head at the two men.

“Not at all, I love being nosey.” He told her with an interested smirk then noticed her giving him a look. “What, guys can be nosey too.”

“I knew there was a reason I like you.” she told him with a laugh that he playfully shushed.

“Elijah is telling Diego to be polite and welcoming to the wolves, but they killed Diego’s family and would have killed him too had Marcel not saved him.” Nate told her while continuing to listen then Katie watched as Elijah said something to Diego and walked away.

“What did Elijah say back?” Katie asked, but when she looked at Nate she saw that he was looking off to the side and up. She followed his gaze and realized he’d noticed Klaus and Genevieve standing on the upper balcony talking.

“Elijah used fancy words to tell him to suck it up and Genevieve just called you a walking incubator with trashy taste in fashion.” He answered. The insult didn’t bother her, it wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard a thousand times before in her life. What bothered her was when Klaus placed his hand on Genevieve’s shoulder and said something to make her smile before he kissed her.

It wasn’t passionate or even a lingering kiss, but it was still a kiss and the first time Katie had actually seen them together. “If you squeeze that glass any harder it’s going to break and slice your hand open. I don’t need to tell you how bad that would be given the amount of vampires in the building.” Katie tore her eyes off of Genevieve, who’d seen her giving them a glare that if looks could kill would have Genevieve coughing up blood, then set her flute of juice on the table. She flexed her fingers and took a deep breath. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She answered. He ducked into her line of vision and raised his brows at her. “No, but…I have to be.” She told him with a sigh. “Otherwise I’m not and I can’t deal with that right now.”

“Well, I would offer you a drink, but…” he motioned to her stomach.

“Yeah, trust me, if I wasn’t pregnant I would have found my way to the nearest container of bourbon and drank half of it already.” She told him with an aggravated look then picked up her glass and downed it.

“You know they say the last month of pregnancy is all hormones and mood swings. So, just, keep that in mind.” He told her in an attempt to make her feel like less of a crazy person and she gave him a thankful look.

An hour later, Nate had left her to dance with a witch that had been eyeing him all night. So Katie stood at the table by herself watching him dance with the witch and Elijah dance with Hayley. She was supposed to be keeping an eye out for fighting or tension, but so far the entire party had been going according to plan. So when Jackson, the rustically handsome brunette werewolf, interrupted Elijah and Hayley and Hayley started dancing with him, Katie left the table she’d been hanging out at to go to Elijah. “Save me from my boredom?” she asked with her hand held out to him.

“Gladly.” He took it and gave her a spin before she placed her other hand on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Did she just ditch you?” Katie asked with a glance at Hayley.

“She just informed me that she and Jackson were betrothed right after their birth and considering she is eight weeks pregnant with his child they are going through with the ceremony.” He told her with a displeased look.

“But Jackson and the other crescents haven’t even been cured for a full month.” Katie thought out loud. “So that means…” she couldn’t make herself finish her sentence. It meant that Hayley has slept with Jackson while being courted by Elijah. “I warned her-”

“It’s fine.” He cut her off.

“She cheated on you. That’s not okay in my book.” Katie argued with a frown and a glare at Hayley who saw and averted her eyes in shame.

“They got caught up during a full moon and sparks flew.” He defended Hayley. “I can’t say I do not know the feeling.” She knew from the look in his chocolate browns that he was talking about the sparks that once flew between the two of them. “I just did not feel it with her.”

“What about Francesca Correa?” Katie asked and he narrowed his eyes and shook his head not knowing what she was talking about. “I saw you two flirting earlier.”

“She flirted first and I flattered her because she is the new head of the human faction.” He explained.

“Either way, she has a thing for you.” Katie told him noticing Francesca gave Katie the stink eye. “She doesn’t like that I’m dancing with you.”

“Well, you are incredibly threatening to the entire female population in that dress.” He replied purposely making it a point to not look any lower down than her eyes.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She told him before he gave her another twirl making her smile.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was dancing with Nate when a confrontation between the blond werewolf guy, who’s name she’d learned was Oliver, and Diego broke out. As soon as Diego threw Oliver into a glass table, shattering it, Nate whooshed Katie up to the second floor away from the fight. Soon after, Elijah pinned Oliver’s head down on a table while Jackson held Diego against one of the wooden columns with a stake on his chest. “This ends now. I won’t ask again.” Elijah told Oliver.

“Oh we’ll end it alright.” Jackson said, making Elijah look over his shoulder to see that he had Diego pinned down.

“So end it.” Katie spoke up as she left Nate and started walking down the stairs and into the middle of the courtyard. “Kill each other. Get it all over with.”

When she walked past Klaus where he had been talking to Francesca she heard her ask him, “Shouldn’t you intervene or something?”

“Why would I? This party just got interesting.” Klaus replied. “Besides, I want to know what’s going to come out of that talented little mouth of hers.”

Katie ignored him and kept her eyes on Elijah and Jackson. “Except that it won’t be over. It will just be one more hate crime to add to the long list. Let’s take a look at the “crimes” each of the factions shall we?” She air quoted the word crimes as she looked at Jackson and Oliver. “The werewolves have a natural and uncontrollable tendency to turn feral one night a month and tear people to shreds. Therefore getting on everyone’s bad side and we all know that the wolves and vampires have hated each other since the creation of time.”

She turned her eyes to Elijah and Diego. “Then there's the vampires who ticked off the witches by throwing a wrench into their harvest ritual and using one of their own to control them. And, well, they anger the werewolves and humans simply by existing.”

From there she looked at the witches. “In retaliation for the vampires and the leader of the human faction getting in the way of them gaining more power with their ritual, the witches hexed not one, but two humans. Long before that they also cursed the werewolves to live in their wolf form save one day of the month. And to top it all off they’ve angered the original vampires with their repeated attempts to get rid of my unborn child.”

Lastly she looked at Francesca, “Then there’s the human’s…” she sighed. “From what I’ve seen they turn a blind eye as long as the money keeps rolling in and when it stops they go on a killing spree of whatever faction cut them off.”

“Are you approaching a point?” Elijah asked, still pinning Oliver’s head to the table.

“My point is…” she turned to look at everyone else in the room, now speaking to them. “We all have reason to hate each other, but we need to put the past in the past, step out of the hate tainted shoes of our ancestors and come together to create a thriving community. Not just for ourselves, but for future generations as well. Otherwise we will constantly be looking over our shoulders waiting for the next war to break out…the next crime to be committed, and I don’t know about all of you, but that doesn’t seem like much of a life to me.” she paused and looked at the four men still frozen in place with their eyes on her. “So, boys, what’s it going to be, murder and war… or peace and hope for a better future?” she asked and the men let go of one other and brushed themselves off. “Alright then,” she looked at the DJ standing at a table in the corner of the silent courtyard and made eye contact with him. “laissez le bon temps rouler!” she waved her finger in the air in a wrap it up manner and the DJ turned the music back on kicking the party back up.

Klaus gave her a proud smirk when they caught each other’s eyes as she turned and headed back up the stairs where Nate still stood. “You are aware that you just did a New Orleans style mike drop right?”

“I’m not sure I’m aware of anything that just came out of my mouth.” She answered as she turned her back to the crowd, leaning on the wooden railing then stared off into the distance. “I hate being the center of attention.”

“Then what possessed you to stick yourself in the limelight?” Nate asked curiously.

She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know, I just…I saw Elijah slam that werewolf’s head into a table and Jackson threaten to kill Diego and something in me just…snapped.” She explained then met his green eyes.

“Well, this is your home now and you’re not just a human, you used to be a vampire and you’re carrying a baby that is three out of the four factions. You have good reason to want them to all get along.” Nate pointed out.

“Yes, but that doesn’t give me the right to jump onto a soapbox and lecture them like I’m some kind of high and mighty, all knowing-”

“Queen?” she heard Klaus ask and looked to her left to see him walking over, “May I steal a minute, mate?” he asked Nate who nodded and walked off.

“I’m not a queen.” She told him with a head shake.

“That speech you just gave suggests otherwise.” He countered. “You may not see it, but everyone else does. You were born for this role. All you have to do is open your mouth and people respond.”

“Born for it or not I wasn’t born into it.” she argued as she turned around and looked down at the crowd. “This has only been my home for a little under eight months. Those people have lived here their whole lives.” Genevieve, standing at a table with the harvest girls, minus Davina, looked up at them and Katie frowned. “Queen or not we shouldn’t be talking right now. So,” she gave Genevieve a challenging look as she turned from the crowd to face Klaus and placed her hand on his shoulder. She started seductively talking to and touching him, “I’m going to flirt with you like the desperate, has been, walking incubator she thinks I am and you’re going to look at me like I’m pathetic, reject me then walk away.”

His face took on a look of disdain as he removed her hands from where they were slipping under his suit jacket then towered over her as he grabbed her face in his large hand and looked her in the eyes. “I love you.” from far away, especially from the angle Genevieve was viewing the exchange from, it looked like Klaus had told her he loathed her.

Katie’s face twisted with a pained look and she surprised even herself with the tear that slipped down her cheek as he let go of her face, turned his back on her then walked away. She kept her eyes on him as he made his way to Genevieve then asked her to dance to the slow song that was playing. While they were dancing Genevieve glanced up at Katie and gave her a snooty, ‘I win’ smile then slipped her eyes back to Klaus. “Wanna take a walk, get some fresh air?” Nate asked as he walked over and stood beside her.

“Fresh air would be nice.” She answered as she took her eyes off of Klaus and Genevieve to look at Nate as she wiped the tear from her cheek.

They were on their way to one of the main exits when she heard Elijah call her name and stopped as he walked over to her. “May I have a moment?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She answered, wondering if she’d said something in her speech that pissed him off, then looked at Nate who had also stopped, “I’ll meet you outside.” he went ahead and she turned her attention back to Elijah who placed his hand on her shoulder and walked her over to the desserts table. “What’s up?”

“First,” he grabbed a slice of cheesecake and a metal fork and held them out to her so she took them with a roll of her eyes, “I haven’t seen you eat much tonight. Also, I have been talking to the faction leaders and we all agree that you should join us in signing the treaty tonight. They believe you should take a seat at the table.

“What?” she asked around a bite of the plain cheesecake.

“With Rebekah no longer in the picture, the people see you as the Mikaelson matriarch.” He explained. “Not to mention you put things in perspective and gave them the final push that led to them all agreeing to sign the treaty tonight.”

“You call me a matriarch, Klaus calls me a queen, both are flattering, but insanely inaccurate.” She said with an animated shake of her head not understanding why Klaus and Elijah kept putting her on a pedestal.

“Katie, you are standing in a unique place of power as an important member of this community with the fresh, un-bias, view of an outsider. We are simply encouraging you to embrace it. However, it goes without saying that you do not have to do anything you do not want to do.” He told her diplomatically.

“Can I think about it?” she asked as she dropped her eyes to her cheesecake.

“Of course.” He answered, happy that she was even thinking about it. “We’re meeting here in the courtyard at 11 if you decide to sign it.” she just gave him a nod and headed outside where she found Nate sitting on a bench.

“So, what did Elijah want?” he asked as she sat down next to him.

“He asked me to sign the treaty.” She answered with a sigh as she slipped her hands over the itching skin of her stomach.

“Are you going to?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know.” She answered with a shrug. “On one hand I’m flattered and I want to step up to the plate, but on the other I just want to be a good mother.”

“You know, this is the twenty-first century, you can choose to be both.” He told her, making her look at him across her shoulder. “I think I speak for the masses when I say I think you should go for it. Take your place at the table and use your voice to make a difference.”

Katie took in a deep breath as she lifted her shoulders then let them fall as she let it out.

TVDTVDTVD

Elijah gave Katie a surprised look when he saw her walk into the courtyard and join him, Francesca, Genevieve, Diego, Hayley and Jackson where they all stood around a table that held the new treaty, a bowl and seven silver daggers. Diego was the first to pick up a dagger and cut his palm. Everyone else followed suit then held their hands over the bowl, creating the ‘ink’ they would sign the treaty with. Elijah dipped a quill pen in the blood then handed it to Diego who signed then handed it to Francesca who passed it off to Genevieve then on until Hayley handed Katie the pen. So Katie dipped it then signed her name and handed it to Elijah, the last to sign.

After a few words from Elijah the meeting dispersed. Katie and Genevieve headed for the stairs at the same time and bumped shoulders. Katie bit her tongue, gave Genevieve the most polite smile she could muster for such a horrid person, then stepped aside and waved for her to go first. “You know,” Genevieve started as they neared the top of the stairs, “you can flash your cleavage and flirt all you want, but you’ll never win him back.”

“Yet, I believe you’re time with him is limited and you know it.” Katie replied with a condescendingly chipper tone and her head held high as they came to a stop at the top of the stairs. “After the birth of our child he’ll be so wrapped up in his daughter and me, aka his family, that your little love spell on him will break and he’ll forget all about his witchy little play thing. So enjoy your borrowed time in our bed while it lasts.” Katie told her with a smile as she walked past her. “Goodnight.”

She knew she shouldn’t say things like that since it was technically true, but she was ninety percent sure that Genevieve saw her as a giant joke no matter what came out of Katie’s mouth.

#the originals #the originals fanfiction #tvd #the vampire diaries fanfiction #klaus mikaelson #klaus mikaleson imagine #klaus mikaelson fanfiction #elijah mikaelson fanfiction #klaus mikaelson x oc #klaud mikaelson x oc #klaus mikaelson oneshot #klaus mikaelson x reader #klaus mikaelson one shot #klaus mikaelson imagine

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passivenovember · 3 years

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Another stupid Harringrove HC bc I'm full of them! Billy being the kind of obnoxious ass who will be pouring you a drink all 'tell me when to stop' and everytime Steve gets distracted or looks away he just keeps pouring until the drink is overflowing and spilling out of the cup and all over the table and he'll still keep going until Steve says 'Stop!', meaning, 'what the fuck, Billy!?' and 'WOAH' and 'knock it off!' are not accepted.

I'm so sorry this took so long!!

When you sent me this I was over the moon because this?? Is Billy's humor exactly. I thought for so long about the perfect universe to build for you, but instead put it in one of my WIPs.

This is a snippet from chapter seven of If Snow Loves the Trees and Fields. I hope you enjoy it.

"How many bottles of this shit do you keep on hand?"

"Cosmo says we should drink a glass of wine a night, so." Billy counts on his fingers. "Four? Seven? I dunno." He giggles. "Is there something in there you like?"

Steve hiccups, moving to cover his mouth with one hand but giggling when the hiccup beats him to it. He looks at Billy with wide, playful eyes. "How many bottles have we had, then, is anyone keeping count?"

His cheeks are so pink.

Billy's never even seen a shade of pink that vibrant, that lovely, and he feels like it could be a fluke because he works in a kindergarten classroom, for Christ sake. Some of his kids have the big pack of Crayola with everything from bubblegum to magenta wasted on cheap construction paper, but Steve.

He has them all beat, the way his tongue pokes out to put a glaze on his lips.

Pink pink pink.

Billy pours them each another glass, leaning heavily on the coffee table to keep from tipping over. "Where did the other bottles go?" He whispers.

Steve looks around wildly, shifting on his haunches to look under the coffee table. When he pops back up he nearly knocks the glass over and that sends them rolling down the hill. Clutching their sides in laughter.

"I love wine." Billy says, finishing his glass. "I love spilling stuff, too. Creating puddles to jump around in."

"I didn't mean to spill."

"You didn't, but you could." Billy slaps a thick, heavy hand on the hardwood below him. "Just dump the whole fuckin' bottle out, if you want to. These babies are indestructible."

Steve gasps, leaning all the way across the coffee table until Billy thinks maybe his head has filled with helium. "My friend just had a baby."

Billy wants to throw up. "Congratulations."

"Babies really are indestructible," Steve says with a voice full of glittering wonder. "The baby will crawl the fuck around sometimes, and I'm always worried his little arms will break when Robin swaddles him because it looks uncomfortable--"

"I like being swaddled." Billy says. Matter of fact.

But Steve isn't listening. He makes a bowl shape with his hands, like, "And his little noggin' just finished growing, like. Yesterday." He folds his arms, frowning. "I'm surprised Robin and her nanny haven't dropped him yet."

Billy leans back on his palms. "What about her husband, does he have a hand in all this?"

"She's raising the baby on her self."

"Like, on her tit? Breastfeeding?" Billy whispers, nearly dying when Steve's wine comes out through his nose.

They spend the next five minutes cleaning up peach scented snot with a paper towel, joining each other on the floor in front of the couch. Almost touching but not quite, as Billy gets the last of it, his fingers gentle on Steve's chin to hold him still.

Billy likes touching Steve.

Billy wants them to be like this forever, and for always. Drinking wine on his living room floor in damp, distant candle light. Steve's eyes have gone heavy lidded, like he's bare-knuckle boxing to stay awake. Billy runs his thumb over Steve's mouth, pretending to dab away the last bit of boogers.

Steve leans into the touch.

Billy keeps touching him. "Maybe you should lay down," He says. "Does your head hurt?"

"My nose burns. It feels like sizzling bacon." Steve wines, and.

It's adorable. Billy pulls Steve to his chest on impulse and Steve doesn't think twice about it, laying down with his head in Billy's lap once he manages to slide from collarbone to hip. His nose is red.

Pink and red, like valentines day.

Billy plays with Steve's hair, winding strands around his fingers and tugging until Steve bats at him, lazy and slow. "Don't pull my hair out of my head, Bill."

"I won't."

"I need it."

Billy grins. "For what?"

"For love. And Sex. And engagement photos, when he finally puts two and two together."

"When who puts two and three--"

"Two."

"Can we stop talking about math?" Billy whines, tugging on Steve's hair again. "Jesus, I feel like I've done more math today than I have in fucking years."

Steve giggles, high and light like a baby. "God help the youth of Hawkins."

"Gee, thanks."

"You're cute." Steve pouts, turning until his nose is buried in Billy's stomach. When he speaks again the words are all muffled. "I should help you find a wife."

And.

Billy doesn't even want to get into that. The impossibility of it all.

"Oh sure, maybe I'll date your friend with the baby," Billy teases, smirking when Steve bites him. "I'm not so good with babies but once the kid can shit in a toilet we'll be best pals."

Steve sits like the ground is on fire, getting right up in Billy's face. "You can't marry her." Steve says triumphantly.

Billy tucks the hair behind Steve's ears. "Why not?"

"Because she's a lesbian." Harrington pokes Billy's nose with his finger, and then with his own nose, like, "Ha-ha, you little cherub asshole, I foiled your plan!"

Steve giggles.

And rocks them back and forth.

And keeps staring at Billy with those eyes. All soft, so.

Billy moves away. "You getting sleepy?"

Steve cranes his neck to stare at the half empty bottle of Boone's on the floor next to them. He raises his eyebrows once, twice, three times, until Billy shakes his head.

"You need water, Harrington."

"I want wine."

"You're gonna hate yourself in the morning."

Steve gets on his haunches, finally pulling away from Billy to grab their empty glasses. He holds them over his head, like, "I'd never hate waking up here." And the glasses make little lady bug antenna's on Steve's head, so.

Who is Billy to argue.

He grabs the bottle and sets up shop, telling Steve to put the glasses on the coffee table so they won't spill.

Steve's lips form a pout. "You promised me a puddle to jump around in."

"I didn't--"

"You mentioned puddles to a drunk bisexual, Billy." Steve says, the picture of resolve. "What else is a gay to do? Forget about it? Move on?"

Billy shakes his head, putting the spout of the bottle over Steve's wine glass. "Tell me when to stop, pretty boy."

Steve nods with his whole body as the glass turns orange in the candle light.

Billy glances at Steve, watching him watch the bottle drain. "Um, Steve?"

"Yeah?" Steve says dreamily.

The glass starts to overflow.

Harrington jolts into action, like, "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you some wine."

"It's spilling all over the place--"

"I thought you wanted a puddle, Steve."

"I was joking."

"Well you have to tell me when you stop." Billy says, almost bored. Like this is something he does everyday.

"Okay," Steve says, as if gathering his thoughts.

Billy keeps going.

Steve swats him, like, "I said okay, what the fuck--"

"Yeah, but you didn't say stop."

"Well fucking STOP, Billy." Steve laughs, loud and bright. "You're crazy, you know that? Like an apple falling from the tree or whatever it is they say?"

And that's not at all what they say, but.

Steve's fingers make little splashes in the puddle Billy creates for them, anyway, until the room seems to disappear.

#harringrove #snow storms #snowed in #fluff #jaz speaks #billy hargrove #steve harrington

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pronouncingitwang · 3 years

Link

jon, melanie, and georgie friendship | 1.5K words | basically just. how jon finds out melanie’s bi | for the @jonsimsbipride prompt “solidarity”

“Martin? Are you still there?” Georgie calls from the couch at a volume that makes Jon wince.

Martin’s fallen asleep on the loveseat, his face smushed into the arm of the chair as he snores. For the last few minutes, Jon has been looking at the rise and fall of his chest with something resembling awe. Even a year after the world began again, Jon finds it difficult to believe that they’re safe, that he can just watch Martin without needing to watch over him.

