#like sure nicky's a bit more quiet but more chill | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 3 years

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Hypnotic Stirrings: Then It All Turned Black

Summary- 4.7k Nick Vaugh x Pregnant!Reader. After the block fundraising party, you and Nick have everyone come over to your place for some more adult fun. It is all fun and games while your sister Lisa gets teased about her belief in the power of hypnosis. Nick, maybe having had too much to drink, scoffs at the idea of it and challenges Lisa to put him under.

Warnings- some drug and drinking use, nightmare images, sexual situations. This is an 18+ only blog.

A/N- Happy Halloween Folks and thank you so much for reading chapter two. I hope you all are having a safe and spooky month so far! I'm still not revealing the film this is based on, but if you want to guess, please send me a DM, so as not to spoil it for anyone. Thank you @bradfordbantams for reaching out to beta this project. Thank you @nix-akimbo for the edit, I was able to use it in the moodboard. The full-size edit will be added at the bottom of this chapter. Dividers made by the wonderful @firefly-graphics. As always comments and reblogs if you liked the fic is encouraged. Stay Spooky Everyone! 👻🎃

Chapter One / Masterlist

Later that night a small group of you ended up in your living room, beers scattered around the room, some roaches in ashtrays, everyone was mellowed out and chill after the block party. Lounging around, Nick was messing around with some music to play while he perked interest at the conversation going on in his living room.

“Hypnosis is so real, I saw the video my professor showed. The guy had a needle sticking in his neck and never flinched when they were putting it in. The power of the mind…” Lisa picked up a blunt and dragged from it, inhaling deeply before letting it drift back out, the rest of the smoke was a cloud above them. “...it's a powerful thing when manipulated.” She waved an exaggerated hand at her neck. “It was just sticking out there, it was insane, man.”

Nick rolled his eyes at you while you crooked your finger at him for him to come to you. He strolled over after abandoning his pile of music, you were sure to move over so he could fall on the couch next to you. Nick pulled you into his lap to nuzzle at your shoulder.

“Come on Lisa, a needle in his neck?” You cringed while feeling Nick's fingers play under your shirt, gently skimming along your waist.

“Swear on a pinkie promise Y/N, every word I say is true. I let the Professor poke me in the arm and I didn’t feel a thing or even know what had happened.” She held up a pinkie finger to hook with your finger and you could feel Nick shift beneath you, sliding you off.

“Hypnotize someone Lisa.” Nick suggested with a quirk of his brow, giving her a challenge. She looked around the room and several hands threw hands up in a no-way gesture.

“No fucking way, I'm gonna pass,” Frank said. “Too freaky for me.” A few others shook their heads, including you.

“Nah, I'm gonna pass.” You shrugged at your sister and Lisa smirked looking right at Nick.

“How about you Nicky? You seem to be a skeptic, let's see if you can prove me wrong.” She put the blunt down and moved to sit on the coffee table in front of Nick.

He rubbed his hands a bit nervously against his pants before leaning forward to grab a beer bottle from next to Lisa, finishing it off. “What the Hell, I will try anything once. Give it a shot Lisa.”

Frank shook his head in disbelief. “Shouldn't be messing with that shit man.”

Nick scoffed while Lisa directed them to turn off the music and quiet the room so Nick could focus on her. “What's she gonna do Frank?” Nick asked his neighbor. “Put me to sleep?”

“Or some other freaky shit.” Frank countered and Nick shook his head with a laugh.

“I don’t believe in any of this stuff to be honest. But maybe Lisa can make me a believer.”

Lisa had the room dimmed and had everyone move away from Nick. She held up a finger in front of Nick's face.

“Okay Nick, I need you to focus on my finger and my voice alone.”

Nick settled deeper into the couch, staring at Lisa's manicured finger. “Nice finger, new polish?”

A few sniggers of laughter went around the room and Lisa’s voice snapped. “I need it quiet. Come on Nick, don't be an ass.”

“Sorry, sorry…” Nick apologized and refocused on her finger, feeling his gaze slightly sharpen in focus on her finger. You stir next to him uneasy. It wasn’t like you believed any of this, but you still weren't crazy about messing with it.

“Lisa, how many times have you done this?” you asked while watching Nick put all his focus on her finger in front of him.

“Well I have seen it done a dozen times now.”

You groan and Nick's eyes dart to you, giving a wink, still sure nothing was going to happen to him. “Don't mess him up more than he already is.” You pleaded.

“I won't! Trust me. Nick, you want to be hypnotized right?” Lisa asked once Nick went back to staring at Lisa's finger.

“Would you just do it already?”

“Okay okay. Breath calmly in and out…” After a few moments Nick could feel his eyes going drowsy from the intake of alcohol and weed, Lisa's voice was soothing as she encouraged him. “Now close your eyes.” Lisa encouraged and Nick let his heavy lids slide close, lashes fluttering just under his eyes as he inhaled deeply once more, feeling his lungs fill and exhale slowly through his mouth.

Endless, that was how dark it had become once his eyes closed. His senses heightened to hear glass clinking against a table, someone set their bottle down on his coffee table a little too heavily. Somewhere on the street a car backfired and someone hooted in laughter, next to him he could hear you shift on the couch, your pants scritching against the couch cushion, sensing you were a tad nervous letting Lisa do this.

“Look at the back of your eyelids Nick, let the darkness just soothe you, my voice is the only thing you are focusing on. Do you see anything?”

Nick saw nothing but black, a feeling of darkness that led to nowhere. For whatever reason the sudden feeling of void left him uneasy, like he wasn’t able to find his way back into his livingroom full of friends or family. It only shrunk away when he felt you shift once more, your leg brushing with his. You certainly wouldn't let anything happen to him.

Don’t be stupid, your eyes are just closed. He chided himself. Then he saw squiggles of colors penetrating the void.

“Some colors, yeah, they are kind of like sparks?” He could feel his eyelids twitching, another breath in, another breath out and he felt settled down once more.

“Good, good, focus on them.”

The light bounced around and then it shot down, Nick in his concentration felt like he started to spiral downwards following it.

“Now picture a movie theater.” Lisa's voice sounded heavy, almost far away. A movie theater he had taken you to when you two first started dating appeared in view. “It's full of people, it's going quiet, look for the screen. Do you see the screen Nick? It's starting to play a movie.”

Nick sensed people in the darkness, shifting around him. He distinctly felt you next to him, just like back in the day. The smell of buttered stale popcorn wafted through his senses, right along with the screech of a straw through a lid. “Okay Nick, now you are closer to the front, the screen is much bigger and you are all alone now, no one in the dark with you. It's just you and the large screen.”

Just as Lisa said, the screen zoomed in closer, the noises and scents he was noticing faded to nothing, the theater was now empty, the red seats all folded up from what he could see when he was looking around, then once he was sure he was all alone, he turned back to the screen. Nick grunted in response to Lisa that he was now all alone.

“The walls are black…” All around Nick velvet curtains fell along the walls around him, ripples of the void in those curtains as they settled in place.

“The seats are all black.” The void started to cover the gaudy red seats, it was starting to feel almost suffocating to Nick again. He took a deep lung filling inhale through his nose, letting it escape through his mouth.

“All the lights go off Nick…” and any background light flicks off, one by one till the darkness wrapped around him once more. “... it's just the white screen left. You are going to drift forward in your chair. Get closer Nick.” He felt like he was floating closer, the screen filling his vision.

“Do you see the letters on the screen Nick? They are out of focus.” Lisa's voice droned and Nick again grunted in a ‘huh’ in response. “Keep focusing on them Nick, they are going to start to come into focus. You will drift closer. You are comfortable here Nick, it's safe. You just keep focusing on the screen, the words. They are getting a bit clearer.”

Everything she said was true, he could feel himself drifting closer to the screen. “You are comfortable in your seat while drifting closer. Very comfortable. You are relaxing, your feet and legs are relaxed. Your arms feel heavy against the arm rest. Your hands are loose and relaxed. Your head is tipped back, all you can see is the screen. You are getting closer, Nick, the words are almost there, you can almost read them.” Nick could see the letters start to sharpen in his vision, like he was going through an eye test for new lenses. He squinted a bit trying to make them out.

“They are right there Nick, you can read them now. Crystal clear, they spell SLEEP.”

And as soon as Lisa said it, the letters grew crystal clear and sharp, filling his vision and everything swallowed him. The void gives him a moment of panic, as it turns into nothing. Nothing at all. He’s never going to find his way out of this.

Then the front of his new home came into view. It looked like it had plastic on the windows, some crooked boards and a black shape of a person on the top of the stairs waving at him.

Come closer, come closer.

That song he heard before, the lyrics blast in his head once more, muffling out whoever is waving him closer.

I see the girls walk by,

Dressed in their summer clothes.

Nick is then inside his home, the walls bare, floors dusty and plastic hanging everyone mid project. A screeching face presses in front of his vision that makes him stumble backwards to escape with his own cry of fear. The face shakes back and forth violently, muffled by something coating over the features, making it look out of focus. Nick couldn't understand what he was seeing, why they were screaming so close to his face. He swears he can feel the crinkle of plastic wrapping around him, the impact of the scream making his head throb trying to make sense of the last few seconds.

I have to turn my head,

Until my darkness goes…

The muddled face thrashes back and forth faster till it's just a blur, then lunges at him, making Nick panic and scream out a “STOP!”

You're watching closely as Nick jolts upwards suddenly, rubbing at his face, he takes a sharp inhale and all eyes are on him. “What the hell was that?” He asks almost in a panic, blinking like crazy as his vision is watery, his hand coming to swipe at the tears and sweat on his face as his heart hammers at his chest, the bitter taste of fear, dry sandpaper once more in his mouth. But it fades, whatever had jerked him awake fades from his memory so fleeting that he doesn't recollect anything he saw. Just the beat of a song he can't remember.

Frank nearby bursts out laughing at Nick, who now looks confused, his eyes darting towards you and his cheeks going flush with red heat. “You don't remember any of it?” You ask, your hands coming up to cup his face in concern. “Are you okay?”

Frank is still cackling though from across the room. “Oh shit man, that was one of the freakiest things I have ever seen.” he huffed out, slightly drunk and a bit more exuberant than usual as his laughter turned boisterous.

“Congratulations Nick.” Lisa claps her hands together, happy with herself for being able to hypnotize him. “You are one of the eight percent that can go completely under.” Frank continues laughing in the background.

You scold your neighbor. “Shut it, Frank, you are going to wake Jack up.” You turn back to Nick with concern, who leans forward to pull himself up off the couch.

“What the hell did she do to me?” He mutters while weaving through the people to get to the fridge, popping it open and grabbing at his orange juice container and dragging deep swallows from it while you rub at his back till he has pulled the container away, gasping for some air.

Frank turned towards Lisa. “What do you mean eight percent?”

“Well everyone can go under a little, but Nick was way way under. He's one of the rare cooperative few. A side I've never seen before.” She teased her brother-in-law. Nick's jaw clenched, rubbing at his hand absently. “How does your hand feel?”

“Fine, why?” He took another swallow from his container of orange juice while the two of you rejoined the group.

“Because I stuck a thumbtack in your palm and told you not to bleed. You said it didn't even hurt.”

Nick's eyes flashed in alarm and you nodded to confirm what she was saying. You rolled his hand to show him, rubbing at the spot to show him where she had poked him.

Frank snorted gleefully. “That was crazy, but I want to hear more about what you were screaming and crying at.”

Nick stiffened at what Frank was saying. “I wasn’t screaming and crying?”

“Yeah, you were blubbering and crying out ‘Stop! Stop!’. It was hysterical.”

Lisa elbowed Frank and glared at him, he cleared his throat and looked down at his bottle, swirling it. “All very moving man… Yup.”

Nick rubbed at his face and turned away from the group, you tilted your head and leaned in against him while he muttered. “Jesus Christ… “ He sighed and glanced at you, wincing. “Can we call it a night? My head is pounding.”

“Sure baby, how about you head on upstairs and I will send everyone home.” You rubbed once more at his tense back and he gave a smile of thanks, pressing his forehead to yours affectionately before waving at the group.

“I'm gonna head upstairs. Night everyone.”

Frank was the first to protest and he was also the first you filed out of your door, everyone else not far behind till it was just you and Lisa. She was digging in her purse for her car keys. “Is Nick alright? He seemed a bit shaken up.”

You nodded in agreement. “He was, I think, just caught by surprise. I think you made a believer out of him, at least for tonight.” You giggled and swept in to give your sister a hug. “Are you sure you are set to drive?”

“This was nothing.” She winked and gave an extra affectionate squeeze before letting go and shouldering her bag. “Call you tomorrow?”

“Of course, Love you.”

“Love you too.” She blew an air kiss while you closed and locked the door behind her, taking a deep breath now that your house was back to just the family. You went to pick up the scattered beer bottles and ashtrays to dispose of and cracked a window in the living room to dispense the weed smoke.

Upstairs Nick paused at Jack's door and cracked it open to see the little boy with his back turned, the soft rise and fall of his shoulder made Nick think he was sound asleep even through the loud commotion downstairs, so he eased the door shut. Once Jake heard that click, he turned slightly, first looking at the door then stared silently at the end of his bed. “Daddy can see now right?”

He tilts his head as if he heard something and a sleepy smile crosses his face. “Okay, I believe you.” and he turns once more to his side and falls back to sleep.

It was a good hour of you cleaning up downstairs till you made your way up to the darkened bedroom. Nick is stretched out under the blanket, his hands behind his head, staring up at the bedroom's old ceiling once more. You can see his hair is spiky from it being wet where he had taken a shower. You go to sit on your side, leaning over him while gently pressing a hand to the center of his chest. “Hey, you okay?”

His eyes dart to you and he gives a crooked smile, relief at seeing you flooding his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” He goes silent for a few seconds then starts again. “Fuck I don’t know. That really freaked me out, you know? Jesus Christ I really don't ever want to do that again.”

“Hell me neither.” You say as you pull away, undressing on your side of the bed, rubbing at your aching body. You had not joined in on the drinking and smoking due to being a few weeks pregnant, but you were feeling tired after the long night. You settled back into bed next to Nick who flung an arm around you, letting his palm rub at your shoulder. “You seemed so scared when you woke back up. What did you see?” You tilted your head up to look at him from where your head laid on his shoulder. His fingers started dancing across your skin in that way that reminded you of him playing his trumpet.

A quick press of fingertips going in different patterns that meant nothing to you, but would mean something to him, softly he hummed a tune you assumed matched his fingers. You were familiar with it but couldn't put your finger quite on.

“I don't know… I tried to remember but it was gone as soon as my eyes opened. I really don't know.”

You nuzzled in against his chest a bit, kissing his jaw gently. “I'm shocked Jackie didn't wake up.” You steer the conversation away from the events. Nick tilted slightly, dragging you in closer to him till your bare leg hooked around his hip.

“Sounds asleep when I looked in on him, Honey.” He pressed his lips to the crown of your head, sighing softly against it.

You ran your fingertips up and down through the hair on his chest, letting your nails lightly scratch him. “And how's your headache, take anything for it?”

“Took some aspirin earlier.” Nick's other hand not wrapped around you raised up to his temple to make a circular motion, pressing against it to relieve the pressure simmering there. “Some sleep and it will go away.”

You pressed a kiss to his collarbone and settled in closer, nodding. “Night Handsome, I love you.”

“I love you babygirl, always.”

His eyes spring open, 3:30 am. Witching hour Nick thought grimly to himself. He tried to focus outside of the red light of the clock radio, something maybe by the window? A shadow? It was a split second when it was erased from his mind, feeling you snuggle up behind him, your hand snaking down under the blankets to wrap your hand around his cock. Fuck that felt good, his eyes closed to let the warming feeling wash through him as you feathered kisses against the back of his neck.

A slight twist of your palm brought your fingertips to trail along the underside, tracing the throbbing vein making him rigid. You looked over his shoulder with a sleepy blink of your eyes and eager lips seeking along his jawline. “Nick…” you breathed out softly, asking for more.

He rolled to his back while you shifted to straddle him. Letting go so you could drag your hands up his chest while his own hands followed the same path on you, dragging your sleep shirt over your head and discarding it. Arching over him with a soft breathy moan as you shifted your hips and reached behind you to line him up and sink down on him, you both groaned at the feeling of each other.

Nick couldn't tear his eyes from you, the sensuous way your body moved above him while riding, the bounce of your tits as your head tilted back and fingers dug into his pecs as you chased your rush now that you were awake. He palmed your breasts, knowing you loved the feel of your nipples being pulled. “Yes Nick, that feels so good.” You whimpered as you sunk onto his cock again, circling your hips while on him to feel him all over. “I love riding this cock.”

Out of all the ways you two have been together, these middle of the night sessions where you both were somewhere between awake and asleep, moving together because you both just knew what the other needed were the ones you both frequently enjoyed. It was intimate moments and it was a better chance that they wouldn't be interrupted by Jack. This was exactly how Jack had been conceived, and most likely the new upcoming baby had been as well.

Expertly Nick pulled your nipples taut between his fingers before his hands fell down to your waist, rocking you up and down with his steady thrusts underneath you. His head tilted back into the pillows to let the rush of being inside of you take over when it started all over again behind his eyelids.

The hum of a song, lyrics he couldn't make out as they garbled through his mind, mixing with your words that you kept chanting.

I see a line- “Fuck Nick”- of cars,

And they are all- “Right there, oh god”- painted black,

His eyes sprang open, shaking his head as you continued bouncing on him, squeezing his cock as you were so close, but you could feel he was distracted. You let yourself fall forward, cupping his face in your hands, slowing down your rhythm, and coming back from the chase. “Nick, baby, what's wrong?” Your body slowed, rocking slowly on him now instead of bouncing for the rush. You moaned softly when you felt him grind against your aroused clit.

With flowers and my love,

Both never- “Nick please talk to me”- to come back…

And Nick felt a nauseous wave fall over him, his arm locking around you and pushing up so you were both face to face, a surprised cry escaping you, as well as the sudden angle, stopped your movements as you clung to him, trying to keep your balance. “Jesus, what is going on?” You asked in a slight panic and he shook his head.

“You gotta stop Y/N. Something isn't right. It's too weird, something is too weird.`` He shuddered when you clenched around him again, so close but you were doing your best to calm down, the whole mood between you two just changed in an instant, you were so lost as to his demeanor that you pulled yourself off of him.

He scrambled to the edge of the bed, his feet planting on the floor and hands hanging in between his legs, trying to drag in deep breaths. A sheen of sweat coated him and you cautiously touched his back. “Nick? Please talk to me… Did you not like something? Because we can try a different position.” You sidle closer to press against his back, still craving the closeness that you were desiring when you woke up and Nick gives a slight roll to pull away.

“Stop, I can't babe. It's too weird right now. I don’t want to be touched.” He reached to roll his boxers on and pulled to a stand. “I need some air, I will be right back.” Hand pushing through his hair and Nick left the room suddenly, leaving you just sitting in the middle of the bed naked and completely at a loss of what just happened between the two of you. You were just about to follow him, but you pulled back to your spot on the bed, hugging your arms around yourself instead.

Whatever just happened made tears prickle in the corners of your eyes, unable to stop the feeling of rejection that it caused. You looked down at your body and worried yourself, you knew your body wasn't the one you used to have before Jack, and it was going to change even more now, but Nick never ever seemed to notice or care about the changes. In fact, he was thrilled with it all, constantly telling you you were sexier than ever to him with the curvier hips. So this really unnerved a part of you.

Nick rushed down the stairs two at a time, sweeping open the front door and stepping out onto the front stoop, taking in gulps of the cold night air. He swore he was about to throw up, his stomach rolling, and for what reason?

He loved being with you, it was such an intimate part of the relationship was showing each other physically how you both felt, and at that moment it made him ill. It constricted his chest, his mind went muddled with echoes of voices and that fucking song. Again he couldn't drag up anything about it other than he heard lyrics, a tune. That he could hum to himself.

Maybe I am going fucking crazy. Whatever Lisa did to me is making me fucking crazy. He thought bitterly to himself as he took another drag of night air and rubbed at his eyes to look up and down the quiet street. All was peaceful, all was safe. There was nothing at all to be worried or afraid of.

This is home, with your wife, son, and baby to be. Nick told himself as he grasped the railing and leaned on it, chanting to himself to bring himself back to normal. Because that shit Lisa was into wasn't real, he was just really high and buzzed when she did the hypnosis.

Keep telling yourself that, liar.

Your family is inside, tomorrow the sun is going to come up, your incredibly hot wife will probably tease you till your son comes in for breakfast, asking for daddy to make him pancakes.

Who was Samantha he mentioned this morning? Hm?

And you Nicky will get ready for work. Nick kept letting the familiarity of his life wash over him and he opened his eyes much more relieved. Whatever freaky thing he was going through was gone. Satisfied, he went back into the house and locked the door behind him. Going to the couch he fell down, chuckling softly at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. It was all in his mind, bullshit Lisa suggested to him that got him riled up.

Till he caught sight of something stirring from the corner of his eye. Whipping his head to the side, a split second of a figure was sitting next to him. Just looking at her, he felt the air vacuum from his lungs. Sunken eyes and pale deathly skin were encased by matted limp hair and her hand shot out to cup his face, her lips moving as if she was screaming at him, but it was muffled. Something was covering her voice and the song blared in the background, the words blocking out anything he might have heard from her, screaming in his head.

