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dizzydennis · 3 years

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Sonic x Metal Sonic Cover Story!

Translator note: I am not totally fluent in Japanese so please understand that my translations are not perfect, but I hope you can enjoy this fun story. Any constructive criticism is appreciated.

Deep within Dr. Eggman’s abandoned, secret lab... a robot connected to a database booted up made note of the current situation. The evaluation was as followed:

[[Current status... "unfavorable"]]

While this robot was in rest for maintenance, Dr. Eggman was once again defeated by Sonic. Yet again, “he” was unable to rush to protect his master from crisis.

The same amount of bitterness stirred inside him... or perhaps even more.

It longed for the opportunity to defeat Sonic.

This mechanical piece of intelligence was known as “Metal Sonic” and it was created for the sole purpose of destroying Sonic. It continued to analyze the situation:

[[Current status is "unfavorable"]]

☆ ★ ☆

"Speed Highway" is a super-three-dimensional highway that runs through a plethora of high-rise buildings.

It has many acceleration lanes such as the “360-degree rotating loop” that rises to the sky and a corkscrew that stretches into a large spiral. It attracts the souls of speed enthusiasts everywhere!

Sonic was running around in good spirits as he hummed to himself.

CRASH!!

Suddenly, something attacked Sonic head-on! He barely avoided it as the road just ahead turned into a pile of rubble from such a shattering impact. Sonic let out a gleeful grin.

“I’m worried. You didn’t damage yourself with that stunt, did ya, Metal?”

It was, in fact, Metal Sonic that stood up from the rubble.

Metal gave a piercing, sharp gaze towards Sonic. Within a second, he quickly closed the gap between the two of them while pointing his left hand to Sonic.

“Hey! Isn’t that--!?”

It was the flickering of a Chaos Emerald. Metal’s other hand pointed to the innermost parts of Speed Highway. It was unwavering.

Sonic instantly understood what Metal Sonic meant.

“You’re gonna bet that in a competition against me? That doesn’t seem very fair now, does it?”

Sonic then took out his all of the Chaos Emeralds he had on him.

“Alright, Metal! This is for real then. All or nothing!”

In an instant, two blue shadows dashed out onto the street, illuminated by the lights of the skyscrapers at dusk. The race that moved faster than the speed of sound had begun!

☆ ★ ☆

As the sound barrier was broken, the rush of wind echoed through the elevated roads that were cast as a valley between the buildings.

A corkscrew twisted down from a 360-degree loop as it curved to the right and then to the left. It then went into a spiral that took them up and down and all around.

Sonic lightly traced across the road’s surface as he felt enthralled by the difficult course of the Speed Highway. Metal Sonic was able to glide across the road with the use of a jet engine.

The race continued with the two hedgehogs barely gaining a step on each other, but a big change occurred in the middle of the course. A super long and sharp curve came out after a speedy decent. Metal Sonic decided to engage in some close combat before this area.

He boosted forward as his body entered this shocking, electromagnetic state. It was a sudden attack, but Sonic was able to avoid it. He must have read his moves. Metal Sonic’s energy output temporarily dropped at the end of the boost as he slowed down; just as planned. He could clear the curve with just the right amount of speed. Sonic had to slow down here too and Metal Sonic had nothing to lose!

Everything was going fine, but at that moment, Sonic was speeding up and approaching fast. Metal Sonic’s thoughts became fragmented if only for a moment.

[[......!?]]

Sonic, as he started to tumble off the side of the course due to his great speed, had put his hand out and grabbed Metal Sonic’s head, curved inward, and accelerated towards the inner-section of the course. He pushed Metal downwards and perfectly made the curve.

“My bad!”

Metal Sonic, who managed to regain his posture, raised his face, he saw Sonic running far ahead.

Metal Sonic tried to analyze the situation

[[Current status... "unfavorable"]]

☆ ★ ☆

Metal Sonic continued to analyze everything while giving chase. He had never won again Sonic ever since their first battle. He was built for the best performance and had a tireless, steel body. There were many factors of his creation that should have meant he was unbeatable.

But I can never win.

Why? Why... it’s just a hedgehog that runs fast...

Right at that moment,

A buzz of electricity rippled through the robot’s AI and it’s train of thought.

Is it because it’s not just “fast.”

[[............!]]

Why was this robot made to resemble Sonic?

Perhaps, the creator, Dr. Eggman, created this body simply to not waste time creating it, but to also be a replacement to Sonic.

It was created for that specific purpose. There’s something that had to be done.

Metal cut all non-essential parts such as “fire control” and the “electromagnetic spark capacitors.” All systems were set on full power to “Speed.” Metal sharpened and gutted himself on the inside.

A moment later, a creature of blue steel, which had become the pure concept of a new “Metal Sonic” began to chase after Sonic the Hedgehog.

☆ ★ ☆

Meanwhile, Sonic had already taken notice that something had changed with Metal Sonic. The distance between them was gradually getting shorter.

Metal Sonic was purely a machine. There’s no way to know what it could even be thinking about. However, Sonic could sometimes tell. He could sense Metal Sonic’s joy, willpower, and unhealthy obsession towards victory.

“Looks like things are heating up!”

Sonic sped up even more, with a serious expression, muttered words of amazement while suppressing a grin that was continuously rising to his mouth.

“Heh, you don’t feel like you’re getting burned out?”

It was a straight line from the left-twisting, half-corkscrew to the goal. Below, you could see the surface of the city piercing upwards. The two blue streaks sped up the outside of a vertical skyscraper.

The goal was just around the corner. Sonic was in the lead.

Metal Sonic’s AI became fully aware at this point. It would not win at this rate.

How can it win!? Perhaps it could increase the output from the jet propulsion unit a little more, but where there even enough resources to do so...!?

☆ ★ ☆

"...?"

Just a few hundred meters from the goal.

Right then, Sonic couldn’t understand what happened.

Metal Sonic pulled out to Sonic at an impossibly fast speed! A dazzling seven-colored light erupted from Metal’s chest as a bright red flame with black smoke gushed out of the jet exhaust hole on his back. Parts and debris flew off of him in a violent roar.

“Metal...!?”

That’s right. Metal Sonic absorbed and utilized Chaos Energy! However, the power of the Chaos Emeralds was not stable and was very uncontrollable.

While speeding ahead, Metal lost his balance and collapsed.

Upon seeing this, Sonic tried to call out...

In a single moment, Metal was swallowed the the seven bright lights as they were then engulfed by smoke. Metal Sonic turned into a glowing red bulb.

The explosion sent an impact out that knocked Sonic back. As he looked up to the sky...

Against the backdrop of the night sky, Metal Sonic’s scattered body parts, which drew a trail of red flames alongside shimmering shards of window glass seemed to fly by in slow motion.

For a single moment, Sonic thought it was strangely beautiful.

Immediately after, Sonic got to his feet while being shocked at the explosion sounds that came soon after. When suddenly...

Metal Sonic’s upper body, which only had the torso, head, and right arm attached had crashed to the floor. As it made attempts to crawl towards the goal. The efforts proved too exhausting as he soon stopped dead in his tracks... just 10 meters away.

Shortly after, Sonic begrudgingly crossed the finish line; putting this little game to an end.

A Chaos Emerald flew towards Sonic. As he caught it, he looked back with a unique and serious expression. Metal Sonic had tossed the emerald with the last of his power.

[[......!!]]

Metal Sonic jumped to restrain Sonic as he approached with his fiery eyes.

Sonic felt as if Metal Sonic was saying that it’s impossible for two people to have crossed the finish line.

The damage that Metal Sonic had taken wasn’t as bad as Sonic had expected.

Sonic spoke in his usual tone, feeling uncomfortable with how relieved the situation felt.

“It was a good race.”

As Sonic let out his remarks, he never turned back and said,

“I’ll be waiting for a rematch.”

☆ ★ ☆

The defeated Metal Sonic was analyzing the current situation.

This time, it was an utter defeat.

Metal tried to re-calibrate all of his resources, but still couldn’t win.

Metal Sonic tried to sharpen his strengths, but it was all too late. In the end, he lacked a way to channel his resources and self-destructed.

....However,

it should be noted that an unprecedented performance was achieved this time.

Even with the final Chaos Emerald, considering that the race would have been lost regardless, it wasn’t necessarily a bad move... but a more detailed analysis is to be postponed.

A rescue signal was already issued. Aid was available and recovery could be achieved at Eggman’s base. If Metal connected to the base’s main computer and analyzed today’s data, he can definitely win next time. There is room to not only improve speed, but also inhibitory behaviors and attack patterns.

I can still reach a tier of being and there will others who can surpass or fall victim to that tier!

At the moment, Metal Sonic was forced into a deep sleep mode due to a drop in his voltage energy. His ability to think dropped rapidly and Metal Sonic obtained an analysis result that was unbiased and unemotional.

[[Status is... “favorable."]]

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Metal Sonic #Sonic CD #Sonic Adventure #Sonic Heroes

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junicai · 3 years

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NCT being whipped for miyazu aria for seven minutes ;

325,078 views • 07 Feb 2021 • uploaded by [haechanieski]

[ NCT 127 Takes a Friendship Test ; Glamour 2020 ]

offscreen: “So, what was your first impression of Aria?”

Aria pressed herself into Doyoung’s side briefly, muttering a translation of the question into his ear. They had been briefed on the questions beforehand anyway, but she wanted to make sure he understood before he began answering - just in case he had forgotten.

Doyoung tilted his head down to Aria, a mischievous grin making its way onto his face; and it was only then, that Aria remembered exactly how the two had met in the first place.

Aria started to flush, shaking her head rapidly and burying her face into her hands. “Oh god no,” she whined.

Doyoung laughed at her, pulling her into his side with an arm over her shoulder and holding her there while he began speaking.

“Ah, Aria? We met for the first time when Aria was still tiny - well, tinier,”

“Hey!”

“And,” Doyoung continued on, laughing, “I had left my jacket in one of the practice rooms. It was a gift from my hyung, so I had gone back to get it even though it was really late. But when I went in to get it, I found Aria, sitting on the floor in the dark with it over her lap instead.”

At this point, Aria had fully buried her face into Doyoung’s chest, in a futile attempt to hide her reddened cheeks. “I thought it belonged to one of my friends,” she weakly protested, embarrassed by the laughs of the staff members behind the camera. “You scared me when you came in!”

“You stole my jacket!”

Aria sent a withering look to the camera.

“Czennie. Doyoung-oppa doesn’t care if I freeze, I want you to remember this.”

Doyoung gaped at her, yanking her back into his arms with an offended gasp, “Yah, you brat that’s a lie.”

Aria began sliding to the floor, letting her arms go boneless and limp. “You don’t love me!”

Doyoung started to stop with her, trying to hold her up in his arms. “Aria, Aria don’t sit on the floor it’s dirty, get up-”

The music of the other idol groups played quietly through the green room’s speakers, a small television setup in the upper right hand corner allowing the idols inside to monitor the performances outside.

Renjun tossed a half full water bottle over to Jisung, who was sitting on the floor beside the sofa where Jaemin, Jeno and Aria were; all three of them looking elated yet exhausted.

Ridin’ was a choreography heavy dance, and although Aria hadn’t many lines in this particular song, she was still struggling to push through the residual pain in her lower back. She had strained it earlier on in the month, pushing herself too far with too little preparation during rehearsals and was paying the price for it.

Most of Aria’s time in the greenroom before their performance was spent ensuring the other boys that yes, she was ok to perform and no, she wasn’t going to sit this one out.

The boys begrudgingly accepted her protests; but that hadnt stopped Jeno ever-so-carefully tugging her onto the sofa once they returned to the greenroom post-performance, gently pushing her to lie her head down on Jaemin’s lap and bringing her legs up into Jeno’s.

Jisung had wandered over later, eyes stuck to his phone screen but he willingly sacrificed his left hand to hold onto Aria’s when she hissed at the knot Jeno was trying to knead out of her lower back.

Jaemin shushed her softly, running a hand through her hair and untangling strands with his fingers. When Aria’s eyes had clenched shut and a whimper broke out from between her lips, Jeno’s hands froze in their movements, instantly bending closer to whisper apologizes.

“No, no it’s okay,” Aria said, attempting to prop herself up.

Jaemin pressed her back down, her head staying in his lap. “Stop it, let Nono help.”

She knew that there was something more to say, but having awknowledged that their current circumstances were not the best to have such a discussion, he settled for carding a hand through her hair again.

Aria let her eyes drift closed, hand still curled in Jisung’s, and legs pillowed in Jeno’s lap.

Who’s name do you think matches their appearance?

Kun pressed his lips together, thinking.

“Hm, all of the members put a lot of thought into their stage names, so they all fit very well,” he hummed, eyes flickering between the paper and the camera.

He took in a breath, clearly torn.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, looking up to the camera. “Aria, her name fits her really well; Akari is such a beautiful name and it compliments her personality perfectly. She’s really like a fruit sometimes - she’s always cheerful and energetic, like she’s on a constant sugar rush. Very sweet.” the smile that overtook Kun’s features was nothing sort of soft.

He quickly scribbled down Aria’s name in Hangul, before rolling the pen into the middle of his palm and straightening up again.

“Yiyang, is her Chinese name - she asked me to give her one last year. And you shouldn’t listen to Winwin, her full name is Qian Qiuyue, ok?”

Kun was laughing at himself now, picking back up the pen and moving to read the next question.

a/n: i know mr qian kun did NOT just say aria was fruity.

aria nct lgbt sub-unit confirmed

Renjun was sat beside Aria on a single piano stool, shoulders pressed together as she leaned forwards to try and make sense of the notes written on the pages in front of her.

“You know the basics, right?” Renjun questioned, hand coming out to flip forward in the music book a few pages. The single crotchet notes quickly turned into more complex rhythms, and from the side of his vision he could see Aria paling slightly.

He turned his head to look at her, “Riri, c’mon I know you know more than Mary had a Little Lamb, you can’t stay at beginner level forever.”

“Yes I can.” Aria sulked.

Renjun sighed. “You were the one who asked me to teach you.”

“Yes! When I thought it would be easier than this, my fingers just don’t do what they’re meant to do!”

“That’s why I’m here!” Renjun cut off her tirade. “I’m not going to laugh at you if you make mistakes - you’re learning, and everyone makes mistakes when they’re learning.”

“Promise?”

He ruffled her hair slightly, “Promise. Now here, look, this one isn’t difficult you’ll manage this one fine.”

“Injunnie.”

“Mm?”

“-nevermind, okay just. How do I?”

Renjun lifted his hands onto the keys of the piano, showing her the placement of her fingers and getting her to copy him. Aria did so, and then he was running her slowly, step-by-step through the first few bars of the piece, catching her when she played dud notes and clapping softly when she played through without stuttering.

Soon enough, Aria was playing a simplistic but solid melody line with her right hand, basic accompanying chords with her left, and Renjun was staring at the side of her face; head tilted slightly to the left and a small, barely-there proud glint in his eye.

[BUBBLE UPDATE 210205 ]

ARIA~~

czennie

i heard about the tiny horse

do u think they’d let me get one

if i asked nicely??

“Jae, Jae! Jaehyun!” Aria coughed out the older boy’s name, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “If you insist on leaning your entire bodyweight on me, please don’t throttle me in the process.”

The man only sent a weak apologetic grin her way before his feet slid out from underneath him and he was left grappling at the small girl yet again.

“You know when you said you wanted me to teach you ice-skating I didn’t know this was how you were planning on murdering me. If I have to die, I’d rather go out with a bang - ya’know? Not death by groupmate, that’s borinG-” Aria’s voice wobbled as she was pulled yet again.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jaehyun apologized, going so far as to take his hands off her shoulders. “I think I’ve got it now.”

He made it another few steps forward before he was tossed off balance by an eight year old boy rushing past, startling him to the point of jumping backwards.

When Jaehyun’s legs went from underneath him, he flailed his arms in a futile attempt to regain his balance - one of the windmilling arms catching Aria’s extended hands in the process.

Aria let out a shriek as her skates went as well, tumbling backwards. Her head would have made a harsh impact onto the ice - no arms ready to catch her fall - if it wasn’t for Jaehyun’s hand catching the back of her neck and taking the brunt of the impact.

Lying on the ground, Jaehyun coughed out a laugh, Aria staring him down.

All too soon though, Aria joined him in the laughter, head still pillowed on Jaehyun’s arm and the pair of them still lying on their backs on the ice.

“Hello everyone, today I’m with my favourite baby, say hi baby!”

Ten’s grin was audible in his words as he spoke to Aria, who waved before opening her mouth. “Your favourite baby?”

Ten cooed, “Yes, my favourite baby,” while crossing the floor of the practice room to throw his arms around Aria.

He rocked her side to side, pressing kisses to the top of her head.

“And what makes me your favourite? You know Yangie won’t be pleased if he hears he’s been replaced,” Aria lifted her head to look up at Ten.

“You accept the title of my baby, and are therefore my favourite. You don’t fight my love.” Ten shakes her dramatically side to side, mourning the one-sided relationship.

Aria only patted his head in solace. “It’s ok. If it’s any consolation the only reason I don’t fight your hugs is because you’re faster than I am.”

Ten let out a pained gasp. “Betrayed by both my babies. How ever will I survive!”

Aria tried to pry his arms away from her shoulders that were shaking with barely-suppressed laughter, worming her way out from his embrace. Ten only tightened his hold, going limp and dragging her onto the floor.

“No...” Ten cried, “I’m dying...”

Aria’s laughter turned to shrieks when he began to tickle her stomach on the skin that was showing from where her t-shirt had lifted up from the movement.

“No no no no stop Ten, TEN stop I’m sorry I take it back I take it baaack-”

“Say it!” Ten demanded, unrelenting.

“I’m your baby! I’m your baby I’m sorry I’m sorry!” Aria was rolling away from his hands, trying to escape but Ten only turned to lie flat on top of her.

“Exactly.”

a/n: nct world 2.0 gave us so much content of the boys loving aria im :’( smth in the water made aria super cuddly this time around i think she’s after all of their hearts

- aria collecting nct members like pokemon cards

Immediately after Jungwoo’s defeat, Aria sidestepped to behind Lucas where she fisted her hands in his shirt.

“Aria! You’re next!” The presenter called out, and soon all the members in OFN has turned to face her.

She poked her head around to see Yuta standing at the arm wrestling table already, tongue between teeth and grinning at her partially hidden form.

Aria squeaked and ducked back behind Lucas. “Noo,” she moaned, already knowing what was going to happen.

To their credit, Johnny and Jungwoo tried their best to bolster her spirits before she emerged, but Aria still shuffled up to the table with her head tucked down, paying no attention to the calls of support from the boys behind her.

Yuta rolled his sweater sleeve up again, and Aria looked up to meet his eyes.

“Onii-chan~” she tried, biting her lip to stop the laughter from bursting out.

Yuta brought a hand up to his mouth before turning away, eyes wide. Aria could hear the cheers of cute! from her teammates behind her; Yuta’s teammates doing their level best to convince him not to cave under Aria’s widened eyes.

“Onii-chan, you know I’m not very strong,” Aria made sure to heighten her voice’s register a bit, and stuck out her bottom lip, “Can you go easy on me?”

Aria could hear Mark calling out to Yuta to not fall for it.

“Yah!” Aria dropped her voice back to her normal register, yelling out to Mark. “Stop it this is all I have!”

The laughter was heard from across the field from the members in the tents, and Aria was left to sadly shuffle her way closer to the table and interlink her hand with Yuta’s.

He sent her a consoling smile, the referee blew the whistle and then Aria was pushing with all her might against Yuta. Her legs came up like Renjun’s did, face scrunched up with the effort before the back of her hand met the plastic-covered table and Yuta was announced the victor.

He quickly made his way around the table, wrapping Aria in a hug and picking her up to spin her around. Aria only giggled at him, sticking her tongue out at Ten who called Yuta out for fraternizing with the enemy.

Aria knew that a springboard worked off of your downward momentum, so it seemed perfectly logical to assume that if she barreled her bodyweight into the jump, then she would make it high enough to get over the 200cm vault.

She’d made it over the previous heights with varying degrees of success, but the new towering height was throwing her off a bit. Cheers came from both her teammates sitting down beside the mat as well as the other members sitting in the shade.

“Aria! Challenge accepted!” she called out, pumping her fist into the air.

From the corner of her eye, Aria could see Johnny leaning forward with his hands on his knees, watching carefully as she ran up to the springboard. Lucas was in a similar position, was it not for the wide grin he sported.

Beginning her run she tried to use up as much speed as possible, sprinting to the vault before jumping with her feet together onto the springboard and allowing it to propel her up and over the vault.

However what she had failed to account for; was the length of her arms.

Aria made it over the 190cm vault, but her fingertips barely scraped the top and it left her with a choice of either trying to become Superman and face-planting into the mat on the other side, or bringing her legs together prematurely and hope she didn’t lose a leg.

She couldn’t hear the gasps that left everyone’s mouth once her hands missed the top of the vault, missing the way Lucas moved closer to the mat with a jerk forward.

Bringing her legs closed, Aria swung her bodyweight forward and grappled behind her for the vault in a panic. A yelp left her mouth as her hand caught on the rung and she tucked it back into her body when her feet met the edge of the mat.

Unstable, Aria toppled backwards with her hands stretching out behind her again to prevent herself from falling. Her back landed against the vault, and she knocked it over, falling on top of the now-split pieces.

Despite it all, Aria was laughing hysterically, hands coming up to cover her face as she tried to hide her flaming red cheeks. An arm extended to her and she hoisted herself out of the middle of the vault, soon coming to rub at her back.

“Does that count?” Aria could hear the presenters asking should she be disqualified for knocking over the vault even after landing, but she was more concentrated on the hand on her back that was guiding her to her other teammates, all clapping wilding and cheering.

“You okay?” Lucas’ voice came in her ear, laughter but also concern audible in his tone. His hand was still rubbing slowly along her back, soothing the reddened skin underneath the t-shirt she was wearing.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Aria let her head fall forwards as she laughed at the thought of the picture she must have looked, flailing as she barely made it over the vault. “I don’t know if I’ll make it over the next one though.”

“Ah it’s okay. I’ll knock it over too and then I can join you.”

The gate at the back end of the tunnel swung closed with a clang, everyone inside letting out a shout.

