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#i’ve been through far too much and i’ve been hurt an infinite amount of times
vuigardarling · 2 years
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no actually i do deserve the world and i deserve to be the silly little doting companion of a woman older than me who loves me unconditionally and appreciates me
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lunalycana · 9 months
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Infinite 16 & 23 :]
16. A childhood headcanon.
So I haven't thought too deep into Infinite’s past (I’ve definitely thought more into his mercenary days above all else lol), but I do subscribe to the headcanon that he’s an orphan. I feel like he doesn’t know his parents (or family) at all, but simply doesn’t care because he found a family in what became his Jackal Squad. Details like that don’t matter because he had home in the people that fought beside him.
In terms of him being a kid though? I like to think Infinite was getting by as a thief to keep himself fed and make ends meet, which is totally fair and impressive of him, but he was DEFINITELY a little asshole about it LOL I feel like he was a talented liar even back then and used to get out of trouble with absurd amounts of charisma if he wasn’t just straight up getting into really vicious fights?? Good at being cute if necessary, but also has an awful temper. 😂
23. Future headcanon.
Now this, I’ve thought more about. When I think of an Infinite who is still alive and capable of escaping Null Space, I have a LOT of thoughts about his own mental placement in a world that moved on without him. I feel like he’s full of negative and vengeful feelings that he doesn’t even know how to sort out, so he starts brewing some absolutely absurd plans to just burn it all down himself and leave everything in ashes.
But as time progresses and he realizes how… absolutely insane and vague that is, he quickly realizes that there’s not much to go off of with those thoughts.
Kill the world and then what? Himself?? That’s an extremely tempting idea, but what would it achieve after everything he’s been through and how far he’s gone to get where he is? Also, what about the very few people he’s unfortunately met along the way since his return that changed him a little in less negative ways? Do they die, too? They’re useless mortals, but he does find them entertaining in some ways and losing them isn’t the most entertaining idea. Okay, fine, so he’ll destroy the world, rebuild it, and bring the ones that amuse him with him as a benevolent ruler. But does he really care to dominate the world in his image? Would the people he wants to bring with him want that, too?
It’s too much pressure, too much baggage, he doesn’t care that much, he wants the world that rejected him gone but he also likes some parts of the world and he doesn’t want to lose what he cares for but also he doesn’t want to care it’s too much and he can’t keep this up—
A lot of time passes. In his attempt to bond with others to trick them into his favor, he’s unfortunately come to like a number of them. His “acts” of kindness become less and less disingenuous as he realizes he does like the smile he gets when he does good on that person. His intent to hurt others becomes muted as hollow in his mind as his threats thin out into simple “whatever, screw that guy” type statements. Instead of destroying, he’s found himself building and creating more, which feels nice and real and tangible.
And most of all, to his dread upon realization, what was once a tactic to let the world’s guard down before he annihilated all life in his path has become an actual journey through growth that he never assumed possible. Infinite is changing. Infinite can change. And he hates it, hates that he’s losing a battle of stubborn pride and rage-filled emotions, but he would be lying if he said it didn’t feel better to forget once in a while. It would be a lie to say he doesn’t like being a real person and not the ghost of anger and resentment that hosting the Phantom Ruby turned him into.
From that point forward, Infinite’s future is still vague and confused, but for a good while, he realizes that life can be more than revenge, especially when he allows himself to just keep living. Life has things to look forward to, even for horrible monsters of war like him.
…He’s still a major asshole though and has broken a guy’s nose for mildly insulting him and he still steps on kids’ sandcastles for the hell of it and breaks windows just to cause problems for an establishment. Baby steps, Infinite. You’ll get there on the path to “good guy” someday, bud.
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notnatawree · 2 years
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september 22, 2019 archive
I don’t write anymore. Perhaps that is for the best. How does one describe the feelings that there are an infinite amount of words in their head, constantly combining and alluding to whatever experience that you’re having in life. That’s why I prefer to think in numbers. Despite my love to read and my love to write and simply feel, I have to put into question how far can the beauty within me will go? I dream for someone to come along one day and see the light casting onto my soul, blooming all this madness internally and set it free and let my artistic expression show through. 
My attention span is so little I think it will be my demise. I’m on one task but my mind is dreaming and wandering far elsewhere. So far I don’t think I can even wrap my head around it. When I listen to music I don’t just hear it, and no I’m not going to bullshit and act like oh music is in my veins as 99% of this population loves music too but I think it’s bullshit. When I hear music, I feel it. I internalize the words and the beat and the strum of the guitar and the bass carrying the entire song. And when I hear the words my mind drifts and suddenly I’ve entirely forgotten the task right in front of my face.
I think lately I’ve been in the gutter. My mind has been in the gutter perhaps. The Pisces comes out and I just want to be isolated so my mind can wander far and reality can be distant from me. I like to exist in a state where I feel like I’m in total control of my life and my heart and my path but we all know that is bullshit because I could die tomorrow and this will be absolutely meaningless. 
I think I’ve lost touch with the fact that this is my life and I need to lead my life in whichever way brings me fucking happiness and fuck everyone else. Well, not fuck everyone else. Fuck everyone else except for people that genuinely care about me and help me as much as I help them. Stop prioritizing shit that doesn’t matter god dammit Natalie I swear to god if you don’t get this through your thick ass skull within a matter of seconds I’m going to literally kill you. 
If something is not bringing you happiness let it go for the love of god just let it go why are you like this bitch. 
Actions will always speak louder than words and false promises are bullshit and stop letting people walk all over you. I’m getting tired. I am tired. And I think I am done. September 22nd hits. This is it. I’m done with you bitches for real this time. It’s time to focus on myself and myself only with the exception of close family who I will always go out of the way for. 
On falling in love
I don’t think that’s what you would call this, but for lack of a better term I will assign that to this situation. I’ve always wanted to be alone, or at least in my perfect idea of life I would like to be the cool aunt who lives in a loft in Paris and spends 50% of her artistic life there and the other half in New York, completely estranged from the rest of the family in California and popping up to events and always supporting the family because my artistic ventures have not only brought me happiness, but also an abundance of money, something that I’ve never seen. Ideally, I’d want to have no kids. Just me and my glass of wine at night with my dog who is all the company I need, casually dating men but never committing to a long term relationship because we all know how that ends. Loneliness has always sounded so appealing to me. 
But when you get a taste of affection and companionship, you realize that the sound of lonely is not as comforting as you once thought, perhaps rethinking that you may in fact want a life partner to share time with. But the percentage, a very high one at that, that everything will fail and come crumbling down into a billion pieces is why I refrain. And in my previous “relationships” in high school, I disengaged my heart from the situation and never truly let myself fall, although in some instances perhaps I wasn’t too far from it. But getting hurt assures you why you should never attach to a person, only attach to the idea of what could be. 
But for a second in my current life, I think to myself what would it be like to truly fall and truly fall out of love or perhaps not, let’s give the possibility that shit could work which I highly doubt. And you truly start attaching to the person and not the idea, every minute with them is something enjoyable. And then you start seeing red flags. Excluding the ones you’ve already chosen to ignore. What do you do then? Do you just let go? Do you continue because PERHAPS you make the excuse that we are imperfect people and that there are mistakes we make? 
And then I remember myself. And my hardships. What are my fatal flaws? Overthinking for sure. Being an asshole. Inserting my unwanted opinion, an opinion that is far too brutal and harsh that people can’t even swallow the idea that their life is going to shit. Not wanting to hear that my life is going to shit. Telling people their life is going to shit but not looking at my own.
In fear of making the same mistake as my mother. I’m sure her and my father had a beautiful love story at some point, and perhaps I should ask her if it was worth it. She said it was all worth it because she got “three beautiful kids.” I don’t think I could relate to that quite yet. But is the risk you take falling in love worth it? Are all those beautiful motions worth all the fucking pain that you’re potentially putting yourself through? Perhaps.
That’s all I have for now. But I’m sure it won’t be too long into studying for math before my mind goes adrift again. 
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fa7hom · 2 years
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Created May 4 2022 9:36 pm
I’m living a reality I never thought I’d actually ever accomplish which is so appalling to me. I’m the midst of living these dreams new dreams are coming to mind that I never even thought about. I was at the San Francisco on the international side and seeing all these beautiful people ready to travel all over the world like Paris and London while I’m in the Burberry store the lady was asking if I was traveling to London because I looked as if I was ready for the venture. Because I AM the one who write the story who I’ve become so far and I AM the one who is writing the story of my life. As these days go by I see the one who I was raised as is falling off the one who never who was told and believed he’d never been able to amount to anything has shed and I AM the one who has already achieved so much and still and striving for so much more life SO MUCH MORE LIFE. I’ve lived quadruple the life of somes accomplishments and that drives me so hard now because now I know I’m the shit. Now I know I’m already successful I don’t need anybody to tell me anything and I also don’t need to look to anyone for acceptance because I accept who I am. And Im going to die a fucking legend I am going to die knowing I traveled around this whole world changing lives for the better motivating. I don’t just travel to these places for me in all horsy I do it because I know the world needs me to live longer and I know the world needs me in places to spread the joy and love I have for it! I’m so grateful I don’t have to prove it to anyone anymore. I can see the stars and the ground at the same time while I’m in the middle here floating coasting. I’m infinite but I know I’m vast and have so much more to do and know that takes sacrifice because. Passion takes you further than pleasure that’s for fucking sure and I love to hurt. Because I know the pleasure at the end of hurt will rush through me stronger than a pleasure that was easy and short lived. I want the world for now on to know the man who overcame. The man who conquered. The man that over acceded. The man that excelled in everything he touched. The man who when people see him they see “damn whatever he touches it turns to fucking gold” I’m tired of feeling good for a second I want to feel good for centuries in each decision I make. I want to look great at everything and everything I touch to look great as well. This is the one who played in the muddy driveway in Florida locked out but with the knowledge to know how far he can take it and will do so plus the capabilities to keep dreaming and achieving amazing new dreams along the way. Only the elite will understand the moves I make. I AM the star and I deserve it all no dream is too big too dream or too far fetched to accomplish at all. Maybe I just wasn’t dreaming clearly enough. I am the star. Everywhere is waiting for me I am never late and I never will be. Everywhere is lucky to have me and I deserve the world. The world would be honored for me to view it through my eyes. Places are honored to have me here. People are lucky to be in my life. Denver is my city. The world is mine to have and to hold and to roam it truthfully deserves it and it’s just about time. There’s no one ahead of me and no one behind getting in anyones way we’re all on different planes. Experiencing the perfect one we want I just need to know what I want more and more as the time comes.
Jt7
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multiversal-madness · 2 years
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Hi!
I saw ur Injurned Ingo headcanon and I was like:
Wow the angst will be Immaculate for this.
I have to ask, does anyone in Hisui treat Ingo different? How was the recovery for him without modern medicine? Does it take longer for him to regain memories thank the Player because his amnesia happened organically and not because of God? How does Ingo feel about himself after his injury? And maybe a further down the line question, how does Emmet handle his brother coming back so injured?
Sorry 4 the long ask, this idea is just really fun!
Hullo! No need to apologise for the long ask, I’m glad to hear you like my au :3 I’ll separate the questions to answer them easier so this may be a bit of a long post.
Does anyone in Hisui treat Ingo differently?
I would say yes. Some people overestimate or underestimate the amount of things he can do with his injuries and disabilities, either pushing him too hard or coddling him a bit too much.
For the most part, they don’t treat him too differently as he can still do his job well and helps where he can. (Also he can’t play the flute like he normally does, instead he just blows the flute like a train whistle and Sneasler knows what it means).
Lady Sneasler is also more protective towards him. When she first saw him, she mistook him for one of the non-Hisuain sneasels that had been showing up and even if she on some level knows he’s human, she still treats him like one of her cubs (basically hurt him and you will die from her claws).
How was the recovery for him without modern medicine?
It was difficult for him, there were moments when those in the Pearl Clan thought he wouldn’t make it and some of his injuries may not have been so permanent had there been modern medicine to use.
The process of healing was slower as well, since not only were they limited by the medicine of their time, but he wasn’t the only one getting injured and they didn’t have an infinite supply. Sometimes he’d just have to tough it out through the pain.
Does it take longer for him to regain memories than the player because his amnesia happened organically and not because of god?
It’s not that it takes particularly longer, just that it doesn’t happen the same way. In the original game, memories came back slowly and in parts. In this au, some come back like that, but others come back in foggy chunks that make his head pound.
On particularly bad days, he has to take the day off from his warden duties because his mind is too focused on the memories that he dissociates and can’t focus (which can be dangerous in the wilds).
He also has a notebook he carries around, in which he writes down or doodles what he can remember in an effort to try and remember more (or just in case he forgets again). He becomes quite good at drawing and has caught the professor’s attention more than once with what Pokémon he can remember.
How does Ingo feel about himself after his injury?
At first, he doesn’t think too much about it. After all, he has no memory of what it was like before and his mind is too busy being fuzzy to dwell on it.
But sometimes, it just feels wrong, like he remembers having something there and being able to see more and shouting on a regular basis but now he can’t and it’s wrong. And sometimes, it hurts. Either the phantom pain from the missing limb or the scar tissue being too sensitive or him trying to shout and pushing his damaged vocal chords too far.
Though by the time the player comes along, he’s grown as used to it as he can.
How does Emmet handle his brother coming back so injured?
Now for Ingo coming back, I’ve decided that while he spent years in Hisui, he was only missing in Unova for a few months. Emmet is obviously stressed at his disappearance, but he didn’t have to wait for years for his brother to come back.
When he does though, Emmet is distraught. His brother looks like he’s been through hell. He’s missing an arm, has a blind eye, is covered in scars and is unnaturally quiet. How did this happen? (How could he let this happen?) Emmet becomes very protective over his brother and has bad separation anxiety now.
Until they could fall into a new normal, Emmet would sometimes dote too much and Ingo would have to stop him and remind him he can still do certain tasks, even with one arm. I can imagine Emmet unintentionally getting louder to compensate for his brother’s quiet voice as well.
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darlingpetao3 · 3 years
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House of W (Multiple!Wells x Reader, Chapter 9)
Rating: T
Summary: After having to deal with the deaths of an infinite number of Harrison Wells in the Multiverse, you, a magic-wielding meta, have a breakdown and unwittingly create a happy, fictitious sitcom life with some of your favourite men. In a world of comedy and cameos, can Team Flash and an out-of-town magician break through your powers to save you? And what if you don’t want to be saved...?
A/N: Well folks, it’s the final chapter... I’m not sure it’s actually all that great, but here it is and I hope it’s well received, nonetheless! Thanks for coming on this crazy ride with me <3
Tag List: @fandomdancer​ @bluesclues-1234​ @crissymadlock @firstofficer-tilly​ @disneyoncerlover815​ @marvel-lady10 @thecaptainsgingersnap​ @noctvrnalmoth​ @alexxlynn @dontbedumb3​ @heyl0lwhatsup @ryou-cosmos​ @arianalilyblack​ @sonnensplitter​ @imagine-yourself-happy​ @stuckysdaughter​ @wintersire @i-dont-care-lol​ @booksandfandomsarelife1 @marvelhastakenovermybeing​ @marisughh​
PROLOGUE | CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 8
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Eobard Thawne clutches his fist down beside him, surely feeling the surge of Speed Force energy running through his entire body once more. He looks like he’s just taken a hit of the most addictive drug—eyes flashing a dangerous crimson, his whole being vibrating at the speed of sound before everyone’s eyes.
The Reverse Flash turns to Libby and Belle—who both remain frozen in place out of sheer shock after realizing that this man isn’t who he claimed to be—and gives them one of his iconic shit-eating grins.
“Thank you, girls,” he says smugly. “I couldn’t have achieved any of this without you. The next time I have your real uncle under my boot, I’ll think of you wonderful girls.”
“What have we done…?” Belle whispers rhetorically to her sister. A speechless Liberty only shakes her head in reply.
Eobard locks eyes with Barry, who stands in the doorway to the kitchen. The villain smirks before he bolts off, running upward along the diminishing forcefield wall and out through one the holes forming in it. Barry watches on as he decides to let his adversary go. He’s learned by now it’s never the last time he’ll see Eobard Thawne. That bastard always seems to find a way back into everyone’s lives. He’s like a cockroach that won’t stay dead.
Yes… Barry will come face to face with the Reverse Flash again. He may not know when, but when he does, he’ll be ready.
Because right now, you need him.
