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#please god someone help this has been driving me nuts for years
rescue-ram · 2 years
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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK??
Saw a post about "formative gay books from your youth" which set off my third fruitless quest for a YA novel I read once when I was like 12 and has lived rent free in my head ever since. Objectively, as an adult, when I reflect on the scenes it burned into my neurons, I acknowledge it was probably not that great. But it made 12 year old me have insanely complicated feelings and it's MADDENING I can find no trace of this novel.
I've searched several times over the years, and just tonight spent an hour going through Amazon, WorldCat, Google Books, Goodreads, and like three other book search databases to no avail. My last hope is that someone on Tumblr has also read this novel and recognizes it.
If any of the below ring a bell, PLEASE let me know!
Young adult novel published prior to 2008
Set in a Houston art school. I might be having false memories that it was specifically the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Centered around two boys- an extremely shy visual artist and a very confident but secretly depressed writer.
Very shy boy might've had selective mutism? Definitely had a strained relationship with his family
At the beginning of the novel, shy boy has to submit a portrait for admission to school. He initially draws a caricature of himself wearing art like armor, but his mom laughs at him and tells him he misunderstood the instructions and he was supposed to write a personal essay. Shy boy struggles with this.
There was a weirdly vivid metaphor about social anxiety being like being eaten by wolves? There was also a very vivid description of being a puppet or marionette.
There was a conflict over shy boy wanting to do cartooning but having to learn painting instead?
He was initially intimidated by confident boy, but confident boy sees his cartoons and really likes them
As they get closer confident boy opens up about feeling crushed by pressure and expectations of others, conflict with his family as well? He may have been self-harming?
They keep their friendship a secret and it's either extremely homoerotic or confident boy was explicitly gay. I do not remember clearly. It gets very intense and shy boy is conflicted and uncomfortable about the secrets he's keeping.
At the end of the book, confident boy kills himself in a way that looks like a tragic accident. He intentionally overdoses on medication that induces a heart attack, but injects into a healing injury on his arm so there's no puncture marks. He leaves a suicide note for shy boy, encouraging him to be himself and be a great artist, but to tell no one confident boy killed himself because he doesn't want his family to be upset?
Shy boy is traumatized and initially keeps the secret, but at the end of the book opens up to... Someone. One of the teachers? It ends on a bittersweet but hopeful note that now shy boy is opening up and is forming healthier relationships.
As an adult, this summary sounds rather maudlin, but I remember being really struck by the writing style as a kid, especially the imagery and descriptions. I just feel crazy that this book really affected middle school me and then seemingly disappeared into the ether. If you have any idea what I'm talking about, PLEASE let me know!
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harleysarchive · 4 years
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Among You and Me - Corpse x Reader Oneshot (part 2)
Fandom: Corpse, youtubers Warning: Profanity, a lot of swear words, fluffiness, quite long Pairing: Corpse x f!reader Summary: You and Corpse continues with your conversations and it makes you realize that you have feelings for each other. 
Requested
< Previous | Next >
After Corpse had followed you on instagram the two of you talked like nonstop for days. It almost felt like you had known him for years. You had the same humor and he talked about some horror stories he wanted to do and you thought they sounded cool - but not wanting to admit that they scared you as well. You talked about school and how stressed out you were for the essays and exams that were coming up soon.
“I have an exam next Wednesday so I will be off the internet the whole day :(“ you wrote and buried your head in your pillow. 
“That sucks big time.”
“It doesss.”
“Wait… Then you will miss my upcoming stream that day :(“
Shit, you thought. You really wanted to see his stream but right now you don’t have time for it. Which sucks even more than school.
“Probably, I’m sorry :(“ you said and locked your phone to get ready for school.
Corpse POV.
I read the message she sent again and didn’t know what to answer. My brain was so tired so it had problems with coming up with coherent replies. I was not prepared for how the feeling of hurt and sadness that came with that response.
Why did I react like this, of course she has other stuff to do than to watch my stream…
But I couldn’t shake the hurt feeling from my chest. Even though we only had talked for a couple of days it felt like we had known each other for longer than that. She felt like a close friend almost. And when she was with me on my streams, it reduced my anxiety and my nervousness to know that she was watching, somehow it eased my nerves a lot.
Why do I need you there with me to feel safe? he thought to himself and started to type in a response.
“It’s okay, nail those exams for me ;)” he hit send. Thoughts fucking exams that is keeping you away from my stream.
Wait, wait, where the fuck did that thought come from? 
I shook my head, trying to think about something else. I pressed on (Y/N)’s profile on instagram and started to go through her feed. There were some selfies, some pictures of nature and different places where she had been. Some pictures with friends and some with her family. I stopped on a specific selfie of her. She looked so beautiful on it, all I could do was to admire it - and her. Then I did something I thought I’d never do. I took a screenshot of the photo and saved it as my background on my phone.
I will never meet her so this won’t do any harm, I told myself before I fell asleep.
Your POV.
You threw your bag at the couch and fell down face first in the bed. School was killing you at the moment and it wasn’t better with the essays that were piling up on your schedule. You groaned into the pillow and then took up your phone, one message from instagram. You opened it and it was from Corpse. Your heart made a little extra jump everytime you saw the name appear, and that he had answered you. You smiled and read the text. 
“It’s okay, nail those exams for me ;)”
“I will try my best to ace them, just for you ;)” you felt bold writing the last part. But what the hell right? 
You hit send and waited for him to respond. He was probably asleep now, knowing his weird sleeping schedule. Not wanting to wait the whole day - it would drive you nuts and also give you thoughts like “what if I’m annoying or disturbing him?” “what if my message woke him up and he’ll get mad and never want to talk to me again?” “what if…” you know?
You opened your texted book and tried your hardest to study, but it was hard when your mind was constantly wanders away to Corpse - the man that has been on your mind all the time lately and you didn’t mind it really. 
Is it possible to fall in love with someone that you haven’t met? you thought. Because if it is so, then I’m fucked...
Corpse POV.
I must’ve slept for more than three hours for the first time in weeks because I almost didn’t feel dead. I looked over at my phone and I had two messages. One from Dave checking up on me and one from (Y/N). I checked (Y/N)’s message first.
“I will try my best to ace them, just for you ;)”
I got a warm feeling on my chest reading the last part, just for you. I liked that. I liked that a lot actually, more than I liked to admit to myself. I looked at my background picture and there she was smiling at me. Even though it was just a picture from instagram it felt like she smiled at me. And only to me. Some confidence sparked inside of me and I messaged her again.
“Can I get your number?”
Your POV.
You had taken a break from your studying and were watching Mark, Bob, Wade and Sean playing Phasmophobia. It was hilarious to watch. Your phone lit up and you had gotten a message from Corpse on instagram. 
“Can I get your number?”
You stared at the message, he wanted your number. Your thumbs were typing but were shaking so bad, all this kinds of emotions can’t be good for you. 
“Of course!” you typed and then wrote down your number to him. You hit send and bit nervously on your nails. Not long after you got a message from an unknown number.
Hey is this (Y/N)?
Yes is it! Corpse?
Oh thank god! I was nervous I had typed in it wrong and were messaging some weirdo.
You smiled at the two of you continued your conversations throughout the evening.
Some days later it was Wednesday and you had one of your exams. You were a little bit nervous but not a lot. You had tried your best to study, even with obvious distractions, and you had got some informations in your brain. 
Wish me luck on my exam! you send to Corpse, knowing fully that he was sleeping, it was early in the morning, or perhaps he hasn’t even gone to bed yet. Yoy got a ding on your phone.
Good luck (Y/N), not that you need it you are a smart girl. But I know that you are going to kill it 🖤
The heart in the end made your heart jump. 
How am I suppose to consentrate when he sends me stuff like that? 
The exam went like a dream, you knew all the answers to all the questions and it went by fast. You felt pleased with yourself and looked at the clock and it was just before noon. Corpse livestream had just begun!
If I grab a quick lunch I can get home before it is over! you thought to yourself and walked as fast as you could towards the school cafeteria and then straight home.
You made it just in the middle of the stream, they were playing Among Us and Corpse were super nervous. You felt bad for him because you knew that he was great at the game. He didn’t have to be so hard on himself. An idea popped up in your head. You donated 10$ to his stream and wrote:
“You are doing great Corpse and my exam went great ;) much love (Y/N)” 
Now you were just waiting to see if he will notice the message. 
Corpse POV.
My hands were shaking so bad, more than usual. It was normal for me to be nervous before and during a stream but today my nerves were going crazy. I was making rookie mistakes as a impostor, like wtf I am supposed to be the number one impostor here. 
Fuck I wish my hands would stop shaking so bad, why am I so nervous? Well I knew the answer to the question but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. (Y/N) wasn’t here watch and it sucked so bad. I felt lonely and anxious. I looked over at the chat and was that I had recieved a donation with a message.
“”You are doing great Corpse and my exam went great ;) much love (Y/N)” Why thank you-... Wait a minute, (Y/N)?” my voiced cracked at the end of the sentence and I am sure someone caughed up with my surprised and overly excited tone. I took up my phone and texted her fast.
Please tell me that was you who wrote that.
I waited and I saw the three dots going of, not helping with my anxiety one bit.
Yes it was me, I finished much earlier with my exam than I anticipated, so I hurried home to see your stream. 
My heart became all warm over her message and I didn’t even notice that I had held my breath before I let out a huge sigh. She hurried home to watch me. My hands were shaking but not over my nervousness, but from excitement and, i don’t know happiness maybe. Three dots appeared again on the screen.
I couldn’t leave you alone when I know how nervous you get when you’re streaming.
Fuck... That sentence made me fall over the edge, if I haven’t already. I am falling for (Y/N) and I haven’t even met her... 
Yet.
A/N: Upon many requests, here is part two! It made me so happy to see all the comments on my first oneshot and how well recieved it got. Thank you all so freaking much! :D
Tags:
@annshit @artist-bby @polahorvat @wibblytimey @sadlysober @usuie12 @lunaruss @yeolliedokai @fanworrior @kirislut @deathcompass @pillowjj @simonsbluee @reddeserths  
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puppypeter · 3 years
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These are all dark fics, READ THE TAGS before reading the fics. It is your responsibility to check whether what you are about to read is something that you can stomach. While most of these fics are based around trauma, recovery etc many feature triggering scenes or flashbacks as well as darker themes. Please be safe and don’t read them if they can be triggering for you! Proceed with caution! Most of them are Hydra Trash, but still not just the ugly bits as I like there to be a plot. Hiding them below the cut:
between scylla and charybdis | 21590 words
Sam Wilson has been witness to a lot of things he wishes he could unsee. Civilian families shot dead in their cars because of miscommunications at checkpoints. Riley’s body spiralling to the ground in a smoke-plumed plummet. His own face in his bathroom mirror after waking up hung-over as hell at two in the afternoon, the day after the anniversary of Riley’s death, year after year after year.
And now, in an abandoned bunker on the outskirts of Boston, a seemingly unremarkable manila folder at the bottom of a filing cabinet.
Berceuse | 10730 words
There are strange, new things Bucky needs from Steve.
Dreamers Often Lie | 11040 words
As far as Bucky remembers, sex is something that is painful and terrifying if you wake up while it's happening. As the Asset, sleeping through sex was a rare treat. When Steve lets Bucky know he's interested in a sexual relationship, what Steve doesn't know is that they have fundamentally different ideas of what that entails.
despite the threatening sky and the shuddering earth (they remained) | 71532 words
“They really didn’t want the mask to come off.” Hill thumbed through the scans, and pulled out a film that she then handed over to Sam, face mostly expressionless but for the flat line of her pursed lips.
Sam accepted the film and held it up to the light, angling so both he and Steve could see it, squinting at the outline of the Winter Soldier’s skull, and the blips of unnatural white that showed up, God, in his brain, not to mention about half his teeth, plus the mask, with its thin protrusions—
“Those are pins,” Steve realized. He looked over at Hill. “The mask—it’s nailed to his face.”
Hill’s face was as unmoved as ever. “Like I said. They really didn’t want it coming off.”
Fire And Water For Your Love | 77084 words
When the Avengers investigate an abandoned HYDRA base on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., they unexpectedly encounter a dark-haired man with a torn metal arm, who leads them to an even more shocking discovery deeper inside the base. The Avengers must reconcile what they have found with the lies S.H.I.E.L.D. has been telling for decades.
Give An Inch | 5070 words
The Captain has a warm smile and clear, open eyes. The Soldier knows these are tricks. He's fallen for them before and he won't do it again.
Humans As Gods | 4818 words
"HYDRA's scientists had been delighted to find their serum-reversal procedure had worked. Their jubilation was dampened by the discovery that Steve's smaller self might no longer be Captain America-sized but was still 100% Steve Rogers, and Steve Rogers was now mad enough to spit nails. A minor oversight in the design of the containment area meant that smaller-Steve had simply wriggled out of the now ridiculously-oversized restraints like an angry ferret escaping a paper bag, and punched the nearest technician in the nuts.
Chaos ensued."
HYDRA scientists successfully de-serum Captain America, only to discover that they are utterly unprepared for Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier follows his instructions to the letter. This works out just great.
The Only One That Needs To Know | 6571 words
Bucky can't control his body. He can only control what secrets he keeps.
I Was Wearing My Blue Coat | 11503 words
Following exposure of his past as the Winter Soldier, anonymous postings of explicit video footage, 63 charges of murder and the wrath of the Internet, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes finally steps into the limelight and tells his story to Zenat Patel of the New York Times.
Compliance Will Be Rewarded | 4767 words
Someone told him once: "Compliance will be rewarded," and he remembers pressing his head against a man’s leg in open supplication. He remembers hands in his hair, and a gentle grip on the back of his neck. He remembers a man telling him "so good, so good for me aren't you?" And he remembers nodding his head in a desperate attempt to be exactly as good as he was supposed to be.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Bucky Barnes is physically free from Hydra, but the hold on his mind lingers still. All he wants is to go home, and he'll do anything he can to get there.
To Burn Your Kingdom Down | 12370 words
The Avengers go after a Hydra splinter cell with a nasty habit of brutalizing their prisoners. Steve has some ugly history with them, and when a rescue mission gone wrong leaves him and Sam in enemy hands, the situation gets uglier still.
Worth The Wound | 7709 words
The asset knows that maintenance is better than punishment. But with Steve, maintenance becomes more pleasant, soft and gentle and everything he could dream of. It was only natural that he decided to prolong that maintenance a little longer.
The Spaces In-Between | 6971 words | Part 1 of What We Tried So Hard To Hide Away
"Memories are like buckets of water: they weigh on the heart and the brain until the body fails. You're blessed to stay forgetful and young, Soldier."
Sometimes blessings feel like curses.
Illuminate The Scene | 7086 words | Part 2 of What We Tried So Hard To Hide Away
The doctors had wanted to keep the Soldier. Shock him and freeze him until he was fixed, or tear him to scrap if he couldn’t be repaired so that he wouldn’t be an entirely wasted investment. Steve is the only thing stopping them.
When the Soldier can't trust his own body, how can he trust anything?
All These Riots Of Broken Sound | 83790 words | Part 1 of Forever Is A Close And Honest Friend
When Steve and the team return to Avengers tower to find Bucky gone, they must venture into B.A.R.F. to figure out what triggered him to leave and hunt those who wronged him. Trapped in a simulation of Bucky's worst memories with rogue HYDRA agents waiting to strike, 100 years of secrets, lies, pain and love drive the team to their limit and push Steve towards a realisation that is a century in the making.
I Was Lost But Left A Trace | 3585 words | Part 2 of Forever Is A Close And Honest Friend
Disorientated, the Asset reached up to wipe at the moisture on its cheeks and was shocked to find it clear, instead of the crimson it has been expecting. It didn’t understand why this misidentification had caused uproarious laughter from the technicians.
“It is not blood,” the Asset told him, “but it is still a malfunction.”
This sobered the technician a little, and he nodded tightly.
“Yes. It is. But we will fix you.”
I’ll Always Be Blamed For The Sun Going Down | 9907 words | Part 3 of Forever Is A Close And Honest Friend
He knows he’s in the right place. He has heard the guys at the docks laugh and joke about the queers who come out after dark, looking to earn a little extra cash. He has seen the johns, when he’s been out late enough, skulking in the shadows like predators hunting for their next meal, looking for something in particular. Sometimes they look at him.
A small, rusty pen knife that his father had picked up in Europe during the Great War sits heavy in the breast pocket of his jacket. Just in case.
Book Of The Moon | 16019 words | Part 4 of Forever Is A Close And Honest Friend
In 1929, Bucky Barnes falls in love for the first time and resigns himself to never telling a soul, let alone Steve, the object of his affections. In 1943, half a world away from the man he can never have and fighting for his life and his sanity, something new begins to bloom.
Habeas Corpus | 18054 words
An unexpected incident in the field leaves Steve Rogers facing the infiltration of a Hydra base and retrieval of important intelligence, all while pretending to be the Winter Soldier. Unfortunately, there are important aspects of the Soldier's past that Bucky hasn't disclosed, and Steve has no idea what he's really walking into.
Bullies | 14979 words
Written for the MCU trash meme prompt:
I wanna see Steve being messed with by his secretly-HYDRA coworker buddies. I want them generally fucking with him, "accidentally" doing terrible things to him or getting Steve into awful situations, telling jokes that aren't really jokes, gaslighting, performing sexual-assault hazing under the guise that "that's what people do now," pressuring him into other sex shit, anything, just fuck Steve up.
Steve isn't failing to fully catch on because he's dumb or oblivious: it's just that he is Steve, so he wants to believe the best of everybody, and he doesn't want to believe that he could be working for/with bullies and that (as Natasha says) he essentially died for nothing.
Not Unwanted, Not Unloved | 50320 words
They'd resigned themselves to never becoming parents - until Bucky gets pregnant and drops off the grid without even a whisper to his mate about his condition. Steve will still raze the earth to find him, but that doesn't mean he likes what he finds.
The Tones That Tremble Down Your Spine | 13889 words
Tony tells him they’re planning a party for Steve’s birthday. He knows how parties are supposed to go.
Lacuna | 62875 words
The Winter Soldier doesn't remember Steve Rogers, but he needs Rogers' help.
OR: The one where Bucky doesn't remember Steve, but falls in love with him anyway.
Not A Perfect Soldier | 93354 words
In a world where HYDRA was wiped out in the '40s, Steve is found by the Army rather than SHIELD. General Thaddeus Ross wants a perfectly obedient super-soldier at his command, and to that end, he sets out to break Steve to his will. As Steve struggles to come to terms with all he has lost, his life in captivity is only made bearable by the presence of another prisoner-- another super-soldier known only as "Soldat". Then the Avengers strike a deal with Ross to "borrow" him for missions, and Steve is faced with a team who dislikes him, an organization he doesn't trust, and the question of what he's willing to do to escape Ross's clutches.
For Want Of Him | 103174 words
It's the twenty-first century, and Steve Rogers has never been more alone. Everything he knew, everyone he loved, is now gone, and a dark, bitter loneliness claws at him, raking bleeding gashes into his heart. And then there's Brock Rumlow. Rumlow is like salt in his wounds; vicious, and cruel. But his dark brown hair and teasing smirk reminds Steve of someone long dead, and his New York accent sounds like home...He's a soldier like him...he understands. And Steve makes the fatal mistake of trusting him.
The Same Measure | 4943 words
The Winter Soldier was never allowed to stop unless an injury was too grievous.
To Be Unmade | 5114 words | Part 1 of Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
For the asset, things only ever get worse. The external scars fade quickly enough. The internal ones dig deeper and deeper.
But the internal scars are called love, and doesn't that make them worth the hurt?
Do Not Put In The Icebox | 7143 words | Part 2 of Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
When the asset malfunctions on a mission, Rumlow and Rollins learn more than they ever wanted to know about Pierce's hobbies.
And then everyone has pancakes.
The Knowing Makes It Worse | 4130 words | Part 3 of Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
No is a bad word and invites punishment.
Or, Alexander Pierce is a very bad man who delights in manipulating and degrading the asset.
Love Is For Children | 5303 words | Part 4 of Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
Bucky understands how the game works. He can't understand why it makes Steve cry.
But Natasha and the other Avengers are there to help.
I Just Wanted To Be Sure Of You | 4461 words | Part 5 of Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
Bucky has Bucky Bear; it's only fair for Natasha to have something of her own.
Visiting a toy store wasn't strictly necessary, but if Tony wants to throw money around, no one's going to complain.
“Till The End Of The Line | 6069 words | Part 6 of Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
It's hard to take a friendship right back up when so much has changed over seventy years.
Particularly when HYDRA's conditioning resurfaces.
*if you feel that any of these fics shouldn’t be in this list please just send me a message! :) I have read them all but over the past 1+ years so some of them I might not remember all the details of :)
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saturnsummer · 3 years
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i don't mind forever.
AU: When Sol is handed a case, she doesn't realise how big the case gets. Luckily for her, her best friend is here. (AU of lawyers at Hankuk Law Firm.)
notes: all credits go to @thenerdywriter !! she gave me this prompt just days after i joined tumblr, and i’ve been working on and off on it ever since. my first au series, so please go easy on me! i know i’m practically killing myself for doing two series at once, but i’ll deal with it later. as always, big love to everyone! any grammar mistakes and all will be taken fully responsible by me!
ao3 link
words: 4035 words
one.
Sol scrunches her hair in frustration. She twists her long, wavy light brown hair in a bun, fixing it with a jab of her white, long chopstick hairpin. She adjusts her bangs for good measure and resumes with her report. She reaches over to her coffee mug, only to find it empty. Great, it’s the third coffee she had today, and it wasn’t even lunch. Hearing her colleagues nagging on drinking too much coffee in her head, she stands from her desk and pushes the glass door of her office to the staff pantry. Her heels click against the marble floors as she strides across, filling her cup with iced water before retreating back.
It would have been a normal day at the Hankuk Law firm, but it wasn’t when she had such a pressing case.
It's been weeks. A client of hers has pressed charges against Lee Man Ho, claiming that he scammed her life savings. Lee Manho was a convict that was charged for raping multiple women and on several occasions, sexual harassment. He had been on good behaviour after his release for a couple of years, with no complaints and no news. Only now did his name resurface. He was snarky in his speech, manipulative and quick with his tongue, but most of all had a sinister smile that sent shivers.
Sol, being Sol, couldn’t say no to the poor woman. How could she? She experienced her fair share of poverty from growing up in a single-parent family that made enough to get by. She sympathised with her feelings, knowing just how stressed this poor mother must be when she can no longer afford to pay rent for her home, even less so the necessities for her toddler kids. Because, too many times, Sol was found broke and skipping meals so she could have her younger sister, Byeol, be fed instead.
With the help of the local police, she found more victims to be scammed, all similar in their scenario. Manho would call under the alias of a financial aid consultant, sometimes an insurance agent or bank teller. Then, he would extract their bank numbers from them, effectively draining their money away. By the time they victims tried to call back, the number would be out of order, or picked up by another voice, evident that he used another number to cover up his.
None of his victims had anything in common. Some were rich, some were poor. Some were female, some were male. And Manho had long disappeared in the wind the moment he got out of jail. He was said to be sighted once and when the police placed eyes on him, they lost him that same day.
His digital footprint was an utter headache as well. The police had other things to matter, and figuring out his digital footprint was the least of their concerns when they had important murders and urgent matters to solve.
But two could play this game.
Seungjae was a good friend of Sol’s. They were close acquaintances in school and kept in close contact. He, unlike Sol, was a whiz with computer codes and had his fair share of hacking experience. She remembers how he would hack into the system during school events and broadcast short music videos on the school televisions during breaks. Despite their age gap, he was always courteous, nice and kind hearted in helping others.
Seungjae eventually found a job with the police force, using his skills to legally hack criminal networks and dark nets. He was essentially part of a task force that identified suspicious activities like mass radicalisation, fake news and essentially tracking down internet hackers. It was a no-brainer that Sol would approach him, even though she knew that he could only legally hack under his work orders, not for personal favours.
Well it’s best she at least try.