Aria, having been standing in front of Johnny, tucked inside his coat while he back hugged her (she wasn’t built for the cold weather, and the denim jacket she wore was doing nothing to save her from hypothermia) let out a yelp and turned her face into Johnny’s chest.

Johnny pushed her behind him slightly as he turned around to look what had happened, and Aria clung to his waist while the others around them furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.

Trapped?

a/n: and a bonus clip bc shes was so CUTE during mtopia i couldnt not

In the emptied dining room, the SuperM members scattered around the different table set ups, searching for the coloured pieces of paper. Taeyong had wandered over to the food counter, while Ten had migrated towards the opposite end of the hall.

Baekhyun could see the other members in various locations; all apart from one.

“Oh? Aria, where did you go?”

The youngest member was no where to be found, and Baekhyun’s question gathered the attention of Taemin and Mark who were standing nearby. Mark tilted his head in a question, eyebrows lifted and then furrowed when he too looked around for the girl and couldn’t find her.

“I’m here!”

Baekhyun let out a small scream, jumping back from the table he was standing beside.

Beneath the tablecloth poked out Aria’s head, a sheepish smile on her face when she realized she’d scared her leader.

“I thought there might be some clues underneath, so I wanted to check.” she explained, slowly shuffling out from underneath the table.

“Baekhyun hyung did she scare you?” Jongin teased, as Taemin cooed over the adorable picture Aria made as she straightened up and brushed off the dust from her skirt.

Baekhyun floundered, spluttering “What? No! I don’t get scared.”

He puffed out his chest theatrically.

“Sorry oppa, I didn’t mean to scare you~” Aria said through suppressed laughter, coming over to hug him around the waist.

Baekhyun deflated slighty, “Ah, it’s okay,” he grumbled, petting her hair.

thank you for watching ! - haechanieski

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thepriceofbeingaroseisloneliness · 3 years

Text

TOSHIYA AT JOE YOKOMIZO CHANNEL 4th FEB TRANSLATION/NOTES 1/4

Joe Yokomizo Channel

Guest: Toshiya (Dir en grey)

Notes before reading: This is the translation/notes of the first part of the livestream on Joe’s Niconico channel with Toshiya as a guest last 4th February. The livestream was one hour and fifty min approx. and this part covers the first 45 min approx. before getting into the premium corner. You can watch this at Joe Yokomizo’s channel on Niconico. Feel free to correct me if you spot any mistake or any confusing parts. Links or credits to this post when the content is reposted or captured in other SNS are appreciated :) ------- Joe: Thank you for waiting. I’m Joe, the host of this Niconico livestream of the program Music&Talk by Joe Yokomizo’s channel, thank you for watching….Today, well, I was told that there are many people watching us right now, oh, you all have already started to write comments….thank you….

Joe explains how the program is going to be divided, the first part will be available for everyone but the premium part will be only available for the members of his channel.

Joe: In the middle of the program, we will get into the premium part. In that part, I’m going to comfortably drink with the guest person here while we have a deep talk. It would be great if you could watch the whole program! Then, without making you wait any longer, I’m going to introduce tonight’s guest…..Would you like to introduce yourself?....tonight’s guest is….this person!....please…

Toshiya: I’m Dir en grey’s bassist, Toshiya… thank you for having me….

Joe: Thank you! *claps* You finally came, Toshiya!

Toshiya: I did!

Joe: You came, thank you!

Toshiya: Yes

Joe: Before starting the program, you told me that you hated appearing in the media…

Toshiya: Yes, I hate it…

Joe: *laughs* Do you hate it?

Toshiya: Yes.

Joe: Do you hate talking (in public)?

Toshiya: Yes

Joe: You hate it….as today there are many people watching, I think that we should go hard at the members section (premium part) …..please, let’s do it…..

Toshiya: Please…

Joe: First of all, about the state of emergency…..*cuts* Oh, comments are already coming……”Toshiya is so cool”….thank you for writing comments…..ah, yes yes….If you have any questions, please write them down because at the premium part the staff is going to hand some to me and we are going to have a question corner…please write many comments!.....so….about the emergency state we are in since last 7th January…..what you have being doing?

Toshiya: Recently…..what was it?....we finished recording “Oboro”…..

Joe: Oh, did you finish the recording?

Toshiya: Yes

Joe: I see…. after that, it’s time for the mixing….

Toshiya: Yes

Joe: Then…for example…. today…. what did you do today?

Toshiya: Today…...mmmm…..well, it’s related….started the pre-production of another (song)….

Joe: I see, you are already into the next pre-production (stage)….

Toshiya: Yes, it’s one from the album….

Joe: Is that so? I’m sure we are going to be happy with the information coming from Dir en grey from now on….

Toshiya: That’s it.

Joe: By the way, this is not really an important question but, what time do you usually get up in the morning?

Toshiya: What time would it be?....mmm…usually it’s random…

Joe: *laughs* Random…..you don’t have a pattern like, “I’m going to be up at this time”….

Toshiya: I’d say so…that’s it but….I usually wake up at 4-5 in the morning….

Joe: Eh….then you go to sleep early, right?

Toshiya: Yes, I try to go to bed early… Joe: That’s good for your body…… Toshiya: *Nods* Joe: Like at 10-11 pm, for example? Toshiya: More or less, I'm about to sleep at that time…. Joe: Oh, I see…..”Are you sleeping properly?” , they are asking that (at the comments), are you? Toshiya: I don’t know….I think I do….*laughs* Joe: I… As I’m old, even if I fall sleep, I wake up easily….like 2-3 times during the night I have to go to pee….it’s really annoying…. Toshiya: Ahh… Joe: You still don’t know about that, right? *laughs* Toshiya: That’s right….*Joe laughs* Sometimes I wake up….once or twice…. Joe: You do wake up once or twice…. Toshiya: Then, I’m like…should I sleep again? Or so…it’s like….”what should I do?”…. Joe: I see….*pointing at the comments* it seems that happens to a proportion of the people watching us…..so, now with the corona….how is it called?.....are you doing weight lifting for your upper body? Toshiya: No, I can’t go… Joe: You can’t? Then, are you losing muscle? Toshiya: I think so… Joe: Is that so? Usually, do you do it at home? Toshiya: Usually I go to the gym, but since Corona, I don’t feel like going…. Joe: Certainly…. certainly… Toshiya: Doing it by myself it’s ok but, sometimes I think “I don’t feel like doing it” and I end up not doing it….. Joe: I see. Are you losing chest muscle mass? Toshiya: That’s right, I will do my best ( to get it back)…. I will do my best… Joe: But, it’s amazing your (makes a gesture of wide shoulders)….ah, they are asking if you work out at home… Toshiya: Sometimes I do. Joe: The first time I went to a Dir en grey live and I got into the dressing room, where was it? Was it in Osaka? I think it was Nagoya… Toshiya: Yes Joe remembers that at that performance, before the show, he saw some work out equipment and he thought that those were Toshiya’s. Toshiya replies that it was probably another member’s stuff. Joe: is that so? I totally thought it was yours… Toshiya: Among the members, I’m the first one getting into he dressing room, while I’m getting ready there (changing clothes), I start to work out a bit… Joe: Muscle training? *Toshiya nods* How did you get into muscle training? Toshiya: Well, it’s was mostly because I have a hernia in my neck and lower back/waist. Joe: Ohh, is that so? Toshiya: It’s because of that. At that time….my height is 180-181 cm ….and at that time, about 20 years ago, my weight was about 58 kg…. Joe: Very skinny…*laughs* Toshiya: I was really skinny…. Joe: Being 180 cm tall and that weight….you were really skinny… Toshiya: I felt like trying to gain weight and get over 60…I was really skinny….I couldn’t eat…. Joe: You didn’t have money *laughs*… Toshiya: Yes, I couldn’t eat *laughs* Joe: As you didn’t have money, you couldn’t….*laughs* Toshiya: Then, at that time, at lives we would perform in a rough/violent way…it was like that, so as expected that wasn’t good for me… Joe: That’s right… Toshiya: Yes, then….my neck and my back snapped…. Joe: Ehhhhhhhh that sounds painful…. Toshiya: *Laughs* Joe: They snapped? Toshiya: They did… Joe: That sound is really unpleasant…. Toshiya: It’s just…. something I can’t forget…that was at Meguro Rockmaykan…. Joe: Oh, that happened there? Toshiya: Yes yes. We played at Yokohama Arena and I think it was the next day? there was a secret live at Rockmaykan. At the end of it, after shaking my head, my back cracked….*Joe squeals*I couldn’t move, I was like *makes the gesture of holding the bass* my neck and so….I could move my body just this way *moves a little bit*…like paralyzed… Joe: Ahhh, isn’t that hell? Toshiya: Yes, as I couldn’t move… I was just moving my hand *makes the gesture of playing bass, Joe laughs* Then, Rockmaykan’s dressing room is really narrow/small *Joe says he has been there* so I went up the stairs as I could, doing my best….at the dressing there is a long couch, I lied down there…fans were asking for an encore… Joe: As usual… Toshiya: While we were doing it, they called al ambulance for me and they told the fans to not go out and closed the doors while they were taking me in…. Joe: Ouhhh that happened at Rockmaykan?? Toshiya: Yes. I’m scared of Rockmaykan…. Joe: By the way, what’s your current weight? You said you were 58kg at the time of this back incident… Toshiya: I’m around….67kg….yes, 67kg… Joe: How many kilos do you lift? Toshiya: Nothing really heavy…. … Joe: So, I think that everyone wants to hear many things about you today, and they wrote many questions that we are going to discuss in the premium part. Now, Joe wants Toshiya to write a kanji that describes how he is as a person. He hands Toshiya a sheet and a pen and ask viewers to write in the comments what kanji do they think that represents Toshiya. Joe is reading what people is writing at the comments and Toshiya seems to struggle and laughs softly. Toshiya: So poorly (done)…. It seems that he messed up writing the kanji and uses a new sheet of paper. Joe: Are you ok? Are you ok?....he is rewriting it… Toshiya: I’m sorry… Joe laughs seeing Toshiya still struggling with the pen and says we are going to see the kanji that Toshiya wrote. Toshiya shows the kanji to the camera: 怠け (Lazy) Joe: Lazy…..are you a lazy person? Toshiya: I am a lazy person…. Joe: You don’t look like that at all! Toshiya: I’m lazy. Joe: What are you lazy about? Toshiya: Everything….*They both laugh* Everything…. Joe: Everything? Like, if you have to prepare a meal, you don’t do it…things like that Toshiya: No,no…I do that…. Joe: You do? Then, when are you lazy? Toshiya: Well, I’m just lazy…. Joe: But lazy people usually have a chubby belly and so…. that’s my image of a lazy person… Toshiya: I wouldn’t say so… Joe: I wonder what your lazy side is… Toshiya: What would it be…. Joe: It’s more like, you are a laid-back person? Toshiya: Mmmm, I’m a bit like that too… Joe: Doing muscle training you don’t look like a lazy person at all… Toshiya: Is that so? Then, let’s just keep that image… Joe: *laughs* It’s a way to keep up appearances…but truth is that you are lazy…. Toshiya: I think that I’m lazy…. Joe says that as they are going to drink at the premium part, he is going to rip apart that image and find out about Toshiya’s laziness. Toshiya: That’s it Joe: Please watch it…. well, you talked about that incident that happened to your back at Rockmaykan but soon, the film screenings of a Dir en grey live at Meguro Rockmaykan is going to start. Would it be ok to take a survey and ask the viewers? I’m going to ask the staff to make a survey? Joe proceeds to read the dates of the film screening, starting in Kanagawa prefecture on the 16th and ending at Nanba hatch in Osaka on 7th April. Joe: What do you think about these screening? How many are you going to attend? we are going to ask that in the survey. *asking the staff* Is it already on screen? Oh, there it is… The survey appears on the screen. There are five options. Joe asks Toshiya if this is the second time, they do this (film screenings) and how does he feel about fans attending to them. Toshiya says it makes him happy that fans come. Joe: Let’s see the results of the survey…*reads the results* 1. I am going to all of them 1% 2. I am going to multiple screenings 54.1% 3. I’m going to one 19.4% 4. I’m going to buy a ticket after this 6.1% 5. I’m not going 19.4% Joe: Due to Corona, it’s hard for some people to attend this. About the screening, Joe says that they played at Meguro Rockmaykan and recorded the live, which is going to be the content of the screening. He asks Toshiya about how he felt about the performance and Toshiya replies that he couldn’t move at all, which surprises Joe. Toshiya says that it was because they are not playing lives recently, the venue is tiny but also because his body remembers what happened years ago, so he doesn’t have a fond memory of the venue even though he is thankful that people are looking forward to it and watch the footage. Toshiya: In my head, I see what I want to do, this or that, but it’s like I can’t reach the place that I imagine. There is nothing after that. Joe: I see, you can imagine it in your head but at lives, but at lives, to put the icing on the cake…. Toshiya says that at a live, there is an exchange of energy with the audience as well as among the members, and as there is no audience, that it’s not happening. Joe: It’s feels like you are just gathering and rehearsing with the members, instead of feeling like a concert….*Toshiya nods* Toshiya: This (situation) is really deadly awful…. Joe: Is that so?....they are saying that they feel the same at the comments but, until now, you have done the things that you could do in this situation… Toshiya: That’s true but, all the things we are doing now, it’s like there is no a next step….how could I say it?...it feels like there is nothing ahead… Joe: I see. Of course, if you have an audience, there is a reaction from them… Toshiya: If there is an audience….how could I say it?....it’s an stimulus…it’s feels like….”let’s do this”….when it’s a live without audience…..somehow….it’s like my own fight….I’m just fighting by myself….so what’s the point of it? Joe: I see. Joe says that when they play in front of a audience, they get a reaction back so they know what’s the next step, Toshiya agrees and adds that in that aspect, the fans going to the live screening and being able to see their reaction, makes him feel better about it. Joe says that they can play lives in real time, so fans can only watch a recorded live in a screen, but, on the contrary, they (the band) can see their reaction and think about what’s coming next. Toshiya: In that sense, I think it’s ok… Joe: This is the third time you do something like this right? The first time was last March when you did the live stream, and the second and the third time is in this way, a film screening…. They discuss about the difference between doing it as a live stream instead of a film screening. Toshiya: The feeling of the livestream was really interesting…it’s a bit different than playing live but when it’s something recorded…. Joe: I understand. It’s the same for me at the radio. When I’m broadcasting live the feeling is totally different. Toshiya: I don’t know why….but it feels different….*laughs* In the end, Toshiya says that both options are different and he doesn’t know which one is more interesting but he wants to play live sometimes. They discuss that, a recorded live feels like listening to an album. Joe: You usually make an album and then play it live…but in these circumstances you can’t…. Then, the dates for the screening appear on screen and Joe reads them. Joe: “Toshiya are you coming to Sapporo?”, they are asking that….*Toshiya laughs* Answer them… Toshiya: *cross arms* Huuuummm….. Joe: Huummmm huuummmm…. I don’t understand what do you mean…. .”Come to Shinkiba!”….are you going? Toshiya: *cross arms* Huuuummm…..*Joe and Toshiya laugh* Joe: “Please come!”…. Nanba hatch….”Come to Nanba hatch!” are you going? Toshiya: *cross arms* Huuuummm…..*They laugh again” Joe: Birthday….ohhhh….is it your birthday? Toshiya: On 31st March…. the day of Sapporo screening… Joe: Oh, Sapporo’s date…. This…. You can’t answer that….you can’t answer…. Toshiya: That’s right…somehow, its like…I can’t say it *pouts*… The way that Toshiya said it, makes Joe laughs hard. Joe: So your birthday is on 31st March… Toshiya: That’s right… Joe: At the end of the month…. Toshiya: Right… Toshiya says that when he was little, as his birthday was usually during the spring break, he barely got any memories of celebrating it. When he got older and started playing in a band, he gets many birthday wishes/greetings and he is thankful for that. Joe says that he must feel really happy receiving many birthday wishes from many people. Toshiya nods. They both laugh about being happy when they receive birthday wishes but getting older doesn’t make them so happy lol. Toshiya: But at this age, birthdays gradually get.... Joe: True. As I’m in my 50s, it feels like a countdown to death....

Toshiya: Yes, it’s like, I’m happy but.... Joe: So your birthday is going to be on a screening day…. Toshiya: Yes. When there is a live (on my birthday), it raises my mood…. Joe: That’s it. But you don’t know if you are going or not to the Sapporo screening… After encouraging people to go to the film screening, Joe says we are going to watch a music video. Joe: We are going to watch a Dir en grey video….the title of the video….oh we didn’t tell Toshiya which video is….*Toshiya laughs* It’s the latest single music video the one we are going to watch… Toshiya: Is that so? Please, go ahead (to Joe) Joe: Please introduce it…. Toshiya: No,no….please go ahead…. Joe: Well, this is the video, everyone please watch it… (Ochita koto no aru Sora Promotional video plays) Joe: Well, there are comments saying that in the end we didn’t introduce the song….so please Toshiya, say the name of the song….please…. Toshiya: *laughs* This was Dir en grey “Ochita koto no aru Sora” Joe: They were saying in the comments that we didn’t say the name of the song…. Toshiya: Ahhh….I thought that you were going to say it…. Joe: I’m sorry….there are a lot of comments asking you to take off your sunglasses…you are going to do that at the premium corner, right? We are going to be drinking and you will take your sunglasses off…. Please watch it… Joe explains that soon the premium part is going to start and they are going to talk about many things such as which music he has being listening to recently, and also they will be showing a private picture that Toshiya took. So, if we want to watch it, we have to subscribe to the channel. Joe: The number of comments have increased some time ago but the truth is that today what I’m wearing *points at his sweatshirt* it’s from toshiya’s brand…. Toshiya: It’s a bribe… Joe: A bribe….you got me a bribe…. Toshiya: *laughs* I’m sorry… Joe shows a Dirt shirt to the audience and starts touching it. Joe: The fabric feels really good! Toshiya: It’s a fabric that feels really good…. Joe: Do you choose everything,from the fabric? Toshiya: I do, I do… Joe: For those who don’t know about the brand yet…..what’s the concept behind it? Toshiya: There is no particular concept but, I think it’s good to create things that you can wear everyday… Joe: I see. I’m wearing now a high-neck long sleeve shirt with the logo in the neckline….*stands up to show the back of the shirt* At the back it has…..this is not just a print right? Toshiya: It’s a foam print… Joe says he is happy wearing it and that it looks really stylish. Joe: Why did you start this brand? Toshiya: As a pastime/hobbie…. Joe: A hobbie… is that so?.... because you like clothes…did you create that saten shirt are wearing right now? Toshiya: *pointing at his shirt* This is a sample… Joe: You didn’t buy it….”a sample?” “it’s a new item?” “I want it”….they are saying that at the comments…. Joe says they are going to put a link on screen so we can click it and go to Dirt’s homepage. They start talking about the production and creation of the items. Joe thinks that choosing fabrics must be hard. Toshiya: It’s hard….cause fabric samples are so small, right? Joe: You cant imagine the whole thing… Toshiya: Besides that, when it becomes a clothes item, the image can be very different…. Joe: You didn’t imagine that it would be that hard… Toshiya: That’s right… Joe: *laughs* isn’t it? Toshiya: It’s too hard…we are five people in the band right? So I don’t have to do everything by myself…as I’m a very lazy person… Joe: *laughs* as you are lazy…. Toshiya: As I have to think everything myself and do it…..it’s very hard… Joe: Do you regret it? Toshiya: Regret…..*laughs* *whispering* A bit… Joe: *Laughs* You regret it a bit… someone said in the comments “lazy person activation”….he regrets it a bit but he really likes it…please everyone go and check the homepage clicking in the link….”please make smaller sizes”…someone said that in a comment… Toshiya: That’s right… this time the sizes were varied but they were still big…. Joe: Still big….I wonder why….how is that? They started discussing the production and how doing several sizes is hard, cause it affects retail price and stuff. Joe: People who want a smaller size, do the same that Toshiya did and get a bigger body frame…*Toshiya laughs* He went from 58 kg to 67kg…. Toshiya: If you eat more, you will gain weight… Joe: If you eat more….they are comments saying that they like that the brand is unisex…. Toshiya: Ah, thank you so much…. Joe asks Toshiya if he is going to release something for spring season and he replies that around March he thinks they will release the new items, that they are currently working on them. Joe: Now we are going to watch some footage and after than, we are going to talk while having a drink. Toshiya: Yes Joe: The two of us drinking…..it can be something dangerous… Toshiya: I think so Joe remembers Dir en grey’s livestream, last year, in which Toshiya drank. Toshiya says he thought that if he didn’t talk much it wouldn’t be interesting. Joe: Thank you for that. Toshiya: I thought that if everyone had fun, then it’s ok… Joe: I see Toshiya: Like, “let’s get a bit crazy” and so… Joe: That’s it….from here, we are getting into the crazy talk or rather…..from here, the promotional talk is over so, rather it’s going to be a talk with a drunk Toshiya and Yokomizo…. Toshiya: *laughs* That’s not good…. Joe: That’s a bad thing… I wonder if we can show that to you….please everyone be welcome to join us at the premium corner….we are going to watch one more footage of Dir en grey from last year’s March….a footage from the concert at Zepp Yokohama….please watch it…. (Footage of Ningen wo Kaburu from The World You Live in) Joe: We just watched Dir en grey’s Ningen wo Kaburu. There are many comments saying that they want to attend a live, I want you to play a live, Toshiya… Toshiya: Yes, I want to do it… Joe: Besides the screening, there is also information about a new single in spring, right? Toshiya: Yes Joe: You said that you just finished recording it Toshiya: Yes, the recording is over. Joe: Now it’s time for the mixing…and probably it’s going to be soon out….but what kind of song is it? Toshiya: Ahhh…..mmmmmm……*Joe tries to get him to say something*….I won’t say it… Joe: You won’t say anything… Toshiya: I want them to look forward to it…..the coupling song is also really amazing… Joe: Is that so? What’s the name of the coupling song? Toshiya: I won’t say it…. Joe: You won’t say anything… everyone, he is not saying it….so until it is released, we are going to be looking forward to it…. Joe explains that the premium corner is about to start so for those who have not joined yet can click in the link to do so. They have already two beers on the table. Joe: So, two troublesome old men as you haven’t seen before…old men? I shouldn’t say that….two troublesome guys…. Toshiya: No,no…we are really old men…. Joe: You are not an old man… Toshiya: I’m really an old man… Joe: Please everyone subscribe to the channel….is it ok?....we are going to do a five-second countdown….5…4….3….2…1….don! (Premium corner/Members only section starts)

(Second part here)

#dir en grey #toshiya #joe yokomizo channel #Joe Yokomizo #translation #toshiyatranslations

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imagine-loki · 3 years

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What About Trust, Chapter 1

TITLE: What About Trust CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 1 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki owns a bookshop on Midgard. He had to do something there to try and avoid getting any attention. But he’s not fond of having customers, is rather grumpy and guarded. But then he meets a bright, bubbly and trusting young woman who doesn’t recognise him. To his dismay, he finds himself becoming rather fond of the mortal. RATING: M NOTES/WARNINGS: Fluff ahoy in this fic! Lots of fluff.

