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orionsangel86 · 11 months

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Subtext Glorious Subtext! A Dreamling on Netflix analysis in The Sandman - Part 7

1989

You've given me shattered dreams, but I know you'll come back to me...

Here's where we step into unchartered territory - what is a show to do when its source material ends 33 years too soon? Apparantly lean fully into the angst, pining, and misunderstandings tropes that all good fandom ships thrive on!

After the disastrous break up of 1889, Hob is clearly nervous about whether or not Dream will show up to the next meeting. In both comic and show, he calls out that he will still be there in a hundred years, and if Dream is too then its because they are friends. Dream doesn't answer leaving Hob to wonder whether he pushed Dream too far.

In the comic though, Dream escapes from his imprisonment in time, and is able to reunite with Hob, having spent 70 odd years contemplating his past behaviours and actions in his solitude, and evidentally makes the decision to meet Hob and accept his offer of friendship:

In the comic, they reunite with Dream reassuring Hob that they are in fact friends, and it ends there. The next time they meet in Season of Mists Hob states how surprised he is to see Dream before their next meeting. There is no hint in the comics that they had changed their once-a-century date to be more frequent.

But the show changes all of this. Dream doesn't escape until 2022 so he misses his date with Hob. Instead we get to see Hob grow more and more concerned as he waits all day for Dream.

Whilst Hob waits, they show the passage of time by playing a mix of popular 80s songs, and although I know the fandom talked about this a lot when the show first aired, I can't not bring it up here because it such a hugely important part of the 1989 scene. Song choices in media are always carefully picked out. Nothing is unintentional. Producers have to apply for the rights to use songs in their shows and get those songs signed off and it isn't always an easy process, so song choices are always significant. ALWAYS. They are one of the principle ways we can analyse media and theorise about what the creators are trying to tell us. Every song choice has meaning.

For example, in Stranger Things both Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill and Journey's Worlds Apart are important song choices which reflect the emotional conflicts and journeys of the characters in season 4.

Our Flag Means Death also uses modern songs in an exceptional way to support the story and the emotional journeys of the characters. Using Fleetwood Mac's The Chain at the emotional climax for the characters in episode 8 was a work of genius.

Whilst songs specifically about love, romance, and break ups aren't always used for romantic character arcs, using three break up songs in a row for what should be interpreted as a falling out/misunderstanding between platonic friends is... unusual. Outside of comedy where the song choice could specifically be used in a humorous way (for example an overly emotional lovers break up song used for friendships in comedy could be a commentary on how ridiculous and overdramatic the two friends are being, with them acting like dramatic lovers being part of the joke.) But the scene in 1989 isn't a comedic one. Hob is genuinely hurting and Dream at this point is imprisoned. The song choices are therefore sincere. The message in the song choices should be taken at face value.

So please dear reader. Tell me what you think the following is supposed to be telling us?

Song 1: She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals

I can't stop the way I feel Things you do don't seem real Tell me what you've got in mind 'Cause we're running out of time Won't you ever set me free? This waiting 'round's killing me

She drives me crazy Like no one else She drives me crazy And I can't help myself

I can't get any rest People say I'm obsessed Everything you say is lies But to me there's no surprise What I had for you was true Things go wrong, they always do

She drives me crazy Like no one else She drives me crazy And I can't help myself

I won't make it on my own No one likes to be alone

Song 2:Shattered Dreams by Johnny Hates Jazz

So much for your promises They died the day you let me go Caught up in a web of lies But it was just too late to know

I thought it was you Who would stand by my side

And now you've given me, given me Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams Feel like I could run away, run away From this empty heart You said you'd die for me

Woke up to reality And found the future not so bright I dreamt the impossible That maybe things could work out right

I thought it was you Who would do me no wrong

But now you've given me, given me Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams Feel like I could run away, run away From this empty heart

You've given me, given me Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams Feel like I could run away, run away From this empty heart

From this empty heart

I thought it was you Who said they'd die for love

And now you've given me, given me Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams Feel like I could run away, run away From this empty heart

You've given me, given me Nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams Feel like I could run away, run away From this empty heart

Oh, no, no, no You said you'd die for me Oh, for Die for me So much for your promises So much for your promises

Song 3: Keep on Movin' by Soul II Soul

Keep on moving Don't stop, like the hands of time Click-clock, find your own way to stay The time will come one day

Why do people choose to live their lives (lives)

This way?

No-oh-oh (Keep on moving) (Keep on moving) Keep on moving yeah, yeah (Keep on moving, don't stop, no) (Keep on moving)

It's our time, time today The right time is here to stay Stay in my life, my life always Yellow is the color of sun rays

I hide myself, from no-one I know the time will surely come when You'll be in my life, my life always Yellow is the color of sun rays

Keep on moving (Keep on moving) Don't stop! (Keep on moving don't stop, no) Like the hands of time (Keep on moving) Click-clock, find your own way (Keep on moving) To stay (The time will come one day)

No-o-oh (Keep on moving) Hey-ey-ey (Keep on moving) (Keep on moving, don't stop, no) (Keep on moving) Oh!

I know the time, time today Walking alone in my own way Extremely cold and rainy day Friends and I have fun along the way Yes we do!

I hide myself from no one I know the time will really come when You'll be in my life, my life always Yellow is the color of sun rays

Keep on moving (Keep on moving) Don't stop (Keep on moving, don't stop, no) Like the hands of time (Keep on moving) Click-clock (Keep on moving) Find your own way to stay, yeah (The time will come one day) Yes!

Oh! (Keep on moving, don't stop, no) (Keep on moving) Ah-hey! (Keep on moving) Keep moving along, moving along (The time will come one day) Hey-yeah!

Keep movin', don't stop, no (Don't stop, like the hands of time) Hey-yeah! (Click-clock, find your own way to stay) Find your own way to stay (The time will come one day) (Why do people choose to live their lives this way?) Oh-woh-oh Oh, why do they choose to live this way?

Yeah! Ah-hey! (Keep on moving) Keep on moving (Keep on moving, don't stop, no) No-woh-oh (Keep on moving) No! (Keep on moving) Keep on moving in my own way I know the time will come today (The time will come one day) Ah-hey! Yeah! (Keep on moving) Yeah-hey Keep on moving, don't stop, no) Don't stop Keep on moving) Ah-hey-ey (Keep on moving) Hey-yeah! (The time will come one day) The time will surely come one day!

Hey-yeah! (Keep on moving, don't stop, no) No-oh-oh! (Keep on moving) Oh-woh-oh (Keep on moving) Hey-yeah!

I mean... *gestures at all of this*

The way I interpret these songs is a very linear emotional journey. It's a narrative in itself of Hob's state of mind as day turns to night and he waits and realises that his date isn't going to show.

First he contemplates how he can't help the way he feels. The waiting around is killing him, he's being driven crazy by his feelings, he's obsessed. But his feelings are true, and he won't make it on his own without [Dream].

Next comes the heartbreak. He dreamt that things might work out, but his dreams have been shattered. He feels like he wants to run away from his empty heart.

Finally, he realises that life goes on, he's gotta keep on moving, because he has hope that the time will come when [Dream] will be in his life again and this time [Dream] will stay.

I don't think I even need to attempt to make this any clearer! All these songs are about love, either obsessive love, heartbreak, or hope for future love. This is the kind of shit Johnlock and Destiel fans would have eaten up back in the day. At this point in Dream and Hob's relationship, at this point in this half hour sequence of television, I am not sure how else to interpret this, which is why the conversation Hob has with the bartender comes across so bizarre.

Bartender: You waiting for someone?

Hob: I think I've been stood up. We had a fight, last time we were here, but it was my fault. wish I could say I was drunk at the time, but I was just an idiot.

Bartender: I've seen plenty of friends get into fights in pubs, even more of them laugh about later.

Hob: *chuckling* maybe in another hundred years.

We all agree how bloody bizarre this is right? I have to praise this bartender for not jumping to conclusions but it would have been far more natural for him to assume Hob was stood up by a date, a woman (this is 1989 after all) and instead given his apologies and said something like "Don't worry mate, just send her some flowers and be honest with her. She'll come around."

Why does he assume they are just friends? Being "stood up" is commonly used to indicate a failed romantic date. It just isn't a natural assumption for someone to make based on the information Hob gave him. Hob cleverly keeps his explanation gender neutral, so the bartender does too, but even with gender neutral language the immediate conclusion should be that Hob was abandoned by a romantic date.

But the natural conclusion would have prompted a clarification. A definitive from Hob on the nature of his and Dream's relationship, and for whatever reason, the writers decided they didn't want there to be a definitive clarification here. Just like how they removed all the references to canon queer characters in 1589 to avoid distinguishing them from Hob and Dream, here they made sure that Hob was unable to refute or deny any implication that he and Dream may be more than platonic friends. Instead they chose to go with clunky language that doesn't really make sense, all to avoid having to make clarifications. Sorry y'all, but thats some SPN writer levels of ambiguity layering and I ain't buying it *side eyes Neil Gaiman suspiciously*. What are those writers up too eh?

I did read an interesting meta on this that the bartender could have assumed that Hob was talking about a man, clocked him as queer, and spoken in safe language to avoid an accidental outing (1989 was a difficult time for the LGBTQ+ community) but I couldn't find it or remember who wrote it to link it here. I found that interpretation to be really interesting and certainly worth considering, even if it's not my initial reading of the scene.

The other explanation is that maybe it was an attempt to "no homo" what otherwise comes across as a failed romantic date. But if that was what they were going for, it was very sloppily done and in fact only called further attention to the very romantic implications of the whole scene at least from Hob's side of things. If they really wanted to "no homo" the scene, why not just have Hob tell the bartender that he was supposed to be meeting his friend?

Then in a totally new decision made for the show, Hob finds out that the White Horse Tavern is closing its doors for good. This adds a further layer of angst and drama to Dream and Hob's relationship that the comics do not have. The worry that should Dream ever decide to return, how would he find Hob if the tavern is closed? It's once again pretty tropey in that its yet another external force keeping our boys apart. Anymore of this and we start falling dangerously close to star crossed territory.

The 1989 scene ends with a distressed and sad looking Hob, with a hint of determination, leaving the audience expecting him to do something about this.

Then we get that final glorious transition, from the whiskey glass to the glass sphere holding Dream, reminding us all that no, Dream did not stand Hob up, he was in fact stuck in his prison. Dream looks stoic as always, but the glance upwards indicates that he too remembers the date, and is regretting his inability to be there to make things right.

That look then transitions seemlessly into the modern day, as Dream stares sadly at the ruins of the White Horse tavern. Which is where we leave this chapter.

Check out Part 8 for my analysis of the glorious reunion!

#Dreamling #dreamling meta #the sandman #sandman meta #dreamling week #dreamling week 2023 #dream of the endless #hob gadling #sandman comic spoilers

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lavender-at-heart · 2 years

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Hi!! could you please write a ahsoka x fem reader who is a padawan of obi-wan and they share longing stares during meetings and always seek out eachother and one day it all falls apart on one mission, and all of the feelings come out? pls that would be so cool! btw I love your writing <333

•°○♡𝐴𝐿𝑂𝑁𝐸 𝐴𝐺𝐴𝐼𝑁 ♡○°•

Pairing: Ahsoka Tano x fem!reader

Warnings: injury, gunshots, passing out.

Notes: [e/c] = your eye colour.

Tysm for the request and the compliment!! It means a lot and I greatly appreciate it. As usually my requests are open and any feedback is welcome! Ty for reading and enjoy!

-Cc♡

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Your thoughts are so loud I could hear them from across the yard" master Obi-Wans voice breaks my train of thought. I was supposed to be meditating in the courtyard, focusing on how to better myself in anyway possible. But I just can't help it, my mind always thinks of her. Obi-wan thinks that with a little time and effort I can get over my little crush, that it's just a natural response to being a teenager.

But what he doesn't know is that both you and Ahsoka have been feeling like this for God knows how long. Anakin knows it, of course he does. But he doesn't say anything. He wants the two of you to be able to feel what your feeling rather than get shut down and ridiculed. And Ahsoka- Ahsoka just pushes it down and pretends its not there so she doesn't give herself a mental breakdown.

"I'm sorry master." I say with a sigh. I mean it's not like I try to think about her, I just can't help it. "Don't be sorry padawan, just try again." He finds a seat next to you on the grass and starts his own meditation. Obi-wan is too patient, and yet he knows that forcing you to ignore it will just make the emotions stronger, like someone blowing on a campfire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day your walking into the mess hall trying everything you can to just stay calm and focused and- "HEY [NAME]!" Baris shouts from a table, she's sitting with Ahsoka and waving you over to her. Just sit and eat with her, that's what friends do.

"Hey Baris...Ahsoka" jeez I can't even say her name without turning into a blushing mess. You attempt to make conversation with Baris but every time you steal a quick glance at Ahsoka she's staring right back, it's almost unbearable.

Later in the day you shuffle your way into you and your masters shared room, feeling like your emotions are about to explode. Your exhaustion hangs on you like a thick fog. When you enter the room Obi-wan is pacing and has his "I'm about to tell you something important so you better listen" face.

"Master?" You call out, breaking him from his moment of concentration.

"Oh there you are, sit down please."

You nervously sit down on your bed, dreading what news Obi-Wan was about to give you.

"Listen [name], I just received word from the council that you and I, as well as Anikin and Ahsoka will be sent on a mission -" I tense up and he gives out a knowing sigh before continuing. "to Felucia. I know how you have been struggling lately, but you mustn't let these emotions distract you. This is a important mission and I will do anything I can to make sure this- this- infatuation doesn't get the better of you." Taken aback by his choice of words your suddenly hit with the realization that maybe what you feel for Ahsoka is more than just hormones. Your exited you get to go on a mission with Ahsoka but nervous, what if something goes wrong? You don't want to disappoint your master either and don't want to make a fool of yourself in front of Ahsoka.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting next to ahsoka during the briefing was like waiting for a bomb to go off. You just had to keep your mouth shut and your eyes on the two jedi masters, Rex and Cody. You could feel Ahsoka looking at you, and it took everything in you not to look back.

On the ship you had gotten bored and decided to go for a walk. You turned of your mind and just let your feet take you somewhere. And of course your feet just happened to take you to Ahsoka.

She was in a small room on the ship, meant to be a sort of living room I suppose. A couple small couches and a music player. There was no one else in the room but her. She was standing in front of the large window that showed the scene of stars all around us. Her face seemed to glow in the reflection of the millions of little lights. I was in awe, not just from her but from the view. On corosaunt it's rare to see stars, (air pollution things amirite?) so to see them this close was a dream come true.

"Aren't they beautiful?" She said and traced some of the stars with her finger on the window pane.

"Yeah...it is" I softly say and turn to look at her. "Yeah" she hums back and looks at me with a little smile. It was such a sweet moment before it was rudley interrupted with the announcement that we were landing shortly. We both went our separate ways to find our masters. "See you soon!" She waved goodbye and I did too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Running through the jungle with Ahsoka would have been fun if not for the terrorists trying to kill us. We were supposed to scout around and report back to Anakin and Obi-Wan but did not expect to stumble into a camp full of separatist terrorists with guns. Lots of guns. We jump through the thick muggy leaves and avoid the blaster shots. Ahsoka jumps up onto a rock ledge above us and I stay runing on the dirt ground. We try our best to deflect the shots with our sabers but there's so many shots it's really very hard to. We're almost back at the camp I can see the familiar structures just a ways away. Ahsoka turns her head to check on the enemies, when did she manage to get that far ahead of me? As she turns she doesn't see the ledge coming to a end infront of her. "Ahsoka!" I yell but instead of drawing her attention to the upcoming cliff she turns all her focus to me, slowing down to a lighter jog.

BAM

A blaster shot to the abdomen. She falls and stumbles off the cliff falling to the hard ground.

No no no no no no please, no.

"AHSOKA" I run, I run farther than I could ever dream of, my legs burn and so do my eyes. By now the camp has heard my scream and blaster shots, clones coming to help us and shoot out the terrorists.

I can't focus on that though, can't even register someone calling my name as I drag Ahsoka into a bushy area to get cover from the shots. She's bleeding, a lot and her eyes open and close slowly. She's going to die part of me thinks.

"No" I whisper as tears start falling down my face. "Stay awake Ahsoka please". My grip on her is tight and I tear a peice of cloth to wrap around her waist. "[Name]...what's happening?" She looks weak and dejected, it's not a look that suits her. "Your going to be fine" I say with firmness. "Why are your crying?" She asks and brings her hand to hold my face and wipe the tears away. I haven't even registered Obi-Wan standing above me and crouching down to assess Ahsokas injuries. Anakin is screaming his head off at everyone and everything to get help. "[Name], you have to let her go. She'll be ok but we have to get her to the cruiser" Obi-Wan speaks softly to not upset me but I can barley register what he's saying. I do register him trying to peel my arms off of ahsoka which does upset me. I pull ahsoka tighter to me and cradle her shoulder under my chin."[Name]. Let her go, she will die if you do not let us help." I look down and notice she's fallen unconscious and I realize the fatal seriousness of the situation. I nod and kiss her head before handing her off to Obi-Wan so he can help put her on a stretcher.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Ahsoka wakes up she is blinded by the white lights above her, she blinks slowly. There's machines beeping and iv's in her arm. She turns her head and sees you, asleep in the chair next to the hospital bed, your still wearing the clothes from the battle.

The battle. She remembers. She fell. And you were there.

