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little-dragon-stories · 4 years

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King chapter 15&16

Your life changed completely when from a slave, you became a spy for the king. Will you be able to help him in his fight against slavery before it’s too late and the threat hanging over him comes true?In this society where love comes after fortune, will your mutual affection be able to flourish?

Royal au fic pairing female reader and Kwon JiYong

Feat: YoungBae, TaeHyung, MinHo and SeoJoon (just because I had their face in mind when I pictured their character)

W.C: 4910

Warnings: mention of sexual agression. Angst. A little fight

Disclaimer: Everything in this story is fictional. There is no research to be politically accurate or to fit a certain period of time or place. In one word, it’s all invented.

Note: Oh guys... this serie is coming to an end. You have no idea how many hours i’ve been working on this serie. I write, erase, rewrite. Change a sentence, change a word. Come back to the previous sentence.

I tried hard to create a story with deep and strong characters. Something historical at the image of those K-Dramas that I love to watch so much. I hope you loved it.

I’m really sad to say goodbye to my characters, I love them very much.

So, after this upload, one last upload (or 2, depending if I include the epilogue on it or not).

Take care yall.

Also, Thank you princess, once again. Love you.

Chapter 15

It took exactly 1 hour for JiYong to come and talk to you but it seemed an eternity for him.

“We thought it wasn’t a good idea to bring her in your quarters, Majesty. Your son and wife are there and they could have asked questions. We figured that the important thing was for her not to escape and...”

“Can you just tell me where she is?” he ordered, impatient to get to you.

“We took her to the stable, Cheon Ha”

“Where she could steal a horse and run away. That was very clever” Exasperated, he pinched the bridge of his nose before he left. He ran faster than he could. He knew your intention was good but there is no way he could ever let you go back on the plantation. Ever since he received that missive from Jang MinHo, he tried so hard to find a solution that would preserve everyone’s happiness. He will succeed. He has no choice but to succeed.

“Where is she?” he asked the first guard he noticed when he entered the stable.

“She’s locked in the last box, she can’t escape, don’t worry Cheon Ha, she is not trying to do anything” he answered, bowing.

He was torn between the fear that you managed to outsmart the guards and the confidence that he had in your judgment. Knowing how thoughtful you were, you would have normally waited to have an explanation with him before taking a decision, he believes that. But you weren’t in your normal state right now right now and you could act on a whim. But most of all, he was scared that to be held in a stable would remind you of the traumatic conditions you suffered at the plantation and that you could feel traumatised again. It killed him inside, the only time he saw you all fragile and in a mental breakdown.

In fact, your mind was totally blank. Seeing MinHo had awakened all sorts of souvenirs, encrusted in your body. Alone in the box, you were suddenly hurt everywhere in your body this man had ever hurt you in the past. A ghost-like pain, some pain that you never thought you would feel ever again. Your skin was itching, your guts twisting and you wanted to throw up with the sudden pressure on your throat. Everywhere that man had forced himself inside of you, burned like fire.

Dozed out and on the merge to faint, you didn’t hear JiYong coming in. When the door of the box opened, you looked in its direction and saw him without realising who he was, where you were. You were trying to deal with the physical pain you knew was not real. Sitting on the ground with your knees up under your chin. Your arms were wrapped around yourself and you kept rocking back and forth in order to appease yourself.

“Y/n, love, please talk to me… Can I come closer? I don’t want to scare you.” when he looked at you, it seemed like your mind had left your body. You seemed lifeless, blank. Far from the strong and fierce woman that had left his executive room only an hour ago.

“JiYong?” you called his name, like if you were saying a prayer. This name, his voice only resonates with warm and tender feelings.

“Yes love, I’ll come by your side”.

You felt a warm coat lying on your shoulders. It was YoungBae who was trying, as best he could, to help you.

JiYong sat close to you. He knew where your emotions came from. How could it be different, you were just placed in front of a man who assaulted, raped you for so long. Plus, you had just learned about the deal MinHo tried to make. Of course, you would quail. He trusted you, the bond that linked you. Together, you’ll fight those demons. For now, there was something he needed to do so that your mind and body would calm down. Only then, you will be able to listen to him about the deal. So he did.

“Shhhh” he grabbed your both wrists and drew you to him. When your body collapsed against his, his arms encircled you, holding you as tight as he could. Your body was tense up against his and you started to hit his back, not sure what was going on. Mostly scared and panicking.

“Love, it’s ok. Everything’s gonna be alright.” You tried to push him, you didn’t want him to see you like that. But he knew you were out of your mind and that in fact, you were just scared. He knew he was able to calm you down. He held you even tighter, his delicate but yet strong hand maintaining your head against his chest by the nape of your neck. A soft touch that had worked, calming you down already. It has to work again.

“You are safe my love. No one's gonna hurt you. I’m here with you, you’re not alone in this”.

“But it hurts! It hurts so much”, you said, trembling.

He looked at you, scrituzing you to make sure you were not really hurt anywhere. He couldn’t find anything visible.

“Where does it hurt? Where?” he asked, anxious.

“I can’t say it out loud… it’s intimate” you answered, noticing YoungBae’s presence. “My throat hurts. I feel like I have something stuck in my throat and I want to throw up” you said, thinking it was acceptable to say it out loud. But the men understood what it was about. YoungBae stepped out to leave JiYong and you, the intimacy you needed at this very moment.

“I see…” He paused for a moment. The fear he had of seeing your memories revived and haunting you again was now real, before him. He would never have wanted you to face Minho again. He would have given everything to avoid this ordeal. But the damage was done.

“Love, it’s not a real pain. You remember what that jerk had done to you. That’s all. You are safe. I’ll never let anything like that happen to you, ever again.”

His soft voice tone, his arms, more than his words, calmed you down, briefly. You grabbed his robe and held yourself on it, to keep your balance. You were no longer trying to fight him, he had won a little battle. He went on, trying to appease you as best he could. Feeling your body a little less tense, he knew that he was on the right track. But, realising what was happening, you lost it.

“Ji… Ji… Why? Why did this happen to me? Why did he choose me? Why? You are the king and still you always ask my permission before you kiss me. You always make sure I’m feeling good when you would be the only person in the kingdom who had the right to take me and throw me away after use. But still, you ask for my permission each time we make love. What makes him think that I was available? I asked him to stop. I said no! I did! But he didn’t care. The more I said no, the more I got hurt. Why?”

Your sobs and screams could be heard by the royal guards present in the stable, the men you have travelled with. YoungBae leaned against the door and let a few tears roll down his cheeks. He looked at the guards around him, all of them had their chin down, overwhelmed.

JiYong instinctively knew that you were not waiting for a real answer. That you only needed to cry and let this anger out. So he let you do. He let you ask why again and again and again. He let you say how much you had tried to fight. He let you scream and yell and cry until you calm down and that your sobs stopped. He held you the whole time, telling you that you were safe. Helplessly reminding you that you will no longer have to suffer that kind of treatment. That no one will, not under his reign. He held you close to his heart the whole time, shredding tears along with you until you had no more tears.

A moment passed, you were in his arms. Calm but mostly out of energy, you stayed in his protective embrace for a while, holding onto his royal robe. Until you remembered. You remembered everything that happened in the executive room in a split second. You stood up and started to walk in circles, under his surprised gaze. You changed your mood in a split second. From angry against MinHo, you became angry against him.

You rushed towards him, your little fists up in the air, ready to attack. When YoungBae saw you, moved by a protective reflex, he wanted to walk towards you but JiYong blocked him with his arm, shaking his head ‘no’.

“Leave us alone, please. We need to talk. She will never hurt me, don’t worry”

“Are you sure, Cheon Ha?” he was hesitant to let the king with you. You were already on JiYong, hitting his chest like with all the strength you had left. He didn’t flinch under your assaults. Unaware of the exchange the men were having, too angry to notice, you charged.

“You lied to me, you said you trusted me and you said you loved me. But yet, you lied. And you didn’t let me save my friends”

YoungBae moved back, leaving the two of you alone.

“You lied to me… Let me go to the plantation, I need to save my friends. Let me go, I beg you”

JiYong was not impressed by your excess of anger but he deeply cared about your feelings.

“I’ll never let you go back there, it was never an option, love. Never. This part of your life is over. You still carry the effects of this within you, but it is over for good. Also, baby MiNa and HyunSa will be here shortly, love”.

“What?”

“There is no need for you to go back there, we are changing the law together, remember? They will soon be free, in a way or another”.

“I didn’t remember… I forgot”

“Yeah, I could have tell, when I saw your reaction in the executive room. I tried to give you a hint but you were too shocked”.

The pain that was still an open wound, it came out like an uproar from your throat in the form of a silent scream this time. You had completely forgotten about that law. You would have fell on your knees if JiYong wouldn't have held you in place, firmly against him. But you were losing strength and so did he. He lifted you in his arms and brought you in hay where he sat you across his legs. You wrapped your arms around his neck, you had given up already, having no energy left to fight. Also, you felt that you could trust him. That there was certainly an explanation. You needed to trust him. The man that you love.

“JiYong, you’re sure they will be coming back?” you stuttered.

“I’m working really hard on it. I know they are alive, I know they are healthy. You’ll have to trust your man more” he tried to lighten the atmosphere, cracking a modest smile.

“... and… I will get to stay with you? I won’t be separate from you?”

“I will never let that happen. Never. You are mine, and I am yours. Forever. At least, until you don’t want me anymore”.

Your muffled sobs wracked against his neck. The idea of being separate from him, it was unbearable.

“It’s ok, love. Let it out. You’re safe with me. Let it out…”

He let you cry, again for a moment. You were unable to stop the tears from falling down your eyes, drenching your clothes. When loud sobs teared from your throat, his lips trembled and his shoulders heaved with emotion. To hear you cry like that was the saddest thing he ever heard. And today, it seemed like you were crying the tears you’ve been holding back all your life.

“It’s ok, love… cry as long as you need. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I am… I was torned Ji. I don’t want to let go but I want my friends to be free…”

“I know…

“In the executive room, I thought… I’d… lose you forever. But I wanted… to save… them” you said, between the sobs.

“I know, I know… But you are stuck with me” he rubbed your back tenderly.

You wept, pressed against his chest, clinging to him as if you were going to lose him. Time seemed to stop, on your two entwined bodies. He, too, needed to hang on to you. It's like he had his blood run cold when he saw you walking towards MinHo. Even though he knew he had all the powers to keep you from going, he was afraid of losing you nevertheless.

“Thank you” you said, between two sobs. “I love you, JiYong. I love you so much”.

“I love you too” he answered, overwhelmed.

There were still unanswered questions but for now, you knew what you needed to know. Your friends will be safe and you’ll stay with your man.

When YoungBae called for the king, later, he obtained no answer. He listened carefully, trying to hear the slightest sound. Not getting a hint of what was happening, he walked over to the box. He found both of you asleep on the hay. You, seated on your king, embraced and in each other's arms, clinging onto each other.

“Finally” he sighted, relieved.

Chapter 16

It’s the heat that woke you up, somehow in the evening. Smells of horse dung, hay and mud rose to your nose. You were on JiYong’s legs, clinging to him, ankylosed. He was sitting on the ground, on a pile of hay. He didn’t seem comfortable at all, with his back leaned against the wooden wall. Wanting to stifle these foul smells, you hid your nose in his neck and breathed fully. His smell comforted you briefly. A quick look around taught you his guards had lit lamps in case you woke up. It was probably the night shift watching over you, now.

Your head was hurting from the crying. As you thought about what had happened, you suddenly remembered a slight detail, which you did not touch yesterday. A little mad, you flicked JiYong’s forehead to wake him up.

“Wake up, sleepyhead” you told him as you shook his shoulders.

He barely opened an eyelid and did not move a single muscle.

“Is everything alright? You’re okay?”

You got off his thighs and sat in front of him. His eyes were open, but his mind was still clouded with sleep.

“Kwon JiYong, I need an explanation”.

“... in the middle of the night? Yah!” he laid down on his back, trying to go back to sleep.

“Yes, in the middle of the night. You’ll get back to sleep after. For now, I need to know why you lied to me. Why have you lied about the deal MinHo tried to set with you”.

‘Love, where is that energy coming from? It can wait, come back to sleep, we’ll talk tomorrow morning”.

When he closed his eyes you came closer to him and poke his side.

“No, I need to understand now. Wake up!”

“You are so stubborn sometimes,” he mumbled, annoyed. He sat down, defeated. You lifted your chin up before you told him:

“I can tell that the lack of sleep doesn’t suit you well. A little short temper, are we?”

He sighted and patted the hay beside him. When you took place, he grabbed his knees and put his chin on them, looking into your eyes. You let him collect his thoughts for a moment.

“I’m gonna say this first. I’m not happy with you, disobeying my orders openly, in front of the royal guards and other staff members. Of course, I understand where it comes from and will let it pass. But, you made me in a bad position earlier and I didn’t appreciate it. I would like it better, if you don’t do that, ever again”. He had a calm but directive tone.

“Have I defy your orders?”

“Yes. In the middle of the executive room, on front of all my guards, I told you to go back in the study room. I gave you the order but you didn’t obey. When we are there, you have to obey me, love. Because otherwise, I might lose my authority”.

“Oh, that! Yes, I remember now. For that, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to defy your orders, it was not the plan. I was just...”

“I know, I know”

He paused and took his time, choosing his words carefully.

“About the deal… Technically, I never lied to you”

“Don’t you dare play that card with me. I was there, when you explained to your son what a lie by omission is, therefore you know what it is. You know you did it. You never told me that MinHo had tried to make a deal with you. I was the main object of the deal, I should have known. Therefore, you lied to me”

“Love, you never asked anything about your friends. I was never placed in a position I had to lie in, I just avoided the question”.

“I had in my power to make my friend’s family reunited and you didn’t let me. How dare you? It was not your decision to make. It was mine. I am not a slave anymore but you decided for me nevertheless. I should have been the one who decided for my own life”.

You were mad but mostly, disappointed. In your mind, the man that told you he loved you didn’t trust you enough to talk about something important, something that implied you. You were deceived that he didn’t trust you enough.

“Y/n, listen to me please. I received the missive only 5 days after your arrival. We weren’t close back then and...”

“You should have told me the...”

“Stop talking and start listening, would you?” He implored, irritated because you were not listening well. “My first impression, when I received the missive, I thought you were in a romantic relationship together. Obviously, a violent one. You were the only slave out of the three that came to the palace in a bad condition physically”.

You didn’t talk, patiently waiting for him to go on.

“I went to meet you in the garden the same day I received the letter. The chief gardener told me you had fainted, exhausted and that you were sent back to your room. Your previous work conditions had left traces in your body and you had reached your limits. I didn’t want to bother you. I made sure you wouldn’t work too much, I ordered the gardener to give you the lightest tasks so you could rest. I knew that you wouldn’t accept to stay in bed. Then I went to meet SeoJoon and TaeHyung”

It was true, when you arrived at the palace, your body had reached a breaking point. You were dehydrated, sick, you had bruises all over and you were mentally about to crack. Mostly, the lack of sleep was killing you. Having to work like every other slave during the day and to “assist’ MinHo at night had been exhausting. You were having no time to rest, basically. Luckily, a guardian angel has entered your life, in the form of an authoritarian and short temper king.

“You were protecting me, even before we were friends” you exclaimed, touched.

“Of course, I was. I felt responsible about what was happening at the Jang plantation. I needed to take care of you”

“It was not your fault. Tell me now, what have you told Tae and Seo?” you came back to the topic.

“I didn’t tell them about the letter, I didn’t think it was their decision to make. No man should be put in a position to choose between the woman he considers his little sister and his beloved wife and daughter. I didn’t want them to have this decision on their conscience. I only asked them a question”. He stopped, lost in his thoughts.

“What question?”

“I asked them if they thought there was something or someone waiting for you at the plantation. If you had a good reason to go back or had manifested the desire to go back.”

He took a deep breath in and smiled.

“You know what? SeoJoon was able to guess what it was really about. He’s really intelligent. He has all my respect”

“I’m not surprised, he’s very observant”

“He said he knew I was asking because MinHo had probably tried to have you back on the plantation. He knelt before me and begged me never to let you go back there, that it would be like signing your death warrant. That I should never give in to any manipulation MinHo would use. I had my answer. I knew I couldn’t save one without sacrificing the other. But this is not what I wanted to do. I wanted to save you all”.

“Still, I’m the one you should have asked”.

“Did you listen to me? You’re really stubborn, are you? You’re the first one I wanted to talk to. But you were in such a bad situation physically and mentally that I didn’t want you to worry about that. Do you remember the first time we met? It was the day I brought you here. It was a warm summer night but you were cold as if we were in the middle of winter. You were about to crumble, your fatigue was so obvious. You had only skin on your bones and bruises everywhere. You were shaking from fear as soon as someone was talking. You were so fragile but strong at the same time. I told you to sit in front of me on the horse because this way, I would be able to prevent you from falling down on the ground if you’d faint”

“And you had put a blanket on my shoulders, I remember falling asleep on the horse. I was relieved. I felt safe with you” you told him, smiling tenderly.

“Later, when we start to work on translating the documents together, I was completely in love with you and I wanted to protect you from the situation even more”

“I understand that you wanted to protect me. I get that. But, why do I feel like you didn’t trust me enough?

“Love… please… You know I trust you. I would put my life in your hands and be able to sleep peacefully. It’s not a lack of trust. I actually put the kingdom security in your hands with those documents you had to translate. I always trusted you. I only tried my best to keep you away from the pain and keep everyone safe. Don’t you think that you have suffered enough?”

It was true. JiYong let you translate documents that, if they had been placed in the wrong hands, could have started a war with Japan. He left you alone in his office, surrounded by law and administrative documents, taxes, court judgments. Everything was kept in his study room. Most of all, he let you take care of the prince, the apple of his eyes. It was true that he had placed his trust in you, without even really knowing you. It was immature of you to think otherwise,

You got up and came to stand in front of the small screened window. The moon was completely hidden behind the heavy clouds, making the night very dark. JiYong stood up and came behind you. His hands clasped on your waist and timidly stayed there. But you needed his protective arms around you. Your hands rested on his and you crossed them on your stomach. You leaned your back against him, serene. You felt the warmth of his breath when he sighed in your neck as his thumbs traced soothing circles on your stomach.

“I’m sorry JiYong. You proved me more than once that you trust me.”

“It’s okay, I understand. But, I want you to reflect on something else. If the roles were reversed, would you have tried to protect me too?”

“I would have, for sure. I would do everthing to protect you from being hurt… You have a good point”

You paused.

“But also… I don’t want to appear like I’m stubborn or not comprehensive… I’m grateful that you love and care for me. I feel protected and loved and desired and I cannot ask for more. But at the same time, I was a slave ever since I was a kid, JiYong… I never had the chance to think and take decisions for my own self. I never could choose my own meal or clothes. Everything was imposed on me. The freedom to choose my own destiny, you’re the one who mirrored it for me. I wish I would be involved in such decisions, next time. Okay? I’m sorry I sound stubborn.”

“Love… don’t be sorry. I understand where it comes from. From now on, I promise I’ll do my best to involve you if I have to take a decision that involves you”.

You laughed and nudged his side.

“I don’t love your choice of words, Mister Kwon. You’ll do your best, right ? What a vague promise. Such a political answer!”

He laughed too, happy and relieved to have the real you, back with him.

“... of all the women in the kingdom, I had to fall in love with the most intelligent one, damn it!…” he teased.

“I forgive you. Because I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. I know you tried to save me from going there. Some other king could have just accepted the deal without questioning it. You saved my life twice, now”.

“I did,” he beamed, proudly kissing you in the neck.

“It’s almost like if you were my guardian angel”

“You’re the angel, my love. Not me.” he yawned loudly and you felt him lose balance on your back.

“We should go back to sleep in your room, my angel king” you said, lovingly.

“Aaaaw, I love that you call me that, it makes me flustered” his cheeks become red from shyness. Like if he was hit by the thunder, he suddenly turned you around by the shoulders. He had round and big eyes and seemed excited.

“I just had the best idea ever. Such a good idea that you won’t say no. You cannot say no. I don’t want you to say no. But I’m gonna ask, since it’s also your decision to make and… But don’t say no please” he seemed nervous.

“What is it??? you looked at him suspicious.

“Love. What about you come and live with me, not just temporarily. Come and live in my apartments, with me” he said, lifting a cocky brow.

“What?’”

“I would like my quarters to become ours. I would like it to be our little nest. It hit me when you said ‘your room”.

Speechless, you just stared at him.

“But… I… the…”

“Imagine it love. You, returning to your room. Alone in your small and cold bed. Me, all alone in my quarters, looking at the walls and longing for you. Everything in my room would make me remember you. Your odor on my bed but you nowhere to be found. Why be miserable when we can be together?”

“Just wash your bedding, my king” you teased.

“Oh! The sassiness!” he said, smiling widely.

“What would people say, if I’d live with you? What would your wife say? Chan? Your staff?”

“I don’t really care about their opinion to be honest. I only care about ours, on that matter. Do you want to wake up with me every single morning? To fall asleep in my arms every single night? To share your meals with me? To bath with me every day? I want this garden that you love so much, to become yours. Our. I want to come back to our home at night, after a tiring day. But… well, what you want is important too. Would you like to be living in my quarters?”