Cleo was just strolling along the streets in the Northern Quarter of Manchester. It was her favourite place to be and since she had a day off, she was going to make the most of it.

As she worked in an independent record shop on Oxford street, she knew the importance of supporting small local businesses instead of the larger ones. And there was plenty of quirky shops in the area, including other record shops.

But suddenly the heavens decided to open and started dumping a load of rain on top of her.

‘Shit, shit, shit!’ She had forgotten to take an umbrella. And her jacket wasn’t exactly waterproof either.

She pulled her jacket up over her head in an attempt to try and at least keep her hair from getting utterly soaked and she sprinted along the street. Then she ducked into a small doorway that had a small overhang, enough to save her from the sudden downpour anyway.

Sighing, she looked round to see what she was outside of. Her eyebrows shot upwards when she saw it was a bookshop. It didn’t look very brightly lit inside, but there was a very small sign that said open.

Unable to resist looking around a bookshop, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. There was a small bell above the door that announced her arrival. But the shop was empty, aside from books.

‘Oh wow.’ She gasped as she looked around, it was quite a small place but the owner had managed to stack hundreds and hundreds of books in, with really tall shelves on every wall and a few aisles on front of her.

There was a beautiful wooden spiral staircase just off the centre of the shop, leading to an upper floor that came out halfway, where she saw even more books.

A lit fireplace was to the left of her, in a space amongst the book shelves. It kept the place cosy and was one of the few light sources in the shop. As well as a large lamp to her right.

Cleo breathed in deeply, revelling in the book smell that surrounded her.

How she had never noticed this place before was beyond her. Considering she frequented the area all the time, pretty much every week. But she decided she was certainly going to make up for lost time now.

‘Hello?’ She called out, wondering if there was even anyone here manning the place.

There was no response. But she didn’t notice the green eyes watching her from the back corner, hidden in the shadows.

Not caring much, she started to the right and looked at some of the book titles. She felt giddy when she realised this was no normal bookshop, these were rare books. Some were foreign, a language she didn’t even recognise. But some of the books were decorated in beautiful and intricate patterns, capturing her attention.

She pulled a few books out from the shelves and went to the fireplace, where it was warmest. There was a lone green arm chair on front of it, she took a seat with the books on her lap and she started looking through the first one.

It was a William Shakespeare play that was said to have been lost many years ago, she couldn’t actually believe it was in her hands as she carefully turned the pages.

‘What are you doing?’ Came a rather cold voice from beside her.

She jumped, having not heard anyone approach. When she looked round, her eyes widened when she saw a really tall man… A really tall and rather handsome man, at that. With long black hair, nice cheekbones. He was wearing a dark green shirt and leather trousers with boots. He didn’t look like an ordinary book shop owner, but who was she to judge?

He had his arms folded across his chest and didn’t look overly pleased at her presence.

‘Oh, sorry. I did shout when I came in but no one answered… I’m reading, that’s not illegal, is it?’ She smirked up at him.

‘No, it is not.’ He drawled. ‘But this is not a library.’

‘I can see that. It’s way better than a library.’

Loki had no idea why this mortal was in his shop, reading a book and sitting on his chair. Sure, it was a book shop, but barely anyone ever came in. Never mind stayed for this long.

‘Are you going to buy that book or just put your grubby hands all over it?’ He grumbled.

Cleo narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You’re not very friendly for a shop owner. No, I am not going to be buying it, I suspect this would be well out of my price range. Do you not like to share with a fellow book lover? I was going to leave some money on my way out, I know it can be difficult for small businesses to keep afloat.’

Loki was a little surprised at her answer. And the fact she was still there, sitting on his chair. Normally when a mortal came in and stayed to look through his books, they soon scarpered when he made his presence known. Either because they recognised him, or were just put off by his coldness towards them.

‘Fine. Whatever. Just… don’t rip any of my books.’ He huffed and walked away again, leaving her to it.

Cleo was rather confused at what the hell had just happened.

‘Wait.’ She carefully placed the books down on the small coffee table on front of her and rushed after him to the back of the shop. ‘What’s your name? I’m guessing you are the owner?’

Loki rolled his eyes before turning around to face her. ‘I am… My name is Luke.’

‘Nice to meet you, Luke. I’m Cleo.’ She put her hand out towards him. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then shook her hand when he decided she didn’t seem much of a threat.

‘I’ve never seen your shop before, it’s quite hidden. But it’s incredible. I can actually see why you wouldn’t want it to get too busy, it would ruin the atmosphere. But it’s quite the wee gem.’ She said as she looked around, still taking it all in.

‘Thank you… You’re not from here, are you?’ He quirked an eyebrow up.

‘Nope. I’m from Inverness, but I’ve lived here for the past eight months. Much more exciting than back home.’ She smiled.

Loki nodded once. ‘Well, I shall leave you to your reading… If there areany books you’re interested in buying, let me know.’

Cleo’s face brightened. ‘I will, thanks.’

She watched as Loki disappeared through a door at the very back of the shop, it said staff only on it. She shrugged the encounter off and went back to the few books she had taken out to look at. After flicking through them, she carefully placed them back in their place and went upstairs to look some more.

As she carefully pulled a book out from its shelf, she nearly jumped out of her skin when Loki suddenly spoke next to her.

‘Are you still here?’

She held the book she had in her hands close to her chest in fright, her heart was racing but soon calmed down when she realised it was just the owner.

‘Jesus Christ. Do you always sneak up on your customers?’

‘Are you always so jumpy?’ Loki countered, raising an eyebrow. A ghost of a smirk on his lips.

Cleo rolled her eyes and looked down at the book in her hands. ‘How did you even get hold of most these? They’re so rare and expensive.’

‘You could say I’ve travelled a lot.’ Loki said as he started walking down the aisle, she followed him, curious.

‘Really? That’s cool. I’ve never been out of the UK before. But I would love to visit some countries like Iceland, Finland and Norway, for the culture and history. Those places fascinate me.’ Cleo rambled a bit.

Loki suddenly turned on his heels, going back right past her. Cleo was a little stunned but turned and followed him again.

‘How long have you had the shop?’ She asked as Loki stopped and started skimming through the shelves, looking for something.

‘A year.’ He said simply as his long fingers tapped gently along the spines of the books on the upper shelf.

‘I can’t believe I’ve only just found it. I’ve been living in the city for the last eight months, I’m around this area every week.’ She said as Loki plucked a book out, he briefly turned his back to her so she didn’t see the slight shimmer of green that surrounded the book before he quickly turned around to face her, holding the book out towards her.

‘What’s this?’ She asked, tucking the other book under her arm.

‘Nordic tales. Since you seem interested in the Nordic countries, perhaps you might find that of interest.’ Loki hummed.

Cleo’s eyes widened as she looked at the book. She looked up at Loki in disbelief. ‘I’ve been looking for an English edition of this for… years! I didn’t think one existed. I thought I was going to have to give in and google translate every single word.’

Loki scoffed. ‘Google translate is not reliable at all, believe me.’ He turned on his heels again and started heading back towards the stairs.

Cleo was too busy looking at the blurb of the book, by the time she looked up Loki was back downstairs. She hurried after him, putting the other book back in its rightful place first.

As she was rushing down the stairs, she held the Nordic Tales book out. ‘How much is this? Please, God. Let it be within my budget!’ She said as she rushed over to him by the fireplace.

Loki folded his arms over his chest and sighed, narrowing his eyes at her for a moment. Then he smiled, just a little bit. ‘Call it a gift, for a fellow book lover.’

Cleo’s mouth opened wide in shock. ‘What? Seriously? But the originals are like at least fifty quid anyway. This English version must be worth a shit load more than’

‘Do you want the book or not?’ Loki interrupted.

She nodded sheepishly. ‘I do…’

‘Well then, like I said. Consider it a gift. Before I change my mind and decide to charge you triple what it’s actually worth.’

Cleo grinned and slipped the book safely into her handbag. ‘Maybe I did get you wrong, you’re an alright shop owner.’

Loki chuckled. ‘What is it they say? Don’t judge a book by its cover.’

‘Never a truer word spoken.’ Cleo agreed. ‘Well, it was really nice meeting you. Thank you so much for the book, I really appreciate it. I’ll be back before you know it, I want to read that Shakespeare play through properly.’ She said as she started to head towards the door.

‘I look forward to your return.’ Loki said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Cleo turned back to face him and grinned widely. ‘Ohh, I bet you do.’ She laughed.

As Cleo left the shop, Loki shook his head. But he smiled.

‘What a curious mortal.’

#Loki #Lover #Submitted fic #What About Trust #chapter 1 #fanficshiddles

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juleswolverton-hyde · 3 years

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Not by the Moon | 07

Genre: Smut, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Drama, Tragedy, Werewolf AU, Supernatural AU, Bookshop AU

Pairing: Bookshop keeper!/Werewolf!JB x Reader

Warnings: A philosophical slant, (heavy) angst, Werewolf!Jaebeom being absolute hubby material, Werewolf!Jaebeom being awkward and (a bit of a) pervert, domestic fluff, talk of medication, apparently werewolves don’t like to wear clothes (what is my canon...), talk of life and death, mention of blood, mild swearing

Summary: Every story has a purpose or goal it is dedicated to, their authors at times going to great lengths to see the project they once started to completion. Nevertheless, the things the writers swore on to see their latest art piece to completion are static.

Unchanging.

None of them swore by the Moon nor Love because they can solely genuinely swear on all that changes like themselves.

And yet, a wolf in love foolishly swore by the moon.

That is when Time truly started ticking.

Author’s Note: This chapter is from Jaebeom’s POV.

Well, here it is, earlier and much longer than originally planned. It’s also a lot more tragic and philosophical than I intended it to be, but then again, what else can you expect from a tragedian fascinated by the human condition even as it is translated into the realm of the magical?

I think I just thought of the modern literary movement I might belong to: magic realism.

It’s a crying shame the Decadent Movement isn’t active anymore, though, because that one truly feels like a good fit for me both as an author and an individual. Ah well, c’est la vie.

Previous Chapter / Next chapter

Masterlist

There is nothing better for a wolf than being with its mate.

Well, there is one thing.

Having them completely at your mercy as you’re inside them.

I still don’t understand what the plastic wrapping is good for, but Jinyoung was very insistent on using it while we drove to the airport. And Y/N seemed glad I had whatever it is, her scent even betraying a hint of relief. However, one day, I hope she’ll tell me not to use it.

No, that’s not right. There’s a word for the… whatever it is.

A condom.

That’s the word.

I hope she’ll tell me not to use a condom. It doesn’t matter whether I’m in season or not, although the chances she’ll pup are higher if I am. I want pups with her, a little pack of our own. I want it to be our toddler running around the park, chasing its sibling. Then again, will I remain human long enough to see them grow up?

Will I even remember their birth on the day they’re born?

Will I still be here?

Or remain without a family, a proud bloodline?

I slowly open my eyes, blinking a few times to get used to the sunlight bathing the room in a warm golden hue, swallow hard and force myself to calm down. There is no use in contemplating this now, not this early in the day nor in our time together. What counts is that I’m here now with Y/N in my arms and we’re in her apartment somewhere.

A faint whiff of brine seeps in through the air cleaner filter above the window overlooking the city. A gull flies by and lands on the roof of the building opposite ours.

Sea. Rusted metal. Right, the old harbour.

A high-pitched noise, a disquiet hum followed by a sigh, makes my ears perk up. I look down at the lady sleeping on my chest, curled up and fingers balled into small fists similar to a bunny’s paws. More importantly, however, she’s perfectly alright and was only unconsciously trying to get more comfortable.

A breathless chuckle rises in my throat at the display. Y/N’s adorable even when she’s fast asleep, her lips parted yet not enough to allow drooling.

I, on the other hand, am another story. I don’t do it often, but I must have been so tired last night I triggered the habit. The finger I swipe over the corners of my mouth comes away wet both times.

Oh no, I didn’t drool on her, did I? Would she mind, though, if I explained it’s a sign I’m comfortable with her?

It isn’t hard to guess the answer to the question. She would beat me over the head, likely with a shoe, and say I’m not allowed to bite her at all anymore. Not even in the future.

In a hurry to discover whether I made the fatal mistake, I check her messy hair but keeping my movements controlled to not wake her up. Fortunately, there are no locks sticking together nor a trail running down over the side of her face.

With a deep sigh, I slump further down into the bed again and kiss her crown. However, I don’t go back to sleep despite the comfort of the sheets. Instead, I lift the lady’s head and gently put her down on the pillow as I get up, carefully calculating every movement like I do when hunting to make sure she won’t wake up or notice my absence in her unconscious state.

The faint smell of burned iron comes from somewhere when I rearrange the sheets to bundle Y/N up. My mouth dries up, throat blocked by something I can’t swallow as a familiar stench disturbs the morning happiness. Former intentions abandoned, I claw through the sheets to try and discover where the rank odour comes from.

Did I hurt her? Is she bleeding? Why is she bleeding? Where is it? Where’s the blood?

As suspected, the frantic search wakes the pretty lady. Propped up on an elbow, eyes half-closed and brows furrowed, she turns to me. “Jae, what-’’ she yawns, “What’re you doing?”

Barely has she asked the question or I find what I’ve been looking for.

On her side of the bed, between her thighs, is a puddle of dried blood.

Where did it come from? Did I… Did I do this?

I grab her by the shoulders and pull her close to check her condition, turning her this way and that as each thought grows more troubled. “Are you okay?” There’s nothing to see on the bare skin of her upper body. “Are you hurt?”

Maybe the wound is somewhere lower, on her hip or leg. I didn’t bite her last night. Right? I didn’t hurt her. At least, I don’t think I did. No. Surely the wolf- I wouldn’t harm her. I had enough control to prevent that from happening. Yes, that’s the case.

But then, with a fading mind, how much can I trust myself?

“Jaebeom, I’m fine. What are you- ah.” Y/N notices the spot of dark crimson when I pull the sheets completely off the bed and toss them aside. She lets out an incomprehensibly careless chuckle, evidently oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

“What are you giggling about? Y/N, you’re bleeding!” I bark, lost.

A small paw cups my cheek, her thumb caressing the skin in an attempt to calm me down. “You took my virginity. It’s natural to bleed a little when that happens.”

“Are you still in pain?” Even though it’s natural, surely it’s not without repercussions. Otherwise, the stain wouldn’t be there.

“No, I’m not, silly. I’m okay.” She kisses the tip of my nose when I let out a whine, unhappy with the response. Withal, a curious tone in her voice overtakes my own displeasure. “Are you?”

Why do you say it like that?

She sounds weird, hinting at something I’m supposed to find as obvious as she. Yet, I have no clue about what it can be. So, I tilt my head and stare blankly at her, waiting for an explanation. “I’m fine.”

My choice of words makes her visibly flinch despite the effort to hide it. The sleepiness which glazed her eyes evaporated, leaving them devoid of the amusement at my failure as a human. The recognizable sour note of anxiety creeps back into her scent, setting off alarm bells in my mind. “I’m alright. No pain. Happy to be here. Happy to wake up next to you.”

I rub her arms in a poor attempt to make her calm down, have her scent return to its spring-like fruitiness. She is supposed to smell like fresh fruit still hanging from the trees, yet to ripen. Not like fallen fruit beginning to decay in the summer sun.

“Okay,” is all she says in response before she pulls away, the absence of the warmth of her palm sending a cold shiver throughout my body.

The world always seems a little colder without her.

“Want breakfast?” A low grumble pierces the silence following the question, giving me enough of a response. And a reason to get my head, no, that’s not the idiom. To get my thoughts ordered. Organized. To get my thoughts in order? To think about… stuff. Last night. This. Everything. “Never mind. I’m making you breakfast. You have to eat.”

I stand up and head for the bathroom to first get rid of the weird plastic wrapping she put on me last night. Having thrown it in the bin there after a bit of an awkward struggle removing it, I move to the kitchen. Nevertheless, I don’t start preparing food right away. Instead, I pick up the grey hoodie I gave her from the bag between the sofa and chair facing the kitchen. I remember how she held it up to her nose, breathed in and basked in the scent.

My scent.

A fragment of last night’s memory.

I remember we had sex and that she told me I’m her first, but afterwards things are blurry.

Smell. I said something about how nicely she smells. Not really an original compliment since I’ve said it a lot already, but I can’t help but focus on it.

And then…

Then…

Then instinct took over because I let it, thinking I’d remain in control even though I let go a little. After all, I’ve learned enough to know how to deal with the wolf inside thanks to the rehabilitation procedure Jinyoung put me through and supervised. Since then, there’s been a healthy balance between human and beast in my mind.

Or, rather, there was one.

I think.

Another boundary to watch out for. I have to keep myself in check. No more experimenting.

Because to do so is to forget.

And I want to remember.

I stop absent-mindedly thumbing the piece of clothing, drape it over the armrest of the sofa and head into the kitchen to make breakfast. Unfortunately, the fridge quickly brings my plan to a halt, empty except for a pack of soy milk and a tray of eggs. The groceries Jinyoung and I got were only enough for dinner last night and there are no leftovers.

To be fair, she did just come back from a trip abroad. But still, is there really nothing to work with?

I sigh in defeat and grab the plant-based milk to pour it over the apple and cinnamon granola I find in the cupboard above the sink. At least it’s food and drink in one meal.

From the drawer next to the oven, I grab two spoons which I put into the bowls, grab the hoodie from the couch and return to the bedroom.

Y/N sits with her back turned to me, but flips around a little too fast for my liking once she hears my paws approaching. “Jaebeom?”

The terrible mixture of barely suppressed horror and genuine concern in her gaze has translated into her voice, which is cold and calculating. The sour note of anxiety hasn’t faded from her scent, creating a stone to sink to the bottom of my stomach because there’s only one thing that can be a distressing factor this early in the day.

Me.

Withal, the reason why she’s scared puzzles me since I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary. I’ve simply been me since I woke up.

Human.

Although, that’s me now.

Last night, I don’t know who or what I was though it isn’t hard to guess.

The pretty lady traces the deep indentation in the headboard of the bed with her fingers bent to resemble a claw. “Did you do this?”

Did- Did I? No. I- I don’t know. I was less strict with myself last night and don’t remember much, but surely I wasn’t gone enough to do this.

I hope.

I think.

I’m not sure.

But the reality provides the necessary evidence to repute any kind of denial I can offer.

I set the bowls down on the nightstand and crawl back on the bed to sit next to her. Gently, I nudge her hand aside to mimic her action, my own fingers perfectly fitting into the large gash. “I don’t know.”

A surge of violence shoots throughout my body, triggering the nagging feeling of a forgotten memory strong enough to knock the air out the lungs and split my skull with flashes of a memory. Nevertheless, the fragments pass by too fast to make sense of them and the mere attempt to do so worsens the headache. I flinch and scramble backwards with a paw- a hand pressed to my head as if I can thus suppress the pain. Yet, I remain unable to look at anything but the damage.

“I don’t know,” I repeat, my voice hardly louder than a scared whisper.

“I felt your skin move beneath my fingers last night,” Y/N starts, catching my attention with the timid response suggestive of requiring more explanation.

Exactly what I don’t have since I can’t even explain it myself.

This shouldn’t be happening.

“I think I did, at least,” she adds doubtfully on a shivery breath. The sourness sweetens to doubt instead of anxiety. Nonetheless, it’s still worrying she’s ill… uncomfortable.

“Did I-“ I swallow hard, forcing out the words describing my worst nightmare. “Did I transform?”

“Transform?’’ She briefly turns her gaze from me to the indentation, lips parted in an attempt to articulate a thought that’s dismissed with a headshake the second thereafter. Her attention returns to me, her expression slackened. ‘’What are you- What… No, you didn’t, but you looked far away. Retreated further into your own world, more so than you normally are.”

“That’s good,” I mumble, nodding as I, too, briefly return my attention to the claw mark. “Was human. Good.”

Still, need to talk to the weird-smelling intruder. Doctor. Friend. Name, his name. Jinyoung. Jesus, man, get yourself together. Your name is Im Jaebeom. You’re a twenty-eight old werewolf that- no, who runs a bookshop called Paper Souls. Jinyoung is your friend, doctor and supervisor appointed to you by... by... some organization.

“Jaebeom,” the pretty lady puts her hand on my shoulder, features softened instead of frozen and marred by fear, “have you taken your medication yet?”

The natural fruity undertone seems forced to be stronger.

You should be scared. I might have- I made that claw mark. Why treat me like a human? I’m a wolf.

“Me- Med-“ The strange word barely registers until a spark of humanity recalls its definition. “Medication. Pills. No, I- I haven’t.”

“Let me grab a glass of water and get them.”

She ruffles my hair, jumps off the bed and rushes out of the room. I listen to her bare feet lightly treading the floor as she moves on the other side of the wall, hurried steps going from the hallway, where she rummages in my coat for the rattling bottle of pills, to the kitchen. There, she opens a cupboard to grab a glass. The loud clinking of glass alongside the sour undertone in her scent indicates she almost accidentally caused several to fall out and break on the tiles. Fortunately, judging by the deep sigh of relief, Y/N could prevent it from happening.

She turns on the tab, fills the glass with water, turns the tab off and walks back into the room.

“There you go,” she says, handing me the small brown bottle and water.

The mattress dips a bit when she sits down next to me with one of the bowls filled with cereal in her hands. After stirring the spoon around like she is trying to evade something, Y/N finally takes a first careful bite. Nevertheless, she starts eating properly after I kiss her temple, which is an apparently effective form of encouragement. I have to remember that.