I LOOK INSIDE MYSELF

AND SEE MY HEART IS BLACK

I SEE MY RED DOOR

I MUST HAVE IT PAINTED BLACK…

In a flash it was all gone, the word black echoing just a couple times in his mind as Nick scrambled away from the couch, falling onto the stairs, and rushed up a few till he looked back at the couch, empty. No one was sitting there. His hand went to his chest, his heart trying to crash through his ribcage as the adrenaline rushed through him. Black black black just repeated in his mind till his son’s voice snapped him to attention.

Jack had come out of his bedroom, dragging his stuffy with him to the landing at the top step, and made his way down to where Nick had sunk down onto. He composed himself enough to answer his son. “Wh-what kiddo? You should be sleeping.”

The boy, almost looking older than his four year old self, moved to sit on the step above him, patting his head. “It’s okay Daddy. Don’t be scared. She’s nice”

Nick’s brow furrowed at what his son was saying. “You… have seen her too?”

Jack gave a chirp of a yes and a nod. His hand fell to his dad's shoulder and he leaned into him. “Now you see them too Daddy.” His tiny hand patted reassuringly to Nick’s shoulder and Nick couldn't help but feel his son was suddenly a lot older than he actually was.

Edit made by @nix-akimbo (thank you again!)

#hypnotic stirrings #nick vaughn x reader #nick vaughn x pregnant reader #nick vaughn #nick vaughn au #before we go #before we go au #chris evans characters #chris evans fanfiction #nick vaughn fanfiction #halloween #halloween 2021 #amber writes #sweater writes

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even-after-a-millennia · 3 years

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look out with me at this beauty

For @nilefreemanweek2021 and the prompt Childhood. While protesting a pipeline, Nile sees something in the distance that reminds her of a family vacation she took as a child. You can read it below or over on my ao3 account here. Gen | Rated G | 1.7k

“You would think,” Nile said in disgust, “that after how many times these things have broken, we wouldn’t have to be right here, protesting them making yet another pipeline.”

“Profits before the people,” Andy said drily from where she was standing next to Nile.

“Ughhhhhhhh,” Nile groaned.

Nicky and Joe returned from giving out water and food to the other protestors and handed over the remaining bottles and granola bars. Nile ripped one open and tore a bite off viciously.

She looked out, past the line of police officers that were attempting to intimidate her and the other protestors standing in the path of the pipeline. In the distance, she could see a piece of higher land going up into the sky. She squinted, but it didn’t become any clearer.

“Hey, guys, what’s that?” she asked, pointing at it.

Andy looked over. “Oh. I remember that place. We were here in the… uh, late 1800s? Trying to push back the expansion of settlers onto the native people’s land. The tribes in the area had many names for it, but the one I remember is Bear Mountain.”

“Bear Mountain…” Nile muttered, pulling out her phone. She typed “Bear Mountain South Dakota” into the search bar and started reading the results. “Oh,” she said quietly.

“What is it, Nile?” Nicky asked.

“It’s also called Bear Butte.”

She swallowed, then said, “My family and I went there when I was a kid.”

“Would you like to tell us about it?” Nicky asked. He kept one eye on the police, but turned most of his attention to Nile.

The others did the same, settling in for the long haul.

_____________________________________

The field of sunflowers whipped past Nile’s window and to her ten-year-old brain, they seemed to go on forever. Jordan was kicking the back of her mom’s seat and she turned to look at him and said, “Child, if you don’t want to walk there, you will stop that right now.”

He stopped, pouting.

“I’m bored,” he said.

“Look outside, Jordan! You can see forever!” Nile said, trying to distract him.

It worked for a few minutes, but then he was kicking again. Nile’s mom looked at the ceiling of the van, and Nile knew that her patience was being tested.

“Hey Jordan, I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the letter S,” Nile said.

Nile’s mom sent her a smile, which Nile returned.

He looked around, taking in the options. “Sky?” he asked.

“Nope!”

“Street?”

“This is a highway, dummy.”

He frowned and opened his mouth to retaliate, but she just said, “C’mon, you can get it! It starts with S!”

Jordan looked out the window and brightened. “SUNFLOWERS!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Nile nodded as her parents took deep breaths, then let them out.

“Your turn!” she said.

Their game lasted another hour, then they stopped at a rest area to go to the bathroom. Jordan climbed on the playground while Nile swung on a swing in the kid’s area, as their parents watched from one of the nearby park benches.

They had been driving since early that morning, but her parents had warned that they wouldn’t arrive at the hotel until late.

“So no swimming?” Nile had asked, trying not to pout.

Her dad had laughed. “Maybe not the first night, but I promise we will swim before we come home.”

She nodded, satisfied.

They were going to Bear Butte in South Dakota. Jordan had giggled when he had seen how close butte was to butt. That had started a conversation about how this was a sacred place for the Native Americans in the area, and while the Freeman’s were there, they were to treat the place with respect.

“Dad, if it’s for Native Americans, why are we going there?” Nile had asked, brow furrowed.

“A few guys in my division went there when they were in Sturgis for a big motorcycle rally. Said that it was a beautiful area and that you could feel the history and spirit of the place in the air. I want to see it for myself,” he explained.

Nile didn’t really get it, but she nodded anyway.

Luckily, Jordan had tired himself out on the playground, so he crashed for a while after they got back in the van. Nile pulled out Maniac Magee, the book one of her teachers had recommended at the end of the school year, and began to lose herself in between its pages.

They stopped for food somewhere in South Dakota, but still had a few hours to go. It was getting dark, the sun setting over the fields as they flashed by, and Nile was entranced by the colors streaking across the sky. She pulled out her folder of paper and tried to recreate it with her colored pencils, but the road was bumpy and the colors didn’t do it justice.

Her dad insisted on putting it on the dash anyway.

“Anyone looking at this vehicle will know that there is an artist on board,” he said, smiling at her.

Even Nile was dozing by the time that they pulled into the hotel parking lot. She dragged Jordan behind her, holding onto his hand, until they could get up in the room.

“Whoa…” she said, looking around.

There were two queen sized beds, a giant tv, a microwave, and a fridge in the room. She went to get on the bed, but her mom said, “Wait a minute.”

She took the covers off and put them to the side.

“Alright, now you can get on. But no jumping. There are people below us,” she said.

Nile frowned. Well, that stopped what she was going to do.

Jordan and Nile got one bed and her mom and dad took the other. They had waffles for breakfast and Jordan thought the machine that made them was the coolest thing. Her dad had actually made the waffles, but he had let Jordan flip the griddle, which he did with glee.

They drove a little bit out of town and parked. Nile’s dad shouldered the backpack that Nile’s mom had packed full of water, sunscreen, and snacks.

“Remember, you two, do not touch the pieces of cloth on the trees. They are prayer cloths and they are not to be disturbed. Do not go off the path. And try to be respectful and quiet. Okay?” their dad said.

They nodded, and set off.

It was a gentle slope upwards at first, and then they were pushing themselves up the hills. There were a lot of trees right by the trail, and Nile watched as the pieces of fabric tied to the trees swayed in the breeze. They were pretty.

Then they reached a flatter area with a wooden railing and looked out to see down the hill and out into the fields beyond.

“Cool…” Nile breathed, taking it all in.

They kept going, and Nile eventually stopped looking ahead and just kept looking around, taking in all the trees and grass and fields around her. They crested a hill and Nile looked down the hill and suddenly stopped.

“Dad, why do the trees look like that?” she asked.

There were many trees that were on their sides, barkless and white against the grass.

“There was a fire here in the late 90’s that burnt up a lot of the trees. The grass has grown back, but the trees couldn’t be saved,” he explained.

“Oh,” she said, feeling a sadness she couldn’t really explain. This was all so beautiful. It hurt to see the remnants of destruction here.

“Hey,” he said gently, kneeling beside her. “Look at it this way. All of this,” he said, gesturing to all the nature around them, “went through something terrible, and it managed to come back from that. I think that’s inspiring more than anything. What do you think?”

Nile thought about it, then nodded.

“Good,” he said. “C’mon, Nile. I hear the view from the top is incredible.”

It took a long time for them to get there. They had to stop for water breaks a bunch and a snack break too. But then they finally took the steps to the wooden platform at the top of the Butte and Nile and Jordan ran to the railing to look out over everything.

“Whoa…”

Nile had thought that she could see for miles before. But it was nothing compared to how far she could see now! She and Jordan ran from one side of the platform to the next, looking out at the different angles and what they could see from each.

Eventually, the novelty wore off, and they settled on one of the benches for a few more snacks and some water.

Nile’s dad was still standing at the railing, and Nile joined him after she finished eating.

They didn’t say anything for a while, just looked out together as the wind rushed over them. She leaned into his side and his arm came around her, holding her there. Any chill she would have felt from the breeze was lost in the warmth from her dad’s body.

“This is the kind of thing that I fight to protect,” he said softly.

If Nile wasn’t so close to him, she might not have heard him.

“It’s really pretty,” she agreed.

He blinked, and looked down at her. “I fight to protect you too, my little river,” he said, pulling one of her braids lightly.

They grinned at one another, the moment broken, then left the railing and its beautiful view behind them.

__________________________________

They had done more on the trip, had even gone swimming in the pool at the hotel. But that first day was the thing that stuck most in Nile’s brain, years later.

“Turns out, that was the last time my dad was home before he was killed in action,” Nile finished. “So I’m glad we got to have that time.”

“I am glad we are here,” Nicky said thoughtfully. “Protecting this view the two of you looked out on.”

Nile’s heart clenched, but she nodded.

“He died fighting for places like this,” she said. She turned to the police officers who were closing in. “Let’s make sure none of these people do the same.”

#nile freeman #nileweek2021 #andromache the scythian #andy #yusuf al kaysani #aka joe #nicolò di genova #aka nicky #childhood #family vacation #fanfic #my fic

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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 years

Text

Ok now I can’t stop thinking about Good Omens and The Old Guard taking place in the same universe. Both sets of immortals canonically hung around some of the same places and events at the same times, and over a long enough time scale I think they’d have to notice each other.

- I think Aziraphale and Nicky meet first, maybe on the way to the Holy Land, maybe in Jerusalem. The Crusades seem like the kind of self-righteous project GO Heaven would 100% be on board with and Aziraphale would absolutely fucking hate, but he does what he’s told. Maybe he notices there is something...different...about this particular holy warrior, but he doesn’t want to interfere. Maybe they meet after Nicky’s already discovered he’s immortal.

- Neither of them wants to reveal what they are but maybe Aziraphale sees something that Nicky doesn’t want anyone to see, Nicky panics and tries to kill him, that doesn’t go well obviously, and then they have to sit down and have a chat.

- Honestly when you’ve had multiple core components of your worldview completely upended all at once, meeting a literal fucking angel is not even that weird. Sure why not.

- The fact that this angel knows all the best schwarma spots and seems surprisingly enthusiastic about your newfound gay love is somehow the weirdest bit.

- Tbh I don’t think either Nicky or Joe would find "hi I’m an angel” that much of a challenge to their worldview. Nicky was a priest and there are angels in the Quran and honestly their lives are weird enough at this point so they just roll with it.

- When Aziraphale invites them to have dinner with him and his friend who is also definitely not human it has some weird double date vibes but there’s not really a polite way to inquire further about that.

- As they get to know each other better, Nicky and Aziraphale start having long conversations about what it means to be a soldier of God and how do you know that your side is really the good side and various intricacies of theology and metaphysics and ethics. Aziraphale tells himself he is giving comfort and wise counsel to a questioning human but these conversations always leave him deeply unsettled.

- Whenever Aziraphale crosses paths with Nicky and Joe, who seem to just fall more ridiculously in love as the decades pass, the two humans leave with a quiet angelic blessing for peace and safety wrapped around them. He knows they are quite capable of taking care of themselves. But still.

- Eventually Andy meets the two of them. She doesn’t really believe they’re an angel and a demon in the Abrahamic sense, but they’re clearly some kind of powerful immortal beings and they’re surprisingly chill about her lack of commitment to monotheism. And hey, she let people call her a god so if they want to call themselves an angel and a demon, whatever. And, loath as she is to admit it, she sort of gets on with Crowley. He’s angry and cynical and weary in a way she understands, and yet somehow maintains a spark of hope in humanity in a way that she would never admit she envies sometimes. He’s also the only being she’s ever met who can drink her under the table. So. Respect on that front.

- And at the end of the day there are only so many people you can talk to about the mundane problems of immortality, and everyone else is sick of hearing her complaints about how nobody makes That Thing from 5th century Beijing anymore.

- So she doesn’t exactly seek them out, but if they happen to cross paths (and the two of them seem to be together an awful lot more than you’d think an alleged angel and demon would go in for) she can be convinced to have a drink or seventeen with them.

- And she has to admit that not-angel has an uncanny ability to procure rare first editions when she happens to be looking for them.

- A number of people over the years have noticed that the dusty antiquarian bookshop on a particular corner in Soho looks like it hasn’t changed since the early 19th century. A much smaller number of people are around long enough to notice that the owner also looks likes like that.

- Nicky and Joe are the ones most likely to stop by when the team is in London, and Aziraphale always greets them with a smile like the sun and the culturally appropriate number of cheek kisses, and he can chatter away all day in 12th century Genoese or Maghrebi Arabic with a smattering of Jerusalem dialect, and he’s the only person they’ve ever met who can follow the meandering combination of the two they use with each other.

- Sometimes Crowley is there when they visit, sometimes not. On the most recent visit, not only is he there but he and Aziraphale are sitting next to each other, their knees comfortably brushing and Crowley leaning into Aziraphale’s arm on the back of the couch, and the two humans think fucking FINALLY.

- Andy visits the shop a lot less frequently. But they all remember the time someone mentioned lost dessert recipes and Andy and Aziraphale went off on a joint multi-millennial baklava reminisce that lasted until four in the morning.

#good omens #the old guard #crossover #tumblr fic #problems of immortality

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20rubixcubes · 3 years

Photo

enhypen as baristas

maknae line x gn!reader (comedy, fluff, mild angst)

~1.2k words ea (headcanons)

warnings: cursing

a/n: i just wrote this for funsies, please be mindful that there is heavy swearing in these headcanons (particularly in ni-ki’s part), so if that isn’t your taste, perhaps skip this one! other than that, the rest of this is pretty chill, so i hope you enjoy my shitposting. oh, and lmk if you like this enough to want part two with the hyung line 👀 just maybe i’ll do it

sunoo

was only recently employed as an afternoon shift employee and was both shocked and distressed after discovering the cafe didnt have an instagram

“what do you MEAN you dont have instagram??? how do we post selfies???” “sunoo we sell coffee” “NO ONE WANTS COFFEE JUNGWON THEY WANT CUTE BARISTAS”

starts an instagram for the cafe and takes aesthetic pictures of his latte art

his selfies get way more likes though

speaking of his latte art, he masters the skill like a week in and everyone else is incredibly jealous

their jealousy wears off when jungwon tells him that he has to start training the new apprentices

pretends he forgot how to do it for like a week but it hurts his pride so he begrudgingly agrees to train the apprentices instead

in his free time he can be found snapping pictures around the shop, eventually expanding to taking pictures of the others too

“sunghoon stop moving you look cute and i need to take a photo” “sunoo im holding hot milk” “does it look like i care beauty is pain sweetie”

other than that, he sometimes sits in the booths to snack on muffins and do his homework since he only comes in to the shop for about an hour during his school lunch break and on the weekends

you meet sunoo after applying for an apprenticeship, wanting to get a job before you finish high school and start college

seen as though jungwon looks like the boss, you approach him, nervous for your first shift

“i’m here for the apprenticeship program?” “oh yeah! one second!”

he trots off to the back room, leaving you standing awkwardly in the middle of the cafe

“SUNOO GET OFF JAY YOU HAVE AN APPRENTICE TO TRAIN” “*gasp* YOU MADE ME SMUDGE HIS LIPSTICK I'M QUITTING” “NO YOURE NOT GET OUT THERE RIGHT NOW”

the yelling pauses before who you presume is sunoo stomps through the back room door, a scowl on his face

he spots you, groaning loudly “are you the apprentice?”

“yes” you say meekly, guilty for seeming to ruin his shift

he gestures you to follow him behind the counter, pulling an apron out from under the sink and shoving it to your chest

its clear that hes pissed, yanking his tools out from the cupboards as you tie your apron behind your back quietly

“have you made coffee before?” “only instant coffee” “oh fantastic”

he seems to be getting more irritated by the minute before he takes a deep breath and starts directing you around the machines

“to do the art, you angle the mug like this and draw with the milk, but it wont show until it reaches the top so dont go crazy”

as if its nothing, he demonstrates by drawing a perfect swan in the milk, setting the latte down and dusting his hands off

“wow… thats amazing” “i know right? no one here appreciates me enough” “they should! this is the best i’ve ever seen”

he grins at your compliment, nodding with satisfaction and sending a wave of relief over you as you notice he looks less angry with you now

“um… im sorry if i interrupted whatever you were doing before” “oh, that? i was just doing jay’s makeup” “you like makeup? me too! i’ve never seen a boy interested in it though, thats really cool” you smile genuinely at him as he blinks in surprise

“really? you think its cool?” “definitely!”

you watch the gears turn in his head before he smiles widely, seeming to have come to some kind of revelation as he nods

“i like you.”

your cheeks heat up immediately, but before you can say anything in return, he starts calling out for jungwon, leaning over the counter

“JUNGWOOON, CAN WE HAVE THIS ONE?”

“well thats up to them” he looks up from the table hes wiping down, adjusting his apron as he walks over to the counter

“so youre all finished with the course? i hope sunoo wasnt too much for you”

“i wasnt! anyways, youre employed, okay?” “sunoo stop theyre just an apprentice”

he groans loudly, irritated once more as he whips his head to you

“you have to work here, ok? i said so, so come back and apply or i’ll be mad!”

you laugh at his antics and smile “i’ll see what i can do”

after jungwon pries sunoo off of your arm, you return your apron and leave the shop with a wave

“YOU BETTER COME BACK!” is the last thing you hear as you step out onto the street, the bell ringing to signal your exit

a week later, you return to the shop, slightly anxious that your new friend(?) might have forgotten about you

but this is quickly washed away when you hear a high pitched squeal from the counter

“JUNGWON! HURRY THE FUCK UP AND GET THE FORMS THEYRE HERE”

you laugh as you approach the counter, a teasing tone on your voice

“are you supposed to be talking to your boss like that?” “whats he gonna do? fire me? im the only one who can make coffee in this place” “true”

soon enough, jungwon comes out of his hiding place, his hands clasped together

“im really sorry to ask this but please, you have to work here, sunoo hasnt shut up about you all week and i dont know if i can stand him anymore, i’ll even pay you extra please dear god”

you give sunoo a look, only receiving an innocent smile and puppy eyes back

“sure, i’ll take the job!”

jungwon sighs in relief as sunoo begins jumping up and down, yelling something about having his own little baby to take care around the shop as you groan, covering your blushing face

once you have your hours established (sunoo made you take the same as all of his, but you did the nights instead of the afternoons on the weekends, to his displeasure), you get straight to working

… well, sort of

it was hard to get work done with sunoo pestering you around the clock

“you think im cute right?” “yes sunoo” “even though i have bags under my eyes? “yes sunoo” “you promise?” “yes sunoo” “good”

admittedly he is slightly of help when it comes to the more fiddly parts of making coffee, but every other second of the day he seems to be flirting nonstop

“can i kiss you?” “no” “why not” “sunoo we’ve been over this” “BEING AT WORK ISNT A VALID EXCUSE”

worn down after his incessant yelling all day, you find yourself snapping faster than usual

“we’re not even dating, sunoo! why would i kiss you!? just stop playing with my feelings already!”

for the first time since you’ve known him, sunoo goes quiet

“why not?”

“what are you talking about now sunoo?” “why arent we dating”

now its your turn to go quiet

“do you not like me?” “what? no, sunoo-” before you can reason with him, you watch him quickly rush away from you around the counter, slamming the break room door behind him with tears in his eyes

cursing to yourself, you ensure there are no customers to serve before quickly darting after him

after looking around a bit, you hear sniffling from the supply closet and knock on the door quietly

“sunoo?” “leave me alone!”

you sigh, taking a step back and turning on your heel to face the opposite direction, running a hand through your hair as you think

you spot a dog bed at your feet, suddenly remembering that jake usually keeps his dog supplies covered in dog hair in the closet

“sunoo arent you allergic to dogs?”

“... *sniffle* y-yeah”

after you persuade him to come out by mentioning that his face is going to get all puffy, he steps out, eyes glued to the floor as he looks away from you in shame

placing a hand on his shoulder, you speak to him softly

“sunoo, look at me”

he does, hesitantly, his eyes red and watery and, as you said, puffy and inflamed

despite this, you smile

“i do like you back”

his eyes start watering again, your heart skipping a beat in fear that you had said something wrong

“e-even if my face is all puffy and gross?” his voice wobbles, the tears filling his eyes giving him a sense of vulnerability as you sigh

“yes, even if your face is all puffy and gross”

he smiles at that, shutting his eyes cutely as you press a kiss to his cheek

“and theres your kiss”

he whines “i was supposed to do that!”