“Ji, I don’t want to live in your quarters. But I want to live with you. If it’s in a small little house in the village, it would be fine for me. Even a box in a stable would be fine to be honest. I’m not asking for a lot. But living with you, yes. To share my life and dreams with you, yes. Wherever you live, I’ll be gladly living too”

“Why are you so perfect?” he said between kisses. “Let’s move in,” he declared, touched and relieved.

“You love me that much?” you were overwhelmed. You knew he loved you. You knew it was not an impulsive feeling, that your relation had built slowly the more you got to know each other. But he was the king of Korea and you, a former slave. You were still amazed that this powerful man chose you.

“I love you even more than that. Let’s go finish that night in OUR room”

#Kwon Jiyong #Kwon Ji Yong #Bigbang #Bigbang Gd #Kwon Jiyong serie #Kwon jiYong scenario #Kwon JiYong fanfic #G dragon #Gdragon fanfic #Gdragon serie #G Dragon scenario #G dragon Serie #Fluff #angst #GD fluff #Gd angst #Gd serie #Gd scenario #Gd ff

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im-hqlover · 4 years

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Weekly Update Post.

(Okay, doing this a second time because tumblr bugged, I hope it works now.)

Soooo, I decided that I will do an update post every week, reporting on the status of what I'm writing, along with a little spoiler of what I've already written, so, spoiler alert!

As you can see I have written a lot of things, but my problem is that somehow i can't get some of my ideas down on paper, because of that i'm writing several things at the same time, but it comes to a point that i just don't know how to unfold the story, and this is annoying me a lot. I hope you understand why I haven't posted anything recently.

Arkham Knight (AK) - Chapter 2

Words written so far: 1473

Status: Last edition 40 days ago / Very hard written block / Hiatus / I may have to rewrite this

Spoiler:

- Baby, I'm going to have to go back to Bludhaven.

- Can I go with you? - I asked him while turning off my cell phone and paying attention to him.

- No, you better stay here, it's safer.

- But-

- No, you will stay here, it is the best, and you know it. - He approaches me and I get up from the couch and stand in front of him.

- Okay… just be careful.

- I promise. - He takes my hand and kisses it softly, he always did that when he promised me something. - I'll be back tomorrow, okay?

Arranged marriage/Royal AU (AM/RAU) - Chapter 4

Words written so far: 2693

Status: Last edition a week ago (or are there two? I don't remember)/ Writing block / Little hiatus / May I need to rewrite.

Spoiler: I had my suspicions that this was supposed to be a gift from Jason, since he was the only option for me to have left a gift on our bed, but why would he give me a gift? Maybe I was wrong and he just left it there to deliver to someone else later.

Dinosaur Trainer (DT) - Chapter 2

Words written so far: 5827

Status: Last edition yesterday / Little Tiny Writing Block / Thinking about what the other characters would say is a very difficult task.

Spoiler:

- Owen Grady, it's nice to meet you. - He extends his hand, I shake it too and return the smile.

- It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Grady. - We pulled our hands away, and again, I don't know how I didn't stutter to answer.

- Call me Owen. - I nod, and muttered an "ok", he greeted Mr. Masrani and then the four of us sit at the round table, Simon was still sitting across from me, with Hoskins at his left side, and Owen standing between Hoskins and me. Kodi continued to lie on my left side, occasionally taking cold water from the glass bowl.

DT - Fallen Kingdom - A new life (part 2 of Mistakes)

Words written so far: 1230

Status: Last edition 3 days ago / Little Written Block

Spoiler:

- Look, Sleeping Beauty woke up. - He approached the two of us with a bag and coffee cups, I just roll my eyes at what he said and hear Maisie laugh.

- My prince charming didn't come to wake me with a kiss of true love. - I answer him by joining the game, and Owen and Maisie laugh, I try to sit up with a lot of effort, but it seems to me that I was still a little weak.

- Wait. Maisie, can you hold this for me? - He handed her the bag and the coffees, and then put a hand on my back to help me adjust. - How are you?

Outer Space is the Limit (OSitL) - Chapter 1

Words written so far: 3450

Status: Last edition 5 days ago / Little Writing Block

Spoiler:

- I am Groot! - That being on my leg raised its head looking at me with big eyes, and in a way I found it kind of cute? Okay, maybe that was weird. Peter approaches me and crouches in front of me, close to where was what it said was Groot.

- Well, it seems to me that you already knew Groot - Peter removes the small being from my leg and puts it on his shoulder, and then offers his hand which I took nervously, and then he helps me to stand again.

- I am groot! - The little one raises its hands in the air when saying its name animatedly.

There's an alien in my bed (TAB) - Chapter 1

Words written so far: 4360

Status: Last edition 4 or 5 days ago / Little Writing Block

Spoiler:

- Why the hell do you think he's gonna come because of me? - I feel my throat burn as I speak.

- Because apparently you're the only one he really cares about. - As soon as he said, more tears fell.

- If he really cared about me, he wouldn't have left me without telling me. - I whisper, saying it more to myself than to anyone else.

Ideas I had but I don't know when or if I will actually write

Passengers - Jim Preston x reader

What I have in mind: Six months after Jim Preston woke up, another hibernation capsule gave problem, y/n l/n awakens from hibernation almost 90 years before reaching Homestead II, when she woke up everything looked confused, but it got worse when she didn't see anyone there, if they were about to arrive at Homestead II, how was she the only one awake? Or she thought she was the only one awake, until she finds Jim Preston.

Back to the Wild West (BWW)- The Magnificent Seven - Joshua Faraday x reader

What I have in mind: Y/n L/n and Marty Collins are fanatical about the Back to the Future trilogy, and when the boredom of Social Isolation due to the pandemic hits them, Marty, who is a scientist, decides that he would create a time machine, of course y/n said he was crazy to think that would be possible, but he did, but then regret knocks on his door when he makes it work, that would be a mistake, they would have to destroy it, leave no trace and not let anyone know. But y/n had other plans, she wanted to go back to the wild west, just stay a day or two to see what it was like and then come back. Marty hesitantly accepted, and so they took what was needed and y/n went back to the wild west, but she ends up getting stuck there, how would she get back to her time? What wrong could happen?

PrattPack Imagines/Oneshots/Headcanons.

I'm kind of stealing the idea from @im-an-octopus where she does some headcanon about some Chris Pratt's characters, and I really wanted to do something like that, but I don't know if I'm really going to do this or when I'm going to do this, but it's been on my mind for a few days now. (And maybe accept requests from them)

Characters that would include:

Peter Quill

Owen Grady

Josh Faraday

Jim Preston

Andy Dwyer (maybe, I need to watch more Parks and Recreation to find out more about him)

Onward - Barley Lightfoot x Reader

I'm divided into three ideas, and I don’t know if I write them all or choose only one.

First: Y/n is a mermaid, coming from a special lineage with several stories, and perhaps one of the only families that continues with her ancient traditions, so she along with her father, mother and brother ended up moving away from the rest of the family and moving to Mushroom Town, but when she finds out that her family is in danger, an unknown person says that she must find two people, a wizard and a knight, she was very confused because of this, and said that wizards no longer exist, but not long after she sees a news about Ian Lightfoot she went to find him, because she believed he was who that unknown person was talking to. Maybe this will be a long journey. What surprises await for you?

(both the second and the third would happen kind of in an AU where it happens in the real world, and everyone is human)

Second: Y/n is new to the city, and is in the penultimate year of High School, she feels out of place and alone, in the beginning some people even tried to be friends with her, but when y/n realized that they were assholes she walked away and decided it was better to be alone, who needs friends, right? Everything seemed to be going well, or at least the best possible, until school literature work needed to be done in pairs, the pairs were drawn and she ended up with Barley Lightfoot, she wasn't very comfortable with that, not because of the things she had heard about him, but because she really didn't want to do that to other people, because she was afraid that she could do something and he would end up making fun of her and she would suffer again, but things were much better than she expected and maybe that was the beginning of a new friendship? Or something else?

Third: Y/n's younger brother got hooked by QoY, and because of that, he and his friends would go to an event that would take place in the city, where it would be kind of a rpg but with everyone acting and dressing properly instead of being on the board, with their father traveling, y/n is responsible for taking his brother there and waiting until everything is over, but maybe with some events the heart of y/n will end up being stolen by a handsome knight.

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sope-and-shine · 4 years

Text

Don’t Save Me, I’m Fine: Prologue

-> Pairings: Yoongi x OC // Hoseok x OC // OT7 X OC’s -> Save Me! AU // Fluff // Angst -> Word Count: 2.4k -> Summary: After finally bringing all of them together and settling the loop once and for all, the boys find themselves creating a new chapter in their lives. They rekindle friendships, form new bonds, and try to start over again with the 7 of them all together again. Everything is fine until one day of fun turns into a day that just won’t seem to end. Friends need help, but what if they don’t want it? -> Warning(s): Angst // Future mentions of death // Future mentions of suicide // Future mentions of blood, violence, and toxic relationships // Mild and vulgar language in future chapters // This story does continue where the Save Me webtoon left off, so there will be spoilers and our own interpretation of how things may have happened where the story doesn’t specify or how things may have progressed afterwords with our own characters. I do not recommend this story if any of these mentions could be harmful for you. I’d hate for someone to get into the story and then not finish if it becomes too much.

A/N: Admin Belle and I have been working on this for almost a year now, and we’re both very excited to share it with everyone. This story has gone through several plot changes, theories, and depictions of how exactly this loop will work for us. I really hope everyone likes what we’ve done! ~ Fae

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The seven boys watch the sun as it descends into the ocean, taking the weight on their shoulders with it. They spent the previous night in Jin’s empty apartment counting down the seconds, cheering in victory when April 11th turned into the 12th. Tears were shed in happiness that the timeline was back on track, and sadness for everything that they had put each other through. For the first time in what felt like forever, there was no shattering, no screams, and no one trying to pull them back. No more days spent racing the clock. No more days hoping and praying everything would be okay. The countless hours spent writing and rewriting their fates was finally done for.

They were free…

Shoulder to shoulder, sitting on the edge of a stone wall that overlooks the sea, Jimin is the first to break their comfortable silence, “What do we do now?”

“What do you mean?” Hoseok asks, lifting his head from Yoongi’s shoulder.

“Now that everything is okay, where do we go from here?” Jimin asks, playing with the ends of his sweater. It all felt too good to be true. One wrong move and the day they’d been reliving over and over again would just become another day to relive again.

“We live our lives the way we want to.” Taehyung says. His boxy smile is bright, and it’s the first one in a while that isn’t forced or fake. No more tiptoeing around his father, no more worrying for his sister’s safety, no more late nights just hoping his dad would be asleep when he arrived. The past few years have been rough for everyone, especially Jin in the last ‘few days’. Just being together like this again was like a new beginning for everyone. However, it would seem Taehyung wasn’t the only member of the group excited about the news.

“Guk, are you crying?!” Taehyung laughs. Sure enough, Jeongguk - who sits next to him - has a silly smile on his face and red rimming his eyes from where the tears had been falling silently.

“No!” The youngest protests, his voice cracking and tattling on him. He looks down to his lap and moves a hand to shield his face from the view of his elder, “I just have something in my eye…”

“Leave the kid alone.” Yoongi grumbles, his hood resting on top of his head. He would never admit it, but the hood was really just a cover for his own tears. It covers most of his face, but Taehyung still manages to catch a glisten on his cheek.

The hyper boy slaps a hand on the recluse to his right, “You’re crying too!”

“Taehyung!” Yoongi is quick to turn to his friend in anger to shove him off, but Taehyung is even quicker. The younger boy is up and running away before the angry grandpa-man in his 20s can even land a hit on him, and Yoongi is quick to shuffling out of Hoseok’s side hug to chase after him.

Namjoon leans back on his hands and sighs with everything he has, “You’re all too much…”

Even with the sounds of Taehyung’s screams and pleas to the older man to spare him, the sounds of the boys laughing at them, and the sounds of the waves crashing below them; this time together was still one of the most peaceful moments of Namjoon’s life. All of his friends together again, spending time together, just enjoying life together how life should be enjoyed.

After the boys have all settled back into their places and the sun has finally gone down past the horizon, Jin stands from his spot on the wall to head back into the city. “Let’s just go and watch the clock change, then we can get some sleep.”

“Thank you.” Yoongi huffs. He’s still covered in sweat, not used to running for an entire 30 seconds like he had. 20 minutes had not being enough of a recovery time for his poor, grandpa-like persona. He and the rest follow Jin back to the truck to pile in for the ride home.

“Can we get some food first?” Taehyung asks, climbing into the truck bed with Jeongguk.

“Hey, who wants to be my cuddle buddy?” Jimin pouts playfully, a smile tucked into the corner of his mouth while scanning his eyes over all of his friends in hopes that one will agree to his request. None really want to answer him nor do they want to partake in the action, but Yoongi is the only one willing to speak up, “I will actually castrate you if you even try to touch me.”

Jimin puffs out his lips and makes grabby hands, “But Yoongi~”

The two have a stare down, Yoongi glaring while Jimin tries not to smile. The others around them ignore the exchange in favour of climbing into the car, the battle finally being settled when Yoongi turns away from the boy in front of him. “Get in the back with, Kookie.”

“Fine.” Jimin uses the tire as a step, pulls himself up, and hops over the side into the bed with the other two, “Make room for me!”

As the days kept coming, they all needed to work their way back into the world. Jeongguk had gone back to school with the encouragement of Jin and Namjoon. He was back in every class, including new weekend tutoring sessions to improve his math and English. He even went home just to test the waters a bit. It wasn’t completely new, and he was still anxious to be in the environment, but he was happy to be there anyways. Taehyung moved into a new apartment with his sister after finally leaving that godforsaken apartment. He got a small job working at a pet store a couple blocks away so he could still be close enough to his sister in the event that she would ever need him. Jimin and Hoseok had eventually found jobs despite the problems they carried with them; just the two of them working at a small dance studio looking for help. They worked with children since nobody else really wanted to, but neither of them really minded it all that much. Namjoon had dragged Yoongi to work at the gas station with him so neither of them would be alone anymore, and at least they’d be there to care for each other. Jin continued his job, working well with his coworkers now that he wasn’t stuck in time trying to save his friends. Now he could live his life as normally as possible. He could see his family again, take the time off to see them after so much time was spent away. There were so many people that he had yet to see because of the loop, and it felt like he had neglected those that he loved. But Jin would let the feeling pass, because he knew the truth…

…they all did.

As the days continue on, the boys began to pick up old conversations as they came into the picture. Guk found himself seeing his tutor two times a week rather than once on the weekend due to how much he genuinely enjoyed being there! Granted, it was only enjoyable because he already knew her before everything had happened, actually being a friend to him before she had graduated and moved to study abroad. She was nice, and didn’t reprimand him as most teachers usually did, she made him feel like he was in a familial environment and that made him happy.

Then there was Jimin and Hoseok. They figured they would get attached to some of the children at the studio, but they never expected some of the kids to be this cute! It was easy to love them, especially when they were all so good at dancing. A pair of twins - one boy and one girl - had definitely caught their attention with how cute they were together. Always insisting to work with each other and helping the other out. They even tried to sneak snacks to each other during practice(But that ended in a long talk about how you could hurt yourself eating while practicing). They both had brown hair - the sister having longer hair than her brother, big hazel eyes, and cute dimples that would appear from time to time. All in all, they were cute; however, the surprise got even better when they saw who was picking them up.

In a turn of events, Jin’s sister was actually the one who was picking up the kids, and they hadn’t noticed until Jin came by one day to bring them lunch. It was an emotional reunion for both siblings, especially with Jin thinking the kids were hers at first. Thinking for even a moment that he had a niece or a nephew was a big deal - let alone to have two! - but she was quick to stop him before he got overwhelmed. After explaining that she was just picking up her godchildren to babysit for the afternoon like she did most days, the two finally got to spend a day together as siblings - with the children present of course - and it was nice for the both of them to be together again.

Yoongi and Namjoon also hadn’t expected to see old faces. One of the cars that had pulled up one day was an old buddy of Namjoon’s from high school, someone that would hang around with both of them on the occasion. It was that typical, ‘I haven’t seen you since high school!’, ‘How have you been?’, ‘We should totally catch up!’ kind of thing. Despite mistakes and differences there may have been in the past, it was nice to see that he had grown since those times. And it was easy to accept the offer for free booze, so why not give him a chance?

Everything in the world was right now.

Everything was working well for them.

It was Saturday, and it was the only day of the week all of the boys could be together all day. They had agreed that one day a week was necessary for keeping their friendship - and the universe - at bay. Saturday’s were always fun for that reason, and the boys couldn’t be happier. It was later in the day, and they were all settling in for the night on the floor of Jin’s living room. Everyone was winding down despite the slightly early hour of 7:45, and the takeout in front of them smelled so good. The laughing and the movie playing in the background really drowned out everything, and Jin was sure his neighbor’s would complain sooner or later for the noise.

The serial killer on the screen slashes into the teenage victim, mutilating her as his 2nd victim within 5 minutes. A few boys are slightly bothered - but the sight isn’t terrible enough that they can’t bear to watch at all - there are the few that are completely unbothered by the scenes in front of them, and then there’s Hoseok who is hidden behind his pillow trying to block out the grotesque scene before him, “How come we always watch horror movies?”

“Because your reactions are the best!” Taehyung says, munching on his popcorn. Hoseok glares at him and sends a pillow his way, knocking the popcorn bowl right out of his lap and sending its contents all over the floor. Taehyung, not amused by his hyungs antics retaliates with another pillow right back at him. The two continue their petty fighting until receiving a pillow upside the head from the youngest of the group, “Stop it! This is the best part!”

Yoongi - who’d been suffering in silence this whole time from his blanket shield - finally speaks up, “How is this the best part?!”

The door to the room on the screen bursts open, banging against a wall and scaring everyone. The police officer heroine is hidden amongst the shelves with her gun in one hand and her other covering her mouth. Her partner is somewhere up top amongst the shadows as her back up, but the killer could still end them both. In the end, the heroine was able to end the night in peace with her partner at her side knowing the killer was locked up, but the ending scene left them knowing a sequel would be coming soon.

“Well, that’s another movie that I’ll never watch again added to the last.” Hoseok sighs, laying his head against Jimin’s thigh on the couch. The small boy lets out a soft chuckle and pats his brother’s head, “It really wasn’t all that bad, hyung.”

“I think Yoongi disagrees,” Jin stares at his friend from his seat, watching the small rise and fall of the blanket. He shakes his head with amusement, “Nevermind. I think he’s sleeping.”

The boys start cleaning up around the living room, all avoiding the sleeping man lying on the floor. Even through the loud, piercing sound of the vacuum and the hearty laughs from his friends, the man was not stirred from his slumber. All of them were both equally disturbed and surprised that he managed to remain peaceful through it all.

“How long do you think he’ll stay like that?” Namjoon asks from his spot at the kitchen sink, staring into the open space of the living room of the studio apartment. In the midst of all the now clean space, Yoongi laid wrapped in his blanket without a care in the world.

Jeongguk - from the hall closet alongside the kitchen - shrugs as he puts the vacuum away. “Who knows.”

The others take their seats once again to continue their conversations, discussing what they should do for the rest of the night. In the distance, the sound of a siren is blaring. It’s whining getting closer and closer, more prominent to their ears as it reaches them. Taehyung becomes curious, “Do you guys hear that?”

Yoongi lifts his head in curiosity, “It sounds like an ambulance or something.” He showed no sign of fatigue at all, only the bed head from having his head submerged under the fabric of the blanket.

“Were you awake this whole time?! You bastard!” Jin yells, throwing his pillow in his direction.

“He’s right though… There are first responders here.” Jimin had moved from his seat to take a look outside. Down below at the bottom of the building were two police vehicles, a firetruck, and an ambulance with lights flashing. A crowd of people were formed around them and it looked pretty serious as another police cruiser shows up to the scene, “Someone must be hurt.”

Jin slumps in thought, “I hope it wasn’t the old lady on the first floor. She shares her cookies with me sometimes.”

“I’m sure she’s fine Jin, maybe it’s something minor.” Namjoon says, trying to reassure his friend. It would’ve been reassuring, had it not been for the cold chill that swept through the room like a ghost. Chills down everyone’s spine as the room continued to grow colder and colder by the second. “Why did it get so cold?”

Jin had frozen in his spot, this feeling all too familiar to him. The feeling of an old friend he wished to never meet again, yet here it was with arms wide open for him. He knew… something wasn’t right. Lifting his head up, he tried to warn them of the danger ahead of them, but he - as well as the others - were already disappearing right in front of him.

Slipping through the cracks of reality.

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iwriteficsandmore · 5 years

Text

At long last

I promised it would come. And I finally had the time to finish it. The first chapter to what will eventually be my hawks x oc fic, which I’m tentatively titling “Interview with a Winged Hero”. It might seem long compared to what I usually write here, but that’s my usual length for chapters most of the time. So, here it is. Really sorry about the grammatical errors and everything, especially if it’s disrupting. It’s almost midnight and I needa get up in five hours for school, but wanted to post this before anything else.

