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#oh no i went overboard with the tags again... probably should have just put this all in the post itself haha.........
kalmeria · 2 years
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so like, it's been lovely to see pat and pran understand each other's feelings so well that they hardly need to say things out loud, but. i hope in the upcoming episodes we'll get to see them have a conflict that they just can't resolve without actually sitting down and talking.
while i'm at it i'd also like to request a scene where pran is the one comforting / going out of his way to help pat.
oh and i'd like to see a hug too
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wolferine · 3 years
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Heart Skips a Beat - Part 2
Natasha Romanoff x Reader
Summary: Natasha faces her worst nightmare when a rescue mission goes wrong…
Warnings: Violence, blood
Word Count: 1837
Part 1
Tags: @blkmxrvel @blackxwidowsxwife @marvelwomen-simp
When Natasha sees your eyes close, she finally comes back to her senses. She squirms away from Steve, crawling under an ambulance and making her way towards you. She ignores Steve telling her to stay put and doesn’t hear Clint telling police officers the direction the bullets came from. All she can think about is bringing you to safety.
The ambulance engine is still running, causing its underside to reach temperatures that make Natasha feel like she is hiding in a furnace. She holds her breath from the fumes as she crawls to the front of the vehicle, throwing her arm out and reaching for your hand.
“Y/N!” she screams. “I’m right here! Hold on!” Her fingertips brush yours and she grabs onto your wrist tightly. You’re bigger and heavier than her, but the adrenaline gives her strength. With a massive heave, she drags you under the ambulance. You smear through the puddle of your own blood and it soaks through the back of your shirt. 
There isn’t even enough room for her to lift her head, but she grabs onto both your arms, digging her elbows into the ground and crawling backwards. “I got you, Y/N. I got you,” she pants. But the lack of space and your deadweight make it impossible for her to pull you all the way through, so she backs out from under the ambulance. “Steve, help me!” she shouts.
“Move!” Steve says to her, although his shoulders are too broad to fit in the narrow gap. However, his arms are long enough to reach both of your hands, and all it takes is one big tug for you to come sliding out from the ambulance. 
Your eyes fly open suddenly, awakened by the agonizing pain coursing through your shoulder like a lightning bolt. You scream, and as much as it makes Natasha’s heart hurt, she’s glad to see that you’re still alive. 
“You guys need to get out of here right now!” Clint yells. “Take the ambulance!”
Steve pulls you into a standing position and wraps his arms around your waist, lifting you onto his shoulders effortlessly. You flop over him like a ragdoll, pain pulsing in your stomach when you bump against his chest.
BOOM.
A bullet shatters the sideview mirror of the ambulance.
“Go, go!” Natasha urges, putting herself between the danger and you and Steve. Steve runs with you to the back of the ambulance and flings the door open. There is no gurney, so Natasha helps him lay you on the floor and climbs in after you.
“Stay with Y/N. I’ll drive,” Steve offers, going around to the front. “Clint, we’re taking Y/N to the Quinjet! Hold the scene down!”
“Copy that!” Clint is just as concerned for your safety, but he knows you’re in good hands. Steve jumps into the driver’s seat and throws the ambulance in reverse.
BOOM.
The windshield explodes.
“Let’s go!” Natasha screams, ducking her head.
“Hold on!” Steve backs into a sharp U-turn. The tires screech as they find traction on the road to accelerate forward.
Natasha practically lays on top of you to prevent you from rolling around. From a shelf, she grabs a handful of gauze packets, tearing them open with her teeth. She rips your shirt open and presses the gauze first to your shoulder, then another to the side of your stomach. You’re completely soaked in blood and it continues to pump out of you with each heartbeat. Your face has faded to a sickly pale. 
“N-Nat,” you whisper, trying to move but pinned down by the pain. “N-Nat—”
“Shh, it’s okay,” she comforts. “Just keep your eyes open for me, okay?”
You see the blood smeared on her face, her neck, and her hands, too delirious to remember that it’s yours. “A-Are you h-hurt?” you stammer.
Natasha wants to laugh and cry at the same time. You’re so in love with her that even in the face of death you don’t even think about yourself. “No, I’m fine,” she says, grabbing onto your hand and interlocking your fingers. She looks over at Steve, veering through parked cars and roadblocks. “Can we hurry it up a little?” she asks in panic, even though she knows he’s driving as fast as he can.
“I’m trying!” Steve swerves around a fire hydrant and the sudden movement jolts everyone in the ambulance. Natasha presses down on you too hard and you grunt in pain.
“I’m sorry,” she apologizes. “We’re almost there. We’re almost there.”
Your vision fades into fuzzy shapes and blurred colors. Even breathing seems to be too much of a task for you. Steve parks behind the Quinjet and comes around to help carry you in.
“Do you need me to go with you?” Steve asks as he lays you across the back seats of the Quinjet.
“No.” Natasha shakes her head. “Stay and help Barton.”
Steve doesn’t even try to argue. “We’ll find who did this, Nat. I promise.” He goes to the controls at the front and presses a few buttons. “The coordinates for the Tower are set. You’ll autopilot all the way there. Just make sure to update the medical team on Y/N’s condition.”
“Thanks, Steve.”
“Everything will be okay.” He places his hand on Natasha’s shoulder for a moment before jogging back to the ambulance. As soon as he’s off the Quinjet, the door raises shut and the engines blast on. You’re several states away from New York, but at the speeds the plane can travel, you should be there in minutes. You just have to hang on until then.
Natasha leaves your side only to grab more gauze, pressing it against your bullet wounds to slow the bleeding. She rolls you to your side so there’s no pressure on your front or back, but grimaces when she sees that your back looks as bad as your front.
“N-Nat,” you try whispering again, but she is quick to shush you.
“Not now, okay? Just stay awake for me, Y/N.”
You’ve never felt so weak before. It feels like you were hit by a bus and ground up by its tires. Your mind processes in slow-motion—probably a side effect of the blood loss—and you already forgot how you got into the Quinjet. But the physical pain isn’t your greatest concern anymore. You just don’t want to lose your fight and leave her.
Natasha fits an oxygen mask around your face and the cool air is comforting, but you know your time is ticking away. You don’t notice the Quinjet hiss to a landing or acknowledge the team of doctors suddenly hovering over you.
“We’ll do the surgery in room six!”
“Prep a blood transfusion!”
“Two gunshot wounds from a large-caliber gun!”
The doctors move you to a gurney and wheel you off the Quinjet. Natasha holds onto your hand as they take you to the surgery room, but a doctor stops her from entering with you.
“No, Romanoff. You gotta stay out here. We’ll take it from here.”
Natasha doesn’t fight back, letting your fingers slip through hers as you disappear behind the doors.
***********************************************************************
“Any updates?” Clint and Steve finally arrive a few hours later, but you’re still in surgery.
“Not yet.” Natasha paces the kitchen anxiously. Although she found the time to wash your blood off her hands and face, she hasn’t changed out of her uniform yet.
“Nat, you should get cleaned up. Y/N isn’t going anywhere,” Clint says.
“I know, I just…I want to be there when—” She can’t finish her sentence, falling into Clint’s arms and crying into his shoulder.
“Y/N is a fighter, remember?” Clint says, rubbing her back.
“But the amount of blood—”
“Super soldiers don’t go down easy,” Steve reminds her. “Y/N will pull through. And besides, you’ll be there to help with the recovery.”
Natasha nods, pulling away from Clint and wiping her face. “I’m sorry I froze when I saw Y/N get shot—”
“What are you apologizing for?” Clint asks.
“I don’t know—I put you all in danger because I couldn’t get myself out of the way—” she hiccups. 
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Steve assures. “In fact, you were the one who dragged Y/N to safety, remember? I couldn’t fit under the ambulance and Clint was just sitting around like a duck—”
“Excuse you,” Clint interrupts, and Natasha smiles thinly.  
“So, did you find who did this?” she asks.
“Uh—” Clint and Steve look at each other awkwardly. “Natasha, we—”
“Did you find them?” Natasha repeats with more force. Clint motions for Steve to explain.
“That’s the thing,” Steve says. “We don’t know who did this. We scoped out the whole area with the police. We went out more than a mile, but we couldn’t find anything. No shell casings, nothing.”
“Oh, so you’re telling me a ghost shot and tried to kill Y/N?” Natasha scoffs.
“No, we…” Steve tries to find the right words. “We think it was a setup, maybe like a hired assassin or something.”
“Who would want to kill Y/N?” Natasha asks.
“That’s what we need to figure out.”
Natasha knows you have a lot of baggage from your past, particularly when you were forced into illegal covert operations by the government. But it’s been a long time since then. You became your own person and changed your life for the better. Unfortunately, not everyone sees the side of you that Natasha and the Avengers do.
When Clint and Steve leave to shower and change, Natasha finally does the same. She dresses in clean clothes and curls up on your shared bed, inhaling your scent through the pillow and blankets.
Sometime later, Clint visits and knocks on the door. “Hey, Nat? Y/N just got out of surgery—” He doesn’t even get a chance to finish his sentence and is almost run over by Natasha as she hurries over to the medical bay. She doesn’t know which specific room they’re keeping you in, but it’s like she’s drawn to your very presence and finds the correct one instantly.
You lie upright in the bed, propped forward with pillows so there’s less pressure on your back. Your right arm is in a sling and your entire torso is wrapped in bandages. An IV drip leads into the veins on your hand, while a blood pouch sends blood into the vein inside of your elbow. You have an oxygen tube up your nose and looped around your ears.
“I heard the doctor went a little overboard on the anesthesia,” Clint says from behind Natasha, startling her. “You know, with the super soldier serum and everything. Y/N will probably be out of it for a while.” Natasha walks to your side and kneels, gently taking your hand. Your skin is clammy and colder than normal, but your pulse beats strongly.
“I’ll be here as long as it takes.” Natasha raises your hand, mindful of the wires around your wrist, and kisses your fingers.
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Click here for Part 3!
AN: Thanks for the amazing support from everyone! Definitely didn’t think I’d get that kind of response, but I’m extremely grateful for you all. The next part will reveal the identity of the shooter, so I hope you’ll stick around for that. :) Peace out!
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whumpmatsus · 3 years
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So. Todomatsu always ACTS like he hates that Karamatsu is so eccentric, but we all know he actually doesn't mind that much. If anyone else made fun of him for that stuff, I can't help but think he wouldn't let it fly. So what about a situation where Karamatsu gets made fun of/bullied/put down by someone OUTSIDE the family for being the way he be and Todomatsu gets an opportunity to go into full protective mode over him??
OH SHIT the youngest of them goes feral
dare I say... RELEASE THE BABY!!!!!
God I love Zaimoku, it’s so good <3
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If Totty is being completely, utterly, unfailingly honest with himself, his brothers need his help if one of them is going to be going on a date.
Really, he’s the only one who has any clue about how to act on a date! He could hit his big brothers over the head with a Clue-by-four with that shit and they still wouldn’t really get it.
Even so… part of him thinks he shouldn’t really be following Karamatsu to a date. Karamatsu is the one Totty knows is never going to come running to him for advice or assistance, especially with girls; he’s got the undeserved ego of an avocado toast sandwich. Totty isn’t sure he’d be pleased to know his baby brother tagged along not because he has to sort out a schedule thing at work, but because he wants to keep an eye on Karamatsu.
What else is he supposed to do, though? Just let Karamatsu go alone and totally blow it? His usual behavior aside, Totty really wants his big brothers to be happy and have fulfilling relationships. He thinks if he can be there to keep an eye on things, well, maybe it won’t go so bad. Maybe Karamatsu will have a shot with this woman. Maybe he’ll get a girlfriend!
The very idea was enough to make him feel a little better about lying so that his brother will take him along. It eases his conscience, imagining that if he manages to help Karamatsu out to the point that the second eldest ends up in a loving, joyful relationship, (obviously as opposed to the past few horrible ones he’s had), then a little fib isn’t so bad, is it?
After all, if he were the one in need of something like this, he’d be grateful for his brothers’ help however they did it.
Of course, when he sees the look this girl gives Karamatsu, a look like the kind a baby gives after licking a lemon for the first time, Totty can’t help but wince. This isn’t off to a great start. He lingers by the counter, greeting Sacchi and Aida, trying not to look as if he’s watching his big brother’s date.
“Aren’t you off today, Totty?” Sacchi hums as she turns to start making a drink.
He nods. “Yeah, well, I can’t stay away, I guess, haha.”
Aida jerks her head toward the table where Karamatsu and his date are. “That’s one of your brothers, right? Still as painful as ever,” she teases. “Is he… oh, my God, he’s on a date??”
“Shhhh, shh!” Totty waves his hands a little, hoping to get his friends to quiet down a little. The last thing Karamatsu needs is to be drawing attention. “He thinks I tagged along to talk to you guys about my schedule. But, yes, he’s here on a date.”
Sacchi finishes serving her customer, one of the few in the shop at the moment, and then leans against the counter to look over. “Aw, good for him. He’s not either of our types, but he deserves a shot with someone who’s interested.”
He lets out a soft sigh. “Agreed there. I kind of just wanna keep an eye on him, you know? To make sure he doesn’t mess it up too much. He should have let me pick his outfit, ugh… that aside, he’s doing okay so far, though, I think.”
Aida frowns as she slides a cup of coffee toward her coworker. “Um, I hate to burst your bubble, but he’s got his work cut out for him. I’ve been to some mixers with that girl, and she always finds something wrong with every guy she hangs out with.”
“She’s right,” Sacchi adds. “Good thing you came along so you can carry him home, ‘cause that girl’s gonna tear him to pieces. I mean, she went out with Atsushi and the next day he was in here crying and telling me she made him feel two inches tall. Nobody’s good enough for her.”
Aida clicks her tongue. “Your big brother’s in big trouble, Totty.”
It’s Totty’s turn to frown as he looks toward Karamatsu. Unfortunately, Sutabaa is so small and he’s close enough that he doesn’t have to strain too much to hear what’s being said.
The woman is laughing. However… Karamatsu hasn’t even really opened his mouth yet. “Oh, my God! You’re my date, huh? Last time I let my sister set me up. That bitch, haha. Ah, well… wow, your jacket is hurting my eyes. Could you take it off?”
Karamatsu seems to be trying his best to smile. “O-oh, yes, of course.” He moves to tug it off, folding it over the back of his chair. “Please forgive me. Anyway, my name is Karamatsu. And you, my angel?”
“Ahaha, WHAT?” The woman raises an eyebrow at him. “C’mon, dude. Don’t call me that. I’m nobody’s angel.”
Totty feels himself starting to steam. You’ve got that right.
“A-ah… right, my apologies.” Karamatsu just keeps smiling. The expression on his face reads almost like he’s in pain. “Well, should we order?”
She gives a cursory glance toward the menu, then suddenly her eyes are drawn to Karamatsu again. “Oh, my God, hold on… is… is that your face on your shirt?! Holy shit! Are you really that full of yourself?”
Totty’s heart sinks as his brother’s cheeks flush bright red. This is not going well. And while, yes, Karamatsu probably should have picked a different shirt, what’s really wrong with what he’s wearing? Even though he’s a little over-the-top and dramatic, this woman can’t know whether or not he’s ‘full of himself’ when she’s barely letting him get a word in.
Totty is the most socially intelligent of his brothers, and even he doesn’t think Karamatsu’s actually doing anything wrong. He hasn’t drawn anyone else’s attention like he usually does, he hasn’t gone overboard with any poses, and he’s… kind of just being himself, slightly toned down. It’s not like he’s bragging or being a jerk. Hell, it’s just a strange fashion choice; how the hell does she think it has any bearing on what he’s like as a person?
“Damn,” Sacchi cringes. “She’s not wasting any time, is she?”
Aida gives a pout toward her friends. “He didn’t even do anything wrong yet. He’s been a perfect gentleman.”
“Yeah, he’s just a little odd and, like, a tiny bit painful. But he’s acting really nice and polite.” Sacchi sighs as she props her head up on her hand. “There’s no pleasing some people. Aida, why don’t you go take their order? Maybe you can accidentally spill it on that pretentious top of hers when you bring it to them.”
“Pfff, if only. I’m on it, though.”
Totty continues to fume as he watches his poor brother try to impress this girl, pretty much in vain. He gets the feeling that nothing Karamatsu says or does is going to be good enough. For some reason, that really pisses him off. Despite the fact that Karamatsu can be a bit much, that he’s overcompensating for being insecure on the inside, that everyone rolls their eyes at him… Karamatsu isn’t a bad guy. He tries hard to make other people happy and treats them with respect. Even his brothers who don’t always return the favor.
By the point Sacchi and Aida are finished making their order, the youngest is ready to explode at this woman. She never even told Karamatsu her name, but she’s spent the whole time talking him down. When she asked what he did ‘besides be super excruciating’, and he told her he didn’t really have a job, she laughed at him. He tried to save it by saying he occasionally played guitar at coffee shops, and she responded something along the lines of, “What kind of hipster loser does that these days??”
Listening to it just makes him so angry. She doesn’t think Karamatsu is attractive, she’s called him embarrassing more than once, and no matter what he does or says, she’s not happy with it. Why the fuck did she even bother going out with him, then?
Totty was worried that Karamatsu was going to screw this up; so far he’s actually managed to be a decent date. He wasn’t prepared for his brother’s date to be the shitty one.
Sacchi brings him a simple iced coffee while Aida returns with the serving tray, a fake smile on her face from laughing uncomfortably at one of the woman’s comments. “God, she’s exhausting.”
“I don’t even know her and I can’t stand her,” Totty mutterrs before taking a sip of his drink. “Why the hell is she treating him like that? He’s just… being himself!”
Being himself. Karamatsu’s really not doing anything wrong. He’s trying to talk himself up when this woman gives him a chance to, but who doesn’t talk themself up on a first date? He just wants to impress her.
It makes Totty feel a little guilty to realize that, honestly, all Karamatsu really wants is to impress everyone because he wants people to like him… including his brothers. If Karamatsu feels the need to seek love and acceptance from strangers like this girl, to the point that he’s willing to put up with the horrible way she’s treating him, what does that say about his brothers? It’s not the first time he’s sucked it up and dealt with something he shouldn’t have from someone just because he wants that person to love him.
His attention is drawn by the woman giggling a little too loudly. “Fuck, you wanna go out with me again? I mean, how do you think this is going? I’m two seconds away from sneaking out the bathroom window. You’re so obnoxious, you dress like an edgy middle schooler, and who wears sunglasses inside, especially when it’s raining outside? You’re, like, cringe incarnate.”
Completely contradicting every statement she made, she slid her hand across the table to take his, if only for a brief moment. The wicked look in her eyes, more sadistic than even Ichimatsu, made Totty’s stomach twist in anger. “I might keep you around, though. You seem like a guy who’d keep me laughing for a while. Maybe next time I’ll take you out with my friends so everyone can laugh at you.”
Oh, that’s it.
He doesn’t know if Karamatsu is oblivious to what she means because he’s blinded and deafened by the promise of another date, or if he knows exactly what she means but perhaps thinks it’s worth it. His eyes light up… and behind that hopeful spark is the pain she’s already put him through.
Baby of the bunch though he is, Totty isn’t going to sit around and twiddle his thumbs while some bitch takes advantage of his big brother.
“Oh, that is sooooo not happening!” he calls as he approaches the table. Although he feels a little bad about just stepping in like this, he’s not gonna let her get away with treating Karamatsu like that. Laughing at him herself was bad enough; parading him in front of her friends for all of them to laugh at him when there’s nothing wrong with Karamatsu isn’t gonna happen if Totty has something to say about it.