"Yknow she hasn't left your side since you fell" Anakin speaks from her side. "It took me and Obi-Wan eons to convince her to get some sleep." He softly chuckles. Ahsoka admires your sleeping face, lips parted and brows furrowed. "How long was I asleep?" She asks, eyes still focused on you. "5 days." Her master replies with a sorrowful tone, she can tell he hasn't gotten any sleep either. "FIVE DAYS????!!@" She nearly yells and immediately covers her mouth remember that your sleeping right next to her. She sees you stir and blink slightly. You looks up and it takes you a few seconds to realize she's looking back and you, awake.

You jump up from your seat and carefully grab her hands and look at her with awe. "Ahsoka! You're- you're awake!!" You smile and feel your eyes tear up a bit, and breathe out a sigh of relief. You both just stair at eachother with lovesick little faces. Anakin clears his throat and begins to shuffle out the door.

"Right well, good to see you snips but I think I hear Obi-Wan calling my name." He quickly shuts the door and leaves the two of you alone.

"I'm sorry." You both speak at the same time. Small giggles fall from your lips and she laughs with you. "Wait what are you sorry for?" She asks worridley.

"Well um I mean the whole reason you fell is because I distracted you and then you fell and I didn't stop you from falling and then when you did fall all I did was-mmph" your words are cut off from her leaning up and kissing you with as much grandure as she can muster. Your cheeks are on fire and she pulls away just enough to look into your eyes looking for something in their [e/c] haze.

Both your heads whip to the door at the sound of someone speaking. Eyes wide with embarrassment.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't see that. See you at supper [name]" Obi-Wan playfully chides from the doorway and once again the two of you are alone.

♡THE END♡

#ahsoka x reader #clone wars ahsoka #anakin and ahsoka #ahsoka tano x reader #star wars x y/n #star wars #clone wars #clone wars x reader

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ihhfhonao3 · 7 months

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a non ship fic with trans and gay Apollo, and lesbian Trucy. A coming out fic where Trucy comes out to Apollo, then Apollo comes out to Trucy. Then something where they both come out to Phoenix. Phoenix is also bi and trans. :)

Finally finished it agagagagaggaga

It is. It is under the cut

“And that’s when I told him, ‘Daddy, you’re just being crazy!’” Trucy said, laughing.

Apollo chuckled as he sipped his coffee. “Well, Mr. Wright is a very eccentric character… I’ve come to learn that, let me tell you.”

The pair were on a lunch break, spending their free time at a coffee shop chatting about workplace gossip and co-worker drama. Apollo had come to find throughout their conversation that what happened around the agency definitely did not go over Trucy’s head. She was strangely knowledgeable about most things going on there, in fact.

Suddenly, Apollo saw Trucy’s fingers tighten around her glass of lemonade.

“Polly?” She asked.

“Yeah?” Apollo replied, trying to ignore his perceive ability which was activating at her tension.

“Could you… would you mind taking your bracelet off for a moment?” Trucy asked meekly.

Apollo almost spit out his coffee. “M…my bracelet? I mean… Trucy, I’m not trying to upset you, but I barely ever take it off… is there any reason as to why you want me to?”

Trucy swallowed down a lump in her throat. “I… I wanna tell you something important. But I don’t want your ability to ruin what I have to say…”

Apollo sighed. “I mean, sure, I can take it off… but not for too long, okay? I get nervous when I’m not wearing it for a while.”

Trucy nodded as she watched Apollo struggle to slip off his bracelet. Apollo always forgot how his bracelet was meant to fit perfectly around his wrist, so it often was very hard to take off. Eventually, he managed to free his wrist from it, revealing a red, circular mark on his skin positioned where it was resting previously.

“Polly… your wrist!” Trucy gasped. “Is it supposed to look like that?”

Apollo laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Probably not, but I told you, I barely ever take it off… on top of that, the bracelet is meant to be a perfect fit around my wrist, but even perfect fits can leave painful imprints after a while… Hey, there’s probably a metaphor in that!”

Trucy stifled a chuckle as her eyes flitted around the room. Apollo took no notice of this.

“So what did you want to tell me?” Apollo asked.

“Well, I…” Trucy stammered. She started to pick at her nails a bit. “I um… you see…”

“Truce, are you alright?” Apollo asked. “You seem super nervous. You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I know,” Trucy muttered. “I just… this is pretty big news. I guess I don’t really know how to get it across.”

Apollo smiled warmly. “Well, I can wait. Whenever you’re ready, go ahead.”

Trucy exhaled deeply.

“Polly?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m gay.”

Apollo sat upright. “You’re… you’re gay?”

Trucy nodded.

“Oh. Wow. Um, wow,” Apollo stammered, staring at her for a moment but then regaining his composure. “Wow, that’s uh… that’s totally cool, Truce! That’s super awesome for you. And um, I guess I have to confess something myself, then!”

Trucy looked up. “What is it?”

Apollo grinned and said, “I’m gay too! And uh, I also used to be a girl! I’m transgender!”

Trucy’s mouth hung open for a moment, before she closed it shut abruptly. “You’re… you’re gay too? And you’re trans?”

“Yup!” Apollo said proudly. “And just between us, old gay guy to young gay girl? I think it’s awesome that you’re confident enough to tell me this. I’m super duper proud of you.”

Trucy giggled. “Aw, thanks Polly! I’m proud of you too!”

“Not to pry or anything, and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but… have you told Mr. Wright about it yet?” Apollo asked.

Trucy sighed. “No, I haven’t. You’re the first person I’ve told, actually.”

“Call me selfish but that makes me feel kinda special!” Apollo grinned.

Trucy playfully shoved Apollo from across the table. “This isn’t about you, Polly! Listen to me for a sec!”

Apollo stopped talking and slipped his bracelet back on, miming closing his lips shut with a zipper.

“I just… how did you come out to people?” Trucy asked. “How should I go about it, do you think? It’s a bit different when I tell you, because you’re technically my subordinate, but… how do I tell my dad? ”

Apollo sighed and leaned back in his seat. “I can’t really help here, because I never really came out to people. Either they weren’t active enough in my life for me to care to, or I felt like it was more my business than theirs, so I didn’t owe them an explanation on anything. Now that I think about it, you’re probably the only person who’s gotten a full admittal, honestly. Besides Clay, of course.”

Trucy raised an eyebrow. “So what, you’re saying that you have no clue? That isn’t very helpful, Polly.”

“No no no, that’s not what I’m saying,” Apollo chuckled. “I mean, I guess it is a bit, but… If anything, I’d say just come out to him like how you came out to me just now. It doesn’t have to be particularly special or different just because he’s your dad.”

“So like… coming out by just diving right in?” Trucy asked.

“Yeah, just diving right in!” Apollo repeated.

“Alright then, let’s go!” Trucy said as she stood up.

With Apollo visibly confused, Trucy explained; “I wanna go back to the agency to tell my daddy!”

“Right now?” Apollo grumbled. “I haven’t finished my coffee yet.”

Trucy ended up grabbing Apollo by the arm and dragging him out of the coffee shop.

~~~

The pair ran part of the way back to the agency until Apollo got a cramp and insisted that they walk the rest of the way. As they walked, Trucy recited what she was going to say and convinced Apollo to come out with her, to make it less nerve-wracking. After a couple of minutes of practicing with each other, the two finally arrived at the agency. They barged in and rushed into Phoenix’s office, causing him to jump in surprise.

“Trucy! Apollo!” Phoenix half-shouted. “You guys scared the living daylights outta me!”

Trucy giggled. “Sorry daddy, but we both have big news! Can you meet us in the main room? Like, right now?”

Phoenix looked confused but obeyed, standing up from his desk and following the pair into the main room. Phoenix plopped down on one of the couches, and Trucy and Apollo seated themselves on the couch across from him.

“Do you wanna tell him your news first, Polly?” Trucy asked. Apollo got the hint and nodded.

“Mr. Wright, I have to tell you something!” Apollo said confidently, trying to show Trucy that nothing was going to go wrong.

“I’m listening,” Phoenix said, clearly a bit unamused.

Apollo grinned and said, “Mr. Wright, I’m gay! And I’m a trans man!”

Phoenix didn’t react. “What else is new?”

Apollo covered his face with his hands. “Am I that obvious?”

Phoenix started to reply, but Trucy stopped him.

“Daddy, wait!" she cried. "I have a confession too!”

“What is it?” Phoenix asked.

Trucy took in a deep breath. Phoenix and Apollo were both looking at her now. It was her cue!

“Daddy, I’m…” Trucy stammered. “Daddy, I’m gay too!”

Phoenix was quiet for a moment, but then smiled and stood up, stepping over to the other couch and enveloping Trucy in a hug.

“I’m glad you told me that, sweetie,” Phoenix said softly. “And I’m glad that you’re comfortable enough around me to do so.”

“I kinda knew you wouldn’t be upset or anything, but I just didn’t want it to be awkward,” Trucy giggled.

They hugged each other tightly for a moment, Trucy clinging on to the back of Phoenix’s suit coat, up until Phoenix noticed that something was missing. Or, namely, some one.

“Aw, c’mere, kid,” Phoenix said as he grabbed Apollo and wrapped him into the hug. Apollo looked taken aback but smiled warmly, wrapping his arms around his two bosses.

Eventually, they broke away from their group hug, and Phoenix sat back down. “If we’re coming out to each other, then I have to come out as well,” Phoenix said slyly. “I’m bisexual. And I’m trans too.”

Trucy couldn’t help it, but her jaw dropped open. “How did I not know this?”

Phoenix chuckled. “Miles is practically my partner, Truce. If you haven’t been able to put two and two together, that’s more your fault than anything. Plus, you’ve seen me without a shirt on before, whenever we would go to the pool! What did you think those weird scars on my chest were from?”

“I always thought that someone tried to cut you with a knife, but they missed!” Trucy said. “I didn’t know it was from a surgery!”

“Well yes, I actually have been threatened with knives before,” Phoenix mumbled to himself. “But that’s not what those scars are! At least, not those specific ones.” Phoenix winked.

The trio shared a laugh and Trucy stood up.

“Daddy, where is everyone else?” Trucy asked.

“Still out on lunch break, I think,” Phoenix said. “Why?”

“Because I have to come out to all of them too!” Trucy beamed.

~~~

Over the next couple of days, Trucy came out to practically everyone she knew personally, with an influx of overwhelming support and love from everyone she told. She started to change her wardrobe, buying button pins and flannels, and even convincing Phoenix to change the colored confetti she used in her shows from blue and pink to different shades of orange, magenta, and white. Luckily, the only people in her crowds that noticed were the ones that were going to support her nonetheless. Not only that, but Trucy was also warmly welcomed into a large net of fellow lesbians within the agency and the Los Angeles prosecutor’s office. Needless to say, she ended up very happy with her decision to come out to so many people, and almost unsurprisingly, many of those who she came out to were queer as well. This connection and love inspired Trucy so much that she took it upon herself to plan for the prosecutors and the agency to go to Los Angeles Pride together when June rolled around.

And naturally, everyone went.

#fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic request #fic request #trucy wright #phoenix wright #apollo justice #ace attorney #trans apollo justice #trans phoenix wright #ao3

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countrymusiclover · 9 months

Text

Part 2

Part 3

His Sky

Tag list - just ask to be added @aintinacage

“How could you not tell us you basically had a girlfriend?” Peter asked the raccoon beside him while they were reaching the place where Y/n was being held.

Rocket grumbled. “Because I wanted to forget what happened there. I left her there to die!”

“But why didn’t you say anything even though you clearly hoped she’s still alive?” Quill pressed on further.

Rocket wished he would stop asking the same question. “I didn’t say anything you idiot because I freaking loved her and it wasn’t like I could go back and save her!”

“Then why are you bothering to possibly save a dead squirrel?” Gamora sent him a distant look.

He glanced back at her. “Because I’m going to save my friends that risked their lives for me. Because they are my family.”

“Sounds like a death wish to me.” She mumbled back.

Peter turned around in his chair looking at his ex-girlfriend who didn’t remember ever caring about any of them now. “Can you just try and be sympathetic here? I mean I know that you don’t remember us or me. But he is my friend and he actually cares about someone other than himself.”

“Thinking someone might be alive isn’t worth dying over in my opinion.” Gamora leans forward in her chair snapping to him. “And what the hell do you mean she is your sky. The sky can’t be a person.”

Rocket hit his hand on the chair spinning around after putting the ship on autopilot so he could talk with his former green friend. “When I was young and stupid my friends and I thought that we would see the sky in the new world. Until it was all ripped away from us. So I call her my sky cause she’s the only possible light I have left from the past I wish I could forget.”

Sitting inside my cell I didn’t like waiting for Rocket to come back. It felt like an eternity before a guard brought him back down and he threw him inside his cell. Scrambling to my feet I reached through the bars as much as I could wishing I could touch him. “Rocket!”

“I’m okay, Y/n….you we’re right they are going to kill us.” He got to his feet with his ears dropping when he stared at me and our friends. “They’re not settling us free. They want to kill us all in the morning. But I’m gonna fix it.”

Teefs spoke up. “But High Evolutionary said that we would go to the new world.”

“That we would see sky.” Floor added on.

Lylla came over to her cell wall. "Rocket, he must be lying."

"He's not, Lylla." I spat at her feeling a nervous pit in my stomach. "Rock, what do we do?"

He began rummaging around some stuff on the ground until he made something that looks like a key card. "Down that hallway there are ships. I can pilot one and get us out of here." He swiped the card down the lock where it made electric shocks opening the door for him.

"You did it." Lylla gasped with relief.

Rushing forward towards the door of my cell Rocket undid my door lock where I fling my arms around his neck in our first ever hug. "Rock!"

"Y/n….we have to hurry." He nuzzles me in my neck with his arms tightly around my waist before he lightly broke the embrace.

He unlocked Lylla's cage and they embraced happily too. She broke the hug but her sentence gets cut off when I gasped seeing a bullet go into her back. "It really is good to have-"

"You bastard!" I cursed seeing the High Evolutionary holding a gun.

Lylla collapsed on her back mumbling her final word. “Sky.”

Clutching my hands into fists as my sides I ran forward where he raised his gun but I tackled him where he dropped it on the ground. “No!” Rocket began sobbing uncontrollably while I threw punches at the man who created us until he managed to grab me and launched me across the room with me slamming into the metal cages.

“Urgh…The only thing I need from both of you is your brains!” High evolutionary responded by getting to his feet reaching for his gun. “Remember to avoid their brains when you take your shots.”

Forcing myself to my feet I saw the key card Rocket had dropped so I quickly ran forward unlocking Floor and Teefs cell doors. Rocket tackled the guy again when our creator attempted to shoot at me. “Leave her alone!” Rocket kept clawing at his face over and over drawing blood all over where he basically didn’t have a face because of his claws.

“Rocket, we have to go.” I wanted him to see the door open revealing two guards with guns.

Teefs called out to our friend. “Rocket, please. Rocket!”

“Rocket, Teefs , Floor and Y/n go now. Rocket, Teefs, Floor and Y/n go now!” Floor said over and over in a repeated moment of terror.

Rocket finally noticed the guards snatching up the gun and killing the two guards that were shooting at us. Whipping my head around we both started crying heavily seeing both our other friends had been killed by their bullets. “I…they’re gone…I want to kill him.” I sniffed through heavy tears.

“We have to go, Y/n.” Rocket reached down grasping my hand in his before we both started running through the building. I could see the guards blasting at us when Rocket jumped up into the ship starting the pilot controls.

Jumping up, almost landing inside the ship with him I screamed feeling something sharp hit me in my left leg. Collapsing onto the cold ground I hold my bleeding leg. “Ah!”

“Y/n, Hang on.” Rocket began to get out of the ship.

Snapping back at him I felt heavy tears hearing some of the guards coming closer to me. “Rock, no. You have to go or they’ll kill you too.”

“I won’t leave you, Y/n.” He croaked through tears falling down his face.

Holding my bleeding foot I shook my head fighting the urge to get to my feet and try to run to him. But if I did they would kill me too. “Rocket…you have to go. One of us has to live. You have to go see sky for all of us…I love you now go!”

“I….” He couldn’t form the words so he just started the ship back up and blasted off the second the guards surrounded me.

Rocket, Quill and Gamora had made it onto the ship planning to rescue their other friends. Until the others had found them with Nebula declaring to the group. “There’s kids here. We can’t just leave them.”

“Drax can communicate with them.” Mantis responds to them.

Gamora snapped, not caring. “Look, we came to save you and that’s it.”

“They will all die if we don’t help them!” Nebula fought back against her sister’s words.

Peter shrugged his shoulders not liking the plan. “But we can’t face them. Besides, we've been running our whole lives. What makes this any different?”

“Pete…” Rocket glanced up to his best friend before he heard a scream he recognized well.

“Rocket!”

He cocked his blaster in his hands, running straight towards the doors needing to find the girl he cared about and save her this hell hole. “I’m done running.”

Comments really appreciated ❤️

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m1dnyt3-w0lf · 7 months

Text

Chapter 1: Moving In

Word count: 4,948

I prepared my surroundings to be at least presentable. I fiddled with this and fiddled with that. At this point, I was nervously cleaning. How could I tell? Because my room was already spotless. I gulped and attempted to take a calming breath, sitting at my desk to look at my open laptop. I was moving to New York City soon for school in the fall, and I needed to find a roommate. I tried looking for an apartment, but I was not able to afford any of the available apartments, so rooming with someone was my best bet. I glanced at the time. Eleven-fifty-five. Five more minutes, and I'll be on a call with, hopefully, my future roommate. I got up again and started to pace. I needed to release the nerves. I shook out my hands, then twisted them together, then shook them out again. I'm not sure when, but I started to mutter to myself, just started voicing my thoughts out loud. Like, what if I'm not able to find a roommate? What if this one doesn't work out like the rest? What if he's a creep like the others? What if-

BEDOO-DOO…BEDOO-DOO…

I lunged for my laptop and quickly answered, shifting in my seat to sit correctly and smile. Although, I was sure my hair was a mess from the rush.

