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fyregrayfong · 3 years

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In These Arms | Chapter 1: Captain

Artwork by @tinaducain

You dodge a slab of metal sheet coming your way and run before sliding across the floor and pushing yourself up. Bringing up your fist you slam your earth gauntlet on the ground causing a wave of earth to barrel towards Lin. Lin bends up a wall of earth to block, jumps over and sends a punch your way. You lean back to dodge when Lin swings her leg under you knocking you down on your back and you groan out. Lin walks over towards you and straddles you putting your arms above your head as she pins you down. “Yield?” she smirks as she looks down at you as you admire Lin’s body on top. You nod your head after bringing your eyes to meet hers “Yeah, I yield”. Lin blushes as she catches you looking at her body and stands up and smirks then lifts her shirt to wipe some sweat off the inner corner of her eye “What’s the matter, rookie? Can’t keep up?”

As you get up your eyes look down at Lin’s amazing abdomen flexing and glistening in sweat, slightly biting your lip. Lin catches you looking again, and scoffs putting her shirt back down forcing you to focus back on “I’m pretty sure I’m no longer a rookie” you laugh as you unwind your wrappings from your arms.

“Then what are you?” Lin asks, causing you to look at Lin confused “Did you get hit hard back there? I’m a lieutenant”

“Not anymore”

“What?” your eyes widen as you drop your binding wrap on the bench. You try to think of any reason for why you’re no longer in your position. “wait...If this was about that bust on the Agni Kai last week. It’s not my fault Shin blew our cover and made it ten times more work than it needed to be.”

Lin smirks and lets out a laugh as she folds her arms, she loves making you sweat “You’re being moved up to Captain”

“Wait, I’m being… promoted?”

“You passed your civil service promotion to captain exam. Though I didn’t like how you and Mako handled the Varrick case. You chose to listen to your instincts and trust a low ranking officer rather than be blinded by your title and rank. Putting your jobs on the line was reckless, but you chose to keep going anyway. I need more people like that in my team, especially in the higher ranks.”

“Thank you, chief.”

“You deserve it”

“Captain…it is easier to say. It just rolls off the tongue.”

“It sure does”

Your eyebrows perk “Chief?”

“Captain?” you walk towards Lin and both look over at the door to make sure it was closed before putting your hands on her waist and both of you lean in and share a kiss.

“Is this why you wanted a private sparring match with me?” you pulled back a bit and grinned

“I had to knock you down a bit before giving you the news” Lin shrugs as she wraps her arms around your neck and smirks “You can knock me down as much as you want” you whisper brushing your lips against hers as you lift her up and kiss her deeply. Lin softly laughs against your lips and urges you to put her down so you both can freshen up and get back to work.

“Oh, can you get Mako so I can give him the news that he’s being promoted to detective” Lin asks as she walks out towards the door. “Sure, chief” you smile as you pack up your gym bag, and Lin smiles back “Thank you, Captain ”. Your eyebrow raises as you bite back a grin and your cheeks redden. Lin is going to be the death of me .

Walking down the hall after your shower and changing back to your uniform you look for Mako at his desk. “Mako, chief’s looking for you” you give him a stern look as you put your arms behind your back. Mako starts to look nervous as he slowly gets up looking around at the other officers who are snickering. “Did she mention anything” he asks as he walks around the desk and starts walking to Lin’s office. “Nope, but… good luck” you whisper but don’t look at him keeping a straight face. Once you reach the door you open it for him allowing him to step in first before closing the door after you. “Chief, Mako is here for you” you announced as Lin puts her glasses down and leans back in her chair, “Do you want the good or bad news first?” Lin looks at Mako in a cold stern face. Mako shoots you a look and you shrug “I would probably start with the bad news you’ll end it with a good note”. Mako sweats a bit and nods “Good idea.. uh the bad news chief” Lin groans slightly and leans forward in the desk “Well unfortunately you’ll no longer be needed as an officer.” Mako’s eyes widen as he hears the news “What?!? But I thought…I thought I was doing a good job on the force”. Lin waves a hand and eyes him “Well you thought wrong”. Mako looks down defeated and upset “Oh…thanks for the opportunity, chief” he turns towards the door grabbing the door handle. You turn to him and stop him putting your hand on his shoulder “Don’t you want to hear the good news?”. “No, I’m good. I don’t think anything will be good after losing a job” Mako looks down and you smirk letting a laugh escape your lips “Who said anything about losing a job? You’re not fired” Mako jerks his head over to you confused “What?”. You look over at Lin and give her a look to end the ploy and she groans standing up from her chair “Your paperwork got processed and it’s been finalized. You’re officially a Detective.” Lin gives Mako a gentle smile. Mako lets out a sigh of relief and bows to Lin “Thanks, chief. I won’t let you down”. Lin gives him a wave to dismiss him and he leaves out the office and you close the door after him. “That was good, chief” you look over at her and she gives you a look before smiling a bit “Get back to work”

“Yes, chief” you coo as you give her a salute before walking out the office closing the door after you. You walk over to Mako and give him a smile “Well congratulations are in order here, Detective.” Mako sighs and smiles “You two really had me there. How did you know?”

“Chief told me the news after promoting me to Captain. Consider yourself lucky, she told me after sparring me.”

“Oh…congrats, y/n”

“Thanks, let’s just hope we don’t have to do any more secret sting operations anymore. I would like us to keep our jobs” you give Mako a stern look as you rub the back of your neck.

“Same”

“Alright well I got to head back to work. Keep it up” you dismiss yourself and head back to your office.

After Harmonic Convergence you and Lin made the decision to take the chance and see each other romantically, sort of dating but you both decided to keep it under wraps for now. Your apartment was part of the buildings that got taken over by the spirit vines so you’ve been sort of living with Lin. Tenzin and Asami both offered you a place to stay, you figured with a lot of bodies at the air temple it would be best to stay with Asami plus it would be easier to keep the secret going and get to Lin if you stayed inside the city. After a couple of nights of not showing up to your room at the Sato estate, Asami had growing suspicions of how far the relationship had developed between you and Lin.

After kissing Lin goodnight you decide you should head back to the estate and spend the night there. Stepping into the grounds you sneak inside the mansion and creeped back to your room. A light turns on “You might as well have stayed over at this point” Asami laughs as she folds her arms sitting on a recliner. You looked over at the clock on the wall and saw it was three in the morning, you tried to keep your cool “Oh hey, Sami…I was just getting a glass of water” you stood up and rubbed the back of your neck. “Really? Seems awful like you’re trying to sneak in after spending time with your girlfriend.” She laughed some more and shook her head. “Whaaaa?! Wait…. how’d you know she’s my girlfriend?” you blush then your eyes widen and you try to backtrack “Wai--”. “Aha, I knew it! I didn’t but you just confirmed it” Asami jumped out the chair and pointed at you. “Shit…” you muttered as you hung your head down “Okay, you caught me” you put your hands in the air. “You really weren’t that slick to hide it. You come home late with your clothes all disheveled than when you left even when it looks like you try to smooth it out.” you both exchange a laugh “You happy huh?” Asami quiets down and you smile sliding your hands in your pockets “Yeah, very much so. Haven’t been this content in a while”. “Well nice going, Beifong is a catch.” She smirks. As she folds her arms.

“Asami!” you gape at her and point a finger at her eyeing her

“You can’t tell anyone. we’re keeping it quiet right now - no one can know. Especially not Team Avatar, Korra and Bolin will never shut up about it if they find out.” You groan then smile and let out a laugh.

“Why? it’s a good thing. We’ll all be supportive of it.” Asami walks towards you and puts a hand on her hip.

“It’s new, we want to enjoy it before being put on the press or hearing it from the group.” You shrug and run your hand through your hair before resting it on the back of your neck.

“I understand and respect that, and my lips are shut.” Asami assures you as she puts her hand on your shoulder.

“Thanks, I should head for bed. You should too. No more busting me….” you give Asami a glaring smile then groan rubbing your face “I should let Lin know about this… she’s not going to be happy.”

Walking up the steps and taking a deep breath before knocking the door and waiting for an answer. The door opens and Lin looks around “You were supposed to be at the station.” Not waiting for her to greet you when you step inside and close the door after you, “We need to talk”.

Lin folds her arms and looks at you “What’s wrong y/n” she looks at you concerned. You pace around the room a bit before looking up at Lin “I know we agreed to keep our relationship a secret, but—”

“I knew you weren’t okay with it - why didn’t you say something?” Lin snapped as she rubs her eyes. You shake your head and hold her hands into yours “I wanted our affair quiet, but Asami figured it out” you look at Lin sorry for blowing your cover. “how?”

“She caught me… she was waiting in the sitting room to catch me sneaking upstairs. Apparently she’s been keeping tabs on how many times I’ve been coming home late.” You sigh and look at Lin.

“Asami isn’t going to say a word, Lin” you assured her even though you could see in Lin’s face that she was upset and scared of being found out. “We need to talk to her. Make sure she isn’t going to say anything” she looks at you.

••

The past eight days with you have been the most fun Lin’s had in years and the blooming relationship sometimes has her feeling like a teenager. Lin asked you to keep the relationship a secret and you’ve been more than understanding and even agreed to keep it from everyone else for the time being. It surprised Lin at first at how maturely you handled it, your age did come into question as she thought you would want to show off since most young adults like to go out and be seen. She thought you would have to be convinced, but you accepted no questions asked. “Let's just enjoy ourselves first before bringing people into our affairs”. Lin heard you say as you took her hands into yours. Lin blinked surprised at how quick and easy that conversation went.

••

“Sure, I think Asami is still home” Lin grabs your wrist and pulls you out of the house and both of you go to the Sato estate.

Butler opened the door “Madam y/n…Chief Beifong” he addressed the both of you “Did you forget something madam?”you greet him as you and Lin step inside to let the door close “No, Butler we’re actually here to talk to Asami before work. Is she still here?”

“Yes, Miss Sato is in her study. If you can follow me” he starts to walk the both of you before you stop him “It’s okay Butler. I know the way to the study” you bring your arm out and guide Lin to the study up the stairs. “Before we go in there. Please tell me you’re not going to go fists in the air” you whisper as you grab the door handle looking at Lin. Lin rolls her eyes and gives you a huff before you sigh and open the door with a smile “Sami, hey, how are you doing” you force a smile as you look at Asami then look at Lin.

“Hey y/n, um Chief Beifong. Nice to see you too” she greets the both of you. “Let’s cut to the chase,” Lin butts in and your smile drops as you groan, putting your face down. “Cut to what chase?” Asami looks from Lin to you as you bring your face up and look at Asami, “We’re here—mostly Lin—to talk about the new development you’ve learned about the two of us” you motion between Lin and yourself. “Oh…” Asami sets her pen down and puts her hands on the desk as she stands up. “Well if this is about me telling anyone. Like I told y/n, I will not expose your relationship.” she speaks assuring Lin. “You’ll swear to secrecy?” Lin glares at Asami to which both you and Asami share a weird glance then back at Lin. “Excuse me?” Asami looks at Lin as she folds her arms slightly amused by the situation. “Honey is that really necessary?” you speak out only receiving a glare from Lin when you call her honey in front of Asami and you step back hiding a smile. you cover your mouth as you look at Asami and give her a soft nod to continue to play along. Asami inhales and nods “Yes, I’ll swear to secrecy” she puts her hand up and promises. “If I ever find out anyone finds out that they heard it from you I will arrest you for treason.” Lin peers over Asami in an intimidating tone. Asami looked over Lin’s shoulder, and you shook your head quickly assuring her that Lin was bluffing. When Lin looks over at you, you quickly stop and just give her an innocent smile. Asami got the gist and assured Lin that she will not speak a word about your relationship to anyone. “Oh so Raava help me” she gave Lin a soft smile.

Driving back to the station you peer over to Lin as she sits in the passenger seat, “Well I think that went well…. everyone made it out alive, unscathed.” You joked softly as you turned back into the city limits as Lin doesn’t say anything. “Lin, if anyone had to find out from the group. I say we were pretty lucky that it was Asami. Anyone else and news would have spread faster than we could take a breath.” You look over at Lin again and she seems to be calming down and sighs deeply “you’re right, Asami is the least of our worries in that bunch”. You smile reaching over to give her hand a kiss, hearing Lin give in as you pull up to her apartment and get out to get to your cycle. “I’ll make it up to you for my mishap” you give Lin a smile as she rolls her eyes and slides over to the driver’s seat. “I’ll see you at the station” she calls out as you say it back while you put your helmet on and give her a thumbs up as you follow behind.

Looking over at the new recruits as they train and you’re barking out orders watching out for their stamina and agility through the course. You sigh at how many of them aren’t any better than the ones the previous day. “Alright head to the showers. You all are pathetic.” You bark out as an officer hands you a clipboard, “These recruits aren’t ready to go out onto the field” you mutter going down the list of recruits, writing down notes besides ones that caught your attention and others who were a mere disappointment. “Captain, the Chief is looking for you” an officer salutes standing at attention and you pinch the bridge of your nose “Very well”. Handing the recruits over to another colleague to beat them into shape you make way over to Lin’s office. Some officers acknowledge you and greet you as you step into the office before closing the door with a soft click. “Chief” you greet Lin but notice she’s on the phone and puts her finger up to quiet you. You stay standing while putting your hand behind your back as you hold onto the clipboard. Another minute and Lin finishes the phone call and returns her attention to you “Captain, how’s training with the new recruits?” You step up and hand her your clipboard “It’s hell. It seems like every time we let recruits join they get worse”. “You just have to train them harder” she reviews your comments and notes, “what about this one…uh Sheng, it says he shows promise.” You nod as you take a step forward towards her desk “Yes, he’s one of the better ones. smart, agile, still needs improvement though.”

“With these spirit vines we’re going to need more officers” Lin groans then puts the clipboard down “These recruits just need to get whipped into shape. They’ll be ready for the field” you reach down and get the clipboard. “You seem to be fitting well into your new rank” Lin looks over at you and smiles. “It’s an adjustment but I’m fitting in well” returning her smile.

Peace and tranquility fill your mind as you breathe in the evening air of Republic City from Lin’s terrace. “Evening, Captain” you hear your girlfriend’s voice coming up behind you waking you from your meditation. You smile then open your eyes to lift your head up and look over to see Lin walk to your side as she sets down a cup of tea on the table, “Evening, Chief”. Looking over at the cup you reach over and take it close to your lips and smell the aroma

“Spearmint?” you look over at Lin before taking a sip. “Figured you’ll want to end it with some stress-reducing tea”.

“Thank you. that’s considerate of you.” you take a deep breath before looking over at Lin “Funny story…. Bumi is planning to knit his spirit pet a sweater”

Lin scoffs a laugh “really? Do spirits even get cold”

“I don’t think so, but it’s sweet”

“It’s dumb”

“It gives him something to do. Tenzin mentioned he’s retired from the United Forces”

“Tenzin isn’t all glad about it. He still wishes Bumi rejoins.” Lin smirks causing both of you to chuckle while continuing to enjoy the night.

“You should join me for a session. It would help with the stress you’ve been having.” you smirk into your cup as you take another sip. “I have other ways to relieve stress if you want to join me for a session” she gives you a sly smirk as she leans against the doorframe “If it’s under my responsibilities then who am I to refuse my beautiful girlfriend” you eye Lin and watch her movements. She turns away from you and slowly walks away bending off her armor as she makes her way to the bedroom, “I’m waiting, Captain”. You bite your lip as you watch Lin walk away and set your cup down on the table. Quickly stand up, stepping inside the apartment and close the door before rushing after Lin. You step in the bedroom and grab Lin’s waist and turn her around to face you and kiss her deeply. Lin wraps her arms around your neck before bringing her hands down and starts grazing her nails up your abdomen lifting the hem of your tank up. The sensation of her nails causes you to gently bite her lower lip and a soft moan escapes her lips. She lifts your tank up and pulls it off of you before she plants her palm on your chest and pushes you back with a knowing smirk on both of your faces.

Sitting up in bed swinging your legs over the side as you look for your tank, Lin looks over and softly brushes her fingers up your back causing you to shiver as you fix your tank to put it on. “Just when they’re about to heal I end up opening them back up” she smirks as she looks at the scratch marks she’s left along your back “I wonder why” you deadpan “You should get them healed by a healer.” She mutters as she brushes her fingers along a fresh scratch mark “And say what? That I got attacked by a possum-chicken?” you laugh “Besides I like the burn, it’s a reminder of who put them there” you bite your lip as you turn over to look at your lover and lean towards her “You,” you growled as you dip your head to catch her lips, “Are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.” you kissed her again, lingering for a moment before searching for your tank and slipping on some boxer style underwear letting out a groan as you get up. “I’m going to get us some water, feeling quite parched from that backbending session” you smirk and quickly duck out of the room before Lin can throw a pillow at you.

Sitting back in bed after quenching your thirst and handing a glass to Lin then looks down at the cup before speaking “It’s nice that at least someone knows about us and they that support it…it makes it feel more real” you bring the cup back up to your lips and take another sip. “Real?” Lin peers over at you as she sets the glass on the nightstand which causes you to nod “Yeah, like this isn’t some sort of evil dream that I don’t want to wake up from”. You gently tap on the glass before setting it aside. “It’s not a dream” Lin whispers as she looks at you and you return her glance, the both of you lean in and share a kiss “Thank the spirits it’s not” you mumble before cupping her cheek and deepening the kiss. Lin licks your bottom lip before pulling back “I need to clean up” she mumbles as she gets off the bed and walks to the bathroom.

You bite your lip and smile as you watch Lin walk away as she wraps her robe around her body heading towards the bathroom. Lin has been far more open to you and affectionate behind closed doors than before. You were wondering whether Harmonic Convergence had anything to do about it or the fact that Lin got laid. I’m going with the first option. If it was Harmonic Convergence you have to make a plan to thank a passing spirit.