The woman gives him an unimpressed look. “Who the fuck are you?”
“T-Totty!!” Karamatsu,  on the other hand, looks immediately panicked. “I can handle this… please, go back and fix your schedule, and I’ll meet you at home.”
“Wait, you work here?” She tilts her head at him. “Oh, shit, hold up. You’re the asshole who messed up my drink last time I was here.” Her gaze flits between the two of them, and she laughs again.
“― Oh, my God! You had to bring your twin brother along to come on a date? You’re pathetic!” Her hand pulls away from Karamatsu’s. “Oh, you’re definitely coming out with me and my friends.”
Totty hisses and pushes her hand away from Karamatsu’s. He steps in front of his big brother to physically block this woman from him. “Keep your hands off him! You’re not taking him anywhere. He’s never seeing you again, because you treated him like… like, fuck, I wouldn’t treat a rock the way you treated him!”
He hears Karamatsu make a noise of almost-protest behind him; he can just imagine the other man sinking down in his seat and trying to hide his face. “Totty, please…”
“No! No, she doesn’t get to just treat you like dirt, Karamatsu-nii-san! You think my brother’s just some kind of dumbass you can show off to your friends and laugh at and treat him like crap?!” he snarls. “Well, guess what? He may be sort of a dumbass sometimes, and maybe he’s a little painful, and maybe he’s not the perfect guy you’re looking for! But he’s a whole hell of a better person than you are!”
Although Totty could kick himself for not saying anything to Karamatsu before, it might be best it’s coming out now. He doesn’t have a lot of time to really think about it or pretend or rehearse. What he’s saying isn’t practiced, it’s real. “Karamatsu is the kindest person I know, and you wish you had at least half the passion he does for the things he likes! Who cares that he wears a shirt with his own face on it? He was bending over backwards to make you happy, even though everything out of your mouth was word barf about how embarrassing he is! And, by the way, you’re wrong!”
It only takes half a step for him to reach over to grab his coffee from the counter, assisted by Aida who’s smirking as she holds it out for him. “If my choice was between you or him, I’d be way less embarrassed to be seen in public with him than with you! He’s not perfect, but he cares about people, and he’s always there when you need him, and ― and all this stuff you think is embarrassing, who the hell gives a shit?! It’s what he wants to do and it’s not hurting anyone! I’d break my phone before I let my big brother go out with someone like you again! Maybe he keeps striking out with dates, but he’s never going to be that desperate!”
He feels a little bad about what he’s about to do. That feeling is mitigated by the fact that at least his coffee isn’t hot.
“And, you know, I actually am sorry about messing up your drink last time. So here, you can have mine!” Almost before he’s finished speaking, he’s dumped his entire cup over her head.
He doesn’t stick around to deal with the aftermath aside from seeing the look of abject horror on the woman’s face as the coffee makes her bad mascara drip. And even though there’s a little bit of guilt over the fact that he’s leaving his coworkers to deal with her, the fact that Sacchi and Aida are cackling while they gather up napkins eases his mind.
He grabs Karamatsu by the hand and leads him out, tossing his coffee cup on the way. There’s not much choice on Karamatsu’s part, except he doesn’t particularly look as if he minds that.
“You didn’t… have to do that, Totty,” Karamatsu mumbles. When Totty glances over, the second eldest looks more tired than anything. He knows that look; the exhaustion of something not working out, of thinking you had a chance only for it to all go up in smoke.
Totty huffs, marching the two of them in the direction that leads back home. “Of course I did! You weren’t going to do it, so someone had to. God… you’ve gotta stop letting people walk all over you, Karamatsu-nii-chan.”
The shift to the more affectionate honorific suggests to Karamatsu that this is really, truly something Totty cares about. He squeezes his baby brother’s hand with a thoughtful hum. “… If that’s the case, perhaps a romance for me just isn’t in the cards. I… really thought it was going to go somewhere this time.”
At last Totty slows slightly, from an aggressive pace to something a little calmer. He’s still pissed off that someone treated Karamatsu like that, and although he’s a bit upset that Karamatsu sit there and let it happen, he knows what it’s like to want people to like you so much that you’ll put up with nearly anything.
However, that’s also the reason he doesn’t want Karamatsu just putting up with it. He deserves so much better than to have people treat him like dirt. It’s not right to do that to anybody, but… especially not to Totty’s big brother.
“I’m sorry I kind of… tapped into Murder Totty in there,” he sighs. “Did I go overboard?”
Karamatsu shrugs. “Maybe a little. But I wasn’t truly enjoying myself and I didn’t want to go on another date with her. I just… didn’t know how to tell her no. I suppose I really am lucky you were there, too.”
Silence falls between them while they walk, then after a moment, Karamatsu clears his throat. “Totty… did you… mean all those things?”
“Huh? All what things?”
“Those things, you know… you said I was… kind and passionate and reliable.” He lets out a soft laugh. “You… you said you’d rather break your phone than let me go out with her again.”
… Oh. He. Did say that, didn’t he?
He pouts a bit, then squeezes Karamatsu’s hand. “Yeah, I meant it. Of course I meant it.”
Beat.
“But as much as I love you, I’m just glad I don’t have to do that.”
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attllhak · 3 years
Text
So I just got settled after getting home from camping, and I had forgotten that I hadn’t posted this before I left. I remembered in the middle of the weekend and felt bad, but I ended up not having time the morning I left. So have it now, since I did promise it!
Also, @tortilla-of-courage I promised to tag you in all the merAU stuff I posted, and so I’m tagging you. We now figure out what happened to Warriors.
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“Is he alive?”
“Yeah, you can see him breathing,”
“What is he even doing here?”
“I don’t know, I just found him,”
“We should tell Grandma,”
“Obviously, but we can’t leave him either,”
“Oh, I can go tell her, and you can watch him!”
“Oh that’s a good idea!”
“Okay, I’m gonna, hey! He’s waking up!”
“Huh?”
Warriors squeezed his eyes and blinked, squinting at the sun above him.
A pair of round faces appeared over him. Kids, probably.
He groaned, reaching a hand up to his head. He tried to remember what had happened.
He’d been with his pod, and a ship came by. Poachers. They singled him out, and their captain had him fished out of the water. The rest of his pod tried to help, but the poachers had guns and harpoons. He had seen at least one of his pod mates impaled by one of the harpoons through their tail.
His pod had no choice but to flee.
He remembered sitting in a net for hours under the sun until he’d dried and his scales began to flake.
Eventually he was swung onto the deck and dropped there. He had managed to pull himself onto shaking arms when his face had been wretched up, sharp nails digging into his cheeks.
He immediately felt sick when the woman, the captain of the ship, looked at him. It felt like he was being examined, like some kind of object on display. He felt oddly exposed under her gaze.
It was only years of training as a guard for his pod that allowed him to keep from panicking.
“Oh aren’t you pretty,” the human purred, and Warriors struggled to swallow. “You’ll look so pretty in my home,”
I’m going to die, he had thought.
Her plan for him was worse.
This woman, Cia, wanted a pet. Some pretty mer she could dress up in fancy things and put on display for all her guests to awe at.
He learned this after he was shackled to the deck with a thick chain attached to a cuff on his arm. Occasionally someone would be by to dump a bucket of water on him, but only after another woman, who looked very similar to the captain, warned that he’d be dead by the time they got to shore if they didn’t.
By the time the sun finally set, he’d been laid out flat on the polished wood, his skin and scales burned from the sunlight and lack of water, feeling dizzy and unfocused.
Sun sickness, he’d heard some of the merrow in their pod talk about it. He never thought he’d have it.
Once the sun had well set, the woman who had told them he needed water returned with keys.
Had he been stronger, he would have tried to fight her off. As it stood, all he could manage was to bare sharp teeth at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize she’d be so cruel. I’m going to report her when we dock, but the authorities don’t release poached mer. So I’m getting you out tonight,”
He watched as she undid the shackle on his arm, and he dragged it slowly back to himself, trying to comprehend that.
He hissed and squirmed when she started dragging him, his burned skin and scales awake with pain as they ran over the unforgiving surface.
They got caught by one of the other poachers, and he and the woman argued and shouted. The poacher had some kind of fire, and didn’t hesitate to attack them.
He was thrown overboard, but the fire still hit his arm. He screamed, the first sound since he was brought aboard, and fell.
The cold water was a shock to his sun burned body, and he was out in an instant.
Well, the sun sickness explained his headache. And why his body was aching.
“Who,” he tried to croak, but his throat felt like it was lined with coral and filled with sand, and speaking hurt.
He went to move his hand to it, but cried out in further pain as the fire burns shifted on the sand. He squeezed his eyes shut to beat back tears, all but whimpering in pain.
“Go get Grandma! Now!” One of the kids, the boy, shouted, and he heard a splash as the girl left.
He was on a shore, not land, since he could now feel the water lapping at his tail. He moved his right hand over his body, reaching for where his left arm stung and stabbed with pain.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” Small hands grabbed his wrist and he opened his eyes again, blinking to see around tears at the boy leaning over him. “Don’t worry, help will be here soon,”
He decided to believe that, focusing on the boy’s face to try and distract himself from the pain.
The boy was young, maybe twelve or thirteen. Big, bright blue eyes, and sun bleached blonde hair. The boy was grinning, but visibly nervous.
‘Who are you?’ He flashed, not wanting to deal with his damaged throat.
“Me?” The boy blinked. “My name is Link! Do you have a name?”
Warriors smiled. ‘My name is also Link, but I’m not the only Link in my pod. They called me Warriors,’
“That’s such a cool name!” Link grinned.
Warriors smiled.
It took too long, as far as he was concerned, for help to arrive. Wind, Link’s new nickname since he wanted a cool name too, had done his best to keep Warriors distracted, when a very old mer climbed onto the beach next to them.
She hissed when she pressed a hand to his head, and Warriors found himself following her hand when it pulled away, chasing the cool wetness with a weak whine.
“Sun sickness,” she pronounced in an old, creaking voice. “And some very bad burning. He needs medical help,”
She slipped back into the water and the young girl replaced her.
Not long after he found himself gently, but no less painfully, picked up by a pair of merrow and transported back into the water.
He couldn’t help the whimper of relief as he felt the water around his body again, and did his best to bite back any cries of pain as they washed the sand from his body and burns. His spaulder was removed so they could treat his injuries, but he was promised its return.
He was far too gone to care about his property anymore, gripping the arm of one of the merrow supporting him with his good hand and pressing his head to their soft, cool skin.
They helped him down into the water, and set him up in an underwater cave where the sun couldn’t reach him. It was cool, and dark, and Warriors almost instantly curled up and passed out again.
He was in and out of consciousness for the next few days, hiding curled up in the coldest corner of his cave and letting healers come in and out to treat his burns. His skin peeled and scales flaked due to the sunburns, and they rubbed cooling salves into the burns. They treated the burn on his arm with even more care.
When he finally properly came to, he spent a long moment sitting in his cave and looking himself over.
His left arm had been pretty badly scarred, and the fin was frayed and damaged, but hadn’t been cut short. That surprised him a bit, he knew a few people whose fins were so badly damaged that it was better for their health to cut them shorter and he would have figured that had happened. Maybe this pod didn’t do fin cuttings for some reason?
The rest of his burns had healed well, and his throat didn’t feel like hurting him anymore.
He looked up when a mer snuck in, and he smiled when he saw Wind.
‘Hi, Wind,’ he waved, smiling.
This was when he noticed Wind’s fins were much smaller than his, and his scale pattern was different.
Wind was a coastal mer.
That explained the lack of fin cutting.
‘Are you feeling better?’ Wind asked, giving up all form of secrecy as he approached and plopped down right next to Warriors. He guessed Wind wasn’t supposed to be here.
Warriors shrugged. ‘More aware than I was before,’
‘That’s good!’ Wind grinned. ‘I’m sorry we couldn’t fix your fin,’
Warriors lifted his arm, frowning at the damaged fin. ‘You tried to fix it?’
‘Yeah?’ Wind tilted his head, equally confused. ‘Why? What did you expect us to do?’
‘Cut it back,’ he answered honestly. ‘It’s too damaged to save, so back in my pod we would have just cut back the fin and got rid of the damaged parts,’
Wind looked horrified. ‘Why would you do that?!’
Warriors blinked back, not sure what was so bad about what he said.
‘We have very big fins,’ he tried to explain. ‘Dragging around damaged fins can be really annoying, and sometimes detrimental to your health. So anything we can’t heal, we usually cut back,’
Warriors and Wind shared a long look.
They agreed not to talk about it anymore.
‘What happened to you?’ Wind asked instead. ‘Aryll and I found you on the beach and you were really out of it. Gran said you might not remember that,’
‘I do remember that,’ Warriors smiled. ‘Thank you for that, by the way. You didn’t have to help me, but I’m grateful that you did,’
Wind shook his head. ‘Of course I had to help you! You needed help!’
Warriors ruffled Wind’s hair, laughing at the squawk Wind made. ‘You’re a good person, Wind,’
Wind huffed, fixing his hair. ‘So, what did happen to you? We don’t get a lot of tropical mer around here,’
Warriors frowned. Just how far was he from his pod?
‘I, uh, I didn’t leave my pod willingly,’ he didn’t want to scare Wind at all, considering he didn’t know if poachers frequented this area or not.
‘You were kidnapped,’ Wind nodded.
Sure, they could say that.
‘Something like that, yes,’ Warriors nodded. ‘I was on a ship for a while, and the humans weren’t very good at keeping me hydrated. One of them took pity on me, and dumped me over the side once the sun set. I, don’t remember anything after that, until you and your sister found me on the beach,’
Wind reached out and, after a second of hesitation, wrapped his arms around Warriors in a hug. ‘I’m sorry. Usually the bad humans don’t come here,’
Warriors startled a bit, he didn’t usually get hugs from people, but he carefully set his arms down around Wind in turn, not even trying to fight the soft smile on his face.
He liked this kid, he thought.
Wind was chased out by healers not long after, apparently he’d been slipping in and making a nuisance of himself since Warriors arrived, and they looked him over and asked more questions.
After a while, the healers left and the very old mer from earlier returned. Her blue scales had been dulled by age, and her grey hair was pulled up in a bun. She squinted at him through the wrinkles in her face, and he instinctively straightened up. This woman was the matriarch of her pod.
‘My grandson told me you were aware,’ she flashed at him.
He nodded, trying his best to be polite.
‘He also told me you were kidnapped,’ she continued. ‘By humans,’
‘Poachers,’ he confirmed. ‘I got lucky,’
She nodded. ‘Do you know how far you traveled?’
‘I don’t,’ he shook his head, and looked down to his hands. ‘I don’t even know how long I’ve been away from my pod,’
‘A while at least,’ she said once he looked up again. ‘You’ve been out of it for a few days here, and we don’t know when you washed up on the beach. Not to mention that there aren’t any tropical mer pods nearby,’
Warriors nodded, looking down again.
He was probably very far from his pod, and it would take a long, long time to find them again. He wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of heading out into the open ocean with no direction either. Who knows how far he’d traveled. Who knows how far he’d travel in order to find his pod again. If he found his pod again. He might never get back to them.
He looked up when a gentle hand rested on his shoulder.
‘Don’t look so defeated,’ the old mer smiled at him. ‘We’ll help you get back to your pod. And until we find them, you can stay with us,’
Warriors looked at her, kind and helpful and comforting, and smiled back. He nodded.
He could do that.
(---)
Warriors got his spaulder back, and was quickly sussed out by this pod’s, very lacking, guard, and ended up employed. Mostly he was just retraining them, since they needed some help.
He liked having a spear in his hands again. It was a relief to be able to have a weapon.
Wind and Aryll had both attached themselves to him as well, and after a week they were introducing him as their very pretty big brother. Wind had even managed to convince Warriors to teach him how to fight.
Some days Warriors didn’t even mind that he might never get back to his original pod.
He did learn that Wind happened to be friends with a human pirate, however, and that stressed him out immensely.
Maybe he should talk to that therapist Gran had suggested he see. He hadn’t had issues with his podmates speaking to the marine researchers before he was poached.
But, pirates.
It never hurt to be cautious.
87 notes · View notes
elareine · 3 years
Note
If you could, can you please write JayTim or RoyTim (whichever one you want) trying to be romantic and woo Tim (maybe with some puns, I love puns), but Tim is a bit oblivious towards it, because the other is so cool, therefore they must be trying to make friends and be nice with him and nothing more. So when he does finally realize its an italicized "Oh" moment.
Hi lovely!! Thank you for waiting so patiently for this fill. I... ended up making it JayRoyTim, I hope that's okay? It just fit so well, but I can totally write something else with JayTim or RoyTim for you if you want :)
Also, it turned out to be about pick-up lines more than wooing, sorry. I might’ve gone overboard with googling the puns. It's long enough that I put it on ao3, too. What's your username on there? Then I'll gift it to you.
if you were a transformer (you’d be optimus fine)
“Well, here I am.”
Tim looks up, utterly confused. “I didn’t call for you, but… that’s… great?”
Roy waggles his eyebrows. It looks faintly disturbing. Redheads should maybe not do that. Or, actually, Tim revises mentally, thinking of literally every other redhead Dick ever dated—that’s just Roy. “What are your other two wishes?”
“Coffee and some silence to finish working this case?”
Roy looks weirdly deflated at that, but he does get him some coffee. Tim soon forgets about it.
(“How’d it go?”
“Does obliviousness run in the family?”
“Yes. Yes it does. Have you met Bruce?”
“…okay, fair. Your turn next.”)
“Jason? What’re you doing here?”
Sure, Jason and Roy have been spending a lot more time in Gotham lately. Something to do with a case, Tim assumes. Maybe even with the one that they worked on together in Star City five months ago?
Anyway. They’ve been around, is what Tim is saying. Not at the manor, but at Tim’s apartment and his workspace, cause apparently it’s not worth rebuilding their safe house after it went up in flames, and Bruce and Damian are too often at Dick’s place. He’s not exactly surprised to see either of them anymore. (Pleased, yes. But not surprised.) However, Tim has no fucking clue why Jason is currently grinning at him from the other side of the library desk.
At least Tim has the good sense to check his name tag before he gasps: “Jason?”
“Oh, hey, Tim.” Jason’s grinning. “Guess you figured out my new job, huh?”
“Yeah.” Tim shakes his head. “Color me surprised.” So this is what Jason’s spending his days doing. He’s gotta be shadowing someone, right? Tim’ll ask him tonight.
“I’ve always liked this place.” Jason’s gaze is far away for a moment. Tim badly wants to know what he’s remembering. Then the older man seems to come back to himself and gives Tim a weird—maybe angry?—look. “It’s a good thing I’m a librarian, too, cause I’m totally checking you out.”
“Alright, I can take a hint.” Tim grabs his book and demonstratively walks over to the self-service scanners. Really. How rude.
(“Are you telling me he managed to resist you in your cardigan?”
“Apparently.”
“Aww. C’mere, babe.”)
So Roy blows things up all the time. No, really, Tim now totally understands why Dick was so happy when he heard the duo is camping out at Tim’s place for a change. His older brother even gave Tim a thumbs-up, for God’s sake. He must’ve known.
Cause yeah, there’s at least one explosion every two days. Or Roy dropping something cause he’s too focused on what he’s thinking to remember what his hands are doing. Or something dropping on him. Jason seems used to it; he just catches whatever it is or laughs at Roy. Tim… is starting to learn to do the same, actually. Whatever Roy comes up with at that moment is usually worth it, and besides, he’s kinda adorable.