Quietly seated in the golden sunlight, we have our first breakfast together. I don’t mind her watching me as I’m taking my medication, measuring out the amount Jinyoung told me to take. Or, rather, as much as the label notes I should. Immediately my gag reflex is triggered when I put them in my mouth, the taste of bitter metal extremer than before so it’s like licking one of the rusted over buoys drifting in the harbour.

He’s increased the nightshade and silver. Damn, I think even the worst coffee tastes better than this.

“That bad?”

“Yep.” I open and close my mouth, nauseous due to the sickening taste lingering on my tongue. To prevent the bile rising in my throat from escaping, I gulp down the water. Unfortunately, it only washes down part of the bitterness.

She holds up a spoon with milk-soaked granola to feed to me, but I turn it down and shake my head. I might actually throw up if I eat anything right now.

Disappointment flashes across her face, though it’s gone in an instant as she puts her bowl down and stands up. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

“But... food,” I meekly offer and point at the half-empty bowl on the nightstand. She should put herself before me.

Because I’ll be fine.

“We’re missing something important. Coffee,” the bunny-like lady playfully responds before she bounces off again to the kitchen.

The pleasant and slightly sweet scent of instant cappuccino warms the apartment, replacing the sharp scent of frozen water alluding to hail later on in the day. It’s a little early in the year, but soon the first snows will fall.

Hopefully, she’ll move before then so we can spend Christmas in her cottage. Although, it doesn’t even have to be the holidays. I’d light a fire, drape a blanket over our shoulders and keep Y/N close to warm her with mine as we read and look at the snowfall.

Like a snowflake falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling before our eyes, so we pass through life. At this rate, I think the next snowfall might be the last I’ll see.

Consciously.

Meaningfully.

Like a human.

The snowflake will faintly fall on the man I am, descend on the husk I’m becoming, while she will continue living.

Without me.

The living and the dead.

I smile wistfully until the same shot of pain treks through me as when I tried to fill in the gaps of the fragmented memory. Folded in on myself, cold sweat on my skin and short of breath, I press my palms against my snout to push the agony away.

The pained groaning must have alarmed the pretty lady because she rushes to my side and pushes one of the mugs in her little paws… hands in mine. “Here, take a sip. The caffeine will help.”

As told, I nip at the hot beverage. Indeed, the cappuccino lessens the headache and cold shivers that ran down my spine and threatened to spread. Though I dislike instant coffee, it actually tastes good when she prepares it. I sigh in relief, blow on the coffee to cool it down, and slowly drink it while Y/N caresses my jaw and ear just the way I like it. At the same time, she comforts me with her soothing voice, murmuring words of solace and assurance as she sits down next to me again.

I could listen to you all day. Maybe I should ask you to read to me sometime. Although, not maybe. I’ll ask it later. Note to self, write a note on your phone to ask her to read to you. Also, make note of kissing her temple.

My reverie is broken up by a comment which rubs me the wrong way. “I have to go to the office later today-’’

“Already? You just got home.”

“They’re counting on me, Jae. Besides, I’m not that jet-lagged.”

“It’s not healthy. You should stay home. Rest,” I bark. Her eyes widen, taken aback by my bluntness.

She opens and closes her mouth, planning to say something yet deciding against it. Instead, she tugs my ear. “I’ll be fine. And you have your shop to look after, so let’s both work hard today.”

“Still,” I take another sip, “I don’t think you should go.”

“As long as I have caffeine, I should be able to manage. How about this? I’ll come to your shop as soon as I’m done with work and cook for us. We’ll have a cosy night in like we had last night.”

“Last night was ‘cosy’ indeed,” I murmur, hoping she catches on to what I’m alluding to.

“It was. I really liked it.” Her lashes flutter with the memories of last night, cheeks tinged pink. Unfortunately, the heartstopping girlish giggle is short-lived and becomes serious too soon. “But while I did, I think we shouldn’t do it again so soon.”

“Agreed,” I respond, mind occupied by the ripples of transformation and the splashes of pain wanting to remember something significant only communicated in incomprehensible flashes.

Distorted.

Like the memories of the forest.

I need to call Jinyoung. He needs to know.

“What shall we eat tonight?”

The change in subject is welcome, but also a confusing bridge to cross. How can humans go from severe to casual without a care? The aspect of communication has me furrow my brows as I try to work out the mech… work… nuts and bolts behind it. Nevertheless, I answer the question. “I thought you had a plan already.”

The corners of her mouth curl up into a cat-like grin. “I have no idea, so that’s why I’m asking you. You’re a better chef than I am.”

“I’m not that good,” I murmur, my ears lowered like a shy pup. “But I’d like something we can make together.”

“Pancakes?”

“Yes!’’ I bark, leaning in and grabbing the sheets to contain the excitement at cooking together. ‘’Yes, I’d like that!”

A flicker of doubt passes over her face, hesitant in the way she tends to be when it concerns food. However, a second later, she taps me on the nose with a content hum. “Pancakes it is.”

While Y/N showers, I clean the dishes and pull the sheets off of the bed so she can bring them to the laundry. Although, maybe I could do it myself. I’d have to text Jinyoung for instructions since he always does mine, but even then it shouldn’t be too difficult. Humans do laundry all the time. It’s part of their routine and if they can do it, so can I.

I hope.

As I’m making the bed and contemplating the process to get at least the blood stain out of the fabric, my mate walks back into the room. Her wet hair is bundled up in a towel that’s smaller than the one wrapped around her body. The addition of the scents of cherry blossoms and matcha to the blend of summer fruits drives me dizzy as she moves to the wardrobe.

I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help looking as the towel falls to the floor to reveal her naked body. An appreciative growl unconsciously rises from my throat, a surge of heat culminating between my legs.

Just one more time. I’ll keep myself in check. Behave. I’ll behave.

“Jaebeom,” cheeks flushed, Y/N glances over her shoulder, “don’t even think about it.”

“Sorry,” I mumble as I shuffle to her side to help her put on her bra by closing the clasps. When they click in place, I place a kiss between her shoulder blades, feeling her shiver against my lips. “I know what we agreed on.”

I wrap my arms around her waist and let my head rest on her shoulder. Eyes closed, I try to keep a clear mind as she scratches me behind the ear.

“It’s not necessarily... that.” Her voice is light, wanting to move past the concerns of last night with humour. “It’s rather the thought I wouldn’t get to leave for the office at all if we go back to bed.”

“You’re right.” I decide to play along, if only to give us both some peace of mind. So, I bury my nose in the side of her neck, nuzzling her and earning myself a bird-like giggle that spreads a nice fuzzy feeling inside. “I wouldn’t let you go. We’d read the day away with coffee.”

“Tea, in your case. Doctor’s orders. I don’t want you bouncing around the place. You’re my calm, well, sort of calm bookish wolf. Not a supercharged husky.”

It’s a lame joke, but nevertheless makes me laugh.

“What will you wear today?” I ask, glancing at the clothes on the hangers.

Here and there, there’s a colourful item in the collection. Withal, the majority of the items are mono… one-toned... black and white items to be switched up with a dark-shaded checkered blouse.

My attention drifts to the long white dress with lemons. The fabric is on the thin side, which makes it suitable for summer or a warm spring.

I’d love to see you in that dress, if only just once.

She pouts her lips. “I was thinking about grey high-waisted jeans with a black button-up shirt and ankle boots.”

“Wear my hoodie,” I whine, upset my… my girlfriend. That sounds nice. My girlfriend. It makes me upset that my girlfriend doesn’t plan on wearing one of the things I gave her. “You like the grey one, right?”

“I do, but-’’

“Then wear it.”

She sighs, shakes her head and turns around to look up at me. “There’s something like a dress code at the office.”

“Don’t care.” I nudge her nose with mine, bark lowered to a woof to persuade her to go with my choice. “You’ll look better. More pretty.”

“If you put a pair of boxers on, I’ll wear the hoodie. Deal?”

“But they’re uncomfortable. I only wore them because Jinyoung told me to.”

“Then I won’t wear the hoodie.” Little devilish will-o’-the-wisps light up her eyes as the corners of her mouth curl up into a taunting grin. “Shame. Now my colleagues won’t get to see I have a boyfriend.”

The tables have flipped since I’m apparently not the only one who’s good at using their charms.

Nevertheless, reluctant to start a fight over this, I let out a compromising chuff. “Okay, fine.”

Humans and their clothes. I like yours, but you’d look even better in mine. Still, I’m only doing this because I want every male at your office and in the city to know you’re mine.

No matter what size they are, clothing is a thing I absolutely haven’t missed. Notwithstanding, to please my mate, I wriggle myself back into the tight short trousers and the loose pants to wear over them. Y/N gives me a warning look when she sees me fumbling with my shirt, hopefully missing out on the obvious clue I secretly hope she’ll let me off easy.

Of course she doesn’t.

“Yes, Jae, also the shirt,” she chastises me like a mother disciplines a rebellious pup. “And the shoes. You don’t want other people to call the cops after seeing a naked man in the streets.” Unaware of the fact I can hear her perfectly even as she mutters under her breath, she adds. ‘’Or me to pick you up at the police station because of it.’’

Amused by the funny image the fantastical scenario creates in my mind, I relent. “Yes, ma’am.”

Once we’re both dressed, Y/N makes way for the bathroom to do her makeup. Ignoring my protests it’s unnecessary since there’s nothing to hide or improve to make me love her more, she closes the door behind her and locks it.

There goes the plan of dragging her out of there by the collar to have her scratch my jaw and ear again instead. A much better way to pass the time, if you ask me.

In the meanwhile, I return to the bedroom to take a picture of the damage with my phone and send it to Jinyoung.

Jaebeom: We need to talk.

Immediately, I get a response.

Jinyoung: Yes, we absolutely do. Everything OK?

Jaebeom: Yes, Y/N is fine. Alive. A little shaken, but so am I. Well, we’re more than a little shaken. Fuck, Jinyoung, I don’t know what happened.

Jinyoung: I’ll drop by later today. I have to give a lecture in a bit and have to see a new patient afterwards. He’s going through the reintegration program right now and needs a little extra help.

Jaebeom: Help with what? What is he?

Jinyoung: A wolf. Not a standard case.

Jaebeom: Anything I can help with?

Jinyoung: I think you need to focus on yourself right now. I’ll be at the shop around two.

Footsteps disturb the silence, going from the bathroom to the hallway.

That was quick. Are females always this fast with applying their face?

It’s a funny phrase, ‘applying my face’. Also, it’s the argument the pretty lady used as the final word on the matter. But she already has a face so there’s no need to apply a second like some Greek god.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Ears perked, I glance around the corner into the living room and in Y/N’s direction.

“Work?” she answers sheepishly, looking back at me with her head slightly tilted to the side. In her hands is the black trench coat she was about to put on.

Fortunately, she’s kept her makeup natural with a golden brown eyeshadow, a bit of a black line to accentuate her eyes and something to enhance her lashes. It’s a natural look which some of the female customers could learn from with their fake lips or chest that makes them reek of silicone and plastic. Their makeup, often overemphasizing their fake features, doesn’t add to their supposed charm. In fact, it makes me turn my snout away even faster if their attitude already hasn’t.

I’d never offer them coffee or want them around more than once.

But not her.

Not Y/N.

I can’t remember if she wore the same makeup when we met, but I vaguely recall a sense of calm and need for protection alongside a strange recognition. A connection that would make all the puzzle pieces of my life fit together.

The missing last piece.

“Not so fast.” I swiftly move to her side to kiss her forehead. No way I’m letting her go without giving her at least one more.

“There,” I pet her head, griggling and sweeping my tail triumphantly, “now you’re free to go.”

“I wouldn’t have gone without telling you, you know?” She stands on the tip of her toes to peck me on the lips, slightly swaying side to side to keep her balance.

So I lean forward to make it easier for her and chuckle against her lips. “Have a good day at work, Y/N.”

“You too, Jae.”

And with that, she puts on her coat, grabs her bag and opens the front door. She lingers in the doorway, waving half-heartedly as a final word of goodbye.

I wave back, faking a smile to see her off without worry.

Being human again isn’t so bad.

However, the deadline is another story.

The shop is as tranquil as it is on any other day. The quietness of unread words hangs between the shelves, the only noise to disrupt the silence being the rustle of a page being turned. Seated by the window as per usual, listening to the hail in the dim light, I read the time away, but whereas it’s normally a form of amusement and pleasure, it now functions in part to forget this morning’s discovery.

I didn’t mean to pry, but I inspected Y/N’s bookshelves before I left her apartment. There was the usual assortment of classics, but also a lot of Asian fiction, a genre I haven’t delved into too much yet. So, of course with the intention of returning it, I took Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami with me.

She must have read it recently because her fruity scent still lingers on the paper. The summer blend distracts me to the point that the movement of the hands of the clock pass unnoticed in the background.

Regardless of the appointed time, it’s half past two instead of two o’clock that Jinyoung comes in. In his one hand he holds a carrier with two paper cups, the sleeves on them decorated with the silhouette of a black wolf and the name of the café printed in vintage letters beneath the design, the letters spelling out Wolf’s. Judging by the scent, it’s tea the doctor has brought with him. Apple cinnamon for me, since that’s the only one I like, and rooibos for himself.

In his other hand, he holds his bag. One of the claps has either not been fastened before he left or came undone along the way. Whatever the reason, it’s clear he came here in a hurry.

“Sorry I’m late. Christian and I had a lot more to discuss than we thought.” Jinyoung stumbles inside, puts the tea and his bag on the counter, and turns around to lock the door and flip the sign so we can talk in private.

A hint of leather mixed with coffee and wood is mixed in with his own.

Male.

Threat.

Teeth gritted and jaw clenched, I make a mental note to myself to keep this scent away from Y/N. To keep this Christian away from her.

“Jaebeom,” the other male sighs. His tone holds a silent warning of being close to breaking some kind of boundary.

“What?” The answer rolls off the tongue as a growl rather than an actual question. Not that it matters since he must have had a lot worse to endure from me. Besides, it’s not him I’m pissed at so he’s safe.

Although, the wild undertone in his already peculiar personal blend alludes to the opposite.

Has he always smelled like this or is this new? He is human, but then why does my instinct tell me to watch out for him, that there’s more than to him? Strange.

“He’s no competition. I think he might have imprinted with my colleague, although neither he nor she might be aware of it.” He rolls his eyes. “The gods know whether Gráinne will do anything with it. I wonder if... no, I don’t think either of them told her anything.”

A grim wistfulness stains his voice, which ignites a curiosity about his colleague’s circumstances. Notwithstanding, that story will have to wait until another day and his willingness to tell me.

Still, I quickly fish my phone out of my pocket, open the notes app, and jot down a short reminder to ask about it at a later date.

“Anyway,” Jinyoung steps away from the door, hands me the cup with apple cinnamon tea, and gestures at the worn couch by the window overlooking the west side of the neighbourhood, “we’re here to talk about you. About the picture you sent.”

We move away from the counter to the sofa. A burst of hail spatters against the glass as we sit down.

I’m glad to have something to hold to conceal the shivers running through my body at the image of the claw mark mixed with the memory of what Y/N told me she felt. Or, rather, thought she felt although I’m certain she actually did feel the first ripples of transformation.

For a moment, we sit in silence as I mentally prepare myself for the conversation. Nipping on the tea with my shoulders curled over my chest, I try to reconstruct last night as best I can.

As much as my memory lets me.

To break the... something. There’s an idiom, no, a phrase? A saying.

I don’t know.

Not anymore.

To make it easier, likely noticing the struggle to say anything, Jinyoung speaks up. “There’s more than the photo. You’re leaving things out, things I need to know to help. What aren’t you telling me, Jaebeom?”

“Y/N-” I begin, my breath unsteady as I restart the sentence, “Y/N said she felt my skin move and if I try to remember last night, I can only recall fragments that give me a headache when I try to string them together. Which I can’t.”

He pales, frozen in place as the weird briny scent sours. “That shouldn’t-’’

“Shouldn’t happen,” I finish the remark.

A horrifying idea arises that sets the hairs on the back of my neck on end and has me nervously tapping my thumbs together as I try not to squeeze the cup in my paws. Nonetheless, voice a low woof bordering on a melancholic whine, I tell the doctor what’s on my mind. “I think the pills stopped working. Completely. I- I don’t think-’’

The world stops, shrinks, and strings my chest as tight as a string as I shrink within myself. Each thought evaporates as fast as the flashes in the wolf’s memory, incoherent if meant to be sensible at all.

The snow hasn’t even come.

I can’t leave her alone.

I don’t want to leave this life.

I don’t want to go just when being human again starts to get good.

I don’t want to be the old me again.

“I think so too,” Jinyoung agrees grimly. “If I increase the silver and nightshade or the doses it will kill you.”

He tilts his head to the side, eyes sharp with focus as he poses the question I’ve been wondering about myself. “Does she know what you are?”

I shake my head. I might be her weirdo wolf guy, but she’d never believe me if I told her what I really am. Besides, werewolves are the stuff of fiction these days.

We’re no longer seen as a real threat nor have the power and status we used to have in the days of yore. We are devoid of an identity acknowledged by humans.

But, if I don’t possess an identity, am I really here?

Alive?

Or dead like the wolf inside?

Paradise is calling, the song of the forest playing like a red thread through my broken memory.

Beckoning me home.

The woods are calling.

And I must not go.

Jinyoung’s new question pulls me out of my reverie, just in time before the train of thought would crash and burn. “Are you going to tell her?”

“No.” I take a sip of the sweet tea, to have a second of bliss and enjoy a new human pleasure.

Another happiness I discovered a little too late.

“Will you at least tell her about your meds?” Even though she’s seen me take them, Y/N doesn’t know what they’re for. But, then again, did she look at the label?

Regardless of whether she did or not, she’s perhaps not truly ignorant to the reason I have to take them. After all, she thinks they combat my amnesia, which is partially true. It’s a half-truth.

But the real reason is a secret I intend to keep.

“No,” I repeat, determined in my answer regardless of the world spinning out of control. “I won’t tell her.”

“She deserves that much, doesn’t she? She’s your girlfriend, Jay.’’ Although his features have softened, the doctor’s voice rises to a fierce bark as he reinforces his point. ‘’Your mate.”

“I can’t tell her,’’ I retort, my bark closer to a growl than a civilized answer. Tears brim on the edge of my lashes, obscuring my vision in spite of my attempts to blink them away. The vision of Y/N by herself in the snow, on her knees in the middle of the orchard, blocks my throat and makes breathing harder than it already was.

The vision changes to the image of a spring day close to summer, warm enough for her to wear the dress with the lemons. She’s seated in the same position between the trees which are now white and pink with blossom. However, whereas her belly was flat before, it’s now swollen, pregnant with pups.

My pups?

No, I have to stay here.

I have to survive the winter.

I have to be here if I ever change my mind and want to start a pack with her.

I must be here.

But the question is whether I actually can.

At this rate, I’m not sure.

I don’t know.

But I know enough to explain why I’m reluctant to tell my pretty lady anything. ‘’I can’t tell her, because the news will hurt her and I don’t want that. I don’t want to hurt her.”

Plus, what am I supposed to say? I’m a wolf that turned into a man and is slowly dying, going back to his old form in which it... he. Am human. In which he’ll be stuck until it- He! Am human! Until he dies?

“Y/N has to know about this, Jaebeom.’’ A hand on my shoulder makes me look up from the floor to the man next to me. ‘’How about I talk to her, tell her what you told me and discuss what our options are as well as a plan for the future?”

“You’re right.” I let out a mirthless griggle. “Fuck, I hate it when you are. But… But how will you… explain, uhm, explain… this- me! How will you explain me? What I am? For all she cares, werewolves are my- myth- fic-’’ I throw my head back, frustrated I can’t find the right word or properly speak.

Jinyoung gives me an encouraging squeeze, kindheartedly chuckling at my failure. “I know what you mean. Nobody comes into our world willingly or at least without a good reason. I think your... situation is enough of the latter for her to get involved too. She doesn’t have to join the branch, I’ll leave that up to her. But, if Y/N decides to believe me, or us for that matter, she’ll at least have a community to rely on when you, you know, you’re...”

“When I’m gone.’’ The hesitance to state the facts makes me grimace and my tone sharper than intended. ‘’We both know where this is heading so just say it.”

“Fine,’’ the doctor puts his hands up as if he’s at the risk of being shot ‘’when you’re gone.”

“What’ll happen to the shop?” I gesture around the paper paradise, changing the topic slightly. Books have been another treasure of humanity I will forever be grateful for, especially since I hopefully have created a legacy with them that’s worth keeping.

The doctor glances around, a somber expression on his face. “Either the university will keep it and maintain it as a potential workplace in the reintegration program or sell it off. I don’t know, real estate doesn’t fall within my jurisdiction.”

“Ah, I see.” I lower my head, gaze averted to the half-empty cup in my paws.

Funny how I once thought of making this a family business or to have at least my pup’s name on the spine of one of these books. If I ever had them, would they like to be a writer? Would Y/N tell them their absent father, I... I love... loved to read?

I force myself to forget the thought, swallow despite having a dry mouth, and shake my head. “Thank you. For wanting to tell her. She’ll come over tonight, so-’’

He holds up his hand to stop me. “I’ll text her so we can meet at a later date. She just returned from a business trip and had quite the evening with you. You two deserve a bit of rest.”

“But what if...”

It’s unlikely, but what if it happens again? What if I spin out of control tonight?

“Keep your temper in check and try to suppress your instinct,” Jinyoung answers matter-of-factly.

So, no sex.

Although the unspoken implication doesn’t come as a surprise, I can’t help but feel disappointed even though Y/N and I agreed on not doing it again so soon. Notwithstanding, it would be a lie to say I didn’t want to do it again this morning. But then there was the pool of blood and the amnesia that ruined our morning bliss.

All the same, flashes of what I do remember from last night replay in my mind.

They say once you’ve had a wolf, you never go back. Maybe because I won’t let you.

She looked beautiful, tears glistening in her eyes, equally as beautiful as her meek whimpers. She’s so small and fragile, easy to overpower.

To conquer.

“Your mind’s…. gutter again, isn’t it?” A groan sounds from somewhere on the side, distant like a faint echo

I was inside her.

In spite of the weird plastic, she felt nice.

Warm.

Wet.

I replay the image of her whimpering on the sheets as I looked down at her over and over. My hand on her cheek and Y/N keeping it in place. I should have used that second to dive down and worship her soft breasts more.