“Pretty sure those are his snores I’m hearing right now,” says Melanie, and Georgie whispers a quick apology.

Recovery has been hard, but being roommates with the Qing-Barkers helps, at least sometimes. Georgie described their shared living situation as “living in group therapy” on more than one occasion, which is true on hard days. Melanie described it as “being back in uni again, but mostly in a good way?” which is true on better days. Martin maintains that it’s worth it for The Admiral and Melanie’s service dog, Mothman, alone, which is true on every day.

Today is a good day. There’s been a lot of laughter, from when Georgie and Melanie had met him and Martin at the airport to telling them honeymoon stories over dinner to now, when they’re all lying around doing nothing, and jet lag has rendered Jon too tired to drag himself to bed.

“Come and cuddle with us instead, Jon,” Melanie stage-whispers from beside Georgie. After checking that Martin is comfortable one more time, Jon agrees.

Melanie is snuggled under a blanket with a pink, purple, and blue yarn mix. Martin had gifted the blanket to Georgie for her birthday, even though Jon, I swear everyone gives their friends pride stuff when they don’t know what else to get them; are you sure it’s not obvious that I didn’t have a better idea? It's warm and soft, and by now, practically a household staple.

Jon sits down on the couch and, after checking that she’s okay with it, rests his cheek against Melanie’s shoulder. At first contact, Melanie lets out a small noise of surprise. “You shaved,” she says. “Georgie, you’re supposed to tell me about major life changes like this! How stupid does he look?”

Georgie hums. “Not too bad. I’d say… no more stupid than usual?”

“Damn,” Melanie says. “Why the smooth face, Jon?”

Georgie opens her mouth, but stops herself to let Jon explain.

“Oh,” he shrugs, “I just tend to shave whenever I have to deal with airport security. Less likely to be stopped for suspected terrorism and all.”

“Ah.” Melanie clicks her tongue. “Makes sense. Sucks, though.” She shifts, resting her head on top of Jon’s. “I guess it’s a good thing that Big Heathrow”—Georgie giggles from the other side of the couch—“doesn’t know how the apocalypse came about, then.”

Jon laughs. The part of his mind that wonders if going along with this particular joke about the apocalypse is a sign of developing emotional distance or just a coping mechanism perks its ears up, but he ignores it. “No, I’d imagine the Daily Mail would have a field day with that one.”

“I wonder how they’d spin your evil boss’s involvement,” Georgie, who steadfastly refuses to use Elias’s name, muses. “Innocent bystander? Secret lover?”

Melanie makes a retching sound, which Jon makes back at her. Melanie repeats it at a slightly higher pitch. This continues for at least a minute, before they lapse back into laughter. It really is like uni again.

“Hey, Jon,” Georgie ventures after a spot of silence, mischief coloring her voice, “Kiss, marry, kill: Big Heathrow, Daily Mail, evil boss.”

“Georgina.” It’s difficult to have a staring contest with Georgie’s body pillow in the way, but Jon manages to aim his glare right at the space between Georgie’s eyes. Georgie doesn’t back down, just smiles sweetly and raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, Jonathan?”

“Fine,” he sighs, resting his head back down onto Melanie’s shoulder. “Fine. Kill Elias again. Marry… marry Heathrow? I think it would have a tolerable personality. Which leaves…” he sighs again, “kissing the Daily Mail. Christ.”

“Bad choice,” Melanie says. “They’re basically the definition of kiss and tell. Imagine the scandal!”

“Alright, fine.” Jon says, not awake enough to debate but curious enough to challenge. “Same options. What would you pick?”

“Easy,” Melanie says. “First, obviously, I’m stabbing Elias to death. Second, I’m pretty sure Heathrow sells toothpaste, so it would be the least unpleasant to kiss. Third, and most importantly, I’m going to use my marriage to the Daily Mail to edit the articles it publishes and slowly radicalize the old white women of the UK.”

Georgie gives a few snaps of approval, and even Jon has to admit she has some points.

“There aren’t many situations where I’d divorce you willingly, Melanie,” Georgie says, “but if it was for this, I would understand.”

Melanie laughs. “I appreciate your support, babe. Your turn.”

Georgie deliberates for a while, then winces. “Sorry, Melanie. I’m going to have to go with Jon on this one.”

“Ha!” Jon says.

“I just don’t think I could deal with being married to the Daily Mail.”

“Cowards, both of you!” Melanie exclaims loudly, but is quickly shushed by both Jon and Georgie with a “Martin!” She continues in a quieter voice, “And before you say anything, Georgie, I know that’s not actually possible for you, but I’m sticking by my words.” She shakes her head. “I can’t believe this. The heartbreak. The betrayal. From my own wife, and right after she said she would willingly divorce me…”

“Stop taking my words out of context!”

“Can’t, my new spouse Mx. Mail is a bad influence”(—“Which is exactly why it's better to marry Heathrow instead,” Georgie interjects—)“but at least it’d side with me against Jon.”

Jon grins. “It’s the biromanticism, Melanie. It gives me and Georgie the same taste.”

At this, Melanie sputters. “Nuh-uh. No way. Absolutely no way. Your bad choices are the results of your own bad opinions. Don’t bring me into it.”

Melanie continues to speak, but Jon is no longer listening. He feels, suddenly, like he’s missing something important. “What?” he asks, causing Melanie to pause. “How have I brought you into it?”

“Well… you said being bi makes you choose the worse option,” Melanie says, which just confuses Jon more. Then, “Wait, Jon, you do know I’m bisexual, right?”

Ah. That would do it.

“Not… not quite.”

“Oh my god,” Georgie says. “Seriously?”

“You—I’ve only ever heard you call yourself gay!” Jon cries, giving Melanie and Georgie the chance to shush him with “Martin!”

Melanie shakes her head mournfully. “I’ve been your friend—okay, not quite that, but I’ve known you—for years!”

“I was trying to save the world during most of those years!”

“You also had spooky all-knowing powers,” Georgie adds.

Jon feels his leg begin to bounce. “Well, yes, but I was actively trying not to use them on people. Checking someone’s sexuality would be a gross violation of—”

“It’s okay, Jon,” Melanie says soothingly, “I know you wouldn’t do that.” There is quiet for a few seconds as Jon takes a few deep breaths. Then, Melanie says in a wryer tone, “Jon. One of my sets of prosthetic eyes is literally the bi pride flag. I know I don’t wear it that often, but…”

“I’ve only seen it once, in bad lighting, and… I don't know, I thought maybe you were just being supportive!”

“Oh my god,” Georgie says again, her voice muffled by the pillow she’s buried her face in. Jon feels like burying his face into a pillow himself.

“This is awful,” Jon groans.

“Stop being biphobic, Jon,” Melanie says.

“Stop being bi-aced, Jon,” Georgie says, which is unfortunately quite good.

“Fine,” Jon says. “This isn’t awful. It is, instead, wonderful.” He means the last sentence to come out begrudging, but it sounds more sincere than anything else. Jon blames his emotions. Now that the initial surprise has worn off, warmth is beginning to replace it. It’s not that he’s particularly starved for bi friends, but it’s nice, having one more thing that ties him and Melanie together.

“Thank you.” Melanie gives Jon a haughty sniff, but she smiles as she does it.

Jon’s neck is beginning to strain, but Melanie is still resting her head on top of his, and he doesn’t want to bother her. He closes his eyes and tries to focus his attention elsewhere. He can take a few minutes more.

“I just realized something,” Melanie says. “Jon, I’m literally under a bi pride blanket right now.” Georgie starts to giggle again.

“I’m asleep,” says Jon.

“Yeah, under a bi pride blanket that I, too, am currently under. Because I’m bi.”

“I’m double asleep,” says Jon.

“And I’m bi,” says Melanie.

“I know it’s useless to ask, but is there any chance we can forget about this and pretend I’ve known all along?”

“No,” Melanie and Georgie say in unison.

“Great,” Jon replies, and hides his smile in his bisexual friend’s shoulder.

#the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #melanie king #georgie barker #melanie qing #fic

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greenninjagal-blog · 3 years

Text

Deja Vecu

Hello, its been a while!! Please accept this release of the unpublished scene from Chapter Two of Deja Vu. Its basically 4k of Remus being gay for a stranger he keeps seeing die, and ain’t that a mood? :)

Summary: The Missing Scene in chapter 2 of Deja Vu, in which Remus agrees to help a stranger rob a casino.

Words: 4397

Read on Ao3 || Hero Worship Series || My General Writing Masterlist

At twenty-one years old, Remus finds out that robbing a casino is a lot less fun than Ocean’s Eleven led him to believe. It’s almost ridiculous the amount of security that went into protecting the chips and the cash on hand: following the path of the cash box from earlier, there’s two hired security guards framing the employee’s entrance, neither of whom like being touched nor can be persuaded to leave their posts together. There’s a card reader locking the door which despite looking like walnut wood, is actually steel with a clever paint job. And that’s just the first level.

“Predictable,” Dee says from where he had made himself comfortable on Remus’s bed with the complimentary note pad the hotel had supplied him. He had left his suit jacket on the desk to avoid the wrinkles but lounged on the foot of the bed without taking off his shoes. Remus had tossed himself down next to him, stretching out to gather all the pillows and built a throne for himself like he was eight instead of twenty-one.

Dee had watched him, back to wearing the face of the man who had approached him in the casino. Remus thinks he looks nice like that: hansom enough to please anyone who looked his way and charming enough to disarm anyone who might have seen him as out of place and forgettable enough that Remus couldn’t remember if they had gambled together previously.

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Remus had pointed out. “I know what the real you looks like.”

Dee’s pen digs into the paper a little harder than necessary and Remus pretends he hadn’t noticed. The smile he receives is light and joking but it doesn’t meet his eyes at all. “I happened to like this appearance.”

Remus hums, “Lame. The scales are cool.” But he had let it drop in favor of twisting the purple casino chip between his fingers.

Dee taps his pen on the comforter in thought, his borrowed blue eyes distant as he mulled over Remus’s reports from futures that won’t happen. “What else did you notice?”

“Tessa isn’t your wife anymore, Danny.”

Dee snorts, which, by all means, should not be as graceful and elegant as he makes it seem. There’s a fluidity to the way he dips his head and scribbled on the pad of paper that makes him looks dignified. Or maybe that’s just the angle that Remus is looking at him with. A lock of his dark hair slips into his eyes and he brushes it back with two gloved fingers.

Remus falls back against the stack of pillows he had built around himself, breathing deeply and settling himself. The air smells like the lemon cleaner that the hotel staff had used to clean his room earlier when Remus had been out and about, but there’s hints of something else—something sweet and spicy with an undertone of wood.

--Dee blinks at the question, shifting so that he’s lying on his stomach, his head resting on his palm. “I wonder,” He says, with eyes so bright and blue and innocent that Remus feels like he’s stuck in them, “if you mean the Cardamom scent from my aftershave.” And Remus’s heart beats just a little faster, a little harder, a little more.—

“When I ask what else you notice,” Dee says, drawing Remus back to the present, “I meant your other senses. You’ve told me about what you’ve seen. What about sounds? The smells? You said you experience this as a first-person thing, correct?”

Remus waves a hand. “Its both. I’m there in person but I’m also having an out of body experience, too.”

Dee squints. “Doesn’t that…get confusing? How can you interpret all the stimuli at once?”

“Stimuli! What, are you a scientist in your free time?” Remus mocks, but Dee’s shoulders tense at the insinuation.

“You don’t have to tell me.” He says, “I was just curious.” He’s not, though. Remus isn’t quite sure how he knows, but Dee’s curiosity is more than just a simple question. It feels like it’s more, like he’s gathering information and sorting it away for later, like he’s making decisions based on Remus’s answers that have nothing to do with the how they are going to get into a Vault protected by a six digit code that only three people have and then get back out with more money than they can physically carry.

“Shame,” Remus says, feeling the shift in the bed as Dee’s shoulders unwind. “If you were a scientist you could dissect me for all the goodies inside! Of course, you can do that without being a scientist, too, but it’s not as fun.”

“Are you speaking from personal experience?”

Remus flips the coin in the air and catches it with the same hand. It comes up heads. “Why, does that scare you?”

Dee watches him, the pen absently twirling in the air between them. Remus can feel the weight of his gaze like a physical thing, pressing on his chest and making him self conscious of exactly how many breathes he’s been taking. The cotton comforter has a square pattern on it that he hadn’t noticed before, but he can count only three squares between the two of them. For some reason that information feels important.

“No,” Dee says after another moment passes and the air simmers. “I supposed it concerns me.”

Remus swallows the urge to laugh at his face.

“You just seem to be a useful person,” Dee continues, defensively. “I would hate to see that usefulness be squandered.”

This time Remus does laugh and it’s a bumbling bubbling burst of noise in their quiet world. His lungs shake and his heart hurts, but he laughs and something about it makes Dee’s smile softly too. The air is light, but there’s an underlying tension there, lurking in the shadows and reminding Remus that for all the dashing good looks and the semi honest expressions, the man before him is a stranger wearing a borrowed face and absolutely no one would miss him if he disappeared.

He flips the coin again, watching it roll over itself too many times to count, bounce off his hand and then flop to a stop direction between the two of them. Dee pokes it with the butt of his pen, like he was expecting it to get up and walk away.

“To answer your question,” Remus says, breathing in deeply enough to smell his cardamom aftershave and wondering why no one else in his twenty-one years of living had thought to ask him. “Seeing the future does get confusing. But it’s whatever. It never causes anything worse than a nosebleed.”

Dee hums and scribbles something down on his notepad. If Remus sat up just slightly, he would be able to see it, but he finds he likes the mystery more. Was it notes to use against him? Or was it things to think about in the future? Or was it still the colossal list of numbers they weren’t even a fraction of the way through?

--They manage to draw the guard’s attention away with a faked emergency: Remus never put stock in his own acting skills so he stumbles and falls on another patron and lets his head crack against the corner of the a craps table just far enough away that the guards are drawn the few steps over to check on both of them. Remus doesn’t bother responding to any of their prompts until Dee with the face of Tim the dealer swipes his borrowed card and lets the door behind him close. They had radios from the same place where Dee had procured the keycard from, and Remus thinks he could fall asleep listening to Dee’s breaths.

“Left, right, or center?” Dee asks.

“Left,” Remus hums, watching the casino patrons around him. A woman in her thirties just won at a baccarat table and tried to kiss the dealer. “There’s a camera at around the corner, but it roves. Your future self said to wait five seconds then go.”

Remus waves down a waitress and orders a mojito while he waits. Dee gives soft laugh at the concept and Remus tries to calm his nerves.

“You’re so uptight,” He says softly, almost to the point where Remus can’t hear him over the chattering of other people. “Relax a little, Remus. It’s just my life.”

“The Elevator code is 7-1-3-2,” Remus tells him. “And you’re going to want change your pretty little face to someone of a higher ranking on the casino hierarchy unless you want Terry Benedict to know what we’re up to.”

Remus holds his breath as the elevator dings, and then as Dee repeats the code as he types it in, and then as the doors rumble closed. He twists the glass of his drink when it comes as he listens for the subtle clues on how far Dee is inside the belly of the beast. It takes him a moment to realize that Dee is humming softly, and his lips twist into a smile without his permission.

There’s some garbled conversation on Dee’s end, pleasantries and greetings and nice things that Remus never bothered to memorize. Dee glides through the conversations with ease, deceiving and grifting like he had been born to do it. And who knows? Maybe he had been. Polite conversation gets them through another three doors, including a hall wracked the cameras and the final elevator that can only be opened with two keys and a pin code graciously provided by an aware high-level friend that followed them in and was still chatting about their Perfect Child’s first steps.

Remus sips his mojito and watches the girl at the nearest roulette table eye the betting board. She’s still going to lose so Remus finds himself more entertained by trying to extract the lime from his drink than from watching her pout yet again when the ball lands on the red 36.

“Ah yes, the vault code,” Dee’s voice says, dragging Remus back to the mission at hand. He’s casual, loose, and ready, and Remus doesn’t understand how he does it. He glances down at the piece of paper in his hand and reads off the six-digit combination that was next on their list.

“5-1-3-2-7-6,” Remus presses a hand to his earpiece, listening as closely as he can. His breath shortens with each second, crafting infinities out of each passing tick. He can hear Dee’s laugh and his he listens closer he can make out the guard that’s next to him still chattering away. Each button bings when Dee presses it in, soft and charming and not at all like a guillotine that’s cut their mission off a hundred-some times before.

“Hey man you, okay?” The person with Dee asks, less out of curiosity and more out of suspicion.

“Yes sorry my finger slipped,” Dee says quickly and punches in the next number in ascending order out of blind hope that it might be the correct one but it isn’t and Remus knows it because that’s when the person next to Dee asks him to back away and demands to know who he is and Dee’s placating answers are never enough so he tries to shift but bullets are faster than he is and Remus rips out his ear piece right before the gun goes—

“Another bust,” Dee sighs, drawing a snake on the corner of his paper. “Somehow I feel like we could win more playing on the casino floor than doing this….” He trails, off eyes distant again, thinking more about money than about the number of deaths Remus has witnessed.

It seems strange, that Remus would care so much more about that then he does, but in a way that doesn’t surprise him. Its Death with a capital ‘D’ and in Remus’s twenty-one years of experience, the only people who feared death were those who were aware of how close it was. Remus was practically best friends with Death, with the taste of the asphalt on the highway, with the feeling of a free fall, with the awkward fit of a hotel bathtub. He’s familiar with the cold silver of fear, but it doesn’t make him any less afraid.

Dee knows he keeps dying, though. Dying alone, deep inside a labyrinth of a building and Remus wonders if he should stop this while he’s ahead. He knows once that half hour mark hits in the future there’s no more Dee to be waiting for, no pay out. Just the pain of seeing a swarm of S.W.A.T. officers covertly weave between the patrons and leave with a human sized black bag. But Remus still waits and watches, holding dutiful vigil over a fruitless endeavor and letting hope build just for it to shatter with reality.

“Why does this mean so much to you?” Remus asks, somewhere between the fifteenth and the hundred fiftieth casino themed wake procession. His eyes burn a little, and he tries to tell himself it’s just the brightness of lights.

“Money is everything,” Dee marks the next two number off his list on his notebook and talks without listening to his own words. Its not fair that he sounds so convinced it’s true, when his mouth moves like he’s practiced this in the mirror. “What about you? Why do you continue to watch?”

Remus sinks back on his pillows, holding on to that faint scent of wood and spice and the feeling in his gut that comes from every time Dee listens to his advice from the future, from every time Dee listens and adheres, from every times Dee just believes.

Remus wonders how so much trust could be from this stranger who’s known him for an hour or two, and yet Roman had never been able to just accept what he said without an argument. He sounds crazy when he talks about what will happen, but Dee just nods and lets his lips twitch into a smile when handing him a roll of toilet paper.

Remus rips off another length the cheap paper and folds its in half before shoving it on his face. There’s blood in his mustache, which is frustrating and tastes just as gross as all the other times he’s had blood dripping down his chin.

“Remus,” Dee says, without looking up from his notepad.

“Yes, dearest stranger taking up half my bed?” He inhales hard.

“This is a fourth, at most.”

“Tomayto-tomahto.”

Dee shoots him a look that he can just barely make out around the clomps of flimsy paper he’s holding to his face. He looks like he’s trying not to be amused. Which is funny! Because, well, Remus can’t remember the last time someone who wasn’t related to him was in his company long enough to find him amusing.

“Why are you doing this?” Dee asks. “Other than the money, which we agreed would be a fifty-fifty split, regardless of how much we manage to walk out of here with….but somehow I don’t see money being enough for you to watch me die over and over again. Otherwise you wouldn’t have stopped me from lunging for that cash box.”

Remus is twenty-one when he shrugs and says, “It’s something to do.”

Dee huffs another dazzling laugh and for a moment Remus thinks he can see a flash of sharpened teeth in that smile, fangs like a vampire come to life, but it’s too fast for him to be sure. “Ah, I see we’re both liars tonight. Ready for the next attempt?”

Remus wonders if it’s still lying when its technically the truth. He’s doing this because its time spent with this shapeshifting sham, this enlightening enigma, this confusing con artist who lies as easily as breathing. Remus has a hard time believing anything personal he says is true, and yet he finds himself eyeing the three squared spaces on the comforter again wondering if it would be too much to make it two, one, none.

For someone who trusts Remus to see the future seven billions times as they try to figure out the vault code, who follows every direction Remus gives without hesitation, who continues to act as if Death is not something that can happen to him, he is extraordinarily hard to trust in return. Words are meaningless because he flaunts them, and Remus grew up watching Roman practice lines enough to know when someone was acting. Dee probably isn’t even his real name.

But Remus…Remus hasn’t been seen the way that Dee sees him before. Isn’t that enough for him to want to spend as long as he can with this stranger? Regardless of the danger Dee is running straight into? Regardless of the slight thrill that he gets from the prospect that they might get away with this?