#TLOK3InTheseArms #lin x reader #linxreader #linbeifong #linbeifongxreader #linbeifong x reader #lin beifong x reader #fyrefics

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starrybethany · 4 years

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Clayton Keller: Part 7

Word count: 2077

Clayton and I spent the night catching up on all of the time we’ve been separated for the past week or so. When I wake up in the morning I’m utterly exhausted and my body is sore as hell yet I feel euphoric of a sort.

The arm wrapped around my waist feels familiar, even welcomed, and I lay with Clayton’s face buried in my neck with contempt. I’m staring up at the bare white ceiling as I feel him shift beside me, his grip tightening. He groans, the hot air touching my skin.

I don’t move my gaze from above me as he pulls back from my neck, his hand using my hip for support as he pushes himself halfway up to be able to look at me. The blanket falls down his chest a little bit, revealing his fit torso.

“Morning,” he greets me, his voice groggy from sleep.

“Good morning.”

He collapses back onto the mattress beside me, moving his head so that his head is touching mine. “What are you looking at?”

“Do you see that spider web in the corner?” I ask, lifting a hand lazily to point at it.

“Yeah.”

“I’m trying to figure out how to get it down. I bet you could get it for me,” I tease.

“So now I’m just here to do your manual labor?” He jokes.

“Come on, Clayton, just do it!” I whine. “You’re 5’10, you can reach.”

“I’m actually 5’11,” he corrects.

“That’s not what Google says.”

I turn my head at the feeling of his movements to find him glaring at me playfully, reaching over to tickle my sides. I giggle at the action, the giggles turning into screeches for him to stop because I can’t breathe.

“That should teach you to mess with me again,” he huffs, puffing out his chest proudly.

I roll my eyes. “Okay. Just as long as you pull that spiderweb down.”

We enjoy each other’s company silently, grateful for the rare morning where we just get to lie in bed beside one another. I can’t help but take this time to think about how my relationship with Clayton has evolved.

I still think that I’m too busy to be in a relationship- a relationship takes time and effort, too much time and effort for me to give right now. But there’s something interesting about Clayton.

Maybe it’s the way he makes me feel. He makes me feel giddy whenever he’s around, like I’m back in high school trying my best to act cool when my crush walks down the hallway I’m in. He makes me feel comfortable, like I can be myself when I’m around him and all he would do is cheer and support me.

Clayton makes me feel like no man has ever made me feel before.

But, at the end of the day that doesn’t matter. At the end of the day he’s the one signing my paycheck and we aren’t a couple, we’re actually in a contractually obligated agreement and life isn’t a Disney fairytale.

“Guess what?” Clayton whispers.

“What?” I whisper back. I don’t know why he or I am whispering. Maybe he’s afraid that if he speaks too loud, it’ll break whatever spell we’re both under.

“You let me stay over last night.”

“So?”

“Guess what else?” He continues.

“What?”

“That’s not allowed, according to our contract,” he points out.

I roll my eyes but my heart beats faster at his remark. I guess neither of us realized that last night after all of the strenuous activity that went down.

“Screw the contract,” I lamely respond, unsure and unconfident in other answers that I could give. I’m afraid of telling him that I liked spending the night with him, even if we’ve done it in his place it feels different doing it in mine.

It makes us feel like more of a couple, which we aren’t.

“Screw the contract?” He repeats, letting out a dramatic gasp. “But Y/N, that’s a legally binding document! I could tell my lawyer about this.”

“And your lawyer would say you’re just as much at fault, if not more,” I point out.

“Whatever,” he turns back to me, burying his face in my neck again. “He doesn’t need to know about this.”

The man begins to place light kisses up and down the column of my neck, slowly replacing them with stronger kisses, then begins to suck a hickey into the sensitive part of my neck.

I moan at the feeling, tilting my head to give him more room. My eyes flutter closed at the sensation. I know this is going to be a pain in the ass to cover up but it feels so good. Spending time with Clayton feels so good.

He moves until he’s gently straddling my body, brushing his hands up and down my sides lightly.

“Do you have anywhere to be today?” He asks quietly once he’s removed his lips from my skin.

“I have to meet my friends later, for lunch,” I breathe out.

“So we have all morning?” He inquires.

“We have all morning,” I confirm.

The grin on his face is one that I’ll never forget.

“Look at that smile, someone got laid,” Tyler jokes as I approach the table.

“And that new purse, holy shit,” Betsy adds, eyes widening at the sight of the Louis Vuitton bag on my arm.

“How can you afford that shit, I thought you were broke?” Tyler questions as I pull out the chair beside him, sitting down and resting my bag on the chair beside me. It’s too expensive to sit on the floor.

“You never told him, did you?” Betsy gasps.

“Oh man, I never did,” I groan, knowing that Tyler will dislike that he’s been left out of the loop.

“Never told me what? Y/N, are you withholding tea from me? You know that’s practically a crime, right?” He commands.

I roll my eyes at him. “So, I have a sugar daddy.”

“You what?” He exclaims, causing practically the whole restaurant to turn and stare at us.

“Quiet down,” I smack his arm, “Yeah, it’s been going on for like two months now. I can’t believe I forgot to tell you.”

“You forgot to tell me that you were getting laid and rich?” He raises his eyebrows, unimpressed.

The waitress drops by, an amused expression on our face, clearly overhearing our conversation. She takes our order before heading off to the back, allowing the conversation to resume.

“And look at that top, is it Gucci?” Betsy questions teasingly.

“You would know if it were Gucci, Betsy,” I respond. I’m not sure how to feel about all of the teasing. I like the nice things Clayton’s getting me, from the beautiful jewelry to the fashionable pieces of clothing, and even the money he’s giving me so that I can pay for school and rent.

But another part of me can’t help but worry about what other people are thinking. I wonder if anyone besides my friends have noticed my change from resale shop clothes to designer brands. And how they think that I got this money…

I’m not ashamed of having a sugar daddy. My body is made to make money and I’m doing just that, plus Clayton’s getting something out of this situation too, it’s not just me. But it’s definitely not something that I would tell my mom.

“So what kind of sugar daddy is he?” Tyler inquires.

“What do you mean?”

“Like does he need you to help him with his phone or change his bedpan or-”I scoff as Betsy bursts into laughter.

“He’s twenty two, Tyler.”

“Twenty two?” His eyes practically bulge out of his head. “What twenty two year old can afford to be a sugar daddy?”

“He’s an athlete,” the blonde informs him.

“An athlete? Is it a figure skater? Can you introduce me to Adam Rippon?” An excited smile shoots across his face.

“No, it’s not a figure skater, plus Adam Rippon has a boyfriend. He plays hockey for the Arizona Coyotes,” I explain.

“Arizona has a hockey team?” He sounds genuinely shocked.

“Why does everyone always ask me that?” I sigh.

“Well, that’s fun.” He gives me a supportive shove and I practically fall off of the chair. Sometimes he doesn't know his own strength.

The food arrives shortly after and we catch up with each other as we eat our meals. I find out that Betsy has a date in a couple of nights and we tease her about settling down and abandoning her wild years that she’s supposed to spend with us.

She gives us a “we’ll see how it goes” so we settle down.

“I’d love to meet your hot sugar daddy, if you’re up for showing him off,” Tyler tells me as we pay our bills and rise to leave the restaurant.

“We’ll see,” I respond vaguely. I’m not sure how I feel about Clayton meeting my friends. I’ve already met his friends and a couple of their partners, but that’s kind of bound to happen seeing as how he works with his friends.

And I go to a lot of his work events- the games- so I was going to meet his friends eventually. But to meet my friends, I’d have to plan a day where me, Clayton, and my friends will be at the same place for an extended period of time to get to know each other and chat.

He’s technically my employer, so that seems kind of inappropriate.

“I brought cookies, Christian.” I set the bag down on the counter, pulling out the package to proudly display the package of cookies I stopped by the store to buy.

“My trainer doesn’t allow me to eat cookies,” he states, staring longingly at the package in my hands.

“And do you listen to everything your trainer says?” I raise my eyebrows at him.

He hesitates but nods, causing Clayton to laugh. The brunette grabs my hand, tugging me towards his room. As we pass his roommate I lean closer to him and whisper, “Teacher’s pet.”

“Hey!” He shouts after me. I don’t have the chance to respond before Clayton closes his door, throwing himself onto his bed. I climb up beside him, curling up at the headboard.

“How was your day today?” He asks, voice muffled by the sheets he’s buried his head in.

“Good. How was your day?” I stare out his window at the beautiful desert sunset. Arizona really is a wonderful state.

“What did you do?”

“Um, I studied this morning after I left, then I went to lunch with Tyler and Betsy, then I studied some more and grocery shopping this afternoon,” I answer.

“You went to lunch with Tyler and Betsy?” He repeats, leaning up on his elbows.

“Yeah,” I begin to laugh, “I actually found out today that I never told Tyler about you.”

He gives me a toothy grin. “Really?”

“I guess I just never got the chance to tell him,” I confess.

“So you told him today?”

“Yep.” He moves up the bed until his head is in my lap. I absentmindedly twirl his chestnut strands through my fingers, watching as a car passes by.

“What are your friends like?” Clayton asks me.

“Didn’t you meet them at the bar the night we met?” I pause my movements, waiting for an answer.

“Maybe faintly? I barely remember that night,” he admits.

“Me neither,” I laugh. “But they’re basically just like me, except Tyler is gay and Betsy is prettier.”

“Not possible,” he mumbles.

I don’t respond, unsure of what would be an appropriate response.

“If you want to meet them, I’m having a party this weekend at my apartment. It’s a surprise birthday party for Tyler so everyone’s pretty much going to be wasted the whole night,” I say it before I realize that I’m inviting him.

It’s not that I’m worried that he won’t fit in, I know he will. He’s an attractive male in his twenties who has been to plenty of parties in his day. But I don’t know if he knows how truly wild my friends can get…

Plus, we would be crossing that boundary between sugar-daddy-and-sugar-baby and into, I don’t know, something more.

“I’d love to go to the party,” he accepts my invitation before I can overthink anything much longer.

We’ll just have to see how this goes.

#Clayton keller imagine #NHL imagines #NHL sugar baby #NHL story #NHL fanfiction

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welllpthisishappening · 3 years

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Welllp These Are Books: the June 2021 Edition

I have read a lot of books this month. That should be stated upfront. Just an absolute metric ton of books. Some real good, some not-so good, some inadvertently hysterical. Also, I made that BINGO board. Because, like, you ever have a total crisis of writing-confidence and ignore that potential freakout and the tendency of your coworkers to miss deadlines by reading every free Amazon sports romance you can find? And several full YA series? In one month? No? My experiences are not universal, I understand. Anyway, there’s thoughts and opinions and spoilers under the cut. Everyone read the Once Upon a Con series, I’m begging you.

READ THIS SERIES! PLEASE! EVERY BOOK WAS SO CUTE! EVERYONE IN EVERY BOOK WAS SO CUTE! THE FANDOM STUFF DID NOT GIVE ME SECOND-HAND EMBARRASSMENT!

Geekerella by Ashley Poston Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first. Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: to save her favorite Starfield character, Princess Amara, from being killed off. On the other hand, the actress who plays Amara wouldn’t mind being axed. Jessica Stone doesn’t even like being part of the Starfield franchise—and she’s desperate to leave the intense scrutiny of fandom behind. Though Imogen and Jess have nothing in common, they do look strangely similar to one another—and a case of mistaken identity at ExcelsiCon sets off a chain of events that will change both of their lives. When the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, with all signs pointing to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. The deal: Imogen will play Jess at her signings and panels, and Jess will help Imogen’s best friend run their booth. But as these “princesses” race to find the script leaker—in each other’s shoes—they’re up against more than they bargained for. From the darker side of fandom to unexpected crushes, Imogen and Jess must find a way to rescue themselves from their own expectations...and redefine what it means to live happily ever after.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston In this third book of the Once Upon a Con series, Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills. On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read. When Vance’s and Rosie’s paths collide, sparks do not fly. But as they begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

— I cannot possibly overstate what an absolute delight this series was. Cute and sweet and adorable. Like rot your teeth sweet with romances that my high-school self would have swooned over. (I would have been so in love with Darien Freeman as a 16 year old, it’s not even funny. Also, I would have been obsessed with Starfield.) Let’s be honest, my current self swooned quite a lot. Reading these books genuinely felt like a love letter to fandom. To the good and bad and trashy parts of it, and it made my heart swell thinking about these fictional kids and the community they found and how much they learned and then they FELL IN LOVE and, like, not to sound like an after-school special, but: THE REP IN THESE BOOKS?!?? HOLY S H I T. So good. So goddamn good. And not, like, shoved to the side. Like, Jess falls in love with a girl. And it gets its swoon-worthy moment as much as anyone else. Plus, bi-librarian dad who wears suspenders??? Sign. Me. Up. Twisting the fairy tales into the stories also worked really well in my opinion. Honestly my only gripe was that Darien found a cell phone number in the white pages, but, like, everything else was a joy. Please read these books. I promise they will make you smile.

IN WHICH I CAN NEVER TURN DOWN A BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known that her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny. But on her seventeenth birthday when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom's mountaintop, nothing is what she expected—particularly her charming and beguiling new husband. Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can't resist the pull of her sworn enemy—who's gotten in her way by stealing her heart.

— Yo. YO. Everyone in this book was horrible! And it was wonderful! I figured out the twist approximately point two seconds after the potential for a twist was possibly introduced and it did not diminish my enjoyment of this book for one second. I am such a sucker for any Beauty and the Beast AU, but this was way different than anything I’d read before and Nyx was a blood-thirsty terror and I loved her. The magic and the world building was fascinating in that I really did not expect Greek gods and goddess, but it was also a welcome turn in a weird, huh, that’s interesting sort of way. And the banter was a-plus, top tier. Even when they were snarking at each other. Especially when they were snarking at each other. (Still a pretty quick turn from enemies to lovers, but I’m willing to overlook that based almost solely on the snark.) Plus, the castle was fascinating. And there were more twists aside from the main twist, none of which I figured out. All of which I gasped over. The end was like—chef’s kiss, fantastic. I would like a novel-length sequel to tell me how everything worked out.

...BUT THE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ONE WASN’T AS GOOD

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in a vain effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world. Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as the two become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic . . . and a love that may be their undoing. Within a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

— As much as I loved Cruel Beauty, I was like ehhhh on this one. Which is part Little Red Riding Hood (although that seems like a stretch, honestly) and part The Girl With No Hands, which is a fairy tale I have literally never heard of before. Rachelle was just—sorta whiny? Which, y’know, she was cursed and had fucked up her entire life, so fair, but also...annoying. I kept reading mostly to try and understand what the FUCK was going on with the magic. I like to consider myself a relatively intelligent person who can understand most YA novels, but this one was tough to keep track of. Like, sure, the imagery of the Dark Forest was cool, but also what is a Gladspring? I’m still not sure I know. Also, this kind of dragged in some places. Lots of patrolling the palace (whining about life) and not enough magic-fighting or establishing any sort of relationship between Rachelle and Armand. Which just sort of happened? Amidst, approximately, twenty-four different twists that were admittedly cool, but also felt like they came out of nowhere. Everything that happened in Cruel Beauty made sense. Most of what happened here felt like it was shoehorned in for shock value.

YOU WANT MORAL AMBIGUITY? BOY HAVE I GOT MORAL AMBIGUITY FOR YOU. IN GODDAMN SPADES.

The Firebird Series by Claudia Gray Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.

— Guys. GUYS. These books, oh my G O D. Little known fact about me, but I am trash for cross-dimensional soulmates. The concept of “we’ll find each other anywhere” is one of my favorites, so I was so psyched about these books. And for awhile that’s what I thought I was going to get out of them. But. BUT! What I actually got was something, not totally different, but not entirely great, either. The problem here was that when anyone used one of the Firebird devices to jump dimensions they TOOK OVER THE BODY THEY JUMPED INTO. So, like, that consciousness got shoved to the side while whatever prime!person just took over. Living that body’s life. In a different dimension. And that’s kinda fucked up, right??? Brings in all sorts of questions about consent and morality and let me tell you, guys, this YA series DID NOT ADDRESS A SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Which is also super fucked up!! So, like, Marguerite is just bouncing around dimensions taking over people’s bodies and lives and leaving this, frankly, trail of destruction in her wake. And as if that wasn’t enough!!! In the second book Paul’s soul gets, like, split and she’s got to round up the pieces through dimensions, meeting all sorts of Pauls who are occasionally kind of shit people and he eventually just, like, CANNOT COPE. Seriously, I could not stop reading these. Partially for the moral ambiguity. Partially because I could not figure out why Paul loved Marguerite. Also, capitalism was the ultimate villain. AS IT SHOULD BE, REALLY.

CREEPY FAE WERE KIND OF CREEPY AND THAT’S NOT BAD, BUT LIKE MAYBE THIS WASN’T A GOOD BOOK?

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson Isobel is an artistic prodigy with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life. Furious, Rook spirits her away to his kingdom to stand trial for her crime. But something is seriously wrong in his world, and they are attacked from every side. With Isobel and Rook depending on each other for survival, their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

— I’ve seen this book mentioned a lot. As good. And it wasn’t not good, but Isobel was pretty goddamn annoying and kind of dumb and a little self-important and I was mostly here for the creepy fae. That was fun. More fae should have antlers and stuff. Everything in this story happened ridiculously fast. I couldn’t believe it was over when it was over.

THE PROSE WAS VERY PRETTY. I’M NOT SURE WHY THE DRAGON HAD TO BE SUCH A MONUMENTAL DICK.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

— Let me just say first off, that this should have been two books. Everything happened so quickly, I swear I got whiplash. That being said, as a heroine, I liked Agnieszka a lot. She was understandably freaked by everything that happened, but once she kind of settled, she didn’t take The Dragon’s shit and that was good because The Dragon was kind of shitty. This is why it should have been two books. Because everything The Dragon did felt like it needed some kind of explanation. Or at least some sort of reasoning for why he was such a monumental bastard. Which is why I was a little confused that Agnieszka was in love with him? He was such a dick, honestly. The last third or so of this book was the best because Novik really does know how to write action and the magic itself was pretty fascinating. (I wish it went into more depth, but I think I’m spoiled by fic and that’s not actually how the publishing world works.) Kasia might have been the most interesting person in this story. Girl went through it and just became a total badass. I loved her.