“you can do it after we finish work, okay?” “WORK STILL ISNT A VALID EXCUSE…. but maybe today just because i need to ice my face” “yeah you really should, can you even see?” “no not at all” “great”

jungwon

the previous manager left suddenly and jungwon was given a semi-forced promotion as he was the only employee with at least half of a brain cell

poor boy is stressed 24/7

doesnt get paid enough for this

“hey jungwon we ran out out of coffee bea-” “I ORDERED NEW ONES FOUR HOURS AGO NOW SHUT UP IM TRYING TO MAKE SURE THE BOSS DOESNT FIND JAKE’S DOG SHELTER IN THE SUPPLY CLOSET”

goes through hell every day just to make sure the others dont burn the cafe down

is supposed to be on the morning shift but he stays until the afternoon

in his rare moments of downtime, he likes to go around and water the hanging plants around the shop

is that one vine where the mom listens to nicki minaj for the first time and screams “no” over and over whenever ni-ki gets control of the cafe music

“RIKI NISHIMURA WHAT IS THAT ON THE SPEAKERS” “ITS OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR ARIANA GRANDE” “TURN IT OFF THIS IS NOT PG13” “SHUT THE FUCK UP GRANDPA”

is only 16 but acts like a 32-year-old father going through a midlife crisis

lifts boxes of supplies all day yet his joints are famously brittle

“hey jungwon did you hear glass shattering too?” “sorry jay that was my back” “you need to invest in physical therapy” “maybe if i wasnt paying for property damage every other week 😊”

you meet jungwon when you drop into the cafe for a croissant and a coffee before your class starts

usually you come at night maybe an hour before closing so you had never seen him before, but here you were watching this cute but clearly stressed boy scramble around the shop carrying boxes of supplies to the back

trying not to be creepy, you sigh, turning back to your phone after watching him for a solid five minutes straight

as you do, you hear a crash coming from what you assume is the supply closet followed by a disgruntled groan

pausing, looking around at the other customers typing away at their laptops and waiting for another staff member to go check on the boy, you stand up as you discern that he must be the only one working and hesitantly go to see if he’s okay

“hello? are you okay?” you peer through the door, your eyes widening at the sight of him rubbing his head with a wince on his features, supplies strewn around him at his feet and a box knocked over beside him

“ah… um, yes, i’m okay, sorry if i disturbed you with that noise…” he smiles bashfully, pulling himself back onto his feet

“do you need help with all of that stuff?”

he opens his mouth to protest, not wanting to have to ask for help from a customer, but after seeing the amount of crap off of the shelves, he realises that there is no way in hell he’s going to be able to clean all of it up alone before his shift ends

“um… is that okay?” his cheeks flush with embarrassment as you smile

“sure!”

over the next couple of hours you two establish a little system of bagging the spilt supplies and passes them to eachother to put in boxes, chatting never ceasing as you discover that you actually have a lot of things in common

“since you work here, what’s your favourite kind of coffee?” “i like lattes… i cant stand bitter things” “me too! my friend drinks espressos though” “ditch them”

you also find out that he started being homeschooled after becoming the manager as he doesnt have time to attend normal school

the both of you find yourselves laughing nonstop, having fun in eachother’s company

so much so that you end up late for school

“oh shit! i completely missed my first class”

guilty for making you late, he offers to take you

“i can take you?” “you drive?” “well….. not exactly”

once sunoo and ni-ki arrive to care for the shop, he takes you out to the car park, pulling a spare helmet out of his backpack and securing it on your head before giving your head a pat as he gets onto his scooter

“you look cute” “i look like a bug” “a cute bug”

once you get to school, face red after having to hold onto him the entire time, you hop off and pass him the helmet with a shy smile

“thanks for driving me” you mutter, brushing off imaginary dirt from your shirt as you do your best to avoid eye contact, your face still flushed and heart racing

is it possible to develop a crush on someone this quickly???

jungwon is so cute that he makes it possible, you surmise

“of course” he mirrors your nervous smile, a blush finding its way to his own cheeks

as you bow and spin on your heel to start walking inside, he stops you

“wait!”

“what is it?” you turn to him, your heart still thundering against your ribcage at the fond expression he has plastered on his features

“actually… can i pick you up? after school?”

when you pause, your face growing hotter and hotter, he begins to sputter

“i-i’m really sorry, its fine if not! that was way too forward, i just really like you and- oh god that was even more forward- um-” “okay” “yeah i’m sorry that was a stupid questio- wait, what?”

before he can say anything else, your smile widens

“i’ll see you later, okay? don’t be late!” you wave, skipping into the building with a fluffy feeling in your chest

with an awkward wave, jungwon watches you leave, his mouth wide open in shock before a grin replaces his expression

getting back into his seat, the lovestruck smile never leaving his face as he drives off, he begins to count down the minutes until he gets to see you again

ni-ki

works the afternoon shift

technically an apprentice but he gets paid and has been there forever so basically an employee at this point

or he would be if he ever actually made coffee

he sits with the work phone all morning and chooses the music

perpetually dancing to 7 rings by ariana grande (look up his cover. youre welcome in advance)

jungwon and jay scream at him to at least do the mopping to which he complies, but not without performing a whole ass concert with it

once they saw him twirl and dip the mop

eventually they just told him to go back to curating the music because he was scaring customers away and they were losing business

he was horrible at cleaning anyway

“hey jungwon i think i got window cleaner in your plant” “im firing you” “i dont even go here” “STOP QUOTING MEAN GIRLS AND FIX THE DAMAGE YOUVE CAUSED”

you meet ni-ki while youre drinking your coffee at a booth and he plays your favourite obscure indie song so you have to compliment his taste and get to talking

he plays your favourite songs whenever youre in the shop and audibly hisses at anyone who tries to change it

makes choreography to said songs at home and tries to impress you by casually belting it out by your booth

when you compliment his dancing and ask how long hes been practicing that choreography hes all like “oh hahaha it was just casual freestyle super easy peasy”

(hes been practicing for two weeks)

thought he was being super obvious by doing these things but apparently nOT because you have not caught the hint at all and hes getting impatient

asks for advice from the others begrudgingly

“give them flowers” “jay thats so boring” “do you want to use one of my dogs? everyone loves dogs” “wtf jake since when have you had more than one dog” “make them latte art with a heart on it” “sunoo ive literally never made a coffee in my life” “why dont you just ask them out like a normal perso-” “shut the fuck up grandpa thats so weird no one does that”

eventually he settles on sunoo’s idea of making you latte art and he embarks on his journey to make his first coffee

rather than focusing on the actual taste, sunoo tells him to just do whatever so that he can show him how to do the art

“why is it green ni-ki” “you said to do whatever” “and your first idea was to make poison? idk if this is the best idea if youre trying to ask this person out” “shut up and pass me the milk”

burns his hands on the steaming milk jug at least fifteen times and ends up with so many bandaids on his fingers

despite how stiff the bandages are on his hands, he eventually manages to make a sort-of legible heart

“it looks like africa” “have you ever had steamed milk poured on your eyes sunoo?”

poor ni-ki waits for you all day, his heart leaping every time the bell on the door rings only to roll his eyes when it isnt you

he even stays past his shift so youd better let him take you on a date or hes quitting

when you finally arrive he trips over the bucket at his feet he was using to clean and spills dirty water all over his pants

“omg ni-ki are you okay what happened” *five octaves higher* “NOTHING I'M COMPLETELY FINE WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT”

by the time he’s finished cleaning himself up (and by that i mean fixing his hair in the mirror for twenty minutes) he takes a deep breath and walks over to you, somewhat cold latte in hand

“um,” he clears his throat, his face growing red as he slides the mug towards you “i made this for you”

“aw thanks ni-ki! why is it green” “........its matcha?”

youre slightly suspicious but you look back to the mug and slowly realise that the “drawing” slightly resembles a heart, smiling a little bit to yourself

when you look back to him, youre a little confused as to why hes just standing there

“is something wrong?” you press the mug to your lips, taking a sip

“o-uh uh actually, i wanted to ask if… if you would uh maybe sort of go on a date with me”

you can only smile

“yes, but…”

his heart starts beating faster, watching you anxiously

you stand up, taking the notepad and pen from his apron pocket and scribbling your phone number

“only if you promise to learn how to make actual coffee” you wink, handing him the notepad and sauntering out of the shop

hes stood there dumbstruck, stars in his eyes at the slip of paper in his hand

but then he realises: he has a new mission

rushing to the back room, he slams the door open

“grandpa, i need you to teach me how to make coffee right now” “literally why do i pay you”

with your promise in mind, the others see him work more diligently at the counter than they ever have before

“wow youre actually working today?” “shut up i need to figure out how to do this butterfly before i pry my eyes out with a fork” “haha funny joke ni-” “did i stutter”

at the end of the week, he forces heeseung (the cafe’s best coffee maker) and sunoo (the cafe’s best latte artist) to judge his latte

“this is… surprisingly good” heeseung peers into the mug, smiling at the swan ni-ki created with the latte foam as sunoo grumbles “dont tell me im gonna have to start competing with this kid, it probably tastes gross” “it tastes amazing too” “im quitting”

with his coworkers’ notes in mind, he finally works up the nerve to send you a quick message telling you to come into the shop

when you arrive the next day, ni-ki greets you and immediately gets to work, making sure to stand as close as humanly possible to your booth so he can show off his newly acquired coffee making skills

with you only inches away, he does make a mistake and spill milk on his shirt after looking at you and not his hands for a second too long, but you decide to give him the benefit of the doubt when he sets the mug in front of you

“wow! this heart is perfect!”

you smile, looking up to him “did you seriously learn how to do latte art just so you could take me on a date?” “… y-yeah, and?”

you can only chuckle as you press the mug to your lips, readying yourself to drink liquid dirt…

“this is… really good!” you grin, taking another sip and putting the mug down on its saucer

“i think you’ve definitely earned yourself a date… or two”

at this news, ni-ki’s face lights up, shoving the urge to scream down his throat before nodding stiffly to try and contain his excitement with a strained “cool” escaping his lips

“are you okay ni-ki?” “yes just give me one second”

he quickly scrambles to the break room, a moment of silence wafting through the store before a shrill scream fills the air

eyes wide, you turn to jay, who had been manning the till, after hearing him burst into laughter

“what is he doing?”

“we told him the freezer was sound proof”

#grumbles i guess i will tag #enhypen #enhypen x reader #enhypen headcanons #kim sunoo #yang jungwon #nishimura riki #kim sunoo x reader #yang jungwon x reader #nishimura riki x reader

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anonymous-eggy · 3 years

Text

Nicky with an mc who is scared of thunderstorms

Haha can’t relate, but that’s okay, everyone has their fears! I am currently giving you a comforting hug, hun. I did a headcanon of Nicky with an mc who loves thunderstorms, so i thought i should also provide content for those who don't like them!

(remember to check my hc rules before requesting!)

Like I said in the other headcanon, I feel like Nicky was the type of guy who didn’t really like or dislike thunderstorms before he met you. I feel like he was kind of neutral about them. Like- he probably likes the smell of the fresh rain on the grass in the hamptons after a storm, but he probably didn’t like the fact that it could potentially slow some plans down (depending on how bad the storm is).

The first time the two of you experienced a thunderstorm together, you were in the Hamptons.

When the downpour begins and thunder booms, he notices quickly how you flinch at the noise and stay further away from windows.

He’ll probably ask you what’s wrong. When you tell him you don’t like thunderstorms he’ll probably softly laugh and pull you in for a hug. If you aren’t deathly afraid of them, he’ll probably even give a teasing comment.

Don’t worry, though. He’s going to take good care of you.

He’ll ask you if you would like to hang out in a room that’s more towards the center of the house to quiet the sounds of the thunder.

He��ll offer to make you some warm tea to help you calm down if you are particularly upset. He’ll take you to a comfy room close to the middle of the giant house and wrap the both of you up in blankets so the two of you can comfortably chill until the storm calms down.

He would absolutely read to you or hum/sing a gentle tune to distract you from the menacing thunder that manages to reach you guys.

Nicky will hold you in his arms and tell you that you’re safe and that no thunderstorm could ever hurt you here and that he loves you.

He knows how it feels to be scared and alone and he wants to make sure you never have to feel that.

The two of you either end up taking a nap cuddled up or have fun while waiting for the Thunder and rain to subside.

He’s there to distract you from the unpleasant weather and he’s not annoyed one bit if you are extra clingy. If anything, he finds it adorable and loves being able to be there for you.

I could definitely see him building a fort out of pillows, blankets, and chairs and inviting you to help him out. He’s making the most out of this situation and doesn’t care if it’s considered “childish”

After all, why not? Why shouldn’t you both make a fort?

When you guys complete it, your pup would excitedly claim a spot in it right away, waiting for you guys to join her.

Nicky commits this information to memory and makes sure to prepare for future storms. He pays a lot more attention to the weather and would probably even talk to a weather nerd regularly about when it might storm again.

Overall, He still finds a way to make it fun and exciting. He’s clever and good at working with what he’s given, so of course this is no different!

a/n- if you enjoyed this, I have quite a few other headcanons on this handy masterlist! i hope you have a lovely day/evening! 💖

#if you're scared of storms thats okay 🥺#fictif nicky #fictif nix hydra #fictif nicky x mc #nicky fictif #fictif nicky valentino #nicky valentino fictif #fictif games #fictif tatw #fictif two against the world #fictif headcanon #fictif headcanons #nicky valentino #nicky tatw #nix hydra games #two against the world #tatw #madebyeggy

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danwylds · 4 years

Text

Right okay I never actually got myself to write this fic so have my notes for the fic except I haven’t read through them since June when I wrote them and I refuse to edit anything

Right is bakery au but not

Neil either turned down the offer of exy for the foxes or for coach whatever the fuck his name was

He got caught earlier tho which is . Unfortunate

Stuart still comes in

Maybe I’ll have him move back to Britain for a while? To avoid the moriyamas n stuff

He NEVER misses a match of the ravens/foxes tho

Which leads to him seeing the frankly sickening interview of Kevin and riko

Neil is like yo Stuart let me start smth

Stuart is like Neil the only reason you’d go back to the states right now is if you did smth that you could hide and you can’t do that for shit

So Neil is like yk what I’m gonna find a way bc I’m not letting this kid go through this (Andrews quite into this idea when it’s shared)

So he says yo. Stuart. Uncle. Sir. Let me open a bakery or something in the states

Stuart is like no you fucking idiot

And Neil is like but c o n s i d e r

You can get info or smth

Just have another business in the states yk

AND I’d get out of your hair

And Stuart is like hm okay but you’ve gotta live in a complex I choose for you

And Neil is all only if I can choose where it’s gonna be

It’s a deal

He (very obviously) chooses a place near palmetto

Stuart is tired but is like he’ll be under protection n shit so I guess??? And he’s not stupid enough to start something right. Right.

Wrong.

Anyways.

It’s a bakery that starts out kinda slow

But Neil finds he likes baking and Stuart pays for his nephew to have some sort of normal life so it doesn’t matter too much

Renee starts to frequent it

At first it’s to pick up sweets for Andrew

But eventually she starts bringing Allison on dates there bc they have a cute little seating area (figure where Seth fits in? I think he’ll survive?)

Uhhh what’s a timeline

I think this’ll be around the winter holidays (Jewish neil? Look into it)

So thanksgiving will have happened . I think Andrew agreed to go Not bc he particularly wanted to but bc he cares for Nicky and knows he’ll probably go anyways

Yeah so thanksgiving. h

Andrew JUST got off his drugs and he’s so damn protective of his own that he hardly even leaves their sides

Edens is a def no for em

Meanwhile Neil is tentative friends w Renee who has brought all the upperclassmen there a few times

Allison bullies him for his clothing but it’s okay he deserves it

Renee is sweet and stops em from doing anything too drastic which Neil appreciates

Matt,, my baby,, he’s so happy he just asks Neil about random stuff

Dan is sweet too!!

Seth kinda hates him but Neil hasn’t paid enough attention to return the favor

One day close to the winter banquet the upperclassmen are like yeah Neil we’re gonna go to this thing and it should be really fun!! Oh you know what? Our teammate Nicky needs a date and his cousin doesn’t really like anyone from his class and he’s super fucking crazy abt it so if that doesn’t deter you then you should totally join !

Neil is like oh chance to fuck up Riko? Absolutely I’ll go

ALLISON DRESSES HIM

HE LOOKS SO GOOD

when he and Allison emerge from the girls room Aaron is like Who is that

And Allison is “oh nickys date (:”

Andrew gets twitchy and holds a knife to her throat

Renee is like Andrew I stg get away from my gf and Seth is like manic pixie nightmare fuel I’m gonna beat the shit outta you

And Neil is just like same shit every day I guess

And he’s like so you’re Nicky then? COMPLETELY IGNORING YK. ALL THAT

Andrew is like “he is. Don’t touch him”

And Neil straight up says I don’t think you get to set boundaries for people, actually

And Neil has no idea what the effect is of that on Andrew but it’s enough to make him glare

Which is terrifying to everyone but Neil bc again. Dumbass

Anyways Neil very purposely hooks his arm through nickys and they head off to the bus

Dunno what happens there but I’ll figure it out

RIKOOO ROASTTT **AIRHORNNNNSSS**

It’s glorious

Kevin and riko are like who the FUCK are you

And Neil is all wouldn’t you like to know weather boy

They relocate and they’re all like . Ah. That’s why you and Renee get along

It’s kinda funny ngl

Andrew doesn’t think so but fuck him

I think that they head back to the bus when this shit I’d over and wymack is like excuse me what the fuck

And Aaron in german is like thank god he never joined the team bc I could not handle more of that

And Neil in German is like would you believe me I’d I told you I was almost signed

And Andrew is like I fucking Knew it I hate it here

N e ways things go back to normal for the most part

The upperclassmen still show up

Seth has a bit of grudging respect for him

It’s later that all the foxes are getting drunk from a lose that Renee calls him and is like Neil please can I usher them inside for a bit I think they need a place to chill so we don’t get yelled at for being too loud in the dorms

And Neil is like uhh sure why not

It turns out it was not just the upperclassmen

He gives them all water bottles and whatever and lets them lounge around

Gives em some food which they pay for w the coachs card

Uhhh idk time passes and some of the foxes pass out so neil is like y’all can chill in the break room? They have couches

He stays out there bc the bakery is still open

Andrew comes out like hey fuck you but also can I get more of those pastries

Idk I want them to be in love already

Uhh yeah I think they don’t say anything until

“what happened to your face”

“A truth for a truth?”

“If you must insist”

“Fine, my father tried to kill me”

Andrew raises his eyebrow but neils like bitch you said a truth for a truth it’s your turn now

Neil asks him why he wears arm bands

We get the whole knives and scars

They’re quiet again

I don’t know man let them be in love

Uhhh okay

I think Andrew will tell neil like

“[code]”

“Huh”

“That’s the code for the court, Kevin practices at night.”

Neil is like how would you know I’d enjoy playing exy? And andrew is like dipshit that’s how we met

I’m running out of ideas oh no

Maybe they play a couple of night game things

Exchange a few more truths

OHHH OKAY COOL SO THEN NEIL CAN GO TO EDENS W THEM THE WHOLE “DOESNT MEAN I WOULDNT BLOW YOU” THING CAN STILL HAPPEN

sick okay! They start dating but since Baltimore happened earlier they never actually come out to the rest of the team

I like to think when they play against the ravens again neils like haha babe you can have as many sweets as you want if you shut down the goal

Also Neil says it’s hot which is like a big thing to persuade Andrew but shhhhh

Yeah the foxes win they celebrate by getting drunk and they all show up at neils like hello again (:

Same thing happens but this time andrew and Neil are together and basically are doing nothing but making out

At least the store is closed

Nicky comes out and just YELLS

YALLLLLL COME LOOK @ THIS SHIT

Allison wins SO much money

Yeah idk how to end this but happily ever after :3

If you want me to turn this into a fic I will!

#aftg #andrew minyard #all for the game #neil josten #aaron minyard #kevin day #nicky hemmick #renee walker #idk i thought it was cute #i do really love this idea!#matt boyd #dan wilds #allison reynolds #seth gordon #if you know me irl do not interact #i cant handle the embarrassment #embarassment*

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caffeinatedbraincell · 3 years

Text

Hi I tried to write some Joe x Nicky angst w/ a happy ending (predictably, it turned out to be mostly fluff). TW for a panic attack~

Read on AO3

In the end, Nicky thought, it was the most pedestrian thing. He wouldn’t even have looked twice, had he not already been on edge from when Joe had spilled hot coffee on himself at breakfast.

Joe was spending the afternoon with Nile at a convention, and Nicky had decided to make the most of his solitude by cleaning their entire house from floor to ceiling. He was sweeping their bathroom when he saw it - two small, oddly-shaped pieces of wax paper that hadn’t quite made it into the dustbin. He bent down to take a closer look.

Something about them was familiar. Something was wrong. Nicky set down the broom and dust pan. He picked the bits of paper up to examine them. Then, his gaze snagged on something in the dustbin, and the chilling reality of what he was holding clicked into place.

It was a Band-Aid wrapper. The wax paper had been peeled off the sticky edges so the Band-Aid could be used. Which was ridiculous. Ridiculous, because they didn’t need Band-Aids. They healed instantly.

Nicky took a measured breath and stood up slowly. He walked back into the bedroom and picked up his cell phone.

“Hello? Andromache? Yes, I just wanted to ask real fast - did you by any chance come by our place since we saw you last weekend?” He paused. “No, no, I know. Yes, I know we asked for time off, of course you would call ahead.” He listened as Andy asked if he and Joe were okay, concern creeping into her voice. “Yeah, boss, we’re fine. But, ah, something just came up. I’ll call you back.”