Your world is falling apart.
Again.
The forcefield continues to fall slowly from above. Your time is limited. You know that in mere minutes, everything will disappear, including the people you love. 
“Mom, we’re so, so sorry,” Belle tells you desperately. “We thought he was just teaching us how to perfect our powers. It felt like a game!”
“My dear, sweet girls,” you look them straight in the eyes as you explain to them, “I assure you both, it’s not your fault. Okay? You had no idea who he really was or what he was capable of. It’s not your fault, do you understand me?” They nod through their tears. “You two may have grown up incredibly fast, far too fast for my liking, in fact, but I am so thrilled that you were- are mine. You will always be my little girls. No matter what.”
“Thank you for being our mom,” Liberty says to you in all seriousness.
“No one is cooler or stronger than you,” Belle adds with a smile very reminiscent of her fathers’. If these two aren’t careful, you’re going to completely lose it in front of them.
Off in the distance, you spot Barry watching this heartfelt scene play out. You wave him over to meet his nieces, so he can see what you’ve created for yourself up close and personal. Libby and Belle should meet their real uncle, a true hero, before they’re…
Barry places a hand each on the girls’ shoulders. See, Barry? They’re real. And I’ll lose them too. Do you feel my pain now? This is what I live through all the time.
Barry’s eyes begin to glisten until the tiny bulbs of tears hold still, unwilling to fall just yet.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you both,” he tells them. “You’re both such bright stars.” They give bittersweet smiles up at him in silence. You don’t think they fully understand what will come to pass in mere minutes, but you do. You can feel it in your bones.
Barry steps back from your family unit so that you all can have one more last moment together. You take this final opportunity to bring your girls in close for a tight hug, letting a sob escape you despite trying to keep it together for your family. You wave a hand over to your husbands as if to gesture for them to get in on this family group hug, and quickly. They do so promptly, all four of them enveloping you, Liberty, and Belle as if to form a loving hug shield.
“I love you,” you make sure to say these three precious words, making eye contact to each and every one of those you have magicked into being here with you today… before they disintegrate before your very eyes.
And soon enough, you can’t even feel them anymore. The forcefield has vanished within the Lab’s basement, along with the Wells and the twins.
You cry. You shake and your body wracks with the sort of sobs that hurt your throat. Barry makes sure he holds you tightly. Caitlin approaches carefully and ends up holding your hand. Then it’s Cisco who puts his own hand on your shoulder as everyone else in the room looks on at your despair.
***
After some much-needed rest in the Medbay, you awake to a spookily quiet Labs. You’re not sure of the time (or day, even), but regardless, you figure it’s best to head home. Goodness knows it’s probably still in shambles. That’ll need to be fixed.
You heave a sigh as you leave the Cortex.
“Come on, you can sigh louder than that.”
You turn around to find the unexpected voice belonging to Zatanna. You imagine she must have had to recoup as well from the amount of magic she would have used to break through to your world.
“Oh, hey,” you say tiredly. “I take it you’re on your way, then?”
“Yeah, I have a show in Coast City in two days, so I better head off.”
“Listen, I’m really sorry to have brought you into all this madness.”
“No, please. If anything, I should thank you as well as offer my condolences... Your magic is something I've never seen before. Honestly, I’m still intrigued by it.” Zatanna hesitates. “Would it be weird if I gave you my contact information? I don’t come across many others with true magic. I’d love to keep in touch. Maybe we could learn from each other?”
“Yes, of course,” you agree. “I think that’s a great idea.” She hands you her card—a glittery black business card with her name and number.
“So, hey,” she says, “You going to be okay?”
You take a few seconds to think her question over.
“I think, in time, I could be,” you answer truthfully.
“I know it may not be much,” Zatanna says, “but one of my powers involves granting wishes. Before I go, is there anything I can do for you? You’ve been through so much. I’ve seen it. And everybody has something they're hoping for. Something they wish they could change…” She pauses, waiting for your answer, but also seems distracted. You wonder what kind of life this woman has led. What has she done in her past that she regrets or wishes for from the bottom of her heart?
“I only wish for Harrison Wells to be in my life,” you answer honestly. Is that so much to ask for? It seems to be that way.
“Is that what your heart most desires?”
You sigh. “More than anything.”
There’s another pause.
“You know, sometimes you’ll find that our wishes come true on their own, even without magic,” the magician points out ominously.
“That’s code for “I just can’t make that wish come true,” isn’t it?” you joke, somewhat.
“The people that we love—they’re only gone when we stop carrying them with us. How you choose to carry Harrison Wells is up to you.”
You let that sink in and press a hand to your heart. He will always be here with you. Right here. You’ll make sure of it.
“I wish you all the luck and magic in the world, (Y/N),” Zatanna says kindly. “It was nice to meet you.”
You nod in thanks, unsure of how to respond to that. With her aged, thick book under her arm, Zatanna Zatara walks down the S.T.A.R. Labs corridor, but you swear her body vanishes before she rounds the corner…
Despite all the trouble you’ve put her through—everyone, really—with all of this, you can still take comfort in the act of making a new friend.
As you walk through the empty hallways of the Labs, you make it to where the elevator lies. You go to press the button to summon the machine when a ding sounds before your finger even touches the button. The doors slide open, and the face that greets you shocks you to your very core.
“Hello, there,” he says.
In fact, you are so stunned that you take a step back, but in doing so, you stumble and begin to topple over. Luckily, a certain someone’s quick arms catch you in time.
The face you know all too well, Harrison Wells, that is, glows with a calm happiness as he looks down at you in his arms. Behind immaculate see-through frames, his pretty blues eyes twinkle like the stars. He smiles like he knows you. You stare up in disbelief, in relief, and in love.
“Hello… Harrison.”
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bakatenshii · 4 years
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Rapture
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Oikawa Tooru x Reader (Haikyuu!!)
word count: 2.8k
TW: 18+, smut, incest, dub/noncon, mild somnophilia
A/N: I started writing this in my notes bcos I wanted to get out a cheeky Oikawa drabble for his birthday, didn’t wanna commit to a proper fic bcos fuck knows I’ve been writing my first ever fic for over a month. Technically this is my first official fic I finished! So much love for my wife @blahkugo for listening to me sob and whine about this & beta-ing it, also to @lookslikeleese who created this brainchild of Tooru-nii with me. 
rap·ture
/ˈrapCHər/
a feeling of intense pleasure or joy.
(according to some millerian teaching) the transporting of believers to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ
Blood is thicker than water, in all forms and shapes and sizes. The guilt of blood lays thicker, sweaty and clammy, threatening to matte his perfectly coiffed hair. The guilt lies limp on his childhood bed, delicate legs dangling just a hair away from toeing the carpet.
You couldn’t reach when you were younger, he’d always help you down with all the gentleness of a protective mother and its cub. Long slender fingers tucking under your armpits to lift you from his stiff mattress to stand you on the soft carpeting.
Guilt, in the form of his baby sister laying vulnerability-up, presenting to him in taunt, as if it’s a gift from Satan himself. You won’t know, will never know, It promises. You’re out cold, too many cups of trashy house-party drinks in, your night was bound to end up like this one way or another— exposed and defenseless in a man’s bed. You should be lucky it’s your own big brother’s.
He curses himself for still having been awake when you called him at half four in the morning, curses himself for staying up studying tapes of his opposing team. Bad habits die hard. You were loopy, slurring your words, and all he could hear were the warm familiar sound of ‘niichan, niichan’ tinkling through the static. He had the keys clanking in his hands before he even registered the other voices across the line; deep, low, predatory— of men.
The drive there felt like a blur, tunnel visioning only on the number plate you’d sloppily sent him three times, each varying in one digit. It wasn’t even the right address, it didn’t match your location on his phone.
He saw crowds, loud bass reverberating through to his sleek car that stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the sea of beat-up sedans and trucks. He saw limbs, too many limbs, entangling together in a frenzy of sweat and lust; limbs on curves and humps of silhouettes, limbs on your small frame leaning into the corner of the dimly lit room. Then he saw red.
He couldn’t hear the shouts and hollers of his name, crazed fangirls pawing at him for an autograph, a picture, any type of affection from The Oikawa Tooru himself, international volleyball superstar with too many sponsorships under his belt. He reached out an arm towards you, and you clung to him like a magnetic pull, whole body suctioning onto his and tittering out a string of ‘niichan came to pick me up’ and a fit of giggles.
His first conscious breath was taken once he got you in his car. He didn’t want to look at you, didn’t want to assess the damages lest he drove his car straight into the dastardly party if he saw any hint of protrusion. He didn’t; you were fine. You seemed fine, too. You were all-too happy to see him, bragged to him ‘I bet them that you would come pick me up if I called you.’
You told him you missed him, ‘missed niichan so much, he never even bothered to call when he came back to Japan’. Tooru sighed, half part relief, half part guilt. He told you he couldn’t bring you back to his hotel, had to bring you home, because imagine the scandal if he got papped.
It was a lie, he couldn’t give a damn if he got papped, he could easily have explained that it was his own sister; he couldn’t give himself up to the safety of his own enclosed room. His room with no security net of Mum and Dad threatening to barge in, his room where he was free to do whatever he wanted.
He drove you home.
You begged him to pick you up and carry you upstairs, because your feet hurt, they’re so sore from dancing all night. He complied, using all his decade-molded muscles to pull you into his chest and his heart sank to his gut at the realization that you weighed like nothing to him; just like you had when you were younger.
You were bigger now, grown, an adult, but he had grown all the same. It was like a cruel joke— no matter how much you grew, he’d parallel your growth so he would always be just that much stronger than you, that much bigger. The perfect size to protect you. The perfect size to hurt you.
He was directed to his own room rather than yours, with the excuse that yours was too close to the master bedroom, too risky to wake your parents up. His feet moved before his mind could stop him, muscle memory bringing him to the space he’s barely stepped foot in since he was eighteen.
It was too familiar, whole body transcending back to his childhood, back to the innocence of your relationship before he’s tainted it with his twisted perversions. His arms laid you down on his bed, hands finding the straps of your heels to pick off before you thumped back onto his bed, sprawled out and fast asleep.
He’s been staring at your vulnerable placid silhouette splayed on his bed for what feels like minutes, hours. He can’t bring himself to tuck you in, can’t trust his limbs to function how he instructs them to. His skin crawls at the gust of wind kissing the sweat embalming his body, but he doesn’t let himself strip off the suffocating layers. He wants to bask in the physical manifestation of his disgust, nausea, let it remind him of his twisted perversions he can never, ever indulge in.
You shiver, and he jumps. Your tiny body is quivering in chills, begging him to warm it up. He moves with the grace and caution of a robber on the prowl for an expensive jewel, gently snaking his arms under the crook of your knee and top of your spine, lifting you up and away from him like he’s terrified— disgusted, by you.
He lifts the covers and daintily drapes it over the small rise and fall of your chest, pinching the top with only two fingers. A deep breath, a moan, a soft ‘niichan’, and he thinks his heart has stopped completely.
He’s frozen, the hammering in his chest arguing that no, he’s still very much alive, and spares a glance down at you. Your eyelids are fluttering, lips softly pouting, and unmistakably still asleep. He’s mid sigh of relief when he feels a small hand wrap around his arm, and for the second time that night he thinks he’s died.
All the gravity weighing him down disappears as he lets himself be tugged down onto the bed, the weight of his body crushing your tiny one, but he can’t bring himself to move. He’s too scared, he’s horrified.
He can feel two dainty arms loop around his neck and cage his head into the side of your face. He can feel the palpitations in his chest, heart hammering straight into yours, tangling with your soft cadenced beats, reaching in and provoking it to waltz to the same fatal rhythm. He can feel his trousers strain and his blood run cold.
Deep breaths to the count of the tick and tocking of the clock on the wall. He feels blurry, vision blotchy, skin prickling with every flood of blood traveling south. He wills it to stop, begs for it to spare him, he’ll behave, he’ll never let his mind wonder to you ever again, he promises.
God is all merciful, but God has long given up on him. Satan wants to watch his world burn, collapse, and dance in the ashes of his crumbling dignity. It teases him with the hilt of your soft body moving to press into his, crawling into his arms caging you in, willfully entering the den holding a ravenous lion fighting its own fangs.
Your eyes flutter open, gaze finding his with striking precision, and smile. It’s the same smile you’ve given him his whole life, the trust and love carved into every quirk of the lip. It shatters his dignity, stomps on it with childish fervor, and Tooru chokes on the breath coming out.
He feels you nuzzling closer, can feel your hair tickling his chin, and prays for forgiveness to any God willing to listen. None do— he’s too far gone. His hand’s reaching to cradle the back of your head as he plants the softest kiss on your cheek with all the practiced grace of a man begging for salvation.
Your eyes stare straight into his with undeterred conviction, glazed over with equal parts alcoholic daze and pure, unadulterated adoration. There’s not enough oxygen traveling to his brain to justify his actions, no amount of repentance would excuse his sins. His lips press into yours, so gently it feels like a mere ghost of breath, quivering in prayers for forgiveness.
A shift; small warm body squirming under his arms, shuffling closer. It catches the tent between his legs, and his whole body twitches like it’s been stung. He barely chokes down the whimper that threatens to come out.
He can feel your hands locking behind his hair, pulling your body infinitely closer to his, smushing your soft tits into his hard chest as he feels the breath sucked out of him by the Devil himself. There’s no more feigned chastity, all abstinence launched aside as he feels a little tongue prod at his lips. They open to let yours in, sucking on it as if it’ll bring his very breath back.
He doesn’t let himself wonder if it’s okay, he knows it’s not; it’s wrong, so wrong, on so many levels. He’s given up trying to please a Holy deity, Satan can take him whole if it means he can ravish in his sick twisted fantasies. He slots a leg between yours, letting the two pairs tangle and waltz to the symphony of your matching heartbeats, finally synching in a virulent tempo.
Breaths turn to pants, turn to unmistakable moans, and Tooru has to pull back to clamp a hand over your mouth in warning. The imagery of his long slender fingers covering more than half your face sends jolts down his body at the same time he realizes it’s him whining out so desperately.
He looks back at your face, beady, glassy, needy eyes peering back at him in sheer devotion, and he shuts his eyes in pure agony as his heart clenches in pangs of guilt, while his adulterous cock twitches in revelation. The warm soft breaths fan his palm, lips puckering underneath to peck softly at his fingers in hopes of escape; he thinks he might cum untouched.
His hand yanks back in shock, in horror, in disgust. But your hands clasped firmly behind hair pulls him back in, and he whispers out a prayer before a soft, “We can’t.” His eyes bore into yours, begging for mercy, begging you to let him go so he can suffer for his sins.
You don’t respond, not immediately. He feels his face pulled into yours and a distinct moisture building up on his thigh wedged between your much smaller legs. Wet— the suction on his tongue, the grinding on his leg, everything’s wet, and damp, and he thinks his mind might be drowning.
He can hear whines, pitched in desperation, and he’s certain they’re from you this time. His arm moves to grip at your hips, cupping your supple mound to shift it up the sheets and press your cunny against his straining erection. His hips buck on instinct, grazing the drooling slit covered only by a thin piece of cotton.
His mind goes blank, vision patching, and it’s too fast, too much, “please, Tooru-nii”— he’s crying. There’s tears stinging the corners of his eyes while he chokes out a string of ‘no, no, no’. He can’t slow the erratic humps against his lil sister’s cunt, the fingers digging into your hips marking you with patches of blooming purple and green, ‘I love you, niichan’.
It’s a knee-jerk reaction; he yanks his body back, takes sharp inhales of breath, until he can open his eyes to look at you again. Panic and nausea coat his tongue where it once tasted like you, but he’s met with the same look of pure adoration you gave him before he tainted your body with sin.
He realizes your hands are still straining to reach the back of his neck where they were before he wrenched his body away. They’re laying gently on his shoulders, twirling lazily at the strands of his hair curling around the base. Tears are flowing down his cheeks, or maybe it’s one single continuous tear, and his body is wracked with guilty desperation.
There’s no malice in your expression, no accusatory anger, and most of all, no disgust. Your face is painted with bliss, and joy, and love— Tooru snaps.
He’s pushing your shoulders back until they meet his singular pillow, and crawls down to nest in the space between your thighs. Large palms hook under your knees and push back until they touch your shoulders, and he moans when he sees your arms reach out to hook them in place obediently.
