#i genuinely cannot listen for more than 5 minutes at a time without like. straight up falling asleep | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

elysianslove · 3 years

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haikyuu boys that ━━

━━ would absolutely, definitely, 100% get nauseous, dizzy, possibly might faint, while their s/o is in labor. one peak and they’re doubling over the hospital bed, inhaling deeply and exhaling sharply, steeling themselves. some are surprising, some are expected. all are stupid.

iwaizumi hajime; he just cannot. he cannot fathom what is happening. there is no way you’re going through that and surviving. no wonder you’re screaming in pain. of course you’re screaming in pain. he takes one look at what’s going on and just immediately takes a step back, eyebrows raised and hand pressed to his chest like “my god.” he’s an 8/10 though because he is incredibly supportive and those arms are great to grab onto. will not complain for a second (is strangely way too quiet), but he’s worryingly pale. maybe he’s quiet cause if he speaks he’ll throw up.

miya atsumu; he’s this close to screaming. or crying. possibly both. he can’t tell if he’s scared in general or scared for you or if he’s hurting seeing you hurting. in fact, no one can tell. he just looks like he’s watching an alien abduction happen right before his eyes. like a 6/10 because he probably does actually faint. it’s almost as if he’s the one in labor. and he’s the annoying kind of supportive that makes you want to smack him like shut the fuck up i’m pushing a whole child out of me right now. but his reactions are extremely endearing and hilarious to watch back because he most definitely insisted on filming.

akaashi keiji; the silent struggler. really doesn’t wanna make it obvious at all. like he really, really, really doesn’t want you knowing that he’s uncomfortable in any way, but he’s like, sweating from how nauseous he is. a big part of it is hating seeing you in pain; he cringes every time you so much as groan or pant. 7/10 because he’s incredibly supportive but his hands are way too clammy :/ like fr get a grip keiji. again, supportive, but his voice is shaky so it’s like, really ineffective. he cries when he sees his baby and it automatically makes him an 11/10.

sakusa kiyoomi; absolute coward. pussy. it’s not about hygiene, he’s just genuinely mortified. keeps asking you’re okay like,,, what do you think, sir? he keeps looking even though every time he does it doesn’t get any better? question mark? you can see him visibly gulping cause he’s in so much shock. like a 5/10 because he forgets to hold your hand. just stands there. eyes wide and mouth parted like a dumb fish. chokes back on his sobs when he hears his baby’s cries and it’s adorable how he brings his hand up to silence himself so maybe he’s a 7/10.

goshiki tsutomu; please he probably has a panic attack mid labor. definitely screams with you and all the nurses and the doctor are like ???? holds your hand tighter than you’re holding his. apologizes the whole time. the whole time. like the doctor asked him if he wants to see what’s happening, which idk why they would consider that a smart idea, and he just wailed like, “baby i’m so sorry, i’m so sorry, can we just adopt?” a 3/10. he’s so cute but. bring someone else if you don’t want to rip your hair out and his.

kageyama tobio; he absolutely tries to pretend that he’s okay but he just gets really, really quiet once you start delivering and his lips are chapped and his pupils are blown and his face is so pale. he looks like he just got off of a really bad rollercoaster. he’s not even holding your hand you’re just hanging onto an unmoving, lifeless limb. maybe 6/10, cause he could be better in the supportive department but, at least he was quietly panicking. he does have a mini panic attack once his baby is in his arms though. like just starts hyperventilating. it’s okay though! it’s actually kind of cute <3

lev haiba; actually faints. not probably. he actually faints. like all 6′5 of him just drops onto the floor by your bed and you’re like ,,, damn, guess i’m doing this alone then. he wakes up and the first thing he sees is your baby crowning and he just faints again pls. someone has to be there with you, just like to help him to you. he cannot stand straight at all, he’s leaning on the bed the whole time. 5/10 because it genuinely makes you laugh it kind of makes the pain bearable. they have to get a chair in case he just falls back cause he’s just so dizzy pls.

━━ would be so fucking annoying. who the hell let them in this room? why did you agree to this? how are you going to raise a child with them? regrets. so many regrets.

tanaka ryūnosuke; he’s like annoyingly scared. shut up and calm down for a minute i’m trying to birth your child here. swears so much like “holy shit holy shit that’s a big baby.” like pls you’re trying to push it out of you and he has the audacity to say shit like that? treats it like it’s some sort of volleyball match like he cheers whenever the doctor praises you. maybe a 5/10 cause he’s just annoying, but it’s motivating in a way. accepts any insult you throw at him too, like he’s so on board with it. “yes, i’m absolutely a piece of shit— what do you mean you’re not getting anywhere near my dick babe wait.”

bokuto kōtarō; listen :( you don’t want to think he’s annoying but he lowkey is. he’s trying his hardest to make this an easier experience for you but you just need him to be a little quieter. like this hurts bo, calm down please. you want to match his energy but it’s literally physically impossible. he’s an 8/10 though because you doubt it’d have been possible to go through it without him. bokuto’s incredibly ripped too so he lets you hang onto him and he holds you tightly too, like grips your hands and legs so strong that it’s v physically supportive too.

kozume kenma; he’s so. quiet. like say something kozume. say anything. he’s just wincing and cringing. 4/10 cause where’s the emotion. lets you hold his hand, like wow you should be honored. insults you back if you insult him???? like what’s that about???? when he sees his baby he does like, sharply intake a breath or whatever cause he doesn’t want to cry but he’s really struggling not to, which is kind of cute you guess. films the whole thing and does like a peace sign with a very nonchalant face but he has a filter on and the filter scans your face too except you’re like screaming. actually a 3/10.

sugawara kōshi; he’s incredibly supportive yes, but mans will be laughing at you. laughing. at you. probably films you and is like properly giggling and laughing boisterously. is so unfazed by anything and everything he sees. he would so easily be a 10/10 but he becomes a -1/10 just cause he’s an ass. definitely like is breathless and is so mind-blown when he sees his baby. just in awe and in shock that he laughs like, “we made that holy crap.” good to have in the delivery room because he does make the atmosphere easier and more lighthearted, but,,, at what cost? your sanity’s.

suna rintarō; the amount of times you wanted to punch him you cannot count on your ten fingers. makes some sex joke about how you’re so stretched out. you literally want to deck him. films the birthing process and makes you watch the video when you’re not even done delivering the baby? cause he’s insane i guess? justifies it as “this is a reminder of how strong you are,” like shut up with your bullshit. it’s kinda smart tho cause you can pull this on your kid later but still. he’s so fucking annoying. if you hold his hand too hard he’ll be like “it can’t be that bad stop being such a baby,” and the baby is delivered like an hour early out of spite. a 6/10 tho cause somehow you love him and decided to have a baby with him.

ushijima wakatoshi; pt.2 to say fucking something??? he’s mostly quiet cause he doesn’t really know what to say, and cause he’s never seen you in this much pain and it’s kind of shocking him. he’s not scared though, cause it’s like, a natural process of human life and the life cycle and all that stuff, he’s just like. taking time to process it. lets you hold his hand though. also if you wanna like give up halfway through he’s annoyingly angry with you like “no. you can’t just give up halfway. stop being a coward.” like why don’t you give it a try toshi??? a 5/10. could do better.

terushima yuuji; so hyperactive that it’s infuriating. doesn’t even hold your hand, he just stands back and observes and like cheers. literally will jump every time you push, like what the fuck, my love? makes really weird comments like “what does it feel like? does it feel like you’re pooping?” like???? it feels like i’m being torn in half yu :D a 4/10 only cause when you ask if you can slap him he wholeheartedly agrees and the doctor cannot hold their laugh back. also definitely plays like the chika dance and makes the nurses do it with him. probably films a tiktok too. you’re going to kill him after.

oikawa tōru; he’s trying so hard to be supportive and your backbone but he’s just so jittery and nervous. he’s not going to faint or get nauseous, but he literally cannot stay still. he’s so anxious it’s making you anxious. his hands are shaking when they grip yours, but honestly, completely unbiased of course, an 8/10, cause it really is so endearing. like he’s breathlessly and exasperatingly praising you and you can tell he’s near tears just gasping back sobs so ,,, maybe he’s not that annoying. but he is. he is annoying. a little.

━━ would be the best of the best. perfectly supportive. a lovely anchor. not too quiet, not too chatty. is so soft and gentle with you. you fall in love with them all over again.

miya osamu; definitely a 10/10. husband material. he has a cloth that’s just patting away at your sweat. kisses your hand and knuckles. soothingly rubs at your thighs. tells you you’re doing great, that it’ll all be worth it. kisses your forehead. grins at you halfway through when you need that extra motivation. literally all the nurses and the doctor are swooning over him. he’s very nervous deep down but he won’t show it, not for a moment, for your sake. 10/10. can’t stress this enough.

kita shinsuke; another king! so soft with you when you feel like giving up. just speaks to you in hushed tones like, “you’ve come this far, lovely. you can’t back out now. think of all the happy moments we’ll get to share just a few hours from now.” and you’re like “alright i’m sold.” completely unfazed by anything he sees. okay maybe a little fazed but he just kisses your forehead after sneaking a peak and tells you you’re doing wonderfully. 100000/10. imagine him as the father of your children???? like literally who else would you want????

aran ojiro; wow another inarizaki i sense a trend. except atsumu he’s a pussy. cheers you on quietly, holds onto your legs, breathes with you, smooths your hair back, literally just an angel. if you take a small break he just spends it quietly talking with you to get your mind off the pain. his knuckles are just caressing your jaw and cheek softly till you’ve calmed down. 10/10 obviously. he’s just the right amount of loud supportive and quiet supportive. kisses you full on the mouth when he first hears his baby’s cries and can’t stop thanking you. literally wtf he’s so cute.

kuroo tetsurō; he’s actually surprisingly very serious when you’re delivering the baby. he’s cracking jokes and all before to try and get you less nervous but it’s actually because he’s freaking out. he’s mostly quiet, just holding onto your hand as tightly as you’re gripping his. he holds his breath every time you push. keeps whispering i love you and pressing kisses to your temple. a 9/10 cause he’s so quiet it’s a little scary but he cannot hold back his tears when he sees his baby. kisses you all over your face after.

satori tendō; very emotional. like so emotional. he’s teary eyed the whole time, just thanking you even if you hadn’t given birth yet. it makes the nurses cry too cause it’s so lovely to see him get so visibly affected by this. he’s just whispering thank you’s and i promise not to let you down ever and i promise to love you forever and you’re pretty sure he’s speaking to the baby you’re birthing at this point. 9/10 cause he made you cry :( no but really he’s a 10/10. super loving, keeps asking you if you’re okay, if you need water, need to hold his hand, anything. angel, fr.

matsukawa issei; relatively surprising as well because you expected him to be more than just annoying, but he’s just. in awe. he’s so amazed by how much you’re going through, and he just stores it in the back of his brain. literally thanks you for the next 50 years to come. laughs endearingly with you to lighten the mood. 9/10. a point is deducted because he jokingly said that now you’ll be able to take his dick really easily. a nurse choked in shock pls. gets real close after to whisper i love you so that only you can hear. he’s just a dream <3

━━ would not let you move an inch after giving birth. all the work is on them for the next 5 years.

all of them. not a single one is left out in this one. they’re annoying but ,,, they all love very strongly <3

end note; listen idk what this is. i had a vision where iwaizumi could not handle his s/o giving birth and the thought was actually so sweet to me, just the nurses laughing at him and he’s just breathing deeply to try and not throw up and then. this happened. anyways. this helped put me in a better mood so i hope it does/did for anyone else too!

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fortuositywritings · 3 years

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I Said No (Wanda x R): Pt 5

Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, House Map

Summary: Movie theater, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the county fair

“We can come back to get the rest. I don’t understand why you’re doing that.”

Wanda watches you struggle trying to carry everything you brought from the store but two bags that Wanda herself is carrying.

“Because, my young Padawanda, it is one of the most important rules of the Jedi Code. One must never make a second trip to the car lest he be a nerd.”

“Oh my gosh! Have you seen Star Wars?” You and Wanda turn your heads towards the porch where Sam and Peter reside. Peter runs down to you in excitement. “Which ones have you seen?”

“Only like all of them!” you answer, just as excited as Peter to have someone else here who likes the movies. Laura finds them boring, Clint thinks they’re too long, and Nat says she’s not a child. You tried watching them with Cooper and Lila but they fell asleep halfway through. So no one can blame you for getting excited. Unfortunately, the little bounce that accompanied your answer causes a few things to slip from your arms, but Peter, given his incredible reflexes, catches them all before they touch the ground. “The force is strong with this one,” you tell him.

“And a second trip is what makes you a nerd.” Sam mumbles under his breath on his way over to help by taking the bags from Wanda. “What’s on your neck?” He asks her. Her hand flies up to her neck only to find it sticky.

“It’s what happens when you mess with a Jedi,” you answer for her in a silly voice making Peter laugh. You also make Wanda blush as she recalls how it happened, but you don’t see this since you and Peter are already making your way to the house. Sam, however, does notice Wanda’s face and recognizes that look, leaving him stumped. Wanda only snaps out of her trance when the door closes behind you and Peter.

“I don’t get it,” he says to Wanda. “What is it about her? Is it the confidently flirty but still kind of geeky thing that does it for you ladies?”

Wanda, embarrassed at being caught, heads to the house ignoring Sam’s questions. She can still hear him as he yells after, “Don’t walk away! I need to know if nerds are the thing now!”

Sam catches her in the kitchen along with you and Peter putting things you bought where they’re meant. Instead of asking Wanda anything, he turns his questions to you and Peter, who you all find out has a girlfriend now. Sam guesses his “nerds are in” theory correct based on that and soon he is agreeing to watch Star Wars with you, Peter, and Wanda. He threw Wanda a subtle wink when neither you nor Peter were looking as if to say ‘you’re welcome’ for including her in those plans. Clint, coming in from the side door, catches the ending of that conversation and groans.

“No! Laura! Peter and Y/N found an interest they can both be annoying about,” he goes to complain to his wife. Later though, he as well as everyone else joins you to watch the movie. You and Peter thoroughly answer all of Sam and Pietro’s questions and hush everyone at your favorite parts, mouthing the lines along with the scene. Wanda ends up not watching the movie anymore but watching you and she begins to wonder if maybe Sam was right.

***

“How much longer?” you find yourself asking the next morning trying not to sound as out of breath as you are. You’ve been jogging for you don’t know how long now but it feels way longer than what Nat had promised it would be when she woke you up at six in the morning.

“Another mile,” she answers, no sign of struggle in her voice as if this is a cakewalk. You suppose it is for her since she’s had to slow down numerous times for you to catch up.

“Another mile?!”

“Hey, you said you would keep up today,” Nat reminds you.

“You know you can’t trust anything I say during my haven’t-had-caffeine-yet hours. Don’t I get points for trying?”

“Like your little green friend says, ‘Do or do not, there is no try’,” Nat retorts.

“I knew you were paying attention last night!” You increase your pace to jog beside her. “You can act too tough to like Star Wars all you want around everyone else, but I’ll always know the truth.” You can see her shake her head from the corner of your eye. You don’t say anything for a moment, but being one who cannot let the quiet linger too long, as Tanya would attest to, you speak up. “So, how’s your little green friend doing?”

You turn your head for a second to show Nat you were genuinely looking for an answer and in the next she’s practically running away from you. She went fast but not quick enough for you to miss the little redness creeping up on her cheeks. You have never in your years of knowing her seen her blush before. You have seen her sweat after a sparring match with Clint, get a bit of a sunburn, and get so angry she looked like she would pop a vein, but not one of those times were her cheeks turning a rosy color. Aww, Romanov’s in love. Once you’ve come to that conclusion, you go to tease her. Wait, where did she go?

“You asshole!” You yell at Nat who you finally find casually leaning on the car door watching you storm up to her. It took you an hour to find the car after losing the trail you were on trying to find Natasha. She doesn’t even flinch as she reaches over and pulls a twig out of your hair. “What happened to you?”

“You left me!” You huffed, walking around to the passenger side while Nat got in the driver seat unfazed. Truth be told, after 30 minutes without any sign of Nat, you thought she was putting you through some kind of test. You were getting paranoid, so it’s not surprising you took a tumble when you swiftly tried to avoid an attack from what turned out to be a squirrel running up a tree. But you’ll just keep that to yourself forever.

You head straight to the shower when you get to the house ignoring the morning greetings from those you pass on the way. “What’s up with her?” Sam asks Nat in the living room. “She hasn’t had her caffeine yet.”

You let the shower wash away your moodiness which, you can admit to yourself alone, stemmed for the most part from embarrassing yourself. Afterwards, you head to the kitchen ready to eat whatever everyone had for breakfast, but come up empty. You guess they’d finished all of it if the plates and pan left out to dry say anything. You open the fridge looking for something to eat. Maybe there is something in there you can heat up. Unlike Laura, Wanda, and self proclaimed chef Pietro, you cannot cook to save your life.

“What’s cooking, good looking?” Speak of the devil. Maybe he can make you something? You know all it would take is some batting of the eyelashes and a compliment. No, Wanda said no. But there is nothing in the fridge to heat up and you were hungry. Wanda would surely understand it was for the greater good, right? Already breaking the first rule, I see.

Caught red handed, you look over Pietro’s shoulder to see Wanda walking into the kitchen to join you two. She’s raising her eyebrows at you waiting for an answer.

“Okay, new rule,” you say. Pietro is confused at what he assumes is your response until he sees that you aren’t talking to him. “No more reading my mind,” you say sternly, pointing at Wanda.

Pietro smirks. “Yeah, I don’t need you to hear what goes on Y/N’s mind when she is thinking about me,” he says to Wanda. Both you and Wanda roll your eyes. “Sam is asking for you outside,” is all she says to him and off he goes with a groan.You groan as well, the chance of getting someone to make you food leaving with him.

“You could have just asked me, you know?” Wanda says, leaning against the sink.

“I thought I said no mind reading,” you remind her. She chuckles when you close the refrigerator door and hit your head against it in defeat.

“I wasn’t,” she defends. “I was serious when I said he can’t cook. I may have saved you from food poisoning.”

“Maybe, but I would have been full and happy for a moment. Since you chased away my shot at food, I think you should make it up to me by making me some breakfast,” you try, leaning against the fridge.

“Oh? I should, should I?” You nod confidently thinking it might just work, but she tears that thought away when she continues, “Cause I remember you still needing to make it up to me when you didn’t buy the ice creams.”

You frown, “I thought you’d forgotten about that.” She smiles, with nose scrunch and all, shaking her head. “Fine, you want to go to the fair? I’ll take you to the fair tomorrow!”

“A fair? I want to go!” you hear Cooper shout. He is coming in through the back door with Lila who looks just as excited and with Nat who does not. You ignore Nat’s face when you tell Cooper that you can all go to the fair. He and Lila run off in excitement to tell the others. Nat glares at you as she takes a seat at the kitchen table.

“See,” you turn to Wanda. “Now I have to take you for sure. Make me some food now, please,” you beg her, drawing out the word please. She squints her eyes like she’s thinking about it and then, “Only because you asked so nicely.”