He knew Andy wouldn’t buy it; he’d hung up way too abruptly. But Nicky needed time to think, he just needed a moment, one moment of quiet, could the ringing in his ears just shut up for one damn second-

He sat down on the edge of their bed and took a deep, deliberate breath. Why would there be a used Band-Aid wrapper in his and Joe’s house? Nicky had just given himself a papercut while clearing the stack of junk mail in the living room, and his immortality was still working. So that left Joe. But Joe’s immortality had to be working too, because…

Because we have to go together, Nicky thought, devastated. That’s the rule. That’s how it fucking works.

No one knew for sure how their immortality worked. He tried taking another deep breath, but it didn’t feel like any oxygen was reaching his lungs. He rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, and they came away wet.

Nicky startled as a ragged sob was ripped out of him. When had he started crying? Why couldn’t he catch his breath? He slid to the floor and kneeled next to their bed, curling in on himself as he gasped for air. His heart thudded like it wanted to beat out of his chest.

Yusuf, he thought as his vision splotched black around the edges. He blinked rapidly at the worn bedskirt. What was going on? He reached around for his phone to text Joe, but suddenly couldn’t find it. Yusuf, come back, come home, he begged, giving in to the darkness as his head dropped heavily to the floor.

Nicky woke an indeterminate amount of time later, disoriented and tucked into bed. The curtains had been drawn and the lights shut off, but a couple candles flickered softly on their dresser. There was a covered glass of water next to him.

Nicky groaned, sitting up against the headboard. Despite the tremor in his hand, he managed to down the entire glass without spilling a drop. As he set it back down, the bedroom door cracked open.

“Nicky?” Joe’s eyes widened when he saw Nicky awake. He silently closed the door behind him and practically ran to Nicky’s side.

Joe sat down in front of Nicky and reached for his hand, raising it helplessly to his trembling lips. Joe kissed his palm, his knuckles, his fingertips, as if grounding himself against some great weight. Nicky didn’t miss the way Joe’s fingers flitted around his wrist, as if Joe was resisting the urge to press his fingers to the pulse there.

“Amore mio,” Joe asked, voice cracking a bit. “What happened? You were- you wouldn’t wake up. Oh my love, why didn’t you call me?”

“I couldn’t find my phone,” Nicky replied. He furrowed his brow, trying to piece together the disjoint bits of memory floating around in his head.

“It was centimeters from your fingertips.”

“I don’t know, Joe, I-” Suddenly, Nicky’s eyes widened in realization. He gripped Joe’s shoulders and looked into his eyes, dead serious. “Joe. If I ask you a question, do you promise not to lie to me?”

“I- Nicolò! God forbid I ever lie to you, my heart. Why would you need to ask such a thing?”

“Are you still healing?”

Joe froze. “Wait. Wait, Nicky, are you-”

“Answer the question, Joe.”

Joe reached up to clutch Nicky’s wrists where his hands still rested on Joe’s shoulders. “Yes,” he whispered. “I- I broke a glass in the kitchen, on accident, when I went to get you water just now. A small shard got stuck in my hand. But it healed completely, I’m fine now.”

“Show me,” Nicky demanded, uncharacteristically firm. “Where? Which hand?”

“Here. This one,” Joe splayed his left hand out in Nicky’s palm, watching as he inspected it thoroughly. “Nicky?”

“What?”

“Please, amore-” Joe swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Please, if you can, tell me what happened? You were unconscious when I came back, and…”

He trailed off, looking down at the bedsheet to hide the unfairly persistent tears pooling in his eyes. Nicky made a soft noise of concern, reaching out to cup Joe’s face tenderly.

“Hayati, I didn’t mean to scare you. I think it might have just been a particularly bad panic attack.”

“You rarely get panic attacks without triggers.”

“Yeah. Nothing major happened, it was just- I found- Joe, there was a Band-Aid wrapper in our bathroom. Do you know how it got there?”

Joe snapped his gaze up to meet Nicky’s. “Hold on, that’s what this whole thing has been about?! Nicolò, ya amar, you could have just asked me. Remember when I went for a walk last night? There was a toddler who fell down in the park, and his mom had her hands full with an infant, so she asked if I could help her put a Band-Aid on his scrape. There were no trash cans nearby, so I waited until I got home to throw the wrapper away. My heart, you couldn’t seriously have thought I would lose my immortality and…not tell you?”

There was a suspended pause. Then, Nicky looked away. “Forgive me, Yusuf.”

“No,” Joe choked out. “If I have given you any reason at all to believe that I would hide such a thing from you, then it is I who should beg your forgiveness. I’m sorry, Nicky. I promise, I swear on all that is holy, on our very love, that you will be the first person I tell when that day comes. Please, my life, I-”

“I know, Joe. I know. I’m so sorry for thinking otherwise. Come here,” Nicky pulled his husband into his arms, leaning back against the headboard and tugging the duvet over them both. “Just stay with me for now, like this. I need to hold you. I need to feel that you’re okay.”

Joe drew a shaky breath, inhaling Nicky’s scent and pressing a languid kiss to his collarbone. He wrapped his arms around Nicky’s waist. “I’m okay. I’m always okay with you. Nothing can take me away from you. You know that, right?”

Nicky hummed, smiling into Joe’s hair. “Of course. Ti amo così tanto, tesoro. Just stay a moment more, and then we’ll see about dinner. You’re probably hungry after the convention.”

“Mmm,” Joe nuzzled closer. “It’s also fine if you want to just hold me like this forever, you know. I don’t mind.”

Nicky laughed softly, and Joe felt it like a gentle roll of thunder beneath where his head lay on Nicky’s sternum.

“Worry makes people insane, doesn’t it?” Nicky murmured after a beat.

Joe tilted his chin up to look at his husband, who promptly took advantage of the angle to lay a kiss on Joe’s parted lips. “You’re not insane, amore.”

“I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

Joe sighed, relaxing back down in Nicky’s arms. “Next time, just text me instead of literally passing out with panic, okay?”

Nicky’s eyes crinkled in a warm smile. “Okay. I promise.”

#the old guard #joe x nicky #kaysanova #fluff #fanfiction #tog fanfic #angst w/ a happy ending #kavi writes #yusuf al kaysani #nicolo di genova #I don't usually attempt angst so feedback is especially welcome

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terresdebrumestories · 3 years

Text

Available for consultation

FANDOM: The Old Guard (2020) SERIES: - RATING: General audiences WORDCOUNT: 4 776 words PAIRING(S): None CHARACTER(S): Nile Freeman (POV), Yusuf Al Kaysani, Andromache the Scythian, Niccolo di Genova (mentioned), Sébastien Le Livre (mentioned). GENRE: Mutual care, Nile Freeman character introspection. TRIGGER WARNING(S): None that I can think of :) SUMMARY: Nile misses her mother but doesn't know how to talk about it or with who. fortunately, Bâtard the emotional support tortoise is here to help. NOTE(S): This was originally written for Nile Week 2020 but never put online because of reasons, so now here it is, longer and better written than it was :D Hugest thanks to @avaniesque for the most excellent beta work :D [ALSO AVAILABLE ON AO3.]

Nile gasps when something soft bumps against her foot, hurriedly wiping at her cheeks as she turns towards the door. It looks empty at first, the cobwebs they didn’t bother dealing with earlier in the day gently swaying in the air. There’s some shuffling along the dusty floor, a light click of nails on stone, and then a small oblong head appears near the bottom. This is swiftly followed by short scaly legs and a black and brown shell wrapped in a crocheted lab coat. Nile tenses, unprepared for any sort of human company at the moment, but relaxes when it becomes apparent Booker has not elected to follow his pet around.

Said pet has now fully entered the living-room and is beelining for a strawberry resting against her right pinky toe. It looks good enough to eat, as does the rest of what Booker feeds it, which Nile still doesn’t really understand but who is she to tell Booker how to care for his pet? Bâtard, of course, is unconcerned by her surprise and eventually gets to chomping on the strawberry.

Nile’s eyes are dry by now, the tight press of sadness around her heart still present but past its peak, at least for now. It still takes her a couple of seconds to realize the small square of bright white on the side of Bâtard’s outfit is a piece of paper. She picks it up to find a few words from a hand that hasn’t yet lost the impeccable penmanship of its first life. Apparently it’s hard to let go of habits people beat into you with a stick. The note reads : “He’ll keep your secret as long as you keep paying. First one on me.” It makes Nile smile.

(Andy, Nicky and Joe are all just as capable of impeccable calligraphy, but when free not to pay attention to it they tend to revert to script letters. Booker is the only one who insists on torturing them all with permanent cursive written with fountain pens on special paper.)

She doesn’t know Booker all that well, yet. Seven years ago, he was the quiet grumpy member of the group who didn’t seem to care much whether Nile stayed or left. Then he was the one who made a pretty compelling case against Nile seeing her family again—revealing himself to have some unresolved issues in the process—and then he was the one whose issues exploded all over the rest of the group. Now he’s mostly the one who was brought back way too soon, who knows it, and tries to make himself as scarce as possible because of it.

Mostly, it means that while Nile is the one who’s exchanged the most words with him so far, it’s also pretty much been limited to the topic of...well. His tortoise. All in all, much less informative about the man compared to just watching him settle said tortoise up in every safehouse they use, no matter how temporary. (Nile would help, but she’s not entirely sure how the others would take it. It seems prudent not to.) Or looking at the cozies the tortoise parades around on a regular basis...or, as the case may be, discovering he’s taken the time to bedeck his precious reptile in a new outfit for the sole purpose of leaving it (uncharacteristically) unsupervised in Nile’s company just so she has someone to talk to.

“You’re not who I want to talk to either,” she says, because she’s under no illusion that her solitude today has been accidental. “I mean, I know they’re trying I just—”

Nile sighs, wiping at her face in a vain attempt to clear her head, but the gesture only brings fresh moisture to her eyes as she tries to swallow down her frustration. It feels almost silly, in the grand scheme of things, to be this upset over this, but, well... Hearts do what they want, and there’s nothing Nile can do about that, so eventually she looks down at Bâtard’s scaly little head and tells the tortoise:

“It’s my mom’s birthday tomorrow. She’s turning sixty-five and I—”

Nile claps a hand on her mouth to stifle the sob wrenching itself out of her, but it feels piercing and loud in the quiet evening air nonetheless. She breathes around it for a bit, unwilling to attract company just yet, and reaches down to rub Bâtard’s head with her forefinger.

“I want to be with her,” she eventually confesses to the tortoise. “I want to be there and hug her, I—I miss my mom.”

Nile knows she can call. They’ve got burner phones, Copley’s skills to keep them hidden, and an uneasy truce with Quynh ensuring the biggest threat they’ve faced so far isn’t much of one for now. Three years ago she wouldn’t even have had that: her mother and brother both convinced she was dead and buried somewhere in the mountains of Afghanistan. She believes with all of her heart that her mother and brother would never blame her for living when they can’t.

Her mother is starting the second half of her sixties, and she’s not there to see it. Her mother, who’s growing older and greying a little at the temples. Her mother, who deserves better than never knowing when they’ll see each other again, with little-to-no news in between visits. Her mother, who was there for her in every way she could and every way that counted, and for whom Nile wants to be there but can’t. Her mother, who will not be there forever.

(Sometimes, the thought hits Nile out of nowhere, and it takes an impossible effort not to drop everything right then and there to jump in the first flight to Chicago.)

“It’s just—” Nile pauses, trying to pick her words so she can really make Bâtard understand, as impossible as that is, and continues : “They’re great. All of them. They’re—even Booker’s not so bad. I mean, I’m kind of stuck in the middle of the family feud so that’s not the best feeling, but... They’ve gone above and beyond to help me feel welcome, they’ve taught me so many amazing things…. They’re just...not my mom.”

Bâtard, done with his strawberry, lifts his head to look at her, and Nile swears he even leans into her scratching, just a little. It’s a pleasant surprise and she finds herself smiling, not very bright but present nonetheless. It soothes something in her, too, not to be alone right now even though she’s not ready for human company. Both her mother and Jordan have allergies so they’ve never had pets before, and Nile never really longed for one either. Right now, though, she thinks she understands a little better what endears them to people.

“I’m...scared,” she admits, keeping her voice quiet like it’s going to make a difference. “I know I’m going to lose her one day, that’s inevitable, but I don’t want to find out about it months later because my brother couldn’t reach me...I don’t want to find out about his death from nephews and nieces who’ll barely know who I am, if they know I exist at all.” Nile sighs again, sobs crowding in her throat and tightening her voice as she admits: “I wish I hadn’t listened to Booker.”

That last admission is what breaks the dam, and all of a sudden Nile is sobbing again, and she couldn’t stop if she wanted to. There’s misery here, and anger too, maybe even more than there was at the beginning. It was...easier, in a way, to pretend to be dead. She had to mourn, of course, and that tore at her and still does sometimes, but it was a clean cut. It was simple.

Now her mother knows she’s alive and her brother knows and it’s a relief for all of them, but it also means Nile has to be the one consciously deciding not to call home until she’s in a safe enough place to do so, not to text until she can do it from a sufficiently untraceable phone. The temptation there is a hundred times harder to resist because it would be so easy not to.

“If it makes you feel better,” Joe’s voice says from the threshold, “I think we can all sympathize with that sentiment.”

He’s being quiet and careful—it’s the middle of the night after all—but Nile is still startled, and she pretends to glare at him until he tilts his head in quiet enquiry. In response she sighs, wipes at her wet cheeks again, and waves him over. He smiles, something almost like relief in it, and steps lightly into the living room.

“Mind the doctor,” Nile tells him, gesturing at the remains of the strawberry, as he lowers himself on the ground next to her.

“The doct—you mean Bâtard?”

“Yeah he’s—”

In that instant, Nile realizes she has no idea where Bâtard went. He was chilling by her feet, seemingly content to go to sleep soon, and now he’s nowhere to be seen. The realization is enough to send Nile’s heart racing, horrified at the thought of being the one under whose watch Bâtard meets an unfortunate end.

Sure, it isn’t her pet and she and Booker aren’t really close—not like she’s becoming with the others, at any rate—but 1) Bâtard doesn’t deserve to die and 2) it doesn’t take a genius to realize his demise would be absolutely disastrous for Booker’s mental health, and no one wants to see the consequences that could have on the rest of them. Joe must have gone through a similar realization, because as soon as Nile falls quiet he tenses and gets back up into a crouch.

“Please tell me we didn’t lose the tortoise,” he whispers, like he thinks Booker might be listening in on them.

“We didn’t lose the tortoise,” Nile replies because it’s barely been five minutes and Bâtard cannot possibly have gone far in that time frame.

“Good,” Joe says while Nile rummages through her pocket for her phone and turns the flashlight on, “because I don’t think any of us are prepared to deal with the fallout of—”

“We did not lose the tortoise,” Nile interrupts, her tone firm enough to pretend she’s not actually nervous about this. “Can you turn the light on? I’m getting nowhere with this.”

Joe does, and Nile spots Bâtard almost instantly, ambling in his unhurried stroll towards the fridge like he knows where the treats come from...maybe he does, Nile really doesn’t know enough about tortoises to tell. Either way, it’s a relief seeing him there, and she turns to let Joe know she’s found their target.

“Oh thank God,” Joe sighs, sagging with it. “I really don’t want to find out what Booker would be like if we lose him.”

“You know,” Nile remarks as she follows Bâtard’s mosey to the fridge, “I’ve been thinking maybe it’s time the lot of you had a talk about this.”

Joe winces, and Nile can sympathize with that if she’s really honest. She doesn’t feel the same about what happened, but then she doesn’t have a shared history with Booker the way the others do; it’s easier for her to let go faster. Still, Booker’s been back for nearly three months now, and Nile is getting tired of feeling like she needs to be walking on eggshells between the two parts of the group. Joe sighs.

“Which ‘this,’ do you think?”

“All of them,” Nile retorts, careful to keep her voice gentle. She’s not trying to force anyone into anything, after all. “Just...it’s been months, and you’re still avoiding each other. You all need to talk.”

Joe sighs again, running a hand over the nape of his neck. He looks like he might be ready to talk with someone, but the very thought of it makes Nile want to recoil. Another day, maybe. When she’s got more energy, and more space in her head for other people’s problems.

Not right now.

“Remember you’re on my strawberry,” Nile says, smiling to turn it half into a joke, “if you need a consultation you pay your own fee.”

“Alright,” Joe chuckles, good natured even in the middle of the night. “That’s fair.”

He sobers up soon after, growing quiet and serious to ask: “Is it working for you? Or would you like to tell me what’s going on? I’ll even listen for free, if you’re short on strawberries.”

Nile snorts. The truth is, she does feel better for having told him what was going on, even if her ‘consultation’ was accidentally cut short. She’s not sure how much of this she wants to share with the team just yet. There’s never an easy way to tell people who want to help you that they can’t because they’re simply...not who you want at that moment.

“Actually, I’m good right now,” she tells Joe. “Take you up on it another time?”

Joe visibly hesitates, something a little worried in his frown, so Nile gives a fond smile and leans up to squish him in a hug as much as she can manage.

“Thank you,” she tells him, relaxing when he returns the embrace just as tight and actually lifts her up against him. “I’m good, I promise. It’s not─you can probably guess most of it, honestly. I just...I feel kind of awkward about it, I guess.”

“Because we’re too close?” Joe guesses, and Nile nods.

“Sometimes it’s just easier to talk to someone uninvolved.”

“Well,” Joe says, something too wet in his throat to be only about Nile, “I’m glad you have that then. Just...just know I mean it.”

“I know,” Nile promises, chest warming from the care and the obvious concern. “Now go to sleep, old man.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Nile gives Joe a playful shove, snorting when he pretends to stumble, and watches him go with the stretch of a smile sinking into her cheeks. Slowly, the air around her grows still again, the vague sounds of a forest at night and a door creaking barely even noticeable.

How much sleeping is actually taking place on the other side of the safehouse, Nile doesn’t know. She learned very quickly that no one on this team is capable of normal sleep patterns. It’s quiet all the same, and after a few seconds of standing in place, she goes to the fridge, retrieves a peach quarter from Bâtard’s snack box and she plops the offering in front of him, turns the light off, and sits back down next to the tortoise.

“Alright,” she tells him, “maybe I wasn’t completely fair with your dad. I mean...he was wrong, but it’s not like he was trying to be cruel. And he did have a bit of a point.”

She still can’t quite stand the thought of losing her family. It’s unavoidable, she knows. One day, maybe, she’ll make her peace with it, but for now...no. She doesn’t want to think about that any more than she already has tonight.

“I know there’s a purpose,” Nile tells Bâtard. “I’ve seen it. I’ve witnessed it. And we’re getting better at it! I know I’m doing more good here than I used to as a soldier...but sometimes I wish there wasn't a purpose and I could just go home.”

Bâtard, either oblivious to or unconcerned by Nile’s predicament, keeps munching on his piece of peach, and Nile can’t help but smile down at him, reaching to rub at his head once more.

“You really are a good listener,” she tells him. “You’re still not my mom though. She’s the one I want to talk to.”

Bâtard looks up then, and straight at Nile with something that could almost pass for a purposefully flat expression...and, really, he’s not wrong. It’s nearing three am here which makes for...maybe ten or eleven in the evening in Chicago? And sure, Mom’s not so young anymore and could probably use the sleep...but today is her birthday, and Nile’s always tried to phone her on the day before, and she has a burner phone with her so, really, what’s stopping her?

Maybe the possibility of displeasing Andy, a bit. But, Nile thinks as she dials, they’re leaving tomorrow aren’t they? If she’s going to do it, at least she’s picking the least inconvenient time for it.

“N─yes?” Mom’s sleepy voice mumbles into the phone, better at the incognito game than she was when it all started two years ago. “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Nile says, and smiles at her mother’s joyful, wordless exclamation. “Am I waking you up?”

“Nevermind that,” mom chides, “nevermind that! How are you? Where─well no, you can’t tell me where you are, but how are you?”

“Better now,” Nile says in a sigh, warmth and bittersweetness spreading in her chest as she leans back against the wall, finger still tracing circles on Bâtard’s head. “I mean. I miss you, but at least I get to hear you now.”

“Oh, I miss you too baby,” Mom says, tears audible in her voice, “but I’m so glad you called! Don’t tell your brother, but it’s definitely my favorite present this year!”

Nile smiles again, a little wobblier than she’d like, maybe, but not forced. This isn’t ideal and she wants more, but it’s better than not calling the way she’d planned to do. At her feet, in the dim silvery light of the moon, Bâtard looks just a little smug.

“Not a word,” Nile promises, knowing her mother is going to share the news herself anyway. “How was your day?”

“Oh it was nice! You know how I told Marjory down the street I felt ready to celebrate a little more this year now I got used to you being dead and all, so she treated me to lunch at that new Italian on the corner─you tell your Nuncio he was right, by the way, osso bucco is delicious. And then we went for a stroll in the park, and I was a little worried, because I’m still supposed to be grieving, but you’re alive and I wasn’t sure I’d look suitably emotional when we passed your favorite spots, but I do miss you so it really wasn’t that hard and all in all it was nice and Marjory’s none the wiser so I’m calling it a success.”

“I’m sorry,” Nile says, unsurprised when Mom tuts at her in response. “I know, I know. I still wish you didn’t have to lie to her.”

“Nile, baby, if Marjory knew, she’d understand. Now you stop worrying about her and tell me what your day was like.”

“It was alright,” Nile says, rolling her neck as the tension slowly seeps out of it, the breaths coming slower and easier now that she’s actually doing what she’s wanted to do all day. “I missed you. Jaamal taught me how to draw a dog, though, and then Antaram kicked my butt in training again.”