He wants to cherish this moment, burn the image into his brain for years to come, however many he’s spared, but his loins burn with years of yearning. He grants himself one glance at your tiny frame spread open for him, revels in the sheer devotion in your eyes, and plunges his face into the drenched cotton covering your core.
You moan out his name in a wanton reaction as he inhales your sweet toxins like he’s trying to drown— he is, he has no reason to live past this moment he sins, no right to live as he indulges in his sick perversions.
He can feel each shake and tremor of your thighs above his head as he sucks and licks at the soaked cotton, rendered nothing but an useless scrap now. Each suck is paired with a deep whine, echoing through his now-barren room. With one swift move he pulls off your panties and let it dangle between your ankles hanging above your bodies. Slick lines drip from the wet rag, stretching to connect back to your drooling pussy.
Five seconds— that’s how long he allows himself to marvel at your leaking slit, lips pink and puckered around the clenching hole. His cockhead drenches through his pants, so painfully hard a soft breath could send him tumbling over.
But he doesn’t allow himself to touch it, it’s not about him; it’s about you. Your devotion, mercy— your sheer, unadulterated, unwavering love for him. It’s about you; you deserve the best, you deserve it all, you deserve someone that’s not him.
He licks up, tongue flat, and slowly follows the dip between your folds until he suctions onto your swollen bud. His lips give it a soft peck, before wrapping around it and enclosing it in the hot heat of his mouth.
He has half a mind to snake his hand up to clamp over your mouth, stop the loud moans and sobs from coming out, but each wail shoots jolts of arousal straight to his leaking dick; he can’t bring himself to shut it down, despite how good you look with his long fingers wrapped around your face.
With every long lap, he pulls more cries out of you, and by the time he prods his tongue into your needy hole, you’re clenching down on him, sucking back on the muscle. You’re close, he can feel it. His tongue fucks into you without any of the mercy you’ve graced him, hips rutting into the bedsheet in tangent to your growing squeals.
The palpitations hammering in his heart synchronizes with the pulse of your cunt, weaving into a fatal rondo before everything stops; his hips, your cries, the air closes in on your writhing bodies as he paints his pants in shame and sin.
He allows his peripherals to roam your body; thighs indented with tiny crescents by your dainty fingers, mouth agape with your cute pink tongue lolling out— he swallows down his guilt, letting it scorch his insides before coating his cock threatening to twitch back to life.
He watches your hands drop down from their determined grip, thumping lightly as they hit his bed. He gingerly folds your legs back onto the flat surface before dipping down to place a gentle kiss on your forehead. He can feel your arms shake in attempt to reach out and cuddle him in, but give out to fatigue.
Your eyes flutter closed, lips molding back to that soft smile ever-present in his presence, and he thinks he hears a faint whisper of, ‘I love you, Tooru-nii.’
Placid, limp, he watches as your body loses energy and drains into the mattress below. It slaps him in the face, presents him with a trophy, a golden star stamped with a big fat ‘Sin’ calligraphed on. His world collapses around him, buries him in the debris of his crumbled dignity, and the Devil dances.
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queernuck · 3 years
Text
The Cleveland Browns made the playoffs. The Islanders made the Eastern Conference Finals.
And that’s enough for me.
So long, so long I have been living like this, pretending that I want to keep on living, that life feels worthwhile, that I don’t want to kill myself. Suicide is for cowards but ive been chickening out for a whole decade, to the point where getting on the subway was itself something that involved convincing myself not to jump in front of it. I remember once while working in the city, I watched and waited as two trains came in and left, trying to get the energy to jump in front of them. I had decided, if I couldn’t do it by the time a second train came and went, I would go to work and save it for another day. I came very close, my legs tense like a linebacker on 4th & Goal, but I didn’t do it. Maybe it would be better if I had, I would have saved not only myself but a lot of other people a lot of pain and suffering. I’ve been dealing with feeling suicidal for a decade, an entire ten years, and made it through. And for what? I lost a retail job at minimum wage, I’ve seen the Giants go from two-time Super Bowl kingslayers to a team that relied on the Eagles for a playoff berth, I got to see Evangelion only for the final Rebuild film to be infinitely delayed, I have a useless non-degree that allows me to eloquently describe how the Democrats and Republicans alike are driving this stolen land to Fascism while sycophants tell me Vote Blue No Matter Who. I’m so tired, I’m not even the person people think me to be, since if I were, I wouldn’t be in this mess.
My paychecks, as hard-earned as they were, never seemed to be mine in any real sense, and it made me so frustrated that something in me broke at the beginning of this year. I made some mistakes, some very stupid ones, and got myself fired. I took money from and distorted the inventory of my store to get what amounted to pocket money, less than two paychecks. I was tempted because I feel so powerless, so much like nothing I could ever say or do matters, and so I decided to lash out against a place that mattered to me, against people I cared about deeply. Chain stores, corporations, all of those things are not really high on my list of things to care about. Barnes & Noble pushed out local booksellers years ago, an irony not lost on me whenever our own competition with Amazon was made apparent. We were reaping what we had sown. But what always interested on top of this irony was how symbolic these things could be to people, how much we figured into so may memories for so many. The Manga Aisle at Barnes & Noble is a staple of 2006 scene culture, a way that kids without the pocket money to afford the newest volume of Bleach it Naruto could keep up before scams became widely available. How the store was a place where people studying for standardized tests could use the test prep guides to try and get ready for the eugenic ritual of the standardized test. And just how much a chain bookstore became a substitute, socially, for the now-absent local bookstore. We bear the guilt for that, but at the same time we were still selling books, giving people a place to get coffee and sit and read and talk, in ways that libraries may not be able to. We certainly can never replace a library, given just what a library does for people. But we did do a lot of good all the same. Before it closed, some of my fondest memories came when I was the exact sort of annoying teenage customer I grew to hate, hanging out at the Columbus Circle Borders. Working at Barnes & Noble was tiring, dehumanizing, difficult, made me feel like I would never measure up to the authors we sold, the people books were written about, that I was a failure. And I am, as my death shows. But it also made me a part of something I was proud of. And that Above & Beyond pin I earned is in my jacket still, a reminder of something.
That something was shown in so many of the coworkers I had, who were incredible in so many ways. I feel awful for what I did, I genuinely do, because of how it may have hurt people who thought so kindly of me, people who deserve so much good. I wish I had the ability to address each of them individually but this decision was hastily made, and i have a feeling it will show in the things I miss in this note. Audra, your help in finding me a way to use the company policies to my advantage as a worker was something that gave me faith even after having seen the despicable firings and cuts the company went through. Linda, I can’t quite square the circle here given my actions, but I want to say your disappointment broke my heart and that while I will not be the one who shows it, your reassurance that everyone makes mistakes was welcome.
To my (former) fellow booksellers at Store 2216, all of my love and my sincerest apologies. You all have so much good in you, your willingness to listen to my ADHD-fueled rants and to discuss so many things with an incredible frankness was always impressive, in addition to part of what I loved about all of you. I want you all to be happy, and the kinship I felt with you was a vital part of what kept me going. It was tough, as you all know. But at times, it almost felt worth it.
The same is true of my CTY friends: it was a weird, magical place that frankly, a lot of us idealized for far too long and which sk many of us eventually outgrew without being able to let go of. And that was tough, that was something we had a great deal of difficulty understanding, that what helped us once was not always going to be helping us, was not always what we needed. But in eventually finding that, we found solace, we realized how life as a whole functions and just what it is that we can take from places like it.
To my other family, my Cleo family, I know I haven’t been terribly active lately, but I can never, ever thank you enough for the belonging you gave me. I have never felt anywhere as welcoming as Cleo. As warm as Cleo (even as we struggled to pay for the oil bill) was. As kind and understanding. As tolerant. As questioning and inquisitive into what that tolerance meant to us. I am thankful, eternally, for what you all did for me. The incredible experiences I had as a Cleo make me proud of what the organization can represent, and one of my dying wishes is that the organization continues to reach out to marginalized communities on Trinity’s campus. There is much work to be done in making sure abusers cannot hide in our family, but I trust you all to do that work. Tucker Carlson is a Trinity grad and we must embody the opposite of what he stands for, no matter how difficult it may be. I could go on about how this means opposing liberals and Liberalism/Neo—Liberalism due to the truth of tolerance resulting in a Popper-esque Paradox of Tolerance that implies Popper is a worthwhile philosopher, but that’s another issue.
To my friends on that Blue Hellsite, tumblr, you made a continual presence worth it, even with all of the bullshit this place brings. It’s the reason I read so much Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze & Guattari, read Žižek against himself, and so on and so on, and the value of that to me can never be overstated. I learned so much from the ways in which I learned to analyze the world, and that in turn became a huge inspiration for why I should try to do what I could to make the world closer to a place of revolution, one where we could perhaps eke out a living for one another. I loved how much I could be an unrepentant nerd and still love hockey on there, and while the
NHL fans on tumblr are incredibly annoying,
I can deal with that compared to the racism of most hockey fans.
Mom, Dad? I just couldn’t live with you any longer. I’m so sorry.
Grandma, I love you.
And the things I leave behind? Donate what can be donated. Hats, please auction, or at least offer to other HatHeads at a reasonable price. I had some nice ones. As for assorted albums, clothing, and other things, sell them and donate to a Harm Reduction organization, or organizations that advocate for PWUD in a radical fashion. WE DESERVE AUTONOMY!
I am a victim of the War on Drugs. Sobriety was always hellish to me, and I could never take it. I want people to be able to live how they want, to see sobriety and being on drugs as equally valuable states, to see the two as no different from one another.
Abolish all gun laws
End the War on Terror
Decriminalize and legalize all drugs, sobriety is what killed me.
I love all of you.
LET’S GO ISLANDERS!
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remsmoonlight · 3 years
Text
— title : just drive
— word count : 1.6k words
— pairing : rick grimes x reader
— summary : never had the inability to drive been a reason to divulge, nor had it been a problem. until a horde of walkers are trailing behind you, that is.
— warnings : swearing, implication of anxiety, mentions of death / potential car accidents, mentions of blood and gore
note: two imagines in two days i can’t believe my productivity, i thought it would be funny that being unable to drive in a zombie apocalypse would be funny because it would be such a useful ability to have ( ahem ahem my non driving ass ) this was meant to be like 500 words but it got away from me, anyways enjoy three hours of my nonsense!
                               ✧・゚: *✧・゚:*   requests are open ! *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
Burning. The sensation is fierce as you fight your own body to force more oxygen into your airways, to power you along to escape the deathly growls that follow behind you. Paranoia stokes its own fire, the feeling that walkers are much closer than they actually are push you to lighter steps in the barren dirt, the only tracks laid into its path are the ones you are currently forming with every inch you put between you.
Exactly how you’d gotten into this situation is not something you mind wants to visit currently, more concerned with your current predicament.
“ We’ll turn left up ahead, we passed a few cars a while back. “
“ That's as good a plan as any. “ You rush out in one breath, the words with a ghostly tone while you try to find your voice. Everything hurts, the idea of more running is not something you find appealing.
You wonder if the walkers are able to run, any thought to distract yourself from the aching your muscles feel at the physical exertion you’re being put through. For a fraction of a fleeting second, you turn your gaze backwards, your eyes running across the line of walkers that want to make the sky above you rain with your blood across the greenery as you flee. They do a very good job of speed walking, the amount of energy they have for being dead is something that unnerves you. Even after you have caffeine in your bloodstream, you have never had this much energy. What is their secret?
Tears blur your sight as you set your eyes on a graveyard of cars, dust that covers every inch of the metal machines show their age.
“ Rick! “ You exclaim, a new flower of hope blooming in your voice as your finger shakily raises to point in the direction of the car park. “ Over there! “
Both of you split instantly as you reach the space, your hands tugging at the handles of the vehicles, wishing with every fibre of your beings that one is unlocked — or at the very least, there is a key to unlock them nearby. Extremely nearby.
“ This one! “ Your voice carries over the distance resoundingly, the door opens with a click that blesses your hearing.
“ Yeah.. We’re lucky today. “ Rick mumbles to himself, flinging the bags that had been weighing on his shoulders into the back.
In the suddenness of the situation, your heart plummets below with a steep drop that you swore will not end. I can’t fucking drive. You gasp at the realisation of it, desperation twisting and contorting around the entirety of your body.
“ Rick.. “ Turning towards Rick swiftly, you pause in your confession. An uncomfortable heat warms your cheeks as you study him, unsure of how he would react during the worst possible moment for the disclosure. “ We need to switch places! “
“ What? “ His brows knit together as he asks you, confusing misting him completely. “ Why? Start the car! “
“ I do — I can’t drive! “
The confession leads Rick to momentarily splutter in response, his words cowering under the veil that is his tongue. Colour drains from his features, a continuous slap against the back of the car’s window from a lone walker ahead of the horde pushes him into a brisk movement. The action is awkward, the lack of space threatening to cause harm in the form of bruises from knocking limbs against various parts of its interior.
“ Just drive! “
With a haggard start, you examine the way your surroundings appear to move, realising that the vehicle is awake and increasing with speed as it puts space between you and the dead. You lean your head against the window, one of your hands moves towards the temple of your head to message some of the tension of almost being eaten away. That had been too close for comfort.
“ Uh, y’know I gotta ask — “
“ How I can’t drive, right? “ You finish, your eyes roll in response, you know he’s going to  find too much amusement in making fun of you.
“ And how you made it this far. “ He drawls, humour embedded in his response as his eyes continue to survey the road ahead.
Your teeth bite the side of your cheek, with strength that almost is able to draw the crimson liquid that lays beneath your flesh. Lips purse at the enjoyment you can feel radiating off of his body, as it wishes itself into existence.
“ I don’t know! “ You grumble loudly, your shoulders lift temporarily in response. “ I’m just always with someone who knows how to operate one of these things. “
“ You never learnt before? “
“ I mean.. I always had a fear of driving. No reason, just the thought that one wrong move and.. “ a shudder rips through your body with a blinding pace, your fingers lay tapping at your thigh. “ I could cause an accident, or even be in one would scare me to death! “
“ That’s understandable. “ Rick nods, glancing in your direction before breaking out in a grin. “ Kinda. “
A heavy groan vibrates inside of the car, you throw your hands up in the air as you realise he’s one of the worst people to divulge this information to. Your addition to the group hadn’t occurred as earlier as most of them, they’d been kind enough to accept you into their family after escaping Terminus. On a rare night, nightmares of that cursed location shatters the mirror of a dreamy slumber into a thousand shards that scar your mind for the nights that follow. Echoes of screams from those captured, treated no more than a prize cow that awaits its slaughter to service those with the butcher’s knife.
Truthfully, you’d gravitated towards the man. With the amount of trauma you’d been through, the way that when he speaks, you craved the comfort his words never lost. Certainty and confidence are still with him today, often leading you to believe everything will be alright. Even if the road between Georgia and Alexandria had been filled with gore and tears, everything has turned out fine. So far.
“ You are being so annoying right now. “ Cursing the man, you show him your middle finger.
Rick says nothing, he merely chuckles in response. You almost allow your mind to tread into the murky waters of the man you used to know and the transformation into the man he is now.
“ I just.. “ shaking his head, the cheeky glint in his eyes only sparkles more as it grows in size. “ How d’you not run into this problem earlier? “
“ I don’t know! “
“ It’s nothin’ short of amazin’. “ a gust of air is released from his lips, only now does he realise they’re dehydrating from the amount of running done that afternoon.
Trees and bushes blend into one another, creating a vivid merging of shades, providing a soothing palette to paint the most tranquil of artworks. You envy the way life has flourished under the lack of human traffic, trampling the environment without a care, you wish you could undergo the same change the way it has. The human mind has a way of making obstacles difficult for itself.
“ I just.. Can’t help but find it funny. Drivin’s.. It’s a way of survivin’ when you got more than one of them on your ass. “
“ Well I guess I am an outlier to that rule. “ your brows move with the motions your head makes as you try to muster an air of superiority over the notion.
You find yourself wishing you hadn’t succumbed to your fears, that you’d bit the bullet and studied and practiced as much as humanly possible. The fear of driving hadn’t been the only thing that stopped you from pursuing the ability, but the idea of having to take a written exam and an actual driving test? The two often colliding in an infinite clash of wills that left your insides in a constant, battered wreck every time you thought about the idea.