MARAUDER FEELINGS! MARAUDER FEELINGS! SO! MANY! MARAUDER! FEELINGS!

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

— RICHARD GANSEY, MY BELOVED. What a dweeb. A self-sacrificing, sorta sad dweeb. When he wrapped his jacket around Blue, my heart exploded. I think I spent the last fifteen or so chapters with disconcertingly wide eyes and possibly my hand over my mouth. Still not entirely sure why a Welsh king was in Virginia, but I loved it. Was real glad he was there. As promised by that one book rec list I read months ago, the Marauders vibes of these books were off the charts. It was a weird story with lots of weird things and I hope Mr. Grey gets to be happy one day and that Ronan and Adam make out some more eventually. I think they’ll both feel a lot better if they do. Like, about the world as a whole. Has anyone read the Ronan spinoff series? Should I read the Ronan spinoff series?

OK, THIS WASN’T THAT BAD, ACTUALLY

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise Jason Thorn... My brother's childhood friend. Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time--he was the reason for them all. But, you only get to live in that fairytale world until they crush your hopes and dreams and then stomp on your heart for good measure. And boy did he crush my little heart into pieces. After the stomping part he became the boy I did my best to stay away from--and let me tell you, it was pretty hard to do when he slept in the room right across from mine. When tragedy struck his family and they moved away, I was ready to forget he ever existed. Now he is a movie star, the one who makes women of all ages go into a screaming frenzy, the one who makes everyone swoon with that dimpled smile of his. Do you think that's dreamy? I certainly don't think so. How about me coming face to face with him? Nope still not dreamy. Not when I can't even manage to look him in the eye. Me? I'm Olive, a new writer. Actually, I'm THE writer of the book that inspired the movie he is about to star in on the big screen. As of late, I am also referred to as the oh-so-very-lucky girl who is about to become the wife of Jason Thorn. Maybe you're thinking yet again that this is all so dreamy? Nope, nothing dreamy going on here. Not even close.

— Ignoring the fact that this was almost blatant self-insert, this was a mostly good, occasionally trashy book with brother’s best friend and the one who got away tropes. Which, as we know, are my life’s blood. (Plus, surprise, fake marriage that isn’t really fake?!? Ok. OK!) My only eeek moment was when Olive got super drunk and wanted Jason to like—consummate the marriage and he was like, No Olive, you’re drunk. And then they ended up doing everything except having full-on sex, which felt a little creep and a lot sketch and then it was never mentioned again. Also, Olive needs to find some better friends, God.

EMERSON COD VOICE: HE’S STAAAAAALKING YOU

Marriage For One by Ella Maise Jack and I, we did everything backward. The day he lured me into his office-which was also the first day we met-he proposed. You'd think a guy who looked like him-a bit cold maybe, but still striking and very unattainable-would only ask the love of his life to marry him, right? You'd think he must be madly in love. Nope. It was me he asked. A complete stranger who had never even heard of him. A stranger who had been dumped by her fiancé only weeks before. You'd think I'd laugh in his face, call him insane-and a few other names-then walk away as quickly as possible. Well…I did all those things except the walking away part. It took him only minutes to talk me into a business deal…erm, I mean marriage, and only days for us to officially tie the knot. Happiest day of my life. Magical. Pop the champagne… Not. It was the worst day. Jack Hawthorne was nothing like what I'd imagined for myself. I blamed him for my lapse in judgment. I blamed his eyes, the ocean blue eyes that looked straight into mine unapologetically, and that frown on his face I had no idea I would become so fascinated with in time. It wasn't long after he said I was the biggest mistake of his life that things started to change. No, he still didn't talk much, but anyone can string a few words together. His actions spoke the loudest to me. And day after day my heart started to get a mind of its own.

— Ok, ok, ok, so I enjoyed the Jason Thorn book, right? Was, like, how bad could this other book be? And it wasn’t bad, but it was patently ridiculous. Let me explain what happened. Not entirely sorry for the spoilers. Jack the lawyer sees that Rose is only going to get the space for her coffee shop from her uncle’s will if she marries someone. She WAS engaged, but the guy split. For reasons no one can understand, especially Rose. She’s sad. She’s spent so much money on espresso machines! Enter Jack the lawyer who one random afternoon is like: HEY ROSE, YOU’RE MOSTLY A STRANGER, BUT I ALSO NEED TO GET MARRIED FOR REASONS I’LL ONLY SORTA EXPLAIN, LETS DO THAT. So they do???? And Jack the lawyer continues to be kinda weird and a little shady, but Rose has got the coffee shop and things are going well. Until! She’s got a leaky brain!!! That’s not a joke. Not a typo. Out of goddamn LEFT FIELD, Rose has got some horrible medical condition, so thank God she got married because Jack the lawyer’s got great health insurance. (this is ROMANTIC) and she’s got to have an operation and he stays with her and sleeps in the hospital chair and her coffee shop is somehow still going strong??? On Madison Avenue??? What sit-down coffee shop on Madison Avenue do you guys know that would succeed? None because it’s not downtown. I digress. Anyway, Rose makes a miraculous recovery, she and Jack the lawyer are now almost in love? At least having a shit ton of sex. They’re mostly happily married. Until, part two! The ex-fiance shows up and is like JACK THE LAWYER PAID ME TO BREAK UP WITH YOU. To which Rose is understandably flabbergasted. She confronts Jack the lawyer who fesses that he’s been seriously crushing on her since they met at her uncle’s Christmas party. She doesn’t remember this. He does. BECAUSE HE’S A STALKER. So, he knew about the will stipulation with marriage BACK THEN, which is why he used FIRM RESOURCES to investigate the ex-fiance and found out he was a con man, using Rose with plans to basically steal all her money. This infuriated Jack the lawyer because he thought Rose deserved better and then proceeded to basically con her himself, just in a different way. With marriage! He told her he needed to get married to show he was a family man to make partner. THAT WAS A LIE. He didn’t need it at all. He just—wanted to marry her??? To help her??? What a psycho. She leaves. He continues to lurk outside the coffee shop. They make up. No one mentions the stalking. The end.

I KEEP GIVING HELENA SECOND CHANCES AND SHE KEEPS...NOT DESERVING THEM

All In Series by Helena Hunting Sometimes I need an escape from the demands, the puck bunnies, and the notoriety that come with being an NHL team captain. I just want to be a normal guy for a few weeks. So when I leave Chicago for some peace and quiet, the last thing I expect is for a gorgeous woman to literally fall into my lap on a flight to Alaska. Even better, she has absolutely no idea who I am.Lainey is the perfect escape from my life. My plan for seclusion becomes a monthlong sex fest punctuated with domestic bliss. But it ends just as abruptly as it began. When I’m called away on a family emergency, I realize too late that I have no way to contact Lainey.A year later, a chance encounter throws Lainey and me together again. But I still have a lie hanging over my head, and Lainey’s keeping secrets of her own. With more than lust at stake, the truth may be our game changer.

— Last year I read a hockey romance by Helena Hunting that was very cute and traditionally published and she’s got a bunch more free Amazon books that, for some reason, I keep downloading and reading and they continue to be absolutely ridiculous. That first one was a not-so-secret accidental pregnancy (as previously discussed ONE TIME without a condom mention and bam pregnant) but the second one with Rook’s sister was actually pretty cute. I’m not sure why they all called him Rook. Almost all these series have at least one book with someone recovering from an injury and they inevitably fall in love with their physical therapist. So, that one was pretty ok. None of these, however, were quite as entertaining as (wait for it) QUEENIE AND KINGSTON. WHOSE FRIENDS AND TEAMMATES ALL CALL HIM KING. QUEENIE. AND. KING. Gag. I read it anyway. At least 99% of that decision was based solely on the fact that the story started just after King found out his sister was actually his mom. How am I supposed to stop reading THAT?!? I ask you. Highlights of Queenie and King’s romance included: him calling his mom/sister MOMSTER, Queenie being secretly married this whole time, WITHOUT KNOWING IT, his strawberry allergy that flared up because she’d had a strawberry milkshake and then GAVE HIM A BLOWJOB, her dad finding out they were dating because he was the GM of the team and saw that his starting goalie was having a MASSIVE allergic reaction, Queenie’s eventual ex-husband getting engaged to someone who previously tried to self-inseminate to trap Rook into a relationship (I am not making this up, I swear) and then when he found out that his fiancee’s kid wasn’t actually his, he got into a massive fight and earned a 20-game suspension. THAT’S A QUARTER OF AN NHL SEASON. Tom Wilson got fined five thousand dollars for practically killing Artemi Panarin on the ice! I did not read the last book in this series because it was MORE ACCIDENTAL PREGNANCY and because it was Queenie’s dad and King’s mom and that meant they’d share a sibling. Which is where I draw the line, guys.

THERE WERE SEVEN BOOKS IN THIS SERIES! EVERY SINGLE ONE HAD TO HAVE A SCENE WHERE THE DUDE UNDERSTOOD THAT PERIODS WERE A THING???? LIKE THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE SOMEHOW?!?!

Hot Jocks Series by Kendall Ryan I've never been so stupid in my entire life. My teammate's incredibly sweet and gorgeous younger sister should have been off-limits, but my hockey stick didn't get that memo. After our team won the championship, and plenty of alcohol, our flirting turned physical and I took her to bed. Shame sent her running the next morning from our catastrophic mistake. She thinks I don't remember that night—but every detail is burned into my brain so deeply, I’ll never forget. The feel of her in my arms, the soft whimpers of pleasure I coaxed from her perfect lips…And now I’ve spent three months trying to get her out of my head. Which has been futile, because I’m starting to understand she’s the only girl I’ll ever want. I have one shot to show her I can be exactly what she needs, but Elise won’t be easily convinced. That’s okay, because I’m good under pressure, and this time, I’m playing for keeps.

—I read all of these. All. Of. Them. They were exceptionally quick reads. Every single one had a copious amount of sex in it and a very weird, apparently required scene, where the dude had to be like I’M NOT SQUICKED OUT BY PERIODS AM I NOT THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF MASCULINITY?? My favorite one was Grant and Ana’s, though, because it was so goddamn absurd I cannot believe someone wrote it. Basic gist was that Ana was dating someone on Grant’s team (he’s the captain, natch) but the guy was a dick and abusive and so one night Ana decides to leave, but she needs someone to help her and WHO DOES SHE TURN TO??? That’s right, reclusive captain Grant. Who’s spent the last few years watching his teammates marry-up and start families and he’s so jealous, but he can’t say anything because he’s a stoic MAN™. So he takes Ana and her dog (of course she’s got a dog) back to his super swanky bachelor pad and she just sort of...stays there? Video of the boyfriend accosting her at her job gets leaked and the boyfriend gets sent to the AHL which is not really how it would work, but fine. Naturally, Grant and Ana hook up. It’s emotional. Vaguely romantic. There’s no GODDAMN CONDOM. So, she gets pregnant. But, of course. Except! She doesn’t know if it’s dick boyfriend’s or Grant’s. Because he’s the male lead in a free sports romance on Amazon, Grant is the MOST understanding. He wants to help Ana. He would like to continue having sex with Ana. This is ready-made happily ever after. Only Ana’s like...eh?? She doesn’t want it to look like she bounced from one hockey player to the next, but also she sorta did and she kept telling Grant she just wanted to be friends, only to have sex, like, three chapters later. Then she just moved out! Just moved out. Seven months pregnant. Moving out. With her dog. Of course, this is a free sports romance on Amazon, so eventually she moved back in with Grant. Once she realized independence wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. And because he left practice to be there when she had the baby. Oh! And she got a DNA test after. To see whose kid it was. Grant ripped that ‘ish up. Just ripped it up. Which is cool, I guess. But, like, you didn’t want to double check? What if that kid has to go to the hospital? Did she put Grant’s name on the birth certificate? What are his parental rights?? Anyway, they’re all set to live HEA when....THE DICK BOYFRIEND DIES. Straight up. No explanation. Nothing. Just Grant tells Ana he’s dead, she’s like, oh wow that’s sad, they send some flowers to the funeral and that’s THAT. I assume this was to close any potential plot holes on the father of this baby, but it was hysterical and I cannot stop thinking about it. Strangely enough, the one where the couple made a secret sex tape in college and then got back together because it got released may have been the healthiest relationship in this series.

#book recs #book rec #book reccs #laura reads books #welllp these are books #i will not apologize for that bingo board #i think this is a highlight of accomplishments #like for me personally

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peoplelikegames · 3 years

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Steam Games Festival: I played so many demos. My thoughts...

I spent a few days playing as many of these demos as I could and wrote down some rough impressions.

Black Book (Morteshka): Heavily atmospheric and steeped in Slavic mythology. You play as a Slavic woman named Vasilisa, attempting to bring back her husband, who has committed suicide, back from hell in an effort to save him from the eternal damnation that their religion believes befell those who commit suicide. She becomes a witch after venturing through the gates of hell and back. The gameplay takes several different forms, depending on what you’re doing. It’s got some point-and-click adventure game elements during the more exploration focused scenes. Sometimes you’ll find herbs that can be used as items later during combat. The combat plays out like Slay the Spire and other deck builder games of the ilk, with the key exception of the spell slots. Instead of the standard 3 energy system restricting card usage each turn, here you have 3 slots that can be filled with spells that correspond with the slot type. You have 2 Order slots (big spells) and 1 Key slot (little spells) you can fill each turn. It’s a small twist to the formula that opens up a lot of interesting possibilities and combinations. In between fights and the point-and-click scenes you’ll get to interact with people you meet along the path to your destination and make choices that effect the story and your character. Vasalisa’s journey looks bleak and full of death, and I’m interested to see where it goes.

AK-Xolotl (Daniel Piqueras Constantin): Fast paced, adorable and aggressive top down shooter. Very simple gameplay of shooting down waves of enemies picking up weapons and items that drop when they die. Feels great to play. Good movement, good dash, not much else to ask for. Really quick and snappy shooting and simple gameplay loop me keeps playing again and again just to get a higher score and see what new stuff it has to throw at me. It’s got really cute pixelated graphics and lots of forest critters with guns. The game also features an absolutely filthy death metal track that’s a perfect representation of how aggressive the game really is. Just a really quick and dirty time that definitely makes me want to see the finished product. Also, I love the lil axolotl guy.

Despot’s Game (Konfa Games): Rogue-like dungeon crawler where you control a mob of humans. It’s a pretty cool and complicated battle system my only problem is I can’t help but feel like I don’t have enough control on the outcome of the fights. It’s almost a little like Totally Accurate Battle Simulator in that way. Basically, your run begins with you purchasing a bunch of little humans and different weapons to give to those little humans which will give them a class. Give a little guy a medkit and now he’s a healer, give someone a gun and they’re a shooter now. Humans with classes have special abilities they can activate when there are enough classes of that type on the field. Like an Auto Chess (Auto Battler?) game, if you have, say, 2 or 3 Fencers on the board, your fencers will now have access to their special ability, a dodge roll. Position your people in what you hope is a tactical formation and start heading for the dungeon exit. Most rooms consist of a fight, which plays out automatically. When you press go on a fight, your troops and the enemies will all start fighting until only one side remains. This is where the game loses me a little bit as it’s unclear how much of a difference positioning makes or what more I should be doing to change the outcome. Did I win this time because that unit was farther up than last time, or did the AI just play it out slightly differently that skewed in my favor? I can’t tell if the changes I’m making are actually making a tactical difference, or if the AI routines are just clashing with slightly varying results each time. You’re gonna lose units a lot but they are pretty disposable, with frequent shops for buying reinforcements or new gear. And every unit contributes to your mob’s total hunger meter, which deplete with every new room you enter. You have to buy food to feed your troops to keep them from losing effectiveness. Bigger team=greater food consumption. Gotta find a balance with your money and spending it on new units, new weapons, and food. I really wanted to like this game more because I really dig the hook of building up a mob of little guys with cools powers and I like the unit synergy system as well, but the perceived lack of control over how the fights play out and the game’s edgy humor ultimately pushed me away.

Dead Estate (Milkbar Lads): Fairly generic zombie shooter rogue-like (there’s gonna be a lot of rogue-likes). Your standard twin-stick kind of shooting you’d find in the Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon, except here you can jump, adding some verticality. Explore each room, kill the zombies, find the key and then find the elevator to the next floor. Sometimes you find a new gun or shop along the way. The movement feels pretty slow and the rooms feel small. Too many times would I walk into a room, fight three of the same zombie then walk int next room just to see two more of that same zombie. Too many times did I have to walk back across a whole level at a snail’s pace. Needs more enemy variety and to move a little quicker. The shooting is a little better, I like how the game makes its weapons feel distinct by how much it kick it has. More powerful weapons will push you back with each shot. Unloading the mini gun felt chaotic and rumbly that make you slide back and wiggle in a fun way. You can usually kill most enemies before they’re even able to do anything makes them unique, rendering most enemies the same “zombie that walk towards you for second before you finish them off.” Didn’t really draw me in or entice me to see what I might encounter on higher floors.

Foregone (big blue studio): This one feels a little like a watered down Dead Cells at first, AT FIRST. It’s a little slower and less snappy but it’s still very fun. Plus it’s more of a linear 2d action platformer with lots of loot. I like the loot aspect here quite a bit; watching a bunch of currency fly out of enemies is satisfying in a “headshot kill in Destiny kinda way.” Just a bunch of fun particles and a frequent gear drop that has you constantly popping open your inventory to equip your new gear and make those numbers go up. If that’s your kind of fun, you can definitely find it here. Lots of weapon variety on show here and most, if not all, of them feel unique. Just wish the combat was little tighter, which since this is a demo, I assume will come in due time. The game could also do a better job of informing the player that they’re taking damage, which made it difficult to hone the timing on the dash to avoid taking damage. And I’m hoping the environments of the full game become a little more diverse and sprawling, right now it feels like it’s mostly individual rooms/levels of engagement at a time. Excited to see how the full release pans out.