-- There’s some garbled conversation on Dee’s end, pleasantries and greetings and nice things that Remus never bothered to memorize. Dee glides through the conversations with ease, deceiving and grifting like he had been born to do it. And who knows? Maybe he had been. Polite conversation gets them through another three doors, including a hall wracked the cameras and the final elevator that can only be opened with two keys and a pin code graciously provided by an aware high-level friend that followed them in and was still chatting about their Perfect Child’s first steps.

Remus sips his chocolate martini and watches the girl at the nearest roulette table eye the betting board. He knows from all the other times he’s watched that she loses, although as he peaks over at the numbers she’s never far off. It must be that excitement of the near win that keeps her there.

“Ah yes, the vault code,” Dee’s voice says, dragging Remus back to the mission at hand. He’s casual, loose, and ready, and Remus doesn’t still understand how he does it.

“5-1-3-3-4-1.”

He can hear Dee’s laugh and his he listens closer he can make out the guard that’s next to him still chattering away. Each button bings when Dee presses it in, soft and charming and not at all like the bells of victory when the code is right, holy shit. The Code was right. Dee’s breath catches in his throat, and Remus nearly drops his martini on the floor. His heart races in his chest with an emotion that he can’t quiet put a name too.

They did it.

They…won. Remus makes his way towards the doors where they were set to meet back up, and Dee continues a casual conversation with the armed guard about children as he fills both his briefcases with as much money as he can fit. By the breathless excitement in his voice, Remus can guess there’s more money in front of him than he expected to be able to get. He invites the guard over for family dinner next night because he’s an asshole and Remus finds that quality admirable.

He waves down a waitress to get a second drink, Dee’s celebratory drink, because as soon as he got past the doors they were home free-

“Hey! Hey! Stop him!” A voice yells in Dee’s ear and the shapeshifter curses.

“Remus!” He yells, “The executive is in the halls! He-!”

There’s a gunshot and a thud and Remus rips out his earpiece and screams loud enough to make all the nearest games freeze in their tracks—

“Let me guess,” Dee says, rolling over, “Another bust? The next numbers ar—”

“No,” Remus throws himself into a sitting position, and blindly grabbing for more toilet paper. The back of his throat is slick with a metallic taste and his head spins a bit when he tries to stand up. “No, Dee!”

“No?”

“Dee, we did it! That’s the code,” Remus says, pretending like his knees don’t buckle when the floor rolls under his feet. Dee is there in a moment, hands under his arms and holding him up completely. Its almost like a hug, Remus thinks distantly. He’s twenty-one and he can’t remember the last time someone hugged him even as a joke. His skin itches at the contact, blistering and burning at the warmth of someone else being so close to him. The cardamom scent is so strong, but Remus thinks he might be okay if that was the only thing he smelled for the rest of his life.

“Are you…okay?” Dee asks. “Why are you…?”

Remus uses the back of his hand to wipe away the stream of blood from his nose and inhales hard. “You died again. The executive you choose to impersonate is in the building and you run into him right before getting out with the cash.”

“Who was it? I can change into someone else.”

Remus shakes his head. “Oh no. I’ve got no clue, but if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s get someone’s attention.”

Dee grins, “You certainly got mine. What are you going to do?”

Remus slides his weight back and manages to stand on his own legs. Remus’s heart does a dance routine in his chest, moving like if it slows for even a second Dee will lunge forward and rip it from his body.

Remus tells him, “I’m going to go make a girl win at roulette so much they think she’s cheating. With a hundred thousand dollars on the line that should have their attentions, right?”

It’s not really a question. Remus knows from experience that the more games in a row that you win during a game involving so much luck, the more interest people start to take in it and you. He just needs to convince the girl to bet only where he tells her to, and then bet as much as she can.

He knows how to do it, too: simply walk up to her and offer her a free Barney if she bets on the square he tells her too. Once she wins, he tells her the next one, and maybe she puts a nickel down, or a quarter, just in case he’s wrong. When she wins again, he’ll tell her the next number, and she’ll put more on it. Then more. Then more. She doesn’t even need to believe that he can see the future. She just has to reap the rewards.

“Oh,” Dee says staring at him. “Oh.”

Remus isn’t sure what he’s looking at. He just knows that Dee’s eyes are as blue as the ocean and deeper than anything he’s ever drowned in. He’s looking at Remus again, like this is the first time he’s seeing him in this lighting, and when he smiles, his teeth are definitely sharper than before.

“I do believe,” Dee says, “we could make the best team of thieves there is out here.”

“You’re just now figuring that out?” Remus asks. “Come on. I didn’t listen to you die nine hundred times just for you to chicken out now.”

He grabs his jacket, and buttons it. With a swipe of his hands he’s hair sets back in the position before, like some type of magic act. If Dee’s the magician, Remus thinks he would be honored to be in the front row every time he performs.

“So, you’d be up to doing this again, correct?” Dee asks, with his hand on the doorknob.

“They won’t fall for the same trick twice,” Remus says, “And what makes you think that this is something I enjoy?”

“I didn’t ask if you enjoyed it. I asked if you’d do this again. Not here, but somewhere else.” Dee glances at him, side eyeing him in a way that makes the hair on the back of Remus’s neck stand on end. “You still owe me.”

“What?” Remus turns to face him, and if there’s a spark in his chest, a nudge of excitement, well who can blame him? People don’t usually want him to stay around.

Another step in the hall. “We made a deal, unless you’ve forgotten. You said that if I could figure out how you were cheating, you’d do one thing that I want you to do.”

Remus snorted and motioned between them, “What do you call this? What we’ve been doing for the past hour?”

“This?” The man gives him a shark-like smile, “You did this of your own volition!”

“I seem to recall you asking,” Remus challenges.

Dee shakes his head too innocently. “Not in this timeline.” He pulls out his pale-yellow handkerchief and offers it to him, “You still have blood on your face by the way.”

There’s something nice about the way that this man is looking at him, the way he’s still looking at him, like Remus is something more than a nuisance, more than a distraction, more than an unwanted, frustrating intrusion. It makes his knees weak and the back of his throat taste like blood again and he so desperately wants to look to the future but won’t let himself do it.

“What do you want?” Remus says, because the uncharacteristic fear in his chest is slowly turning all his organs to butterflies and he never goes back on a promise.

“Well, you did say anything I wanted right? Anything at all?”

Remus nods, rolling his finger over the snake design on the stolen poker chip. Suddenly there doesn’t seem to be enough air in the world, and he’s afraid if he inhales too deeply trying to get more, the whole reality will shatter.

Dee’s form shimmers, shivers, and dissolves into Tim the dealer as they wait for the elevator to take them back to the casino floor. It’s an entirely different person but when he looks at Remus all he can see is Dee’s expression.

“Well, Remus,” He says, “After we finish up here, I want you to come with me. Work with me a bit. Let me help you amass a bit of a fortune. Strictly professional, of course. I won’t ask about your past and you don’t ask about mine. We don’t even need to be friends! Just…”

Dee offers out a gloved hand to him. “Business partners?”

Remus is twenty-one and he thinks there might be a timeline out there where he says no, but he doesn’t even entertain that thought.

“Business Partners,” He says and shakes on it.

#Demus #sanders sides #janus sanders #remus sanders #deja vu au #robbing a casino for your mental health #Oceans eleven references because I love that movie #superpowers #Remus from before things get bad #tw: temporary death #Remus can see the future #Janus can shapeshift #Everything is GREAT :)

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musette22 · 4 years

Text

You Make My Heart Skip A Beet

You Make My Heart Skip a Beet

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes (Stucky)

Word count: 3.8k

Rating: Teen and Up

A/N: Based on this lovely prompt by @greyhoundsgirl. I have to be honest here, I’ve never actually seen Top Chef though so I thought it would be safer to make up a new fictional amateur cooking competition which I’ve titled Chef Wars :p

No warnings to speak of, apart from maybe for awful food puns, but it is a bit of a cracky piece, and it’s in Sam POV (poor guy). Hope you enjoy!! 💗 Huge thanks to the amazing @rainbowsandcoconut for brainstorming, food puns and awesome beta’ing, as usual 😘

Read on AO3

Summary:

“I made soda bread.”

Steve lets out the 6’2” supersoldier equivalent of a squeak. “Oh, I love soda bread,” he says eagerly, rolling forward on the balls of his feet like he does when he gets excited. “My mom used to make it all the time when I was growing up.”

The tips of Barnes’s ears turn red, and he mutters something that sounds suspiciously like, “I know.”

****************************

When Sam and Steve had first been approached about being guest judges on an Avengers-themed special of Chef Wars, they’d spent a full fifteen minutes jumping around the common room in the Tower like a pair of overgrown kids on a sugar high.

Guest judges. On Chef Wars.

It so happens that Sam and Steve watch Chef Wars religiously. In fact, Steve even mentioned this in passing in one or two of his more recent interviews when asked how Captain America likes to spend his downtime, which is probably how the show’s executives had thought to invite them in the first place.

Sam’s love for cooking and cooking shows was passed down to him by his mother Darlene, and he, in turn, passed it on to Captain America – though if you’d told ten-year-old Sam that, he would’ve thought you were nuts. Poor Steve isn’t exactly the culinary sort of guy himself, but once Sam started turning up on his doorstep three nights a week to keep him company and make sure he didn’t sink further into depression, he’d slowly started to enjoy the shows Sam insisted on watching with him. Sam figured the familiarity of the actions and the low stakes of an amateur cooking competition would be perfectly suited to someone trying to integrate into a new century, while still being just exciting enough to hold the attention of an adrenaline junkie like Steve.

And he was right. So now, every Thursday night, the two of them chill on Steve’s couch, yelling at the TV and pretending they‘d do a better job of it than the contestants. Which, to be fair, Sam probably would, but Steve decidedly would not. What Steve lacks in culinary skills, though, he more than makes up for with his crazy supersoldier metabolism, rivaled only by the Other Guy and sometimes Thor, once he’s cracked open the mead. Steve can eat, and he does so with relish.

So needless to say, when they got the invite, they’d both jumped at the chance. Who wouldn’t, when presented with the opportunity to do the thing they did every Thursday night for funsies, but this time for realsies? And after weeks of giddy anticipation, today is finally the day.

Filming day.

The whole thing had gotten off to an excellent start. The sun was shining, Steve had actually been whistling on their way to the studio instead of nervously drumming his fingers on the dashboard (something which got on Sam’s nerves like nothing else), and they’d been offered some quality Italian espresso when they arrived. The show got on the road as soon as they’d gotten a quick tour of the studio, and after lights, camera, action, the contestants were introduced one by one.

There is Bernadette, a Missouri housewife who turned out to be somewhat of a BBQ expert and who reminds Sam of his Aunt Jenna; there’s Bob, a big, burly dude from Kentucky who wouldn’t look amiss on a Pro Wrestling show but who ends up surprising them all with a surprisingly delicate edible flower-dish dedicated to his lovely wife; and Yulia, a tiny, fierce girl from Bulgaria with some mean knife skills who Sam suspects could very well be a distant relative of Natasha’s.

And then there’s Bucky Barnes.

Bucky Barnes is a thirty-one-year-old physical therapist from Brooklyn who’s looking to change careers and get into the restaurant business full time. He has that whole hipster vibe going on: long, meticulously conditioned chestnut hair in a messy top knot, designer stubble, sleeve of – admittedly awesome – tattoos on his left arm. His cool, blue eyes and sharp cheekbones give him a model-like appearance, and yet there’s something soft and disarming about him.

Steve certainly seems to think so, at least.

The moment Barnes came walking through those glass doors, Sam heard Steve suck in a sharp breath at his side. A quick glance at Steve’s slack-jawed expression told Sam all he needed to know, since the dude is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. He’d elbowed Steve in the side until he looked over and pretended to wipe some drool from the corner of his mouth. Steve’s eyes went wide as he hastily mirrored the movement, missing the joke by about fifty yards. Oh, boy.

From that moment onward, Steve’s brain seemed to have gone through a blender, turning it into a rainbow smoothie – which was pretty unfortunate, considering they were going to have to interact with the contestants in a way that was suitable for daytime television.

The thing is, Steve is not exactly what you’d call a people person at the best of times. He’s fine with someone he’s known for a while and feels comfortable with, but with strangers he’s just… a little awkward. Credit where credit’s due, Steve is one of the most loyal, sweet, funny and whip-smart guys Sam has ever known – and let’s not forget stubborn as hell – but he’s also very, very bad at social cues. It’s not his fault, of course. Steve had gone from growing up pretty isolated without any real friends to speak of, to suddenly spending years surrounded only by his army buddies, which wasn’t at all representative for how normal people interacted with each other (Sam knows this from experience).

While Steve’s many social faux-pas are an endless source of entertainment for Sam, he’s not a total asshole, and he has tried to help Steve practice his social skills. Unfortunately, giving him well-meaning advice like “just be yourself” seems to be a sure-fire way to ensure Steve will put his foot in his mouth somehow.

That’s why Steve prefers to put on his Cap persona for public interactions. When he’s Captain America instead of Steve Rogers, all he has to do is look commanding and sort of friendly and say bland things like “I’m very happy to be here” and “You did well, son” and no one would be any the wiser that beneath that righteous exterior, Steve was floundering and wondering when he could reasonably leave whatever social engagement Pepper had sweet-talked him into attending, and head home to the comfort of his armchair and his sketchbook.

For today’s engagement, Steve had wisely adopted this approach as well, and the fact that he was genuinely excited to be there helped to loosen him up a little – so really, it should’ve all been fine.

But then Bucky Barnes from Brooklyn walked into the room and turned his big, blue eyes in Steve’s direction, and Steve promptly seemed to forget who or what a Captain America even was.

So far, Steve has already missed his cue twice, and it’s taken Sam stepping on his toes to get him to focus. To be fair, though, Steve puts in a valiant effort to pull himself together, managing to ooh and aah in all the right places when talking to the other candidates – sheer dumb luck, if you ask Sam. But as Steve’s best friend and confidante, Sam sees right through it. He hasn’t missed the way Steve’s gaze keeps drifting in Barnes’ direction, and coupled with the blush creeping up the back of Steve’s neck whenever Barnes’s eyes meet his, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Cap has got himself a Manhattan-sized crush.

Now, most people probably aren’t aware that Captain America is also attracted to men, but Sam has a feeling that by the end of this episode, that cat will be most definitely out of the closet. Steve’s never purposely hid his sexuality; it was more of a question of it never having come up yet. It sure as hell has come up now.

And what makes this even better is that Barnes is just as bad. He stuttered his way through his introduction, very obviously starstruck at meeting Captain America, but also very obviously gay as hell for him, if the way his eyes lingered on Steve’s chest and thighs is any indication. Sam, for his part, is incredibly amused by it all. Not only does he get to be on the set of his favorite cooking show, he also gets to rib Steve, throwing in as many food puns as he possibly can – most of which go over Steve’s head because he’s too busy drooling over Barnes. Sam’s wit is wasted on his friends.

Then, it’s time to judge. In the first round, the contestants are supposed to make something which represents why they got into cooking in the first place.

Sam can feel Steve practically vibrate with nerves at his side as they walk up to Barnes’ station. Feeling magnanimous, Sam decides to have mercy on his muscly pal and take the lead on this one.

“Mr. Barnes,” he says, giving Barnes an encouraging smile. “Tell us about your dish, if you please.”

“Call me Bucky,” Barnes says, returning the gesture with a quick quirk of his lips.

Next to him, Steve repeats the name in a whisper, most likely unaware that he’s even doing it.

Sam has to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking.

*****

Bucky’s confessional

“I grew up in Brooklyn, as the eldest of five kids. My dad left when I was fifteen, and while I was still in school, my mom had to work three jobs to provide for us all. She wasn’t home much, so it was kind of up to me to make sure dinner was on the table most nights.”

Bucky plucks at the seam of his black skinny jeans, lost in thought. “I think that’s why my specialty is comfort food. Nothing unnecessary, just hearty, nutritious food, y’know?” With a tilt of his head, he adds, “Although since all my siblings moved into their own places I’ve been cooking mostly for myself and my cat, so I’ve been experimenting with adding some twists to my tried and tested recipes.” He laughs, right hand clasping the back of his neck in a bashful gesture. “I’ve had… mixed success. Luckily Alpine has loved all of it. She’s my cat.”

“My first dish today is Irish soda bread with sage butter and Himalayan sea salt,” Bucky continues. “Bread was something we could never have enough of in our household. Five growing kids, y’know? And also, um...” A slight blush creeps its way onto Bucky’s cheeks, his eyes flitting around nervously. “Well, I guess you could say I used to be a bit of a history nerd growing up. I was super interested in World War II, particularly, uh, Captain America.” His blush deepens, spreading upwards from the neckline of his white t-shirt to the tips of his pierced ears.

“I, uh, I basically read every Steve Rogers biography I could get my hands on, which is why I learned to make things like soda bread because, y’know, Steve Rogers was Irish. Is Irish,” he corrects himself. Bucky’s eyes glaze over, taking on a faraway look. “Man, I couldn’t believe it when Cap was found a few years ago,” he marvels, “and alive. I don’t think I slept for a week after I found out.” He stares into space for a moment before shaking himself. He clears his throat, eyes refocusing on the person behind the camera. “Anyway, so when I heard that Chef Wars was doing an Avengers-themed special, I immediately applied because Steve – Cap, I mean- Captain America. Um. Yeah, so Cap mentioned in a few of his interviews that he watches Chef Wars, so I figured there would be a good chance he’d be watching this one too, you know? And then I got the email that I’d been selected and that he was going to be the one judging us, and I just…” Bucky trails off, looking a little faint, the blood draining from his face as quickly as it had risen.

“God, I just can’t believe I’ll finally get to see him in the flesh.” His eyes widen. “In person, I mean," he hastily amends. "And I’m excited about my dishes too, of course. I really hope Cap will like them. And the Falcon. Him, too. Yeah.”

*****

“I made soda bread.”

The tips of Barnes’s ears turn red, and he mutters something that sounds suspiciously like, “I know.”

When Steve puts a piece of bread into his mouth and chews slowly, he sniffs, eyes turning a little watery. “It tastes exactly like my mom’s,” he says in a hushed voice, sounding like he can’t quite believe his taste buds. Sam pats Steve’s back consolingly, before scooping up some sage butter with his own piece of bread and taking an enthusiastic bite.

“Hmm, nice,” he says, giving Barnes an appreciative nod. “And the butter? You make that yourself, too?”

“You butter believe it,” Barnes replies, then immediately looks horrified, like he can’t believe he made a pun that bad on national television.

Sam cackles, holding out his fist for Barnes to bump. When Barnes has recovered enough to return the gesture with his left hand, Steve stares longingly at their touching hands, before letting his gaze trail over the tattoos on Barnes’ exposed forearm. Since he's not exactly subtle about it, Barnes catches him looking and gives Steve a tentative smile when their eyes meet. Steve chokes on absolutely nothing and launches into an impromptu coughing fit. “Crumbs,” he wheezes, thumping a massive fist on his massive chest, “wrong pipe.”

Sam just smirks at him, before turning back to Barnes. “That was delicious,” he tells him. “Can’t wait for your next dish, man.”

“Really, really, good,” Steve chimes in once he’s caught his breath. “Well done, Bucky.”

Barnes goes as red as a tomato, eyes trained on the floor as he awkwardly shifts from foot to foot. “Thank you, Captain.”

“Steve, please,” Steve implores.

Barnes bites his lip, looking up at Steve through his lashes. “Thanks, Steve.”

Sam's pretty sure Steve stops breathing altogether right then. Christ, it’s like there’s an electrical current running between the two of them, the air crackling with it. Thunderbolts and lighting, very very nauseating.

Sam claps his hands. “Right,” he says loudly, “moving on to the next contestant now… Yulia, what have you prepared for us?”

*****

By the time the second round rolls around, Steve has had a series of meltdowns and Sam has spent precious time he could’ve been exploring the set and taking pics for his mom on talking Steve out of a bathroom stall. Damn, he’s a good friend. It takes all of Sam’s VA-honed therapist skills to convince Steve that he’s doing fine, he’s not embarrassing himself, and no one but Sam has noticed Steve’s massive heart boner for Barnes yet. Sam actually isn’t entirely positive about that last one – or the first two for that matter – but Steve doesn’t need to know that. There are still two rounds to go.

In the second round, contestants are asked to make a dish that represents who they are as a person.

While the contestants are cooking up a metaphorical storm, Sam and Steve walk around their stations to chat with everyone some more, camera crew on their heels. Steve manages to get out at least three complete sentences, and Bernadette and Bob are too in awe of him to notice the few times he says something that doesn’t actually make any sense. Yulia has given no indication that she even knows who either of them are, and Sam can practically feel the relief radiating off of Steve. He guesses that’s part of why he and Natasha get on so well.

When they round on Barnes’ station, Barnes has just started seasoning his dish. There’s a checkered dishcloth slung over his right shoulder and a focused look on his face, which turns into one of low-key stress the moment he spots Steve and Sam coming towards him. Leaning his hip against the counter, Sam settles in to watch Steve make a fool of himself. He's not disappointed.