All you want is to be able to do that one thing, after all, so many had done so before. You’re sure that everyone, minus the children, are able to drive. Such a simple thing, you’d never thought would prove to be such a thorn in your side when you’d take the train to work. Life has a way of stitching together a set of circumstances only to treat them like dominos, destroying the work with little regard as it watches them fall one by one. The carefully nursed structure is a shell of what it used to be, the resting place of what could have been.
“ You didn’t give up, y’kept fightin’. I’ve seen people able to hotwire these things taken down. It ain’t the car that keeps a person alive, it’s them. “ He assures you warmly, as much as he wants to continue to find amusement in lacking what is now deemed as a life skill, it doesn’t take a genius to realise you’re becoming annoyed by the poking and the prodding his humour brings.
“ That’s oddly.. Uplifting. “
“ I do say these things from time to time, no need to sound so surprised. “
“ They’re so rare I forget. “ A smirk lifts the corner of your lips as you eye the man from the side. It is your turn to laugh now.
Light hearted chatter fills the limited space, conversation flowing just that little bit more freely now that danger no longer pursues you in earnest. You’re thankful for a drop of normalcy in a sea of skeletons that surround the world now, you can pretend that — even for a little, it’s a normal day.
“ What d’you say to havin’ some drivin’ lessons? “
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pine-lark · 3 years
Note
Ooh trap him somewhere either very hot or very cold?? :D
Oh.
Oh.
This is a perfect excuse to write an old daydream from my childhood. Well, there's two-- Arion on a grill and Arion in a box. I chose the box for this one but I may be tempted to write the grill at some point. I haven't written The Box before now because it doesn't exactly... fit with the plot of the actual story, but I mean...
Alternate Rescue AU, coming right up, Anon. (Also sorry I'm like, infinitely late haha. School threw me into a hell pit and I've been recovering. I'm back now ((though I'm not sure for how long, things might change in a week or two... we'll see.)) For now, I'm working on a lot of Arion stuff that will hopefully pop up within a few days! Cheers!)
CW: Tiny whumpee, some blood, cold/hypothermia symptoms (duh), cages/referenced captivity, briefly implied forced nudity from said captivity, brief reference to a past fever and resulting vomiting, referenced/implied physical abuse, water/rain/storms/being submerged in/splashed with water, thoughts of dying (of the "I might die" and "Am I dead?" and wishing to be put out of misery type), crying, (thinking about) needles, short (kind of) graphic description of a bird being run over, brief religion references
-
His legs still ache from running.
Arion sits in the cardboard box he found on the side of the road, huddled in the corner, shivering in the dark. Although he tries to clamp his jaw shut and stop it, his teeth chatter and his shoulders quiver. It feels like the frozen autumn air has grasped him entirely in icy claws that shake him violently in an inescapable grip. It reminds him of being trapped in Heston’s hand, shaken, body tossed in every direction until his head pounded and his eyes watered.
It’s colder outside than it used to be in the garage. But it’s better out here. No one can hurt him here.
As long as they don’t find him.
He rubs his hands over the goosebumps on his arms, hoping to warm them up and calm down the wild pain buried deep in his skin. As he does so, blood smears along the path he touches. It’s still gently creeping out of the series of cuts etched into his forearms. With it, the image of Heston’s glinting eyes surfaces in Arion’s memory. He buries his head in his shaking knees with a wet sniff. But he’s done it, he reminds himself. He’s escaped. Finally. Chewed through rope, slipped through an unlocked door. Heston's gone. For now.
Please, please don’t come looking for me.
A dog barks somewhere in the distance. He jumps. It sets off an echo of shivers all the way down his spine as his hair stands on end.
A raindrop falls on the cardboard roof. Then another, and another. Thunder claps harshly overhead.
Arion shuts his eyes tight, bites back the frustrated tears welling up at the corners of his eyes. He curls up tighter, hugging himself, doing all he can to keep any scrap of heat he has close to his body. A storm might just do it. Might just kill him. A storm means wind. Freezing wind. And freezing rain. The last thing he needs right now is rain. It can’t rain. He presses his body closer to the cardboard wall, knowing it might not be standing there much longer if it rains.
And it does. It pours.
He sees the rain splash into the road before him. The storm swiftly grows. It’s ferocious and feral and cruel. The temperature around Arion drops. His tiny body shakes uncontrollably, as if it weren’t his own. It reminds him of the terrifying fever he had, long ago, in the confines of his red cage just weeks after being taken from his home. He’d been throwing up and twitching and having the most horrible, vivid dreams (on the occasions that both Heston and the illness let him sleep). The fits of shivering drove him mad, the endless teeth-chattering and flashes of uncomfortable warmth and sticky sweat made him feel even worse. It's like that, he thinks. Except, now, as he shivers, he’s unbearably cold.
An involuntary whine fights its way out of him. When he swallows, his throat feels stiff and achy. Snot runs profusely down his lips and no amount of wiping it away with his bleeding arms is helping it slow. Water has thoroughly and entirely drenched the cardboard, at this point. Has crept through the floor and the walls, and, gradually and persistently, has started to drip through the sagging ceiling. For a moment, Arion remembers he has toes, and that they’ve been numb for awhile now. Actually, now that he’s thinking about it, his feet haven’t felt like anything either, and when he tries to move his fingers, they only twitch. They feel heavy and prickly. He feels prickly all over. Like Heston had shoved a thousand frozen needles into a thousand different places all over his body. It hurts to breathe. There’s no way to get warmer. Nothing to hide under, not even something as decent as clothing. No way to escape, nowhere to run to, even if he had the energy left to try. He lets out a miserable sob.
And then the ceiling falls through, in a blur of collapsing cardboard and splashing waves of water that crash over his head and the rest of his body.
Arion tumbles out of the box, drenched. He coughs up water through jittery movements. For a second, he chokes on a mouthful, and he briefly he thinks he'll never breathe again, before his chest jerks and with another cough, the water falls out of his mouth. He tries to get his arms and legs under him, to stand or even crawl, but his limbs fail him and he crumbles face-first back to the harsh surface below him. The rocks mixed in the road’s tar are sharp. They cut deeply through his nose and cheek and the shoulder that followed his face in the fall. Arion winces against the fresh, sharp pain and the beads of blood that begin to form where he’s been hurt. His breaths come in ragged heaves.
He sniffs. Tears drip from his eyes. He lays helpless in the middle of the little road, in his mind begging to no one that a car doesn’t come along and crush him. Under any other circumstance, he’d love to be put out of his misery. But he’s seen a bird been run over before. Under a truck’s tire. And the memory makes his stomach churn. Flattened face, open stomach, popped like a bubble in a stream.
Briefly, Arion thinks of himself in place of the bird. He thinks of the smear of red underneath his empty, open eyes. He thinks of the way the headlights might look as they would suddenly appear right in front of him. The horrid, mind-numbing honk of a horn. The image he creates in his mind of those headlights, his last moments, is vivid. It’s so vivid that he thinks it might be real, or maybe hypothermia is setting in and beginning to ruin his mind.
It’s just his imagination, he thinks.
And then he smells exhaust from a car.
And the screech of brakes.
And for a second, whilst his body is numb and bright white light is all he can see, he thinks he might be dead.
“I swear, if I keep stopping my car for every mouse that sits in front of it, I’m never going to get anywhere.”
That voice drifts from the car stopped in front of him.
Not dead, then.
Almost, he thinks.
“Can’t help it though. What else am I supposed to do, run them over? Just vet instincts, I guess. Huh, Jasper.” There’s a meow in response. Arion’s breath hitches. The voice says, “Me-ow. I know, I know. I’ll be right back.” A car door shuts. Then there’s heavy wet footsteps. Boots clopping over puddles and asphalt. Panic floods Arion’s chest as a shadow cuts through the blinding white light from the vehicle. The outline of a human lowers, kneels in front of him. His breath stops. His mind goes blank.
“What…”
A moment passes. Something touches him. He flinches hard, but trying to run isn’t an option. His body is completely, entirely, wholly exhausted and far too numb to move more than flailing back a couple inches.
“Oh, geez, that’s-- not a mouse. Okay.” Her head turns in a way that Arion can see her face. A young woman with red hair, watching him with a warm but frantic gaze. “Okay. Okay okay. Oh, God, you’re injured pretty bad, little buddy. Your arms are all… cut up. That’s not good. Um.”
Arion stares blankly ahead. Suddenly, freezing to death isn’t something he feels like putting too much effort into avoiding.
“Okay. Here’s what we’ll do,” the girl continues. “I’m gonna bring you into my car where I can see you better, alright? Then I can help you. It’s gonna be okay. Here. I’m picking you up now, ‘kay?”
The feeling of a warm hand washes over his body. It’s both terrifying and incredibly welcome. The sting of cold seems to seep out of his skin, albeit very slowly. Quickly, though, burning prickles replace whatever comfort the touch brought him.
“Oh, you’re freezing, little guy. You must have been out here for a long time. That can be really dangerous… I’m glad I found you. I’ll get you all warmed up in the car.”
Arion whimpers against the hands that carry him to somewhere warmer, where he hears the faint, deep sound of a large beating heart. For a second, he wonders if this is God. And then the car door opens and creaks, and the girl curses under her breath, and Arion remembers he’s an atheist.
Still, as the stinging in his warming skin subsides, the warmth of her hands starts to feel… nice. If his mind were still intact (instead of shattered into vague, useless fragments as it is now), Arion would have done anything and everything to get away from any human or other predatory beast in sight. But with his head swimming, he leans into her touch, and compliantly accepts the soft feeling of some kind of cloth being wrapped all around him.
Words are spoken to him, but he can’t listen. To him they sound broken up and blurry as the insistence of sleep becomes more desperate in the back of his mind. As he gets warmer, his muscles relax, and his eyes get droopy. His vision darkens, and the girl’s voice hushes.
Just before he drifts off into a far overdue, deep and restful sleep, he thinks to himself, vaguely, that he hopes this human is different. He hopes that when he wakes back up, it won’t be in another cage.
-
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riverdale-retread · 3 years
Text
Riverdale S5 Ep 11. (The Voicemail Episode) -  5 things I loved/ 3 Things to Consider (potentially, spoilers)
Things I Loved:
1. I loved that Riverdale, this (formerly) teen show, was blatantly making a radical commentary about both religion and male violence, but in this sneaky way with a ‘silly’ looking trippy drugged-out music video.   The statement is this: Religion = Drugs = Righteous Violence of Young Men.   Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, and Riverdale answered, Nah, it's more like shrooms. 
And in fact, according to the show, being two sweet girls hanging out dancing and having fun is better than religion and righteous violence.  Further, violence is Archie’s drug.  I mean this is a set of pretty bold statements, people.  I will also add the crazy young man vigilantes of Riverdale making the Batman rope-slide entrance was fabulous, but I also liked that the music made fun of them, like, Y’all think you’re being heroic but this is so dumb.   
2. If you read my retread of Seasons 1 through 4  (the true ending, which was “Graduation”) you’ll know that I love scenes of Jughead Jones waking up from sleep.  He’s so good at it, and I don't know if my abiding interest in this specific thing elevates this to some sort of kink but  I’m ok with that, if it is. (Please tell me in the comments if Watching a Cute Boy Wake Up From Sleep is an actual kink.)  In this episode, Jughead is startled awake by a loud noise from a fevered sleep, and then becomes gradually more alarmed at the noises outside and I loved it. 
3. This is not an anti-man blog here, so I will try to tread carefully, but I mean, I absolutely loved that the women are so much better than the men at everything in this episode. 
Exhibit A:
Penelope’s cult is so much better than Edgar Evernever’s!  And she is being so honest - Penelope always emotionally worshiped her son, like a lot of misogynist mothers of sons do, and now she’s literally worshiping him.  Also a religion that is founded on a deceased person is much sturdier, I feel, than a religion that is like Worship Me (which is Edgar’s religion).  Plus Penelope is echoing what Jughead used to say about Jason - that his death laid bare the sins of Riverdale!   There’s robes in Penelope’s religion, colorful ones, singing and communion and imbibing from a magic goblet. (Can you tell I was raised Catholic? I still love statuary, robes and altars SO much).
Exhibit B:
 Tabitha and Betty are so much better than Jughead at everything, including getting high!  (Jughead is currently just so bad at life he can’t even get high correctly, poor lamb.)  They are better at taking care of their domestic lives and are appalled at how Jughead lives. Tabitha modeling openness and transparency for Betty was terrific:  She asks Betty for help and makes sure to  tell her, though it’s difficult, about that ‘don’t be such a Betty’ comment and the fact that Jughead made a pass at Tabitha, so that she can make her decision to participate with the full set of relevant facts.   Betty’s reaction of wtf?? followed by snorting and then moving right on - I like grown up Betty SO much. She knows it’s not true - they always had fun together, did Bughead, so she’s like, That’s a weird thing to say and then SHRUG.  
Exhibit C:
Even when burly men are in a violent confrontation in this episode, the mastermind for both teams is a woman - Veronica on one side, Darla on the other.  
4. I loved the two voicemails from Jughead.  Yes yes, of course I would because #Jughead Stan but also - hear me out! - because they rang so emotionally true for me, and showed the difference between still-adolescent Jughead and the now-more-adult Jughead. 
First, the one to Tabitha:  These mushrooms make people say & do what they really think, apparently, so Jughead hit on Tabitha because he’s really attracted to her, and his non-defensive, roll-with-punches adult-self apologizing in this abashed but not self-hating way, and the way he is still hopeful that he stands a chance, was lovely.  
The weepy, upset voicemail to Betty was expert fan service for the Jughead Stans, but it was thrilling for everyone else too if  the HUGE amount of chatter about it is anything to go by. (Not all thrills are pleasant).   I think it’s because there was a lot of truth packed into both his voicemail and her reaction (while high, but again, the mushrooms make you tell your truth).  
Truth 1:  It’s important to express yourself when you’re upset.  Otherwise it comes bursting out at the wrong time, like pus from a festering wound, in a way that helps no one and may hurt you the most.  Truth 2:  Having an ex hung up on you is no fun.   Truth 3: Being confronted with an utterance like, I regret THE ENTIRE time I’ve known you, can make you lose perspective, as in, Betty playing that voicemail isn’t a serve on anyone other than herself and Jughead, together, and that’s why the kind Tabitha won’t bring it up again. 
There is SO MUCH discourse about that word “bitch” and a lot of it is very well argued, but I feel no urge to pick a side. What *I* have to say about that is, Jughead using that word in that way with that tone definitively marked an end of Bughead 1.0.  If there’s going to be a Bughead 2.0, it’s going to have to be really different.  
5.   I love the character set ups for Reggie and Fangs. Fangs first - is this guy like the world’s most perfect ex boyfriend or what? Fangs is infinitely kind to Kevin.  And Reggie - he’s abused by his dad but he is also loyal to his dad, working for “a Lodge” which he doesn’t actually seem to like in the little that he says about it, to ‘pay off’ his Dad’s debt.   I like the adult that Reggie has become.  “This isn’t high school.”   His calm “Nah, the bad guys pay better” felt like a breath of fresh bracing cynical air but then the actor also managed to push my But I Can Fix Him buttons so kudos, to you, good sir.  
3 Things to Think About
a)Veronica is told it's the DIVORCE that is making Archie not want sex but please recall that the Riverdale High School is decimated and Archie is in the process of putting his genitals  - oops sorry - THE BUILDING back together.  He doesn't have a libido without the Riverdale High School building. I've been telling you.
b)Tabitha voluntarily enters into an agreement to lie (by omission) to Jughead about the manuscript handover to Jessica and the playing of the voicemail message. She doesn't know this yet but so far a rule of Riverdale is that you must not lie to Jughead or bad things happen. Interested to see if the rule still holds for Adult Jughead.
c) The show is very much doubling down on the fact that they think using other people’s lives as fiction is absolutely unforgivable.  Riverdale absolutely hates drug dealers (which is why the Serpents are alcohol runners, and kicked out drug dealers) and yet even though Jessica is totally a drug dealer that Betty Cooper fake-FBI knows is a drug dealer, AND  SHE NON CONSENSUALLY DRUGGED TWO WOMEN WHO SAID NO ALREADY, but the fact that she didn’t want her life used in a fictional outlet trumps literally everything.
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fandomstuff67 · 3 years
Text
Coming Home
A fix it fic in which it really WAS Cas at the door. 
Word Count: 1.7K
As usual, read below or on Ao3:
Dean didn’t wait for Sam before he was up and sprinting down the hallway towards the bunker stairs. He took them two at a time, phone gripped tightly in his hand as he rushed to get to the door. 