"Hi." I say, looking at the man in front of me. He had dark brown hair that was brushed back with one strand falling forward over his forehead. His dark brown eyes held a cold and calculated look that made me nervous but excited at the same time. His face was nothing short of a model, high cheekbones, full lips, the whole works! I wouldn't put it past him if he was awarded the most handsome man on earth. He also seemed to have quite broad shoulders with the way he took up the screen.

"Hello, you're Ashley Hernandez, correct?" He asked, his voice a deep lull that sounded on the brink of boredom, his accent not helping in his overall tone. I gulped.

"Yes, I am! And you're…" Shit, what was his name?! "Manuel?" My own accent seeped out.

"Miguel." He corrected, annoyance leaking into his voice as his eyes seemed to gaze into my soul. The blood drained from my face. "Miguel O'Hara."

"Oh, right. Heh, sorry, I'm not the best at names." I let out a nervous chuckle. He looked unimpressed. So much for first impressions.

"Right. Well, you'll have time to learn it soon enough." He said, taking a sip from his mug. I assumed it was coffee. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to laugh or snicker at his words.

It's a dirty joke just waiting to happen! I thought. I took a slow breath. No, I can't do that. I don't even know the guy! Or if he'll even get the joke. How old was he anyway? Forty? Fifty? Whatever, he was old.

"I will?" I ask him instead, destroying my train of thought. His eyes flashed to me as he set his mug down.

"Yes, just looking at your application tells me you're the perfect candidate for my new roommate."

"I am?!" I yelp out. I quickly cleared my throat and backtracked, speaking in a much calmer tone. "I am?"

Somehow, my shenanigans pulled at a small smile from my future roommate, seemingly amused. But just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. I could feel his eyes boring into me after that. It made me feel the need to shift my shirt slightly, making it appear baggier than it already was.

"When should I expect you to move in?" He asks finally.

"Uh," my nervousness seeps into my voice. I clear my throat once again. "In about a month."

"A month? Why not immediately? I was under the impression it would be immediately." He questions, confusion seeping into his voice.

"Well, it would be a bit hard to move in immediately since I currently live in California, and I didn't expect to actually be accepted to being your new roommate. And, anyway, I've got things to pack and ship out before I can make my way over." I ranted to him, waving my arms about as I spoke. He listened until I had finished speaking, nodding.

"I wasn't aware you were across the country." He looked at me, brown eyes looking into my own blue ones. "Alright, I'll wait until then. Any designated date of when you'll be here?"

"On the thirtieth of July, or rather, the thirty-first for you." I told him with a firm nod.

"I suppose I'll see you then."

"Miguel?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind picking me up from the airport on the thirty-first?" He looked taken aback. "I promise to pay back the gas and trouble."

"No need." He tells me, holding his hand up to stop any other words. Geez, his hand looked huge. I couldn't help glancing at my own hand, tiny compared to his.