“Wow,” Steve says inanely, gesturing in the direction of Barnes’ hands. “That’s- you’re- you’re really good at that.”

Barnes pauses his turning of the peppermill to give Steve a slightly panicked look. “At… grinding?”

At Steve’s strangled cough, Barnes seems to realize what he just said, his bewildered expression morphing into one of abject mortification. The poor guy looks like he’d very much like the ground to swallow him whole right about now.

Honestly, these two deserve each other.

When they've finished chatting to everyone and it’s time to taste, Barnes is asked to explain his dish and how it represents him. He seems to have pulled himself together somewhat since their last encounter, his stance a little more confident now and his eyes only drifting to Steve’s pecs every other sentence.

“I’m a simple guy,” he tells them, somehow managing to make it sound genuine instead of cliché. “I enjoy the little things in life. I like taking care of people, making them feel good and comfortable, and I think that’s reflected in my cooking. I enjoy making comfort food, the hale and hearty stuff.” He licks his lips, meaningfully adding, “Although, don’t get me wrong. I do indulge occasionally. I’ve got my guilty pleasures same as everyone else, y'know?” That last part is directed at Steve, who nods dazedly, like he knows exactly what Barnes means. Gross.

“So I guess you could say you’re just… arugula guy?” Sam grins, cheerfully ignoring the growing sexual tension.

Barnes stares at him for a beat, and then snorts. “You know what?” he says, returning Sam's grin, “the s’more I get to know you, the s’more I like you.”

Sam has a very real moment where he thinks he might actually fall in love with this guy himself. It’s only Steve’s doe-eyed look that keeps him from proposing to Barnes there and then. Okay, and maybe the fact that Barnes is clearly smitten with Steve, and also Sam is straight and very happily dating Nat, who would not hesitate to gut him if he decided to elope with some pasty hipster dude.

Barnes’ dish – mac and cheese with black truffle and locally sourced cheeses and fancy cuts of bacon – is mouthwateringly good, and Sam tells him as much. Using appropriate words to do so. You know, like a normal person.

Steve, on the other hand, moans loudly around his bite and then, mouth still full, he blurts, “That’s exactly what I thought you’d taste like.”

In the painfully awkward silence that follows, Steve and Barnes blush so hard the combined heat of their flaming cheeks could probably power most of New York City. This time, Sam can’t contain his laughter. He crows as he gleefully slaps his thighs, and even some of the crew is hiding having a hard time staying professional in the face of such blatant dumbassery.

Shaking his head, Sam grabs Steve by the bicep and herds him towards the backroom. “Come on, Casanova,” he says. “Let’s get you some ice for those burns.”

*****

For dessert, Barnes goes all out.

He actually makes Captain America cake pops, shaped and decorated like Steve’s shield with blue, red and white frosting. Steve’s eyes almost bug out of his head when he sees them. Barnes explains how they’re “sort of an adult version” of normal cake pops, which makes Sam raise an eyebrow. He’s been on the internet. He unfortunately has seen adult versions of all kinds of Captain America paraphernalia. Fortunately, Barnes just means that his cake pops have some sort of liquor in the center, “for a punch, you know?”

The starry-eyed look Steve gives Barnes clearly conveys just how clever he thinks that is, and Sam surreptitiously rolls his eyes. No game whatsoever, either of them.

“I’ve never had a cake pop before,” Steve says, carefully picking up one of the treats and inspecting it curiously.

“Oh,” Barnes says, blinking at him. “Well, normally you’d eat them in one go, but these are a bit bigger than usual because of the shape of the shield, so you probably won’t be able to fit -”

The rest of his sentence sort of peters off into a stunned silence as Steve proceeds to stick a whole-ass giant cake pop in his mouth in one go, letting out an appreciative grunt as he chews and then swallows.

Barnes’s mouth goes slack. “Oh my god,” he breathes, his eyes glazing over, and Sam cracks up. Again.

The cake pops are actually surprisingly good, despite their garish (sorry, Steve) appearance, and then it’s time to retreat and deliberate. As was to be expected, Steve has a crisis of conscience.

“I can’t vote for him just because he made my mom’s soda bread and he practically raised his baby sisters by himself and he cooks for his cat and he has pretty eyes, Sam!” he laments, voice muffled into his massive forearms. Sam makes the filming crew promise not to air this bit. It takes some doing, but finally Sam manages to convince Steve that Barnes’s food was simply the best. Better than all the rest. He even does a little Tina impression to get his point across, and that seems to do it.

When they announce the winner, Barnes smiles so wide it transforms his whole face and makes Steve melt into a puddle of Gü.

Sam has to nudge Steve again to get him to say his line, since he’s too busy mooning over Barnes to notice the autocue changing. “Ah, yes!” Steve says loudly. “First prize is a substantial sum of money, sponsored by Tony Stark, which we hope will go towards opening your own restaurant–"

“… and a weekend stay at Avengers Tower, also sponsored by Tony!”

Steve’s head whips around to him in surprise. Sam winks at him. “Including a private tour of the premises by none other than Captain America himself. Isn’t that right, Steven?”

A beat of silence, and then Steve.exe starts back up. "Right,” he nods, drawing out the word. “Yes. That’s right.” Sam pats his arm. Good man.

Stepping forward, Steve takes Barnes’ hand and shakes it slowly. “Congratulations, Bucky. I look forward to seeing you again soon," he says, adding, after a quick, bracing inhale, “and maybe when you visit, I can make my mom’s stew for you? If- if you like?”

Sam feels a surge of pride. Look at Steve go, being something almost in the vicinity of smooth.

Barnes laps it up, beaming at Steve. “I’d really love that,” he says in a low voice, still holding Steve's hand. “I’m sure you’re delicious.” His eyes widen. “It’s delicious. The stew – not- not-" Abruptly, Barnes stops babbling, then seems to come to a decision. “Oh, fuck it,” he mutters, and pulls Steve towards him, crashing their mouths together in a scorching kiss.

Over the noise of the assembled crowd's whoops and cheers, Sam gleefully calls, “And that, my friends, is a wrap!”

#stucky #stevebucky #steve rogers x bucky barnes #shrunkyclunks #meet cute #fluff #top chef #chef bucky barnes #my fic #my writing #ao3 #sam wilson pov

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mercuryislove · 3 years

Note

6 for Anwei, 10 for Yixing, and 30 for Ciaran and Sihla please 😊

once again I feel like I have said a whole lot of words with actually answering any of the questions at hand... please forgive me ._.

6. Do they like being reminded of home?

If by “home” you mean the past or like her childhood home then... only sometimes. Very rarely? It's complicated. Anwei pretends not to be sentimental about what life was like before, but deep down she still longs for that familiarity. She wasn't nearly as close to her mom as Ciaran was (and neither of them were close to their dad because he was um. largely absent), and looking back she still beats herself up about not cherishing the time with her they had. And sometimes in casual conversation, Ciaran will bring things up like “oh, this is just like the time when we were kids when Mom did xyz” or “Mom used to say things like that all the time” or “Mom would have loved this [completely mundane thing lol]” and some part of her gets like... resentful, maybe? She's jealous in a way that he doesn't feel the ache for the old times like he does. She's jealous that he remembers all those little details about their old life, while she only remembers stupid shit written in the margins of her college textbooks or some song on the internet that went viral when she was thirteen or the mnemonic devices she used to learn all the bones and muscles in the human body. She doesn't care about those parts. She wishes she could remember more important things. Like her mom's favorite color or the way their childhood home smelled after a summer vacation or the name of her favorite restaurant down the street. So like. to not answer the question at all, no lol. It mostly just makes her sad to think about home and how she can never go back again :(

10. Are they very sentimental, or perhaps just selectively?

Yixing has nothing to be sentimental about in his life. Well, he does have a few things, but he doesn't think so, and all of the things he would get sentimental about are tarnished by the abuse he's suffered at the hands of others. When he hears other people talk about their nostalgic feelings about childhood, he's just like “Hm. Can't relate. In fact, I wish I could erase every memory of my childhood from my brain!” Much like Anwei, he just gets fucking sad about shit instead of ever getting sentimental. Wait, would it be called sentimentality if you're like. mourning for the things in life you never got to have growing up? Like a well-adjusted family and fond memories of your youth? Because if that counts, then he absolutely is sentimental about everything ever. Sometimes he sees fathers with their young sons and sees how much they care for each other and has to like. hold back tears (or go sit on his horse for a minute lol) because that is what his life was supposed to be like. He was supposed to have someone who loved him and taught him right from wrong and protected him from the evils of the world and supported him and nurtured him and showed him how to be a good person, and... well. His father didn't do any of that. If anything he did the exact opposite. And sometimes Yixing gets really bitter about it because he didn't deserve that, and leaving when he did was the best thing he could have done, but still. He likes to imagine what it could have been like.

(Seriously though, the only things he ever truly thinks fondly of when looking back is how on nights when it was cool outside, he would sneak out of the house and go hang out with the horses in the barn and read by candlelight.)

30. How do they feel about the passage of time? Do they feel old too soon? Are they content to let days go past without recognition?

I've talked before about how the passage of time makes me personally feel insane and yes I do project all that onto my little fictional gay people because how else am I supposed to cope with the ever shifting sands of time?!

A long time ago, it didn't bother Ciaran. There was a glossy sheen to the realization of “oh fuck I'm going to live forever” and years and eventually decades passed, and it never bothered him to watch the first and second generations of survivors of the actual end of the world grow old in what felt like the blink of an eye to him. He was so distant from people back then anyway. Then the years continued to fly by and immortality had lost its shine, and he had the grim realization that he couldn't keep people at arm's length forever. They needed him and Anwei, whether he liked it or not! So he slooooowly started to warm up to the idea of letting people get close again, and eventually opened himself up to like. loving and caring for people (and letting people love him) in the short time they had to know him. (And as we know, that works out very well for him and everything is hunky-dory for a long time until he starts to care for people a little too much and then he meets a certain someone that really throws a fucking wrench in the works, and everything kind of goes downhill from there lmao) And if you go WAY back to when he like. mortal or whatever, he absolutely led a very yolo kind of life. Like. Oh fuck I will only be young and beautiful and relevant for so long so I might as well fuck up my body while my liver can still handle it!! And god he was insufferable for it. Some of that still comes through but he isn't (usually) as reckless/self-destructive about it.

MEANWHILE Sihla does not even consider time. She used to. She used to be anxious like Ciaran about how she would outlive everyone she ever loved, but then she met Anwei and was like “nevermind lol fuck everyone else I only need her,” which was, well... an interesting outlook on life. And when that ended horribly because [redacted], she got to enjoy the luxury of being trapped alone to die every day for a couple of centuries, and that's when she quit caring about, uh, anything really. (omg she did like spongebob and cleared her mind of everything except fine dining and breathing) Except maybe exacting revenge on the two people that put her there (gee I wonder who that could be). And before this all happened back when she was just a regular person, she was high strung and SCARED of the passage of time. The world as it was before wasn't particularly great, and there were always growing anxieties about the devastating effects of war and climate change and complete apathy from gods who were very real (and who could definitely put a stop to the suffering with the wave of a hand), and she was just an elementary school teacher trying to like. come to terms with the fact that many of her students could hardly afford food and clothing. And she and her wife had their own woes with trying to raise a young child in a world that could barely sustain them. Every day was a fucking struggle but it was also a gift, and she tried her hardest to make the important things count.

#oc talk #once again i am projecting all my ISSUES onto my fictional gay people #how else am i going to work through this shit? therapy??? no way. i'm broke

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kpopchangedme · 4 years

Text

Sun-drenched [M] - Youngjae

Every time you opened your mouth something outrageous came out but unfortunately, your new dorky step-brother seemed to be immune. You couldn’t tell if Youngjae was actually that clueless or if your reputation preceded you.

Protagonists: Choi Youngjae & You

Word Count: 4.6k

Genre: NSFW - Cringe Fest - Smut - slight exhibitionism - f*ckgirl - Stepbrother!au || [One Shot]

[The Pleasure Chest: A Cringe Fest]

GOT7 | M.list

Your mother was doing that thing with her hair again, slightly shaking her head every time her new beau spoke. Every single bob invariably made her blonde curls spring. How disgusting. You had asked to be bleached once, a few years ago, and she had the audacity to claim it would look cheap on you. So unfair.

She hadn't met her fourth husband for more than 6 months before she did just that. She thought it made her look younger, but Miami-midlife-crisis was more like it. It wasn't pretty wheat blonde, it was white yellow-ish banana buttercream. On-sale daffodil... Much like the sad ones Youngnam had gotten her from the convenience store yesterday. They were now awaiting certain death in a crystal vase husband-number-two had gotten her for God knows what occasion.

You rolled your eyes when your latest stepfather started going over safety rules again. At your dad's there was never a need for them and if you correctly remembered the last time you had lived with your mom... You smiled, imagining how Dr. Top Surgeon would react if he found out his perfect church-going wife used to pop pills like candy and store a very impressive bong in the third drawer of her kitchen.

That would make for a fun scene.

The goodbyes seemed to stretch half an eternity in the living room, after which you got dragged to the hall where the speech began all over again. Your mom gave you a short hug, more of a shoulder squeeze, then she pulled back and frowned with intent as much as her botox allowed. You shrugged off her silent don't-screw-this-up warning, already waving goodbye to her husband. Shoo shoo, you thought, sending the adults off to a far far away location.

As soon as the door shut behind, you squealed in excitement.

Summer had officially begun!

Moving half across the country to fake “house sit” their new place while they honeymooned in Boca wasn't exactly what you had scheduled for your vacations. But when Youngnam accidentally let the words infinity pool and cars – as in with an S – slip out during the weekly video call, not even the dread on your mother’s face could’ve deterred you from flying over.

As it turns out, Dr. Choi was loaded.

Something you probably would’ve figured out earlier if you’d bothered showing up for the ceremony at all. Unfortunately, the wedding hadn't matched your Spring Break’ schedule and you decided having been present to the many previous ceremonies should be considered enough daughterly care for a lifetime.

As you bent to the freezer for a celebratory parent-free popsicle, you felt the eyes of that gift-that-came-with-the-house glued to your ass. He briefly glanced down at the flash of your stomach’s skin when you jumped to sit on the counter.

Surprisingly enough, your mother’s many rings had never once come with a step-brother before...

Usually, she went for the bachelor or womanizer types and those had the decency to never have baggage. Dr. Choi was a break of pattern and the news came with complete horror on your part.

For as long as you could, you had made a duty of never meeting his son, pretended he didn't even exist. So when the bubbly blended trio came to pick you up at the airport yesterday, you had been shocked.

They had said soloist of the local Choir and you’d heard; loser. Piano lessons? Dork. All-boys school graduate? Stuck-up. Computer Science Major? Nerd alert.

No one had talked about… That.

As a matter of fact, Choi Youngjae himself had not spoken much either, but he was certainly looking...

And there were few things you enjoyed more than having a man's undivided attention.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen in all his glory, your new step-brother was staring, as usual, watching intently as you sucked your popsicle. You made sure to make a show of it.

“So… What about lunch?” He finally asked even though it was barely 9. Just to rattle him you hummed on the sugary treat as a reply. Mission accomplished. “S-Should I order pizza?”

“Don't worry, I’m easy...” Youngjae’s gaze fluttered down to your belly ring again. Boy, if he liked that one he had a few things coming. “I’ll eat anything if it's on you.”

Gaze widening, he pretended to look at something over in the living room and walked away.

Wait no, the poor guy literally bolted out of the kitchen to escape to safety. So fast one could wonder if this whole first exchange was the fruit of your devious imagination.

Oh no, you had just traumatized your babyish step-bro.

It made sense, you were one scary bitch.

All-boys school graduate? Virgin, you mentally took note.

Or perhaps your mom had said something about you devouring the souls of poor innocent men. They said the apple never fell far from the tree. Grinning like a shark, you discarded the melting popsicle in the trash.

This promised to be one Hell of a summer break.

______________________

“It’s been more than 10 minutes...” Chimlin flipped the phone over to yell unintelligibly at her demonic baby twin sisters. Despite the protection, you winced. “No DMs.”

“Then he hasn’t seen it yet.” Artlessly reporting for BFF’ duty was a lot more fun face to face, but for a few months, video calls would have to do. “Trust me.”

“I don't know,” she whined, going on all over again about how her boyfriend hadn’t picked up the phone since their nightly routine fight of yesterday.

Sometimes you wondered if you’d even follow her back on Insta if you met this current sad version of herself. Kinda hard to tell, but she used to be the coolest baddest chick on campus. Then she was partnered with that Italian exchange student for a Statistic class, disgustingly dripping pheromones, cash and European pizzazz. Yes, Statistics. The most boring course ever, let's be real. But Chimlin was a genius, the deadly hot kind. No matter how shit-faced she was, that girl could track the B-52s and Gin Tonics’ calorie count of each respective member of your girl squad, not that she'd ever had to care herself.

Then Massimo came. At first, he was just a casual hook-up, but he managed to worm his way into her brain and grew there like a tumour. By the end of last semester, they were full-on steady-going together like in cringy 90s rom-coms. He was always stuck to her like a parasite.

Gone was your favourite 4 feet 11 party animal.

“Do you have any idea how many bitches Mas could meet this summer?”

You snorted, “Not even close to the number of dicks you could have in Pattaya if you wanted to.”

“Phatthaya,” she corrected automatically with a dramatic eye-roll. “That’s the thing, I don't want to. I only want one dick and he's miles away.” She waved her hand to brush it off right as your mouth opened in protest.

Her Italian barnacle did want to remain with her on campus for summer, but Chimlin thought she had better plans that involved a lot more beaches and fruity drinks. She simply couldn't live with her own poor life choices now and you were just about to tell her so when a flash of skin on the screen distracted you.

“What else have you been hiding?” You sing-sang, impressed by the view.

She glanced over her shoulder, “That's my uncle. Like... He’s literally my mom’s lil’ brother. Gross.”

“I know what an uncle is and that's a very hot one if I’ve ever seen one. You can look.”

“We’re not all depraved sluts like you.” She only half-teased with a sharp laugh. “How's the cute new brother doing, by the way?”

“No idea.” You flipped the camera and zoomed on Youngjae's bedroom window like to prove a point. The curtains were drawn, concealing anything worth mentioning from view. You were lounging by the pool on one of those fancy long chairs, much as you had been for the past week. Margarita, sunscreen, repeat. If this boring routine went on, you’d be so tanned by the end of summer no one on campus would recognize you. Sometimes you did think Youngjae's curtains were wobbling, maybe he was spying on you but it could all be your imagination. “Typical. He's been in hiding from me since day one.”

“I don't blame him.”

“Don't blame me for wanting him either. He's a good boy in a bad boy’s body.”

“I don't even know what that means...”

“No one does. But he's not cute, he's hot. I need him all over me and I've been telling him so, but he's strangely elusive. I think he hits the gym above the grocery store on the corner, I should join.”

“Stalker.”

“I don’t stalk, I live in his house.”

“No wonder the poor guy doesn't go out of that room, I bet he picked up on all your slutty energy.” In the rectangle screen, Chimlin switched to tan the other side and you did the same, laying on your back.

“Ha ha. He'd have to be moronic not to,” you were holding the phone above, casting a partial shadow on your face.

“Your legend precedes you. He's scared you're gonna trap and fuck him.”

“What else am I supposed to do when you've abandoned me and flew to the other side of the world? You know I need a summer project.”

“And of course, it had to be a guy.”

You were so glad she stopped whining about Mas for a minute that you let that one slide. “Well, I am not a needlepoint kind-of-girl.”

“Right, hey maybe it isn’t the incest that’s creeping your brother out. Maybe he's gay.”

Someone snorted out loud at that – not you – and you sat up in alarm.

Two guys were standing by the edge of the pool.

“No, he's not,” said the one on the left, a smile in his voice. They were directly in your sun, so you had trouble making out their features. One silhouette was slightly slumped, the other tall and all limbs. You suddenly felt very exposed, dropping Chimlin to fasten your bikini top in a hurry. This show wasn't for strangers to enjoy.

“Who are you?” The second man asked, clearly lost.

“She's it,” the other echoed.

“Who are you? I live here.”

“We're your brother's social life,” the frisky one smiled largely, kind of in a dangerous way that you immediately recognized for your own. Friends, they were Youngjae's friends and they very clearly overheard your embarrassing banter with Chimlin.

Flushing – a rare occurrence – you brought a hand to shield your eyes from the sun while you corrected; “Step-br–”

A sharp voice cut in, “She's not my sister.”

Behind, Youngjae was standing awkwardly by the patio door, a stern look on his face. He didn't seem surprised his people were there. He didn't even glance in your direction before disappearing back as you blankly stared after him.

“Well, thank fuck,” the you-guy turned to wink, following him inside. “Good luck with your summer project! I’ll root for you!”

In a daze, you picked your phone back up. Chimlin was still there, waiting dilligently to be briefed on what just transpired. You puffed your cheeks, mentally preparing for what was to come.