She called Seungjae, who was fortunately free, and agreed to meet at a cafe. The sun was out, warming them from the autumn breeze that chilled them. Sol grabbed her coat and placed a post-it on her door, informing her colleagues of her business. Sol, while dressed in a warm coat, was undoubtedly freezing from the breeze. If only she could go back to law school, where she wore jeans and sweatshirts all day. Instead, she had a light blue long sleeved blouse, a knee length pencil skirt and a midnight blue blazer, and her only coat she had weakly shielding her from the cold.
“Sol A, what gives me the feeling that you aren’t calling for the purpose of catching up, but for a favour?” Seungjae asks as soon as his ice coffee arrives. Sol is amused at his habit, that he still calls her Sol A to differentiate her from Sol B, her colleague just working next door to her. But in response, she gives a small frown.
“Oppa, please? You have to help me with this. This case is driving me nuts!” She says in frustration as she stirs her ice tea. “Look, he’s off the grid, like properly off. I can’t even track his number or his email accounts. When the police placed plainclothes on him, he was like a ninja and they lost him within the first hour.”
Seungjae’s frown deepens. He knows of people who are good on the internet, but for an ex-convict to be running this alone? Furthermore, a convict who had no criminal record of scamming, conning and IT based crimes? There was definitely more to this.
“Sol A, do you think that he’s working alone?” Seungjae asks, stopping Sol in her speech. She tilts her head, the way she does normally when she puts the puzzle pieces in order. From her bag, she takes out a notebook and scribbles down the facts, then pushes it to the centre of the table.
“Okay, so we know that Lee Manho was convicted of rape and sexual harassment long time ago. Now, he’s running scams, and has no known background of coding or conning people, yet somehow the money appears in his bank account and it disappears the next moment.” Sol states as she circles her notes with a pencil and Seungjae nods.
“I think… I think you’re right, oppa. He’s definitely not working alone. And he could just be the middleman bringing the cash from one place to another.” Sol breaths out, realising how big the case has gotten. She’s not just going after Lee Manho, but she’s going after an entire team.
“You said that you can’t track his whereabouts, people he communicates with and where the money is going to?” SeungJae asks. Sol nods.
“Looks like someone is covering up the transfers and his tracks.” Seungjae concludes. Seungjae furrows his eyebrows. Sol recognises his thinking face and tries to plea once more.
“Please, oppa? You helped me check out and verify Yeseul’s boyfriend, which saved her life! Please, oppa…” Sol pleads with him. Seungjae knew how much Sol was going to dedicate to this, and besides, he was legally going to hack. He was fighting for those who couldn’t fight. What difference would it make? It felt wrong to ignore such a desperate plea.
“Fine. But you have to let me use a laptop that isn’t mine. I can’t have my superiors know I’m hacking into a case that wasn’t submitted to me again. God, Yeseul’s ex-boyfriend case got me a bloody earful from the captain.” He finally agrees, getting up from his seat and grabbing his coat. Sol lets out a relieved sigh and picks her coat too.
“Thank you, thank you!”
“Save it for later, when I’m done hacking. Let’s head back to your office for now.” He says and walks to the door. At that moment, Sol’s phone rings, and she picks up, knowing who will call at this time of the day. If it’s lunch, it has to either be Yeseul or Joon Hwi.
“Are you joining us for lunch, sunbae?” Sol takes a moment to close her eyes in frustration. This man is going to drive her insane.
“Yeah. Are you all ordering?”
“That’s right. Extra pickles?”
“Always. Add one more jjampong and kkampungi, too.” The receiving end goes silent.
“Who’s joining?” Sol gives a knowing smile as she unlocks her car.
“An old friend of ours.”
-----
“Wah, it’s been a long time since Seungjae-hyung could eat with us!” BokGi says, as he passes out the chopsticks and Yebeom unpacks the meals. Seungjae only gives a small smile while helping out with the food.
Despite the cold weather, the odd group of friends found pleasure in eating outdoors as opposed to their office pantry. It was too noisy some days, too quiet on some, and knowing how chaotic the group can get during lunch, it only made sense to have their meals downstairs at some benches. Besides, they could use a break from being stuck in their offices all day and look at trees changing their colours to shades of red, oranges and brown.
“Thank your noona here, for convincing me to come.” He says as he nods his head over to Sol, who is busy unpacking her pickles and noodles. Joon Hwi gives a smile as he stares at the delight on her face when she sees those yellow pickles on a plastic saucer.
“Hyung, what are you here for?” Joon Hwi asks, as he unpacks his noodles.
“This lady here has enlisted my help once again for a case she is working on. But it has to be off the books. Thus, my presence here instead of my cubicle back at my headquarters.” Sol chokes and she quickly takes a sip of her tea.
“Oppa, why do you make me sound so law breaking…” Sol grumbles. Yeseul, sitting next to her only gives a small smile and squeezes her hand.
“Seungjae-oppa did help me bring Yeongchang to jail. So I would consider his work, whether under his boss orders or not, to be lawful.” Yeseul quips quietly. The table grows silent for a moment, knowing how this topic took a mental toll out of them, but Yeseul was hit the hardest.
When Yeseul first started dating Yeongchang, everyone didn’t mind it. Only when Sol witnessed how Yeseul would be frightened to pick up his call and spotting bruises on her arms did she get Seungjae to dig into his personal life. Lo and behold, not only was he abusive, he was seeing two other women and they were treated badly, if not, worse.
Yeseul’s heart broke, this being her first love and the man she envisioned marrying. But with her friends' support, she took it upon herself to press charges on him, for the women he tortured and for herself. Representing herself and the women that he had failed to protect and taken advantage of, it wasn’t easy for her, having been so blind in love and still harbouring feelings.
The group stood by and silently supported. They accompanied her trials, no matter how busy they were. Sol remembers Jiho running from one courtroom to another on one occasion when he had to immediately attend a court hearing for a client he was defending. Sol had Yeseul stay over at her apartment during the entire situation, while Yeseul searched for an apartment nearby after moving out of his house. Even Sol B, who was usually cold, bought her meals and stayed to eat when the girls spent late nights in silence and drinking.
Finally, the judge ruled that Yeongchang was to be charged in jail. For the sexual, mental and physical abuse of these women, including Yeseul. It has been months since then and time can only tell how much she has healed. The rest can only give their silent support and be there for her.
“I didn’t mean to make the mood bad. Come, let’s eat. Also, what is the case about, unnie?” Yeseul quickly breaks into a smile, an attempt to let everyone know she’s okay. Sol gives a brief description of her case to everyone while she slurps her noodles and pickles.
“This is going to be difficult. If you guys are right, you might be dealing with something bigger than just Lee Manho.” Sol B states and Sol gives a nodded reply.
“Please don’t tell Superior Kim or Superior Yang about this. I really need to break this case and Seungjae-oppa is my only way to.” Sol informs her group. They give half hearted murmurs, not wanting to be meddled into Sol’s affairs. Well, all but one.
“Yah, why didn’t you come find me? I have my own contacts in the police as well.” Joon Hwi asks, a slight frown on his face. From anyone else looking, it would have been easy to miss. But for Sol, she knew that he was upset, interpreting his complaints as “Why didn’t you come and tell me about this first?”
“Because, Mr. Second Round Judicial Exam Pass, you have been too busy! Do I really need to remind you to eat every damm moment? You drive me crazy some days!” Sol argues. They launch into a light hearted argument, as the rest of the lunch group watches with equal fervour as they eat their meals.
“Guys, stop arguing, my ears hurt.” Jiho said, his tone in slight annoyance as he dove straight into the kkampungi and tangsuyuk. Sol finally gave up fighting, earning a teasing smirk from Joon Hwi. They continued their noisy meal, chatting and catching up with Seungjae. Seungjae gives them some updates of his pregnant wife and some interesting cases.
After their meal, they separated their trash neatly. The sun now hides away in the clouds, leaving little warmth against the chilly breeze of autumn. Sol brushes her coat and rubs her hands and arms. If only she could afford a better one than this old coat she’s been using since her first year in university.
Joon Hwi notices her trying to warm up against the cold and takes his coat from the chair, layering it on her. He honestly didn’t feel cold, but he knows he has always been the stronger one to resist against the cold. For Sol, it must be freezing.
“Take mine.” He simply says, taking the packs of plastic from Sol. If Sol had a hint of blush, he pretended to not notice.
“Oh, thanks.” She said as she took wipes from her bag and wiped down the mess on the benches and tables. “But I don’t need it. We’re heading back to the office anyway.” She shrugs his coat off and drapes it over her arm, returning it to him. He pushes it to her, and leans in closer to her.
“Help me carry it, so I don’t have to, sunbae.” He teases with a smirk, sending Sol in a fit of frustrated squeaks, chasing him as best as she can in her heels. Sol knows Joon Hwi gets a thing out of his teasing, and sends him annoyed glares as she continues to clear the tables. Jiho manages to sigh and Sol B rolls her eyes as she dumps the trash in the bins.
The group grabs their bags as they head back into the office, where Sol checks Seungjae in as a visitor at the reception. The receptionist hands him a blue lanyard with a visitor pass as Sol leads him to the elevators. Jiho and Bokgi are off to meet clients, and Sol B is headed to court for a hearing. Yeseul stops at another floor to her office with Yebeom, who needs to pick up some reports from a colleague.
Joon Hwi follows Sol to her office with Seungjae, despite his office being upstairs. Sol grabs her personal laptop from her bag, which is separate from her desktop computer and passes it to Seungjae, who takes a seat opposite her and starts programming the computer to begin hacking.
“What, did you just let him use your personal laptop?” Joon Hwi asks in concern as he takes a seat on a spare chair.
“Let him do it. Don’t you have your reports to do?” Sol asks as she turns to her own reports before typing in her findings for the new Lee Manho case. Joon Hwi doesn’t reply, and Sol sends an annoyed glance. He’s not going to leave unless he knows all the information of this case.
“Okay, I got it.” Seungjae says after a series of clicks and turns the screen to show Sol what he has found. Sol leans into a chart of bank transfers.
"From what I can tell, it seems like the money enters his bank account and is transferred to an offshore account. I can't trace where the money goes from there anymore." Seungjae explains as he uses the cursor to show them. "I can't tell who owns the account either. If I could take a guess, it's probably the mastermind of this."
"Wait, look. Lee Manho is getting paid a constant amount every single time before a large sum comes in and leaves." Joon Hwi points. Sol grabs her printed papers as she matches the amounts that her clients have given here. They match exactly to the large sums, but have no relation to the constant amount that he gets every scam.
"He's getting paid to scam? Tch, God, I hate this crook." Sol says through gritted teeth. Joon Hwi sighs and observes the anger rising in Sol. He places a hand on top of her clenched fist for comfort and her fist stops clenching as she sighs in response.
"Sol A, I can't track his location with your laptop. It's not exactly ideal, since it can be tracked back." Seungjae says, eyes darting while continuously typing. Joon Hwi could sense the disappointment in Sol's face, but it can't be helped. It was too dangerous from her location and IP address.
"Oppa, thank you for helping. I owe you one." Sol says as Seungjae scrubs her laptop clean from hacking traces. Seungjae returns her laptop and stands up. "You should go back, oppa. You've been gone too long."
"I'll keep you updated." He says as Sol guides him out of the office. Once she shuts the door, she pulls the hairpin from her hair and crunches her hair in frustration. She has the information on where the money is going, but it's no use when she can't find out where he is. Joon Hwi takes a seat opposite her.
"Don't stress." He says softly, and Sol bites her lip in frustration.
"Don't stress? How can I not? The police aren't giving me any information on him, delaying his location tracking! I can't even find him! How am I supposed to get evidence to charge him, if he can't even appear to show up to court?" Sol angrily spills, her hands flailing. Joon Hwi sighs but grabs a hold of her wrist.
"Don't get swayed by your emotions." Joon Hwi firmly says, sparingly into Sol's anger-filled eyes. She pulls her wrist back, taking a deep breath before gathering her hair up again.
"Fine." She grumbles. "Get out of my office, Prosecutor Han. Don't you have work?" This earns a soft smile from Joon Hwi. As he heads to the door, he turns back before he leaves.
"Don't... Don't do anything stupid or impulsive, you hear me?"
Sol clicks her tongue and gives a half-hearted nod. She turns back to her report and updates her findings and tries to diffuse the thought of asking Seungjae to hack with her laptop to find Man Ho's location.
For Kang Sol A, such thoughts don't leave easily.
-----
"You sure?" Seungjae asks, seated in Sol's car. Sol takes a deep breath in and nods.
It was a few days after Seungjae visited the office. Sol called the police as much as she could, but they always left her on the line or just said "we're working on it." Thus, Sol told Seungjae to meet her at a park, before driving to a random alley and passing him her laptop.
"Yeah, I'll take my chances." She replied. Seungjae sighs and begins typing away.
"You know you're putting yourself at risk?" He asks, eyes never leaving the screen.
"I'll put myself at risk for the justice of my clients." She says firmly. A few minutes pass as Sol stares out of the car and watches the bright moon and the clouds floating by in misty swirls.
"Got it." Sol turns her attention to Seungjae. On the screen is a map and a blinking red dot of Manho’s location. Sol reads the map and puts her car back in drive before turning out of the alley.
"Woah, do you know where you are going?" Seungjae asks, grabbing onto the overhead handle for support and his hand securing the laptop.
"Seungjae-oppa, don't tell anyone about this, okay? Especially not Joon Hwi." Sol ignores his question as she speeds up the car, turning into a drop-off point of a train station.
"Sol A, you're-"
"Sorry, oppa. But I need to find him. I can't sit and wait for the police anymore. I promise you, I'll be safe." Sol says. Seungjae couldn't say no. He knows how stubborn Sol is, how when she decides on something, she will commit to it wholeheartedly.
"If he's armed, you could get yourself in danger." Seungjae exasperatedly sighs. It was too big a risk to see the junior he treats as a little sister put herself at risk.
"I'll be fine. Look, you're on my speed dial. You know that I can handle myself. There's a reason why I took years of self-defence classes." Sol tells him. Seungjae nods his head unwillingly.
"You better call me after you're done." He says as he opens the door and gets out of the car. "Please, please stay safe." Sol nods and gives a small smile.
"Thank you, oppa." Sol drives away immediately, leaving Seungjae to pinch his nose bridge in frustration and concern. Silently, as he boards the train, he prays for Sol's safety.
-----
Sol knows the area well. As she parks her car at a carpark, she checks to make sure Manho is still at the bar. The blinking dot stays stagnant at the bar, not moving ever since she dropped Seungjae off. Getting out, she tightens her coat around her and thanks herself for the long trousers she's wearing. At least she isn't wearing a skirt, if she needs to beat someone up.
Entering the bar, she naturally takes a slow walk around. But hidden by the corner of the bar tables sit a lone man, with a cap, dressed in black button up and holding a glass of golden whiskey. She knew that was her target.
Taking a seat next to him, she orders a glass of soda water from the bartender. Man Ho chuckles next to her as he sets his glass down. Turning his head, he faces Sol with sly eyes, lips curled at the corner.
"Prosecutor Kang, you're quick." She hears him say and a chill goes down her spine. She lets her eyes meet the cold stare of Manho.
"Oh, you think I don't know you? You're the one after me more than the police are for the past weeks." Man Ho sinisterly says, a sick grin on his face. Sol grits her teeth and takes a deep breath to soothe her anger.
"Why are you doing this? You think it's fun?Watching my clients suffer?" Sol says through her gritted teeth. He only scoffs.
"My, my. Don't want you getting agitated now, don't we? We just started." He says, sipping from his glass again.
"Answer my question." She says with force. Man Ho sips on his glass, swirling the golden brown liquid against the large square cubes of ice as he exhales.
As the words fall from his mouth, Sol grows as cold as the glass in her hand. Her hands slightly shake as she hitches her breath. When her shaky eyes turn to Manho’s, his eyes are sly with a mocking grin. No, he can’t know.
"You’re just as feisty as your sister, aren’t you?”
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theyscreamjade · 3 years
Text
You're Mine.
Katsuki BakugoXFem!Reader!
Welcome, Guess who's feeling smutty today! This girl! I used to have a nickname back in my Wattpad days as the ovaries destroyer because I used to make characters so hot. I hope I can still live up to the name! It's been years, I hope you enjoy it! You can obviously tell I got into it a bit because it’s 2.3k words. Let them have cake! Enjoy my peeps!
Disclaimer: Cursing, Expedition, NSFW. (NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18+!)
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If you love something, set it free; if it comes back it’s yours, if it doesn’t, it never was - Richard Bach
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You panted softly, sitting on the gym’s bench that was beside you. Sweat dripped down between your breasts as Mina walked over, handing a towel to you.
“What a workout, That was excellent Y/N! That flip you did to get me down, I wasn’t even expecting it!” Ochako commented, walking over to you while you wiped the sweat from your head.
“Bakugo taught me that..before we broke up.” You said as Toru appeared. “I’m sorry about you two breaking up again, I would’ve never expected that to even happen.” She said, sadly.
You shrugged before downing your water jug, getting it to the third line designed on it. “Oh yeah, As I was saying before you obliterated Ochako. I’m having a party tonight and you all are invited, especially you Y/N” Mina said, putting her hand on her hip.
Her green crop top showed her pink stomach as she turned her attention to you. “You owe me this one, especially after you stood the last guy up.” She added before you rolled your eyes.
“You made a blind date for me the week after I and Bakugo broke up.” You responded as she whined softly.
“It’s been three months, Y/N! It’s time to move on, I know you miss him and everything but you guys broke up because you two aren’t compatible or something.” Toru said, her gloved hand forming a fist. “At least give the guy a chance and see what happens.”
“For once...I agree with her, she’s right about that. You never know, This may help you out a bit Y/N” Tsu commented, holding her water bottle in her hand before dumping it over her head. She often did this to keep herself slick and wet because..she’s a frog.
They were right though, You and Bakugo broke up a few months back and it honestly hurt you. You had true honest feelings for him and you knew he did for you too, he did things that no one had ever seen him do. The times you’ve seen him smile, laugh, and more while everyone saw the angry, yelling Pomeranian.
The breakup was so sudden as well, he called you outside. You two stood in the exact place where he saw you after school, the small patch of cherry blossoms. He stared into your eyes and just did it, be dumped you and left you. You wanted an explanation, A reason. Something! You never would receive it though.
“Fine, I’ll go.” You said as everyone eyes lit up in happiness. “Finally! I’ll make sure to have the guy there and looking scrumptious for you, I know you’ll love him Y/N!” Mina said, excitedly.
“Please, if he’s a guy who’ll give you free things because he’s dating me, I’ll never talk to you again.” You said as she gasped dramatically. “THAT WAS ONE TIME AND IT WAS FOR THE NEWEST IPHONE!” She screamed back as everyone laughed.
——————————————————————————
Your heels clicked towards the penthouse, the sound of music playing could be heard from outside. Your gut was telling you to go home while your heart was yelling to take a chance.
You wore a black lace bra that perfectly lifted and hugged your breasts with a black skirt that held your every curve perfectly with your black strapped heels, each black strap hugging up your legs before stopping at your thighs. You placed your hand on the glass door as colors flashed with music banging in your ears.
“You came!!” Mina screamed, running to you as she hugged you tightly. “Ohh! You look sexy! You’re just meeting the poor man, not sleeping with him!” She said before you slapped her arm as she giggled. “Come on! Let’s turn the fuck up!!” She screamed, pulling you towards the crowd. You giggled as the gut feeling faded away.
After a few drinks, you and the new guy (who name you accidentally forgotten.) were grinding against each other on the large dance floor. His left arm was wrapped around your waist as the music increased. Your ass rubbed against his forming bulge before you started twerking. Boom, he’s hard now. You stuck your tongue out as he held on for dear life from you grinding on him.
A wave of sickness rushed through you before you walked towards the bathroom since you knew Mina’s home pretty well. You walked down the hallway before freezing right in place as the sickening feeling feeling disappeared.
Bakugo stopped, looking at you. His red eyes softened when he finally saw you again. “Y-“
You pushed him aside, walking towards the bathroom as he grabbed your wrist. “Y/N, We need to talk.”
“I don’t need to talk to you.” You replied, your words sounding like fire. “I need t-“ “For What?!” You screamed, glaring at him as you snatched your hand away. “You fucking dumping me was the last time you’d ever do anything!”
“Damnit Y/N, Listen to m-“ “Leave me alone, Katsuki Bakugo.” You demanded before walking to the bathroom. His patience was being tested as he chuckled. “I dumped you because of what you’re fucking doing out there.” He said. Your feet stopped right at the door before you did an about-face to him. “Repeat that?”
“You heard me loud and fucking clear, Dumbass.” He responded as you scoffed. “So, You dumped me because of what happens with Deku? Right?” You asked, remembering the strange incident that happened months ago.
During a battle, You and Deku were in charge of taking everyone to safety. While the building was begging to crumble and crash down, Deku jumped towards you. You ended up landing right on top of him, and when the dust and everything were cleared. The beautiful image of you straddling Deku was the talk of the century. “You seem to be proving that it’s fu-“ his words were silenced by you.
“You’re fucking pathetic, you know that? While you’re so blinded by the fact that stupid rumor and the photo were spreading around, You failed to realize that someone loved you and that was me! You sit there and call me dumbass when you’re the actual fucking dumbass! You don’t know what the fuck happened to me after we broke up! You don’t know how it felt o lose someone you cared so much about! You just fucking dumped me and left me there like.....like...what we had never meant anything Katsuki!” You screamed, trying to keep your tears in.
His arms dropped from the folding position they were in before he looked at you before looking at the door beside him. “I’m sorry...I just..I just felt that Deku would take you away from me...and I felt I wasn’t good for you.” he whispered, making you look at him in shock.
This is what you needed right? An explanation, a reason, and..to vent your anger to him. He caused this! Why...Why did it feel as if it wasn’t enough? You hated that you loved this asshole and you still do! You couldn’t deny that at all.
“You’re still wearing it..” he suddenly said, snapping you from your thoughts. “The necklace I brought you.” He whispered, a blush covering his cheeks as your hands touched the ruby necklace he brought you after asking for you to be his girlfriend. He slowly walked towards you, his scent engulfing your nostrils while the feeling of having him so close was driving you nuts.
“God, I fucking hate what you do to me.” You said, aloud by accident. Your eyes widened as he chuckled softly, his hand touching your waist again. “It’s been way too fucking long, Teddy Bear.” He growled softly, admiring your outfit. “What about your little friend?” He asked before you gripped his shirt. “He would’ve never fucked me like you can..” you moaned softly, looking into his eyes.
The lack of not having him left you needy as hell, even your toys can’t do the trick. It’ll satisfy you for a while it’s not...Bakugo. He smirked before his right hand slipped towards your ass, gripping it tightly while pulling you up. “Let me make up for lost times, It’s the least I could do for you.” He growled, opening the bathroom door for you. You bit your lip before eagerly walking into the bathroom. The bathroom door was shut, the lights automatically turning on as his lips were smashed against yours.
Your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him close as passion boiled over the surface. That feeling he created in you was sparking back alive while your lipstick was starting to be smudged by him. His hands reached down to your thighs as he plopped you on the countertop. Your hips were pulled close, rubbing against his bulge. His hand slammed onto the large mirror behind your head before you grabbed his shirt, snatching it off of him as the kiss was broken.
You tossed it aside with a harsh throw as he latched himself to your neck. A moan seeped out as his teeth bit onto the tender flesh. His hands moved from the large full mirror as he grabbed your bra, ripping it off with a simple tug. “Mmm...I’ve got to remind you, exactly who the fuck you belong to.” He growled in your ear, his voice sounding deeper than usual.
If your panties weren’t soaking from the kiss, they were now. You looked into his eyes as a smirk formed from your lips. “Oh really?... I believe I forgot who that was though. It wouldn’t be that guy I was grinding out there would it.” You said as Bakugo glared at you. You loved pushing his buttons. (brat things, you won’t understand.)
“Funny...” He said, pulling you down as he softly shoved you to your knees. “But he’s not the one who has you on your fucking knees now, is he?” He asked, unbuckling his jeans. Before you could even respond, he shoved himself down your throat. He grunted softly, holding your hair in his hands while looking at you. “What was that? I didn’t hear you..” he growled, bobbing your head before you took over.
The sounds of your soft gags, his grunts, and curses echoed through the room before you suddenly pushed down until your nose touched the base. Your eyes rolled back as you pulled away, feeling his hand gripping your hair before doing it again for you. “Fuck, That mouth of yours..does fucking wonders.” He grunted, pulling you up to him.