"I'll gladly pick you up, just let me know when your arrival time will be and I'll be there."

~~~One Month Later…~~~

"Miss? Miss, we'll be landing soon." The stewardess gently shook my arm, successfully waking me.

"Hm? Oh, okay." I say softly, rubbing my eyes as I sit up. I yawned into the back of my hand as I looked out the window beside the other passenger. He was an old man reading a book, though he was only now in the middle of the book from where he started at first. My gaze looked out the window, eyes widening at the sight of all the twinkling lights of the Big Apple. My breath caught in my throat. I was here. I finally made it. I've officially completed one of my dreams. A small smile appeared on my face as tears brimmed my eyes.

I did it! Me! I thought. The old man looked at me and smiled.

"I know that look." He said, chuckling. I look at him, sheepish.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your reading." I say in apology.

"No worries, I was done for the night." He says with a chuckle. "What are you coming to New York for?"

"Schooling. I plan to be a writer someday." I told him. The plane starts to descend.

"Oh, maybe I'll read a book of yours soon." He says with a bright smile.

"What about you, sir? What brings you to New York?"

"Ah, it is the place I grew up. I have family waiting for me." He smiled nostalgically.

"That's sweet."

"How about you?"

"Pardon?" The plane landed.

"Do you have anyone waiting for you?" He asked. I looked into his eyes. They were a handsome hazel that dazzled in the dim plane lights and shone dull from his years.

"Um, no. Just a roommate. He's picking me up." I told him.

"Oh, a 'he!'" He chuckled. I felt my cheeks burn with heat.

"Oh, it's not like that! He's just a roommate." I quickly told him. The old man only chuckled as the plane stopped.

"I only tease! An old man can joke." He chuckled more. I chuckled with him as the surrounding people started to get up to get their things.

"Right, right." It took roughly five minutes for the crowd to disperse. During this time, I turned on my data and turned off my ringtone. I didn't want to disturb anyone if I got a buttload of messages which, knowing my family, I would have many. I helped the old man up and asked if he had a carry-on with him. He said he didn't but thanked me for the sentiment anyway. He then walked away as I turned to my duffle bag in the luggage compartment.

It was an old one I used to use when visiting family. It was small but could hold at least a week's worth of clothing in it, along with some essentials. I plan to hit the market this morning so I can buy the other necessities I couldn't exactly bring with me.

With my bag in hand, I make my way out of the plane and out into the waiting area. I moved out of the way for the remaining passengers as I surveyed the area. No Miguel. I should've known he wouldn't have come to greet me like that. He's just here to pick me up. I hurried on to the designated pick-up location, checking my phone to see if he sent a message. Nothing. I chewed my lip as I wondered if I should send another text. Maybe he was still sleeping? Maybe he forgot? I walked out into the lot, looking around but not seeing that man anywhere. I started to get worried even though I just got there.

"Ashley?" A voice says from behind me.

"Yeah?" I turn around, eyes landing on a large chest. "Oh my-"

I looked up, needing to crane my neck slightly to meet Miguel's eyes. He was tall and buff. He wore a fitted, black crew-neck shirt with gray, flannel pajama bottoms. He took my breath away, just the sheer size of him was enough to dwarf me. I wasn't the only one staring either. Many people were staring. I backed up away from him slightly to give some ease on my neck.

"Miguel?" I asked in astonishment. He only nods.

"Shall we go now?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." I quickly say, adjusting the strap of my duffle bag. He wordlessly led me to his car. A sleek black car that shined under the lights. I wasn't a car person, but it looked beautiful.

"Nice car." I complimented as Miguel unlocked his car, opening his trunk.

"Thank you. Bag?"

"Hm? Oh, here!" I quickly handed him my bag. Once placed in, he closed the trunk and walked over to open the passenger door.

"Ah, thanks." I tell him, flushing a bit from embarrassment. I hurry in, hearing some lady passing by as I get in.

"Lucky girl." I felt even more embarrassed, but Miguel seemed unaffected. Did he get those kinds of comments all the time? I mean, he must, right?

He got in the driver's seat and started the car, driving out of the parking space and driving off onto the highway. For a while, we stayed silent. I looked out my window, settling into the thought that I literally knew no one except Miguel. Well, actually, not even him. I hoped I could change it, but between school and my hunt for a job, I doubted I'd even have enough time for socializing.

"Hungry?" Miguel asked, tearing me out of my thoughts. I looked at him.

"A little bit." He only nods and starts merging into the next two lanes.

"Wait, where are we going?" I ask him.

"I know a place to eat."

"This late at night?" It was two in the morning. What the heck was going to be open?

"I know a place." He simply repeated. I felt uneasy. Was I supposed to just let him take me somewhere foreign in a foreign place trapped in a foreign land? Foreign sounds weird now, doesn't it? It wasn't like I could stop him anyway. I was stuck under his mercy. All I could do was hope he wasn't going to murder me. I tried to keep a tab on all the turns and street names passing by, but nothing stuck. I was never the best with directions. I watched street after street pass by until, finally, Miguel slowed the car to a stop by a small shop. From the outside, it wasn't much. There was a blocked and barred window with an open sign on it. The door was wide open and emitted a sickly, pale light.

"This is the place." Miguel killed the engine and got out. I went to do the same, taking my mini backpack with me. However, my movement came to a complete standstill as my nose was assaulted by the most delicious smells I've ever smelled in my life. Miguel had come around by then, sticking a hand into his pocket. It was then that my stomach chose to growl loudly. Miguel held open the door as he looked at me with a mildly amused expression.

"Sounds like you're hungrier than a little bit." He repeats my words in a teasing tone. I huff and get out of his car.

"Oh, hush it." I tell him, flushing from embarrassment. I've been in this man's presence for only thirty minutes, and I've felt nothing but embarrassment. Miguel lifted his hand up in defense, waiting until I was out of the car to close the passenger door and lock the car.

"After you." He offered. I give him a smile as thanks and head inside. I felt Miguel's presence loom behind me and give me a shiver. I walk into the shop and give a look around. The shop was small. On my right, there were a few empty tables and some chairs pushed into them. There was a long counter on my left, the dish pans inside holding varying meats, veggies, and salsas. I look up to the menu above the counter and see Mexican meals from tacos to burros ahogadas to even menudo. Obviously, that's only on the weekend. My mouth started to water as I read through all the familiar foods.

"Señor O'Hara!" A lady who seemed to be in her fifties walked up to the counter from the kitchen and smiled. "¿Como estas, hijo?"

"¿Muy bien, y gusted?" He asked her. I looked between the two as they spoke, feeling like a sore thumb between them. They spoke civilly until the lady's attention was on me.

"¿Y quien es esta dama tan bonita?" She asked. Miguel opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it, a blush on my cheeks as I spoke.

"Hola, soy Ashley." I said simply with a wave and a shy smile. Miguel gave me a look, his expression unreadable.

"¡Ah, hola Ashley! Soy Betitua, pero me puedes llamar Beti." Beti said with a smile. I giggle slightly, my nerves easing. She chuckled and reverted to English, her accent a little on the thick side. "What can I get you both?"

"The usual, Beti." Miguel told her then looked at me. I quickly looked back up to the menu, chewing my lip in thought. They all sounded so good! Then my eyes landed on the prices.

Oh. That's expensive. I thought as my heart sank. I was smart and had saved some money for necessities and groceries and whatnot, but if just this shop was this expensive, then what was the rest going to look? Worry began to seep into my head. What if I wasn't ready for this? What if I failed? What if I go broke?

A hand rested gently on my shoulder, making me jump and pull me out of my thoughts.

I looked up and met Miguel's eyes. They shined with kindness, an odd softness I didn't think he was capable of.

"I offered to go eat, I'm paying. Choose what you want." Miguel crouched slightly as he spoke to me. Damn my shortness.

"Oh, no, Miguel, I couldn't-" A gentle squeeze from his hand halted me. He looked into my eyes, sincerity pooled deeply within those chocolate drops.

"I insist." He rumbled. I gulped. "Besides, it'd be rude to deny a nice act from your roommate."

Conflict plagued my brain. On one hand, I was raised to never take handouts as that would make me a beggar. On the other hand, I was also raised to never be rude in any way. Oh, he had me cornered, but my hunger won out. I look away from his eyes in defeat and let out a sigh.

"Alright, alright." I look up at the menu again, choosing one of the cheap options. "May I have a burro de birria?"

"Coming right up!" Beti said before walking back into the kitchen. Miguel straightened and finally removed his hand from my shoulder. He walked to one of the tables and sat. I quickly did the same, sitting across from him and laying my bag down between my feet. Silence befell us, and with the silence came my fidgeting. With nothing to distract me, I start to look around, bouncing my leg and twisting my fingers this way and that. The shop was simple, some pictures hung on the wall for random landscapes and a mural on the far end of the shop. There was a fridge behind the counter that held many drinks and desserts within it. After seeing everything there was to see, I grew bored.

I tried not to glance at Miguel, but I found it impossible to. I kept giving quick flashes at him, observing him in quick spurts. He simply sat there, not really staring at anything. At one point, I stopped giving quick glances and started to get bold. I stared for longer and took in his features. His high cheekbones, the way his hair fell over his forehead, his eyebrows that seemed to cling to the top of his eyes, everything. At this point, I memorized his features. I tried to read for any sign that may indicate his emotions, but he was about as blank as a piece of wood. Scratch that, wood had more emotion than he did at this moment.

Then his eyes met mine.

It happened so fast. I jumped and quickly looked away, pointedly moving my body away from him as my cheeks burned from embarrassment. I'm such a fucking idiot, how could I allow myself to stare?!

Ugh, he probably thinks I'm a weirdo now. I thought as I thinned my lips. We sat in a more awkward silence. I knew I did this, I hated it.

Say something, damn it! I screamed in my head. But just as I started to think about what to say, Miguel spoke.

"What part of California are you from?" Miguel asked. I looked back at him, surprised to see calm eyes looking back. I shifted in my seat to better face him.

"In Gardena, around the Los Angeles area." I answer.

"What's it like there?"

"Uh, it's warm practically year round. It's kinda on the poor side. I lived right by the beach, so that's kinda cool. Morning fogs during the spring and fall seasons." I tell him, brows furrowed as I try to think of everything.

"Sounds nice. Why come all the way out here?" He sounded almost accusatory. I bit my tongue to stop any retort from escaping. I needed to stay civil.

"I'm going to school here. I heard Fordham University was the way to go for my writing major." I say a bit tersely.

"Writing? Like journalism." He had a small scowl on his face.

"No, creative writing, like stories." I huff out.

"And how do you plan for this degree to help you?" Now he was just jabbing at me.

"It's helping me better my craft."

"Oh, so you came with the dead end."

"Dead end?!"

"You can't become a writer overnight."

"I'm willing to put in the work."

"And if it takes you nowhere?"

"It will."

"How do you know?"

"I-"

"Here's your food!" Beti said suddenly, placing the plates of food in front of me and Miguel. I immediately turned to Beti with a warm smile.

"Thank you, it smells really good." I say. It smelled just like how my grandma made it. It made me a little homesick, but I suppose that's a good thing with food. Beti returned the smile and gave my cheek a loving pat.

"You're welcome, mi linda. Is there anything else I can get you?" I shake my head.

"No, thank you."

"Por su puesto, mi hijita." She turned to Miguel and gave him a very disapproving glare. "Comportaté."

I shot him a smug look as his face reflected offense, staring at the lady's back as she walked away.

"¿Y yo qué hice?" He called after her. He turned to me and glared as I smugly grabbed my utensils and dug in. Miguel huffed and ate as well. The entire meal went by in silence. There wasn't much room for me to talk anyway as I shoveled bite after bite into my mouth. I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning due to nerves, and now that I was here and safe, I had nothing to worry about. I told my parents I'd be fine.

Shit! My fork and knife fell with a clatter as I hurriedly dug my phone out of my bag. Miguel glanced up at me, his taco inches away from his mouth for his next bite.

"Are you alright?" He asked, eyeing me as I quickly unlocked my phone and typed away. I chewed my lip as my leg bounced with nerves.

'I've landed safe and sound! Currently eating some food with my new roommate'

"Fine, just letting-" I was cut off by my phone's ringtone going off. I look at the caller ID and see my mom's contact. What the hell is she doing still up?! I answered quickly and put the phone to my ear. "Hey, mom!"

"Oh, it's so good to hear from you! Why didn't you text me as soon as you landed?!" She reprimanded. I chuckled nervously, trying to avoid Miguel's questioning look. How could he arch his eyebrow that high when they seemed to be glued to his eyes?

"I'm sorry, I got distracted." I tell her nervously. If there's one thing you don't mess with, it's a Latina mom.

"Ay, you and being distracted. What am I going to do with you?" I opened my mouth to speak but heard my dad on the other end and stopped, knowing he was going to take the phone next.

"Hi, mija, we're glad you landed safely."

"Hi, papí." I didn't miss how Miguel nearly choked on his food. I spared him a glance before focusing back on the conversation at hand. "How's everything on your end?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old." My dad said. I could imagine him waving his hand to dismiss my question, the image making me smile softly.

"Mhm, that so?" I asked, not believing him.

"Okay, okay, you got me. We miss you muchos, mijita." He admitted. I smiled sadly, missing them just as much.

"I miss you guys too. I promise you the holidays will come by faster than you think!" I reassure them, my tone light and happy while my face showed just how devastated I was that I wouldn't be able to see them until then. Miguel watched me, something simmering in his eyes I couldn't quite catch. I was still trying to avoid his eye, obviously.

"Bueno, ojala, it is soon." My dad tells me, his voice full of sadness.

"It will be, I promise you that." I was barely keeping myself together. "Alright, I have to go. It's pretty rude of me to be talking on the phone while with company."

"Ah, sí, of course, of course." My dad said with a chuckle. "Enjoy your date."

"He's not-" I started but was interrupted by the click of the hangup sound. My cheeks erupted in pink as I put my phone down, clearing my throat.

Every damn time. He's not my boyfriend, dad! I thought in my head as I plastered a smile on my face.

"Sorry about that, you know how family is." I explain quickly, going back to my food. Miguel only nodded.

"Feeling homesick after hearing from them?" He simply asked. I hesitated.

"A little bit. But this is something I have to do. I can't quit now." I say with a determined voice. I worked way too hard and way too much for a little homesickness to tear it all down. No, I will see this through! Miguel only nodded and went back to his food. I did the same, though I was no longer hungry. I picked at my food more than I ate it. When Miguel had finished his meal, I asked for a box and packed up what I couldn't finish. Miguel paid, and we were back on our way to the apartment. We were silent again, simply in our own minds, as music played softly through the radio. I could feel my mind starting to overthink my decision to come out here.

What if it's not all it's cracked up to be? What if I'm not able to wow everyone here like I did back home? What if I'm actually a mediocre writer with an inflated ego? Oh gods, what will I do then?!

"What do you write about?" Miguel asked me suddenly, making me jump. I looked at him, blinking away the remnants of my thoughts.

"Uh, any sort of fiction, really. I've only written short stories before." I told him. If you could call fanfiction that.

"Maybe you should let me read something." I looked at him suspiciously. When did he suddenly have an interest in my writing? The last time I checked, he thought it was a dead-end career.

"What's the catch?" I ask him. He sighs.

"The way I talked to you wasn't fair. I just want to avoid seeing you fail. I'm sure you've got plenty of potential, but I don't want your hopes and dreams crushed. Call it the father instinct in me." He says with a shrug.

"You've got a kid?" I ask him. I wasn't expecting to room with a dad, that wasn't in the advertisement he put out. His lips thinned as his gaze hardened on the road.

"No." He went silent after that, so I didn't press. Was he experiencing baby fever because I was around? That doesn't make sense, I'm twenty-three. How could he be? My eyes slunk back out the window as the air between us grew awkward and left a sour taste in my mouth.

Quick, think of something! I chew my lip in thought before looking over at Miguel again.

"So, what do you do for work?" I ask, thinking an icebreaker question will alleviate the tension building up. Miguel glanced at him, his gaze softening ever so slightly before he looked back out to the road. It was something, at least.

"I'm a bioengineer." He says. I couldn't help the look of disbelief that took over as I gave him a once over.

"You? A bioengineer?"

"Yes, I study the-"

"I know what they do, Miguel, I just don't believe you are one."

"And why is that?"

"I mean, look at you! You're the spitting image of a gym rat." I joked. Though, that quickly died down as he gave me another glance with an unamused expression this time.

"And what is a bioengineer supposed to look like?" Miguel questioned, his eyes narrowed on the road as if challenging me to answer.

"Uh…like a nerd?" I tried. I chuckled nervously as this only caused Miguel to look more pissed off than before. I gulped.

"I'm starting to rethink this arrangement." He said with an annoyed tone.

"No, no, please! I'm sorry, I was only joking, I swear!" I quickly told him. I couldn't lose this apartment, I had nowhere else to go!

"So was I." He smirks. An offended look makes my jaw drop.

"You didn't sound like you were joking."

"I sounded like that to myself." He said with a shrug. I huff and look back out the window, crossing my arms.

"It wasn't funny." I mumble.

What an asshole. I think, glaring out my window. Silence falls between us as Miguel continues the drive back to his apartment.

I take my phone out and click on Tumblr. It was the only place where I posted my works. Mostly fanfiction, really, but I was working on a book. I had high hopes I'd be finished by Christmas. But hope and reality were two different things. I sigh and click on the "notes" of my most recent post. I read through the comments and reblogs, smiling to myself at the positive feedback I received. The piece was of that Spider-Man guy. The news had been crazy about recently. I noticed a goldmine of fans obsessed for any bit of work to thirst over, so I figured, why not? Might as well give some fan service. The post had reached higher numbers than I expected. It satisfied me. I didn't care about the numbers or anything, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't boost my ego. I smirk to myself. Miguel didn't know what he was talking about, I knew I could make it.

After reading through all the feedback, I lock my phone and look out the window once more. I realized with a shock that I was in New York. Home of Spider-Man. How weird, right? I mean, here I am, a fanfiction writer, in the homestate of Spider-Man, the very man I wrote my recent piece about. What are the chances I'd actually see him in action? It's probably slim, but a girl can hope. Hell, it would help with learning his moves and better portray him in my writing. Clips can only do so much justice, and, what can I say, I'm a sucker for accuracy.

I yawn into the back of my hand, getting more comfortable and sinking into the seat. I'm sure just resting my eyes for a few moments wouldn't hurt. Just a moment to let my mind think of new ideas and whatnot. Just…a few…moments.

Before I knew it, I was out like a light.

Translations

If you'd like to be tagged/untagged let me know!

Ch 2

Tags: @crocs-blogs @madschiavelique @arithestrawberry @eveandtheturtles @myownsimp @thel0velykey190 @obi-mom-kenobi @thelaundrybitch @raphsmuneca @symmetricalkazekage

#m1dnyte w0lf #m1dnyt3 w0lf fanfic #miguel o'hara #miguel ohara x self insert #miguel ohara x ashley hernandez #across the spiderverse #spiderman 2099 #atsv miguel #atsv #atsv fanfiction

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tanukified · 10 months

Note

omgggg I'm so happy i found your blog! i thought shinomitsu has long set sail and i needed to waddle my way through the waters.

i've been wanting to write them fics but kinda nervous I'd get them wrong. my prompt was supposed to be 'temporarily dying to get your in laws blessing'. basically mitsuri dies (temporarily!) during battle and meets kanae and they talk and she asks for her blessing in marrying shinobu. seems kinda ooc and hard to write though, so i was hoping you have any advice or tips to make it less ooc?

have a splendid day! :DDD

ShinoMitsu has been alive and thriving in my brain since 2020- they have permanent residency lol.

Wait omg that’s so interesting, I’d love to read that!! (I am starving in the ShinoMitsu fanfic department)

Mitsuri taking a fatal blow that puts her in a temporary state of being dead while maybe even protecting Shinobu might be an interesting angle. Waking up in the afterlife seeing Kanae thinking she’s Shinobu at first also makes sense to me.

Honestly I feel like that’s an incredibly Mitsuri thing to do, especially based on how I interpret her as a character! She’d probably be squealing and calling Kanae just as pretty as Shinobu or whatever until she realises that seeing her means she’s dead (she’s silly like that haha).

After the shock of realising she’s dead blows over I feel Kanae would probably ask about how Shinobu is doing etc. etc. sending Mitsuri into another ramble about how great Shinobu is and how much she loves her which would lead into asking for Kanae’s blessing.

Gosh I’m sorry I feel like I’m hijacking’s your story- I get so carried away when it comes to them orz anyway I personally feel it’s pretty in character (again based on my interpretations of the characters).

Mitsuri is easily excited and talks a lot despite actually being an introvert, her thought process can be pretty erratic and messy leading her to often talk before she thinks. Even when she’s scared she might die she’s still willing to fight to the death to protect the people she loves. I really feel it could work!!

I’ve come to a point where I basically treat ShinoMitsu as my OCs, so my take on them might actually absolutely bonkers ooc because of that (especially in modern AU scenarios because of Kanae not being dead in them 🤷). I’m definitely not the authority on them despite calling myself the CEO of the ship ahaha. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, but know that I’ll read the heck out of any fanfic you decide to write about them!! <3

I hope your day is wonderful and I hope something in my rambles could be somewhat helpful! ^^