“Thank you,” you throw her a huge smile at which Wanda rolls her eyes.

“But if you are going to be here,” she says pushing you away from the fridge, “you are going to help. You’ve got to learn how to cook for yourself.” And you do just that. You nod along intently listening to all her instructions, not wanting to miss a thing. Sometimes you’d interrupt to make a joke and when one is about her brother, she playfully punches you. You are so immersed in your little bubble, you forget Nat is not too far away watching your interaction with curiosity. She has you try the food first and you could almost moan. You notice a blush creeping up on Wanda’s face and suddenly she’s avoiding your eyes.The food is so good and you were so hungry that maybe you did let out a little noise of satisfaction. Before you could say anything, another voice interrupts, “What’s this I hear about a fair?”

You turn slowly recognizing the tone your cousin uses. It’s the who-made-these-plans-without-asking-me-first tone. You smile at Laura, mouth full of food. You see Nat point at you but Laura was already looking at you. “Yeah, I think she knows it was me, Natasha.”

***

A few uneventful hours go by and you are bored out of your mind. You have a sudden urge to go out seeing as the sun was still shining. You pull out your phone having an idea of what to do to kill some time. You scroll through your phone to see what movies are playing at the only movie theater in town. You see that the next showing is for a horror movie.

“Do you like scary movies?” you turn to the group playing Uno in the living room. Pietro gets up in excitement when you mention going to the movie theater. Sam agrees to come as well and drags Peter out the door when Peter wants to stay claiming it’s to keep the kids company. You are about to head out with everyone but you notice Wanda still sitting on the couch. You wait for her to get up when Pietro says, “Yeah, good luck with that. She’s too chicken to watch scary movies.”

Wanda, offended, gets up quickly from the couch, “Am not. I just think they’re boring.”

“Sure,” Pietro chuckles as he heads out the door.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” you tell her. You think she is going to stay, but she starts heading out the door to the car.

“You sure that’s not enough butter, Y/N?” Peter asks you when he sees how much butter he’s already put in the bucket at your insistence. He can feel some of it through the bucket already.

“Fine, that’s good. You grab some napkins. I’ll hold the bucket,” you tell him after you see his eyebrows scrunch. You all go to the designated room and pick a row to sit in having pretty much any seat you want since it was practically empty. You sit down next to Peter and notice Pietro’s eyes falling to the empty seat on your other side. He aims to sit next to you but his sister who was sitting next to Peter before beats him to it. He throws her a confused look as he shuffles his way down to sit in her abandoned seat. “Real subtle there, Wanda,” you say, amused more than anything.

“I can see the screen better from here.” You let her bad excuse slide and turn to the screen as the movie begins to play. Between you, Peter, and Pietro, the popcorn is gone in record time. The jumpscares begin halfway through the movie. Peter holds the empty bucket as a safety blanket which you find adorable. You don’t even know if Wanda is watching the movie. She’s got her eyes somewhat hidden behind her fingers. You want to tease her, so you reach to take her fingers away from her face, but another jumpscare happens and she takes your hand in her free one. You feel her squeeze the life out of your hand in anticipation of another jumpscare.

Your palm begins to sweat and you start to feel uncomfortable with all the butter on your fingers, so you slip your hand out from hers. She turns to you in question. “Sorry, my hand’s full of butter,” you whisper. She reaches over you to ask Peter something. Without a word, she leans back in her seat with napkins in her hand and cleans all the butter off your hand before taking it in hers once more, this time interlacing your fingers. She turns her focus back to the movie. You feel you should just do the same, so you follow her actions. You let her hold your hand for the rest of the movie until the lights come back up.

Wanda shouldn’t have watched that movie. It is much too dark in the bedroom. It is much too quiet. She can hear Nat’s soft breathing from beside her. The silhouettes of various items around the room are creeping her out. She doesn’t think she is going to be sleeping any time soon. Maybe some tea will help. She gets up quietly trying not to wake Nat, but when she’s at the door, Nat asks, “Where are you going?”

“The bathroom,” Wanda lies easily. She’d rather not let Nat know that she couldn’t sleep because of some scary movie. What kind of superhero would that make her? As she heads downstairs, she wonders if you were still awake. She turns down the hallway to peek into the living room and sure enough you were still awake watching television. She walks over to you behind the couch. “What are you watching?” she asks. You feel your soul leave your body not having heard her approach. She giggles as she walks around to sit next to you. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, just warn a girl next time.” She turns her attention to the show. “It’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It’s really good. I used to watch it with Laura when she would babysit while my mom was at work. Some of the jokes I wouldn’t even understand but I’d laugh ‘cause she was laughing,” you reminisce.

“You and her are very close.”

“Yeah, well, she’s practically the only family I have. My mom passed not so long ago and seeing as there was never a dad in my family picture, my aunt and uncle took me in. I don’t have any siblings and neither does Laura so, she’s kind of it.” You add, “Well, apart from Clint, Nat, and the kids of course.”

Another two scenes go by on the show before you ask, “Did you have a nightmare or could you not fall asleep?”

Wanda looks down embarrassed so you add, “I promise I’m not teasing. I’m just asking.”

“I couldn’t sleep. It was too quiet and dark and Natasha was already asleep, so I thought I would come down here,” she replies.

“Oh, so you thought I would definitely put you to sleep. Wow, I don’t see how this friendship is going to work if you think I bore you to sleep,” you tease. Upon seeing her tired smile, you take pity and pat your thighs and gesture for her to lie down. “Come here.”

When she lays her head on your lap, you begin running your fingers through her hair. You hear her yawn and a few minutes later you find her sound asleep. Careful not to wake her, you reach over to the blanket you were meant to use on you and throw it over her body instead. Another two episodes play before you fall asleep.

***

You wake up once again with a sore neck and you feel that your body might be as well, but when you remember the reason, you don’t find it in yourself to complain. You look around prepared to see Nat in gym clothes holding a coffee cup but you find the living room empty apart from you and Wanda. You look out the window and see the sun is barely about to rise. Surprised to have woken up before anyone else, you decide to make the most of it but you are quickly sidetracked getting distracted by Wanda’s sleeping form. “I can feel you staring,” she says, her voice husky which you try hard not to find attractive. She turns her head to look up at you with sleepy eyes. “Friends don’t do that.”

“I was not staring. I was admiring,” you respond. “And friends can admire their friends.”

“Well mine don’t the way you do.”

“Ain’t that a shame.” You boop her nose with your finger making her scrunch her nose.

“They do, however, let me sleep,” she jokes. She turns her head back as if she was to go back to sleep and you decide this might be the best time to get up. You gently lift her head from your lap and swivel your body off the couch. “Where are you going?” she whines, when you place a pillow under her head.

“I am going to wake Nat up for once in my life,” you reply with determination. You stretch and shake your legs trying to get the feeling back in them.

“Good luck with that,” is the last thing Wanda says before closing her eyes and going back to sleep. You head to the kitchen to start the coffee pot and then make your way upstairs. Luckily, the door was left open so you don’t make any noise on your way in. You tiptoed your way to Natasha and bent down so your face was eye level to hers. You honestly can’t believe you’ve made it this far since she is the lightest sleeper. This is the spy they chose for the Avengers? You giggle to yourself imagining the face Nat is going to make when you scare her. Oh, if they could see her now…they would be satisfied with their choice, you think as you try to choke out, “Uncle. Uncle.” Nat somehow has you in a choke hold and you are tapping furiously on her arm. Once she realizes it’s you she lets go.

“Y/N, what the hell! I could have hurt you!” she yells at you as you’re coughing. You stare at her unbelievably, rubbing at your neck, and once you can speak again you say, “Then what was this to you? Some light foreplay?”

Once you both settle down, she realizes you were up before her. You take some exercise attire out for yourself from your luggage. You might not like to exercise but gym clothes are sure comfy to lie around in. “You gotta keep up, Natasha. You don’t want the boss man to catch you slacking. Oh, I’m also making coffee so don’t worry about that.”

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” she asks, her eyebrows furrowing. You smile in turn. “I don’t know what you mean. I’ll catch you downstairs.”

You leave her to change and head downstairs with your clothes. You go to the kitchen first and make two cups of coffee. Then you go to the restroom to change. After she finishes changing, Nat goes to the kitchen and sees you were not kidding. Natasha takes her cup of coffee to the living room as she always does and finds Wanda asleep on the couch. She sighs as things start adding up. She guesses this is the reason for the lack of a grumpy attitude from you so early in the morning. She wants to say something but Nat would rather take a motivated Y/N over Y/N complaining every five minutes on their hike. So, she doesn’t say anything for now.

You actually keep up with Nat this time and to top it off you don’t talk too much like you always do. Nat thinks it’s because you're in a good mood giving you motivation, but the reason for keeping her pace and keeping quiet is your fear she’ll leave you again if you say something to set her off and lose her like yesterday. Nat even goes as far as giving you a compliment at the end. Well, semi-compliment, but her “Not too bad, Y/N”s are few and far between so you return to the house feeling proud of yourself.

This time you’re the one saying good morning to everyone when you enter. You see a few of them still eating breakfast in the kitchen. You hope there will still be leftovers by the time you come back down after showering. Knowing how some of the guys eat, it is going to have to be a quick shower. Laura sees you eyeing the food and says, “Don’t worry, we saved you a plate.” And here you thought Wanda was the mind reader. “Wanda told us you were grumpy yesterday from not catching breakfast so we made sure to make more.” That explains it. You smile, happy someone kept you in mind. Now you can shower in peace. You thank her and head upstairs.

“You saw that, right?” Laura turns to Clint and Nat who walked in not too long before you left.

“She’s been like that all morning. Not one ‘Are we done yet?’ or ‘Why do you hate me, Natasha?’ on our hike,” Nat replies in a hushed tone as if it’s so unlike you to be agreeable in the morning.

“Do you think it has anything to do with a certain somebody?” Laura felt the need to ask.

“Well she didn’t just find a love for exercise,” Nat sarcastically says.

Clint sighs, “Do you think we have to talk to her again?”

Nat goes to respond, but Laura cuts off whatever Nat was going to say, “No, if anyone is going to talk to her, it’s me. And it’s not going to be some crappy ‘no dating’ rule type of conversation. You two are great when it comes to getting someone to talk with your intimidation, but save that for your job, which speaking of, Wanda is your coworker, so you may want to talk to her as well if you had to talk to Y/N because last I remember it takes two to tango.”

Nat and Clint stare at Laura in shock, embarrassment and guilt rightfully taking over their bodies. “Are we clear?” Laura asks them though it’s more of a statement leaving no room for argument.

“Yes.” “Yeah.”

Upstairs, you make your way to the guest room to grab some clothes. Wanda is sitting on the bed reading her book. She is still dressed in her pyjamas, which makes you smile. The sound of her turning the page shakes you from your thoughts and saves you from staring a bit too long. Wanda smirks without bothering to look away from her book and you know she caught you.

“Morning, I’m just gonna get some clothes,” you explain as you move to where your bag is. Wanda speaks up while you zip your duffle closed, “I’m sorry for bothering you last night.”

“Come on, Wanda. You could never be a bother,” you say sincerely, giving her a smile that she shyly returns. “Alright, the shower is calling my name.”

“Yeah, I can hear it screaming,” she jokes and laughs when you take mock offense, “Hey!” She goes back to reading when she sees you heading out the door but you call her attention once more, “Oh! Thanks for telling them to save me a plate.”

“Of course,” she replies like it wasn’t even worth mentioning. You nod at her and then go to shower, closing the guest room door behind you.

A few seconds later, the door opens up again and Wanda amusedly says, her eyes never straying from the page she’s reading, “Did the shower call the wrong name?”

“No, it was definitely calling Y/N’s and mine too, I’m sure, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

Wanda’s head diverts to the door at Nat’s voice.

“And you needed back up for it?” Wanda looks over to Clint who awkwardly stands behind Nat.

Clint clears his throat, “Well it was only fair if Y/N got both of us, you did too.”

Wanda straightens her posture as she places her book beside her. “Ah, so this is about Y/N. I had a feeling.”

Nat and Clint come into the room, Clint closing the door behind him. Nat goes to sit on the end of the bed and Clint stands behind her. “Look, we were wrong to tell Y/N what to do or rather not do. She is an adult and has the right to do whatever she wants, but you have to understand she’s someone who tends to get ahead of herself and we didn’t- we don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Nat starts.

“So you’re saying she is getting ahead of herself with me? That what? Come two weeks, she’ll realize she doesn’t want me?” Wanda starts to get visibly upset.

“No, that’s not what-” Clint tries to speak but Wanda is not done talking. “Even if that was the case, it would be her choice. It would be my choice.”

“Wanda, you are not going to be here in two weeks. You are not going to be here in a few days,” Natasha calmly says trying to reason. “Look, we love Y/N, okay? But she often finds herself making mistakes-”

“So I would just be another mistake?

“No, you would be a dangerous one,” Nat says trying to get something through to Wanda.

“I would never hurt her.”

“No, maybe not intentionally,” Nat continues, and when Wanda looks like she is going to argue, Clint interrupts, “Wanda, just let her finish.” Wanda takes a breath to calm herself down and then nods for Natasha to carry on.

“Being in our lives more than she has to could get her hurt. Even this morning, I hurt her when she was probably just trying to play some stupid prank. Being around us is dangerous. Why do you think Clint kept all this a secret,” Nat motions around the room. “Why do you think I was so upset about her and Yelena? Why do you think we haven’t said anything to Y/N before? Those other girls aren’t you. Those other girls aren’t Yelena. I don’t even know where she is right now. We live different lives. Say things do work out with Y/N. Much like I don’t know where my sister is, there will be times she won’t have a clue where you are or if you’re okay. When Clint and I say we don’t want anyone to get hurt, it goes both ways.”

“Wan, have you seen my blue shirt with the buttons?” Pietro storms into the room like a man on a mission, not even bothering to acknowledge Nat and Clint are in the room as well. “I know I packed it.” Not until he reads the hurt in Wanda’s eyes does he read the room and like the protective sibling he is, he is quick to get defensive. “What’s happening here?”

Her brother’s interruption could not have come at a better time. Wanda didn’t know how to respond to Nat’s explanation. She was feeling herself choke up, Vision’s voice springing in her head again. She’s happy to have Pietro here so willing to jump in to defend her but she doesn’t want to drag him into it, so she clears her throat and says, “Nothing. We were just talking.” He still looks unsure, so she gets up from the bed and offers, “I’ll help you look for it.” Her eyes plead for him to let it go. Luckily, he does and heads out the door. Clint and Nat watch Pietro leave and Wanda stop by the door. “You don’t have to worry. Y/N made it clear to me that we’re just friends,” she says in defeat, then turns to follow her brother.

“Well, that went well,” Clint says sarcastically.

Wanda spends the next two hours helping Sam, Peter, and Pietro get ready. She helps Sam pick an outfit first seeing as he was the first to shower. She has to pry one of Peter’s t-shirts from his hands saying he’s twice Peter’s size and he cannot pull the nerdy look. She helps Peter next. It’s mostly just styling his hair he needs help with. At last she helps her brother after having knocked on the bathroom door four different times telling him to hurry up.

“How does the one with superspeed take an hour in the shower?” Sam asks rhetorically. Sam, Wanda, and Peter are on the bed in Cooper’s room watching Pietro straighten out his shirt.

“Hey, it takes time to look this good,” Pietro says as he fixes his collar. All three of them nearly roll their eyes. “Do you think Y/N will like this shirt?”

“Yeah, if it was on Wanda, maybe,” Sam snorts. Peter holds back a chuckle while Wanda tries not to react.

“You look nice,” Wanda says, not wanting to tear down her brother’s confidence. Everyone’s attention is drawn to the closed door when someone knocks. They hear you ask if you can come in. Pietro responds, “One second.” He goes to lean against Cooper’s desk casually and all three on the bed try really hard not to laugh. Peter has to shove his face in a pillow. “Okay, come in.”

You let yourself into the room, your eyes falling on Wanda immediately. “Not that you don’t look nice in them, but do you really plan on wearing your pjs to the fair?” you tease her. “I mean, you’ll for sure be turning heads, if that’s the plan.”

She replies, “I was waiting on the shower. Someone was taking their time.” She points her head in Pietro’s direction who gives you a nod in acknowledgement and a “‘sup?” Sam’s mouth forms a line trying so hard not to laugh out loud. Peter’s face stays hidden behind the pillow but you can see from the side of his neck his face was getting red. You feel like you walked in at the wrong time given everyone’s behavior. You tell Wanda, “You might want to hurry. Clint says we’re leaving soon.” With that you turn to leave wondering what you had walked in on.

When you shut the door, everyone in Cooper’s room excluding Pietro bursts out laughing.

“What the hell was that, man?” Sam asks between fits of laughter.

Peter gets up and leans against the desk to mimic Pietro, “‘Sup?” Everyone laughs again, Pietro leaning over to slap Peter in the back of the head.

***

They take the family car and Nat’s car to the fair. Sam and Peter ride with Nat while the rest of you ride with Clint driving. As you wait in line to buy tickets, you lean over Wanda’s shoulder, who is standing right in front of you with her back to you, and say “I meant to say this earlier but you look nice.”

She smiles and then turns around to face you as you take a step back. She jokes, “I thought I looked good in my pyjamas but someone implied it wasn’t appropriate for the fair.”

“Oh definitely not appropriate. It was way too sexy. We couldn’t have that around the children,” you reply making her giggle.

“You don’t look too bad either,” she returns the earlier compliment, taking in your outfit as you shuffle forward with the rest of the line. “Your outfit is very nice.”

“Oh, this. I just threw it together.” No, you didn’t. You took your time with it. “But thanks,” you wave her off. When you reach the ticket stand, you rush in front of Clint to pay for yours, Wanda’s, Laura’s, Nat’s, and the kids’ tickets. You explain to him when you are all walking together that you kind of owed Wanda for something and you were the one who promised to take the kids here much to Nat and Laura’s displeasure so you kind of owed them too.

You make it inside the fairgrounds. A giant banner that reads “WESTVIEW COUNTY FAIR!” greets you overhead. Everyone gets excited upon seeing the banner and all the lights in the background. Well, everyone but Nat and Laura, Nat not ever a big fan of fairs and Laura not a fan of taking care of kids at a fair. Out of all the lights shining on the fairgrounds, your favorite is the one shining through Wanda’s eyes as she takes everything in with wonder.

“So what do you want to do first?” you ask her.

She turns to you and almost looks embarrassed. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to a fair.”

“What?” you ask in shock. She shrugs not knowing what else she could say. “Well, it’s settled then. We are not leaving until you get the whole experience. Let’s go buy some wristbands for the rides. We are going on every single one.” Her eyes widen and the wonder in them from earlier shifts into nervousness. “It’ll be fun, come on,” you reassure as you drag her to another line, leaving everyone else behind.

You and Wanda get on every ride but the ferris wheel telling her you have to leave that one for last. You even ride some twice, but you get hungry and ask Wanda if she wants to eat yet. She agrees that she could take a break for food. You try various things the fair offers wanting Wanda to try everything. “You Americans like to fry anything you can,” she comments as she takes another bite of her fried oreo. She hums as she finishes it off. “I understand why,” she says, making you laugh.