His lips reconnected with yours as you get two fingers slid into your panties. You moaned out, feeling his thick fingers push into your throbbing core, panting harshly against his chest while he marked your neck more. “You’re this eager for me huh? You’re dripping fucking wet for me?” He asked, curving his fingers inside you. “Y-Y-Yes!” You confessed, no longer able to keep it in while feeling his smirk against you.
Your body was pressed against the counter, bent over perfectly as he lined himself up with you. Your fingers turned into a fist, finally feeling him slide inside you. The way he stretched you yet it was perfectly fit inside you like a key to a lock. You softly moaned out as someone knocked at the door.
“Y/N! You okay?” Your original date asks from behind the door. The grip Bakugo had on your waist became tighter before a sick thought emerged in his mind. “Why don’t you respond?” Bakugo asked, slamming himself deep inside you as you moaned out in response.
“I-I-I’m okay!” You yelled back quickly, ready for him to finally leave. “I was worried about you, Should I come I-“ “NO! I’m okay! Don’t c-come i-i-in!” You tried to speak while being brutally pounded. You lifted your right hand to his waist to slow Bakugo down but he simply grabbed it and fueled him to go faster while pulling you in more.
“Fuck!” You cried out. “Are you sure you’re o-“
“She’s fucking fine! Fuck off already, You bastard!” Bakugo yelled over you, grabbing your left arm. You cried out, slapping against him as the wet sound of slapping echoed.
He suddenly pulled out, grabbing your leg as he flipped you over, pulling to the edge as he slammed back inside you. Your walls gripped him tighter than before while your right hand gripped his right that held your legs open while the other scratched the marble countertop. Your moans increased to screams while sweat dripped from you two, all while he watched you wither underneath him.
“You’re goin’ to cum aren’t you?” He asked, feeling you get even tighter around him. You nodded, whimpering and panting underneath him before he leaned close to you. “Tell me who you belong to, Baby.” He growled, wanting to hear you as he slowed his thrusts down.
“You! I belong to you!” You said, looking at him. You panted, looking at him as he went even slower. “I can’t hear you, I want everyone to know. I even want that bastard standin’ outside that fuckin’ door, Who the fuck do you belong to?” He growled as you screamed.
“You, Kastuki Bakugo! You!” You screamed, throwing your head back as he increased himself again while showing no mercy to you. You wrapped your legs around his waist while holding him close, your nails digging into his back as the blissful feeling rushed through your veins. Your head flew back as you two came together as there was a combined mess on the bathroom floor.
You panted softly, leaning against the mirror as Bakugo quickly got dressed. You raised your eyebrow in confusion as he handed your skirt to you. “Get dressed, We’re heading home. It’s about to be a long night.” He said, sliding his shirt over your body. You looked down at it before asking. “Why?”
He smirked, looking down at you again before whispering.
“I’ve gotta punish your ass for wearing that fuckin’ outfit.”
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Text
Dancing With A Wolf
A/N: So this is the second part of Don’t You Go, and you should read that before you read this :)
BAU x GN!Teen!Reader (Platonic)
Summary: A year after your parents are charged with murder, you’re placed with a new foster family. However, your ‘mother’ isn’t the kind woman she appeared to be.
⚠️TW⚠️ Child abuse, Stabbing, Religious fanatic, General Criminal Minds things
Masterlist
—•—
Three hours.
It's been three long hours since everyone rushed out the room, ready to bring in your parents. The only person who stayed was Rossi, and he left half an hour ago to assist the local PD.
You sit there, messing with your fingers and playing with Spencer's keys. They make a metallic sound, but you don't mind—it's better than the silence. The deafening silence that ups your anxiety and plagues your body with shakes. Where are your parents? Did they get them? What if they're found not guilty? Do you have to go back into their care?
"Hi Y/M, my name's Derek. You okay?"
Your head snaps up, pulling you from your thoughts to be met by a new agent. You haven't met him before.
"Y-Yeah," you mumble. "What's happening with-"
The chocolate-skinned man cuts you off. "We've got your parents. You're not going back with them."
You let out a sigh of relief, running a hand through your hair. You don't have to go back with them. Morgan goes to leave the room, but you stop him at the door.
"What's going to happen to me?" You ask and the agent turns around. His eyes soften at the sight of you in front of him—you’re scared shitless. He sighs.
"Well, CPS are coming in a few hours and they'll help find a family for you to live with," he explains. You nod and go back to fiddling with Spencer's keys. You need something to keep your hands busy, otherwise you get more and more anxious. The last thing you want to happen now is a panic attack.
You hope you go to a good family.
—•—
"N/N? CPS are here, kiddo."
Your head lifts from where you had it resting on the desk to see the blonde from before, JJ. She has a look in her eyes, and you can't quite decipher if it's sadness or pity for you. Either way, you sigh and nod, getting up and following her outside. It feels ironic, almost; you were bought in for stealing, and here you are, leaving without parents and innocence. When you’re out there, you’re met with the team of FBI agents. They're all looking at you, some with smiles, others with pity, and a new woman in a smart blouse and trousers strands there.
CPS, you think.
"Well, bye, kid. Don't get yourself into any more trouble," Derek says, making a small joke. You give him a smile.
"No promises," you reply, making the small team let out a laugh. Then, you turn to Spencer. The young doctor looks upset at your departure, but also hopeful. You dig in your pocket and pull out a set of keys, handing them back. "Thanks for letting me...use them."
Spencer smiles. "It's not a problem, Y/N. Actually..." He reaches into his pocket and pulls something out, "I got you this. It's a fidget cube, and something you can mess with so you don't have to keep my keys."
You look up at him, and unexpectedly, wrap your arms around Spencer and pull him into a hug. Spencer freezes, unsure of what to do at that moment, before returning it.
"Thank you," you whisper in his ear, and Spencer nods as you both pull away. A different agent clears his throat, and you look over at Rossi.
"CPS are here," he says. "I'll walk you out."
You nod and follow the older agent out the bullpen and down the stairs. Your hands shake and you desparately fumble with Spencer's gift. Dave looks down at you, an eyebrow slightly raised. Soon enough, you both reach the doors but before you can go to meet the CPS employees in the car, Dave stops you.
"Just so you know, if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call me, okay? It doesn't matter the time, so long as it's serious enough, okay?" He asks you, handing you a small card with his phone number on it. You look at it, then him, and nod a little. "Alright. See you around, N/N."
He pulls you in for a hug before letting you go. He watches as you get in the back and the car drives off.
He prays you goe to a good home.
—•—
It's been a year since the incident, and you don't quite know how you’ve got yourself into this situation. But trauma does that to the brain—it plays with your memory.
After everything happened with your parents, you were moved into foster care. You were bounced around a little, before settling in Virgina with the Stevens. They seemed nice enough, but you soon learned that was a front for CPS. Behind closed doors, no one knows what happens. Never.
Six months you’ve had to put up with this. A religious nut of a 'mother' and a never-present 'father'. She believes that you will turn out just like your parents did, so she tells you that 'God' told her to beat it out of you, before it got any worse. She often goes to the extreme, believing blood-letting is a good way to 'cleanse' you of all the 'sins' you’ve committed.
Her latest escapade came after you attended church, and you sneezed during a prayer. That's when Mary believed the devil entered you, and now plagues you. She dragged you home by the ear and may have gone too far with the blood-letting, slashing at your arms, legs, and almost your neck.
That was the breaking point.
You ran. You ran so far away you hoped she wouldn't come after you. And about an hour later, she hasn't. And that brings us to now.
You’re stumbling through the streets of Arlington at half eleven at night, forehead gushing blood, as well as several wounds on your arms and legs, and a large bruise around your left eye. Many more litter your body, hidden by your white linen shirt or your jeans. You don't know how much further you can go before you pass out and is killed by some psycho or you bleed out.
You’d prefer the first. It'd be quicker.
"Y/N?"
Did someone call you name? No, you must be hearing things. You’ve never been this close to the city before. No one would know you.
"Y/N?"
There it is again. It's the blood loss. It has to be. The voice sounds familiar, though. Almost too familiar.
"N/N?"
Only two people called you that, and it certainly isn't a woman's voice. You turn around, vision blurred and breathing laboured. You can make out a figure; an older man. He's in a jacket, you think. You’re not sure.
"Holy shit."
The man's running now and you can make his face out.
Rossi.
"D-Dave?" You ask as the man reaches hyoum. His eyes are wide with fear as they look you over. You don't hear his response though, the blood loss and exhaustion is catching up with you, and before he knows it, Rossi's catching you and holding you. He lowers you to the ground and pulls out his phone.
"I need an ambulance to Spring Lane Park, urgent. A kid's been stabbed, a lot. I need help. Please."
—•—
The final part is coming soon, hopefully. Sorry for the massive delay—it’s been a hectic week. Send some requests if you have them, and let me know if you want to be on the taglist :)
TAGLIST:
@ogmilkis@spideygirl2003@ssebstann@herecomesthewriterwitch@garcias-batcave
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heyitssmiller · 4 years
Text
Clandestine - Chapter Two
Alright people, say it with me: Trust Issues. Also Finn goes from zero to one hundred real fast.
This is definitely a filler chapter; we’ll get to more spy stuff next chapter.
@lumosinlove
Chapter One
.
Finn made sure to get to the office early enough to have time for a trip down to the Archives, his second cup of coffee in hand as he took the elevator up to the fifth floor of the building. He needed intel. Not on the Snakes – they were getting briefed on them later today. No, he was looking for files on his new partners.
Granted, he could learn a lot from observing them on his own time, but that could only give him so much. In order to get the full picture, he needed their hometowns, history, information about their families, jobs they’d done in the past, you name it. Because, for one of the only times in his life, he was stumped. His entire job was based on how well he could read people; this was frustratingly unusual.
Unusually frustrating? Finn questioned as elevator opened with a ding.
It was both frustrating and unusual. There.
Figuring Logan out was harder than he’d thought it would be. Finn was having a really hard time connecting the Logan he knew from two months ago to the one he was trying to get to know now. He was so different compared to the version of Logan he’d met at the New Year’s party… but alcohol tended to have that effect on people. The guy who cuddled with him on that ratty old couch while nursing a rum and coke now kept his distance. The easy smile and contagious laugh Finn remembered hadn’t been seen or heard since. He was so guarded. About everything, it seemed like. That made him hard to get to know, hard to predict. 
And then there was Leo. Leo made absolutely no sense, in Finn’s opinion. With constant movement but controlled, practiced actions, he was a paradoxical combination of restless and serene. His nerves pointed towards inexperience, but his eyes told a different story – one with complete confidence of his capabilities. He was an enigma. And Finn couldn’t seem to get a read on him.
That was important to Finn. He needed to be able to read and understand his partners. He needed to be able to know their thoughts, predict their every move, trust them. They wouldn’t work together otherwise.
So he woke up at a god-forsaken hour – it was still dark outside – and here he was, outside the Archives.
Staring at the back, broad shoulders, and brown hair of one of his new partners.
Fuck.
He put on a smile. “If I’d known I was meeting you here, I would’ve brought coffee for you.”
Logan didn’t tense, exactly, but his shoulders stiffened slightly. He turned and smiled back. It still wasn’t the smile Finn remembered from that night, wasn’t the one he wanted to see again so badly. “Hey. I see you had the same idea as me.”
“And what’s that?”
He shrugged, indifferent. “Getting intel on your new partners.”
“Nah,” Finn lied as they walked side-by-side to the front desk, “I’m here to brush up on the previous missions against the Snakes’ before our briefing this afternoon. But it’s nice that you want to do your research on us.” He winked. Logan’s lips twitched in an attempt to withhold a smile.
“Can I help you boys?”
Finn turned his bright smile to Lily Potter, who was manning the Archives desk. “Hello, my fellow redhead! We would like the files on past Snakes’ missions, and then the files on Knut, Tremblay, and yours truly, please.”
She arched an eyebrow. “How much time do you have on your hands?”
“Don’t have anything on my schedule until this afternoon. Why?”
“The missions will take you at least two days to get through. It’s probably eight, ten years of files.”
Finn whistled lowly. “Holy shit.”
He hadn’t really thought this through. In his defense, though, it was a spur of the moment idea.
“Well, just the other files, then. Someone over here wants to do research on his new partners.”
Lily sent Logan a curious glance, but left to grab the files. Finn turned to Logan with a flirtatious smile, resting his arm on the desk. “So, what all do you want to know? I’m an open book.”
“I seriously doubt that.”  Logan snorted, nose crinkling in the process.
Finn’s smile turned more genuine. God, he was cute. “Ok, then ask away. Here, I’ll help you out. I’m a Gemini, I graduated from Harvard, I’m a sucker for green eyes, I enjoy long, romantic walks on the beach as long as there’s no seaweed-”
“Why would you think any of that is relevant?”
“I give you all this information and that’s the first question you ask? I’m offended.” Lily chose that moment to return with three files, two significantly thicker than the other one. Finn thanked her and grabbed Logan’s file for himself before passing the other two to Logan.
“Have fun researching!” Finn said as he turned to head for the elevator again. He paused before looking back at Logan and adding with a wink, “Oh, and pass along Nut’s file to me when you’re done reading it.”
***
Remus stepped foot into the briefing room to find Sirius already there, messing with a laptop. Where he got said laptop was unknown. And a little worrying, seeing that he’d shown up in Gryffindor with a bag of clothes, some cash, and nothing else.
He glanced up at Remus and looked him over with a smile. “Good afternoon. Long time, no see.”
“What are you up to?” Remus asked as he set his bag down, clutching his cup of tea in his other hand and looking back at Sirius. There were bags under his eyes, reminding Remus of the fact that he was still sleeping on his couch. Sleeping was a loose term, though. He had also been awake when Remus had gone to bed and when he got up in the morning. Did the man ever sleep?
“Oh, nothing much.” Sirius said, hitting a few keys on the laptop in rapid succession. “Getting ready to brief the cubs.”
“The cubs?”
“Your logo is a lion. And they’re the youngest ones here, right? Hence the cubs.”
“Cute.” Remus sat down in one of the chairs with a sigh and took a sip of his tea. “So what are you briefing them on today?”
“Members of the Snakes. I have a powerpoint with pictures and everything.”
“Oh god.”
Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. Better than me droning on and expecting them to stay focused.”
“They’re spies. Sometimes, that’s part of the job.”
“Sure. But it doesn’t have to be.”
Remus smiled a little at that. “How thoughtful of you.”
“I try.”
He hummed, cupping his mug with both hands. “You know, if you were really thoughtful you’d stop leaving your dishes in the sink.”
That startled a laugh out of Sirius. “Now, why would I do that when it’s so fun to get on your nerves?”
“You don’t get on my nerves.”
Sirius arched an eyebrow. “No?”
“No.” He took another sip of tea to hide his smile. “I’m a very patient man.”
Sirius was still laughing by the time Knut, O’Hara, and Tremblay entered the room. They all sat side by side, not really talking much and still a little unsure of each other. That needed to change soon. You couldn’t afford to be doubting your partners while on missions like the ones they’d be getting into.
“Alright, cubs! Let’s get started, shall we?” Sirius asked, connecting the laptop to the room’s projector. “Today we’re going over the members of the Snakes and what all you need to know about them.”
An animated picture of a snake in a party hat showed up on the projector. Remus sighed.
“Ok, so we’ll start at the top.” He switched to the next slide. “This is Riddle. Fuck Riddle. He’s in charge of every little detail of the Snakes, and very paranoid about handing over tasks to other members. He’s got a lot of messed up ideas about ethics and – well, pretty much everything.”
“What’s wrong with his eyes?” Logan asked, still staring uncomfortably at the yellow eyes on the screen.
Sirius shrugged. “I think it’s a genetics thing. Something about liver issues. I never really paid attention. On to the next member!”
A picture of a greasy-haired man with a sour expression on his face glared back at them.
“Snape.” Remus said with disdain. At Sirius’ look, he just shrugged. “Pots has gone up against him a few times. He hates the guy and makes sure everyone knows it. He works in the drug side of their operation.”
“Exactly.” Sirius smiled, which proved to be more distracting than Remus thought it would be. There had been teasing smiles, flirty smiles, sarcastic smiles, but this one was new. This was one of the first genuine smiles he’d seen from the ex-Snake. “I think I like Potter a little more now.”
“I think you two could actually be really good friends, and that terrifies me.”
“Ok, next is Bellatrix. Please, please avoid her as much as possible. She’s certifiably insane.”
Finn frowned. “She’s got one of the flash drives, right?”
“Unfortunately, yes. So it’s going to be up to you to distract her and Leo to grab the drive, probably.”
Both boys paled a little, then looked to each other, seeming to have a silent conversation all their own.
Sirius moved on to the next slide, where a man with cold eyes and a feral smile looked back at them. “This is Fenrir Greyback. Don’t fuck around with this one, he’s ruthless.”
Finn and Logan’s eyes snapped over to Loops, who looked pale and slightly nauseous. His hand was on the juncture of his neck and shoulder, massaging the muscle absentmindedly. Not for the first time, Finn wondered what exactly happened on that mission. All he knew was that Loops was supposed to take Greyback down and he came back with a mutilated shoulder and new cuts on his face that were sure to scar. He hadn’t been back in the field since.
Leo’s gaze moved from one person in the room to the next, slowly piecing together the story. He didn’t know all the details yet, but he knew they couldn’t be good.
Sirius, who was still talking, finally seemed to connect the dots. His eyes got wide and his sentence trailed off to remain incomplete. He stared at Loops in horror. “Fuck.”
“I think that’s enough for today.” Leo said quietly but firmly, getting out of his seat while giving Remus a meaningful look. His partners followed suit. “We can pick this up again tomorrow.”
The three of them left in a hurry, leaving Sirius and Remus alone. Remus started grabbing his meticulously organized notes and shoved them in his bag. He could feel Sirius’ gaze on him, but he refused to look up.
“Listen, Remus, I had no idea –”
“Of course you didn’t.” Remus cut in calmly. “How could you have known? Hell, you probably congratulated him after that mission –”
“That’s not true –”
“But you were there. You knew what he did to people and yet you just stood by.”
“Why do you think I left?” Sirius demanded, his voice raising. Remus finally met his gaze. “You weren’t the only one who got screwed over by the Snakes. I grew up watching that shit, just assuming it was normal because that’s the way it’s always been there. And then I realized my parents were monsters and started thinking for myself and realized how fucked up that organization is. Do you really think I’d be here if I condoned that sort of shit?”
“Honestly? I wasn’t sure you cared. The only motivation for wanting to take the Snakes down that you’ve deigned to share with us is that you want your brother safe. You’ve never said anything about how you feel about the organization itself.”
“What are you smoking?” Sirius asked with an incredulous laugh. “I want my brother safe because he’s in that hellhole. What other reason –”
“Then tell us that!” Remus shouted, finally getting Sirius to stop talking. “You keep everything so close to your chest, you don’t seem to want to interact with any of us, and you don’t tell us anything but the bare minimum. How are we supposed to get anything done if we can’t trust you?”
“That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think? I swear, you’re one of the most guarded people I’ve ever met!”
“Well, you don’t really need to get to know me, do you?” Remus fired back. Sirius froze. “You’re here to take the Snakes down. That’s it. When all this is done, it’s not like you’re going to stay. You don’t have to trust me as a friend, but trust me as an agent.”
“That’s it, huh?” Sirius asked, voice dangerously blank.
“That’s it.”
“Fine.” He said gruffly, slamming the laptop closed and grabbing his jacket from the back of a nearby chair. “I’m headed out. Don’t wait up.”
Remus sighed, staring down at his mug and swirling the now-cold contents. Even though they’d gotten along surprisingly well the past couple of days, they weren’t friends. And they didn’t need to be friends. This was business. They were working together to get a job done. That was all. 
Remus knew that the two of them getting along so well was like an already-lit fuse - it was bound to blow up in their faces sooner rather than later. 
***
Finn walked into the safe room, whistling lowly as he looked around. He’d never been in here before – he hadn’t had a reason to. There were safes of all different types and sizes littered around the room. On tables, on the floor, embedded in the walls. He wondered how many safes there were total, and how long it had taken to collect them all.
Leo was seated criss-cross-applesauce in front of one, pressing a stethoscope against the door of a safe and rotating the dial slowly. Finn smiled a little at the sight. This made more sense, seeing it in action. The constant fidgeting was replaced with stillness, the only movement being those of deft fingers against the dial. All that motion and pent-up energy were now focused solely on the safe. 
He walked up to Leo, completely unnoticed, and tapped on his shoulder. Leo jumped a foot into the air, yanking the stethoscope out of his ears and whirling around to look at Finn. “Fuck, you scared me.”
“Sorry, Nut.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Coming to see you, obviously.” Finn said with a wink. “Tremblay and I were wondering if you wanted to get dinner with us. You know,” Finn made a weird motion with his hand and then cringed, moving his hand behind his back and grabbing it with his other hand to keep from performing any more weird, random movements. “Get to know the team and all that.”
Leo’s smile lit up the room. “I’d love to! Y’all headed out right now?”
Y’all.
Wow, his genteel southern-boy routine could really take him places in this profession. With that combined with his looks, no one would ever think he could possibly be guilty of anything.
“Probably. It’s almost seven.”
Leo blinked, confused. “Is it?” At Finn’s nod, he uncrossed his legs and stretched, his back popping in the process. “Guess we should get going then, huh?”
“Yeah.” Finn held out a hand and helped the blond to his feet. He really was just a giant. How did he find clothes that fit him? Finn glanced down at Leo’s shirtsleeves and - sure enough - they were an inch or two above his wrists. He realized he was sort of staring at this guy’s wrists, of all things, and his eyes shot back up to meet kind, albeit confused, blue eyes. “We were thinking Sid’s for dinner? You been there before?” When Leo shook his head, he groaned. “You’re missing out, Nut. We’re fixing that right now. Come on.”
He led Leo back down the hall to the bullpen, where Logan was still pouring over files. How he ever expected to get through the huge pile of files on his desk, Finn had no idea. “Look alive, Tremblay. We’re getting pizza.”
Logan instantly looked up with a hopeful smile. “Sid’s?”
“Where else?” Finn laughed as Logan shot out of his seat and grabbed his coat. He’d never seen the other agent move so fast. “Hungry?”
Logan turned to look at him, his arm getting stuck in the sleeve of his coat. He grumbled under his breath in a language that definitely wasn’t English and shoved his arm into his sleeve. “I’m going to eat an entire pizza and you can’t stop me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
They stepped out of the building together, taking a right and heading down the street. It wasn’t actually that cold outside, for a Gryffindor winter – only thirty-five degrees or so. But Nut still shoved his hands into his pockets and nuzzled his nose into his coat. Finn couldn’t hold back the smile at the sight, noticing red-tipped ears and a slight shiver.
“Cold, Nut?” Logan asked, also noticing the blond’s hunched shoulders.
He looked at his new partners, then buried his nose again. “Don’t judge me. New Orleans winters aren’t nearly this bad.”
“New Orleans, huh?” Logan questioned, although Finn knew he was already aware of Leo’s hometown. It was in his file, after all. “I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“Ooh, yes!” Finn agreed, leading them around a corner. “The home of Mardis Gras.”
Leo shrugged. “If we’re being technical Mobile, Alabama had the first Mardis Gras celebration in the States. We just do it better. There’s a ton of people, though. If you really want to see the city, come at a better time in the year.” He sent the other two boys a smile. “Maybe summer, so you can experience real southern heat. And humidity.”
“No thanks.” They said in unison, making Leo laugh. The conversation trailed off as they waited for the sign at a crosswalk.
“Where are the two of you from?” Leo finally asked as the red hand morphed into a walking man and the ticking from the crosswalk speakers changed tempo. They stepped into the street with Logan staring down cars that could potentially start moving again and hit them.
Finn thought that was cute.
Maybe Finn was looking at his personality the wrong way. Guarded wasn’t the right adjective for him - protective fit much better.
“New York City.” He rushed to answer Leo’s question as they reached the other side of the street, pointing out the Sid’s sign for Leo.
“Canada.” Logan said a bit gruffly, but you could hear the fondness in his voice.