______________________

Swear to God, Youngjae had not come out of that room for two days.

Two.

Fricking.

Days.

Maybe he had a fridge in there.

Maybe he only came to life after midnight like a vampire to avoid the whore squatting his dad’s house.

Whatever his annoying friends told him had certainly made a lasting impression. You just hoped he wasn't the type to go cry to parents whenever something happened. You had no intention of going back to your tiny dorm all alone and sad for the summer just because you hurt his feelings by finding him bangable. Or worse, at your father's.

What was he even thinking?

You had not done anything wrong. Pushed a bad joke a little bit too far perhaps, nothing to get all worked up about. No reason to get shunned out of your mother's life again.

Youngjae's reaction, or lack thereof, was way out of line.

It's not like you had actually done anything to him. He was such a prude. A prude that eye-fucked you all the time!

Church baby boys were the worst.

What an ass.

Three days?!

Three days of an overly empty house. The atmosphere had gotten so heavy, the air so tense you couldn't even think about anything else. There was nothing left to do. Just sit on the couch inside or by that dumb infinity pool, starring at the drawn curtains of your step-brother's bedroom. They weren't wobbling anymore.

Which was what you were actively doing this afternoon, ruminating your dark thoughts for hours. You didn't even notice you were getting dangerously warmer. When your timer went off, announcing it was sunscreen time again you nearly fell from your chair.

Doing the legs was the easiest part, your favourite to be honest. They were one hell of an asset of yours. You were massaging the thick lotion on your right calf when something at the corner of your eye caught your attention.

For a heartbeat or two, you thought you were hallucinating.

Youngjae had finally reappeared.

He was standing at the end of the pool, a knapsack thrown over his shoulders. His thumbs were hooked in the straps, hands dangling to his sides like dead weights. If he looked like a young boy at first glance, the heated look on his face was one of a man.

Frozen still, you gulped. True to form, he kept staring for a long moment before turning to the house and you thought he was about to go into hiding again – but oh no, fuck – he was actually pacing towards you.

“I’m back.” Youngjae blurted out awkwardly, mouth twisted.

Yours was opened in a mix of disbelief and shock. He was actually addressing you. “Back?” From where the corner store?

“Yes,” his eyes ghosted over your poor excuse of a bikini before anchoring themself back to safety in yours. Again, horny eyes. If you were warm earlier, now you were burning up. “I thought it'd be better if I stayed away at Bam's for a few days…”

Right? No one could actually stay between four walls so dilligently. It made sense. You were so dumb.

Apparently, your confusion was evident. “Didn’t you notice I was gone?” No, you had not. So your step-brother was so freaked out being around you that he actually moved out for a few days. Had you gotten that bad? Jesus. “Anyway, I’m back home with you now.”

Youngjae took a step closer, kindly getting in your light so you'd stop squinting at him. He looked even hotter in the bright light of day, sweat pearled between your breasts. He frowned and bit his lower lip waiting for a reaction. The things you'd do to that perfectly proper mouth.

Of course, what came out of yours at the moment was less than appropriate. He was right to be scared, you weren't safe at all.

“Wanna do me?”

Yes, you were that bad. Terrible indeed.

“Do I-I,” he gasped for air – oops, “w-what?”

“My back,” you clarified smiling like a prisoner that hadn't been fed a good meal in days, “sunscreen.” The poor man should've stayed far far away from you.

You weren’t crazy or desperate, but you couldn't resist. You had been patient and unusually upright so far. You deserved a treat. You were hungry and you knew your step-brother wanted you too, he wouldn't have felt the need to hide away otherwise. Youngjae had an interesting duality, shamelessly thirsting over you one minute and getting flustered and embarrassed the next. He must have been deeply unsettled by your open invitation because before you could flip over, he had claimed possession of the bottle.

Or maybe he just didn't need to be asked twice this time. He knew. He wanted to give in to temptation. Why would he even come back here otherwise?

Laying down, you reached to undo the bikini strings, pressing your loosely covered chest against the rough towel on the chair. You waited.

“You must really hate tan lines,” Youngjae said in your back, sounding tormented, “it seems you're never properly wearing clothes.” He sat down in slow motion like an obedient little boy as you grinned.

“Are you ever gonna put your hands on me?” You teased once more, it was like a string was tugging up your insides through that dirty mouth of yours. You wanted to keep pushing him, wanted to find out what it'd take to make him break. And just fuck you really. It was fighting the inevitable by now.

Every guy you met wanted to have you.

Usually, you didn't have to beg.

“I'm trying not to,” he admitted the obvious. “I promised I would never touch you,” Youngjae grumbled and you jerked in surprise when lotion spurted on your lower back. “Promised my father I’d treat you well.”

It made sense, a good boy would never disobey and do his dirty step-sister. If your legend preceded you, his golden son’s reputation certainly did too. Honestly, this promise made the taunting easier and even more tempting. It made for a funnier challenge and the spark in Youngjae's eyes when he looked at you hinted you could break him if you really tried.

You were about to defy his ethics again when words went back down your throat, letting way to a sharp sigh. He had suddenly fully committed to applying your sunscreen, fingers exploring your skin. You asked to be touched and he had risen to the occasion, firmly rubbing the lotion on your naked back.

Earlier you had every intention of teasing him further by enjoying this a little too much, but you weren’t sure it was entirely voluntary when the first moan escaped. If he wanted to keep it PG, he probably should’ve stopped right there, but it didn't seem to deter your step-brother. He kept going, massaging you along the way. His thumbs traced circles up your spine until one of his palms cupped your nape.

Perhaps this is what an erotic massage was supposed to feel like, heaven. Every stroke was totally appropriate, very perfect boy-ish, but still, your toes were curling. After a few minutes, Youngjae's breathing was heavy, he was enjoying this impromptu contact just as much.

You both had made yourselves obvious these past weeks; him with the eye-fucking, you with the open-truths. Clearly, the forbidden nature of your desires would make for an even more intense experience. You couldn't even imagine how it'd feel to take it further now.

“I've never had a step-brother before,” you mewled, mentally following the downwards path of his hands.

“I bet you love messing with me,” he replied, barely audible.

His pianist’s fingers were now haltingly sliding up your ribcage. He wasn't rubbing in anything anymore, just caressing all he could reach.

He was right, but you wanted more. That was the sexiest thing that happened to you in forever. Having a guy want you bad enough he had to hide away to resit, and now having his hands on you. You wanted him everywhere, all over. You didn’t care; step-brother promises or not.

Giving in to temptation, you turned around, resting on your elbow. Your untied bikini had not followed so you watched as his face fell in realization. Youngjae's mouth opened in awe, eyes glued to your bare perky breasts. At the moment, there was absolutely nothing going on in that male brain of his. He didn’t move; you helped.

As soon as you put one of his hands on your chest, he came back to life.

“Jesusfuck,” he breathed out, completely winded.

Wow.

Church baby boys were the best.

Entertained, you reached for the sunscreen, pouring lotion on yourself again. “You aren't done.”

“I…” Youngjae swallowed back his protests, cupping your boobs with both hands. He couldn't even look up anymore, enthralled by your nakedness.

No matter what their intentions were, it seemed good guys were still guys after all. If you had known he was this easy to overwhelm, you would’ve walked around topless sooner.

“The neighbours will see us...”

He didn't seem to mind that much, seeing as his thumbs were stroking your pierced nipples relentlessly. If those middle-aged housewives you only caught glimpses off looked over the edge now, they’d have a pretty impressive show.

“Let them,” sitting, you snaked a hand to his dramatic bulge. Your mouths got so close you felt his breath ghost over. Beaten by your expertise, his shorts’ button came undone first, his fly was even more compliant.

The moment of truth.

Youngjae's whole body shook when you took his cock in your palm. There was no hesitation, no second-guessing. Fuck, he was so hard and flushed for you. He pinched your erected nipples in response and you felt a familiar vivid jolt of pleasure and pain down to your toes. Not a virgin, after all, no doubt he would handle you just fine.

You pressed your mouth to his neck and sucked, right where his Adam's apple bobbed.

That's it, all for you. You were so going to eat up that good boy.

“Mmmm, I’ll tell daddy you’re treating me so fucking well...”

Of all the filthy things you had said so far, this was the one that got the strongest reaction. The wrong one. Youngjae jerked up to his feet, tugging at his shorts in panic. He swore a dozen of times, out of his mind as you stood there, frozen still.

“Sorry,” he offered at last, pitiful before running for his life to the house.

Fuck.

No.

Surely you were feverish.

Having a heatstroke.

You had imagined the whole thing.

You had not just being left out cold by a man.

This type of shit never happened to girls like you.

It took a few minutes to gather back your thoughts and when you did, you decided this wasn't even close to completion.

Without wasting a second more you stormed inside the house, almost flying upstairs to that mythical off-limits bedroom of his. You didn't bother banging, he was in such a hurry he forgot to lock behind, so the door flew open.

Like a scene straight up from a bad porno, Youngjae spun on his computer chair, a hand still wrapped around his fully erected dick. You couldn't believe your eyes.

“Are you jerking off?” He was already pulling up his shorts again to cover himself, caught red-handed, blushing as though you hadn't been doing it yourself a moment ago.

“I’m sorry, I don't think you–”

“Please don't stop on my behalf,” you waltzed in, confident, and sat on his well-made good boy's bed.

“W-What?” Youngjae blinked, even more, rattled by the sight.

He didn't leave because he didn't want you, he clearly did. He probably only left because of his father and that dumb promise he mentioned.

“Is this how you've been dealing all along?” You laid back on the comforter, smirking and remembering all those afternoons by the pool you’d thought you’d seen his curtains fall. He certainly enjoyed spying so it gave you an idea. He could try to resist you all he wanted, you'd still made him cave. “You don't want to touch me, right?” Your step-brother nodded, spellbound. “Because you're the perfect son.”

He swallowed hard, “But you keep… Saying those things, sunbathing… And to my friends...”

“Yes, you’re right... So let's start over.” You sighed in fake contrition, “I'm sorry, I've made this so hard for you. I’ll be good too from now on.”

Youngjae scoffed in disbelief, “You are sitting topless on my bed.”

“Oh,” looking down at yourself, you cupped your breasts. “I thought you liked the looking.” His cock was standing up, glorious testimony to this mess. “Don't worry, I get it. I promise I won’t let you touch me...” Throwing your head back without breaking eye contact, you moaned and lightly twisted one of your pierced nipples. “But I’ll make you watch...” Out of his mind, Youngjae did just that as you caressed your own chest for him. Somehow his eyes on you now burned even better than his hands earlier.

You were so turned on, so worked up by all the days of teasing and loneliness. Your hips started swaying on his bed, craving some fiction and release.

“You're crazy,” his voice was laboured but he had yet to escape again. This time you wouldn't have followed.

“I-I'm so wet, Youngjae...” Giving in, your right hand fell to your sex, rubbing your last piece of clothing. He was captivated.

“Fuck it,” he immediately breathed out in surrender, hand wrapping around his dick. That was it, you finally had him. He was all in, playing along with your new favourite family game.

No touching, just innovative teamwork.

You had to establish ground rules, but pushing them was what fun was all about.

“I want you so bad...” You mewled, slipping your middle finger inside your bikini bottom.

Stroking himself, Youngjae groaned, “So you’ve been saying baby, but now you have to show me.”

Oh shit. You were going to come so fast if the golden son had other surprises like that. In a hurry, you wormed out of your panties before he could change his mind once more. In front of his fully clothed self, you laid back, touching your damp slit while he observed intently. The whole experience was surreal, your mind was buzzing, overwhelmed by the wrongness of it all.

It felt so amazing though.

Touching yourself for your step-brother was the sexiest thing you’d ever experienced, and you were very accomplished. You would’ve done anything he'd asked of you, and Youngjae knew that but he abided by his dumb rules. Standing up he came closer, boxer messily shoved down from his earlier haste, one hand was in his hair, the other working hard. You kept rubbing your clit repeatedly letting him see, hastening the pace until you were numb all over, panting.

“Youngj-jae, I-I–”

Moaning, you broke faster than you had ever with someone, then again no one knew how to make you reach your own high better than yourself. Paroxysm made your thighs jerked as the pleasure waved through you, annihilating all sense of your surroundings.

When you came back, your step-brother was giving up too, bursting in thick spurts of hot cum all over your body and chest. His eyes were wide opened in black elation, intense, not missing a second of the show as he came on you. His whitish-gray seed painted your bareness in ribbons until he was completely emptied.

In silence, Youngjae dropped next to you on the bed, hands covering his face as you both caught your breaths. His now softening dick was still protruding out of his shorts and underwear for the world to see. It probably made for quite a view; your naked body covered in semen right by your respectable step-brother’s way more humble cock.

If your parents came home early, they would both have a stroke.

Youngjae sort of kept his word though... For today at least.

Because now that you had him all over, you knew you were going to crave him under you.

And no man had ever resisted your charms before.

Step-brother or not.

[The Pleasure Chest: A Cringe Fest]

GOT7 | M.list

246 notes · View notes

whencartoonsruletheworld · 4 years

Link

Disney but just the Queer Mood™ Songs, a full Spotify Playlist

Open to updates should anyone notice a song I missed!

Tracklist with specific lyrics that fuck us all up under the cut:

KEY: A general list of which songs resonate with people. The 🏳️‍🌈is for general songs; if you relate to a song but don’t see ur emoji beneath it, send me a message and I’ll add it!

🏳️‍🌈 General Queer Anthem 🌈 Gays specifically have related to this song ❤️ Gay Men specifically have related to this song 🧡 Lesbians specifically have related to this song 💕 Bisexuals/Pansexuals specifically have related to this song 💜 Asexuals/Ace-spectrum people specifically have related to this song 💚 Aromatics/Aro-spectrum people specifically have related to this song 🤍 Trans people have specifically related to this song 🖤 Nonbinary/Genderqueer people have specifically related to this song 💗 Polyamorous people have specifically related to this song

Know Who You Are - Moana

🏳️‍🌈

They have stolen the heart from inside you But this does not define you This is not who you are You know who you are...

I Wonder - Sleeping Beauty

🌈🧡

I wonder, I wonder, I wonder why each little bird has a someone To sing to, sweet things to, A gay little love melody I wonder, I wonder, I wonder if my heart keeps singing, Will my song go winging To someone, who'll find me And bring back a love song to me...

Mother Knows Best - Tangled

🏳️‍🌈 honestly this is just... a general song for some of our shitty relationships to guardian figures...

It's a scary world out there Mother knows best One way or another Something will go wrong, I swear

Me, I'm just your mother, what do I know? I only bathed and changed and nursed you Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it Let me die alone here, be my guest When it's too late You'll see, just wait Mother knows best

Don't forget it You'll regret it...

Dangerous to Dream - Frozen Broadway Production

🏳️‍🌈

I can't be what you expect of me But I'm trying every day with all I do and do not say Here on the edge of the abyss Knowing everything in my whole life has lead to this And so I pull inside myself, close the walls, put up my guard I've practiced every single day for this So why is it so hard?

I can't dwell on what we've lost And our secrecy and silence comes at such a cost

I wish I could tell the truth Show you who's behind the door I wish you knew what all this pantomime And pageantry was for

It's dangerous to wish I could make choices of my own Dangerous to even have that thought I'm dangerous just standing here for everyone to see If I let go of rules who knows how dangerous I'd be?

Reflection - Mulan

🏳️‍🌈🤍🖤- literally everyone requested this. everyone. so im just copy-pasting the entire lyrics sorry not sorry

Look at me, I will never pass for a perfect bride Or a perfect daughter Can it be I'm not meant to play this part? Now I see that if I were truly to be myself I would break my family's heart

Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection someone I don't know? Somehow I cannot hide who I am, though I’ve tried When will my reflection show who I am inside?

How I pray that a time will come I can free myself From their expectations On that day, I'll discover someway to be myself And to make my family proud They want a docile lamb No one knows who I am Must there be a secret me I'm forced to hide? Must I pretend that I'm Someone else for all time? When will my reflection show Who I am inside? When will my reflection show Who I am inside?

Everything I Ever Thought I Knew - Tangled: The Series

🏳️‍🌈 when u realize u might not be straight lol

I thought no one could love me And how could I have known? I was wrong, oh so wrong

Everything I ever thought I knew Where I've been, where I'm going Everything I counted on turned out to be untrue Could've guessed, should've known, now I do

If none of it was really me then who am I supposed to be?

I guess I'm someone else now I wonder who I am

God Help the Outcasts - Hunchback of Notre Dame

🏳️‍🌈...yeah. yeah

Yes, I know I'm just an outcast I shouldn't speak to You Still, I see Your face and wonder Were You once an outcast, too?

God help the outcasts, hungry from birth Show them the mercy they don't find on Earth God help my people, they look to You, still God help the outcasts or nobody will

I ask for nothing, I can get by But I know so many less lucky than I Please help my people, the poor and downtrod I thought we all were the children of God

Belle (Reprise) - Beauty and the Beast

🌈 when a cishet thinks ur interested smh

Madame Gaston! Can't you just see it? Madame Gaston! His little wife No, sir! Not me! I guarantee it I want much more than this provincial life!

I want adventure in the great wide somewhere I want it more than I can tell And for once it might be grand To have someone understand I want so much more than they've got planned...

Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid

🌈 SO many people requested this one guys it’s not even funny

Wandering free, wish I could be Part of that world

Betcha on land, they understand Bet they don't reprimand their daughters Bright young women, sick of swimming Ready to stand

When's it my turn? Wouldn't I love, Love to explore that shore up above?

One Jump Ahead (Reprise) - Aladdin

🏳️‍🌈

Riff-raff, street rat I don't buy that If only they'd look closer

Would they see a poor boy? No, siree They'd find out There's so much more to me...

Proud of Your Boy - Aladdin Broadway Production

🏳️‍🌈❤️🤍

That I've been one rotten kid Some son, some pride and some joy But I'll get over these lousin' up Messin' up, screwin' up times...

Water flows under the bridge Let it pass, let it go There's no good reason that you should believe me Not yet, I know, but

Someday and soon I'll make you proud of your boy Though I can't make myself taller Or smarter or handsome or wise I'll do my best, what else can I do? Since I wasn't born perfect like Dad or you...

Someone’s Waiting for You - The Rescuers

🏳️‍🌈

Be brave, little one Make a wish for each sad little tear Hold your head up though no one is near Someone's waiting for you

Always keep a little prayer in your pocket And you're sure to see the light Soon there'll be joy and happiness And your little world will be bright

Have faith, little one Til your hopes and your wishes come true

Stick to the Status Quo - High School Musical

🏳️‍🌈 🌈 YOU ALL KNOW EXACTLY WHY THIS IS HERE

No, no, no, stick to the stuff you know It is better by far to keep things as they are Don't mess with the flow, no no Stick to the status quo

Into the Unknown - Frozen 2

🏳️‍🌈

I can hear you, but I won't Some look for trouble while others don't There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day And ignore your whispers which I wish would go away

I've had my adventure, I don't need something new I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you

Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me? Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be? Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go

Where are you going? Don't leave me alone How do I follow you Into the unknown?

Go the Distance - Hercules

🏳️‍🌈

I have often dreamed of a far off place Where a great, warm welcome will be waiting for me

And a voice keeps saying This is where I'm meant to be

I am on my way, I can go the distance I don't care how far, somehow I'll be strong I know every mile will be worth my while I would go most anywhere to find where I belong

Tomorrow - Annie

🏳️‍🌈 - betcha didnt know disney had an annie movie did u

The sun will come out tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow There'll be sun

When I'm stuck in a day that's gray and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin and say, oh, The sun’ll come out tomorrow So you gotta hang on til tomorrow, come what may...

Learn Me Right - Brave

🏳️‍🌈💜💚

Though I may speak some tongue of old Or even spit out some holy word I have no strength with which to speak When you sit me down and see I’m weak

We will run and scream you will dance with me We'll fulfill our dreams, and we'll be free We will be who we are, and they’ll heal our scars Sadness will be far away...

Strange Sight - Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast

🏳️‍🌈

You stand in the light You're wrong, but you're right And my heart's beating wildly Strange how I'm scared but delighted Afraid, but excited too

I will understand you Strange how I'm drawn to the danger I reach out my hand to you

If you're caught in the shadows and turned all around Lost in the darkness, you will be found If you hear my voice, follow the sound Cause I'm here to guide you home...

I Don’t Dance - High School Musical 2

🌈 ❤️ 💕 okay so if you weren’t here for the high school musical tumblr revival you may be confused but listen... it’s about being mlm...

Step up to the plate, start swinging

I wanna play ball Now that’s all, this is what I do It ain’t no dance that you can show me

I’ve got what it takes playin’ my game So you best skin that pitch you gonna throw me, yeah I’ll show you how I swing

I can prove it to you ‘til you know it’s true Cause I can swing it, I can bring it to the diamond too You’re talking a lot, show me what you got Stop, swing!