You spot Laura and Nat sitting at a table near the stage where some band is playing music. You and Wanda head on over. Soon everyone regroups there, finishing off the food they bought and watching people dance. Clint pulls Laura to dance with him. You all sit at the table watching them with a smile when someone obstructs your view of them. You look up to see a tall guy in a black cowboy hat smiling down at Wanda beside you offering his hand out asking her to dance. She looks at you, unsure of what to say. You give her a smile that admittedly took you a second to form and nod encouragingly for her to accept. She smiles politely at him and takes his hand. You watch them dance, your eyes only ever straying when you see Wanda going to look at you. You watch when he leans down to tell her something in her ear and she laughs. You wonder what he told her that was so funny. Your eyes roam over him. He’s handsome, you’ll give him that. He has a nice face, good posture. You note he is also respectful with his hand placement when dancing, so you can appreciate that. It seems like Westview County has their own Steve Rodgers. The thought bugs you.

Someone blocks your view once again, only this time you are kind of thankful for it. You look up to see Pietro asking you to dance. “Why not?” you say, wanting to do anything rather than stare at Wanda dancing with some guy. He pulls you to the dance floor. You enjoy your time dancing with Pietro though you get dizzy from how quickly he spins you. You’re a little disappointed your dance is cut short when Lila taps your arm asking if she can dance with Pietro. You smile at her saying of course she can. With your distraction gone to dance with Lila, your eyes search for Wanda once more but you cannot seem to find her. You feel someone grab your hand and you are spun into that someone’s arms. Your eyes fall to familiar green ones and you smile, “Smooth moves, Maximoff.”

“Thank you,” she says with a smile as she starts to sway with you to the music. “You let me dance with a stranger.”

“You’re dancing with me now and we were strangers not so long ago,” you rebuttal.

“But at least we know each other’s names.”

“Did you not get his name?” you ask.

“I never asked for it,” Wanda returns simply, shrugging. You find it hard to believe that his name never came up so you say, “That was a lot of talking for him to not have given you a name.”

“You saw us talking? I would not have guessed you were paying attention. Every time I looked at you, you turned to look away,” she teases you.

You swallow, choking on the embarrassment of getting caught. “Doesn’t matter. His name’s probably Brad or something. He looks like a Brad.”

She laughs then catching on to your tone she asks, “Y/N, are you jealous?”

“What? Me, jealous?” you ask, astonished. She nods, smiling like she has her answer. “Wanda, I could never be jealous of some Brad. Dance with a Marcus and then maybe, but a Brad? Pfft. No.”

She just laughs and pulls you closer. You let yourself go and dance with her until whatever song the band is playing ends. “Let’s go play some games. I feel like shooting something,” you say, making her laugh loudly.

Everyone decides to play with you as well so you all head over to the different stands. Nat wins the shooting game, Clint coming in close. He wins the popping the balloons with darts game. They give their prizes to Cooper and Lila. Peter and Sam spend some time with the hammer and bell game; Peter hitting the bell every time garners some attention especially from some girls which frustrates Sam. Pietro wins a fish when he plays ring toss. It seems like everyone but you has been winning something. Even Wanda won a stuffed panda she gave to Lila after playing a water shooting game. You were getting frustrated trying to knock some blocks off a stool. You’ve spent a good $20 on this game already. Wanda catching your frustration decides to help you out. When you are down to your last ball, you try your best to focus and throw the ball. Two of the three blocks fall down. The last one is teetering on the edge. You think you’ve lost but a second later it falls over. You shout with glee. You ask the attendant for the keychain that has the letter W on it.

Wanda watches you with a smile as you approach her. “Thank you for that,” you say, and when she tries to play naive, you continue, “I know you knocked the last block.”

She gives you a sheepish smile. You hold out the keychain to her. “I figure this only rightfully belongs to you. May it proudly hold your keys until you lose it.” She tries to say no but you take her wrist and place the keychain in the palm of her hand. “It has your initial. You have to keep it.”

“I’m pretty sure the W is for Westview County,” she counters.

“A happy coincidence.” You don’t take no for an answer and she finally smiles and thanks you, putting her new keychain away so she doesn’t lose it. You look around to see the others still distracted with the games but you also catch your cousin yawn. You know this means you’re leaving soon so you grab Wanda’s hand and head over to the line for the ferris wheel.

You thank the attendant when he checks you have your belt on and pulls the bar to your lap. The wheel starts turning and when you are midway to the top, it shakes a little as two people get on the final empty cart. The shaking makes Wanda nervous. She grabs your hand almost protectively as her posture turns into one that looks ready for a fight. You turn your palm over to interlace your fingers and rub your thumb on her hand to try to soothe her nerves. “Hey, it’s okay,” you say. She turns to you and you see her irises are red. “They always do this. We’re okay. Just don’t rock the cart and we’ll be good.”

She takes a breath willing herself to relax. The red in her irises fade back to her green. She sits back and the ferris wheel moves again, this time not stopping for people to get on. You keep holding her hand squeezing it from time to time in reassurance. You can see Clint and everyone from the ferris wheel and point them out to Wanda. The only ones to see you are the kids who wave to you. You wave back.

“Do you come to the fair every year?” Wanda asks.

“Pretty much. There’s not much else to do,” you shrug. She ponders this for a moment and then, “So you’ve brought dates to the fair before, I’m guessing.”

“Yeah?” You say more like a question wondering where she was going with this.

“In the movies, people on dates always kiss on the ferris wheel. Did you kiss them?”

“Wanda,” you say her name but it comes out more like a warning.

“Sorry, I was just wondering,” she mutters, then turns to look back at the fairgrounds.

“No, I didn’t.” You answer sincerely. She looks back at you. You explain, “The two other people I’ve taken to the fair on a date were too afraid to get on the ferris wheel.”

“You said ‘other’,” she says smiling at you.

You look at her confused. “What?”

“You said ‘the two other people’ meaning other than me. So is this date?” she raises an eyebrow, an amused expression on her face.

“A friendly date,” you say, making her frown. She huffs in defeat letting go of your hand and hold the lap bar instead. The night had been going so well, you didn’t want this one thing to ruin it, so without letting yourself think it over, you wait until you get to the top of the ferris wheel. You lean into her space and look her in the eye to show her you are serious when you say, “Don’t tell Nat or Clint.” She looks confused but the confusion quickly turns into a pleasant surprise when you gently grab her face and lean in to kiss her. It doesn’t last long enough to give her a chance to kiss you back. You pull back with a cheeky smile and say, “I did promise the whole experience.”

The kiss may have ended too quickly for Wanda but it was long enough for a few people to catch it. One of them being your cousin whose kids were pointing to you and Wanda on the ferris wheel in excitement. She just shook her head in amusement when she saw you kiss Wanda. The other person to catch you was Wanda’s brother who, when seeing you kiss his sister, just whines, “No, Y/N.”

______________________________________________________________________

I'm sorry this took so long. I got sidetracked and then when I started I got stuck and in my true fashion, once I started writing, I couldn't stop and I couldn’t leave you without taking you to the fair. So, I hope the length of the chapter makes up for the wait. Oh, Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there doing their best to be good moms! I created a house map of how I picture the inside to look, you know without the fine details.

Next chapter bring your bug spray, you’re going camping.

Taglist: @madamevirgo @marvels-writings @gayarchnemissis @myperfectlovepoem @purplemeetsblue @magicallymaximoff @b0mbdotc0m @helloalycia @ironscarletwidowsoilder @cantcontroltheirfear @trikruismybitch @your-my-mission

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x you

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excelsi-or · 3 years

Text

your type (pt. 6)

Hiiii friends, it’s only been like two weeks! Pretty good in terms of posting for me lol. I don’t know what it is about this story in particular, but I feel so self-conscious about posting new parts. But I’m also not someone who likes to leave things half finished.

I hope you’re all doing well :)

BIPOC recs: I actually have a few! Two books: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Namjoo (basically follows a woman’s life in South Korea and all the micro-oppressive things that women face in their personal and career lives); Winners Take All - Anand Giridharadas (a non-fiction about how billionaires create such a disproportionate world for us all; I love listening to Anand’s talks about this subject. I find it fascinating). Music: Cross Country - Breland (excellent country song); Boyz II Men - Kirby (I love this woman’s energy)

w.c. 2.6k

pairing: jihoon x OC/reader

pt. 1; pt. 2; pt. 3; pt. 4; pt. 5

The summer semester has her in the research lab 8 hours a day. Luckily, Jihoon is also on campus for just as long. His professor got him a gig working on music for a few groups in various companies. It helps get his foot in the door, and while the deadlines are tight, he genuinely enjoys working.

They take their lunch breaks together, wandering the green or just wandering hallways if it’s too warm outside. But since he doesn’t have other classes, Jihoon’s been chatting with a few girls he’s met.

And he’s told her all about them, so she isn’t blindsided if someone else decides to share it with her.

“How was your date last night?” she asks at lunch.

Jihoon shrugs. The girl had come over since Seungcheol was at Jihyo’s. “She was whatever.”

She lifts an eyebrow, eating the sandwich that Seungkwan made for her lunch. She’s now taken to spending the night at Seungkwan and Hansol’s when Seungcheol visits.

Jihoon sighs. “Jiwoo was uninteresting.” When she has no response to this, he pouts. “She didn’t really have any opinions on anything, so we couldn’t find anything to talk about.”

“But you didn’t just go for dinner.”

“She was fine in bed.” Jihoon shrugs. “Didn’t really tell me what she liked, so hard to say how she felt about it.”

“Ahh.”

“What does that mean?”

She pops the rest of her sandwich in her mouth. “I don’t really know how to continue from that.”

Jihoon snorts. “Well, you’re the one who asked.”

She thinks for a minute. “Are you just saying she was uninteresting?” She kicks him lightly under the table. “Did you listen to her?”

“Of course I did!” Jihoon sips his coffee. “You said that I need to look at people more,” he makes a point of staring at her, “and to be aware of my body language because it comes off as standoffish.”

“And still?”

“All she talked about was her dog. I love talking about people’s dogs, but not for two hours.”

“Dinner was two hours?”

Jihoon shakes his head in frustration. “The kitchen kept getting the order wrong. Anyway, enough about my failed date, how’s your research going?” He pushes a napkin towards her.

She pulls out the pencil she was using to hold her hair up. Her hair cascades around her and she begins sketching out her reaction. While Jihoon hasn’t quite learned all the chemistry terminology, he recognizes various things, specifically the compounds she’s working on. She’d taught him some basics about catalytic testing, using drawings to help him follow along.

Multiple times she’s insisted that her research is really boring, especially for people who aren’t in science. But Jihoon likes listening to her talk, and her research lets her dominate the conversation. He asks questions and clarification, and she’s always great at simplifying things.

Jihoon has learned that her amazing attention to detail translates well to analyzing his songs. And she’s always very honest about the parts she likes and doesn’t like.

“I have some finished works I want your opinion on.” They start to clean up their table.

She glances up at him. “You don’t have a date tonight?”

Jihoon waits for her to fall into step with him. “I do, but I also have deadlines. So, if you’re not tired later, meet me in the studio?”

She waves goodbye to him. “I’ll let you know where I’m at.” She waits for him to exit the building before going to put her earphones in. As she’s heading to the stairs, she sees Seulgi heading towards her. They cross paths in the chemistry labs, but have never been on real speaking terms.

She smiles at Seulgi, about to go around her like normal, when the woman asks, “Are you and Jihoon dating?”

Despite her earphones in, she does hear the question. She turns. “Uhm, no.” She pauses and Seulgi says nothing. “Why?”

“I just…” Seulgi gives her a once over. “You seem too nice to be dating Jihoon.”

She’s taken aback by that observation. While Jihoon has given off the hot-cold vibe, player energy, and a slight lack of communication skills, she can’t say Jihoon’s ever warranted a comment like that. “We’re just…” She tries to come up with a word. “We’re just friends.”

“You’re smart.” Seulgi seems to mull something over. “But smart girls like you have fallen for his charm.”

“Like… you?”

“Once, but I’m not talking about me here. I’m talking about my friend.”

This piques her interest more than she wishes it did. Jihyo has warned her against listening to all these testimonials of women dating Jihoon.

“Maybe you just need to give the man a solid chance. If you’re gonna spend all your time with him anyway.”

Against Jihyo’s advice, she asks, “What happened to your friend?”

“Jihoon broke her heart. He doted on her and from the sounds of it, worshipped her, but then all of a sudden, he went cold. Stopped answering messages, stopped picking up the phone, avoiding her in the hallways. Then he said—”

“‘I’m ignoring you now, please leave me alone?’”

Seulgi tips her head. “Have you talked to Wendy?”

She runs her tongue along her bottom teeth. “No. I haven’t.”

“So how did you—?”

“I met another girl he’s dated. And… he’s a creature of habit, so… figured he’d say something similar.”

Seulgi hums. “Well, Wendy refuses to see any other man now. But she’s fine, mostly. We just can’t mention Jihoon around her. So, just…”

“Be careful?”

Seulgi chuckles. “So you’ve heard the warnings before?”

“A couple times.” Under her breath, she mutters, “Maybe I should heed them more.” She gives Seulgi a friendly nudge as she walks away. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Is everything okay?”

Jihoon received her text around 4:30, saying that she wasn’t feeling well and would go straight home after she was done in lab.

“Yeah, I’m just… I think I’m getting sick.”

She had seemed fine when he saw her.

“Okay, I’ll walk you home then.”

There’s a long pause. “I actually caught up with Taehyung, Jungkook’s boyfriend? He said he would walk me home.”

Jihoon turns in his chair at this odd development. “Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll… see you tomorrow then.”

“Bye.” Almost like an afterthought, she adds, “Sorry.”

Jihoon turns back to stare at the pieces of work he has open in the task bar that he wanted to show her. Instead, he closes them and goes back to work.

Time passes without him realizing. Before he knows it, it’s time for him to meet up with Ara. He glances at the clock, thinking.

Jihoon (19:14)

Meet me at the gym?

Jihoon (19:14)

Hey, don’t think I’ll be able to make it tonight. Caught a cold.

Soonyoung (19:15)

Sure. See you in 10.

Mingyu (19:15)

I’m in.

Ara (19:15)

If I didn’t know better, I’d assume you have another woman in mind.

But okay.

Get well soon, babe.

True to their word, Mingyu and Soonyoung meet him at the gym near their homes. Soonyoung leads the way inside and they go stretch while Jihoon disappears to change.

When he reemerges, Mingyu asks him what’s wrong.

“She cancelled on me.”

“Who?” Soonyoung is stretching on his right.

Jihoon crosses his right arm across his body, feels the stretch in his upper delt and across his arm. He updates them on what’s happened in the last 7 hours, from lunch, to her saying she’s sick, to Ara.

Mingyu frowns. “I didn’t realize you two were still going on dates. I thought you’d already gotten to the… dating part of dating.”

“Wait,” Soonyoung seems to realize something, “are you seeing other women right now? We cannot win this bet unless you commit!”

Mingyu observes Jihoon in the mirror. He has a dazed look in his eye, as if he’s thinking hard about something. “You actually like her.” He turns to Jihoon. “You’re genuinely upset that she didn’t come to the studio.”

Jihoon wasn’t really frowning before, but he is now. “No. I’m not.”

“Wonwoo hyung said that he thought you were seeing other women again.” Mingyu turns back to the mirror. “I said that couldn’t be possible, because you don’t like to lose.”

“Can we just work out?” His tone is harsh, but his friends hear a small plea in there too. They exchange looks over Jihoon’s head and shrug.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Soonyoung nudges him towards the free weights.

It isn’t until after their gym session on their way home that Soonyoung and Mingyu begin grilling him.

“Are you seeing other women right now?” Mingyu asks.

“Well…” Jihoon adjusts his bag on his shoulder. “Yeah.”

Soonyoung and Mingyu’s jaws drop.

“Dude. The bet.” Soonyoung gives him a push. “What if she finds out?”

Jihoon watches his feet move beneath him. “She already knows.”

“She knows? And she still goes out with you?” Mingyu demands. “Are you guys just friends?”

Soonyoung groans in frustration. “Seriously, Jihoon, bets are serious business. We went all in on this bet. You can’t just let Seokmin win a bet like this.”

“What happened, hyung?”

The question seems to release something in Jihoon. He throws his hands up in frustration. “I don’t know. I really don’t. She just… holds herself at a distance from me. I can’t seem to…” He makes grabbing motions in the air. “Get anything out of her.” He shakes his head. “Maybe we should just give up here. I don’t know if I can win this bet.”

“Yah!” Soonyoung throws an arm around his shoulders. He squeezes his arm. “I am not losing to Seokmin and Seungkwan on a bet that I know that we can win. You are the best at this.”

“She’s just as good at keeping me at a distance. And apparently she’s also had men castrated before.”

Mingyu and Soonyoung blink in surprise at the sudden information.

“Okay, well, we’re not going to let that happen to you,” Mingyu states.

Soonyoung agrees. “But you’re going to have to start pulling out al your moves. You—”

Jihoon shakes his head. “Listen to me. I have been at this since February. The girl won’t even let me kiss her.”

Mingyu scoffs. “You haven’t even kissed her yet? You guys are just friends.”

Soonyoung holds a hand up in Mingyu’s face. “You are not being encouraging.” He readjusts his grip around Jihoon. “Look. We’ll help you then. Lee Jihoon doesn’t tap out like this.”

“You said she canceled on you.” Mingyu tips his chin in Jihoon’s direction. “Why?”

“She said she was sick and found someone else to walk her home.”

Soonyoung’s eyes widen. He releases his grip on Jihoon to get a better look at his face. “That’s it?”

Jihoon scowls. “Did I not tell you that I haven’t even kissed her yet? I eat lunch with her every day and then I walk her home.”

“Are we in the 1700s? What the fuck?” Mingyu demands.

“I can’t work out what makes her tick. She tells me stuff about herself, but nothing I can use. All I’ve learned is that she’s one of the smartest people I know, reads a lot, paints, and can give me actual feedback on my music.”

“Oh, come on, that can’t be all you’ve learned.”

Jihoon sighs, racking his brain for more information. There are obviously little things he’s noticed, like that she drinks a shit ton of water; that when she thinks something’s amusing, she lets out a little breath of laughter; or that she presses down on her fingers with her thumbs when she’s nervous. But he can’t share these things. They aren’t useful.

“I’ve learned she hasn’t really dated anyone since Byunggu. That she doesn’t even count that guy as a boyfriend so Jungkook is the last man she dated.”

“Byunggu… why do I know that name?” Soonyoung looks to Mingyu.

“Because he’s the guy who’s either been threatened, murdered or castrated,” Jihoon grumbles.

Soonyoung waves him off. “No.” He reaches behind Jihoon to hit Mingyu’s arm. “Isn’t he that guy who debuted last year?”

Mingyu’s brow furrows.

“He stopped coming to parties because he was filming some show or something, remember?” He pushes Mingyu, as if that will jog his memory. “He was one of your girls’ friends. Remember? She wouldn’t stop talking about him? That’s why you dumped her?”