Leo arched an eyebrow. “Now I understand why you’re so accustomed to the cold.”
Finn held open the door to Sid’s, motioning for the other two to go on ahead. “You’ll get used to it, too, Nut. Logan, can you believe he’s never had Sid’s before?”
Logan went off on a tangent about the perfection that is Sid’s margherita pizza as they were led to their table by a young waiter, who eyed them curiously. They sat down and Finn noticed Logan choosing a seat facing the rest of the restaurant, back to the wall. He looked around at the others in the building, only relaxing when he deemed the coast to be clear.
They quickly looked over the menu, Finn and Logan giving recommendations about their favorite dishes (practically all of them) and began telling lighthearted stories about where they were from and how they grew up while waiting for their food. Leo’s leg was constantly bouncing under the table, but he looked happy and relaxed, which Finn took as a good sign. Finn finally, finally got one of those rare New Year’s party smiles again, as well as a new sunny, dimpled smile from Leo - both of which he really wanted to keep seeing.
He didn’t understand why he was making such a big deal of causing his partners to smile.
Ok, he might’ve had a slight idea. But he didn’t want to think about it too hard. Not yet, at least.
It was only when their pizzas arrived that Logan brought out the big guns.
“So what made you decide to do this for a living?” He asked, sticking his tongue out to catch a stray string of cheese from his pizza slice. Finn tried not to follow the motion too closely, for his own sanity. “For me, it was Dumo. He was our next-door neighbor growing up, after we moved from Canada. I remember he was always away on business trips, but he would  come back looking exhausted and a little beat up. I’d go visit Celeste while he was away – she was always so worried, so I knew something was up. I can’t remember exactly how I found out, but I think I was thirteen or so when I figured out what his job was.” Logan shrugged. “Nothing else really interested me after that.”
“You guys are close, then?” Leo asked, maintaining eye contact with Logan and grabbing the container of red pepper flakes, liberally adding it to his pizza. Finn watched on in horror. Had he previously burned all his taste buds off or something?
Logan smiled. “Yeah. He’s like a dad to me. The whole family’s great. I babysit their kids all the time.”
That was a mental image Finn would be thinking about for the foreseeable future. God, he was screwed, wasn’t he?
He hurried to talk and take his mind off of it. “I got recruited right out of college. I’ve got a good memory and a knack for predicting people and how they’ll react to things. I jumped at the opportunity.” 
He smiled fondly at the memories his mind brought up. “My brother and I grew up on James Bond movies. How cool would it be to do that for my career? So I joined. The obvious next step was becoming a conman, I guess. It’s where I fit best.”
They looked to Leo, who seemed mildly embarrassed. “My Mama caught me pickpocketing on Bourbon Street.”
Logan and Finn took a moment to process that, and then cracked up. Leo waited for them to calm back down, smiling sheepishly before he continued, “She said if I was going to do stuff like that, I should at least be doing some good in the world. So she googled and found Gryffindor and asked some recruiters to meet with me. I came home from school one day to Blizzard and Talker sitting on my couch, eating my mom’s jambalaya.” Logan and Finn laughed again while Leo dragged his crust through some marinara sauce. “Next thing I knew, I was driving a moving truck across the country.”
“Do you miss home?” Logan asked, finally shoving his plate away.
Leo shrugged, looking back and forth between the other two knowingly. “Doesn’t everyone miss home, in one way or another?”
Finn wasn’t even sure what home was to him anymore. Maybe he’d figure it out one of these days. He glanced over at his new partners. Logan also looked pensive, apparently grappling with Leo’s words as well. 
Leo seemed completely unfazed, his leg bouncing again. “Does anyone want dessert?”
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lampmeeting · 3 years
Note
D for Charles/Magnus, I for Magnus/Toki, L for Charles/Pickles, and F for Melm/JT.
eeehEHEHEHE DILF *rubs my little hands together* don't mind if i do~
D for Drunken Love Confession - Charles/Magnus
pre-klok. :') magnus has been chipping away at charles' resolve. there's just something about the bookish, put-together little chuck offdensen that makes magnus wanna break through all his defenses and see him come undone. he always did like a challenge. they have heated, passionate debates about the direction of the band. they get in each other's faces. magnus even kissed him once, but charles pushed him away, furious and blushing, and demanded he leave his office.
after six months of this weirdly charged back-and-forth they have, the band invites charles to come drinking with them to celebrate pickles' birthday. charles declines, concerned they're just inviting him to come because they want someone else to play designated driver. but magnus intervenes like "nah i'm driving tonight, promise. so go nuts." and charles seems to think it over... and eventually agrees.
so they all go out! at first charles seems to be pacing himself, but pickles gets shots, and it's all downhill from there. magnus, staying dutifully sober, watches the rest of the band + charles get sloppy and silly, not minding in the slightest the way charles leans against him a little in the booth and touches him when he laughs. he starts to regret not getting drunk himself, but he'd promised charles. it's enough just to see charles' mask slip, albeit not quite in the way magnus wanted. but he'll take it for now.
at the end of the night, magnus drops the band off at the apartment and then continues on to charles' place. he pulls up, and charles tries to get out of the car, but stumbles and falls. he's a lot more fucked up than magnus suspected. magnus helps him to the door, but charles seriously looks like he's about to black out, so he takes him inside, cleans him up a little, and puts him to bed (on his side, in the recovery position, he knows the drill). before he leaves, he can't help himself... he runs fingers through charles' sweaty hair and strokes his jaw. charles opens his eyes, seeming surprised that magnus is still there, and then... he smiles at him. a genuine smile. and as his eyes close again, he whispers something that freezes magnus in place.
"...mmfm...mmlove you..."
"...what?"
but charles is under again, and magnus leaves in a panic. charles doesn't, can't, have feeling for him. that's too much. magnus just wanted some fun, right? maybe get charles worked up enough for an angry fuck. but...love?
magnus can't sleep. the next time magnus sees charles, charles pulls him aside. "i apologize that you had to babysit me like that the other night. i can't exactly recall everything that happened, so if i said or did anything, ah...embarrassing, i'm very sorry."
so charles doesn't remember what he said. or he does and he's just trying to save face. magnus should be relieved about this, but for some reason his heart feels suddenly sore...
"oh, yeah, no...you were out like a light. don't worry about it."
--
I for "Idiots in Love" - Toki/Magnus
post-post-galaktikon. weirdly enough i'd probably write this from like nathan's pov or something. he's having everyone over to the house for some reason, maybe a holiday or his daughter's first birthday or something (her cool uncles wouldn't dream of missing it). this means..... rrugghhgh magnus is coming over. it's the first time he's interacted with magnus since pickles and charles' wedding, so maybe a good couple years, and he's not looking forward to it.
everyone arrives. toki and magnus are the last to show up, and nathan has to do a double-take because this is SO not magnus. half his hair is back in a ponytail, he's let his beard grow in some, and he's wearing a sweater?? and he's smiling? he genuinely seems happy to see nathan, gives him a hug, says a warm hello to abby.
over the course of the afternoon nathan has to keep looking at him and reminding himself that's magnus fucking hammersmith because he's just so... animated? friendly? he's sitting next to toki and they're holding hands, and when others are talking the two of them are making eyes at each other and cuddling and laughing at little things they seem to be sharing between themselves. they're being a couple of absolute goofballs together, and honestly it's a bit sickening to watch. is magnus just faking this?
at some point nathan excuses himself to the kitchen for something, and while he's in there he's joined by magnus, considerably more subdued.
"sorry, man, i just...i thought maybe we could talk for a sec."
so they talk. they catch up a little. nathan learns magnus has been hitting the therapy especially hard over the past year, making some meaningful strides. it's not an act, he's genuinely happier now. or at least trying to be.
"i mean, you know how it is, nate, right? doesn't abby make you wanna be better just because she exists and she loves you?"
okay, nathan can understand that. he still doesn't understand... them. but it really seems like magnus has turned a corner, which... good for him, he supposes. as long as he's treating toki well.
when they return to the party, nathan watches magnus sit back down with toki and give him a kiss like he'd been gone all month, and they giggle to themselves again. this time, it seems...all right.
--
L for "Love at First Sight" - Charles/Pickles
i'm gonna flip the script here!! i've already done the whole "charles sees pickles on stage and goes gaga for him" twice now... so i'd pull away from the 80s and do a fic where they actually did meet for the first time in the mid-90s when pickles was in dethklok.
so they've got their shitty original manager (the one from doomstar) still, and he's just not pulling his weight. he's managing a few other bands and his heart isn't in dethklok the way it used to be. pickles is worried they're stagnating, and when he learns that it's been magnus lately making sure they get booked, that's the last straw. they all come together, and they tell the dude to fuck off. but then this leaves them without a manager. magnus offers, but pickles has already been wary about how possessive magnus seems about the band recently, so when pickles says no the rest of them vote the same.
pickles blows through his old contacts looking to dig up some manager from his past who can either wants to manage dethklok or has connections to someone else. no dice. skwisgaar comes up with no one. magnus is still trying to campaign for himself. shit gets dire when somehow seth finds out dethklok is lacking management and leaves pickles a voicemail offering his "valuable fuckin' services". pickles blows his fucking top, swearing and screaming. "HOW HARD IS IT TO FIND ONE GUY CAPABLE OF MANAGING A FUCKIN' BAND??"
the doorbell rings, and pickles, still raging, throws it open.
"WHAT??"
"ahh!"
it's just... a dude. like a normal-ass dude. glasses. a nice dress shirt and slacks. nice hair. handsome. he's nervous as shit, but that almost makes him more handsome.
"i, ah...i-i was told that van on the street belongs to, ah...to someone here? i clipped the, ah, the bumper. just a little. but it's noticeable."
anger forgotten, pickles just... stares at him. are his eyes green or brown? and that jawline...
the man shifts his weight just a bit, peeking into the apartment with wide, curious eyes. "sorry, that, ah... that's quite the drum kit."
"huh?" pickles looks back at it and steps inside, and the man follows as if he's simply meant to be there. "oh, yeah, thanks. you play?"
"hardly. a small jazz kit in college for a friend's music project but it, ah, obviously didn't go anywhere." the man glances around and seems to realize that he's just waltzed inside. "right, ah, so about the van--" he pulls out his card. charles f. offdensen of finch & associates. an honest-to-god lawyer. huh. so he's a smart guy. good-looking to boot. knows a bit about music, apparently. and he's looking to make things right about hitting the van...
pickles smiles, hearts in his eyes. "ya like metal, charlie?"
--
F for "Fake Dating" - Melmord/Twinkletits
aaahahah... okay. so, this would be when melm is living with john as part of his continued therapy. a few months pass, and they've actually become good friends, melm thinks, not just therapist and patient. it's nice living there with john.
and then, john gets a call from his ex-wife, joy. she's in town, and she wants to come over for dinner one night before she leaves. the only thing is, she's got her new fiance in tow. she and john ended on pretty mutual terms, so there's really no bitterness there, but even so, john knows it's going to be an unpleasant evening. and then there's the question of what to do about melmord.
"you can just stuff me in a back room and pretend i don't exist. i'll be real quiet."
"absolutely not, you've been watching too many sitcoms."
"excuse you, that's jane eyre."
john just doesn't exactly know how to approach explaining melmord's presence in the house. because he knows joy, and joy will ask.
"tell her i'm a friend who needed a place to crash?"
"joy knows i don't do friends anymore."
ouch go melm's feelings.
"well, uh... you could just tell her the truth? that i'm your patient and i live with you?"
john pulls a face. "absolutely not."
in a flash of sitcom inspiration, melm snaps his fingers. "i got it! i'm your boyfriend! we'll pretend to date!"
"pretend to--?? mel, honey, no. okay? i understand you're trying to help, but--"
"but what? what's your brilliant idea, doc?"
cut to john introducing melmord to his ex-wife.
"and this is my... well, he's uh, my boyfriend actually. my boyfriend melmord."
melm is all smiles as he leans in and takes joy's hand. "please, just call me mel."
and then of course at the end of a long night, joy and her fiance leave, and john and melm pat each other on the back for a job well done. they really gave it their all, put on a convincing performance full of long embraces and doting glances and romantic touches. neither of them really want to talk about how easily it came to them, and how unwilling they both are to bring it to an end.
"well, uhh... good night, then." john chuckles. "darling."
"yeah, haha, sleep good, uh... sugarbear."
they laugh. they're standing in the hall laughing. they should really move apart from each other and go to their respective rooms if they're going to sleep, but they're not moving. and they're still laughing. and now melmord is touching john's shirt, fingering a button, and john has a hand on melm's hip...
"maybe," melm says quietly, "we can just pretend for, like... a little longer?"
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s1utspeare · 3 years
Note
Hi darling
You write such an awesome metas on fictional character so I wanted you to ask that what's your thought on Huo Dao Fu.
😊
AH OMG!!! Your ask could not have come at a better time, cause I have a feeling this man’s gonna be an important part of my next fic, so I really should start figuring him out. He’s SUCH A LIL WEIRDO??? honestly i love him, even though he’s a total Bitch 97% of the time, but I think at heart he’s just Looking For Something, as are all the characters in this show. 
What really interests me about Huo Daofu are his character parallels with Wu Xie, and I think that’s where most of the conflict between them comes in. Wu Xie, whether he means to be or not, is the Focus of Jiumen a good seventy-five percent of the time. Not always in a positive manner, because in Sha Hai they were all about ready to kick his ass, and in Reboot he pisses them off pretty good with his Warehouse Eleven stunts, but there’s a level of attention on him that other members of the families don’t receive, and I think Huo Daofu notices that, and is like “hey wait a minute why is he getting all the spotlight I want some spotlight >:( He’s not even doing a good job why is everyone paying attention to him”
Cause this bitch. THIS BITCH. He tried to be that bitch. He TRIED SO HARD. He went to EUROPE. He went to EUROPE and got a fucking like??? medical degree???? Like he went to GERMANY??? who does that?? not fucking wu xie, that’s who. Wu Xie went and got like a history degree or some shit which was just par for the course. But HUO DAOFU. He was DIFFERENT. He was gonna be THE SHIT. He was gonna be the unabomber of Jiumen, was gonna blow all that shit up and then say “fuck u” and all the future generations of Jiumen children were gonna hear horror stories about how Unique and Wild Huo Daofu was and he was never gonna have to deal with any of them ever again. 
BUT THEN WU XIE DECIDED TO BE PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE AND HE DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING OFF THE BEATEN PATH. HE LITERALLY JUST FOLLOWED WU SANXING AROUND FOR LIKE. A YEAR. AND EVERYONE LOST THEIR MINDS. Like if I had been Huo Daofu and tried SO HARD to be different from everyone else in my generation and then this Dumb Little History Twink kissed a Zhang and found some wild swamp treasure and everyone went nuts about it, I would have been pissed off too. 
Cause Jiumen is like. Annoying as hell, and everyone has a different way to deal with the fact that they’re a part of a treasure hunting org that has been around for hundreds of years and features immortals and weird-ass dudes with unbelievable martial arts skills and also Wu Sanxing. Xiaoge deals with them by Fucking Off Forever. Zhang Rishan deals with them by being The Most Competent Person In Any Given Room, and Huo Daofu deals with them by being The Biggest Bitch He Can Be, which isn’t even that much of a bitch, because there is always going to be a bigger bitch in Jiumen, and his name is Wu Xie. So it just backfires on him, because NO ONE GIVES A SINGLE FUCK. 
We’re introduced to him at Xiao Hua’s fake funeral (which lmao i love that) when he’s making some Evil Plans with the rest of Jiumen, but not for the same reasons, cause when they actually get to the desert, Huo Daofu does not care about the treasure pits. He doesn’t even go down into Gutongjing (I’m pretty sure), he just hangs out in the camps because he doesn’t CARE about the treasure, he just wants to keep Wu Xie from succeeding, wants to say, see, look, I can do things too, I can be clever and cunning, I can take them all down from the inside out and I don’t even need friends to do it. 
Huo Daofu is jealous of Wu Xie, I think, because Wu Xie is free of the confines of Jiumen, and Wu Xie has friends, and Wu Xie didn’t have to go to another country where he knew no one and didn’t even speak the language and work so hard and be fucking brilliant in ways that no one knows about and doesn’t always, always get overlooked in favor of someone who disregards everyone’s favor, but receives it anyway. 
So when Pangzi shows up with Wu Xie, half-dead, on Huo Daofu’s doorstep, I think a little vindictive part of him goes serves him right. 
But Huo Daofu is not a part of Jiumen in the ways that matter, and he’s a doctor, first and foremost. He took oaths because he wants to help people, he wants to save them, and even if he hates Wu Xie down in the pits of his stomach, he’s not just going to let him die. And so he follows Wu Xie to thunder city because, as he says, “I want to be there when you die.” He’s not going to kill him, he can’t do that, he’s a doctor, but that small, mean part of him wants to watch Wu Xie fall. 
(Also I love @kholran’s headcanon that Huo Daofu is Wu Xie’s bitchy ex, bc like YES??? OF COURSE???? like they had an on-again, off-again thing cause they were like “we’re not doing this with the Jiumen women” but they’re WAY TOO ALIKE and just ended up fighting all the time.)
Reboot loves the Rule of Threes, which is where an idea is repeated three times in order to create a pleasing pattern. Human brains love patterns, and so when we see the Iron Triangle, when we see the three pills that mark the stages of Wu Xie’s illness, when we see the three missing people from Sanshu’s journey, our brains go oh that’s important (and Reboot ALMOST kills the game, ALMOST knocks it out of the park, but then they have FOUR story arcs instead of THREE, and it drives me ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE. WHY DID THEY DO THIS. WHY). 
And Huo Daofu is a FANTASTIC tri-tier replica of Wu Xie’s Greatest Hits, which are: 
Being a sort of outcast/family runaway (Wu Xie has very clearly said Fuck Everyone Who Isn’t Sanshu, and Huo Daofu has aligned himself with the Chen clan, because the Huo’s are like Fuck Men (which honestly good for them but pLEASE love ur special doctor boy he’s getting a Complex))
Acting based almost Solely on Emotions when in the Heat of the Moment (i.e. dropping his entire life to go play doctor with a man who will not calm down for any length of time in order to actual REST)
Solving problems that no person should be able to solve because he’s smart as shit 
Narratively, he’s a FANTASTIC foil for Wu Xie, because not only does he essentially hold this man’s life in his hands, but because he is what Wu Xie could have been if he hadn’t met Pangzi or Xiaoge, if he hadn’t had support from other people. And I don’t think that’s Huo Daofu’s fault, because he and Wu Xie are so, so similar. He just never got the people he needed, and its so clear that he’s achingly alone all of the time, so no wonder he’s jealous of Wu Xie and wants to become part of this little group so damn badly, even as he’s protesting and saying, “no, no, I want you to die, literally nothing would give me more pleasure, please die right now, I’m waiting.” 
Sure, he’s a flipper-flopper ass bitch, but he’s trying his best with what he’s got, and shit, that’s not a lot. He’s got zero support system. I mean why the fuck is he making street churros? Even Zhang Rishan, who has NO culinary expertise or connections whatsover, gets to live in a restaurant, while Huo Daofu has to make fried dough in an alley and then keep people from choking on their own lungs on his damn kitchen table. Someone please help this man. 
this is SO LONG i’m sorry but essentially I think that Huo Daofu is Like That because he’s trying so hard to be someone, and no one is paying any attention, and the person he would most relate to, Wu Xie, is off doing God knows what with his polycule of friends and Huo Daofu’s all by himself and like??? i would be SO FRUSTRATED??? please give this man a break and also give him Love??? like, this screenshot speaks VOLUMES (photo credit to @hey-its-wei) 
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LOOK AT HIM!!!!! LOOK AT HOW FUCKING HAPPY HE LOOKS!!!! JUST TO BE THERE!!!! WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE!!!!! WHO HAVE SEEN HIM AND LISTENED AND SAID “hey, you can come with us, we’ll take you, you don’t have to be alone anymore.” 
I said earlier that Huo Daofu, like everyone else in this series, was Looking For Something. And like many of our beloved Wu Crew, he was looking for a family. And look! He found them :)
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deniigi · 4 years
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i have been sick in bed with a stomach bug and re-reading a bunch of your series and these questions have plagued me so pls, for the sake of your fellow samuel chung lover, if sammy was in the Selkie verse, would he be a fae? if so, what kind? ALSO, what would his interactions with jack be like (either in the selkie verse or in the lying by omission verse)? pls and thanks <3
hi!
I’ll answer asks in a bit, but for this one I have a fic that explore a What If Jack Lived/Mike existed scenario with Sam in the Inimitable verse? I know it’s now what you asked for, but it is like 4k already written so that might be smth--an LBO Sam would be tricky because Sam would be itty bitty and Matt wouldn’t have the same kind of relationship with him.
As for selkie-verse Sam? I would have to do more research on Chinese spirts/fae/folklore, but for now, he’s not fae, just human 💖He’s like 12 and can make himself invisible though, which would be very confusing for Sue if she ever bumped into him
(Sue: baby boggart??? come here I love you I will look after you.)
(Sam: please stay exactly 5037 feet away from me! Thank you and I’m calling my mom!)
Here is the What If Jack and Mike thing from the Inimitable Verse.
Jack Murdock was the size of a house. He made Matt look dainty. He made Kirsten look like a kids’ mannequin. And he made Foggy laugh until he wept.
Sam could not understand a goddamn thing he said. Nor could he understand the guy he’d brought with him, who appeared to have had some serious plastic surgery to look exactly like Matt.
Sam could take an unintelligible giant. What he couldn’t take was an unintelligible Matt, and before him, somehow, in this ring of ginger, he’d been presented with two unintellible Matts.
His head was spinning.
Kirsten patted at him sympathetically.
“I’m from New York,” Sam told her mournfully.
“I know, hon.”
“How is this even possible? You’re from New York. How are they—what are they saying?”
Kirsten shook her head.
“Only Foggy knows,” she said. “It’s okay, he’ll translate when he gets back up.”
 --
 Mr. Murdock, the tallest of the gingers, might have been a good three to four inches taller than his boys, and he might have had the biggest hands that Sam had ever had the opportunity to touch in his life, but he was really nothing but a big, shaggy sheep dog.
The reasons Sam couldn’t understand a single fucking word he said came threefold.
1) Mr. Murdock had grown up in mid-century Hell’s Kitchen. That was just how accents from those parts used to sound. They’d lightened with time.
2) He had an extra layer of what Matt called a ‘brogue.’ He was first-generation American. Both his folks had immigrated from Ireland. He talked halfway between the way they talked and the way that the kids in his neighborhood growing up had.
And 3) The man had a lisp?
It wasn’t super noticeable. Sam sure as shit couldn’t hear it among the other layers of stuff going on, but Foggy said it was there.
Apparently, it came out more when he was anxious.
Apparently, he was anxious a lot.
Foggy told Sam to just give it an hour and he’d understand.
 --
  “So your name is Sam?” Mr. Murdock asked him while Sam tried to keep his mouth from falling open.
Matt was holding his facial-copy-cat against the wall by his lapels. The copy-cat had started making kissy noises at him. He egged Matt on to punch him right in the face.  
No one was stopping them.  
Kirsten cleared her throat and brought Sam back down to earth.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sam. Mr., uh—”
“Call me Jack.”
Never.
“Matty hasn’t said much about you, sorry to say.” Mr. Murdock explained. The more he spoke directly to Sam, the more Sam found, to his relief, that he could understand him. “He don’t like sharin’ things his brother can get ahold of and take from ‘im.”
Sam looked from him to the ‘brother.’
“There’s two of them?” he asked.
Mr. Murdock hummed.
“God help us, every one,” he huffed.
You can say that again.
“How long has there been two?” Sam asked hesitantly.
“Mm? Oh, uh. Christ with the math,” Mr. Murdock said, “Michael—Michael—boy, you knock that off; that’s how you lose teeth—how old are you now?”
Nevermind. Sam didn’t need to know.
“I’m ageless, Pops, remember?” ‘Michael’ said, grinning at Matt’s sneer in his face, “Everlasting, never dying. Immortal. Timeless. I’m—” Dude got the wind knocked out his sails from Matt aiming for his solar plexus instead of his face.
“Maitiú,” Mr. Murdock said sharply. “He’s your brother.”