Thing is though that it’s about 26 pages long. Can’t really post that here without making a mess.

So here’s where they’re posted on FF and AO3.

I’d really ‘preciate some input on how it’s looking :) I’m hoping to edit it in the future (if not fully on rewrite it) and get on writing the ch2 when I get time. But enough of that. I’m sure you guys need some convincing to click those, so have a little preview under the cut ♥

|Five years ago—Tokyo|

The blinding blue light of her computer screen reflected at her from the glass of red rimmed glasses, tiring her sight and making Miryoku reach underneath them to rub at her tired eyes.

Fourteen straight hours of researching online about the up and coming 'Winged Hero' and the next eight writing up a rough draft of the article snatched most of her day up without her noticing. She had gotten too into this without meaning to. Much like everything else that caught her attention, it absorbed her and blinded her to her surroundings. Even gramps knew not to bother her when she was like that and had only left her some taiyaki for her to snack on when she waved off going downstairs to properly eat dinner.

But even that small period of starvation proved useless when she had spent the last couple of hours stuck while writing. For as inspired as she had been, it proved harder the further she wrote into it. Each time she reread what she had, it only made it all the clearer how superficial it all sounded. It hadn't bothered her too much at first. It was just some lousy contest that she was writing this for after all. But she couldn't help it. No matter what it was for, this was still something she wrote. It was a piece she put heart and time into. It was something that interested her for once. And because of that, it was easily becoming a work of pride for her. As such, just any half-assed written paper wouldn't do. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it the right way.

That 'right way' though continued to elude her way into the early hours of working.

Now at 3:54 in the morning, her stomach rumbled in blatant criticism of her poor health decisions. She was dying of hunger which only added to her already carved in frustration. And surely gramps had only bought the taiyaki for dinner like he always did when she left him to fend for himself where food was concerned. There wasn't anything in the fridge either since she hadn't gone grocery shopping with how engrossed she'd become working on the dumb article. How is he still alive after living like for all these years? Resigning with a hefty groan, Miryoku leaned back in her chair to stare at the dark ceiling of her room for a minute.

"Guess konbini bento it is."

Jumping out of her chair, Miryoku snatched a spare jacket from the floor along with her wallet and quietly sprinted down the stairs of their home, making extra sure that her grandfather was asleep before shoving her shoes on and walking out the front door. Sprinting halfway there, Miryoku felt her chest burn as the icy, winter air entered her lungs finally making her continue in a brisk walk instead. Donning her jacket and pulling the hood over her hair, she adjusted her glasses that had slipped down her nose and stared up and head through the empty streets of her neighborhood.

So quiet and peaceful. Despite being a short distance from the apex of Tokyo, where her gramps lived was part of the more dilapidated part of town. More seniors lived around these parts than anything and though it had great dining options, they weren't places that meritted going without company. Which is why she thanked her lucky stars that a konbini was within fair walking distance from their house.

Miryoku didn't take long to pick out her bento and a few choice items before heading out with a hefty bag full of snacks in hand. It was while mindlessly walking ahead while struggling to put her wallet away in her back pocket that a chill ran down her spine a moment before a large hand snagged said item from her grasp.

"Hey!"

The thief didn't spare her a glance as he ran off at full speed. It took a moment of grounding herself before Miryoku sprinted after him too with her bag hanging behind her. "Get back here, you bastard!"

But keeping him in sight proved harder than she thought though with how badly in shape she was. Soon, Miryoku noticed him getting further and further away and when she thought she'd definitely lose him, she took a last ditch effort to stop him. Grabbing the bag full of snacks in both hands, Miryoku sprinted with all she had before hauling the bag and everything in it right at the thief's back. True to its aim, the heavy bag struck him and made him lose momentum but didn't make him stop.

No!

But just as she thought he'd surely get away, small flashes of red darted past the corner of her vision, the light from the streetlights making their color all the more vibrant as they caught the thief's clothes and shoved him to the ground with unbelievable strength, effectively pinning him in the street for good measure.

Miryoku stopped in her tracks, breathing heavy and shallow as she adjusted her glasses again to get a better look of what'd happened. Half her groceries were scattered on the floor, and not far from the thief her wallet itself, but what caught her attention most were the large crimson feathers that pierced through the man's clothes and deep into the asphalt street.

"Sorry 'bout that!" The carefree tone that floated above her made her turn skyward just in time to see a blur of red fall a few feet from her. Miryoku covered her face from the rush of air that fell on her and blinked at the large, crimson wings that unfurled before her as the owner turned to face her.

Amber eyes stared back at her and a satisfied smile spread across the face of the man she had spent the whole day learning about.

"Oh, here," Hawks said, sprinted up to her wallet that was the nearest thing to him and passing it on to her. "Gotta say, you're lucky I heard ya when I did otherwise there'd go your money. Nice hit, by the way, though your groceries might've suffered some casualties."

Miryoku blinked in utter disbelief as the man bend over to readily pick up the snacks that had stumbled out of the plastic bag when she threw it. Seeing him do this snapped her out of her stupor but just when she was going to help him pick the rest off the streets, she got caught off guard by the flurry of red feathers that effortlessly went about picking up the rest. In a matter of minutes, Hawks approached her with an open bag as his feather deposited the items they retrieved and passed on the full bag back to her with a grin on his face.

"Here ya go."

Carefully, she took it in her hands, thanking him under her breath and watched him from a few feet away as he dealt with the thief. Curious and without knowing, Miryoku mindlessly followed him back to the konbini where he and the cashier took care of calling the police. She honestly didn't know why she stayed behind and waited with them for the authorities to arrive but when they did and she gave her statement about what happened, Miryoku finally decided to head back home when she found him busy talking to the police. A small part of her had wanted to talk to him if even for a few minutes. Just a few words to help her out of her writer's block. But that was too much too hope for. Even she knew that. And even if the opportunity had risen, Miryoku would've no doubt spoiled it somehow with her more than lacking social skills.

Decidedly leaving the konbini behind, she stared down at her feet as she walked through the empty streets. Her mind reeled with what had just happened despite the quietness that surrounded her. The blur of red that flashed right before her eyes—it reminded her of lightning, but faster. Much, much faster.

Too fast.

"Miss, dontcha think it's unsafe to walk by yourself about what just happened to ya?"

Vibrant red blocked her vision for a moment before amber eyes met with hers. Miryoku yelped out and held a hand to her chest from the heart attack that the winged man gave her by appearing out of the blue in front of her. Mumbling under her breath, she kept looking back and forth from where she'd left the konbini behind and him questioning from where the hell he'd come from.

A bubbly chuckle came out of him as he landed before her, his huge wings tucking themselves behind him as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Leaning on one leg, he tilted his head and grinned, "Sorry 'bout that."

"It's alright," she said. Looking back once more, she stared back at him confused. "Not to be rude but what are you doing here?"

"Oh, right!" The feathers on his wings rustled when he perked up, startling Miryoku a little from the sudden movement. "I came here 'cause I thought you'd want a ride home with the police after what happened."

"I don't need it," she quickly retorted.

"Ya just got mugged though."

"And I'm fine." Miryoku couldn't help being miffed at his insinuation. "I thank you for helping me back there but I'm not that helpless. So thanks, but no thanks about the ride. Besides, my house is pretty close by. I'll be fine getting back by myself."

Hawks' brow furrowed and his nose scrunched up as he frowned. Seemingly at odds with himself, he rubbed the back of his back for a moment before his eyes widened in realization and he smiled that goofy grin back at her again.

"Then let me walk ya back!"

"No thank you."

Not waiting for his answer, Miryoku sidestepped him and walked off on her own. That didn't last for long before she heard the soft flapping of wings following behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she glared back at Hawks who stopped dead in his tracks, hovering a few inches off the floor as he followed behind her with a nervous grin.

"Ya don't have to give me that look."

A small tick grew on her jaw. "I already said no thanks." She gave him her back and kept walking ahead despite still hearing the soft beating of his wings as he flew behind her, "And besides, don't you have a mugger to report?"

"The cops took care of him, so my job's done where that's concerned."

"Then you should head home yourself. It's quite late to be out and about."

"I could say the same about ya, missy."

"Yeah, well…" When she couldn't come up with anything, heat rushed up her neck and to her ears. "I seriously don't need you to accompany me to my house."

"What kind of hero would I be if I didn't escort a lady like yourself?"

"One with too much time on his hands, that's for sure," she mumbled under her breath.

"Ha!" Hawks laughed finally flying beside her, his lower feathers brushing carelessly against her arm. "You couldn't be more wrong, missy."

"You really don't know when to be quiet, do you?"

"It's a gift," he coyly replied.

Miryoku couldn't help but sigh in frustration. Who in their right mind would've thought the youngest hero with an agency of his own, a prodigy of his generation, would be such a handful to deal with?

Thankfully, her house was only a short walk back and Hawks landed just at the foot of the few steps that led up to the front door of her house. Miryoku stepped back and nodded to it as she climbed the last step up, hand already on the doorknob.

"See? Not that far."

He scoffed but that grin never left his face. "It's hard for ya to say 'thanks,' isn't it?"

"No, I do," she rectified, more than peeved about that comment. "I said it before. I also said that walking me back wasn't needed. Quite a waste of your time if you ask me."

"Eh, that's kinda subjective if ya ask me." Hawks shrugged his shoulders before flapping his wings to get a good few feet off the floor. "Well, have a goodnight, missy." He saluted her with a couple of his fingers, "Be careful on your next late night stroll!"

Miryoku was about to retort at the cheeky remark but before she could, that heap of red dashed out of sight leaving nothing but the faint blur of crimson in her vision. She shook her head as she went inside and quietly headed to her room with all her food. Sitting back behind her computer, Miryoku stared at the screen where her article laid open and half written. But despite wanting to focus, she found herself thinking over and over about their small conversation in those few minutes of a stroll.

She leaned forward to cradle her chin in her hands and reread her article, his words replaying in her head as she concocted an image of the young hero.

Brash. Reckless. Chirpy.

Precocious sounds better.

"...the precocious man…"

She twirled the pocky stick in her mouth with her tongue and stopped at the sound of what she'd mindlessly spoken. Letting it sink and liking the sound of that, she bit down on the treat and stretched back before going back to typing furiously at her keyboard.

#bnha hawks #hawks #bnha #bnha fanfiction #bnha oneshot #technically speaking #a very long oneshot #boku no hero academia #bnha oc #fanfic #hawks x oc #fanfiction

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sherlollyandspoilers · 4 years

Text

Here Be Dragons, Chapter 4

If you are interested in reading the previous chapters OR simply would like to avoid the smut that is in this chapter, read it on AO3 - if a chapter has a smutty scene it will be indicated in the notes at the beginning of the chapter. Also, the smutty scene will be in a block quote so you can simply skip to the end (skipping the sex does not take away from the plot).

Sherlock sat in a dark hospital room, lights shut off and the blinds drawn, as his body was pumped full of fluids…Molly was going to kill him. He had been sent on a mission that guaranteed his demise in six months – his death certificate had been signed. Yet here he was. Moriarty was back, dead yes, but he was back. London needed him and she was going to kill him.

He heard hurried foot falls in the hall and a moment later a breathless Molly Hooper rounded the corner. She stood in the door way breathing heavily, her shoulders heaving, dried tear streaks on her face. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, throwing the lock. She walked to him quickly, shedding her lab coat. She pulled her jumper over her head and toed off her shoes before grabbing a bandage and removing his IV.

Sherlock sat silently, his eyes trained on her. When she had finished removing his IV he stood up and discarded his own shirt and shoes. He followed after her, removing his trousers and pants. He reached up and pulled the tie out of her hair and watched as it cascaded over her shoulders.

“Molly,” he breathed but she shook her head and placed a finger to his lips, silencing him. She pushed him back into the chair and crawled onto his lap, one knee on either side of his thighs. She took him in hand and ran the tip of his cock from the top of her slit to the bottom and back up. Sherlock let out a hiss as she settled down over him, letting his length fill her. She sighed and started, moaning each time he filled her again. He gripped her hips as she started to ride him harder, slamming her body down on his as she quickened her pace. He could tell her climax was building and that she needed to find her release quickly. He stuck his thumb between her folding and started rubbing her swollen clit as she continued her downward thrusts.

Molly came with a shout that Sherlock quickly swallowed with his mouth. She leaned into his kiss and settled her hands on his shoulders as his tongue explored her mouth. She started moving again, slowly rocking back and forth and moaned as the friction pressed against her sensitive clit. He pushed her to her feet and stood up. He turned her around so she was bracing herself on the wall and stepped up behind her, rubbing the tip of his cock against her. He slowly guided himself back into her warm folds and enjoyed the string of curse words that left her mouth. He gripped her hip with one hand and used the other to cup her right breast, rubbing her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Molly dug her nails against the wall at the sensation.

He felt her tightening again and knew his own release wasn’t far off. He gripped her hip tighter as he increased his speed, pounding into her from behind. He ran his other hand down her body, rubbing his fingers over their joining. Molly moaned louder and turned her head into her arm, muffling her noises. He moved his fingers up to focus on her clit and he could feel her legs start to shake as the heat built in her belly again.

Molly’s arms buckled as her orgasm hit and Sherlock held her up, keeping her from colliding with the wall. She rocked back and forth on his cock, his own orgasm just out of reach. She finally settled her forearms against the wall, leaning heavily against it for support as Sherlock continued to pound into her. A string of unintelligible words came from her mouth, tipping him over the edge.

They stood locked together, leaning on the wall until Molly’s sweat soaked body started shivering. He pulled away from her and found tissues to clean up with. She dressed in silence, not looking at him. He sat back down in the chair to pull his shoes on and looked up to see her holding a new IV in her hand. He rolled the sleeve of his shirt up on the opposite arm and let her set it. She checked to make sure his line was clean and then restarted his fluids.

Picking up her lab coat, she pulled it on and brushed her fingers through her tangled hair before pulling it back into her usually pony tail. With her hand on the door she turned to him, tears now streaming down her face again.

“I think it would be best if you continue to stay at Baker Street for a while.” Then she was gone.

Molly had texted him two weeks after their encounter and asked if he would like to start taking Mina to play school in the mornings. He of course had said yes and asked if he would be able to have dinner with them sometime that week. It had taken Molly a solid ten minutes of rewriting her text before responding, You may have dinner with Mina any night you like, you are her father and that is your right, but I will have to decline your offer for now. He had stared at the text a few seconds too long, drawing John’s questioning gaze. He shoved his phone in his pocket and turned his attention back to the crime scene.

“Oh shit…do you know where your phone charger is?” John asked as they trudged their way up the stairs at Baker Street. “Won’t even turn on.” He waved his mobile as he opened the door.

“Kitchen counter,” Sherlock said as he took off his jacket. He watched John dig through the piles of junk in the kitchen. “I think,” he mumbled as he pulled out his own phone. Forty-three missed calls flashed on the screen. He frowned as he unlocked his phone, barely hearing John rejoicing as he found the charger. There were thirty missed calls from Mary and ten from Molly.

“So, how long has it been since you and Molly have had a real conversation?” John asked, his mobile chiming as it turned on.

“John,” Sherlock’s voice was stern.

“It’s been almost two months, Sherlock, and I…” John’s voice trailed off as he looked at his phone. “Fifty-nine missed calls.”

“We’re in a lot of trouble.”

Molly lay on the couch wrapped tightly in a blanket with her head on Mary’s knees. Mary gently stroked Molly’s hair as she talked.

“I am so tired of not being able to see my feet.” Mary wiggled her toes. “And good lord! Look at my ankles – they are massive!” Molly giggled and sat up.

“My feet were so swollen when I was pregnant that I had to buy new shoes for work and then by the time I finally went back to the morgue I had to give the new shoes away because they were too big!” Molly smiled brightly as she looked at Mary – a very pregnant Mary who had become a rather permanent fixture on her couch at night.

Most nights John was out late, working new cases with Sherlock and Mary had been trying to keep Molly preoccupied. She knew what it was that Mary and John were doing, babysitting her and Sherlock, making sure that they were okay. Normally Molly would have protested, sending Mary on her way and calling John to tell him to go home and be with his wife, but she couldn’t. Not now. Not with what had happened.

She dropped Mary’s gaze and stared at her engagement ring. Most days its felt heavy and awkward on her finger, a solid reminder of what was slipping away from her. When she took it off, her hand felt bare and her chest ached, as if the ring was the only thing keeping her tied to Sherlock. She would spend most of the day slipping it off and on as she worked, relief and guilt flooding her each time the silver band slid over her skin.

“Hey,” Mary’s hand came to rest on top of Molly’s, drawing her gaze back up. “Want to talk about it?” Molly gave her a tight smile and stood up, shaking her head. “You can’t ignore him forever.” Molly picked up their tea cups and took them to the kitchen.

“I am not ignoring him.” She sat the cups in the skin and turned on the water.

“Molly…”

“I’m not! I am very pleasant when he picks Mina up in the mornings.” She grabbed the cloth and quickly washed the cups as she talked.

“Molly.”

“And the other day, he and I both helped Lestrade on a case.” She grabbed a hand towel and started to dry.

“Molly!” The intensity in Mary’s voice caused Molly to pause, setting down the dishes. “My water just broke.”

Molly sat on the couch watching Mina drawing at her tea table. She was twisting her engagement ring while trying to convince herself to ask Sherlock to stay for dinner but realizing what was stopping her was that she was nervous. Which is ridiculous, because he’s your fiancé…you have a child with him. There is no reason to be nervous! She had been trying to ask him to dinner for the last couple of weeks since Mary had had the baby. Their exchange at the hospital had been good and if they were going to work past the Magnussen stuff, they needed to talk.

The front door opened as Sherlock called out,

“Hello? Oh – ” he paused when he saw Molly sitting on the couch. “Hi,” he said, his hand still on the handle and the door completely open.

“Hi.” She stood up and gave him a small smile. He smiled back and finally stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

“Dad!” Mina yelled as she ran to him.

“Dad?” Sherlock frowned as he picked her up. “What happened to ‘Daddy’?”

“It’s the same thing!” she giggled as she hugged him.

“She’s been calling me mum intermittently…” Molly walked over and scratched Mina’s back. “I don’t know how I feel about it either,” she whispered to Sherlock. He smiled at her again.

“Are we going to dinner?” Mina asked.

“If that’s still okay with your mum.” He looked at her, his smile slipping when he saw the apprehension on her face.

“Oh…umm…of course,” she finally managed to get out. Mina’s face lite up and she wiggled out of Sherlock’s arms to get her shoes on.

“Thank you,” Sherlock said softly.

“No worries…” she said over her shoulder. She stood at the counter listening as Mina struggled into her shoes. She looked down at her engagement ring and twisted it again. “Actually,” she turned around, “would you want to have dinner here? I took out fish earlier.”

“That would be great,” he said, slipping his coat off.

Molly sat outside of Mina’s room listening to Sherlock putting her to bed. Her head was leaned back against the wall and her hands were resting in her lap, her engagement ring left untouched.

“I miss reading to you, munchkin,” she heard Sherlock say.

“Me too, Daddy,” came Mina’s soft reply. Molly smiled as she listened to the rest of their exchange, realizing just how much she had missed it too.

A few minutes later she heard Sherlock’s footsteps, the light being shut off, and the door opening.

“Hi,” she said quietly as he closed the door behind him.

“Hi.” He reached down and helped her to her feet. “Thank you.” She nodded and turned, slowly walking down the hall towards her room and the stairs.

“She misses you…” She stopped at the top of the stairs, looking at their room. “I miss you.” She felt him stop just behind her. He leaned his head down, his breath warm on her exposed neck and her eyes slid closed.

“I miss you too,” he whispered. He kissed her neck softly. “You smell good,” he sighed as she leaned her body into his. He ran his hand around her stomach and she laced her fingers with his. As he kissed her again, she reached up and threaded her fingers through his curls.

“Sherlock…” she breathed when he dragged his teeth across her skin. At his name he spun her around and pinned her to the wall, capturing her mouth with his until neither of them could breathe. They broke apart, gasping for air, their chests heaving in time.

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed, running his thumb along her jaw. She gave him a small smile before pushing up on her tip tops to place a soft kiss to his lips.

“Maybe we could get coffee and talk?” she asked.

“I would like that.” He stepped back, his hand lingering on her face a moment longer. “I will see you soon, good night.”

“Good night.”

#sherlolly #kate writes

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creamypudding · 5 years

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The endless chain of writers-block and its effects on productivity

Heyo!

I just thought I'd give an update as to what's happening in regards to writing projects, for anyone wanting to know.

I have a lot of things going on and not enough attention span to stick to any one particular thing. My To-Do list is 18 projects strong and in the last three months I've worked on 4 things (technically 5 if you wanna include Barbershop Duet which I had only minor tweaks needed in order for me to consider it complete enough to post), trying to complete one, getting stuck or bored or uncertain and then sought refuge in another story, only to get stuck, bored, or uncertain in that one and moving on to the next one, etc.

It's been a bit of a hard slog, TBH.