“Oh! Yeah!” Mingyu pulls his phone out and looks something up. When he turns the phone to Jihoon, Jihoon squints at an article about this man who is currently doing small roles in various dramas. He doesn’t recognize the face. But until this point, he’d never seen any photos of this elusive ex. A debut would explain why he disappeared into thin air.

“What am I supposed to do with this information?” Jihoon pushes the phone away. “She clams up as soon as he comes up.”

“Okay, okay. Forget trying to replicate the men of the past.” Soonyoung says. “Just… be you.”

Jihoon stares at him in disbelief. “She doesn’t like me.”

“She must, because she’s spent a lot of time with you, hyung.” Mingyu sips from his water bottle. “Noona only gives certain people her time, if you haven’t noticed. Her girls, Hansol, Seungkwan, Wonwoo hyung these days.” He shrugs. “If you’re spending so much time with her, she likes you at least a little bit.”

Jihoon bites his tongue, annoyed that they’re right. “I’m only going to give this another month. If I can’t get this girl into my bed, then there’s no way she’s going to say ‘I love you’ first.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh?” Jihyo asks.

The two roommates are having a night in, watching a movie but talking the entire time with take out on the table.

She came home looking preoccupied, so Jihyo forced her to put on her pajamas, pick what sort of take out they would eat, and to bundle up on the couch. Then she forced her roommate to tell her what was wrong.

“I don’t know. Do you think it’s a sign that two different women have told me I should be careful?” She pouts. “I don’t want to feel like I need to tread carefully.”

“I don’t know what Jihoon was like with those other girls, but he likes you. I know what a guy looks like when all he wants is to get you into his bed. That look on Jihoon’s face when he sees you is pure adoration.”

She carefully breaks apart a cookie before popping a piece into her mouth. “If anything, Jihoon’s just a friend.”

“A friend who adores you. Who you also seem to like.” Jihyo nudges her with the back of her hand. “You can’t go around thinking every boy is going to hurt you like Byunggu.”

“I don’t think that. Why would I think that if I don’t even give them a chance to try?”

Jihyo snorts, both amused and frustrated. “Jihoon is putting in the effort with you. You didn’t even give him your number for like a month and a half. And he still made it work.”

“I did that to keep him away from me.” She rolls her eyes, a slight smile on her face. “So, thanks for helping him out with that.”

“You still hang out with him.”

“You know, he’s seeing other girls now.”

Jihyo pauses. “Really?”

“He tells me about them. He had a date yesterday. He has one tonight.” She shakes her head. “I think it’s just better for me if we stay friends.” She notices Jihyo on her phone. “What are you doing now?”

“Asking Cheollie if Jihoon’s home.” Jihyo turns her phone her way, grinning. Seungcheol had sent a picture of Jihoon next to him on the couch. The two seem to be playing video games. “Give the man a chance. You don’t know what kind of boyfriend he can be if you don’t.”

#woozi #woozi imagines #woozi scenarios #Lee Jihoon #lee jihoon scenarios #Seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #svt

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clockwork--artist · 3 years

Text

“But that’s not how it works!”

“Okay, but get this.”

I have two morons Professor Layton OCs that I’d love to introduce to you all! Meet Tom and Davina! If I could draw them in the PL artstyle, I would. Unfortunately, I cannot not. :pensive:

Prepare to see more of these losers in the future!

More information on the two below the fold!

“Though seemingly reserved and not very expressive, Tom is a sharp-tongued and witty English boy living in America. He has a bit of trouble with reading, but this doesn’t affect his ability to read sheet music and his excellent piano playing, nor his puzzle-solving skills. Despite being a brilliant bluffer, he doesn’t hide his feelings for a certain friend very well.”

You heard the blurb! It’s Tom Clarke, a character I once described to a friend as “a British dumbass with smartass energy.”

Some basic info:

His full name is Thomas Mark Clarke. His parents (and me, lol) made it rhyme on accident.

He’s 13 in Unwound Future.

He’s supposed to be 5’7”, but I feel bad for Layton when I draw Tom taller than him.

He thinks he’s straight, but he’s probably some amount of Demi.

He’s from the Northern UK. His hometown will appear in a story I swear I’ll write.

Some fun facts:

He’s not one to become invested in any media, instead opting to engage in what his friends enjoy. As such, Davina convinced Tom to learn the entire soundtrack of The Eternal Kingdom on piano. He went above and beyond, translating the entirety of The Eternal Diva into melody-compliant German as a joke.

Tom takes fencing classes and formerly took dance classes. These aren’t the most beneficial skills in the world, but his dad made him take them.

Speaking of dance, his six years of dance class never made him hate the activity. He loves to dance when he has the chance. He’s surprisingly good at waltzing.

He’s way too good at ice skating. It may be on account of his six years of dance, but either way, he’s way too good. Just because you lived in an icy climate for the first ten years of your life doesn’t mean you get to be a show-off.

His parents forgot his middle name. They keep calling him Michael, but he’s adamant that it’s Mark. They don’t listen. Davina is conscious of this but calls him Michael to piss him off.

Tom likes the more riddle-y kinds despite his literate ineptitude. He’s good at math puzzles but doesn’t like how much you have to think about them.

Tom plays chess and is surprisingly good at it, maybe even falling into the tryhard category. He doesn’t play for fun but will let inexperienced players clown on the craft to get used to it and have fun. He primarily plays black.

He’s not really one to visually express his emotions. The most you’ll ever get out of him is a small smile, a raised eyebrow, or the look you get in a restaurant when you’ve been waiting for your food for 20 minutes and are very peeved, but you don’t want to look impolite as you wait for 40 more minutes. When you do get emotion out of him, it’s usually when he’s speaking and is very distinct.

He moved to California (Japanifornia?) just after Last Specter. He– very distinctly– did not want to move. Tom’s fine with America, now.

He’s related to Flora. They’re third cousins, to be exact. No one knows/has realized it and won’t for a while.

Luke and Tom have been friends since around the age of 5, and they’ve been pen pals since about the age of 7. Even after Tom moved, they kept in close contact!

When he met Randall, he (without hesitation, mind you) said, “The Masked Gentleman is a twink?” It’s the hardest Davina has ever laughed.

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

“Underneath a timid and aloof demeanor, Davina is a bright young girl invested in the arts and humanities. She has an eye for art on par with the professor’s and is an artist herself, taking any time she has to draw the things around her. Her love of music and ancient civilizations has led to an admiration for The Eternal Kingdom and the work of Desmond Sycamore.”

Yep, it’s Davina Alavara! She’s Tom’s best friend and occasional travel partner! Every adventure she’s been on wasn’t planned, and she didn’t sign up for any of this.

Basic info:

Davina is 13 in Unwound Future.

She’s just a bit shorter than Luke, so like 4’10”.

She is very ace.

As stated in her blurb, Davina is from America, specifically California (Japanifornia?), and is Latina!

Some fun facts:

As stated in the blurb, she is obsessed with The Eternal Kingdom. She has sketchbooks upon sketchbooks filled with the costume designs, the set, Janice Quatlane, etc. She even memorized all the songs.

She has an interest in Mezo-American-related archaeology, as well as the obligatory Azran. Davina was never too invested in Azran-related study until she found out about Sycamore, and then it spiraled out of control from there.

She got obsessed with the legal system for some reason. She knows tons of penal codes and general strange law knowledge off the top of her head now. She still seems pretty interested in a certain attorney and his prosecutor rival.

Tom roped her into fencing. She thinks it’s payback for making him learn all the Eternal Kingdom songs.

Davina was super scared of Layton (and Emmy, but less so) for a while, not exactly knowing why. She didn’t trust him and found him intimidating. She warmed up to him, eventually.

To be fair, she’s not really a social person— not as of late, at least. She’s good at talking to new people, she just has trouble finding enough confidence to approach. Getting Davina to trust you enough to start making meaningful conversation is another story.

Strange insults and threats are Davina calling card, so prepare to be told to jump off a microwave or whatever non-anachronistic equivalent to a microwave is.

Davina’s very good at slide puzzles but has no idea if that’s because she’s insanely perseverent or if it’s a genuine skill. To be fair, she never really solved puzzles before meeting Tom and had no idea what a hint coin was until meeting the professor.

She’s a living storage unit, thanks to the massive bag she carries everywhere. Davina clears it out occasionally, but it just gets filled back up again. She always has her current sketchbook, a folder of loose blank paper and sketches, her pencils and pen, a glasses cloth, a pocket dictionary, and a handkerchief.

Davina plays chess with Tom sometimes and isn’t very good at it. She “developed” a method of play she calls “Ammunition Chess.” Whenever she takes a piece, she will either forcefully knock it off the board or pick it up and chuck it at her opponent/spectators. It has gotten her in trouble multiple times, but she doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Davina loves drawing portraits of her friends and people she meets and has a folder full of pages upon pages of them. She doesn’t seem to like to draw herself, though.

If Davina is in a car that isn’t going incredibly fast, has windows she can roll down, and at a level she can comfortably look out of, she will stick her head out. You cannot stop her; you can only advise her when it’s a good time to stick her head back in. Also, prepare to hear commentary about how pretty the landscape is if you’re going somewhere rural.

#professor layton #professor layton oc #oc art #tom clarke #davina alavara #hope yall like this one!!!#it took me a week to put this together #not counting the drawing #but it's here!!!

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pikemoreno · 4 years

Text

if you ever wanna be in love

Chapter I: Coffee Cures All Ills

a/n: Here it is folks! The first part of a Marcus fic heavily inspired by the Netflix rom-com Set It Up.

It’s more structurally and conceptually inspired and not an exact scene-for-scene remake because a) I was interested in the idea of this not even really being an AU. This is extremely canon-compliant and you’ll see more of that as we continue on. 😏And b) because I had lots of ideas that spun off from watching Set It Up that I just liked better for the purpose of this fic. So that’s what you can expect. It’s gonna be cheesy and fun and great.

The first couple of chapters are a lot of, well, set up (which has been infuriating). But we’ll get into the meat of it soon. My outline says so.

As a side note, a lot of the gifs I’m going to be using are from the movie, but these are not my face claims for any of the characters. I’m using them simply for the ~vibe~ of the chapter. Reader is not a small white girl... Or she might be. She is you. Or whatever OC you’d like her to be. Period.

And that’s it. Let’s go, I guess.

pairing: marcus pike x f!reader

word count: 2k (probably one of the shortest chapters we’re gonna see out of the 14-ish lolz)

warnings: none, and i don’t expect there to really be any serious ones in upcoming chapters either. this is just fun.

Marcus Pike never wanted to fall in love.

He’d seen what it had done to him in failed relationships including everything up to a failed marriage. Some would argue that it wasn’t love then, that love doesn’t fail, so it couldn’t have been. But he disagreed. He knows it when it hits. It comes on you like lightning, bright and fast. You accept it, letting it run through your veins, and risk suffering a fatal blow to your heart. And it most definitely can fatally fail. It can cause joy and pain in equal measure. He’d already been struck so painfully once, the blow of the electricity going straight to his heart. He was beginning to hope to the high heavens that he wouldn’t be so unlucky as to be struck a second time, just in case it should reach his heart so painfully once more.

Marcus Pike never wanted to fall in love.

He felt that especially strongly as he watched Adrian go through his recent break-up. He felt for his fellow agent, he really did. Adrian was completely convinced Sam was the one, sold to the point of going ring shopping soon. But one brief mention of an engagement sent Sam running for the hills. He’d been moping around the office for a couple of weeks now and, as much as Marcus understood the pain, he was already really looking forward to Adrian’s rebound or some similar distraction. He was needing his friend’s signature fire back right about now, not to mention his focus. His work had gotten sloppy in this mourning period. He was constantly distracted. Marcus was dreading getting him on this case today, but maybe it was just the push he needed. He hoped. He stepped up to Adrian’s desk, watching the glazed over look in his eye.

“Hey, Adrian, do you mind getting a head start on this? I’d really like you to be our head man on--” he slid the file onto his desk, but was cut short by Adrian’s response. A response that had nothing to do with anything Marcus had just said.

“I’m gonna die alone,” he muttered, hands supporting his chin, elbows on his desk. Marcus let out an exasperated sigh that he didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re not gonna die alone,” he played along once again, rubbing his temple.

“Maybe I’ll go be a monk. They never have to worry about this shit.”

“An honorable profession.”

“Yeah.” Adrian blinked out of his dream-like state. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” Marcus nodded rigidly. “Sorry, Pike.” He opened the file, nodding slowly, “Yeah, I’ll get on this.”

“You look exhausted,”

“I am,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I’m making a break room run to get coffee, you want one?”

“Please.” Marcus nodded his understanding and made his way down the hall to the break room. He doubted a case and a coffee could get his friend back on track, but he could hope, right?

***

If you had to listen through one more of Wendy’s mood swings, you might just scream. You love the girl, you really do. She’s your friend and the best boss you could’ve asked for, but Lord Almighty, had she been in rare form. Some days she was perfectly fine, strutting around like she didn’t care that her asshole boyfriend Daniel gave her an ultimatum instead of a ring on their last anniversary. Other days would see her doing a complete 180, shutting herself in her office and weeping into suspect files. Your least favorite days, though, were days where the heartbreak made her angry, where thinking about Daniel saying “It’s me or your job” made her border-line vengeful. But, unfortunately for you and the rest of the team, he wasn’t around to take the beating.

You couldn’t say you entirely understood. The short catalog of even shorter flings that you boasted brought largely apathy rather than heartbreak. You couldn’t say you’d ever been in love like Wendy had been. You’d never felt anything quite that strong-- and thank goodness for that. It wasn’t something you particularly looked forward to, at least, not the way you’d seen it lately. It was an uncontrollable force, dangerous and all-consuming. You liked control, liked being in your right mind. If love was to take up it's unfortunate residence, you could only hope it was for someone worth losing your mind over. You hadn’t seen anyone of the sort so far.

Unfortunately, it was already too late for Wendy Harrod. The already intimidating head of the Jewelry & Gem Theft Program in Texas was in rare form. You watched as an HR intern ran from her office in near tears. Poor Randy. Her sharp “come in” in response to your knock on her door made you wince.

“Harrod, I have the results of that house search you requested if you--”

“No, no! Absolutely not, I cannot handle this right now,” she was absolutely raging, leaving you grasping at straws for a response.

“I-- Uh-- Of course. I’ll just leave it right here whenever--” you placed it gently on the end table by the door before being interrupted again.

“Ughhhhh,” she groaned out before flopping into her desk chair, the red leather creaking as she let sit spin her around once, “I’m sorry. I’m being mean.” There was your Wendy.

“Just a little.”

“Sorry, sorry. Bring that here please.”

“What can I do for you? As your friend, I mean. You--” you weighed your words carefully as you hand her the report, “You haven’t quite been yourself since…” you stopped that thought, “Well, lately.” She sighed, shaking her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I need,” she began to skim the report before looking back up with you with a tight lipped smile, “Maybe a coffee? For the more immediate problems anyway.” You laughed.

“Now that I can do. I’m headed there now. Break room coffee ok?”

“That’d be perfect.”

“The usual?”

“The usual.” She yelled after you as you walk down the hall, “You’re an angel!”

She wasn’t gonna be saying that when you came back without coffee.

The sign on the coffee pot reading “out of coffee” was going to seriously ruin your reputation and Wendy’s sensitive mood. You ran through the options: you couldn’t leave to get her a Starbucks; there were some bottled iced coffees in the fridge, but Wendy hated them; you could wait for someone to make a run at lunch and pass on the order, but this was too urgent. Then it hit you. Everyone knew the sixth floor had the better coffee stock anyway. The art freaks loved their fancy stuff. You could always just waltz down a floor and snag two cups from their stash. 5 minutes in and out. No harm done, no questions asked.

Or so you thought.

The sixth floor break room was already occupied when you walked in, finding another agent also brewing a morning cup in a single cup coffee maker.

They really did have everything here: multiple pots, another much fancier looking machine that looked like it might come to life and attack at any moment, recyclable coffee cups, every type of creamer. You name it.

You’d have to sneak over here more often.

You stepped up to the larger coffee pot, rinsing out the carafe before reaching for the container of grounds. Empty.

They had everything here. Except coffee.

Was the whole damn building in a coffee famine? You didn’t have time to check.

“No, no, no, no,” you panicked, frantically searching the cabinet for another container. In your peripheral you could see the other agent look at you like you’d grown two heads. You couldn’t be bothered with his judgement, but you met his eyes to ask, maybe a little too frantically.

“Is that the last of it?” you questioned, eyeing the cup he was brewing.

“Well, yeah, sorry.” It was obvious he meant it, but apologies were not what you were needing right now.

“Shit.”

“Withdrawals?” he laughed a little at your panicked state, but it wasn’t demeaning. He was genuinely amused, and maybe a little concerned, but it made you narrow your eyes at him all the same. You were not in the mood for the mocking, no matter how light-hearted it may be. No matter how much it was softened by the bright smile next to you.

“It’s not for me. It’s for my boss. My very upset boss who needs just one small ounce of joy in her life right now. The kind of joy that can only come from the fueling of her caffeine addiction, so if I could please just have that cup?” You blinked at him innocently, but his dark brown eyes widened as he shook his head

“What? No. I have a friend who needs this. If I don’t bring him this, he won’t be working for the rest of the day.”

“If I don’t bring my boss a cup of coffee in the next two minutes, I will probably not be working again. Ever. I will be dead. Do you want to be complicit in a murder, Agent--” you glanced at his badge, “Pike? Can you really live with that?”

“You’re awfully dramatic aren’t you?”

“I wish it was an exaggeration.” He inspected your badge then too.

“Jewelry and Gem Theft. Floor 7, right? What brings you down here to steal our coffee?” The argument was pointed, but his demeanor was anything but. He was smiling, enjoying this. A little too much, you seethed. You couldn’t stand around arguing all day.

“We’re out too.”

“Try another floor?”

“Time is of the essence here, Art Squad.” There was no room for addressing him politely now, he was riling you up on purpose.

“If you didn’t stand here arguing with me you could’ve tried another floor by now, Jewels.”

He must think he’s so clever.

“Please. This is DEFCON 5.”

“You do know DEFCON 5 is the good one, right?”

“You know what I mean. Please.” He looked at you and then the newly brewed cup, biting the inside of his cheek, thinking through the problem.

“Tell you what. I am willing to split this if you are. Maybe it’s enough to fix both of them.” The crease between his eyebrows was deep as he studied your face, “I know Adrian is too out of it to notice he’s getting jipped, not sure about your boss.” You shrugged.

“Wendy will manage. It’s enough to keep her from throwing something at my head next time I walk in.” He dutifully split the coffee between two of the recyclable travel cups and handed one to you. You took it gratefully.

“I hope this keeps you from… Dying? What’s up with that anyway?” You’re not sure what made this person that was essentially a stranger so interested in your life, but something about it feels nice.

“She had a really bad breakup: anniversary, thought it was going to be a proposal, instead it was him being a piss-baby. She’s a little all over the place right now. They’d been together for years and now there’s just… A hole. She doesn’t know how to deal with it.” Pike’s nod in response is emphatic, giving the cup in his hand a little wave.