“He earned it,” Matt snapped back at his dad. “You said ‘no teeth,’ I ain’t even touched his goddamn teeth.”
“No, you coward, you wouldn’t, would you?” Michael threw back at Matt with no sense in his head. “You scared of gettin’ stuck on all that metal, huh?”
“I ain’t got my tetanus booster,” Matt deadpanned.
“Oh, get the yellow fever one next time, it’s a hoot—”
“I’m mailing you back to Thailand in a crate.”
“Oh mail me, why don’t you?”
“I’m gonna.”
“Boys,” Mr. Murdock said, exasperated. “Knock it off. You love each other. We get it.”
Kirsten shook with giggles.
“I’d drown you in the open ocean and then kill myself,” Matt said through gritted teeth. His nose was maybe an inch from his brother’s.
Michael just beamed.
“Aw, babe. You’d do that for me?” he gushed.
“HHhhh—”
“Maitiú.”
Sam had never heard someone said ‘Matthew’ this way. It was delightful. It made Matt’s shoulders go stiff as a board and then squirm in barely contained fury.
“Thank you,” Mr. Murdock said. “Drop ‘im.”
Matt didn’t want to, but he released his grip on his sibling. Michael slipped down and then caught himself and straightened himself out.
“Well, I’ll never,” he said. “We come all this way to visit you on your deathbed and—”
“I’m not dying,” Matt said.
“—you worry Dad sick for months on end. Don’t call. Don’t write. He thought the Californians had eaten you—"
“—I told him that it was a dislocation and I’m fine—”
“—and of course I told him, ‘no Dad, there ain’t any more cannibals in California than there are in New York’ but who listens to Mike, huh?”
Mr. Murdock had only been in the house for 15 minutes and he already looked exhausted.
“Where are the dogs?” he asked Foggy.
 ---
 This was the weirdest time-out session Sam had ever experienced and he’d decided that he was living for it. Mr. Murdock went out onto the deck and locked himself out there with the dogs. Matt and his brother had never been more guilty.
Quickly the arguing turned towards scheming, which turned towards climbing out a window, which turned towards getting stuck on the roof and pleading with the Father to lend a hand.
Mr. Murdock observed Matt sobbing with laughter over Mike’s sudden anxiety of stepping from the roof to the deck’s arm railing with only hollowness.
“Mike’s not very super,” Sam pointed out to Kirsten.
“Nope,” she said brightly. “He is refreshingly normal,” she said. “Even the conman part.”
The what?
 ---
 Matt climbed off the roof with ease and took the opportunity to finally give his old man a hug, which Mr. Murdock seemed to appreciate. He smoothed a giant mitt of a hand through Matt’s hair tenderly, like he was a baby.
It was kind of cute.
Mike scowled at them both and announced that he was pretty fine, by the way. He’d just stay there on the roof until the vultures got him.
“Matt’s the younger twin,” Foggy told Sam cheerfully. “He can do no wrong.”
Sam felt like he could suddenly see the forest for the trees.
“And Mike?” he asked.
Foggy snickered.
“He and Jack live together to keep each other in good cardiac shape,” he said. “They drive each other nuts.”
“But they still live together?” Sam clarified.
“Yeah,” Foggy said. “Mike’s what happens when you give a used-car salesman ever so slightly too much brain. He travels all over. Gets shot at and held hostage a lot. He’ll do just about anything for a couple bucks, no matter how hard Jack’s tried to get him to go straight over the years.”
“And Mr. Murdock? He doesn’t mind his son living with him?” Sam asked.
Kirsten and Foggy softened.
“Matt used to check on him more when we lived back home,” Foggy said. “Without him and Mike, Jack’s by himself. He’s got friends and work, yeah, but you know. If it weren’t for Mike, he’d come home to an empty apartment every night. Man’s got too much head trauma for that to be any kind of good. Mike looks after him—probably more than he lets anyone else. He’s too stubborn to let Matt try to help him.”
Aw, cute.
“Be prepared, Sammy,” Foggy said. “Jack’s already adopted you.”
Say what now?
 ---
 Mr. Murdock didn’t outright say that Sam was puny and he was going to fix it, but Sam could see it in his disappointed gaze.
“Don’t like bread?” he asked as Sam chewed his way through an Uncrustable at the kitchen table. Sam froze with the sandwich in hand. He stared at it.
It was bread.
Surely, this was bread.
Right?
“Uh?” he tried.
“Don’t like the crusts?” Mr. Murdock asked him more gently.
Oh.
“I don’t mind them, these are premade though. You know, convenient,” Sam explained.
He got a stare impossible to read.
“Stay there,” Mr. Murdock decided.
It took too long for Sam’s brain to work out what had just happened, and by the time it had, it was too late. Matt stuck his head in the room and asked Sam why he’d told his dad that Matt was starving him.
Sam floundered and tried to explain the sandwiches. Matt absorbed this and rolled his whole head.
“Well, now he’s makin’ a week’s worth for you,” he sighed. “Wants you to eat the crust.”
Dude.
“It’s easier not to question it,” Matt sighed. “What kind of jelly do you want?”
 ---
 Matt didn’t interrogate his father, but Mike did. Unrepentantly. He walked in as Sam was emphasizing that he didn’t want any kind of jelly and he’d make his own sandwiches and understood the entire situation faster than Sam could have possibly explained it.
“FATHER,” he roared. “Leave the boy alone, he’s not starvin’, he’s just short.”
Flattering. Thanks, asshole.
There was no response from the kitchen. Matt told Mike to ease off. Mr. Murdock was trying to be nice.
“There’s nice and then there’s rude,” Mike said.
“And you’re rude?” Matt offered.
There was a pause.
A warm hand found the space in between Sam’s shoulder blades.
“I’m sorry about both of ‘em, kid, they got rocks for brains, it ain’t their fault. Our grandfather was a caveman, you know how it is,” Mike said kindly.
Matt was not amused.
“It’s not a big deal,” he repeated. “I’ll eat ‘em if Sam doesn’t want ‘em.”
“And subject yourself to peanut butter hell for multiple days in a row, Maitiú?” Mike asked, scandalized.
Matt glared in the direction of the stairs.
“Some of us enjoy nut protein,” he said.
Sam blinked in shock as big hands slapped themselves over his ears.
“There are children present,” Mike hissed.
Sam found the guy’s middle fingers and yanked. Mike swore. Matt chuckled.
“He ain’t a baby,” he said fondly. “Sam’s a tough cookie.”
You’re damn right he was.
“Charming,” Mike grumbled as Matt abandoned them for the kitchen again. He scowled down at Sam. “What’s your gimmick then?” he asked.
Sam wondered if he could make his contacts come out by blinking slowly enough. It would be cool as fuck. It definitely wasn’t happening.
“I control typhoons,” he said.
Mike winced.
“Fuckin’ vigilantes,” he said.
 ---
 Mr. Murdock gave Sam a second sandwich. He’d cut it into quarters.
“Matt says you don’t like jelly,” he said. “Bananas are better?”
Sam couldn’t help but like him.
“Yeah. I don’t eat much bread generally,” he said. “My family has always been more about rice.”
Mr. Murdock analyzed him.
“I can do rice,” he said.
Bless. It was okay, really.
“Do you like spicy things, Mr. Murdock?” Sam asked.
“Jack.”
Nice try.
“Spicy?” Sam repeated.
Mr. Murdock considered it.
“Not sure,” he said. “You mean like hot sauce? I ain’t fuck with that ghost pepper shit.”
Sam hummed.
“Before you leave, I’ll cook for you in return,” he said. “I won’t make it too spicy, cross my heart.”
Mr. Murdock considered this and then got a look in his eye that made Sam’s cheeks start to ache a little.
 ---
 Matt told Sam to play nice. Matt told his father to play nice.
There was to be no hiding chilis in Mike’s pasta.
They were caught and scolded.
“Not to worry,” Mr. Murdock told Sam fondly, “There are other ways.”
 ---
 Sam had never seen such outrage over a knot in a shoelace. Matt crossed his arms over his chest, seconds away from tapping his own foot.
“You said you were ready,” he reminded Mike for the fourth time.
“I know what I said,” Mike snapped at him. He’d dug through all the kitchen drawers to procure a metal skewer to apply to this situation.
“We’re going to be late,” Matt said. “I wait for my guide, she doesn’t wait for me.”
“Well she’s waitin’ today,” Mike said. “I swear to god—”
Mr. Murdock stroked the top of Tuesday’s head and asked Mike if he’d tried putting baby powder on it. Mike spat at him to mind his own business and went back to the knot. He managed it get it untangled and the shoe half on just in time to find the second one stuck in the third hole down.
He just about vibrated with fury.
Matt sighed loudly.
“Borrow mine already,” he said.
“Never.”
“Mike.”
“They’re blue. This outfit tolerates only warm colors, Matthew. ONLY warms.”
“We’re late.”
“Style waits for no man.”
“Well, clearly that ain’t the case, is it?”
Mike stood up sharply.
“I’m going to change,” he said. “And whatever elf tied these will rue the day. Mark my words.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll tell the elf—oh, my bad, the clown, Mike. It’s you. Get your life together. We’re late.”
Hilarious.
 ---
  “Why don’t you move out here?” Sam asked Mr. Murdock as he watched Sam sand away at his latest secret project in Matt’s absence.
“Sun’ll kill me,” Mr. Murdock deadpanned.
“I thought so too, but it’s not so bad,” Sam said. “I miss the snow sometimes.”
Mr. Murdock cocked his head and then knelt down to take the sanding block out of Sam’s hands. He gestured for Sam to give him the hunk of wood in his hands, too.
“Matty says you don’t got papers,” he said.
Sam was surprised. Matt usually kept that secret locked tight. But Mr. Murdock didn’t seem to have any adverse reaction to it.
“No,” Sam admitted. “My mom brought me here when I was really little. I didn’t know what it meant to overstay a visa.”
Mr. Murdock hummed.
“Makes flying tricky,” he said.
Yeah.
“Bus, not too bad, though?”
Mm. Bus was better, yes.
“Train?”
Depended on the train.
“Hm. Well, if you get homesick or need busfare, you just give a shout, ya hear? You’re always welcome to stay with us.”
Aww.
“Or if you really hate yourself, I’m sure Mike would love to come pick you up.”
Oh god.
“He can drive?” Sam asked.
Mr. Murdock paused and held his face in his dusty palm.
“The day he got his license was the worst day of my life,” he said.
Sam snickered.
“Did you guys drive all the way here?” he asked.
“No, thank god.”
“Can you drive?”
“Son.”
Sam looked up from the block of wood into Mr. Murdock’s hazel eyes.
“I take two steps out of New York and I’m gone, that’s me dead. No, I don’t drive. Why the hell would I drive? Where the hell am I goin’?”
Wow, mood.
“I tried to drive once,” Sam said. “Reversed into a fire hydrant. Matt laughed so hard he cried.”
Mr. Murdock handed back the woodblock. It was much smoother than it had been. Sam was chocking that up to the muscles and the practice.
 ---
 Matt and Mike got home and Mike announced that he was disowning that ‘putrid being’ that was the Swamp Monster beside him. Matt told Mr. Murdock that Mike didn’t approve of the swimming part of triathlon.
Mr. Murdock picked leaves out of his hair with supreme patience.
 ---
 “So Dad’s officially decided that you’re his grandson,” Mike informed Sam out of nowhere that Sunday. “He prayed for you at church today.”
Sam almost dropped his wrench. That was so endearing his teeth hurt.
“It’s ‘cause I do woodwork,” he said. “He can smell the handyman on me.”
Mike cocked his head to the side. His eyes were blue like Matt’s. Their mom must have had blue eyes—or maybe hazel like Mr. Murdock’s.
“No,” Mike said. “It’s ‘cause he’s also been a grocery bagger, a janitor, and a contractor.”
He what now?
“He wants to know why you aren’t in college.”
Oh. well—
“Matt tried to explain, but you know, it ain’t clickin’. He don’t get the politics part of things sometimes. Gets confused why people make such a big deal when there’s obvious solutions in front of ‘em. It’s not all his fault, he barely got a highschool diploma back when ‘critical thinking’ wasn’t even a testing category. Anyways, he wants you to go to college. Thinks you’re too smart to be pushin’ paper.”
Sam was going to cry.
“I think he sees a lot of Matt in you,” Mike said with a squint. “So just as a warning, he’s unbearable. Always—well, no. More like 95% of the year. He’s alright around New Years when he’s tired. You can tell him to fuck off at any time, though.”
No, no. It was okay. It was nice to have…more family. That’s what it was.
“I hope you know what this means, Samuel,” Mike said.
Mmm no?
Mike’s hand clasped his shoulder.
“You can call me ‘uncle,’” he said.
Ah.
No, thanks.
 ---
 Foggy and Kirsten couldn’t look at Sam without bursting into merciless laughter, which Sam had realized was a result of Mike’s vocal distress at his rejected offer of uncle-dom. Sam didn’t know what to tell him.
Mr. Murdock was nice. Enormous, yes, but very well meaning and gentle. His and Sam’s priorities and experience in life aligned neatly and Sam was slightly charmed by the way that he expressed himself verbally only to Matt and Mike.
Sam also didn’t hate Mike. He just didn’t want him to have uncle privileges. He didn’t see what was difficult about this.
“Mike’s got a history of rejection,” Foggy said. “And by that, I mean that every woman on the eastern seaboard has rejected him and he tries anyways.”
 ---
 Matt came downstairs and told Sam to ignore everything Mike said to him all day. He also said that they were going out that night, so don’t burn fingers on the soldering iron.
Sam saluted in acknowledgement.
Forty minutes later there was a rap at his door followed by Mike saying through it that he wanted to show Sam something.
Sam did not open the door.
He heard Matt’s name being cursed on the other side.
 ---
 Twenty minutes later there was another knock, this time with Mike saying that Mr. Murdock wanted to bond with Sam.
Sam nudged open his curtains and squinted hard into the backyard where he could see the vague shape of Matt chatting to his dad on the deck stairs, both apparently having a beer and shooting the shit.
This was a scam.
Sam would not be scammed.
He went back to the suit.
There was more cursing outside the door.
 ---
 About half an hour later, there was a knock, followed by Mr. Murdock’s voice this time, asking Sam if his shoes were supposed to be on the front porch.
They were not.
This was playing dirty.
Sam ventured out to go right this wrong and ended up outside on the front porch with the conman himself. Mike closed the door after him triumphantly and proceeded to get them both locked out.
“Are you supposed to be a good conman or?” Sam asked.
Mike gaped at him.
“The best conman,” he said. “Don’t worry, kid, I’ve broken into a thousand houses and won two horses. I’ve got this.”
That was not comforting. Sam was not comforted.
“First, we gotta test all the windows, and, failing that, we get a rock or a gun,” Mike told him with a knowing finger.
Sam blinked at it and then up at Mike. The man’s shoulders twitched.
“Uh?” Mike said.
Ah. The eyes. No contacts today.
“Do you like them? They’re Prada,” Sam said to absolute silence.
“A brick,” Mike announced abruptly. “A brick works too. Like a rock but bigger.”
Okay, so they weren’t talking about it, gotcha. Look, a whole family’s worth of repression styles. Sam was glad that they had a full set of methods.
 ---
 Sam broke into his own bedroom through the window. Mike clapped for him outside. Sam opted to leave him there.
 ---
 He was sort of sad to see the Murdocks go, especially after seeing the effect that the most senior of them had on Matt.
Sam hadn’t seen him this chilled out. He visibly relaxed under his dad’s hand on the back of his neck. He tolerated the fussing and constant hair fixing and the fingers brushing at his cheeks and elbows. Mr. Murdock guided him with the same practiced ease that Foggy and Kirsten did, but his guiding was accompanied by a quiet, ongoing commentary about the street around them, which Sam hadn’t actually heard Foggy do in the same kind of way.
It was like Mr. Murdock was telling Matt a story everywhere they went.
He told him when there were flags hanging up a story above, waving in the wind. He told him about the hanging wire baskets of flowers that Sam forgot about. He huffed a bit while he talked about lines of traffic in the street and a vast lack of color in the group due to the absence of so many yellow cabs.
Mr. Murdock of course, had been Matt’s first ever guide. It only made sense that he had a specialized style of it, just for Matt.
And for Matt’s sake, Sam didn’t want him to go, but alas, New Yorkers, man. The city called them back to the coast like a siren.
“You take it easy, y’hear, kiddo?” Mr. Murdock told him at the airport.
Sam smiled and said that he’d try.
“Take care of yourself. I mean that. Out at night too.”
Copy that, big guy.
“Give us a hug.”
Oh??? A hug??? Sam loved hugs. Hugs were great. He was—er. Leaving this one with double the ribs from the cracks apparently.
Mr. Murdock released him to go break Matt in half and then Foggy and then Kirsten. Mike told him that he couldn’t avoid flying again by hugging people. He also warned Kirsten that he’d see her soon and that then, she was sure to fall for his charms.
Kirsten said that she would be waiting with bated breath, and then that was it. Three Murdocks again whittled down to one.
“God, I should have married your dad,” Foggy moaned.
Matt laughed at him.
“He’s plenty busy avoiding the gaze of every person over sixty in his building. Let him live,”  he said. “Sam? Not too traumatized, I hope?”
Mm. Not so bad.
“Are you sure Mike’s your brother?” he asked.
“Unfortunately.”
Too bad.
“It’s fine, if we ever need a guy to distract the police, we’ve got him on retainer.”
That was true.
“They’ll come back?” Sam asked.
Matt paused before feeling for his shoulder.
“Yeah,” he said. “Or we’ll go to them. I think you’d enjoy watching them in their natural environment.”
 -----------
Hope that’s something for you anon!! I also hope you feel better!
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hopelesshawks · 3 years
Text
Physical Fatality Part 6- Ultimatum
18+ Hawks x fem, pro hero!reader
Summary: You’re a rising star in All Might’s agency. Hawks is the darling of Endeavor’s. By virtue of your job descriptions, the two of you are supposed to hate each other, or at the very least be cautiously neutral. For a long time that’s exactly what the two of you did. You stayed out of each other’s way and formed little opinion of the other. One fateful night at an HPSC gala changes all that. Based on the album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom by Halsey.
If you don’t want to see Physical Fatality content blacklist #hopelesspf
This story will have multiple NSFW parts so it is 18+ ONLY minors dni
Warnings for descriptions of unprotected vaginal, minor wing kink
Masterlist
Hawks knows what he’s been doing the past several weeks isn’t fair to you. In his defense, he was attempting to reconcile two different facts in his head. Fact 1: He is completely in love with you. Fact 2: He is completely loyal to Endeavor. Some days fact 1 wins out and he acts the perfect almost boyfriend. He helped you move into your apartment with Mina, he’d leave little gifts on your desk if he found something that made him think of you, and he kept things quiet so the reporters and your coworkers wouldn’t sniff out potential scandal. But some days fact 2 wins and he hesitates and grows distant. It’s not so much that he sees it as betraying Endeavor. He always has and always will think the Endeavor-All Might feud is dumb. But he knows that Endeavor will see it as a betrayal and like it or not Hawks owes a lot to Endeavor.
He sees the way you constantly try to anticipate how the press will interpret your every little move. Frankly, it looks like it makes an already exhausting job even more so. All you want to do is save people and instead you spend a nontrivial part of your day hyper analyzing your every move to anticipate the next day’s headlines. The other day you’d confessed to him that another bad headline could literally mean the end of your time at All Might’s agency and Hawks can’t even imagine that level of stress. And therein lies the problem. The only reason Hawks can’t imagine it is because the HPSC wiped all record of his name and Endeavor agreed to hire him once he completed training. So it’s not so much that being with you feels like a betrayal as it is that at some point he’ll have to tell Endeavor and when he does there will be hell to pay.
You know what Hawks has been doing the past several weeks isn’t fair to you. The hot and cold, on and off again is starting to give you whiplash. At first it was ignorable, after all you were busy settling into your new place so you spent quite a bit of your limited free time getting to know the woman you’d be living with from now on. Mina is a goddamn firecracker and you love her for it. Sure you’d seen some of her antics on Instagram before but you assumed it was all for the camera. Now as her roommate you’re realizing that’s just how Mina is. So for the first week Mina kept you busy even when Hawks would be in one of his weird distant moods. Then more time passed and it started to irk you. Was it or was it not his idea for this to not be a one time thing? So why was he being so distant suddenly.
Then the first fight happened. It was one of those days Hawks had been oddly distant. The task force had managed to narrow the possible groups responsible for the terrorist attack down to five and Hawks insisted each of you should take one to run surveillance on and the sixth person could coordinate. You thought it was a better use of resources to assign some of the lower ranked heroes to the surveillance and have the task force just coordinate and analyze what came through. “Don’t you think it’ll be a little suspicious if we suddenly aren’t doing our usual rounds because we're performing surveillance? Plus a lower ranked hero won't draw as much attention!" you argued. "This case is way too sensitive for us to be working off second hand information!" Hawks fired back. “I don’t know how you all do things over at Endeavor’s agency but our lower ranked heroes are competent enough to handle some simple surveillance,” you pointed out with a of roll your eyes. “What? Like Monoma?” Hawks shot back. “Maybe we should reel it in guys,” Midoriya tried to intervene but it was too late. “Yea like Monoma. What about it?” you replied, anger starting to build. “Just seems like a conflict of interest to me,” he shrugged. “A conflict of interest?” “That’s what I said isn’t it?” “Oh fuck off.” “So you’re not denying it.” “I am literally the first person to shit on Monoma in almost any situation but he’s a good hero.” “Interesting.” “Are you trying to die bird brain?” “OK! That’s enough!” Midoriya finally interrupted. “We’ll present both plans to Endeavor and All Might, let them decide,” Shoto had said simply. In the end they decided on Hawks’ plan.
The two of you probably should’ve talked out your almost relationship then. It was obvious to everyone else in the room that the argument was, fundamentally, not about task delegation, but you and Hawks were in denial and the angry sex afterwards made it easier to kiss, makeup, and just pretend it never happened. Except it did happen. And it happened again and again. On the good days you two are amazing, all sweet words and loving looks. On the bad days you’re a ticking time bomb. Every time you try to address it Hawks gives you absolutely nothing back. It’s driving you nuts. A fact you frequently make apparent to Bakugo and Midoriya. “Oh my god enough already,” Bakugo groans, interrupting your ongoing rant about the difficulties of being almost with Hawks. “Oh I’m sorry are my problems bothering you?” you ask sarcastically. “Look, we get it. He started this shit and now he won’t finish it. But if he won’t then why don’t you fucking finish it yourself,” Bakugo points out. “Kacchan has a point,” Midoriya adds in. “Not you too Izu,” you pout. “Don’t give me that look, I’m just saying maybe it is time to put your foot down,” he elaborates. “I’ve tried talking to him and he never tells me what’s going on with him,” you sigh. “Then stop talking and just hit him with an ultimatum,” Bakugo scoffs. “Yea! Tell him he has to make a decision now or you’re done,” Midoriya agrees. “What if he decides he doesn’t want this?” you ask. “Then it’s his loss,” Midoriya says. “Yea and we’ll kick his ass for it,” Bakugo adds. You really do have the best friends.
Hawks doesn’t know what to expect when you ask him to stick around after the task force meeting, but the thumbs up Midoriya gives you and the warning look Bakugo gives him don’t exactly bode well. Shoto exchanges a look with Hawks to confirm he’ll be fine and, when Hawks nods, Shoto and Tokoyami take their leave behind their former classmates. “So what’s up?” Hawks asks once the two of you are finally alone. “We need to talk about us,” you tell him and you can already feel him preparing to argue you down from having this conversation. “(Y/n)-“ he starts, but you’re not having it, not this time, so you cut him off. “I don’t want to fight right now. I know you’re always right. But even though you’ve been through the ups and downs with me, and even though I care a lot about you, you don’t seem to feel the same.” “That’s not true,” he refutes but even he knows his actions lately haven’t exactly conveyed how much he feels for you. “Really? Because we’ve been through it all, met each other’s moms, shared each other’s tragic backstories but lately, when it comes to talking about us, you can never spit it out for me. It’s like I’m trying to talk to a wall but you can never tear it down for me,” you insist. “That’s what happens when you ask personal questions while we’re still at work.” “What other choice do I have? You never pick up or call me.” “Maybe I just need more time.” “We’re running out of time.” “We don’t have to be! Let’s just talk this through later.” “No, we’ve done enough talking. It’s gotta be right now. I want you to hold me down forever, I do, but it’s your choice. Will you love me now or never?”