“Just you wait a few years,” Mom says with a chuckle, “then you can take advantage of her age.”

Nile snorts, even though she seriously doubts Andy will let an aging body get in the way of remaining the best fighter of the group. She might look past forty─although she doesn’t remember how long she’d lived before she died the first time─but she’s also been fighting since before horses were domesticated (or near enough), and all that expertise doesn’t just go away.

It’s still an amusing thought, though, so Nile chuckles along with her mother for a bit before continuing.

“It’s not that bad. I’m learning a lot.”

“Of course, of course! I’m just saying.”

“Of course,” Nile repeats, still smiling. “Anyway, that’s about it. Nuncio made us tagine, Jaamal made fun of him because apparently he cooks like a christian─I’m pretty sure that’s an inside joke. And then I was feeling a little down so Blàsi lent me Bâtard, and now I’m here.”

“Is Bâtard Franklin’s name?” Mom suggests when she hears Nile hiss at her slip up.

“Yes, but I don’t think he deserves it,” Nile says, grateful for her mother’s help. “I think we’re bonding. Either that or he just wants me for my fruit.” Mom chuckles. “He’s wearing a doctor’s outfit right now, by the way. I think it’s one of the homemade ones.”

It looks lumpier than the ones Bâtard wore at the beginning, at any rate, but in a way that makes it even cuter. Not that she needs the cozies to find Bâtard cute anymore. It’s entirely possible the tortoise doesn’t care one whit about her─she really doesn’t know a lot about them─but it’s clear that this little late night conversation was enough for Nile to bond with him.

“Oh, well, send me a picture if you can,” Mom says with the tone of a connoisseur readying to look at a newbie’s attempt, “see if I can give Blàsi some pointers.”

“I’ll try my best, but you know I can’t make promises,” Nile says, sadness creeping up again. “Places to see, things to do...you know how it is.”

“Speaking of,” Mom asks, “what time is it where you are? I mean─you can telle me that, right?”

“I can,” Nile says, smiling at her mother’s effort. “It’s uh...almost one AM.”

Nile yawns, unbidden, and then sighs.

“I think I need to go.”

“Yes you do,” Mom chides, teasing and firm all at once. “You’re not going to accomplish anything if you’re dead on your feet─off to bed, Nile.”

“I don’t want to,” Nile protests, not trying very hard to keep the pout out of her voice. “It’s your birthday.”

“It’s okay,” Mom says, and the tone of her voice is like a hug Nile wants to linger in forever. “I understand. I’m just glad you called.”

“I’m glad too,” Nile says, wiping at a stray tear on her cheek. “Happy birthday, mom.”

“I love you, baby,” Mom says, and Nile grins through a fresh wave of tears.

“Forever and ever?”

“Of course forever,” Mom promises with something like an amused eye roll in her tone. “Now go to sleep.”

“Yes mom. Bye.”

“Bye bye, love you.”

“Love you too,” Nile says, and then she reluctantly disconnects the call.

She’s still feeling blue, it’s true, but it’s a different sort of ache now, the sort that’s softened enough to be a fond remembrance of someone you love rather than a knife to the heart. It isn’t something Nile has figured out how to value yet, but it could be, someday, maybe. With a watery sigh and a smile, Nile bends to pick Bâtard up─he’s fallen asleep, it seems, all snuggled up in his shell and entirely unresponsive in the time it takes for her to scribble a quick thanks at the bottom of Booker’s note and bring Bâtard back to his terrarium in the old parlor.

“M’ci,” Booker mutters from the seat to her left, and Nile almost has a heart attack.

When she turns to scold Booker for it, however, he’s already back to sleep─or feigning sleep, she’s not entirely sure─his back to the door to the bedroom and turned towards the only unboarded window, which they’ve been using as an entry and exit point. Nile sighs, shaking her head, and goes to the room she shares with the others, only to jump again when she lies down on her mattress and finds herself face to face with Andy’s eyes shining in the moonlight.

“I fear the day my sleep patterns start matching yours,” Nile whispers to Andy, and sighs when all that garners her is a sharp smile. “How are you not dead on your feet?”

“I’m old enough to transcend the need for sleep.”

Nile punches her in the shoulder.

“Feeling any better?”

“Yes, actually,” Nile says, trying to shift into a comfortable position. “I talked to my mother...it’s always too short but. It’s good.”

“Good,” Andy says. There’s a pause, and then she adds, “Nile, I’m sorry.”

Nile blinks at the darkness. It’s been seven years, and while she knows full well Andy is perfectly capable of recognizing her shortcomings, it’s the first time Nile hears her actually apologize for anything. She’s got a right to be a little startled, she thinks.

“I was with Book on this,” Andy explains when the silence between them has stretched a little while longer. “Not seeing your family again, I mean. I didn’t think it could turn out well, either...sure didn’t do him any good. Or Lykon, for that matter.”

“To be fair,” Nile admits after a beat, “I get it. I’m probably just very lucky. And I...I’ll lose them anyway. Sooner or later. I don’t─I’m glad I still have them for a bit, even if it hurts but...sometimes, I think at least the clean break was...easier.”

Andy stays quiet at that, eyes still looking at Nile in the darkness. Nile resists the urge to squirm under those eyes, but she’s not surprised when the urge to elaborate becomes too strong:

“It’s just...before my mom saw us, I didn’t have to wonder how this was affecting everyone. No contact, stay out of Chicago for another fifty years, maybe a little more, and that was it. It hurt, but at least the path was clear. Now I keep wanting to call her not knowing if I should. I have to use fake names to tell her about the most important people in my life, who she’ll never meet─I’m making her lie to her best friend!”

On the other side of the room, Nicky snorts in his sleep, and Nile smiles through her anguish as it morphs into a soft snore.

“They’ve been friends since elementary school, you know,” Nile tells Andy when she’s sure Nicky isn’t waking up. “They tell each other everything, and now my mom has to lie to her because of me. I don’t know how she can bear it.”

She pauses, breathing through the sudden tightness in her throat, and concludes:

“I don’t know how long she’ll bear it.”

Andy hums.

“I don’t have any advice for you Nile,” she says eventually. “I don’t really remember how that went for me, it’s been too long. But...even now, sometimes I─it’s hard, living without your family. Even at my age.”

“I...I didn’t know you felt like that,” Nile admits. “I thought you’d grown past that.”

“I don’t think we’re meant to,” Andy says. “I can’t remember what my parents looked like, or what it was like to be a child...but I do know what it’s like to want someone else to take care of your shit for a while.”

Nile grins, surprised into a light laughter that’s almost a giggle. Sometimes it’s easy to forget Andy is as human as any of them, even if she’s the oldest person on Earth. Discovering moments of relatability is always a delight and a relief all at once.

“I know we’re not your mom or your family,” Andy says after a while, the smile fading from her voice as she grows more serious, “and we’re not trying to be. But you’re─I won’t get angry if we’re not enough. You don’t have to...to hide it from me. You don’t have to stay alone and just...assume. There’s been too much of that lately.”

Nile can’t see Andy’s face in the darkness, not when her eyes aren’t angled to catch the moonlight, but it’s not hard to guess where she’s looking. In the doorway, Nile can see the outline of Booker’s seat, one hand dangling over the armrest─bottle free for the second night in a row, though there’s still an empty glass nearby on the floor.

“What I mean,” Andy says, startling Nile again, “is that you don’t have to be ashamed if we’re not what you want or need. The fact that you value your family isn’t a weakness, or a flaw. Just because we’ve─just because most of us grew out of it doesn’t mean you’re wrong for still needing more time, especially when it’s so recent. This...I didn’t tell him that, and I should have, so now I’m telling you. Not to protect us, but because it’s true.”

“Thanks, Andy,” Nile says.

“Sure. Now go to sleep,” Andy orders fondly.

Nile snorts, gives Andy a light punch in the shoulder, and turns over to go to sleep.

#The Old Guard #Nile Freeman #TOG Fic #NileFreemanWeek2020 #Fanfiction #Bâtard the tortoise #s: Bâtard verse

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captainfile · 3 years

Text

Baby, Don’t Tread

Words: 2225

Ao3 link

Andreil-centric. Warnings for Andrew being nonverbal for unspecified reasons and Neil practicing some negative self-talk! Title and summary from “Tread On Me” by Matt Maeson.

Summary: I could hardly sleep, so I don’t And I could hardly speak, so I won’t

Andrew hadn’t moved in a few hours. Neil had returned from class to find him on the couch, a heavy textbook propped up between his stomach and thighs, socked feet tucked between two cushions. One of his legs was wobbling every once in a while, as if burning off absent energy by habit instead of necessity. There was no answer to Neil’s greeting, but that was hardly surprising. He just couldn’t help but notice as the sun dipped lower and dinner came and went, but Andrew didn’t get up to join. Didn’t move a muscle, really, but for the one leg and an occasional page turn. He didn’t look up, not when anyone addressed him, not when Neil sat down at the far end of the couch with his own homework.

“Hey,” Neil tried, and earned a glance. He didn’t hold back his grin, but Andrew didn’t snarl at him for it. “There’s leftover chicken, if you want some.” Andrew didn’t look at him a second time; didn’t look anywhere but his textbook. Kevin shuffled around in the kitchen, complaining just loud enough for Neil to hear about the dishes and the freshmen.

“Andrew, you eating?” Nicky called out, and when Andrew didn’t respond, he leaned into view and held up a tupperware container half-full of oven-grilled chicken. “Are you hungry?” He pressed. Neil watched Andrew move his head slow, turning to face his cousin, eyes just this side of unfocused for a lingering moment before they caught on. Andrew blinked. His face didn’t show anything but his attention. Nicky gestured with the tupperware. “Dinner,” he said.

Andrew didn’t answer. He looked down at the couch, head turning just as slowly back to his textbook, and blinked a few more times. His lips thinned. He would eat, Neil concluded then, but he probably hadn’t so much as opened his mouth since breakfast. Andrew closed his textbook and tucked it against his hip as he stood and made his way to Nicky.

Secretly, Neil was a bit ashamed that he found Andrew’s actions strange, but Nicky seemed equally bewildered, so he vowed to take the afternoon in stride.

“I want to run the drill from last night again.”

“See, I don’t think it’s very useful,” Neil argued, thoroughly distracted for a moment by Kevin as he made his way to a dropped backpack in the corner. It seemed he was also inspired by Andrew’s studiousness. “They weren’t ready for it. Sub in Matt and Aaron so they can get comfortable with backliners who actually know what they’re doing.”

“Are you insulting me right now?”

“They won’t only learn by watching, Nicky.”

“They won’t learn by being carried, either-“

“-do you want them to learn the drill, or not-“

“Fuck you,” Kevin snapped, then sat with a too-loud thud next to his backpack and got out a notebook. Neil rolled his eyes and sank further into the couch. He looked over the back, though, to check on Andrew, who seemed entirely unaware of the room and chowed down on the cooling leftovers as Nicky hovered and spoke in cut-off half-questions. “When you’re-“

Neil heard the rest of the sentence and cut Kevin off. “Fight your homework, not me, asshole; I don’t give a shit.”

“You definitely give a shit,” Kevin grumbled, and Neil was about to gripe back at him when Nicky swooped in and leaned over the back of the couch.

“Has he been like this all day?”

Neil frowned. “Like what?”

“All… I don’t know. He seems fine, but it’s like he isn’t there.”

It was obvious who they were talking about, and Andrew appeared at Nicky’s side without a sound, looking at his cousin the same way as before. Attention, no tone to it. He didn’t speak. Nicky jumped only a little in surprise.

Neil asked, “Andrew, how was your day?”

Nicky looked at Andrew. Kevin, from the floor, looked at Andrew. Neil didn’t want to add any more pressure, so he looked at the textbook still in Andrew’s grip and watched his knuckles not change a shade in response to the situation. Andrew seemed entirely, genuinely, thoroughly, completely, absolutely disinterested. He stayed quiet.

“Andrew?” Kevin piped up, head tilted curiously. It was likely fueled by some complicated Exy-centered logic, but he asked, “you alright?”

How bizarre. Andrew didn’t react to that either, not for a long moment, and when Kevin sucked in a breath to continue it seemed like a mime had possessed Andrew’s body for a moment: his shoulder bumped up to his ear in an overly-exaggerated shrug and then he nodded once, head moving so forcefully that Neil could hear the bones in his jaw and collar thunk against each other. With no further explanation, Andrew returned to his previous pose on the couch. Neil was paralyzed. The sunset had made itself at home on the couch while Andrew ate, and cast a romantic glow to the ends of his blonde hair and the highlights of his face. Neil wasn’t close enough to appreciate how the light caught his eyes- he didn’t dare, even as his stomach dropped out at the relaxed slope of Andrew’s shoulders, at how he ducked his head a bit to hide from that light behind his textbook. Nicky’s hands curled over the back of the couch and squeezed until the fabric groaned. Andrew took a deep breath and- when the whole room leaned forward a bit to hear him- sighed.

Aaron and Nicky were arguing about something only tangentially related to Exy, so Kevin didn’t have much reason to start ranting. He tried striking up a conversation with Andrew, which was fruitless, as per usual, and Neil was excited enough about escaping campus that he answered noncommittally when Kevin’s interest turned to him. With the background chaos of quick words from such similar voices that Neil could tune them out and pretend it was one idiot talking to himself, Neil watched the road contentedly. He relaxed against the passenger seat and glanced down at the center console; he imagined setting his hand palm-up on it and having Andrew hold onto him for the rest of the drive. It was a nice image.

Andrew had been fairly quiet all day. They had chatted lazily over breakfast, and when everyone piled into the Maserati, he had grated out a confirmation for their activities. Neil had been confused at that more than the quiet- Andrew didn’t talk when he didn’t want to, didn’t say anything he didn’t mean, that was all well and good with Neil. But audibly, visibly struggling to speak? Holding onto his words like he’d been carved hollow and they were all he had left? Expression shuttering over some kind of pain? Neil was chilled by it.

“Hey!” Roland shouted when Andrew and Neil inevitably found their way to him. Other customers were outright ignored, but lucky Neil, no one was too upset. The night was still young. “What can I get you all tonight?”

A beat passed.

Several, really, between Neil’s earlier worry and the deafening music.

One too many. The moment lingered and still Andrew said nothing, attention very obviously divided between Roland and Neil and the people around them. The sooner they ordered, the sooner they could retreat to the booth, but Andrew did not order any drinks. Neil plastered on a smile as Roland’s began to waver.

“I’ve got it,” he blurted, and rattled off some requests that he didn’t remember clearly enough. Roland was sufficiently distracted, and soon enough, they were carrying two trays to the table. Neil grimaced when the three already seated began to complain. Surely they’d care a little less after a few unpleasant gulps. Andrew seemed to settle in for a long night in his spot at the same time as the other three nearly vibrated with a want to dance, gazes darting to each other and out into the crowd and down to the drinks.

When they were gone, Neil’s worry resurfaced. It wasn’t that something was explicitly wrong, not like Andrew had fought with his brother or heard from an old enemy, not like any of them were in danger at all. He seemed the opposite, really, except that one moment. Ice cream went down as quickly as it normally did, just as sickeningly sweet as Andrew liked it. His hands were at rest, armbands intact and untouched. For all Neil could tell, Andrew was having a normal day, but… Neil was still worried. He rambled to fill the space that was left in the absence of their nonsensical table conversation, gestured to iron out the curl building in his hands, kept Andrew in his sights but looked away as much as he could stand. Hadn’t Nicky said something, forever ago? It was like someone had hit mute on Andrew, but he simply didn’t care and lived on. Neil ignored the alcohol to keep himself from breaking and asking about it.

Worse, breaking and asking.

Fuck.

“It’s like you don’t even care about Exy, you guys always make fun of me,” Kevin whined as he was dragged inside. Neil took care of everyone’s shoes and, when it seemed like Aaron, Nicky, and Kevin would all live to the morning, he made for the couch.

Andrew’s supernatural ability to move faster and quieter than a ghost would probably never stop surprising Neil. He didn’t flinch, though, just turned when a light tug on his sleeve announced his presence. There was nothing to read in Andrew’s expression for a moment. The pair of them were left with the backdrop of a dark living room in Columbia, drunk stumbling audible from the bedrooms. Complaints, too, mostly Kevin’s, drifting through the walls and rattling hidden pipes. Neil waited and waited for something to happen; he could be patient, he could stand there for hours just looking at Andrew in the dark. He could wait for a car to drive by and light up Andrew’s jaw through the living room curtains, for both their eyes to burn until they passed out in the middle of the room, for the sun to rise and birds to sing and Andrew to speak. Neil knew stillness as a tool of life on the run, knew nonchalance and manners to cover panic and desperation.

It was only a moment, though, before Andrew invited the question. His shoulder drifted just slightly, his grip lingered on Neil’s sleeve. “Yes or no?” Andrew nodded. “I-“ Neil didn’t want to doubt him. “Can you… say it?” Andrew’s lips thinned, and even in the dark, even in a nanosecond, Neil knew the answer without understanding the reason behind it. “I’m alright with that,” he said quickly, or as quickly as the laws of physics would let him. “Upstairs?”

Andrew nodded again. They went upstairs.

Now, Neil was stupid. Unbelievably so, inconceivably so. Neil had never learned a thing in his life, in his own humble opinion, and the things he was good at involved just the bare bones of brain activity. Obviously. Through this unfortunate reality, Neil had started to notice a pattern. He decided to draw it out to better understand it. The sketch was yet another example of Neil being generally unremarkable, but it didn’t have to be beautiful.

He drew Andrew Minyard, dressed in all black for a night out at Eden’s Twilight. Shoulders sloped just so, hands relaxed and capable, mouth a single line.

He drew Andrew Minyard, standing in the corner of the girls’ dorm on some accursed movie night, elbows loose.

The day Nicky had commented on the silence, inhaling cooled-down chicken.

In the middle of a late-night practice; no one was communicating, and someone pinned it on Andrew, and then Nicky got mad and they all only stopped yelling at each other because Kevin was an easier and more universal target than Andrew.

Those moments felt different. It was like Andrew had something to say, but no words to use. He had powered through only the most necessary statements in those times. Usually when he was quiet it was because he meant to be. It was as surely a fact of life as Neil’s dumbfuckery that Andrew was a calculating sort of man. He never did anything he didn’t want to, never stayed put when he wanted to move. Always knew what he’d say before he said it. Andrew was powerful, really.

The air shifted over Neil’s shoulder, but he didn’t look. Neil leaned back in the desk chair in some wishful thinking that he could lean on Andrew, who moved fluidly to sit on the desk and shake out a cigarette.

A conversation passed between them in a glance. Andrew rolled his eyes. “What, I’m supposed to think you’re ugly?” Neil scoffed defensively, and cherished the brief push of calloused fingertips on his chin. It felt like… Neil didn’t have a word for what he’d never felt before Andrew. It didn’t matter. Neil was stupid. He just tossed his chin back in Andrew’s direction and blurted, “yes or no?” And grinned into the kiss Andrew gave him, leaning in slowly with a fine-tuned focus like Neil would never be in this spot again. He knew both their shoulders sagged from the way they shared breath more than any visual evidence or exploratory hands.

He knew and cared that Andrew was comfortable.

#aftg #captainfile #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #andreil #nonverbal #this kinda blew up on ao3 so i thought i'd crack open my tumblr. hi.

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female-overlord-3 · 4 years

Text

Ok so this post made me write here you go. @imawriteriwrite thank you for letting me yell at you about this 😘

Ok so like i know there's a greater lean towards Nicky still being taken BUT I just really love it being Joe so we get an insufferable Booker taken with Joe who will not stop talking about the love of his life coming for them and they really shouldn't have done that.

Then Joe finds out about Booker when Merrick and Copely come in. So not only is Joe gonna beat his head in, but Nicky will be sad and then stab him when Booker's healed. Then they will decide on a the 100 year punishment.

So like we get Andy packing and getting ready with Nile all slow and chill while Nicky decimates the task Force.

"Umm shouldn't we-"

Nile questions a bit concerned but Andy just smirks. "They took Joe so we gotta let Nicky vent out all this anger. Last time this happened was Magnolia in '76. Not pretty."

also I would still love a scene in the van between Joe and Booker. That like truly makes Booker regret and realize he made a very very stupid decision.

Joe nudges him with his foot. "Book hey wake up. Don't-"

"We said quiet!"

"Excuse me I'm trying to make sure he's alright. Book come on don't leave me all by myself with these assholes."

The guards yank him back when Joe reaches a hand to shake Booker.

"We said-"

"Ya ya quiet or you'll 'kill me' again so what you-"

Booker groans and sighs heavily as he sits up.

"What I miss?" He grumbles.

"Your 'boyfriend' was worried about you." On of the guards sneers and Booker looks up to the heavens in a plea for patience.

"Lord above why must you continue to punish me."

Joe all but laughs and can't stop laughing, even when one of them grabs him around the neck.

"You all think this man can compare to the the love of my life??? That my Nicolo is deemed something as your infantile term 'boyfriend' when he is so much more."

Booker sighs again and nudges one of the armed guards. "Someone wanna shoot me in the head so I don't gotta hear this again?"

"He is my moon when I have no light. My sun when I no longer feel warmth or care for humanity. He makes living for this endless amount of time not only bearable but worth living. His kindness is something this cruel world doesn't deserve. My Nicolo will find us and he will slaughter all of you so don't you dare even think he is not only all for me but more."