#otp: lovebugs #shinomitsu #oh no another long post #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #the ShinoMitsu brainrot is so real #i hope this is okay!#maybe helpful even #thank you for asking about them actually- I’ll take any excuse I can get haha

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melishade · 11 months

Note

Number 27? And don't worry! Take your time.

This ask game

Anything with the phrase "My love" in it, just assume it's the Beloved Timeline.

Elita grumbled at the sight of wires in her vision as she stuck her helm through an opening in the side of the wall. The ceiling lights overhead created enough light for her to see inside the damaged walls. She could see the dust and spiderwebs that collected overtime. She wiped a digit over one of the cables and grimaced at the sight of the dust that smudged her digit. Elita sighed with defeat. There was no way that the ship would ever be operational to reach Cybertron or even contact the planet. The only other being who had the ability to leave was Megatron. The thought made her furious. Megatron had no ability to return to Cybertron, but he could go anywhere he wanted. While she continued to remain stuck on this stupid rock-!

"Find anything?!" Elita yelped at the sound of Hanji's voice in the walls. She tried to yank her helm out of the opening, but her helm got tangled in some of the wires. Elita cursed in Cybertronian as she yanked her helm outside of the wall, taking some wires with her. She fell flat on her back with dusted wires still wrapped around her helm.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Hanji exclaimed as she climbed out of the wall, "I thought you knew I was-!"

"I'm fine," Elita dismissed. She grunted as she ripped the wires off of her helm before rubbing the side of it.

"Let me go get Optimus!" Hanji hopped down to the ground before running outside of the main deck.

"Wait! You don't need to get him!" Elita called out uselessly. She groaned and stood up, dusting herself off. She examined the damaged wires that lay on the floor. She was never going to be able to return home like this.

"Are you alright, Elita?" Optimus asked her as he stepped into the room. Elita couldn't help but notice Hanji peering behind his pedes, looking rather nervous.

"I'm fine," Elita reassured, "I was just a little startled. That's all."

"Are you sure?" Hanji asked, "I swear I didn't mean to-!"

"I said that I'm fine, Hanji," Elita cut her off, "Thank you for your concern."

"...Commander, there is some equipment in the room you found me in I think you would be interested in," Optimus spoke.

"Oh!" Hanji exclaimed before glancing back at Elita, "Again! Sorry!"

Elita could see her barely contained excitement as Hanji made a quick dash down the hall. Once Optimus was able to confirm that she was out of view, he approached Elita and took her servo into his own, examining it for any bruises and scratches.

"Forgive me, my love," Optimus apologized, "The Commander is quite eccentric. I do not believe I have given you a proper warning about them."

"I'm more annoyed at the fact that I'm being treated as though I am fragile," Elita huffed before blinking. She didn't mean to say that out loud. It was a mistake. She didn't mean to. Elita almost mourned the loss of Optimus' touch as he let her servo go.

"I suppose that may be my fault," Optimus proclaimed, "The Survey Corps do mean well, but because of my own mannerisms and your relationship to me-,"

"They do not know how to act around me," Elita concluded.

"...I have not had the best track record when it comes to communication," Optimus confessed.

"I have witnessed that myself." Elita couldn't help by smirk at the memory of a flustered Orion Pax who stumbled with his wording the first day they met.

"I apologize for the rather awkward interactions you have had to endure," Optimus said to her.

"I know it's not your fault. You have no need to apologize," Elita reassured, "I just hope that this awkwardness ends."

"With time it will," Optimus declared, "However, the Commander-,"

"Is always like that," Elita concluded, "Sorry, I keep cutting you off."

"It is alright. I am quite delighted to hear the sound of your voice." Optimus gave a small smile.

Elita paused as Optimus offered his servo to her. The warrior couldn't help but smile as she placed her servo into his own. She might not be able to return to Cybertron, but Optimus was her home and safety. That was more than enough. "That was quite romantic for someone with a poor track record in communications."

Hanji couldn't help but overhear the conversation, curiosity getting the better of her. She had been hiding behind the wall and covering her mouth to prevent any sounds from coming out. Damn it, this was too adorable! She couldn't resist knowing more! But she knew better. She quickly returned to the lab with all the tools in order to not alert the two.

(Sweet and simple. You are more than welcome to ask from that list.)

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keef-a-corn · 6 months

Text

This is just me venting

Shoutout to that one person from Instagram that absolutley ruined me ✌️😚

Like thanks babe, I needed to be taken down a peg

Now I thrive with the sheer amount of anxiety I get when it comes to sharing and chatting

Love the way you made me scared to share posts I found that are over a couple months old, or how I get really nervous telling stories that involve anyone outside of the person I’m chatting with.

Love the way you ruined my New Year’s Eve a couple of years ago, making me break down and cry for about an hour because when you told me about an experience I had aligned it with ADHD traits (after being very open about the fact that I have ADHD) and not only did you get mad at me for even implying you have ADHD, but you made me feel extremely insecure about having it myself.

Let’s not forget the way you lashed out at me when I asked you a question about an artwork (it was ‘where’s [X] standing?’ Because the scaling and everything looked incredibly off and I just wanted to understand what was happening)

How about when I got too nervous to share an experience with a creator because I was young, they were older than me, they had more friends, we had been in an argument for about a year, and I couldn’t physiologically take it anymore, then we resolved the issue and you deadass got mad at me.

Oh wait, no.. it was also earlier than that, when you called them something like toxic and I told you that I had never considered them like that before (as in it never clicked for me that they were toxic) and you stopped talking to me and when you did it was just to tell me off- as if I wasn’t the victim in the situation and wasn’t the one that couldn’t recognise how greatly this person had affected me.

The endless uncalled for venting?

OH! How about that time I showed you a drawing and instead of giving any praise or feedback you didn’t mention the drawing and instead asked why I still made Gacha Content, so I gave you a full list on why I do it and your reply was something like ‘Nevermind’ and I asked you why you asked and you still haven’t told me to this day.

What about when I helped you find disgusting CountryHuman art and artists to report, then a few days later you message me saying we can’t be friends anymore if I still like countryhumans, not even just informing me that you don’t like it and giving me the option to leave the fandom or stop being your friend.

Reminiscing on when I got super excited and nervous because I messaged and artist I adored, then we got to chatting and it was super exciting for me, so you actively searched for any reason to hate that artist, and when you found one, I had suggested I can simply ask them to edit the post and remove it, so that it wouldn’t be a hassle, but you kept saying not to bother.

I messaged them anyway, suggesting to remove it and they were more than happy to do so because they’re a normal fucking person who recognised that maybe it wasn’t the best decision, then you got mad at me??

How about when you were super judgemental of my ship [this was countryhumans btw] between Australia and Germany, while you shipped America and Australia. Then my reasoning of just enjoying the places and knowing that there’s peace between them was never enough??

I could never come to you with dramas from my life because you’d either ignore me the whole day, or you’d try to one up me.

Anytime I said anything that upset you, you wouldn’t talk to me for, minimum, an hour, which would leave me stressing and apologising.

These all greatly affected me because now I:

Rarely share and promote posts that are older than a few months, seeing it as me embarrassing myself (I want to get past this, because I know sharing and enhancing with posts are important on platforms)

Get nervous discussing ADHD with people who aren’t diagnosed and feel like I have to purely mention the good things, rather than the everything.

Think I criticise too harshly and feel like no one can use my critics and that they’re useless.

Fortunately I don’t get into a lot of creator drama, but if I do, it takes a while to get support.

Now I get nervous to vent at all. Never wanting to put pressure on being listened to.

I just.. I think about that regularly…

Now I get scared to tell people I’m NOT in a fandom anymore. Never told my ex partner I didn’t like Countryhumans anymore.

Now I get nervous reaching out to creators at all (praise my moots) and have to rely on people coming to me instead.

I managed to get past that one and now have a perspective of ‘if it’s not illegal, go off’

Once again, greatly affected the way I open up to others, even my therapist.

Now I have an incredibly weird relationship with apologising, as it’s lost all it’s meaning.

As I said

Thank you

So much.

I loved experiencing that as apart of being a minor on the internet.

#vent #personal vent #this is just #something I had to make public #they live in my head rent free #and I just..#can’t #they’re a huge contributor to who I am today #them among many #but I never really recognised them as #being bad #for me

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bellewintersroe · 1 year

Note

This is for a ship!

I've asked my bf to describe me;

My boyfriend asked me to describe him....

Did i go overboard? Definitely.

He is the most beautiful guy I've ever seen. He is incredibly short and has such gentle eyes that makes my heart stop whenever I look into them. His laugh is very contagious and when he laughs too hard he goes semi silent with little giggle-like noises in between the moments of silent laughing. That or its strained laughing from needing to breathe. He is compassionate and understanding. He will hold me memtally when I'm upset and wait for me to say what's wrong when I'm ready.

His whole personality is gentle and yet powerful in the way that he captivates others.

That little wisp of a smile that he doesn't know anyone notices. When i do something stupid on call he stares at the camera dissappointingly as a joke. I like how his ginger hair curves around his cheek. How his eyebrows jump whenever he hears something concerning or is confused. His eyes are blue and extremely beautiful how his eyes are always exploring. He has got so many beautiful, little memories weaving their own little tapestry in that gorgeous head of his. He is a bit afraid to admit being afraid, i think so atleast. Which he doesn't have to be, he is considerate and peaceful and gentle and kind.

Hes got little scars all on his hands and arms from either being a dumbass or his puppy. He is passionate about so much and has no limit when it comes to interests.

Hes always learning, everyday he has something new to tell me. He takes video games seriously like its real life and its so cute how he keeps telling me to focus cause im off dancing on Normandy when we play the D-Day roblox game.

He is so passionate about others and always wants to help in any way possible even if he can't voice that. He isn't one to send paragraphs of love to somebody, he shows his love in other ways. Other people won't get it but just know I do.

He is one of the most selfless people I have ever met. He can brighten any room by just being in it. His smile and humor is contagious. He is my rock, my constant in a world of every changing chaos. In him, I have found my best friend, the one who constantly makes me want to strive to be a better person.

So yeah. Idk what to finish this with but I love you Eugene<3

hey, thank you for your request I absolutely love the detail on this and I adore that your boyfriend wrote this for you- how beautiful omg!!!

ps- there’s no such thing as overboard I loveeeee the detail smmm <3

I ship you with… Shifty Powers!!

Firstly the two of you would be such a beautiful couple omg. We all know how beautiful Shifty is. I feel like your ginger hair and his dark hair would just look so adorable together?

The fact you have such gentle eyes is what soothes Shifty, like it makes him feel comfortable enough to come speak to you and he’s such a little love bird he’d gaze into them all day if he could.

I feel like it’s your laughter that would pull Shifty in, like he’d find himself smiling at something you were humoured by and slowly the shy chatter would start from there? when the two of you are fully together your laughter is something that will bring him joy in his darkest times.

the two of your gentle personalities makes you so perfect together. Like Shifty would be un doubtfully loyal to you and so unapologetically in love with you?

seriously he thinks you’re an Angel sent just for him.

often questions how he got somebody as good as you??

Seriously if you just hold him whilst you’re in bed he can’t get enough of it or you. He needs that skin to skin contact and your compassion is something that melts his heart okay.

it gives him such tranquil energy, seriously, he feels most at peace when he’s at home with you, and the first time the two of you kissed (after many many nervous attempts from Shifty) it’s so perfect, he feels like he could cry??

falls in love pretty quickly omg people (including myself) are so jealous of you.

your curiosity and endless memories is something he finds adorable. He often just asks you to tell him stories, if he’s had a bad day he’s sooo intrigued in hearing about a happy memory you have.

it distracts him in a way? Like he deffo gets lost in your physical beauty, but on the inside he literally can not comprehend how somebody can be so angelic and good for him?

maybe sometimes he doesn’t feel enough for you because you’re genuinely so perfect.

Chuck literally has to pinch him once to stop him from staring.

traces the scars on your hand and tells you out loud about how he will support through absolutely anything. Your interests are also his, he finds it fun to partake in new things with you??

Can tell when you’re afraid and gives you that little bit of a nudge you need to be more confident.

the way you show your love to him through actions rather than speaking to him is something Shifty likes. I feel like he’s so good at vocalising his love, but even he gets a little shy sometimes?

if you grab him for a hug or a kiss expect him to be smiling for the rest of the day omg he’s so perfect.

blushes easily.

I feel like you and shifty would genuinely want to spend every single day together?? Like if you’re away for a couple days he’d deffo embrace you so tightly.

wordied about hurting you? Deffo such a sweet lover and checks upon you constantly.

doesn’t have sex he makes LOVE omfg stop I love him so much.

You make him laugh more than anybody and he can be a little dopey sometimes so prepared to be entertained for the rest of your life.

I feel like you sound quite open minded? Shifty would deffo take you out fish noodling, fishing and hunting.

make out sessions whilst ur on a small little fishing boat.

It would probs start raining and you’d be rowing in circles for a good 30 mins to get out of it????

Seriously the softest and most gentle man ever, like I said earlier he’s endlessly loyal and the two of you would have such a peaceful life together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I ship you platonically with… George Luz!!!

Listen you and George as friends compliment each other massively.

you have the caring and gentle soul that George deep down longs for in his life? Yes he’s the joker of the group, but when he’s upset he sometimes struggles to vocalise it?

some how you just get it? You understand him like nobody else and George confides in you where he feels like he can’t in many other people?

on the other hand, you mentioned about you laughing- George never fails to make you almost pee yourself a good 10 times a day.

seriously we all know he’s funny but you just find him absolutely hilarious???

I think Luz would bring out an adventurous side to you? If he’d wanna go explore somewhere he’d take you with him?

idk I can just picture this friendship being extremely fun but also soooo fucking healthy like. You’re both always there for each other and you know it.

#band of brothers #band of brothers x reader #band of brothers smut #Shifty powers #shifty powers x reader #George Luz #george Luz x reader

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detroit-grand-prix · 2 years

Text

if she wants me - susie wolff x female oc

part 2: someone above is looking with a tender eye

Summary: Amelia forgets all about the job overseas she applied for, until she gets a phone call one day from a strange-looking phone number she doesn’t recognize.

Tags/warnings: First-person OC perspective, negotiated polyamory, fluff and smut, porn with plot, lesbian character, bisexual female character, boss/employee relationship, divorce (but not the Wolffs, don’t worry)

Previous Chapter

A few days later, I noticed a missed call on my phone that came from a strange number - it didn’t look like any phone number I’d ever seen, with an odd country code. I was puzzled until I realized it was probably a Monaco number, and I called it back immediately. It was Sophie, and she had been calling to let me know to expect a formal offer letter in my email. I was speechless. My head felt like it was about to float away, and I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears as I tried listening to what she was telling me. She said that it would take a few weeks to sort out my work visa and permits, which was fine - it gave me time to tackle a to-do list that had suddenly grown gargantuan.

Over the next few weeks, I put in my notice with the university, hired a property management company to handle renting out my house (I didn’t want to sell it right away, just in case things didn’t end up working out overseas), decided what I wanted to take with me and sold or donated a lot of things I didn’t want or need any more. I kept the majority of my furniture, opting to rent my house out as a furnished rental, while I found a furnished rental flat in Nice, and arranged for some things to be shipped there. I bought a rail pass for the SNCF train that I would be riding for my commute to Monaco, and a SIM card for cell service and a French number. I brushed up on my French through an iPhone app, and thanked my lucky stars that I took French in college instead of German or Spanish. I turned in my car early, and the dealership was kind enough to waive the early termination fees for the lease. I opened a bank account with a French bank and exchanged some of my savings into Euros. I debated buying a bike, but decided that I could wait until I’d landed.

Just about the second I got confirmation that my visa was approved, I purchased my plane ticket - one-way. Detroit to Charles de Gaulle to Nice Côte d'Azur. A ten hour flight to an entirely new life. It felt strange. Emily and I had been to France before. We’d been to lots of places. I’d booked plenty of plane tickets, but I’d never envisioned myself booking a one-way ticket somewhere.

Speaking of Emily, I had initially decided not to tell her I was moving, but I decided for some reason that it was the right thing to do. So, the night before my flight was due to leave, I dialed her number - I’d deleted her from my phone’s contact list a while ago, but I still had her number memorized. I couldn’t bring myself to tap the green call button, though. I opted to just send her a quick text, mostly just to let her know that I would be out of the country for the foreseeable future, and left her a forwarding address in case she needed it for anything. I watched the indicator in my texts change from “Delivered” to “Read”, but she didn’t say anything. I guess I wasn’t really expecting a response, and I wasn’t sure if I was hoping for one, either.

I didn’t sleep at all the night before my flight. I was too nervous. I arrived at the airport several hours too early. I bought an iced coffee and a sandwich that I couldn’t bear to finish because my stomach was doing somersaults.

Once I was on the plane, I managed to relax a little. The sound of the plane engines and the darkness of the red-eye flight lulled me into a fitful sleep, and I woke up a couple of hours later over the Atlantic, already in a new time zone. It was a strange feeling, knowing that I was officially out of the US without knowing when I’d be back again, aside from the United States ePrix in the summer, when I’d be going to Brooklyn with the team. I certainly didn’t know when I’d be back in Michigan again.

I landed in Paris at 8 in the morning, but my body was still trapped at 2am. I was very glad that I would have a few days before I started at Venturi to adjust to the time change. I had only about an hour-long layover before my flight to Nice. From there, the hour-and-a-half long flight was uneventful. I took an Uber to my new apartment once I’d landed.

I hadn’t done too badly for not seeing the place other than pictures - it was a small, one-bedroom apartment. It was cute, comfortable, and not too far from the city center or the train station. The only thing I did once I’d arrived was unpack the package with the bedding I’d ordered, made the bed, and promptly collapsed.

When I woke up after about fifteen hours of deep sleep, I was disoriented. It took me a moment to remember where I was. “Oh yeah. I’m in France. I live here now.” I laid in bed while I checked my phone. I had only just switched over to my French SIM card when I had landed at Charles de Gaulle so it surprised me that I’d already had a text that wasn’t auto-generated.

It was from Susie. I remembered that I’d given the company my new French phone number when I got my new SIM card, and had told them when I’d be arriving, so maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Susie Wolff: Hi, Amelia! I just wanted to make sure you landed safely and welcome you to this side of the pond! If you need anything, or have any questions, don’t hesitate to let me know.

My face flushed involuntarily at seeing her name come up in my notifications, and I got that warm feeling in my chest again. It was something I’d have to get used to.

Maybe when I was working with her, even the sight of her name would make me stop feeling this way - the way my heart would skip a beat, the way my breath would catch in my chest, the way my face would burn. It already felt like torture, though the most pleasant kind of torture.

My eyes focused on the singular “me”, and “I” in the message. Business-related communications, in my experience, used “we” and “our”. Maybe I was reading too far into it.

I considered my response for a few moments.

Me: Thank you! My flight got in yesterday. It was good! I’m looking forward to getting out and exploring a little today.

I put my phone down and stared up at my ceiling, considering everything I had to do that day. I needed to unpack my suitcases and the things I’d ordered for my apartment. I needed to find my way to a grocery store and get some food for my kitchen. I needed to walk around and try and get familiar with my neighborhood, even though in my sleeplessness when the Uber pulled up to my door, all of the buildings looked the same. It was a beautiful neighborhood, rows of butter-yellow buildings with elegant features, but it was block after block of buildings that looked the same. I needed to figure out the trains so I could make it to work the next week.

Another incoming notification took me out of my reverie, and took me by surprise. Susie had sent me another message.

Susie Wolff: That’s great to hear! You’re living in Nice, right? I know you’re probably not familiar with the city yet, but do you know what neighborhood you’re in?

The open-ended questions confused me. I was sure she was just being polite, though.

Me: I think it’s the Musician’s Quarter. I’m a little bit south of the main train station, I think. I’m still trying to get my bearings. I’m near Rue Verdi and Rue Hérold.