I could have bitten her there. Just a small bite on the side.

The snapping of a pair of fingers before my eyes interrupts the pleasant reverie. A bit offended, I snap around to growl at whoever took the pleasure of a cherished memory away.

Only to face Jinyoung, who sighs and looks down at the bulge in my pants before pursing his lips with an exasperated knowing expression as he looks up.

Scrambling to regain my composure and hardly remembering what he said, I answer as best I can. “No!”

“Then why are you drooling?”

#JB #Jaebeom #GOT7 #GOT7 smut #JB smut #GOT7 x Reader #Jaebeom x Reader #Jaebeom fanfiction #Jaebeom smut #GOT7 Werewolf AU #Werewolf AU #Werewolf!Jaebeom #Werewolf!JB

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seeyounexttime · 3 years

Text

As you may know, Black Clover is having an online exhibition. If you look at it here (has to be on mobile though) you see 0/20 and 0% in the corner. I saw the screenshots that some people shared also have zeroes and wondered... After some clicking around and struggling with Japanese, I’ve gotten a full score :D

So for those who want to know what to do, or can’t see the exhibition yourself for whatever reason, I’ve made a walkthrough that’s what it’s called right?

First, you’re asked to please turn on the sound and enjoy. There’s an ON and OFF option

Devil Possessed Work Is On Display. DEVILS AND ~THE DON’T GIVE UP MAGICAL EXHIBIT~ Black Clover 6th Year Anniversary Celebration

The Spade Kingdom’s evil devil hosts have set their hands on Black Clover’s online exhibition, the “Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit”, from the 5th year anniversary celebration!? Only the “devil-possessed works” were shining a suspicious light in the transformed exhibition hall.

[yellow/gold box] To the Devils and Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit >>

Asta has newly awakened devil power!? -- Together with the devil Liebe, get power to confront the invasion of the Spade Kingdom, including the Dark Triad!

[white/silver box] To the Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit >>

Complete Revival of the “Won’t Give Up Magical Exhibit”!? -- Because of the Spade Kingdom’s invasion, the “Don’t Give Up Magical Exhibit” has ended up in miserable condition, but Nero’s sealing magic has succeeded in completely returning it to the way it used to be! Let’s dive into the work and explore Asta and friend’s “won’t give up magic”

I recommend starting with the previous year’s exhibit, so flip your phone to the side and click the white box with Nero on the corner..~

A little tutorial: you can click in the picture frames, swipe, and pinch the screen. Nero says “I’ll tell you if you get lost. Don’t worry.”

“Not giving up magic” isn’t only Asta’s magic.

Everyone who supported Black Clover will surely have the power of “not giving up magic.” Now, with your magic power, let’s dive into the world of Black Clover’s story.

PROMISE -- 約束 (yakusoku) -- The source of the power of Asta’s “not giving up magic” was a “promise” with his rival, who pursues the dream that they can never give up on, called “to become the Wizard King.”

Nero says “Tap the framed picture.”

This causes a little manga movie to play - about Asta and Yuno of course. Their promise, words exchanged at the dungeon, that time they saved Hage, and times they fought side by side in the Elf Arc are shown. When it comes to an end, it displays this manga spread:

Nero says “Tap the demon’s bones...”

This plays a manga movie about Licht’s and Lumiere’s tragic battle...

Nero says “Tap the icon on the upper left to return to the original world.”

You’ll be taken back the Promise screen and should now have 1/20 at the bottom corner

PRIDE -- 誇り (hokori) -- Magic Knight Squads that protect the world with magical power. The Wizard King with the magic knight captains whom he brings together. It is that “pride” built up due to their overwhelming achievements that is the source of power.

Again, tap the framed pictures. A slideshow of their most prominent moments (before the timeskip) play. At the end is a panel of their most impressive spell at least that’s what I think they were trying to do here?

Nero says “You want to know more about your comrades right”

Tap the yellow button next to her (it says “see details+”). This pops up:

At the top is their type of magic. Then a short description about them. The rest is mostly stats that were already in their manga profile’s + a little extra. In order it’s: {their name ☘, age, height, birthday, sign, blood type, favorite thing, birthplace, and rank}

Yami’s birthplace is the Land of the Sun; Dorothy’s is the Witch’s Forest; Jack’s is in the Common Realm; everyone else was born in the Noble Realm

COMPLEX -- 劣等感 (rettoukan) -- A person who can deal with their “inferiority complex” is also a blessed person who has the chance to become stronger than anyone else.

*note: the kanji specifically refers to “inferiority complex”

A manga movie about her struggles with magic plays, then switches to this:

Nero says “Pinch out and move forward.”

As you “zoom in” panels of Noelle’s development with spells, from Sea Dragon’s Lair to Valkyrie Dress, rotate around, ending with:

“I... won....!!”

FRIENDSHIP -- 絆 (kizuna) -- For their precious friends, sometimes a person can even go as far as surpassing their limits. A magic blow vested with the “bonds” of friends has defeated any despair.

*note: the kanji means “bonds (between people)”

Nero says “If you look at all the framed pictures of bonds…”

When you click on each framed picture, you get panels like in the Complex section but these one’s don’t rotate

It focuses on an important fight for each Black Bull, I think one that emphasizes their bonds with someone and/or teamwork. Magna & Luck share framed pictures; Gauche, Gordon, Grey and Henry share another. Usually at the end you see the kanji for their magic attribute (Charmy’s ends with “food magic”)

Like with the captains, there’s also a panel of them looking impressive. Again, Nero says “You want to learn more about your friends right.”

At the top is their name, description about them, then Profile ☘ and stats in the same order as the captain’s in the Pride section. I want to note that Charmy’s birthplace is literally “?”

But Before You Finish Looking At All The Frames-!! swipe left and take a look 👀

Try to tap this~ Nero says “If you look at all the framed pictures, there will be something good.”

After you watch the 8th one, you’ll find that the middle frame has lit up

“Tap the framed picture” Nero says. A manga movie about the Black Bulls plays, showing their good and awesome times, then ending in the group shot of when they busted in during Asta’s and Nero’s trial --but wait!! there’s more!!!

We’re moving left-?! Omg SECRE-!??

“Well done, you undid the seal.”

“I will undo the seal with my magic.”

Sealing Magic

Inverse Release

LOVE -- 愛 (ai) -- The magic of Black Clover has been sustained by the “love” of everyone who continuously supported all the characters, including Asta and Yuno, and this story. Thank you very much for so much “love.”

That’s right: you just unlocked Love :’)

Tapping it opens up a high-quality image that you can download for yourself.

Nero says “It’s a commemorative wallpaper. It’s yours.”

☘ Instant Posting Magic ☘ Let’s share with everyone that we came to play Black Clover’s 5th anniversary project “Never Giving Up Magic” 📖 Use Instant Posting Magic

Tapping that opens up twitter. Nero says “Post in celebration.”

--but wait! there’s even more!! swipe one more time 👀

Zenon, what are you doing here? staring at a framed picture of the Heart Kingdom... Tap it, Nero says

oh shit

a preview of volume 25 plays

Click Here For Part 2~! ☠

※✧※

*Disclaimer: The exhibit used 諦めない魔法 (akiramenai mahou). Akiramenai is the negative form of the verb akirameru "to give up" and mahou is "magic." It's definitely a reference to Asta's "my magic is never giving up" line, and I guess it could be translated as "magic that doesn't give up" but doesn't that make it sound like he has magic? This becomes more of an issue when they begin to apply it to others beside Asta... So yeah, sorry that sounds awkward. Also depending on context and because I got tired of repeating the same phrase I changed the form from "don't give up" to "not giving up" and others.

I was using google translate quite a bit, after I looked up kanji by parts because I couldn't copy-paste the pictures (it was decent practice; I think I can totally identify the word "not giving up" now). This isn't an official release, but I did try to clean things up to at least sound coherent and give you a better idea of what's going on.

#black clover #asta #yuno #noelle silva #yami sukehiro #black clover exhibition #long post #black clover asta #black clover yuno

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albatrossmuffin · 3 years

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Birthday Story: Rei

Translation of Birthday Story: Sousuke can be found right here still because pfort still hasn’t gotten their sh*t together yet lol:

However they are supposed to return April 29th, so once the dust settles I’ll post this, Nao’s, and Sousuke’s properly over there with the scans and stuff; I’ll link on each post when that happens.

Here’s the link to Rei’s post.

There is also a brief reference to Nagisa’s birthday story if you wanted to take a look here.

(Thank you so much for said scans, @softmakoharus!)

Birthday Story #08 Rei

In the silence, I took a deep breath. My head is clearing just like clear water.

Today is a special day for me. My digital wristwatch indicates it is 6:30am. I woke up earlier than usual, and my daily running, which I had started one hour earlier, was already nearing the end of the course.

I suppose the morning sun will rise shortly; the sky is moving from darkness to a dim light.

I remember that Nagisa-kun had sent me a picture of the sunrise previously. If I recall it was around 4:00am, and I was late in noticing. Nagisa-kun had seemed dissatisfied, saying “Even though I wanted you to look at it immediately, Rei-chan~~!”, but it is a fact that I had been enchanted by the beauty of the photo.

—I wonder, if Nagisa-kun received a photo of the sunrise from me, would he be pleased?

When bathed in sunlight, serotonin is secreted in large quantities, and the brain is activated. Considering it theoretically, there is no doubt that I can take a photo in my best condition. And on the coast near here, as well, there should have been one of Nagisa-kun’s treasured “Best Sunrise Spots.” I stray from my usual running course and continue running.

Twelve minutes left until sunrise. I’ll make it to my destination without any problems. Imagining Nagisa-kun’s surprised face, I felt the corners of my mouth rise. The sea begins to spread out before of me.

One minute and twenty-two seconds until sunrise…… I readied my smartphone camera towards the horizon. I open my legs to shoulder-width apart and tighten my upper arms to my body. I put my finger on the shutter button, and then—

“Rei-chaaaan!”

“Douuwaaah!!”

An innocent face that I knew well was projected on the entire screen.

“What are you doing in a place like this? Your morning running course; it’s the opposite direction, right?”

“Eh, ah, well! Today…by chance…”

Why is Nagisa-kun……it’s no good, my brain isn’t working. It’s Nagisa-kun’s pace. It seems my serotonin hasn’t been secreted yet.

“I came to take a picture of the sunrise! I thought I’d make it a present to you, Rei-chan!”

Eh…….I frantically search for words. The moment I tried to say something, Nagisa-kun’s outline began to shine. The sunlight leaking out from the horizon is slowly enveloping Nagisa-kun and I. A warm light.

“Beautiful…”

That was the only word I could find.

“Even though I thought to make it more of a proper present, the sunrise.”

Once Nagisa-kun murmured this quietly, he then leapt out and stood in front of me.

“Rei-chan, happy birthday! Let’s keep being good friends!”*

I wonder if it’s because of the sunrise; Nagisa-kun’s smile appeared to shine more than usual.

“Nagisa-kun…shall we take a photo together?”

We took a photo with the sunrise as a backdrop, and we shared it with everyone in the swim club via a messaging app. Replies came back right away.

Gou: “Rei-kun, happy birthday! Everyone is perfectly ready!”

Romio: “Yes, for Captain Rei’s party, the decorations look really good!

Shizuru: “I’m at the fish market. Please look forward to fresh seafood ◎”

Ayumu: “Captain Rei, you’re up early! Happy birthday! I’m in the process of preparing the Kunikida family’s secret dashi!”

“Everyone, from this early in the morning…”

“Fufu. Eeeveryone loves you, Rei-chan!”

I held back firmly so that the welling up of emotion would not overflow.

Nagisa-kun stretches lightly.

“Allll right! I have to go home and get the cake ready, too! Like you, Rei-chan, I also worked extra hard at cake-making! Ehehe, I hope you’ll be pleased!”

Eh! Even though we were together every day I hadn’t noticed at all. Or rather, when it was Nagisa-kun’s birthday, the fact that I’d been doing intensive training in cake-making had been found out! Without regard to me, who’d instantly turned red to my ears, Nagisa-kun waved and left, saying “Well then, see you later!”

I also went home for a moment and washed off the sweat. I put on an orange-brown knit and head to the party venue. It’s the same place where we held Nagisa-kun’s birthday party.

Upon entering the room, brightly colored masterpieces adorned the table. The salmon carefully selected by Shizuru-kun had been transformed into a gorgeous California roll via Romio-kun’s arrangement; Ayumu-san’s dashi that she took great pride in was made into seafood soup, and Gou-san served it onto a dish. And also, Nagisa-kun’s cake that he’d made with all his might welcomed me in with its magnificent appearance.

During the party, I received many messages of celebration on my smartphone from Rin-san, Sousuke-san, Aiichirou-kun, and everyone from Samezuka. Happiness and some feelings of embarrassment mix together.

I got a call from Makoto-senpai, too.

“Rei, happy birthday!”

Makoto-senpai’s voice heard on a special day echoed more gently than usual.

“Haru says he has something he definitely wants to show you, Rei, so he’s going to send a picture.”

Makoto-senpai’s voice is animated. We look at the picture that was sent, and Nagisa-kun and I looked at each other and smiled.*

In the picture, a sunrise that peeked out from the top of a mountain somewhere was shining brilliantly, in the same way as the one we saw.

Today turned out to be a truly special day for me.

Everyone, thank you very much!

Notes:

“Let’s keep being good friends” – Nagisa says “kore kara yoroshiku;” which literally is something like “let’s continue to work well together,” “I hope we can work well together from now on,” “please continue to take care of me from now on,” etc., It’s a ridiculously versatile phrase, so I picked the translation that best fit the context.

“smiled” – This verb means to smile or laugh depending on context, and since the only context given was they looked at each other, it could be either one.

This is more of an FYI than a note, but when Makoto says they’re sending a picture, there is no subject for that part of the sentence; it could very well be Makoto helping Haru send the picture (but certainly by now they taught him to send a picture right lol)

#free!#ryugazaki rei #birthday story #my translation

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avengershumanresources · 3 years

Text

blood 13 - Strange/Stark!Reader

Relationship: Dr. Strange/Princess!Stark!Reader

Rating: M

Warnings: Adult Themes, smut, adult language, implied sexual violence, general violence

Synopsis: Reader is the daughter of the legendary King Anthony Stark, Uniter of Lands, The Iron Defender, and leader of the realm. When the king disappears during battle, hope is lost and he is presumed dead.

When the late king’s uncle, Obadiah, takes the throne until your brother Peter is of age, he quickly arranges a marriage for you with a wicked king in a neighboring kingdom.

With the realms politics in question, and rumors of an upcoming siege to overthrow Peter’s rule before it starts, you quickly learn who is loyal to the crown and who is not.

part 12 - part 14

Masterlist

Chapter Playlist (Issue resolved! Enjoy!)

13 - a surprise

Considering the chaos outside, the castle was unnervingly silent.

Not a single servant was to be seen. Doors were closed up tight, the valuables that once decorated the hallways had been removed, likely stored away for safekeeping.

You never felt the castle so cold and lifeless before. Usually someone was fussing to and fro, a servant running food, a guard switching shifts, even Peter running through the halls laughing with Morgan on his heel.

This felt like a shadow of your home. An empty husk of something once beautiful, now dead and gone.

It wasn’t right.

“It’s nice of you to join us,” a familiar voice commented from the shadows.

Both Loki and Stephen’s hands ignited with magic, but Nat didn’t even flinch, her gaze boring you while you tried to keep your head down.

“Wanda, you’re taller,” she noted with a nod.

“I’m not Wanda,” you ignored the scowl from Stephen’s direction and pulled back the hood, glaring back defiantly. “I’m not lying to her. Not now.”

You didn’t add “not when we could all die tonight”. Though you were pretty sure the group understood your unspoken meaning.

In adding to the list of things unusual and unnatural that day, Nat’s expression shifted from an unreadable mask to shock to genuine relief.

“You’re alive,” she whispered, reaching forward and cradling your hands in hers. Never one for a hug or obvious intimacy, this was as close to affection as you knew you would get. “How?”

“It’s a long story,” Loki cut in. “One that I am sure will be very interesting after we’ve secured the castle.”

His words seemed to snap Nat out of her awed daze and back into focus. Shaking her head, she pulled away and looked back to the men.

“Why would you bring the princess here?” she backtracked.

“I’m the secret weapon,” you whispered with a half smile. Nat shot you a look of puzzlement. You prayed there would be a time, later on, when you could explain the intricacies of it all. Perhaps then you would know even better yourself.

For now, vagueness and secrecy would have to do. There simply wasn’t time.

“Where can we find Amora?” Stephen went straight back to the point. You could tell he felt uneasy from the moment the three of you stepped foot back into the castle. He didn’t say why, but from the earlier decision to bring you to his demeanor now, there was something he was keeping to himself. “How many sorcerers does she have in the castle?”

Nat gave you a final once over, as if not entirely convinced you were real, before flicking her gaze to him.

“There’s her and two others, a man and a woman,” she explained. “Both are former Kamar-Taj, or so the rumors have us believe. The others are outside the boundary of the castle ward. If you can truly get the barrier down, they’ll scatter.”

Your brows rose in surprise. That was even better than expected. Loki had quoted a number of at least a dozen.

“That means they’re more powerful, and loyal to Amora,” Loki translated when no one else seemed to share in your pleasant surprise. “But, assuming we still have the upper hand…”

“About that,” James rounded the corner, shirt covered in blood. He gave you a quick nod of acknowledgment, not even pausing to consider you’d essentially risen from the dead. “You need to move fast. Peter’s men are getting slaughtered out there. The wards need to come down now.”

“Gods James,” Nat reached for his chest where the blood seemed thickest and he waved her off.

“It’s not mine,” he insisted quickly, twirling a dagger from his side and passing it to her.

“Throne room,” Nat stated evenly a curt nod toward Stephen, and hurrying after James when he ran off toward one of the archery towers muttering about evening the odds.

“Wait for my signal, we are going to need to locate Obadiah and Rumlow,” Loki disappeared down one of the halls and you waited giving him time to scout ahead while Stephen covered your back.

Ideally, Rumlow and Obadiah would be fighting with their men, but knowing the cowards they were, they probably had holed up with Amora or were nearby. Your full focus was absolutely necessary from this point forward.

Truly, it was life or death.

“Do you remember the spell?” Stephen asked, his broad frame cloaking yours from behind as you rounded the corner near the throne room.

Of course you remembered. You’d been mentally reciting it from the moment you left the grounds of Strange keep. This was one of the most important moments of the battle and you were going to let them down.

“I remember,” you answered firmly. You could feel him behind you, still tense, still alert, despite your assurance. You had half a mind to ask him what was troubling him-

A yelp of pain from the throne room had both you and Stephen sprinting toward the door.

Stephen must have seen him first, as he caught you by the waist, pulling you to a stop before you collided with the current King Stark.

“This is a surprise,” Obadiah blocked the doorway with his massive armored form. He took a swing in your direction, but Stephen moved faster.

His hand ignited with golden light and he summoned a sword between his palms. Steadying himself, he started for your uncle, sword swinging and blocking the attack.

“Go!”

Clashing with Obadiah’s weapon the men were singularly focused on one another. Stephen maneuvered to the side, pulling Obadiah with him- and out of the doorway.

You didn’t need to be told twice.

Slipping past, you stopped in your tracks when you saw Loki on the ground with Amora and one of her sorcerer accomplices using their full strength against the prince.

For his part, he was holding up a strong defense, but you could see he’d been wounded and was faltering slightly. His attacks were less specific and with the bombardment of various spell, he was having difficulty keeping he up between the pair.

You quickly recited the words Loki taught you hours before, and pulled the amulet off your neck. Palm held up toward Amora, a blast of bright violet energy shot forward and threw the blonde enchantress against the wall.

The other sorcerer balked in shock just long enough for Loki to gain the upper hand. He caught the sorcerer in a spell, throwing him across the room and against one of the walls with a definitive thud. You were certain he wasn’t going to be a problem again.

“Here,” Loki took the amulet and further nullified its effects toward you, allowing your seidr the chance to fully expand. It was a risky move, considering both he and Stephen were also magic users and fully susceptible themselves, but the plan was to defeat Amora quickly. Get the wards down. Let Peter storm the castle and finish Brock.

“Back from the dead?” Amora scoffed, crawling to her feet and sending a barrage of blasts toward you.

Panicked, you mimicked Loki’s hand movements and a violet shield flew up in front of you, deflecting the attack.

“That’s adorable,” she mocked, waving off Loki’s attacks and moving straight for you. “You don’t even know how to use it. You don’t deserve it. Look at you.”

Sure, you were fumbling a bit, but you didn’t need to know how to use it. You knew it was overwhelmingly more powerful than anything Amora threw in your direction, even if it wasn’t curated with specific spells and curses.

It was a hurricane versus a summer breeze and no matter how much Amora taunted you, she knew it.

Repeating your spell, you side stepped, doing your best to dodge or block her attacks. She was strong. Probably as strong as Stephen and Loki.

Amora tried to block your attack but the seidr cut through her shields, giving Loki a chance to slip through and cause some damage.

“It’s over Amora,” Stephen announced, kicking Obadiah’s sword to the center of the room.

“I’m not sure about that,” she smirked at something over your shoulder.

A flicker of light caught the edge of Brock’s sword before he could swing it into your neck, and with that tiny warning, you ducked and rolled away, throwing a hand up in his direction with a blast of seidr.

Brock dodged the attack, and just as you were preparing another spell, Amora hit you from the side. Brock was ready to take the final blow when Stephen intercepted with a glowing shield of gold over you.

“Move!” he barked and you scrambled to your feet toward Loki, blasting Amora before she could get another shit in at the Asagardian.

Amongst the chaos, your seidr was starting to creep free of your control. It edged toward the magic users and while you did your best to will it away from your companions, you knew that this prolonged fight wasn’t going to end well if it didn’t end soon.

When you moved too close to Loki, the seidr snapped toward him and he recoiled.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, focusing the energy back toward Amora and sending another barrage of blasts in her direction. All the while, Stephen and Brock parried at the side, each trying to get the edge over the other.

Amora tried grabbing you with a spell that resembled a tendril, but fortunately Loki grabbed you by the waist and tackled you behind an overturned stone pillar.

Immediately, he pulled away, hissing under his breath at the burn-like injury on his arms.