He glares at everyone who start to duck their head in shame at Joe's moving words.

"No Booker is nothing close to my Nicolo but he is my family and of course I care about him. He is a man so strong with a heart that still holds the pain of his loved ones long gone. He wanted to be there and stay for his family even though they cursed and hurt him for not being able to share his ability. He may be a morose alcoholic that still hasn't found his own reason to live but he tries for us and he helped teach us when the world evolved."

Joe grins and nudges Booker again who's face is one of fragile shock.

"He is my brother and used to be like a son when we first met. Someone I almost trust with my Nicolo. Someone who understands our leader in a way I nor Nicolo will ever truly understand. He has a cynical view that balances out the compassion my love gives. He is family and we protect our family so im gonna ask that you all let us go or you won't be seeing anything past these doors if you don't."

And we either have Joe find out what Booker did on the plane and Joe murders everyone and Booker like 5 times before landing at the church and running into Nickys arms.

#the old guard #yusuf al kaysani #joe #sebastian le livre #booker #nicolo di genova #nicky #andromache the scythian #andy #nile freeman #rambles #au #a what if only one of the immortal husbands was taken #the idea yelled inspiration #so i yelled at shay #the old guard spoilers #mine #moon writes

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residentclown · 3 years

Note

Hi! If you do tmnt match up, may I ask for one tmnt Bayverse 2016 match up, please?

My name is Gabriela, but my friends call me Gabi, Gabika( Slovak), Gigi or Gi. I'm 5'7 ft, I'm 15 years old girl from Slovakia and I live in village with my family. My Zodiac Sign is Libra.

I'm an only child. I have a Russian accent since childhood because I have ancestors from Russia. I'm so proud of this.

I have long brown hair down my waist, brown eyes and slim figure.

I am shy, calm and nice, but I am a hothead too. I'm very honest and I am a nerd. I'm very quiet person. I'm empathetic and very caring. I blush easily. I care much more about others than me. I really like to be alone, but others don't bothering me.

When I'm afraid, I usually fall off or stay standing with my mouth open. I can't help myself.

I have premonitions since childhood. Like I said something and just it happens. And it's true. My family sees it.

Also I have a bad and weird feelings. And I know when I have a bad feeling, it's so bad. Also, paranormal and weird things happens me, but I don't want to break it down. I have chills.

In my free time I always study for school. I like to read books ( I'm a bookworm) and I love to meditate. It's so relaxing. I work out daily and I like yoga.

I love actions movies and sci-fi. I love universe and extraterrestrial words.

My favorite sci-fi movies/ serials are Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who. And Teen Wolf. .

I love playing on accordion. On accordion I play only Slovak folk music. But in July, I will play on piano. I'm so excited.

I love music. I like rap. My fav bands are G.O.A.T and The Black Eyed Peas. My fav rapers are Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Stefflon Don and Kanye West. I really love AC/DC, Kiss, Little Mix and Pentatonix.

I love drawing and painting. Mostly I draw people, faces, nature or something what come to my mind. I love dance. I like knitting.

I love tea and cappuccino. I love cooking. I love reactions people when they taste my work. For me, it's everything. It's my passion.

My favorite colors are blue, purple and black.

I love technique. It's so interesting how somebody can build something. And I really admire it.

That's it. Thanks for your time and I can't wait for my match. Have a good day/evening/ night. Bye 💜💜

Hello hello! I want to start this off by saying thank you! You're my VERY first ask and I'm super excited! [Bending the rules of time a bit, so whoever I pair you with will be 16.]

This was a bit of a tough call cause I'll be honest -- you've got traits ALL the boys would fall over heels for! But I've narrowed it down and I pair you with. . .

Donnie

You're SO unique in so many ways! It's like you're the ending result of several personalities bunched into one human being!

AND you're a nerd? Consider him SOLD.

Definitely has jealousy over you being an only child. Like -- imagine living with THREE brothers? One always on your case and the other two obnoxious as heck? He'd totally ask you what it's like to be a single child.

Donnie is a bit on the timid side as well -- especially so when it comes to physical affections like hand holding or the occasional smooch. So whether giving or receiving said affections, he'll be a bit red in the cheeks for sure.

Having someone to care for him as much as he does them is a godsend. His brothers care, sure -- but they're all still young so checking up on each other only goes so far when you're so curious and caught up with everything else around you. Donnie will appreciate a loved one who'll care for him, because you are his whole world.

You can count on Donnie to fight ANY fear you face. Whether it be physical or mental. You're a treasure to him, he won't let any harm come to you.

Consider this nerd to be your new study partner! It gives him the chance to learn new things as well! (Though does he really need to?)

As for meditation? His mind is like gears in motion. He can't sit still long enough to get a good meditation session in. But he'd happily join for yoga!

Dude are you his soul mate? Binge sessions, binge sessions, BINGE SESSIONS.

Will HAPPILY listen to any instrument you take up. Will request you play for him while he tinkers with new gadgets.

He isn't big on rap, but adores old-school music and some modern stuff here and there. Though if it makes you happy, he'll bear through anything you like.

TOTALLY asks that you draw on his shell! Anything you want as long as it makes him look cool!

If you compliment his inventions and are invested in what he does? He'll love you for life. He appreciates any moment he can get to ramble on about what HE is passionate about. Of course, though, he'd also be ecstatic to hear what YOU'RE passionate about as well 💜

I hope this was up to expectation! I really enjoyed doing this and look forward to anymore asks from anyone in the future!

~ Arrow

#tmnt #tmnt donnie #tmnt donatello #bayverse #tmnt 2014/2016 #matchup

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artificialqueens · 4 years

Text

Spirit, Part 2/2 - (Gigi x Crystal / Gigi x Nicky) - Opalescentcheetah

A/N: I’m finally back with more magical shenanigans! I’m so sorry this has taken me so long, but I hope the chapter is worth the wait! Thank you again for all the love on Part 1, it really means a lot to me and I’m so glad you all enjoyed it <3 Feel free to drop by my blog, @opalescent-cheetah, to say hi - I love hearing from everyone!

Thank you so much to DenDenMonMon and Crazy4Kameron for beta-ing!

Summary: It’s three years later, and Gigi is going to college to chase her dreams. Unfortunately, the warehouse and the playful spirit that lives in it won’t fit in Gigi’s luggage.

Gigi wakes to dappled gold and pillowy warmth. She rolls over, careful not to disturb the gentle arm draped across her midsection, and meets eyes as soft as the sky after the first winter snow.

“Good morning, Miss Goode,” Nicky whispers, a smile in her sleep-heavy voice. Gigi loves the mornings after Nicky stays over, when she can wake up to tender kisses and warm tan skin, to the way Nicky’s eyes seem to sparkle faintly in the half-light.

“Good morning,” she replies softly, their faces close, limbs still entangled. “What’s the time?”

“Nine thirty. I was going to wake you up earlier, but you looked so peaceful.” Nicky’s words are brimming with affection, and it sets Gigi’s heart aflutter. She kisses Nicky again, a brush of butterfly wings at the edge of her mouth, before sliding out of bed and into the crisp morning.

The boxes lining the walls are a harsh reminder that it’s her last full day here, for tomorrow, she and Nicky will be moving to their new college dorm in preparation for their freshman year. There’s an aching nostalgia beneath her excitement; even if it’s only for a few months at a time, Gigi will be leaving behind her family and all her childhood memories. She’ll be leaving Crystal.

Gigi laughs as Crystal wraps her up in a white lab coat that’s just a little too tight around the shoulders, smoothing down the rumpled collar with velvet hands.

“Nearly done,” Crystal says, a playful twinkle in her eyes, and Gigi watches as she gathers handfuls of beaded necklaces from a nearby box and begins to sort through them. This has almost become tradition: every time she dresses Gigi up in the clothes they find in the warehouse, the finishing touch is always a stack of accessories. Gigi doesn’t mind it, but her favourite thing is the way Crystal smiles softly to herself while she picks them out, as though she is making the most important decision in the world.

She returns, this time, with all the green and orange ones, and puts them on for Gigi with the utmost care.

“Green for the dress,” she tells her as she works. “And orange to match your pretty hair.”

“I look like a crazy doctor,” Gigi admits when she’s done.

Crystal simply grins, completely unfazed, and hands Gigi a ginger toy cat to finish the look.

“I did a great job,” she says, half to herself. “Didn’t I, Crazy Doctor Goode?”

Gigi snickers, holding the plush cat close.

“Always the best, Miss Methyd.”

“Are you ready to go?”

“I am, I am, I’m sorry I’m–”

“Don’t be.” Nicky smiles, wrapping an arm around Gigi’s waist and pressing a kiss to her head. “There’s no rush. She won’t mind if we’re a little bit late.”

“I know, I just wanted to be there earlier so we could spend more time together.” She rifles through her bag, double checking everything.

“I understand that.”

Gigi exhales when her fingers brush a package wrapped in soft tissue.

“I’m ready. Let’s go.”

The warehouse door rattles with the late autumn chill, but Gigi hardly notices, curled up in the warmth of an old beanbag with Crystal’s favourite candles burning nearby. The warehouse smells sweetly of caramel, the firelight shivering as Crystal flicks her fingers through it, mesmerised.

“I’m done,” Gigi says, and Crystal looks up immediately, eyes bright with excitement. Gigi hands over her sketchbook and Crystal studies it for a moment before her body begins to shift. Her red hair spills into auburn waves as her ruff disappears, smooth skin and a colourful dress quickly replacing her glittering fur. The crystalline scarlet of her eyes twists into a stormcloud blue and, quite suddenly, Gigi is looking at herself.

“I love the colours,” Crystal murmurs with Gigi’s mouth, running slender fingers up one blue-and-yellow plaid sleeve. The dress skims the tops of her thighs, ivory buttons gleaming, and she’s wearing a pair of chunky white heels with gauzy socks pulled over her knees. It amazes Gigi, how Crystal can so effortlessly bring each of her sketches to life.

She has to admit, though, that she has never gotten used to seeing Crystal wearing her face. Crystal insists on it - “you should see what you would look like in your own design,” she always says, and Gigi doesn’t usually argue.

“I want to see how you would look in it, too,” she tells Crystal this time. Crystal stops midway through a spin - she seems to be enjoying the little flared skirt - and stares thoughtfully at Gigi.

“Okay,” she agrees, her body morphing back into its usual form, red fur bright against the spring plaid. “How do I look?”

Gigi hides her smile behind her hand. “Gorgeous,” she says. “Very colourful.”

“Perfect.” Crystal curtsies clumsily, stumbling in her high heels, and Gigi snickers as Crystal falls into her lap.

“Stop laughing at me,” she whines, but there’s humour laced through her voice as she flicks Gigi over the head with her tail. “I don’t know how you deal with having legs like this. They’re so stiff!”

“I don’t know how you deal with not having feet,” Gigi counters. “Besides, you were spinning around without a problem earlier - you’re just embarrassed that you tripped over.”

Crystal rolls over in Gigi’s lap to face her, eyes wide with mock offense. “I can’t believe you would call me out like that!” She gasps before falling limp, the back of her hand pressed dramatically to her head. “I’m revoking your friendship privileges.”

“I’ll get them back eventually,” Gigi says with confidence, tickling her sides. Crystal wheezes, jolting upright to grab Gigi’s shoulders when she nearly squirms off of her lap.

“And how do you know that?” she queries, her overdramatic act all but forgotten.

“Because you love me,” Gigi teases. Crystal’s grip is tight, her face a breath away, and for a moment Gigi loses herself to the warmth of her eyes and the way they crinkle at the edges as she breaks into a smile.

“Okay. That’s a very good point,” Crystal says, tapping Gigi lightly on the nose. “But I’m keeping an eye on you.”

“Whatever for?”

“You know what for.” Crystal narrows her eyes, still sparkling with playfulness.

“No, I’m not sure I do, actually.” Gigi flutters her lashes innocently. “But… while you’re here, I do have a question for you.”

“Alright…”

“What was your favourite design from today?” Gigi reaches to pick up her sketchbook, letting Crystal lie back down in her lap as she flips through it. When she finally stands, Gigi watches with tingling legs as she shifts into a leather biker number, noticing with amusement that she’s even changed her fur to match the bright pastel hues of the outfit.

Crystal takes a moment to examine herself, toying with the chains dangling from her belt before she makes the silver shinier.

“Yeah yeah yeah, definitely this one.” She twirls, steady now that she’s no longer wearing shoes, and nearly knocks over a candle with her tail. Gigi can’t help but laugh as Crystal bows dramatically, a giddy smile lighting up her face.

Gigi holds Nicky’s hand as they walk up the familiar path to the warehouse. It’s a nice day: it’s sunny, the air blooming as warm as the sparks of flame from Crystal’s palms. Gigi thinks of her, already aching with the nostalgia of her late teenage memories - she’s lived here, surrounded by the same people, for her entire life, and she can’t imagine what college will be like without them. She doesn’t even need to leave to know how much she’ll miss it all.

But it’s leaving Crystal that hurts the most. She’s the only one Gigi won’t be able to call or text while she’s gone, and she’s the only one without another life to go on with: all she has is her curse, trapping her in the confines of the warehouse. At least there are the breaks, Gigi reminds herself, when she can come back to meet Crystal’s gentle embrace and see the playful joy in her eyes again. She only hopes Crystal will be okay on her own.

“What are you thinking about?” Nicky asks, swinging their clasped hands.

“Just…” Gigi hesitates. “Just about the last three years, really.” About Crystal. The only part of her childhood she can’t take with her. The words hang unspoken between them.

“You’re going to miss her, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Gigi rests her head on Nicky’s shoulder as they walk, grateful for her company, her quiet understanding, and for the fact that she doesn’t have to leave Nicky behind, too. “You, Crystal and Jackie were like my first real friends. Do you remember that time when I got locked in the warehouse?”

Nicky snorts. “How could I forget?”

“This is going to sound so cheesy, but I guess that was the day that I realised what real friendship is like,” Gigi murmurs.

“I’m glad you did,” Nicky replies, and there is a heavy layer of seriousness beneath her words. “You stopped trying to be friends with those bullies after you met Crystal. It was such a relief, honestly.”

Gigi can’t help but snicker. “I was so dumb.”

“You’re still dumb,” Nicky says affectionately. “But that’s why I like you.”

“You know what? I’m not even going to argue with that.”

“Good,” Nicky laughs, “because if you tried to act all ‘cool’ again, I might have to reconsider this relationship.”

Gigi draws back, eyes wide with mock offense. “You would never!”

“Try me.”

“I’m not going to. I like you too much for that.”

Nicky presses a kiss to her cheek. “Fine by me. I like you a little too much for that, too.”

Gigi giggles, and they keep walking as road turns to rubble, loose stones crackling beneath their feet. The old warehouse sits, lonely and imposing, at the crest of the hill, its metallic walls gleaming harshly in the morning sun. The sight of it is comfortingly familiar.

Nicky suddenly bursts out laughing. Gigi swings her head around to look at her, loving the way she tilts her face up to the sun and how it dapples her cheeks with roses.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry, I was just” - Nicky snorts mid-sentence - “just thinking about that time Crystal pretended to be me. It was so terrible it was funny.”

Gigi grins at the memory. “Apart from her accent, it was actually pretty accurate,” she teases, laughing when Nicky elbows her playfully.

“Shut up. I knew you could tell the difference immediately.”

“Not until she started talking,” Gigi counters, still smiling. “I went outside just for a moment, and when I came back…”

There’s two Nickys.

“Hello, Gigi,” one of them says wryly, her arms crossed over her chest, icy eyes dancing with amusement. The other is crouched on the concrete floor, fixing something on her shoes.

Gigi’s eyes dart from one Nicky to the other. “Hello,” she says eventually, stifling a smile.

“Sacré bleu,” growls the Nicky on the ground as she stands. Her French accent is rough, too throaty and harsh to be real, but it doesn’t matter because Gigi can already see that this Nicky is doing everything in her power not to laugh. “You’re an idiot, Gigi. Salope!”

“Oh my god, I don’t talk like that,” Nicky sighs with breathless laughter, resting her face in her hands. “And if you’re going to keep using French phrases, I need to teach you to use them properly.”

“I think her impression is spot-on,” Gigi giggles.

“Who? What are you talking about? I’m Nicky, I don’t know who that - who that dumb bitch is.” Nicky jabs her thumb at Nicky, face pinched in an exaggerated expression of distaste. Her rough French accent is falling apart over peals of choked laughter, her shoulders shaking with silent mirth.

“You can stop now,” Nicky groans, but there’s a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “This is insane–”

“Salope!” the other Nicky yells, throwing her arms up in the air with delighted enthusiasm.

Gigi is bombarded by a hug the moment the warehouse door swings open.

Crystal’s fur is practically sparking with excitement as she pulls Nicky into the embrace with her tail. Gigi relaxes into the warmth of their arms, feels Crystal’s smile against her cheek.

“Oh my gosh, you guys,” Crystal squeals, stepping back, “you’re both going to college tomorrow! You must be so excited!”

Gigi scans her face, her ruby eyes, for any sign of distress, but Crystal is radiating nothing but sunshine and positivity. Gigi bites her lip.

“We are,” she murmurs. Crystal must hear the hesitance in her voice, because her smile softens as she reaches out to gently pat Gigi on the head.

“I’m going to miss you,” Crystal whispers, almost reassuringly, but she isn’t looking Gigi in the eye anymore. “I have great news too, though! You won’t believe this, but I’m finally allowed to go back to the spirit realm! My… curse, I guess? It’s been lifted!”

“That’s - that’s great news,” Gigi says, trying to smile for Crystal, but her voice breaks. She’d known this day would come eventually, when Crystal would finish her task and be whisked away back to the spirit realm for good, but it’s not enough to prepare her for it. She feels Nicky’s arm on her shoulders as Crystal’s joyful expression crumbles like melting ice. Gigi covers her face with one hand, overcome with shame. “Shit. I’m - I’m sorry, I’m really happy for you, but–”

She trails off when Crystal whimpers. Gigi looks up, only to see her bottom lip quivering, her eyes liquid lava. Crystal falls into her arms, sobbing, and Nicky reaches out with a comforting hand as they slide in a heap to the ground.

“I can’t stand to see you upset,” Crystal sniffles. “I’m going to miss you both so much, you don’t even understand–”

Gigi chokes down a wave of emotion, struggling to maintain her composure as Crystal cries into her shirt. Even Nicky - stoic, calm Nicky, crouching just beside her - looks like she’s blinking back tears.

“I - will I ever get to see you again?” Gigi whispers hoarsely.

“I don’t know.” Crystal’s voice wobbles. “I’ll do my best to come back, I promise, but… there are restrictions.”

“Fuck the rules,” Gigi mutters. “If you’re free now, shouldn’t–”

“I wish it worked like that,” Crystal sighs, cutting her off. “I’m still one of the lower spirits and there are still a ton of rules because… well, I don’t know. I guess they’re worried about us causing too much chaos.”

Nicky jumps into the conversation then, her eyebrow arched in incredulity. “They don’t want you causing chaos in the human realm, and yet they trap you here when you’ve done something wrong? That’s like telling a robber not to steal and then locking them in a bank vault.”

Crystal manages a weak laugh. “It’s so stupid, right?”

“God, I–” Gigi swallows thickly, still holding Crystal close, trying desperately to memorise the way her fur shimmers as it catches the light and how her palms spark with heat every time their hands touch. “I can’t imagine never seeing you again.” Her voice is breaking and she pauses, eyes swimming with tears. “I’m going to miss you so fucking much. Thank you for making the last years of my childhood so wonderful.”

“Aw, don’t get all sappy on me, Miss Gigi.” Crystal’s face is soft with a watery smile as she draws back, hands still clasped around Gigi’s shoulders. “That’s my job, silly.”

This gets a laugh out of Gigi. “I’m stealing it, just for today.”

“Yeah. She’s got to get her feelings out now, otherwise she’ll be a mess in the car ride tomorrow,” Nicky comments lightly, rubbing comforting circles into Gigi’s back.

Crystal giggles. “For real, though, you must be so excited. You’re finally going to fashion school!”

“I am, I’m really looking forward to it.” Gigi wipes her eyes with the heel of her hand. “It sucks that I can’t take you and the entire warehouse with me, though.”

“It’s okay. Once you’re there, you’ll be too busy to miss me that much,” Crystal says, but she sounds like she’s reassuring herself as much as Gigi. “And I can finally go home. How good is the timing, though? I got the message just yesterday and begged them for one more day so I could say goodbye.”

“The greater spirits must think you’re crazy - stuck here for thirteen years, and yet you still want an extra day!” Gigi jokes, a genuine smile creeping onto her face. Crystal always makes her smile.

“Oh, I know! They finally told me what my moral task was, too, and you won’t believe this - empathy! They trapped me here for thirteen years because they thought I was annoying!”

Gigi sputters out a laugh. “Seriously?”

“Yeah! Apparently I was insufferable beforehand. They were like” - Crystal puts her hands on her hips and adds a gruff edge to her voice, pinching her brows - “oh, yeah, took you long enough to learn to care about others and stop being such a little brat even though we never told you what the problem was, so, uh, we guess you can come home now.”

“What did you do to piss them off so much?” Gigi asks incredulously. Despite her numerous conversations with Crystal over the course of three years, she doesn’t think she’s heard anything worthy of a decade-long banishment.

“I can only imagine,” Nicky snickers.