Susie Wolff: Oh! I actually know of a good restaurant near there called Maison Joia, if you’re looking for somewhere to eat.

I punched the name of the restaurant into Apple Maps, but Susie had texted me again before I could get a look.

Susie Wolff: Speaking of food, I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner this week before you start. It would be with me, Jerome, and and a few other people you’ll be working with. Just to get to know you a little better before you start. :)

Without thinking, I responded:

Me: That sounds wonderful! Just let me know when.

Susie Wolff: How about this Wednesday, maybe at 6? I can pick you up at your apartment, if you need. It’s not a long drive from Monaco to Nice.

I blanched at the idea of my boss picking me up at home to go to dinner at her house before we’d even formally met, in-person.

Me: Well, I’d actually like to take the train out to Monaco, just to get a chance to get familiar with it before work. But I don’t know anything about Monaco itself. Is your place far from the train station?

Susie Wolff: It’s a bit further than you might want to walk, so I will meet you at the station. I’m really excited to get to know you and to start working with you soon.

I smiled.

Me: Me too. I can’t wait.

I spent the next few days on an emotional rollercoaster. Experiencing everything from elation because my French was good enough to not have the woman at the neighborhood bakery roll her eyes and speak English to me by default, exhaustion from the last dregs of jet lag starting to wear off, and the frustration of finding the grocery store in my neighborhood being closed when I visited a few minutes after 6pm (“Why does everything here close so early?!”).

I managed to get my things unpacked, though, and my apartment was starting to look more homey. Not having as much space as I did in my house in Michigan was taking some getting used to, but I thought it suited me for now. My apartment was small, but comfortable, and the view out of my windows onto the street made me think I was living in a painting when the morning light came in just the right way. I’d also managed to buy a used bicycle, which I could bring on the train to work with me to ride around Monaco.

By the time Wednesday came around though, I was in a state of low-grade panic. I upended my freshly-arranged closet and dresser trying to figure out what to wear. Everything I tried on made me feel like I was underdressed or overdressed. I settled on a nice pair of jeans, ballet flats, and the nicest button-down blouse I had. The train station was a short walk from my apartment, and the train to Monaco left every half hour. I arrived a little early for the 5:21 train because I wanted to make sure I was at the right gate, and had the right time as I wasn’t used to looking at a schedule in 24hr time.

The idea of taking a train to work every day was a little strange, too. In Michigan, I commuted to work by bus every day, but there were only a few cities in the US that had train systems, and mine was not one of them.

Thankfully, I found my gate without issue and managed to board the right train (I checked with a conductor just to make sure). The route followed the coast, and I made sure to get a window seat.

I had thought the view out of my apartment was like a painting, but this - this looked like something that could only be imagined. It took a few minutes to get beyond the city, but the view of the sea left me in awe. I’d never seen anything like the color of the water and the sky, and the way the sun, starting to make its westward descent, glinted off of the rocky cliffs. Even the buildings in Nice, behind us, looked like they were all made of gold. There were innumerable sailboats at anchor in what the map on my phone told me was the Gulf of Saint-Hospice.

I’d traveled to a lot of places, but this was the first time I’d ever seen something like this. I was also struck by how verdant the greenery was, with palm trees interspersed with leafy trees and evergreens. I’d grown up near a lakeshore, my small town not far from Lake Michigan, and I always thought the beaches and dunes at home were one of the most beautiful places in the world. But even those shores seemed cold and foreboding in comparison to this. Where Lake Michigan was a deep, dark blue, the water here was a gorgeous shade of teal. I could not believe that this would be the view of my daily commute.

The train passed through a few tunnels and into the Monaco-Monte Carlo station. It was a quick trip - not even a half an hour. I exited the train onto the platform and up the escalators, into the sunlight of the station lobby. I glanced around the busy station, feeling myself on the edge of being overwhelmed, but I spotted a familiar-looking blonde woman standing by the schedule boards. She was dressed in navy blue slacks and a matching shirt, with a teal wrap top over it that was the same color as the sea. She looked effortlessly elegant, even though she’d undoubtedly had just come from work. Her face changed to one of recognition as we caught each others’ eyes as I approached.

“Susie?”

I smiled and stuck out my hand for a handshake, which she accepted. “Yes, hi! So nice to finally meet you, Amelia! I’m glad you made it. Bienvenue à Monaco!”

“Ah, merci”, I said. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

She touched my shoulder and said, “I’ve parked in the garage, this way.” and led the way to the parking garage, to some sort of obviously high-end Mercedes. She opened the passenger-side door for me, and I climbed in, struck by the fact that I was now in what was probably the nicest car I’d ever been in. With my boss. We chatted amicably as she pulled out of the garage into the street, but I was a little distracted by the alien world we’d driven out into.

Monaco was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It seemed to be built right into the surrounding cliffside, building after building seeming to sit on top of one another, almost. The buildings were unbelievably close to the narrow, busy streets, with Susie navigated with ease. I was trying to take in everything we were passing, but everything seemed to catch my eye. She must have noticed that I’d gone a bit quiet, eyes fixed out the window.

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

I turned my head to look at her.

“Yes… I guess I’m just more used to… everything’s so… close here. And it’s so busy. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere quite like it.”

“I thought the same thing when I came here the first time. You’ll get used to it, don’t worry.”

She pointed out different landmarks and districts as we drove along, and pointed out the fencing that goes up during “Grand Prix season” that forms the boundaries of the Circuit de Monaco.

Finally, we’d arrived at a short gray apartment block somewhere on the east side of the principality. She mentioned that many current F1 and FE drivers lived nearby, and a lot of former F1 drivers as well.

She pulled the car into a parking garage, a beep activating the automatic doors, and parked in a reserved space. I felt a little awkward as I followed her into the building and into the most elegant elevator I’d ever seen. I detected a bit of a theme with this journey so far, and felt the creep of imposter syndrome coming in. What was I doing in a place like this? Was this a dream?

“Here we are,” she said, interrupting my thoughts. The elevator opened and we stepped into the hallway, and then into the door of her apartment - though “condo” was probably a more apt description. From the entryway, I could see that it was large and stylishly appointed - all clean, minimalist lines of white and gray, with touches of teal and blue. I noticed other shoes at the entryway and toed mine off.

“Hello! I’m home! And I’ve brought company!” Susie called to the inside of the condo, and a man stuck his head out of what I assumed to be the kitchen. It was Toto.

“Hello! Hello, welcome! Please, come in, make yourself comfortable.” He said, with a smile. “Dinner will be ready soon.” He hugged and kissed his wife in greeting, and turned to me. I had to crane my neck to meet his eyes as he offered me his hand for a handshake - I was not expecting him to be so tall. “I’m Toto, Susie’s husband. You must be Amelia. I’m so glad you’re here!” Now I heard where the odd vowels in Susie’s accent came from.

“Yes, I am,” I said. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Wo - uh, Toto.”

Susie touched my shoulder again - something else I would have to get used to, I suppose - and led me into the living room, gesturing at the sofa and chairs. “Please, make yourself at home. Did you want anything to drink?”

“I’ll… uh, just some water?” I said, trying not to seem like I was as out of my element as I felt.

“Sure, did you want sparkling or still?”

“Uh…” I was not expecting to have a choice. “Sparkling?”

Another man came out of the kitchen, who I recognized as Jerome, and a woman I did not recognize. They must have been chatting with Toto while Susie was fetching me from the train station. More handshakes, more greetings, more “glad you’re here” and “so nice to meet you”. The woman’s name was Delphine, and she was the team manager. She was an elegant woman with a French accent. I was feeling admittedly a little disarmed by how friendly everyone was so far. It wasn’t that I’d expected them to be cold or anything, but I was acutely aware that I was now working in an entirely different culture and social strata than I was used to. It all still felt very alien.

“We’re just waiting on Vincent, he’s the other system engineer that you’ll be working with. And I hope you like pasta,” Susie said. “Neither Toto or I are very handy in the kitchen, honestly, but we ordered from a place nearby that makes a dish we love, and it’s traditional Monaco cuisine, so I thought that would be good for your first meal here .”

“Who doesn’t like pasta,” I said. Almost as if on cue, there was a knock at the door, and another man walked in. “This must be Vincent,” I thought. It was. He also had a French accent, and said that he was excited to be working with me, that he’d seen my CV and was impressed. I thanked him, but still felt like he was saying it to be polite.

At last, dinner was plated and on the table. It was a delicious spread - plenty of gnocchi with a buttery sauce with a side of fresh shellfish, a fresh green salad, and some sort of savory pastry called “barbagiuan” that was apparently a Monegasque dish. It was a dough pocket that was fried to a golden crisp and filled with ricotta and some sort of green vegetable, which I was told was Swiss chard.

“These things look like something we have at home in Michigan, called a pasty." I said, putting some of the barbagiuan on my plate. "I think they’re originally Cornish but they got popular because of the copper and iron mining boom a long time ago, but they’re still popular, especially with tourists. They’re hearty, good in the cold months. I haven't had one in years, though.”

There was also plenty of white wine. Susie poured me a glass and I took a generous sip - it was delicious, something likely more expensive than I was used to, but I was happy for a little bit of liquid courage. Not too much, though - first impressions were everything, after all.

Most of the conversation during dinner was asking me questions, which I supposed that I was not surprised by, given that everyone else knew or worked with each other already, and I was the newcomer. They asked me questions about Michigan - (“Oh, the Motor City! Did you live in Detroit?” “No, about an hour away.” “It’s very cold there in the winter, isn’t it?” “Yes, and hot and humid during the summer.”) If I liked racing (“No, my parents were NASCAR fans but I couldn’t ever get into it, Formula E and Formula 1 look more exciting, at least it’s not all in a loop.”), if I watched other sports, (“Hockey, mostly, it’s hard to not be a hockey fan in Michigan.” and “No, I don’t really watch American football, I never understood it.”) and about my family. (“No, I have a pretty small family and no siblings, and we’re not super close.”)

“So,” Toto said at one point, “Are you married?” I knew he was just trying to make small talk or get to know me, but I had been dreading someone asking. It was still too close to the bone because of the divorce, and while I figured it was probably okay to be open about my sexuality in this company, one could never be sure.

But, it was probably good that it came up then. I figured that I may as well get it out of the way before I was too far in. Plus, I could feel the wine starting to work its magic in loosening my lips.

“Actually, no… my wife, ex-wife I guess, and my divorce was just finalized a few weeks before I left.”

I looked around at everyone’s face, studying carefully for any sign of derision or disgust at my mention of “my wife”. It sometimes did happen, even in 2022, even in a liberal university town - you’d see someone’s face change and then the tension in the room would rise, and they’d look at you like some freak of nature. Things would get uncomfortable and they’d try to exit the conversation as quickly as possible, and that’s if you were lucky. There were worse alternatives that I couldn’t even bring myself to consider. Just about every gay person learned at some point that coming out was never a singular act - in a world where being straight is default, you came out every time you talked to someone new.

Thankfully, everyone’s expression was either neutral, or sympathetic.

Toto just said, “Oh, that’s too bad, I’m sorry to hear that. It’s certainly not easy.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But, I’m on a new adventure now, so I’m happy with that.”

“Speaking of which,” Susie said. “I did want to ask how you found the posting for the job. Not that we’re not thrilled to have you, but we don’t get many applicants from the US or outside of motorsport.”

“Oh!” I said. “The administrator for my old department, at the university, has an aunt that is from Scotland, and went to school with you, or something? I’m sorry, I don’t recall what her name is, but her niece is named Laura. Anyway, Laura saw her aunt share the posting on Facebook or something and sent it to me.”

“Huh,” Susie said. “What a small world. I need to figure out who that was so I can thank her for connecting us with you.”

I blushed, but I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t from the indirect compliment or from the wine.

The rest of the evening went well. I really liked my future coworkers, and Toto and Susie were incredibly kind and generous hosts. I did not see their son, but they mentioned he was in the UK with his grandparents at the moment, as it was the start of his school vacation.

Susie drove me back to the train station, parking and walking me all the way to the escalators that led down to the platforms, “Just so you don’t get turned around.”

“Thank you for having me tonight, really. It was so nice to get to meet some more people from work. I’m really excited to start”, I said, as we were standing at the entrance to the escalators.

To my surprise, she pulled me into a hug. “I know I keep saying it, but I’m really happy you’re here. I think you’re going to be a great fit with us.”

She released me from the hug, but one of her hands remained on my shoulder. “If you need anything between now and Monday, please let me know. I’ll be out of town tomorrow until Sunday evening, but I’ll find someone that can help with whatever you need.”

“I should be okay,” I said. “Like I said earlier, it’s all a lot to take in.”

“New adventures, right?” She said, giving my shoulder a parting squeeze. “Have a good night, and text me when you get home so I know you made it okay.”

There it was again - that squeezing, warm feeling in my chest, that fluttering in my stomach. It lasted my entire train ride home. I felt like I was floating when I was walking from the train station to my flat.

I texted her as instructed - “Made it home safe. Had a great night. Thanks again for such a warm welcome.”

I stared at my phone and saw the read receipt change from “Delivered” to “Read”. Then, a reply.

Susie Wolff: Glad to hear it. Can’t wait for Monday x.

#susie wolff x f!oc #susie wolff fic #f1 fanfiction #fe fanfiction #formula 1 fanfic #toto wolff #formula 1 rpf #my fanfic #series: if she wants me

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electricea-archive · 1 year

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@emystic sent - ❀ What has made you completely lose your chill? ( Salty AF Munday Meme - Accepting! )

❀ What has made you completely lose your chill?

This is something that happened a while ago and something I’ve kept to myself, barring telling some friends about it. I always did want to say something about this but I never knew how and I had a lot of feelings to work through, but I think I’m ready now.

Some years ago, there was a mun I really looked up to - I would have even considered them my best friend at one point, we hung out almost every night, we called, we streamed - I admired them absolutely and adored them and when we made an RP server together, it felt like a perfect fit - even now I strive to make every subsequent server feel as engaging and fun as the one that I had with them. I believed in them and looked up to them. Then things changed.

In this server of ours, we had an AU in which we both took on multiple muses - no big deal, it was a fun back and forth, good chance to flex some muses I’d wanted to try. Shipping had always come easily to us so when I suggested a ship with two M/M muses, they seemed to agree to that - we both said we’d wait and see, but ships always seemed to come easily to us, shipping felt natural, comfortable.

Some time after this, we had a voice call to plot and to talk - mostly about the AU but the ship did come up, details like how they would get to know each other and so on. I noticed on their side, they seemed a lot more quiet, unwilling to put forth any ideas and that gave me a nervous feeling, so I asked them if they still wanted to write this ship, if they were truly sure, that we could stop it here and now and I would have no hard feelings. They told me no, they didn’t want to - they were tired, they were having an off night. I still had an off feeling but they were my friend, I wanted to believe them.

On a slight side note, we both had a close mutual friend we liked to do group things with - I learned how to do Photoshop with these two muns, we had a group chat where we’d get all hyped about anime and figures and plushies. I trust this other friend absolutely and they were as close to them - if not even closer than I was and when I was explaining to them how I had felt off and what happened earlier, they told me something surprising.

They told me that this other friend actually had no intention of writing this M/M ship with me - that this friend had actually told them that the only reason that they were doing this was to prove to me why they wouldn’t work as a ship. Again, I trust this friend absolutely and know for a fact that those two were close and shared a lot together - I have no reason to doubt them or to think they were lying. I truly believe that they were being a good friend and telling me about something messed up and for that, I will always be thankful.

I will admit, I did lose my chill about this - not just about the ship, but about the fact that a good friend couldn’t come to me and tell me this. Why they felt the need to lie to me and to string me along, only to have something else in mind. Why they even had to ‘prove’ anything to me to begin with - I honestly don’t care about being right or being wrong, if I’m proven wrong, I will be the first person to admit to that and own up to it. Being lied to in such a way and for such a stupid reason really did make me lose my chill - it caused me to question everything I thought I knew about this person, about our RP’s, about our friendship. Worst of all, it left me with a lingering skepticism that I still sometimes get when talking about ships - I don’t want to paint everyone with the same brush and I try to tell myself that most people would be honest and not lie about a ship, but I have moments where I just wonder and I hate that I do, because I want to just trust people and take what they say at face value.

Admittedly, I could have offered to drop the ship - which I later did, but in this case, I genuinely feel that I did what I could - I asked them if they were sure, offered to drop it without any hard feelings attached and didn’t pressure or push them into it. I was hurt by a good friend and a great mun for what I consider a stupid and a petty reason and that is one big reason I have lost my chill.

Needless to say, they’re not a friend anymore.

#emystic #( ooc. )

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atozphantomsquadron · 1 year

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VII - Dragon

Pax River was a very long flight away from the Reagan’s position in the Atlantic, so I was flown from the ship to a nearby air base in Germany before returning stateside. When I arrived at Dulles, there was a driver waiting for me, a petty officer holding a posterboard with “A. VIBRIA” scrawled across it in black marker. He saluted me when I arrived and led me to his car.

The ride over was a bit cold: it was just the early part of the winter. The petty officer kept trying to make conversation, light things about the weather and the Redskins, that sort of thing. He did not get my attention until late in the car ride.

“So did they tell you anything about the facility, ma’am?”

I shook my head. “I only know it’s a lab, nothing more. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure why I’m being called in on this. I’m nobody.”

He smiled for some reason at that. “I thought I was nobody too, then they called me. A lot of us have the same story, ma’am.”

That seemed surprising. “How many are in this unit?”

“Including you, there’s about twelve of us. You’ll be the ranking officer, ma’am, the rest of us are strictly non-coms.”

“What about Captain Reed? His name appears on my orders.”

“The captain’s strictly a liaison. They tell us that once final preparations are complete, the unit will be acting independent of any command structure. I guess that’s why they brought you in, so that there’d be a commander, ma’am.”

The conversation was cut short by the driver taking a turn and entering the base. The lab itself was only three blocks from the main gate, but its size was stunning. It appeared to be a leftover hangar, repurposed for whatever was going on inside. Before I could get a grasp on everything I was heading toward, the petty officer had opened my door to let me out and was ushering me inside.

After traversing a long, dark hallway, I was led to a spacious office. The petty officer knocked on the door, then ushered me forward. Directing my attention to the desk at the far side, I shot to attention and saluted.

“Lieutenant Ariel Vibria, reporting as ordered, sir.”

The chair turned around and there sat Captain Reed. He was a slender man in his 40’s with a charismatic expression on his face. He returned the salute smartly. “Have a seat, lieutenant.”

“Thank you, sir.” I approached the desk and sat down in one of the office’s guest chairs. Reed opened up a file on his desk … apparently my file.

“So you took our offer. That’s excellent. We want more soldiers like you, lieutenant, willing to volunteer for their country.”

I nodded. “I’ve wanted to serve for a long time, sir.”

He flipped a couple of pages. “You’re a smart one, too, I see. Top of your class at VMI. I’m a graduate myself, class of ’78.” He flashed me his class ring. “It looks like you’ll be perfect for commanding our unit once it’s ready.”

I adjusted myself nervously. “If I may ask, sir, what is this unit exactly and what is its purpose?”

Reed leaned back in his chair. “Are you familiar with Black Ops?”

“Only vaguely, sir.”

“We’re assembling a special Black Ops team here. One that has abilities and powers above and beyond normal.”

I was even more nervous now. Reed continued unabated.

“Our group of volunteers, yourself included, are going to be put through the most intense training and conditioning you have ever known. This will include monitored nutritional intake, vitamin injections, and specialized training keyed to every soldier’s aptitudes. For you, this will involve some flight training.”

My eyes shot open. Flight!! “But sir, I was rejected for flight school.”

“This is a specialized kind of flight training, lieutenant, with some equipment … let’s say it’s much different than what you might be familiar with.”

My mind boggled. Spacecraft? Supersonic craft? Jetpacks? Every science fiction possibility started racing through my mind in a crazy sprint. “Thank you, sir, I feel honored.”