“Same with him. Terrible breakup. He didn’t see it coming at all. She broke up with him on a voicemail… Then moved. ‘Course it just put him in this crazy funk, though. Doesn’t wanna work or do much of anything. No violence. Yet. But it’s sad to see.” You winced.

“That’s a rough one. Best of luck with him, Art Squad. Thank you. I owe you one. Seriously.”

“You definitely do, Jewels.” His smile is blindingly bright as he jokes. It makes you smile back.

“See you around.”

series taglist: @whiskeyslasso @ahopelessromanticwritersworld

forever tags: @acomplicatedprofession @hdlynn @makaela27 @space-floozy @catfishingmorales @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @princessbatears @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @findhimfives

#im not in love with this first chapter but hey!#gotta start somewhere #marcus pike x reader #iyewbil #bri writes

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hopevalley · 3 years

Text

Season 8, Episode 4: Welcome to Hope Valley

Another fun episode, everyone. I’m finding that, this season, I’m genuinely looking forward to each episode. Let’s hope things stay that way!

Scene 1: Awkward Library Encounter

Elizabeth walks in on Lucas sleeping in the library early in the morning; he stayed up all night and didn’t go to bed. He tells Elizabeth that he managed to save the oil derrick before it was ruined in the fire, and I’m sure he was trying to make the numbers come out in the books and all that. Elizabeth is there to get some books to give to the Canfield children since everyone else is bringing stuff over to welcome them to town.

It’s a pretty awkward scene, probably because he was mean to Elizabeth last episode (though nothing he said was untrue lol). They then talk about Nathan’s trial a little bit, but it doesn’t really go anywhere beyond Lucas saying that “evidentially” Nathan was not “entirely” exonerated.

Scene 2: The Canfields

Elizabeth brings over the books. Apparently they’re from Jameson. Angela is blind and is schooled at home by Minnie, her mother. Minnie asks Elizabeth if she wants to stay for breakfast, but Elizabeth politely declines as school is starting soon. Elizabeth makes it clear that Angela is welcome at school, too, but Minnie cuts her off and thanks her; it’s very clear this is not an idea she’s willing to entertain.

Not much to say about this scene. I would die for the Canfields.

Scene 3: The Train Station

Lee and Rosemary meet Lee’s sister Susannah and niece Rachel. They’re in Hope Valley for three days. It comes off a little silly because they were no doubt on the train longer than three days, but...eh. It’s all good. Rachel is cute and thought the train ride was...divine.

Scene 4: Inquiry Part One

Bill is on the “witness stand” in the inquiry “trial” and he details the events of the prisoner transfer. The short version of this is that Bill did not see the woman discharge her gun; he was looking at the mountie who had drawn his. Hargraves suggests that perhaps the woman fired her rifle due to Nathan’s actions—actions Bill was incapable of seeing.

This is probably the first scene we get where it’s incredibly clear that Superintendent Hargraves just straight-up has it out for Nathan. Meh.

Scene 5: Infirmary

Carson is looking for his stethoscope but it’s around his neck. He’s been called away to assist in a modern surgery. Carson tells Faith that they’ll figure things out and Faith admits that right now it feels like they either have to stop working together, or stop seeing each other, and she doesn’t like either option. Carson suggests a date to talk things over when he comes back from his trip.

Molly interrupts them about to kiss, and tells Faith it sounds like they’re working things out. Faith admits that it feels like the status of their relationship changes from minute to minute. Molly...then...asks...Faith for her advice?

Like if Faith isn’t that secure in her relationship, why ask her? My only thought would be that Faith would keep it to herself...unlike some other women in town lol.

Scene 6: Barber Shop

Jesse and Mike deliver some small things to the barbershop and we get exposition about how Jesse is in the doghouse after the whole motorcycle thing. I want to say this is a good scene because it continues the flow of the last episode (and we get to see what happens), but... I dunno. It was just okay, I guess.

Scene 7: Thirsty Rachel

Rachel and Susannah make it to town and Rachel is a thirsty girl. Specifically for Jesse when he walks by.

I kind of hope this isn’t a “plot” that’s dropped suddenly, but...eh.

Scene 8: Fort Clay

Allie is afraid of what will happen to Nathan and tells Elizabeth that she’s worried because Nathan’s been in trouble before; he was suspended when he was stationed at Fort Clay. Fort Clay was Jack’s last post, and nobody seemed to know that that was where Jack was last stationed. Big shocks all around.

This would be...more believable if it hadn’t been three years, and if we didn’t have the most obnoxious man in the world in town already who would have looked into Nathan’s past before trusting him fully. (Hint: I’m talking about Bill.)

I just find it super hard to believe that Bill wouldn’t know this lol. I guess we have to assume that if Bill did look, he only looked at Nathan’s last posting (Ft. Simpson) and didn’t go back to the previous post before that, which was Ft. Clay.

Scene 9: Elizabeth talks to Joseph

Elizabeth speaks with Joseph about the kids. She wants him and Minnie to know that Angela is welcome at school for real...and Joseph says he knows, but Minnie is protective of Angela and would prefer to keep schooling her herself.

Elizabeth talks about wanting to learn how to teach a blind student and says she understands why Joseph and Minnie are protective of Angela, but...Joseph tells her she doesn’t actually know, and that he doesn’t expect her to really understand it. He’s exceedingly kind in the way he states this, too. Like he knows Elizabeth grasps the basic concept, but cannot see the whole picture. He’s right, of course. Elizabeth literally cannot understand it.

Scene 10: Inquiry Part Two

Nathan gets raked over the coals some more, and him and Hargraves are kind of rude to one another. Bill tries to act as Nathan’s lawyer even though it’s not a court of law. Bill objects to Hargraves’ questions to the point where all the men are at each other’s throats and they call a recess.

It’s kind of nice to see Bill being unreasonable for the right reasons, actually. He so rarely gets to do that anymore... Feels good, feels organic, thank you.

Scene 11:Early Dinner

Susannah is a joyless strict woman I guess, and Elizabeth confides in Rosemary that she heard Nathan was stationed at Ft. Clay. Elizabeth feels bad about Nathan never telling her the truth about it and Rosemary suggests that...maybe Nathan didn’t want to bring up something that would be hurtful to her. Elizabeth thinks maybe there’s something he’s not telling her though-- like a reason he wouldn’t want to bring it up.

Scene 12: Bill talks to Nathan

Bill confronts Nathan about the “incident” where he was suspended at Fort Clay, and the short version is: Nathan disobeyed the newly promoted Hargraves’ orders and acted on his own. He made the arrests himself but Bill is firmly on Hargraves’ side in that Nathan still disobeyed orders.

Bill admits that it doesn’t sound like the Andrew Hargraves he knew, but Nathan reminds Bill that he knew Hargraves before he was promoted. Bill asks Nathan if he ever met Jack and Nathan says he did not ever have the honor.

It seems clear there’s something more going on there... My guess is that Nathan was part of the team that recovered the bodies of the men that died (specifically Jack’s).

Anyway, Bill tells Nathan he should get some sleep and be ready to come in swinging when they reconvene in the morning. “And this time, take my advice!” This confused me at first, but he means that Nathan should take the advice he literally just gave him: to get sleep and come in swinging.

Scene 13: Early Dinner

Gustav tells Lucas he’s spending too much time trying to manage the oil business: “When a man wears two hats, one is sure to fall off.” This comes up because Lucas thought he did the ordering for the saloon but didn’t.

Rachel calls a meal “delish” to the annoyance of her mother. (Delish was in print in 1920 at least, and was probably used well before that, so this is not as inaccurate as it might feel.)

There’s some awkward conversation about Rachel’s future (she wants to do something exciting). It’s the worst.

Scene 14: Jesse and Clara

Jesse and Clara have a chat about buying things without talking to one another first and everything is okay and fine again.

The camera pans over to Nathan and Allie. He tells her he’ll always be there for her and that’s...that.

Scene 15: The Motorcycle

Lee tries to sneakily get on the motorcycle to avoid spending time with his uptight sister. Rosemary tells him that she’s sure Susannah wants to ask them something. Lee tells her it’s really none of their business how Susannah raises Rachel.

Scene 16: Cooper Goes to School

Cooper gets introduced to the class and the Canfields sit outside listening in on it. He tells the class about his sister. Angela confesses to wanting to play with kids her own age. She’s lonely. Minnie is worried about how the other kids are going to treat Angela, but Joseph feels Hope Valley will be different.

Minnie promises to think about it.

This makes me excited for the potential of a friendship between Angela and Allie. ;o;

Scene 17: Inquiry Part Three

Nathan doesn’t try very hard in the courthouse tbh. Bill makes his chair thud loudly so that he can find an opening to speak his mind. “It’s not an objection...you just happened to all be looking my way, so...”

He says it’s possible if Nathan had complied with the woman’s order to release her brother, that they all could have died.

Nathan seems...slightly amused by this?

Scene 18: Piano Woman

Angela climbs up on the wagon to play the piano and it’s nice. There isn’t much else to this scene but there didn’t really need to be much else. It’s clear Angela has a passion for music.

Scene 19: Molly’s Glow-Up

At the dress shop, Molly tries on the dress Dottie sent over from Union City but feels uncertain about it. Rachel suggests a necklace & sash to complete the look. She admits to Rosemary she’s trying to catch someone’s eye, and Faith tells her she will, looking like that!

Molly decides to buy it.

Rosemary tells Rachel to find something she likes in the shop, and that she can wear something from it.

Scene 20: Piano Part Two

Jesse and Elizabeth take Cooper home as Jesse was planning to help Joseph move his piano. Elizabeth seems moved by Angela’s playing. I have to admit I like this scene specifically for the fact that music would be a very popular and enjoyable pastime at this time period because there wasn’t a lot else to keep a person occupied, so it was nice to see it here.

Elizabeth has a heart to heart with Minnie about Angela. Minnie admits she wants Angela to feel safe and encouraged and also tells Elizabeth that she doesn’t understand how cruel people can be. Elizabeth says that wouldn’t be allowed in her classroom (which is silly cause if people say shit, she can’t take that back even if she disciplines a child, you know what I mean?).

But she also tells Minnie that she’ll never stop trying to understand how things are for Angela, or for Minnie, and she won’t stop trying to help. I think Minnie kind of ‘gets it’ but isn’t ready to let go just yet.

Scene 21: Tension at the Coulters

Rosemary brings Rachel home wearing the Freedom-Alls (and a lot of makeup). Susannah tells her to change right away. Rosemary tries to intervene and Susannah says that Rachel will be working her the family store. Lee tells Susannah not to talk to Rosemary like that. Everyone is upset.

Scene 22: Bill Confronts Hargraves

While Ned and Florence are on a date in the background, Bill confronts Hargraves about doing the right thing instead of just trying to end Nathan’s career out of some petty grudge he’s feeling.

I think this scene functions specifically to show us that Hargraves doesn’t actually think he’s being petty, or that he’s abusing his position of power, but part of what Bill is telling him is helping him to see that that’s what he’s doing. It just doesn’t click until later.

Bill storms out of the room only barely acknowledging Molly as he leaves.

It clearly hurts her feelings and Florence rushes over to tell her how hot she looks. Molly’s like, “Yeah I know, I’m hungry and looking amazing. Let’s eat.” And then says “When it comes to Bill it’s all about the long game.”

I need me some of that confidence.

Scene 23: Susannah Apologizes

Susannah apologizes for speaking that way to Rosemary (first to Lee and then to Rosemary herself). She then asks Lee and Rosemary to let Rachel live with them for a little while, because she feels they can do better for Rachel than she can, since she’s so much different than Rachel is.

Lee doesn’t want to agree to it, but the answer is an instant yes from Rosemary.

Awkward.

On the plus side, they do talk about how when Susannah was Rachel’s age, she was a caretaker already for their father and never had a chance to live a youthful life. That was a nice touch.

Scene 24: Allie’s Speech

Allie tells Elizabeth she’s gonna bust into the courtroom and give them a piece of her mind and Elizabeth doesn’t try to stop her... she just...kind of lets it happen.

Allie busts in just as Hargraves is about to read his recommendation (a two page long spiel).

Allie says Nathan is all she has and he’s like a father to her. Elizabeth gently coaxes Allie out of the room while everyone looks either moved or uncomfortable lol. Hargraves puts down his speech and decides to drop the inquiry. Lol.

I really wish we’d gotten a scene with Bill and Hargraves after this, just to get more insight into that... but eh. I already posted my minor nitpicks on the scene.

Scene 25: Susannah Leaves

That’s the scene lol. She apologizes a little to Rachel for not being better. But it’s mostly a wholesome little scene. Lee seems really NOT on board letting Rachel live with them, though. Yikes.

Scene 26: Carson Returns

Carson brings back a gift for Faith and it’s a doctor bag embroidered with her name. Very nice. It would be more meaningful of a gift if he’d gotten it for her well before the whole “not treating her equally” thing.

Scene 27: Molly

Molly is standing outside and Florence approaches her to ask what’s up. Molly tells her that she’s outside ‘cause Carson came back and Florence tells her that she needs her own office. I really do like the way these two talk.

Florence tells Molly again that she looked amazing last night (GAY!!!! I mean, I’d ship it) and Molly says “I did, didn’t I?”

Bill walks by and greets them and then says, “Molly, that was some dress.”

The best part is Florence’s face.

Molly says, “$23.00 well spent!” and they walk off together.

Hey y’all, $23.00 in 1918 is $400.00 today. Yikes?

Scene 28: Jinx! Buy me a soda!

Clara and Fiona run into each other and say something at the same time, so they both also say, “Jinx, buy me a soda!”

I literally could not find any information about the history of this saying, though one person did say it dated at least back to 1913 when their great-grandmother would say, “Snap! You owe me a soda!” It feels more 1950s to me than rural 1918 speech, so I personally would not have included this phrase in the writing just for that reason, but...I guess at least it has energy to it.

Fiona mentions that she’s going to visit her family and suggests maybe Clara could run the barber shop while she’s gone.

Scene 29: Elizabeth and Lucas, and also Nathan on the Side

Elizabeth decides to be the first to reach out. She apologizes to Lucas for hurting him and he accepts her apology but tells her he had no right to be mean to her. He apologizes too.

She tells him that she told Nathan she can’t give him what he wants and she won’t be seeing him anymore. So Lucas asks what that means for the two of them, and she says they’ll have to see.

Lucas seems very pleased about that.

Nathan approaches Elizabeth and she tells him that she knew the Mounties would reach the right decision and asks him why he never told her that he was stationed at Ft. Clay.

He says he meant to tell her but after so much time had passed he didn’t know how to bring it up. He tells her he never met Jack but is kind of evasive about it, which again suggests he did meet him...just possibly...not when Jack was alive.

I still feel it’s going to be that he recovered the body or something like that. Oh, or worse, that he recovered Jack from the landslide but he wasn’t dead yet and possibly even died in front of Nathan.

I really hope if they go that route that Jack didn’t say anything about Elizabeth to Nathan, because that would...make things really weird.

This episode had fewer scenes in it than the other episodes, and did more “sweep camera over to the next scene so that the transition is seamless” and that kind of camerawork is really...working for me. It looks nicer and helps things feel less disjointed. You might also have noticed we have fewer massive closeups and a lot more long/wide shots (of people walking or sitting together). I’m really enjoying that, too.

I hope y’all’re looking forward to the next episode as much as I am. :)

#when calls the heart #season 8 shenanigans #season 8 spoilers

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shinsorokiri · 4 years

Text

UA Idol | Chapter Nine

Hitoshi Shinsou x Reader

Word Count: 1,532

Warnings: Language

A/N: This is just kind of a filler chapter, I promise that the next chapter is the beginning of ~Hell Week~ and I am having a blast writing it. I’m gonna have to use so many descriptor words, I have so many ideas for how all these performances look and II just need to write them DOWN. I hope you enjoy this chapter!! And thank you for the support to everyone who keeps reading it, you mean the world to me 🥺(Also out of curiosity should I draw Mina and Denki like I imagine them in this AU too?? Would that be a thing anyone is interested in??? Let me know!!)

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Shinsou felt someone shake his shoulder, making his eyes shoot open. He’d fallen asleep, apparently. “I’m so sorry sir, but we’re going to be landing soon, and you and your girlfriend don’t have your seatbelts on…” she explains, and he raises his eyebrow. Girlfriend? He doesn’t have a… oh my GOD your head is on his shoulder and you’re sleeping on him. And his head is on top of yours. “Uh… sorry,” he mumbles, his face turning a bright red. “It’s alright, sir, just buckle up, okay?” He nods, gently shaking you awake, but you mumble something about 5 more minutes, shifting and burying your face deeper in his neck. He feels the blush on his face flood throughout his body, and his heart speeds up.

He did NOT want to move you. He wanted to let you cuddle him and let him hold you forever, but unfortunately the plane was going to land and as much as he wanted to stay close to you, he also didn’t want you to fly out of your seat and hit your head and die. “Come on, kitten, you need to put your seatbelt on,” he says, gently shaking you again. You shake your head, a small yawn leaving your mouth until you realize just who exactly you were laying on. This causes your spine to go rigid and you sit straight up, trying to hide the ever-present embarrassment showing on your face. “Seatbelt, (Y/n/n),” Shinsou says, buckling his and pretending like he, too, wasn’t the shade of a literal tomato. You nod, quickly buckling up and looking over at him. “So, um… we slept for a long time,” you say, and he nods. “Yep. Yeah, we did. Best sleep I’ve gotten in a while,” he answers, clearing his throat and looking around at everyone else on the plane. “Me too, me too,” you respond, looking out of the plane window. That’s when the pilot comes over the loudspeaker, telling the passengers that the plane was about to land. And that’s when Shinsou gets even more anxious than he already was. That’s also when you remember what he said about plane crashes. ‘Take offs and landings are the scariest parts because that’s when things go wrong and crashes happen most often.’

Without even giving it a second thought, you reach out to hold his hand again. You give it a reassuring squeeze, and you see like maybe .5% of his anxiety go away, but hey at least it was some of it. “We’re gonna be okay, Shinsou. Don’t even worry about it, if anything happens I won’t let you get hurt,” you reassure him, and he glances at you before nodding. Of course, that’s right when the plane starts to actually descend, and you swear you can feel Shinsou’s soul leave his body and you aren’t even a part of his soul or body. Luckily, though, you land perfectly. Nothing bad happens, and you see the relief flood through him. His hand was still in yours, though. Looks like he got a little comfortable with that part, and didn’t even try to take it away until everyone began to unload. Before you could grab your bags from the overhead, he did the job for you, handing you your bag with a small smirk. “I have a five dollar fee for manual labor,” he says, and you roll your eyes. You both begin to walk off the plane, and you noticed all his anxiety seemed to have gone away now that you were back on land. And of course that meant his sarcastic ass was back. “And I have three cents to my name.”

“Looks like you’ll have to pay me back some other way.”

“And what is this other way you are mentioning?” He opens his mouth, about to say something, when suddenly a flash of blonde and pink interrupts your little moment. Just like always. “I hope you both slept well,” Denki winks, resulting in him getting a punch to the arm from Shinsou. “Ow, man, what the hell?”