“We need another strategy,” he murmured, catching his breath.

“We hit her with everything we’ve got?” you suggested. “Break her shields and I’ll move close range?”

“If we can get her with a physical weapon, that’ll be it,” he agreed nodding. “Get is as close as you can and get her as weak as you can. I’ll follow up behind.”

With a curt nod, you leapt up and started throwing blasts of seidr toward the woman as quickly as you could conjure them. While she struggled to block your onslaught, Loki jumped in with his own attacks from the side.

You moved closer, her magic more concentrated and powerful the closer you moved, but sure enough, your seidr starting reaching toward her. It cracked and sizzled against her magic, worming its way through her shields.

Amora’s eyes lit up in panic and as soon as one of your blasts shattered the shielding spell she’d been using. Her confident smirk was gone.

She was finished.

“Please,” she choked out. “I can show you how to use this. How to conquer your powers…”

And though you hesitated, considering mercy, Loki had already moved with the stealthy lethality of a predator on prey.

Amora couldn’t even muster a shout of surprise before she was dead, a dagger having severed the major artery in her neck.

She dropped forward into a pool of her own blood, eyes wide in shock.

And while you appreciated the temporary reprieve in fighting, it wasn’t the time to stand and stare at the gruesome scene. Loki quickly grabbed your wrist and pulled you away from one of Brock’s attacks, the king’s sword catching the edge of your sleeve.

“Amulet,” he hissed tersely, the seidr practically smothering him when he pressed the object into your hand. Mumbling out the suppression spell, the seidr began to slowly recede. However, with the immense power having been fully released, it was now struggling to contain itself as effectively as it had previously, moving lazily back toward you.

“You lying little whore,” Brock sliced through the air toward Stephen, gaining an upper hand as the final sorceress under Amora blasted the Sorcerer Supreme from behind.

“No!” you tried to move forward but Loki was holding you back. He threw up a shield between Stephen and Brock, moving toward the fight but not before murmuring very clear instructions into your ear.

Stephen was running on fumes. His fight with Obadiah had taken far more out of him than he’d expected, and the seidr had practically drained him.

They hadn’t accounted for the three leaders all being in the same area, and now with Amora’s final pupil battling it out with Loki, he worried their relief in defeating Amora would be short lived.

Brock fought hard and fast. His moves were mostly offensive, though he covered himself well whenever Stephen tried to throw in an attack.

His reputation on the battlefield certainly was not exaggerated. He was as lethal and brutal as all the stories and ballads told.

And though Stephen was a formidable fighter himself, it didn’t help that the seidr was still lingering. Even with his all, Stephen felt a little like he was flaying and only barely delaying the inevitable.

“When I kill you and keep this kingdom for me own, I’ll make sure your head is displayed over our marriage bed,” Brock snarled, blades crossed while he pressed forward toward Stephen’s neck. “You can watch while I fill her and she grows plump with my heirs.”

Stephen saw red.

He snapped forward, switching his footing and taking Brock slightly by surprise. Gaining the upper hand, Stephen moved confidently, using this extra surge of energy and rage to push Brock against a wall.

He really should have seen that blast of light from the sorceress in his peripheral.

Loki had stumbled slightly and the other woman took full advantage of the situation, throwing an attack toward Stephen just as Brock was going to give him a fatal blow.

But Gods-

You jumped between him and the blade without second thought, and Stephen watched in horror as Brock’s sword dug into your chest.

Everything seemed to moved in slow motion.

Somewhere, Stephen knew he was yelling. He was moving to his feet to catch you.

Brock grinned victoriously, moving to pull his sword free and continue his attack on Stephen. To finish it once and for all.

But there was something else Stephen hadn’t noticed.

He hadn’t noticed the Loki was standing over the defeated sorceress.

That he’d long defeated her and that he had been, in fact, the one to blast Stephen off track.

Nor did he notice that Obadiah’s blade was no longer on the ground.

Rather- he didn’t notice until the point of the sword was protruding out of Brock’s chest.

“Wha…?” Brock choked, blood pouring out of his mouth. At his feet, your dead body fizzled away. An illusion.

You had attacked the king from behind, having grabbed your uncle’s sword while everyone else was distracted.

You killed King Brock Rumlow.

Stephen’s vision adjusted. He was staring at you in awe while Brock dropped to the ground in a heap, sputtering a few final hateful words, not that anyone took notice.

Outside, the trio could hear the troops yelling as they charged the castle. Stephen was sure Peter and his men long past the walls and certainly by now, Tony’s troops had arrived and the final battles were being won.

It was over.

“I thought…” he finales stammered out.

“And you called the illusions childish,” Loki blurted out, kicking Rumlow in the shoulder to confirm he was dead. “Remember that?”

“You’re alive,” Stephen ignored the prince, eyes fixed on you.

You looked just as surprised as he did.

“I can’t believe that worked,” you finally managed to get out. “We… we did it.”

A glance around the room confirmed your success.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, there was blood and gore, but it was over. You won.

“I hope someone cleans this up before the coronation,” Loki scowled as some of Brock’s blood soiled the top of his boot. You looked between the two men, and with the shouts of victory outside the room, you laughed with relief.

After a beat, the two men joined in. It was an almost hysteric sight, the three of you covered in dirt and grime and blood.

Yet the feeling of success. Of victory. Of being alive- you couldn’t stop.

Stephen crossed the space and pulled your shoulders forward, pressing a hungry, passionate kiss against your lips. You sank into him immediately, the adrenaline and seidr charging a spark in your chest that you couldn’t wait to explore later.

“All right, that’s enough,” Loki grumbled. “We should reconvene. Tell the others.”

Stephen pulled away and you wanted to pull him right back. But Loki was right. As usual.

“Let’s go then,” you gestured impatiently toward the door and took a final look at the room. “Let’s share the good news.”

(--)

14 - a reunion

(--)

Note: If you look at the masterlist, you’ll see I have the story ending at Part 16! So, we’re getting close to the end, but there are still a few warm and fuzzies I have to add. <3 Thank you all for being so patient and wonderful through this journey!

(--)

TAG LIST

@ayamenimthiriel @ladynothing

@im-a-bi-disaster-help @idkwhatthisislol

@bluefaeriefury @calsjack @strcwberrieswine

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82mitsu · 1 day

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{18Trip} The 18 Questions Corner - Shiramitsu Toi

This is a translation for the 18 questions interview uploaded on the official Youtube channel. I suggest to read this translation alongside it!

Note: P stands for "Player", this series has a voiced male & female character for the player. The interviews are conducted by the male player in this case.

TL note:

Toi calls Ryui by 兄様, pronounced as “Ani-sama”. Now, I try my best to keep all honorifics and nicknames as is but I feel like “Big Bro-sama” did not look good, and I am intent on keeping the older brother aspect. “Ani-sama” I wouldn’t consider an option either due to it being the colloquial name for Animelo Summer Live, and overall can be confusing if your nihongo is not jouzu enough desu. (Neither do I think it looks good, either.) It has been translated to “beloved Big bro” instead.

P: 18 questions for the Tourism Ward Mayors! We look forward to your cooperation!

Toi: I-I’ll be in your care!

What’s your name?

I’m Shiramitsu Toi!

How old are you?

I’m 21 years old!

Tell us about your occupation!

I’m the owner of Fortuner Teller Angel Eye.

What’s the first thing you do when waking up in the morning?

Saying good morning to my beloved Big bro!

Anything you’re particular about with lunch?

I chew my food thoroughly!

What pops up in your mind when it comes to “evening”?

The evening glow in the sky?

What’s your routine before bed?

Writing in my secret exchange diary.

Where do you start with washing your body?

Um... my right upper arm!

What’s essential when leaving for a trip?

Um… a change of clothes… I think?

What do you check before traveling somewhere?

What the local sweets are!

What’s your favorite method of transportation for traveling?

Because I don’t usually go on these, I’d say the train!

What’s one item you’d bring to a deserted island?

Anything will do as long as I’m with my beloved Big bro!

Please give us some fanservice!

Be glad mortal, for I shall provide you entertainment… Ehehe, just messing around.

Who’s someone you’d lean on for support?

Has to be my beloved Big bro, I’m sure.

Who would you swap bodies with for a day?

Um…! Evening Squad’s Natsuyaki Chihiro… -san…

What would you want to do as them?

I wanna be like Chii-sama and try to shine like him while dancing…!! Waah I didn’t mean to say that! How embarrassing~!!

Pass on a message to your roommates!

My beloved big bro, thank you for always being there. Netaro-san, let’s play a new game again sometime!

Tell us from the heart, what’s a “journey” to you?

Something that broadens your horizons, I think.

P: Thank you, those were all 18 questions!

Toi: Thank you very much!!

Toi: I'm Shiramitsu Toi and the HAMA’s 15th Ward Mayor together my beloved big bro. Please feel free to drop by Fortune Teller Angel Eye whenever you’d like!

#18trip #l4mps #shiramitsu toi #18qs #823_tl #nightsquad

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clareguilty · 3 years

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Food for the Heart

My first July commission fic! Thanku to Chip for helping look things over <3 Soldier 76 & Reaper & Jesse McCree & F!Reader Rating: General | Pre-Fall of Overwatch, fluff Word Count: ~3500

Sometimes -- if you thought about it -- the fact that you had some of the highest security clearance in the entirety of the UN, as well as several major militaries, could make your palms sweat and your heart pound. Imposter syndrome sure was a bitch.

You would look out on all of the heroes and saviors and geniuses of the world, unsure of how you managed to fit in and even sit at the same table as Director Petras and Strike Commander Morrison himself.

People wouldn’t stop in the halls to salute you or turn to you for input. Many of your colleagues didn’t even seem to know your name. You were nothing but background to them, just the hand that delivered documents or typed along to broadcasts. It was enough to trick you into believing you didn’t belong.

But there was a reason you were sat at the table with the most influential people in the world. There was a reason that your office was in the same wing as the other heroes of Overwatch. And you had earned your place there -- a fact you had to remind yourself of over and over again as Commander Reyes and Commander Morrison swept by your desk every morning or as Captain Amari chatted with Lieutenant Wilhelm within earshot of your workspace. Occasionally, you would even come back from lunch to find that a cowboy and a ninja had commandeered your desktop and your office chair, respectively.

You were invisible to them. Silent and unassuming. Blending in so seamlessly to the environment that they didn’t seem to notice you were there -- which is how you heard everything. Listening was your job, after all. You were a linguist, responsible for interpreting and translating any documents or meetings or broadcasts that passed through the upper command chain. You had access to the highest security channels, writing down field notes and debriefs for anyone on base who needed them.

Fluent in 14 human languages and 3 Omnic communication systems, you were one of the most valuable assets Overwatch had. Your work during the crisis had earned you a rank and pension that looked like a mistake on all your paperwork. Surely someone as plain as you couldn’t be that powerful?

And the work hadn’t finished after the crisis. You had been swept along into the ranks and shipped off to Zurich to spend your days listening to every piece of information that needed your ears.

And you heard everything.

You heard Captain Amari talking about her daughter and Lieutenant Wilhelm lamenting his losses on the battlefield, Jesse McCree joking and ribbing with Agent Shimada, who barely ever responded when you were within earshot. You overheard Strike Commander Morrison laughing with his friends and hurling orders and sighing over paperwork, Commander Reyes growling and grumbling and occasionally giving a full-bellied laugh when someone made a fool of themselves.

But no one ever seemed to speak directly to you unless they were requesting something or saying thank you. Your days were spent surrounded by people who would lay down their lives for one another but didn’t even seem to notice as you came and went.

It was certainly lonely, being in an unfamiliar country on a foreign base, working long hours in the fruitless business of world peace. You would return to your tiny apartment in the evenings -- luxurious, but small -- and try and make the most of your life of prestige and success and heroism. You had made the space cozy and perfect since you found yourself with more money than you knew what to do with. Your family had retired to one of the nicest homes you could buy them, and you still couldn’t get rid of the stuff.

So you spent your evenings cooking and baking exquisite dishes with expensive ingredients. You had gotten rather good at it. Any time someone on base mentioned a dish that they liked, you made sure to jot it down for later. Every night you indulged in food from all over the world that you had made with your own two hands.

But you found yourself with a lot of leftovers.

You were all alone in Zurich, with just a few friends in other parts of the organization that you only got to see when the stars were perfectly aligned. There was no way you could eat all this food.

So you started leaving gifts for the high command.

Strike Commander Morrison was the one who had given you the idea to make the pie in the first place. He had complained about how much he missed the sweet from his hometown, and you had found a recipe that sounded like what he described.

You wrapped a few slices up as nicely as you could and slipped them onto his desk just before he came in one morning.

The only thing you hadn’t counted on was just how invisible you truly were.

Commander Morrison made a sound of surprise when he saw the sparkling clear wrapping paper and curled ribbons. He poked his head out of his office and glanced around. No one else had come in yet, and you were already hard at work transcribing some Omnic signals that had been intercepted.

He asked Captain Amari about it when she arrived a few minutes later.

“You can’t trust random packages that appear on your desk, Jack. You should have reported a security breach immediately. Where is it? We’ll have to send it down for examination.”

Commander Morrison looked sheepish. “I ate them already.”

Captain Amari whacked him upside the head.

“I skipped breakfast!” he whined. “And it was absolutely delicious. It tasted just like home.”

Hearing those words was enough. You didn’t care that the Strike Commander was a fool who didn’t seem to notice your presence. He had enjoyed your treat, and that was all the reward you needed.

You continued to leave sweets for the high command whenever you could. You were sure at some point they would realize it was you, but they never said anything.

Cookies. Sweet breads. Cakes. Candied fruits. Pastries. You were improving as a baker at an alarming rate, considering you had nothing to do in your free time but replicate the recipes all the soldiers on base missed from back home.

The Strike Commander, Lieutenant Wilhelm, and Agent McCree were the most shameless about indulging in your gifts. The other captains and officers partook as well. You had never even seen Agent Shimada eat, though he would gently wrap a small portion to take back to his quarters, and Torbjorn would always wrinkle his nose and scoff at the sweets, but you didn’t miss him slipping a few into his pockets for later.

Despite how much you were making and sharing, there was one person whom you never got the chance to cook for. Everyone else had mentioned a dessert offhand at some point or another, only to find the exact treat waiting for them the next day. Even Agent Shimada had mentioned a fluffy cheesecake once, though he took his portion back to his quarters to eat it. Only one person eluded your gifts, and you were patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike.

You were up to your neck in transcriptions when you finally got your chance. Something you could cook for Commander Reyes.

It was just him, Agent McCree, and the Strike Commander. You were tucked away at your desk as always, invisible to everyone but listening attentively.

“Can’t believe I was in Mexico for a week and spent the whole time camped out in the jungle. I would have killed somebody for a good churro.” Commander Reyes grumbled.

“You did kill people, boss. A lot of people.” Agent McCree had his boots on the table and was grinning around an unlit cigarillo.

“You watch your mouth,” the commander snapped, but his shoulders shook with laughter.

Churros. Authentic Mexican churros. You could certainly do your best to make some and leave them for the Blackwatch commander.

It only took a few tries to get them how you wanted them, and you strolled into the high command offices the following day with a beautifully wrapped box.

Commander Reyes didn’t have a desk in the command wing, but you knew he would be by early. You left the box on the same table Agent McCree was sitting at yesterday and got to work while you waited for everyone else to arrive.

Commander Morrison lit up in excitement when he saw the enormous box waiting on the table, but, after a peek inside, he realized who the sweets were for and didn’t take any. It would have been fine. You had made plenty enough for everyone.

Captain Amari wasn’t as enthusiastic as the Strike Commander, but she let her curiosity get the best of her and gently pried open the box as well. She smirked, and you could have sworn you saw her glance your way, but you were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as you listened to a diplomatic summit presentation.

At last, Commander Reyes made his appearance. He didn’t hesitate to go straight for the box on the table, lifting the lid and inspecting the contents with an impassive expression. He was completely unreadable as you watched him out of the corner of your eye.

Delicately, he lifted one of the churros out of the box and took a bite. He chewed for a moment, brows furrowed. You wished he would say something. Instead, you saw the tension in his shoulders ease just a little, and you knew you had done an good job.

And that was the end of it -- so you thought. Commander Reyes shared the churros, and everyone else remarked that they were delicious. The rest of the day carried on as usual.

Until you found yourself alone again. Even when they were on base, it wasn’t uncommon for Commander Morrison and Captain Amari to spend most of the day away from their offices. But now, even the other captains and assistants were gone, and it was totally silent.

Commander Reyes strolled into the command wing with his hands in his pockets. You didn’t think anything of it until he came right up to your desk, taking a seat on the edge.

“They were delicious,” he said, watching you intently.

So he knew it was you. He had probably had known for a while. The Blackwatch commander rarely let anything slip by him.

“Thank you, Sir,” you answered, not able to look him in the eye. “When did you figure it out?”

“You made salted caramel cookies for McCree. Cheesecake for Shimada. I need to know who is eavesdropping on my agent’s conversations.”

You flinched at that. “I only had the best intentions.” You chewed your lip. “The gifts were meant to be harmless.”

Commander Reyes chuckled. “You sure harmed Jack’s diet. The man has a sweet tooth and no spine. Put a dessert in front of him, and he can’t say no.”

“He doesn’t need to be on a diet, anyway. You’re all built like Greek gods,” you rolled your eyes. Then the reality of what you had said set in, and you were panicking in your seat. Leaving treats for your superior officers was only mildly questionable. Ogling their physiques and daydreaming about their strong arms was far less appropriate.

“I mean no disrespect, Sir,” you started to ramble. “I spoke out of line, and it wasn’t my place to say anything. Please just forget I ever opened my mouth.”

Commander Reyes laughed again, fuller this time as he leaned back on your desk. “It’s clear you’ve heard everything said in this office. You think that’s going to get you in trouble?” He was right. Conversations among the officers were far from professional. You had heard your share of inappropriate comments and spicy stories.

You looked at your hands in your lap. This was overwhelming. You were so used to being invisible. Now, the commander was confronting you, watching you closely and chatting as if it was nothing. You weren’t sure you had ever exchanged casual conversation with the Blackwatch commander.

“Why do you hide?” he asked. “Leave everything in secret and never speak up? We all know by now, anyway.”

You didn’t really have an answer for him. Maybe you didn’t feel worthy? Maybe you were shy? Neither of those explanations felt quite right.

“I never meant to hide. When I made the pie for Commander Morrison, he didn’t even seem to consider that I could have been the one to leave it. I know I’m practically invisible around here, anyway.” You shrugged. No one paid attention to a quiet linguist. Your voice was only used to relay the messages of other people.

“You’re not invisible. Not to us. We see you every day. Maybe it’s time that you let us give you a gift, what do you say? We definitely should have shown our appreciation sooner.” Commander Reyes held out his hand, eyes kinder than you had ever seen.

“I don’t- What do you mean?” you asked.

Impatient as always, the commander simply grabbed your wrist and pulled you to your feet. “I’m the boss, so you’re coming with me.” He dragged you out of the offices and towards what you recognized to be the high command quarters. You couldn’t disobey a direct order from your superior, so you stumbled along as quickly as you could.

While your apartment was in a cute little residential building on the other end of base, the high command quarters were housed in a higher security building connected to the command center via a series of secure walkways. Reyes simply keyed in a code and ushered you across the glass skyway.

“Sir, I don’t believe I have clearance to access the command living quarters,” you tried to warn him.

“You have access as Jack’s guest.” He answered as if that would explain anything. Why would you be the Strike Commander’s guest?

Commander Reyes pulled to a stop in front of a door with a mailbox outside labeled 3001. He rapped his knuckles on the metal door, tapping his foot as there was the sound of scrambling inside, and the door slid open. Agent McCree was grinning on the other side.

“You came!” He stepped forward and pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, lifting you off the ground and setting you down inside what you assumed to be the Strike Commander’s quarters. “Jack and I were worried Gabe would scare you away.”

“He scared me, that’s for sure. What am I doing here?” You couldn’t keep yourself from looking around the apartment. It was nice, comfortable, with state-of-the-art appliances and plenty of space for more than one person. Much larger than your own apartment.

McCree looked offended. “You didn’t tell her anything? Did you just abduct her from her desk like some kind of madman?”

“No,” Gabe said at the exact same time you said, “Yes.”

The cowboy rolled his eyes. He took one of your hands in both of his and, with the most earnest expression, begged for your forgiveness. “The three of us wanted to say thank you for all the sweets you’ve been baking lately. Those churros were absolutely amazing, so we all pitched in to make dinner for you. Gabe was supposed to ask politely if you would join us. It would make my whole world if you did.”

You weren’t sure how you could say no to something so sweet. Agent McCree was certainly scruffy and rough around the edges at times, but you couldn’t deny he was a true gentleman, unlike his boss.

You nodded, and McCree pulled you in for another hug. “Atta girl! Jack should be back in just a moment. He had to borrow some stuff from Ana.”

Sure enough, the Strike Commander appeared just a moment late with an arm full of cookware and ingredients. He was dressed down to a faded t-shirt and his combat uniform pants with an apron. When he set everything down on the counter, you realized the apron was printed with the warning “hot stuff coming through,” and you couldn’t hide your snort of laughter.

“Ana got it for him as a gift. Jack has been our barbecue guy for the past five years now.” Reyes explained.

“I like it,” you grinned. “It’s accurate.”

You had never seen the Strike Commander blush. He fumbled with the container he was prying open. “Supper was supposed to be ready by the time you got here, but I don’t always keep cooking stuff here. We’ve got snacks and drinks, and Jesse will probably make you watch something terrible with him on the TV.”

You nodded. “Thank you for all of this, Sirs.”

“Woah, woah,” McCree held up his hands. “None of that shit around here. We do first names around here only, or embarrassing nicknames.”

You were extremely thankful for McCree- Jesse. He had a way of making you feel perfectly at ease even though you were so far out of your element. “Come on, I’m gonna show you some classic films while they cook.” He wrapped a hand around your waist and led you to the couch, flicking through the menu on the wall-sized screen. You had seen how much physical affection the high command shared, and you assumed it came from trust on the battlefield. But it seemed the comfort and intimacy extended to you as well.

“Do you need help in the kitchen?” You asked the Strike Commander.

“Absolutely not,” he winked at you. “You’ve cooked far too much for all of us, and it’s our turn to make it up to you. Your job is to keep Jesse out of the kitchen.”