Aaaaaaanyway. (He’s using that word a lot in his own thoughts right now. Almost as if he’s avoiding thinking about something. Hmm.) Tim’s not surprised when Roy walks into a room, stumbles, and slaps a hand over his eyes with a dramatic exclamation.
Tim, in shorts and not much else cause he got drenched in pollen earlier, just raises an eyebrow. “Alright, Roy?”
“Nope.” Roy’s hand is still covering his face, but Tim can still see his grin underneath. “I’m gonna need your name and phone number for insurance purposes.”
“Roy. You have both of these things,” Tim explains slowly, wondering if Roy sustained a brain injury or accidentally dosed himself on something. “And why insurance?”
“I was blinded by your beauty.”
God. Sometimes Tim wonders about the original Titans and their socialization for the two dudes if this is how they think making friends works. Then again, Kori, Donna, and Dick probably appreciated constant compliments about their beauty. It all makes sense. Roy must be so used to it that he even uses those same methods when someone unexceptional like Tim is around.
He smiles gamely. “I’m looking forward to hearing that phone call. Must be almost as great as the time Bruce tried to convince his insurance company that Clark dropping on his car wasn’t an act of God because God is demonstrably not a Kryptonian. Neither was the giant ape punching Clark out.”
Roy drops his hand at that. “…Batman did what?”
(“You were doing so well, too.”
“I knoooow. How much more obvious can we get?”
“I dunno, but I intend to try.”)
“Do you like Star Wars? Because Yoda only one for me!”
“Haha. No. Star Trek or die.” Tim’s answer is automatic. He’s had these discussions soooo many times with Kon before. Of course Jason also goes for the space cowboy soap opera.
Besides, Jason’s boyfriend is standing right next to him. He doesn’t mean to sound flirtatious with Tim. Or maybe he does, and it’s just good fun? Or maybe teasing him? Tim can’t figure it out, but he knows he doesn’t like the weird hollow feeling he gets in his stomach when he thinks about it, so he changes the topic.
And makes both of them sit down to watch some classic Captain Kirk, of course.
(“Should I be insulted by that pick up line?”
“Nah. There aren’t that many lines that imply a polycule, though.”
A kiss. “Alright.”)
One of the things Jason and Tim have in common is their predilection for motorbikes and fiddling around with them. Not that makes them unique in the batclan; Tim has never spent days quietly working side-by-side with Dick, though, the way he does with Jason. They started out with separate projects. Then Jason saw this vintage Ducati at an abandoned warehouse he was about to blow up and, well… Would be a shame, right? Tim just happens to have had one of these before—regrettably lost to one of Harley’s exploding baseball bats—so he offers his expertise.
It’s not because it means bending over the engine with Jason, closer than they ever are, their hands brushing when they hand each other instruments. It’s not.
Roy doesn’t join them. He’s too polite to say so, but he finds normal cars and bikes boring af. Doesn’t stop him from popping his head into the garage and whistling when he sees that they are shirtless and covered in grease. It’s a damn good look on Jason, so Tim can’t fault him for that.
Roy follows it up with a: “Are you a parking ticket? Cause you got fine written all over you.”
Tim can’t help it; he blushes at the suggestive tone. Those two never stop flirting with each other, do they? So far, he has managed to avoid stumbling over them while they’re making out (not that they’re making that easy—the kitchen? Really?), and he’d like to keep avoiding that, thank you very much. He’s already feeling guilty enough for his fantasies as it is.
“Uh. I should clean up,” he mumbles and flees.
(“Dammit.”
“…do you think that was a rejection?”
“Nah. He was definitely checking me out before you came and fucked it up.”
“That’s saying something if you noticed it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”)
So Tim has magically acquired cat ears and a very fluffy tail. Don’t ask. They’re gonna go away in eight hours, and until then, he’s gonna stay in the cave and work himself to distraction. Jason seems intent on keeping him company, though.
(It’s nice. Tim loves hanging out with Jason—that’s not the problem. The issue is that Tim is looking ridiculous, and Jason is being nice about it, and none of this is helping his stupid crush go away.)
They’re absently chatting about nothing until Jason says: “Kinda a pity you’re a cat, though.”
Tim looks up. Huh? Admittedly, he never pegged Jason as the type to go for catboys (though maybe… he did hang out with Kyle… perhaps it’s just that he definitely doesn’t go for Tims), but that’s still a weird pronouncement.
Jason is grinning. “If you were a chicken, you’d be impeccable.” He pauses. “Wait. Like even more than you already are. Uh.”
Tim sighs. Great. And now Jason is making fun of him again. “Whatever.”
(“A chicken?”
“Shut up. I panicked.” A sigh. “He was so cute with these ears.”
“…yeah, he was.”)
“You must be tired. You’ve been running through my mind all night.”
“I’m not tired,” Tim says automatically. Why does everyone keep asking him that tonight? Surely the shadows under his eyes can’t be that bad? He used concealer!
Something in Roy’s expression softens. “Aww. C’mere.” He pats the space on the couch next to him, and when Tim sits down, Roy pulls him half of on top of him and into a hug. “Relax for a bit, little bird.”
Tim sinks into the embrace, boneless all of a sudden. Roy just has that effect on him. Tim vaguely remembers thinking of him as his oldest brother’s cool friend and then Jason’s cool boyfriend, kind of a fuckboy but clearly good for Jay.
Now? Now, Roy just makes him feel safe.
(“So you spent the night on the couch just so he could sleep in your arms?”
“Yeah. Totally worth it.”
“Duh.”
“I just wish we could do that with him every night. Bet he fits perfectly between us.”
“Yeah.”
A pause.
“We might have to up the ante or switch tactics.”)
They’re talking about their favorite books—Tim doesn’t read as much as Jason does, but they discovered a shared love of sci-fi weeks ago—when Tim says: “Actually, that book kinda reminds me of you.”
“Oh?”
“Overly dramatic but good.”
Jason makes an offended noise, and Tim grins.
“I’m not sure which part I should argue about first.” Jason pretends to think.
Tim is always down to tell Jason that fuck his self-perception—Jason is a good man, one of the best Tim knows; that also feels too revealing right now. Instead, he gets up from their comfortable position on the couch and grabs the first stack on the table, carrying them over to the shelves to replace the gaps. “What kind of book would I be?”
“Babe, if you were words on a page, you’d be fine print.”
“Annoying and no one reads it?” Tim asks without turning around, trying to ignore the babe. That’s. That’s gotta be a slip of the tongue, right? Force of habit from spending so much time with Roy?
“No, fine,” and the emphasis is clear this time. Jason continues before Tim can reply: “Though if we’re talking books…”
Tim whirls around. “Save it. You don’t have to make fun of me just because I—“He swallows down the words.
Jason looks alarmed. “Tim—“
As if he can smell trouble, Roy chooses that moment to enter the room. Tim has barely heard him approach, Jesus. He doesn’t want to have this argument in front of Roy, though, so he just stands there in the middle of the room. Jason, too, has stopped speaking.
Roy, of course, takes one look at the awkwardness and decides to make it worse. Or more confusing.
“Did you just come out of the oven?” he asks.
“As this isn’t Hansel and Gretel, no, I didn’t.” Tim checks his shirt, just in case this is an actual conversation opener and not just a weird attempt at a distraction. “Do I have soot on me?”
“Nope.” Roy shakes his head, and he’s smiling that smile again, the one Tim is startled to recognize, the one he thought is reserved only for Jason— “Because you’re hot.”
And finally, Tim gets it. “Me?”
“Yes, Tim.” Roy’s moving in closer. “You.”
There’s a soft touch to Tim’s shoulder, and Tim whirls around, expecting Jason to be mad, cause his boyfriend is—is hitting on Tim, right, that’s what’s happening, Jason can’t be happy—
Jason is smiling down at him. His hand is still resting on Tim’s shoulder, but it slides down to his collar bone, a gentle presence as he murmurs: “You’re so beautiful that you made forget my pick up line.”
Oh. Oh.
Tim says the first thing he can think of: “Are you a raisin?”
Jason starts grinning. “I’m not even gonna qualify that with an answer.”
Tim smiles back. “Cause you’re raising my hopes for a kiss right about now.”
And he gets one. And then another, and then Roy joins in, kissing Tim’s neck and then his mouth and—Yeah.
They’re too busy for any more pick up lines right now.
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snickerl · 2 years
Text
Of Miracle Births and Other Wonders
Here is the final part of the story. You can’t have an xf fanfic without a nice little msr moment right???
tagging @today-in-fic
CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
Mulder's face lights up just like the screen of his phone when he sees the faces of two of his most favorite people, one sleeping, the other one awake. "Hey, Scully, how is everybody doing?"
"We are doing just fine, Mulder. Your daughter is fed and changed and very sleepy."
"Has she been like this the whole time?"
"Not exactly. She went into a crying fit when I was in the bathroom for like two minutes to freshen up a little, but as soon as I latched her on she was content and fell asleep when she was done. Didn't even wake up when I changed her."
"You should get some sleep, too, instead of talking to me."
"I will, but we have to talk about Will first. Did you notice how upset he had been?"
"I have to say no, I'm afraid. I mean, I noticed that he didn't exactly go overboard when we told them about the pregnancy, but which teenage boy would? I guess I was a little too self-absorbed to try and get to the bottom of it, and I blame myself for it."
"Me too," Scully says. "I thought he was just a little overwhelmed about the prospect of soon having a crying baby in the house, I never would have thought he was afraid I cared more about the baby than about him."
"I know. He said something like it in the car on the way over, but I didn't have the nerves to get into it then. You being in labor kind of occupied my mind, but we had a good conversation after dinner and sorted everything out. I told him some of the circumstances of his birth, not everything, of course, but how I wasn't there."
"So did I. Also not everything, only that I believed I couldn't have children until I had him. One day, we have to tell him the full story as we did with Em."
"How old was she again when we did that?"
"Sixteen I think."
"We have two more years then."
"Two more years to come up with a plan."
As there is a moment of silence between them, Scully closes her eyes and it looks like she is falling asleep. Mulder doesn't say anything, he just watches her. Over the years, he has watched sleeping Scully many times and always enjoyed it, beginning with the stakeouts back in the day. She simply is beautiful when she sleeps. She is beautiful when she is awake, too, but when she sleeps, there is a peacefulness emanating from her Mulder has always particularly liked. Just as he wants to end the call and let her get her much-needed sleep, her phone beeps indicating an incoming message and her eyes open. "What?" she mutters a bit disoriented.
"Welcome back, sleepyhead," Mulder says. "All is good. Your phone just beeped and woke you."
"I wasn't sleeping," Scully insists, stubbornly claiming as per usual that she doesn't fall asleep unintentionally.
"Yes, you were. But it's okay, you gave birth a couple hours ago, allow yourself to be tired. Now shut down your phone and get some sleep, as long as Gracie lets you," Mulder tells her in a somewhat bossy tone, well aware that Scully is not very receptive to a bossy tone from him.
"Let me just check who the message is from...oh, it's from Will." Surprise is spreading over Scully's face. Her son almost never texts her, only if she texts him first indicating she expects a reply.
"What does it say?" Mulder asks, observing how Scully's eyes get watery and how her chin quivers. "Scully?"
"He says he's sorry, and that he loves me. That he is happy about his new baby sister, and that he is looking forward to us coming home. He even put a heart emoji at the end."
Mulder chuckles. "Wait, what happened to our son? Is he possessed by something that forces him to be much more emotional than he would ever admit he was?"
"An X-File?"
"Probably. Want me to look into it?"
"Don't you dare look into anything without me, Mulder!"
"Never without you, partner!"
Scully closes her eyes and smiles. "God, I am so grateful, Mulder. Grateful for how our lives have turned out after we left the Bureau. We saw and experienced gruesome things, but they led us to Emily, and getting custody of her led us to where we are right now. And where we are right now, where we have been in the past years, is simply wonderful. Don't you agree? "
"Of course, I do. To this very day, I include Section Chief Blevins in my prayers thanking him for sending you to the basement to spy on me."
"You don't pray, Mulder."
"For this particular cause, I make an exception."
Scully hums with a slight smile on her face. Her eyes are falling shut again, then her head lolls forward and she yanks it back up with a start. "I'm awake!" she declares in dead earnest which makes Mulder laugh whole-heartedly.
"No, you are not! You're talking in your sleep, Scully. I want you to put away your phone now and get some shuteye. If you're lucky, Gracie will let you sleep a couple hours until the next feeding. You really need some rest after what you've done today. The kids and I will come by tomorrow after school. I'll bring you a proper bouquet in colors of my choosing and the duffle bag you packed for the hospital. I still can't believe I forgot that one earlier."
"Well, didn't surprise me. I was glad you didn't forget Will at home." Scully can't keep a smirk from spreading across her face.
"Very funny. Before you can humor me any further, I'm gonna end the call now. Sleep well, see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Mulder," Scully mumbles hardly audible, finally succumbing to sleep. Her face is vanishing from the screen as the hand holding the phone is slowly falling onto her chest. Mulder only sees the blurry fabric of the blanket, her phone obviously lying face down now as he hears a distant 'love ya'. Thanks for the sensitive microphones they are building in these devices nowadays, Mulder thinks. "I love you, too, Scully," he whispers, well aware she has already passed the threshold to sleep. "Best partner in the world, mother of my children, and love of my life." With this, he kisses the screen of his phone, then shuts the device off.
*FIN*
22 notes · View notes
taeyaxx · 4 years
Note
How would the Haikyuu Captains spend Christmas with you? Like, what gift would they get you and the activities y’all would do? (Bokuto, Oikawa, Daichi, Kuroo, Ushijima, and Terushima)
tae’s notes: aaaaaaah!! ok so i love my nsfw but sfw like this makes my heart go 🥺🥰🥰 i really love hc’s like this too because all these boys are DORKS!!! thank you so much for the ask!! <3
⫸ ━━━━━━━━ ♥ ━━━━━━━━ ⫷
tags: sfw, fluff, bokuto is the biggest nerd when it comes to the holidays, holiday fun, cozy winter’s, warm sweaters, longer post, hc’s, mention of nsfw, mention of alcohol, just mostly sweet hc’s okay 🥺
⫸ ━━━━━━━━ ♥ ━━━━━━━━ ⫷
taglist: @kaaidalupita @ushiwakajimas @lunarkawa
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okay so for bokuto i imagine him as the BIGGEST holiday person
like he goes above and beyond for the holidays 
especially Christmas!!! 
will go all out and i mean it!!
brings home a billion decertations and makes it a competition to see who can hang up the most in ten minutes
he always wins somehow 
buys you two ugly ass sweaters too
like i mean those really really ugly sweaters that he knows are ugly but it’s become a tradition between you two 
just wearing.......the ugliest sweaters as you two put the tree up 
as for gifts i think bokuto isn’t one to put like....a lot of money into them?
feel like he’s the type of guy to buy you something that hits you in the heart and makes you want to smother him in kisses
nothing too expensive but it’s the sentimental thought that counts
as for party games or activities i think bo would be into the cuter ones like gingerbread houses or just baking in general 
not that he knows how to bake but he likes to help you make cookies okay
(by help i mean he’s got his arms wrapped around your waist and chin on your shoulder and watching you bake and occasionally handing you things)
he’d sweep you under the mistletoe and kiss you until you both started laughing
picking you up he’d carry you off to the bedroom, sharing a chuckle with you for no other reason than just how in love he is with you
and then he’d quiet down and make the slowest, sweetest love to you 🥺
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alright the next boy is the lovely oikawa!
feel like he isn’t the BIGGEST holiday person
for no reason i just think he’d be like “eh it’s another day”
but that DEF changes when he meets you
his attitude starts to go from “it’s a Tuesday” to slowly looking forward to every holiday he can celebrate with you
especially Christmas because it’s the one day he can spoil you in gifts and you can’t really get mad at him
like bokuto tho, he wouldn’t be the most expensive gifts
he’d get a bunch of things he had noticed you spoke of or the things your eyes lingered on just a little longer than others when you two were out
def the type to wake you up with breakfast in bed 
like isn’t the GREATEST cook in the world but he knows how to make some decent food
and he makes sure everything is perfect for your holiday morning
he’d pull out your favorite sweater of his and he’d wear it all day
bring you warm fuzzy socks and his favorite sweater for you and a cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate
his main gift is probably that one pair of shoes you had wanted for awhile but could never bring yourself to buy
or just any similar gift
for activities, oikawa is ALL about the games
he sets up every holiday game he can think of 
does that stupid thing where he wraps a specific gift in like 12 layers of duct tape and 8 layers of bubble wrap and 5 layers of zip ties
like is an ASS abt it but it’s always funny having to beg him to get a pair of scissors for you because he went overboard again
after gifts he’d pull you off to the bedroom and kiss you slowly before 
giving you all the pleasure in the world 🥰
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next is daichi! let’s just say....
MY BOY!!!
daichi here isn’t into any other holiday EXCEPT for Christmas 
mans does everything for Christmas
he’s buying the decorations and hanging them up with your help
setting the tree up IN NOVEMBER !!
goes crazy with the lights outside too
like y’all are def known for being THAT house on the street just 
full blown Christmas lights
when Christmas morning comes tho, he’d wake you up nice and early (not anymore so than normal tho) and take you into the kitchen where he’s made the BIGGEST breakfast for you
i’m talking every breakfast food is out on the tabel and you can’t help but shake your head
cause who’s gonna eat it all? 
somehow you two finish up whatever you can before he’s moving onto doing some small activities 
he doesn’t go crazy with them but likes to do some stuff with you
somehow got into painting? 
don’t know how it happened but i feel like he sets up an entire thing in one of the spare rooms
and you two just paint the silliest things you can think of 
and at some point you two def play drunk roulette and try to guess what alcohol was what in each cup  
as for gifts the man is stupid when it comes to buying things 
he goes so overboard when spending money on you 
doesn’t buy like 15 million gifts but will buy you 3 or 4 SUPER expensive gifts 
and you sit there, opening them up and knew he would spend too much money so you also had to buy more expensive gifts 
that he would use everyday just because you paid for them of course
by the end of the night you two end up on the couch, cuddling under a giant blanket, and watching some hallmark Christmas movies smh 
and if you want something a little more exciting, because daichi is That gentleman, he waits for you to ask
and when you do? y’all don’t even move to the bed 
he’d kiss you all slow and dim the lights and let the movie behind you play out as you two focus on the more intimate parts of the holiday
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kuroo my baby.....my life....my heart I love him
mans is so cute during the holidays he’s just 🥺
baby boy doesn’t wake up super early at all
he’d wake up a little bit but you two know it’s too cold so you just cuddle in closer and fall asleep until noon
when you two finally get up tho, he’s sluggish pulling you out of bed and giving you a sweater to wear and that’s all he wants you to wear
pulling you into the living room to reveal his gift for you and it’s gotta be like a dog or cat or something istg 
you’d just walk into a new cat sitting on the couch just sleeping away and you just SIGH 
“kuroo...it’s adorable but this will be the 4th cat we have”
“BAAAABE it’s so cute tho 🥺”
so you get another cat lol Which is fine cause…..it is cute 🥺
can’t decide if kuroo would wait until night to get into the sexc or if he would just start the entire day off with little whispers and lazy sex and then it’s just all daaaaay baby 
pulls you into the bath together
like srsly would fuck you all day long as a gift too 
and god if it isn’t a great gift tho smh 
finally you both decide to get dressed and go out to any open place for dinner 
being too tired from the rest of the activities you had done all day
which is probably why you guys don’t play any games at all lol you just end up being too tired
so no traditional activities other than being bent over every surface in your house 
after it gets too dark i’m sure you two would just cuddle into bed, legs tangled up in a mess and just whisper all the things you love abt each other yk how it be 🥺🥺
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NOW THIS IS MY MAAAAAAN UGH 
ushi doesn’t really see the desire of the entire holiday
like giving gifts and eating a good dinner should be EVERY NIGHT he thinks
Christmas eve you two would visit his family (cause uwu farm boi) so that way he’d have you all to himself Christmas day
probs has a tradition on like baking pie together or some kind of sweets
makes it a little competition to see who can bake the best pie tbh
you always win somehow
other than that he really isn’t into too many games?
he just enjoys your company and usually places you and himself in front of the fireplace and you two cuddle for the entire day
you read books and joke and laugh and paint your nails and do just mundane things together
at some point in the night tho he’d turn on some music and would slow dance with you in the kitchen 🥺
as for gifts?