“I must have slept better than I thought, that was harder than I anticipated.”

“Yeah you slept well because of your little cuddle buddy over here.” Denki gets punched again. “I cannot believe you guys slept on each other, (Y/n). It was so cute I took like eleven pictures and I bet that’s why he slept so well,” Mina whisper squeals to you, and you roll your eyes. “Mina, we slept well because we’re both genuinely exhausted from our energetic best friends who even after an eight hour flight still seem to be bouncing off the walls and causing us pain,” you respond and she laughs. “Hey you’re not the only ones who took a fat nap. Of course, I didn’t cuddle with the love of my life that I’m pretending isn’t the love of my life, but hey it was still nice.” You shoot her a small glare to which she responds to you with a wink. You sigh, glancing over at Shinsou. He was still being badgered by Denki, and he looked very unamused, but you can’t deny how attractive he looked. You were definitely developing a bit of a crush on him, not that you’d ever admit it out loud. The way you two can talk for hours and never get bored as well as… well everything else about him really is just so appealing to you. Not to mention the strange connection you feel toward him. He’s like your favorite song that you listen to every day but never seem to get tired of.

“Hellooooooo? Earth to (Y/n),” Mina starts frantically waving her hand in front of your face, pulling you out of your thoughts completely. “You okay there?” she asks, and you nod. “Yeah, I was just thinking about some song lyrics, don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I hope those song lyrics have something to do with that sign over there that says Hollywood and literally proves that we are, in fact, in Los Angeles about to start Hell Week. This is all becoming so real now,” she starts to ramble on excitedly about how y’all were really genuinely truly there in Los Angeles, about to perform in front of world famous artists all over again, and hopefully make it through to live shows where you would then go on a world tour for many months until the winner was finally revealed. You take a deep breath because quite honestly, all of this was very stressful, and as excited as you were, you were also scared. If you would happen to get through to the live shows, that means that you would probably have to drop out of the university in Tokyo that you worked ridiculously hard to be able to attend. But on the other hand, you’d finally be doing what you’ve always wanted to do.

As much as you loved going to school, actually being able to perform your songs in front of people is what you’ve always wanted to do. You just put it on the back burner because living in a society where getting a degree means getting a good job resulting in earning more money means your dreams need to wait. But there’s also that nagging fear of what if you don’t even get through? Or even worse, what if you don’t and Mina does, or if you do and Mina doesn’t. You two have been attached at the hip ever since the beginning of university, so being here with her albeit great, was also scary. And what if you both did make it. What would happen to Nyx? Could you bring her with you? And even then, would you have to quit your job? What if you made it to live shows but eventually the world decided you weren’t what they wanted, do you just go back to living a normal life like nothing ever happened? And what if-

“(Y/n)? Are you okay?” you hear Shinsou’s voice and feel a large hand grasp onto yours. You hadn’t even realized you’d zoned out, but Shinsou did. And he could tell your little zone out episode wasn’t necessarily a good one. He starts rubbing your hand with his thumb to try and help you out, calm you down a bit, and it does work. You nod your head, giving his hand a light squeeze. “I’m okay. Just thinking,” you assure him and he raises an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I promise.”

“If you need to talk about anything uh… I’m here for you, you know that right?” he says, low enough that Mina and Denki can’t hear him. You give him a small smile. “I know. And I’m here for you if you need anything too… so.”

“Can you two stop flirting? We need to get to the hotel and get ready for the hardest week of our lives!” Mina shrieks, and you both let go of each other’s hands. For now, you do your best at pushing all the fears your brain is conjuring up inside you to the very back of your mind. Who knows. Maybe this week will change your life.

#shinsou x reader #hitoshi shinsou x reader #shinso x reader #hitoshi shinso x reader #my hero academia x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader #boku no hero x reader #shinsou #hitoshi shinsou #shinso #hitoshi shinso #my hero academia #mha #bnha #bnha shinsou #boku no hero academia #anime #ua idol

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tombugg92 · 4 years

Text

Wiley - Godfather III

I thought I should start this by giving a short intro to Wiley. Widely accredited by fans and artists as a pioneer of the Grime scene, it would be impossible to overstate the impact he’s made in Grime, in fact it would be impossible to overstate the importance that he’s made to UK music in general. Starting off as a member of Pay As U Go Wiley first began his life in UK Garage, eventually as Pay As U Go disbanded Wiley went on to form Roll Deep, containing Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and many more. This was where we really started to hear an evolution of the UK Garage sound and things started to sound more like the Grime that we came to know and love. It’s certainly not just Wiley who thinks he’s the “Godfather,” not many in the scene would argue that, but he’s certainly not going to let you forget it.

A lot of newer fans were put off with last years altercations with just about anyone who makes any music, after Wiley was widely publicised to have labelled Drake as a “pagan,” and Ed Sheeran as a “culture vulture,” before taking a much more direct approach with Stormzy, firstly sending very direct tweets on Twitter before the pair released a few tracks which must have been absolutely shocking if you hadn’t grown up watching Lord of the Mics. I think people who have been listening to the scene since the Rinse FM days will have attributed this behaviour as just clever marketing, I know I was expecting this album long before it came. This marketing is tried and tested and it works, it was certainly successful for Wiley, exposing himself to a whole host of people who’s entry point to this whole genre was Stormzy. I heard people talking about the tracks everywhere, at work, in bars, in fact I even got into an argument with my barber over who we thought took each round (word of warning kids, don’t start an argument with your barber).

Then the dust seemed to settle slowly, I wasn’t hearing the arguments anymore and Stormzy had disappeared from Social Media altogether, but there was still no album from Wiley? I was hearing that Wiley was all over the capital, recording verses with MC’s from just about everyone involved in the scene, but there was nothing solid as to why. I’ve heard that it was something to do with labels telling Wiley he had to wait before releasing the record on his own label, but again nothing concrete. I saw something on Instagram that it was going to come out 1st of January, but at this point Wiley was posting a story or a tweet once a minute so I was hardly surprised when this date came and went. Finally in June, nearly 5 months had passed since Wiley’s last send for Stormzy, we had an album. Even then it wasn’t easy! It dropped first on Apple Music before making everyone on Spotify wait a little longer. I actually signed up for Apple Music when I already had Spotify because I couldn’t wait one extra day for it to come out, so if anyone knows how to contact Wiley I’d like to invoice him for that pointless subscription fee.

So finally it was here! I was really busy at the time and I don’t like to listen to a record before I can give it my full attention so I actually saw the track-list before I even had a listen, and at first was amazed by the lack of features, where had all those verses that Wiley had been collecting suddenly gone?! Then I saw a tweet from Big Zuu saying that he’d featured on on a track but had not been credited (Track 20 - West London, if you’re wondering) and I thought “Wow, that’s just so Wiley.” A couple of days later though Wiley himself released a list of all the features on the album, and when I saw that I had to listen straight away. There’s some huge huge names on that list, both established legends in the scene like D Double, Jammer and Footsie, to what I think of as the new breed of people that will carry the genre even further like Big Zuu and Capo Lee, and some people who I won’t lie I’ve never heard of. It seems like Wiley is determined to use his last record to make sure that the wheels of this genre are still spinning.

So onto how the record sounds. Normally I like to do a bit of a breakdown of every track, it allows me to really work out any tracks I really enjoy or any that I think could be left out, but I’m not going to be doing that right here. Purely because this record is incredibly long and I really didn’t fancy writing my thoughts when it comes to 22 separate tracks, I’m not exaggerating either it really is 22 tracks long! Obviously the whole thing does have a very Grime feel to it. Just the lengths of the tracks themselves make me think of the old days of Grime. With an average track length of less than 3 minutes it gives the whole thing a really fast paced feeling, comparable to the way that Wiley has always flung bars at us at a million miles an hour, his final album flings tracks at us with comparable speed.

The first listen I felt almost overloaded. With so many features that I did find myself thinking “Was that so and so?” so much that I missed just about every punchline and barely even recognised the productions. So I had to go back a few times and listen all over again, although that’s definitely not a chore! Production wise it’s much as you’d expect, very Grimey and very heavy in the early tracks which leaves me feeling that Wiley really is cementing that flag in the scene before he departs. Don’t make any mistakes at all though because this is not a record in which all tracks sound the same, Wiley keeps even the Grimiest tracks sounding varied by switching up his rhyme flows often and the hooks change between each track. Production wise my favourite track would have to be family which features Flirta D, Footsie and Goldie1. I think the track is produced by Mr Virgo and for me it brings a really fresh sound which can often be quite difficult when producing a genre which is nearly 18 years old now.

Lyrically Wiley comes just as hard as he always has. He comes out swinging on Intro letting us know exactly what he thinks of his role in the scene saying “I’ll be the father bro, you can be the son of it.” As a huge fan of wordplay I also feel like I’ve got to shout out the London scheme in Intro also, which end with a punchline saying “They’ll pull up to the junction, jump out and Clapham.” Had me screwing up my face like I was in 2004 all over again. The bars continue from Wiley as the record goes on, always following the similar theme with Wiley reminding us exactly who we should thank for this whole genre. In terms of features for me it’s Tempa T that absolutely steals the show, probably because I don’t think I’ve heard from him for so long. But having just written that I’m having so many more ideas, J2K is absolutely incredible on Double Dragon and Manga Saint Hilare shines on Amsterdam alongside Breeze, Scratchy and Wiley. Yes you did read that last sentence correctly, it’s basically a Roll Deep reunion on that track.

My only concern with the new album coming out would be that it wouldn’t have any flow. Lately Wiley seems to struggle to focus on one topic, in his interviews with Zeze Millz and Poet for Filthy Fellas I didn’t really know what he was talking about more often than not and I was concerned that lack of cohesiveness would translate into the record. My concerns were unfounded though and, like I’ve said earlier it’s very much a Grime showcase in the early tracks. This does get mixed up as we go continue through though, Rinse for example uses a production that Donae’o once released to give a more UK Funky feel. I also love the final track Press Record, which slows everything right down and moves as far away from Grime as it’s possible to go, but lets us really feel like Wiley is talking to us. I also find it quite emotional because it makes me feel like Wiley is actually serious that this is going to be his last album, and I just don’t even want to begin to imagine this scene without him.

Think what you like of him, and he’s certainly split opinions over the past few months, you simply cannot overstate the impact he’s made. And if you were doubting this statement, this final effort will make sure you rethink that. It’s quite amazing that there are 22 tracks and I genuinely cannot think of a single one that could be taken off this record, a truly sublime effort from the true Godfather. Thank-you Wiley.

#wiley #godfather3 #grime #albumreview

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let-it-raines · 5 years

Text

Rising from the Ashes (8/?)

Summary: When her husband died, Emma wasn’t sure that she could ever move on. He left her with a broken heart and a baby who was only three-months old. It’s enough to take most people down, to make them not want to keep going, but Emma Swan isn’t most people. She’s stronger than she has any right to be. And after years of heartache, she’s found ways to move on…one of those being in Neal’s best friend, Killian Jones. As she’s always known, however, things are more complicated than they ever seem to be.

Rating: Mature

A/N: Thanks for reading and being genuinely awesome!

Double “-/-” around the flashback!

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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He wakes when his head hits the floor, narrowly missing the fluffy white rug that he’s been sleeping on for the past two weeks. His back hurts like he’s been repeatedly run over by his SUV, but this is the bed he’s made and he has to lay in it – literally.

This may have been the dumbest decision he’s ever made, and he’s made a lot of them in the nearly four decades of his life. With every part of his body aching, his head pounding a bit from the impact, he gets out of his sleeping bag and stands, taking a few moments to let his body wake up before he needs to get ready to go into the office. He’s only working a half day today so he can make his dentist appointment. It doesn’t take hours, but no one has to know that if he leaves after lunch and just doesn’t come back. It is Friday after all. He does want to go in a bit early to not fall too far behind, so he keeps that in mind as he quietly makes his way down the hall and into his bedroom…Emma’s bedroom…their bedroom…the master bedroom and slips into the bathroom without disturbing Emma or Ada as they sleep with what he hopes is not a care in the world.

Every morning that he does this he’s tempted to crawl into bed with Emma and hold her close to him for just a few minutes, but he knows that he shouldn’t, that he can’t. This was his choice to give himself time to think things through, and he’s not going to fall back on it while he’s still conflicted. He’s not going to let his moments of weakness get to him.

He can’t.

He wants to, but he can’t. He won’t let himself.

He’s never felt quite this alone, but he physically and emotionally cannot give in until he’s figured things out himself. He’s not hoping to figure absolutely everything out. He’s simply trying to set his mind straight and stop having his shoulders weighed down by guilt. Of course, the guilt he’s trying to make up for is only placing another kind of guilt on his shoulders, but this will all get better. He has no idea how or when, but he knows that it has to. It might not be in the way that deep down he knows that he wants, but it will get better.

Life would always be dreary if he didn’t have that hope for a better future.

After he’s showered, he quickly runs through his morning routine and gets dressed for work. He likes to be out of the bathroom before Emma wakes up to keep her from hurting anymore. He knows that what he’s doing makes her feel shitty. He can see it in her eyes whenever she looks at him, and honestly, he’s not sure if she’s ever going to forgive him. He’s not even sure if he deserves forgiveness for going about telling her he needed some time in the way that he did. He just knew that if he didn’t have a nice, clean break, he’d never get one at all.

He’d never get time to sort through his muddled feelings like he’s been trying to do.

He needs to talk to someone. He needs to talk to Emma, but how does he tell her that he loves her? That he loves her more than anything in this world but that he doesn’t feel he deserves to be with her?

How does he tell her the things he’s struggling to tell himself?

As quietly as he can, he exits the bathroom, letting the door stay open as he pads out of the room. Before he leaves, though, he takes a quick glance over to Emma and Ada. Emma’s still asleep, and he knows she’s not faking it from the noises she’s making, but his Ada girl is awake and gurgling away in her bassinet. Slowly but surely, he walks over to her and picks her up before leaving the bedroom, the door softly clicking closed behind him.

“Somebody needs to get ready for the day,” he murmurs into Ada’s ear, holding her against his shoulder while he walks her back to the nursery. “We need to get you all ready for the day so when Mummy wakes up, she won’t have to do anything but feed you. Plus, I can spend some time with you, my girl. I might even get your brother up early so we can all have some time together, yeah? Does that sound like a good idea to you?”

He takes her noises as affirmation as he gets her ready for the day, watching her eyes follow him with every movement that he makes. She’s so attentive that it’s scary sometimes, and he swears it’s like having one of those portraits where it looks like the eyes follow you.

This little girl is such a light in his life, and all he really wants to do is spend his day holding her close to his chest so she can feel his heartbeat in the same way that he can feel hers.

After he’s changed her diaper and her clothes, he takes her with him downstairs, talking to her in the way that he always does. He knows that he could go ahead and feed her before he starts breakfast for Henry, but Emma usually prefers to breastfeed in the mornings and to try to help out with solid foods. Ada is a big fan of avocados weirdly enough, but he doesn’t really blame her. Who wouldn’t like guacamole? So he simply straps her into her bouncer on the island so he can make some scrambled eggs and cut up fruit for Henry. Usually they just let him eat cereal, none of them having time to cook in the mornings, but he’s been getting so little time with his kids lately that he figures it can’t hurt to make a little something to eat while he sits with Henry before school.

For all of the issues that Neal has caused in his life lately, the one he can’t begrudge him for in the slightest is spending time with Henry. Henry’s eyes just light up when he’s talking to Neal or when Neal offers to do something with him, and what more can Killian ask than for his kids to be happy? Nothing. It’s just…nothing.

He can hear Henry’s shower come to life as he moves the eggs around on the pan, and he knows it won’t be long until Henry is bounding down the stairs with his hair stuck to his head and his socks mismatched. Emma usually has to work some kind of magic to make his hair not stick straight on his head, and on the mornings where she sleeps in and it’s just him helping – it never works out well. He can do his own hair, but Henry’s is a whole other story. God knows that one day he’s going to have to learn how to braid hair for Ada, and that’ll likely be a disaster even if he usually can help Emma when her arms get tired from doing her own hair. Luckily Ada only has these honey wisps for now.

Sure enough, not ten minutes later Henry is sprinting downstairs and dressed in jeans and a sweater with his hair lying flat on his head, water droplets falling onto the navy of his sweater as he skids into the kitchen.

“Morning. Want some food?”

“Obviously.”

He chuckles underneath his breath as he fixes Henry a plate, ignoring the way that Henry turns his nose up at it being healthy instead of something sugary. That’s another Emma thing. She lets him have sugar far more often, but she also eats sugar far more often. He’s pretty sure that Henry misses Emma being pregnant because they ate like kings nearly every morning.

“Is Mum up? Did she wake you up?” he asks as he slides a plate to Henry on the bar, picking at his own eggs while his free hand moves against Ada to keep her entertained.

“Yep. You didn’t know?”

“Uh, no,” he answers honestly, scratching behind his ear. “I woke up early and brought your sister downstairs so your mum could get some more sleep. Do you think she’ll want some breakfast?”

“Probably, but she said she was going to take a shower. Can Ada eat eggs?”

“Not yet. Think that they might be too chewy for her.”

“I had a dream last night that she was a giant baby who ate all of the food in the house, so I was just wondering.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. It was crazy. She could walk around and all of her steps made, like, these loud noises, and she stuffed all of the food in her mouth before she crushed the house and moved to go to Mr. Wong’s house.”

“You hear that Ada bug,” he coos, tickling her stomach and listening to her giggle, “Henry says that you were a monster in his dream last night eating all of the food. That’s probably why he’s stuffing all of his eggs in his mouth right now.”

“I am not,” he mumbles, his cheeks full of food.

“Chew, my boy,” he laughs, taking a bite of his own egg. “Hey, so I have the afternoon off of work, and I was thinking we could drive out to that Christmas tree farm and get us a tree today when you’re finished with school.”

“Really?”

“Of course. We’ve got to decorate the house for Christmas.”

“Yeah, we only have twenty days. That’s not a long time before Santa’s here.”

“I know. So you think we should go? I’m thinking we get a giant one and put it next to the fireplace?”

Henry hums, placing his hand on his chin and looking into the living room like he’s contemplating it. “Yeah, I think we could do that. I’m going to put the swan on top, though.”

“Well, that is your job, buddy.”

“I know. I’ve got to do it. Can my dad come with us to get the tree?”

“We’ll have to ask him if he can after he gets off work, but I don’t see why not.”

“Cool.”

-/-

“Hello?”

“Hey, Swan,” he greets, walking off of base and making his way to the trains so that he can go home as he talks on the phone with her.

“Oh hi!” she says a little more enthusiastically before he hears a loud crash in the background. “Henry baby, no no no,” she sighs, muttering things he can’t understand on the other end of the line.

“Emma, are you okay? Is Henry okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. He just knocked a picture frame down. The glass didn’t break, which is good, but I’m going to have to move things around so he doesn’t hurt himself now that he pretty much sprints whenever he gets up.”