But just to list the four ongoing projects, because I want to get them done in the next 12 months -

The project which took up a lot of my time has been The Anomaly: part 2, which is my Axel is a demon AU. The first part you can currently read on AO3. I've had a very solid plan for that since I first published it a year ago. I wanted to have the story finished for Halloween this year, but the project grew too big. Part 2 is done (but not uploaded), and I have a part 3 and 4 to write now. I got hopelessly stuck on part 3 and moved on to another story, which I'll talk about below. But going back to The Anomaly for a moment - I'm very excited about this story. It's the biggest project I've got going because it has a lot of off-shoot projects attached to it, which I look forward to delving into once I'm done with the main story. And the main story is a beast. I've re-written large parts of part 1 to make it cohesive with the subsequent parts. I added an extra 5000 words to it, bringing the word count up to 40k. I haven't updated the story yet and won't do so until I'm ready to post parts 2, 3 and 4, and I'm not sure when that might be. Part 2 is over 30k, and while I'm not sure about the length of part 3 (esp since I'm so horribly uninspired and stuck on it) but it might be long once I get back into it. I think part 4 will also be quite long as well, as that is the part I’m really looking forward to writing. So you see, it is definitely a project I'm really enjoying... when I'm not stuck on it, and I’m stuck on it because of a POV change. God damn. So I dropped The Anomaly and moved on to this 'short' AkuRoku smut drabble I have to write for a friend, which should be the easiest because it was just supposed to be smut but I got bogged down in backstory and motivations and character drives like I usually do. I got up to a certain point and gave up on it. It feels like I've been working on it for ages but only have like 3000 words of writing to show for it. Also, an added fun bonus (not) of difficulty was a very unexpected crisis I had in regards to writing tense. I had started writing this story in past tense, but then going back to it after spending so much time living and breathing The Anomaly (like I was crazy prolific, writing about 50k in the span of maybe 3 weeks) I couldn't write past tense anymore. I basically rewrote what I had for this AkuRoku story in present tense and continued going with it, until I hit a brick wall and moved on from it.

The project I went on to work on is something I've had sitting on the ‘to be completed’ pile since October 2017. I'm very close to finishing it. Possibly two more chapters, but I am terribly uninspired about writing it too because it's hard. It's a Clack and AkuRoku story, where Cloud and Roxas as brothers (I love that familial relationship). It's also written in past tense, so of course I had a really hard time switching gears from the present tense high I was on from the previous two projects to the past tense this story needed. I thought about re-writing this Combo story but... I had already written too much to warrant the effort of rewriting the whole thing. So I had to stick to past tense and that was insanely hard. It had me in tears. It had me pulling at my hair and doubting that I would ever be able to write anything cohesive and meaningful ever again. Everything I had written felt like crap because I now feel like past tense is too passive. I really enjoy the impact of present tense. So everything I read and wrote felt like swill.

In the midst of my crisis, I’ve now decided to exclusively write in present tense once I finish the past tense stories. It's also why I haven't gone back to The Anomaly and the AkuRoku story, because I'm scared of getting stuck in present tense mode again. It was really fucking hard to break out of that mindset to write past tense again, so I don't want to relive that experience.

Anyway, predictably, I got stuck on the above project and moved on to the current project which I'm writing. It's pure Clack. I started writing it in September 2017. Back in 2017 I got stuck on this Clack story, moved on to writing the Combo story above, and got stuck on that and started writing what became the behemoth that is The Two Penguins, which consumed two years of my life. But this Clack story is my true passion project. It's the thing I love and cherish the most. It's the thing I've been longing to get back into writing the most. Clack is my OTP, above AkuRoku. It's the pair I fear writing because I feel I can't do it justice; writing Cloud is hard. AkuRoku is my comfort ship. My easy ship. The ship that's as easy to do as breathing. Clack is breathing while climbing Everest, but I love it, and I am determined to finish it (until I get stuck on it and feel tempted to move on to something else 😅). I am three chapters away from finishing this Clack story. I'm having serious concerns about getting stuck after I finish chapter 7 because I think chapter 8 is a POV shift, which (as you may recall was also the thing that made me give up on The Anomaly) is always challenging for me. But God damn, I love Clack. I love this story and I want to finish telling it and exploring really heavy issues around recovery from severe physical and mental trauma (’cause that’s the way I roll).

Anyway... these are the four projects I've got going at the moment and hope to finish in the next 12 months.

Clack Clack/AkuRoku AkuRoku The Anomaly (I don’t have any solid titles for any of the above stories, bar this one, as I did publish the first part of it, so ship names to identify the stories will have to do)

I want to finish the stories In that order. I'm least excited about the two middle projects, So I figure if I stick The Anomaly at the end it will motivate me to finish the other AkuRoku fic.

If any of you would like to be pre-readers for any of these stories do hit me up. I might need you. When I have people I can talk to and brainstorm with about my current projects, it helps me feel motivated to stick it out and get it done.

Send me asks, chat with me on Twitter or discord. You can find all my handle ID's on my AO3 profile page.

Anyway, I initially came here because I wanted to procrastinate and rave about my Clack project, but I might leave the raving to another day. I've procrastinated enough.

#writing progress #procrastination #writing project

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imnotinclinedtomaturity · 6 years

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Love Yourself (Chapter 27)

title: Love Yourself summary: A lot of things about Dan’s life are pretty great. He gets to make the music he wants, he’s got a great fanbase, and his manager is his best friend. A few things about his life suck a bit more. He’s currently lacking inspiration, he’s rather lonely, and he’s stuck in a rut. Dan’s been going to the same coffee shop for years. It’s quiet, it’s quaint, it’s near his home. Most importantly: none of the employees give a shit that’s he a world-famous singer. Things change when he meets the new barista. chapter words: 8.8k story words: 219.6k (so far) chapter: 27/? rating: m warnings: language, alcohol, sex mentions, some bi/homophobia, eventual explicit smut, some depression genre: singer!dan, coffee shop au, barista!phil, slow burn [[ao3]] [[first chapter]] [[previous chapter]]

a/n: thank you to everyone for being the best audience i could hope for. i appreciate how patient y'all have been, how understanding you've been that i needed time time off because of Adulthood and Mental Health. i'm not feeling particularly articulate right now, but know that i love and appreciate you all. back to our regularly scheduled programming now! updates should come every 1.5 weeks-ish again :) also, a massive thanks to @auroraphilealis as always, not just for editing, but also for being a great best friend and a wonderful cheerleader. ily xx

Loud, persistent buzzing pulled Phil sharply from his sleep. It took a few sleepy seconds before he registered that the buzzing was his phone on his bedside table — and it was apparently ringing. Still half asleep, Phil waited until it stopped vibrating before reaching for it. It was too damn early to actually talk to anyone, but curiosity was still getting the best of him.

He pried an eye open and looked at the screen, instinctively flinching away from the bright light. Without his glasses, he was too blind to see who had called, but he could just barely make out the time — half past seven.

Nearly an hour before his alarm was due to go off.

That was nearly an hour of sleep that someone was trying to take from Phil. And after the whirlwind of last night’s date, Phil wanted nothing more than to sleep in. It wasn’t like Dan was here to give him a reason to get up.

With a stubborn, tired sigh, Phil rolled back into his pillow. Whoever had called could wait — at least until he was ready to get out of bed.

Just as he was drifting off again, though, his phone rang again. Grumbling, Phil pushed himself onto his elbows and held his phone close enough to his face that he could just barely make out PJ’s name.

PJ? Why was PJ calling him? PJ rarely called Phil. They skyped, sure, but those calls were usually scheduled and were always in the evening.

No, if PJ was caling at this hour, he must need something. And, unfortunately, Phil prided himself on being the Reliable Friend who always answered when his friends needed him.

Reluctantly, Phil swiped on PJ’s name, immediately putting the call on speaker so that he could fall back into his pillow.

“What the hell do you want, Peej?” Phil grumbled as soon as the phone call connected.

“Did I wake you up?”

“It’s not even eight in the morning,” Phil complained. “Of course you woke me up.”

“Mmm,” PJ hummed dismissively. “Are you with Dan?”

“No, I dropped him off after our date last night.” Phil stretched slightly, his hands reaching up under the pillow and hugging it closer to his face.

“Oh… have you, er, talked to him since?” PJ didn’t sound curious, and didn’t sound like he was trying to get information out of Phil about his date. PJ sounded… worried.

Growing concerned by PJ’s tone, Phil pushed himself back onto his elbows. “No, why? What happened?”

“I take it you haven’t been on the internet yet?”

“No. Get to the point, Peej,” Phil huffed impatiently.

“Dan — well, I thought maybe he’d’ve talked it over with you. I mean, twitter’s — fuck, how —“

“What the fuck happened?” Phil demanded, cutting off PJ’s rambling.

Even through the phone, and on speaker, Phil could hear PJ’s deep sigh, could feel his hesitation, before he finally spoke. “You need to look at Dan’s instagram. He sort of… made a big announcement in the dead of night.”

Phil felt a wave of dread wash over him. He certainly wasn’t sleepy anymore. A jumble of incoherent, panicked thoughts were battering at Phil’s brain, but he did his best to push them aside. Worrying wouldn’t do any good right now.

“Hang on, I’m pulling it up.”

Phil hit the home button on his phone with a bit more force than necessary, and was finally confronted with a frankly obscene amount of notifications given that he hadn’t done anything online since the day before yesterday, really. With a concerned huff, Phil swiped his glasses off his night table and shoved them onto his nose, the red dots on his iphone icons coming into focus.

Four hundred and twelve notifications from instagram.

One thousand, two hundred, and ninety from twitter.

Six emails in his work-only account.

And seven text messages.

Despite PJ’s urging to look at Dan’s instagram, Phil opened his messages first. There were three from PJ, which Phil ignored since Peej had clearly gotten ahold of him. Below PJ’s thread, there was a message from his mother and brother each. And finally below them were two messages from Dan.

The preview of their conversation showed that Dan’s most recent text — and we should probably talk — had come in at 3:34AM. That message alone made Phil’s heart pound against his chest.

“You there, mate?” PJ asked.

“Yeah,” Phil confirmed with a strangled gulp. “He texted me.”

“Oh?” PJ sounded interested.

Phil didn’t respond. He didn’t open the text. He didn’t breath. He didn’t do much of anything, really. He was frozen, trying to process what we should talk might mean, trying to convince himself it didn’t mean something horrible.

“Well?” PJ prompted when the silence drew on for too long. “What’d he say?”

“Right,” Phil mumbled as he forced himself to click on Dan’s message, to see what his previous message said. To see if it could make sense of whatever the fuck seemed to be happening this morning.

Phil’s eyes skimmed over his own four messages — he’d somehow blocked out the fact that he’d quadruple-texted Dan last night — before reading what Dan had said.

Dan [3:31 AM]: before you look at your twitter and instagram and whatever notifications, you should probably look at my instagram

Dan [3:34AM]: and we should probably talk

Together, the two messages did absolutely nothing to quell Phil’s anxiety. In fact, Phil’s heart was just thumping louder and more aggressively.

“He just said to look at his instagram.” Phil swallowed roughly. “And that we should talk.”

A quiet hum was PJ’s only response — another thing that didn’t help to calm the panic in Phil’s veins. Phil didn’t like the thoughts racing around his head, didn’t like that the first place his mind had gone was Isabella — and Dan getting back together with her.

Not that Phil really thought that was a risk, but still. The insecure part of his brain liked to remind him that Dan’s last partner had been a model, even if she was a bitch.

With a steeling breath, Phil tapped on the instagram icon.

It seemed to take a million and one years for the app to load, and when it finally did, it opened to a picture his brother had posted of his girlfriend.

Not helpful.

Not wanting to waste time scrolling through his feed, Phil tapped the magnifying glass. Dan’s name was at the top of his recent searches, a small “one new post” written below his username.

Quickly, but shaking with apprehension, Phil clicked on Dan’s profile.

It seemed to take forever for the page to load, but when it did, the first thing Phil saw was a picture of Dan’s scribbly handwriting, made all the more difficult to read by messy highlighting.

For a second, Phil was annoyed at the highlights, frustrated that Dan had obscured his writing even further than his nearly-illegible handwriting. But then the colors of the highlights sunk in — pink, purple, blue.

They were the bi-pride colors.

Phil knew, obviously, and he was certain Dan’s audience would know that, too.

By this point, Phil knew Dan well enough to know that Dan didn’t do anything unintentionally. Not in his music, not on social media, and not in real life. If he’d gone out of his way to highlight whatever he’d written and posted — well, the colors of the highlights were deliberate.

Phil bypassed the words in the picture and flickered down to the caption, hoping for a quick and easy explanation.

the majority of this album is being written thanks to one person. this is the song that started the whole concept of this album and i think it deserves a bit of an update after he took me out on the best first date of my life tonight. he might not have agreed with the timing of when i decided to rewrite it, though ;) xx

“Oh shit,” Phil muttered, dumbfounded, when the gravity of Dan’s caption finally sunk in.

“Yeah…” PJ murmured, his voice carefully neutral.

Phil glanced back up to the picture and scanned over Dan’s messy handwriting as fast as he could. From what Phil could tell, it looked like it was, well, about him. If the caption didn’t convince him, the let’s stop running from love and the fact that Dan confessed to rewriting something because of Phil last night…

“He came out,” Phil mumbled, unnecessarily pointing out the obvious.

“And took you with him, mate,” PJ grumbled.

Phil cocked his head to the side, his brows furrowing as he read and reread Dan’s post, trying to pinpoint what PJ was referencing. Nowhere did it mention his name or even anything identifying. The most telling piece of information was the he — but that pronoun could apply to a large portion of the world.

“How do’ya figure?” Phil asked.

“Mate, you and Dan haven’t been very subtle. Look at twitter.”

Even without opening twitter, Phil knew what PJ meant. Him and Dan had been, well, flirting for weeks now. There really wasn’t any other way to describe their online banter.

But upon skimming through his twitter notifications, Phil realized just how confident their audience was as they jumped to the albeit somewhat obvious conclusion.

Tweet after tweet had responded to Dan’s instagram post, all tagging Phil, all speculating on exactly who the he in Dan’s post could be.

And every tweet Phil saw guessed it was him.

And every tweet Phil saw was right.

“They all know anyway,” Phil mumbled flatly. He was supposed to be feeling something right now — surely he was. His boyfriend had just come out, his entire audience was — correctly — guessing that he was in a relationship with a famous singer, his own mum had probably texted him about it. And yet, Phil couldn’t wrap his mind around what he was feeling.

He just felt… surprised.

“Yeah. Are you okay with that?” PJ asked gently.

“I…” Phil tried to process all of the new new new as fast as he could. “I guess it was never that secret that I liked guys. I mean, how many times have I mentioned finding male celebrities attractive?”

“That’s true,” PJ agreed. “But I also know that hinting and confirming are two different things.”

“I mean… yeah,” Phil finally relented.

“But you didn’t know Dan was going to do this?”

“No…” Phil chewed on the inside of his cheek as he thought through all of the conversations him and Dan had had about their public image. “He made it sound like he didn’t want to come out at all.”

“What changed?”

“I don’t know,” Phil responded tersely.

He should know.

“Do you think he wants people to know that you’re the guy?” PJ pushed.

“I don’t know!” Phil snapped

He really should know.

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line.“Sorry,” PJ muttered, clearing his voice before he spoke again. “What do you want?”

“I… don’t know,” Phil finished lamely.

Turns out he didn’t know much of anything.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” PJ offered softly.

“I…” Phil tried to think about it, he really did, but his mind kept coming back to why why why. At the end of their date, Dan had pulled Phil into the bloody loo to kiss goodnight, presumably because Dan hadn’t wanted the waitstaff to see, and then just a few hours later, Dan had gone and done that. “I need to talk to Dan. To know what the fuck happened.”

“That’s fair,” PJ agreed. “Can I do anything to help?”

“No, I’m just… gonna call him.” Phil pushed his glasses onto his head and roughly rubbed his face — an attempt to both wake up and alleviate some stress. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“Ring if you need me, okay? And let me know how it goes.”

“I will. I’ll text you later,” Phil promised. “Bye Peej.”

Needing to cancel his ten o’clock meeting with his manager, Phil opened his work email to send off some excuse, only to find that Marianne had already emailed him. Along with three people from the BBC. And every single subject line contained the name Daniel Howell.

How the hell had all of these people been up and about and reacting to social media already?

Phil ignored the multiple emails from the BBC, but opened the one from Marianne. He skimmed through the message, where she basically just pointed out what he already knew — that his audience had drawn some pretty big conclusions based on something Dan had posted. At the end of her email, she suggested they “review possible responses” during their meeting that morning.

Not fucking likely, Phil scoffed.

Quickly, Phil typed out the most adult version of sorry for the late notice, but I need to cancel our meeting because my brand-new boyfriend went off the walls in the middle of the night and I have no idea what’s happening. He didn’t bother to read it over again — now wasn’t the moment for proofreading — and immediately dialed Dan as soon as the email was sent.

The phone didn’t ring though, and instead went straight to voicemail. “Dammit Dan,” Phil mumbled in aggravation, hanging up before Dan’s voicemail could start recording.

Chewing on his lower lip, Phil thought through his options. If Dan’s phone was off, then no amount of texting or calling or facetiming would do any good. It was frustrating to have no way to contact Dan after he’d dropped such a massive bomb.

Except, well, that wasn’t quite true, was it?

Dan had put Phil on his permanent visitors list, so theoretically Phil could just… show up. Which might be a bit of a rash move but…

But nothing.

Phil was confused and caught off guard and felt like he deserved an explanation. Despite the early hour, Phil threw off his blue and green check comforter and pushed himself out of bed with steadfast resolution.

He wanted an explanation and, goddammit he’d get an explanation.

On shaky, tired feet, Phil riffled through his drawers for suitable trousers while kicking off his emoji pajamas. No human being — especially not his fashiony, hot new boyfriend — needed to see him in those. The first somewhat acceptable option Phil’s hand landed on were a pair of rather tight joggers, but he couldn’t be arsed to care at that moment. They’d have to do.

He kicked all the way out of his embarrassing, yellow pajamas and pulled on the tight sweatpants in their place. His loose Friends shirt would have to do, because he didn’t feel like wasting the time to find a suitable replacement, and it wasn’t that awful of a shirt.

Phil’s hair was probably a right mess too, but he couldn’t be bothered to deal with that either at the moment. All in all, this was definitely the least effort he’d ever put into his appearance when he knew he was going to see Dan, but he was growing impatient. Doing anything other than pulling on a jacket and shoes felt like it would waste too much time.

Even the three minute wait for the uber felt like too much time, and Phil had to refrain from just starting to walk over when he got downstairs and the car wasn’t there yet. But the car arrived before Phil could do anything rash, and Phil climbed in with only the briefest of smiles to the driver. His five star rating might take a hit, but he didn’t particularly care at that moment.

On the drive to Dan’s flat, the impatience in Phil’s stomach grew into something… more desperate. The more time he spent longing for an answer, the more he felt like he should already have one — like he should have known about what Dan was doing before he’d done it. And of course, of course, it was Dan’s decision if he wanted to come out — and hell, Phil was downright ecstatic for him — but Phil couldn’t help feeling like…

Feeling like he should have been part of the decision if Dan was going to so nearly pull Phil out of the closet, too.

Not that Phil was hiding in the closet, persay. But as PJ had pointed out, there was a big difference between hinting and confirming, and what Dan had just done was suddenly pushing Phil to confirm. And that Phil couldn’t quite wrap his head around.

He wasn’t against it. Not quite. But — fuck. He really would have liked to have been a part of the decision.

The process of getting into Dan’s building was the easiest yet, this time. All Phil had to do was tell the doorman his name and that he was there to see Dan before he was getting ushered into the lift, the seven button already pressed for him.

The ride up to Dan’s apartment felt shorter than normal — so short that Phil didn’t have time to collect his courage and figure out exactly what he wanted to say. When the doors opened to Dan’s flat, Phil hovered uncertainly in the lift, suddenly worried that it was incredibly rude to just invite himself over to Dan’s flat. Maybe Dan’s phone had gone straight to voicemail because he’d turned it off so he could sleep. Maybe Dan wasn’t ready to tell Phil about what he’d done.

But no, that wasn’t quite right. Dan had texted Phil, had told Phil to look at his instagram and had even said that they needed to talk. So it wasn’t absurd that he was here, now.

The lift doors started closing, the sudden movement pulling Phil harshly out of his spiral of anxious thoughts. Phil’s body, for once, was a step ahead of his mind, because his arm flew out to catch the door before he processed what was happening. He hurried out of the lift and into the foyer before the door could start to close again.

Dan had put Phil on his permanent visitors list. This was fine. It wasn’t insane that Phil was here right now.

Determined, Phil pushed his way further into the flat, walking quietly towards Dan’s room. He only made it as far as the lounge, though, before he ran smack into someone.

Someone much shorter than him or Dan.

“Phil?”

Surprised, Phil’s eyes scanned down and he took in the young woman standing in front of him — he certainly hadn’t been expecting anyone else to be here, and now he really was feeling like just coming over might have been a dick move.

“Louise?” he asked tentatively, nearly positive that he recognized her from Dan’s instagram and pictures he’d shown him of Darcy and her mum.