The cowboy grinned at you. “They say I’m a hazard.”

You nodded. “I can see that.” Gathering all of your courage, you nestled into his side on the couch. He threw an arm around your shoulders easily and selected a movie. “What are we watching?”

“Seven Samurai. Genji showed it to me. Did you know that 1900’s cowboy movies and 1900’s samurai movies are like the same thing? He’s the only one who appreciates my Eastwood classics.”

Reyes chimed in from the kitchen. “For a bunch of assassins, it turns out my entire squadron is made up of nerds.”

“And you’re the Head Nerd. King of all Nerds.” Morrison knocked him with an elbow. “We’ve seen your Halloween costumes.”

Your eyebrows shot up. “Commander Reyes is a nerd?”

“Gabe,” Jesse corrected you, “is the biggest nerd of them all. He likes musicals.”

You were smiling widely now. You had been so lonely in Zurich, and now you were being included in teasing and movies and dinner with three of the most powerful men in Overwatch.

Comman- Gabe must have finished his part of the prep work because he sprawled out on the couch on your other side. It felt so nice to be sandwiched between them as the movie played. Jesse’s fingers absently played with your hair, and Gabe’s thigh pressed against your own.

Dinner didn’t take very long at all, and the four of you sat down at Jack’s dining table. There were casseroles, baked potatoes, roasted meat, and vegetables. You made sure to put a little bit of everything on your plate.

“I wasn’t sure what your favorites are, so we made a Morrison family dinner. A taste of the American Midwest.” Jack smiled sheepishly.

“It’s great!” you loved seeing this glimpse of the Strike Commander’s home.

“Next time, I’ll have to show you how we did it in LA,” Gabe was already digging in. “Jack’s Aunt Cindy is an excellent cook, but my sister knows how to make the best tamales.”

You were already putting together a menu based on what your family used to cook. It would be so much fun to treat them to the same meals you had grown up eating.

Jesse cocked his head. “I didn’t eat much as a kid that didn’t come out of a can or a box, but Ana has showed me how to make some things over the years. We’ll have to get her to cook one night.”

The implication that this was only the first of many more nights to come, your heart felt so warm and fuzzy. You tried to hide your blush as you ate.

After finishing dinner, you attempted to help wash up and found yourself forcibly removed from the kitchen by Gabe. “Stop trying to help and just let us treat you.”

And so you found yourself back snuggled up on the couch between them as the movie finished. They were so affectionate, pulling you against them and wrapping their arms around you. It felt natural. You had been working in the same office as them for years, hearing all of their conversations and watching them care for each other. Now, instead of an invisible bystander, you were a part of the family. But you had never truly been invisible. Clearly, everyone else had always considered you as one of them.

You must have dozed off at some point because Jack gently shook you awake. “Jesse can walk you back to your place,” he pushed a container of leftovers into your hand and wrapped you in a hug. “Don’t hide so much from now on, ok?”

You nodded. “Next time, you have to let me help cook.”

#Overwatch #overwatch fanfic #jesse mccree #Jack Morrison #soldier 76 #mccree #Reaper #gabriel reyes #fluff

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lia-bones · 3 years

Text

The night when everything collapses

Remus Lupin x Reader

Summary: It is a full moon night. Remus was gone as always. (Y/N) was alone until she received an unexpected visitor who brought terrible news.

Warnings: Angst, Angst, Angst, Swear words, injuries, dead, murder, tears and grief.

Words: 2154

Author note: I am so sorry. So sorry. Why do I always write angst stories? It was so difficult for me to write that. It always depressed me so much. I wrote it over several days because I always needed a break from the grief.

(English is not my main language. I apologize for all misspellings, grammatical errors, and translation errors.)

not my gif

* * *

It was a restless night. The wind rattled the windows and the moon cast dark shadows in the room. It was pouring, so that large puddles formed on the ground.

The sky was deep black, only now and then the full moon shine through the gaps in the cloud cover. Nobody would be on their feet voluntarily on nights like this. (Y/N) would now prefer to be in her bed, cuddling with her boyfriend, under a thick blanket.

On other nights that wouldn't be a problem at all. But on nights like this it wasn't. Not because of the rain or the storm, but because of the lunar circle. Her boyfriend couldn't be with her on full moon nights, and she couldn't be with him. He would never let that happen. He was infected with lycanthropy as a child. Since then he turned into a werewolf every full moon. Just like today. Usually his friends would be with him but they were all busy.

James was with his wife and one year old son and Sirius and Peter were on missions for the Order. So Remus spent that night alone. But she would wait for him. Just like she always did.

(Y/N) was mixing batter for brownies when there was a knock on the door. Confused, she looked out the window. The moon was still in the sky, so there was no chance Remus would be back. Maybe it was Lily who just wanted to sleep for a few hours without being woken up by Baby Harry. The poor boy was just getting his first teeth and screamed terribly at night.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. No need to rush." she called when there was another knock on the door. This time louder.

She wiped off her hands with a towel and then hurried across the living room to the door.

She held her wand tightly in her hand as she opened the door, ready just in case.

Whoever stood in front of her house made the young woman pause.

Her former Hogwarts teacher, professor mcgonagall, was standing in the open doorway with an expression on her face that made (Y/N)'s hair stand up.

"Miss (Y/L/N). May I come in. I've got news that I can't deliver out here.

The younger woman nodded a little confused and took a few steps to the side to make room for her teacher to enter.

Both women stood facing each other in silence. (Y/N) kneaded her hands and looked at the floor. The behavior of the normally so composed woman, scared her a little.

The older woman looked nervous, her eyes were red and she was breathing hard.

"P .. Professor? ...what is it that you have to tell me?"

The mood in the room was tense. McGonagall didn't look at her at first.

The feeling that something was wrong spread through every fiber of (Y/N) body.

And now that the eyes of the two women met, she noticed that tears were running down the teacher's slightly wrinkled cheeks.

"I have bad news (Y/N). Terrible things have happened."

(Y/N) bit her lip and started breathing hard. She opened her eyes wide and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Her mouth go completely dry and she was terrified of what McGonagall was about to tell her.

"Voldemort attacked the Potters. Lily and James ... they ... they are dead."

The statement came in a whisper.

(Y/N) suddenly couldn't breathe. As if all the air had left the room. Tears ran down her cheeks, which had turned a deep red from the lack of air. Her lip had started bleeding from biting too hard.

It couldn't be. What her teacher just told her couldn't be. Lily and James couldn't be dead, she had seen them yesterday.

"Kinds of Miss (Y / L / N). You have to take a deep breath." McGonagall said, placing both hands on the younger woman's shoulders. (Y/N) looked at her with a panicked expression and stammered: "No. No, no, no, no, no. This can not be true. Please, please tell me this is not true. They can't be dead. YThey have to live ... they ... " The older woman cut her off by patting her lightly on the shoulder.

"I wish I was lying. Unfortunately, it's the truth. They were found dead in ther house an hour ago."

(Y/N) Face color went from deep red to pale.

So pale that you could see the blue veins on her neck and face shimmering through the skin. She felt as if someone had kicked her head. McGonagall wasn't lying. Why should she lie about something like that? Two of her best friends were, in deed, dead. She would never see them again. James and Lily, who had just started a family, were no longer with them.

And then it came to (Y/N) mind. The Potter family. James, Lily and Harry. McGonagall hadn't said anything about Harry. What's about Harry?

"What about Harry? Is Harry alive? You didn't say Harry was dead! That means he's alive, right? Or? You bring him here ,right? " she exclaimed furiously and grabbed the woman opposite by the upper arms.

McGonagall released her grip, but still held her hands tightly. A sad smile formed on her face that did not reach her eyes and slowly shook her head.

(Y/N) jerked her hands back and her mouth fell open.

McGonagall pulled her lips in and didn't meet her eyes.

"Yes. Harry is alive. He is fine. He only has a cut on his forehead. But we're not going to bring him here. Dumbledore has decided that Harry will be taken to the Dursley's. Harry is probably safest there, he says. Voldemort may be gone, but you never know what his followers are up to. Nobody will suspect him there. Away from the magic world, with the Muggles." explained Minerva matter-of-factly and folded her arms in front of her body.

(Y/N) was speechless for a moment. The old man couldn't mean that seriously.

"To the Dursleys? Really? That can't be serious! We are his family. He had it better with us than with them. They don't love him. They don't care. Who knows what they're doing to him!" She pleaded and gestured with her arms. The woman opposite took a few steps backwards and looked at the floor in shame.

"You are his family too. They are blood relatives. He's safer with them."

(Y/N) tensed her jaw and bit her cheek until she tasted the metallic taste of blood.

They couldn't mean that seriously. These people had never been interested in Harry before. Harry would be safe with them too.

"Such a crap. He belongs here. To me, Remus and Sirius ... we are ... "

Again she was interrupted by McGonagall, who drew in a sharp breath when she called Sirius' name.

(Y/N) closed her mouth and looked at her inquiringly.

"There's other bad news that I have to deliver. Sirius Black was brought to Azkaban some time ago by the Aurors, which he will never leave again. He was convicted of murdering numerous Muggles and Peter Pettigrew in cold blood.He betrayed us."

(Y/N) slumped. Her knees hit the floor and her hands caught her torso. She felt as if she was about to throw up, but she could only choke dryly.

McGonagall was about to take a few steps towards her again to comfort the young woman when she suddenly hit the floor with her fists and let out a desperate scream.

"FUCKING BULLSHIT. YOU LIE TO ME! THAT CANNOT BE TRUE. FUCKING LIED DIRT SHIT!"

McGonagall stared down at her with wide eyes and made a wry face.

"No Miss (Y/L/N). I'm so sorry. But there is nothing to be done about it."

(Y/N) gasped in response.

"I'll meet Dumbledore in a moment to hand Harry over to his aunt and uncle. Have a seat and calm down, please. Harry will be fine and as soon as he gets to Hogwarts you can see him again. Please, (Y/N). There is nothing we can do now. Calm down, we will send you more information soon.

I ask you to pass the latest events on to Remus as soon as he gets back. I think you can tell him the best. Be there for one another in these difficult time."

The older teacher put a hand on her head for a moment to comfort her and then turned away and left the house.

(Y/N) was left alone.

she sat on the floor and felt her whole body wrapped in cold. The horrible realization that she had lost three of her best friends that night ate into her bones. The lights in the whole house flickered and she felt the magic going crazy inside her. She screamed from the top of her lungs and at that moment several glasses cracked in the club.

She curled up on the floor like a fetus and hugged her legs. The tears furrowed her cheeks and there was a lump the size of a quoffel in her throat.

It hurt so much. Everything hurt so much. It was like her skin was on fire, her bones break like matches and her inside, felt like she'd swallowed acid.

Crying didn't feel like enough for (Y/N), the emotions in her just had to get out.

She pulled herself up and walked into the kitchen on shaky legs.

Her baking ingredients were on the counter as she had left them. She clawed her hands in the sideboard and blinked to get a clear view again.

"Fuck, Shit, damn it!"

With a quick arm movement, she ripped everything off the kitchen counter. Flour, milk and eggs were scattered on the floor and on the walls, with broken glass from the dough bowl in between.

With a heartbreaking sob, (Y/N) fell into the mess.

She lay down on the site and with her arms pulled her legs to her chest as tightly as she could. Splinters pecked her face, but she made no move to change that. At least, the sting reminded her that she was still there and hadn't just dissolved.

Hours passed like seconds and before she even realized it, the door opened and heavy steps shuffled through the house.

"(Y/N), dear. I'm home. Are you awake?" Remus called in a limp voice looking for his girlfriend.

She heard how he came closer, how the footsteps got louder and louder. But she couldn't move, couldn't answer him.

'How am I supposed to tell him? How am I supposed to tell him that his whole family is dead? ' she thought and screwed up her eyes more tightly.

"Hey (Y/N/N), what about the glasses ..." Remus asked as he entered the kitchen, but stopped when he saw his girlfriend lying on the floor.

"Fuck! (Y/N)! Fuck! what the fuck happened?" he exclaimed excitedly, hurried across the kitchen and fell on his knees next to his girlfriend.

Carefully he stroked her cheek and held her hand with the other.

She blinked and looked up at him. His face was pale gray and there were a few new scratches on his face.

She sucked in air through clenched teeth and let it out with a sob.

"(Y/N). Hey love, what happened? Please talk with me." her boyfriend whispered, leaning further down to her.

She sat up and leaned her back against the wall. For a moment she could only stare at him. How was she supposed to tell him something that she knew would hurt him immeasurably?

Just as he opened his mouth again to say something, she said in a scratchy voice: "Something bad has happened."

Confused, he drew his eyebrows together and brushed the last glass of residue off her cheek.

She opened her mouth again to continue speaking, but only brought out a hoarse croak.

She couldn't look at him. We didn't want to see the pain in his eyes when she was about to ram a Methaforic knife into his chest.

"Hey look at me. It won't be that bad. Everything will be fine."

She looked back at him and instantly tears began to gather in her eyes again.

'No. It was worse. Much worse.'

"Remus, sit down." she whispered and took his hands as he did as he was told.

Her throat went dry and she started shaking all over.

"I do not know how I should begin. I don't want to say it. That would only make it more real...."

#marauders era #harry potter #reader imagine #young remus imagine #remus lupin x y/n #remus x you #remus lupin #remus lupin x reader #remus x reader #marauders fic #young marauders

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moonflowerlesbians · 3 years

Text

“choose your battles wisely”

Un-beta’d and written after surgery, so please take with a grain of salt. I’ll reblog with the AO3 link in the morning!