Tunche (LEAP Game Studios): Immediately drawn in here by the beautiful hand drawn art style. It’s a brawler roguelike and if you know what those two words mean in the context of video games, that’s all you really need to know. The brawler combat is what it is, very combo and juggle heavy, enemies that take dozens of hits to kill, fairly bland and just flat land environments. Walk forward until you’re stopped, fight a bunch of waves of enemies, rinse and repeat. Except this time you occasionally get upgrades after finishing rooms like “chance for attacks to cause burn” and “chance to regain health on hit,” your standard rougelike fare. With the territory comes the roguelike difficulty, and this game is plenty tough with the amount of enemies it throws at you and how limited your health pool can be. All of the art and the animations are what really shine here, and if you’re into that brawler style combat, this seems like a pretty good one of those.

Power of Ten (Pew Times Three): Next up we have a top-down space shooter roguelike. I like the minimalistic pixel art style in this one. It helps with atmosphere and you making you feel like a small ship in a large system. Your goal is to power planetary shields on inhabited planets throughout the system by gathering resources from asteroids. While you’re hunting asteroids, pirate ships will randomly attack a planet, pulling you away from resource gathering into a space dogfight against the pirates. That push and pull of gathering resources to fuel a planets shields while simultaneously protecting the planets whose shields are not yet charged is the core loop here that I really like. Conveying solid, core gameplay loop that’s engaging is exactly what you want to get across in a demo, and they definitely deliver that here.

Jelly is Sticky (Lunarch Studios): A lovely, casual sokoban puzzle game. Sliding around and rearranging cubes of jelly into oblong structures to match highlighted areas within a given space. You’ll encounter jellies of different qualities along the way, all with their own quirks around how they like to stick. I really like the non-linear structure in the over world, letting you navigate around between levels from all of the jelly-archetypes at any time. Solving sets of levels will unlock jelly in the over world you can stick to and rearrange to give you access to further levels gated behind walls and other triggers. It’s an appreciated extra layer of depth you don’t expect from a puzzle game that could have very well presented it’s levels in an ordered, level-select screen.

Potion Craft (niceplay games): In this game you play as a budding alchemist trying to make your mark on the world in your newly acquired (stolen possibly?) alchemy shop. Its an alchemist simulator. It’s presented in an “alchemy text book diagram-style” that’s immediately endearing. Every day, you collect ingredients like herbs and fungi from your garden and then it’s time to open shop. Customers come and share their plight, asking for potions of different types. They’ll offer different prices for potions of different potency which you haggle up further (or lower, if you mess up) through a simple timing mini game. The actually potion making is puzzling and unique, if not occasionally limiting. Ingredients you add to the cauldron determine a path that the potion icon in the center will follow across a fog covered map. Add more ingredients to add length and direction to the path, trying to build the path in a specific way that will lead to a “?” destination marked on the map. Name the potion, choose a bottle and label, and brew it. You’ll learn what it does, and can save the recipe for easy use again later. The only downside is how limited the ingredients are makes it very punishing when experimentation results in failure, all those ingredients are just lost. It seems like the game really wants you to just fill the orders at hand instead of blindly exploring into the fog to see what weird stuff comes up, which is my favorite thing to do so far. This is still easily one of my favorite demos of the bunch and has to be seen for oneself.

Aeon Drive Prologue (2awesome studio): This is definitely one of the ones I wanted to like more than I did. A self proclaimed “speedrun action platformer” and it demands that go fast. Very short 2d platformer levels with an ever ticking clock. If the timer reaches zero before you reach the exit, you fail the level. Consumables lined throughout the level can be used to add more time to your clock. This game is very punishing, one hit from anything, from enemy to stage hazard, will cause you to fail and restart. Very quick movement and a focus on chaining together different moves to find different paths through the level. There seemed to be benefits like special collectibles for taking more inventive, alternative paths, but the ticking clock really kept me tunnel-visioned on the most clear cut route through the level, meaning I only ever small a very tiny portion of each one. I’m not the type of person to butt my head against how to pull some crazy route as opposed to the clearly laid out one in front of me. Unfortunately, that clearly laid path just isn’t very fun to take. There’s also a dagger you can throw and teleport to, which I found difficult to aim and not as fun to use as it sounds. There is definitely something here, it’s just ultimately not for me.

Medievalien (dOOb games srl): Action RPG roguelike in a medieval world that has been invaded by aliens. You play an amnesiac protagonist trying to undo the calamity through repeated attempts from within a magical (or scientific?) time loop. Commence genre mashup. Nothing particularly stands out here. Two weapon slots and two throwables slots, lots of different items to fill them. Your weapons consist of bows, crossbows, and staves, and the throwables are bombs of varying elemental effect. It’s fun to play but fairly middling. The low poly art style doesn’t do anything for me and the soundtrack was forgettable. Still, if you’re like me and enjoy ARPGs and roguelike, it does the thing well enough to scratch the itch.

Minute of Islands (Studio Fizbin): Right out of the gate this 2d narrative platformer hits you with gorgeous hand-drawn art. A poisoned, decaying world that is beautifully drawn and animated. I’m gonna day this is not the best demo. The pace is very slow and the objectives are linear and don’t even register as puzzles. This game calls itself a puzzle platformer yet there were no puzzles to be found in this demo. I’m assuming the demo is trying to preserve story details so it starts at the beginning and only gives you a small slice from there. So maybe the game introduces more puzzle elements later in the game. But what’s left in the demo is not very compelling to play. The impressively detailed environments and atmosphere are only driving forces so far. But extremely strong forces at that.

Alekon (The Alekon Company): This feels like spiritual follow up to Pokemon Snap in all of the best ways. In its most basic form, the game plays exactly like Pokémon Snap, but builds on the nearly 30 year old classic in several key ways. Creatures in this game are called “Fictions” and whenever you take a picture of a new fiction, the creature also appears back in the game’s hub world. Once back in the hub world, you can talk to the fictions who have moved in and they’ll give you small quests to do that’ll usually reward you with key game features, like a zoom function for the camera. There’s a great feature that involves capturing photos of a fiction in all of its potential poses, which will unlock the ability to “see through the eyes of the fiction.” So when you’re looking through the album of your saved pictures, you can apply a fiction filter to see the image as a particular fiction would see if through their own eyes. Also, once you’ve unlocked all of the different routes in a specific biome, you gain the ability to “wander.” Wandering is free from the rails of the standard routes and allows to explore every inch of the biome and find other fictions that were previously hidden. It’s also a great space to snag that perfect picture of a fiction you couldn’t get while riding the rails. The creatures themselves are kind of hit or miss so far in their design. Sometimes it’s literally just a seal, sometimes it’s a ridiculous alien thing, but it seems like the personalities of the fictions are what makes them unique. Even though I didn’t care for the designs, I found myself endeared toward the creatures once I found them back in the hub and helped them with their troubles. There’s some good writing in these bits that really helps sell me on these creatures. Lots to love here if you’re into games about snapping pics of critters and throwing donuts.

Eat’n Eaten (Gaëtan Benoit): A cartoony tower defense game with bug plants. Bugs that grow from plants. It has a really fun and easy to understand “food chain management” system for building up units. It almost feels like it was designed to translate easily to touchscreens for mobile devices. Your soil has 100% nutrients, plants grow and feed off nutrients, plants grow apples which you can pick who will then become your units. When an apple dies it’s corpse returns nutrients to the soil and it’ll drop a seed that will grow into a new plant. If you don’t pick the apples off the plant long enough for them to consume extra nutrients, the apples will become a caterpillar. Pick the caterpillar off the plant and now you have a more offensive unit, who needs to eat apples to survive. The game only builds on the loop from there; the way bugs will level up into new or stronger forms after eating enough fruit, or how the game will add spiders to your team who will then need to eat caterpillars to survive. Manage this whole food chain to keep a steady supply and distribution of units against waves of enemies. I don’t know if that seems confusing when put into word like that but it’s really quick and simple to pick up they way it is presented. It can definitely get a little frantic at times but that’s when the game is at it’s most fun.

Dorfromantik (Toukana Interactive): Chill, colorful, tile placement puzzle game about building a village landscape. You start with a deck of 85 hexagonal tiles, and it doesn’t end until all the tiles have been placed. You’re placing tiles with the intent to line up as many like edges between adjacent tiles, making longer and longer networks of landscapes of matching type. The way the scoring works and how the game conforms matching sides together does a good job of making the best place to put your tile one that not only scores well but also looks good in the context of the interconnected village landscape you are ultimately trying to craft. I would kill for this game on Switch.

Unsouled (Megusta Game): An isometric pixelates dark souls-style action game. Described as an “ultra-brutal” game with “fast-paced and savagely rewarding combat,” Unsouled comes exactly as advertised. The combat in this game is very difficult and I am simply not the person to conquer it. It’s really fast paced yet proper movement and combat requires consistent timing and punished button mashing. Every thing you do has to be deliberate and calculated as it’s easy to lose control of the battlefield very quickly. Even just a few enemies can be dangerous as they all can dodge and block and roll just like you. The game is unafraid to put the pressure on and throw ten enemies at you all at once engaging from different ranges. The game demands that intimately learn the combat systems if you want to keep your stamina and health high in the heat of combat. I’d bet that if you’re a fan of Dark Souls or souls-like games, this game has all that difficulty but a different pace of combat that doesn’t feel derivative.

Rogue Invader (Squishy Games): Immediately I love the look of this game. It’s got this old school 1-bit black and white look to it. It also opens up with a fully animated and voice acted cutscene. The game is actually pretty difficult. It’s a side scrolling shooter where you’re part of an army in invading an alien planet one soldier at a time. You’re also managing weapon heat and breakage, and carry weight effecting run speed. Each soldier gets body armor and a pistol but you can equip them with a rifle and helmet from your armory. Which you’ll definitely want to do considering you die in one shot if hit in the head. When you’re soldier dies, they lose the gear you equipped them with and the new soldier needs to be equipped with whatever you can craft in the forge. This is where I ran into issues with hardy ever having enough materials to craft a helmet, go into a mission and die early to a single stray bullet to the head, and subsequently not earn enough materials to make a helmet. The evasive controls like jumping, running, rolling and taking cover all felt clunky in my hands, add that to fact that bullets often just miss even if you’re aiming right on an enemy, and it made for a pretty unsatisfying game to play.

Devastator (Radiangames): How is this not just Geometry Wars? Because this shit is just geometry wars. Fortunately, Geometry Wars slaps so this game is still pretty fun. But just go play Geometry Wars. There, I mentioned a different game like five times more than the game this was supposed to be about.

ANVIL (Action Square): Co-op top down shooter roguelike with space marines. It’s like a run-based Starship Troopers game. It’s pretty great. The three characters unlocked in the demo all have different weapons and abilities resulting in very distinct play styles between classes. There’s a fairly simple loop to each floor: search the floor for the boss, along the way areas will be filled with enemies, who’ll drop money, which can be used to buy passive upgrades from chests found throughout the floor. The upgrade system allows you stack multiple of the same upgrade for increased effect. Lots of variety in the enemy type really keeps you on your toes. Unsurprisingly, it just feels good to mow down mobs of space bugs.

Orbital Bullet (SmokeStab): A 360 degree shooter platformer. It’s a really cool gimmick actually, you move in 2d but in ring around a 3D space. It’s makes for some cool looking environments and depth from having inner and outer rings you can switch between. Really fast and arcade-y feeling. Snappy movement and gunplay. There’s seems to be a lot offered here among different weapons, in-run upgrades and meta upgrades that persist between runs. Which makes this a roguelite, as opposed to roguelike, which I tend to prefer. I like having something upgrade outside of my runs to make me feel stronger or different going into the next run. The games has a sort of ancient alien aesthetic, it feels industrial and monolithic. The bursts of neon in the walls, enemies, and weapons really pop among the ruins of the stone temple. Watching your weapons’ shot glide along the curve of the world is an effective visual as well. Just because I clearly like to compare to games so much, this game feels a lot like Resogun meets Downwell, and that’s just fantastic.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanov): A colorful and cartoony adventure game about painting that takes a small but welcomed bullet hell turn. You play as a cute little pup that claims the power of The Brush after it’s wielder (and your master) disappears along with all of the color in the world. Searching for cause and hopefully the solution, you embark on a journey to repaint the world and make your mark as the new wielder. Once you pick up that brush you can start coloring in literally everything in the world. It’s fun and charming the whole way through. You can help the townsfolk bring color back into the lives and color in their houses to their satisfaction. Use the paint to navigate the world by growing and shrinking plants by erasing/coloring them. The demo is a little thin but definitely makes me interested to see what fun stuff the game has in store for these paint mechanics.

Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den): Okay this game was a trip. I barely have any idea what I just played but I know I really liked what was happening. It’s a heavily stylized point and click adventure game where it feels like you exist within an improvisational Jazz album. Train tracks becoming notes on a cello. Getting into a cosmic jazz-off that plays like a game of Simon and ends with your opponent on the wrong end of a mob hit. I think? Honestly this game is so trippy it was difficult to keep track of what was going on. And occasionally it was a little ambiguous as to how you’re supposed to proceed, which lead some random click and dragging around the screen until something clicks. It actually seems like it could turn out to be a really good example of a story and experience that can really only be through video games. Not quite an animated film, not quite a comic book or visual novel, but instead a fantastical, interactive amalgamation of many things. Whatever this thing may be defined as, it’s something unique and special.

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crying-gay-tears · 4 years

Text

Brighter Than The Sun

Chapter 2: The First Day

“G-Gon?” Killua’s mouth fell open in surprise. “What are you doing here? How did you find my room?” Gon looked so excited and he had no idea why.

“Killua!! I didn’t know this was your room! I just got home and wanted to meet my roommate!”

“Home? Wait, does that mean-” realization hit him suddenly. “Are you in 405A??”

“Yes! We’re roommates!”

Killua stood in stunned silence for a moment, unsure of how to feel. Of all the people on campus to have as his roommate, it turned out to be Gon, the bubbly and strange boy he had ironically just been thinking about.

“Can I see your room? I peeked in earlier when I arrived but it was empty.”

“Uh, sure” he stepped to the side, letting him into the room. “I haven’t really done anything in here yet. I got in right before orientation, so I didn’t have time to start unpacking. When I finally got back after the library I put some stuff away, but I’ve mostly just been hanging out.” Killua blushed, suddenly hyper aware of the chocolate robot wrappers on his desk, and his haphazardly arranged belongings. His suitcase was lying open on the floor beside his dresser, stacks of books were scattered across the desk and floor.

“I think it looks great already! I haven’t had the chance to unpack or decorate at all yet. Is this your favorite band?” He nodded to the crooked poster on the wall above the bed.

“One of my favorites, yeah. It’s the one playing right now.” He motioned to the bluetooth speaker sitting on the windowsill.

Gon walked over, sat on his bed, and began bobbing his head to the music.

“They’re really good! You’ve got nice taste in music.”

Killua chuckled, “This is only one song! I like a lot of different stuff, there’s a lot to listen to.”

“Well, you’ve got the whole school year to show me!”

His smile was warm and real and it shook Killua up quite a bit. No one had ever really shown interest in the things he enjoyed before, but here was someone he had just met, genuinely excited to be listening to underground rock with him.

They hung out while Killua finished unpacking his suitcase and getting settled. After that, Gon wandered back to his own room to start his unpacking and when he did Killua followed and this time Gon played the music. His taste was a little weird, and mostly pop, but Killua didn’t mind. He was enjoying the view as Gon danced around his room, tossing clothes into his dresser and arranging trinkets on his desk.When he went to the bathroom to unpack his toiletries, Killua stood over the desk, checking out all of the small momentos Gon felt were important enough to bring with him to college. Among them was a few seashells, a green ring, and a fishing hook in a small glass jar. A photo in a blue frame near the corner of the desk caught his eye, and he leaned in for a closer look. Gon, wearing a graduation cap and gown, was facing the camera, eyes squinted with a beaming smile on his face. One arm held his diploma in the air, while the other was wrapped around a teary eyed woman. Her head came up to his shoulder, and where her hazel eyes and orange hair bore no resemblance to him, her warm and genuine smile was a spitting image. She must be-

“That’s my Aunt Mito!” Gon chirped, eyes lighting up as he walked over to where Killua was standing. “She burst into tears right after this picture was taken. I know she was proud and happy for me, but I’m pretty sure she was really sad that day. Mostly worried about the future, I think.” His face fell a bit. “She knows I want to follow in my dad’s footsteps, and since he’s so busy and always overseas I think she’s worried I’ll just leave and never come back.”

“What does your dad do?”

“He’s an archaeologist.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!”

“Yeah, that’s why I want to see for myself! If his job is so amazing that it was worth missing out on my life and Mito-san’s life, then I want to know what it’s like!”

Killua felt kind of bad hearing that. He knew what it was like to have a dad ditch you for work, but at the same time, his parents were also very involved with his life. Suffocatingly so. They had appearances to uphold, afterall. His parents were far from perfect and even farther from pleasant, but he still couldn’t imagine one or both of them just leaving and not returning. Plus, what would Gon do if he finally got the job and it wasn’t as amazing as his dad made it seem? Killua knew from experience that hope usually just led to disappointment.

He pulled out the desk chair and swung his leg over it, nestling backwards in the seat, his arms folded across the top rail of the chair, and his chin resting on top of them. “So what’s your dad like?”

Gon sat on his bed across from Killua and was lost in thought for a moment. “Well, I’ve only really seen him a few times in my life. . His name is Ging. Ging Freecs. He’s pretty rough around the edges, but well respected. He’s famous in parts of the world for his finds and research. I don’t know much else, except a few stories Mito-san has told me from when they were kids on Whale Island together. She says I’m a lot like him though. ” He shrugged, “By her tone of voice, I can never tell if she means that as a good or bad thing.”

Killua surprised himself when he spoke, “Whether you're like Ging or not, and whether that’s good or bad doesn't really matter. You’re you. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty cool.”