“Yes!” Louise greeted, her voice hushed. “I’m glad it’s you, when I heard the lift ding I thought —” She cut herself off, glancing back over her shoulder into the lounge. “Well, nevermind. Tea?”

“Oh, er…” Phil glanced over her head, his eyes drifting back towards Dan’s room. As much as he knew that Louise was definitely someone that he should be trying to make a good impression on, Phil really didn’t want to sit down for a cuppa right now. His mind was still reeling from the whirlwind of this morning, and he could barely think straight, much less talk coherently to a stranger.

But regardless, he knew how important Louise was to Dan — and how much Louise’s opinion mattered to him — so Phil pushed back the swirling confusion muddling his head and forced himself to smile pleasantly. “I might just look for Dan if you don’t mind.” Anxiously, Phil rubbed the back of his neck and hoped that his smile wasn’t coming out too much like a grimace.

Louise’s eyes flicked behind her. Her tense shoulders and skeptical eyes gave Phil the feeling that she wasn’t sure if him seeking Dan out was a good idea. “He’s asleep at the moment,” she said, pursing her lips and staring at Phil thoughtfully, like she was trying to figure him out. “You sure I can’t interest you in tea? He’ll probably be asleep a while.”

“I…” Phil’s eyes darted around as he searched for an excuse out of socializing. Much to his dismay, he couldn’t easily find one. He opened and closed his mouth as he desperately tried to find a polite way out of making small talk with Louise — this certainly wasn’t the first impression he wanted to make on Dan’s best friend.

“I’m not really up for tea, right now,” Phil blurted out abruptly, settling on the truth and cringing at his bluntness. Phil shifted his gaze down to his feet, unable to continue meeting her eye. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “This morning’s just been a lot already, and…”

Louise sighed, and shot Phil an unsure look. Phil watched as her arms came up, and she crossed them over her chest. “Dan had a late night last night.”

“I know,” Phil admitted, anxiously shifting back and forth on his feet. “But I need to talk to him.”

“And you can wait until he wakes up,” Louise said with an air of finality, her arms still crossed in front of her.

Phil sighed and tugged on his sloppy quiff, aggravated — not quite at Louise, just more at… the situation in general. His phone felt heavy in his pocket, and he was hyper aware of all of the emails and texts that he needed to respond to.

Emails and texts that he didn’t know how to respond to because Dan hadn’t fucking talked to him.

“Look,” Phil said, keeping his voice as steady and calm as he could. “I kind of woke up to a PR nightmare this morning and —”

“Oh god, are you not out?” Louise interrupted, her eyes growing wide in panic.

“I — mostly,” Phil hesitated, unsure how to phrase it. The being out thing wasn’t exactly his main problem here. “Never in crystal clear words, but it was out there.” Phil shrugged that particular concern off. “But, like, I hadn’t told my manager — or even my mum — that I was dating Dan yet, and now they definitely both know because they aren’t idiots.” Phil gestured around wildly, his arms trying to convey how absolutely insane the situation was so that he didn’t end up shouting, despite his frustration. “I’m not sure who’s going to be more upset about not knowing. And I can’t even respond to them, because I have no idea what to say because I have no idea what the fuck happened. We haven’t even discussed if we want our relationship to be public or how to handle the media or anything!”

Phil’s arms fell to his sides, limp and useless, as his rant came to a sudden, frustrated end.

His little tantrum must have done some good, though, because Louise looked a bit more empathetic now.

“I get it,” she sighed, sounding resigned. “I’m a manager. And a mum.”

“Thanks,” Phil smiled tersely. “So then you won’t mind if I…?” he gestured vaguely over Louise’s shoulder.

Her eyes traced over him slowly, carefully appraising him. “Fine,” she relented after a minute. “Just… try not to be too hard on him, okay? I’m sure he’ll be in a touchy mood when he wakes up.” Despite her understanding words, Louise still looked wary.

Phil wondered how many stories of hot-tempered, passionate fights Louise had heard over the last year.

“I promise I won’t be a — I won’t be like Isabella,” Phil offered, hoping that the heavy, sincere weight of his voice would convince Louise that he was different.

Louise’s eyes grew wide, her jaw falling open just a hair — she looked surprised, but maybe also a bit… pleased? The tenseness in her shoulders melted — at least some — and she looked less wary. The assurance that not only he knew about Isabella, but was also determined to be different seemed to matter to Louise.

“Good. Because you’ll have me to report to if you hurt him,” Louise threatened, but there was a humorous glint in her eye and a hint of a smile ghosting her lips.

“I won’t hurt him, but that’s a deal.” Phil smiled weakly with an emphatic nod. “So is it okay if I…?” Phil pointed vaguely over Louise’s shoulder, trying to ask her to let him by as gently as possible.

Louise nodded, stepping around Phil towards the foyer. “Yeah, I’m going to nip out then. Tell Dan to text me at some point today, and be nice.”

Phil was tempted to make a sarcastic comment, but didn’t want to risk Louise’s trust. He couldn’t help feeling like he was on a very short leash as it was right now. “I promise I won’t even scream or anything, okay?”

“Good,” Louise said with a smile before heading for the lift. Just before she got to the foyer, she spun around to face Phil again. “Good luck with your mum. And manager.”

“Thanks,” Phil laughed with a genuine smile. “I think I’ll need it.”

Phil waited for the ding of the lift, wanting to make sure Louise was well gone before he sought out Dan, before gathering his courage and carrying on down the hallway. For a split second, he hesitated outside of the closed bedroom door, not completely certain that it was acceptable for him to just burst into Dan’s room and wake him up.

But the memory of the literal thousands of notifications was fresh in Phil’s head, so he pushed open the bedroom door anyway.

The bed, however, was neatly made, and there was no Dan in sight.

Weird. Louise had definitely said that Dan was still asleep. Maybe the guest bedroom?

Confused, Phil stepped backwards and turned back down the hallway, peeking his head into the next room. No Dan in that bed, either.

Phil couldn’t imagine that Dan would be in the music room, and he wasn’t sure where else to look other than the lounge. Phil made his way back, tentatively looking around the lounge entrance before entering.

Curled up on the sofa, still in his tight studded sweater from the night before, was Dan. Despite Phil’s confusion and anxiety, his heart melted. Dan’s hair — and the entire lounge, now that Phil was really looking — was a complete wreck.

There was glass on the floor, both large chunks and shattered shards, that Phil had to navigate around on his way to the sofa. The table — which Phil was accustomed to seeing in a pristine state — was covered in papers and — oh god was that the lube? — on one end. Dan’s notebook was open on the floor, surrounded by a hodge podge of markers. Phil had to bite back the urge to flip through it, to see what else Dan was working on, to pry just a little.

That wasn’t what was important right now, though. Phil turned his back on the mess and properly took in Dan’s lanky body curled up tight on the sofa.

Looking more carefully, Phil’s eyes lingered on where Dan’s trousers were riding down, a soft pale patch of stomach poking out. Dan’s hands were cradled near his face, and his phone was dangling from his fingertips. Phil hovered above Dan, rocking back and forth between his feet as he tried to decide if he really should wake Dan up.

Phil knew Dan had been up late — close to four, at least, and that was assuming he’d gone to sleep straight after texting Phil. Letting Dan sleep a little longer was definitely the nice, selfless thing to do.

But Phil was too anxious and desperate for answers to be selfless right now.

Before Phil could lose his nerve, he reached out and poked Dan’s shoulder.

The poke, however, didn’t seem to be enough to rouse Dan from his sleep. “Dan?” Phil tried, his fingers rubbing into Dan’s bicep a bit harder. “Babe? Wake up?”

“Mmmh,” Dan grumbled. Even in his sleep, Dan seemed reluctant to be roused.

“Please babe? I really need to talk to you,” Phil pleaded. He switched tactics and grabbed ahold of Dan’s shoulder, gently shaking until Dan started stirring.

“Louise?” Dan mumbled, nearly incoherent, without opening his eyes. “Wha’ d’ya want?”

“No, it’s Phil,” Phil corrected.

“Oh.” Dan’s eyes fluttered open, slowly drifting upwards to meet Phil’s.

They were red. Much redder than they normally were when Dan woke up.

The rawness of Dan’s eyes, and the way he rubbed at them, made Phil wonder just how late of a night Dan and Louise had had.

Blearily, Dan’s gaze fell from Phil’s, scanning the room before landing on his phone. Without saying anything else to Phil, he tapped the home button, only to sigh when it wouldn’t come on. “What time s’it?” Dan asked blearily.

“About eight thirty,” Phil guessed without actually checking a clock.

Dan nodded, his eyes drifting back to his phone. “Hang on,” he said, “Lemme plug this s’in ‘nd get some coffee.” Dan pushed up off the sofa, stretching slightly and making his sweater ride up even further. “Want some?” he asked, eyes bleary as he glanced at Phil before turning to leave.

Phil’s brows furrowed, bewildered that Dan was so casually offering him coffee.

As if nothing major had happened since they’d last seen each other.

“Wait—” Phil said as he reached out and caught Dan by the wrist, preventing him from going anywhere. “Are you not even going to acknowledge it?” he asked, annoyance starting to creep into his voice.

Dan raised his eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.

Phil blinked back rapidly, baffled by Dan’s lack of… well, anything.

“Oh come on, don’t play dumb,” Phil groaned, irritated. Dan’s eyes grew wide and he held Phil’s gaze for a fleeting moment before flickering off to the side. In the brief seconds that Dan had looked at him, Phil could see entire pools of emotions — emotions that he wasn’t quite sure what to make of. There was sleepiness, but there was also worry and… something else.

Something that Phil really wished Dan would just share with him.

“Your texts? Instagram? The internet?” Phil prompted, his voice growing more and more pointed with each suggestion when Dan didn’t say anything.

Dan ran his free hand through his hair, grabbing at the ends of his curls and tugging. His eyes drifted back to Phil’s, and he stepped minutely backwards, his hand nearly coming out of Phil’s grip. “I know, I know,” Dan finally sighed, sounding defeated “I just really need some fucking coffee first. I had a long night.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had a long morning,” Phil countered; his fingers wrapped more tightly around Dan’s arm, his nails insistently digging into the soft underside of Dan’s wrist.

Dan flinched back, his hand yanking backwards out of Phil’s grip and curling protectively against his chest. “I suppose that’s my doing, then?” he asked meekly as he stared down at the space between them.

Phil shot Dan an unamused look, not that Dan was looking up to see it. A part of him was itching to reach out and force Dan to look up at him, but Dan didn’t look like he’d be okay with Phil touching him just now. “No, I normally wake up to thousands of notifications after a nice quiet day away from social media,” Phil quipped, unable to keep a sarcastic edge out of his voice.

Dan’s eyes clamped shut, and he drew in a sharp breath. His arms shifted to cross in front of his chest, his entire body crumpling in on itself. “Just… hang on,” Dan begged softly without looking at Phil. He sounded so small, so young. Guilt washed over Phil — he was responsible for making Dan look so vulnerable. “Let me get a cup of coffee. Please.”

Phil drew his hands back to his side, shoving them in the front pockets of his joggers as a silent promise that he wasn’t going to try to stop Dan. “Of course,” he nodded, trying his best to keep his voice soft and even. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

With a small shake of his head, Dan teetered away from Phil cautiously and backed out of the room without ever turning fully away. At the last second, Dan spun around, narrowly avoiding running into the doorframe as he exited the lounge.

It was an odd reaction, one that gave Phil the sense that Dan was afraid to turn his back on Phil. Self-defensive reactions like that weren’t usually natural — they were learned.

Phil swallowed thickly, suddenly wondering how deep Louise’s fears ran. Dan’s movements were shaky, guarded, and he seemed to be fighting the urge to not look over his shoulder. Not wanting to make Dan more uncomfortable, Phil trailed behind at a distance as Dan led the way.

In the kitchen, Dan went straight to start the coffee and Phil came to a rest at the opposite counter. Dan still wasn’t meeting Phil’s eyes — hell, he wasn’t even looking up — but Phil could tell that Dan knew exactly where Phil was by the wide berth he gave Phil’s spot along the counter.

The entire kettle shook when Dan filled it with water; his hands were trembling, but his jaw was set, rigid. “Coffee?” Dan murmured without glancing over.

“Sure,” Phil accepted quietly. He made an effort to keep his voice as soft and gentle as he could. “Milk —”

“And two sugars, same as your tea. I know,” Dan interrupted quietly. If something weren’t so clearly wrong with Dan’s behavior right now, Phil would have been touched that Dan knew how he took his coffee. Instead, Phil was hyper-focused on Dan’s shaky movements and watched carefully as Dan rummaged through the cupboards, finally pulling out a ceramic soup bowl that was nearly mug-like and — oh. Phil had forgotten that Dan only had one functioning mug.

Because Isabella smashed the rest. In a fight. A fight unlike any fight Phil that had ever had.

Regardless, Dan poured milk and sugar into the proper mug, adding only the smallest spoonful of sugar to the makeshift mug. That was so typical Dan — putting others first, always striving to make others happy. Phil’s lips twitched for a second, nearly quirking up into a smile at Dan’s persistent thoughtfulness.

Phil waited in silence for the kettle to boil, knowing that he wasn’t likely to get anything useful out of a sleepy Dan. Plus, he hoped that a bit of quiet — and space — would help calm whatever Dan’s fears were.

It felt like it took the coffee maker ages to brew their coffee. Phil was growing well anxious, and Dan didn’t seem to be in much of a better state. Eventually, though, Dan was pouring two cups of coffee, passing the polka dotted mug to Phil, and hugging the soup bowl close to himself.

Dan took a large gulp of his coffee, only lowering it a few centimeters when he was done. The mug was held up high, nearly obscuring his face, and his gaze was focused on the black liquid inside. Dan’s arms were tucked into his chest, and his shoulders hunched up. Again, Phil was struck by how small Dan looked.

“Well? Let’s hear it then,” Dan whispered without looking up.

“Hear what?” Phil asked, head cocked, confused.

“You’re mad at me, so let’s just… get the part where you yell at me or whatever over with.” Dan’s eyes flicked up, just barely landing on Phil, and looked back at his coffee so quickly that Phil would certainly have missed it if he wasn’t watching Dan so closely.

Phil’s heart plummeted into his stomach as Dan confirmed his dreaded speculations — all of this, all of Dan’s current behavior, had something to do with how fights had gone in the past. Phil opened and closed his mouth, sputtering stupidly like a fish as he tried to figure out what to say.

“I didn’t come over here to yell at you,” Phil tried his best to placate his boyfriend, even though he didn’t really know how. Not right now, not with this new, scared Dan.They’d only had one tiff since meeting, and then it’d blown over because Phil had dropped it. But it wasn’t a lie — no matter how desperate and confused and frustrated Phil was, yelling at Dan was never his intention.

“But you are mad,” Dan said simply, still addressing his coffee more than Phil.

“I’m not mad, I’m… in shock, I guess.” Phil blew on his coffee, stalling for time as he grappled for a way he could express his frustrations without unnecessarily startling Dan.

“Call it whatever you want, but I can tell you’re not happy with me,” Dan mumbled.

“Okay, fine,” Phil relented, swallowing his trepediations and deciding to speak his mind. “I was shocked when I woke up to thousands of messages on my social media talking about you coming out and speculating about us.” Dan nodded — a microscopic, subtle movement — but didn’t say anything, so Phil continued. “And I’ll admit that I was a bit miffed when I realized that Louise was here but you didn’t even try to contact me last night.”

“Louise is my best friend,” Dan pushed back, a hint of anger in his voice.

“And I’m your boyfriend now!” Phil insisted. “In order for a relationship to work, we have to communicate, Dan.”

“You’re not my fucking boss,” Dan barked. “I can talk to whoever the fuck I want to. And if you’ve got a problem with Louise, you can just leave now.” There was a harsh edge to Dan’s voice, but beneath it, Phil could just barely tell that it was shaking — shaking with what, he wasn’t sure. Anger, maybe. Or fear.

“I don’t have a problem with Louise,” Phil argued. “It’s just — I texted you four bloody times last night. You could have talked to me if you needed… I don’t know, help, or whatever.” Phil waved his hand in frustration as his words failed him.

Dan sat his mug down on the counter, a loud clack filling the kitchen as the ceramic made contact with the granite countertop. “Look I just spent a fucking year with someone who didn’t like Louise and hated that I went to her for stuff, and if you’re gonna be that way too, then just fuck off already,” Dan spat out harshly.

If Phil wasn’t already leaning against the opposite counter, he would have jumped back at that. As it was, his lower back dug into the counter as he recoiled from Dan’s words.

“Don’t fucking compare me to Isabella!” Phil snapped, disgust and horror holding tight in his stomach. “I don’t give a rat’s ass that you go to your best friend instead of me sometimes, but when you end up doing something that all but confirms that you and I are dating, yeah, I’d like to be a part of the decision!”

“You can’t control me Phil.” Dan’s shoulders drew up impossibly closer to his ears, his voice growing high pitched. “I can’t take the time to get written permission from you every time I want to say something about my album.”

“And I’m not asking you to!” Phil retaliated. “But couldn’t you have waited, like, a day so that I wasn’t completely blindsided by you basically outing me when I woke up this morning?”

“No,” Dan huffed, an edge of stubbornness cutting into his defiance.

“No?” Phil asked incredulously.

“No,” Dan repeated, his voice even more forceful this time. “You couldn’t have talked me out of it.”

“I wouldn’t have tried to!” Phil exclaimed before he could process what Dan had said — before he could process that Dan seemed to think that Phil would try to control him. In some ways, at least. “I get that given… your album…” Phil trailed off as he grappled for the right words, words that would capture how Dan’s album affected Phil’s life without him sounding ungrateful or overly important.

He took a deep breath before continuing. “I get that your album is going to take away some of the privacy and control over my image that I’m used to having online, and that’s fine. But couldn’t this have waited, like, a day so that we could talk about it first? And I could… I don’t know, tell my family we were properly dating first?”

Dan shook his head forcefully, his curls flopping down into his face. “You don’t understand Phil. There wasn’t time. It had to be now.”

“What is that even supposed to mean?” Phil huffed, his free hand lacing through his hair and pushing it further back.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Dan snapped, his arms crossing hotly in front of his chest.

“I’m sure I would if you would stop being defensive for five seconds and actually explained yourself!” The words flew out of Phil’s mouth before he realized what he was saying. They were harsh, yes, but they were true. It felt like all Dan was doing this morning was be overly contrary for no discernible reason, and he wasn’t fucking listening. Phil didn’t want to be angry right now, he really didn’t. It was just hard when Dan was acting like this.

Dan appeared to have heard that, though, if the way he flinched backwards was anything to go by.

“Excuse me?” Dan challenged. He sounded positively outraged, his tone just this side of livid. His shoulders were shaking, and Phil could see anger flaring in his eyes.

And something else, too. Something like… hurt.

Phil put his own mug down on the counter, dragging his hands down his face in exasperation. This wasn’t the conversation — well, fight, at this rate — that he’d come over here to have this morning. Phil hadn’t been wanting to argue, he’d just wanted to understand.

“I’m just trying to talk to you, Dan,” Phil pleaded, his voice coming out whiny and needy “I just want to know what the hell happened last night.”

“Right,” Dan laughed bitterly. “You want to know all about the part where I almost outed you, but you don’t seem at all concerned about the part where I actually came out.”

“That was your choice!” Phil insisted, voice raised.

“No it wasn’t!” Dan bellowed back.

Phil froze, his eyes snapping up to meet Dan’s again. Dan had pushed off the counter, and crossed almost half of the kitchen. He was standing rigid, his body leaning forward, his hands in tight fists by his sides. Dan’s eyes were blown wide — he looked shocked by his own words.

Phil certainly was.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Phil asked slowly, warily. Something happened last night — something big — that much was clear. What wasn’t clear, though, was why Dan hadn’t called Phil last night.

They could have talked about it. Phil could have helped.

“It means — it means —” Dan stuttered, before abruptly giving up. The tension melted out of Dan’s shoulders as he crumpled in on himself, retreating back to lean against his countertop. “It doesn’t mean anything. Can we just move on?”

“No we can’t bloody move on,” Phil huffed, his frustration growing. He’d passed impatient, passed needing answers; now, he was downright desperate. “Can you just tell me what the fuck you mean, already? What happened last night?”

Phil stared at Dan with pleading eyes, silently begging him to explain what he’d meant. For a moment, Dan just stared back at Phil. A loud silence overtook the room, neither of them saying anything else.

Finally, the tense silence was interrupted by a sharp sigh from Dan. Dan’s gaze fell from Phil’s, turning down to his own feet. An agitated hand ran through Dan’s hair, tugging on his curls.

A brief wave of relief shot through Phil, certain that he was about to get an explanation for Dan’s weird behavior. Phil pushed away from the counter, debating whether he should go to Dan, maybe tip his head up and kiss his forehead. Something small to make Dan feel more comfortable talking.

But then, Dan was crossing the kitchen in three big strides, coming to a halt right in front of Phil. Bewildered, Phil searched Dan’s face, trying to figure out what the hell Dan was doing. Dan’s eyes were wild, frantic, a panicked gleam shimmering in them. His cheeks were flushed red, his mouth drawn in a tight line. He was so, so close, so afraid.