BRUH
that’s all i’m gonna say sjksjd 
ok ok but no this man buys you SO MUCH
like yeah he doesn’t see the reason to buy you gifts only for this one day (cause let’s tbh he buys you gifts constantly)
but for Christmas? he just..... “oh this is a thing everyone else does so i must do it too” but in the kindest way
buys you an entire new wardrobe because he notices you wanting some new shirts
buys you new purses or wallets or jewelry
would surprise you with a trip to some vacation home somewhere
like he is all god giving on Christmas 
lowkey would def surprise you with an entire new wardrobe just for lingerie and you can’t fight me on this
it makes you a little sad you only buy him a few new watches and new ties or whatever else he might have mentioned over a few lunches or dinners
he doesn’t mind tho since he’s literally all abt pleasuring you yk
for the later activities tho, i feel like he’d be more like daichi?
like def would bend you over the counter as you two cooked dinner or in front of the fireplace but he waits for you
waits until you’re calling for him to make love to you
and when he does? UGH
let’s just say he has you crying later 
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baby boy....baby....
much like kuroo i feel like he’d wanna make love ALL DAY 
wakes you up early just to have morning sex
after the third round you have to tell him they need to eat something
and tbh feel like he might lowkey forget to get you a gift until the LAST DAY 
like he def just bought this gift last night and wrapped it while you slept 
and tbh....it’s so cute of him to do that jkjks
he seems like the type to buy you jewelry or socks or both lol
like buys you a new necklace and some rings
def doesn’t try to talk you into getting a matching tongue piecing yk
also feel like he’d buy a new set of “bedroom toys” for you two to try out
and at first it’s like “of course he would” but you thank him later after using them
also a HUGE fan of ugly sweaters
but makes it a game to see who can MAKE the ugliest sweater like 
you will not see this man spend money on an ugly sweater but he will buy a bunch of ugly accessories just so you two can have fun making them
so it’s a tradition now that you two a week before Christmas begin making ugly sweaters
usually it ends up being a tie smh
feel like he would be into a bunch of other games tho
like the white elephant games or caramel apples and ginger bread houses
he just wants to spend all his time with you so he looks up a bunch of games you two can play 
he almost seems like the type to do puzzles? so maybe you two would work on a 2,000 piece puzzle together 
watch really old and bad movies together too
for some reason i feel like he’d be the best cook out of all the boys??? for no reason really i just...imagine he knows how to cook so well
so he def makes this big ass dinner of anything you wanted even if it’s not traditional food
like the one year you guys literally had PIZZA just because it sounded good
also talk abt snow ball fights and building all sorts of things outta the snow
and y’all can fight me on this............after a few years he’d be that cliche guy to propose to you and confess his entire heart out for you 
(of course you say yes becausae you’re so in love with him 🥰)
319 notes · View notes
spaceskam · 3 years
Note
8 for Malex? Thanks!
*hiding because this took an embarrassing amount of time I'm sorry*
tags: high school au, slight mental health stuff goin’ on, bed sharing
8. bedtime stories [ao3]
Alex never claimed to be subtle.
He watched Michael openly, his thumb between his teeth as he eyed the way he pulled his shirt over his head. He knew this was probably inappropriate. However, Michael was hot and had yet to tell him to stop staring. Sometimes it seemed like he deliberately did things to make Alex stare. So Alex kept on and hoped that, if he was only doing this to make fun of Alex, at least he got something nice to look at.
“Hey, Alex,” Michael called, tossing his sweaty shirt into his bag and grabbing a dry one, “Do you think your brother would mind if I stayed over tonight? I don’t feel like going home.”
Alex swallowed and sat up straight. He looked around at the other guys in the locker room. He was sure one of them would say something. Magically, they didn’t. 
“Clay won’t care,” Alex said, trying to seem nonchalant. Michael closed his locker and looked at him with a massive grin as he pulled his shirt down. His hair was still damp with sweat and it stuck to his forehead. Both of those things together were too much for Alex’s sanity.
“Cool. Meet you after school at my truck?”
“Okay. Yeah.”
Michael leaned close into Alex’s face and gave a mocking, “Okay, yeah,” before he laughed and walked around Alex. He twisted on the bench and followed him with his eyes as he went to the other side of the locker room where his other friends were. They instantly started talking about the game next Friday and how they were playing Carlsbad and how their team’s cheerleaders were hot. Michael didn’t deny it and Alex tried not to feel weird about it.
Instead, he grabbed his back and quickly headed out of the locker room. He hated gym and had put it off until his senior year, but now he was stuck doing it with basically no one to talk to except sophomore loners who seemed content to fail the class. He felt that.
The only highlight of it was Michael Guerin who he got to watch work up a sweat for 45 minutes every single day of the week. He got to watch him play dodgeball with too much enthusiasm and run the mile at the fastest in the class and play put-out with his friends. Alex had, somehow, befriended him when they were freshmen and both the youngest in their math class, so they stuck together. Then sophomore year they had Spanish together, junior year they had chemistry, this year they had gym. It wasn’t much but it was enough to spark an unlikely class-only friendship that turned into a school-only friendship that turned into an actual one.
He was Alex’s favorite person in the world.
The next two classes passed by relatively quickly, solely relying on the fact that Alex wasn’t paying attention and instead doodling aimlessly in his notes. Science was boring, math was easy.
Alex let himself into Michael’s truck because he was a dumbass who never locked it and sat in the passenger seat. His notebook stayed in his lap and he kept shading in the boat he was working on as the parking lot filled with other people going to their cars and people going to their buses. Michael always talked to his fellow football players before he left considering they couldn’t leave until the buses did anyway, so Alex wasn’t in a rush.
When Michael did climb in, he raised his head to get a good look at him. Because he always wanted to get a good look at him. Today, just like most days, he looked gorgeous and lit up from the inside and he was already staring at Alex.
“What’cha drawing?” he asked, scooting to the middle to look at Alex’s book. He pressed up against his side and eyed it, nodding his head. “Nice. I’m gonna get one of those tattooed on me one day.”
“What? A boat?”
“No, one of your pieces,” Michael laughed, shaking his head as he moved back to the driver’s seat. He turned the ignition and Alex stared at the side of his face. “Whichever one you think I should. Think about it.”
And Alex would think about it. It wasn’t even the first time he thought about it. Michael had spoken of getting one of his drawings on him before and the thought was quite possibly the most erotic thing Alex could think of which was ridiculous. There was nothing sexy about that in reality. But… Michael shirtless and having something Alex created permanently on his skin was just so good.
He went back to the drawing before he could entertain putting his tongue on it.
Michael turned up the radio before backing out of his spot and then they were on their way to Alex’s house. He put his drawing down in favor of watching out the window as Michael badly sang along to Nirvana and Beck.
Junior year was the first time Michael had come over to his house and it had felt weird to acknowledge that the person he’d spoken to nearly every day for over two years knew approximately nothing about his home life. Alex had half-assed an explanation about how his mother left and his dad was in jail, so Alex only lived with his brothers. Michael hadn’t judged him, only loudly made it clear he thought Clay was badass for stepping up when he was freshly 18 to make sure the rest of them didn’t get too screwed.
It was a few more after school hangouts after that that Michael confided that he’d been in the foster care system since he was a baby and had been in a group home for the last few years. Teenage boys were a hard sell to foster parents, apparently.
Clay had no problem giving his number to the group home to call for check-ins whenever Michael started staying over. 
“Please tell me he got spicy Doritos because I‒hell yeah,” Michael said, letting himself roam freely around the kitchen. He pulled the bag of spicy nacho Doritos labeled Michael out of the pantry and ripped them open, a grin on his face. Alex could watch it all day.
“Can I steal the bar mix that you haven’t touched in, like, a month?” Flint asked, his gaze stuck on his computer where he was doing homework. His eyebrows were pulled into an angry glare at it.
“Yeah, sure, if it’s still good,” Michael answered, falling onto the couch right beside Alex and holding out the bag to him. Alex shook his head. Michael often got food obsessions and would go a month where that was all he wanted, but during bad days it was the only thing he could eat that didn’t make him lose his appetite. 
Despite the fact that he was all smiles, Alex had memorized the warning signs and knew he wouldn’t be eating dinner.
“Sweet,” Flint said, sliding to the pantry to grab the remnants of Michael’s last food obsession.
One of the warning signs that Michael wasn’t doing great, despite the fact that he’d asked to come over at all and hadn’t just invited himself, was the fact that he had taken any excuse all day to be tactile Alex. He’d spent all lunch and gym with him instead of with his football buddies, he’d wanted to sit closer in the truck, he immediately sat practically on top of him on the couch.
Later that night, he sat beside him at dinner and picked at it, only eating the crunchy asparagus and the edges of the tortilla part of his quesadilla. Alex ate what he didn’t.
Michael took a shower and wore Alex’s clothes and made himself at home in Alex’s bed, all cozy and on his phone with his thumb in his mouth when Alex got out of the shower. When they’d first started spending the night together, Michael slept on the couch or on the floor. One night they’d fallen asleep in Alex’s bed during a movie and now that’s where he went each night.
Alex didn’t mind.
He shut off the lights and jumped into bed, putting on Netflix on the TV and starting up where they’d left off in their third watch-through of The Good Place. Michael scooted closer until they were touching in some way, his eyes still partially on his phone and partially on the TV.
It should’ve bothered Alex. It should’ve felt like taunting. Occasionally he did feel the need to shake him and ask him if he really wasn’t seeing how much Alex was into him. Was the staring not enough? Was the way he got a bit dizzy whenever he realized Michael was beginning to smell like Alex’s shampoo not enough? Was Alex’s eyes tracing every bead of sweat that rolled across his face like he hadn’t had water in weeks not enough? Was every single one of Michael’s other friends mentioning that they acted “kinda gay” not enough?
But mostly Alex was fine with it. Michael was safe here and comfortable and Alex wasn’t going to ruin that by wanting something more. So he would keep his hands to himself. He wouldn’t be subtle, but he wouldn’t be overbearing. He would just be Alex and hope that was alright.
“Alex,” Michael whispered, moving until his head was on Alex’s shoulder. Alex hummed in response. “Can you tell me a bedtime story about your boat?”
Alex smiled and shifted, his fingers slipping into Michael’s hair. Michael tilted his head up until they locked eyes. They were so close, just like every time Michael requested a bedtime story, as if that was the only acceptable time to be less than an inch away from each other’s face. Alex very quietly thought that their entire friendship felt like one.
“Once upon a time, there was a very loud pirate captain,” Alex started, watching as Michael’s thumb slowly started gravitating towards his mouth again, “He was old and held very strict beliefs. If you disagreed, he’d throw you overboard.”
“What a dick.”
“Mm, yeah, very. Anyway, he was always angry and his crew were like ‘shit, what if he’s lonely’ and decided they needed to get him a friend.”
“Oh no, poor lonely pirate man,” Michael said around his thumb.
“Poor lonely pirate man indeed,” Alex agreed, nodding solemnly, “So they searched high and low for anyone to be his companion. Not someone on the crew, but someone who would be his equal and separate from his employees. It was a very complicated task. They would find people who seemed good, but then the pirate captain wouldn’t like them and kick them out. It happened so many times they almost gave up. But eventually, they found an astronaut who seemed like a good fit because he was very smart and very happy.”
Michael pulled his thumb from his mouth with a loud pop, “So they really searched high, huh?”
Alex huffed a laugh and nodded, combing back his hair. His heart thudded in his chest as he stared at him, at his interested and tired eyes. God, he was so into him. Every single bit of him. Even when he needed moments like these.
“Yeah, really high. And they brought him back to the boat to meet the captain and they really, really thought he would hate him. But you know what? He didn’t. They actually got on quite well. And the captain started becoming a lot less angry,” Alex said. Michael shifted, pressing closer.
“And did the astronaut change?”
“Mhm. He got to relax too. He didn’t feel like he had to be super smart and happy to make everyone else happy anymore, he could just be himself. He could even be sad sometimes and that was okay because he had someone who liked him no matter what,” Alex explained, “He even would stop at islands to get his favorite foods.”
“Were they just best friends or were they in love?” Michael asked. Alex swallowed carefully and scanned his eyes over his face, trying to gauge what would be a better answer.
“They started as just best friends,” Alex decided, “But they fell in love. They were both. Somewhere in between.”
“Somewhere in between?”
“Yeah, like, not quite just best friends and not quite together romantically. Something different. Something special,” Alex tried. Michael watched him closely. In the background, Eleanor watched herself fall in love with Chidi for one of the hundreds of times they fell in love and Alex tried not to be too poetic about it.
“Alex,” Michael said, his hand dropping between them, “Are we somewhere in between? It feels like we are”
The question was honestly innocent but Alex stopped breathing, not knowing how to answer. He had a football player cuddling up to him in his bed. He should say no. He should save his own ass. He should keep it to himself.
But Michael was comfortable enough to cuddle him, to be babied when he needed it, to be raw and open.
So why couldn’t Alex?
“Do you wanna be?” Alex asked. Michael blinked. “Or… like… do you wanna be somewhere… not in between?”
“Like, on the other side? The romantic side?” Michael clarified. Alex nodded slowly, unsure. “Does it mean I get goodnight kisses?”
Alex let out a slow breath and laughed cautiously, “If you want them.”
“I want them,” Michael said assuredly. Alex couldn’t fucking think straight and he was just smiling stupidly at him. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Goodnight kisses, right here,” Michael said, tapping his lips delicately.
“Right. Okay.”
Alex moved his head just a little to give him a soft kiss, barely lasting a few seconds. He didn’t want to be too presumptuous. And, still, it was probably the best kiss he’d ever had in his life. His heart was trying to escape his chest.
He was really doing this. This was really happening.
“Did they live happily ever after, Alex?” Michael asked against his lips. Alex breathed and nodded.
“Yeah. They did.”
77 notes · View notes
jungwonsie · 3 years
Text
jealous<3
not a request
warnings: maybe some cursive words or some words that are not written goof
note:hello people!!!i hope you liked my first post^^i am sorry i couldnt post for awhile but i will be more active from now on!also if you have any requests i uploaded my tellonym so yeah thanks again and enjoy<3 also i didnt look at this two times because i was in hurry but i will soon
members here <3
HEESEUNG
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you and jake have been friends since the begin and you were always there for eachother 
heeseung is always scared because you two seem to like eachother a lot but he knows that you love him and him only 
he trusts you but he cant help but feel anxious 
this night oh my-
you were hanging out with him and his members
you guys decided to watch a movie but they didnt have any snacks at home
so you decided to go and buy some
you asked heeseung to come with you but he was so tired :(
but you didnt want to go alone so you asked the others who wanted to tag along jake was the one who answered
you can see how mad heeseung is hwegfiu2eh 
he would litteraly glare at boyh of you <3
“its okay i will go with my bae you stay here”
he might or might not pushed him a lil away
cute lil baby he gets jealous so easy<3
at the end he will be mad at you but when you kissed his cheek and told him that you didnt mean anything only that you wanted him to rest i swear he blushed so much and kissed your forehead <3
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JAY
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i swear i love jealous jay
you and heeseung were just friend i swear but oh my god our dear jay gets so jealous when he sees you two laughing or being a lil touchy with eachother 
but this time oh my-
you come over and hang out with them
you guys gathered and order food (pizza?or whatever you like0
as the food arrived there was some drinks that came with the food so heeseung as the oldest one there made the drinks (not alchohol)
he accidently poured some of the drink on your t-shirt
jay quickly got up and went to his closet to give you one of his hoodie/tshirt
but as he came back and saw that heeseung took of his hoodie (he was wearing a shirt underneath dw)
jealous jay mode turned on <3
he walked no he runned there and took you by your hand and hugged you tighly  “mine go away grrr” (barking<3) jkjk
he would probably whine so much so you ran to him and wore his hoodie (he felt better after that)
cuddles the entire time and many many kisses too 
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JAKE
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Okay so you and jay were very close with eachother 
but jake didnt mind it at all (cute baby <3)
but i swear when you decided to go shopping with jay and jake he would pout so much :(
like jau tries SO much to find the perfect clothes for you 
but jake wanted to do that :(
i believe that if he wanted he could knockout jay if he wanted to 
when he saw jay hugging you because he was so happy that he bought you clothes you could see jake he was so close to kick him <3
you said your thanks you to jay but he had to leave now (finally-jake)
you have to buy him food and he will feel better 
buys you more clothes even if you say no (rich rich bf <3)
you also drag him to a dog coffee and then you two had the time of yout life :(
after that he hugs you tighly and tells you that he was jealous (like we didnt know hihihihi)
you called him over your house and cuddle and kissed the whole night because he deserved it :(
he loved you so much please take care of him
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SUNGHOON
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okay this lil ice prince 
you and sunoo were always close to eachother from the strat 
you and him will always look for make up and face masks products to use for you and sunghoon :(
you would always him if he wante to have face masks together or try putting him make up but his answer would always be no or maybe 
you would get upset but ofc sunoo is always there to save you <3 
the sunshine arrived <3
when he saw you and sunoo laughing together hebwas like
okay.its fine i am fine.=THAT SHOULD BE ME
next time you ask him he would be like “nonono i am sure sunoo will want it more than me” ofc he didnt mean that but ofc you left to go with sunoo
he would be SHOOKED his jaw was wide open hihihi
as youbwere waiting for sunoo to come with you sunghoon came before him and back hugged you 
“i wannadothisbutjustusplz” mumbles
he is so cute but he doesnt want to admit that he is jealous
he just want to be the only one you make face masks for and make up 
even though he doesnt like make up that much he wouldnt mind you do his make up :(
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SUNOO
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you and nike were at the dance studio 
you two were very skilled dancers so you two decided to do some dances together 
maybe,maybe you and niki were a little touchy with eachother (not “dirty”)
but he might touched your waist a lot and yk having many physical touches 
and cute little baby would start pouting and corring his arms
after you are done from dancing you hugged niki and want to your lovely boyfriend that was watching you two dancing 
and he hugged you tightly and kissed your cheek so many times (he made sure that niki saw at least one)
“oh my y/n is really pretty and very talanted i have the best PARTENER”
yeah he made sure everyone in the building that you are his 
he would be mad at you when you two went at the dorms so made sure that you let him do your hair or do some face masks together 
if he isnt yet satisfied made sure to be preapared for many games or maybe watch his favorite drama together and cuddles all the time 
he might fall asleep with you in his arms so dont plan on leaving <3
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JUNGWON
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Okay so he might be the leader and he have to be mature 
but when he find out that myabe sunghoon have taken a liking in you he felt frustrating
one day when you came over to the dorms the boys wanted to play gamess
 so when you and the boys decided to play arm wrestling he hoped he would be at the same team with you 
luckily he got in the same time with you and was really excited <3
your team was jungwon ,you,heeseung and sunoo anf the others were jake ,niki,jay and sunghoon 
for you guys to find out who will play with who you played rock papres scissors shoot
you got partener with sunghoon 
he started feeling unwell 
as sunghoon hold yout hand to start the arm wrstili g he bite the inside of his cheek trying to control any emotion he had
sunghoon might went overboard with his strengh because you were really strong too and henwon but he made you hurt your hand in the table and it hurt  A LOT ouch<3
sunghoon and jungwom ran to get you some ice but sunghoon was a little bit faster and arrived faster than jungwon and gave you the ice 
jungwon mad asf and his jealous level on the MAX
he took the ice that jungjoon gave you and put the ice that he took 
he would stick his toungue out to sunghoon
make sure to give his huggies and all of your attention after that <3
he loves you a lot and he doesnt want to share you or anything :(
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NI-KI
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niki knows how much you love hanging out with the members and he is happy that his partener is going good with his friends 
but when he saw that you and jungwon got closer he felt kinda sad :(
poor baby he dont want to share you with anyone :(
when you came over and decided to watch i-land with the others you sat in between niki and jungwon
you felt kinda cold so you snuggled close to jungwom 
nikis level of jealous 100%
it went worse when you started giving compliments to the others membe especially jungwon 
he pouted and hold your arm pulling you in his arms
“gimme compliments too plz”pouts
y/n is in love part 190298337646567478382903747578878378476645
you HAVE to pet his hair and give him forehead kisses and many compliments and he told you no more yang jungwon no more
ofc it was a joke but whenever you and jungwon went he would always tag along and always hug you infornt of him and gives you so many kisses <3
82 notes · View notes
lemonpeter · 3 years
Text
All For Him (Perfection)
“A cute prompt where Peter wants to go to prom really badly but MJ dumped him recently and Ned is going with Betty so he feels like he can’t go. And flash makes fun of him for being a loser with no date to the prom. So Tony offers to take Peter just to fuck withFlash and they end up being the center of attention obviously and they’re having fun and suddenly they both have an ‘oh’ moment and realize they’re in love and they kiss snd it’s very sweet.”