They locked eyes and a huge smile broke out on Gon’s face.

“Thanks, Killua. I think you’re really cool too! I’m glad we’re roommates!”

Killua just grumbled a bit in response, his mouth set in an awkward smile. Gon could be so embarrassing sometimes.

They slipped into a comfortable silence after that, music still playing softly through the room as Gon continued organizing his stuff and Killua scrolled on his phone. After a while Gon let out a huge yawn and decided it was time to call it a night. They were both mostly unpacked, and even though classes didn’t start for two more days, he wanted to get up early to explore the campus some more. Yawning himself, Killua followed suit and once behind his closed door, stripped to his boxers and flopped onto the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, his mind began to drift.

It had been a hell of a day. Aside from his text letting them know he arrived safely, he hadn’t spoken to his parents at all. Where this wasn’t too different from the norm--they were usually too tied up with work and social ladder climbing to give him much attention--it was still nice to have space from them and his life back home. He’d been so excited for the freedom college was going to provide him. Freedom from the claustrophobic walls of the Zoldyck estate, from his siblings, and best of all, freedom from his parent’s cold judgement. He was finally able to live his life without them breathing down his neck and criticizing his every move. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he was so happy to finally have the space to explore and figure it all out.

The only thing he was really worried about when he left for college was who his roommate would be, and he was pretty relieved to have Gon. They’d barely known each other a day, but he had the feeling that living with him was going to be a good time. He’d never met someone so… open and warm. His joy was almost contagious, it was a nice contrast and welcome change from his boarding school roommates and family. For the first time in a long time, he fell asleep excited for what the future would hold.

~~~~~~~~

The next two days were a blur of course catalogues and video games with his roommate, and before he knew it, Gon found himself on the way to his first college class, Biology 101. He was practically skipping down the brick walkway and, thanks to all of his previous exploring, he was able to find the classroom with no issue. He snagged a spot towards the front by a window, and as he sat, noticed a neatly bound packet lying face down on the desk. He was curious, but resisted the urge to flip it over, choosing instead to check out his surroundings. There were a few other students scattered at the tables around the room, and a short woman with green hair stood at the front. He watched as she neatly wrote in neat and swoopy cursive across the white board.

Dr. C. Yorkshire

Adjunct Professor

Biology 101

Fall Term

Class A

So she was the professor, Dr. Cheadle. She looked put together and kind, but he’d be lying if he said her calm demeanor was enough to soothe his nerves. School was never really his thing, he much preferred to be outside learning with his hands and on his feet, and his grades usually reflected the trouble he had with studying. His teachers in the past had always been nice enough, but he hated disappointing them with his test scores, and he wanted college to be different. He wanted to put his best foot forward with his new life and really prove himself. He was determined to give it his all.

A few more people shuffled in and filled the open desks, and when the wall clock marked the top of the hour, the professor faced the class and cleared her throat.

“Good morning everyone, and welcome to Biology 101. I’m Dr. Cheadle Yorkshire and I’ll be your professor. As you should know, this class is accompanied by a mandatory lab that will meet once a week. You’ll all be partnered off and expected to work together for the lab as well as in class activities.” Her eyes scanned the room, mouth set in a stern smile. “To kick things off, I’d like everyone to turn over the packet in front of you. This is a copy of your class syllabus, I took the liberty of binding them for you, as you’ll be referencing it throughout the entire semester. It contains all of the information you’ll need to be successful in this class, including classroom policies, expectations, assignments, required reading, my office hours, and more!”

Gon held the syllabus in his hand and was staring at it like it was made of gold. Everything he needed to do well in this class? It was like he’d been handed a treasure.

“Now, I’ll call out the lab pairings, and you can find your partner and arrange your seating accordingly, then we can begin our first activity!”

When Gon’s name was finally called along with his partner’s, he was giddy with anticipation and just as he stood to scan the crowd for his partner, a blue satchel dropped down on the table and a tall boy sunk down into the seat next to his. His blonde hair framed his face and hung just above his shoulders, his smile was tight but genuine as he held a hand out to Gon.

“I’m Kurapika, nice to meet you, partner.”

Gon shook it and chirped back “I’m Gon! Nice to meet you too!”

They sat in silence while Cheadle finished calling out the rest of the pairs. When everyone was settled, she addressed the class.

“Alright, now that everybody is paired off, we can begin today’s activity! In order to get to know your syllabus and your lab partner, I’ve created a scavenger hunt! Simply peruse your syllabus and use what you read to answer the questions on this handout!” She waved a stack of papers in the air and with a proud smile on her face, began handing them out. “You can begin as soon as you get your worksheet and you are dismissed whenever you finish!”

When their worksheets were placed in front of them, Kurapika turned in his chair to face Gon.

“Well, I suppose we better get started, eh? We can both read through the syllabus and then answer the questions together, does that sound good to you?”

“Sure!” Gon nodded in response and they got started. Gon was a little overwhelmed with the amount of information on the syllabus. It was pretty stressful seeing an entire semester of work listed out like that. He was excited for the lab though, all of those assignments seemed pretty hands on and a few of them were even supposed to be done outside. Maybe this class wouldn’t be so bad afterall. After a few minutes, they began answering the questions together. It wasn’t too tough to find the answers, and with two people it went by pretty quickly. Gon didn’t want the whole class to pass without getting to know his lab partner though, so he tried to strike up a conversation between questions.

“So, Kurapika, what’s your major? Are you a freshman here too?”

Kurapika didn’t look up from the worksheet when he answered. “I’m not a freshman, but I am new. I’m a sophomore and I transferred here this year.I’m double majoring in Psychology and Criminal Justice.” He glanced up and over at Gon. “What about you? Have you decided on a major yet?”

“I have! Well, kinda. I’m considering Anthropology or maybe Environmental Biology. Still trying to figure out which would be best, but I don’t think I could handle double majoring like you. Your majors sound really great! What do you want to do with your degree?”

“I want to become a detective, I’m still deciding between public and private.” He scribbled something on his paper. “The answer to number 12 is ‘Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5pm’ by the way. Three more and we’re finished.”

Gon was hastily writing in the answer when Kurapika asked,

“What do you want to do when you get your degree?”

“I want to become an archaeologist, like my dad! Or possibly a similar job within the field.” He perked up when he noticed that Kurapika had put down his worksheet and turned his focus to their conversation instead.

“So you're a transfer student, how do you like it here so far? Where did you transfer from, and what made you leave?”

“Woah Gon, you’ve almost got more questions than the assignment.” Kurapika chuckled but still pressed on. “So far it’s fine, but I’ve only been here for 3 days so we’ll see how it goes. I transferred here from Meteor City Community College, but I never really wanted to go there in the first place. This was my first choice school, but I wasn’t able to move here last year because of some family stuff. This year I was able to, so I did. And how are you liking it here? What made you choose YNU?”

“It’s my dad’s alma mater, so it was an easy choice. So far I’m really liking it! I was a little nervous before I got here, but everything has been pretty awesome. I’ve gotten to know and love the campus already, and I’ve got a great roommate too! Plus, my first class is going well! And that’s what I was the most nervous about.”

“It’s good that you like your roommate. That can cause a lot of trouble for some. It definitely did at my last school, so that’s actually what I was most worried about here.”

“I’m sorry you had trouble last year, but is your new roommate nice I hope?”

“Well, I actually lucked out and got a suite to myself. I requested one when I filled out the transfer paperwork, and told them about my last experience. I wasn't counting on it to work out in my favor too much, but it did.”

“I’m glad it did!”

“And I’m glad you’re feeling better about your classes now that you’ve got one under your belt.” He slid his worksheet over with a pale slender hand, the last three answers were written out neatly.

Gon quickly jotted them down and slid the paper back to Kurapika. “Thank you!”

“No problem, it was a team effort after all.” He smiled as he slung his satchel over his shoulder and stood up to turn in his paper, Gon grabbed his backpack and followed behind him.

After they handed her the worksheets, Dr. Yorkshire complimented their effort and teamwork, and dismissed them for the day. They were in the hallway and Kurapika was waving goodbye when Gon spoke again.

“Kurapika, do you wanna grab lunch sometime? I know we’re just lab partners, but you seem really cool and I’d like to be friends!”

Kurapika looked puzzled for a moment but his voice was soft and sincere when he spoke. “I’d like that, Gon.”

With that, they exchanged numbers and went their separate ways.

The rest of the day breezed by, and Gon was pretty much on cloud 9. He was excited about his classes, and even more excited about the people he met in each one. He had lunch scheduled with Kurapika for later on that week, and he decided to check out some of the clubs a few of his new friends suggested to him throughout the week as well. It was going to be a great year! He texted Killua and they decided to meet up for dinner in the cafeteria, so he headed that way after his last class.

When he arrived, he scanned the room until a crop of silver hair caught his eye at a small table by the dessert station in the far corner. He made his way over and plopped into the seat across from Killua, who was surrounded by plates of different desserts.

“Gon, the dessert bar is amazing. You’ve gotta try the chocolate cake, and there’s cookies too!”

“It looks great! I’m gonna go grab some, and maybe some regular food too!” He stuck his tongue out teasingly, Killua just rolled his eyes in response.

“Have you been here long?”

“Nah, I got here a few minutes before you. I just headed straight for the dessert.”

Gon laughed out loud. Dessert for dinner, Mito would’ve killed him. College really was a different world. “Do you want me to grab something else for you while I’m up?”

“Eh. I’m fine for now, might grab some pizza or something in a bit.”

Gon nodded and left to make his plate. When he returned, Killua was scrolling on his phone, fork in hand hanging lazily at his mouth.

His stomach growled and he quickly twirled a bite of spaghetti around his fork. The day was so eventful he hadn’t even realized he was hungry.

“So, how were your classes? Did you like your professors?” he asked, shoving the huge bite of pasta into his mouth.

Killua put his phone down and draped his arm over the back of his chair. “They all seem pretty boring, but I’m mostly getting gen ed classes out of the way for now, until I decide what I wanna major in, so that’s probably why. I don’t even remember any of the professors’ names, so that answers that question I guess,” He shoveled another bite of cake into his mouth, “What about you?”

“They all seemed nice enough, but I think I liked Professor Satotz in Anthropology the best. He seems interesting, so I’m excited to see how that class goes. Did you make any new friends?”

Killua quirked an eyebrow at him. “Uh, no. Did you?”

“I did! A few people, and I actually have plans to hang out with one of them! I’m gonna check out some clubs here too, I can definitely make some new friends there! And you’ve gotta come with me Killua! We can check them out together!” As he spoke he was practically buzzing with excitement.

“What clubs are you going to?” Killua asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Well, There’s a bunch of them to choose from, but the Great Outdoors Club, the GSA, and the Ultimate Frisbee Club were all recommended to me, so I’m gonna start with them I think.”

“GSA?”

“It stands for Gay Straight Alliance.”

Killua almost choked on his last bite of cake. “O-oh. Right. Why are you going to that one? Are you... gay?”

Gon’s face scrunched up a bit, his gaze suddenly intense.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that if you are!” Killua backpedaled. “Just asking!”

“Yeah, I’m just thinking about it. I guess I don't know? I was gonna check it out ‘cause I liked the idea of an alliance, and I wanted to go to show support I guess, but hey, maybe the club will help me figure it out!”

Killua’s cheeks were tinged pink. “You don’t know? Haven’t you ever gone on a date or to a school dance or something before?”

“Well, I’ve gone on dates with girls before, never with any boys though.” He rested his chin on his hand. “To be honest, I’m just not sure. I guess now I’m pretty excited to see what I learn from this club!” His eyes squinted up in a bright smile.

“You should come with me when I go! It’s for everyone to come together, so I don’t think it even matters if you’re gay or not anyways.”

“Yeah, maybe, we’ll see.” He awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck. “ I’m gonna go grab some food, be right back.” He stacked his dirty plates and quickly shuffled off.

Gon leaned back in his chair and rubbed his full belly. He looked around the cafeteria, already starting to recognize people from his classes amongst the crowds at tables and in line at food stations. His first day was really amazing and if this was what the year was going to be like, he was so ready for it.

~~~~~~~~

After wandering between the different food stations for a few minutes, Killua finally returned to the table with a plate of spaghetti and some soda. The food on campus was actually pretty good, so that was a plus. It was almost good enough to distract him from the nagging questions that the mention of the GSA brought up. Almost.

He really hadn’t thought too much about his own sexuality, or sexuality in general. He’d never even gone out with anyone before. Well, there was the one time he agreed to go to the winter formal with a girl he knew, but that night was a disaster and he only went because his brother had been giving him shit about his social life.

It’s not like he never found anyone attractive before. But now that he thought about it, most of the time when someone in a crowd caught his eye, they happened to be a boy. Like at orientation just a few days ago... But what did that say about his sexuality? How did anyone actually know if they were gay or straight or whatever? And what would you even do with that information once you managed to figure it out?

“Killua?”

“Eh?” The sound of Gon’s voice snapped him back to reality and when he looked up he was met with a pair of honey eyes burning into him.

“What?” He gulped. Had Gon been sitting this close to him the whole time?

“I asked if you were ready to go.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

They grabbed their bags and began the trek back to their dorm. The cool night air was a welcome relief from the blush that spread across his face and up his neck.

#killugon #gonkillu #killua #gon #killua zoldyck #gon freeccs #hunter x hunter #hxh #hunterxhunter #killugon fanfic

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glassynights · 4 years

Text

King of New York- Chapter One

Chapter Title: The Real Knight

Warnings: Mild Blood Description

Relationships: N/A, unless you count a platonic one

Words: 2,766

Tags: @silver-crowned-king @anxiousredspiderlilies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here to finish the job, sweetheart?”

The man’s voice made me whip around with a small noise of shock as I almost lost my grip on the large butcher knife I was gripping stiffly in my small hands. The door thudded shut painfully loudly, plunging the room into near darkness. The only light that illuminated my way down the stairs was the weak rays of moonlight filtering through a tiny, dirty window near the ceiling.

Words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. I was terrified. I already risked my life and the life of this man here coming to the basement where my Papa had taken him. The strange man then looked brave and fearless, like the courageous knights in my King Author books.

But now...he just looked scared, though he tried to cover it with a false smile. His suit was wrinkled and dirty, and as I crept closer to him, I saw blood staining his clothes and the skin I could see exposed by the ripped fabric of his pants. His face was half-hidden by his long, dark hair, so the only facial feature I saw was the tired smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

I don’t know why I’m doing this...maybe this man deserves whatever my Papa is doing to him, but right now, I don’t care. All that matters is rescuing this knight before he disappears like the others.

I stopped right at the edge of the beam of moonlight that fell across the grimy floor, too scared to step any farther. Maybe this was a bad idea...

”Step into the light, doll. Let me see the one who will relieve me of my misery.” His voice is laced with barely concealed pain, and I briefly wonder what they did to him before tamping down the stray thoughts.

I was always taught to obey, so I forced my trembling legs to take another few steps forward, revealing the sharp blade I held in my shaking hands to the knight. I kept my eyes on the floor, so I missed the widening of the man’s eyes as he lifted his head to look at me.

”By all that’s holy...” He breathed his voice a shaky whisper, all traces of bravado gone. “You’re just a kid. What brings you down here, cucciola?”

I look up sharply at the familiar term of endearment and meet the cool gaze of the knight. That’s what my daddy’s helper, Luciano, always calls me when he takes me out to go play at the park. He’s really nice. The knight looks a bit younger than what I would imagine a knight to be, though he has a nice beard growing on his face, not as big as the ones the Knights of the Round Table had.

“Kid?”

His eyes are fixated on the knife in my hands, and instead of the usual fear I see on the other people’s faces, I see...worry and concern?

”I-I’m here to rescue you, S-sir Knight.” My voice sounds shrill and high pitched compared to the deeper tone of the knight’s, and I step closer to him and raise my head.

We meet eyes, and I get the feeling that he’s searching me for something, but I don’t know what. Instead of being scared I feel...strangely calm.

He’s the one who breaks off our battle first, so that means I win. Yay! “You’ve got to get out of here before...before Viktor finds you talking to me.”

I frown at him and speak in a quiet voice. “Who, Papa? He won’t hurt me now, he’s sleeping.”

”Oh my-“ He cuts himself off, dropping his head to his chest as he begins to mumble something under his breath. His dark hair flops over his face, and he reminds me a lot of Luciano...

Exhaling, I shake the stray thoughts away and steel myself, quickly pattering around behind the trapped knight, feeling behind him for his hands. He jerks forward at my touch and tries to turn his head and look at me, though he’s not an owl. I feel the rope wrapped around his wrists, binding them together, and I grip one of the cords in my hand.

”Passerotta,” He starts, trying to lean away from my hands. “Think about what you are doing. Your papa will be angry when he finds out that I escaped.”

I shake my head and feel the burning of tears as I begin to saw away at the thick rope. I don’t know why I’m crying, and I hurriedly brush away the tears before they can fall. “I-it’s okay...if I told him I rescued a knight, he won’t be mad.”

He visibly cringes and I pause in my cutting to look up at the back of his head. “Kid, don’t say anything, got that? I don’t want Viktor to harm you, daughter of his or no.”

I resume, trying to break through at least one portion of the cord so he can break free from his bindings. I don’t know what to say to him. I’ve never been around any people other than a couple of my Papa’s soldiers and Luciano, let alone people my age.

The room is filled with the sound of rope being cut and the steady drip of a leaky pipe somewhere in the large basement.

I feel a rush of satisfaction as the rope finally splits in my hands, and I can hear his sigh of relief as he quickly undos the rest of the rope, bringing his hands in front of him. I almost topple backward in surprise when a firm but gentle hand rests on my head.

“Hey, piccola,” He says softly as I raise my head to look up at him. “Hand me the knife, okay? A little thing like you shouldn’t be holding bad things like that.”

I sit and squint at him a little distrustfully. I’ve seen some of Papa’s men that were brought down here act a little similar to the knight, being nice so they could get something out of the soldiers poking them. Though, this one was different. He’d been knighted by King Author himself, so I’m pretty sure he can be trusted.