And then he was gone.

Phil blinked rapidly, confused and unsure where Dan had disappeared to. One second he was there, and then poof he was gone.

Unsure, that was, until a sudden waft of cool air washed over his upper thighs.

Phil’s attention snapped down, finding Dan again. Dan’s hands were on Phil’s joggers — joggers that he’d managed to tug down to Phil’s knees before Phil had even realized where Dan had gone. He was still tugging, trying to wrestle them over Phil’s knees now.

“Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan,” Phil gasped, his voice coming out rushed and urgent. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Dan didn’t look up at Phil. Instead, his hands abandoned Phil’s joggers, leaving them wrapped around Phil’s bony knees, and latched onto Phil’s boxers. His hands pulled insistently, frantically — too frantic to be particularly effective, mercifully.

“Dan!” Phil implored. The shock of the situation finally wore off, and Phil finally launched into motion, his hands flying out to catch Dan’s and prying them away from his hips. His boxers were awkwardly a bit low now, but Phil didn’t risk letting go of Dan’s hands — Phil was worried that Dan would just reach back to pull them all the way over his arse. “Look at me!” Phil ordered forcefully.

Slowly, painfully, Dan’s eyes drifted up and came to rest somewhere around Phil’s neck.

Phil took a deep breath, calming himself down, before he hooked his fingers under Dan’s chin and coaxed his head the rest of the way up. “Dan, sweetheart, what are you doing?” Phil asked, careful to keep a gentle tone to his voice now that he had Dan’s attention.

“Making the fight go away,” Dan responded. His voice was small — so, so small — and he still wasn’t quite meeting Phil’s gaze.

Phil stared blankly, his eyes trailing over Dan’s scared face, as he tried to figure out what was happening.

Suddenly, Phil was assaulted with the image of Dan covered in hickeys and scratches, embarrassed and ashamed as he admitted to Phil that they were from angry sex — angry sex that came from a fight.

Phil’s jaw dropped.

It didn’t shock Phil to know that Dan and Isabella dealt with their problems through sex, but he was a bit astonished to find the effects so lasting, to realize that Dan still seemed to think that angry sex was the proper solution to an argument, even with Phil.

Phil shook his head forcefully — both in attempt to tell Dan no, and also to shake himself out of his head and into action.

“Babe,” Phil whispered. Looking down at Dan’s vulnerable, submissive stance, Phil felt his heart breaking. Desperate to make them feel like equals again, Phil sunk down to his knees, too. He let go of Dan’s wrists, reaching up to brush back his unruly curls from his face. “Blowing me isn’t going to make the fight go away,” he whispered softly..

“Oh,” Dan muttered, voice small. His eyes trailed down between them. Phil couldn’t see his expression, but his body language spoke volumes. “It’s well and truly fucked then, huh?”

Dan sounded so scared, so distraught, that Phil wasn’t sure what to say for a moment. Dan sounded like he genuinely believed that it — they — must be fucked if a blowjob wasn’t going to fix their fight.

Phil’s shock turned to horror when he saw tears leak down Dan’s face.

“Oh, baby. No, no,” Phil cooed. His hands flew from Dan’s hair to cup his cheeks, his thumbs swiping under Dan’s eyes and smearing the tears away. “No, nothing’s fucked baby.”

Slowly, Dan tilted his head up to look at Phil. “It’s — it’s not?” he hiccupped, his voice coming out higher and more crackly than normal.

“Of course not,” Phil promised, rushed and confident. His eyes were wide in horror at the very idea of them, this, their relationship, being over so soon. His brows were furrowed in confusion at the idea of Dan being concerned that this was over — that they were over. “But the way to make the fight go away is to tell me what’s going on, tell me what you’re thinking.”

Dan sniffled loudly, his eyes fluttering closed again. He was quiet for a moment, with the exception of a few residual hiccups, but then he nodded slowly, his eyes still closed.

“Yeah? You’ll talk to me this time?” Phil asked hopefully.

Dan nodded again.

“Without getting defensive?” Phil prompted, half teasing, half trying to encourage Dan to act more rationally this time.

“Yeah,” Dan agreed meekly. He fell forward, Phil’s arms wrapping around and catching him on instinct. The second Phil’s arms were around Dan, Dan burrowed into him, melting against his chest. Dan’s hands were smushed between them, crooked at an awkward angle, but Phil didn’t mind.

Silence settled between them as Dan calmed down. Slowly, gently, Phil started tracing his fingers up and down Dan’s spine, his fingers catching on the studs of Dan’s sweater.

After a moment, Dan mumbled, “Can we sit down?”

Phil pulled back and pressed a lingering kiss to Dan’s forehead. “Lead the way, sweetheart.”

Dan minutely leaned into Phil’s lips, pushing his head into the kiss for a moment before pulling back. He pushed up to his feet, and immediately offered Phil a hand up. Dan’s gaze trailed over Phil as he climbed off the floor; Phil felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as he remembered the state of his clothing.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Dan muttered, his eyes meaningfully flicking down to Phil’s half drawn joggers.

“It’s okay,” Phil murmured back softly as he stood up with Dan’s help. Phil’s spare hand flew to his joggers, pulling them back up his hips as he stood. He tried his best to swallow down his embarrassment, to make his cheeks go back to a pale white; he didn’t want to call any more attention to Dan’s rash advances than necessary. Not right now.

For the first time that morning, Phil was thankful that he’d only been able to find the tight joggers that morning — anything looser would likely have slipped straight down Phil’s thin legs and likely made the whole situation more awkward.

Dan dropped Phil’s hand to turn and collect their coffees from their respective countertops while Phil fixed his pants and joggers,. “Come on,” Dan muttered, cocking his head out of the room.

Phil obediently followed Dan out the kitchen and towards the lounge, nearly smashing into him when Dan came to a sudden halt in the middle of the hallway.

“What?” Phil asked, alarmed.

Dan spun around to face Phil. “I don’t wanna be in the lounge.” His words came out rushed, his voice high. “It’s a mess.”

“I don’t mind,” Phil assured him, “But we can go wherever you want.” Phil stepped backwards, moving closer to the wall so that Dan could navigate around him and lead them somewhere else.

“I need something from in there, though,” Dan insisted; his words were vague, but his tone was determined. He thrusted their coffees at Phil without much more of an explanation. Phil grabbed the coffees in silent shock, his fingers barely wrapping around the mugs and steadying them before Dan let go.

“I’ll meet you in the bed,” Dan said with a note of finality.

Dan only made it a few paces down the hallway before he stopped and spun back around to face Phil. “If that’s okay, I mean,” he said quickly, his voice high and rushed. “It’ll be more comfortable than the music room and I swear I won’t, like, try anything again. Like, I promise I’ll talk, I’m just really tired and I —”

“Dan,” Phil interrupted gently. “The bed’s fine. Get whatever you need. I’ll be there waiting for you.”

#phanfic #phanfiction #phan #phan au #au #coffee shop au #barista!phil #singer!dan #iminclinedtowriting #ly #love yourself

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lucifer-lacroix · 5 years

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Strawberry Chapter 1 (Rewrite)

Arthur X OC RDR 2 Fanfiction, Romance, Action, Mystery.

"I decided to take a ride out of blackwater on my own for a while. Hosea has been riding me all week about getting into trouble at the saloon again, guess I should not have had that third bottle of whiskey. I thought it best to disappear till things cool down. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around them since they are trying to cook up some big plan and they compared me to a bull in an antique shop. I heard up Mount Shann there is a bald eagle or two nesting near the top. I have never seen one before, so maybe I might get lucky and shoot one out of the air or... at least get a sketch of it and some feathers. Who knows. Strawberry is a beautiful town, and I am enjoying the scenery up here. The stable is well built with wooden carvings and statues around the property. Someone is either pretty wealthy or handy with small tools."

The blonde man known as Arthur Morgan scribbled into his leather back journal a picture of the Gate to Strawberry, he sat on the back of a Grey and White Arabian horse which grazed on the pile of hay inside a trove. The pair were sheltered from the rain at a nearby stable down the road from the small town of Strawberry. Arthur was dressed in a white bison leather coat as well as having a wolf pelt draped over his shoulders. It was a wet afternoon, and the sun shone high in the sky breaking apart the rain clouds which had just finished their storming, though the distance dark thunder clouds were still looming in the distance. His worn and torn green hat tipped low over his eyes casting a large shadow over his face as people walked by paying him little mind as they went about closing up the stable for the evening. After the rain calmed to a spit, he folded up his journal and tucked it away into his satchel, He shook out his fur cowl of any last remaining droplets of water and dusted off his sleeves. He reared the horse back away from her food, and she honked disapprovingly having been interrupted during her snack. "Hey, now Princess lets get moving there will more once we arrive at the hotel." He said patting her neck as she pranced in the spot shaking her wet mane. He leaned back and eased her to turn around slowly. He clicked his tongue on his teeth and gave her a squeeze with his thighs, and she pushed forward heading back for the road and up the hill. The short walk made harder for the steed from the extra weight of a buck carcass hanging off her rear. Behind them, a mule was following close on their tail led by a single rope tied onto Princess's saddle. He too was carrying a buck much larger than the other, and he was trotting along behind happily honking once Arthur looked back to him with a smile. "Good boy." He said and tugged the rope so the Mule would follow closer to him on his left. As they crested the hill, they entered a bustling town with muddy streets. Carts and horses had gotten stuck in the mud from the sudden burst of rain which had flooded the dirt streets, there were crowds gathered trying to pull people out of the mud, and the main thoroughfare was a dangerous zone for travellers. Arthur dodged his two mammals around the long way and through the shallow mud avoiding the thick areas and brought them to the closest hitch he could find. The cowboy dismounted and hitched them up positioning the Arabian along with his mule and secured them together on the post. As he approached the butcher counter no one was attending it as a group of people were gathered in the street around some commotion currently blocked from his view by a carriage stuck in the muck. He walked towards the crowd curiously and heard two women fighting, their screams of anger shrill and loud echoing around the group that had gathered. As he was but a few steps away, the people cheered loudly as a loud smash of wood was heard, and he dodged a flying piece of wood which smacked someone else in the face — quickly turning back to see where the projectile had come from. There were two women in a pit of mud covered head to toe wrestling each other, pulling hair and screaming like banshees. "You lying bitch! That was my momma's ring, and I'll be damned if I will see it on your whore of a finger!" The first girl said screaming, her dark brown hair a muddy mess tangled and knotted as the woman she was fighting was currently bending her over using her hair as leverage over her. Her clothing was slick with pale brown mud revealing much of her figure to the crowd, the dress was torn and shredded at the sleeves, and she was currently at the others mercy. "I bought it with my own money, take it up with the jeweller! I paid for it!" The red-headed woman holding her down said with a mighty voice and a scowl on her face currently in control of the fight. She too was slick with the pale brown mud and her red expensive corseted dress was splattered with muck, she was struggling in the dirt under the constraints of the skirt and heels, but for the moment she had things under control. There was a broken bucket beside them on the ground, and the redhead had splintered wood in her hair and blood was dripping out her nose. "What happened?" Arthur asked witnessing the fight now taking in the scene. He felt his chest tighten as the crowd just stood there and watched as these two rather lovely ladies fought like animals to their amusement. "That little bitch there just smashed that whore in the face with a bucket Hooheey! Fight! Fight!" A balding drunk chanted along with other encouraging the fight. "Disgusting, you just sit there and watch!?" Authur shouted and marched into the centre of the crowd towards the two brawling women. He entered the mud pit which slowed his pace and without hesitation joined the fight. As the red-head slipped in her heels, the brunette swung her foot up in an attempt to kick her, but Arthur slapped it down and grabbed the redhead's hand and pried it free from the brunette's hair. "That's enough!" He shouted and forced them apart. The redhead barely fought against him as he pried her hand off of the girl. He threw her hand away, and she pulled it to her chest panting heavily but still looking at the strange, handsome man who decided the fight needed to stop. The Brunette, however, took this moment to attempt to tackle through Arthur but he stopped her easily and picked her up. She kicking and screaming started splashing mud over Arthur trying to get past him to attack the redhead. He carried her a few steps away and set her down on her feet. "Let me go she's nuttin but a who-Augh!" In the midst of her tantrum, Arthur pushed her back, and she slipped in the mud and fell onto her butt in a large paddy of thick mud. "Shut up and go home." He barked loudly. It was clear she was the one who started the fight as the redhead merely stood there trying to regain her breath and was suffering from being smashed with a bucket. "The fact you have anything to say about me Henrietta is a laugh! You've slept with half the town for free!" The redhead shouted after she brushed her hair back off her face and noticed the blood on her fingers. She tried to move but ended up stuck in the mud unable to escape her heels. Arthur saw how she was trapped and left the brunette to flounder in the muck to assist the woman in red by giving her his hand. She took his hand and with his grip firm and solid arm she was able to pull herself free from the thick mud. "Are you alright mam?" He asked and noticed her red matching coat to her dress was stuck in the mud too. He pulled it out and shook it off and handed it to her which she took and collected under her arm. She was still trying to accept the fact they got drenched in mud, and her head was spinning, so the woman barely glanced at him. Arthur, however, studied her for a moment, her face half smeared with mud, and he could scarcely see the freckles which crested her shallow nose. Her eyes, however, were a stunning green shade inside perfectly shaped almond eyes which could not be masked by the dirt. For a brief moment, she glanced back and mouthed a thank you then held her face where she got hit with the bucket. "Thank you. I should be alright." She said and touched her nose and winced. Before Arthur was able to say anything mentioning her possibly broken nose face, Henrietta interrupted. "I'll kill you!" Henrietta screamed and finally scrambled up off the ground. Once Henriette got onto her feet she grabbed a piece of splintered wood and headed back for the woman in red. She stopped in her tracks as all the attention turned when the click of a gun being cocked sounded. Arthur had a surprised look on his face as he watched the redhead lightning quick drew his silver-plated volcanic pistol from his belt and pointed it at the brunette. He looked down to his belt and back to her somewhat intrigued on how she was able to stealthily and speedily draw his gun. The crowd stood still as everyone froze waiting for the snap of a bullet to fire. Only silence followed. A second click of the hammer and a second gun was involved. This time eyes turned towards the carriage where the fight took place. "Excuse me. I think it's time you got back into the carriage, Isabella." A third woman stated in a soft, elegant voice with a British accent. She was wearing a large white hat with plums of coloured feathers and flowers with blonde curly hair tumbling out from under it. Her royal blue and the well-tailored corseted dress fit her curves snugly, and something about her struck Arthur as familiar as if he had seen her before. She was enchanting to witness, but her angelic look was contrasted by long barreled high-velocity rifle firm in her grip. She was standing in the door of the carriage with her boot stepped up on the frame so she could rest the barrel of the gun on her thigh and had pointed it at Henrietta. Arthur started to feel the sweat dripping down his neck at the situation he found himself in since his pistol was no longer in his hands. "May I suggest," Arthur spoke and put his hand on the Redheads and lowered her gun in a gentle motion. "You give her the ring?" He asked the woman who glared at him in response. "If she can pay for it." The blonde woman from the carriage said. "I can't pay for it... but it's mine." Henrietta had tears in her eyes, she was full spirited and ready to fight, but the two guns pointed at her left her scared and nervous. "Is it worth dying over?" Arthur asked her kindly. "...Yes," Henrietta replied as her eyes swelled up. Whatever the ring meant to her. It was surely something important since her face was red with rage. "Ugh! Fine!" The redhead let the pistol fall, and she let out a long frustrated growl and shoved the pistol into Arthur's hands. He eased her rash actions and took the weapon and held it in hand more confident in the situation now with his gun returned to him. The redhead pulled off her gloves and removed a small gold ring from her finger that has a sapphire embedded into it. "Take it, but you need to cover the costs to clean my clothes, the gentleman's too." She said and pulled herself through the mud, the train of her dress dragging through the mud but she walked with a hauty march, she approached the miserable girl and handed the ring to her. As Henrietta gripped the wood in her hand, the splintered wood weapon still tight in her grip she wanted to swing, but the blonde still had her at gunpoint. Henrietta dropped the chunk of wood and took the ring back, shaking her head silently in agreement. "Now that's the end of that! Everyone can go right fuck off then eh!" The redhead yelled at the crowd who groaned seeing such an anticlimax end to the argument. They started to move on as the blonde released Henrietta from gunpoint. "I will pick up your clothes tomorrow at noon for cleaning. I can't afford the cleaners, but I can do it myself." Henrietta said and slipped the ring on her finger and held it to her chest. "I am fine no need to worry about my clothes," Arthur said and attempted to leave. "Nonsense. A Gentlemen like yourself does not get to leave so suddenly. You stepped in the middle of a fight that is not your own to protect ladies from their own squabble. We have to thank you." The blonde spoke up and shouldered her weapon. "I merely did not want to see bloodshed today. I'm glad I could assist good day mam." He said and tipped his hat to them and walked off anyway. The ladies started discussing things amongst themselves, and Arthur exited the mud pit and headed back to the butchers counter where the man who was watching the event had returned too.

A white bison leather jacket, handcrafted after hunting a rare creature in the snowy mountains was now splattered with mud and fertiliser as Arthur slugged through the mud which flooded the street of Strawberry. The weather in the distance started to darken as the thunder clouds began to grow above. What was a freak downpour was about to become a storm and Arthur looked up assessing what his next steps should be? He looked to his horse and mule and started to untie the carcasses from their backs while his thoughts were stirring. Hiking up a mountain trail with two mammals was hard enough, but Princess was an extraordinarily skittish girl, and as Arthur lifted the buck off the Arabian's back she danced and swayed in spot huffing heavily and shaking her mane. Princess would not fare well in a thunderstorm even with all of Arthur's attention, and he could not ignore his mule. After Arthur handed off to the first buck to the butcher, he returned to the happy boy who neighed with joy when Arthur came near and stroked his neck. "Who's a good boy." He soothed him as he began to nibble at his bandana tugging it gently. No one could ignore the...

"He's cute, what's his name?" A feminine voice spoke up from behind him. It was the blonde Englishwoman from the carriage. She must have followed him across the road since her perfectly clean black boots now had muck on them yet she was immaculate from any mess on her blue dress. "I call him the Duke," Arthur said giving him a few heavy pats. "I'm in love with how sweet he is on you." She said and folded her hands over her heart watching the Mule fawn over his loving owner. "He's a handful alright, always wanting attention but he is a good boy," Arthur added when the Duke snatched the bandana from his neck and ripped two buttons off his shirt at the same time — trying to eat it while he was distracted. "Hey! No no no give it back." Arthur scrambled to pull the fabric out of the Duke's teeth before he swallowed it as a cackle of giggles burst from the blonde beauty who watched in amusement. Arthur stepped back away from the mule who extended himself to the maximum range he could on his lead, his teeth still desperately reaching for Arthur as he looked at the slobbery bandana now torn in two. "I'm glad I can entertain you," Arthur said and pocketed it as she finally overcame her giggle fit. "My apologies, but I had to come over and talk to you myself, and I'm not here to tease I promise." She said and stepped back allowing Arthur the space he needed so he could finish unloading his kill to the butcher. Arthur returned to his task and started to unstrap the second buck from the Duke's once he distracted him with a sugar cube. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Arthur asked as he hauled the buck onto his shoulder with ease. "If you would allow myself and the girls to buy you dinner, as a thank you. Bella is too proud to ask for help let alone thank someone herself. She doesn't like being a damsel in distress, but you stepped in when we needed someone to step in." The mysterious blonde stood and watched him work, and Arthur could feel her gaze as he hulled the buck onto the table. A sly little grin on his face and he puffed his chest out a little bit when he stood back up. Taking off his hat to comb his hair back with his fingers as the butcher handed him a handful of cash. He took the money and thanked the butcher and walked back to girl replacing his hat on his head. "Well, I was going to ride north and camp in the mountains, but with this storm coming in and an invitation as welcoming like that. I'm still going to have to decline." Arthur said bluntly walking up to her to be direct. Her mouth was agape, and she gasped, but there was a massive smile on her face in response to the grin on Arthur's. "You are something else. Well maybe this will change your mind, My name is Lady Rosalyn Bush, and I suggest you reconsider. " She said and cocked an eyebrow at him. "That's a familiar name," Arthur said looking at her curiously. Her face brought a sense of nostalgia to him, he had seen it before, and that name was making it even more so. "A man who enjoys camping must have a can of beans or two in his satchel. Perhaps you should take one out and look a little closer." She crossed her arms with an air of pride. Arthur, now curious, did indeed have a can of beans on him, so he flipped open his bag and not taking his eyes off her pulled it out and checked the label quickly. "Well, I'll be damned. Is this you?" He asked turning the label towards her. The image of a lady painted on the side beside the company brand with long braided blonde hair and big blue eyes. "Yes sir, and that is my recipe too." She said with a smile and struck the pose on the side label flashing her brilliant smile which was what brought that nostalgia to him. Many years were spent staring at her face on the side of the can beside campfires and dirty ditches. "Then I must be dreaming if I am in the presence of someone truly famous because I sure do enjoy your beans very much," Arthur said and gave her a bow. A little guilt behind his eyes. "Most cowboys do, but I don't very much like all the cowboys. Or girls for that matter, ever since we arrived the people have been nothing but hostile towards me and my caravan. It's been a while since a kind soul has crossed our path and I do not wish to risk bad luck on the rest of our journey by not taking care of those who show my girls and I kindness. So I ask you to please reconsider and let me spoil you." Rosalyn was very stern with her words but welcoming and kind. She spoke like Dutch did when addressing the gang with a fierce intensity behind her eyes which locked onto his. He fell victim to her gaze once again this time unable to decline. "Oh alright, you can buy me dinner. Though I'm probably going to need a bath as well to clean up after that little fight your girl started." Arthur added and unhitched his two companions from their post. If he played his cards right, she might even cover all his costs to stay in town for the night and perhaps he could leave with his pockets a little heavier then when he came. "My girls start no fights, but we do finish them I'll explain later. The carriage got stuck in the mud, so everyone already went on foot to the hotel. Why don't you get those two cuties stabled and meet me there?" Rosalyn said and hicked her skirt up to ready herself to trek through the mud. Her boots already stained with two inches of dirt on them, and they didn't look like good boots to stomp in through the mud. "Get on." Arthur gestured to Princess. "Really?" She asked gazing at the beautiful white Arabian. "You're wearing expensive clothes. I'll give you a ride." He said and held the lead for Princess towards her. "Is it friendly?" Rosalyn asked and approached the horse. "She's skittish, but with me here she will be alright." He said as Rosalyn walked up to her and took the lead before approaching her cautiously and slowly. Princess swayed away from her at first but relaxing as the Lady pet her neck gently. "She is beautiful. What's her name." "Princess." "Ah, I get it." She pointed between the two animals and chuckled. "Very cute. Am I to be right to assume this is a rare horse? I don't see many albino white horses roaming around" She asked and hoisted herself up and sat side saddle on the White Arabian and held the horn to keep her steady. Arthur got up onto the Duke who honked very loudly when he was mounted and turned to her. "You could say so, hard to tame though. Probably won't be able to sell her for much if I can't get her to relax." He clicked his teeth and gave the command, and the pair started back down the hill towards the stable.