Hawks stares at you trying to process what you’ve said. He isn’t oblivious. He knows you’ve been getting frustrated with him being hot and cold. He knows the two of you getting involved was his idea in the first place. He knows he hasn’t been open with you about why he’s suddenly so hesitant. But he still hasn’t decided how to reconcile his love for you with his loyalty to Endeavor, so he still hesitates. “Can we please just figure this out later,” he pleads instead of answering as he reaches for you but you step back and out of his reach. “No. I’m drawing the line. I wasted two years of my life chasing something that wasn’t real with Monoma. I refuse to do it again. Especially when being with you literally puts my career at risk. So you don’t get to take any more time up. I need you to make your mind up. You’ve gotta decide Keigo. Now or never,” you insist.
It hits him then just how serious you are. There’s no talking his way out of this one. It really is now or never and something about the choice feels fateful. As if how he responds to you right now will determine his destiny. Almost his whole life he’s been looking for the kind of earth shattering, all consuming love you see in movies and tv shows. Something to fill the void his parents and the HPSC hollowed into him as a child. The stakes are so much higher with you than with the previous women he’s dated and he’s always been such a lousy gambler. Are you really the best bet? His mind is spinning with the daunting choice in front of him but then you sigh full of resignation and heartache and start to leave. It’s like someone mainlined ice water directly into his veins because suddenly the never is real. It’s real and terrifying and it’s about to be solidified by you walking out that door and he can’t. He absolutely can’t imagine his life without you in it right now so he lunges forward and grabs hold of your wrist. “Now! Fuck baby, I choose now,” he insists so desperately and when you turn to face him you both look absolutely cracked open.
The two of you collide together, mouths finding each other immediately. There is so much need and want and relief in that one kiss because for a horrifying moment both of you felt what it would be like to never have each other again. To never again feel that unique magnetism that constantly pulls you both together. Or worse, to feel it and yet be forever condemned to ignoring it. Keigo pulls you against him by your hips and his grip is hard enough you wonder if you’ll bruise. You make quick work of each other’s shirts and pants, desperate to be closer to each other. One of his hands reaches down to rub you through your panties and you’re already so wet for him. The little gasp you give at his feather light touches is absolutely intoxicating and he can’t believe that he almost lost this. Lost you. “I’m so sorry Love. So sorry I made you wait,” he whispers against your lips as he slips his fingers past the damp material of your underwear to stroke along your sex. “I need you Kei,” you whimper. “You have me.” “All of you. I need all of you.”
You don’t have to tell him twice.
The floor of the conference room perhaps isn’t the most ideal place to finally consummate your love but neither of you has the strength or desire to complain or postpone this moment. Scratchy carpet or the finest silk sheets, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the two of you are together and finally, finally you can call him yours and he can call you his. So when he’s on top of you, underwear cast aside and nothing left to separate the two of you, you can’t even feel what’s beneath you. All you feel is his erection pressing at your entrance, his chest pressed to yours, and both of your hearts hammering in your chests as if anxious to beat against each other. You feel him in each and every one of your senses. As he presses into you, you both gasp at the sensation and just like that first time it’s so, so overwhelming. You clutch desperately at him to bring him impossibly closer and by the time he bottoms out inside you, you’re both on the verge of tears. “I love you,” he confesses and he thinks it may be the first time he’s ever meant it so utterly and completely. “I love you too,” you reply and for the first time in a long time the words don’t feel like ash on your tongue.
He starts moving his hips and it’s heaven. Each thrust into you feels like a solidification of the bond the two of you have formed over the past couple months since meeting. For the first time since Keigo had started getting distant it feels uncomplicated and you’re reminded again of why you’d thrown out all your rules for this man. This wild, beautiful man you could now call yours. You slide one hand along his back until you get to the base of one of his wings. You run your fingers through the soft plumage and delight in the shiver it draws out of him. One of his hands goes between the two of you to stimulate your sensitive clit and with each thrust you’re both seeing stars. His free hand finds yours to entangle your fingers together and he suspects that the tingling he feels throughout his whole body has less to do with the sex itself and more to do with you and the wondrous revelation that you want all of him, even the broken bits, just as much as he wants all of you. He ups the amount of pressure he’s applying to your clit and you tighten your grip on his feathers to match and soon you’re both hurtling over the edge into climax. You moan each other’s names into the limited space between you but there are multitudes contained therein.
You moan each other’s names but it sounds like I love you.
You moan each other’s names but it sounds like wedding bells and a family.
You moan each other’s names but it sounds like forever.
Author’s Note: This chapter feels short and I can’t tell if it’s because it’s actually short or I’m just paranoid about it being short because I made y’all wait a little bit for it. I’m happy with it or at least happy enough to post it but it’s not my favorite part that I’ve written for this series so far. I’ll try to make sure the next part is longer again to compensate for this one ❤️
Taglist [open]: @akkaso @cathy8taffy @eeppff @iikillerkitteh @pixelwisp
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Note
7, 8, 9 and 14 for the fic asks! Also, I absolutely love your writing and I wish you the best!
Awww thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy it! 😊
7. Something you hate to see in dialogue.
I don't know that there's anything I particularly hate. Or, nothing has jumped out at me where I'm like "OH GOD HOW COULD THEY"
I suppose, there are times when there hasn't been enough tag-ins of who is speaking so I have to go back to the top and reread the section. But that's more a style thing.
Oh, dialects/modes of speech when written by someone who clearly isn't from that culture/place/peoples and hasn't done the research and so on to do it effectively (e.g. non-southerners trying to mimic southern speech patters and a) assuming the entire south of the US is a single unit that sounds the same and b) not managing to capture the texture of the way people speak). It's mostly that it just throws me off and takes me out of the scene.
8. Something you love to see in dialogue.
A good witty repartee is always enjoyable. I enjoy when action is conveyed through speech, example:
Right. I can’t believe I once thought you clever and worthy of my attention. More fool me, for trusting a thing like you. More fool Théoden, too. No. Don’t sit there. Did I say you could sit? No, I didn’t.
or
'Gods, you're a real louse sometimes, you know that right?'
'Thank you, Downey, you've told me this before.'
'Well, I felt the need to re-inform you of the matter. Now, please move your books, thank you, they were occupying my spot at the table. Don't make that face, DB, it's unattractive.'
That sort of thing. It's very fluid and can be used to capture a more hectic scene without breaking for "and then Vetinari did X" or "and Grima went over here" or what have you.
9. What's your fandom's most overused trope?
(I'm going to speak cross-fandom in this answer because what is over-used shows up in a few of them.)
I'm not a big coffee-shop/high school/university AU sort of person. But I think it's honestly less to do with the settings and more to do with how people are written in those AUs which is usually saccharinely sweet and that drives me a little nuts.
I also find that fandom overdoes the thing with gay couples where one man is, even if it's at a subconscious level, the "woman" and the other is the "man". This leads into that saccharine sweetness that annoys me, it also tends to mean there's a lot of OOC-ness happening. I've found it's a big thing with characters like Krennic, Vetinari, Bilbo, Beckett etc. where they are written in a way that is very out of character but the manner they are written in allows them to be slotted into the "woman" role in comparison to their partner (Tarkin, Vimes, Thorin, Mercer etc.)
Some of this comes from the fact that a lot of writers in fandom struggle to write characters that subvert and transgress certain expectations of gender roles in a way that isn't "they're now a woman." Which is a very layered, complex thing.
And like, I'm sure this is something I've fallen into accidentally myself, but it is a sort-of trope(?) that bugs me and is super common.
14. What aspect of writing have you had the most growth in?
all of it! I would say. I think my writing on the whole has grown tremendously in the past few years. Especially the past three to five, I think.
One of the biggest things that helped me grow, aside from the usual advice of: read, read, read (and read real books! Read widely! Read everything!) was attending writer's workshops.
I'm a writer of non-fanfic things (poetry, short stories, novels [though, those are in the works/being shopped around]) and going to workshops has done amazing things. Almost everything is online now, and there are workshops that are absolutely in the affordable range.
I've also been very fortunate to have a writing mentor for a time who was (and is) a phenomenal poet. One of the most talented writers I know. She, unfortunately, has gone out east to start a cult as pandemic isolation coupled with unresolved trauma that had been resurrected resulted in her going a little Off the Deep End (I have a lot of complex feelings about what happened with her). But prior to that, she was great to work with and helped me a lot.
Also, of course, I've taken a lot of classes and each one has taught me so much (Catapult offers some good online courses. They do cost money, but it's worth it if you can afford it. I think they also have scholarship/financial support options).
Writing poetry is really the thing I can point to that helped me the most with my prose. Night and day. And I suspect the inverse works as well (prose writing helping poets). Learning how form and words and style functions in an art-form that's different teaches you new things to do with your preferred writing method.
But yeah - I think everything has improved. Pacing, plot, description, dialogue etc. I don't think one thing in particular has improved at a greater rate than the others. It's all there.
-
Oh man that last one became a short essay! My apologies!
But thank you so much for the ask and the very kind message 💜😊
fanfic ask meme
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thetravelerwrites · 4 years
Text
Dr. Maël Halvorg (Fae)
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Rating: Teen Relationship: Male Part-Fae/Female Part Fae Additional Tags: Exophilia, Monster Boyfriend, Fae, Naga, Reader Insert, Anthropology, Genetics Content Warnings: Children, Pregnancy, Incubation, Infertility Words: 4723
A commission by @ivymemnoch​​! With Amai and Yenuno's children getting older, they need a teacher, and Amai calls a friend to help out. Please reblog and leave feedback!
The Traveler's Masterlist
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“Amai, it’s great to hear from you!” You said, sitting back and sipping a coffee. You were typing up reports at your desk when she called. “God, it’s been forever since we last spoke. How are Yenuno and the children?”
You were surprised to get a call from your old friend while you were working overseas. You and Amai had gone to college together, and while she was getting a law degree in civil rights, you were studying anthropology. You were both in fields specializing in non-humans, which is why you were studying together.
There was a college that offered specific studies in exology, or the study of non-human sentient life, Exanian University. It provided classes in medicine, law, sociology, politics, cultural exo-anthropology, and many other subjects that focused solely on non-humans.
It was established in the early 1890’s and originally only taught humans about the nine Established races. The Established were allowed to attend school in the 50’s, and during the Neogon rights movement in the 80’s, the campus and curriculum was expanded to included education on the newer races that had begun to emerge as well as open its doors to non-humans. In addition, they began to petition and encourage other colleges to offer exological studies. Many alumni of E.U. were now teaching exological studies at other colleges.
You were now a research professor for E.U., studying newly emerged races and reaching out to those shy about integrating. When you first started your career, Amai and the firm where she worked would often help draw up protection papers for the new races until they were formally recognized as a Neogon race and therefore protected under the Neogon act, which granted them the same rights as humans and the Established. Though, as time went on, new races were much rarer, and you hadn’t needed their services. The surprise call was the first time you’d spoken in months, and you hadn’t seen her face-to-face in eight years.
“They’re well, thank you!” She said. “Whereabouts are you these days?”
“Portugal,” You replied. “We’ve had reports that the Encante people may actually exist, and we’ve been attempting to locate and make contact with them. Unfortunately, because they’re underwater creatures, they’re ability to shapeshift, and their reputation as seducers in the mythology of the region, it hasn’t been an easy task. Although, several people in the local villages claim to have Encantado ancestry, so we’re running blood tests to determine the legitimacy of that claim. If they’re blood comes back with unidentified DNA, we can start the protected race process. I assume that’s why you’re calling? You must have heard the news from Song. I sent him an email about drawing up papers a few days ago.”
“He did tell me, yes, and that’s wonderful news,” She replied. “But that’s actually not why I’m calling.”
“Oh?” You’re head rocked back, surprised. “To what do I owe the pleasure, then?”
“Well,” She sighed heavily. “The older children are at the developmental stage enough now where they should begin school, and the younger ones could use some help with supplemental skills. But both Yenuno and Dr. Halvorg don’t think putting them in a normal school a good idea, so I’ve been outvoted. At the very least, they need a tutor. I’ve done what I can on my own, but I’m not a very good teacher. At least, not for fifteen children. Soon to be eighteen, actually.”
“You’re carrying a new clutch?” You said, excited. “That’s wonderful! Yenuno must be very happy.”
“He is, and so am I,” She said, sounding please but tired. “Although we think this might be the last one. My body isn’t recovering as quickly as it used to and Yenuno worries about my health.”
“Understandable. So why did you call me?”
“Well, Yenuno doesn’t know anything about the educational system, having grown up in the wild, and Dr. Halvorg wants to hire some stuffy colleague of his who will bore the kids into a drooling stupor. Halvorg won’t accept anything less than the best, which I mean… I guess it’s nice that he wants the kids to have nothing but the utmost quality, I just wish he wasn’t so damn rigid. He needs to get laid, honestly,” She huffed, and you stifled a laugh. “Do you have someone you could recommend?”
“To get him laid?”
She snorted. “No! You know what I mean. Do you think any of your colleagues at the university would be interested in educating the children of a rare, endangered race? That’s got to have appeal to you academic types, right?”
“Hmm,” You hummed, sitting back in your chair and contemplating. “I’m not sure. You know, it occurs to me that I’ve never even met your children. Or your husband, for that matter.” You sat up and looked at your calendar. “You know what? I’m due for a vacation. Why don’t I come back state-side and meet all of your little ones? I can get a better idea of who would be a good fit for them. I know several people in early education who could be great for tutoring a large group of children at different development levels.”
“Ah, you’re a lifesaver, thank you so much,” Amai said. “I’ll owe you one big time.”
“Just find me a man and we’ll call it even,” You said, laughing. “I’ll text you when my schedule frees up and we’ll make some plans.”
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Two weeks later, you stepped off the plane of the airport in Coleville and rented a car. Willowridge was an out of the way town that had the E.U. campus where you and Amai had gone to school. It was a little bit of a drive from the city to get there, but Coleville had the closest airport.
You arrived at the research facility sometime around mid-afternoon, greeted out front by Amai and her youngest child, Yenu. Yenu was a 50/50 hybrid between naga and human, which was unheard of; all other hybrids were a 95/5 percent split since the males both created and fertilized the eggs. Females were simply incubators in the breeding process. Yenu was a curious mix between Amai and her father, from her stubby little legs to her long snake tail and the blue scales running down her neck and back. From an academic perspective, it’s no wonder this Dr. Halvorg was so keen on keeping her and her siblings in the facility for study.
On the other hand, she was adorable, and the entire world needed to know about it. You wondered how many specialists actually knew about her existence and why there wasn’t more published about her in scientific literature. You’re fairly sure there was only one article based on her, and it was authored by Dr. Halvorg. They were likely keeping her under strict protections until she was older, to spare her the media circus.
“It’s so good to see you!” You said as you scooped her into a hug. Her belly wasn’t big yet, but you could feel it’s hardness against your own belly. Yenu squealed happily in her arms as you squished the two of them.
“You, too!” She said, kissing your cheek. “How was the drive?”
“Scenic, as always,” You said, following her as she went inside. “I got the email from Dr. Halvorg last night about accommodations. You’re right: he’s a little abrupt, but in all honestly I’ve yet to meet a geneticist that isn’t.”
“Believe it or not, he’s way less uptight than he used to be. The children really help lighten him up.”
“He likes kids?” You said, your opinion of him rising slightly.
“Oh, very much,” She said, then her voice lowered to a sad whisper. “He can’t have any children, apparently. His kind are bad breeders, he says.”
“His kind?”
“He’s part fae,” She replied.
“Oh,” You said, frowning. “That’s odd.”
“What is?”
“Well, I’m part fae, too, and I have three brothers. And I know of several subraces of fae that are prolific breeders, several of which I helped integrate myself. Exogenetics is still an evolving science. Perhaps he has been so focused on his current work that he hasn’t checked recent literature in the field. He’s been working in conservation for several decades, didn’t you say? I’ll make some calls and see what I can find.”
“I forgot you were part fae,” She said thoughtfully. “What subrace are you, again?”
“Russian Bereginya,” You replied. “What is he?”
“I’ve never asked,” She said. “He very rarely talks about himself at all. Honestly, it seems like a sore subject with him, so I’ve never brought it up. Even Yenuno seems hesitant to ask, and he gets along better with Dr. Halvorg than I do. The only reason I know his first name is because I’ve seen it on official reports. Only the children are allowed to say it, even if it’s to call him ‘Uncle Maël’.”
“A hard nut to crack, huh?” You asked as she led you into the public lobby and fished out a personnel I.D. badge.
“You could say that,” She said. “He and I don’t always see eye to eye, at least.” She swiped her card in a card slot and pressed her thumb on the printpad. “I’ve got a temporary I.D. waiting for you in the back. It’ll be good for the next two weeks. Let me know if you decide to stay longer, and I’ll have the expiration extended.”
“Sure, thanks,” You said.
“You’re about to meet the man himself,” She said as she walked though an automatic sliding door. “Plus my man, and my children. You remember their names?”
You nodded. “It’ll take me a while to match names to faces, though. You always were an overachiever.”
She laughed.
The two of you walked into what looked like the receiving room of a warehouse, except it was empty. There was a large, rolling aluminum wall that was raised and led to a forested area outside. There was an enclosed greenhouse type thing that had several nests built, as well as a cottage at the far end.
Each little nest had a small body with blue scales and warm almond skin lying in it, curled up into a coil, eyes closed and breathing softly. The cottage at the far end also had a movable wall, which was up, and a large, blue naga with long, straight, black hair and pale skin was sitting there, typing on a laptop that was perched on a standing desk.
“Yenuno is a bit socially shy, so he connects with others through the internet,” Amai whispered. “It’s about as much social interaction with the outside world as he can tolerate sometimes.”
“It must be naptime,” You whispered back, nodding toward the kids.
She laughed softly. “The older ones only need to eat once a day now, depending on the size of their prey, and they get tired after hunting and feeding, so we schedule it for noon. They should be up soon, though.”
She waved her hand to get Yenuno’s attention. He looked up and smiled, closing the laptop. He slithered down the ramp, over to Amai to plant a kiss on her lips, and then took Yenu in his arms, tossing her up once to make her giggle before squishing her in a big hug and blowing a raspberry into her cheek. Amai shushed him.
“Let’s go to the lounge to talk,” Amai said quietly. “Yenuno, this is my friend I told you about, the professor from E.U.”
“It’s nice to meet you finally,” Yenuno said as the three--no, four--of you went to a sitting area nearby. Half of the room had chairs and a couch, while the other side had cushions with a table in between. “Amai has told me many stories about you.”
“Most of them are true,” You said, sitting. “But I won’t say which.”
He laughed and set Yenu on the floor in front of him, watching her carefully as she scooted her way across the carpet. “Dr. Halvorg will be around soon. He usually talks to the children after their naps about their hunting experiences.”
“Jeez, I thought I was a workaholic,” You said. “Does he ever relax?”
“Not that I’ve ever seen,” Amai said, handing you a cup of coffee from the bar behind the couch. “If he’s awake, he’s in research mode. He even works through meals.”
“Well, I’ll hope he’ll make some time so I can discuss the children’s developments with him.”
“Oh, if it’s for the kids, he’ll make time,” Yenuno replied. “He’s practically adopted them.”
“I swear, if he thought he could get away with it, he’d forge our signatures on adoption papers,” Amai said sardonically.
“Speak of the devil,” Yenuno said, jerking his head at the open loading space near the greenhouse. A man stood there, surveying the sleeping children for a moment before heading over to the lounge area. He was thin and tall with long, white-blonde hair in a sleek braid down his back. He was pale complected and had a sharp, angular face with bushy eyebrows and vivid, amber colored eyes. His ears had a definitive point to them.
Yep, definitely Celtic fae heritage; you could spot it a mile away. It’s true that the Celtic fae populace had dwindled over the years, though you hadn’t really considered why. You chalked it up to interbreeding with other races or being edged out of their territory. Historically, since fae were immortal, or at least very long lived, they often didn’t feel the biological incentive that mortal creatures felt to procreate. Could their long-held disinterest in breeding have eventually rendered them infertile? That was a startling thought.
“Is this the professor I’ve heard so much about?” Dr. Halvorg asked as he approached. Yenu toddled her way over to him on her short little legs and he picked her up, popping her onto his hip like a pro.
“Yes,” Amai said and introduced you. Dr. Halvorg used his free hand to shake yours.
“Lovely to meet you,” He said. “I look forward to working with you. You have an impressive reputation. I’ve actually been following your progress for quite a while.”
“Really?” You asked, surprised.
“Oh, yes,” He replied, shifting a squealing Yenu to the opposite hip. “You’re the foremost anthropologist in the field currently. You and your team are responsible for integrating over thirty percent of known Neogon races in the last ten years. As a geneticist, as a scientist, seeing the steady expansion and confirmation of known non-human races happen in my lifetime is pretty incredible to watch.”
“Wow,” You said, stunned. “I didn’t realize I had such a reputation.”
“Well, you’ve been in the field for a long time,” He said with a smile. “It’s not surprising that you might not be aware of the impact your work has had on the world.”
You may have blushed, but you’d never have admitted it. Thankfully you were spared from finding a way to follow up that statement by a range of sleepy groans issuing from the enclosure. One by one, the children began to stretch and yawn and make their way over to their parents, the first of which was one of the youngest.
“Mommy!” He said, his curly hair bouncing as he slithered over the lip of the carpeted lounge area. “Who’s that?” He pointed directly at me.
“Osan, it’s not polite to point!” She said sharply. “This is my friend who I told you was coming to meet all of you. Wait for your brothers and sisters to get over here before we start introductions, okay?”
Osan shot across the enclosure to rudely awaken the rest of his siblings. His excited hollering echoed throughout the empty enclosure.
“Ah, youth. I’d love to siphon some of that energy and drink it like an espresso,” Amai said.
“Girl, I hear that,” You replied, chuckling.
A small army of nearly identical naga children came following Osan, curious about you, chattering and craning their necks to get a better look at you.
“Kids, line up, line up,” Yenuno said, wading out into the sea of small clones of himself. “These are the five year olds: Keenai, Tani, Fuma, and Amaia. The four year olds: Nenish, Tahara, and Sadji. The three year olds: Jinsa, Ishni, Chidil, Itheti, and Dashu. The two year olds: Osan and Khuzho. And little Yenu is eight months old.”
“I don’t know how you tell them all apart,” You laughed.
“I have a mole!” Sadji said, pointing at it. “See!”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” You said, bending down to pat his head. He shook off your hand but laughed. You tickled his chubby cheek and he giggled, trying to fend you off.
“So what would you like to do?” Amai said. “I assume you already have a plan.”
“Yes,” You said. “I’d like to interview each child with a behavioral therapist and get a sense of their development levels myself, and then Dr. Halvorg and I will compare notes. I can make my determination then.”
“Sounds good,” Amai replied. “But it doesn’t have to be today, does it? You just got into town. I’d love to take you out for an early dinner, if you haven’t eaten. Yenuno hunted with the kids, so he likely won’t eat again until morning.”
“Sure, I’d love to,” You said. “Dr. Halvorg, do you have dinner plans?”
“Oh, no, I have a lot of work to do,” He said. “Besides, I’m sure the two of you will want to catch up. Please, enjoy yourselves. If you all would excuse me, I have a report to write.” He kissed Yenu on the cheek before handing her back to Amai and tousled a few of the kids’ hair as he passed. “Come along, children. Let’s do our interviews and I’ll take you all out to the playground.”
The kids cheered and followed him down the hall to the offices.
“You weren’t lying, Amai, he is really good with kids,” You said.
“Between him and the volunteers, we never have to hire a babysitter, which is nice,” Yenuno replied.
“Some days, it’s his only redeeming feature,” Amai said with a sour smile. “I still haven’t quite forgiven him for what happened when I was pregnant with Yenu. If I sit too long, thinking about it, I get mad all over again.”
“Think of the eggs, my love,” Yenuno said patiently, patting her belly. “He’s apologized many times since then. You can’t hold a grudge forever.”