My prompt fill for @starkerfestivals Fall event 💕 I’m actually really happy with this piece and I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I do!
Warnings: brief alcohol mention, brief mention of after prom expectations, Peter is 18 (it’s mentioned mid-fic), it’s 99% just fluff I promise
————
Ah, prom season.
Tony couldn’t say that he really remembered his own, if he even went. He had been...what, fifteen? The only thing on his mind at that point had been finishing high school and getting to MIT. Everything he did to piss off his dad came later.
So he probably hadn’t gone. But he was sure that things were different now, anyways.
Elaborate promposals, themed dances, after-parties that rivaled his college days.
Anyways. He hadn’t thought about school formals in- god, decades, probably. Like most people with some sort of life aspirations, he hadn’t thought about it since leaving high school. But it hadn’t even mattered to him then.
But it mattered to Peter, still in school.
Freshly heartbroken, sweet, perfect Peter.
Tony couldn’t believe that anyone would break up with someone like Peter. He was the type of person that people fought over, not someone that got broken up with.
But he had been broken up with all the same. He tried not to act like it bothered him, but he wasn’t good at hiding things like that.
Tony saw the way that his fingers twitched when he grabbed his phone, wanting to text something to MJ. He noticed how Peter’s gaze lingered on a window display of suits advertising ‘It’s Almost Time’. And he saw the tears that filled Peter’s eyes when they witnessed a - incredibly cheesy, unnecessarily extravagant - promposal outside of someone’s building.
And he knew that he would have to do something about that.
———
“Mr. Stark, I can’t,” Peter told him, sighing heavily. “I just can’t. I would look so stupid if I went alone. And it’s too late to ask anyone, everyone already has their dates.”
Not that anyone would want to go with him anyways.
“What about your friend? You know, Fred,” Tony teased, like he didn’t know his name. It was an ongoing joke, so Peter knew he actually did know.
Peter sighed again, resting his forehead against the table. “He’s going with his girlfriend. Betty. I’m pretty sure I already told you this.”
“Right, right. You couldn’t just tag along with them?”
Peter’s head shot up and he made a face. “I am not about to be a third wheel. That’s so embarrassing. And lame. I don’t need extra reasons to be made fun of.”
“Extra?” The older man frowned as he watched him. “Don’t tell me that’s still going on.”
“It’s been a thing since I was in sixth grade, Mr. Stark. It’s not going to stop until graduation, apparently.” Just a few more months away. Thank god.
Tony hummed softly, tapping a finger to his chin. “Well...I mean, that’s not gonna work. You want to go. So you’re going to go. But-“
“I can’t go alone!”
“I was getting to that,” Tony chided. “Don’t interrupt me. If you can’t go alone. But none of your peers are still available. Or up to standards,” he joked lightly. Then he paused for dramatic effect before finishing his thought. “I could just go with you, Peter.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment after that, just taking the words in.
Tony felt that it had been innocent. Just an offer so that the kid would feel okay going to his dance.
But from the way Peter instantly blushed and glanced away, he wasn’t so sure it was received that way.
“What? Would you be embarrassed by me?”
Peter shook his head quickly, eyes wide. “What? No! I just...can’t imagine that you’d want to go. To a high school prom. With...me.”
Tony watched him, eyebrow raised as he listened. “I can’t say that it’s really my scene, but if I’d go with anyone I’d want it to be you. But I’m just going this so you can go and not feel weird, right? And maybe you can show that asshole Flash up.”
The young man was silent for just a moment, obviously thinking it all through.
Tony loved how he could practically see all the thoughts and outcomes swirling in Peter’s head.
Then he nodded slowly. “Okay. Yeah. You can go with me.” He smiled a bit. “We’ll need to buy you a ticket. And make sure you don’t do anything weird,” he joked lightly with him.
The older man scoffed. “Me? Weird? Oh, quit. We can either be the center of attention or we can blend in with the crowd. I can go with the flow. Whatever you want. I’m not weird...”
Peter laughed, genuine and relaxed. Definitely feeling better.
Tony was just glad that he could help. And if he got to make the kid laugh and smile at him like that? He would have done it again a million times. “So it’s a deal?”
“It’s a deal,” he agreed, nodding. “We’ll work out plans later. I’ll...text you?” He asked it as a question because he didn’t want to overstep.
Tony waved a hand. “You text me about everything else, of course you can message me about this. No biggie.”
Nodding, Peter smiled to himself. “Okay. Okay. I’ll gather all the details so we can both be completely prepared.” A pause. “Thank you, Mr. Stark. This...really means a lot to me.”
“No need to thank me. Because I just want you to be happy.”
A smile from Peter. “You’re the best.” He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. “Thank you, Mr. Stark. I’ll text you!”
“Okay, kid.” Tony watched him leave the garage, smiling to himself. He knew that he was way more excited than he should have been.
But Peter just made him like that. He didn’t want to read too much into it. No use thinking into what he didn’t want to discover about himself.
———
He hadn’t heard from Peter for a couple of days and he was a bit worried that he finally scared the man off.
Until he got a large number of sudden texts.
‘Hi Mr. S’
‘*Stark’
‘I got the prices for tickets. It’s kinda a lot so I understand if you don’t want to go’
It was cute, Peter really seemed worried that the tickets would be too expensive for him. But he figured that the younger man just stuck in the mindset that money was always tight.
‘They’re $60 each’
‘I can cover mine, don’t worry’
‘And I still need to rent a suit since the one I have is old’
‘And depressing’
‘But I’m sure you have a suit! So you don’t need to worry about that’
‘Unless you wanna wear a dress. I wouldn’t judge’
Tony chuckled at that. That was always an option, but he figured he would go more traditional if Peter wanted to blend in.
‘But yeah. Just wanted to get back to you about that. Since it’s next week we probably need to make final plans and all’
Smiling to himself, Tony started typing a message back.
‘Ticket prices won’t be a problem, I’ll drop by your school and pick one up later today. And I can handle getting you a suit, no need to rent one that god knows how many other people have worn.’
He watched the dots that signaled Peter was typing. Then they disappeared and he was a bit worried that he overstepped some sort of unspoken boundary.
Then he got a phone call instead, Peter’s adorably awkward contact picture filling his screen.
Of course he answered instantly, putting the phone to his ear. “Yes? I thought your generation hated phone calls, why am I getting one?”
A giggle from the other side. Tony grinned at that, ignoring how his heartbeat sped up ever so slightly at the sound. It meant nothing. He probably had heart issues and should get that checked out.
“Because it’s easier to call and talk things out than to text it all,” Peter told him helpfully.
He was looking through his closet, glaring slightly at the one suit he owned. He didn’t like it, for obvious reasons.
It was his funeral suit. It was also the suit he wore to homecoming his sophomore year. Not good memories. But he knew that suits were expensive and Mr. Stark liked going overboard.
“Were you serious about getting me a suit? Because really- I can just rent one. It’ll be okay. It’s one night.”
Tony made an offended noise. “Absolutely not. I’m getting you one. No date of mine will be showing up in some overpriced, used-“
“Date of yours? It’s my school dance, Mr. Stark,” Peter said flatly. But he was obviously smiling on the other side of the call.
“So? You’ll be with me, you’ll be fitted in the finest thing possible. Come by the tower tomorrow and I’ll have someone here to fit you for a suit. Custom. It’ll be perfect.”
Peter sputtered out a weak argument, but no real words really formed. “No- I can’t- you-“
“Absolutely no arguing with me. This night is going to be perfect for you. In every way.”
A moment of silence and Tony could only imagine the pretty pink blush that was on Peter’s cheeks. No, not pretty. Just-
Yeah, pretty. Sue him.
He was thankfully torn out of his thoughts when Peter cleared his throat before speaking again. It almost sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
It definitely wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“Thank you, Mr. Stark. This...it means a lot to me. That you want to do this with me. And that you’re willing to make it....”
“Perfect,” Tony finished when he trailed off. “Come on, I know this is important to you. Of course I’ll do everything I can to make it good.” He smiled to himself, ignoring the fuzzy warm feeling in his stomach. Damn heartburn. (Right, that’s what it was.) “Thank you for calling. I’ll pick up tickets later, then schedule a tailor to come by tomorrow to fit your suit. Sound good?”
Yeah, that was definitely a choked sob he heard. “Sounds good,” whispered Peter before abruptly hanging up.
Weird kid.
———
Everything had gone smoothly. Tony got their tickets and immediately handed them off to Pepper so they wouldn’t get lost, Peter was fitted for his suit and it was made perfectly, a beautiful bouquet of flowers was purchased, Tony made reservations for dinner, and he had a backup travel plan if Pepper convinced Peter that going in the iron man suit was a bad idea.
And then the night finally arrived.
Peter was nervous. And excited. Mostly excited with a little dash of nervousness.
He couldn’t help it. He was finally going to go to prom, the event hyped up from the time he was in elementary school. Seen in every teen movie, show, anything. Prom was obviously important. And he was definitely one for following important life milestones.
Even if they didn’t quite go as planned.
For one, he had been dumped by his girlfriend just before he was going to ask her to go with him. So that sucked. Then he waited and found no one else to go with. Until Mr. Stark stepped in. Which was an adventure on its own.
God, he was on an emotional roller coaster, up and down and upside down and-
Actually, the roller coaster was a pretty good analogy for what he was feeling. He had a weird fluttery feeling in his stomach, but he knew he was excited and couldn’t wait for what came next.
If only he knew what it meant.
He vaguely heard May open the door and he sucked in a sharp breath, doing a quick last check in the mirror.
He thought he looked good, not to brag. The suit was way more expensive than he even cared to know, but he thought it looked amazing. Sexy, even. The awkward, ugly prom suit stereotype was something he was glad to avoid.
His hair was in its natural curls, hanging loose and slightly messy but in what May assured him was ‘a cute way.’
Maybe it was simple. But it made him extremely happy.
So with that, he made his way out to the living room, unable to help the grin stuck to his face.
May covered her mouth with one hand, the other over her heart. “Oh-“ she walked to him, quickly pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You look so good. Handsome boy.” She smiled at him, gently brushing back his hair.
Peter blushed, laughing softly. “Thanks, May.” He glanced over her shoulder, cheeks flushing even darker when he saw Tony.
The man looked great.
Not that he didn’t always.
He looked like he was going somewhere way nicer than a high school prom. He looked so dapper, perfectly put together.
Peter couldn’t believe that the man had actually put all that effort in for him. To make him happy.
Mr. Stark really must have cared about him.
Then he noticed the huge bouquet of red and white roses that the man was holding. He had no idea how he had missed it in the first place.
He slowly stepped out from May’s touch, shaking his head to make her stop playing with his curls.
She made a sound of protest, but crossed her arms and moved to stand to the side.
Tony smiled fondly at Peter, expression conveying more love than was probably appropriate. Not that he would admit to it. He held out the roses, handing them over to Peter.
“I thought you’d like these,” he murmured, biting back a grin. “And it felt like an appropriate gift, given the circumstances.”
Peter nodded weakly, seeming in awe. He really couldn’t believe any of it was happening to him. It really was looking like the perfect night. He smelled the roses, smiling to himself. “They’re...amazing. Thank you.”
May took them from him, chuckling. “I’m gonna need two or three vases to fit all these....” she sighed, smiling. “But before I do that- ground rules. You.” She pointed at Tony. “I expect him home some time tonight. I say by...three. Not that you two will be attending any sort of party afterwards, that’s still the curfew.”
Peter opened his mouth to protest but closed it again. There wasn’t a point, it wasn’t like they’d be going anywhere after the dance. It wasn’t like they were an actual couple. They were going as friends. Friends didn’t have the same sort of after-prom expectations.
“Okay,” Tony agreed. “I’ll have him home by then, no worries.”
“Good. Next, if you do anything that embarrasses him or gives him a bad reputation these last couple months, I will hunt you down and kill you myself,” she threatened.
Tony snorted to himself, but nodded. “Of course. I’m just following his lead, he’s in charge here.” He winked at Peter quickly.
Peter shivered at that. He wasn’t quite sure what the older man meant with the action. He was in change for the night? Did he just mean because it was his prom or was there some other meaning he wasn’t aware of?
He couldn’t decide. So he just laughed a little and nodded.
“Right. That brings me to my final point,” May told them (but mostly Tony.) “Remember your relationship. He’s eighteen, Stark. Don’t do anything foolish in public that will bring bad press around either of you.”
Tony nodded instantly, but he felt like he was lying to her. He didn’t like that at all. “Of course. I wouldn’t even dream of making him look bad. And Pep has dealt with enough bad press from me, I don’t want to make things tougher on her.” As though the situation didn’t already look odd. “You don’t need to worry. Everything is going to be smooth, I won’t fuck anything up.”
May huffed. “You always seem to fuck something up. So your word doesn’t mean much. But you’d better keep to that. I don’t want to wake up to tabloids with the front picture being you groping my barely-legal nephew.”
“No problem, ma’am. Things won’t go south. Have some faith in me.”
“No.”
Tony huffed a laugh. “Okay. Fine.” He watched Peter, shooting him a sly smile. “Ready to go?”
The young man nodded, beaming. He went to Tony’s side, biting his lip as the man held his arm out. So he gently held onto his arm. “Bye, May. We’ll be- well, I’ll be back later. Love you!”
The woman laughed softly. “Have fun, Peter. But not too much fun, okay? And try not to just watch MJ all night.”
Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem. Peter already knew that if he was going with Mr. Stark, he wouldn’t have to worry about pining after MJ. Even if he didn’t want to think too much into why that was.
“I won’t, don’t worry. Love you, byyyyyye!” He called, trailing the last word as he left the apartment with Tony and closed the door behind them.
And with that, their night began.
———
Dinner was just incredible. Fancier than anything Peter had ever been to, for sure. But being with Mr. Stark somehow made it feel casual.
They left the restaurant and got back into Tony’s car - Peter had vetoed just being carried while Tony flew in the iron man suit.
Being in the fancy car, going to a school dance, was a bit too reminiscent of Homecoming and wrecking Flash’s car on the way to the Vulture’s lair. At least he wasn’t driving. And he was determined that he’d actually be staying at this dance.
Tony seemed to notice how he spaced out and hummed, gently setting one hand on his leg with the other still on the wheel.
Peter’s head jerked up at the action, eyes wide. “Huh?”
The hand was pulled away and Tony smiled weakly. “Sorry. Didn’t really think that one through. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He cleared his throat. “Having second thoughts?”
“What? No. No second thoughts. Thinking about....” he winced, shaking his head. “Just- really glad this time there’s no chance of my date’s dad trying to kill me.”
The older man laughed at that, a bit taken by surprise. But he was glad that Peter wasn’t having second thoughts. “Yeah, absolutely no chance for that. Don’t worry.”
They rode in relative silence after that, listening to whatever Tony had playing through the speakers. Some band that Peter probably knew the name of but would purposely get it wrong anyways.
Then they arrived at the venue. Tony parked the car, raising an eyebrow when he saw the ride next to them.
Peter easily identified it as Flash’s and had to keep Tony from ‘accidentally’ denting the door when he opened his own. That wouldn’t be okay, bully or not.
So Tony refrained from causing any harm to the vehicle, going to the passenger’s side and opening the door for Peter. He then held his arm out, smiling fondly at the young man.
The night was theirs.
Peter knew that Tony would have followed his wishes to stay under the radar and blend in, but sometimes it wasn’t up to them.
They were seen as soon as they stepped into the doors, whispers erupting throughout the room.
“There is no way,” someone nearby hissed.
Peter wished that his super hearing would calm down. He didn’t want to hear everyone’s disbelief at who he was there with. But he couldn’t really control that.
Then he heard the voice he absolutely dreaded. “Hey, Penis Parker!” Called Flash.
Peter couldn’t see him, but he even sounded smug. “What do you want?” He asked tiredly.
Flash materialized, leaning his elbow on Peter’s shoulder.
The other man tried to pull back, wrinkling his nose at the alcoholic smell coming off of Flash. The night had barely begun, that was fast.
“So,” he addressed Tony. “Is this like a charity thing? Taking a poor loser to his prom? Because-“
“Excuse me?” Tony sounded genuinely offended. On Peter’s behalf? Huh. “It’s not any sort of ‘thing’ other than taking my friend and colleague to an event. Because some people, like Peter here, can actually win their dates over with incredible personality.”
Flash started sputtering an apology, moving away from Peter. “Look- I didn’t- I- it was just a joke! Me and him are friends, we can joke like that!”
Peter gave him a look, lips pressed together. “I...no. Bye, Flash. Stay mad,” he commented, grabbing Tony’s hand and pulling him away.
Tony just wrapped a gentle arm around him, leaning in close as they walked away. “Cmon, ignore everyone else. We’re here to have some fun, right? Let’s dance.” He grinned, pulling Peter out onto the floor.
Everyone already knew that they were there. Why try to hide? They were going to have fun and everyone was going to know it.
Tony grabbed Peter’s hands, doing an odd little dance with him to whatever the song was. He couldn’t recognize it, he just knew that it had a fairly danceable beat.
Relief flooded him when Peter started to relax. His eyes no longer darted around at the stares and whispers and instead he was focused on Tony.
They danced, probably looking completely silly as they wiggled and spun each other to the music. But Peter was enjoying himself. And that was all that mattered to Tony.
As the song faded out and another one started playing in, Peter laughed, the sound clear despite the loud background.
Nothing else mattered. All that mattered was their little bubble of perfection. He and Peter. No one else.
The young man’s hair was tousled, curls loose since he had decided not to gel them down. He looked like an angel, soft and happier than Tony had ever seen him. As happy as he deserved to be all the time.