I raise the knife to him, and he lifts the hand on my head to grasp at it. “Grazie, ragazzo. I appreciate it.”

I stand up as he bends over to free his legs from their own ropes, and I yawn involuntarily. I had stayed up late to help the knight from his prison. I had no idea if he deserved to be down here, but I did know that he doesn’t look like the regular bad guys Papa brings down in his basement.

He makes a small noise of triumph as the rope splits and he quickly removes them and tucks the knife away somewhere in his suit. I flinch when his right leg buckles underneath him as he rises and he would’ve collapsed on the floor if not for the chair that once held him captive.

He grips the back of the seat in a death hold, eyes screwed shut in pain as he lowers himself down on the seat. I move around so that he and I face each other, and almost gag at the amount of blood I somehow didn’t notice before. It dripped from the side of his head, and his pant leg is drenched with the crimson liquid, slowly plopping onto the floor.

His breathing is shallow and quick, punctured with a sharp inhale. “D-damn it...shouldn’t get up too...too fast n-now I-“

”Sir Knight?” My voice makes him open his eyes, and I rest a hand on his knee. “Are...are you okay?”

He grits his teeth and nods, putting his own hand over mine. “Ye-yes, bambina...I’m alright, but you rea-really should get out of here...before-before Viktor finds out you freed me.”

I make another choice and shake my head, silently thrilled by this little act of rebellion. “I won’t do it, Sir Knight. You can’t survive without a loyal page to help you on your journey.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “Are you really Viktor’s? You’re the o-opposite of that madman, pippola. Far-far too nice.”

I blink in surprise. Nobody’s ever called me nice before. Nobody’s given me a compliment in my life actually, the only person who came close was Luciano, though that was behind locked doors when Papa left me at home while he went to go do some business, but Luciano doesn’t count, he’s always like that.

The knight laughs and then winces, bringing a free hand to clutch at his ribs, cursing in Italian under his breath.

“Come on Sir Knight,” I plead with him, feeling the first trickle of fear creep down my spine. I don’t want him to leave forever like the others. “Let me help you get out of here. I can be your page!”

The knight closes his eyes, brow furrowing further in concentration. After a beat of silence only punctuated by his wheezing gasps, he opens his eyes and looks at me sternly. “Alright, ragazzo. But only if you agree to leave me when we get near the edge of the property, and zip right back to bed.”

”But what about you?” I ask, thinking of all the dragons and monsters that lurked outside, waiting to prey on the poor villagers of the town.

He chuckles and ruffles my hair, face tight with pain. “Don’t worry about me, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

”Okay, Sir Knight,” I nod, taking a step back to give him room to stand up. “You’re strong enough, да?”

”Of course I am, page,” He says, giving me a wink. “After all, I have a strong helper like you to assist me, no?”

I’m sure there was a big, stupid-looking grin on my face, but at that moment I didn’t care. I had somebody that took my love of knights and acts of bravery seriously, plus I got to rescue him as a real knight would do.

He unties the black tie around his neck and wraps it around his upper leg, doing a quick knot and cinching it tight, tight enough to stem the flow of blood that was steadily streaming down his leg while we were talking.

He rises, a little wobbly, and I take his other hand, and together, we face our first obstacle. The stairs. They seemed to stretch upward for miles, and I can imagine the pain the knight beside me will go through.

Though, he looks down at me and grins, seemingly unfazed by the challenge ahead. “Ready, cucciola?”

I nod, and we start our slow ascent up the stairs. The knight would have to stop every so often to tie the little knot he used to stop the bleeding tighter, and he leaned all his weight on the wall. The stairs were narrow, but there was space enough to fit both of us. I kept a tight grip on his hand.

When we reached the top, I let go to step forward, turning the knob on the wooden door and pushing open the door very slowly. My Papa and his men kept the door well oiled, though I didn’t trust the hinges not to squeak. I’ve heard stories about how rusty hinges almost compromised one of Luciano’s missions.

Poking my head out, my eyes couldn’t see anything in the gloom of the hallway, so I popped back inside the basement and grabbed the knight’s hand. “Okay, Sir Knight. We have to be quiet, or else the evil wizards will find us.”

The knight nods and mimes zipping his lips with his free hand before gasping a little and putting it back over his ribs, doubling over just a little bit.

I look at him with concern, and he mouths I’m alright before gesturing to the door with a jerk of his chin. I mouth that the way is clear and lead him out into the hallway.

After walking for what seemed like hours, we finally reached the back door of the manor. We had a few close encounters with a few of the guards posted in the manor to keep watch over my Papa and I while we were sleeping, but we managed to avoid them.

Turning to look at the knight, I see just how bad he looks, now that I can see him clearly in the moonlight. His face seems ghostly and pale, making the blood-smeared in his forehead and around his mouth and eyes stand out more. Various cuts and bruises mar his arms, and where the rope was on his wrists had angry-looking red marks that were starting to turn purple.

I’m sure he had many more little wounds that I couldn’t see, but I couldn’t focus on that. I had a mission to do, and that was get the knight out and away from the manor.

”Leave...leave me here,” The knight pants, half slumping against the wall. “I-I can make...I can m-make it on my...on my own n-now.”

I almost laughed out loud before I stifled the noise with my hand. “Sir Knight, you look like you’re going to fall at any minute. Let me take you to the edge of our house and then I will go back.”

He looks like the journey sapped the life out of him, and it was just a couple of straight hallways, some corners and thinking quickly.

The knight’s face screws up in either concentration or pain, I can’t really tell which. After a moment of what looked like an intense internal debate, he exhales shakily and gives me a small nod. “Alright, my...my page. I’ll need y-you to keep a close... a close watch for any guards pat-patrolling outside.”

I grin and gently take his hand again, now extra careful of his injuries. “You can count on me.”

Easing open the back door, we slip into the cool night air, and I inhale deeply, smelling the wet earth after the rain this afternoon. It’s a little chilly, and a sharp breeze pierced through the flimsy fabric of my pajamas.

I look at the knight and suddenly notice that his hand, previously gripping mine in a firm but a soft grip, was now lax and trembling slightly.

I locked away all of my misgivings and fear, instead focusing on the task at hand. Deliver this knight safely to where we agreed to.

I made us keep to the tall, dark trees at the edge of our huge backyard to avoid the soldiers I knew would be around the front and possibly the back. I spotted the light of the main road that ran through New York, and I tugged at the knight’s hand to let him know we were here.

”Grazie,” His voice sounds strange like the letters are blurring together like some of my watercolor paints on my canvas. “I can...I cannot th-thank you enough, piccola pagina....”

He sways in his spot and I look at him with worry. “Are you sure you’ll make it home safe, Sir Knight?”

He brings a hand to rest on top of my hair again. “Don’t w-worry about me...I’ll be okay. And no, you are... you are the real knight here.”

I brought up a hand to my mouth. This brave knight, calling me a real knight? This must be a dream. “R-really? You mean it?”

He manages to muster up a grin and ruffles my hair before retracting his hand. “Of...of course I do, cavaliere.”

I give the knight a large smile of my own and pat his arm. “Be safe, Sir Knight, and may we meet again.”

He smiles at me, one hand still drawn tightly over his ribs. “Likewise. N-now you’d...better run off to bed before... before Viktor c-catches you.”

”Okay,” I say, turning back to the house. “I will!”

”Run, little one,” He exhales shakily. “That’s your last mission. Run...run and get home and....be safe...be safe in your bed by morning.”

I obey and start to sprint back towards the house, getting to the back door again in no time flat. Turning, I see the moon illuminating the knight’s stumbling gait towards the street.

And at that moment, I knew he was the best knight of us all, even braver than King Author himself.

#mafia #my writing #original work #original story #original characters #platonic stuff #blood #not too much tho #knights #King Author #italian #russian #gangs

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anarcoqueer1994 · 5 years

Text

Don't Let Me Go

*This is a Trans!TJ story I wrote a month ago on Archive of Our Own. Hope you like it. (Also you are still so valid if you dont pass or dont want to pass <3)

TJ was a boy. He had always felt like a boy. Even when he was young, and he would be put into cutesy little dresses like the girls in his class(he knows some boys wear dresses, he just doesn't feel great in them.), or when people would call him she/her, or when the other boys would exclude him because "No Girls Allowed", he knew he was a boy.

In the third grade, his wonderful mother, let him chop off his long hair and let him start wearing "boy's clothes." Some kids were mean of course but his big sister, Amber, wouldn't let anyone mess with him.

The most painful person to remember was Jay. Jay promised to be his best friend. But as soon as he started dressing more like a traditional boy, Jay made fun of him for being a freak. He said he was not a real boy. It broke his heart.

TJ never wanted to feel hurt like that again. TJ began forcing himself to be meaner, tougher, anything to make himself seem more masculine. He desperately wanted to pass. He did not want anyone to question who he was, that he was a boy. Unfortunately, one thing held him up from being able to hide that he was a trans boy, everyone in his class remembered when he presented as a girl, and many of them never quite treated him like a "real" boy. It was not fair. He was a boy just like all the other guys in his class but just because he was born with different parts, he was treated differently.

This all changed in middle school. Shadyside had a few different schools depending where you lived in town. TJ's mother talked to the school district, and managed to get him sent to Jefferson. It was across town from him and no one from his elementary school would be there. Only a few teachers would know that he was trans. This was an opportunity for him to blend it.

Unfortunately, this was also a time where puberty was kicking in. So even though he was in a new school, he was still nervous. He began binding the summer before 6th grade. On his first day of Jefferson, he made sure everyone knew that he was a tough guy that should not be messed with. He established himself early as a bully. He figured no one could hurt him if he pushes them away first He also made it clear that he was the best basketball player and by the end of the year he knew he was going to be the captain of the basketball team the following year. Plus he was so glad that he was allowed in the boys team, no question. He goes out of his way though to stay after practice to clean up so he doesn't have to deal with the locker room awkwardness. He has pulled it off, no one knew his secret.

By 7th grade, he could basically do anything. He was a popular jock. But he also had built up a thick wall around him. That's when Buffy Driscoll ruined everything for him. How could coach let a girl on the team? It was a boy only space. No one questioned him being in it because everyone knew he was a boy. Then here comes Buffy, a girl, intruding in. Plus...she was just as good of a player as him. That's really scared him. Basketball was all he had. He wasn't good at math, he felt like a freak whenever he looked in the mirror, he had to work harder and harder to keep his voice deep, but basketball made him feel like he was worth something.

So he was a jerk to her. Part of him felt bad about it but he needed to protect himself. He was even crappy when he was forced to ask her to tutor him. He was doing fine at keeping up being mean until she introduced him to that short, adorable, dork, Cyrus. The moment TJ laid eyes on him and his cute smile, he felt like his world was going to crash down around him. On one hand, he loved that he helped this sweet cutie get a muffin. It made him feel like a tough protector, very manly.

But on the other hand, the butterflies in his stomach were making him feel weak. He can't believe his first crush...is on a guy. He couldn't believe it, not only was he trans, but now he is worried he is gay too. But no matter how worried about getting close to Cyrus or being gay he was, he couldn't help himself.

He remembers seeing the boy swinging alone and he could of just passed by but he didn't. Against his better judgement, he walked up to the boy and started to talk. He was a little saddened when Cyrus thought of him as a scary basketball guy, but that was his own fault. But when he said his name, Cyrus said he knew. TJ smiled to himself thinking about Cyrus knowing his name. .And then that boy smiled at him...no for him.That beautiful smile was for TJ and TJ alone. Cyrus was enjoying hanging out with TJ. TJ thinks about how he laughed and screamed while TJ pushed him on the swing. When his hands touched Cyrus' back, he almost forgot to breathe. Then he ran under the swing and yelled "Underdog." That's when he got to see Cyrus' sweet face as he was swinging.

It was a few weeks later though that he knew for sure that Cyrus had his heart. TJ was angry about feeling stupid and not being allowed in the game. He decided letting Cyrus get close to him was too much of a risk at that moment. He was so mean when Cyrus came to check on him. But then instead of giving up, that persistent boy followed TJ. Cyrus had left the game where his best friend was the star to be with him. Cyrus managed to help him with his feelings towards his learning disability. When he said there was nothing wrong him, TJ knew this Cyrus could see past the mean exterior he put up, and still liked what he saw underneath. And like that TJ's walls started to crumbled down, even if it was just for Cyrus at first.

In the year that followed, he started opening up for others too. He lost some friends, Reed and Lester, but gained better ones in Cyrus' friends. He has to admit he was a little nervous at first with Jonah, given that they played little league together but it's fine. Jonah either doesn't remember that TJ is trans or is just respectful enough not to out him.

He was truly happy right now. It was the first time in his life he felt good about everything going on. It was the weekend during the winter break of his eighth grade year. He, Amber, Andi, Buffy, Marty, Jonah, and of course, Cyrus, were going sledding. They meet up at The Spoon, and walk over to the tallest hill in Shadyside together. On the way over Cyrus is visibly nervous.

Cyrus lets out a nervous laugh. "So anyways, I think I will stay back on the top of the hill and watch every one's stuff. I'm cool not sledding."

Buffy rolls her eyes. "You know you have to face your fear sometime. Come on sledding can be fun."

"Yea, didn't you dirt bike a few months ago? This is way less scary." Andi chimes in.

"Wrong. I had a helmet and padding on. There is nothing separating me and the icy ground if I fall out of the sled. " Cyrus retorts.

TJ lets out a little huff of a laugh. "Underdog, you can go down with me if you want. I mean I can protect you from the ground. I promise I won't let go." TJ smiles. Andi and Buffy exchange knowing looks. TJ become self conscious all of a sudden. "I mean of course if you want to...you don't have to."

"No actually that would be great. Cross another thing off my bucket list. But you gotta keep your promise to protect me, deal?" Cyrus smiles and slips in a little wink.

TJ blushes but hopes people don't notice because of the cold air. His heart feels like it is going to beat out of his chest. He wonders if Cyrus realizes that he is flirting. No, of course he is not flirting. He is probably not even gay. TJ is just reading too much into it, right? He composed himself and says "Deal, Cy."

"Alright Cyrus!" Jonah pats him on the back. "You're going to sled!" TJ subconsciously gets a little jealous of the smile Cyrus flashes at Jonah but ignores the feeling.

They finish making their way to the hill. Marty and Buffy waste no time, already making it a contest to see who can get down to the bottom first. The others are moving more leisurely. Despite the earlier conversation, TJ notices Cyrus standing back. He looks apprehensively at the hill.

TJ walks up to him and says softly, "You don't have to do this, Cyrus." He tries to ignore how close Cyrus is to him right now. He can't believe Cyrus can make him feel so weak.

"No Teej, I...I want to. Let's um do this, okay?" He gives a small smile.

TJ leads the shorter boy over to sleds. He sits down in the back of a long plastic sled and puts his leg on either side of it so Cyrus has room to get in. TJ says one more time. "You don't have to Underdog."

"No I'm going to." Cyrus gets into the sled as confidently as he can. His back is resting against TJ's chest. TJ is pretty sure Cyrus can feel his heart pounding even through a thick winter coat, a hoodie, a t-shirt and his binder. Cyrus says "Now remember, you said you promise you won't let go." The brunette says while looking down at TJ's hands just resting on the sides of them.

"Oh...yeah ..um...sorry." TJ nervously wraps his arms around Cyrus' body. He keeps telling himself that this is no big deal. You are just helping your friend. "Ready, Muffin?" TJ suddenly gets really stiff. He can't believe that came out of his mouth.

"What did you just call me?" Cyrus twists his head around to look at the blonde.

"Oh God, I'm sorry...it just came out...I'm sorry…" TJ starts to ramble.

"No, it's fine. It's cute." Cyrus gives a big smile before turning back around.

Cute. Did Cyrus just call something he did, cute? His head was racing with so many thoughts. He has to remind himself to kick off.

"As I was saying, ready?"

Cyrus nods as TJ kicks off. He feels Cyrus place his own hands over TJs arms as they speed down the hill. Cyrus is yelling like he did that first day at the swing set. TJ can't see his face but know he smiling. And TJ is smiling too like a love struck idiot. He couldn't be gladder that Cyrus could not see him.

Eventually they come to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Cyrus turns his head to look back at TJ again. "That was exhilarating!"

"I told you I would not let anything happen to you." TJ gives a big grin then stares at Cyrus for a moment. Suddenly he realizes he is still holding onto Cyrus' waist. He haistedly goes to remove his arms.

"You could of left your arms there for a bit longer." Cyrus says casually. Oh God, TJ thought, was Cyrus really flirting with him? He doesn't know how it is possible but his heart was beating even faster. Luckily he is saved by Andi calling out to them from the too if the hill.

"Are you guys going to sled some more or sit there all day?" TJ sees Amber giggle by her side.

"We should get back up there." TJ says nervously.

"Yes, that's a good idea." Cyrus agrees before both boys get up and walk back up the hill. The kids spend the rest of the afternoon sledding and then head back to Cyrus' dad's house to warm up. Everyone brought clothes to change into because the snow made the clothes they were wearing soaked.

Marty goes up to the second floor bathroom to change. Unfortunately, Marty doesn't realize someone is already in there when he opens the door to find TJ in the middle of changing. TJ looks mortified as the other boy quickly closes the door, apologizing as he does. TJ's back was to the door, so he isn't sure what Marty saw but he definitely feels exposed. All the worst scenarios play through his head. What if Marty goes and tells everyone what happened? He is pretty sure his friends wouldn't hate him or anything but what if they treat him differently if they knew.

He finishes putting his clothes on and slides quietly out of the bathroom. Marty isn't in the hallway, and he is relieved that he doesn't have to face him yet. He needs a bit before he goes downstairs. He sees an empty guest room a few doors down, so he goes in there to collect his thoughts. He sits on the edge of some really nicely made bed.

He is still in shock over what happened. How could he be so careless to not lock the door? He did so good blending in. He had so many plans. This coming summer, he had convinced his mom to let him start taking T. But now, no matter what he does, his friends are going to see him like his old classmates did. God, just when things were going right.