Reed only smirked. “Thank me later, lieutenant.” His phone buzzed, interrupting Reed’s train of thought. He pressed the button on the intercom. “What is it, airman?”

“Sir, Admiral Yardley on secure line 2 for you.”

Reed sighed. “Understood, I’ll take it in here, thank you. Come in for a moment, please.” He turned apologetically up to me. “It’s my superior, I’m sure you understand. Dismissed, lieutenant.”

“Thank you, sir.” I stood up just as the captain’s secretary entered and saluted, which was returned by both myself and Reed.

“Take the lieutenant down to medical and have Dr. Gerard perform a baseline physical on her.”

The airman nodded. “Yes sir.” He saluted again and held the door open for me. Shortly afterward we were headed further down the darkened hallway, toward the next doorway with light spilling from it, the medical wing. After making sure I was comfortable, the airman left.

“Lieutenant Vibria, a pleasure to meet you at last,” a loud voice boomed from just beyond a curtain. An older man, older than Reed, stepped out at last from behind it and approached me. “Dr. Benjamin Gerard. I’ve been waiting for you.”

He extended his hand. I shook it, thinking that his handshake left something to be desired. This would be my first foreboding feeling about this man. He immediately brought me further into the medical lab, where he proceeded to give me the most invasive physical I have ever endured, during which he asked me some very embarrassing questions.

“How long were you shipboard?”

“A single four-year tour.”

“Any sexual activity during that time?”

“No.”

“Any history of disease, cancer, alcoholism?”

“None.”

“Do you drink?”

“No.”

“Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Have you ever had sex?”

“No … doctor, is there a point to this?”

At this point, Gerard was rather roughly palpitating my right breast. “We need to make sure that you’re in top physical shape, because if you’re not this training’s going to be hell on you. Just relax, we’re almost done here.”

After another five minutes of poking, prodding, feeling, and all in all discomfort, Gerard snapped a bracelet on my right arm, similar to a hospital bracelet. It was at that time that he looked at the left wrist and saw my scars.

“How long ago did you try it?”

I looked at him questioningly. “What’s that?”

“Suicide. How long ago?”

I felt the scars gently. “Six years. I’ve been doing well preventing another try.”

Gerard nodded. “I see. Well then, you should be good to go. Your room designation is on your bracelet. There’s just one last thing I need to do, a preliminary vitamin injection.”

Gerard produced a syringe, which he injected into my left hip. The solution burned gently as it worked its way into my bloodstream: I could almost sense it crashing over my entire body like an ocean wave. All of my hair felt like it stood on end as the solution made its way through me.

Absently, while the vein show was going on, I was aware that Gerard had discharged me and sent me off to find my quarters. I looked down at the bracelet and saw only the designation “G66.” Looking at the doors of the various barrack-like quarters, I struggled reading some of the addresses. Finally, at the end of the hallway, I found a door marked G66 and stumbled into it.

The room was much more luxurious than my stateroom aboard the Reagan had been. This room was actually painted a pleasing, neutral earth tone. The furniture, while typical military issue, was still comfortable: the bed did not rock as I sat down on it, lying prone and eventually drifting into a deep sleep.

My eyes had been closed for only a half hour when I sensed it. There was a voice.

=Hello.=

It addressed me, with a voice very similar to my mother’s. Who could that have been? In my dreamlike state, I muttered toward it.

“Hello? Who are you?”

=Who are you? What do I call you?=

“My name is Ariel.”

=Ariel. What are you?=

“What am I? I am a woman, an officer. Why, what are you?”

=Find me.=

“Find you? Where could you be? The facility is closed down …”

=Follow my thoughts.=

It was not until then that I realized the voice was not being perceived in my ears … it was in my mind! My eyes quickly shot open, I leaped out of the comfortable bed and felt my way over to the barracks door.

=Follow my thoughts and you will find me.=

The voice in my head was louder now. Insistent. It wanted to know who I was. My mind’s ear directed me further down the darkened hallway, now even darker in the enclosing night.

=You are coming closer. I can sense you.=

“Where are you?”

=Follow my thoughts. You are not far.=

The hallway opened up into a wider room, what appeared to be an observation room. There were wide, shuttered picture windows on every wall, each apparently leading to its own room. I passed by each of the windows, still seeking out the source of the voice.

=You are very near. I can smell you now.=

This stopped me short. “Smell me? What exactly are you?”

=Turn to your left and come to me.=

I looked to my left side. Another picture window, as nondescript as the others, just as tightly shuttered. I looked over at one side and noticed it was designated “37A.” There was a control panel underneath the window as well: I searched along it with my fingers in the dim light until I found what appeared to be a power switch. Nervously, I tripped the switch.

The entire control panel lit up. Readouts began turning on and registering numerous stats by way of line graph and oscilloscope display. Another light began shining through the shutters of the window, as the cover began retracting.

=You have found me.=

The shutters completely retracted. The glare from the light on the other side of the window blinded me temporarily, but once my eyes had adjusted I saw my mysterious voice’s source.

On the other side of the glass was a dragon, an honest-to-God dragon like people read about in fairy tales. The creature looked to be impossibly long, and massively muscled, with a dark green and scaly hide. It had massive wings, which wrapped around it, but apparently no tail: instead, there were large fins protruding from its front legs. The creature’s head lifted up on its massive neck, quite possibly as long as a telephone pole is tall. The eyes, glowing red spheres recessed within the head, focused on me directly.

They looked sad, yet friendly.

=Hello, Ariel.=

I shook slightly. “Do you have a name?”

=I have none but what I have been given here. They call me 37A.=

I sighed in sympathy. “That’s no good. You deserve a more magnificent name than that.”

=Will you grant me a name?=

I nodded. “Give me some time to think of one that’s suitable, okay?”

=I will. We will have the chance to get to know each other.=

This made my nerves return. “Why do you say that?”

=Return to your quarters, my new friend Ariel. You will find out soon enough.=

Regrettably, I threw the switch on the control panel again. The light around 37A went dark as the shutters lowered once more. I turned away from the panel and started making my way back toward my barracks.

37A’s voice remained in my head, though. =Do not despair, my friend. I will be with you now, and protect you.=

#phantom squadron #dinetah dragon

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bad-at-names-and-faces · 1 year

Text

Time for Dinner

Chapter 8 of Prince of Two Realms

ao3

ffn

Henry did his best to keep up with Frederick as he walked across the courtyard toward the castle. When he had last visited Arendelle in the fall, he remembered Inga’s brother being suddenly taller than he was, having been around the same height when they first met. He had probably grown a little since then. Henry wasn’t going to let it bother him.

“Frederick!” a man bellowed from across the courtyard. Henry whipped around and saw one of the castle guards walking over.

“Oh! Hi, Siggy,” Frederick replied. “I just got back from the mountains. Have you been looking for me?”

The guard was nearly as tall as Frederick, but had brown hair sticking out from his helmet, and brown eyes, a little darker than Inga’s hazel eyes.

“Meibel told me that’s where you were. It can wait for later if you’re busy right now,” the guard said, glancing over at Henry.

“Oh, right! Have you met Prince Henry of Corona? He just arrived this morning. Henry, this is Captain Olsen of the castle guard, but if he likes you, you can call him Siggy.”

“Your Highness.” The guard gave a quick bow, then gave Frederick a friendly glare that made Henry wonder if he was witnessing some joke between the two..

“Hello,” Henry said, sticking out his hand, which Captain Olsen shook enthusiastically, then he started to laugh.

“You should know, Ambassador Meyer has been asking around all morning since the ship from Corona arrived. He thought for sure he recognized the prince’s valet coming into the castle, but nobody had seen you, and I have to be honest, the guards decided it was funnier to convince him he was imagining things. I let them. I hope that’s not a problem.”

“Oh, Ambassador Meyer?” Henry groaned.

Frederick laughed. “Siggy, you’ll have to keep Meyer away from Inga at least until the party is over."

"Is that man going to be a problem, then?" the guard laughed.

“Oh, just that my sister thinks he-” Frederick quickly shut up, but Henry was quite certain what he had meant to say.

"At any rate, Captain, if you see him again," Henry offered, "just tell him I got lost on my way here. He'll have no trouble believing that."

The guard gave a quick smile to Henry, then looked over at Frederick again with a grin. "I'll try to remember my instructions."

“Careful if you tell Craig,” Frederick interjected.

“He always takes things too seriously,” the Captain responded. Henry was wondering if he was missing another inside joke between the two.

"But Siggy," Frederick interrupted in a serious tone, “how is it going for you?”

“Pretty well. Isabel is getting impatient now, and she’s really annoyed that the doctor told her not to dance at the party. She was nervous before, but now I seem to be the only nervous one. Halima was perfectly willing to spend the evening with her at home, but she really does want one more social event before, you know...”

“Are her sisters helping?” Frederick asked. “Meibel seems to be over at your house more often than at Hudson’s right now.”

“I know they’re coming and going quite a lot, but usually it’s when I’m on duty, so I don’t really know how much help they really are.”

"Well, tonight I have to be here for dinner tonight, but I promised you dinner at some time, so do you want to meet at Hudson’s tomorrow afternoon?”

“That would be good with me!” the guard agreed, “and it was nice to meet you,” he added, nodding at Henry. He waved at them as he turned and headed back toward the castle gate and into town.

“Oh, right!” Frederick exclaimed, looking at Henry after his friend had left, looking at him, “I was taking you to your room.”

“Right,” Henry answered, “but if you’d rather get cleaned up right away, I can find it myself.”

“No, I don’t mind, and what's this about telling the ambassador that you got lost and he'd believe it? At any rate, it’s really not out of my way, anyway,” Frederick told him, starting toward the castle again.

Henry hurried along, following Frederick through one of the side doors into the castle, and up some stairs.

“My room is up that way.” Frederick gestured toward another stairway as the two walked down the long corridor. “Just in case you need anything. Though I know you didn’t come here to see me.”

***

By the time Kristoff returned to the stables, Frederick was long gone. He made sure all the reindeer were settled, and then heard some commotion.

“Your Highness!” came a voice from the horse stalls.

Kristoff looked up and sighed. “Ambassador.”

“Um, yes,” Ambassador Meyer muttered.

Kristoff knew very well that there was something he was supposed to call him other than “Ambassador” but he really couldn’t be bothered. If the man complained again, Anna would most likely politely assure the ambassador that she would have a word with her husband, and then the two of them would have a good laugh later. “Ambassador” was the compromise they had agreed to when the man was last in Arendelle several years before.

The Ambassador was simply standing there. Kristoff remembered that, unlike Kai, who was good enough to simply tell him what he needed to know, the Ambassador would wait like an idiot for the person of higher rank to speak.

“Well, you look like you want to say something to me,” Kristoff said, trying not to sound too annoyed. The truth was it was a hot afternoon, and he didn’t mind working in the heat, but he did mind having to stand around talking.

“I was wondering,” the Ambassador began, “it appears that a ship from Corona arrived today. Would you, perhaps, know who is on that ship?”

“Don’t they tell you these things?”

“To be perfectly honest, this kingdom has not yet set up telegraph lines, so their messages are sometimes delayed.”

“Well, I can assure you they’ve been talking about installing telegraphs. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to clean up. Have a good day, Meyer.”

The Ambassador nodded, and stepped back so that Kristoff could get through, and as he walked across the courtyard, he could hear Meyer on his horse heading toward the town, most likely to learn what he could.

Kristoff was fairly certain that Prince Henry was on the ship. Inga had been quite guarded about what, if anything, was going on between her and Henry, but it was fairly obvious that she disliked Meyer’s attempts the year before to frame her visit to Corona as an attempt to meet the young prince.

***

Inga’s hands were shaking as she tried to get herself ready for dinner. She had bathed, and it had calmed her for a short while, but she had felt like she was still in a bit of a dream state then. Had she and Henry agreed to get married? Or had she just confirmed that marriage was a possibility now? As much as she hated the idea of being the center of attention, she realized that perhaps this was why people had ridiculous spectacles for these things. Everyone involved knew for certain what was what, and couldn’t go back without making a scene.

She was starting to feel nervous, and she couldn’t imagine eating now, but she also thought she might eat everything put in front of her with the same nervous energy. She didn’t feel sick, it was something completely different.

It was still two days until her birthday, and she wasn’t sure when Henry intended to ask her parents about getting married. Would he ask them tonight? Now she was feeling a little sick at that thought. Her fingers were shaking too much to finish getting dressed, so she rang for a maid to come help her. She arrived a moment or so later, a young girl, possibly younger than Inga herself, who had just moved in from the provinces.

“You’re new here, yes?” Inga asked her.

“Yes, Your Highness.” The maid gave a nervous curtsey.

“What is your name?” Inga asked, realizing that it perhaps had come out more brusque than friendly.

“Oline, Your Highness,” the maid replied.

“Oline, you can call me Inga, if you like,” Inga told her.

“Very well… Inga, I’ll try to get used to that,” the girl agreed, again with a nervous curtsey.

Inga smiled. “I just need to dress for dinner, but I think I’d like a bit of help tonight, that’s all. We should probably start with my hair, though, so it doesn’t dry all funny.”

Oline nodded and got to work fixing up Inga’s hair. As she was gathering the stray hairs around the top of her neck, the maid paused. Inga met her eyes in the mirror.

“Is something wrong, Oline?”

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized, “but did you get hurt?”

Inga looked in the mirror at Oline’s hands holding her hair and noticed the bruise on her neck. Oline was looking at it, too. A flash of memory flashed in her mind of Henry in the meadow with her in the morning. Then she remembered Frederick’s comment. Her brother knew. Who else had seen? She hadn’t run into anyone else on the way to her room, thankfully.

“I was-” Inga stopped herself, trying to appear calm as she tried to think of an acceptable explanation. She stared straight ahead, but was met by her face in the mirror blushing.

“If you like, I’ll arrange the hair down like this,” Oline told her, demonstrating with the locks of hair.

“Yes, thank you, that would be perfect,” Inga replied rapidly.

Oline finished Inga’s hair, and proceeded with getting her laced into something appropriate for dinner. After Oline left the room, Inga took a few moments to look at herself in the mirror before stepping out the door. She knew what her hair was hiding. She would try not to look as guilty as she felt at dinner.

Inga was still lost in her thoughts as she opened the door to the small dining room.

“Boo!”

Inga barely managed to suppress a yelp of surprise in response to the sudden voice from the corner.

“Sofia, what are you doing here?” Inga asked her eight year old sister, who was laughing hysterically at her joke on her older sister.

“Mama said I could have dinner with the rest of you tonight instead of with Nanny and the babies.”

“Oh,” Inga said, not sure what to think about this. Normally Inga enjoyed it when her sister joined them for dinner, but she had been hoping there might be some chance for Henry to bring up a serious question. “Did she say if anyone else was going to be here?”

“She told me that Aunt Elsa would be arriving tomorrow,” Sofia reported with an obvious sense of pride at conveying news to her older sister.

“Good, I was wondering about that,” Inga smiled. “Now, do you think we can surprise the next person who shows up?”

“Shh!” Sofia hissed, pulling Inga aside.

Anton and Peder walked through the door.

“Hello, Inga, hello, Sofia,” Anton laughed. “Why are you hiding there?”

Sofia groaned in disappointment.

“You two are here early,” Inga observed, genuinely surprised. “Where’s Frederick?”

“He was with us,” Peder explained, “but then that Ambassador from Corona found us, and Frederick took him to the library for a few minutes. I don’t know why anyone would want to do that.”

Inga nodded. A moment later, she heard the voice of the new maid, Oline, directing someone to the dining room.

“Which room?” she heard Henry asking.

Inga stepped out into the hall. “This one!” she called out.

“Oh! There you are!” Henry laughed.

“Thank you, Oline,” Inga told the maid, who curtseyed to both her and Henry before going off to get some more work done.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get lost. I was almost here, but I saw Frederick in one room, but he waved at me to go a different direction, and-”

“Ha! I think he’d found Ambasador Meyer, and didn’t want him to see you.”

Henry chuckled a little, but as he took Inga’s hand, she could feel it shaking a little. “So… who else is here?”

“I forget if you’ve met Anton and Peder, or Sofia, but come on in.” Inga gently pulled him in.

***

“You know we didn’t actually have to invite him tonight, if you’re uncomfortable with the idea,” Anna muttered to Kristoff as they walked down the hall to dinner.

“If he’s serious, it would be rude to leave him to fend for himself, and if he’s not serious, well-”

“Well, at any rate,” Anna interrupted, “I suppose we could have invited someone innocuous from one of the other countries that’s visiting to make it feel a little less...”

Kristoff looked at her, his eyebrows raised, waiting for what his wife intended to say next.

She let out a sigh. “That’s not happening tonight, anyway. I told Sofia she could come to dinner tonight, so any chance of having a serious dinner is probably gone.”

“It’s just as well. I’m curious to see what he’s like without a lot of other people around or a formal agenda. Any official guests would turn it into yet another state dinner.”

“That’s a good point,” Anna chuckled. “He doesn’t seem to… well, I won’t say anything, but we can see if he’s better or worse, I guess. Frederick doesn’t seem to have anything bad to say about him, so there’s that, at least, and the ambassador hasn’t been invited to dinner, so we have that to be thankful for.”

“Frederick was telling me that he’s going to let Henry borrow his horse while he’s visiting.”

“Really? Inga didn’t tell me she had plans like that.”

“Well, Frederick will be with them,” Kristoff shrugged.

“Yes, make sure they have a chaperone,” Anna chuckled before letting out a sigh.

“I guess that’s what you could call him, then,” Kristoff laughed.

Anna paused and looked out a nearby window at nothing in particular. “Do you think we’ve let her have a little too much time to herself?”

“What do you mean?” Kristoff asked, suddenly wondering if he should be more concerned.

“It’s just- well, she knows she can come to us at any time, but I worry that she’s gotten used to doing things without… I don’t know… without asking? It’s not that I want her to ask before making any little decision, but I wish I could feel more useful as her mother… I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”

Kristoff squeezed Anna’s shoulder as they walked along. “I think I know what you mean.”

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow,” Anna promised, “at any rate, I’ll try.”

Kristoff nodded.

***

Inga had reminded Henry about which siblings were which on the walk to the dining room, and he pretended that he had forgotten so that she could keep talking. The younger children had their dinner in the nursery, but even so, it felt very chaotic compared to what Henry was used to with a small family dinner. He quickly got separated from Inga by her sister Sofia, who was certain that she had very important things to tell her.

Frederick was discussing something with the steward, so the twins, Anton and Peder, had caught Henry up in a conversation.

“I remember when you were here in the fall!” Anton said. “I’m surprised you’re back, because I thought Inga hated you.”

“Wait, what?” Henry replied.

“No, Anton,” his brother interrupted, “He’s from Corona, not Maldonia. It was the one from Maldonia that she hated.”

“Oh, sorry,” Anton apologized. “Wait, you’re from Corona?”

“Yes?” Henry said, not sure how this conversation was supposed to go.

“Is it true about the queen there?”

“Anton,” his brother hissed, “remember what Frederick told us?”

“Oh, sorry, right.”

Peder looked like he was trying to remember something.

“You have a sister, right?” Peder finally asked.

“Yes, I do, but she’s traveling for a wedding this month,” Henry explained.

“Oh, Hilde?” Frederick asked, coming back to join them. “Where is the wedding? Didn’t you say Bielsko?”

“That’s the place,” Henry confirmed.

“Where is that?” Anton asked.

“It’s a duchy in Silesia, I think,” Peder tried to whisper.

“Is that the duke who Inga has to write to because everything has to be in Latin?” Anton asked.

“No, that’s… Frederick, where is that one?”

“Hungary,” Frederick replied. “I think I heard someone say he sent his grandson here. We should try to meet him tomorrow.”

“How many people are coming?” Henry asked.

“Too many for Inga,” Peder snorted.

“Anyway,” Frederick said, “I think I’ll check if Mother and Father are on their way.”

“Are we going to have to have dinner with every visiting prince?” Anton asked his brother.

“What?” Henry asked. He knew Inga had complained about how many foreign dignitaries her mother had ended up inviting, but she evidently hadn’t told her younger brothers. Not that she needed to, of course. Perhaps he could bring it up with her parents after dinner.

***

They walked in silence the remaining short distance to the family dining room. They could hear lots of noisy talking and laughter coming from the room, and stopped outside the door and looked at each other, wondering what they would find inside.

“Mother! Father!” Frederick called as they walked in, nearly having to shout over the continuing conversation the twins were having with Prince Henry and Sofia’s simultaneous conversation with Inga who was sitting in the corner.

Inga looked up, giving a light nudge to her sister Sofia, who looked up and went to sit down at the table. Inga slowly stood up, looking slightly flustered and biting her lip.

"Oh, here they are. I told you they'd be here soon," Anton exclaimed to his twin brother. Peder shrugged, clearly not actually interested in arguing the point.

Kristoff had remembered Prince Henry looking about the same, except in the fall, he had seemed a little more confident, at least what little he had seen of him. Perhaps it was the formality of the dinner where he had seen him before, he couldn’t be sure. At the moment Prince Henry looked like he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be introduced before saying something, and was looking around for some hint. Inga walked over to them, though looked at her brother Frederick to see if he would possibly save her some of the awkwardness.