Peter deserved perfection and nothing else. Tony was just glad that he could contribute.
Then a slower song started and Peter awkwardly pulled away. “We can...sit this one out. It might be weird if we did this one. Just friends and all....” he didn’t look at Tony, eyes on the floor.
The older man watched him, slowly holding his hand out. “Peter, we can do this if you want to.”
The young man’s silence, but hopeful look towards the hand told him all that he needed to know.
“Will you dance with me, Peter?”
God, Peter’s heart was beating way too fast. But he was going to dance with Mr. Stark. And not how they had been before- this was intimate. Close. Something for- for lovers. Not friends, like they were.
But something in him desperately wanted it to mean more.
So he slowly looked up again, taking his hand and allowing himself to be brought close.
Tony smiled at him, expression soft and loving and definitely going to give him away. But he found that he really didn’t care. Not anymore.
He held Peter against his chest gently, swaying to the delicate crooning of the lyrics of whatever song was playing. He didn’t care what it was. All he cared about was Peter.
It was all about Peter.
The young man looked up at him, cheeks flushed lightly. He looked so beautiful. And happy. Everything he deserved.
“Mr. Stark....” he said quietly, heartbeat picking up.
“Please, call me Tony. It makes me feel incredibly wrong if you keep calling me Mr. Stark,” he murmured, still holding onto him and watching him.
“What do you mean? Wrong?” Peter asked, confused.
Tony sighed softly. “God, Peter. I shouldn’t tell you this. I shouldn’t be- okay. Okay. I can do this.”
The younger man could hear how his heart started racing.
“You’re...perfect. In every way. And doing this with you was a bit selfish on my part,” Tony started. “I know I just wanted to make sure you could come here and have fun. But being like this with you? I like it. Too much.” He started to let go, but Peter didn’t let him.
“Tony,” Peter said softly, beaming up at him. “Oh, I’m so glad I’m not alone.”
Tony wasn’t sure how to take that. Was it about the dance? Or what?
But he didn’t get much time to ponder it before Peter was leaning in and kissing him.
Oh.
The kiss wouldn’t have been anything special, it was little more than a peck in reality. But the fact that it was with Peter. His Peter. That made it special.
They broke apart only seconds later, both smiling big before leaning in for a second kiss.
“I love you,” Peter whispered, tucking his face into Tony’s neck.
Tony smiled to himself, swaying to the song again as he kept holding Peter. His Peter. “I love you too.”
And everything was perfect.
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tinyboxxtink · 3 years
Text
Build Me Up Buttercup *Part 6*
Okay this may be my favorite chapter so far. Actually screw it, it most DEFINITELY IS. 
NOTE: If you have never heard the song “Sparks Fly” by Taylor Swift, go listen to it NOW. Before you read this. And actually, you know what just listen to it while reading it, trust me.
If you need to catch up:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 7
Tag List: @wanniiieeee
“Uh, watcha doin’ there, detective?”
Sonny’s voice immediately brought you back down to earth. Your head bolted upright and you sprang away from Barba like he was suddenly on fire.
“What? Oh, nothing. What? You know I’m just, tired, you know-- long day,”
Words spilled out of your mouth quicker than you could think of them. God how embarrassing! Why would you even think of making a move on your ADA? In front of everyone?!
Was it a move though? I mean really. Did he have to just call it out like that? You had to get out of that booth.
“Y’know what actually I am going to run to the ladies room, that Hurricane really went right through me! Like a hurricane!” Again, the word vomit would not stop. You let out a pained awkward laugh and bolted from the table.
--
“REALLY, Caris?” Rafael gave Carisi a look that could kill him right there in the booth.
“What? I just---OW! Amanda, that hurt!” Sonny rubbed his thigh and looked at Amanda who was shaking her head.
--
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, you were beating yourself up in the mirror.
“What is WRONG with you?!”
You were yelling at your reflection, totally normal.
“Ugh…” you sighed, splashing water on your face and cupping your hands around your neck. You needed to wash this day OFF already.
Wait...that gave you an idea.
You peeked out of the bathroom to see everyone still at your table, so while they weren’t paying attention you made a mad dash out of the bar and to your car in the parking lot. You popped your trunk and began throwing things around.
“Please please please please…” You begged no one in particular, shoving empty water bottles and coupons onto the pavement.
“A ha! Yes!” you exclaimed in triumph.
You would never admit it, but you basically lived in your car sometimes. You probably had half your closet in here.
You pulled out a pair of hip hugger jeans and a t-shirt; your lucky t-shirt, to be precise.
Yes maybe it was stupid to have “lucky” items at your age, but you didn’t care. You and this t-shirt had been through some STUFF, and came out the other side together. If anything could turn this night around, it could. Sure it was a TAD too tight from so many washes, the writing on it was barely visible, and it may have had a tear or two, but you had altered it to make the damage look fashionable. At least, you thought so.
You knelt behind your car, trying to change discreetly. You kept a careful watch out, God knows the squad did NOT need another case right now. You tossed your blazer and dress shirt back into the trunk, slipped off your skirt and pulled on the jeans and t-shirt as quickly as you could, then you slammed the trunk shut and walked over to the driver’s side view mirror.
“Not bad; not bad at all detective,” you smirked at your reflection before locking your car and running back inside.
As you approached your table, you saw Barba notice you, and then NOTICE, you. His eyes grew and his mouth slightly opened. Okay so maybe sometimes you went a little overboard on trying to look “professional” around your squad-- this was probably the first time you even alluded to having chesticles.
“I’m sorry sweetie have you seen our co-worker?” Amanda asked jokingly.
“What? I needed to get this day off of me, you know?”
“Yes, off indeed,” Oliva raised her eyebrows.
“What is it too much? Should I change back?”
“NO” All three men responded in unison, then quickly looked around elsewhere like nothing happened.
“You’re fine,” Fin assured you.
“Yes you are,” Carisi blurted.
“REALLY Carisi?!” Barba almost slapped him across the table.
“What? I didn’t mean it like--” Sonny protested while pleading with a very offended Amanda. They started having their own little squabble as Barba scooted closer to you.
“You really do look nice,” He smiled.
“...In jeans and a t-shirt? Thanks,” You gave a smile back while you felt your face blushing.
“No, I mean, happier. I like seeing happy on you,” He smiled even more, fidgeting like he wanted to touch you but didn’t want foghorn Sonny going off again.
“OH. Um, yeah thanks. I like seeing you happy too, counselor,”  Your face was a full on skillet, you could fry an egg on them from the heat they radiated. You had to look anywhere else but his eyes or you might do something Carisi would DEFINITELY have something to say about.
“Ooooh! You know what else I do when I wanna get the taste of a bad day out of my mouth?” You changed the subject lightening quick as soon as you saw the stage across the room.
“Shots?” Amanda asked.
“Well, yeah obviously but--”
“AMBER did you hear that? Another round of shots!”
“DANCE,” you completely ignored Amanda’s antics. “I dance it out!” You pointed over to a small band who was testing sound equipment, obviously about to start a show.
“...Is she serious?” Fin muttered to Olivia.
“Is she drunk off ONE Hurricane?” Carisi raised his eyebrow.
“No come on-- Ugh! You guys cannot be that old.” you groaned.
“We might be,” Olivia half laughed.
“Too old to dance?!” You scoffed.
“In a room full of people, to country music? I don’t even have to be old to not wanna do that honey,” Fin put his hands up.
As they were all expressing their objections and insults, a scheme began running through your brain. Your eyes went from the band--- 2 guitarists, a drummer and a girl lead singer-- perfect. Your eyes then turned back towards Barba, who actually hadn’t protested your dance it out idea. PERFECT.
“Well I’m not old yet, I’m gonna dance it out to Tay Tay Swift!” You stuck your tongue out at the group and ran over to the band. The squad exchanged looks of disbelief while they watched you have a conversation with the band, and soon came running back over.
“Alright hey ya’ll we are Cactus Flower, how we feelin tonight?”
Scattered applause and drunken cheers answered her.
“Great...well, for our first song we’ve actually got a request, so this one is for you detective,” she smiled as the music started
It was relatively slow, so a few couples slowly began congregating on the dance floor. Other young girls squealed and formed a dance circle in a corner. Alright, it’s now or never, detective.
You started off dancing by yourself, just vibing to the song. You eyed everyone in your party, daring them to join you.
The way you move is like a full on rainstorm
And I'm a house of cards
You're the kind of reckless
That should send me running
But I kinda know that I won't get far
“Oh come on guys, you’re really gonna make me stand here looking like a moron?”
And you stood there in front of me
Just close enough to touch
Close enough to hope you couldn't see
What I was thinking of
“Baby girl, you're doin that all on your own!” Finn laughed.
You saw the thoughts mulling in Barba’s mind, glancing from you to the group and back to you again. Finally, to your delight, he shook his head and stood up.
Drop everything now
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk
Take away the pain
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
“You guys are cruel,” He remarked, walking right up to you.
“Can I have this dance?”
PERFECT.
He took your hand and spun you, you clumsily fell into his chest and looked into his eyes with a smile JUST as the song hit your target.
You glanced over to see the squad’s collective jaws on the floor.
Get me with those green eyes
Baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me
When you're not around
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
“....You know, my eyes are green.” he raised an eyebrow.
“Really? Huh. Go figure,” you batted your eyes innocently.
You were downright shocked that Rafael had not run screaming from the very obvious message of the song, and even more shocked the squad was allowing it. But you were not tempting anybody or anything by questioning it; you were just going to enjoy this dance, this moment.
My mind forgets to remind me
You're a bad idea
You touch me once and it's really something
You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be
I'm on my guard for the rest of the world
But with you I know it's no good
And I could wait patiently but
I really wish you would
You both continued to dance in silence, Rafael now listening very intently to every word of the song, and grinning more and more as it went on.
Drop everything now
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk
Take away the pain
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
Rafael spun you around in a big dramatic flourish, as he commented “I do have a gorgeous smile, don’t I?”
Get me with those green eyes
Baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me
When you're not around
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
“What? Hm? Can’t hear you,” You pretended you were too far away, then smirked when you twirled back into his torso.
“Mmmhmm,”
The song reached it’s interlude, the beat banging every word emphatically. Rafael pulled your arms up around his neck, just as the last chorus went into the soft breakdown.
I run my fingers through your hair
And watch the lights go wild
Just keep on keeping your eyes on me
It's just wrong enough to make it feel right
And lead me up the staircase
Won't you whisper soft and slow?
I'm captivated by you, baby, like a firework show
You looked into those green eyes, your head swimming. 24 hours ago this man was just your co-worker, a coffee snob ADA. And now, you were both in each other’s arms and staring at each other’s lips-- you closed your eyes as the song played.
Drop everything now
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk
“I um, I’m really sorry Y/N. I um...I need to go. To the...bathroom. I’m sorry just...I’m sorry,”
Take away the pain
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile….
You watch Rafael practically bolt off the dance floor and into the men’s room as you stood there alone while the song finished.
Get me with those green eyes
Baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me
When you're not around
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
What had just happened?
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wing-ed-thing · 3 years
Text
Cliché (shy!Reader x Might Guy, Part III)
Notes: OOOOOoooh boy. You know, I’m usually really insecure about my writing but I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Probably my favorite. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading as I did writing. Links to part I and II are on the Masterlist pinned at the top of my blog. Unfortunately, Tumblr won’t let this post show up in the tags if I link them here. Lots of love!
Warning for foul language and some sexual innuendo.
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It was a small step, but that small step began your blossoming bond with Might Guy. The both of you became almost inseparable. You didn’t know what it was exactly about him, but whenever he was near, you just felt at ease. Wherever you went, Guy accompanied you. Whenever Guy went to train, you were there if not to just spectate. It was apparent to the whole village that you were a good match, yet the two of you stayed near oblivious. Day by day, you grew bolder. You spoke more, laughed more, and for once it felt like you had a seat at the table in your own life. He balanced you as you balanced him.
“You can slow down sometimes, you know,” you would tell him, “Life isn’t a race, it’s meant to be savored.” He took your advice. At times where he normally would have been training for the umpteenth time, you would spot him taking his team out to dinner. When he normally would have run 500 laps around the village, he walked with you as the both of you chatted. You were still soft-spoken and Guy was still outgoing, but you had grown together. You thought you’d never see the day that Might Guy would become the closest person to you, but here it was. Even if you stayed friends, you would be happy.
It was the end of the training day. Your team was splayed out among members of Team Guy. All six children panted, catching their breath on the dirted training ground. Guy worked them hard today. You, well, you reminded everyone that water existed while you tended to the inevitable scrapes and bruises. You were always told that you had too much of a gentle hand when it came to training up Genin, but with Guy’s tough love attitude, both of your teams seemed to be benefiting from your mixed style.
“Alright Team, be sure to thank Guy-Sensei.” You announced as they gathered their kunai from around the field. They gave a tired yet resounding thanks to your colleague. Guy stood across the grounds and gave a thumbs up. One of your students came up to you.
“Do we always have to train with Team Guy?” she complained in a hushed tone. Your other students turned to face you, nodding in agreement. You gave a quiet laugh.
“And here I thought you liked spending time with Team Guy.” The kunoichi in training sighed. The two other boys stood beside her now, directly in front of you.
“We like Team Guy but Guy-Sensei always goes overboard!” one of your boys protested earnestly.
“Yeah,” the other pouted. “Just because you like having boring talks with Guy-Sensei doesn’t mean we should have to do all these crazy routines, (Y/N)-Sensei.” You blinked in shock for a moment before the shock turned into annoyance. Why these little-!
“I’m sorry.” You crossed your arms, a smile on your lips. Your brow twitched. “Do you want to run another 500 laps? Because that’s what I’m hearing right now.”
Your smile made your team uneasy. They passively felt your increasingly negative energy. Creepy. That was the end of those questions. They trudged back home as you trailed behind and walked with Guy.
“What did they want?” Guy asked, lightly bumping your shoulder with his.
“Who?”
“Your team!” he chuckled jovially. “It looked like they wanted to talk to ya.” Your students had begun to branch off at this point as they headed home. Guy continued to walk with you.
“Oh.” Your student’s words echoed through your head. Just because you like having boring talks with Guy-Sensei doesn’t mean we should have to do all these crazy routines, (Y/N)-Sensei. You kept your features light despite inwardly cursing those brats you loved so much. “Nothing! You know Genin. Complaining!”
You looked at Guy whose aura was as positive as ever. You really were smiling more, weren’t you? The both of you continued. In the distance, you saw two figures waving over to the pair of you.
“(Y/N), Guy, you’re just in time!” Kotetsu declared loosely. “Genma and them just got back from a mission!”
“We’re all getting drinks, the whole gang! You gotta come along,” Izumo chimed, “When’s the last time we were all in the village together?”
You did miss your friends and it had indeed been a long time. However, you didn’t know if the bar was the scene for you. Guy had already made up his mind.
“Aw yeah! I can’t wait to see everyone!” The two shinobi before you quite obviously pregamed before running into you, but Guy’s enthusiastic energy still matched theirs. You stood by, watching as the three hyped each other up for the night to come. You inched back.
“Um,” You started in a small voice, “I’ll see everyone later.” Despite their slight inebriation, Kotetsu and Izumo heard that.
“No! C’mon (Y/N)-chan, you gotta come!”
“Yeah you gotta come! We’re on missions tomorrow, and Kurenai and Asuma are being sent out the day after us! When’s the next time we’ll all be together?”
“When’s the next time we’ll be together, (Y/N)?”
Guy cleared his throat, putting a large hand on the shoulders of both men.
“Don’t pressure the lady. She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.” You could’ve melted right there. What a dream for introverts! However, you were trying to be bolder, to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while.
“No,” you peeped, “It’s okay, let’s go. I’m sure it’ll be… fun!” Guy gave you a look as if to ask if you were sure. You nodded.
Kotetsu and Izumo led you to the bar where the others were already seated. They migrated to the bar where Kakashi sat with Asuma and Kurenai. Anko seemed to have claimed a circular booth so both you and Guy slid down at one of the ends. Shizune and Ebisu greeted you as Genma called for another round for the table.
The bar was busy but not enough for you to mind. In fact, the more you drank, the less you minded about most things in general. Despite your earlier hesitation, you were starting to really enjoy the company. Listening to your fellow Jounin tell stories, your posture relaxed.  You had one leg slung over Shizune’s thigh as you leaned back against Guy, his arm coming up to rest on the top of the booth behind your shoulders.
“And this dude really fell! Like ‘BOOM’ flat on his face!” Genma narrated animatedly, slamming his open palm against the table. The glasses on the table jiggled. “When I picked him up I asked him, ‘Are you sure you have a bounty? Because you’re the easiest catch I’ve ever hooked!’” The booth was in hysterics. Even the ever-stoic Ebisu couldn’t hold back upon hearing his ex-teammate’s story. Tears welled up in your eyes from laughter as you felt the deep rumble of Guy behind you. You sat up.
“Excuse me!” You exclaimed, waving the short distance from your booth to the group at the bar. “Would someone please do me the favor of getting me another sake?” Your words slurred towards the end. Anko snorted.
“Well fuck, I didn’t think we’d be getting (Y/N) shitfaced tonight!” She cackled.
“I am not drunk!” You defended, accepting your third sake from Kakashi who leaned against the side of the booth with an amused look. “But I may be a little tipsy.” The table howled as Genma reached over to ruffle your hair.
Guy leaned down to whisper to you. His fingers came over yours, delicately taking the glass from your hands. “Maybe you should lay off the drinks right now.” He breathed in your ear. He set your sake down by the one he had been nursing all night. You turned to face him, your leg slipping off of Shizune’s. You leaned more into his shoulder. Guy tensed.
“Maito-Kun…” You whined. Guy was taken aback. Maito-Kun. That was new. He took in your features: the pout on your lips, your large eyes framed by silky strands of hair, the fact that you were slowly trying to reach for your sake cup. He moved it to the end of the table. His attention was drawn again to your lips as they moved. Guy had never paid particular attention to your lips before… wait, as they moved? Guy shook himself out of his thoughts as he realized you were speaking. Now wasn’t the time.
“What did you say?”
“I said I was fine, really. Please don’t worry about me.” You smiled up at him. Before he could answer, Izumo’s voice boomed from the bar.
“Guy! Kakashi!” He called, “Come do a shot with me and Asuma!” Guy hesitated.
“Go!” you encouraged, lightly prodding him with your elbow. He stood up, Kakashi giving him a pat on the back as they walked towards the bar.
“So,” Kotetsu started, sliding into the other end of the circular booth.  You retrieved your drink from where Guy placed it. “How long has that been going on for?” You waited for someone to respond, but no one did. You looked up and all eyes were on you.
“Who, me?” You inquired, taking a sip. Anko puffed.
“Yeah, you.” She took a swig from her drink. “You’re the one who Guy’s been feeling up all night.” You almost choked on your drink.
“What? No, no he hasn’t been-”
“‘Cause you’ve had a thing for him forever, haven’t you?” Kotetsu questioned. Your heart sank. How did he know? “I gotta hand it to you, (Y/N), I don’t think anyone thought you had it in you.” He shrugged. You didn’t think anyone knew about your crush on Guy. You looked over to Kurenai. There’s no way she told anyone right? Your eyes drifted to the man in question. Did he also know?
“Yeah,” Anko barked, “It was always so cringy watching you try to talk to him.” You tensed, the pit in your chest growing larger and more painful the more she spoke. Every word felt like a punch in the stomach.
“It was painful to watch,” Ebisu added. “Especially back in the academy.”
Anko continued, “But we’re all happy for you that you pulled it off, (Y/N). I wasn’t sure how much more I could take! You know, all the stuttering.”