Then another thought crossed his mind. This is going to blow his chance with Cyrus. How could Cyrus want him if he knew the truth. He felt so defeated. All he wants to do is go home and lay in bed. And to think, a few hours ago, he had Cyrus against his chest and if he did not know any better, he swore Cyrus was flirting with him. He sits alone with his thoughts for a while.

He does not realize how much time he had been in that room until he hears a faint knock on the door.

"Teej? Can I come in?" It's Cyrus. His voice sounds so little. TJ knew it, Cyrus must be disappointed about TJ's secret.

TJ takes all his strength to say "Come in…" He does not turn his head to face Cyrus as he comes into the room. He is not strong enough to face him.

Cyrus speaks first. *TJ, I'm so sorry.'

This catches the blonde off guard. He turns around to meet Cyrus' eyes "Wait, why are you sorry? You didn't do anything."

"I made you feel so uncomfortable today...that's why you are you here avoiding everyone."

"Underdog, I don't know what you are talking about. I'm so confused." TJ scrunches his eyebrows up.

Cyrus starts rambling. "Today, when we were sledding. I mean before we were sledding, Buffy and Andi got it into my head that maybe you liked me the way I liked you. Buffy said I should face my fear and put myself out there. So when you met up with us, I had an idea. I tried my best to flirt, and I thought you may have been flirting back. Like you called me muffin and you held onto my waist for a long time, and I think I read to much into it. I crossed a line and now you can't even be in the same room as me.'

Did Cyrus Goodman just tell him he likes him too. TJ can feel his cheeks go bright red. He is blushing like crazy. Marty must have kept the secret to himself if Cyrus thinks this is the issue. "Wait. Cyrus? Is that what you think? You think I don't want to be in the same room as you? You have to be the oblivious one. I like you so much...I just can't believe you like, like me too." Cyrus steps closer to TJ as the older boy continues to speak. "I loved holding you close to me and I love anytime that I'm with you. I love listening to you talk about anything, and I love that I feel like I can be myself around you. I love when our hands brush together and I love when you smile at me like I'm the only one in the room. I'm not really sure what it means to be in love but if I had to guess, I would say I'm in love with you."

Cyrus' face was now mirroring in redness from blushing. "You mean that Teej?"

"I've never meant anything more."

Cyrus, who is now standing right in front of TJ, leans down and places his fingers under TJ's chin. He gently tilts the basketball player's head to look up at him. His eyes flash down to TJ's lips. Then abruptly, TJ pulls away. "Wait .."

"Oh no, I'm sorry. Am I moving too fast? I just never thought the guy if my dreams would say he loves me as much as I love him." Cyrus goes to step away but TJ grabs his hand.

"It's not that, Cy. I have something I need to tell you before you commit to dating me. You may change your mind."

"You're scaring me TJ." Cyrus says rubbing the rough skin in TJ's knuckles with his thumb.

"I'm honestly scaring myself. But you deserve the truth about me. I'm not like most guys."

"If course you are not. You are better." Cyrus gives a weak smile.

"That's not what I mean. I'm not built the same as you, or Jonah, or Marty. I'm...I'm transgender. And, like, don't get me wrong, I don't hate my body or anything...most days at least, but it is not like most boys our age. And I was in here because Marty walked in in me changing. I didn't have my binder in and I was worried he saw. But it seems like he kept it to himself, which I appreciate. But I wanted you to know and I would understand if you don't want to date me anymore. I get it…" TJ was looking down as he trailed offj, afraid to look at Cyrus' face

Cyrus sits on the edge of the bed next to TJ, still holding the other boy's hand.. He puts his free hand on the side of TJ's head turning it to face Cyrus. "I like...love you TJ. I didn't fall for you because I thought you were a cisboy. I fell for you because you were the cute, sweet, basketball playing boy that managed to steal my heart a little more every time I hung out with you."

"You don't think I'm a freak?"

"Of course not. There is nothing wrong with you."

"You know dating me isn't going to be easy. I plan on transitioning more over the next few years, things like hormones, and maybe surgery. That is alot to deal with."

"Well bring it on. I don't plan on going anywhere as long as you want me, not-so-scary basketball guy. I promise I won't let go."

"You won't? Let go, I mean. You won't leave me even when it is hard?" TJ sounds desperate to believe him. He is so scared of being hurt again like he was when he was younger. He thinks back to the old best friend that abandoned him.

"Never, never ever. I could never let go of you " Cyrus says sincerely.

TJ feels like his insides are on fire. Cyrus was truly the most amazing person he could ask for in his life. Without thinking, TJ leans in and places a gentle kiss in Cyrus' lips. He pulls away slightly to see what happens next. Cyrus answers the unspoken question by leaning back in and deepening the kiss.

When they pull away for air, both boys can't help but grin. "Wow." TJ says. "That was my first kiss and just ..wow."

"I wish it was my first kiss...mine was with a girl, Amber's friend, Iris. I liked it much better with a guy." Cyrus smiles.

TJ knew he made the right chose telling Cyrus. After everything Cyrus just found out, he still sees TJ as just as much a boy as he has ever been. TJ says softly. "Does this mean we are dating now."

"Only if you want it to." Cyrus says in a hopeful voice.

"Then yes, we are dating." TJ smiles and sits in a comfortable silence with his new boyfriend.

#tyrus #tj x cyrus #tj Kippen #cyrus Goodman #andi mack #Trans!TJ #sledding #winter #supportive cyrus #buffy #marty #andi #jonah #amber #tyrus week #trans #tj trans #trans!tj

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thefinalcinderella · 5 years

Text

Tsurune Book 2 Chapter 5-Marebito (Part 1)

In this chapter: the Kazemai gang heads to an inn for their summer training camp, and coincidentally meets a certain school with a certain drama-starting guy there.

I made a note about this for the last chapter, but a marebito is a supernatural being from afar that visits villages bearing gifts and good fortune. Maybe I should have changed the title to “aliens” lol

Also the line break is gone???? wtf tumblr

Glossary here

List of translations here

Translation Notes

1. Yakisugi is a traditional Japanese method of wood preservation. Lots of old traditional buildings have walls made in this way.

2. Beanbags, or otedama, are used in the game of the same name where they are tossed and juggled, similar to jacks (according to Wikipedia). The coin shaped pieces, or ohajiki, are used in a traditional children’s game that’s similar to marbles.

3. They are mentioned in the first book, but the Raiki Shagi and Shahoukun are two very important kyudo texts that convey the values and technique of kyudo.

4. Yadokoro refers to where the arrow lands, which can be used to determine how and at what angle your arrows landed. Steady shots mean that the yadokoros of the two arrows are close together and not in disarray.

5. A kouyou kasane no tenouchi literally means “red-leaves-piling-up tenouchi” . It’s a type of grip that’s used for shamen uchiokoshi apparently? For this grip, your little finger gets as close to the thumb as possible and the other three fingers are inserted into the gap between them.

6. Uwaoshi is where the left hand (the gripping hand) is bent pushing the bow from above. This is an incorrect method in some schools.

7. An oobanare is a large release of the left and right hands.

8. Hosha is a general term for kyudo that takes place on the ground, not horseback. The Ogasawara-ryuu hosha tradition shoots in shoumen style.

9. The hagiito is the lower feather binding. Fun fact: one of my translations is the second result if you search up “hagiito kyudo”

10. Tezutsu fireworks is a type of traditional hand-held firework where a bamboo tube filled with gunpowder can shoot sparks and fire up to five meters high. You can see pictures here

11. A black snake firework is a type of firework that doesn’t create sparks or sound, instead emitting ash that looks like snakes. Read about them on Wikipedia

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Previous | Next

They were now in summer vacation, and the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club was holding their summer training camp.

The eight club members, plus Tommy-sensei and Masa-san for a total of ten people, rode the minibus prepared by the inn and got off in front of there. The old fashioned Japanese-style building was impressive with yakisugi walls (1) and a steep roof, and the reception desk was decorated with tops, beanbags and coin-shaped glass pieces that invited nostalgia. (2)

Nanao took two beanbags.

"I feel like you can summon a zashiki-warashi with these."

"Are you still bringing that up?"

Kaito squinted. There were a lot of furry balls nestling up to him at his feet, and since they cried out to be stroked, he was beaten by their persistence and lifted a cat up.

"You guys really are everywhere."

"Well you are a cat seducer, after all."

"Am not. They approach me themselves."

"That's what a seducer says. Right, kitty?"

When Nanao reached out for the cat Kaito was holding, its hair stood on end. Apparently he was being treated as a natural enemy. Nanao surrendered and left the place.

In the lobby, there was a girl from another school who was carrying a lot of luggage by herself. She stumbled many times due to getting obstructed by the walls. Nanao was also carrying luggage, but he was unable to just watch and ran up to her.

"Are you okay? I'll help."

"Oh, I'm so sorry about this. I overestimated myself and carried too many things."

Seeing this, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo murmured amongst themselves.

"Kisaragi-kun is such a quick worker."

"But, I know from practicing together in club activities that he is not only nice to girls."

"Yeah, that's right."

Kaito put the cat on the floor and took the luggage that Nanao was halfway in carrying.

Minato, Seiya, and Ryouhei carried everyone's equipment and headed for the kyudojo behind the inn.

As soon as they went in, Minato exclaimed, "Whoa, what is this place?"

"It’s pretty rare, isn't it? But I think beginners would turn it down." Seiya, who was in charge of looking for a place to hold the training camp, said proudly.

The yamichi was not a lawn, but a pond abundantly filled with water. The sight of plants such as cattails and arrowheads growing thickly, and golden-ringed dragonflies flitting over them could make one mistake this place for a Japanese-style garden.

"When we miss here, would our arrows fall into the pond?"

"It'll be fine, none of us do hakiya anymore, right? And this place is big enough for ten people to shoot together, so it'll be split into two shajos and we'll be using it jointly with another school."

"Which school?"

"I asked when I made the reservations, but it's a school that I've never heard of."

From behind them, there came the voice of someone. "Whoa, what is this place?" They said the exact same words as Minato did. Minato looked back and saw a boy with large eyes.

"Nikaidou-senpai..."

"Oh my, why are Minato-chan and Seiya-chan here?"

"Could it be, Nikaidou-senpai, that you're having your training camp here?"

"That's right. We'll be looking forward to working with you guys."

"We will also be looking forward to working with you."

The corner of Nikaidou's mouth lifted, as though he remembered something.

"Could it be that the guy who started talking to the girls from my school in the lobby is your friend?"

"Yes, he is."

"That's what I thought. He's a good boy like the two of you, after all."

Minato whispered to Seiya.

"What's happening?"

"The school that I heard might have cancelled. Got it, Minato? Just ignore Nikaidou-senpai. You can't react to him."

"Got it."

Knowingly or unknowingly perceiving the tricky atmosphere between Minato, Seiya, and Nikaidou, Ryouhei cheerfully greeted him.

"Hi! You were the one who helped me pick up what I dropped at the last tournament, right? Thanks for that!"

"Don't mention it," Nikaidou answered.

"I'm Yamanouchi from Kazemai High School. I'll be in your care. Huh? That person over there caught a summer cold? I'll give you my grandma's secret wonder medicine I always have with me!"

Because he was aiming his words directly at the mask-wearing Aragaki, Fuwa let out a muffled laugh. Aragaki, of course, made no comment.

As Fuwa pressed his cheeks, which were about to loosen into a smile, he commented for Aragaki.

"Oh, thanks for your concern. He didn't catch a cold, so we appreciate the thought."

"Really? Oh, I saw that huge bow at the last tournament! So cool! Can I touch it?"

Ootaguro held out his bow with a smile.

"The height (urazori) is incredible! I can't believe that they sell giant bows like this!"

"It’ll have to be a custom order, but you can buy one. I inherited mine from my grandpa."

"What, your grandpa can shoot with this giant bow?"

"When he was young. It took a long time for me to be able to draw this bow. It's my treasure."

"Whoa, your treasure? That's really cool."

"Right?"

The two, who were as frank and straightforward as children, got completely excited about the topic of the large bow.

Behind them, Higuchi was moving at his own pace. He walked slowly, and when he reached the edge of the shajo, he murmured "Heave-ho" and squatted down. He yawned while gazing at the pond. In this excessively tranquil state, the flow of time seemed to slow down around only him.

Nikaidou probably thought that they were wasting time. He quickly moved to the second shajo. Minato and Seiya also pulled themselves together and resumed preparations.

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After they made their preparations, the members of Kazemai High School and Tsujimine High School faced each other. Tommy-sensei made his greetings after Tsujimine’s sensei.

“It must be fate that we are meeting our opponents from the regional tournament here. I hope you will all make use of this fate without fail. Be plenty careful about accidents and injuries, and hydrate frequently so you will not be exhausted by the summer heat. I look forward to seeing everyone’s progress.”

Under Seiya’s leadership, they chanted the “Raiki Shagi” and “Shahoukun” (3) in unison and performed their warm-up exercises. After that, they were divided by their schools. Kazemai was in the first shajo. Overworking was forbidden, but those who could shoot one hundred times in a day aimed for two hundred times. The reason they chose to do joint practice with another school was because of Tommy-sensei’s intention to have them get used to a place with a large number of people, since they usually shot in an environment with not a lot of people.

For a while, at the beginning of shooting, Minato was more unused to the fact that the yamichi was a pond rather than the practice with students from another school. The golden-ringed dragonflies flying by the waterside zoomed towards the shajo, colliding into the fluorescent lights and making clicking sounds. His mind went to the plants and water surface, and he fell into the feeling that he was about to release an arrow into the pond.

Masa-san went around to watch each person’s shooting. Kaito was showing off his steady shots (yadokoro). (4)

“You’re able to make your bow turn completely nowadays, I see.”

“Thank you very much.”

Nanao asked him a question.

“Masa-san, I can also make my bow turn recently, but right after I release my arrow, my bow slips down, and I’m holding the yazuridou instead of the grip.”

“Since the bow turns in your hand, it’s normal for it to fall by about a finger, but why do you think it fell down so much?”

“Ummm, why?”

“Everyone, pay attention to Nanao’s tenouchi.”

As Minato watched Nanao’s shooting, he noticed something.

“Is it when his hand suddenly opens for just a moment at hanare?”

“Yeah, I saw that too,” Kaito said, backing up Minato’s diagnosis.

Masa-san spoke.

“Exactly. There are people who want to make their bow turn and do it on purpose, but there are also many who do it unconsciously. The bow slipping down so much is because of the left hand opening for an instant and the tension of the little finger being weak.”

“I see. Now I understand why you put so much emphasis on the left pinky, Masa-san.”

“Although, there is actually also a shooting method that places a lot of importance on the actions of the middle finger. What I’ll be doing now is the difficult method of gripping the bow with my middle finger, and then at hanare, remove my middle finger while at the same time tensing my fourth and little fingers. Now, let go for a minute and watch.”

Masa-san took the bow and arrow in his hand and parted the bow, then let go of the arrow.

For a moment, the bow tended towards his back.

At the same time the arrow was released, the bow also left Masa-san’s hand and was blown towards his back. For a moment, Minato and the others had no idea what happened, and stood stock still.

The arrow reached the target. Startled by the loud sound of the bow falling, the Tsujimine members looked over towards them, but Masa-san merely picked up the bow like nothing happened.

“In an anecdote of Awa-hanshi and his disciple, he once threw his bow along with his arrow and scarred the floor of the dojo. Apparently, everyone except for the archers thought he went mad when they heard it, but it was probably his process for training his tenouchi, for the sake of creating a sharp hanare. The body is used completely differently for the ‘mistake’ of dropping his bow on the spot and the bow jumping out of your hand from a sharp hanare.”

Ryouhei’s eyes were sparkling.

“That’s so cool! I want to see it one more time! Can I do it too?”

“This is a Honda-ryuu technique that I learned by myself, so I’m still not at a level where I can teach it to people. Everyone, you first aim to not separate your left thumbs and middle fingers so that you won’t drop your bows.”

Minato sighed at the shooting technique he was seeing for the first time.

He read about Awa-hanshi in books, but because they never wrote about what kind of intentions or the kind of methods he went by, he always felt some doubt. The essential parts were not conveyed with only the outcome or a summary. No doubt the true value lied in the process, in the individual episodes.

After they finished shooting four arrows, Ryouhei and Nanao went to retrieve the arrows. They finished collecting the arrows for the first and second shajos and put all of them in the arrow box.

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Meanwhile, Nikaidou was straining his ears to listen.

There were many differences between shoumen uchiokoshi and shamen uchiokoshi. As a matter of fact, during middle school, Nikaidou shot in shoumen for club activities and shamen when he was with his uncle Shigeyuki, so that caused confusion for him.

Nikaidou’s current way of shooting involved gripping his bow with a kouyou kasane tenouchi (5), creating an uwaoshi. (6) At kai, he shifted his thumb, made a grinding noise with his yugake as he untied it, and then at zanshin his bow fell forward and it became an oobanare. (7)

This was the first he was hearing about a practice method where one threw away one’s bow,

Kazemai’s coach might be very interesting…

He thought, and compared him with his own advisor. As one would expect, he did show his face at the kyudojo today, but it looked as though he had almost no interest in the states of the club members or anything like that. At first, he had been chatting with Kazemai’s advisor, but now he had already vanished. He might have shut himself in his room and went to sleep.

Nikaidou clicked his tongue.

He didn’t mind if he wasn’t able to coach them in shooting, but he wished he could pose as an advisor at least. The motivation of the members could be raised just by him saying something to them. Zealous and extreme instruction could have harmful effects, but a club could not be established without an advisor. Their advisor’s favorite saying was, “I’m a teacher and being the advisor for a club is volunteer work, so this is work without pay,” basically telling them not to ask him for too much. That was probably a sound argument.

As a result, Nikaidou took the place of the advisor. He had the longest kyudo career in the Tsujimine High School Kyudo Club.