Most of the ride was spent giving Rosalyn instructions on how to keep Princess settled, with a strange rider on her back and her attempts to ride all ladylike. The horse was left agitated the entire time. Rosalyn almost getting bucked off twice when she tried to lead her to roughly yanking on the reins trying to stop herself from falling off. "Okay, I think it's time I got off now." Rosalyn's voice was shaky as she struggled with Princess to lead her up to the stable. One of the hands had to run out and grab Princess before she reared and Rosalyn hopped off her quickly as the Horse began to prance more and more, and the blonde escaped the horse. "I should have told you to sit properly, or else she won't respect you." Arthur was chuckling the whole way down riding gracefully on the back of the Mule who marched with pride now that the love of his life was riding his back. "Well, it's a good thing the hotel isn't far from here. I think walking will be safer." Rosalyn ran out of the stable leaving the horse hand and Arthur to take care of hitching them up. They were de-saddled, housed and fed before Arthur left them inside and headed back out to meet Rosalyn who was in the middle of paying the Stableman. "Give them some extra treats and a bath for me please." She said and gave the gent a kiss on the cheek and an extra 5 dollars. "Yes, indeed Lady Bush." He said and tipped his hat to her running off as Arthur approached.

"Would you like to meet my girls now?" Rosalyn asked. "Sure!" Arthur said and took off his hat as they headed into the hotel, he didn't even have to ask she was throwing money around. What was once a hunting trip to escape the gang's noose, was going to turn into a pretty hefty score if he played this woman right.

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #arthur morgan #cowboys #western #fanfiction #original character #devil in red

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spnbaby-67 · 6 years

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Craving You Chapter 15 B

Summary: Jensen and reader head back to Vancouver, however in the midst of a snow storm have them grounded on the side of a highway. What happens? Oooohhh.

A/N: Hi ya’ll, just wanted to get one more cute chapter before all hell broke loose. I think maybe two more chapters to go are left, sad to see this one ending. However, once it’s completed I will rewrite it to make it better since I am getting a bit better at writing and I have an amazing Beta to help. I apologize this isnt’ the greatest of all chapters, but I’ve been stressed lately with work, the holidays, and just words not wanting to cooperate with me. But i’ll make it up to ya’ll. Thank you Taylor @impalaimagining for helping me get out of writers block and writing a couple of paragraphs for me. Thank you to Gaynor as well @secretlyfurrydragon for your help. Guys she really has amazing stories as well. My favorite is When Dreams Come True, full of angst, loving Jensen, caring Jared, and amazing reader whose been thru a lot of crap, But does her best to overcome a past. It’s amazing go read it. --Link is here, http://archiveofourown.org/works/10842036/chapters/24068748

Also please note that my stories are to not be posted on any other websites without my permission. please ask. No hate towards Danneel, she’s amazing and I so can’t wait for her to be on SPN. Without further ado lets read.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles and Reader

Warnings: Angst, nervous passenger, Language, (Sorry I cuss)

Catch Up Here.

Craving You Chapter 15 B

Somewhere on the outskirts of Texas, we pulled into a gas station to get gas and food. I texted Jo to let her know where we were and she said for us to be safe. She had checked the weather report for Boise and told us to be extra careful, because they were expecting snow. I told Jensen and he assured me that his truck had snow tires on them and that once we were closer, if needed he’d put the snow chains on to help get better traction while driving. Jo then told me she had packed some blankets in the backseat of his truck in case we needed them. I told her thank you and we were once again on the road. Once we hit the now entering Colorado sign, I couldn’t help but tear up.

Jensen saw, and reached over the bench console to hold my hand. “Babe, you ok?” He would take a quick look at me then back to the traffic ahead.

I nodded and turned my head to face the window, he didn’t need to see the tear slip down my face because I miss Austin already. As I wiped it away I didn't want him to think I’m was big baby or something. “Um, yeah. I’ll be ok.” I squinted my eyes to stop the new tears.

He continued to hold my hand, letting me know he was there for me. Eventually, the temperature began to drop as it got darker. Jensen then turned the heater on which was very nice and comfortable, if I had a cup of hot chocolate everything would be alright in my little world. After awhile, I had put the bench console up so I could slide over next to him. He was doing great driving, but at the same time I worried about his arm. He was working it too much, that I was scared those stitches could bust open. I placed my left hand on his right upper thigh and leaned back my head on his shoulder shortly after he put his arms around me.

He was driving with his left hand without the sling on, I know he’s going to be or has got to be in pain by now.

“Jensen?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the road, “Hmm baby? You ok?” He shifted a bit to get comfortable.

“How is your arm? I know you been driving a lot today, are you in any pain?” I looked up at him.

“I’m good,” I could tell he was tired, it was in his voice.

“How about we stop for the night, it’s late and we can start fresh tomorrow morning after a hot shower and breakfast.”

He nodded, “I can use some sleep, we have been driving for awhile now. Want to find a close hotel for us.”

I smiled knowing we were going to rest soon, driving is fun but exhausting. I pulled my phone out and found a hotel about two miles from where we were located, I called and made a reservation so all we had to do was check in.

We get to our room for the night, he took his pain meds and was almost out like a light. I sat there a bit looking at him as he fell asleep, he’s such a handsome guy that I’m thankful he’s in my life. But I couldn’t help think back to my life and wonder why him? I don’t really deserve someone as compassionate, lovable, and caring as he is.

He lets me vent all my problems, and he understands about Lisa and what she put me through. He didn’t even judge me, and he’s here with me now driving almost 3 thousand miles so I don’t have to fly. He’s amazing, I’m so thankful. I lay down behind him and place my arm around his waist, I then laid my chin on his shoulder. He lifted his arm up a little for me to move mine up towards his chest to hold him. I kissed the side of his face “I love you,” I whispered so low that I hope he didn’t hear me. I know it’s too soon but the feelings I have for him right now are strong. I was also feeling exhausted and fell asleep.

The next morning, Jensen took a shower first as I ordered breakfast. Once he was done, I took one myself. It felt so good to have the hot water pour on my aching body, it was like a deep massage that worked out all the kinks in my muscles. After I was done, I dressed in some comfortable leggings and a long sleeved t shirt that I loved to wear on cold days like these. I knew we would be running into some snow on the way home, so with the blankets Jo packed for us and hot chocolate we can be on our way, made me smile.

Walking out of the bathroom after getting dressed and brushing my teeth, I see Jensen adjusting his shoulder sling with a huff. “Babe? You ok?” I stood behind him with my hand on his back.

“Hmm, I was trying to adjust this sling, but for some reason my arm is not settling correctly,” he pulled on the black sleeve with a grunt.

“Here, let me,” I went to the front of him, adjusted the straps around his neck. “No wonder babe, the straps were a bit too tight.” I helped him with it and he felt a lot more comfortable after that.

He leaned down to kiss me, “Thank you sweetheart.”

I felt the shivers go up and down my spine when he calls me sweetheart, it’s the way he said it and the way he even speaks, is music to my soul. “Did you eat breakfast?” I put some stuff in my duffel and looked around to make sure we didn’t leave anything.

“Hmm, it was good. We’ll stop and get some things like snacks and more water, I noticed we didn’t have enough yesterday.” He packed his clothes he wore last night in his bag, and put it over his good shoulder.

“Are you ready babe?” He held the door open for me.

I smiled at him and gave him a kiss, “Ready to go if you are,” as I winked at him.

He held out his right hand for me to go first out towards his truck which was parked right outside the room, thank goodness to because it started snowing. It was coming down pretty heavy, I smiled at Jensen after he packed the truck with our small duffels, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to me.

“What are you doing Y/N, you realize it’s snowing right?” He hugged me closely to him.

“I do, but I love fresh snow. It makes me feel like a kid again, just dancing in it and trying to catch the snowflakes with my tongue.” Just then a few fell right by me and I tried to catch them. I didn’t see Jensen had taken his cell phone out and was recording me being a kid again, it felt amazing. For a few minutes I was that kid again, back home with my Mom. God I miss her so much. I finally got into the truck, then we made our way out onto the highway. On the road again, I thought to myself.

-------

It was about 4 pm when we got to the outskirts of Boise, I saw the snow was falling harder and it was getting more dangerous to drive. I look over at Jensen who sensed the same thing.

"Um Jensen, I know this may sound crazy, but I don't feel comfortable driving through this. It's too much and I don't think the snow chains would even help." I bit my bottom lip not sure of his answer. He had put the snow chains on awhile back.

“I don’t think they will,” he said as eyes darted up and down as he watched the large flakes settle into the white expanse that the ground had become. “Closest hotel…,” he looked around, not seeing any signs.

He pulled over off to the side safely out of the way of passing cars, which there had been none for hours. We were the only ones stupid enough to travel this far in the heavy snow. He looked up to find the closest hotel. “Fuck, baby I don’t think we are going to make it.” I felt my heartbeat beat faster at his words. How far could the hotel have been? “I - I don’t think we’ll make it there either,” Jensen’s worry was written all over his face.

“What do you mean we won’t make it there?” I sucked in a breath, the cold air catching in my throat, making it even harder to breathe. “How far away is it?” I swallowed a hard lump in my throat.

“I think we might be stuck here tonight.” He offered a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I’m sorry.”

“Isn’t it too cold? What the hell are we going to do? We can’t leave the truck running all night, we’ll run out of gas!” My panic was sinking in. I knew we shouldn’t have driven all this way, not in the dead of winter.

“It will - hey, take it easy,” he sensed my anxiety. “It’ll be okay. We can climb into the back seat and cuddle together to stay warm.”

I gave him a single nod, unsure of his plan. A few minutes later after Jensen made sure we wouldn’t be in the way of oncoming traffic if there was any to happen by that is. We climbed down from our seats and moved through the ankle-deep snow as we got in the back seat. We both got comfortable as he motioned for me to come closer, “Hey, c’mere.” Jensen opened his arms to me and I happily snuggled my way into his chest and warmth.

I was already chilled to the bone with my shoes and socks wet from the snow, now even more so with the truck engine not running, things were getting worse. My teeth had begun to chatter, and the dry winter air had my lips chapped before our journey had even started. Jensen felt my muscles begin to tremble as the cold took over, despite how close Jensen and I were.

“You know, they say the best way to get warm the fastest is bare skin on skin.” Jensen squeezed his arm around my shoulders and I scoffed, looking up at him. “Don’t give me that look. You’re freezing too.”

“I am,” I confessed, burying my reddened cheeks in his shirt. With a sigh, I agreed to his plan. “Fine, but no funny business.” I pointed my finger at him and raised my eyebrows. Jensen and I quickly took our clothes off and returned to our positions, limbs tangled together as our skin met and I instantly felt the heat as he we were joined, as his blood rushed through his veins heating his whole body to keep us both warm.

“Do you know how damn hard this is going to be?” Jensen breathed a laugh.

“Cute word choice,” I rolled my eyes and smiled, pulling Jensen’s chest closer to mine. “Just hold me.”

“Oh I can hold any part of you,” he winked at me, but I sensed a hint of mischievousness running through his body.

I had fixed the back seat with pillows from a couple of blankets Jo had for us, then I looked at Jensen. His arm where he had gotten shot started to bleed a bit, damn it I knew it. “Jay, your arm is bleeding. I need to fix that before it gets infected.” I reached over his lap to get my duffel that had some medical stuff in it. I gave him some whiskey to drink because I knew the antiseptic was gonna sting like hell. “Ok, you ready?” I looked at him with a clean rag I had bought from Jo’s in case I needed it.

He bit his bottom lip, took in a deep breath, then nodded his head he was ready. I poured some antiseptic on the rag, touched the wounded area, I thought he was going to jump out of his seat as he screamed with pain. I’m sort of glad we weren't around anyone to hear him, they’d probably thought I was killing him. I looked up at him, “Babe, I need to finish,” he was shaking from the cold and pain.

“I...I know,” as he nodded his head and closed his eyes.

I finished with the antiseptic but it was still open, some of the stitches fell out. “Jay, I um, what are we going to do. Your stitches fell out to early?”

He looks down the best he could at it, “You’re going to have to stitch me up, if its not taken care of now it will get worse and who knows infected.” His breathing was getting heavy.

“I'm not a doctor Jay, I’ve never done this before. I could seriously hurt you or damage something.” I was literally nervous now and breathing heavy.

With a shaky voice he looked at me, “Babe, it’ll be ok. I can teach you ok, but I need you to be strong.”

I bit my bottom lip, I do that a lot especially when I’m nervous. I took a deep breath and did everything he told me to prepare the needle, I’m am not sure why he keeps this stuff in his truck but it is what it is. I did the first stitch and my throat felt like it was going to close on me, he did his best not to yell out but I knew he was in a lot of pain. With a very shaky hand, I finished the last stitch and knotted it off. I then put some neosporin on it to help it heal faster. I covered it with a fresh gauze for the night so that it wouldn’t reopen. My body was completely shaking, naked, cold and I just done something that I hope to god I will never have to do again. He didn’t say anything and I didn’t expect him to, the pain I could imagine he was in was higher than normal. I let him drink the rest of the whiskey he had, then we snuggled up for the rest of the night. My heart was still pounding as we snuggled.

“Thank you babe,” he whispered to me. “I know that was the hardest thing you ever had to do, but thank you,” his voice was rough, and coarse like he was exhausted.

I turned a bit to face him, “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” a few tears fell down my cheeks. “That hurt me more than it hurt you.”

He wiped the tears away, “It’s all good babe, I love you to.” He winked at me, then snuggled his head down on mine to get comfortable for the night.

My eyes shot opened when he said that, I knew then he heard me last night. The heat in my body just then went to 10 on the richter scale, if there was such a thing. My heart pounded and I wanted to say it back, but he was asleep already. God thank you so much for this man, watch over him tonight and don’t let the pain be too much for him. “I love you to Jensen,” I whispered holding his arms close to my chest as if I never wanted to let go.

Tags are open.

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#Jensen Ackles #jensen ackles fanfiction #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles hurt #snowed in #angst

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authorkylehartman · 7 years

Text

New ask game for writers

1. Favorite place to write.

In a room alone on my laptop, however I’ve been poor lately and my laptop is broken, so I’ve been writing on my phone. I come to enjoy writing on my lunch break at work in my car.

2. Favorite part of writing.

It would probably have to be the world building as far as the villain is concerned and showing them off to the reader.

3. Least favorite part of writing.

Being distracted

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?

Not really. I just do it. I used to have to take a bath and getting my mind working before sitting down are writing.

5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.

There are things always being added to this list. First off, I’d be amiss to not mention that me having any sort of style is thanks to Micheal Creighton. I was always very creative and good at writing, but in 2009 I had read Next not long earlier and decided to write a story of my own that I am now embarrassed of.

Anyway, Max Hathorne who writes Kronos Rising was a huge influence. I might not write the same kind of science fiction as him, but the way he approaches things, including the villains and Kornosaurus/ Kraken inspired me to added scence in the Zoey series that center around the villain, lord Neball.

Neal Asher’s solid world and character building left me in awe as I read the Transformation series, this has inspired me to do a better job with those aspects.

George R.R. Martin has inspired me in similar ways, but also to not always be afraid to have to many characters. Sometimes it fits and works best with a series.

6. Favorite character you ever created.

Oh damn, that is a loaded question. On one hand I’ve got a character named Haley who is extremely depressed, abused and also has a lot of anxiety and some addictions. I don’t think a depressed character has been written to this extreme in a novel, at least that I can remember.

Zoey, is my first love obviously. She is the title character to the first series I ever started creating. The title character to an absolutely massive series. There is reason enough in that for her to be my favorite.

Randy would have to have a place high up on this list because he is the main hero for most of the Zoey series, I can’t give away why he isn’t actually. Though I highly enjoy his personality despite his life threatening flaws.

Hollie is a character in the Zoey series that comes in much later, but I quite enjoy her as well.

I also have a soft spot of a character named Eric in a store that is very nearly ready to be written, Let it Die. He’s the main.

7. Favorite author.

Micheal Creighton

8. Favorite trope to write.

I don’t feel I have one. Though sometimes I’ll be writing a scene and one will pop into mind and I’ll have to insert it somewhere.

9. Least favorite trope to write.

Again, I don’t have one. I don’t go out of my way, they just pop into mind.

10. Pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

Neal Asher would probably be my number one, especially since Creighton couldn’t happen. Obviously it would have to be a book that takes place in space. I think I might show him the small outline I have for a novel I have currently named Collapsing Universe.

11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

It depends. The Zoey series is a terrible example. For them, I really only do the plot of the novel, write down a description by chapter, sometimes it has to be tweaked during the writing process. It also isn’t very long. For a series that is typically 200 to 300 thousand words a book, the outline might stretch twenty pages. In comparison Cruel World has over ten pages for it’s outline and I don’t think it will hit sixty thousand words. Let It Die, a novel I haven’t put much pen to paper for, so to speak, I started with writing down a description for it. Then I detailed it out more with a chapter by chapter outline. Then I went and read through it many, many times and added on. The outline is over twenty pages for what will be a typical sized novel, 90 to 100 thousand words. Next is to do character details, though I will probably read through the outline before and after this step. Then I will start fleshing out the manuscript. After I finish that, I will read it and edit, read it and edit, read it and edit. (I’m a perfectionist.) Then I’ll have others read it and edit it from there. Then I’ll read it and edit it. Hopefully get a publisher behind it at this point.

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

I honestly try to ignore them. If I can’t I will actually read chapters that are about Lord Neball from the Zoey series. It’s still my favorite writing that I’ve ever done.

13. How do you deal with writers block?

Sometimes I will actually step back for a few days or a week or two and just read other peoples work. If nothing else it might inspire me to continue or give me a new idea.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?

Zoey. I have probably put in three days worth of research just with the first novel which has gone through peer revision and now overhaul inspired by Martin and Asher. I’ve probably put in another twelve plus for the second book which sits at a thrid of the way done.

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

The desire to write. The desire to have someone read my work. To have someone say they got lost in the book and couldn’t put it down. I don’t care about fame or fortune. Right now I make roughly 2,000 dollars a month, if writing started doing that steadily, I’d quite my job and be happy with that for the rest of my life.

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

Reading. Either what others have published or what I have written.

17. On avarage, how much writing do you get done in a day?

I typically write about a thousand words. In a week it could be about ten thousand.

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

Hell. I’ll want so desperately to be done, but I go through my manuscripts over and over until I feel like it flows well enough and moves at the right pace, and everything else enough to share with others.

19. First line of a WIP you’re working on.

Haley lays under her covers in her room which is somewhere around seventy nine degrees. The only thing that is good in her opinion. She however is not sleeping peacefully. Laying on her side, her body is struggling with something that is not just in her head.

That is the first paragraph for Cruel world. The first line isn’t the most exciting, but I think the paragraph sets it up well.

20. Post a snippet of a WIP you’re working on.

This one I must preface. Lord Neball has finally turned on those that thought of her as a slave and this scene has her with the leader, the one who had been keeping her as a slave until her evil side awoken. I love this because leading up to this you have seen how, sick, vile, twisted, and depraved Neball can be.