“Aye,” he chuckles, dodging someone on the street, “that he is. So I was calling to ask if you and the lad want to come over on Christmas? Or I can come to your place? I couldn’t get leave to go to London, and Liam apparently had some kind of shipping disaster at work. The ponce can’t take off to come here, and since you’re not going to Maine, I figured we could at least give Henry a happy Christmas.”

“Can you come here? I’ve got this tiny little artificial tree that I put up, and Henry really likes the baubles on it. Plus all of his presents are here. It’s not much, but I just…I’m lazy, and I don’t want to move it all.”

“Love, it’s literally no problem for me to come to your apartment, and don’t worry about food or anything. I’ll take care of that.” “Killian – ”

“No, nope. I’m taking care of it all. I know that your budget is tight, and I don’t want you stressing. I’m Santa Claus for you and Henry this year.” He hears a sniffle on the other end of the line, and it stops him in his tracks as he steps off of the sidewalk and settles down against a store’s windowsill. “Hey, did something else happen?”

“No,” she cries, the sniffles more obvious, “we’re fine, I promise. It’s just been a really tough few days. I feel so alone sometimes. No one…for a little while, I thought I’d have some of Neal’s friends and their wives around to help me, but no one but you has really stuck around. And it’s hard feeling like I have no one here in the city to turn to. I mean, my family isn’t here and I – I’m telling you far too much.”

“You had dinner yet, love?”

“What?”

“Have you had dinner yet?”

“No. I was just going to eat some cereal.”

“Rubbish. I’ll get some takeout and come over tonight, okay?”

“Killian – ”

“No, no. This is what’s happening. I’ll be there in a little under an hour, okay? Tell Henry not to knock over any more frames without me.”

“I’ll pass on the message.”

“Good.”

The minute he hangs up the phone, he turns around and tries to take a few deep breaths. He and Emma have always gotten on well, but over the past year, he thinks that they’ve become friends all on their own. Yeah, Neal’s death has definitely bonded them, but with Emma not really liking to talk about it most days, they’ve had to find other things to talk about and do. Henry was their bonding factor for awhile, but there’s only so many things they can talk about when it comes to his development and the new words that he’s learning.

Emma does text him whenever he says something new, and it’s always fascinating watching the video of her trying to coax it out of him again.

When he looks up, he sees several hand-painted toy boats in the display window behind him. They remind him of the hand-me-downs he had as a child, and even though he needs to be getting dinner so he can be with Emma while she’s having a bad night, he wanders into the store, leaving twenty minutes later with several wrapped boxes of toys for Henry and a carved Swan tree topper for Emma. He’d laughed out loud when he saw it, figured there’d never been a more ridiculous tree topper, but it was so fitting for Emma that he couldn’t not get it for her.

So he’s at Emma’s a little more than an hour later with one hand full of a bag of Mexican food and the other full of his gifts, and the moment Emma answers the door, he can see the exhaustion on her face, defined lines around the red rim of her eyes that no woman in her early twenties should have. He places everything on the ground, closing the door behind him with his foot, and wraps her in a hug, feeling her shoulders shake underneath his touch.

“Shhh,” he whispers, rubbing his hand up and down her back while his heart breaks for her, a coil in his stomach tightening, “it’s okay. You’re okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

He can feel her head move under his chin, her nod resonating with him, but he doesn’t let go until she pulls back, wiping the tears from her eyes. It absolutely kills him to see her cry like this. For the first few years he knew her, he doesn’t think he saw her show any kind of emotion. Then Neal was declared missing or dead or whatever the hell the Marines had told Emma last year, and he swears that he’d never seen anyone cry that many tears. It went on for months until one day it just…stopped. Nearly every time he’d see her, which wasn’t as often as he’d like in the first few months, she’d either sob or have just finished sobbing. He hates to be a man who says a woman can only cry because she’s hormonal, and while he doesn’t believe that, Emma had just had a baby. Feelings were going to be amplified, and he imagines losing your spouse while gaining a child is completely and totally overwhelming.

He’s lost a lot of friends, Neal included, but outside of his mum’s death and his father leaving, he’s never lost someone he loved like Emma loved Neal. The closest thing that can compare is him losing Milah. They’d been together for so long, almost half a decade, but somewhere along the way things had drifted apart. They’d drifted apart, and in a moment of weakness, she’d been with another man. He knows it was likely due to his deployments and his busy schedule, but he lost her because he wasn’t around. She betrayed him, but he can’t help but feeling that it was a bit his fault. It’s not at all comparable to having her die, but oftentimes there’s just this…ache in his heart where he misses her. He knows that she’s happy now, that she’s married someone else, and honestly, that’s all he’s ever wanted for her. She should be happy with someone who’s going to be there for her.

It’s a complicated situation to be with someone who has betrayed you. Of course he felt anger and hurt, but he loved her. That didn’t change. He loved her enough that he was willing to work through things. It simply didn’t work out. It wasn’t meant to be for them.

Emma must get that ache sometimes. The ache of simply missing someone, and he’s never quite wished he knew how to soothe it more than he does right now. He doesn’t want Emma to feel that ache, but he imagines it will always be there. He’s never met anyone quite as strong-willed as she is, but even the strongest wills (and walls) eventually fall.

“What’s in the bags?” she mumbles against his shirt.

“Food.”

“The other bag.”

“That’s a secret for Christmas morning, love.” “Seriously?”

He leans back so he can see her eyes, the green bright against the water that’s still shining there. “Seriously,” he smiles down at her, reaching up to wipe away the tears from her cheeks. “Now come on. Let’s eat.”

They don’t talk about anything serious that night. They simply eat their food after he helps put Henry to bed, and he lets Emma guide the conversation. She keeps things light, only talking about the most superficial of things, but if she doesn’t want to talk about their phone conversation or why she’s been crying so much today, he won’t force it out of her. If she feels like talking, she will on her own time. So they watch television and have a good night doing nothing, and when she does want to talk about everything Christmas Eve night, all about how she feels like she’s failing Henry every time she can’t do something on her own, he lets her. He lets her talk about how she knows that life is never fair but how she does feel like she keeps getting the short end of the stick over and over again even when she thinks she’s finally got something good going for her. She misses David and Ruth, and she quietly admits to him that some days she doesn’t even miss Neal for him but rather that she misses him so she’d have someone to help her out. Of course, that admission only makes her crawl back into her shell, backtracking on the words and going on and on about what a horrible human being she is.

“I miss Neal. Of course I miss Neal. Of course, of course, of course. Ah, fuck. I don’t – I don’t…I’m such a screw up.”

“No, no, you’re not.” He reaches over to her on the couch and grabs her arm, squeezing tightly for just a moment. “Your life has been difficult, Emma, and nothing you said is wrong. I know that you miss him without you having to say that. Just because you’re overwhelmed and want help, want the life that you thought you were going to have…that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person for thinking that.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.”

“I promise it’s true. Not every thought you have is going to be rainbows and butterflies. Though for tonight we could make it candy canes and reindeer for festivity reasons.”

“How could this night possibly be festive?”

He moves his brows across his forehead in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I’ll let you open a present early.”

“Oh my God,” she laughs, throwing her head back against the couch. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. You can open the one in the green packaging.”

“I’m going to do it,” she says, getting up from the couch and walking over to the small tree that she has, picking it up and bringing and back over to the couch before she unceremoniously rips open the paper to reveal the cardboard box, opening it up even further while he feels his face heat, body suddenly full of nerves. “Is this a – ”

“Swan tree topper, yeah. For the Swan family.”

She looks up at him, her eyes bright but with no tears filling them. Good. Her lips even tick up on the corners, and he hopes that means she’s feeling lighter. “You know Henry’s last name is Cassidy, right? I’m the only Swan.”

“Aye, I know,” he whispers, his voice somehow loud in the quietness of the room as he reaches over to tuck Emma’s hair behind her ear. He knows that she hates when it falls in her face. “You never changed your name, but just because a last name is different doesn’t mean anything. I’m sure Henry will like the Swan too. When he gets older, of course.”

Her lashes flutter against her cheeks, and his heart beats so wildly in his chest that Emma must be able to hear it. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“It’s not problem, love. Why don’t you put it up on top of the tree?”

“Can we…” She looks at him with her lips parted before she looks down the hall. “Can we do it with Henry in the morning? I know he won’t remember, but I’d like to start a tradition with him since I didn’t last year.”

“I think that sounds grand.”

In the morning there’s more wrapping paper on the floor than there is carpeting despite the small number of presents underneath the tree, but it’s a joyful thing that. Henry is fascinated with everything he’s unwrapped, but mostly he likes messing with the bows, sticking them on his cheek or on Emma’s knees over the flannel of her snowmen pajamas. And before the day is up, they remember to put the swan on top of the tree, all of the multi-colored lights reflecting off of the white beacon on top.

-/-

The moment he gets home after his dentist appointment he sheds the jacket from his arms and hat from his head, shaking out his hair as he kicks his shoes off. He knows that no one else in his family ever takes their shoes off when coming in from outside, always tracking snow and dirt in, but he can always hope that someone will follow his lead. With Neal working again, the house is quieter than he’s used to, all of his movements echoing. Without them living near a base, there weren’t a lot of options for Neal here, but he’s set himself up as an information’s analyst downtown two blocks over from Killian’s office. He’s going to be flying out to D.C. every now and then to meet with some of his bosses and talk about his future. Once a week is what he’d said, but Killian isn’t too sure about that. It’ll probably be every few weeks, and he’s not sure how much it’ll have to do with Neal’s career in the Marines, especially since he’ll likely never be deployed again. It’ll likely be because Neal’s face is plastered across news stations for being a hero, and politicians like to publicize on that.

While Neal was pretty much an omnipresent member of their household for the first month, things are calming down now that they’re settling into a routine.

As glad as he is that Neal has something to do that he finds fulfilling, he’s honestly glad that he’s not always around simply so he can have time to think. Seeing Emma and Neal around every corner…it made it nearly impossible for him to understand the way he felt his stomach roll every time he looked at them talking about anything at all. He hates himself for feeling that way. He still thinks asking Emma for a break was the right decision even if he knows that he hurt her. He hurt himself too, and every time he watches her snatch her hand away from where it was about to touch his thigh or when he watches the tears randomly form in her eyes, he feels as if his stomach might as well be lined with anchors. But it’s right. It has to be right. They needed to take a step back from each other and assess everything that’s happened with calm around them. When their emotions run high…who knows what will happen?

He doesn’t.

Is this right? Has he fucked up? Those seem to be the only words in his mind when he’s so desperately clinging onto finding something more.

He might not ever.

Despite the silence he can hear the TV on in the living room, and his legs guide him there to find Emma curled into a ball, a blanket wrapped around her, and her eyes glued to the screen as she watches Friends. She doesn’t even pay him any attention, which is the norm after Thanksgiving when no one else is around, so he sits in an armchair across from her, propping his feet up on the ottoman.

“Is Ada asleep?”

“Yep.”

“How has your day been?”

“Good.”

“Are you going to talk to me using more than one word?”

“Nope.”

“Emma.”

“Killian.”

“For fuck’s sake, you just can’t ignore me.”

Her eyes cut to him then, and he’s never felt a chill cross his body like the one that just did. His arms are covered in gooseflesh, and all he wants is to put back on his jacket and head back out in the cold in search of warmth.

“Are you really going to tell me that I can’t just ignore you when the entire reason I am ignoring you is your own damn fault?”

“You know that’s not true.”

“It is. You’re the one who said you wanted this idiotic break. You’re the one who walks around this house like everything is coming up daisies, like everything is fucking perfect. And maybe to you it is. Maybe this is just some weak excuse to try to phase me out. You’ve found an opportunity to leave, and you’re going to take it.”

“Hey,” he scoffs, much louder than he intended when he knows there’s a sleeping baby upstairs, “none of that is true. And we are on the same team, remember?”

“I believe that you dismembered the team, Captain.”

She spits out his old title with such venom that another chill runs down his spine, and he knows that he should shut up, that he should not push this further when Emma’s day has obviously been anything but good, but he’s not about to let Emma think that he’s going to abandon her. He would never despite what’s going on right now by his own doing.

“We are still friends and partner and parents.”

“Oh I’m sorry. I thought that we were on a break from absolutely everything. Excuse me for not realizing that we can pick and choose the ways we’re broken up. What’s next? If you want a casual fuck, that’s allowed too?”

“That is not what I’m saying, and you know it. And how many times do I have to say that we are not broken up?”

“Haven’t you ever watched this damn show?” she hisses, motioning out to the television where Rachel and Ross are on screen, irony seemingly everywhere. “A break is never really just a break, Killian.”

“I don’t take my life advice from comedies, so I view it as something a little different.”

“Of course you do. Of fucking course you do. But you know what? I don’t. Or at least I can’t right now. I have had some of the hardest two months of my life, and you’ve just left me to deal with it all on my own.”

“I am right here, Emma.”

“You’re not though. You’re not. You’re off figuring your own shit out, thinking about how you can’t break Neal’s family up, thinking about how you want to give him a chance at having his family back. Well guess what? All you’ve done is break our family up. I can’t believe how many times I’ve had to say that. You care so goddamn much about your own guilt that I bet you haven’t even stopped to consider how the only people who are really getting fucked up here are our kids and me. You might think you’re being selfless, but you’re being so goddamn selfish that I can’t even look at you sometimes.”

“Love – ”

“What did I say about you calling me that?”

“Swan, I need you to listen to me.”

“I’m good, thanks.” She throws the blanket off of her before she gets off the couch and starts walking out of the room. “You can go pick up Henry from school. Neal cancelled on him. He can’t make it to the damn Christmas tree farm either.”

-/-

“Hey, buddy,” he greets when Henry climbs into the back seat, throwing his backpack down and buckling himself in before he crosses his arms over his chest. “You have a good day?”

“Yep.”

He twists in his seat at Henry’s voice, and that’s when he sees the splotches on his skin and the set of his jaw. “Henry, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Henry shrieks before turning his head and looking out the window while the car behind him blares its horn for him to move out of the carpool line. “You have to go.”

“I need you to tell me what’s wrong first.”

“You’re going to block the line.”

“Fine,” he huffs, concern filling him as he puts the car in drive and moves out of the pick-up line. Something is obviously wrong with Henry, and they need to talk about it. He’s honestly just not sure how to go about it.

God, if he gets home and Ada is having a fit, he’s going to need to run for miles to work off his frustration. He might as well start running now.

About halfway home he decides that maybe Henry needs a change of pace, so instead of continuing onto the house, he pulls into a café, parking around the corner.

“What are we doing?”

“We’re going to get something to eat. Mum wanted some soup.”

“I don’t want to get Mom soup.”

“You can get a sandwich and some chips. Come on, it’ll be like a snack before we go get the tree.”

Henry nods his head before he gets out of the car, and Killian has to hurry to do the same before Henry’s running off without him. Something must be really messing with his head because he’s never this quiet right after school. He always has something to talk about, but he barely answers Killian’s questions about what he wants to eat when he’s ordering food for everyone. He doesn’t know if Emma will actually eat any of this, not since he’s the one bringing it home, but it’s the story he told Henry. And maybe it’ll help mend the bridges a bit. They need to talk. He was thinking this time apart, this him stepping back, would help, but if Emma’s anger is going to fester…he knows that it’s not helping.

They need to get away with just the two of them and actually talk through things. He wants to be with her more than anything, but he’s struggling. He doesn’t know what to do.

He’s fucked up, but he really did think it was the best decision he could make. Emma could have…she and Henry could have their second chance at the life they’ve always deserved.

But they’re not going to accomplish anything by avoiding and hating each other.

They should have talked at the start of this. They shouldn’t have avoided everything.

He shouldn’t have avoided everything.

Instead of going back to the car with their food, he settles down at an empty table in the corner of the restaurant, putting Henry’s drink on the table and watching him as he messes with the buttons on his shirt, his eyes never making contact with Killian.

“Hey, hey, hey, buddy,” he begins, tapping on the table until his son looks up at him. He can be dramatic, but he’s never like this. “Henry, you have to talk to me.”

“I don’t want to.” “Are you upset?”

“Yes.” “And what do we do when we’re upset?”

Henry mumbles something under his breath, huffing to himself while the red in his face begins to calm from where it had flared up again.

“Say it again, son.”

“We talk to Momma or you.”

“Aye, we talk to Mummy or Daddy,” he repeats, reaching his hand over the table so he can squeeze Henry’s shoulder. “So why don’t you talk to me about why you’re upset? Or we can talk to Mum when we get home.”

“I don’t want to talk to Momma.”

Killian raises his eyebrow, confusion building within him. Henry always wants to talk to Emma. There are times when Henry doesn’t want to talk to him, but without fail, Henry always wants to talk to Emma.

“Why not?” “Because.” “Because what?”

“Because Jonathon and Brandon were mean to me today about her. They called Mom names.” He raises a brow, things beginning to make sense even though some of his greatest fears since the interview are coming to fruition. The very last thing that he wanted was Henry to be affected negatively. It’s why they didn’t want him doing it. They’d agreed to let Neal talk about him, but no more than that.

“Henry, what did they call her?” “I don’t…I don’t know what it means, but I know it wasn’t nice because Kensie said they were saying a bad word. They were telling me that their moms and dads, that they were talking about how Momma is a whore. What’s a whore?”

White rage builds within him, his shoulders tensing and jaw clenching to the point of pain, but he can’t be angry right now. He can’t. He’s got to deal with Henry, and he can’t do that if he’s ready to go punch the shit out of Jonathon and Brandon’s parents.

He’s going to get arrested for assault, and he doesn’t even care. No one has any right to talk about Emma that way. Taking a deep breath, he tries to figure out how the hell to explain to an eight-year-old who sees such good in the world that his mother is not a whore. What even is his life?

“A whore is not a nice word, buddy. We don’t ever use it, okay? And I promise you that your mum is not one. What they were saying, it’s not true. I know it’s hard, but you just have to ignore what everyone says about us. It’s not true. Our family is our family. Your mum and I love you and Ada more than anything in the world. That’s what I want you to remember.”

Henry finally looks up at him then, determination in his eyes, and even though he looks so much like Neal, right now all he can see is Emma. “But why are they saying that?”

“Sometimes people say mean things, and it’s usually because they’re having a hard time. That doesn’t mean it’s okay.”

“Did you say a mean thing to Mom?”

“What? No. What are you talking about?”

Henry shrugs before he takes a sip of his juice. “She was crying this morning when she woke me up. I didn’t know why. I thought maybe you just said a mean thing to her since Jonathon and Brandon made me cry.”

“No, Henry, I – ” He…he doesn’t even know what to say. Exhaustion is running through him, making his eyes feel heavy along with every other inch of his body. This is all so screwed up, and he has to fix it. If Emma is crying in the mornings before they’ve even spoken and if Henry is noticing things and having trouble at school…he has to fix this. They have to fix this. He can’t do this anymore. “Sometimes your Mum and I do say mean things to each other, but we always say we’re sorry. We love each other like we love you, and that’s not going to change.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah, son. I promise.”

#rising from the ashes #captain swan fic #captain swan #cs ff #cs fic

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biserker-kadan · 4 years

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i've been so busy with work and life lately that every time i drop into tumblr it's for like 3 seconds and then i'm up and busy again it sucks. regardless, i'm going to write some things about Myrinah cause i miss that bitch.