When he reached the landing, he hesitated for a moment, trying to prepare himself to face Cas, Cas who was here, but who was hurt, who needed him. His hand closed over the doorknob and he pushed it open to reveal a bloodied Castiel. His dark hair was twisted six ways to Sunday and his trench coat was battered and torn, stained with blood, but it was Cas.
“Cas,” Dean breathed as he reached for him. 
“Hello, Dean,” Cas replied, his voice was raspy and he coughed, causing blood to trickle from his lips. 
Dean pulled him into a hug and Cas gasped in pain, causing Dean to loosen his hold on him. “I- sorry.” 
“It’s alright,” Cas said, a small smile on his lips. 
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
 Dean gently laid a hand on Cas’ upper arm and guided him into the bunker. Cas was limping and he faltered for a second as his bad leg hit the first stair, so Dean slipped his hand around his waist, holding him up. 
“I got you,” he said softly. 
Cas looked over at him, blue eyes searching. “Dean-” he began.
“Later,” Dean cut in. “Later, okay?” 
Cas nodded slowly. “Okay.” 
Dean tightened his hold on Cas’ waist and helped him down the rest of the stairs where Sam was waiting patiently, a first aid kit in hand. “Hey, Cas,” he smiled.
“Sam,” Cas nodded. 
“It’s good to see you back,” Sam said.
“Yeah, speaking of, how are you back?” Dean asked as he helped Cas into one of the map table chairs. 
“I’m not sure,” Cas replied through a grunt as he shifted in the chair. “One moment, I was in the empty, the next I was in a field.” 
Sam set the first aid kit on the table and Dean opened it to look through its contents. He pulled out some gauze and antiseptic and then turned to Cas. “This might sting,” he warned. 
Cas nodded and steeled his expression as Dean began to dab at a deep gash on the side of his face. “Who did this to you, Cas? Can’t you heal yourself?” Sam asked. 
“The empty,” Cas replied. “And no, I can’t heal wounds caused by the empty.”
Dean’s movements stalled and he pulled away to look at the angel. “This whole time, you were being tortured?” 
Cas’ blue eyes softened and his hand came up to Dean’s wrist. “It’s okay.” 
Dean shook his head. “No, it’s not okay. You were there because of me, and I-” 
“Dean, I made my choice and I was content with my decision. It wasn’t your fault.”
Dean could feel the tears fighting to spill from his eyes and he tried to will them away but they fell anyway. He sniffed and dragged his free hand over his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Cas,” he whispered. “I’m sorry for everything. Every stupid fight we’ve had, every time I left you behind, every time I kicked you out, Cas I’m so sorry.”
 So much for later, he thought. 
“Dean,” Cas said softly. Dean jumped as a hand came to cup his chin, dragging his head upwards until all he was seeing was blue. “You don’t need to apologize.”
Dean shook his head, dislodging more tears. “No, no I do.” 
Cas’ hand shifted to cup his cheek and Dean shut his eyes against the touch, the touch he never thought he’d feel again. He took a shuddering breath and then opened his eyes again to see Cas staring at him with the same loving look he’d given Dean before he was taken. 
“How can you love me?” Dean asked. “I don’t deserve it, not from you, not from the one person I’ve hurt the most.”
“That is not true. You deserve everything good in the world, you deserve to be loved, Dean.” Dean started to shake his head again but Cas tightened his grip on the back of his neck, stopping him. “I love you, Dean,” he said, with such conviction that a small sob escaped his mouth.  
Hearing the words again hit him even harder than the first time and he felt a shaky breath fall from his lips. He stared into those blue eyes, his heart thudding in his chest as he tried to convince himself that this was real, that Cas really was back, that it wasn’t a trick, it was just… Cas. 
His chest felt like it was caving in as the walls he’d so meticulously crafted over the years crumbled to dust. He could feel the words on the tip of his tongue, the words he’d wanted to say for so long but had been too much of a coward to speak, too afraid to be judged or to be rejected. But Cas felt the same way, and so it should be easier, right? But it wasn’t. It still took him longer than it should have to form the words, to stand in the dusty ruins of his broken walls and meet Cas’ eyes. 
Cas who was so patient, so kind, so understanding. 
Cas who was everything Dean wanted but everything he couldn’t possibly deserve. 
Cas who had fallen in every way imaginable. 
Cas who had been there for Dean even when Dean hadn’t been there for him.
Cas who was an angel of the lord. 
Cas who never did what he was told, who defied all odds, who broke ranks, who gave up an army for one man. 
Cas who forgave so easily.
Cas who loved him.
“I love you too,” Dean finally gasped out. 
Cas smiled, it was so pure, so bright, so filled with love, that Dean could do nothing but smile back, and then he was surging forward, closing the gap between them, cupping Cas’ face with his hands and crashing their lips together. Cas kissed him back and Dean got lost in the feeling of Cas’ lips against his. He could taste blood on his tongue but he didn’t care, he couldn’t care, because kissing Cas felt so right.
How many times had he dreamed of this very moment? 
How many times had he wished he could have this but thought it would never be possible?
How many times had he tried to convince himself that the love he felt for Cas was nothing more than brotherly? 
And how many times had he failed when he realized he was so far gone that there was no power on this earth that could possibly take away the love he felt for the angel that gripped him tight and raised him from perdition?
Too many times, was the answer. An infinite amount of times. 
Kissing Cas, it felt like coming home. It felt safe and warm and perfect. He never wanted to stop. 
But eventually, he had to pull away. Their foreheads came to rest together and they drew in shaky breaths as they smiled at each other. 
“Now that we’ve got that cleared up, what do you say I finish taking care of your wounds?” 
Cas nodded and Dean picked up a new piece of gauze and dampened it with antiseptic before going back to work on Cas’ face. 
It was just as Cas winced against the sting of the antiseptic that Dean suddenly remembered they hadn’t been alone in the room. His eyes suddenly snapped to where Sam had been standing, but Sam wasn’t there anymore. 
Dean didn’t know when he’d left, but he found himself grateful for it. 
“Sammy!” he called. 
“You two done in there?” Sam called back. 
Dean rolled his eyes and smiled at Cas. “Yeah, it’s safe.” 
“Good,” Sam said as he came back into the room with Jack right behind him. 
Cas’ smile grew at the sight of the Nephilim and Jack’s whole face brightened. “Cas,” Jack said. 
“Hello, Jack,” Cas replied. 
“You made it out.” 
“I did.” 
“And I think I might know how,” Michael’s voice sounded from behind Sam as he stepped into the room. 
“Which is?” Dean asked. 
“My father.” 
“But why would Chuck want Cas back?” Dean asked. 
“I do not think it was intentional, but I sense that there are other angels on earth now, ones that were once dead. I believe my father is raising an army from my dead brothers and sisters.”
“Well that’s just great,” Dean muttered. “Do we have a plan?” 
“We fight,” Sam replied. “And if we go down-” 
“We go down swinging,” Dean finished for him. 
Sam nodded. “We’re going to try to see if Chuck might have accidentally released anyone else from the empty.” 
“What, like demons?” Dean asked. 
“Yeah, who knows, maybe Chuck shook Crowley loose too.” Sam replied. “It might be nice if we could get some more numbers on our side.” 
“I won’t say no to that. Why don’t you three get to work on that while I finish fixing up Cas.” 
“On it,” Sam said. 
Dean turned back to Cas and as he raised the antiseptic soaked gauze back to his face, he couldn’t help himself from stealing one quick kiss from Cas’ lips, he loved that he could do that now; kiss Cas whenever he wanted.
“You said the one thing you wanted was something you knew you couldn’t have,” he said as he dabbed at the bloody wound. “Did you mean us?”
Cas nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Dean kissed him again and brushed his finger gently across Cas’ unmarked cheek. “You can have this. You can have me.” 
Cas smiled. “I never thought it would be possible you would feel the same as I did.”
“Well I do. I love you,” he said. The words came easy now and he knew that he was never going to stop saying them. 
“I love you too,” Cas replied as he pulled Dean back in for another kiss. 
It wasn’t long until the antiseptic lay forgotten again and they were lost in the exploration of each other’s mouths. 
This was real. 
It wasn’t a trick.
They really could have this, and now that he had Cas back again, Dean was determined to never let him go. 
Tag list (ask to be added or removed):
@anotherdowneyfan1 @tearsofgrace @quxxnxfhxll @rebelangel67
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imonthinice · 3 years
Text
The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 12/?
Word Count: 4.4k
Author’s Note: Y/N - Your Name, A/N - Any Name (Your Best friend’s name)
God idk what i’m doing with this but i’m liking it lmao
next one might honestly be smut idk
Warnings: Violence, Swearing, Description of Blood, Gets heated, hints at trauma, no beta bitch we die like Jason Todd
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)
Y/N walked through the streets of Gotham, which were once bustling with people, but now were quiet with the occasional hooker, she had caught the city as an unlively hour, where it seemed to sleep the night away while the vigilantes of the area watched it like their lives depended on it. In some ways it did, the stories they would tell when being interviewed were horrific sometimes, but Y/N figured a decent amount of it was for dramatization, to keep the people of Gotham off of the streets to protect them all from it.
The question was always protect them from what, and they never answered. So, it never kept the people of Gotham at bay from the streets at night, and had Y/N’s car not been towed, she would have been driving home in the safe, secluded area of her car, not the vast wilderness of the streets of Gotham.
She looked up at the sky to see one of the virgate boys using a grappling hook to fly to the other building, which was such a sight to behold for someone who never witnessed a superhero beyond Superman at home. She wished and longed to know more about the vigilante, but didn’t dwell or dote on that man, because she didn’t need to.
Something told her that he was watching though, tracing every step she made to make sure she got home in one piece. She thought she was crazy, her life didnt matter more than anyone else in Gotham. He’s not following me, why would he? she thought, Even though I’m dating Jason Todd, they probably don’t know Jason, so my life doesn’t mean much more to them than any one of the hookers along this street. I’m overthinking it.
The walk home took two hours, she left Jason’s at 4am just to find herself back home at 6am, bright and early as the sun rose, ready to greet the day and all it had in store for everyone. But the things it had in store for Y/N was a class and if she was lucky, cuddling with Jason. Nothing more, nothing less.
She would open her front door, unscathed from the journey home, except maybe for a few callouses on her feet, it was the last time she wouldn't pay for more than a day of parking, that’s for sure. Heels were not the shoes you wanted for a two-hour walk home in the Autumn cold, but they were what she had.
She thought about what she was going to do next, and the first thought she had was to shower. Not because she needed to, but because she wanted to nurse the terrible headache she had and to think some things through. What she normally did in the shower.
She wanted so much more from so much of her life. the main offender of seemingly not being enough for her was Jason. Not because she didn’t want more, but because she craved more from him. He was injured, so she wouldn’t get much more rom him for the time being, and it stung a little for her. She just wanted him, maybe sexually, maybe in a more romantic setting or maybe just on her couch on a Thursday afternoon. It was all three of those options and she knew it.
She pulled out of the shower and looked at the time, 6:50am. Okay, she thought, little more time than I wanted to spend in the shower, but I guess the universe had different plans for me today. What else do you have for me, universe? And how much of you plan involves Jason?
She would open her phone after quickly getting dressed. While she still cared for her appearance, she didn’t want to dress like she owned a law firm every day, so she didn’t. Just black jeans and a black top and she felt like a million bucks. 
Just some quick outfit inspo. I like doing these a lot. I think fashion is funky :))
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Artemis had sent her a message asking where she was at around 4am, she wondered why the time, but she then remembered that Artemis’ boyfriend worked with Dick Grayson, who was Jason’s brother, who worked most nights until radical hours of the night. The chances that he saw her on her two-hour walk home was high, but the chances that that had also made it back to Jason was higher. She knew she was in for it.
Hey sorry, I was at Jason’s. Fell asleep in his arms the whole shebang. And yeah, that was me who screamed the yo momma joke at the press. It was super childish, I know, but I don’t care. Those fucks are sucking my life force out of me and harassing my boyfriend, even your boyfriend.
She would then look at the articles calling her a gold digger and worth-nothing childish insulter of the press. She laughed. If the press wanted a fight from her, she was more than willing to oblige and load the canons. 
She didn’t know how to fight back that well, since it was a mainly verbal fight, and she barely even knew how to  fight physically, hence all the running and non-confrontational arguments she had had to the press.
And like fucking clockwork, Jason texted her.
Did you walk home alone or are my brothers lying bastards?
I walked. I knew someone saw me, fuck.
Why did you walk home? I thought you drove here?
I did, but we spent more than 12 hours together Jason. I didn’t buy enough hours, suddenly my car was being towed.
You could have asked for a ride home from Alfred! He would have in a heartbeat.
I was going to! But  I got distracted and it all became a blur and suddenly I was part of the way home in the dark by myself!
What if you had gotten hurt?
Well, I saw one of the vigilantes of the city on the rooftops, I’m sure if I screamed they would have seen me. They always do see that stuff.
So, your car got towed huh?
Yeah, I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay it off. It’s not exactly like money my parents give me should go to my car getting towed because I got fucked over by seeing my boyfriend. 
You’ll figure it out. Sorry about the car, that’s got to suck fucking ass.
You think? I’m stuck taking the fuckin’ subway till I get my car back. I hate the subway, too many people. Far too many people. Too many eyes. It gets stressful really quickly. Might just walk every where honestly, I can’t deal with the eyes of strangers.
But you’re a C-list celebrity.
Internet is different. I can just block the bad eyes and move on with my life, you should see my block list now that some people are connecting my name to the girl who flipped off the press, thank god Twitter has a fuckin block feature.
You should really just meet my family so you don’t have to run away before they get home, would probably cause you a lot less financial stress, Y/N.
I’ll think about it.
You should think a little harder about it. I don’t want you to get your car impounded ‘cause you’re seeing me, why did you even park in pay-to-park?
Did you not see the massive mob trying to get to you? It was impossible for me to even try to pull into the driveway. Hence why I’m being insulted, you know, ‘cause I yelled at the press to get them to leave me alone. I fucking hate the press, you’re stabbed, severely injured last time they got information, and they’re harassing me, asking me what I like to do on the weekends.
Fucking vultures. Yeah, I’ve seen that. I’ve read the articles. But that’s the press for you, absolute trash and spitting bullshit in everyway.
Fucking hate the press, that’s for damn sure. Despise them. I won’t ever change that, even if, knock on wood, we break up.
Praying we don’t break up so I can see you lose your shit at the press when you’re bored.
She would get up to go make some coffee, since it was closer to 7:20am and if her roommate woke up, she could just tell her to get up anyway.
The press can suck my dick. she said.
You have a dick?
Oh yeah. Massive. 20ft long. It probably won’t even fit all the vultures.
Oh my god, that’s not as big as mine.
lmfao is it now?
Oh yeah.
Nice.
Anyway, my brothers are staying home from school today,  I think they’re making me play Resident Evil 8 with them? You know that game?
Of course. Everyone in that game is infinitely hot.
Are you bi? 
I don’t know. Haven't thought that far ahead to actually label myself. I just like people. Sometimes it’s men, sometimes it’s women. But you have to agree when you see them all. That game came out when I was still in  high school, so I’ve played the entire thing. My phone background is actually one of the characters.
Which one?
I’ll show you if I come over tonight.
My brothers might be in my room, though.
Okay, but, RE8 is an amazing game. So, worth it.
You won’t meet them normally but I pull out a game you love and you’re down?
I’m very easy to convince.
You still have notes to write when you come over though.
Oh yeah, I was probably going to have to come over both ways, just because I need those notes and you do too.
Do you not own a printer?
I barely even own a laptop, I’m waiting for my old one to come in the mail. 
How do you even manage?
With a whole lot of will and spite, anything is possible.
And that’s when her discord group chat @’ed her. She was on Do Not Disturb because she was Jason, and apparently they missed her.
Y/N! C’mere. One said.
Yes? Whatduhya want nerds?
We’ve decided to hold a fake internet wedding between you and Christopher. Another said.
A what.
We’re getting married!
Sometimes I wish I never left Metropolis and then I remember you fucks live there. Why are we doing this? You do know I have a boyfriend right? She asked them.
I don’t know, we’re bored and we miss you. We can have a bachelorette party in Gotham, if you want.
I’m this close to going back on DND.
The group chat was made way back when they had all first met in grade 9 and had been active ever since. They all had stayed in the city when they graduated though, but since Y/N received a scholarship, fully paid for, she took the opportunity and jumped.