“Hey, shut up,” Crystal giggles. “It was kind of like what I was doing here, before I met you - pulling pranks on people just for the laughs, except I was always the only one laughing… Oh, and I guess Rock was too, except she must be a lot more empathetic, because apparently she finished her task five years ago.”

Gigi remembers hearing about Rock: Crystal’s best friend from the spirit realm, equally as spritely and just as much of a prankster. According to Crystal, they got on like a house on fire.

“You must be excited to see her again,” she murmurs.

“Yeah. I doubt she made friends as good as you two, though,” Crystal says, gazing at Gigi and Nicky with unadulterated warmth and affection. “I can’t wait to tell her about you guys. She’s going to be so jealous of all the fun we had.”

“I’ll give you something more for her to be jealous of,” Gigi says, biting back a grin at the way Crystal’s eyebrows shoot up with eager curiosity. She feels for the bulky weight in her bag and pulls out a package, delicately wrapped in orange tissue paper. Crystal’s fur is practically sizzling with excitement as Gigi deposits the gift in her waiting hands.

She tears the paper away with gusto, revealing a motorcycle jacket made of soft leather. It’s a sleek ebony with a red satin inner lining, crimson leather popping at the collar. Crystal toys with the silver buckles before letting out a quiet gasp when she turns the jacket around: her name is embroidered into the leather, red and silver letters gleaming bright against the midnight black.

“Did you make this?” she whispers as she hugs it to her chest, staring at Gigi, wide-eyed with wonder.

“You should’ve seen her,” Nicky says warmly. “She spent hours obsessing over it… she wanted it to be perfect.”

“And it is.” Crystal’s voice is choked with emotion, fresh tears welling at her eyes. “It’s more than perfect… Oh, Gigi, I love it, I’m never going to take it off.” In one swift movement, she slides the jacket onto her shoulders, unable to stop admiring the immaculate craftsmanship.

“I’m glad you like it,” Gigi murmurs. She can’t help but swell with pride at the awe and disbelief blossoming across Crystal’s face - all the long nights she put into finishing the garment feel more than worth it, just for this moment.

“Are you kidding? This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Crystal gushes, pulling Gigi into another hug. “I’m going to wear it all the time so I can think of you every day, and all the other spirits will wish they were banished for thirteen years just so they could have something as cool as this.”

Gigi laughs. “Make sure to emphasise that it’s hand-made and one-of-a-kind. They’ll be really jealous then.”

“Oh, I will!” Crystal promises. “Thank you so much, Gigi. It’s so gorgeous! I can’t believe you made it just for me… it even has my name on it!”

“Do you remember the last time you were shapeshifting into all of my outfit ideas?” Gigi asks her.

Crystal nods emphatically.

“I remember you said your favourite was the leather biker one,” Gigi says, a smile in her voice, “so I made something similar, just more fitting to your colour scheme. Now, you don’t need to turn yourself all pink and yellow.”

Crystal’s cheeks flare gold like she’s been kissed by sunlight. “That’s so sweet,” she squeals, looking like she’s about to cry again.

Nicky shuffles closer, resting a steady hand on both Gigi and Crystal’s shoulders. “Seeing as this is our last day together,” she says gently, “do you guys want to do something fun?”

“But, Gigi, our exams–”

“Shush, you’ve been stressing non-stop for three weeks! Give yourself a break,” Gigi says, pausing when she sees Jackie’s dubious expression. “Fine, we’ll revise later. But Crystal’s been dying to meet you, so you’re not getting out of this.”

She leads Jackie to the warehouse, pushing open the door to the charcoal scent of fire… and a lightshow.

Sparks sizzle, shooting up like fireworks until they bounce off the high ceiling and shower the room in a cascade of embers. A ball of scalding gold begins to take shape in the midst of the firestorm, twisting as it expands and splits into two. Behind it, Crystal’s face is illuminated with rippling light, orange flames dancing in her eyes.

She hasn’t noticed them yet. Gigi watches, breathless with awe, as Crystal juggles the fiery orbs between her fingers with unparalleled dexterity. Finally, she closes her fists, plunging the room into a muted darkness still spitting with dying embers–

And then flames shoot up her arms, flaring outwards in a plume of scarlet and gold. The jewel tones of Crystal’s fur are amplified, as though her soul is incandescent, blazing through her skin.

She raises her arms with a fiery swoosh and suddenly, she’s a phoenix, as the topaz flames streaking from her arms billow into brilliant wings.

“Woah,” Jackie breathes, and Gigi can only nod in agreement, lost for words. She’s never been exposed to the true scope of Crystal’s powers before, and stars, how she wishes she had. Crystal is beautiful, shrouded in fire - she looks confident, commanding… she is electrifying.

She is nothing short of a goddess, and Gigi can’t tear her gaze away.

Then Crystal turns, tongues of flame still surging from her arms and back. Gigi takes a moment to admire her, her soft jaw alight with warm gold, before Crystal’s face cracks with realisation.

She’s seen them. In an instant, the flames vanish, leaving nothing but a handful of embers sizzling on the cold concrete floor. The building is abruptly plunged back into a colourless darkness.

A moment later, the warehouse lights flicker to life, and Gigi blinks as her eyes adjust.

“Hi, Gigi!” Crystal waves cheerfully from the lightbox before bouncing over. “And you must be Jackie, right? It’s so good to finally meet you!”

“Crystal! That was incredible!” Gigi gushes, unable to stop herself, her intentions of formally introducing Crystal to Jackie momentarily forgotten. “How come you’ve never done it before?”

“Oh, uh…” Crystal scratches the back of her neck, suddenly shy. “It’s just a thing I’ve been practicing. I didn’t think you’d like it - the last time I did something like that with people around, they, uh… they started burning.” She bites her lip sheepishly as Jackie grimaces. “I think they survived. I mean, they must have, they were okay enough to run away screaming.”

“Ah. Well.” Gigi frowns, not quite sure what to do with this new information. “I thought–”

“Wait, I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Crystal’s eyes are round with worry as she runs up to delicately cup Gigi’s face, checking it for burns, before her gaze flickers to Jackie. “Crap, what an awful first impression. I’m so sorry.”

Gigi’s throat tightens as Crystal steps back, her shoulders drooping with shame. She looks so tiny compared to the whirlwind creature of flame that lit up the warehouse mere moments ago, Gigi almost doesn’t recognise her.

“We’re alright.” Gigi moves closer to hold both of her hands, comfortingly rubbing her thumbs over Crystal’s knuckles. “It was a beautiful show, Crystal. You’re very talented.”

“Really?” she seems to brighten, then, dark lips quirking up in the beginnings of a smile.

“If you don’t mind me asking…” Jackie interrupts, startling them both, “how did you do that, Crystal? When Gigi said you could control fire, I thought she was exaggerating, but… wow.”

Crystal’s smile stretches into a grin, so unreserved and genuine that it makes Gigi’s chest flare with warmth. Crystal wears happiness well.

“Magic,” she tells Jackie easily.

Gigi can’t help but giggle when Jackie’s eyebrows crease in disbelief. Crystal meets Gigi’s gaze, her face flashing with delight, before she steps back and transforms into the thing of legends: a creature made entirely of ice cream.

“Magic,” she says again, her voice slightly more garbled now as ice cream drips down her chin. Jackie’s eyes look like they’re about to bulge out of their sockets, and Gigi almost chokes on her own laughter.

They take the long way home, skirting the town, following the lines of trees flanking the unpaved road. Nicky drives, humming softly to the pop music pounding through the car as Gigi shifts uncomfortably in her seat.

She knows that Crystal won’t be there. She knows that she’ll open the warehouse door to be met with a dark silence, colder now that Crystal’s warmth and energy is gone, the faint smell of caramel still lingering if she breathes in deep enough. Gigi knows this, but she still wanted - no, she insisted on coming this way, even if it’s just so she can stand there one more time and let the memories sink into her skin.

They turn a corner, and Gigi’s heart plummets.

She blinks, sure that she’s hallucinating, but the warehouse is no longer silhouetted against the crystalline sky; instead, there are enormous yellow machines, whirring and crunching through what’s left. Gigi’s skin prickles with how hauntingly wrong this is, and it takes her a moment to realise she’s shaking.

The car stops on the side of the road and Gigi feels Nicky’s arm snake around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug across the centre console. Gigi presses her nose into Nicky’s neck, breathing in the familiar French vanilla scent of her.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Nicky murmurs, stroking her hair.

“I knew she wasn’t going to be there. But…” The words tremble, bitter and acrid on Gigi’s tongue. “But this… this makes it all worse.”

She can’t even bring herself to hate the childish whine that’s crept into the edges of her voice. The biggest reminder of Crystal she had left in her life is now gone, and all their memories swept away with it, reduced to rubble. Gigi feels its absence like a stab through the chest.

“I know.” Nicky’s words are weighted with grief. Her embrace is tight, cozy, and Gigi sinks into it as a heavy silence falls over the car.

Several heartbeats pass before Nicky draws back again, gently brushing her thumb along Gigi’s jaw. “Let’s go home,” she murmurs. “We can stop for ice cream or something on the way back, if you want.”

“Wait. I… I want to stand there one last time.”

“Are you sure?” Nicky’s eyes flash with doubt, but Gigi is already pushing open the door, stepping out into the crunch of gravel. She looks back at Nicky and nods, just once.

“One last time,” she says again. “Come on, Nicky. Let’s go say good-bye.”

Nicky hesitates before sliding out of the drivers’ seat, taking Gigi’s hand in her own as they traipse up the hill. There are fences everywhere now, dotted with neon warning signs barring people from getting too close.

It’s not like anyone even comes here, anyways, Gigi thinks to herself. Anyone but us.

She lets out a heavy breath as she scans the wreckage. Sheets of metal and demolished shelving planks are piled in a heap, ready to be removed; the boxes of toys and clothes and things that Crystal loved so much are gone, and with them - and her - all the colour and liveliness of the place has disappeared too. It seems, quite suddenly, like a memory from another lifetime, and the ground that Gigi stands upon is now unfamiliar.

She feels Nicky squeeze her hand as she closes her eyes, remembering the golden days when she’d run up into Crystal’s arms and meet the sunshine in her pearly smile. She holds the memories close in her chest, resurrecting them over the cold, lifeless sight that now lies before her.

A warm breeze whisks around them, stirring up the long grass at Gigi’s feet. For a moment, it feels as though Crystal has her arms around Gigi’s shoulders again, grinning against her cheek.

Gigi swallows down the lump in her throat.

“Goodbye, Crystal,” she whispers to the sky, and when she turns around, she doesn’t look back.

Nicky drives her home, leaving her at the doorway with a gentle kiss and a glaze in her eyes that might be pity. Gigi kisses her back and watches the car disappear before she knocks on the door, three times, breaking into a genuine smile when she sees her parents’ joyous faces. It hits her when she falls into her mother’s embrace how much she’s missed the comforts of her childhood home and her family; no amount of FaceTime calls could make up for this cosy sense of security, this unconditional love.

It feels so good to be home.

When she sits with them at the table, armed with a plate full of fresh biscuits and a hundred stories, she forgets to be sad. Instead, she loses herself in the laughter and the easy conversation.

Later, she opens the door to her bedroom, dizzy with the events of the day. She’s more than ready to finally relax, after the long drive home and the churning horror of seeing the ruined warehouse. A part of her still refuses to believe that it’s gone: to Gigi, it will always be Crystal’s warehouse.

She blinks herself out of her trance and finds herself standing by her old wardrobe. Throwing open its doors, she runs her hand through the rows of old clothes and outfits that didn’t make it to her college dorm.

Her fingers brush soft, worn denim and she stops.

It’s the outfit from the day she met Crystal.

Gigi pulls it out, suddenly choked up. In her mind’s eye, she sees Crystal, flower crown sitting crookedly around her horns as she smiles. She can still hear her bluebell laughter and the loud clicking of an obscene number of beaded necklaces.

She traces her fingers over the seams, smiling at the memories, still crisp and clear despite the years that have passed. Crystal might be gone, but seeing these reminders fills Gigi with so much joy that the ache of missing her doesn’t hurt quite so much.

After another moment of silent reminiscing, Gigi hangs the denim outfit back up in her wardrobe and continues to rifle through the rows of colourful garments. In the shock of seeing the warehouse torn apart, she’d forgotten the collection of things Crystal had given her to take home over the years. The denim number was only the first.

Gigi can’t help but giggle when she finds three plastic takeaway boxes stuffed with accessories. If anything reminds her of Crystal, it’s this: she loved her jewellery more than anything else.

“There can always be more,” she once said sagely, handing Gigi a stack of necklaces. “More is more, and more is… better.”

Sliding the boxes out of her wardrobe, Gigi goes to sit on her bed and–

“Shit!”

She scrambles up as though she’s been burned; there’s something beneath the covers, something that seems to crackle beneath her weight. Whatever it is, she’s sure it’s not supposed to be there. Leaving the boxes of jewellery on her bedside table, she gingerly draws back the sheets.

She nearly cries when she sees it, messily folded, still wrinkled through the sleeves. Her breath catches in her throat when she picks it up, holding it as though it’s made of glass. The bird on the front looks like it might be smiling.

It’s Crystal’s favourite beaded jacket.

She’d pulled it out of a box when Gigi first met her, and she wore it for the rest of the day. Gigi smiles when she remembers how adorably ridiculous Crystal looked, with the colourful patterned jacket and a green-and-gold clown hat, and almost laughs when she thinks back on her own fear. It’s hard to imagine being scared of Crystal now.

Something falls out from between the folds of the jacket when Gigi opens it up, catching her eye as it drifts down to her bed. It’s a sheet of paper, scrawled over with tight, blocky letters.

Hi Gigi!

I kind of timed this really badly because you don’t seem to be back from your big fancy college yet, and if I could figure out where that is, that would be awesome, but the fact is that I have absolutely no idea. Am I rambling? I think I’m rambling.

Stars, Gigi, I miss you so much you have no idea. I’ve been wearing the jacket you made for me every single day and it’s so comfy and beautiful and honestly, I might not be a high-ranking spirit, but I’m definitely one of the coolest. If not the coolest. So thank you for that!

Oh, and Rock wants to say hi, by the way. She’s super jealous of my jacket (as expected) and she wants one too, but I told her she could only have one if she became as close with you as I did. She just told me I sucked. Whatever! I’m still the one with the epic jacket.

Speaking of which, I wanted to leave you something to remember me by too, so here’s my old favourite jacket. It’s really special to me because I was wearing it the first time you came to the warehouse, and I want you to have it now. Can you believe how much things have changed since then? I remember how scared you were and how lonely I was, and somehow we ended up being best friends. I’m really happy we did. Those were some of the best years of my existence, and I’ll treasure them forever.

I’d better wrap this up quick, I can hear footsteps outside your door. I don’t think your family would be too pleased to see a spirit lurking in your bedroom, even if they know who I am! I hope you’ve had the BEST time at college and that I can get permission to come visit your realm again (hopefully when you’re actually back home, so you can tell me all about fashion school!)

Okay, I really should go.

I miss you!!! <3 <3 <3 <3

Love,

Crystal

The note is enough for the dam in Gigi’s eyes to finally break. Trembling with emotion, she slides onto the floor, hugging the jacket and the note so close against her chest that she hears the paper crinkle.

Everything about it feels so wonderfully Crystal, from her fast, messy scrawl to the doodles lining the margins of the page. Gigi reads the note again through blurred eyes, treasuring every word, unable to wipe away her smile even when her cheeks begin to ache. She doesn’t know whether or not Crystal saw the ruins of the warehouse, but suddenly it doesn’t seem to matter. All that’s important is that she managed to come back, and that she still misses Gigi as fiercely as Gigi misses her.

And now, Gigi has another sliver of her, another glorious memory brought to life in fabric and colourful buttons. The statement piece of a collection.

It still smells of embers and caramel candles.

She returns the very next weekend.

The door creaks loudly on rusted hinges when she pushes it open and timidly looks inside, only to be met with darkness.

“Hello?”

Her voice echoes once before there’s an enormous crash, followed by the clicking of hooves on hard concrete. A moment later, Crystal appears, half of her face illuminated by the stripe of sunlight through the door.

“You came back!” she squeals, bouncing giddily on the spot, her fur shimmering with crimson stardust.

“I told you I would,” Gigi says, a smile forming on her face of its own accord. “I have something to show you that I think you might like.”

“Ooh!” Crystal claps her hands in excitement, and fiery sparks spray onto the ground. “Hold on, let me get the lights. I keep them off, usually, because I read somewhere that they’re not friendly to your planet.”

Gigi hums in agreement and watches as her grey silhouette darts across to the lightboard. A moment later, the room is washed in pearly white, reigniting the sparkles in Crystal’s hair. She’s beaming, her face alight with elation, and Gigi can’t help but grin too.

“You’re still wearing the jacket,” she comments, stepping into the warehouse and letting the door swing shut behind her. This time, the loud CLANG doesn’t make her jump.

“Oh, yeah.” Sheepishly, Crystal toys with the edges of the colourful garment, tracing the white patterns on the sleeves. “It makes me think of how much fun I had when you were here, and that makes me happy.”

She looks unusually shy, her eyes trained on the floor as her tail twitches behind her. Gigi closes the distance between them and gently adjusts Crystal’s collar, the plastic beads cool beneath her fingertips.

“It suits you,” Gigi tells her warmly. Crystal finally looks up, her candy-apple eyes swimming with what might be incredulity or a wonderstruck elation.

Perhaps it’s both, Gigi thinks, digging around in her pocket for her phone. Crystal is watching her as though she isn’t quite sure whether or not Gigi is real, and that familiar pity wedges itself between her ribs.

“The thing I want to show you today is called Snapchat,” Gigi explains, opening the app. “It has tons of filters that we can mess around with.”

“Filters?” Crystal asks, perplexed, as she peers over Gigi’s shoulder. “Filters for what?”

“For your face.” Gigi suppresses a smile when Crystal scrunches up her nose in confusion. “Here, I’ll show you.”

She picks the infamous dog filter and tilts her phone until they’re both on the screen. A moment later, canine ears and noses appear on their faces, and Crystal starts back in surprise.

“That’s us!” She gasps, gaze darting between Gigi, her phone, and back again in disbelief. “But - but how does that work?” Frantically, she pats her face, feeling her nose and ears and horns, watching with wide eyes as her hands phase through the dog ears on screen.

Gigi bursts into laughter. “I told you, it’s a filter,” she giggles. “The phone scans your face and puts the filter over it, so it looks like you’re a dog, even though you’re not.”

“Oh.” Crystal lets her hands fall, and Gigi can almost see the thoughts spinning behind her ruby eyes. “So humans invented a way to… to pretend that they can shapeshift?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

It seems to click, then, and Crystal’s face lights up with amazement.

“That’s so cool!” she exclaims, stealing Gigi’s phone and peering eagerly at her dog-eared self. “Hey, why did my ears change? I liked the spotty ones!”

“I’ll have the spotty ones now,” Gigi says, shifting until she’s back in the frame and the black-and-white ears appear on her face. “Wait, watch this.” She opens her mouth, and Crystal’s eyes bulge when a long tongue unfurls on the screen. A moment later, Crystal follows suit, howling with excitement when she gets her own dog tongue.

“Are there any more of these ‘filters?’” she asks eagerly, her gaze still on the phone as she pulls faces at herself.

“Yeah! There’s plenty. If you give me my–”

“Wait! I just had the best idea,” Crystal interrupts, tossing the phone back to Gigi before running off. Gigi scrambles to catch it, blinking confusedly as Crystal disappears between the shelves.

“Crystal?” she calls out in concern, but all she hears in response is the scraping sound of something being dragged along the floor, before Crystal comes back around the corner with a large bean bag in tow.

“I found this again the other day,” she explains as she proudly deposits it in front of Gigi. “I thought that… if you came back, maybe we could use it. And here you are!” She throws her arms out for emphasis before flopping down into the bean bag, sending a spray of dust up after her. “It’s been here a while,” she adds, apologetically, when Gigi sneezes.

“That’s fine.” Gigi waves dust particles away from her face before taking a delicate seat on the bean bag. Crystal promptly grabs her shoulders, pulling her backwards until her entire weight is settled in the soft plush, curled up close to Crystal’s side.

“There. Perfect.” Crystal turns her head to grin at Gigi, breath warm on Gigi’s nose. “Now you can show me more of your filters!”

Gigi scrolls through the options as Crystal leans against her shoulder, the beads on her jacket pressing into Gigi’s arm. Finally, Gigi raises her phone above their faces, capturing them both in the frame, and–

Crystal shrieks with laughter, her hands flying to her face. She taps her nose, pulls at the corners of her mouth, snickering when the image on the phone mirrors her actions… except the miniature Crystal reflected back at her has Gigi’s crystalline eyes and button nose, whilst Gigi’s cheeks are glittering with gold, dark lips stretched around a grin.

“Wow, Gigi, you look especially lovely today,” Crystal giggles, pointing at Gigi’s face on the screen. “Red really suits you.”

“Why thank you,” Gigi replies graciously. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

“I know, right? I should wear blue eyes more often.” She sits up in the beanbag as her features begin to change, and a moment later, Gigi finds herself staring… at herself.

“This is so fucking weird,” she says slowly, unable to stop a smile from pulling at the corners of her lips.

“Thank you. I live to please.” Crystal flicks her hair, still red and sparkling, over her ruff.