It felt like there was a knot in your throat. You cleared it. Your cheeks had begun to burn from more than just the alcohol. You batted back the tears that began to gather in your waterline. They weren’t from laughing this time.
“Actually, Guy and I are just friends.” You corrected, hoping that you could end the discussion there. That sentence alone barely made it out. You prayed for this conversation to end. You murmured, “Always have been…”
“Heh, I’m sure.” Genma leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. He gave you a wink. “So what? Are you just thirsty for his, uh, Green Beast, huh (Y/N)-chan?”
“Genma!” snapped Shizune. “Stop being gross.”
At this point, you regretted coming. You felt crushed, like you could burst at any moment. All your energy went into maintaining a straight face. You would not be the one to cry in front of your friends at the bar. It was a silly promise to yourself that held your last shred of dignity. Luckily, the topic of conversation quickly changed. You suspected that Kotetsu and Shizune picked up on your discomfort while Anko and Genma were too out of it to notice the bluntness of their words. You have never felt such embarrassment. You wanted to leave. Guy stayed at the bar. It made you relieved, despite a small part of you wanting him to come back. Despite time passing, you couldn’t help but continue to feel dejected.
You couldn’t hold out for long. As you started to sober up, you whispered to Shizune that you were leaving. She gave you a nod and an apologetic look. You only planned on talking to Kurenai and Guy before you left. As you were getting up from the booth, that’s when you heard it.
“C’mon Guy, what about that one over there?” Izumo was gesturing towards a woman near the other part of the bar. You had to admit, she was beautiful. Much more beautiful than you thought you were. “You should go talk to her! Guy, when’s the last time you got, you know, some action?”
You didn’t want to hear the rest of that conversation. It all became too much for you. You weren’t sure if you were overwhelmed. Maybe it was the fact that you didn’t really want to come in the first place. Perhaps it was just the alcohol, but you felt wetness on your cheeks and you quickly made your escape.
You stood outside under the moonlight, surrounded by cool air. You began to shed silent tears, your hands covering your face. You wished you could’ve at least walked home first, but your legs felt locked, as if they would collapse if you tried more than just standing. How did everyone know about your secret? Were you that obvious? Was Guy just playing with you? Your face burned. You thought about the conversation between Guy and Izumo. You had no right to be upset about what Guy decided to do with his own life. He didn’t owe you a relationship of any kind. You knew that, but it wasn’t Guy you were upset with. It wasn’t Genma or Anko or Kotetsu or Izumo. It was- someone called your name. You turned your head slightly. It was Kurenai.
“I just-” you tried to wipe the tears from your face, but they only kept flowing- “You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”
“Tell anyone what?” She came to stand in front of you.
“About my crush on Guy-San.” You felt like a Genin, like a child all over again getting upset about something as dumb as a boy. Shame coursed through your body.
“No, I didn’t.” Kurenai reassured you softly as she pulled you into an embrace.
“I know you didn’t,” You cried into her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I just feel so pathetic.” Your friend patted your head slightly.
“You’re not pathetic, (Y/N).”
“I just-” A sob wracked your body- “I feel like everyone thinks so! Why am I like this, Kurenai?” You shook violently. “I just, I just feel… horrible right now. I’m sorry, Kurenai.”
“Shh… don’t be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry about. You know how Genma gets when he’s had too many. And everyone knows Anko is a mean drunk.” Your friend whispered.
You let out another sob, “She is a mean drunk!”
Kurenai smiled at you. “Yeah, she is. Let’s get you home. We can talk more when we get you home.” And that’s where you went.
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totaldramafan-lauri · 3 years
Text
Friday Night Funkin’: Mid-Fight Masses VS. Lina outline
So.....I said I wouldn’t ever write again.....b-but things changed. I-I got.....ideas, and was.....e-encouraged to write them out. >//////>
I dunno how to really.....explain what this is. I know I won’t ever be able to make my own mod, this is just.....what one would look like if I could. This is going in my fic tag, but it’s not a full-blown fic. It’s a script. B-but that still counts as writing for me, so....into the fic tag it goes.
This makes more sense if you read Lina’s profile, so you better understand who she is, but it’s not a requirement (also that profile is pretty big, pfffff). I....I think this still gives a pretty good picture of what she’s like.....?
I might do more with her in the future. MIGHT. W-we’ll see.....I do have a few ideas, it’s just a matter of motivation.....I do know that future stories would take place after the events here.
S-so, uh.....that’s about it. I’m happy that I got this outta my system, after it’s been in my head for weeks. X////D I-I went through, like....three different “drafts”, before settling on this, so.....e-enjoy, I guess!
( @fnf-writing-and-simping H-hey, it’s me, you don’t have to read if you don’t want, b-but.....I did finish it! - Zavonon)
~Intro~
Succumbing to my own fears and worries I’m in the background of my own story In these pages, I spill them, refill them Feelings I won’t share When it’s too much to bear Wishing to be someone I can never be Hopeless dreams that I chase wholeheartedly Why must I yearn for things out of my reach?
???: Little Lina?
*Lina looks up from her notebook to see Sarvente looking at her, and she quickly closes it. The church is completely empty aside from the two of them*
Lina: M-Ms. Sarvente-
Sarvente: Services are over for the day!
Lina: O-OK... S-sorry, lost track of time again...
Sarvente: It’s quite alright! You know how much I appreciate your company, little Lina. Thank you for all your help!
Lina: *looks away shyly* I-it’s no problem...*she stands up and heads for the door, although she also seems to look around a bit*
Sarvente: Have a good week~!
*Lina looks over her shoulder and waves at Sarvente*
*Once outside, Lina looks back at the church again, opens her notebook, and writes in a new page, humming to herself the rhythm of the song she was writing to keep it in her head*
Just left. I didn’t see him at all today...Weren’t that many people there in general, though.
*Lina sighs sadly and looks back in front of her, only to see herself face-to-face with....*
Boyfriend: Beep bo?
Lina: *yelps and jumps back* AH! Wh-what!?
Boyfriend: Beep?
Lina: A-ah, s-sorry for yelling....y-you surprised me.....*she takes a second to catch her breath* U-uh.....who....?
Boyfriend: Bop bo beep!
Lina: .....S-sorry, I didn’t quite- hear that, uh....I-if you were going over there, uh....S-services just ended, so....uh....*mumbling (symbolized by smaller text)* y-yeah.....*starts to walk away*
Girlfriend: What were you writing?
Lina: *she immediately brings her notebook to her chest protectively* H-huh? E-excuse me-?
Boyfriend: *steps towards her curiously* Bop bop bo bee-
Lina: *steps back* I-I wasn’t writing anything!
Boyfriend: Skadop beep!
Lina: N-no, I wasn’t writing anything!
Girlfriend: My boyfriend wants to know if you write music! And if you do, could you show him?
Lina: *she feels her heart skip a beat as she’s found out by crazy random chance* I....I-I don’t-
Boyfriend: Boop
Lina: N-no, wait-
~First song: Preamble~ On the slower side, but still has a rhythm to it (I’d imagine it picks up a bit after a certain point, but not by much). Like in “Lo-Fight”, Boyfriend starts. The song fits Lina’s shy, reserved personality as she clearly is very nervous singing. Her inexperience at rapping makes the song pretty simple and easy to beat. There are a few long notes in there to make it sound like she’s singing at parts.
Lina: O-oh gosh, I can’t believe I did that....ah, so embarrassing.....!
Boyfriend: Bop beep bo beep!
Girlfriend: You have a really nice voice.
Lina: D-don’t lie to me please....Th-that was awful....*hides her face in her hand*
Boyfriend: Beep beep
Lina: S-sorry.....but, um....please leave me alone- *turns to walk away, but Boyfriend and Girlfriend follow her*
Girlfriend: You should sing more!
Lina: S-stop.....
Girlfriend: But you should!
Lina: N-no I shouldn’t!
Lina: P-please go away....I’m....n-not good at anything....
Boyfriend: Beep ba?
Lina: I-I’m just a huge coward....th-that’s all I am, a coward.....I-I can’t handle stuff like this....
Lina: Ms. Sarvente would know what to do.....Sh-she’s probably better than me at everything....
Lina: *stops walking* .....
Boyfriend: ?
Girlfriend: ?
Lina: O-OK....I’ll try again....if it’ll make you leave....
~Second song: Envious~ A lot faster and more difficult than the previous song, with some rapid-fire back and forth. The most difficult song of the mod, but not overwhelmingly so. There’s at least one nod to “Parish”. The mood is that Lina is pushing herself too far to the point of stress. She’s not having a good time.
*after the song ends, Lina is completely out of breath*
Lina: *panting* W-was.....that.....good....enough....?
Boyfriend: Boop ba beep?
Lina: I-I’m.....OK.....j-just gimme a second.....*huff huff*.....S-see? I told you, I’m...not good at this....
Girlfriend: Well, you didn’t need to try so hard. It’s not a competition.
Lina: N-not a-?
Girlfriend: Yeah! We just wanted to hear you sing more!
Boyfriend: Beep beep!
Lina: ....Y-you weren’t trying to bother me? O-oh...
Lina: I-I’m sorry.....I might’ve gone a bit overboard....Th-that isn’t how I usually, uh.....*too embarrassed to finish the sentence*
Girlfriend: You’re still really good.
Lina: I-I’m not....th-this is just a hobby I do when I’m alone....I-if you really wanna listen to someone who’s talented and confident, you should....go see Ms. Sarvente sometime....Sh-she’s looking for new members anyway....
Boyfriend: ......Skbeep?
Lina: .....Th-that reaction.....Do you know Ms. Sarvente?
Boyfriend: Beep!
Girlfriend: We’ve....met her, yeah.
Lina: .....O-oh.....gosh, I didn’t know! I-I’m so sorry! I-I thought you were just- uh- I-I’m sorry!
Boyfriend: B-boop boop ba!
Lina: Th-there I go, being a nuisance again.....Ha...hahaha.....*she smiles for once as she laughs nervously*
Lina: I really am sorry....I-I’ve never seen you before at the church, so I didn’t know.....
Girlfriend: It’s fine. We were just passing by, when we heard you humming.
Lina: Th-this whole thing’s been a mess....I-I’ve been so rude, crap.....
Lina: Why am I always like this....
Boyfriend: Beep beep?
Lina: H-huh....did you say something about.....one last song....?
Lina: Ummm....uh.....*she looks around to see if there’s anyone else around, doesn’t see anyone*......S-sure.....J-just for fun this time. And to put this behind us....OK?
Boyfriend: Ba beep!
~Third song: Unwind~ Easier and slower-paced than the last song. Has a laid-back feel to it. If I had to compare it to something, I’d compare it to “Fading”, but less bittersweet. Lina’s calming down and warming up to Boyfriend, and maybe even enjoying herself for once! There’s more singing than rapping. It’s symbolizing that she’s staying more in her comfort zone rather than unfairly pushing herself.
Lina: I-I hope that was better...
Boyfriend: Beep bop ba bop!
Lina: S-sorry again for being such a coward....Y-you two don’t seem so bad....Uh, I hope it’s OK to say that...
Girlfriend: Will you sing again sometime?
Lina: .....I, um.....dunno....*which means: “probably not”*
Lina: B-but.....this was.....kinda fun, I guess.....
Girlfriend: We had a good time, too! What’s your name?
Lina: Oh, uh.....I-I’m Lina....
Girlfriend: Well, maybe we’ll see you around sometime, Lina!
Boyfriend: Beep beep!
Lina: Uh....y-yeah....? M-maybe....
*Boyfriend and Girlfriend leave, satisfied with what they heard. Lina awkwardly waves at them as a goodbye*
Lina: *mumbling* Whew....here’s hoping I never have to do something like that again....
*Lina begins to walk away, but looks back at the church (in her worry that her and Boyfriend had been too loud)....and sees a tall figure in the window...Is that who she thinks it is? In her curiosity, she steps closer to get a better look, and sure enough...*
Ruv: ...
*noticing that he’s looking right at her, Lina’s cheeks flush bright red and her eyes widen, as she looks back at him like a deer in headlights*
Lina: ...
Ruv: ...
Lina: ... *looks away, blushing even more*
*gripping her notebook (which she’d been holding this whole time) tightly, she turns and runs away as fast as she can*
Why must I yearn for things out of my reach...?
*the mod closes with a screen that says “Dedicated to dokki.doodlez”*
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concealeddarkness13 · 3 years
Text
WHG 15 Post-Games Imposter Syndrome Part 23
The day after part 22! Tagging: @sparkles-and-hens, @knmartinshouldbewriting, @maple-writes, @pen-of-roses, @thoughts-of-nora, and @ratracechronicler (also thanks for Hugo!)!
The next day, I snuck out after Hugo and the dumb Peacekeepers taking him. I didn’t show myself until the Peacekeepers had already dropped him off. I just slid in next to him and grinned and winked.
He stared at me for a few seconds before he just looked away, as if he was completely unsurprised. When we walked up to the captain, she frowned at us. “Another one?”
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am! They wanted to see how well I was, working on a ship.”
She just beckoned for us to follow her, and I followed with a grin. I already loved her. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to punch her. The crew had gathered for a meal, and we went there. She looked back at me. “You got a name, swab?”
It couldn’t hurt to say my full name. I smiled. “Triel Reeves.”
She paused for a second with a frown, but then she just shrugged. Perfect! “Fresh blood, everyone.” I grinned wider. I hadn’t been just a crew member on a ship for a year. She lowered her voice and turned back to me, pointing out the cook and the quartermaster. “And that over there’s the other greenhorn we can’t get a name out of. You two’ll be working together tarring the ratlines.” Oh boy! “Hope you like heights. First things first, though.” She walked over to the quartermaster and talked with him for a second.
He yelled for everyone to get ready to set sail. And called for us to haul lines to help unfurl the sails. Perfect! I grinned as we climbed and got started. This was so familiar!
“Fancy meeting you here,” Hugo said quietly. Oh yeah. There was a reason I was here.
I shrugged and kept my voice too lighthearted. “Well, I guess the Capitol decided this would be good for me.” I paused and grinned again. “Anyway, I haven’t done this kind of work for a while. I love heights.”
He rolled his eyes at my first comment. Good. He got the lie. As we switched new lines to haul, he spoke up. “And how do you feel about tar?”
“Hey, I love everything to do with ships. And I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.”
He didn’t respond. We finished up with our task and started with tarring the lines shortly after. We climbed up with brushes as the bosun hauled the tar bucket up with a pulley.
I just kept grinning. This was amazing! But the air felt hard to breathe. It wasn’t affecting my memory, like it did with Hugo, but something was going on. I felt a little more peaceful. Less willing to fight. As I started working, I nodded. “I can see what you mean about the air. It’s affecting my thoughts a little.”
“I try to breathe through my shirt sometimes, although I can’t say the smell is preferable.” He smirked, but it didn’t last. “Yeah. Just…try and remind yourself of things. Y’know, in the past. Hold onto memories you don’t want to lose. You shouldn’t’ve come out here and risked…I don’t know why you did this.”
Because you’re my friend, and I won’t let you be alone. I tried for humor first. “Like I could ever forget you.” But then I became serious again. “And I wasn’t going to leave you to suffer alone. I probably won’t be able to come every day, and the Capitol might realize what I did and not let me come at all after this. But I’m not going to leave you alone. It’s just an added bonus that I might be able to punch some bastards today.”
He perked up at the last sentence. “Well, I’m obligated to admit some of these salts’re okay, but the bastards’re fair game for punching. I will emphatically do nothing to stop you should you feel punchy.”
“Noted.” I looked around as I kept tarring. The question was: who were the salts and who were the bastards? “I must admit, they’ve done their homework. This is remarkably like the real thing.”
He nodded, and he sounded spiteful. “Yeah. But I bet it’s just like an old arena or—I think I already said that. Never mind. So, uh, you…but you have been with the real thing, though. The real ocean and everything. It’s…what’s different? Does the ship still pitch like this? And the jobs—do you…Do you think maybe I’d do good out there, with the real thing?” He sounded more hopeful now.
I watched him with a smile before I said anything. He was doing very well. He seemed to be at home here. “It pitches worse, sometimes. I’ve been through a couple of storms, and it’s an adventure. The air is saltier than this, and the wind blows a lot more most of the time. There are times when it’s completely still, and we have to row to move the ship. And you’re certainly promising. I’ll make sure you get your sea legs yet.”
He looked so excited, but before he could say anything else, the bosun yelled up at us. “HEY! WHICH ONE OF YOU IDIOTS JUST GOT TAR ON MY FUCKING UNIFORM?! These things don’t grow on trees, you know! Do I look like a ratline to you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Like hell we did,” I muttered. While Hugo mimed dumping the rest of the bucket on the bosun’s head.
We climbed down, and the stupid bosun was stomping around, muttering under his breath. But of course he made his words loud enough for us to hear when we got down. “Arena-saboteurs like that good-fer-nothing Carolee.”
Oh boy. So, he was certainly one of the bastards. He glanced over at us and threw the tar bucket at Hugo, who caught it, but the tar still got all over him. Shit. I whirled on the bosun and punched him straight in the face.
He fell down way too easily. Weak. I spit at his feet and stood over him crossing my arms. “You piece of shit. You’d already have been thrown overboard if you were on my ship.”
He lunged for me, but it was so weak, he just brushed past me. But Hugo lunged for the bosun and punched him in the gut. “Not to my friend, you don’t!”
I felt a twinge of happiness, and I grinned as bastards jumped from the quarterdeck or burst through a door. Perfect. I started grinning. This was going to be fun!
Okay, most of it was a blur, but I totally punched the woman with the bucket so that the bucket flew and hit one of the two people trying to corner Hugo. Someone decided to bring a mop, but I just ripped it out of his hands and snapped it, but I lost it when someone got a punch in. There were too many, and I kept getting hit, but when I stumbled Hugo was there, and he helped me out of the way of the bosun trying to get a good kick in. Loser.
When the quartermaster finally broke it up, Hugo was on the ground, and I helped him up with a grin. I bowed my head at the quartermaster. “I’m sorry about that fuss. I just had to defend my friend’s honor.” I gestured at Hugo, and he still had tar on him. And now blood. Nice.
“I don’t care about anyone’s honor—I care about who’s starting stupid fights on this ship. You’re lucky I saw it wasn’t you two.” He hauled the bosun to his feet and pointed at one of the others who had been part of the fight. “Help that one to the infirmary, and you don’t get to see the galley until tomorrow. I’ll see you all get double duty for this, and you’ll thank me to not break out the cat o’ nine.” He hesitated. “We don’t…actually have one, but still. Behave your damn selves. We’re not pirates, for heaven’s sake.” I made a face at him after he pointed us to a new task. Cleaning the toilets, of course.
Hugo smirked over at me at the pirates comment, and I shot him a middle finger back. I was still angry over the stupid bosun. I couldn’t believe he actually did that. “No, you are worse than pirates. We would never turn on one of our own like that. And if someone did, I would have gotten rid of them immediately.”
We started working, and Hugo glanced over at me. “So, are you not allowed to mess with each other? Well, I know that guy wasn’t just messing around…I think he knows something about what we did. I don’t think anyone else does. And now we pissed him off…” He frowned but shrugged. “Heh. He knows what’s coming to him if he tries crossing us, eh, hat lady?” He grinned.