They were some of her closest friends, even if they lived in a different city to her now, even if they were all busy with school, even if she was busy with school and a boyfriend, A lot of her life wouldn’t be complete without her crack friends in her hometown.
They had all ben partying like crazy while she was gone, and if she wasn’t so hung up in her own life, she’d probably be down there with them. 
Before you do, can you please explain why you’re screaming at the press, lmao.
Because fuck the press, dude. Why else? 
What did they do to you?
Have you seen the recent articles?
That’s true.
She laughed and finished her coffee. Jason had not responded yet, she assumed his brothers were either checking on him or they had started the game. It was around 8am when A/N finally left her room.
“I thought you were staying with Jason?”
“I was, but then I remembered he has like 9 siblings and I’m not about to meet them all. Then I walked home.”
“You walked?”
“Car got towed.”
“Fuck, can you afford the bill? I can’t.”
“Nope.”
“Guess we’re going to take the subway for a while, huh.”
She sighed and put her cup in the sink, “At least you don’t have school to go to and your lover comes to meet you, I have shit to do and places to be,” she frowned, “Inconvenient.”
“Could you borrow money from Jason’s dad?”
“I don’t borrow money from family, it’s hard enough for me to accept the money my parents send me.”
“I know it is, when’s your class?”
“3pm, I’ll be leaving at 12pm though, because the subway is unreliable.”
“This is going to be a hard hit for us.”
“Well, it’s not like it’s fucking your credit. Mine’s tanking.”
“You’ll pull through it.”
-------------------------------------------
She got onto the subway at 12:30pm. She really hated the way it was running. The people, the faces, the staring eyes of unwanted attention. People knew who she was and she hated it. She didn’t like the attention, she just liked the fucking with people. She wanted to get off the subway the minute she got on.
She eventually couldn’t take it and got off a few stops away, there was still a substantial walk towards the college, but she knew it would be. She even brought a leather jacket with her so that she could walk if she couldn’t take it anymore.
And there she was, in the busy streets of Gotham, walking to her college. Barely aware of the people who did stare at her, because she just kept walking, lost in her thought but aware of the people in her trail, the cross walks and the lights she was waiting for occasionally. She just kept walking until Artemis met up with her,
“Hey! I didn’t know you were walking to school today,” Artemis said.
“Oh! I didn’t want to, my car got towed though.”
“Your car got towed? That sucks so much. Well, we’re going the same way, so I’ve decided I’m going to walk with you, you get no say.”
“Of course. I was going to ask if you wanted to,” she laughed, “It’s more fun with a friend anyway, Art.”
“So, how are things with you and Jason, I’m legally obliged to ask as one of his friends.”
“Well, we made it official if that’s the kind of thing you want to hear,” she laughed again, “I’m sure it’s the answer Dick will eat up.”
“You’re right about that one. Dick’s a sucker for a romantic story, you should write one, since you write. He’d probably read it all.”
“Well, that would be fun, but I still don’t have my laptop.”
“You could use Jason’s?” Artemis suggested..
“Nah. It’ll be fine,” she said, “I’ll manage.”
“Aren’t you collecting notes for him for your psychology class?”
“I am, it’s not like he can go anywhere. I actually told him he’d need to walk eventually so that it’s not a learning curve when he’s healed.”
“That’s what all of us are telling him too, he’s a stubborn man, good luck with that one,” Artemis laughed, “He’s always been the stubborn friend. Worse than Will, actually, and Will is really bad with being stubborn.”
“It’s fine,” she laughed, “If you asked any of my Metropolis friends they’d say the same about me.”
“I bet you were quite the wild child in your heyday back in your city,” Artemis laughed, “I hate Metropolis.”
“Who doesn’t? It’s so crowded.”
“Uh, Clark doesn’t. He thrives there, no idea why, he grew up in Smallville. If anyone should be uncomfortable with Metropolis it should be the small-city country boy, but I guess it’s his thing.”
“I forget you know everyone.”
“We know a lot of people, are you’re slowly being let into our massive circle of very well-known people. Welcome to the group, I guess,” she laughed, “You'll either hate or love the fame that comes from this.”
“Well, if its paparazzi and press, I think I’ll hate it.”
“I can promise you right now that it’s not all paparazzi and press, we haven’t been bothered today, probably because we are on the move.”
“You shouldn’t say that, you’ll jinx it.”
“I know a lot about not jinxing it, but that’s a story for another time,” Y/N noticed that when Artemis said this her eyes glazed over and she looked upset.
“You don’t ever have to talk to me about something you’re not ready to talk about,” Y/N reassured her.
“Hey, the trauma makes me funny.”
“Two can play that game.”
They would ramble on for the rest of the walk to their college. Nothing really of substance, just getting to know each other further. She was glad she found a friend in Artemis, it would have sucked if the two of them didn’t get along, but with each word they exchanged, they had so much fun.
She even told Artemis about that time she played Katherine Howard in her school’s budget play of Six - The Musical. She was proud of the riffs she was able to do, but she didn’t talk about it often. She was never the type of brag about her achievements, no matter how amazing they were.
But Artemis and Y/N parted ways and Y/N went to her class and wrote the same, boring, scribbly and barely legible notes. She figured eventually she’d need nicer handwriting, but did she want to work on it? No.
When she finished, she saw Artemis and who she could only assume to be Wally, at Artemis’ class doors. She waved to Artemis, before Artemis called her over.
“Y/N! Hey, I would ask how class is, but this is Wally,” she gestured to the red-head boy beside her, and Y/N held out her hand to shake Wally’s.
“Hi, Wally.”
“Y/N. It’s nice to meet you since Jason can’t shut up about you and my girlfriend likes you a lot.”
“Well that's sweet of you Artemis. You’re just so in love with me,” Y/N joked.
“Girl. You know it,” Artemis joked back.
“You two already have a close bond? That’s impressive,” Wally said, “Never seen anyone win over any of my friends this quickly,” he muttered.
They joked for a little while longer, just getting to know Wally before she had to go, she had to get to Jason’s.
The walk was a while away, so she went and sat on a park bench for a minute to check her phone, Jason had texted her.
Hey baby, are you coming over?
I am, yes. I actually just met Wally.
You met Wally and I wasn’t there to see it? C’mon.
Artemis introduced us! Go yell at her.
Oh. Never mind. I won’t do that.
Ha! Scared of her?
Maybe a little, she can be scary, okay?
You can’t tell but I’m laughing at you.
Dhmu.
That’s fine, I’ll just go hang out with Alfred and not you. He seems like he would be spiteful like me.
That’s unfair.
I thought you said don’t hit me up?
Fuck.
Checkmate.
I am upset.
No you’re not.
No I’m not.
She would walk down the street further, maybe within a couple steps to reach the Manor, when a man dragged her into an alleyway. She yelped.
“Uh, hello? Can I help you?” she asked, pretending she wasn’t terrified.
“How much would Bruce give me for you?” the attacker mumbled before he tried to knock her to the ground, but she had another plan.
He grabbed her, put his face close to hers, and she head-butted him, he would stumble back, and she started running to the Manor.
“Come here you fucking bitch!” he screamed. She could feel her nose bleeding as she ran and ran, the security saw her and pulled her into the gateway before drawing their guns and urging her to run to the steps of the Manor.
And she ran. The security at the door saw her and let her in, and yelled for Alfred.
“What is this nonsense, oh,” Alfred paused when he saw the blood running out of Y/N’s nose, “Miss Y/N, what happened to you?” he asked before grabbing her hand and pulling her into the entry-way bathroom and opening a first-aid kit.
“Okay so, what happened was I was walking to the Manor because my car got towed right? And this fucking bastard dude pops out from an alleyway and pulls me into it, asks some bullshit about how much Bruce would pay for me, when he grabbed me and tried to knock me down, when I head-butted him and started running,” she said, completely unphased.
Alfred didn’t respond to her and started to stop the bleeding when Bruce called for him, “In the entry-way bathroom, Master Wayne!” he answered.
Bruce came around the corner and saw Alfred was already tending to Y/N, “Well, this is the event where I meet my son’s girlfriend, when she is bleeding and running from a strange man in an alleyway.”
“Heh, sorry,” she said and outstretched her hand to shake his, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Bruce.”
“I can tell you’re going to be quite the addition to this household,” he said as he took her hand and shook it, “As long as you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“That’s good. I guess you can’t get mad at Jase for being a reckless man now.”
“I really can’t.”
“Alright, you should be good, Miss Y/N.”
“Thank you, Alfred. But you really didn’t have to.”
“I’ve been taking care of 5 boys and 3 girls since most of them were little, Miss Y/N. A little blood is really no big deal for me to handle.”
“That’s obvious.”
“You can go see the boys now, they’re going to ask you though,” Bruce said.
“I know.”
She walked to Jason’s room, hoping that he wouldn’t have all of his siblings in the room, he did though.
“Hey, Y/N- what the fuck happened to you?” Jason exclaimed when she opened the door.
“Oh great, all your siblings are here. Anyway, I guess,” she paused, taking in a big breath so she could run through the events quickly, “So I was walking here ‘cause my car got towed, right? When some fucking bastard man grabs me and yanks me into an alleyway and starts going off about how much Bruce will pay him to get me back or something,” she paused again, “And when he tried to knock me down by getting really close and personal to my face, like an idiot I should add, I head-butted him.”
“You did what?’
“I’m not done yet, met your dad when I actually had blood running out of my nose because that's just my fucking luck. Okay, now you can be disappointed in me,” she joked.
“I will say again, you did what?”
“Something stupid?” she said.
“You could say that again, my god, what went through your head?”
“Uh, nothing. Just survival. Fight or flight but I head-butted a man, and hi, everyone.”
“Hi, Y/N, I’m Dick,” Dick said, “You clearly are meant for Jason,” he joked, “That's something he would do.”
“Don’t encourage her, Dick!”
Stephanie got up and greeted her, “You know, Y/N, I always wanted a crazy sister,” she joked, “I’m Stephanie, the black-haired girl is Cass, and the red-head is Barbara.”
“Me too,” Cass hopped onto the joke.
“It’s something else when you meet the girl your brother is dating after she head-butted a man, apparently,” Y/N laughed, “I know it’s far-fetched-”
“Not really,” Tim cut her off, “You know Jason protected Will when they were attacked?”
“That’s Tim, by the way,” Dick said.
“So you can’t yell at me for head-butting a man!” Y/N joked at Jason while going to sit beside him, he slinged an arm around her shoulder and leant his head into her head.
“Well, you seem like a nice enough girl,” Barbara said, “Take away the reckless behavior, and you are lovely.”
“That is valid, to be honest. Not exactly the way you want to meet your brother’s girlfriend.”
“You think?” Jason asked, sarcastically.
“Ha ha.”
“See, she thinks I’m funny, why can’t you fucks?”
Y/N laughed and then asked Dick, who was playing RE8 at the time, staring at the photo of Donna Bentiveno, “She’s cute, isn’t she, Dick?”
“Have I been staring?”
“Let’s just say Angie is probably very pissed at you.”
“Oh! Whoops. There’s a point to this, I forgot.”
“I don’t blame you, I remember forgetting there was a point and the little bitch devil doll would attack you.”
“Language.”
“Oh no, you’re lame. Gross.”
“Excuse me?” Dick asked as the rest of the room erupted in laughter.
“Do you guys see why I like her now?” Jason asked.
“Uh no, she’s mean,” Dick said.
“You’re going to die if you don’t start paying attention, Dick,” Y/N said.
“Oh!” and he died.
“And that kids, is why we listen to the person who’s 100%’ed the game.”
------------------------------
Y/N and Jason would spend hours with his brothers and sisters until the sun started to set and they all scattered to their own rooms to  do their own things. you can’t keep a lot of kids in one room for so long.
Once everyone left, Y/N placed her hands on Jason and kissed him, she was actually able to be laid on his pillow, he was able to pin her to the bed. And they did just that. He was on top of her, using his one arm to prop himself up and using his other hand to touch her face.
Her hands found their way into his hair like they always did, she found a lot of joy in playing with his hair. Their tongues danced together, they never fought or anything, they just enjoyed each other when Jason let out a small moan and she let out a small laugh.
“Keep it in your pants, Tiger,” she joked, “You’re not fully healed.”
“You literally smashed your face into another man but I can’t moan when I kiss you?”
“Because I know you want more.”
“Hell yeah I do,” he said as he went back for more, actually using his strength to keep her to the bed, but she didn’t protest this time.
33 notes · View notes
freddie-weaselbee · 3 years
Text
A Whole New World//F.W.
Pairing: Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader
Warnings: Angst to fluff, symptoms of depression, mentions of depression, minor character death (only mentioned), language, honestly it’s really cute once you get into it trust me
Summary: “Do you trust me?” After constantly pestering Y/N and finally making her explode with anger, Fred decides to try to make her smile again, in the most extravagant way possible. 
Word Count: 4.4k
Song: A Whole New World from Aladdin
A/N: Apparently I’m a sucker for the astronomy tower I didn’t even realize until I wrote this that it takes place in the same place as my last fic, but oh well. Also I would literally sell my soul to be able to reenact this with someone, preferably Fred. Also also I’m making a taglist so message me if you wanna be on it!
The astronomy tower was one of your favorite places to visit when you were upset. Something about the way the infinite number of stars continued to shine down made you feel more at peace. It made you believe that maybe there was a plan for everything, and it would all work out eventually. 
It wasn’t uncommon for you to spend most of your recent nights watching the sky glimmer with specks of light. The past few months had been hard on you, and you felt an increasing need to escape as much as you could. Your friends noticed, but they didn’t know how to help. You were usually so upbeat and happy, always helping others rather than being vulnerable enough to admit that you needed some help yourself. Which is why you would spend hours each night, alone with your thoughts and dejection. 
Tears rolled down your eyes as the events of the day came back to you. 
It took everything you had just to get out of bed. Your dorm mate had tried to wake you up several times, but she eventually gave up and allowed you to rest a little longer. You rolled onto your side and stared at a picture that was hanging on the wall. It was a family picture from years ago, when you were just a little gap toothed girl. Your mom was holding you in her arms and your dad had his arm wrapped around your mom’s shoulder. There was only one other person in the picture, but it hurt your heart too much to look at the old man smiling down at little you. 
After letting a few tears lose, you decided to start your day a couple hours late. You had a Potions exam that you needed to do well on, or else your dreams of becoming a Healer would be a lot harder to achieve. 
You rolled out of bed and put on your uniform followed by fixing your hair and putting on some light makeup. You used to put a decent amount of effort into how you looked, wanting to practice your eyeliner skills and try out new hairstyles. But recently it just seemed like too much work for no reward. The bags under your eyes remained visible as you walked to your Potions class. 
The day didn’t get better. 
You skipped lunch and decided to take a nap instead. You curled up in your bed and shut your eyes tight, trying to calm the anxiety that was racing through your body. Your mind began to wander and you started wondering what your friends were doing at the moment, and if you were missing out on something fun. You wanted to join them and be a part of whatever was happening, but you just didn’t have the energy to get out of bed. It wasn’t until you were forced to get up for your next class that you left the silence of your room. 
Transfiguration was a class you had with most of your friends, which made it difficult for you to avoid questioning. 
“Y/N, where were you during lunch today?” your friend asked. She seemed concerned, but didn’t know what to say to the sulking mess who was usually so lively and energetic. 
You shrugged and gave a forced smile. “Just tired, didn’t get much sleep last night.”
She nodded, not believing you but figuring that you weren’t going to tell her the truth any time soon. 
You turned your attention to McGonagall’s lecture, but you were distracted almost immediately with a balled up piece of paper that landed on your lap. You looked around the room before making eye contact with Fred Weasley, who gestured for you to open the note. 
You did and scoffed at the message scrawled in messy handwriting. 
‘Hey love, you’re looking a little glum today. How about spending the night in my dorm and we’ll see if I can make you feel better? ;)’
Normally you would’ve playfully flirted back with the ginger troublemaker, but you weren’t in the mood today. You hadn’t been in the mood in months. 
Shaking your head you crumpled up the paper and let it fall to the ground. It wasn’t long before another one landed on your desk. 
You rolled your eyes and you opened this one. 
‘C’mon, don’t be so grumpy. You know you want me.’
This letter you ripped up, letting the scraps dramatically spill all around you. If there was one thing Fred wasn’t good at, it was reading the room. You just wanted to focus on the lesson and spend the rest of your night alone in your dorm. 