Gigi chuckles, lost for words. Crystal’s power is astonishing - when Gigi meets her eyes, it’s like looking in a mirror. It sends a strange shiver up her spine, but when Crystal grins shyly, glossy lips gleaming under the warehouse lights, Gigi can’t help but smile back.

Oh, what she wouldn’t give to see Crystal’s smile again. That endearingly playful smile was the only thing that never changed, even as her body shifted into all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Gigi hugs the jacket to her chest, tears streaming freely down her face in the privacy of her bedroom.

She recalls the paradise sunset of that second weekend, when she turned around on her way down the hill to see Crystal’s shimmering form silhouetted in the doorway, the amalgamation of colours on her jacket visible even from a distance. When Gigi thinks of the warehouse, she doesn’t see the wreckage and the big machines; instead, she remembers the glorious sunlight on the edge of Crystal’s face that afternoon, remembers how Crystal breathed life and excitement into everything she touched. She remembers how every day from then, the promise of her return hung silently in the air, sparkling gold and bright.

#rpdr fanfiction #gigi goode #crystal methyd #nicky doll #jackie cox #crygi #gigi x nicky #fluff #supernatural au #fantasy #slight angst #spirit #concrit welcome #cheetah #s12

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kindness-ricochets · 4 years

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The Old Guard Zombie AU

My first fic for The Old Guard and it’s this... I’m a mixed of embarrassed to have gone there and also kind of tempted to write more.

There was a lot Nile had gotten used to since the first time she died. There was a lot she was still working on. Their current accommodations fell into the latter category: who slept easily in an old asylum? This was a place where people were incarcerated and tortured for the most trivial differences. Even the name seemed designed to send chills up her spine: lunatic asylum. She wouldn’t have slept easy even if this hadn’t been one of the most haunted places in the United States.

Andy’s response had been dry and matter-of-fact as always: “It’s not really haunted.”

Nile didn’t argue with her, but she was visibly uncomfortable later, even after Andy had gone. Said she had something to take care of—which was her default move these days.

Maybe the asylum wasn’t haunted. It was still eerie. It was centuries old, and the immortals clustered around an incongruous and wobbly table in what had briefly been a cafe, when this place served as a tourist attraction. The then-proprietors did nothing to fight time’s little impacts. The peeling whitewash and windows half-blocked by vines contributed to the aesthetic.

“There are no ghosts. Really,” Nicky said.

“There’s a cemetery,” Nile pointed out.

The mission was complete, so they had spent the better part of three hours sharing food, drinks, and war stories. Nicky only spoke up to reassure her after the third time Nile started at nothing. He and Joe had shared a look first. She didn’t even try to interpret their looks; nearly a millennium of moments they had shared, it didn’t matter how many official languages they spoke, they had their own language of Joe&Nicky that no one else could fathom.

Sometimes it was even more beautiful than Copley’s research.

“This place operated for 143 years, more than 300 people died here, and thousands more were lobotomized and electrocuted.”

“How do you know that?” Joe asked.

Nile opened her mouth. Closed it.

She knew all that because when her brother was twelve, he went through a major grotesque phase. He liked all the gory bits of history—of anything, really.

“I just know.”

They shared another look.

“What?” Nile asked.

“You sounded like her.”

It wasn’t an inherently bad thing. There was a lot of good in Andy, and a lot of strength. But there were also traits Nile didn’t want to pick up.

She settled for taking a long drink and soon enough they were laughing again. Joe and Nicky were recounting something that happened in Lisbon in 1384—something that, as far as Nile could tell, included a post-job celebration with copious amounts of alcohol, nudity, and the Atlantic Ocean.

It was late when Nile wandered away from the others. The downside to all of these old abandoned buildings—sure, they made great hideouts. They also relied on pit latrines. Or trees.

Nile was zipping up when she heard footsteps. In a heartbeat she had her weapon in her hands, pointed toward the sound. She couldn’t see much. The half-moon lit the world dimly, halfway visible in the light. Past the tree line, that visibility dropped like a hot stone.

“Who’s there?” Nile asked, scanning as best she could. She took a step toward the sound. A note of irrational superstition kicked inside her—toward the graveyard. “You might as well come out!”

She took another step. Another.

A figure lurched toward her.

“Stop right there.”

The figure did not. It took an unsteady step forward and lunged at Nile, not quite tackling her, but dropping its weight on her and knocking her down. Nile fought the figure off. It didn’t respond the way it should have. She heard bones crack and her assailant didn’t even flinch.

When Nile got the figure down, she saw why. It wasn’t so much a person as a…

“No way.”

It was a corpse, snapping its teeth at Nile with its nose rotted off! The… corpse… didn’t stop, and finally Nile had no choice but to put a bullet in its brain.

Joe and Nicky met her halfway down the hall. They had heard the gunshot.

“I’m fine,” Nile said, before they had to ask. What she needed to say next stuck in her throat, because how the hell could it be true? But she had to ask. “Are zombies real?”

“We’ve never—” Joe began.

Two figures stumbled through the door. Nile didn’t see them, but she saw her friends’ reactions. She spun, weapon raised and ready.

It started with two. Before long, Nile lost count of how many there were. She wasn’t comfortable with a bladed weapon the way Joe and Nicky were. With a second-long look of a conversation, the two reached an agreement. Going into a fight beside two millennium-old warriors bearing swords was strangely familiar by now.

Their enemies came in various stages of decomposition. They came in all ages. There were more women but some men as well, even children. They were all dirty and mostly barefoot. More than anything, they were so numerous.

Nile didn’t know how long this went on. She used up her ammunition and Nicky tossed her another weapon without a word. She was learning to use a sword, but it wasn’t comfortable or natural for her. Nile couldn’t—yet—move the way Andy, Joe, or Nicky could with a labrys, scimitar, or sword. Not for the first time, she resolved all over again to learn. Immediately.

When the three of them stood amid a pile of re-corpses, they looked around at each other. Each gave a nod: I’m fine.

“Do you know,” Joe said, “maybe there are zombies.”

They all reached the conclusion and said it at once: “Andy.”

***

It shouldn’t have been possible.

As they traveled—south-west, Joe and Nicky thought it was likeliest they would find Andy that way—they talked and they learned.

Yes, zombies only went down with head-shots.

(”They’re not zombies,” according to Nicky. “They’re clearly zombies,” according to Joe.)

Yes, a bite turned a human into one of them.

Yes, anyone who died became one of them.

They helped where they could. Once it was the high school where what remained of the town had holed up. Another time, there was no one to save.

“She’s going to be fine,” Joe said, answering the question no one asked and the thought they all had. “They wouldn’t worry about deploying the National Guard if they knew she was out there.”

Communication was spotty at best after just a few days. There had been rumors—but they were only rumors. Maybe the military would be deployed.

They found her the next day. Andy was unmistakable: who else would have been on the roof of a two-story hospital waging an all-out slaughter with a labrys? Nile still wanted to run, to help a peer. She knew what Andy could do, but everything in her still said that when your friend is in a fight, you should be next to her.

Wait for the signal. This wasn’t the time to wait for a signal!

Finally, Andy stopped and leaned over the side of the roof. She waved to them.

Nile had never hated someone she loved the same way she felt toward Andy.

“Sometimes, I just want to…”

Nicky just laughed, empathetic but what could he say?

“There’s no point,” Joe said. “Trust me.”

“He tried,” Nicky added.

Because, well, it might actually be impossible to know Andy without wanting to punch her sometimes. That didn’t stop any of them hugging her when she got down to the ground.

“We were worried about you!” Joe told her.

“I was worried about you!”

Nile didn’t know how much she had needed to feel that Andy was okay until she had her arms around the infinitely-older woman. When they pulled away, Andy held onto Nile’s shoulder just a moment longer.

“Are you okay?”

Nile nodded. “Fine.” She couldn’t quite process that Andy was asking if Nile was okay.

“You could die,” Nicky said.

“You can’t,” Andy replied.

Nile needed a moment to realize what Andy meant. From the quiet between them, Joe and Nicky hadn’t thought about it, either. They couldn’t die, but could they be infected?

What if they could?

What could be done against an immortal zombie?

#au_gust_2020 #zombie apocolypse au #my writing #The Old Guard #nile freeman #andromache the scythian #yusuf al kaysani #nicolo of genoa

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anonymous-eggy · 3 years

Text

Vendetta fanfic(?) Not Alone

Warnings: swearing, blood, angst, violence mentions

Word count: 2.6k

ayo, @jadeee i finished it :l *nervously twiddles thumbs*

(this is a fanfic based off of another fanfiction series by the lovely tagged person above! If you haven't already, go read it before reading this, or you'll probably be confused!)

I will see Nicky again...Even if it kills me…

Hands firmly gripping the edge of the docks, you pulled your head out of the water that had threatened to rob you of your life. You took in huge gulping breaths of the cold night air as you scrambled to pull yourself onto the docks, blinking the water out of your eyes. Your entire body shook with determination and pure adrenaline. Little by little, you managed to wiggle your way fully onto the wood, which felt warm compared to your chilled water-soaked body. You pulled the cloth out of your mouth, spitting and coughing to rid your mouth of the burning salt of the seawater.

For a moment all you did was lay there on your side, your chest heaving and racking with forceful coughs and limbs still bound under the cold moonlight. You felt like a dying fish and chuckled at the thought of what you might look like at that moment. You rolled onto your back and gazed up at the stars, your vision swimming from light-headedness. You laid there as you felt the adrenaline that had saved your life drip away. You and Nicky had spent countless nights cuddled in each other’s arms gazing up at their twinkling beauty. The two of you had shared tender kisses and soft conversation, and the stars had always been there, listening and watching your story with a wonderful glow. They had always felt so warm and close as if you could reach out and run your hand through their calming glittery depths.

Tonight, the stars felt far away and cold. As if they were watching. Lying in wait. Waiting to see what you did next. Waiting, still with anticipation of what action you would take, if you would. Perhaps even rooting for you. Rooting for you to free yourself and reunite with your one and only husband and live out the happy ending you deserve.

You reached upwards with your bound hands towards the sky as if trying to hold a star and feel its energy, energy you desperately needed in this moment. You choked back a sob as silent tears spilled from your eyes. You squeezed your eyes shut and gritted your teeth as you let out a pitiful whimper at your helpless situation.

When you opened your tear-blurred eyes your gaze drifted to the rope around your hands, and suddenly you felt a sharp spark of seething anger ignite a flame within your stomach. The spark caused you to jolt upright and tug at the water-logged rope around your sore wrists.

What did Floyd think he would accomplish from this? Did he want to break Nicky? You scoffed at the thought as you angrily bit at the knot on the rope and pulled at it. Hot tears continued to stream down your face. Floyd really doesn’t know Nicky, then. All he’s gonna do is piss Nicky off. The ropes unwound and fell to the docks. You took a moment to rub and stretch your freed wrists. With your newly freed hands, you pushed your tears away and rubbed your nose with a sniffle. I’ve never seen Nicky pissed pissed, except for when Ralph... but I imagine it looks nothing short of what he says he was like before he met me. You started on the knot that bound your ankles together. Floyd certainly doesn’t know me either. He should have known from that headbutt I gave him that I wasn’t going to die so easily. The rope around your ankles loosened as the knot came undone. As you slipped them off, another thought came to mind. Maybe I’ll keep these ropes to show Floyd and remind him of his failure to kill me.

“I lived, bitch,” You shakily hissed to no one but yourself and the universe as you gripped a pole and used it as support as you stood. You weakly smiled at the meme reference no one in the 1920s would understand. Your legs violently shook and threatened to buckle beneath you, but as you tested them some more the shaking lessened.

You tucked the ropes into your pockets and started your half-conscious hike back home. When your feet hit the sand, you stumbled forward, your gate slowed and awkward from your soaking socks and shoes. With an exhausted grumble, you pulled them off and held them as you continued.

Your bones and muscles ached, and your eyes blurred and threatened to stay closed, but you didn’t stop walking. The thought of Nicky holding you, kissing you, kept you going. He had to know that you were alive, and you had to be sure that he was safe. You wanted- no- needed to see his face again. You needed to see that beautiful smile he always gave you when you said something witty. That smile where a light blush dusts his cheeks and he looks at you like you’re the most precious thing in the world to him. And you can’t help but feel your heart twist in your chest as it fills with love and adoration for his cute face. And you can’t help but pepper it with kisses to show it.

“Please,” You whispered into the silent night air, holding back tears at the thought that there was a chance would never hear his lovely voice or hear his heart-warming laugh again. “A taxi...or...hitchhiking? That’s safe in the 1920s, right?” Your voice was hoarse and sounded more like a whine than a mumble.

You felt like whining. You felt like crying and giving up and collapsing on the side of the street. You felt like laying down and curling up on the cold sidewalk. Like you were helpless and you might as well just give up now. But you couldn’t. No rest until I get home to Nicky and strip out of these freezing wet clothes. I’ll take a nice warm bath and let Nicky help wash this damn sand and salt off of me. Never touching another goddamn beach again for a while.

For a while, everything was quiet, only the rhythmic pit-pat of your cold bare feet on the concrete and the chattering of your teeth as you shivered to keep you company. Eventually, your tired brain used the beat as a tempo for a song.

“Mr.Sandman, bring me a car. Make it the fastest that I’ve ever... seen,” You muttered in an attempt to get your mind off of the current situation. You drifted in and out of silence with yourself, every now and then quoting a random line from a song.

After what felt like hours of mindless walking, you had to stop and lean up against a wall. It took all of your strength to not slide down and pass out as you took deep fatigued breaths. You took a hazy look around, your mind fogged, but no less determined to survive.

Judging by the nearest street sign, you were still about a few hours walk away from the place you could safely crash. You let out a frustrated whimper and pushed yourself away from the wall, new hot tears of frustration spilling from your heavy eyes.

I remember seeing a hospital a ways back...they could help...no...I technically don’t exist. That could cause problems. You thought as you shook your head in an effort to shake off the weight that was tugging at your mind. You slapped your hands on either side of your face, the stinging feeling jolting away some of the fogginess in your head. You felt so alone. So small. You looked up at the stars again.

“No...no I’m not alone. They’re rooting for me. This is a movie, (y/n). Everyone watching has got to be rooting for you. I’m not alone, I’ve gotta keep pushing. Gotta do it for the vine,” You murmured with determination before wiping your face and setting off again. Sarcastically, you muttered, “Please, I’m so funny.”

As you continued your thoughtless stumble across the city of angels, suddenly bright lights blinding your vision. In excitement, you waved both hands and let out a loud, broken “Hey!” This had been one of the only cars you had seen all night and you were getting desperate. “Wait! Help! Please slow down!”

The car didn’t slow, and zoomed past you, going well over the speed limit. You felt the wind the car had kicked up tussle your crusty salt-dried hair, carrying your hope away along with it as it sped out of view.

You felt your arms fall limp at your sides as you looked around at your surroundings. With an aggravated growl you threw your shoes at the wall, picked one back up, and then threw it further down the sidewalk. “Fuck!” You shouted as you watched it roll to a stop, upright. “This is stupid! I hate this!” You shouted as you scooped one shoe up and stomped towards the other and nabbed it off the ground without stopping.

“I’m going to get out of here, I’m going to get home, I’m going to kiss Nicky’s stupid face, I’m going to take a bath, take a nap, and then I’m going to beat the shit out of Floyd! This is stupid! I’m cold, I’m wet, I’m crusty as hell! I’m tired!” As you threw a tantrum you walked faster and faster, ignoring the burning in your legs as your muscles complained at the pace. “Fuck the ocean, fuck that car, fuck the driver, fuck these shoes, fuck Floyd, fuck this entire situation, I’m already done with this!”

You knew that the tantrum you were throwing was nothing short of childish, but you didn’t care. you would be a fool to let this energy go for the sake of being mature. Angry, burning tears rolled down your face. You held the punishing pace, letting out a string of curse words, and even repeating some Italian ones you had heard Nicky say before. Only when you had exhausted every curse word you knew did you pause to take a breath.

When you reached a cross street, you aggressively checked the road names and turned left, letting out another string of curses. For a while you pushed forward in seething silence, only breaking it to shout a curse word when you stumbled or almost fell on your face because your legs could barely keep up with your spirit. You roughly wiped away your salty tears and spit on the ground while muttering “Stupid salt.”

As the walk continued on, you slowed down and your anger slowly dissipated. The burning in both your legs and your lungs became too much to bear, forcing you to slow down to a halting walk. You continued limping forward, your sore determined eyes never dropping from where they were fixed. Your’s and Nicky’s house was finally in sight. Soon you’d see him. He was going to be sitting there on the couch, waiting to envelop you in his strong arms and welcome you home. You thought of all the witty things you could say when you walked through that door. Things that you knew would earn a chuckle or a kiss on the forehead from your lovely husband. Your eyes threatened to leak again as a wobbly smile spread across your face at the thought of him holding you, making you feel safe and loved. You walked a little faster, being mindful of what your legs could handle this time.

As you drew nearer and nearer, you betrayed a glance up at the sky. It was still dark, though it seemed the dark black and blue of the night sky was turning shades of purples and pinks on the horizon. The morning was approaching, and the stars shined brightly in celebration of your close victory. You dropped your gaze back onto your home and ambled onward like a zombie. Keep going (y/n), you’re so close. Keep going. You told yourself over and over as you got closer and closer.

By the time you had reached the door, the horizon had barely added shades of orange to its palette. I swear, if this door is locked, I’m gonna- you thought as you swung the door open. Oh, how convenient. Dangerous. But convenient.

You let out a relieved sigh as you stepped into the house. Calming fatigue washed over you, different from the desperate, life-threatening one from hours earlier when you were huffing like a dying fish on the docks. That calm didn’t last long as you kicked a crystal ashtray. You felt pain shoot through your foot, but all you could muster was a soft monotone “ah.”

You lifted your tired gaze and let out a gasp and backed into the wall beside the door. You pressed your back against the wall to keep yourself steady as your stomach dropped through the floor. Shattered glass littered the usually spotless floor, along with blood. Blood everywhere. Blood droplets splattered across the floor, mixed with glass, and the worst part; A long smear of blood that trailed down the wall and ended with a small puddle. When paired with the gun that laid on the floor a ways away from it, you could only piece together what might have happened.

You dropped your shoes and carefully navigated around the glass and looked down an empty hallway. “Nick?! Nicholas!” You called, panic in your breaking voice. Had it not been for your eyes already being puffy and tired from crying so much, you would have broken down into more tears. Instead, the lump in your throat became unbearable and you let out panicked sobs that shook your entire body. Oh god, please tell me Nicky’s okay. Please let Chris be okay too. You pleaded the universe.

There was nothing you could do about the situation out in the living room, and you hated it. You were too weak and exhausted to let yourself worry about it for too long. As you limped down the empty hallway, you gave in to the weight pulling at your mind.

Stella bolted towards you, skidding to a halt in front of you and gently sniffing and whining at you. She hopped to give your hand licks repeatedly as she bounded around you. You let out a soft chuckle and endearingly whispered, “Hi, Stella baby,” and walked into your and Nicky’s shared room and collapsed onto the bed. You didn't even bother to land on a pillow or get under the blankets, you simply laid diagonally across the giant bed. Stella nimbly hopped up beside you and continued sniffing you over, carefully avoiding getting in your face. “He’s okay, right? You’d protect him real well, right pubby?” You muttered mindlessly, causing Stella to tilt her head to one side and let out a confused noise before continuing her check-up. "yeah, good girl…"

As you drifted off, you felt Stella settle against your side, dutifully alert and watching over you in your weakened state. For a moment, everything was peacefully quiet. Your entire body relaxed and went limp. Your body felt heavy and for the first time, you didn’t resist its heaviness. Darkness swept over you before you were aware of it, wrapping you up like a soft blanket.

It felt like you had only just closed your eyes when you were awoken by Stella emitting a deep growl, but you knew you had been out for at least a few hours. The sun peaked through the curtains and warmed your stiff body, rewarding you for pushing through the night and not giving up. Despite the comforting warmth of the sun, you didn't feel well at all. A pounding headache bit at your brain, your lips chapped and cracked, and your throat filled with a dry, burning sensation. You attempted to clear your throat and let out a small cough as you looked around.

A deep threatening voice came from the living room, dripping with stone-cold murderous intent. “Show yourself!” It yelled, causing you to flinch fully awake with a gasp.

You quickly sat up as Stella leaped off of the bed and rushed towards the voice. Cold panic ran through you and you quickly followed, remembering that you had completely forgotten to close the door, which meant anyone could just waltz in if they wanted. Specifically, Floyd.

“Stella! no!” You whisper yelled as you hobbled after her, trying to stay quiet.

But what you saw was the opposite of Floyd or any of his guys. You froze at the sight before you.

“(y/n)? Is it really you?”

“Nicky?”

A/n- Wanna know what happened? go check out Jadeee's series and give her a follow! awooga, Vendetta really takes up most of my thoughts, I love it so much. which is something I've said… probably too much at this point. of course I couldn't resist the chance to practice writing some sweet angst. This is probably not at all what jadeee had in mind for mc, but i hope she likes it anyway and/or corrects me on what she had in mind. Here's to making fanfiction of fanfiction, have a lovely day/evening 🥂

#ahhhh to think i wrote this in a day #i do not expect this to hapoen often #when inspiration strikes #who am i but a humble servant to these typing hands #fictif mc #fictif tatw #fictif two against the world #fictif nix hydra #fictif nicky x mc #nicky fictif #fictif nicky valentino #fictif nicky #nicky valentino fictif #nix hydra games #fictif fanfic #madebyeggy

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