“I absolutely can,” She said churlishly. “I understand his job is conserving and repopulating your species, but our marriage is an entirely separate thing and he can keep his nose out of it.”
“Well, let’s get a cheesecake and forget all about it,” You suggested.
“Sound good to me,” She said. She kissed Yenuno on the lips and waved goodbye to him. “There’s a new Italian place that’s got really good reviews.”
“No seafood! Or wine!” Yenuno called after her.
“This ain’t my first rodeo!” She called back.
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The Italian place was as good as Amai said it was, and the two of you went to Tumble’s Cafe for dessert and coffee. Tumble had actually been a client of Amai’s when a hate crime had been committed against him. Now his wife and kids had two shops open in town and were doing very well for themselves.
Lucy, Tumble’s wife, was a few years your junior and a mother of three. Amai and Lucy had become close friends over the years and they were both in an interspecies mommy group. You knew of her, since you’d both grown up in the same small town, but you hadn’t actually met her before. Amai told you that the triplets often played with her children at the park, and you had to stop for a moment and contemplate the strange image of bunnies and snakes playing together.
“Is this the professor?” Lucy asked as you came in with Amai.
“Did you tell the whole town I was coming?” You asked Amai.
“I didn’t need to,” Amai replied with a laugh. “Word gets around.”
“What can I get you guys?” Lucy asked, a big smile on her freckled face.
“Coffee and cheesecake to go, please,” You said.
“Oh, no coffee for me,” Amai interjected. “Can I have a decaf iced cinnamon chai instead?”  
“You got it. Whipped cream on top?”
“Yes, please. Where’s Tumble?”
“Putting the kids to bed upstairs,” Lucy said. “Such a good daddy. We’re talking about having more.”
“More than three?” You asked as she handed you a steaming cup of coffee. “I can’t imagine having more than two, at the most.”
“I guess it comes with having a non-human partner who’s used to the idea of having many children,” Lucy said, nodding at Amai, who tilted her head in agreement. “Not all non-humans have litters or clutches, but the ones who do always want more kids. At least the girls are in school now andTumble gave me a good five years before asking for another litter, unlike supermom over here. How’s that going on your end, by the way?”
“That’s why the professor is here,” Amai said, bumping you slightly with her shoulder. “She just got in today. The evaluations start tomorrow.”
“Well, good luck.” She handed you a box that contained two generous slices of cheesecake.
“Thanks, Lucy,” Amai said as the two of you left. “I’m sure I’ll be back in here soon. Tumble’s pastries are the best in town.”
“I’ll tell him you said that!” Lucy said with a laugh, waving.
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The next morning, you began setting up for the individual assessments when Dr. Halvorg entered the room.
“Good morning,” You said. “Are you observing with the behavioral specialist?”
“I am the behavioral specialist,” He said. “I have a PhDs in child psychology and clinical psychology.”
“How many degrees do you have?” You asked, impressed.
“A few,” He admitted. “I’ve been alive for quite a long time, so I go back every once in a while to get another, or for a refresher. The education for each degree is much different now than it was fifty years ago.”
“How old are you?” You asked. “I know you’re part fae.”
“Amai told you that, eh?”
“Maybe,” You replied. “I mean, I’m part fae, too, so it’s not like I’m bothered by it.”
“You are?” He asked, looking at you keenly. “That wasn’t in your dossier. European?”
“Russian, and it’s not really a secret. I’m surprised you didn’t already know; I figured Amai would have said something. I was actually thinking you and I should have a conversation about that.”
He looked at you with an indecipherable expression and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, one of the eldest children came in the door.
“Later,” He said. You nodded.
The evaluations were interesting. The children were advanced for their ages, though Dr. Halvorg told you that was normal among nagas, who had to mature quickly in the wild. Watching them problem solve during the assessment was actually fascinating. They grasped new concepts relatively quickly and were wildly curious. They actually seemed happy to learn new and unusual things and kept asking you about your work with new races. You imagined they got a lot of that exuberance from Amai. Yenuno seemed a great deal more anxious and withdrawn.
The assessments took the entire day, and Dr. Halvorg asked you back to his office to compare notes when they were done.
“I think Ishni is slightly behind the others in his age group, or rather his brothers are more advanced. Honestly, it’s hard to tell with nagas. Their development is so unusual.”
“I would agree,” Dr. Halvorg said. “With Ishni being behind, that is. But it’s nothing some focused work won’t fix. The rest of them are advancing well, based on the available statistics for their age groups.”
“Yes, it’s shocking how quickly they pick up new things. I wouldn’t be surprised if they completed a full curriculum in just a few years.”
“Based on today’s evaluations, do you have a candidate in mind who would work for them?” He asked.
You sighed heavily. “I do,” You said. “I actually know of several that would be good fits. Unfortunately, all of those people are currently under contract.”
“Oh,” Dr. Halvorg said. “I thought you said you knew someone who would be perfect for this job.”
“I said early development!” You replied. “But these children don’t need early development. That’s shapes and colors and numbers and things like that. All of these kids can already read. Even the two year olds! They need more advanced tutelage, and I didn’t realize that when Amai first asked.”
“So what would you recommend?”
You sat back in your chair. “Give me a few days to think it over and make some calls and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, just go about things as normal. I’d like to observe how things run here naturally.”
“Is that in reference to the search for an educator?”
“No, it’s for my own personal observations,” You said, smiling. “I am still an exo-anthropologist, after all, and quite honestly, the last couple of days have been riveting.”
He grinned. “A woman after my own heart.”
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Two nights later, you walked into the enclosure after dinner to a strange sight: Dr. Halvorg reading the kids a bedtime story. He was sitting on the ground in the circle of nests and reading from a big book of non-human fairy tales. Race appropriate ones, of course. It was so unusual that all you could do was lean against the doorframe and listen.
When he finished, he helped settle all of the children and wished them a good night, and set the lights to starlight, with little pinpricks of light shining through the ceiling. When he saw you, he walked over.
“So, no good,” You said. “There aren’t any teachers who can come in on short notice.”
He sighed unhappily. “Well, what now?”
“I’ve decided that until they make contact with the Encante people, I’m not needed, so I might as well make the most of my time here and be the kids’ tutor until I need to go back or a teacher is made available.”
“Really?” Dr. Halvorg said, surprised. “Well, the kids like you, and you’re certainly well-educated. Have you ever taught before?”
“Briefly at E.U.,” You replied. “I taught one year of anthropology. It was nice staying in one place for a while, and the students seemed receptive to me. I only left because I was needed for a first contact situation.” You looked around. “Where’s Yenuno and Amai?”
“Date night,” He said. “They’re off… doing whatever people do on dates these days. I haven’t dated in decades, so I’m not certain what that entails anymore.”
“I could fix that, if you like,” You offered.
He smiled, but tilted his head. “How do you mean?”
“You could go on a date with me,” You said. “Since I’m going to be staying a while and working with you, it’ll be nice to get to know you better. And… maybe more than that.”
He looked like you’d hit him with a brick. He was still smiling confusedly, but his mouth was open and he couldn’t seem to speak.
“You okay there?” You asked.
“Ye--yes,” He stammered. “Forgive me. I… I appreciate the offer, but… I... I, uh…”
“It’s okay to say no, Maël,” You replied, laughing a little. “You don’t have to find an excuse. ‘No’ is a valid answer.”
He laughed a little self-consciously. “I’m sorry. I’ve been married to my work for so long that I just haven’t considered the possibility of dating. It’s… not something I’m interested in. I hope you understand.”
“Of course,” You replied. “That’s completely fine. And if you change your mind, that’s fine too. You know how to get in touch with me. No pressure. We’re both adults, after all.”
“Yes,” He said, adjusting his glasses. “I appreciate that. Thank you for the offer.”
“Think nothing of it,” You said. “I should get back to work. See you tomorrow.”
“Yes,” He repeated. You waved and walked away, unaware of his curious, piercing gaze on your retreating back.
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My Masterlist
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operationcavill · 4 years
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Untangled - Part 6
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He parks the car outside of her apartment and sighs heavily, “Let’s talk upstairs,” He walks around the front of the car to open her door, looking around with a scowl on his face. Neither of then say a word until they reach the elevator.
Inspired by: Butterflies // Kacey Musgraves
Y/N - Your name
S/N - Sisters name
B/I/L - Brother-in-Law
B/N - Brothers Name
B/F/N - Best Friends Name
Y/N turns her shower on and really looks at herself in the mirror for the first time in hours, “You just got laid, bitch.” By Henry Cavill no less, but what does that even mean? Was he actually that into her? He seems to be but he is an actor. He asked her to lunch, though. And technically, for another date. Did last night actually happen? The hot water feels renewing, refreshing. Should she tell B/F/N? Hell, she wouldn’t even have told her S/N if she hadn’t walk in on them. She can only imagine what was going through her sisters head. Who wouldn’t go nuts if they saw a practically nude man like that? Stepping out, she grabs her phone and decides to text B/F/N.
Y/N: I have something to tell you.
B/F/N: Please do not scare me.
Y/N: It’s nothing bad. I slept with someone last night!
B/F/N: OMG WHO
Y/N: That’s the part I’m having trouble with
B/F/N: What
B/F/N: Jesus Christ, you didn’t sleep with [Your Ex] did you??
Y/N: Bitch. No.
B/F/N: Why are you being so weird then?
Y/N: Because he’s kinda like famous.
B/F/N: Excuse me??
Y/N: You CAN NOT tell anyone ok?
B/F/N: Lmao did you sleep with a superhero or something? What’s with the secret??
Y/N: Funny you should say that 🙃
B/F/N: Ummmm what
Y/N: I may or may not have slept with the guy who plays superman.
B/F/N: Stop it.
Y/N: I did.
B/F/N: Seriously?
Y/N: We’re going to lunch in a little bit.
B/F/N: I’m fucking dying right now.
Y/N: How do you think I feel!?
B/F/N: You gonna give up the deets?
Y/N: I will later. I need to get ready.
B/F/N: bitch 😒
Y/N: You love it 💕
B/F/N: You know waiting on this is gonna kill me
Y/N: I’ll get text you soon!
Henry has a large smile on his face when Y/N arrives, “Hello there,” they share a quick cheek kiss before sitting at a cozy table by the window. They make small talk and Henry takes a picture with a little girl who said that wonder woman was her favorite but he’s second. He was sweet and gentle, he asked for her name and if she’s excited for halloween. He told her to try not to eat too many sweeties, which is much cuter than saying, ‘candy’.
“You’re somethin’ else,” She’s sure her face is going to get stuff in a permanent smile.
His face slightly twists, “Why? What’d I do?”
“You’re kind. You were so sweet to her.” She can practically feel the tug on her ovaries.
The waiter arrives to take their order. He was visibly starstruck and tripped over his words, “It’s so cool that you’re on a date with Geralt!”
She amuses him. “I know. Although, I think I prefer the grey hair.” Once they all have a laugh, the waiter trots off to the kitchen.
“Are you a nerd, Y/N?”
She attempts to be serious, “I’ll show you my Fifth Element miniatures later. How was your little trip?”
He bites his lip, “So, I got some news while back at the hotel,”
“Oh yeah? Anything scandalous?”
He nervously laughs, “I wish. I, uh,  have to go back home for a week to do press.”
“Are you excited to go home for a bit?”
“Yes, and No,” he pushes a fork around and focuses on it, “I love going home, and I like working.”
She senses that there’s something else, “But?”
Henry continues, “But I’ve met a girl in a bar and I wasn’t finished getting to know her,” he wonders how many times he can make her blush, he’s sure it’s never enough.
“Wanna make a deal, Cavill?”
He perks up his eyebrow, “What you offering, Y/L/N?”
“How about, you let me know when you get back and I let you know where to find me.”
He doesn’t hesitate, “Deal.”
The waiter brings their sandwiches and they enjoy their meal while poking each others legs under the table like children. In this moment, he completely forgets who he is. Right now, he’s just Henry. He’s Henry who likes to eat sandwiches with cute woman and talk about his dog and the show he’s been trying to watch for months. He feels good.
Y/N almost chokes on her food laughing at story concerning an unfortunate tongue biting accident that occurred during his first kiss, “What did you do?”
“I jumped and kind of yelled in pain, and I think she cried. She never looked at me again.”
“I’m happy to report my first kiss was not as tragic,” he asks her to go on and she grins, “I was about 14 and there was a boy who would visit his grandma a few times during the summer. I had known him forever, his grandma lived across the street so we’d play together. One day, we were playing spotlight with a bunch of the neighborhood kids and he just kissed me. Kissed me right there beside Mr. Hoffmans car.”
“That’s very cute,” he could get a stomach ache with how sweet she was.
“It was,” She takes a sip of her water, “I have no idea what happened to him, either.”
Henry watches her, a habit he doesn’t plan on breaking, “You wanna go for a walk?”
“If you buy be coffee first,” Y/N and her addiction to warm drinks is what makes this her favorite time of year.
“You got it.” After some deliberation, Henry finally convinces Y/N that he’s paying for her food, and coffee, too.
They begin their stroll around the chilly city, stealing small looks at one another, “So, When do you leave?”
He sighs, “Tomorrow evening,”
“That sounds like an awful time for a flight,” Y/N’s head gravitates towards his shoulder.
“I’m a little used to it now. Leave late on the east coast, arrive in the morning in the UK,”
“Don’t you get tired?” She asks him so genuinely, with so much concern.
“I’m always tired,” Henry gives her a soft chuckle.
Y/N searches his face, “You seem to sleep pretty good to me,”
“There’s an exception, Darling,” Henry can’t help but feel a little bashful.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you, it was nice and your blankets are so soft.”
She giggles and leans into him again for a short side hug, “You’re a cliche that I have no problem with,”
“I am not,” He flicks her nose.
“Wha—!” She flicks his in return, “How very dare you?”
He kisses the tip of her nose and apologizes, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
“You’re lucky you got me coffee,” She pants jokingly after taking a large sip.
“You’re quite the caffeine addict. Late night tea, 16 ounce coffees,”
“What can I say? I’m a starving artist, it was either cigarettes or giant cups of piping hot coffee, I chose the coffee,” she pulls on the collar of his shirt and he’s tempted to kiss her again, but if he kisses her now, he doesn’t know if he can find the will to stop. There’s just something about her.
They decide to circle back around and Y/N pulls out her phone to get a ride, “I’ll take you home, why didn’t you drive today?”
She looks slightly embarrassed, “Oh, my tail light went out the other night and the garage won’t take it until Friday. They ticket you for everything up here, so I didn’t wanna risk it.”
Henry escorts her to the car, politely opening and closing her door. Just a few minutes into the drive Y/N’s phone goes off, “Oh god, it’s my mom.”
He turns the radio down and whispers, “I won’t make peep.”
She answers the phone as if she’s alone and not with a world famous actor, “Hey, mama,”
“Is there something you need to tell me?” There’s no way her sister would have told her anything, even if she threatened to do so. Y/N is taking too long and her mother repeats herself.
“No? What do you mean?” She notices Henry look at her and then look back at the road.
Her mother sighs “The boy who cuts our grass showed me a picture of you with a certain someone.”
“A picture?” If they weren’t already at a stop light, Henry thinks he might have slammed on the breaks.
“Y/N, theres a bunch! He’s kissing your nose and rubbing your leg while you eat a sandwich. Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone? And HIM?”
“I’m not,” she collapses onto her couch, “I just met him.”
“Are you lying?” Mothers always know.
The light turns green but he’s still looking at her, as if he’s trying to hear the conversation, “No, mother,” She mouths to him, ‘it’s green,”
But accidentally lets out a, “Oh, sorry, Darling.”
Her mother gasps in disbelief, “You slept with him!”
Her eyes practically fly out of her skull, “What! How—no I did not!”
“He called you ‘Darling’. That’s some sweet talk, I don’t think this is a good idea. You always say you like your privacy.” Her mother always knew what her girls were really up to. Mothers always know.
“I know, ma, but you’re reading way too much into this,” She exhales, “can we talk about this later?”
And just like all mothers, she refuses to let up,“No, how did you even meet him?”
“We were at Benny’s and he was there.”
“Out of all the bars,” She just knows her mom is rolling her eyes.
“He’s kind, fun to talk to.” Henry actually blushes and can’t contain his smile.
“I googled him.” Oh, of course, “He’s 10 years older than you.”
“You’re older than dad.” He tenses, he’s a little familiar with this, and he understands, but Y/N was very grown and very independent. He liked her for her, not her age. Ok, so her being attractive was a plus, but he had no intention of ‘playing’ her.
“I’m one year older than your father, thank you.”
“I’m very aware of my age,” She hated this. It didn’t matter how old Y/N was, she was the baby, the little one, the one protected one in her family.
“Honey, I’m serious.” Mothers.
She knows her mother means well, but can’t a girl live? “Why are y’all so worked up over this? I—,”
“Who’s y’all?”, Y/N spilled the beans, “You said you just met.”
“S/N met him that night I did,” and saw him practically naked the next morning, “and B/I/L...and John.”
“Well, now the whole world knows you’re sleeping with him.”
“I’m not sleeping with him,” He snaps her a look and she gives on in return as a warning to him, he better not make a sound.
“Are you being safe?”
“Oh my god! Yes, I’m being safe!” Henry has to stifle his laughter by covering his mouth.
“Ah-Ha, you are sleeping with him,” Great.
Y/N throws her head back on the headrest, “Jesus, ya’ll are being really intrusive. You know that, right?”
“I’m your mother. It’s my job to worry about you.”
“And I’m fine, Mama.” He finds it endearing that they call her ‘Mama’. It’s sweet and brings out her accent. “Can I call you later?”
She stalls, “I guess, but I’m not done talking about this. It’s not every day your daughter get’s involved with a warlock,”
“It’s a Witcher, Ma, not a warlock.” Henry can’t keep his laugh in this time, causing Y/N to slap his arm.
He clears his throat, “Sorry,”
She can feel her mothers glare through the phone, “I’ll talk to you later, ok? I love you.”
“I love you, too. Bye,” She turn towards him, “Well, we’ve been had.”
“I’m so sorry.” He looks all too apologetic, “I wasn’t thinking about it. I’m sorry.”
While she is nervous, she knows it’s not his fault, “Don’t be sorry. I still had a good date with you, Her phone buzzes for was seems like a dozen times in a row, “Oh,”
Henry’s mood has completely shifted. He already felt as if his feelings for her were escalating too quickly, and now this? It had only been a couple of days, “Don’t look at them.”
She scrunches her nose, “Huh?”
He parks the car outside of her apartment and sighs heavily, “Let’s talk upstairs,” He walks around the front of the car to open her door, looking around with a scowl on his face. Neither of then say a word until they reach the elevator.
She clicks her tongue a few times in hopes that he breaks the silence first, he doesn’t and she finally speaks up, “What did you mean don’t look at them?”
He waits until the doors open to her floor, “Don’t look at those things they tag you in. Some people are cruel for no reason.”
Henry can tell she’s nervous and getting a bit worked up. She’s struggling with the keys and can’t get the door unlocked. She gets so frustrated that she lets out an all too loud, “Fuck!” Her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Timmons, opens her door to see what causes the ruckus, “Sorry, Mrs. Timmons.” The woman disappears back into her apartment with a huff.
Y/N tries to open the door again and flings it open, closing it and leaning against it after it’s closed, “I’m so sorry for today.” He truly looks sorrowful and guilty.
“It’s not your fault,” She takes her coat off, then her shoes, and plops down on the couch, “I’m just—overwhelmed, I think.”
“You don’t deserve to be spied on like that,” He sits beside her and rests his elbows on his knees, “have you picture taken without you knowing.”
She scoffs, “You don’t either. Just ‘cause you're in movies doesn’t mean you should have to get you privacy violated.” She takes the hair tie from her wrist and begins to braid her hair, “I can’t believe I told my mom I slept with you.”
He laughs, “Am I really that bad?”
She falls to the side, groaning as she face plants the cushion, “No, I just don’t talk about those things with her. I mean, not really.”
“I can barely hear you,” He pokes her head and she sits back up.
“Do you tell your mom who you mess around with?”
“I can’t say that I do,”
“I need to turn off the notifications. That noise is going to drive me crazy.”
“You don’t have to but maybe making stuff private would help,”
“It’s all private already, these are like, people I don’t even really talk to or I haven’t talked to for years. Stupid Facebook.” She tosses her phone onto a chair and looks at Henry, who still has a solemn gaze, “I’m pretty good at covering my tracks, you know? I don’t use twitter, my instagram is private. Whatever this is, all of that stuff isn’t gonna get in the way.”
He shrugs, “I understand if you don’t want to deal with it,”
“It’s not exactly normal, is it?”
“No,” His tone has changed. It’s no longer chipper, just melancholy.
“Do you still want to see each other when you come back?”
“If you let me,”
She kisses his cheek quickly, “I wouldn’t have asked,”
“I do like you. Last night was just a huge bonus,” He hisses, “That sounded kind of gross,”
“I know what you meant,” She gives him a light and comforting smile.
“I have to ask; Are you pissed?”
Y/N tilts her head to the side, “Just unprepared, I guess.”
“Yeah, you can’t really prepare yourself for your mum to ask who you’re sleeping with,”
“I’m sorry my family is,” she pauses, “dramatic.”
“They’re not,” He admires a strong family bonds, he strives to create one of his own one of these days.
“Henry, it sounds like my sister wants to punch you and my mom freaked out, too.”
“Any chance I can get in good with your dad?” She gives him a blank stare, “I’m only joking.”
“B/F/N is gonna shit a brick.”
“And B/F/N is?”
“She’s my best friend. She’s practically our sister,” she remembers their text conversation, “oh, god, my mom probably called her.”
He chuckles, “You’ve got quite the circle.”
“I know, I’m sorry. They’re just protective and, yeah.” She’s tried not to show her embarrassment but it’s written in her body language.
“It’s not a big deal, I understand. It’s a tricky situation,” Tricky, indeed, but if anything this just made Henry want to further prove himself.
Y/N’s phone begins to ring and she excuses herself, “Sorry, I have to answer this one.”
Henry simply nods, interlacing his fingers and relaxing into the couch. He watches her walk around a small room, her hands up in the air and at times, writing things down. He leans to the side to get a better look. He doesn’t mean to be nosy but something catches his eye, its a painting. He can only see part of it but he already loves it. Some colors blend and others are blocked together, there’s lines and shapes. If she lets him, he’d love to explore more.
She reappears and gets back to her spot on the couch, “That looks like a fun room,”
“It’s where I paint,” She fiddles with her pant leg, “I have a show coming up,”
“Oh, yeah? Where?” She’s taken aback by his enthusiasm.
“It’s called Desmond’s,” She grins so widely that Henry notices a small dimple beside her mouth, “it's my second show there.”
“That’s amazing,”
“Thank you,” The shyness that overcomes her when she talks about her work, it’s akin to enchantment.
“Will you show me your work one of these days?” Henry looks as if he’s glowing at the possible opportunity.
“Hmm,” She taps her chin, faking thought, ”maybe.”
“I’ll take a maybe.” He’s more than glad for the maybe.
“I don’t think any of these are yours,” He waves his finger around happily.
“Hmm,” He’s correct, these are gifts or purchased from other artists, “I wanna see if you can spot them.”
He points toward her studio, “And I can’t look in there?”
Y/N shakes her head, “No, that doesn’t count.”
“I just want to see what you got in there. I know where I can spot one.”
She wants to call his bluff, “You do, do you?”
“At the bar,” He states it so matter of factly, “there’s a really cool mural on the back wall where the tables are.”
He figured it out too quick, “How did you know that was me?”
“It looks like you,” He shrugs, as if that’s not a completely sweet thing to say.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, it has the best colors. Your colors.” Wow.
“Stop that.” He looks away and looks back to her, confused as to what he did, “You cannot be so cute when you’re so, I don’t know, that.” She wiggles her fingers at him and he get’s all too playful again.
Henry knows he’s good looking but it’s funny how she doesn’t even attempt to hide how it affects her, “And what’s that?” He refuses to break eye contact. If she likes how he looks, then he’s gonna make her look at him. She looks away and he catches her cheek in his hand, slowly turning it back to him, “Hmm?”