A third letter hit you in the back of your head. You almost turned around and screamed at Fred, but instead you picked up the note and sat in on your desk. You didn’t want to give Fred the satisfaction of opening the letter, but your curiosity got the best of you. And of course with your luck it all blew up in your face. Literally. 
A small explosion came from the letter the second you opened to read it, painting your face a scorched black and singeing the ends of your hair. You didn’t even have time to react before you were being yelled at by your favorite teacher. 
“Miss Y/L/N!” McGonagall was glaring at you down the bridge of her nose, giving you a look that she only reserved for the worst troublemakers. It made you feel like shit. “Detention, tomorrow night for disrupting my lesson. Please keep your antics to yourself next time.”
“But professor--” She interrupted you by putting her hand up. 
“Don’t argue, Miss Y/L/N. Tomorrow night.” 
Your face fell and you buried your head in your hands, trying to hold back sobs that were rising in your throat. As class ended you gathered your things and practically sprinted out of the room, ignoring the cries from your friend. 
You didn’t get too far before you were spun around by large hands that gripped your shoulders. Fred was towering over you, a proud grin spreading across his face as if he had just won the lottery. 
“You should’ve seen your face, darling, absolutely priceless.”
He reluctantly let go of you as you struggled in his hold, avoiding eye contact with the boy. “I don’t want to talk to you right now Fred, I just want to go to my room.”
“You’re in your room all the time!” he exclaimed. He wasn’t wrong. “Just lighten up a little and take a joke.”
You sighed and began to walk back to your dorm, ignoring his complaints. 
“C’mon, Y/N, who died and made you all depressed?”
That was it. 
You spun around and came storming back toward Fred, who now looked as though he regretted ever saying anything. “Do you really want to know Fred? Do you really feel the need to relentlessly bother me when it’s painfully obvious that I don’t want to talk to you?”
You had backed him into a wall and he was holding his hands up in defense. 
“Today has been awful. I could barely get out of bed this morning, and the only reason I did was because I had a Potions test, which I likely failed! I have no motivation to do anything, which means I go to my room and miss out on everything fun, which only makes me more upset.”
Tears were streaming down your face as you screamed at Fred, all of your pent up anger finally coming out. 
“And not that it’s any of your business, Frederick--” you poked his chest as you said his full name, something you only did when you were mad at him, “--but my grandpa died and made me all depressed. Three weeks ago. And I’ve felt like absolute shit ever since. So please, for the love of Godric just leave me alone for two fucking minutes!”
Fred’s face was adorned with a shocked expression, which softened immediately. You hadn’t told anyone about your grandpa, not wanting to deal with pitiful glances being thrown your way. Fred had no idea that you were going through so much, and seeing you finally break because of him broke his heart. 
But you didn’t give him any time to respond before you turned on your heel and marched back to your room, feeling worse than you had ever felt in your life. 
You knew it wasn’t Fred’s fault. You had chosen not to tell anyone about what you were going through, and you assumed he was only trying to lighten your spirits. However with everything that had been going on you needed some time to think and deal with your emotions on your own. It was the only way you knew how. 
Your thoughts were interrupted by someone behind you clearing their throat. You turned your head to see the outline of a tall ginger boy, standing at the top of the astronomy tower stairs. 
“What do you want Fred?” Your voice cracked as you spoke and you quickly turned to stare at the sky again, hoping your friend wouldn’t be able to see how upset you were. 
When you didn’t hear a response you spared another glance behind you, but Fred was gone. You stood up and looked around. Surely he wouldn’t just appear out of nowhere and then disappear seconds later. You leaned against the railing of the tower, the only thing separating you from the endless night sky. 
A scream erupted from your throat as something rose up to face you, hovering in the air. Fred was standing eye level with you, but he was...floating? 
“How are you…”
You looked over the edge and gasped at the sight before you. Fred was standing on a large carpet that he must’ve snagged from the Gryffindor common room. From the looks of it, it had been enchanted to fly and it was doing a fine job of fulfilling its duties. 
Fred laughed at your surprised expression as he reached a hand out. You stepped back, still wanting to be alone for the time being. But maybe you had been alone for long enough. 
“What is this Fred? What’s going on?” 
He didn’t respond, but rather moved closer and stretched his hand out a little farther. “Do you trust me?”
The whole scene reminded you of your favorite movie, which had just come out last year. You remembered watching Aladdin with your grandpa, memorizing every song and occasionally singing or humming the lyrics once you returned to Hogwarts. There was no way Fred’s actions were coincidental, he had to have planned this. 
No matter how upset you were, you weren’t going to give up the chance to reenact one of your favorite movie scenes, so with hesitation you grabbed his hand and wobbled onto the magic carpet that was hovering hundreds of feet in the air. 
“You ready, love?” Fred’s voice was calm and soothing, so unlike his normal persona. You gave him a tiny smile and nodded, holding onto the tassels of the rug for dear life.
Fred nodded back and scooted closer to you. “Hold on tight princess.” You grabbed his right arm and squeezed, letting him know you were ready to go.
With a flick of his wand the carpet took off and you were suddenly flying through the cool night air at racing speeds. You’d ridden on a broom before but this was something completely different. This time didn’t have to worry about working your core to stay on or try to ignore the uncomfortable position you were in. With this, you could just breathe and take in the moment. 
Fred looked over at you and grinned as he saw your amazed face. You closed your eyes and put your hands out, letting yourself be overcome with the feeling of soaring through the air. Without warning the carpet jerked to one side, causing you to scream and grip back onto Fred’s arm. 
“What was that for?” you exclaimed. He laughed and tried to pry your arms off of him, choosing to wrap his arm around your shoulder instead. 
“Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Now are you ready?”
You looked at him quizzically, wondering what else he could have in store for you. Fred cleared his throat and you saw a small blush appear on his face. He took in a deep breath and did something you never expected Fred Weasley to do. 
He started singing. 
“I can show you the world, shining shimmering--why are you laughing at me?!” You were bent over into his chest, heaving with laughter at his display. It’s not that he was a bad singer, on the contrary in fact. But you had definitely not expected him to start singing A Whole New World while you were flying across the Hogwarts grounds on a literal magic carpet. 
“I’m--I’m s-sorry Freddie,” you choked out through laughs, “it’s v-very nice. Fantastic job!”
He could hear the sarcasm dripping from your voice and he put on a faux glare. “Y/N, I did not listen to you sing this bloody song every single day and memorize all of the words simply from paying attention to your voice for you to not be my Jasmine and sing back.” He crossed his arms and huffed and your giggles slowly died down. 
You felt a blush appear on your face as you realized how much effort he had put into this. Memorizing the entire song from only your humming and occasional lyrics? The least you could do was humor the boy. 
“Fine,” you said playfully, rolling your eyes, “go ahead again. I promise I won’t laugh.”
He gave you an unbelieving look. 
“I promise I won’t laugh a lot.”
Fred nodded and cleared his throat once again. “I can show you the world, shining shimmering splendid!”
He cupped your chin in his hand and gave you a wink. “Tell me princess, now when did you last let your heart decide.”
The carpet dipped and you screamed as the two of you soared downwards before leveling out again. 
“I can open your eyes,” he began once again. “Take you wonder by wonder. Over, sideways and under--” as he sang each word the carpet twisted to perform the respective move, “on a magic carpet ride. A whole new world!”
He sat on his knees and spread his arms to the sky, screaming the lyrics and letting the wind whip his ginger hair around his face. Although you were speeding through the clouds and any wrong move would likely end in you falling to your death, all you could focus on was him. 
“A new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we’re only dreaming…” Fred was looking back at you, holding his hands in yours. He leaned in to you and you sucked in a breath, leaning toward him as well. But what you had been assuming would happen did not, and Fred leaned in to whisper in your ear. 
“That’s your cue, love.” It took you a second to realize what he was saying but when you did you nodded fervently, hoping Fred didn’t notice you mistaking his actions for an attempt at a kiss. Before you could overthink everything and make it even more awkward you sat up and belted out your lines. 
“A whole new world! A dazzling place I never knew.” You moved toward the front of the carpet and Fred grabbed your waist holding you up as you spread your arms and stared at the endless sky. “But when I’m way up here, it’s crystal clear, that now I’m in a whole new world…”
You hesitated before saying the next two words, suddenly very aware of the tight grip Fred’s rough hands had on your waist. “With you…”
You turned your head to see Fred beaming at you, and he moved you back so the two of you were once again sitting side by side. You sang the next verse as the two of you flew over the Forbidden Forest. The terrifying collection of dark trees and plants now seemed so small, so miniscule when you were soaring over it instead of walking through it. 
It was almost time for the duet portion of the song, but before you could start you were cut off by Fred’s finger on your lips. “Alright, love, now we switch. I want to be Jasmine!”
You giggled at the child that was Fred Weasley, but it was his kiddish behavior that always drew you to him. “Well you have the body for it,” you teased, poking his stomach. He poked you back and it made you flinch, seeing as how he hit a ticklish spot. His eyes widened when he realized the opportunity he had, and his fingers attacked your sides while both of you tried to sing your new parts. 
“A whole new world--”
“Don’t you dare close your eyes.” He covered his eyes as you sang this for effect and you had to use all of your strength to remove his hands from his face, which ended with you intertwining your fingers in his. 
“A hundred thousand things to see--”
“Hold your breath it gets better.”
Fred finally halted his tickling as he belted his next line straight into your ear. “I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far, I can’t go back to where I used to be…”
You threw your legs over his lap and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him close as the two of you giggled like schoolchildren. Something about laughing with Fred always made you feel carefree and young. Like you didn’t constantly have the entire world dragging you down. It was intoxicating. 
You ruffled his hair and screamed the lyrics at the top of your lungs. “A whole new world!”
Fred saw this as a competition, and he decided he just had to one up you in noise. “Every turn a surprise!”
“With new horizons to pursue!”
“Every moment red letter!”
At this point both of you were shouting as loud as you possibly could, so loud that you knew at least someone on the Hogwarts grounds would be able to hear you, but neither of you cared. He took his other hand in yours as you screeched the next words simultaneously. 
“I’ll chase them everywhere, there’s time to spare, let me share this whole new world with you!” Fred steered the carpet downwards to a grove that you had never noticed before. He swept through the trees and swiftly grabbed an apple from a tree above before tossing it to you. It was something straight out of the movie and you had to wonder how in the world he had this so well prepared. 
He pulled you in tighter by the waist and started to sing again, transitioning back to Aladdin’s part. His voice was much softer than it had been before, almost sweet and loving. “A whole new world…”
You lowered your voice to match his. “A whole new world…”
“That’s where we’ll be…”
“That’s where we’ll be…” You could tell that Fred was maneuvering the two of you back toward the grand Hogwarts castle but you didn’t want this moment to end so soon. 
His thumb brushed your cheek. “A thrilling chase…”
Your hand moved to his chest, feeling his toned muscles underneath his infamous Weasley jumper. “A wondrous place…”
“For you and me…”
You stared into each other’s eyes, holding each other tightly and letting out the breath you didn’t know you had been holding as you finally finished the song. Neither of you said a word as Fred guided the carpet back to the astronomy tower and helped you down onto the floor. You slipped and fell into his chest, but he was quick to steady you and hold you tight in his arms. 
Your eyes wandered up the tall redhead’s body, illuminated by the dim glow of the night stars. “What...what in the world was that?” you asked incredulously. 
Fred only laughed and pulled you to sit down next to him, legs dangling off the side of the tower. “I guess that was my way of apologizing.”
“Not even an actual ‘I’m sorry’ is good enough for you Weasley?” you teased, making Fred give you a guilty look. 
“I am really sorry, Y/N. I...I had no idea what was happening, and I was just getting tired of not seeing you ever. I guess I thought you were avoiding me and I wanted to get your attention, even if that meant being a complete arse.” His guilty look only grew as he confessed the reasoning behind his actions. “I’m really sorry, love. But I want you to know that I’m always here for you. You don’t have to go through things alone.”
You sighed heavily and leaned your head against his shoulder. His arm found its familiar place around your shoulder and you shuffled so that you were closer to him. 
“It’s not your fault. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. I don’t want people to pity me, or to think that I should try to get over it. I don’t want everyone to say that I should stop feeling like this when there are so many people that have it so much worse.” Your voice shook with every word that poured out of your mouth. You had never told anyone that before, always keeping your burdens to yourself and burying them deep inside. 
Fred grabbed your shoulder with his other hand and brought you into a hug, letting you sob quietly into his chest. “Darling, you should never feel as though your feelings aren’t valid. You have every right to be upset, and I want to be there for you, if you’ll let me.” 
You hummed into his jumper, taking in the scent of cinnamon and gunpowder. It had grown to become one of your favorite smells. “You know, that movie was one of my grandpa’s favorites.”
Fred nodded but stayed quiet, trying to hide his joy that you were finally opening up to someone. 
“We watched it nonstop last summer. He told me he loved princess Jasmine. Said she had spunk, just like--” your voice hitched in your throat, “--just like me.”
Your best friend began stroking your hair softly, occasionally twirling a strand in his long fingers. “I didn’t know,” he finally said. “I just knew you loved the movie, and I wanted to do something special for you. You deserve it.”
You gave a small laugh at his words and he tilted your chin up so that you could see the concern in his eyes. “Hey, I’m serious. I love you, Y/N. You’re...you’re a great friend.”
The warm feeling inside your chest that had begun when Fred started talking had suddenly died down. You were friends. Just a great friend of his. 
“I don’t know Freddie,” you teased, “the way you were singing to me out there made it seem like I was a little more than a friend to you.” 
You were only joking, but Fred was immediately silent, turning to stare down at his hands. “I, uh, I may have gotten a little bit caught up in the moment,” he stuttered. His nervousness caught you off guard, as it was so unlike the confident prankster to be so tense. 
“So you really memorized that song, recreated specific scenes from the movie, and took time to enchant a magic carpet to fly me across the skyline, just to make me feel better?”
He chuckled nervously, slightly embarrassed about all of the effort he put in. “When have I been known to be simple with these kinds of things, love?”
“Never,” you scoffed. Feeling a bit of a courage course through your veins you reached to grab his hand, intertwining it with yours. Fred squeezed your hand back and you moved to give him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re the sweetest person I know, Freddie. You may be a little dumb and over the top sometimes, but you’re sweet.”
Fred smiled down at you and opened his mouth to say something, but apparently decided against it last minute. You decided to give this one more chance. 
“Fred? Can I...can I kiss you?”
The words were barely out of your mouth when his lips gently touched yours, drawing you into the softest kiss you could imagine. Your lips moved in sync, slowly at first but quickly picking up a little speed. After what felt like an eternity you had to come up to catch your breath, tugging on his bottom lip as you moved away. 
The two of you just stared at each other before you let out a small giggle. “Oi!” Fred exclaimed. “You think snogging me is funny? Wow, I think I’ll have to take those privileges away from you, you selfish girl.”
“Oh no, don’t deprive me of that Weasley, I couldn’t live without you.” He shoved your arm playfully and you spoke again. “I just think it’s funny that it took me cursing you out after class and an extravagant musical number for you to finally kiss me. And even then I had to initiate it! For a Gryffindor you really are a chicken sometimes.”
He responded by pressing his lips to yours again, this time in a shorter but just as passionate kiss. “I was getting around to it, I just didn’t want to take advantage of you in such a vulnerable state,” he said as his excuse. 
“Well I can tell you now, love,” you said, “this has nothing to do with my ‘vulnerable state.’ I’ve been in love with you forever, I was just too scared to say anything.”
“Ah, so you’re the real chicken then.” 
You relented, not wanting this perfect moment to turn into another argument between you and the twin. “Yeah, I’m the chicken, and you can be the prince that swoops in and steals the chicken away on a magic carpet.”
He pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. “Only if the chicken turns into my beautiful princess by the end. Y/N, will you be my princess?”
You bit your lip trying to hold back a scream of pure happiness. Something you hadn’t felt in months. “Of course Freddie, I’m yours.”
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the-golden-ghost · 3 years
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Things you said prompt number 17? Feeling like reading a bit of Jigoe angst 😁
17. Things you said that I wish you hadn’t
A lot could change in two months.
Jigen had been living wild since Lupin’s last supposed death (drowning, no body discovered, all of them far too jaded with him now to believe he was truly gone). In Jigen’s case, he probably wouldn’t have believed it even with a body. He knew how conniving Lupin could be. But there’d been no word from him, nothing but rumors of his continued existence on the mortal plane, and now they’d been summoned to one of their most secluded hideouts - not by him, but by Fujiko.