I grinned back. “Yeah, if he even looks at us funny, I’m going to deck him again.” I paused. “And we do a lot of stupid shit to each other. One time, Tess put two-sided stickers on the way up to the crow’s nest, and it took ages for Lily to even notice she had stickers that said ‘fuck you’ on her palms. And Shine—” Shit. Not again. I forced myself to continue. “They always threw machine parts at everyone. I think they secretly had a stash of parts just for throwing.” I paused, swallowing hard and pushing the thoughts away. “And Nesri likes sparring, so we have fight nights, especially between her and Tauren.”
“Secret stash.” Hugo snickered to himself. But he didn’t say anything else.
I just kept working, trying to figure out what the air was doing. It wasn’t affecting my memory, so what else? Either way, it was starting to feel suffocating. I snarled. “I can’t believe you have to deal with this shit every day. This air is suffocating.”
“You shouldn’t have to deal with it too. You shouldn’t have come here.” He bristled, but then he calmed down again. “…But I’m kinda glad you did. But don’t come back.”
I scoffed. “I’ll decide if I come back or not.” I paused. It would be good to distract him. “So, you’ve heard all about my friends. Would you like to talk about yours?”
He nodded wearily to my first sentence, and then he coughed. “What? Why?” A little defensive, but understandable. “Uh. Well, I guess if we’re ever gonna be all on a ship together…”He mouthed something to himself before he started. “There’s Alex. He’s the popular one. Our resident hero.” He snickered. “Wants to be the guy with the sword, taking on demon pirates robbing us, i.e. normal pirates. Good guy. Mean cook too, though—galley’s probably where he’s headed, to be honest. And there’s Luc, stands for Lucifer, but they’ve got him cleaning up at the church! Met him out thieving, which should tell you how much of a saint he is. You’d like him. Always spoiling for a fight. He’ll be a gunner for sure. Wonder if he’s caught the guy he’s trying to reap vengeance on by now…Anyway, then there’s Tally. Do not pick on him. I will kick your ass. He’s a quiet kid, but he’s alright. Shy around people, but he can play a sharp guitar and spin a tale that’ll singe the hair off your brow. Big on animals and nature and stuff, good at building…okay, traps for hunters, so maybe he’ll be okay as a carpenter? I dunno what good’s a carpenter gonna do on a ship like yours. But we’ll be useful.”
I nodded. They sounded wonderful. “They’ll do very well on my ship. As will you.” I smiled over at him. “They sound like wonderful people. I’ll be happy to meet them. And what job would you like to do on my ship?” I cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Oh, I’ll be happy just to be there.” But it looked like he had something in mind.
I grinned. “Well, then I’ll make a new job: The Person Who’s Just Happy To Be Here. And you can walk around grinning the whole time.”
“We all know that’s exactly what sullen teenagers are for.” He gave me his best scowl.
I grinned back at him. And we kept working, until the ship landed back at the harbor. The Peacekeepers came and took Hugo, and I followed. They finally noticed me a little bit later and stopped and stared at me for a few seconds.
One of them pointed at me. “You! You’re not supposed—”
And I punched her too. Enough to make her fall unconscious, and then I whirled on the other Peacekeeper and did the same. I called for Hugo to run, and we both ran together.
When we got to the entrance, Hugo copied my bow with a grin, and he ran off. I grinned after him and ran off, back toward my prison.
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If There’s a Place I Could Be - Chapter Seventy Nine
If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag
February 6th, 1987
Remy woke up from his dream with a start, looking around. He was still in his bedroom, which was a promising sign. He couldn’t go to his parents with a scary dream, seeing as last time his mother sent him back to bed with a growl and a threat, but he wanted to make sure everyone was still alive.
He crept into his parents room, and saw the steady rise and fall of his mom and dad’s chests. He tip-toed across the hallway and peered into Vanessa’s room, confirming she was breathing as well. He slipped into Toby’s room, to find Toby reading a book by flashlight. “Hey,” Toby said softly. “Bad dreams?”
Remy reluctantly nodded. He pointed at the book. “Mom and Dad told you not to stay up all night reading.”
Toby shrugged. “Don’t tell them I did? If you don’t, I won’t tell them anything you say tonight. Want to talk about your dream?”
“A little,” Remy admitted.
Toby patted his bed and Remy climbed up on it, sitting at the foot of the bed as Toby patiently listened to him.
  January 5th, 2003
Remy felt the shift on the bed before he really registered anything else around him. Without thinking, he rolled over and wrapped an arm around Emile in bed, murmuring, “You okay, honey?”
He didn’t get a response, and that’s when he cracked an eye open, to find Emile struggling out from under Remy’s arm, crying. Remy retrieved his arm and pushed himself upright in bed. “Emile? Honey?”
Emile was still crying and whimpering, but his eyes were squeezed shut tight and he didn’t show any signs of being awake. Remy’s hand touched Emile’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze, and Emile bolted upright in bed with a gasp, shaking like a leaf. “Emile? Are you awake?”
Looking over to Remy, Emile paled and Remy blinked once, twice. Remy wasn’t getting any verbal responses, and his worry was only growing. “Emile,” Remy said softly. “Are you okay?” Remy reached a hand out and Emile flinched. Remy retreated like he had been burned. “...I’m gonna give you your space, honey, okay? Whenever you’re ready to talk, come get me.”
And with that, Remy left the room. He went to his old room, which Emile had been helping Remy turn into a mini-office until they could move somewhere bigger and Remy could get “a proper office” as Emile had put it.
He laid down on the bed in the corner of the room and stared at the ceiling. Obviously, Emile had a nightmare of some kind. Something involving Remy. Remy wanted to help, but he knew that if Emile had a nightmare with him in it, it might be counterintuitive to force Emile to hang around Remy until he felt better.
Remy was drifting off to sleep, worry about Emile swirling in his head when there was shuffling in the doorway. Remy cracked an eye open to find Emile standing there, pale as a ghost. “Mm?” Remy asked.
Emile opened his mouth, before shutting it again. He looked at the floor, then up at Remy, unshed tears in his eyes. “Promise me that you won’t drink or smoke.”
Remy blinked, uncomprehending for a second before he said, “Honey, I’ve never smoked and I haven’t drank in years, and I promise I would never do either of those things in excess. What brought this on?”
“...Had a bad dream,” Emile said reluctantly. “You got high and...wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Oh,” Remy said, not really sure what else to say. “And you’re...worried I might do that in real life?”
“No, no. No, I don’t think you’d ever do that in real life, inebriated or otherwise,” Emile said, sitting down on Remy’s bed. “I just worry about what would happen if you did get drunk or high, and someone else didn’t have your standards of character.”
“Wait...” Remy said, frowning. “You have...a very vivid dream of me...doing that...to you, so vivid that you flinch away from me when you first wake up, and you worry about me being violated once you’re fully awake? You’re not...mad at me for it?”
“It was a dream, Rem, I’m not going to hold you accountable for a dream,” Emile said. “But...this is a college town. You’ve been to parties, so have I. And...it’s not like we’ve never had close calls.”
“Wait...what?” Remy asked, blood running cold. “We’ve had close calls?”
“Back when you still drank at parties. Like, drank enough to actually get depressed and not remember much. You were getting hit on by a junior back when you were still in college. I had to drag you back to the dorms with the promise of Halloweentown?”
“She was...she was trying to...?” Remy stammered.
“It looked that way. I thought I told you,” Emile said with a frown.
“Oh, my God. If you did, I forgot about it entirely,” Remy said. “I mean, I know I’m dumb when I’m drunk, but...”
“Hey, this is not a matter of smart or dumb. This could happen to anyone,” Emile said. “And I’m very thankful it didn’t happen to you. But I don’t ever want it to happen to you, or have a chance of happening to you, again. So I don’t want you drinking or smoking.”
“...Honestly, that’s such a good reason to stay sober,” Remy said. “Like, if you think I’m not going to drink champagne at our wedding, you’re dead wrong, but I’m not getting drunk off it.”
“And you wouldn’t...”
Remy shook his head. “Mio amore, let’s be honest here. I couldn’t afford a cigarette habit, let alone anything heavier. I’m safe, you’re safe, neither of us are going to get into trouble over that sort of thing.”
Emile blew out a breath. “Okay...okay. You’re right. I might have gone a little overboard in the fear department.”
Remy shook his head and leaned up to kiss Emile’s temple. “You had a vivid dream. It happens. And if it will help you sleep better, I’ll keep away from the alcohol except when cooking.”
“Yeah, I think that would help...” Emile took a breath. “I know it doesn’t exactly inconvenience you, but I’m still sorry that you would have to take those extra steps.”
“I’m not,” Remy said. “If it helps you feel better, I’ll do it happily. Besides, it’s probably better to not get in the habit of drinking whenever I feel like it anyway.”
“I mean, drinking a little is not a bad thing,” Emile sighed. “I admittedly feel a bit like I’m overreacting. But not enough to tell you to not take those extra steps.”
“And like I said, I don’t mind taking them if it helps you feel at ease,” Remy said, hugging Emile. “What say you to an early morning walk when virtually no one else is awake, just because?”
“Sounds like it would be chilly, I’m not sure...” Emile said.
“Hmm...then what about we make breakfast, together, just to spend some time together?” Remy proposed.
Emile smiled. “I can definitely get behind that.”
Remy grinned. “Excellent! Come on, let’s get to work!”
Dragging a laughing Emile to the kitchen, Remy grabbed the things they needed for a small breakfast. He didn’t want to do anything too huge, just enough to get both of their minds off of Emile’s nightmare. “What do you say to an egg sandwich?” Remy offered.
“Sounds perfect,” Emile said with a little smile.
Remy nodded and started to grease up a pan, while Emile got the bread slices toasting. “You want turkey on it, too?” Remy offered.
“Oh, that sounds great,” Emile said, rubbing his hands together.
Remy grabbed sliced turkey from the refrigerator and tossed it in the pan. As it sizzled and cooked, Remy looked over to Emile, who was staring at the toaster in consternation. “You okay?” he asked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah,” Emile said, shaking his head slightly. “I was just caught in my own thoughts. Dice said he was going to call me soon-ish.”
“Yeah?” Remy asked. Admittedly, he had forgotten that Dice was still looking for Toby. He had been swamped between working on research for Sleep Easy and still working at the other shops in the area.
“Yeah. He said that almost all his contacts had gotten back to him, and he would call me if he got something sooner than our arranged meeting, but I haven’t gotten a phone call or an email yet.”
“Ah,” Remy said, feeling a little disappointed. Dice had said they were “eighty percent done” for two months now. He didn’t know how long this whole thing would take, but he didn’t think it should be this long. Remy removed the turkey from the pan and put it on the waiting slices of toast before cracking open eggs. “Are you hopeful about the next meet-up?”
“Honestly? Yeah,” Emile said. “I mean, it’s been months. Something has to give eventually. And I really trust Dice. I don’t know why, but I do. He’s not just half-heartedly searching, I’ve asked him to go more in-depth about his searches with me and he has. He’s really looking, Rem. He’ll find Toby.”
“Yeah,” Remy sighed. “I just wish that it would happen sooner, rather than later.”
Emile offered Remy a small, sad smile. “I know. It’s not easy to wait for anything, but especially something like this.”
“Tell me about it,” Remy griped. “Like, I knew if Dice was any good, he’d take his time, but it’s been literal months and we haven’t gotten any further than ‘eighty percent close’ and it’s...enough to make me want to bang my head against a wall. I’m just...frustrated.”
“Yeah,” Emile said softly.
Remy sighed and ran a hand down his face before dishing up the eggs. “I don’t want to talk about this so in-depth. I don’t need that kind of stress in my life right now. Houses. Do we have an estimate on houses?”
“A couple,” Emile said, nodding. As Remy threw a bit of spices onto the sandwiches he said, “There’s a few townhouses for sale nearby. I say nearby, it’s like a fifteen minute drive. Forty five minute commute to college by car, we’ll have to coordinate a lot more when it comes to who gets the car when.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Remy said, passing a sandwich to Emile. “I think we could make it work, though. And, we wouldn’t have to deal with my mother coming around anymore.”
“True,” Emile said with a little grin. “Should I call the realtors? See if we can get something set up?”
“Definitely,” Remy agreed. “I want to see these townhouses for myself.” Emile grinned and Remy smiled back. “It’s weird being an adult. I thought adults have everything together, always. When in actuality you’re just flying by the seat of your pants with actual lives at stake.”
That earned a snort from Emile, and Remy laughed. “It’s true!” he defended.
“I never said it wasn’t,” Emile said. “That is...painfully accurate.”
Remy sighed and shook his head. “I’m...more stressed than usual recently. I didn’t want to say anything at first, but I think you ought to know. The new shop is amazing, but it adds an extra layer of work to everything I already need to do, and it’s stressful.”
“Should we get a computer?” Emile asked. “So you don’t have to go to the library to do research?”
Remy grimaced. “A computer is a lot of money, Emile.”
“So’s gas money when you have to research stuff at the library for your shop,” Emile said with a shrug. “In the long run, it might be cheaper.”
Remy shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “Maybe once the shop is doing comfortably.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Emile agreed. “I can’t wait for the day you open it up and there’s a line going out the door.”
Remy laughed. “Come on, Emile. My coffee’s good but it’s not that good.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Rem,” Emile warned.
“I don’t think I am, I’m just being honest,” Remy said. “Of course I’ll puff myself up in advertisements, but I know I’m not perfect, and I always have room to learn and improve. My coffee is good, yeah. The blends I make when the managers let me use leftover grounds are unique in a good way. But...this is going to be a lot of work, and there’s going to be a lot of room for self-doubt.”
Emile tutted. “Come on, Rem, you’ll do fine.”
“You say that now,” Remy laughed, somewhat hysterical.
Emile kissed Remy softly, and Remy melted into the kiss, letting all of his stress melt away if only for a brief moment. “I’m sure you’ll do amazing, Rem. This is you. You won’t let your business go under if you have any means of saving it. I doubt you’ll even need saving in the first place. I’ve heard people talking about your shop who I haven’t even talked to about it. All our friends are in your corner. You’ve got this.”
Remy smiled softly. “You really think so.”
“I do,” Emile said.
“Then what could possibly go wrong?” Remy asked with a grin. “I’ve got you and our friends on my side, this’ll be great!”
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pixieposts · 3 years
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Febuwhump Day 4: Impaling
AO3
Todays tags are:
Impaling
Major Character Death
Have Fun!
The world was muffled, the ever-present sound of the waves and the roll of oncoming thunder near silent as Fjord dropped the Star Razor to the deck.  The sight before him could not be real, it just couldn’t be, it was too much.
The proof was right there, a corpse, snow white and pierced through the chest by the spear the harpy had thrown right before his eldritch blast had hit her.  
The unnatural pallor made his hair stand out even more than usual, made the blood covering his chest look almost fake.  It was too bright, was blood always that bright?  
This couldn’t be real.
Beau had knelt behind the body (which Fjords mind staunchly refused to accept as Caleb) and laid his head on her lap while Veth cried quietly over his hand.  
“We should take him inside; the storm will be here soon”  
Yasha was the first to speak, her usually soft voice seemed too loud in this strange, muffled world.  She pulled the spear out with a sickening sound and threw it overboard.  
“He’s dead”  
Fjord heard himself speak, knew it was his voice, but it didn’t sound like him.  It was too flat, too empty to be him.
“That doesn’t mean he’ll want to wake up soaked”  
“Oh, just- hmm, one moment” Caduceus stepped closer, and a deep green glow emanated from his hand onto Ca- the body “that should give us some time”  
Yasha nodded, and without further comment she dropped to one knee and lifted the body as if weighed no more than a child.  Fjord followed her in a daze along with the others as the first drops of rain began to hit the deck.  He felt like he was trying to move underwater, like the air was too heavy to breathe properly.  
Yasha laid Caleb (no, said his mind, not Caleb) out on the bed in the captains quarters.  He wasn’t bleeding actively anymore (not that Fjord would have given a fuck about the sheets anyway) and the unnatural stillness was making him want to scream
Get up, move, breathe Gods damn you.
Just... breathe.  
The others were talking while Caduceus and Veth got Caleb’s coat and book holsters off, but Fjord only caught snippets of the conversation.
“Do we have any-”
“No, no we used the dust up”
“Diamonds too?  We have the kit”
“No, they’re gone too”
Fjord watched as Caduceus cleaned the blood off Caleb’s chest, revealing the too-pale skin below it.  It hurt.  Somewhere deep in his own chest there was an ache that he couldn’t describe.  The image of Caleb’s face when the spear had impaled him, watching his eyes go wide as he fell back to the already blood-soaked boards... Fjord swallowed and hoped he wouldn’t be sick.  
It was no use hoping to avoid the nightmares, they would come either way.  
Jesters voice broke through his thoughts as she laid a warm hand on his shoulder.
“Do you think he might have some?”  
Fjords eyes snapped to the component pouch on Caleb’s belt and then back to Jester, he shrugged but nodded.  She got the message, walking over and removing the pouch before she started shifting through it.  Fjord was shaking, he hadn’t noticed until her steady hand had touched him, but now it was the only sensation he could feel.  Beau was beside him; he didn’t know when she had gotten there or how long she had stood in that space.  His space.  
“Breathe Cap, we’ll get him back” he looked down at her, but her eyes were locked on Caleb “he promised not to leave, we’ll get him back”  
He nodded, knowing she should feel it even if she wasn’t looking, and tried to take a breath.  It was torture, the smell of blood and salt and pain was too strong.  He wanted air, but he couldn’t leave, he wouldn’t leave.  Jester let out an excited gasp, pulling a small pouch from one of Caleb’s many coat pockets and opening it up.  She eyed it for a moment, then walked over to Caduceus and held it out.
“Do you think-?”
“It... well yeah, looks like it, probably”  
“I- I don’t have enough left in me today, the fight...”
“I can do it, yeah, no problem”
Fjord felt his heart pound and he stepped forward as Caduceus went to work.  The spell didn’t take much, but the verdant green glow and the pastel lichen that covered the gaping wound were the most beautiful things Fjord had ever seen.  They all watched, the tension in the room was palpable, until Caleb took a sharp breath.  Blue eyes snapped open as he gasped, hands gripping the sheets and colour returning to his face all at once.  Without thinking Fjord put a hand over one of Caleb’s twitching ones, drawing the mans’ attention to him.  
It was like someone suddenly turned back on the sound, the roar of the waves and the boom of thunder, the frantic panting breaths of Caleb on the bed.  Fjords head swam for a moment, but he squeezed Caleb’s hand lightly, watching as his breathing slowed.  Caduceus was inspecting the wound, nodding serenely
“You’ll need to rest a bit; the skin is still fairly tight, and you don’t want to ah... re-open it”  
Calebs eyes never left Fjords as he nodded, thanking the firbolg in a shaking voice.  
The others were moving about now, coming in to welcome their wizard back.  He looked exhausted but smiled and thanked them and apologized for the fright all the same.  Eventually, they all settled in, pulling blankets and pillows from all around the ship.  Fjord couldn’t bring himself to leave, so instead he sat in the desk chair, pulled up alongside the bed.  As the others all started to doze, Fjord felt Calebs hand grip his.  
“I know what you are thinking Fjord”  
“Oh?”  
“Mhmm, and you are being ridiculous again, my death was not on you”  
“If I had just gotten her faster, or-”
“If if if” Caleb sighed and squeezed his hand again “If gets us nowhere Süsser, it cannot change anything”  
“Maybe” he paused “I just... well, just try not to go dyin’ on m- on us again”  
“I will do my best; I cannot say I liked it much”
“No, no it’s not the most fun way to spend a day”  
He watched as Calebs eyes drifted shut, breathing slowed to a sleep heavy rhythm and his chest began to rise and fall slowly.  Fjord knew he would not be getting much sleep that night.
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