This is another one of his unfair games. She knows what he’s doing, and he knows she knows. His thumb traces her mouth and she bits the tip of it, but he doesn’t flinch. His hand travels down to her throat, feeling her breathe, “You know what you are.” He smiles in a way that could make her collapse if she wasn’t already on the couch. “Charming,” He leans forward and pulls her closer by her throat. An act so suggestive, yet gentle, “Handsome,” He signals her to come closer by pulling again, this time she’s brushing her lips against his chin, “Magnetic.”
He holds her there, so close but not close enough. His eyes look down into hers, only inches away but enough to make her feel small, but safe. She feels slightly dominated by it, and she likes it. “Such a pretty girl,” he can feel her swallow, letting him know her mouth has ben watering for him, “my girl”. He kisses her forehead and lets her go but stands up, “I’ll let you know when my flight gets in, Sweetheart.” He walks to the door with a smirk, knowing what he’s just done.
Y/N’s mouth is left agape, even after the door closes behind him, “Motherfucker.”
[Tagged: If you’d like to be tagged, just shoot me a message or ask!]
@igotkatiepowers  @xxxkatxo  @lunedelorient  @heartfelt-pen​ @omgkatinka​ @viking-raider​ @summersing69 @hell1129-blog
i had so much fun writing this! I left it a bit open ended in case I felt like coming back to it
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arrow-guy · 3 years
Text
The Lighthouse (9/??)
Summary: The town is sleepy, the people are nice enough, but life gets turned upside-down when the God of Thunder literally falls out of the sky.
A/N: Hello, hello, time for more of our regularly scheduled Q+A where we ask some questions and get some answers, but never the ones we want. I swear we’re getting to the meat of things, but we have to go through all of this before we get to it, This being the filler stuff that happens before we can get to the real action. That being said, I’m really happy with what I’m putting out today, so please enjoy!
Page dividers by @carryonmyswansong
Pairing: ThorxReader
Word Count: 2.4k
Warnings: None
Part 8
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"So…okay, so what you're saying is Asgard is gone, this Thanos guy attacked the ship, and you're the only one who got away?"
"Yes."
"But how?"
“What is it you humans say… a magician never reveals his tricks?”
I scowl. “You’re no magician, and that couldn’t have been a simple trick. How did you get away, if Heimdall didn’t send you himself?”
He sighs. “I used the Tesseract.”
“That stupid thing everyone was fighting over in New York all those years ago?”
“And here I was, thinking Earth had forgotten about that.”
“How could we forget an alien invasion?” I shake my head. “A literal alien invasion, and you just expect us to forget about it. Maybe you really are crazy.”
“Forget about New York for now. The Cube itself hides a very powerful object,” Loki explains. “It’s called the Space Stone, and it allows whoever wields it, provided they can withstand its power, to travel through space at will.”
“So you used it to get away before whatever happened messed with everyone’s heads?”
“Yes, but Heimdall was able to send one man off before anything happened.”
“Who?”
“Bruce Banner.”
“Wait, he was with you?”
“He was.”
“Then we have to get in contact with the Avengers!” I exclaim “If he’s earth-side, they would know.”
“Are you mad?” He shakes his head. “You can’t really believe they’d help, knowing that I have anything to do with this.”
“You didn’t cause this.”
“Not directly. But I’m involved.”
“So is Thor.”
“And so are you,” he says. “They don’t even know you.”
“I don’t know if that’ll work for us or against us in this situation.” I pause. “What the hell do you mean you aren’t directly involved? You were on that ship and you’re the only one who remembers what happened!”
“But it wasn’t my fault this time!”
“In what world does being involved mean that you’re at fault?” I shake my head and roll my eyes. “At any rate, any kind of alien anything falls under the purview of the Avengers.”
Loki scowls. “You’re not going to drop this.”
“Why would I?” I shake my head. “I said I’d help, and taking this to someone who actually can is obviously part of that.”
He rolls his eyes. “Fine.”
“(Y/N?)” Thor croaks.
I don’t hesitate in shuffling over to him. He reaches out to me and takes my face in his hands. His eyes are filled with tears and his face is red and splotchy. He looks me over, almost as if he’s trying to decide if I’m real.
“I’m here,” I murmur. “It’s okay to let go.”
His bottom lip wobbles and he gathers me up in his arms and carefully holds me to his chest. I manage to wriggle my arms out of his hold and wrap one around his shoulders. I comb my fingers through his hair and slowly rock him from side to side as his entire body begins to shake with the force of his sobs.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I whisper. “You’ve lost so much… I’m so sorry, Thor.”
“There was so much,” he whispers.
“I know.”
He balls up big handfuls of my shirt and takes a deep, shaking breath. I sit and hold him until he can calm down. Loki doesn't even shift from his spot behind me, but it does little to put me at ease.
"That was a lot to take in at once," I murmur. Thor nods against my shoulder and I kiss the side of his head. "How about we get you upstairs? You can get some rest and process what you saw."
"I don't know…"
"I'm sure Daisy could be persuaded to come cuddle with you."
"I…" he sighs. "Alright."
It takes a moment for him to haul himself to his feet, but he allows me to lead him towards the door. I can feel Loki's eyes on us the entire time and it makes my skin crawl.
Once out in the hall, I call out to Daisy and she comes bounding up the stairs.
"That's a good girl!" I pat her side and she brushes up against Thor's leg. "Upstairs, Daisy lady, let's go."
She turns and does as she's told. By the time Thor and I make it up the stairs, she's situated herself on top of the covers. Her eyebrows perk up when she sees us and her tail thumps against the duvet. Thor lowers himself to the edge of the bed and tugs me down into his lap. He wraps his arms around me and presses his nose to my shoulder. The angle is awkward and I can't embrace him the way I was able to earlier.
"I'm so sorry," he says.
"You have nothing to apologize for. You're overwhelmed and mourning a sister you never knew you had, your father, your home. I… I don't know how you're feeling, but I know that it's more than anyone should have to go through on their own."
"He told you?"
I nod. "Everything. I know what happened on Asgard and on that ship. I-I am so sorry, honey. I wish there had been a better way for you to find out."
"I needed to know."
"That's true, but," I lean away and push his hair out of his eyes. "I don't like seeing you in pain." He opens his mouth and I press my fingertips to his lips. "I know you were bound to get hurt at some point while we're together. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon and to feel so… so helpless when it did."
I press my lips together to stop myself from saying anything else. Thor opens his mouth, but thinks better of what he was going to say and simply repositions me so that I can actually hug him. He loops my arms around his shoulders and circles his around my middle. He kisses me in an attempt to reassure me and I rest my forehead against his when we pull away.
"I don't seek out pain," he says, carefully choosing his words. "But it always seems to find me. I've lost so much, just in the last few years. I don't want to lose you too. I don't want to drive you away with my past."
"You won't. We're partners in this relationship." I lean back to meet his eyes and smile. "That means a lot of things, and one of them is dealing with each other's crazy."
"My crazy far outweighs yours, (Y/N)."
I shrug. "Mine is getting up there. I mean, I live alone in a lighthouse, was magically prompted to wander out into the woods to find a god, promptly fell for said god, started learning magic and looking for his brother and then dragged him out of the house in the middle of the night to literally go dig him up."
Thor laughs. "Still."
"On a human level, all of that sounds absolutely nuts, no matter how you swing it."
He nods. "That's true."
I smile and peck him on the lips. "You need to rest."
"What will you do?"
"I have to keep an eye on Loki. He doesn't know where he is. I'm sure he has questions."
"I don't know how I feel about you being alone with him."
"I'm not helpless."
"He has a silver tongue and he's manipulative. As much as I care about my brother, I know that he's not exactly trustworthy."
"Okay," I get to my feet and silently coax Thor into laying down. "If anything, and I mean anything weird happens, I'll come get you immediately."
He sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. "I don't know-"
"Thor, I'm an inch away from knocking you out myself." I pull the blankets up to his chin when he protests again and direct Daisy to lay across his chest. He shakes his head and tries to hide his smile. "Sleep. We'll be here when you're ready."
"Alright."
"Okay."
I stoop down and kiss his forehead before leaving the room.
When I return to the bedroom, Loki is exactly where I left him. I lean in the doorway and fold my arms.
“You hungry?” I ask.
His head shoots up. “What?”
I jerk my head towards the hallway. “Come on. I’ll make us some tea.”
He follows me downstairs and hovers while I put the kettle on and place peppermint tea sachets in mugs. I catch him folding his arms and glancing around out of the corner of my eye.
“Spit it out,” I say.
“What?”
“I can see that you want to say something.” I turn and lean against the counter. “So say it.”
His brow furrows. “You really care about him.”
“He’s my partner. Of course I care about him.”
“I see.”
“What’s your problem with me, anyway?” I tilt my head to the side. “Is it because I’m human?”
“Partially.”
“And the rest?”
“I don’t want to see him hurt.”
“I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve seen it.” He scowls. “I’m not with him because he’s a god. Thor is a good man. He’s kind and intelligent and gentle. Most of all, he’s patient with me.”
Loki snorts. “The last thing I’d associate with my brother is patience.”
“I can’t say he’s patient in the day to day. I mean, everything is so fragile and fleeting on our planet, it’s easy to get frustrated. But, he’s patient with me.” I shake my head. “I don’t see why you’d be worried about him, though. From what I know about you, you’re not particularly concerned with that sort of thing.”
“I’m allowed the occasional change of heart, am I not?”
“I don’t know.” The kettle comes to a boil and I wait for the bubbles to calm before pouring water into each mug. “Are you?”
He stares me down and only answers when I hand him his mug.
"I'm not sure," he admits. "It's something I'm still sorting out for myself."
"I see. Well, I guess that's all I can ask of you, right? A little introspection never hurt anyone."
He falls silent and I take that time to drain the sachet and add a packet of sweetener to my tea. I blow across the surface of the tea before taking a sip and immediately regretting it. I ask him if he takes any sweetener in his tea and he shakes his head.
“I wonder if I might ask a few questions,” he says.
“Such as?”
“Where are we?”
“A little no-name town on an inlet in Maine.” I lead him to the living room and gesture to the stairs. “I live in and operate the lighthouse.”
“And you truly speak with Heimdall?”
“Mhm.” Charles jumps up into my lap when I sit on the couch. He places his paws on my chest and tries to put his face in my tea. “Not for you, bud. It’s hot.”
He tried again and I pushed him off. He made a little indignant noise and nosed at my hand.
“Who’s this?” Loki asks.
“This is Charles.” Charles doesn’t take his eyes off the mug and I sigh. “You can’t have the tea, dude. What kind of mother would I be if I let you burn yourself?”
“He seems like a handful.”
“Believe it or not, the handful is curled up with your brother upstairs.” I scowl at Charles. “Would you just sit down?”
I set the mug on the end table and scratch up and down his sides. His back arches and he rubs his face against my cheeks. I scrunch up my face and wait till he’s finished. He eventually settles in my lap and I sigh and grab my tea.
“You can take a seat too,” I say, gesturing for Loki to sit.
He sits on the opposite end of the couch and sips his tea. “You said something about someone with Thor?”
“Right. My dog, Daisy, is keeping him company.” I laugh when his brows pinch together. “He’s her absolute best friend. She follows him all around the house.”
“I see.”
“Sorry, I didn’t answer your question earlier.” I took a big gulp of my cooling tea and set it to the side. “Yes, I do talk to Heimdall. I’m the only one who he’s been able to contact since Thor crash landed a few months back.”
“Odd.” He leans forward and tilts his head to the side. “And how did you discover your magic?”
“My family has a history with magic. My father said an aunt of mine actually had magic and he kept a set of protection runes around in case we needed them. Heimdall theorized that my magic is the reason he was able to contact me and no one else.”
Loki hums. “I see.”
“Heimdall did what he could to teach me how to control it, but magic for me is, I don’t know…” I gesture vaguely. “Kind of just this amorphous blob?”
“Then how do you contain it?”
“How do you mean?”
“Magic isn’t just something that you call on whenever you please, it’s all around you. How do you contain it?”
“Oh, uh…” I shrug. “It’s always just there. I used to get really tired when I tried to cast something, but it’s gotten easier.”
“Explain.”
“I was pulled into some kind of pocket where I was able to see Heimdall. He and I were able to work together to make a kind of magic circuit in order for him and Thor to speak. I practically fainted when that happened, but in the weeks it took to find you I was fine by comparison.”
His jaw clenches, but he simply nods and sips at his tea.
We sit in silence while we finish our drinks. Loki wanders back upstairs to the bedroom he woke up in and I start on making the shepherd’s pie I had planned for dinner. Once it’s in the oven, I go back to my office and finish what I can of the work I had been pulled away from when Loki woke earlier.
The smell of baking cheese eventually draws Loki out into the stairwell and he creeps down to the kitchen when I tell him dinner was ready. He disappears into his room as soon as he clears his plate. While packing up leftovers, I consider leaving out a portion for Thor, but decide against it. If he didn’t wake up for dinner, chances are slim that he’ll wake up for it later. Instead, I put the leftovers in the fridge and go upstairs to get ready for bed.
About an hour later, I crawl into bed and Thor rolls over and wraps his arms around me. With my back against his chest, I grab his hand and kiss his knuckles before settling against him. Charles curls up against my stomach and I eventually doze off.
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Part 10
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Alright, so we’ve got more Loki and, unintentionally, more questions than answers, probably. Sorry! Everything will be answered in due time, I promise.
That being said, I’d love to know what you thought of this chapter! Your feedback fuels my inspirations, which means more fic for you in the future, so comment, like, reblog, and/or shoot me an ask!
If you’d like to be tagged in future chapters, please let me know!
Tag list:
@ghostlyhamlet, @claws-of-vibranium, @creaturefeatures101, @buckysendoftheline, @imagine-assembling-the-avengers, @ptprocrastination, @1950schick, @amayasymone23, @arfrona-and-marvel, @ek823, @fanaticfangirl001, @furrywerewolfcollector, @kissofvenom922, @dawn-phantomhive, @fangirlwithasweettooth, @mairhof1, @starryeyesbadguys, @trap-house-homiecide, @buckywhitewolfbarnes, @kaepm981, @howdoesoneadult, @pcdmesamidala, @thefandomplace, @sian22redux, @skeletoresinthebasement, @lady-thor-foster, @jazzcutie, @gaytonystark, @geeksareunique, @nyxveracity, @breezy1415, @darling-loki, @lemonadeorange73, @tofeartheunknown, @queenoftheunderdark​, @avengerscompound​
This fic:
@chelzwwefan, @claire-of-the-country, @sunflowers-and-swear-words, @heystucky, @annathewitch, @thebdelliumlady, @myfuturisticallysteadycollector, @inumorph, @slitherysneke, @bojabee, @givemethatgold, @bluestaratsunrise
51 notes · View notes
thorne93 · 3 years
Text
The Stars Made Us (Part 18)
Prompt: In this world, you’re one of the “lucky” ones who got a soulmate, but what if the universe gives you more than you bargained for?
(Prompt challenge – You live in a world where your soulmate can write on their skin and you will get the writing on your own and vice versa. Where they can wash away the ink on their own skin, however, the writing is forever scarred onto your skin until you meet face to face)
Word Count: 1939
Warnings: angst and language throughout, mention of suicide
Notes: This was supposed to be for @sorryimacrapwriter​​​​  and their challenge like a year ago, I think? I still loved the prompt though and have been working on this story for quite some time. This aesthetic was made by @quailliamfears thank you so much! Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes​​​​, couldn’t have done it without you, as well as @carryonmyswansong​​​​ and @arrow-guy​​​​ and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​​​​
Also, I’ve never really liked the whole soulmate AU thing idea, but this felt so right and it was amazing to write. I hope y’all love it too!!
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Once you arrived at Stephen’s place, you helped him through his morning routine before stating, “If I’m going to stay here nearly all day, I’ll need to get some work done. Is that alright with you?”
“Oh, please, by all means, don’t let me get in the way of your pseudoscience,” he said, making a gesture of moving out of the way. “You can use my office.” 
You rolled your eyes and grabbed your suitcase full of things. “Thanks.” You went in there and made a small work space and began calling patients, trying to schedule them for therapy in the city. You could use another space nearby to start seeing them, depending on how long you would be here. 
When you took a break, you made lunch for you and Stephen. 
“New song today,” you said as you turned on the music, skipping to a random song in your library. 
“You make this so easy,” he boasted before nailing the artist, album name, and release year. 
“I will get you, one day,” you vowed with a grin. 
You went back to your office after the two of you ate, and talked quickly of current events in the news. While you were on the phone with one of your more unstable, and new patients, you had to calm him down. 
“Randy, Randy, take a deep breath for me. There’s nothing we can’t figure out,” you coaxed on the phone, standing up and pacing. 
“You’re two hours away! My father has cancer and I--” He started to sob and you continued to pace. 
“I know. This puts you in a very difficult position.” 
“No, no it doesn’t. It makes everything clearer. I can’t be here.” 
“Be where? Randy, where are you?” 
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t care. No one fucking cares!” he cried out. 
“Yes they do,” you insisted, your heart hammering in your chest. “I do.”
“You’re paid to!”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t care. Randy, tell me where you are. When did you find out your father had cancer?” 
“A few hours ago,” he said. 
“So where are you now?” 
“I’m not going to tell you anything. This is all too much. I just lost my mom a year ago, and now my dad… He might be an abusive son of a bitch, but he’s all I’ve got.” 
You took a deep breath, trying to think of what to say. 
“Randy, are you in danger of hurting yourself or anyone else?” 
He paused, silent a long time before saying, “Just me.” He began crying again. 
You began searching for his address on your laptop from the forms he’d filled out. You marched out of the temporary office and over to Stephen who was sitting on his couch, reading. “Randy, why do you want to hurt yourself?” you asked, making Stephen look up at you. You grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled a message that said to do a welfare check on Randy Smith, with his address. 
“Because I don’t have any body.”
“You told me you have some cousins, how would they feel if you ended your life?” 
“They wouldn’t even know. If they did find out they’d just say, ‘that’s a shame.’.”
You shoved the paper at Stephen with the instructions on it. He nodded and got up, grabbing his phone and going into his bedroom. 
“No friends? Girlfriend? Coworkers? Randy, everyone has something to live for. People aren’t the only thing that make a life go round. You told me you’re a computer programmer, yeah? What do you want to do with that?” 
“Well, I work for a medical software company.” 
“Is that your dream job?” 
“Not really. I mean, I love the programming, but it’s not all I want to do.”
“Tell me about what you do want to do.” 
“I want to program planes, for the military.” 
“See? That’s a noble cause. It’ll help your country. Randy, if you end your life now, that’s your choice, but you won’t get the chance to tell your father what he has done to you. You won’t get the chance to talk with me, to work through problems I know you can work through. You sought me out for help, please, let me help. Don’t miss this opportunity to take control of your life, and make it what you want to be.” 
Stephen walked back in the room and he said, “They went to the house, there was no one there.” 
“Randy?” you said again. “Randy, please, don’t make a mistake based on how you’re feeling right now in this moment. We know that all feelings pass, and you may be in the dark right now, I know you might be very far in there, in a pit you feel like you can’t climb out of. But that’s why you hired me, isn’t it? This cancer situation with your father is just that, it’s a situation we need to navigate together. I’ll help you every step of the way. You just need to tell me where you are and we can begin therapy as soon as you'd like.” 
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally said, “I’m in the parking garage… Oh, god, Dr. Y/L/N, please help me.” 
You held in your sigh of relief and replied, “I will, Randy, I will. I’ll be right there.” You hung up and called the police, telling them where he was. 
“I’m so sorry, Stephen, but I have to go,” you said hurriedly. 
He merely nodded as you grabbed your purse and ran out the door. 
Once the crisis was averted, you got him checked into the hospital, and you talked with him for a bit. Once he felt safe and secure, you left him in the capable hands of the hospital. You came back to the apartment, drained. 
“That was, uh, impressive,” Stephen noted. “Guess it’s more than just a pseudo science.”
“Guess so,” you responded tiredly. 
“So what made you decide to do this work?” he asked.
You scoffed. “Oh, so now you’re suddenly interested?” 
“Now that I saw you save a man’s life over the phone? Yes, I am. I’m very impressed. I can only save lives with my own hand. You did it with nothing but your own words, your own voice.” 
“I suppose I did. Well, if you must know, I simply want to help people. I love making sure people are okay and knowing I had a hand in that.”
“That’s rather noble.” 
You laughed. “That’s what Charles said when I told him when we first started corresponding.” 
“It’s true though.”
“So how about you? Saving lives, that’s quite noble. Is that why you do what you do?”
He laughed now. “Far from it. I just love the thrill.” 
You nodded slowly. “Ah, yes, people love holding other people’s lives in their hands for the thrill of it. I would say correct me if I’m wrong, but I know I’m not, and the only people who do that are those with antisocial personality disorder. You don’t strike me as the type, despite your best efforts.” 
Stephen smiled widely at this. “Touche. Uh, if you really want to know. I had a tragedy happen when I was younger. The thing you said when we first met, about losing someone close, someone family… you were right. Long story short, I wanted to save lives. That’s all I want to say on it.”
You pressed your lips together before nodding and saying, “Thank you, for sharing with me. I bet that was hard.”
“Don’t use your psychiatrist voice on me. I don’t need to be pitied or patronized.” 
“I’m not. I’m simply being sympathetic. I truly believed you went through something hard and I appreciate you telling me. Opening up to me is a great honor, I feel.” 
He semi-rolled his eyes. You realized you needed to take a different approach here. Stephen didn’t like talking about his past, in regards to his family. But Christine made it clear that he was arrogant, so maybe you should talk about his achievements. 
“Christine told me you were driving to a convention when your crash happened, to speak at a conference.” 
“Yes, I was.”
“Do you enjoy it? Speaking, that is, about your work?” 
“I do, I love it actually. Have you ever done it?” 
You shrugged slightly. “I’ve done it a handful of times but she said you did it often and were very good at it.”
“I’d like to say so, but she said she didn’t ever enjoy it.” 
“That’s too bad. I wish I could’ve been your date,” you admitted. “You seem like you’d actually have fun at those things.”
“I did. I wish I could still do it.” 
“You will, one day, I know it.” You grinned at him and the two of you ordered take-out. 
------------------------
Things turned south for Stephen though. He couldn’t afford the high price of his Manhattan penthouse without his job. He’d burned through all of his money trying to chase every cure. When he finally realized this, he went nuts.
“I’m losing my home!” he shouted as he ran around his room in a robe, looking like a mad man.
“It’s just an apartment, Stephen. We can find you a new one.”
“Oh, yes, because you have so much free time.”
“I do. I came here to help you, didn’t I?” you challenged. 
“I don’t need you to be a realtor.”
“Why not? You’ve made me a nurse, a cook, a maid. It’s clear you don’t want me as a soulmate, and friend is still even up for debate. Why not just make me your realtor?” 
“You’ve never lost anything, have you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be so heartless about this.”
You stopped, staring at him. “I’ve lost something before. I’m not being heartless, Stephen. I’m being realistic. You spent all of your money. You aren’t making any more. You have to move out of a place you can no longer afford. You’re always raving about logic and statistics and things you can see, well look at the statistics if you keep trying to live here.” 
“This is everything I’ve worked for.”
“No, it’s not. It’s a side effect of what you can do. There is more to life than just your work. You dedicated yourself like this once before, you can do it again. You didn’t work for a fancy palace in a shining city. You worked to be the best god damn neurosurgeon you can be and it paid off and it got you this. But you don’t have this any more. You don't have the means. I know it hurts, I know it sucks. But crying about it, getting pissed off about it, isn’t going to change the fact that your hands are beyond repair.”
He looked at you as if he hated you and your nerves just steeled. You couldn’t waiver from him, from this, not now. Not when he needed you most. 
“I’m here to help you. So help me help you, before you end up on the streets. Alright?” 
He sat down on his bed, his head in his hands. You were standing on the opposite side of the bed before you got on it and crawled over, putting your hands on his shoulders and resting your cheek against his back. 
“We will figure this out. Okay?” 
A long silence passed before he said, “I never wanted to end up like this.” 
“I know, sweetheart, I know.” You kissed his robe clad shoulder. “We’ll get you another apartment, another job. You’re still a doctor. It’s not the end of the world.”
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