“Oh!” Frederick laughed, “Sorry, Henry, did you meet our parents before? Mother, Father, you remember Henry? He was here last fall, of course.”

“Of course, Frederick,” Anna smiled, turning to Prince Henry, “it’s very nice to see you again. I hope your parents are well.”

“They are, thank you,” he replied, bowing slightly. Inga had stopped nearby, looking nervous and flushed. Henry glanced her way.

“Should we ring for dinner?” Inga asked, looking directly at Kristoff.

***

No one had sat down yet, so Inga sat next to her mother near the end of the table, since that was where she usually sat when there were guests. Henry stood a moment longer, looking at Frederick to see where he would sit.

Inga caught a glance from her mother, and stood back up. This wasn’t exactly a formal dinner, but there was a guest, and her mother still felt some need to follow protocol. With the council’s indecision, if they were going by official rank, Inga needed to be at the other end of the table. Henry was second in line, while she was behind everyone except for her sister Sofia.

“Henry, why don’t you sit here?” she suggested.

He came over and stood looking expectantly for where she would sit. She was about to sit down next to him, when Sofia grabbed her arm.

“Inga!” her sister exclaimed much too loudly, “I learned about this in etiquette today. You sit next to me down by Papa!”

Inga sighed and followed, looking apologetically at Henry.

The food was brought in shortly, Anton and Peder dominated the conversation, complaining about being made to stay and study instead of going to the mountains, and asking Henry about his voyage. Sofia told Inga about the details of etiquette that she had learned earlier in the day. Inga was trying to think of the kindest way of telling her sister that she had learned all of this years before, all the while trying to listen in if Henry was getting a word in edgewise.

She glanced at her father a few times during the meal, and he seemed to be watching her mother, who was also failing to get a word in edgewise over the twins’ conversation.

Sofia had turned her attention to their father, and was patiently explaining to him all the things she had about proper meal etiquette and had been explaining to Inga within his earshot only a few minutes prior.

“...and how is your mother?” Inga heard her own mother asking Henry. The twins had finally gotten sufficiently hungry that they forgot about eating.

“Quite well,” he replied, “and my sister sends her regrets, but she had promised to travel to Bielsko some time ago.”

“Henry,” Frederick interrupted, “I meant to ask-”

“Dessert!” Peder shouted as the door of the dining room opened for the final course.

As they finished the dessert and began to get up, Inga hoped perhaps they would be heading to the library, and perhaps could have a better conversation there. Her mother personally took Sofia off to bed, which Inga hoped would mean a quieter time in the library, but then Frederick and their father both discussed being very tired from their work in the morning, and excused themselves.

Anton and Peder were talking amongst themselves, ignoring everything else.

“So,” Henry whispered, “is your mother coming back?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Inga sighed.

“Because I have to admit I’m quite tired, too,” Henry told her.

“Tomorrow, then?” Inga asked.

“If Meyer doesn’t find me first,” Henry chuckled, giving Inga a quick kiss.

“Good night, then.”

“Inga, are you up for a game of chess?” Anton suggested.

“No thank you, Anton, I think I’ll be heading to bed, too. Tell Mother I’ll talk to her in the morning.”

#frozen fanfic #prince of two realms #the young diplomat #kristanna #OC Inga #OC Frederick #1865

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gladerwolfstarkimagines · 3 years

Text

Imagine being Azula’s friend but secretly dating Zuko behind her back

One of the first things you and Azula bonded over was your annoying brothers. Azula told you how her brother had stolen one of her best friends away from her and you related to that. Your twin brother was none other than Sokka of the water tribe, who was also very popular with women. Most of the women you knew liked him, from Yue to Toph to Suki to Ty lee! It sometimes felt like you were the second attraction in a friendship and so you and Azula quickly became close over your shared frustrations.

Then....you betrayed her.

Well, betrayal is a bit dramatic but maybe not given how upset she'd been when Mai and Zuko started dating. You knew that had been hard for Azula to process. How difficult it had been wondering if her friends really liked her or just wanted access to her brother. So when you started liking Zuko you didn’t plan on acting on it at all. Then Mai broke up with him.

Zuko was around at yours quite often, whenever he visited the water tribe he stayed in your home and when you visited the fire nation he extended the same hospitality. So throughout the years, you just naturally got closer and closer until....it happened. You started hanging out just the two of you and these occasions felt very date-like until Zuko just outright asked you out. You liked him and told yourself one date was fine, what harm could a single date do? But then as you kept seeing each other and one date soon progressed into many many more you knew your time to do the right thing and tell Azula you were dating her brother was approaching.

However the idea of doing that idea terrified you. You guessed Azula wouldn’t take it well and didn’t want to lose your friendship with her because of your relationship with Zuko. You wouldn’t break up with Zuko just to make her happy but you also didn’t want to lose Azula’s friendship, so when Katara’s birthday arose you were fairly nervous. There was going to be a large party and all of Katara’s friends were coming...which included Zuko and Azula. You hadn’t been together with everyone since you and Zuko started dating so you had no idea how it would feel. The whole time you and Zuko would have to convincingly act like you weren’t a couple and not make anyone at the party suspicious of the two of you. So when Zuko’s ship got in you fixed your eyes on Azula and tried not to stare at him any more than usual. You greeted him formally and didn’t admire him as you usually would. You fell in step with Azula and decided just to focus on her. It wasn’t hard, you were best friends and very close...however fate was not on your side. You got seated across from him at dinner which felt like some sick punishment and struggled not to get lulled into conversation with him. It didn’t help that Zuko was in a playful mood. He kept making comments about the things you’d done on your date and then sending you sly looks across the table. When you met his eye he smirked blatantly and you lightly kicked him under the table. That only made Zuko chuckled and look adorable so you sighed and decided to just keep your eyes down the whole time to survive dinner.

However, Zuko had no intention of stopping his teasing. After dinner you set about preparing the party for Katara tomorrow and having sent Sokka, Aang, Suki, Azula and Toph on their assigned jobs turned to your job of decorating. You were hanging streamers in the living room when you felt a hand curl around your waist. “Need some help there?” Zuko asked moving closer and he leaned up over you to hang it. “I could have done that myself” you smiled turning to face him and Zuko shrugged “I know you could’ve, but then I wouldn’t have been able to do this”. Zuko gently kissed your neck trailing down to your collar bone making you sigh. “Zuko...stop” you said faint heartedly and Zuko sensed that smirking "I don’t want to and you don’t want me to either, I can tell by how softly you said my name" he smiled "it’s been so long since we’ve had any time together". Your skin erupted in goosebumps and a shiver went down your spine as Zuko pressed closer against you. But you knew how badly this could end if literally anyone walked in. So swiftly you grabbed Zuko’s hands and twisted your way out of them. You held them tightly in one hand so he couldn’t try and slink around you again and used the other to make him look at you "Zuko we can’t okay, not on this trip. God knows i want to, i’ve missed you too but there’s too much that could go wrong i’m sorry". Zuko sighed but nodded his head "don’t worry i understand". Zuko’s shoulders sagged and you knew your insistance on keeping this quiet was difficult for him. "Thank you for understanding" you said hugging him quickly "i know it can’t be easy for you and I appreciate the effort you're going to for me". Zuko smiled resting his head on top of yours "it’s fine, i’d do a lot more for you if you asked but promise me it won’t always be like this....we will tell everyone soon?". You gulped but nodded pulling away "i promise, i will tell Azula...soon!". Zuko nodded “I believe you” and let his hands drop away from you. Not a moment later Sokka and Aang appeared in the room making the two of you jump. “Zuko just the man we need! We were thinking of making an ice sculpture, fancy some fire bending?”. Zuko nodded “sure” and with a last glance to you left the room.

Hours later the party preparations finished you returned to your room which you were sharing with Azula for her visit. “Sokka made me blow up balloons” she said angrily “something about fire benders being full of hot air”. You smirked at your brother’s nerve when Azula’s next sentence wiped it off your face. "Also I think Zuko’s dating someone again" Azula said softly and you paused. "Ow really?" you asked and she nodded "he’s been spending a suspicious amount of time in the southern water tribe lately. Lots of visits which he claims are diplomatic but I can’t work out what he actually does here! He doesn’t know that many people and so it got me thinking, y/n do you think your brother and mine....". "No Sokka's still with Suki" you said shaking your head. Azula sighed “and it’s obviously not Katara, she and Aang are basically married, have you seen him hanging around anyone else? He doesn’t know many people so it should be easy to spot". You paused pretending to think but were really just trying to buy yourself time. "Honestly i don’t pay much attention to him when he visits" you said cleverly covering your back "but i will from now on and let you know". "Thank you y/n" Azula smiled. You smiled back relieved Azula didn’t suspect anything and let out a large breath you’d been holding for this entire conversation. You were now more than ready for sleep and got into bed hurriedly. You laid your head on your pillow and closed your eyes utterly exhausted.

"Goodnight y/n" Azula called and you nodded. You were very sleepy and after a long yawn smiled "good night Zuko".

You realised the name you’d said seconds after it came out of your mouth.

You froze

As did azula.

"Did you just call me Zuko...". You blinked "did i? I’m sure i said Azula". Azula was quiet for 2 seconds before she shot up "it’s you!" she cried "you're the one my brother’s dating!". "No Azula that’s crazy!!! We'd just been discussing Zuko, that’s why he was on my mind!". Azula shook her head "you're lying! I can tell by the tone of your voice! You’re the new girlfriend aren’t you?". You sighed "Azula i’m sorry i was going to tell you...". "I can’t believe you" Azula yelled and suddenly the door opened. "What’s wrong?" Sokka and Zuko asked bursting in “we heard yelling” and Azula glared. "You! Couldn't just have Mai huh? Had to take another one of my friends? How about when you’re done with y/n you try things with Ty lee?". "Ow she told you...." Zuko frowned awkwardly. "No i worked it out!” Azula spat “Y/n accidentally uttered your name because she’s so lovesick" Azula cried "you both make me sick" and she strode away slamming the front door hard as she exited the house.

After Azula left you all looked at one another unsure what to do or say next. "So...you two are a thing?" Sokka asked and Zuko paused "yes...is your reaction going to be as bad as Azula’s or can i go deal with her?". Sokka shook his head "go deal with her before she burns the village down”. Zuko went to move past Sokka when your brother put a hand to his chest "but come back and see me after, me and Katara will want to talk to you about dating our sister". Zuko surprisingly looked intimidated and nodded "I'll be right back". "Zuko wait i should come too" you called "this is as much my fault as yours". Zuko nodded "let’s go" and led you outside into the cold night after Azula.

You found Azula trekking in the snow and as she wasn’t in proper shoes you gained on her quickly. “Azula!” you called and she jumped. She looked around and glared “ow look the happy couple, how nice of you to grace me with your presence”. Zuko rolled his eyes “only you’d be so attention-seeking to make this about you”. “Attention seeking? Who’s the person who can’t form his own friendships or respect boundaries? No always have to date my friends, is it some weird way for you to gain power over me? A sad way to boost your ego?”. As Zuko and Azula went to square up to each other you stepped between them. “Alright enough the both of you! Zuko please go back to the house, i’ll handle this”. “But she...”. “Zuko please” you said sharply and he nodded “fine” and with a glare left. You watched him go before turning back to Azula. You’d been about to suggest you go home given that Azula was surely freezing out here in the middle of the night but Azula broke into a rant. "Everyone leaves me for him" she cried "Mai! My uncle! Mother! Even my father...after i was smarter, a better fire bender, more loyal and younger he still gave Zuko every little chance and only crowned me after Zuko literally ran away! When will i be good enough people don’t just choose him without a second thought for me?". "Azula i didn’t choose Zuko over you! Just because i like Zuko doesn’t mean i don’t like you still". "That may be true but this changes our friendship completely, it did with Mai! People always prioritise their partners over their friends so i’ll be second best once again". "Are you kidding?" you asked "Azula now i need you more than ever! Relationships aren’t when you ditch your friends, they’re when you need them the most! Who else are you going to go to for a break or a nice getaway? Who else is going to support and love you in only the platonic way a friend can? Who else can i complain about Zuko to when he annoys me or we fight?" you asked "they’re all things you need your friends for! Desperately and that’s going to be the same for me". "But when Mai dated him...". "But i’m not Mai" you smiled softly "Azula we are good friends, i won’t sideline you because of this. You mean just as much to me now as before i started dating Zuko". Azula huffed but you could see her melting. "So...how about we go inside, get some warm milk and talk a bit more about this huh?". You offered Azula your hand and she took it but she didn’t stop there. Azula threw her arms around you and hugged you tightly. "I’m partly doing this for the cold but thank you" she said softly "nobodies ever tried to make me feel supported when they've chosen Zuko, they just tell me to deal with it but you’re the first to try and reassure me and so i know you mean it, to still be my friend". "Of course" you smiled "you're my best friend!". Azula smiled and linked her arm through yours "i like that!”.

Zuko stared in awe as you and Azula returned grinning. "How did it go is everything okay?". You nodded "your extremely cool sister is fine with it". "Yes i thought this would be a great way to have an inside scoop on you zuzu". "She’s kidding i won’t talk to her about you...a lot". Zuko blinked "okay if everything's okay then i should go speak to Sokka and Katara, they’re waiting for me in the kitchen". Azula smiled "that’s a good idea, when you come back zuzu find me, i have some threats about what will happen if you hurt my best friend". You smiled at Azula and stepped to Zuko "good luck but don’t worry Sokka’s all bite, Katara’s the one to look out for but she has a big heart, just tell her how good a time we’ve had and you’ll be fine". "Good tips, any for my sister?". You smiled "Azula is one i have not worked out yet" you grinned "but i’m sure you’ll manage, you are the firelord after all". Zuko smirked and you patted his shoulder "after your appointment with my brother and sister and then your sister....you could always come find me in your room?". Zuko smiled "is that my motivation for surviving this?". You shrugged "you can think of it as that" and stepped away from him. Zuko watched you before sighing "alright let’s get this over with” he said loudly and strode towards the kitchen.

You turned back to Azula who raised an eyebrow at Zuko’s sudden confidence and she frowned. "Do i even want to know?" Azula asked and you shook your head "no". “Ow and don’t worry if I’m not in our room tonight”. “Euch Y/n!” Azula cried and you shrugged “what? I didn’t say why”. “I know why” she sighed before she smiled “at least I can have your bigger bed”. “Be my guest” you smiled, you had a firelord to get reacquainted with.

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littlesniggy · 3 years

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Hey could i request an Ace x female!reader scenario where she is Whitebeard’s biological daughter and the “little sister” of the crew. And she gets pregnant by Ace but nobody knows about it because they kept their relationship secret. So while the crew are eating lunch, the reader suddenly stands up and announces her pregnancy without giving Ace a warning (he already knew about it but didnt expect her s/o to say it outloud) So he just sits there all nervous while the crew is interrogating the reader about who is the father so they can kill him . Also i imagine whitebeard just choking on his beer for the shocking news lol.Srry if its too especific, change wtv u want about it.

Hello! Thank you for requesting! I hope I wrote everything to your liking. I probably went a little too much into Whitebeard's reaction but oh well...Please enjoy!

Pairing: Ace x female! reader

Crew's and Whitebeard's reaction to reader announcing her pregnancy

Word count: 1.2k

“I’m pregnant, Ace.” He thought those words had caught him completely off guard. Your slightly trembling voice, your insecure tone, your harried eyes, darting from him to the wall behind him and back to him again; and he couldn’t say a word. Thinking about it now, he felt bad about his reaction but he was simply stunned. The first thing that had come to his mind was: How?

Of course, Ace knew how babies were made but didn’t you to use contraception? Sure, there was always a risk when having sex but Ace would’ve never thought he’d come into such a precarious situation.

The lack of speech had you think it was a bad idea; you should’ve never told him in the first place and just gotten rid of it. But you didn’t want to. You’ve already made up your mind that you would get the baby, if Ace wanted to or not. You wouldn’t even push him to be part of its life if he didn’t want to.

Ace noticed you becoming more insecure by the second and snapped back from his thoughts. “Hey, hey. Why that face?” he asked, trying to smile encouraging even though he felt insecure himself. “That’s great. It just came so…suddenly, y’know?” he said honestly, putting a hand on your cheek, stroking it your skin lightly.

“I know. I’m sorry to just tell you like this. But better now than never. I was shocked myself.” You admitted, leaning into his touch. A huge burden was being lifted from your shoulders and you were glad that Ace accepted it like this. Now came the difficult part though – how should you tell your father, Whitebeard?

Ace nearly choked when you announced your pregnancy to the crew out of nowhere. He stared at you wide eyed, face an unhealthy red. Did you catch him off guard back then? Absolutely. Did he think you could manage that again? Absolutely not. Was this announcement to your friends and family even worse? Holy shit, yes! Why didn’t you give him a heads up, an early warning? Anything, really!

All eyes were on you, a small smile on your lips. Marco was the first one to clear his throat. “W-what did you say?” he tried to get affirmation that he just misheard but you didn’t do him this favor. “I said, I’m pregnant.” You repeated yourself as if nothing was wrong with this statement.

Ace looked over the faces of his friends, some were shocked, some were angry, and some just had a blank expression. He didn’t want to look over to Whitebeard but he just had to take a quick look.

The old man was sitting at the head-side of the table, with a huge bottle of booze in his hand and completely frozen in place. Ace wasn’t sure if he even was still alive. Maybe the old man had a heart attack? Not too uncommon for people his age.

And suddenly, there was a lot of commotion on the table. Everyone was talking over each other, asking you questions over questions without waiting for an answer.

“Who did this to you?” “Did you get hurt?” “Tell us the name of this bastard!” “We will hunt him down, cut his dick off and present it to the sea monsters as some kind of offering!”

Every pair of eyes looked at the person who just said the last suggestion in confusion. “What?” Marco asked, bewildered from this comment. “I-I was just thinking…never mind.” The man said and sat back down, drinking his beer in silence. The pairs of eyes were shortly after back on you, everyone expecting an answer.

“Whoever this bastard is should run far, far away.” The deep voice of your father sounded from the far end. Apparently, no heart attack. Ace thought to himself. You looked at Whitebeard with a small smile on your lips, shaking your head.

“And why should he?” you wanted to know, intending on making Ace sweat a little more for the time being. It was kind of your revenge for him being silent for so long when you told him. It was petty, you knew but in your eyes you got a free pass. After all, you were going to go through a lot of pain in the end.

“Because once I get him into my hands I will personally crush this man with all I’ve got. So I hope he’s already on the run.” Whitebeard was mad. Not, because you were pregnant but because someone dared to touch his beloved daughter. Ace swallowed hard and looked over to you with a slightly pleading look on his face.

“So, you would crush your second division commander? That would be a shame. You’d loose one of your best men.” Silence. Aces’ eyes were wide open and his face said it all. How can she say this so nonchalantly?! Is she out of her mind?! Every single pair of eyes were now on him, disbelief written all over them. You could hear a pin drop; nobody dared to speak up.

“So, you’re the one who touched my precious daughter, Ace?” Whitebeard slowly got up from his seat, his heavy footsteps rumbling through the boat. “W-well….I-I can explain, pops.” Ace also got up from his place, slowly backing away with a shaky smile on his face, hands held up in defense.

“Really? Let me hear your excuse, then.” Whitebeard was standing in front of him, and it was the first time Ace felt intimidated by his captain. But before he could say anything you came between them, taking Aces’ hand and holding it tightly.

“We’ve been dating for quite some time now. We just thought it’d be better if nobody knew.” You said, looking up at your father.

Whispering could be heard from the rest of the crew at this revelation. Whitebeard raised an eyebrow. “For quite some time, huh? Why didn’t you tell me, Y/n? I’m your father.” Did he sound hurt? Or were you just mistaking? Either way, you felt guilty. “We just thought it’d be best for the crew if nobody knew. We didn’t want to cause disturbances on the ship.”

Whitebeard stayed silent for a moment, then looked behind you to Ace who immediately tensed up. “If you do anything and hurt my daughter or my grandchild in any way I will make my words from earlier come true. I can always get a new second division commander.” There was a small smile on his lips as he turned back to return to his seat.

You turned around to Ace and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. “Why are you so tense? Everything went great!” you said innocently, pulling him back to the table where the rest of the crew was waiting to ask you two more questions. Before you two sat down, this time next to each other, Ace whispered into your ear. “Someone’s getting punished later on, Y/n. You almost gave the old man a heart attack, y’know?” he chuckled but was silenced by you almost immediately. “Just cause you’ll become a father doesn’t mean you have to call yourself ‘old man’.” Knowing full well he meant Whitebeard.

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