Kiss the Girl - cover of The Little Mermaid

this version is sung by a girl so 🧡💕

There you see her, sitting there across the way She don't got a lot to say but there's something about her And you don't know why, but you're dying to try You wanna kiss the girl

Yes, you want her Look at her, you know you do It's possible she want you too There is one way to ask her...

Can You Feel the Love Tonight - The Lion King

🏳️‍🌈

An enchanted moment And it sees me through It's enough for this restless warrior Just to be with you

There's a time for everyone if they only learn That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors When the heart of this star-crossed voyager Beats in time with yours

And can you feel the love tonight? It is where we are It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer That we got this far And can you feel the love tonight? How it's laid to rest It's enough to make kings and vagabonds Believe the very best

Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast

🏳️‍🌈- a lot of queer people tend to empathize with “beastly” characters so we all latched the fuck onto this movie huh

Just a little change, small to say the least Both a little scared, neither one prepared

Ever just the same, ever a surprise Ever as before, ever just as sure As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time, tune as old as song Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change Learning you were wrong...

Healing Incantation - Tangled

🏳️‍🌈🤍🖤

Heal what has been hurt Change the fates' design Save what has been lost Bring back what once was mine

So Close - Enchanted

🏳️‍🌈🌈

A life goes by, romantic dreams will stop So I bid mine goodbye and never knew So close was waiting waiting here with you And now, forever, I know All that I wanted to hold you so close

Oh, how could I face the faceless days If I should lose you now?

So close to reaching that famous happy end Almost believing this one's not pretend Let’s go on dreaming though we know we are So close, so close, and still So far...

If Only - Descendants

🏳️‍🌈🌈

A million thoughts in my head Should I let my heart keep listening? Cause up 'til now, I've walked the line Nothing lost but something missing I can't decide what's wrong, what's right Which way should I go?

Every step, every word With every hour I'm feeling in To something new, something brave To someone I've never been

Will you still be with me When the magic's all run out?

If only I knew what my heart was telling me Don't know what I'm feeling Is this just a dream? If only I could read the signs in front of me I could find the way to who I'm meant to be

Wherever You Are - Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin

🏳️‍🌈- out of context could be interpreted as romantic, esp since the credits version is a duet (🌈 💕) but the original context is friendship so honestly it’s very 💜💚

I'm out here in the dark, all alone and wide awake Come and find me I'm empty and I'm cold, and my heart's about to break Come and find me

I need you to come here and find me Cause without you, I'm totally lost I've hung a wish on every star It hasn't done much good so far I can only dream of you

But when the morning comes and the sun begins to rise, I will lose you Because it’s just a dream, when I open up my eyes, I will lose you

I used to believe in forever, But forever is too good to be true I've hung a wish on every star It hasn't done much good so far

I don't know what else to do Except to try to dream of you And wonder, if you're dreaming too Wherever you are

I Won’t Say (I’m In Love) - Hercules

🏳️‍🌈 🌈 💕

If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I've already won that

Who d'you think you're kiddin'? He's the earth and heaven to ya Try to keep it hidden Honey, we can see right through ya Girl, you can't conceal it We know how you feel And who you're thinking of

I thought my heart had learned its lesson It feels so good when you start out My head is screaming "Get a grip, girl!" Unless you're dying to cry your heart out

You keep on denying Who you are and how you're feeling Baby, we're not buying Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling

This scene won't play I won't say I'm in love

At least out loud, I won't say I'm in love

Endless Night - The Lion King Broadway Production

🏳️‍🌈🤍 🖤

Where has the starlight gone? Dark is the day How can I find my way home? Home is an empty dream, lost to the night Father, I feel so alone

When will the dawning break, oh, endless night Sleepless I dream of the day

I know that the night must end And that the sun will rise I know that the clouds must clear And that the sun will shine

Set Yourself Free - Tangled: The Series

🏳️‍🌈🤍

There's much more inside of you than anyone can see And now the choice is yours Life waits beyond the doors So step on through, the time has come And only you can set yourself free!

No one else can tell you what to do Or who to be! No one gets to say if you will stay or go

Look inside your heart and find the key... And set yourself free!

Bound up by your worries Trapped by your mistakes Forced to play a role you never chose Why not test your limits? You've got what it takes Let it out and follow where it goes

No more letting someone else define you to a "T" You know that you are strong You've known it all along So seize the day, let down your hair You’ll find a way to set yourself free!

So look to the horizon Open up your wings! Fly away to find your destiny... And set yourself free!

Speechless - Aladdin 2019 Remake

🏳️‍🌈 ALL OF US ALL OF US

Here comes a wave meant to wash me away A tide that is taking me under

Cause I'll breathe when they try to suffocate me! Don't you underestimate me! Cause I know that I won't go speechless!

Written in stone, every rule, every word Centuries old and unbending "Stay in your place, better seen and not heard," Well, now that story is ending

Try to lock me in this cage! I won't just lay me down and die! I will take these broken wings And watch me burn across the sky!

I’m Still Here (Jim’s Theme) - Treasure Planet

🏳️‍🌈❤️🤍

I am a question to the world Not an answer to be heard Or a moment that's held in your arms

You don't know me And I'll never be what you want me to be

And what do you think you'd understand I'm a boy - No, I'm a man You can't take me and throw me away And how can you learn what's never shown Yeah, you stand here on your own They don't know me, cause I’m not here

And I want to tell you who I am Can you help me be a man They can't break me As long as I know who I am

They can't tell me who to be 'Cause I'm not what they see Yeah, the world is still sleepin' While I keep on dreaming for me And their words are just whispers and lies That I'll never believe!

Crossing the Line - cover of Tangled: the Series

🏳️‍🌈 🧡 tfw when u are DONE with that fuckin closet

This has to stop now This thing where you think that you've been my friend And don't even hear how you condescend The way you've always done

How I've tried to jump that great divide! But I've never got the chances you were given You don't know how much I've been denied Well, I'm not being patient anymore

I'm crossing the line! And I'm done holding back So look out, clear the track, it's my turn! I'm taking what's mine Every drop, every smidge If I'm burning a bridge, let it burn! But I'm crossing the line...

Let it Go - Frozen

🏳️‍🌈 listen. i do not have to explain this one. you all know exactly why it’s here. we were all tiny gays in 2013 losing our shit in the theater for no discernable reason why. we know

Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I tried

Don't let them in, don't let them see Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know Well, now they know!

Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door! I don't care what they're going to say!

It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all!

No right, no wrong, no rules for me I'm free!

I'm never going back, the past is in the past!

Let it go! Let it go! And I'll rise like the break of dawn Let it go! Let it go! That perfect girl is gone!

This is Me - Camp Rock

🏳️‍🌈 🧡 💕 🤍

I've always been the kind of girl that hid my face So afraid to tell the world what I've got to say But I have this dream right inside of me I'm gonna let it show it's time To let you know It's to let you know

Do you know what it's like to feel so in the dark? To dream about a life where you're the shining star

This is real, this is me I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now Gonna let the light shine on me Now I've found who I am there's no way to hold it in No more hiding who I wanna be...

Breaking Free - High School Musical

🏳️‍🌈 🖤

You know the world can see us In a way that's different than who we are Creating space between us 'Till we're separate hearts But your faith it gives me strength Strength to believe

Soarin, flyin There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach If we’re trying, yeah we’re breaking free We’re running, climbin To get to the place, to be all that we can be Now’s the time, so we’re breaking free

True To Your Heart - Mulan

🏳️‍🌈 🌈

Baby, I knew at once that you were meant for me Deep in my soul, I know that I'm your destiny Though you're unsure Why fight the tide Don't think so much Let your heart decide

True to your heart You must be true to your heart That's when the heavens'll part And, baby, shower you with my love Open your eyes Your heart can tell you no lies And when you're true to your heart I know it's gonna lead you straight to me

Someone ya know is on your side can set you free I can do that for you if you believe in me Why second guess what feels so right Just trust your heart And you'll see the light

Never Knew I Needed - The Princess and the Frog

🏳️‍🌈 🌈 💕

For the way you changed my plans For being the perfect distraction For the way you took the idea that I have Of everything that I wanted to have And made me see there was something missing...

My accidental happily ever after The way you smile and how you comfort me with your laughter I must admit you were not a part of my book But now if you open it up and take a look You're the beginning and the end of every chapter

You're the best thing I never knew I needed So when you were here I had no idea You'd be the best thing I never knew I needed So now it's so clear I need you here always

Colors of the Wind - Pocahontas

🏳️‍🌈 - colors.... rainbows.... yea

How can there be so much that you don't know? You don't know...

You think the only people who are people Are the people who look and think like you But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew

How high will the sycamore grow If you cut it down, then you'll never know And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon For whether we are white or copper skinned We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains We need to paint with all the colors of the wind...

I See the Light - Tangled

🏳️‍🌈 🌈 - you would not BELIEVE how many of y’all requested this one

Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight Now I'm here, suddenly I see Standing here, it's all so clear I'm where I'm meant to be

Now she's here shining in the starlight Now she's here, suddenly I know If she's here it's crystal clear I'm where I'm meant to go

And at last I see the light And it's like the fog has lifted And at last I see the light And it's like the sky is new And it's warm and real and bright And the world has somehow shifted

All at once, everything looks different Now that I see you

Strangers Like Me - Tarzan

🏳️‍🌈 🤍 🖤- that moment when u find another queer person and ur like “holy shit”

I can see there's so much to learn It's all so close and yet so far I see myself as people see me Oh, I just know there's something bigger out there

Come with me now to see my world Where there's beauty beyond your dreams Can you feel the things I feel Right now, with you Take my hand There's a world I need to know...

Why Should I Worry? - Oliver & Company

🏳️‍🌈- we’re queer, we’re here, get used to it

Why should I worry? Why should I care? I may not have a dime But I got street savoir-faire Why should I worry? Why should I care? It's just be-bopulation And I got street savoir-faire

Why should I worry? Why should I care? And even when I crossed that line I got street savoir-faire

Welcome - Brother Bear

🏳️‍🌈 pride parade amirite

Everyone's invited This is how we live We are here for each other, happy to give All we have we share And all of us we care

There's a bond between us nobody can explain It's a celebration of life We see our friends again I'll be there for you I know you'll be there for me, too So come on!

This has to be the most beautiful The most peaceful place I've ever been to It's nothing like I've never seen before When I think how far I've come I can't believe it And yet I see it In them I see family I see the way we used to be...

The Great Divide - Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings

🏳️‍🌈

I'm on your side Let's take this ride And together we're facing the world Doing things nobody's done before And the great divide doesn’t seem so wide anymore

With You by My Side - Tangled: the Series

💗 - tangled the series was so close to being canon polyam istg

Now; now more than ever We must stick together united

If we're destined to head in our own different ways Let's make the most of these sweet final days Why not go out in a glorious blaze

There's nothing I couldn't do Not with you by my side What in the world would I do Without you by my side...

Love Will Find a Way - The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride

🏳️‍🌈 🌈

In a perfect world One we've never known We would never need to face the world alone They can have the world We'll create our own I may not be brave or strong or smart But somewhere in my secret heart

And if only they could feel it too The happiness I feel with you

Like dark turning into day Somehow we'll come through Now that I've found you Love will find a way I know love will find a way

Space Between - Descendants 2

🧡 never have i ever seen gays flock to a song faster

And you can find me in the space between Where two worlds come to meet I'll never be out of reach Cause you're a part of me so you can find me in the space between You'll never be alone No matter where you go We can meet in the space between

Even if we're worlds apart You're still in my heart It will always be you and me, yeah

If I Never Knew You - Pocahontas

🏳️‍🌈🌈

And if I never held you I would never have a clue How at last I'd find in you The missing part of me...

In this world so full of fear Full of rage and lies I can see the truth so clear In your eyes So dry your eyes

If I never knew you I'd be safe but half as real Never knowing I could feel A love so strong and true

I thought our love would be so beautiful Somehow we'd make the whole world bright I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong All they'd leave us were these whispers in the night But still my heart is saying we were right

I’d Give Anything - Tangled: the Series

🧡 rapunzel’s sad breakup song

So if you find that you're in darkness or despair Though you won't turn to me please know I'll be right there Name any sacrifice, I'll pay the price that's due Cause I'd give anything for you Yes, I'd give anything to relive everything we knew...

Someday - Hunchback of Notre Dame

🏳️‍🌈

I used to believe In the days I was naïve That I'd live to see A day of justice dawn And though I will die Long before that morning comes I'll die while believing still It will come when I am gone

Someday, when we are wiser When the world's older, when we have learned I pray someday we may yet live To live and let live

Someday, these dreams will all be real Till then we'll wish upon the moon Change will come, one day Someday soon...

No One Is Alone - Into the Woods

🏳️‍🌈

Mother cannot guide you, now your on your own. Only me beside you, still you're not alone. No one is alone. Truly, no one is alone…

People make mistakes Holding to their own Thinking they’re alone

Someone is on your side, someone else is not While we’re seeing our side, maybe we forgot They are not alone, no one is alone...

I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors) - Moana

🏳️‍🌈 🤍 - it’s about the self-acceptance binch

Sometimes, the world seems against you The journey may leave a scar But scars can heal and reveal just Where you are

The people you love will change you The things you have learned will guide you And nothing on Earth can silence The quiet voice still inside you

I've delivered us to where we are I have journeyed farther I am everything I've learned and more Still it calls me

And the call isn't out there at all, it's inside me! It's like the tide, always falling and rising I will carry you here in my heart, you remind me That come what may I know the way

Show Yourself - Frozen 2

🏳️‍🌈 - this one was claimed immediately by the queer community and we all have a stake in it but i do want to point out that i got this from a LOT of 🤍 🖤 💜 💚

I have always been a fortress Cold secrets deep inside You have secrets too But you don't have to hide

I've never felt so certain All my life, I've been torn But I'm here for a reason Could it be the reason I was born? I have always been so different Normal rules did not apply Is this the day? Are you the way I finally find out why?

Oh, show yourself Let me see who you are... Come to me now Open your door Don't make me wait One moment more!

(Come, my darling, homeward bound) I am found!

Transformation / Beauty and the Beast (Reprise) - Beauty and the Beast Broadway Production

🏳️‍🌈

We are home, we are where we shall be forever Trust in me, for you know I won’t run away from today This is all that I need, and all that I need to say Don’t you know how you’ve changed me? Strange how I finally see I found home, you’re my home, stay with me...

Finale / Let it Go - Frozen Broadway Production

🏳️‍🌈 this makes me bawl so it gets finale

There’s so much I longed to say Then say it all, beginning with today It’s like a dream I thought could never be Elsa, you’re free

Here we stand in the light of day Let the sun shine on

I take this warmth within and send it up above Goodbye to dark and fear, let’s fill this world with light and love And here surrounded by a family at least We’re never going back, the past is in the past

Let our true love go Let it go!

#disney #disney songs #queer #lgbt #lgbtq #mine

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chaptersofnow · 4 years

Photo

The Children of Queen Novo and Princess Celestia.

Arcturus, Vermilion Plum, Skystar, Haven Bay and Salina Blue.

Bios under the cut

Name: Arcturus Nickname(s): Archie, snowball, 'Mister ray of no shine' Age: 26 Pronouns: He/Him Identity: Cis gay boy crush/relationship: Parents: Celestia, Queen Novo Sibling: Skystar, Crimson Plume Special Talent: Sun magic Occupation: Royality, student Location: Cantorlot Likes: working hard, doing small activies with his sisters, getting people to like him Dislikes: exercise, outdoor activities, sweet food, crowds Bio: Queen Novo and Celestia had been interested in one another and often writing each other love letters before the storm king events happened. Afterwards when hippogriffs returned to the land and Novo settled into their half seapony/hippogriff society her and celestia married. Skystar is the oldest daughter of Novo with an old seapony Novo was once married to before their passing, Skystar will take over the hippogriff/seapony empire counsel one day. As for the first born of Novo and Celestia, Arcturus is set to be heir to the house of the sun. to one day claim Celestia's powers as the ruler of the sun and run the kindgom by the side of one of Luna's children. Arcturus has worked hard and learned well in Cantorlot etiquette, learning and applying magic, as well as keeping up with all the duties that will be asked of him when he is made ruler of equestria. The one thing holding him back however is his extreme social anxiety, he struggles to talk to anyone that he didn't grow up around and often isolates himself. He adores the idea of being able to walk up and speak to his subjects and be the ruler they deserve but knows that as he is right now that it is nothing more than a fever dream. He wishes he could pretend like everything is going alright but is n early 30 years old and still needs to ask for help placing orders to the bakery if he has to talk to someone face to face. Plus its not like he isn't hearing the whispers of the workers in the castles, he knows they talk about how sad it is that he worked so hard but will never be able to step up to the throne of cantorlot the way he is. Not to mention his sister Vermilion Plume. His younger sister, bright pink, smart, friendly and very expressive. She can do all the things he wished he could, she was out going and trying new things all the time without being afraid to fail. Everyone loves her and the people have made it clear their desire for Vermilion to take the throne instead of Arcturus. All he can do is keep studying, be the best he can in the places he is good at and hope that its enough.

⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅

Name: Vermilion Plume Nickname(s): Sunny Age: 25 Pronouns: She/Her Identity: Cis Bi girl crush/relationship: Parents: Celestia, Queen Novo Sibling: Skystar, Arcturus Special Talent: Cooking Occupation: Royality Location: Cantorlot Likes: going out and doing hobbies, taking classes at the community center, hanging out with her family Dislikes: how hard it is to connect with her brother, heights, struggling to be good at a hobby she wants to be into Bio: Youngest of three, Vermilion Plume is second born to Celestia and Novo. She has no claim to the hippogriff/seapony or the Cantorlot heir line, and to be honest she couldn't care less. Vermilion does whatever it takes to not even hear a word about this 'political stuff' and is more interested in gallivanting around cantorlot trying out all the new stores that pop up, taking classes on some thing she never even heard of or taking a spontaneous trip on the next train to anywhere. As far as she is concernedm nothing at the castle has to do with her. She 'won the lottery' so to speak by being born second, and thank goodness for that. Who even wants to be a princess just look how stressed and tired Arcturus looks all the time! Vermilion likes to think she is pretty good friends with Scroll Flame (Scroll Flame would disagree) and one of the cleaning pony Crystal Clear a pony from the crystal empire who moved to Cantorlot to pursue her dream and is working at the castle until she lands it big. Crystal has been in the castle since vermilion and her both were teenagers and Vermilion has often gotten the two of them into trouble by sneaking off to have fun despite Crystal insistence to stay and work.

🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚

Name: Skystar Nickname(s): Age: 37 Pronouns: She/her Identity: Bi cis girl crush/relationship: engaged to Celaeno Parents: Queen Novo, Celestia (adoptive mother) Sibling: Arcturus, Crimson Plume, Haven Bay, Salina Blue Occupation: Royality Location: seaquestria/Hippogriffia Likes: singing, festivals, fireworks, her friends, playing Dislikes: plans getting cancelled, work keeping her busy, missing her cantorlot siblings Bio: First born of Queen Novo's clutch. Novo was married to another seapony when Skystar was born but her father died when she was young, said to have protected them from an attack of angry sirens. Skystar has two siblings Haven bay and Salina Blue born not long after her. the two were shy and weak unlike Skystar who openly greeted strangers and often wandered too close to the surface and wondered what laid above the water. Skystar got a taste of that life when Novo started writing letters to her old equestrian friend Princess Celestia. It said long ago the two were friends, but after Luna was banished Celestia stopped talking to most ponies unless she had to, even to Novo the last connection Celestia had on the were abouts of the hippogriffs. However when Luna returned Celestia began to write again, even warming up to visits to her dear friends the seaponies. Novo still refused to leave the waters in fear of the storm king, even with Celestia insistence on their safety. But these moments when celestia visted and Skystar got to meet her at the surface it was this small window into the life of surface ponies. Skystar often would visit this spot just to sing, write and do things above water and dream of the life hippogriffs must have led long ago in these ruins. then one the element of harmony appeared in this secret spot. One thing led to the other, skystar befriended pinkie pie and friends. The storm king was defeated and once again the day was saved, and the hippogriffs would finally return. To modern day the land of Hippogriffia is separated down the middle by land and sea ruled over by a diverse council of both Hippogriffs and seaponies. Queen Novo leads the councils and Skystar currently is working under her wing and learning everything she can to one day take over the spot. Skystar has two younger siblings in cantorlot, Born of Novo and Celestias affairs. the two are more pony than hippogriff or seapony and have chosen to stay living in the cantorlot castle, though Skystar's now youngest sister Vermilion Plume often up and leaves Cantorlot with little warning and will sometimes make her trips out to the sea/hippogriff kingdom and stay with Skystar and Novo. Skystar is currently engaged to her long time girlfriend Celaeno, the two met early after the return of the hippogriffs. Celaeno a pirate women out at sea seeing the faint shape of a merpony in the distance and the soft singing voice of an angel. Celaeno fell hard for the beauty of the sea in an instant, a very classic tale of a pirate falling for a mermaid. The two have been dating for many years and have been engaged for one a year now, the two wish to be together but their work and lives have kept them busy with the world going through constant changes.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Name: Haven Bay Nickname(s): Age: 37 Pronouns: She/her Identity: Lesbian demigirl crush/relationship: married Parents: Queen Novo, Celestia (adoptive mother) Sibling: Arcturus, Crimson Plume, Skystar, Salina Blue Children: Five daughters, one son Occupation: Shop owner Location: seaquestria Likes: treasure hunting, spa days, shopping Dislikes: storms, getting sick, vermine Bio: last hatched from her clutch. her bio parents are Queen Novo and her late husband. Haven Bay and Saline Blue are quieter compared to her sister skystar, thought the two share her interest for thinking about what could be able the water they never ventured too far from the kingdom often trying to stay by their mother or aunts side. Haven Bay has chosen to stay a seapony and lives with her wife and their six guppies.

🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

Name: Salina Blue Nickname(s): Age: 37 Pronouns: They/Them Identity: Aromantic Agender pony crush/relationship: Parents: Queen Novo, Celestia (adoptive mother) Sibling: Arcturus, Crimson Plume, Skystar, Haven Bay Occupation: Shop owner with Haven Location: seaquestria Likes: crafts, chimes, talk shows, day trips Dislikes: their stuff getting disorganized, arguing Bio: Saline Blue, middle child hatched from Queen Novo and her late husband. Saline Blue is a quiet and shy pony who once believed ever seeing the world beyond the ocean was a fever dream. Now Salina Blue travels to and from Hippogriffia and seaquestria collecting beautiful shells, stones and other items to sell at their and their sisters combined land/sea shop. Salina unlike their sisters much prefers to stay home and read, often avoiding going out to do stuff when Vermilion Plume visits and tries to get everyone to come out and party.

#mlp #mlp next gen #arcturus #vermilion plume #skystar #haven bay #salina bay

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thoughtfullyyoungduck · 4 years

Text

And he said, I hope you know how to swim

A/N: this is for the gift exchange from @itfandomprompts! My giftee is @iheartthoreau who asked for shy skinny dipping lovers and jealous Eddie. I’m sorry it’s out so late, I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Summary: The Derry midnight breeze is freezing, Eddie notes, still dressed in a shirt and pants and dreading having to get rid of them. He’s bare foot now, standing on top of the quarry and peering down into the glinting lake. Next to him, also bare foot, Richie looks over his shoulder, and laughs, bright and innocent.

warnings: skinny dipping, mentioned of nudity (but nothing graphic)

read on a3o

The atmosphere of six best friends who’ve just moved past the worst stages in their life cackles in Eddie’s brain.

He’s buzzed up, energized beyond all logic by the laughter and loving gestures so carelessly tossed around in their group. Pennywise is dead, and with it the looming threat following each of them around and the teasing unhappiness hinting at what they were missing but not giving any clues as to what.

It’s all over now, and a road full of new opportunities lays ahead of them. Everyone is acting loose, ecstatic with the weight that fell off their shoulders. Eddie’s feeling a tad guilty too, for calling Myra and informing her that way about their upcoming divorce that he’s going to set in motion as soon as he’s had a good night sleep, but he felt so brave after surviving a literal killer clown, that he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

A part of him was also frightful that he’d lose his courage, between now and getting home, that he’d look around his house and accept that this was all he was destined for, a mediocre life with a wife he didn’t love and a job that sucked the joy out of all employees. Myra deserved better though, and that’s why Eddie’s guilty eyeing his phone, debating on calling her back. He won’t take back what he said, because he’s relieved to have put it out in the open, but he’s unsure if he should have been more empathetic towards her feelings in all of this. If he should have ended the call after telling her to take care.

Bev notices his wandering eyes from where she seated beside him on the couch, the woman still laughing a stitch, shifting forward and hiding his phone in between seat cushions. Out of sight out of mind so to speak.

‘We’ve got time to worry about it tomorrow Eddie.’ She says, and she’s right. Tomorrow both him and Bev will have to deal with the intricacies of divorce and separating a company and a home. Tonight is reserved for the losers only.

‘Yeah Eds, and here I was assuming that after twenty years we’d have some stuff to catch up on.’

Richie regards him from the floor, legs tossed up upon the couch with his body upside down. His glasses are sliding off, but he’s lazy to fix them, so he looks like even more of a goofball than normal. If Eddie could, if he didn’t feel like his intentions would be even more noticeable if he did, he’d scoot over to Richie, adjusting his glasses and letting his fingers trail his cheek and bask in the skin to skin contact.

‘You never did anything interesting before we went to college, what makes you think you’ve done something interesting after?’ Eddie’s tongue is sharp, a façade he builds to stop speculation about his feelings towards Richie, though the truth is that he is intrigued and he craves to know every small detail about his life outside of Derry.

‘No you guys are not starting this again. I’m sick of your bickering,’ Bill interjects, rolling his eyes at the pair.

‘I reject that big Bill, we’re hilarious, you can’t be sick of us bickering when you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing it for the last twenty years. Michael, back me up here buddy.’

‘Sorry Rich, I’m not getting involved in the slightest.’

‘Yeah guys come on, can’t we have one quiet night in?’

‘What so Eddie can just call me boring and I’m supposed to let it slide? Me? I’m the fireworks on the Fourth of July, the highest roller coaster in the park and the whipped cream on strawberries, but I am not boring.’ Richie changes positions, almost accidentally knocking over his beer bottle. He theatrically waves his arms back and forth, trying to animate his words and add conviction.

‘Okay, okay you’re not boring, but don’t overrate yourself either. The most adventurous thing you ever did in high school was skip a class to read a comic book in the school’s bathroom. Not exactly daredevil behavior.’

Bev sips from her whiskey, winking at Richie whose face turns beet red for a reason Eddie can’t decipher. It’s not until Bev conspicuously blows out a gust of air with her lips puckered that Eddie connects the dots.

‘Didn’t you say you ditched because you were smoking with Beverly? Dude did you fucking lie about that? I was worried you’d die and get cancer ever since that day you piece of shit.’

‘No I definitely did smoke. I swear.’

‘You’re not kidding anyone Rich, I vouched for you all those years ago, but I’m not doing it again. Little Richie was a comic book nerd who just pretended to be really cool. We never ever smoked together.’

The losers all holler, clapping their hands together and cheering on the exposure of their foulmouthed friend, debunking all the story Richie apparently made up where he and Be had to sneak out at night to smoke inconspicuously, with the exception of Eddie and Richie. Eddie, because he’s busy glaring at Richie and Richie because he’s busy tapping Bill’s hand away, teasingly disheveling his hair.

Eddie wishes he was brave enough to give these little affections to his friend, especially after witnessing how soothed Richie got when Eddie hugged him after Neibolt, when he had dropped his face into the nape of Eddie’s neck and stayed there, swaying on his feet of exhaustion. It would only make him a good friend, a best friend, but Eddie is still so damn afraid.

He might have had the power to separate from his wife and kill an abstract form of his deepest fears, but Bowers angry yelled words, such as fairy and faggot, swung to his head any time he and Richie graveted closer while walking, haunt him even now.

Touching is off limits the words tell him, so he shows affection the only way he’s ever known towards Richie, by bickering and pulling pigtails.

‘I should have expected that.’ Eddie nods vehemently, laughing as Richie’s mouth drops open in a shocked manner.

‘Are you kidding me? Eddie Spaghetti is the one telling me I’m a loser?’

Eddie flips him off, ignoring Mike’s whispered; ‘he’s got a point’, in favor of levitating his full attention on Richie. The giggling in the room elevates an octave higher.

‘You all laugh’, Richie addresses the entire group, ‘but was I not the one who came up with the idea for the list?’

Abruptly, all sounds snap off, as everyone is snapped back to the past. Even Richie is, at face value, confused about the word he spoke, until the concept and creation of the list is brought to the forefront of everyone’s mind.

‘Holy shit.’

‘Oh my god Mike please tell me you still have it.’

Mike shakes his head with a far-off look. ‘Sorry guys, I don’t know who had it last but I never found it again.’ He’s saddened by it, like he did them all an injustice by not holding on to a flimsy piece of paper.

The List, capital L, was nothing more but a checklist, composed with all the fun and dangerous things the losers all had hopes of doing after graduating high school. Eddie remembers now, the hushed laughter and uncompromisable joy that came with the simple idea of these things, how everyone pitched in and added dare after dare while him and Stan exchanged glances and hoped to god that some things would never be executed.

‘That’s okay Mike, I’m just happy we can all remember making it.’ Ben smiles reassuringly Mike’s way, who smiles back and takes a deep breath.

‘Wait, I think I can recall some of the things we wrote on there. Hold on’, Bev squeezes her eyes shut and snaps her finger in the hope it will get to her faster. ‘Oh’, she exclaims, startling Bill who chokes on his own saliva, ‘we were going to visit Europe, do a high rope parkour, rock climb and some other things I can’t remember right now.’

‘Didn’t we also agree to volunteer in a hospital and go camping in the national forest?’ Ben asks, awaiting confirmation.

‘Yeah we did, Stan was throwing a fit over going camping because of the environment and the dirt, but we were well on our way to convince him.’

‘Wow,’ Richie breathes, chest puffing up and head dropping back into the couch so his face isn’t visible to the rest. ‘I forgot all about that, but come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I did most of those things with Bryan.’

And who the fuck is Bryan? Certainly not Eddie, sweating in fear from the things that were being listed, searching for the most extreme dares he’d seen happen on tv to suggest, doing anything he could to impress Richie. Eddie was terrified of most of the activities on the list, like Bev’s idea to waterski in the ocean, or Mike’s zip lining idea, but he would have done them if it meant he could bask in Richie’s attention, impress Richie to rid himself of scared baby Eddie was so sure he must have been in Richie’s eyes. So who the hell was this Bryan stealing his thunder like that?

‘Who’s Bryan?’ Bev inquires with a smirk, winking at Richie blush ridden face. Eddie’s jealousy rears its ugly head, flaring up and making his head woozy. He simultaneously both considers choking Bev and thanking her for the question.

With Richie’s secret fresh on his mind, the way he’d so shamefully admitted that he was gay and they were the first people he’d ever found the courage to tell, Eddie wondered if Bryan was perhaps someone Richie had been romantically involved with.

Richie would have deserved it, Eddie argues in his mind, to at least for a short period of time have someone love him back as fiercely as he dons it out, but Eddie’s also furious that he stole Richie out from under his nose.

Which is illogical, because even if he and Richie had managed to stay in touch, and Eddie confessed – not much chance there, as Eddie didn’t even tell anyone he was gay when Richie did - there was no guaranty that Richie would’ve reciprocated.

‘No one snoopy’, Richie argues with a jittery leg, ’just some guy I hung out with for a while.’

Bev appears unconvinced, but she’s also respectful towards Richie's decision to not say anything. ‘So which ones did you complete?’

‘I went to Europa senior year of college, smoked a bunch of weed, went zip lining. The normal kind of stuff.’

Zip-lining, or smoking weed for that matter, causes Eddie skin to crawl, not that he’d ever admit it. He hates that that’s not the case for Bryan.

‘Well thanks Rich, none of us ever did anything on the list without the other losers. I guess you didn’t miss us too much.’ It’s not fair, of course it’s not. He can tell by the eagerness to spend time together that Richie was very lonely, and experienced the same aching emptiness where his friends were supposed to be as the rest of them.

The bitter tone of Eddie's speech, and the way Richie’s eyes turn a little dimmer extinguishes the fire of Eddie’s envy. Richie deserves better than him in every way. An apology lies at the tip of his tongue, ready to jump into the open and hopefully aid the wounds before they’re fully developed.

Sensing the impending hurricane of trouble on the horizon Mike is eager to intervene, playing mediator for two forces that are about to collide. ‘Well I mean, we probably wouldn’t have gone through with most of them anyway.’

‘Speak for yourself’, Eddie waves him off, spiteful that Mike has a good point. He would have found a way to undermine their plans and make it so that he could back out without appearing like a meek lamb, for at least half of the activities. If he had known about Bryan’s existence though, he would have done anything. He feels ready now to do anything, to one up him and establish his spot as Richie’s number one.

‘Prove it,’ Bill dares with a lopsided smirk, certain he’s got Eddie beat. He sustains eye contact, reaching for the bag of chips on the table and gnawing on it with the most smug aura Eddie has ever witnessed him having.

‘I would’, Eddie defends fiercely, ‘but we can’t do any of the things in Derry.’

‘Sounds like a cop out to me.’

‘Yeah, sure Big Bill, because you can easily find a zip line here in Derry. The town that refused to spend money on renewing the library back in the eighties is no doubt going to have that installed by now.’

‘What about skinny dipping?’ Ben proposes innocently, having no idea the kind of strain he’s putting Eddie under.

‘That’s a great idea Ben, I forgot we put that one on the list.’ Beverly acknowledges despite Eddie’s frantic head shaking. The room temperature drops down and rises back up steadily, at least according to Eddie. He’s starting to sweat, something he never does and takes pride in – in the office he’s the level headed one, and that’s saying something – and he pulls at his collar to allow some air to ventilate.

Everything except that. A swim in a dirty lake that was most likely infected was a whole plate of different bacteria, and being naked in front of the man he’s in love with is not something Eddie is particularly fond of. He almost asks for a different thing to do, but that would truly be a cop out, and he both refuses to back down in front of Richie and give Bill the satisfaction of being right.

‘Good luck with that Eds, question before this all goes down, am I allowed to use this in my next bit?’

‘Actually,’ Bev interrupts, ‘I think you should join him too.’

‘Hey I wasn’t the one that said I’d be willing to do anything.’

‘No, but you were the one who added it on the list in the first place. C’mon Richie, It’ll be fun. For us, not for you guys, but we’ll get a good laugh out of it.’

Richie is hesitant, same as Eddie, readjusting his glasses again. Eddie is sure that if he says the word Richie will tell everyone to back down for him. He wouldn’t even make fun of Eddie for it, should Eddie give any indication that he wouldn’t want him too. He thinks back to Bryan, and how he wouldn’t have backed down for such a thing, and how in awe Richie must have been seeing the man abandon all safety precaution and go for it, Eddie’s mind is made up instantly.

‘Let’s do it.’ He says without leaving room for argument, nodding at Richie as he looks to him. He hopes Richie will go with it, but is also confident that of course he will. As kids they followed each other everywhere, and surely that hasn’t changed.

‘Really? I mean yeah – sure I guess. Bring it on.’

-----

The Derry midnight breeze is freezing, Eddie notes, still dressed in a shirt and pants and dreading having to get rid of them. He’s barefoot now, standing on top of the quarry and peering down into the glinting lake. Eddie’s jumping from one foot to the other, annoyed that dirt is clinging to his skin and branches are piercing his soles, even more aggravated at the idea of cleaning them in infection filled lake water. Bev better keep her end of the promise, and be waiting near the end of the lake with a pair of fresh pressed towels.

Next to him, also bare foot, Richie looks over his shoulder, and laughs, bright and innocent.

‘I forgot how high this was.’

It is high up, but they’ve done this jump at least a hundred times before, so Eddie’s not worried about the plunge. He’d assume Richie isn’t either, but the man keeps glances towards the path they took to get up here, uncharacteristically silent.

‘It’s okay if you're too scared to go through with it Eduardo, I won’t tell the others.’ Richie smirks when he notices Eddie’s glance, crossing his arms over his chest.

The movement makes his shoulders bulk, highlighting just how much bigger Richie is compared to Eddie. Eddie’s mouth waters, and he starts to worry about how he’s going to have to get through seeing Richie’s naked shoulders in the flesh.

‘Just get undressed will you? Hurry up.’

‘Why? Eager to see my bare ass?’

‘Yeah, because who doesn’t think jumping naked into a lake they frequented as kids is the epitome of sexiness? No you self-centered idiot, I want to get it over with so I can go back to the Inn and grab a warm shower.’

With one last peek, Eddie moves backwards, standing away from the ledge and begins to unbutton his shirt, before thinking better off it. Richie picks up on his hesitation, shifting backwards too and motioning his head towards the ridge.

‘Do you want me to show you how it’s done?’

‘No,’ Eddie objects, ‘I’ll go first.’

‘Why? I’m not going to stare at your junk while you're jumping in if that’s what you're worried about Eddie. I’m not that kind of gay.’ Rarely does Richie toss aside an opportunity to grant Eddie another humorous nickname, so the use of his real name spooks Eddie just enough that he opens his mouth to apologize without even realizing what he’s apologizing for.

Richie’s facial expression, set in a grimace and squinting his eyes defensively, are a dead give away that Eddie’s words are being taken the wrong way. If only Richie knew that Eddie wanted him to go in first so he could avoid the same temptation Richie thought he was forcing on him.

‘Richie no, that’s not what I meant I-.’ Heartfelt compliments are not something Eddie has had a lot of practice for these last few years, and he’s not doing a good job catching up on them either. Therefore he sighs and hopes that he can find another way to prove to Richie he’d never accuse him of something like that. ‘Whatever, just go first already.’

‘Fine but turn around okay?’

Eddie listens to him, back towards Richie and the jump off, though he doesn’t really understand the request. With Richie comes a lot of flair, and he was more or less been prepared for a joke about how Eddie got to confirm how big his dick is in reality.

He waits and listens carefully for the sounds of clothes being dropped on the ground, and he can’t stop his mind from secretly imagining how Richie looks like without them once he distinguishes it. Eddie shakes his head, scolding his own mind.

The next few moments are filled with raspy breaths originating from Richie, footstep sounding further away and then closer again in an erratic pattern. He must be scared of the jump. Under normal circumstances, Eddie would ask to jump in at the same time, but since Richie asked Eddie not to turn around, he won’t.

‘If you don’t jump in the next five minutes,’ Eddie teases, the way Richie used to tease him, ‘I’ll push you in.’ A second later Eddie hears Richie’s loud whooping as he plunges down into the dark water.

Eddie spins, the only thing greeting him the dark with very little light clearing up his path, from the moon. He’s having a hard time to even see where the cliff ends, and he can’t disguise Richie in the water at all.

‘I’m coming in’, he yells to the void, in case Richie can’t discern his body in time and needs to move out of the way. He takes off his clothes, goosebumps erupting on his skin, and folds his pants and t-shirt up neatly, touching the ground with his hands to find a dry spot to lay them on. The air is cold, and so Eddie refuses to linger on top any longer than he has to.

He jogs up to the ledge and darts off before his mind can conjure up the thousands of things that can go wrong from swimming in the dark this late at night. His body flies through the air and connects with the water in one swoop, a pit of glee bursting in Eddie’s stomach. Jumping from the quarry equals freedom, a hot summer day and love for all of his friends, but in particular Richie.

Eddie keeps his head underwater until his lungs burn, eyes closed and allowing himself to just feel all the sensations. Then, something tickles the back of his leg, and the peaceful moment is over. He kicks back the surface, away from the spot where he could swear something touched him, and searches around for Richie.

Richie, with his wet black hair clinging to his forehead, strands of it sticking out in every direction, and his droplet covered glasses, roving more of Eddie’s heart each minute they’re near each other. He’s never looked more beautiful, and Eddie has never had to fight the urge to kiss him as much as he does now.

‘See, I told you I wouldn’t stare Eds, I can’t even see anything with all these splatters on my glasses.’

The moon reflects on the water, so that it’s impenetrable, and neither Rich nor Eddie can look down and see their lower body parts.

What Eddie can see is enough anyway, Richie’s shoulders and part of his chest hold Eddie’s attention, and he forgets to respond to Richie’s comment.

His eyes land on a dark bruise, just on the bottom of Richie’s neck, a remnant of their fight with Pennywise earlier that day. Without thinking, without standing still on the consequences of such an action, Eddie swims closer, stretches his arm out, and lingers his fingertips over the bruise. He carefully positions his body to not touch any other body part of Richie’s except for his fingers on his neck.

He makes an inquisitive noise, thumb stroking over the injury in what he hopes to be a calming matter. He physically can’t pull away, entranced with the way he moves and responds to him, trying but failing to get his fill of Richie clenched.

‘Eddie’, Richie whispers, scared to break the silence and the intimate moment. ‘It’ll be fine. And hey, at least he didn’t do anything to my dick.’

‘Yeah, would have been a shame if it were to become even smaller.’

Richie snorts, retaliating the jest with a wave of dirty water aimed at Eddie.

Eddie gasps, spitting out a bit of water that managed to sneak into his mouth. ‘Oh you’re on.’

The two of them chase each other, and if it weren’t for the fact that they were both naked, Eddie would have thrown his entire body weight in the game to push Richie underwater. As it stands, they just splash back and forth until they’re exhausted and the remnants of their laughter dies out, barely enough energy left to stay afloat side by side.

‘Did you have this much fun with Bryan?’ Eddie asks, a bit envious. He hates how he’s still stuck on the Bryan thing, hates that his mind keeps popping images of them doing the exact same thing only to end it with a kiss.

‘What?’

‘With Bryan, the guy you did all that other stuff with?’