"This time, I'll let you finish," she whispers into his ear. True to her words she squeezes him as tightly as she can and feels him begin to finish inside her. Aliessense lifts herself back up to a sitting position on top of him. "I am no longer, Aliessense," she breaths fire through her hate filled words and Dalient opens his eyes. The most fearful expression crosses his face that she has ever seen, as he looks up at her. "I am Lord Neball," she bellows at him. I am Death, Dalient thinks. A blinding light fills the room and the last word is stuck on repeat. Death is what the word Neball means in their language. After a moment, the light disappears, along with his head. That is one wound Dalient will not suffer through.

21. Post the last sentence you wrote in one of your WIP’s.

This is from Zoey: The Intergalactic Fighting Tournament (Second book). She is having a real tough time of things as of late and is about to figure out why, but that is actually in the next paragraph. It’s a very huge why.

"I know you are. I am far from angry with you. I'm worried. Admittedly I am afraid. Zoey, please, don't be afraid to tell me what is going on, if you have anything at all that you are hiding." Randy tells her, wrapping his arms around her. Not so oddly Zoey now feels safer and more relieved.

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you?

It depends. I can see Cruel World getting one or two drafts. Zoey, as longer books, I can see as many as five or six... or seven.

23. Single or multi POV, and why?

Cruel World is for the most part single, until the end of the second to last chapter and the final chapter. Zoey will end up having had ten plus. Let it Die, two or three. Departure is the first book in my Argoes series of four books. It will have one predominate one and maybe two or three others throughout.

24. Poetry or prose, and why?

I’m going to say neither, but I do do poetry, mostly from a dark place.

25. Linear or non-linear, and why?

I prefer linear, but sometime there might be so story lines slightly further along, thinking from Zoey. I don’t really use non-linear though.

26. Standalone or series, and why?

Both. Though I have more love for the stories that are a series.

27. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

I don’t like to share until I’ve gutted my work with a chef’s knife.

28. And who do you share them with?

People who like to read. I don’t really know to many other authors.

29. Who do you write for?

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written. I like the lines that shatter either the readers mind or a character, though I can’t exactly think of a favorite line.

31. Hardest character to write.

Haley

32. Easiest character to write.

Zoey. She flows so well.

33. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

Yes. Mostly Black Metal, but sometimes if something fits well, I’l switch it up for the scene.

34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?

Typed

35. Tell some backstory details about one of your characters in your story ________.

I can’t give away much about Zoey without revealing the entire mystery of the series.

Randy is not human. He is a species called Avant. He isn’t the most powerful Avant to ever exist. He actually isn’t even one of the most powerful warriors in the universe currently, but he is the most powerful protaginist in the series.

36. A spoiler for Zoey.

Zoey is a key to a lot of things. Much more than just say Randy’s hidden power. Far more significant things. Let’s just say that a certain creature that is bored and spans the multiverse more than knows of her.

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” - Stephen King

38. Have you shared your outline of your story Depature (book one of Argoes) with someone? If so, what did they think of it?

My girlfriend. She liked it, but I had to overhaul half of the opening part of the book. She doesn’t really like love stories and it had a small one. Though I never wanted that to be much of the book. So it works better without it.

39. Do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

I have done so with one, but that was it. The character Grant Stewart in the Zoey series is based off a friend of mine.

40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

Original Fiction. It’s more satisfying to create your own characters and world.

41. How many stories do you work on at one time?

I have been writing both Cruel World and Zoey this year, but more so Zoey for the last month.

42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.

A lot of thinking and looking around. I have started trying to use the profile sheets that pop up on here to see how that works.

43. Are you an avid reader?

Yes, but I haven’t read a book in the last few weeks. Not since I finished Infinity Engine by Neal Asher.

44. Best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Probably that my characters in Zoey are so exciting and relatable. I was told by a beta that they were excited for what was coming next while they read my original “final” draft of Zoey The Avant Rises.

45. Worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Hmm. not sure I remember. Anything that isn’t helpful I tend to forget about.

46. What would your story Zoey look like as a tv show or movie?

Probably similar to The Expanse or Defiance, but with more fighting and more time spent on Earth than there is with the Expanse. Also a lot more school settings at least at first. After the first few seasons, because a movie would be impossible. It wouldn’t have much for school scenes.

47. Do you start with characters or plot when working on a new story?

Plot. The main character comes with that usually and I flesh out a outline with them and add characters from there and expand on the outline. Somewhere in there I usually get a story name.

48. Favorite genre to write in.

Science Fiction. Zoey, Argoes, Collapsing Universe are stories, the first two being series that I am working on or planning out that are Science Fiction.

49. What do you find the hardest to write in a story, the beginning, the middle or the end?

The beginning. except for Zoey, most everything comes pretty easy with the series, at least so far.

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

I once seriously considered one from a dream I had. There was a staircase that went all the way down to “hell” and there were wicked creatures at the bottom of the mile upon mile long staircase. (sounds like a Stephen King book)

51. Describe the aesthetic of your story Cruel World in 5 sentences or words.

Oppressively depressing and dark.

52. How did writing change you?

I have an obsession now. I also imagine far more then I should in my daily life. It gets me in trouble sometimes.

53. What does writing mean to you?

Everything. I can’t live without it now. Nowhere to jot down my ideas and stories would be devastating.

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

If you can handle going through the worst hell to get your story written then do it. If you can’t torture yourself, then writing isn’t for you. After that we can go from there.

#questions #questions for writers #this was fun

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jaywrote · 5 years

Text

Super Gal: Chapter 1

this one is really going to need a rewrite later on but this is what i have for it’s first draft

My day was starting the way it so often does, at 5am with a travel cup of coffee in hand rushing out the door while still rubbing the sand out of my eyes, i love my job but waking up at 5am is the worst and means i don’t get much of a night life.

As i look through my bag for my keys i spot that i have three missed calls from around 3am from somebody i don’t know, i check the name “Madison Payne”, do i know this person? No, am i going to call back? Also a firm no because phone calls are the work of satan and calling back a man i do not know that called me three times at 3am that i am not even sure how he got my number does not sound like a good freaking time.

I finally spot my keys and get out the door but as i do this i see that my neighbour Ali is in the hall looking over his mail. Ali is a kinda of annoying guy i know, though i guess i don’t know him very well but i also don’t have much interest in getting to know him better, he was a bit shorter than me and also had shorter more curly hair though we did have naturally dark hair in common though i never can tell if it’s black or just very dark brown. He looks up when he hears me and our eyes, both brown, make contact and it’s time like these where i wish i didn’t live in apartment.

“Oh, hey ember!” Ali looked up and waved at me with maybe a bit too much enthusiasm “Where you heading off too?”

I sigh as he always asks this when we run into each other this early in the morning and i always say “I heading to work like i do most times i am going out of the house at 5am looking like i barely slept, what about you? Why are you up this early?”

“I was trying to figure out why power got cut off to my apartment so i guess i got a little antsy and got up early to see the mail and see if i got a cut off notice” He rubbed the back of his head and i could see a bit of colour come into his golden face “By the way… Thanks again for letting me come over to your house earlier, it was nice to not have to be in my dark apartment alone at like 1am”

“Yeah sure thing, don’t mention it” I sighed, as i walked away and down the hall and i could hear him yell after me

“Uh oh, okay bye!” I didn’t look back but i am sure he was waving again with the same amount of enthusiasm

I make my way out of out of the old apartment building and on to the sidewalk, the city even though it’s 5am on a week day is as alive as ever, i guess that’s one of the pro’s of living in new york and another pro is the fact that you don’t need a car to get around and that works well for me as i’ve yet to ever have enough money to buy a car that wouldn’t break down on me a week later.

I head down the stairs to the noisy subway, it’s already so crowded and i have to push my way to the train. All seats were taken so i stood and put on my headphones hoping that it might block out all the noise just a bit, if i knew how many headaches i’d get from sensory overload i might have rethought moving to new york but even with that i think the city is growing on me all the time, plus i wouldn’t have met Super Gal if i didn’t.

Still all the noise sucks so i put on some music and look through my facebook, looks like my mom posted a link to a blog with recipes for living on a budget, sweet of her to think of me but i think i would have preferred if she had sent that to me privately.

Soon enough i reach my stop and get off, i climb the stairs out of the subway and find myself in one of the poorer areas of the bronx, heroes tend to get their bases in these areas since it’s good to be near your work and all plus the rent is cheaper. The sidewalk seems maybe just a bit too empty in the block around the office building and when i turn the corner i can see that there are about 3 police cars parked right outside the building, i run over taking off my headphones and shoving them into my bag.

Panting i reach the scene where i can see that it seems like two officers are talking with the landlord, another is taking photos of the building another is talking on the radio and the last is talking with a detective. I also see a white woman with curly red hair who is wearing a white tank top and jeans with a notebook in hand who spots me but then goes over to the officer that is on the radio.

One of the two talking with the landlord also spot me and comes over, he is a older white man, i’d say about in his 50s who seems to have a frown permanently stuck on his face. He stand in front of me and asks in a most curt tone of voice “Who are you? And why are you here?”

“Ember Andrés, i work for Super Gal” I try to sound somewhat polite but i can’t help but feel my stomach drop a bit as he scrunches up his eyes for a moment and then asks.

“You an immigrant?” I can almost hear the shitty undertone in his voice as i try my damnedest to not face palm, i do however let out a long sigh.

“Sir, that is none of your business but i am not. Now why are the police here? And where's Super Gal?” I put on the nicest face i can as i answered his question and then drop that as i try to get to the bottom of what is happening.

“A murder has happened here, Super Gal was found dead earlier today” The world seems to pause for just a moment, my vision goes blurry as tears swell up in my eyes, i can tell he said something right after that but i couldn’t hear him.

My world feels like it just crashed around me, just the other she was alive and i thought that i would be her intern for the next year of my life, just this morning thought i’d get to see her today and hear how her patrol went last night, but now, now everything changes with just one sentence, my plans, my future.

I walk off to the side and sit down on the curb, i remember the last i saw her, she said she was going to do a late patrol an that she wanted to talk to me in the morning about something i will now never get to hear come out of her mouth. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye, i am going to have to leave so many things unsaid and i guess she will too.

I see the red haired woman walking over to me and she comes right over and sits down right next to me and starts talking and goes to shake my hand.

“Hello, I’m Mary i work with the super-u paper, a newspaper and web site that reports on anything superhero related. I’m wondering, you are Super Gal’s intern, right?” She asks while tapping her pen on the blue notebook she still has in hand.

“Yeah.. I’m the intern..” I fidget a bit of my ombre hair between my fingers and i continue to just look at the road in front of me and not even look at this woman.

“Great to hear! What is your name?” She seems maybe a bit too upbeat for the scene of a murder as she starts resting her pen on her smiling lip.

“Ember” I take my bag off and start looking through it, it is still messy and i did jam my headphones in to it not helping the problem but i find my cigarettes and take them out “Mind if i?” i gesture at the box, i might have the best first impressions of this lady but I’m not going to smoke right next to her if she has a problem with it.

“Go right ahead.” As i hear that get one out of the box and pull out my black lighter from the pocket of my army green jacket and i hear her continue “So, Ember, what was Super Gal like?”

“She was a good hero, she also was a alright mentor..” I felt my eyes well up with more tears and my body yearning to just curl up into a ball and not stop until the world started making sense again, i did not want to be talking with this reporter about my mentor right after i found out she was murdered

Wait, who killed her? And how? My mind rush's trying to think something and then the answer hits me like a brick wall, the serial killer, Savior must have been the one to kill Super Gal. I get an idea, it’s small and only in the back of my head and i know that if i tried it would fail because i am not a detective, and i am not a superhero, i am just a intern and former shop clerk with little life experience. But the back of my head tells me to find Savior, unmask Savior, and bring justice to the person who took Supe- no, Candace away from me and away from the world.

I then realize i have been crying and staring at the pavement and Mary looks worried “You okay there Ember? I get losing somebody close hurts a lot so take all the time you need”

I hear one of the officers call me over, i get up and walk over and i see that Mary goes to bother the detective. I reach them, it’s two of them the older man that talked to me only a few minutes ago and a younger looking woman that seems a little less pale than the man.

“We need to ask you a few questions” The woman starts and i can see the man flip open a notepad and getting a pen ready “So where were you last night? And do you have any sort of alibi”

“I was at home, and at around midnight my neighbour came over cause his power wasn’t working and i’m pretty sure he is afraid of the dark”

“Okay, how long were you working for Super Gal?” She continues

“About 6 months, and maybe a week or two” I put my hands in my pants pockets and fiddle with a quiet stim cube i keep in the left one, my other hand just gets to be still

She continued to ask more rather simple questions like if i knew who Super Gal was or how i landed the job, and what my job even was and it was fine till the man spoke up

“Hey Alice” He turns to the woman “This girl might have been the killer”

My blood boils, i feel my right hand form a fist and my left clutch the cube tight. How dare he!

“And why do you think that George?” Alice rolls her eyes and seems almost bored as she asks

“I don’t like the look of this girl, plus she’d be able to get in the building and take Super Gir-”

“Her name was Super Gal.” I shout, my emotions are all over the place aren’t they? the officers both look taken aback as i realize i just yelled at two white police officers. My mom used to warn me about this sort of thing and how you should never ever do that sort of thing but i couldn’t just stand there and take this, could i?

“Fine, she could have taken Super Gal by surprise and used that to kill her, also she’d know how to get around her powers wouldn’t you, girl?” He seem almost smug like he just figured out who jack the ripper was and not like he was accusing a 18 year old of murdering the only person they were close to the whole city.

“Shut. The. Fuc-” I get cut off before i can make that grand mistake by Mary coming over and shouting

“Sir! What are you doing?!” She looked a bit flabbergasted as she stood right next to me

“We were just discussing suspects..” He gives me a smile like a fucking snake

“I don’t think you should do that in front of one of the victims friends” Mary put emphasis on the word friend and then continued “Now if you don’t mind i have some things i need to talk about with Ember” Mary gave the two a smile as she grabbed me by the shoulder and walked me away from the both of them

She lead me back the curb and checked behind her to make sure they weren’t mad and then turned to me “You alright?”

“Umm, yeah i guess” I realize how tense my whole body is and i let it relax “Uh thanks by the way..”

“Yeah sure, of course!” She pats my shoulder and then asks “So any idea why he was being so tough on you? I heard what you guys were talking about and he seemed pretty convinced”

“I think it’s just because i’m young and i have what men call a resting bitch face and i guess i dress kinda punk-ish” I rub my neck a bit and then ask “So why’d you help?”

“Well it looked like they were just upsetting you and not really doing their jobs. Plus, us girls gotta stick together” She gave me another smile and i start to wonder if she knows how to be somber

“Umm, not a girl but close enough i guess….” I feel awkward mentioning it when there is so much more important stuff going on but i am starting to get really sick of being misgendered today

“Oh, sorry!” Mary looked a bit like her was dying inside “I mean also it was the right thing to do… I mean nobody else looked like they were going to get you out of that and trust me telling a police officer to shut the fuck up is never a good idea even under the best of circumstances” And she let out a small awkward chuckle

“Yeah it’s fine, and you don’t have to tell m- Wait it kinda sounds like you’re talking from experience” I can’t help but wonder what this sweet seeming girl could have been doing to end up telling a police officer to shut up

She gives another awkward laugh and says “I kinda am, long story short i was working on a report about the murder of some poor woman and one of the officers was being pretty disrespectful about the victim so i snapped at him. I got kicked out after that” She rubs the back of her head.

I guess that makes sense and i am sure that if i was in that sort of situation i would have spoke up as well. Before i think much more in to it i see the detective is coming over. He is a black man with short locks that are in a low ponytail, he’s wearing a tan trench coat and then a dress shirt and black pants. Frankly he wears the clothes of a stereotypical detective

“Hello, I am detective Madison Payne. It’s nice to meet you” He puts his hand out and i go to shake it and he then says “What is your name?”

“I’m Ember Andrés” I let go of his hand and put my hand back into my pocket “So I’m guessing you want to ask me something? Or something like that?”

“Yes i do, i need to ask you a few questions about where you were last night and a few questions about Super Gal. I understand if those ones about Super Gal take you a few minutes to answer as you must be in a lot of shock right now” He gives a friendly yet aloof look on his face and pulls out a notebook from one of his coat pockets “So i heard you were at home with a person over last night, is that correct?”

“Yup, i stay home at nights since i have to be at work so early and one of my neighbours came over due to the power not working in his apartment” I click the switch like thingy on my fidget cube as i answer, I’m not nervous of him but i guess more of the general vibe of this whole morning that has put me on edge. I hope to god that my nerves aren’t showing on my face.

“Alright then, what’s the name of this person that was over?” I see him jot down what i just said as he asks

“His name is Ali Benson” I can’t help but start to think of what tomorrow will look like, what the rest of this week will look like, how things have changed so drastically in a hours time. But i push those thoughts to the back of my mind because for now i need to try to give the detective all the information i can so he can find the killer.

“Okay. So i have to ask a few questions about Super Gal but i don’t think any of this should be too personal” He looks up at me and i feel like he is trying to get a read on me, i am not sure if i should be honest with my facial expression or stay stone faced but before i can chose the moments passed and he looks back down to his notebook “So do you know if Super Gal would have had anybody over at around 1am?”

“She wouldn’t have, she said she was going to work alone tonight and i know she had some paperwork to do so i doubt she’d bring anybody in to the base while having work to do there” I see him note all of that down before asking another question

“Did she act at all out of the usual in the days leading up to now? Did she seem more nervous or like she knew something?”

“Not really, but kinda on that topic i just remembered something. About a week ago we found a letter on the doorstep that was rather threatening, it wasn’t signed and we didn’t think much of it at the time but now that she’s… gone i can’t help but feel like the letter might have been from the killer”

“Thank you for bring this to my attention, do you know where the letter was put?”

“We unfortunately thought it wasn’t important so she tossed it out” i sigh, it could have been a important lead but now it’s just in some landfill

“Yes that is rather unfortunate.” He also lets out a sigh and i can tell that he was hoping to see the note, i feel bad for a moment for not stopping Candace for throwing it out but my thoughts are cut off “So what were Super Gal’s powers exactly? We have a basic idea but you might be able to fill in the blanks a bit”

“She had psychic energy manipulation, she could create and control psychic energy, it was sorta like a hard light substance made out of will power. She said she had the energy running through her body at all times and did mention from time to time that it could hurt her body if she did not keep it under control” I remember the first time i saw her use her powers, she had only used them to lift up something that had fell but i was still rather impressed by it.

“Okay, last two questions, first what did your job as a intern entail? And do you have any superpowers?” He asks that last question as it was routine and i guess it is fair enough to ask as i guess some kinds of powers could help me lie about things or could help the investigation. It’s fairly common place to have witness with any sort of useful power help out the police while they are still around the place

“I helped with paper work, i also helped maintain her gear and if i was brought to the scene of the fight she was apart of i would help people evacuate the area. I didn’t do any fighting unless i had too to protect myself” I always hate when a sentence makes you say a word twice but i continue nonetheless “And i do have a power, if a touch a dead body i can see their last moments of life”

I can see Madison and Mary’s eyes both go wide for a moment, Mary walks off to the side with a thinking face on while Madison regains his professional look he keeps on his face.

“That’s a pretty helpful power in sort of situation, though i have to wonder how you found out you had this power?” He looks still a bit surprised, most of his face wouldn’t tell this but his eyes still had that sort of look in them alongside a lot of curiosity

“My grandma’s funeral was… Interesting to say the least” It was kinda of nice to think for a moment of something that was funny, a nice distraction from the fact that i was sure that the officers were going to make me have to see the last living moments of my mentor.

“Must have been, i’ll let you go now. You can leave the area for a few minutes but do be here in around 20 minutes as we will be asking you to use your power” He looks like he understand how hard that is going to be emotionally but without further word he heads over to the police officers and starts talking with them

Mary walks back over to me and gives me a quick pat on the back before saying “You want to go get some coffee or something? It’s on me by the way”

I give her a small smile and we head to a nearby corner store i know that sells pretty okay-ish coffee, while walking to and from the store i do talk with her and ask her few things and find out she is super-u’s superhero interviewer as she has a easy time getting heroes to talk with her and i think i am starting to see why, she seems like a kind woman who must be only a about a year older than me. I wish i had a more steady job

Once we get back Madison rush's right over to me, he does not look panicked but he sure as fuck does not look calm either. He grabs me by the arm and pulls me off to side and i see Mary isn’t following and just gives me a bit of a wave goodbye

“Wooh wooh, what’s going on?” I ask as Madison stops just a bit out of view of the police

“They are pretty sure that you’re the killer, i don’t know why but they are pretty convinced so are going to probably ask a lot more of you than just helping with this one dead body. Do you think you could handle that?” He looks a bit like he does know why the police think the grunge girl looking person that already heard one of them make a racist remark about them but i guess i can understand not wanting to go through that mouth full, or not wanting to say it in case they over hear that part

“I guess i can handle using my powers on other dead bodies, i mean it doesn’t look like there are a lot of other ways to keep the officers happy with me..” I trail off and then take a sip of my coffee

“Okay then it looks like we are sorta working together” Madison remarks, if it’s to himself or me i can’t tell.

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