1. She always sleepy. So, okay not entirely cause, like me, she always up and moving but she's so super fuckin sleepy and unfocused sometimes and it's so funny cause she'll just blankly stare at something or someone to the point of uncomfortable and then deliver a 10 minute speech likes she's been paying attention for the past 2 hours - she has not. She's always overtired and it never shows because she hoards coffee likes it's elfroot.

2. Modern baby can't deal without red hair and dyes it always. Look, like me, her hair kinda keeps her from having an absolute breakdown every time she looks in a mirror and like me, that means it is always dyed. She always spends the least amount of time on it as possible; not because she's lazy or doesn't care about her appearance, but more so because she genuinely has more important things to do for herself - ie. eating food and paperwork. Of course, when she has the time she'll practice intricate braiding but usually it's a high bun or Cullen gets interrupted to braid it out of her face.

3. She drinks. Quite a bit. She's not an alcoholic and doesn't do so daily, but she also rarely has enough time to unwind and certainly no real time to get messy so when she does have that opportunity? She fuckin sends it. She goes ham. She downs a bottle, chain smokes and swings from the roof. It's unhealthy, and probably a bad example but it makes her feel free and she limits how often she allows herself to let go like that.

4. For someone who does so much paperwork - her handwriting is worse than a Halla's. Listen, she tries, she really does; but she cannot for the life of her write in a straight line. Maybe that says something about her (because absolutely nothing about her is straight) but by the Gods it annoys her. Josephine more so, but Myrinah cannot fix her handwriting at all.

5. She always knows when it's gonna rain, like it's crazy accurate. She doesn't really tell anyone how she knows, but if she was to tell someone? She'd start off by telling them how sensitive her ears are, and how her knees creak when the air changes and how her gut sinks and that's how she knows it's gonna rain. She's always listened to her body and this is no different, no sir.

#Myrinah Lavellan #ts dragon age ocs

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jackalopingintothevoid · 6 years

Text

Camera Shy Part 5

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 TBA

Exactly two minutes later, John entered the kitchen. He’d never been in this particular room before and he quickly scoped the place out, noting two doors at either end of the room and one set of large windows on his right from entering. A large table in the centre, various countertops along the sides of the room, usually beneath cupboards and next to appliances, some familiar but most not.

Riley was pouring hot milk into two mugs, their back to him, and he took the moment to study them. Their civilian lifestyle was clear on their body, as it was with Mochou and Sampoorna, but they seemed fit and healthy. They looked to be nothing but straight edges above the waist with curved thickness to their hips and thighs. Average height. They picked up the mugs and turned around, something about them seeming animated even in the face of a daunting conversation.

They stopped dead with a sharp squeak at the sight of him, before huffing out an embarrassed breath and setting the mugs down on the centre table.

“God, you’re quiet!” They smiled brightly up at him, but there was a nervousness in their eyes. John glanced at the chairs-- sitting down might make Riley feel more at ease with him, but would the furniture hold his weight? They seemed quite sturdy, and he’d had good luck so far. He decided to risk it.

Easing himself into one, it creaked ominously in protest, but held without issue. John let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding.

It worked. Riley’s smile reached their eyes and they sat diagonally from him, closer than he’d thought they would. That was a good sign. They slid one of the mugs over to him without fear and didn’t flinch away when his fingers brushed theirs as he took it.

Their smile fell slightly after a moment and they glanced down, then looked back up to meet John’s eyes again.

“I know we already did the whole thing, but... I’m sorry, John, for what I did to you. I know there’s nothing I can say to magically fix it, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it never happens again.”

John tilted his head quizzically. “I was startled, not shot. It’s in the past.”

Riley frowned. “You really mean that, don’t you? Like a panic attack’s just... nothing.”

“It happened. It’s over. No one was hurt.” He affirmed.

“You were hurt.” They responded, emphatic. “You’re going through enough without getting triggered as well.”

Confusion mounting, John countered, “I’m not hurt. I lost control for a moment but I didn’t injure myself.”

“That- that’s not-- ” Riley stopped themself, a hand pressing itself to their mouth as they squinted at him in... frustration? Discomfort? The expression was hard to read. “I don’t mean physical injury. But you-- you really do seem like you’re okay. Are you okay? Really?”

Feeling out of his depth, John shifted his weight in his seat, aborting that motion with a slight wince as the chair creaked again. “I’m fine. Really.” As long as your furniture doesn’t fall apart underneath me.

He watched with slight trepidation as Riley mulled that over, only relaxing when they did. Though he had to admit, baffling as it was, it was very clear that Riley did care about John’s wellbeing, just as Mochou and Sampoorna did. It was... nice. Good, even. In fact, he liked it quite a bit. Enough that a small warmth had nestled behind his breastbone and threatened to make him smile.

It was very odd, and he found he liked that too.

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it. And I’ll keep my promise, I’ll always ask your permission before cameras happen!” They smiled again, before looking at John’s chocolate, reminding him of its presence.

Taking the mug in hand John lifted it to his face, taking a moment to just inhale the rich, velvet scent.

“Do you like marshmallows or cinnamon or anything? And I made it with milk, is that okay? Bugger, should’ve asked ahead of time.” Riley laughed nervously, a tad more boisterously than Mochou had. “I’m not great at this, am I?”

Blinking from his brief, heady stupor, John tried to wrap his head around what Riley was saying. “Milk is fine.” He answered eventually, not sure what to do with the rest of their words.

“Okay! Right, cool, that’s good.” After a brief silence, Riley picked up their own mug and took a gulp, pointedly not making eye contact.

John sipped his more reservedly, savouring the sweetness, that unique flavour that could only be described as chocolate. It was smooth, too, not gritty or dilute, but not so thick as to clog his throat. (The only thing John had to go by was his expectations, but he felt certain this was the best he’d ever had.) He indulged in a deeper draught that damn near sent him straight to nirvana before he heard Riley’s voice again.

“So... I’m guessing they didn’t find anything to help through the hospital tests?”

He shook his head.

Riley nodded thoughtfully in response, chewing the inside of their cheek. “Guess we’re trying Chatternet then?”

He nodded.

It was like flipping a switch. Suddenly all of the anxiety and awkwardness of the past day evaporated and Riley launched into brainstorming. A quick rundown of their usual vid routine, pros and cons of making a separate vid dedicated to John or adding him to a standard one, whether or not they should open or close with John’s appearance or stick it in the middle like an ad. They barely paused for nearly twenty minutes. John drank his hot chocolate and listened intently. Riley clearly knew what they were doing.

Once again, it was a much smaller group than usual for the New Start Crew’s vid today. Riley sat on the couch at stage right, smiling brightly (but, visible to the eagle-eyed, unusually tense). Mochou sat at stage left, smiling more gently but noticeably distracted from the camera.

Sat in between them, dead centre, was an unfamiliar behemoth. Many of the viewers likely drew the connection between this terrifying stranger and The Man Found In The Garage from the previous vid, but many more would be either oblivious or too dumbstruck to think. He was a pretty striking visual.

He also looked ready to bolt, sat ramrod-straight and wide-eyed. Mochou had her arm wrapped around one of his own, though he could probably pull it right off her body, and kept rubbing soothing circles on his bicep.

“Good evening, Crewsters.” Riley began, more subdued than usual.

Fortunately, Mochou’s adorably chipper, “Hello!” was per the norm.

The stranger said nothing at all.

“We’ve got a bit of catching up to do,” Riley continued, “so we’re gonna try and finish up Chromachase today, though we’ll be sad to see it go, and then we’re gonna drag this into the night by starting on the much-requested Honour Emergency, which I for one am stoked about. We sure took our time getting to that one! It’s probably like 99% off to download by now.”

Mochou giggled at the joke, but other than that the eerie quietude persisted.

“But first, we’ve got a bit of an announcement-- and a request for assistance.” Turning slightly toward the stranger, they gently placed a hand on his arm. “This is John No-Last-Name-Given. Not because he won’t let us have it, but because he doesn’t know it.”

Finally, Mochou spoke up. “John has retrograde amnesia and cannot consciously remember anything about himself. DNA testing at the hospital brought up nothing, so we’re asking you instead.” Her arm tightened around John’s, and he didn’t react. (If he weren’t visibly breathing he wouldn’t look alive at all.)

“Please, if anyone who is watching knows John’s face? If you are his friend, his family, work colleague, anything; if you know him, please contact us. Anyone-- anything-- that can help John find his identity again is invaluable. Thank you.”

A look was shared between Mochou and Riley, then the former gave two firm pats to John’s arm. In the next instant, almost too fast to see, John had removed himself from Mochou’s grip and left the camera’s view entirely.

Briefly startled, Mochou quickly stood to follow, her voice fading as she apparently left the room. “That was really good John, you were really brave...”

“Right!” Riley clapped their hands, not quite back to their usual enthusiasm but smiling much more genuinely. “If you’ll bear with me for a moment, I’ll get Chromachase loaded up from our last save as the rest of us get in here, and so help me God I will get past that fucking vortex if it’s the last thing I do!”

#halo #camera shy #anyone know this john doe?#john 117 #master chief

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thegreyreylo · 6 years

Text

Just Breathe Chapter 5

RATING: MATURE

Sample:

We can’t seriously start this off by fighting.

“No, you are right. We shouldn’t fight.” He spoke, finally meeting my gaze. Surprise must’ve been written all over my face because he clarified, “Yeah, I heard that through the Force bond.”

“Oh.” What the hell was I supposed to say to that.

He smirked briefly, and with a trembling bare hand he carefully pulled a single strand of hair from my eyes and tucked it behind my ears.

“So Scavenger, what did you want to talk through?”

Pushy, wannabe Sith lord, asshole –

“No, Ben, you aren’t joining me.” This wasn’t a particularly a conversation she wanted to have while sitting alone on the Millennium Falcon. Her heart was broken in so many different ways, and the last thing she wanted to do was break it more. Of course she wanted him to be here, she had flown straight into his arms the moment she saw his future. But they wanted different things for the future of, well, essentially the galaxy.

Rey, you are absolutely not sitting alone on a planet where you just got attacked –

But most importantly, he was being an ass at the moment.

-so you will tell me where the hell you are right now.

I snapped. “I cannot deal with this right now, ok? I’ve told you no, the answer is no. So stop!” His shock and disdain boiled in to my mind.

“Rey, I –”, anger flared from within me, it was like a taunt cord being cleanly cut with how fast the force bond snapped shut.

Huffing, I kicked off my boots and threw myself on to my cot. The silence of the ship stung for a moment. I guess I could have one of the triple bunks if I wanted, or even the one in the lounge, since no one else was on board. General Leia’s conflicted face would forever be burned in to my memory. One of the only admirable women I had met in my life seemed so disappointed in me. She loved her son, but she didn’t trust him. My isolation was my own choice this time after I heard the volley of insults the remains of the Resistance had for him.

He’s manipulating you.

He’s on the dark side.

There is no saving him.

No one understood that he had a choice in who he was going to be. Ben had been there more for me in the last few days than anyone else had in my life. Chewie always had my back, but even he chose to go with the Resistance. Finn cared for me but it wasn’t enough to protect the both of us from isolation. It was clearly as long as I communicated with him that I needed to be on the outside, for the sake of the Resistance.

I felt disposable.

I felt like I was on Jakku.

Where nothing I said or did made a difference, I had expectations to meet and harsh punishments when I didn’t. Even in the Resistance, my choices just put me in to a box full of new expectations and duties to the cause. Ben and I didn’t have choices, everything was made for us and the most we could do was control the collateral damage. We were both alone because they were told who we were going to be. Even now, being bonded to Kylo Ren essentially painted my future in the eyes of everyone. Oh, Finn had looked at me with caution in his eyes even though he stood next to me. He could’ve said everything in the world to make it feel like nothing had changed, but that caution never left his eyes. I was alone again.

But I didn’t have to be, Ben was willing to be here for me.

There was just so many things they needed to figure out. She did not want to rule the galaxy, she just wanted to stop the murders. His whole mentality was heart breaking. Kill the past.

Sighing, I carefully undressed and scrubbed the bits of makeup off my face. I didn’t need any reminders of what I had lost when I woke up in the morning. Tomorrow I would have to figure out where I was going to stay. Rose offered to send suggestions in the morning for some place centrally located. Tears brewed in my eyes and I just couldn’t handle any more today. I found a place, and lost it just as fast.

“How dare she think she could-“

Stopping mid-sentence in case she was somehow listening still. Her guards were clearly up but her agility at closing the bond was surprising. I clearly had pissed Rey off and I wasn’t going to lie, she pissed me off too. She goes on and on about bloody being there for each other and when I offer to come to her immediate aid she refuses. I wanted to be with this bloody woman and she could care less.

Pacing around my ship seemed pointless and wasn’t getting rid of my desire to rip things to shreds.

I just needed to talk to her, so I guess I was at a point where I was just going to have to wait. She clearly wasn’t going to be pushed into seeing me, so I might as well just sit my ass my down and wait for her to come to her senses. Disappointment came over me. Every time I wanted something for Rey it was like I was proposing the worst idea in the world. I was disregarded and it ignited a rage unlike any other.

Flicking back to the moments before she rhetorically shut a door on me, again, I decided that maybe she didn’t like how commanding I had become. Authority is a natural attitude for me when I’m in a fight. I was fighting for her, but regardless it still came out. Rey was not one to bend to authority, she despised it which is something I fully related too. Maybe I just needed to give her space? Letting things go was not my forte in the slightest but it’s all I could do.

I could also try apologizing, but I was too exhausted to even think about that. How in the hell would I even do that? What would I even apologize for? Caring?

The co-pilot chair was in smoldering pieces by the time I calmed my mind.

I would apologize for pushing and commanding her. That’s all I could manage right now.

I considered going back to base, but it felt wrong. Even though there were far more things I could destroy, I needed space from the turmoil of the First Order. Briefly, I checked in with General Hux who gave me virtually no update. After another hour of pacing and checking the force bond to no avail, I decided to try to rest. Slouched in my cock pit chair, it was uncomfortable to say the least but at least I would be at the controls in case Rey got back to me.

Women were bloody complicated.

I had only been asleep for few hours when I woke up completely startled.

My instincts flared, feeling like I had an invader on my ship. I was saber-less, but I armed my blaster and carefully cleared each room and the perimeter. It was an all-clear and yet I was disappointed that there was no one there. Actually, that’s wrong. I was disappointed it wasn’t Ben, because my heart wanted and needed him here after everything that had just happened. I wanted him and my pride was getting in the way.

I took a steady breath and tried to think things through.

It was almost dawn by the time I settled on what I was going to ask Ben to do. I got to watch the sun rise for the first time over the lush green of a sprawling forest. A wave of peace fell over me, despite being absolutely terrified about what I was about to attempt.

The tug was clear and strong for once.

“Ben?”

Clearly he was asleep, his face void of the constant worry and conflict lines and a light snore rising from him. His hair was a genuine wreck and I had no idea how he slept like that without throwing his back out. I couldn’t help but smile, he looked human for once.

Crossing the room and kneeling down, I couldn’t help but trace the scar running along his face. Regret struck me hard in the gut, this beautiful man was forever maimed by my own hand and would have to see that jagged line for the rest of his life. At my touch he jolted awake, flying backwards a foot before his eyes adjusted.

“Ben! I’m sorry, it’s just me. I’m sorry.” I whispered, not having a clue where he was it was probably for the best to remain quiet.

His eyes dilated for a moment, and all of a sudden his whole body slumped with relaxation.

“Rey” he breathed.

This was easily the best way I’d ever been woken up in my life.

I started apologizing immediately for being an ass earlier, “Rey, I’m sorry that-“

“I’m sorry-“

We smiled at each other. Her entire face lit up and practically pounced on me as she tried to touch my face. “You smiled! You smiled for real Ben!”

I caught her hands and lowered them from my face, I might be completely obsessed with this girl but no one has touched my face… in well a long time. But I couldn’t ask myself to let go of her hands. In fact, I would’ve loved it if she would just climb in to my lap. Her smile didn’t fade at all, nor did the light she exuded. Huffing, “Yes, my face does contort in that shape.”

With a smirk she squeezed my hands, “Oh thank the Force.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rolling my eyes, I was still reeling that she had let the bond open again. I decided if we were going to have another blow up fight, we might as well get to it so we can get it over with. “Rey, I’m sorry for being pushy-“

“Oh yes, you were absolutely pushy… But I shouldn’t have shut you out either.”

That was surprising. She didn’t give me a chance to reply before continuing.

“Ben, I want to physically see you. I’m not sure about the logistics, but we need to meet on a neutral planet. Possibly Ach-to? We have to talk through everything, and that’s probably going to be a mess but I don’t want to be alone-“

I couldn’t let her continue, “Send me the coordinates and I’ll be there as soon as possible. I’m already in my personal ship.”

She breathed, relief flooding every square inch of her face. She was beautiful.

“Are you sure? I mean, aren’t you running the First Order at this point? I don’t know how long I will be alone for, or even how long I’m asking you to stay.” Nervousness crept in to her voice and she began to break eye contact.

I squeezed her hands, “Irrelevant.”

A blush crept through her freckles, she nodded and released my hands to cross a room. She rummaged for a minute before asking for several various pieces of communication information from me. A message appeared on my ships dash.

Coordinates.

She trusted me enough to give me the coordinates to Ach-to. I didn’t know how to feel.

“I’ll see you there.” Rey whispered, a small smile on her face as the bond crackled away.

Being on Ach-too again was unsettling, especially now that Luke was gone.

I had only been landed for about an hour when I spotted a dark and foreboding ship approaching. Two porgs next to me squawked in fear and fluttered back to their cliff-side nests. Fear, nervousness, anxiety, excitement, longing, everything you could imagine ran like an electric current through me. Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely still mad at Ben Solo for thinking he could command me to do anything.

I was still excited to actually see him.

Taking off, I jogged down the stairs to meet him on the beach. He had landed next to the Millennium Falcon. This was one long ass stair case, so I hadn’t even made it half way down when he carefully disembarked looking on guard as he looked around. The moment he spotted me, he straightened up and swallowed hard.

He was so damn tall.

Ben’s stride covered twice the ground as mine, and we met at the end of the stair case. His dark eyes glittered even with the blue and purple circles under them. His hair had been hastily patted in to shape and his tunic was clearly worn for several days. But none of that trumped the look of pure anxiety that crossed his face. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“Could you have picked a place with a smaller stair case?”

Relief washed over me and I couldn’t help but smile. “Probably, but it’s quiet here. It’s where the Jedi belong.”

His eyes dipped for a moment away from me, and he carefully scanned the beach front. “Is that so?” Ben’s voice was controlled, but guarded.

“That means you belong here.”

“Does it?”

We can’t seriously start this off by fighting.

“Oh.” What the hell was I supposed to say to that.

He smirked briefly, and with a trembling bare hand he carefully pulled a single strand of hair from my eyes and tucked it behind my ears.

“So Scavenger, what did you want to talk through?”

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blissfulbathroom · 3 years

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