Jigen damn well hoped she knew something he didn’t, because he wasn’t going to work for her. But because she really might know something - and because Jigen was a damned idiot who didn’t know what was good for him - he was here.
It was one of their nicest places, too. Small, on a lakeside, hidden behind some big grassy hills and surrounded for miles by woods. A good place to rest. When they’d been up here together last, Goemon had hung wind chimes and the four of them had planted a garden which was now, as Jigen could see, overrun with weeds, but the chimes were still singing.
He parked his car and sat for a minute. No idea who’d be inside. There were no other vehicles he could see but that didn’t mean the house was empty. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to face any of them.
~
Two months ago Jigen had gotten the news and buried his grief because at this point he was numb to it. Lupin liked to screw around like this - he was magnificent and selfish and saw his own life as a stageplay that the world watched with baited breath. When he died - truly died, he’d assured Jigen long ago - it would be spectacular, the kind of death that shook the world to its core and that people would immortalize in song and story for centuries upon centuries to come.
Drowning wasn’t it, so Lupin was coming back. Probably. Either way that wound had cauterized itself long ago, for Jigen. It wouldn’t do any good to grab Lupin by the throat and demand what he couldn’t give. It didn’t seem to matter that Jigen got shaken to the core every single fucking time but Jigen was just one man, and he didn’t know how to write stories. So on it went.
Goemon was different. After the news came they’d stood together with their bags packed, ready to separate for an uncertain amount of time, and Jigen, shaken, had turned to the one man he loved who he was certain was still breathing and offered himself. What did a samurai need with a partner? Apparently nothing, because Goemon had refused his service and left. And it was that simple refusal that had been grating on Jigen since they’d seen each other last, because somehow, in his infinite stupidity, he’d thought Goemon cared enough about him to want to stick together. Somehow he’d made that mistake.
But no. Jigen was a man who faltered without someone to ride beside, but Goemon worked just fine alone.
~
After two months living city to city in and out of dives and the seediest motels money could buy, it was strange to be in a place with wind chimes. It felt like a waking dream, like none of this was quite real, or maybe it was just the scotch messing with his head. Didn’t matter. The door was unlocked and Jigen walked in with a rush of apprehension.
Nobody. The place was clean and empty and abandoned.
“Fujiko?” he asked to no one. She’d called them, so she should be here. But apparently not. “Lupin?” he called, more hesistant now. If Lupin were to truly just show up like this, casually, as if Jigen’s life were just an intermission he could stroll into whenever he felt like it - Jigen would probably shoot him dead right there and just get the inevitable over with. But he was still gone.
“Goemon?” He wasn’t here either. That made it easier. He shuffled off to the kitchen to get himself another drink and then slumped on the couch for a nap. The drive up here had been way too long.
~
Jigen awoke with a start in the early evening to find that he was no longer alone, that there was a shadow hovering by the window. He scrambled up; taking in through his dazed and blurry vision who it was. “Goemon?” he asked.
“It’s me.”
In spite of the rage and bitterness that he’d been clinging to for the past two months in a desperate bid to keep from collapsing, Jigen’s heart still pulled towards Goemon. Soft as he was, he would have forgiven Goemon for that abandonment. He would have forgiven him for anything.
Anything except for what he did a moment later, which was to recoil when Jigen approached him. “Jigen? Where have you been living?”
“Around,” Jigen said, taken aback by the reaction, his anger slowly rising. Damn him, he didn’t even want to go through a proper greeting? Even now? “Why? Do you care?”
Goemon studied Jigen for a long moment before looking away. “You look terrible. I would not doubt you haven’t even been trying to take care of yourself. Why didn’t stay in one of the safe houses? Lupin would not have denied you that.”
In truth, Jigen hadn’t stayed because it would have been hell on earth. Living day to day, alone in one of those empty half-homes with way too many memories per square inch but no people in sight. He couldn’t take it. Jigen needed cites; that impersonal human contact where no one knew you from Adam and didn’t give a shit in hell about you but where you were never isolated, never cut off from the world. There was security in living like a rat in a wall.
He didn’t say any of that to Goemon, though. Instead he decided to opt for something much nastier. “Maybe I just like living in filth. Guess we can’t all be as honorable and perfect as you, can we? Where were you? Wait - I can guess - training yourself up so you can get a better gig and stop associating with mangy dogs like me.”
Goemon’s gaze flickered angrily but he kept calm. “I have been training,” he said coolly. “And you are drunk by the sound of it. Not that I’m surprised.”
Jigen’s rage flared up again, in full force. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean? You’re not surprised? What, you want to fight me? I’ll show you how fucking drunk I am.”
Goemon didn’t move, nor did he make a motion to draw his sword. “I did not come here to fight anyone, least of all you. I came here because Fujiko sent for me.”
“Yeah? Well fuck Fujiko. Fuck her and fuck you. I’m out.”
He made it twenty miles back towards where he’d come from before he realized he hadn’t put gas in the car, ran out, toyed briefly with sleeping in the ditch on the side of the road, thought better of it, and began the long hike back to the house. He made it in by 1 am and collapsed onto the couch, too exhausted for words.
~
In the morning Jigen wasn’t mad anymore. Mostly because he felt like he’d been run over by a truck. Just didn’t have the energy, but more than that, he felt guilty about taking his losses out on Goemon. It wasn’t Goemon’s fault Jigen couldn’t survive two measly months flying solo without having a complete breakdown. Goemon had tucked himself away in the bedroom and wasn’t coming out. Fujiko was nowhere to be seen, still, and Lupin... who knew.
Jigen sat around for a while and smoked and wished he hadn’t come. But he had come, and he’d screwed things up, so. Over to the bedroom door he went, and knocked.
“Hey,” he asked hoarsely, opening the door a little. “You still mad?”
There was no reply, which meant the answer was probably yes.
“Cause... look, man, I’m sorry. I’m sorry about every stupid half-assed thing I said to you last night. And I didn’t mean a word of it. I just wanted to fight somebody and you were the only one here.”
Still silence.
“But that doesn’t make it right.”
No response.
“I’m comin’ in,” Jigen said finally. He wasn’t immediately sliced in half, so that was a good sign at least. Goemon was sitting on the bed, facing away from the door, deathly still and silent. “Goemon? Please look at me.”
Goemon did not. For all that, Jigen might have been invisible.
He took a step closer. “Look, I don’t care what you say to me,” he said between shaking breaths. “I don’t friggin’ care, Goemon. You can cuss me out if you want. You can say whatever you want to me - you can call me the lowest, dirtiest, most pathetic damn bastard you’ve ever met in your entire life. I don’t give a shit, I know what I am, I just - “ he broke off, pleading. “Just hold me, Goemon, for fuck’s sake I just need you right now, and -”
The words struck home. Goemon turned, looking startled, and reached out to Jigen. For a long while they clung to each other, squeezing tight, Jigen burying his face against Goemon’s neck, twining his fingers through his hair, and Goemon gripping Jigen around the waist and running a hand down his back, over and over.
“Did I hurt you? Bad?” Jigen asked finally, settling down on the bed next to Goemon, who, by some miracle, didn’t pull away, even when Jigen leaned against his shoulder.
“Nothing that I cannot survive. I’ve been training, remember,” Goemon said softly. “And you’re sure you’re all right? You don’t look well.”
“I feel like shit, but it’s just part of the territory. I’ll get better,” Jigen said.
“Good. I was worried about you, you know. While I was alone I was able to improve myself - I hope to be strong enough now to keep you and Fujiko safe at all costs. But I knew that the price was that I had to leave you alone for that time.”
“Well, I’ve been alone before,” Jigen said nonchalantly. “It’s okay. I’m used to it. It was kind of fun not having to do the dishes or listen to Lupin’s chatter.”
“I miss Lupin’s chatter,” Goemon replied.
“Yeah,” Jigen said sadly. “I do too.” They sat for a moment, united in loss. “Hey, Goemon?” Jigen asked after a minute. “Can we forget about yesterday? I’d rather just start over.”
Goemon sighed. “Yes, I think that would be best.”
The rest could come later. Fujiko’s plan, Lupin’s revival. For now, the two of them simply rested, side by side, for the remainder of the morning. They had a lot of catching up to do.
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desertofsnowflakes · 3 years
Text
Incorrect Order Chapter 6 (Nessian AU)
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A/N: I'm sooo sorry I haven't been updated in more than two weeks. I had exams :/ Also, do inform me if you wanna be added/removed from the taglist! If you happen to find my storyline similar to another fic or one of yours, I'm extremely sorry, I might've just not known. All characters belong to the author Sarah J. Mass. Enjoy!
Summary: Don't first impressions always affect the way you see someone? Well, what more with the Nesta Archeron? Nesta meets Cassian at few unexpected places and to say it didn't go well was a major understatement. Certain circumstances make them become enemies to tolerable company to friends to lovers.
Trigger Warnings: Language
1572 words | Incorrect Order Masterlist | Read on AO3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The smile Cassian plastered on his face didn’t reach his eyes. His brothers saw that. Feyre and Elain saw that. Mor and Amren knew that. He himself did. But they didn’t say anything. If it weren’t Feyre’s anniversary, he would’ve even gone home. He couldn’t though. He wouldn’t do anything that would hurt his family. So he stayed. Smiled. Joked. Laughed. Did everything he could to keep his mind from straying to a grey-eyed masterpiece.
Az and Rhys saw, he knew. They always seemed to realise everything about each other. Even if one of them had a minor headache, the other two would know. Tonight, however, none of them pushed him. They probably thought he wanted to be alone. But did he? Truly?
He wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to be alone. That would make memories of their lunch rise. Of her shirt splattered with coffee on one day and blood on another. Of her pale form laying on his bed. Of her, enjoying his food. Of their shared jokes. He didn’t think he could take that.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to be around people either. He didn’t know if he could stay around people who laughed and teased. He didn’t know if he could laugh with them and actually mean it. He didn’t know if he could anytime soon.
Cass glanced at the clock. 3.00 a.m. He smiled. Whenever they gathered around in the living room, retiring early was totally off the table. The earliest they dispersed was four in the morning.
To his right, Rhys sighed. “It’s late,” he said, tucking Feyre close to his side. “Gotta go to bed.”
He smirked, but held back the joke on the tip of his tongue. After a chorus of goodnights, Rhys and Feyre told them they could stay here tonight if they wanted to and rose to go upstairs. Feyre laughed at something Rhys said and Cass felt a pang of sadness hit him.
Sadness… and something else. He knew he shouldn’t, but he envied the both of them. How easily they bantered and teased. How smooth their relationship was. He remembered how Feyre locked herself in the cabin after Rhys proposed. He remembered how she asked Mor not to let anyone in, especially Rhys. He sighed. He felt an amount of the jealousy dissipate. Probably Nesta would get together with him after their slight misunderstanding passed. If it did.
He got up to leave when Az stopped him. “You sure you’re going back?” Cass didn’t remember telling Az that he was going back. Then again he didn't need to. Az always saw everything. “You're not that… somber.”
Ah. Cass smiled. “I'll be fine, ” he reassured. Az still didn't let him go. “I'll send you a text once I'm home,” he tried. Az sighed.
“I'll be waiting for it.”
Cass looked at Mor, drunk and blabbering before stepping out of the house. He kept replaying that memory till he reached home, keeping his mind occupied. He was scared of what would happen if he kept his thoughts idle.
He informed Az that he reached home. He didn't know why going back home felt like preparing for a battle. It probably was a battle. Between her and his self-restraint. What was at stake here was his sanity. Cass sighed. He stepped in through the threshold and welcomed the darkness that enveloped him.
***
Stop crying like a baby, Nesta repeatedly reminded herself. Why should she cry? Nothing here was her fault. Nothing.
Not the fact that she let his charmed smiles bring her guards down. Not the fact that she felt alive when he said something stupidly funny. Certainly not the fact that she was slowly falling for him.
None of it was her fault. So why should she cry? Why should she stop herself from attending her own sister's anniversary? When it was all his fault.
She shouldn't be crying. She should be thinking about ways of exploiting his weaknesses. She should think about how she would portray him as the weak one. She should think about how she was going to make him regret everything.
But how could she make him regret it when she never regretted a second of it? She hated that this was where her thoughts went first. To scheming and plotting. She thought she changed. Did she regret her wish to be good? No. She reveled in it. No, she vowed herself, I would not scheme to make him beg. I'm not that Nesta anymore. I'll never be.
She was proud of herself. She never realised her self restraint was this good.
But apparently not good enough. Her thoughts drifted back to him. No, not him. Cassian. Cauldron, it'll take some time to get used to calling him Cassian. Or maybe Cass. Feyre and Rhysand called him that. Probably she would too. She thought about what he called her. Nes. She flushed. That stupid name did stupid things to her. She pretended she didn't like it. In fact, she loved it. Somehow, she wasn't ready to tell him that yet.
***
Nesta blinked open her eyes against the morning light. Her eyes were closed? It was morning already? Huh.
It took her some time for her eyes to adjust. She screamed at what she saw. Nesta scrambled back from the looming figure of Tomas, leering at her face.
“Nesta, Nesta, ” he said in his eerie voice. It became scarier with his sing-song tone. “My Nesta.” He paused. “Though I suppose you aren't mine anymore. You were still mine last time, you know. When you handed me over to the police. ”
She bared her teeth, opened her mouth to say something when his hand closed around her throat.
“But now, I suppose I can't call you mine anymore, can I? That reminds me. Where is your bodyguard? Or is that brute your boyfriend?” He spat the last word. His hand tightened around her neck.
“Do you know what he did to me? Your bastard. Did you know how he threatened me? Did you know that he smashed my bones, that it took me this long to heal?”
Some sort of savage satisfaction filled her. The fact that Cassian did all this… she smirked. It didn't go unnoticed by Tomas. He growled, the sound sending icy fingers ghosting down her spine. She hoped she didn't have to hear it again.
His hand around her throat pushed her farther back on the bed. He drew back, she let loose a relieved breath. A mistake.
His hand cracked on her cheek. He came infinitely closer to her, his hot, rancid breath glancing off her cheeks. His hand kept tightening around her throat and she wondered how she wasn’t dead yet. It was certainly bruised now.
“Look at you. So vulnerable. So killable. I’ve imagined how I would slit your throat. So many ideas. If only I could kill you in all the ways I imagined. But do you know what is the best way I could kill you?”
Nesta let him talk. He loved to hear himself talk. She subtly looked around her room, searching for anything she could use as a weapon. She looked back at Tomas. He wasn’t talking. Did he ask her a question?
“Tell me, Nesta. Do you know what is the best way to kill you?” Nesta shook her head, his hand pressed around her throat. Tomas smiled. She cringed mentally.
“I think the best way to kill you and make it hurt is to kill you slowly. You know what makes it better? Having that bastard watch you die. Let him watch the life seep out of you. And then I’ll kill him too.” he said and she felt the room closing in. Panic was slowly rising in her.
“Now, now,” he said. She supposed he meant to be cajoling but the effect his voice gave was the exact opposite. “There’s no need to panic. I told you I’ll kill you only when your bodyguard is there.”
He pulled out a knife. She gasped and pain erupted around her throat. Her lungs were burning.
“But darling,” he said. She whimpered. She hated this. She hated that she was vulnerable here. She hated that she couldn’t do anything when her death was slowly nearing. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Then his knife struck. Nothing hurt at first. Then, fiery pain whipped through her, beginning at her arm. She screamed. Pain. There was so much pain. She screamed so loud she pondered how the whole neighborhood didn’t hear anything.
***
Nesta gasped. Her eyes darted through her room. Nothing. No one. She looked at her arm. No pain. No scars. No blood. She touched her throat. It wasn’t sore. It wasn’t swollen. She got out of bed and looked at her mirror. No bruises. She let out a frustrated sound. It was a dream. A fucking dream. Or she supposed it was a nightmare. Still. It wasn’t real.
It was still five in the morning. Still quite early. She released a breath. She wouldn’t find a cab now but she could walk. It wasn’t that far. She fixed her hair and changed her clothes. She wasn’t going because she missed him. She just didn’t want to be vulnerable again. That’s all. She just wanted to know how to defend herself. Nothing else. So Nesta went to Cassian’s house, hoping that she’s making the right choice.
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