Rated T, ~4.1k. Fluffy, Hurt/Comfort

~~~

Jamie is an idiot.

Or, to be more specific, she is an absolute goddamn buffoon of the utmost clownery.

This is, more or less, Dani’s internal monologue as she follows the sound of pained grunts to a somewhat obscured section of the sprawling statue garden, where she comes across a rather disgruntled gardener lying flat on her back in the mud. Her oilskin hat has fallen to one side, and Jamie stares, bleary-eyed, at the grey England sky overhead. There is a decently sized marble sculpture on the ground beside her.

“You alright, there?” Dani calls, after only a brief moment of amused silence.

“Jesus!” Jamie swears, her entire body twitching, which causes her outburst to dissolve into a groan. “Christ, Poppins, wear a bloody bell,” she grumbles.

Dani rolls her eyes. “You alright?” she repeats, quieter this time.

“Oh, who, me? Yeah, ‘course. Just, you know, enjoying some ‘me time.’” She moves to raise her arm in a weak attempt at waving Dani off, but the limb makes it mere inches off the ground before flopping unceremoniously into the dirt. “Taking in the views...”

“Some view,” Dani notes, with a playful, sardonic lilt to her voice. A pause. “Owen made sandwiches if you’d like to come in for lunch.”

“Be right there,” Jamie replies halfheartedly. She does not stir, her gaze still fixed on the dreary cloud cover, a firm set to her jaw. “Don’t wait up.”

“We might as well walk back together.” Dani crosses her arms. “That is, assuming you’re almost done with your ‘me time.’”

“Almost done. Right. Yeah.”

Dani watches the deep inhale as Jamie steels herself, the muscles of Jamie’s stomach flexing with effort. With a sharp gasp, Jamie pushes herself onto her elbows, but she only lasts a quick second before she’s once again lying prone, muttered curses falling from her lips.

Dani winces sympathetically. “Oh, baby, don’t hurt yourself.”

“Bit late for that.”

“What did you do?” She kneels at Jamie’s side, moist soil dampening her jeans, and brushes wispy brown hairs from her face.

“Picked a fight with the wrong woman.” Jamie nods at the overturned statue. “Credit where credit’s due, she’s stronger than she looks. Heavier, too.”

“So, you decided you were going to move a marble statue, on your own, after a rainstorm, which resulted in you, what, throwing out your back?” Dani translates. “And you thought this was a good idea because…?”

“Never said it was a good idea.”

“And yet here we are.”

“Right, well,” Jamie sighs, “we’ve established I’m not the sharpest knife in the block.” Her eyes meet Dani’s, defeated. “If you would be so kind as to lend me a hand, I’d rather not like to die like this.”

“All you had to do was ask, sweetheart.” She thinks she catches a fleeting smile before it is replaced with a grimace.

Gingerly, Dani wedges her arm between Jamie’s shoulders and the earth below, murmuring gentle apologies at each indication of discomfort. She offers her other hand for Jamie to grab. Together, they work her into a sitting position. Jamie’s chest heaves, and her face is a ghostly shade of white.

They stay like that for a minute. While Jamie catches her breath, Dani’s fingers rub what she hopes are soothing circles into her back. How long has she been out here?

“Are you okay to walk?” Dani asks.

“Suppose we’ll find out,” Jamie says in a tone not at all reassuring.

Dani braces herself and takes both of Jamie’s hands in her own, digging her heels into the dirt. “One...two…”

On three, she pulls, and Jamie staggers to her feet, with Dani catching the majority of her weight as she topples forward and the air goes out of her.

“JesusshitfuckingChristfuckshittinghellgoddamnit-”

“Okay, you’re okay,” Dani says, trying to angle herself to best support the woman about to get herself excommunicated for blasphemy. She can feel the tension radiating off of Jamie in waves.

“I’m fine, I’m good,” Jamie promises, very much not fine and very much not good. “Nothing’s broken, I don’t think. Just, ah, a little crooked, s’all.” Her breathing is labored as they take a few tentative steps.

“Look, you just rest here, and I’ll run back and get Owen--”

“No, absolutely not,” Jamie cuts her off. “If that man finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it. Little shit still brings up the Rosebush Incident of Eighty-five whenever I break out the pruning shears.” Her arm drapes heavy around Dani’s neck as they round a corner.

“What--”

“Don’t,” Jamie wheezes, “ask.”

“You realize how dumb that is, right? And I’m definitely going to ask,” Dani says, guiding them toward the front door. Jamie stops short.

“Side door,” she explains, “servants’ hall. Won’t go past the kitchen. Can use one of the empty rooms until I sort myself out.”

“You might want to get your head checked if you think I’m leaving you alone like this.”

Dani readjusts her grip, while Jamie nimbly flips through a massive ring of keys Dani swears she’s never seen before, yet Jamie handles with the expertise of someone who does this daily. Which, Dani realizes, feeling rather stupid, she probably does.

“Fuck,” Jamie says under her breath as the door opens, revealing a hallway Dani has yet to explore. Dani sees the problem. She looks at Jamie. She looks at the narrow staircase. She evaluates her upper body strength.

Then, Jamie is making a rather undignified noise as Dani lifts her without warning, and Dani would be lying if she said the look on Jamie’s face isn’t extraordinarily satisfying. Something about seeing her stoic, mulish girlfriend, gone limp in her arms, looking at her, a little awestruck, well… it’s a sight Dani intends to cherish. And definitely not for the potential blackmail purposes.

Only after Dani gingerly deposits her on the blue quilt in Dani’s room does Jamie say, deadly serious, “We never speak of this again.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dani says, “take these.” She plops two pills and a cup of water in Jamie’s hand and disappears into the adjacent bathroom.

“That’s the spirit, Poppins,” she calls after her.

“Come on,” Dani says, reappearing in the doorway. “We need to get you out of these wet clothes before you catch a cold.”

“I’m fine,” Jamie scoffs, visibly shivering.

“The mud stain on my duvet says otherwise. Come on. Up you get. The bath is filling.”

“I can’t ask you to let me use your bath.”

“Good thing you’re not asking, then.”

The half-formed rebuke dies on Jamie’s lips, and she nods as if to say, touché, but Dani is certain she will not be hearing the end of this. She beckons Jamie up and pulls her into the other room, leaning her against the countertop. Without thinking, she begins undoing the buttons on Jamie’s top.

“Blimey,” Jamie remarks, not pushing Dani away, but stilling her movements.

Dani can feel the heat rise in her cheeks. She backpedals. “I, um, I didn’t-- I’m so sorry.”

Jamie just laughs, “Only teasing, love. But, ah, I can probably take it from here, yeah?”

“Um, yeah. I’ll just… be in the bedroom. If you need me.”

Dani slumps against the door as it closes behind her. The sound of the water running mimics the rush of blood in her ears. They’ve only been doing... whatever this is between them for a month. Not long at all. Certainly not long enough to be undressing her in the middle of the day with people in the house while she’s in pain. Dani hadn’t meant it in an erotic way but, Jesus, Dani, show some restraint.

She exhales. Right. Organize. Jamie will need a towel. She’ll need dry clothes. Maybe tea? A warm compress. Or ice? What do people put on sore muscles? A massage? Dani swallows thickly and shakes off the thought of Jamie’s smooth skin beneath her fingertips, tightness dissipating as Dani works the knots away. She absolutely does not imagine Jamie melting into the mattress or the moans that might escape through her lips, and she decidedly does not dwell upon the rare sight of Jamie, pliant and entirely relaxed.

Absolutely not. Shove that into a box and come back to it later. It’s worked well enough in the past.

Right then.

Dani sets about making the necessary rearrangements, shuffling her boots into the closet, digging out appropriately loose clothes for laying about, and swiping a plate of sandwiches from the kitchen, making some excuse about Jamie being too busy to come in, but she sends her thanks. Owen raises an eyebrow at this, but apparently does not feel the need to comment. Hannah, however, takes one look at Dani’s muddy knees and frowns.

“Miss Clayton, you had better not be tracking mud through my house.”

“Yes, Miss Clayton, or else you will have to mop up the mess just like Miles!” Flora states, intently focused on the cucumber and cream cheese sandwich on her plate.

“I told you it wasn’t me!” Miles objects loudly, his drinking glass making contact with the table with a bit more force than necessary.

“It’s in the past,” Dani dismisses, before the situation can get out of hand. She turns to Hannah, and, in her best I’m-setting-an-example-please-go-with-it voice, says, “Of course, Mrs. Grose, I made sure to wipe my feet at the door, but I will clean up any messes I made because it is very important that we all clean up our own messes.”

“Right you are, dear.”

“Could I get a cup of tea to take to Jamie as well? I’d make it but…”

“Say no more,” Owen rises from his seat at the table. “Wouldn’t want to poison poor Jamie, now would we?” Then, with a chuckle, “She’s got you properly whipped, hasn’t she? Trekking lunch out to whatever corner of the grounds she’s wound up in.”

“Why’s Jamie whipping Miss Clayton?” Flora pipes up.

Dani feels her face flush. “Oh, sweetie, she’s, um, that’s not--”

“What Owen means to say, is it’s very nice of Miss Clayton to deliver a meal to Jamie while she’s working,” Hannah says pointedly.

Owen coughs. “Ah, yeah, to-tea-lly leaf-ly of her to help out.”

“Hannah, I was thinking of taking my lunch with Jamie. Would you mind keeping an eye on these two for a little while?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Hannah chaffs, “They’re an awful lot of trouble, these two.”

“You think,” Owen chimes in, “they’d behave if I told them I could use a hand baking biscuits this afternoon?”

“I suppose that might do it,” Hannah says, an expression of faux pensivity creasing her forehead. “What do you think, children?”

“Oh, yes, Mrs. Grose, that would be perfectly splendid!”

“Can we make snickerdoodles?”

“Don’t see why not,” Owen says. He hands a teacup to Dani. “Off with you. Go find your knight in mud and dungarees.”

Dani shoots them a grateful smile and heads back upstairs, delicately balancing the cup with the plate of food. She knocks thrice.

“Yeah.” Jamie’s voice comes muffled through the heavy wooden door as Dani cautiously turns the knob.

Dani lets out a moderately embarrassing squeak and immediately averts her eyes, intent on looking anywhere except at a very wet, towel-clad Jamie. “Oh, um, good. Y-you found the towel.”

“That I did. I, ah, wasn’t sure if these were for me,” she gestures to the neatly folded stack of clothes on the bed, “didn’t want to assume.”

“They’re, um, they’re for you.” There’s a fascinating crack in the floor Dani has never noticed before. It’s about four inches long and almost invisible.

“Hey, Dani, you can look.” Jamie sounds almost concerned. ‘S’okay. It’s not like you haven’t seen it all before.” She grins wryly.

“No, no, yeah, I know. It just, I don’t know, feels different when it’s not for that reason.”

“Dani Clayton, not a fan of casual nudity. Noted,” Jamie teases.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t a fan.” Dani places the tea and sandwiches on the bedside table, stepping into Jamie’s space.

“That so?”

“Mhm,” Dani hums, “and I’m going to stop this runaway train right here. You’re injured.”

Jamie huffs. “Bloody rude.”

“How’s your back?”

“Feels fine. Right as rain. I’ll just get dressed and go back out--”

“You most certainly will not. You are going to get dressed and get in this bed and you are going to rest.”

“But I’ve still got to finish in the statuary, and Hannah’s brought up a crack she wants me to fix, and--”

“--and all of those things can wait. I’ve taken care of enough idiotic teenage sports injuries to know that straining it will only make it worse. So, put these on, and get into bed.” She leaves no room for disagreement.

“I can’t believe you just used your teacher voice on me.”

“I can’t believe you’re being this obstinate.”

“I’m fine!”

“Why won’t you let me take care of you?” It is not aggressive. It comes out softly, a hint of confusion combined with an ounce of desperation.

Jamie freezes. “I don’t…”

“You only took a bath after I practically forced you--”

“I wouldn’t--”

“You could’ve really hurt yourself.”

“I know, but--”

“How long would you have laid out there in the mud before calling for help?”

“Dani,” Jamie interrupts, an appeasing thumb running along the inside of Dani’s wrist, “look, I just…” she sighs. “It’s not that easy.”

“It is, though,” Dani insists.

“No, love, it’s not. Not when you’ve been… well, not when you’re me.” She pauses, sits on the bed, and nudges Dani down next to her. “I don’t like feeling useless, s’all. People look at you, see you laying about, they see weakness. Someone to be pitied or someone to be taken advantage of. Just once is all it takes for them to get the idea you can’t stand on your own two feet.”

She seems a million miles away, a decade, even, and Dani waits. Jamie will continue if she wants to.

“I don’t like being pitied. And I know that’s not...that’s not what you’re trying to do.” She chooses her words carefully, as if walking through a minefield. Dani stands on the other side. “No need to give me the talk about everybody needing help. ‘Cause, in theory, yeah, that’s true, but when you’ve always been the one doing the helping... it… it’s not all that easy to be on the receiving end.” The last sentence is rushed, and Jamie finishes with a humorless snort of laughter. Her thumb has halted its caress of Dani’s skin.

Dani is silent for a moment. Coddling would be met with rejection. Not outright, no, but Dani knows better. Jamie has lain bare this piece of her soul, held out a fragment of her identity in tender hands, and trusts Dani to take it under her care, treasure it. Jamie had woven the tale of her life under the moonlight, and Dani has spent the past month trying to unravel the threads, to understand. Now, Jamie has given her a new string to follow, but she cannot pull too hard, lest it fall apart.

Dani speaks, quiet, but firm. “We’ll just have to practice then, won’t we.”

A flicker of confusion passes over Jamie’s face as she processes. Then, she softens. Her thumb resumes its rhythmic movement.

There will be other times, Dani has said, and I will stay and I will be here for you because you aren’t alone anymore.

And that seems to be enough.

Jamie exhales through her nose.

“Bit nippy in here. Might, ah, might want to put on some clothes.”

Right. Yes. Of course. Jamie is still in a towel. Gooseflesh has risen along her legs, and she shivers.

“Oh, oh, yeah,” Dani stammers, “I’ll just--” She mimes turning around and is met with a chuckle.

“You weren’t this shy the other night, if memory serves.”

“That,” Dani reiterates, “that was different.” She makes a show of fussing with the corner of the duvet, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles.

Jamie makes a noncommittal noise low in her throat. “I’m decent.”

Dani had picked the clothes, sure, but for a woman who prides herself on preparedness, actually seeing Jamie in Dani’s old elementary school t-shirt and loose-fitting, flannel trousers causes the circuits in her brain to fry.

“Your tea’s getting cold,” she says dumbly. “I didn’t make it,” she adds, noting Jamie’s look of skepticism. Apparently satisfied with that answer, Jamie sips at her beverage and slides under the covers, gesturing for Dani to join her. She shakes her head. “I still need to clean myself up. Hannah’s watching the kids for now, but I really should get back to them.”

“A tragedy of Shakespearen proportions.”

“You need anything else before I shower?”

“No, thank you, love.” Modest affection shines on Jamie’s face, and she speaks so genuinely Dani’s heart aches. She smiles.

“Get some rest, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jamie gives a mock salute, at which Dani can only roll her eyes before exiting into the bathroom with an extra towel and a change of clothes.

When she returns, wringing her hair out, she finds Jamie soundly asleep. The teacup has been placed on the table, next to the plate now missing a sandwich, and Jamie is curled on her side, puffing slow, measured breaths.

Chamomile tea. Who knew?

Dani makes sure to close the door quietly, and she does her best to herd the children away from that side of the house.

It’s about time for supper when Dani makes her way back to her room. When Jamie does not answer her knocks, Dani opens the door, praying the hinges will not squeak for once. Jamie is still nestled in Dani’s bed. She’s rolled over, though, facing the door, and Dani can see her bangs billowing slightly with every breath. Jamie’s nose twitches where the hair tickles it.

This isn’t the first time Dani has seen Jamie in her bed, and she certainly hopes it won’t be the last, but this, this casual intimacy, is something so precious to her. She wants it to last.

Dani perches on the edge of the mattress, reaching out to remove the offending strand of hair from Jamie’s face, and Jamie stirs.

“Hey,” Dani whispers, and Jamie cracks an eye. She presses a hand to her forehead. One of her shirtsleeves has fallen to the side, revealing pale collarbones.

“Hey.” Her voice is gravelly, sleep-laden, in a way that makes Dani’s stomach turn over itself. “Time s’it?”

“Around six, I think?” That grabs Jamie’s attention. Before Dani can stop her, she’s scrambling to sit up, completely forgetting that’s a terrible idea and acting surprised when she topples back onto the pillows with a grunt.

“Easy, easy…” Dani scolds sweetly, as Jamie gasps. “You’re okay. Just lay back. That’s it.”

“Christ.”

“Forgot why you ended up here in the first place, huh?”

“I can’t believe you let me sleep all day,” Jamie says, when the stab of pain fades. “Thought you’d at least wake me up after an hour or so. Had things to do.”

“We said they could wait.”

“You said they could wait.”

“You can’t seriously be mad at me for making you take care of yourself.”

“Feel like I wasted a day, s’all.”

“Well, you didn’t. Taking care of yourself is never a waste,” Dani says, effectively ending the argument. “Do you want to come down for dinner, or do you want me to bring it up to you?” Jamie opens her mouth, but Dani continues, “Before you answer, I want you to think about whether you’re making this decision based on what’s easiest for me, or what you actually feel capable of doing.”

Jamie’s brows raise. “Someone’s feeling bold this evening.”

Dani resists the urge to shirk away, to cave. She knows Jamie would drop it instantly, reassuring Dani that she hasn’t actually overstepped. Instead, Dani says, quietly, sincerely, “You don’t have to put your needs aside to make my life easier.” She considers, leans down so that she’s laying next to Jamie on the bed. “Besides, I like taking care of you.”

Jamie studies her. Whether she’s looking for the lie or for Dani to pull back and say, “just kidding!” Dani doesn’t know. Jamie presses a gentle kiss to her lips, a kiss that speaks the words she cannot. A kiss that says, I’m working on it.

Dani stays close when they break apart, their foreheads touching. “So, dinner?”

“Should probably make an appearance.”

Dani gives her a pointed look. “‘Should’ or ‘want to.’”

“Want to,” Jamie assures, amusement dancing in her eyes.

“You know,” Dani says, helping Jamie sit up slowly, “we should probably tell them how you hurt yourself, or they’ll assume it was from less, hm, virtuous activities.”

“Dirty bird.” Jamie swats her arm. “Owen, maybe, but not our good, Christian Hannah.”

“But do you really want to deal with the comments at the table?”

“Fine. We tell them I fell, and that’s it.”

“Right, so I shouldn’t mention your incredibly stupid idea to move a heavy marble statue without help?”

“Not ideally, no.”

Dani pouts. “Do I at least get to ask about the Rosebush Incident of Eighty-five?”

“You’re not gonna let that one go, are you?” Jamie sighs. “Fine. Ask Owen, then. Suppose you’ll find out about it eventually.” Dani places a gleeful kiss on her cheek.

“Come on, let’s get some food into you.”

The few hours of bedrest appear to have paid off, Dani thinks smugly, as Jamie is perfectly capable of walking herself down the hall. Jamie, however, seems to be rather content to use this as an excuse to lean into Dani, and Dani can’t say she minds all that much. She stands on her own as they near the kitchen and moves with only a slight limp and a wince Dani only catches because she’s looking for it.

At another time, she’ll wonder how often Jamie has hidden her pain.

“There she is!” Owen exclaims when they take their unassigned, assigned seats at the table.

“What happened, dear?” Hannah says simultaneously, as Owen does a double take, clearly trying to figure out what he’s missing. It dawns on him a moment later.

“Fell. ‘M fine,” Jamie shrugs.

“Must’ve been some fall,” Owen remarks, with a smirk that has Dani wary.

“Hm?” Jamie does not look up from the roll she’s buttering.

“You’re wearing Miss Clayton’s clothes,” Flora observes helpfully. Dani chokes on her water. Shit. How could she have missed that?

To her credit, Jamie continues without faltering. “Tripped, landed in a mud puddle, and I didn’t have a change of clothes in the truck. Miss Clayton was nice enough to loan me hers.”

Well, the first part, at least, is true. Dani pinches herself for not asking if Jamie had her own clothes to change into. Even if she does look divine in the free t-shirt they gave Dani when she started teaching.

Owen seems skeptical, but, blessedly, he drops the subject in favor of animatedly recounting the story of their baking adventures that afternoon.

Hannah catches them after dinner, just as Dani is preparing to send the children to bed. “Will you be staying the night, Jamie? In the unfortunate event your injury acts up, of course,” she says with a mirthful wink.

Jamie looks to Dani for an answer, her mouth moving but no words coming out.

“Yes,” Dani decides for them.

“I’m assuming I won’t need to make up the guest bedroom for you?”

“Oh, um, no, thanks. That won’t be necessary.” Dani isn’t sure why she’s blushing. It’s not as if the whole manor doesn’t know about them. They’d tried hiding at first, sneaking about and slipping into dark corners like teenagers. They were not very good at it.

Later, with Miles and Flora safely asleep and Owen and Hannah having taken their leave for the evening, Jamie returns to Dani’s bed, this time with Dani sliding in behind her. Dani nuzzles into her back, careful not to touch any sore areas.

“I know I was an idiot,” Jamie’s voice cuts nervously through the darkness, “but, ah, just wanted to say thanks. For caring about me. Not really...not really used to that.”

Dani can feel her entire body tense. She presses tender kisses along Jamie’s back. “Of course,” she murmurs, and she hopes her conviction comes across. “Always.” She hesitates. “You’re not wrong about being an idiot, though,” Dani giggles.

“You like it.” It’s not meant to be a question, though Jamie’s voice wavers.

“I do,” Dani confirms affectionately, “I do.”

Jamie relaxes against her.

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kangaroo-sniper-imagine · 3 years

Text

Mercs who didn’t pay attention to their family trees

-I’m only doing a few mercs, cuz otherwise this would be huge-

Scout and Spy

When Miss Pauling introduced their newest recruit, The Thief, everyone was at least interested with the new blood. They were useful on the field; fast, silent, deadly, quickly able to steal the info case and dashing back to safety in record time. They were closed off at first, like many are in a new environment, but quickly opened up as soon as they were settled in.

The only person who didn’t quite connect with them was Spy (shocker). There was something about the new recruit that stuck him odd, something familiar about them that he couldn’t just put his finger on. The Frenchman’s son felt similarly.

“It’s like I already know ‘em; which is weird ‘cuz I’m dead certain we’ve never met before.”

It wasn’t until several weeks later, as the ten of you all were joined in the rec room, just enjoying each other’s company after a successful match. Jacque sat in the corner with Mick {not to derail but I totally think that they’re secret best friends who roast each other on the field}, both sipping at their drinks and idly talking as Jeremey sat with them, having a loud conversation with Jane from across the room.

Then they heard it. A deep, throaty chortle that was extremely unattractive, coming from across the room, coming from you

Both Jacque and Jeremy froze, the sound too familiar for it to be comfortable, eyes snapping to you, where you were wildly laughing with Travish. The Scotsman was sloshed and laughed along with your, his thundering laughter almost drowning out your own. Almost.

The sniper took a slow sip of his beer as he as well looked upon the commotion. He hummed in thought, and turned to the frozen spy. “Izzit jus’ me,” he drawled, gesturing with is beer can to you, “or do their laugh sound a lot like yours?”

Scout slowly turned to his father, rage in his eyes, but all Spy could do was watch you laugh that awful laugh. His brain slowly connected the evidence, memories of 20+ years ago invaded his mind, a dalliance with a woman who looks shockingly like you, the nose that you share with him and Jeremy, your strange obsession with your appearance, and most damning of all; the shitty laugh that you’ve seem to inherit from Jacque.

With a deep breath, the Frenchman stood up, determined to get out of the room and hide in his abode so he could scream in peace, but the sudden influx of the realization, rather, caused him to faint.

He awoke, what he assumed, several hours later, in a familiar camper bed. In his peripheral, Jacque could see Mick smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper with one hand, a mug of coffee in the other. Without even looking up to confirm that the Frenchman was awake, the sniper spoke.

“Your kids are right pissed at you, mate.”

Jacque cursed.

Heavy and Soldier

Pauling was ecstatic to introduce more help, probably under the impression that this person to pick up the slack the other leaves so that her evenings won’t be filled with killing and covering up murders and thefts. Some young thing with a thick, almost indiscernible accent who spoke rarely and quietly. You were called the Electrician, for your… odd choice of weaponry.

Your gun was one of your own design, one you were very proud of, that rather than bullets shot out electrical charges, either stunning your opponent to help assist another teammate in a kill or give off a charge so intense it kills. You spent most of your free time in your assigned work shop improving your gun’s design and creating new weapons.

More than once, the team would hear a loud scream and the sound of a loud thud, only to come and find your door blown wide open and you stuck in the adjacent wall, hair shocked to stiffness and a new white streak added to your hair. Needless to say, you kept the team on their toes with your eccentricities. For some reason, your antics made Mikhail exceptionally worried. It was a weird knee jerk reaction he had, something that hadn’t flared up since he was younger, watching over his sisters.

About a month after your arrival, Jane caught you in his raccoon infantry pen, cooing over the animals that flocked to you. It was the first time he saw you smile since you’ve gotten there, and the first time he’s seen you out of your combat gear, now you wore a too large tee shirt and denim shorts, toes in the Arizona sand, scratching the chins of the furry animals. Deciding to try his luck, Jane approached you with a bellowing welcome, startling you, but you greeted him back regardless.

Jane noticed how much you liked watching the raccoons play with each other, but noticed you looked sad too.

“What’s the long face for, private?”

Your face pinched. When you spoke your words were slow, not used to English. “They have… family. I do not.” With a heavy sigh, you tried to elaborate. Jane didn’t mind waiting for you to collect your thoughts or your thick accent. Years of hanging out with Travish and Ludwig extremely sloshed had taught Jane patience in regards to others when they’re trying to speak an unfamiliar language.

“Mother was from… Russia? But father was from Norway, and mother went to there with him. When mother and father… died,” Jane’s heart twinged at the way your face fell, “I do not know how to find mother’s family in Russia, and father had no family in Norway. So I stay in Norway.” A beat of silence passed as you scratched the head of a curious baby raccoon that strayed closed to you. “I stay alone.”

Jane busted out crying, pulling you into a bear hug and vowing to be your surrogate family for as long as you want. He made it his mission to figure out who your family is. The first thing he did was write down the name of your parents, fully planning on hunting down your relatives after some good old fashioned American bonding.

Just as he was about to reunite with you after grabbing a baseball form his room, the American ran into Mikhail, who seemed pissed off

“You touch Sasha?” He accused, one large finger jabbing into the soldier’s chest. Jane couldn’t find it in himself to get mad at the accusation, he was a man on a mission to cheer up a sad kid and no angry Red was gonna stop him.

“No time,Sputnik! There’s a sad private who needs a moral boost and a good old game of catch!”

Rage quickly turned to confusion, then mild understanding. “Electrician is sad?”

Soldier gave a speedrun version of your sad backstory, even going as far to show the names of your parents to the Heavy. The Russian surveyed the sheet and he sighed. “That is not how name of mother is spelled.” He informed.

Jane scoffed. “And how would you know?”

Mikhail threw the American an unimpressed look. “Because family name is mother’s name before marriage.”

There was a second of realization.

“... is it a common last name?”

“... nyet.”

“... you might want to call your mother to confirm something.”

“... Heavy just might.”

—-

The next morning, Mikhail knocked on Jane’s door so early in the morning, the vet wasn’t even awake yet already doing his morning exercises.

The American looked up blearily to the Russian, one hand scratching his buzz cut head.

Mikhail looked grim. “Heavy call mother. Mother says that Electrician’s mother is cousin to her.”

Soldier mulled over the information. “So… your mama’s cousin is Private Zappy’s mama, so that makes us-

“Makes ME second cousin.” Mikhail insisted.

With an air of smugness, Jane flashed his left hand, displaying a wedding band. “Then I’m their second cousin in-law.”

Mikhail grumbled in annoyance and rolled his eyes, complaining in Russian. “Right. Sister Zhanna’s big mistake.”

With a sense of new found energy, Soldier stuck his chin up high and began marching towards your room, seemingly not aware that he was in only a pair of his tighty whiteys.

Mikhail sighed again but followed Jane regardless to tell you the news of your newfound family.

Medic (italics is German cuz lets be honest, who wants to translate all that)

After months of complaining to Pauling, asking for more on field medical help, upper management finally relented and hired a new mercenary, some bright young thing going by The Nurse.

You were studious, and compared to Ludwig you were very tamed. You saw this opportunity as a job to perform and not a way to finally experiment legally on people without getting arrested the way Ludwig does. You took your work seriously, dutifully dressing every wound, handing out pain medication, assisting Ludwig in his surgeries. You certainly helped lessen his work load during battle, helping with minor injuries so that the doctor could focus on his Ubercharge and on more serious injuries.

You two were professional to each other; despite showing you weren’t exactly sadistic you never chastised Ludwig for his somewhat cruel experiments, and you were always respectful to him and everyone else around you, which is something that impressed him (considering how noting the rest of the team is).

One day while experimenting on Heavy, you solemnly standing next to the doctor with your face covered like the good little health professional you were, the Medic fuzzed in German, adding, “I need a bone saw.”

Without him translating, you turned to your side and snatched the instrument off the tray, passing it to the doctor.

After a moment of thought, Ludwig spoke again. “You speak German?”

“Ja, I am from Germany after all.”

The russain’s rib finally took the blade and now was slicing easily. “What a coincidence. Which part?”

“Munich, but I left while I was very young when my family moved.” After another brief pause, you add, “I actually wanted to become a nurse because of Munich.

Ludwig didn’t mention that he, as well, came from the same city, rather, he decided to prod you and learn more. It was so rare to meet someone he could have a conversation in his mother tongue with.

“What in Munich made you want to become a nurse?” Reaching into Heavy’s chest with a scalpel, Ludwig began to sever the arteries attached to the heart.

“The University. My family lived nearby, and seeing the students come and go made me want to join them… actually a relative went there. My family was very proud of him and I wanted to go with him, but, ah, I was only a child.” Without being asked, you held out a silver pan that Ludwig deposited the heart.

The doctor started the timer, watching the mutilated chest cavity, waiting for the oregano to regrow due to his most recent experimental ‘medicine’. “Hmm, which relative?”

“Oh, my father’s brother’s wife’s…. something.” You replied idly, fetching a notebook and pencil to record the time. “Nephew or cousin’s nephew or something. It is a distant relation. Lost his license though.”

“Really? How?”

“He removed someone’s skeleton if you can believe it.”

Ludwig’s fist clenched so hard that the stopwatch broke. Dammit, now he has to start the experiment all over again.

#tf2 spy x reader #tf2 scout x reader #tf2 soldier x reader #tf2 heavy x reader #tf2 medic x reader #tf2 x reader #team fortress 2 #team fortress 2 x reader #tf2 #tf2 medic #tf2 scout #tf2 soldier #tf2 heavy #tf2 spy

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