‘Oh no, me and Bryan – we were never together like that.’ Back at the hotel room, Eddie figured that that was a ploy to distract Bev, something Richie just said because he couldn’t comfortably admit the real intent of their relationship. But he’s never lied to Eddie, and his eyes, magnified by his glasses, seem so sincere, Eddie has no other option but to believe him. ‘I-I’m- some other guy already has that place all taken up.’

Eddie stupid, oblivious and dense and everything in between. He knows Richie isn’t talking about him, he knows he could never be the guy Richie would hold all hope out for – he also secretly hopes it’s none of the losers -, but he wants to be so bad. Just one time, just one kiss and he’d be sated enough to let go of his feral behavior towards any potential love interest Richie might have. Just one time.

‘Richie’, Eddie starts, biting his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. He’s taking a huge risk, by foreseeing a rejection but hoping that Richie won’t drop him as a friend because of this. If Eddie doesn’t do this, he’ll never stop wondering what it feels for their lips to meet. He’ll never get over Richie because he never got to experience any with him.

‘Can I kiss you?’ He risks releasing his lip.

Richie is visibly shocked. ‘What? What the fuck? Eddie is this a joke?’

The joke is, as usual, all on Eddie who regrets ever opening his mouth in the first place. He could try to laugh it off, say that it was a joke, but that would mean that he pretends to make a jest out of something Richie has struggled with for his entire life. He’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. Left with no other options but to further dig his own grave, Eddie decides to be honest. At least that means he gets to keep part of his integrity.

‘No Richie of course not, I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m sorry. Look I like you but it’s obviously one sided and I just wanted to know what it felt like to kiss you but it was a stupid request and I shouldn’t have asked you that. Oh god, I never even asked if you were dating someone –‘

‘Eds?’

‘- Fuck can we please forget I said anything so we can still hang out?’

‘Eddie?’

‘What?’

‘Yes. Please kiss me.’

Eddie gapes with his mouth open, struggling for breath and for words. He’s half convinced he misinterpreted the words, but his tilted head proves otherwise. Eddie doesn’t question it further, counting his lucky start for once, and leaning in to his emotions and Richie, breaching the water to get to him.

Their kiss is surprisingly gentle for the ungovernable lead up prior to it. Richie’s lips taste like lake water, but deeper underneath lies a tang of something distinctively Richie. Eddie can’t wait to devour him whole once he’s cleaned up. Their lips move together in tandem, a perfect harmony that for once neither are willing to break.

They pull back, Richie’s arms circling Eddie’s waist, and he smiles. His smile mixed with the love stricken gleam in his eyes, mysteriously tells Eddie that Richie feels the exact same way he does. His chest caves with happiness.

‘I like you too, if it wasn’t obvious. A lot more than Bryan.’

‘For the love of God can we never mention that again? It’s embarrassing. No, Hush’, Eddie says urgently, covering Richie’s mouth with his palm when he opens his mouth to conjure up another joke.

‘Fine,’ Richie says while pulling away from Eddie’s hand. ‘How about we talk about something else then? How the fuck are we supposed to get to our clothes?’

#my writing #reddie imagine #reddie fic #reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrack #richie and eddie #adult losers #it chapter two imagine #eddie x richie

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waitingfortheendtocome · 3 years

Text

Forced To Let Go CH 2

This is the second chapter of my Jemily fic Forced to Let Go. I’m sorry for delaying it, I kind of got caught up in the game Lara Croft: Tomb Raider lol.

Looking back at this story I realized I turned it into two chapters not Three. Whoops lol If you want to see a third part to this story let me know and I’ll be happy to write it. I was honestly going to make it more angsty by adding some ideas I have in my head but decided against it and ending it here.

I’m working on the second chapter to my Ocean’s 8 Lou Miller/Reader fic and I’ll pot it as soon as I finish it. I’m just working on the angle on how I want the story to go. :)

Warnings: No major warning except Angst andd even more Angst.

****************************************************

Two Days Later

Day of Wedding

Emily had arrived at the wedding a little late. It hurt too much to come and watch the woman she loved marry someone else and knowing she probably essentially pushed them together. Just the thought made her heart clench heavily. The other reason why she was late was because she technically didn’t have anything to wear since she packed all her belongings and put them in the trunk of her car. She had already given her landlord the keys to the apartment before she drove to the wedding. Her intentions were to come for the ceremony and sneak away and leave as soon as it was over, not able to bear to be there any longer let alone say goodbye to anyone.

Emily had gone to the bar to drink a little and be away from everyone only for Morgan to catch up unfortunately for her the man had been extremely observant since he had noticed how quiet and closed off she was after talking to him she confessed about her leaving much to his disappointment and Hotch popping up trying to talk her out of it but she shook her head stating she had already made the decision looking away and walking away but both men knew it was much more they where profilers they knew something else was driving Emily to pack up and leave but they didn’t pressure her. Instead they both made a point in making her final night with them worthwhile and memorable even though Emily doubted anything could cheer her up but nodded smiling not wanting to disappoint them.

The wedding ceremony started without delay and JJ walked down the aisle. Emily watched her walk down the aisle and Emily couldn’t look away. Emily thought JJ looked breathtakingly beautiful, she looked like an angel in her white dress and she couldn’t look away. The dress hugged her figure perfectly and her hair styled to perfection but what snapped her out of it was the smile. Emily saw JJ give Will the happiest smile she has given anyone and that broke Emily all over again but she pushed it back.

When JJ walked past Emily, Emily made sure not to meet JJ’s eyes instead she looked at Will’s direction and didn’t help but roll her eyes slightly. She looked around making sure no one noticed and was relieved when no one did. Emily after sat through the long ceremony and watched them say their final I do. After the priest asked if anyone objected and no one did despite the fact that Emily loved her but she wouldn’t be cruel despite the outcome. During that minute paused Emily caught JJ looking at her and Emily’s eyes flashed with pain but hid it instead Emily looked down and away pretending to look to see if anyone would object.

***************************************************

The reception party began quickly after, it had started a bit ago and Emily began walking around watching her team. Her now ex-team danced and partied the night away, celebrating JJ and Will now husband and wife’s wedding. It was at this moment that she decided to leave. Seeing them dancing smiling happily made Emily wonder why she did after so many times JJ expressed that she couldn't see herself marrying Will.

Emily herself found the man slightly controlling given how he forced JJ to tell the rest of the team that they were officially even threatening to break up over it and on top of that forcing JJ to tell the team about the pregnancy and even telling them himself when she wasn’t ready. Emily knew he made her happy but some of his behaviors unnerved Emily and she secretly had hoped JJ would choose to be with her but she knew it would never happen despite their fling and quite frankly she wasn’t surprised.

Emily watched Garcia dancing with Morgan, Hotch dancing with Beth and Rossi with Strauss. JJ dancing with Will. Emily walked near a tree and her eyes suddenly locked with JJ, Emily could see the look of regret and apologetic and Emily’s eyes betrayed how heartbroken she was. Emily simply walked on mouthing out congratulations, eyes more on Will than at JJ. Emily didn’t want to make JJ feel bad at her wedding so she locked eyes one more time to see JJ mouthing out an apology and Emily despite herself gave a single curt nod at her as a way of telling her it was fine and it didn’t matter.

She made sure she kept up a mask of calm and indifference all the while she pretended she was happy and enjoying herself. Despite feeling led on and hurt she was actually happy for JJ but at the same time she just couldn’t express it at the moment. Although Emily knew that JJ could see through the fake smile and sudden professional nod, JJ has seen her use it too many times it was the same indifferent professional nod she gave anyone she meets while working cases or even anyone her mother introduces her.

At this point Emily had to keep her distance and stay far from her best friend and being indifferent was the only way they thought she could. As well as running away Emily seems to be a pro at doing that too.

Emily walked to her table to grab another drink when she felt someone tap her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder to find Morgan staring intensely at her with a knowing look beside him was Spencer.

“What’s up guys?” Emily questioned

Morgan glanced at Spencer than at Emily, “I was going to talk to you.”

“Same, us coming here at the same time is a coincidence although I have to say Emily don't think I haven’t noticed.” Spencer told her eyebrow raised

Emily gulped nervously wondering what he was talking about. She knew he wasn’t aware of her leaving since it was a last minute thing and she has been very subtle when it came down to her crush on JJ not to mention her relationship with the blonde or lack of relationship.

“Emily I saw the look you gave JJ just now and could read right through it and no I wasn’t profiling. If that look doesn’t scream I’m not happy for you than I don’t know what is also I noticed a few months now how distance you’ve been with her, you only talk to her professionally when it involves cases and when she wants to have a casual conversation you either pretend you're interested or make an excuse and walk away.” Spencer explained worried

“I have noticed as well Prentiss. Tell us what’s really going on with you. I know you went through a lot and this is something that’s much more then.” Morgan told her arms crossed

“Ugh what did I say about profiling.” Emily told them irritated

“It wasn’t profiling Emily. You’re in love with her... Emily why didn’t you ever told her even before she meet him.” Reid tone was frantic and changed to disappointment at the last part of his sentence as if the idea of Emily never telling JJ was devastating to him

Emily froze and immediately flushed shaking her head, “Whatttt no what gave……..me and JJ? Nooo...we never…… I mean….” Emily stuttered but paused sighing taking a deep breath, “What I mean to say is nothing is going on between JJ and I.”

Morgan shook his head, not impressed by her excuse and Spencer rolled his eyes but his eyes shone in amusement.

“Emily who are you trying to fool, I’m a bisexual man I can tell you’re gay from a mile away and JJ is as closeted as they come and I know you two secretly slept together so I’ll asked again. Why didn’t you ever tell her, you know if you needed help I could have helped anything to get you two together.” Spencer explained crossing his arms equally disappointed

Emily’s jaw dropped for a moment shocked but sighed knowing they caught her and there was no way to lie to them and it would be nice to tell someone about it for a change.

“Okay fine I’ll tell you and I didn’t knew you where bisexual. How did I miss it?” Emily questions suspiciously

Reid laughed shaking his head and Morgan chuckled, “Emily I don’t exactly try to hide it you know. I didn’t just went to see my friend play you know.”

“Oh…….OHHH.. Go Reid.” Emily cheered earning a blush from the man

“You’re evasive Emily.” Morgan pointed out and Emily sighed

“Fine… long story short JJ and I had something going on for years even while JJ was with Will. I tried to stop it a few times but when things got serious between them I stopped it somewhat I only agreed to be with her a few times feeling it wrong. In Paris she stayed a while with me until I recovered and during that time we talked a lot she told me Will had proposed a few times and she refused him. She told me he isn’t the type she would marry and would never marry him. I asked her about her type and she told me she would rather date me and give me a chance… she even promised we can date when Doyle was captured we can start dating.” Emily told them sounding sad looking down

Both men looked at Emily worried but confused. They both looked at each other and thought the same thing. If JJ was willing to be with Emily what happened? They both looked back at JJ and Will dancing and back at Emily.

“What happened? That could be you there not him. Nothing against Will but between us three I rather see you and her there.” Morgan told Emily

“I second that.” Reid stated smiling brightly

Emily smiled weakly at them, “She changed her mind a few weeks ago during the Oregon worshiping ritual case I told her and asked rather what we were. Anyways she told me she can’t leave Will and cant hurt him… well more like tell me she cannot bear to hurt him. She also said she isn’t ready for that commitment or the consequences that came with it whatever that means….” Emily shrugged. Reid gave Emily a sad look out of all the reasons that was the last thing he was expecting and all Morgan did was shake his head frowning, also surprised and baffled.

“So she didn’t love you back? She could have fooled us don’t think we didn’t know about you two but none of us said anything because it wasn’t our business and you never got in the way of work.” Morgan pointed out

“That’s not important anymore… She is married now I have to get over her that’s why I have to get away… Guys are alright, it was nothing but a fling between friends. Friends with benefits but I put an end to it completely weeks ago.” Emily told them shaking her head

“Wait! Leave what do you mean leave.” Reid squeaked surprised

“Sorry Reid but I’m leaving for London. I was offered a position to be director of Interpol and I took it… I wasn’t going to but I have to get away…. I….is not the same after Doyle I would have stuck around but after what happened a few weeks ago and now this I really need to leave I already gave up my apartment and packed but I wasn’t going to leave without at least saying goodbye to you Reid I was actually going to go tell you before I leave in a twenty minutes.” Emily promised

Reid looked at her sad and put out but nodded, “I understand Emily, I would want to get away for a while too if I was in your shoes.”

Emily hugged them promising to keep in touch; they then pulled her to dance which earned a real laugh for the first time in weeks. After Morgan winked and went to distract everyone alone with Reid while Emily snuck away but not before Hugging Rossi and whispering her goodbye to him. He was saddened but nodded understanding and she took advantage and walked away looking back one last time. The team was all dancing and partying Morgan and Reid doing a really good job keeping everyone occupied and distracted so none of them even noticed she was gone. JJ was holding Will tightly smiling brightly which made Emily frown saddened the ache coming back full force making her eyes water.

“Bye JJ. Despite how things turned out I’ll always love you.” Emily whispered one last time to herself staring longingly at JJ’s direction before walking to her car and driving off to the airport.

An hour later Emily sat at the airplane drained but she could never sleep in an airplane the days events catching up to her but she knew there was no turning back and she had to get away from it all. She wondered how it was that Doyle single handedly took everything from her yet it was JJ’s wedding that became the last straw. A lone tear fell from her eyes, feeling the plane taking off.

Is for the best Emily. You have to forget her, she chose Will. Emily thought over and over again trying to remind herself.

“Forgetting someone as special as JJ is the hard part.” Emily sighed softly looking out the night sky watching the lights of the city fade into the distance.

****************************************************************************

After the Wedding Reception

JJ looked around once she and the team finished cleaning up Rossi’s yard after cleaning they hung out for a while but JJ spent it thinking about Emily wondering where she was. JJ and Will an hour after it was all over drove home with Will originally they where suppose to go to a hotel to essentially have sex a couple but JJ wasn’t up telling Will another time but her mother had overheared and had none of it forcing her too thrilled to have her daughter finally marry what she described as an exemplary man who she always dreamed her daughter to marrying and JJ felt a wave of guilt thinking of Emily suddenly wondering if the wedding was a good idea when she knew who she truly loved was Emily.

She hasn’t seen Emily since they shared that look which hasn’t left her mind all night. She had a really bad feeling about it and she really wanted to talk to Emily and maybe straighten things she didn’t want to lose her best friend but something Reid said struck out just now that she couldn’t help but wonder if he was right. He had told her privately how sometimes during life and death situations is not wise to make major deciduous because you have the tendency of regretting them later on, that is why experts always say to wat twenty-four to forty-eight hours once the adrenaline is gone before making any decision and is worse if someone you care about nearly dies. What had unnerved JJ was the way Reid looked at her square in her eyes as they danced and said what he said to her made her heart drop but before she could ask they stopped dancing and went back to where Morgan and Garcia where and Rossi took over to dance with her.

“JJ I understand you almost lost the father of your son and want him around for Henry and to give him a family having him grow up with both parents close but why the sudden chance specially when you rejected the proposal so many times. Jayje as your friend and the godfather of your son know that experts say that you shouldn’t make big decisions like this as soon as you face extreme traumatic events or life and death situations you tend to regret them later.” Reid stated while spinning her gently

JJ looked confused at him, “What are you saying Spencer that I made a mistake marrying the father of my child who I love?” JJ looked baffled at him

Spencer shook his head at JJ, “There’s a difference between Loving someone and being in love with someone JJ for example I love you but as a sister I’m not in love with you romantically. They’re many different kinds of love JJ siblings, paternal, and you can love someone enough to procreate but not truly love them deeply in love with them.” Spencer spun them both gracefully while spinning JJ and catching her meeting JJ’s wide surprised eyes with his own knowing ones which JJ found unnerving.

JJ furrowed her eyebrows confused, “What’s w…”

Spencer interrupted her, his tone gently and kind, “I know more than I let on and all I can say is is stability, comfort, the obvious choice and family expectations really worth losing the person you’re truly in love with because trust me by the time you figure it out it’ll be to late. You said your I do’s to the obvious choice who had already giving up asking content with not marrying and trust me even Will had noticed. Think about it JJ and congratulations on the wedding regardless of your choice is your wedding and we are happy for you.” Reid stopped there dancing and winked walking away

“Wait Spencer.” JJ called out

“Yes?” Spencer quirked an eyebrow

“What do you mean and when did you learn to dance so well?” JJ’s voice was soft

“Just giving my best friend advice and Richard taught me.” Spencer gave JJ a wide grin and a knowing wink before walking away

That last part didn’t click to JJ right away until now the tone of pure fondness Spencer used when he said the name and when it clicked her eyes widen in realization that this Richard guy might be someone Spencer was dating but JJ didn’t knew Spencer way gay since she seen him show interest in girls too so that meant he was bisexual but that last part wasn’t what was in her head it was the entire conversation and when she looked around for Emily she couldn’t find her but before she could even go looking for her. Her mother and Garcia had shoved her in a car with Will sending her off.

*************************************************************************

The Next Day

JJ snuck out of the hotel dressed in casual and ran off. The entire night her mind was on Emily but unfortunately she had to focus for an hour on Will. Usually she can get off fine with him but last night she found herself faking it for her husband's sake. Thankfully he was no profiler and JJ was a pretty good actress and he didn’t tell a difference. She felt guilty for doing that on her honeymoon night but she did say she wasn’t up for it but not wanting to ruin it for him.

JJ got in her car thinking about Emily, she had asked last night about her but no one had seen her so she had called Emily’s phone but it was off. Today JJ called a few more times but it was off again and became even more worried JJ left a note to Will letting him know she’ll be back.

JJ drove as quickly as she could to Emily’s apartment. She wondered why Emily would walk out in the middle of her wedding like that, it wasn’t like Emily and she wondered why. JJ knew she was a coward and chose the easy way out and regretted it. Reid’s words sunk in and she realized he knew about JJ’s relationship with Emily so that means he knew something more and he was expecting her to choose Emily.

JJ ran out of her car and inside JJ’s apartment building and up the stairs JJ stopped at Emily’s apartment door and knocked frantically but no one answered. Now that JJ thought about it Morgan gave her the same look and felt dread that they knew that she didn’t.

“EMILY.” JJ shouted, knocking violently at the door feeling more dread.

JJ wiggled the doorknob to find that it turned. Unlocked? JJ thought confused and barged in knowing it wasn’t like Emily to leave her door unlocked. JJ didn’t even think of the potential danger she rushed in the apartment calling out to Emily. JJ ran in the dark apartment looking everywhere.

“EMILY.” JJ called looking from room to room finding no one except an empty apartment it looked as it was abandoned. As if Emily never lived there. JJ’s eyes widened and suddenly felt a wave of nausea at the thought. She felt the air getting knocked out of her lungs.

“No.” JJ gasped and ran into Emily’s closet yanking the door open finding it empty. “Noooooo.” was all that left JJ’s lips sounded like a broken whimper

JJ searched all of Emily’s apartment to find Emily’s belongings gone; nothing was left; it was as if she never even lived there. A broken sob escaped JJs lips at the realization and it all made sense. The phone calls and Emily brushing off the question when Reid asked, Emily being distant towards her, the smile yet JJ knew it was faked the heartbreak that flashed in Emily’s eyes at the reception party when she was dancing with Will and again at the ceremony. Everything hit JJ and she crumbled broken sobs escaping her lips followed by heavy regrets and realization now Reid’s words made sense. JJ fell on Emily’s bed curling herself into a ball crying inconsolably.

“Emily…….I should have chosen you…..now it is too late.” JJ sobbed crying her body shaking with every sob, “I love you Em please come back. What have I done...I choose you Em….” JJ sobbed

She chose Will because she knew she did but her heart was with Emily and JJ knew she was the reason Emily left and she didn’t know when she’ll come back or if she’ll come back. JJ knew she had made a mistake.

JJ laid there for what seemed like hours crying thinking about the what if and how happy she was with Emily and more importantly how she blew it due to her fears. JJ’s phone ran suddenly startling. JJ’s struggled to stop crying, taking deep breaths after a bit handling her emotions. She picked it up hoping it was Emily but her heart sank when it was Will who was calling. She answered and sighed telling him she’ll be right there hanging up. A fresh wave of tears fell curling herself into a ball again ignoring her now husband in favor of laying there crying over the loss and heartbreak she felt at the realization that the woman she loved was gone.

“You didn’t even say goodbye.” JJ whimpered sobbing. JJ grabbed on to the covers sobbing uncontrollably over having lost her best friend and the woman she truly loved. The once warm lively apartment now felt cold and empty the sounds of JJ's sobbing echoing on the eerily silent apartment a constant reminder that Emily is truly gone and JJ now realizing the mistake she made and not able to take back.

#Criminal Minds #CM #Emily Prentiss #Jennifer Jareau #spencer reid #Derek Morgan #Penelope Garcia #aaron hotchner #david rossi #jemily #jemily angst #jj #JJxEmily #jj and emily #jennifer jereau/emily prentiss #Jennifer Jereau x Emily Prentiss #I'm so sorry in advance for the Angst #angst

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