For beginners, they wouldn’t know anything like the differences between the shooting postures of A and B. After a while, they could see the things that stood out, but didn’t know how to fix them. Identifying the root cause of distortions and slackening required a wealth of knowledge and a high amount of experience. To speak to others of something is to expose one’s own true ability and humanity, as well as an act that carries responsibility along with it. By all rights, one should not speak thoughtlessly.

Since Tsujimine wore shoes in their schoolyard as they shot, they were not used to bracing their legs in tabi. Nikaidou saw to it that his fellow members would learn that sensation of the soles of their feet at this training camp.

After some rounds, Nikaidou and Fuwa went to retrieve the arrows. They carefully wiped clean the arrows with dirt on them.

“I wonder what school that Kazemai coach belongs to.”

“His master was from the Ogasawara-ryuu hosha tradition (8), but he himself doesn’t belong to any school, apparently. He was taught by teachers from all kinds of schools and mixed it all together. His current master is the advisor, Morioka-sensei. He’s a sixth-dan kyoushi, I heard.”

“That old man teacher is a sixth-dan kyoushi…?”

Nikaidou felt anger.

In spite of being a weak, puny school with few members, how was it that they even had a coach besides having an advisor? Furthermore, there was a good balance between having a skilled master and a young person. He knew it was an irrational anger for the other person, but why was only Minato so blessed?

I feel so envious, so jealous. I don’t want to see that guy.

“By the way, Fuwa, how do you know all that?”

“When we were checking in, I heard the innkeeper questioning that coach.”

“Amazing. I’m so impressed by your ability to gather information, Fuwa.”

“Well, excuse me for having long ears.”

Nikaidou at that moment had intended on his remark being praise, not sarcasm.

“Hey, Fuwa, you get what I’ve been telling you? Are the things you’re hearing from Uncle Shigeyuki being conveyed properly to you guys?”

“Hmm? They are.”

“It’s not like I myself understand them perfectly, so I feel like I’m telling it all wrong. Also, don’t you hate being spoken in such a sloppy way by a guy the same age as you? And from the perspectives of Aragaki-senpai and the others, I’m an underclassman.”

“If a stranger suddenly told you something like, ‘Your shooting form is not good. It is wrong,’ you might think, ‘Who the hell’s this asshole, makes me sick,’ but I kinda feel like Higuchi-senpai and Aragaki-senpai are waiting for words from you?”

“Both of them react so dully, I really don’t get what they’re thinking.”

Fuwa was wondering what the true meaning behind his words was. Didn’t Nikaidou saying so much after such a long time meant that taking the place of the advisor was becoming a burden for him?

It was the fear of making decisions.

The anxiety of wondering whether or not it was really okay like this, of wondering if this was wrong.

“Even if you did something wrong, you can just correct it, right? It’s not like it’s a serious case that involves the life or death of people. What are you trying so hard for? It’s not like you at all.”

“It’s not like me?”

“Generally, you can’t convey exactly the taste of an apple to someone who hasn’t eaten an apple before, and so when they can eat one, they’ll know, ‘This is an apple.’ You trying to explain and convey everything is ridiculous from the start. Trust the other person a little and leave it to them.”

“Yeah, sure, you’re as wise as ever, Fuwa.”

“What a pain in the ass. To sum it up, I have no complaints or requests for you.”

As Nikaidou was talking with Fuwa, his anger subsided a little. Even if their advisor was absent and they didn’t have a kyudojo, they had an uncle named Shigeyuki, so they were still saved. In the first place, the Tsujimine High School Kyudo Club had many eccentrics in it, and it wasn’t in their natures to be intimate friends with one another.

However, there were no doubt relationships of mutual trust.

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The setting sun shone over the kyudojo, and practice ended. Tommy-sensei and the others left first, and the Kazemai and Tsujimine girls moved to the changing room together.

When the male members finished changing into their regular clothes, Higuchi idly whispered to Nikaidou about something.

“Your arrow is missing?”

“Yeah, I was looking for it earlier but…”

It was guessed from the sight of Higuchi still in his kyudo uniform that he had been searching for them for a long time. In the past, there was an incident where an upperclassman had made fun of his extremely slow pace and hid his arrow. Nikaidou remembered that and felt angry.

Since they checked all of Tsujimine’s quivers and didn’t find it, they asked Kazemai to check theirs as well. Upon doing that, the arrow was discovered in Ryouhei’s quiver.

Ryouhei bowed his head to Higuchi.

“I’m so sorry. I took your arrow. I will pay more attention from now on.”

“It’s fine--, it’s nothing—.“

Ryouhei’s arrows were longer than other people’s, so he hadn’t noticed Higuchi’s arrow buried among his bundle of arrows at all. The reason for that was him shirking off the work of counting his arrows.

Nikaidou stepped in front of Higuchi.

“That’s not right, Higuchi-senpai. If this was the last day, he might have took your arrow back with him, you know? There are people who would bring it home by mistake and neglect to go and return it because it was too much work for them.”

“No, in that case I would properly go and return it. I’m truly sorry.”

“You’re Yamanouchi-kun, right? You were also very interested in our Ootaguro’s bow, eh? If it’s a high-grade bow, there are likely also people who would bring it back with them on purpose, right? I think you’re different, though.”

Nikaidou’s tone was sharp. His irritation was obvious to everyone.

Nanao stepped between them.

“He found it right away, so can you forgive him for that much at least? People retrieving the wrong arrows happens a lot, right? In the past, I’d been mistaken for a girl and taken away with someone. The patterns of the feathers and the colors of the hagiito (9) were exactly alike.”

Nikaidou got even more displeased at Nanao’s interference.

“You’re the kid who carried our girls’ luggage, huh? Even though the high school generals are right around the corner, you have the time to hit on girls from other schools. As expected, schools with blessed environments are different. Even though since being able to use a kyudojo in itself is so precious to guys like us, we don’t want to waste even a second. I really am so jealous I can’t stand it. Right?”

“What? I don’t think I was really hitting on anyone.”

“Oh…is that so?”

Seiya stopped Minato from arguing against Nikaidou. If he defended them poorly, then it would be adding fuel to the fire.

However, Kaito couldn’t take it anymore. He walked right up to Nikaidou and thrust his nose into his face.

“I’ve been listenin’ for a while, but how do you keep going on and on about bullshit? He said it wasn’t on purpose and apologized, ain’t he? And, Nanao wasn’t hitting on anyone back there.”

“What’s with you? Why are you so tanned? Are you, like, a helper from the soccer club or something? You must be having such a hard time, what with being teammates with the airhead and the playboy and all.”

“What did ya say!”

Right when Kaito grabbed Nikaidou by his collar, there was a clattering sound.

A pair of glasses with bent frames was rolling on the floor. They were Seiya’s. He had been trying to stop Kaito and got his glasses hit by Kaito’s raised hand.

Seiya was pressing his hand to his eyes. His hidden mole became exposed.

“Ah… Seiya, I’m sorry.”

“—Kaito, pick them up.”

The place became completely frozen.

Seiya’s moment-freezing gun wasn’t only activated when he said lame jokes. Rather, it was stronger when he was angry. Kaito hurriedly went to pick up the blown away glasses. Nikaidou also seemed to have recovered himself with the sound of the glasses falling to the floor.

Seiya issued instructions without a moment’s delay.

“Nanao and Ryouhei will close the shutters. Minato will go and check that the doors to the equipment storehouse and the arrow retrieval path are locked. We will be doing the final locking up, so everyone from Tsujimine, please go on ahead and leave before us.”

Fuwa had been watching on the sidelines until then, but he judged that it would be better to go with Seiya’s plan.

“Are you okay without your glasses?”

“I have contacts, so there is no problem.”

“I see. Well then, we shall be leaving first. Good work today. Nikaidou, we’re going.”

“Good work today.”

After they could no longer see Nikaidou and the others, Seiya beckoned Kaito over. Leaving cleanup to Minato and the rest, the two headed back to their room first.

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The room the five boys were lodged in was a Japanese style room about twelve tatami mats wide, with a single low table placed in the center of the room. When the window was opened, the laughter of children blew in along with the refreshing wind of the plateau.

Kaito sat in seiza in front of Seiya, looking small.

“You know what I want to say, right? If you raised your hand at Nikaidou-senpai, you’d be doing exactly what he wants.”

“I’m sorry, Seiya. I’ll pay for your glasses.”

This scene was exactly like a child being scolded by his parent for making mischief.

Seiya narrowed his naked eyes.

“I was thinking about changing my glasses soon anyways, so it’s not a big deal. But wearing contacts for a long time is tiring.”

“I’m sorry, that was really inexcusable of me.”

“Kaito, I’m thirsty.”

Kaito poured barley tea into a cup and presented it to him.

“I really want my shoulders rubbed. That place between my shoulder blades got way too stiff.”

“Yes.”

“I wish someone would fill out the accommodation survey for me.”

“Yes.”

Giving a sidelong glance at Kaito, who turned towards the table and eagerly filled out the form, Seiya suppressed a laugh. An excessively obedient Kaito was hilarious to see, and he couldn’t help but mess with him. He felt that he truly understood Nanao’s state of mind.

Should I forgive him soon?

Seiya thought, and left Kaito in the room.

Seiya returned with a tray of watermelon slices. He remembered that it was a complementary service of the inn, and that they said, “Please tell us if you need some.”

He placed the tray on the table and sat down. Since he can’t see well without glasses, he brought his face closer to his target objects.

The curtains were swaying.

Soon, there came the quiet breathing of someone asleep beside him.

While Seiya left his seat for a little bit, Kaito had laid down and fallen asleep.

He must have been so tired that even when Seiya brought his face right up to his, he showed absolutely no signs of waking. His sleeping face was like that of an angel. One wouldn’t think that this is the very same boy who normally pointlessly intimidated his surroundings.

“Kacchan, huh…” Seiya murmured.

Well, even he can feel sleepy. Even though he always, always protects Nanao with all his strength. Kaito says I’m overprotective, but he shouldn’t talk.

Seiya leaned against the window where the wind blew through.

He listened to the quiet sound of sleep breathing until Minato and the others returned to the room.

After a short time, Kaito was awoken by Nanao.

“Kacchan, wake up. We left some watermelon for you.”

“…’kay. Huh, where’s Seiya?”

“He went to the baths. We’ll go too after you eat.”

Kaito bit into a watermelon slice.

After they finished bathing and eating dinner, the Kazemai ten gathered at the open space before the inn.

Seiya lit a candle for ignition and handed out hand-held fireworks to everyone.

Minato lit his firework at once, and a long firework, like the head of a zebra grass, sprouted out. The crackling sparklers and the tezutsu fireworks (10) were both staples for home use. Tommy-sensei was saying how nostalgic this all was while gazing at a black snake firework. (11) Kaito drew figure-eights with the flame of his firework, and Nanao and Ryouhei were running around while holding their fireworks.

Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo called to the two of them.

“You guys, you’ll fall if you run!”

“We’ll be fine!”

Seiya handed more fireworks to Kaito.

“Thanks. Don’t just watch us, join in.”

“Okay.”

He didn’t use the candle to light his firework, but ignited it by directly accepting the fire of the firework in Kaito’s hand.

“It’d be nice if a zashiki-warashi shows up.”

“I told you to stop talking about that.”

“Kaito, could it be that you’re scared?”

“Hell no!”

Seiya chuckled.

When there were no more hand-held fireworks, Masa-san lit a bunch of ground fireworks. The fountains of flame brightly illuminated everyone’s faces. Then, parachutes were launched from them with a popping sound. Ryouhei was the first to pick one up and held it up high, and Nanao performed a hip-hop dance.

And so, the lively fireworks display continued late into the night.

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It happened after they all went to bed. A shadow crept into the sleeping room.

The shadow roamed inside the room without making even a footstep, and when it found its target person, it stopped near their pillow. It peered into their face, then slowly climbed on top of it. Kaito tried to cry out about the weight on his chest, but couldn’t do it for some reason.

Suddenly, Nanao woke up feeling something unusual. Looking next to him, he saw a cat curled up sleeping on top of Kaito. Because the room’s door was kept open, it freely came in.

Nanao whispered, “…You sure are sneaky. Even though you’re always so cold to me.”

He thought about driving it away, but it was the middle of the night. It was inexcusable to wake everyone up with by making a racket. Leaving the cat where it was, Nanao also used Kaito as a pillow and fell asleep again.

Kaito was the one who was misfortunate. Because he did not wake up from sleep while feeling a weight on his body, he could not move as though he was suffering from sleep paralysis.

The one who was woken up with Kaito’s groans was Seiya. When he narrowed his eyes and checked out the situation using the moonlight, the cat and Nanao, using Kaito as their pillow, were sleeping like logs.

Seiya sighed.

Good grief, there’s on helping it. This is the punishment for waking me up in the middle of the night after all—.

Seiya moved the cat and Nanao, who were on top of Kaito, out of the way, and took out a certain something from his bag. And then, he went back to sleep.

The next morning. Minato and Ryouhei, who were the first to wake up, desperately suppressed their laughter.

——There are “cat whiskers” drawn on Onogi’s face!?

Is this the prank of a zashiki-warashi?

Seiya and Nanao were still sleeping.

Kaito, while thinking that Minato and Ryouhei were acting strange, went to the washroom, got in front of the mirror and screamed.

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#tsurune #tsurune translation

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arrianna21 · 6 years

Text

~Boundless Love~ Chapter 1

Tutoring sessions with the school’s bad boy is never dull, for either of you. Who knew that opposites do attract? Needless to say, you two actually end up learning more about each other in more ways than one.

badboy!taehyung/disabled!reader | College!au

Word Count: 3,408

Your finger punches in the numbers, graphing calculator displaying the digital equation. One press on the ENTER key reveals the answer as 25. Same result you got on your paper. Problem now completed, you grab your coffee and take a sip from the green straw. Warm brew coats your tongue as you drink, bittersweet liquid traveling down your throat. Lips releasing the partially chewed plastic, you set the cup down.

Students bustle around the campus coffee shop, snatching bags of snacks and ordering drinks before quickly paying, retrieving plastic cups as they rush to class or go to whatever extracurricular activities they may have. The few tables in the room are occupied by people working on homework or taking a break, electronics and papers scattered on the square tops.

Normally you would be studying in your dorm right about now, but since you decided to do tutoring sessions, your little working spot was now at the heart of campus. Looking at the clock, you watch the hands lazily drag across the face.

7:04.

Double checking your papers, you make sure you have the correct worksheets, drumming your nails as you look at the worksheets. This was your first meeting with this particular student and so you decided to bring a little bit of everything, from formula sheets to an array of practice problems, just in case.

A girl two tables down was typing on her laptop, word document displaying an essay, her eyes shifting from the screen to her papers next to the iced tea. One guy was using his backpack as a pillow while he slept on top of the table, the couple at the next table were talking while they shared their drink. Another boy has his nose in a textbook, the binding threatening to collapse as he waited in line behind a group of girls.

When the barista brings the iced coffees out, the trio eagerly swipe their drinks from the counter, walking past you and you hear something about an upcoming sorority event. Returning to observing the tranquil space, one of the girls stops her conversation to greet someone just out in the hall.

“Hey, Tae,” she sings and a chorus of greetings follow from her friends.

“Ladies,” a deep voice answers.

“About time,” you mumble, looking at your phone screen to see the time is now 7:12. Three more minutes and you could have left. Sighing softly, your eyes raise to find a boy sauntering into the small café.

Signature bandana wrapped under his mess of hair, you watch Kim Taehyung stand at the entrance before slowly making his way around the tables. It’s not difficult, despite the tight space since he didn’t have a backpack, or any supplies for that matter. You knew what you were getting into when your boss assigned you a list of students to tutor, one of which was the school’s bad boy and notorious troublemaker.

If you were being honest, you couldn’t really blame the girls for getting all starry-eyed, he was attractive. Yet his constant skipping of class and sometimes complete disregard of school rules was annoying at times. When he wasn’t making special appearances in class he was usually off vandalizing a building or stealing the campus golf carts for a quick joyride. He would have been expelled long ago, if only the college had proof that he and his mischievous friends were the culprits.

Taehyung looks around the room and you shift your gaze once more to your pile of things, fiddling with your pencil. From your peripherals you see him look at each table’s occupant, walking past the sleeping guy and couple. His scuffed converse shoes tap on the linoleum. He briefly slows his pace as he looks at the girl on her computer, who doesn’t pay him any attention. Continuing his aloof stride, you wait for him to come towards the back of room where you are located.

Red sneakers soon stop at your table you slowly lift your head at his approach. “Are you the college algebra tutor?” he asks, white teeth on full display.

“I am,” you reply, quirking an eyebrow before giving a polite smile of your own.

He pulls a chair out from beside you, sitting at your left as he props his head on an elbow. “Cool. I’m Taehyung.” He extends his to you and you blink.

At least he has manners which is always a plus. It takes a second for your brain to send out a command and you lift your arm in return. His hand grasps yours softly, palm heating your skin from the physical contact.

You introduce yourself as well before leaning back in your seat. Picking up the stack of papers, you straighten them and the rectangular sheets align themselves before being set down.

“Nice to meet you, Taehyung. I know this is our first meeting, but next time please try to be on time in the future. If students don’t show within 15 minutes without prior notice, the session will be cancelled.” While you inform him, you grab a pencil and hand it to him.

“Right, sorry. I’ll let you know next time.”

“Do you have a specific section you want to work on today?” you ask, pulling out some more scratch paper from your folder. Scribbling out a heading that reads Practice #1 along with the date, you look up when he doesn’t respond.

“What, we’re not going to go over the syllabus first? It is our first day after all,” he smirks and you have to keep your eyes fixated on him instead of inside your head where they wish to go.

“Sorry, but I didn’t print out a copy. I’ll be sure to have it with me for those who don’t have a basic comprehension of rules, but here’s a brief summary for you. Be on time, ask relevant questions that focus on the material, come prepared,” you stare at him and his lack of things,” and do your work.”

“So show up, ask questions, bring snacks, and pay attention, got it,” is his response.

“Sure,” this time you don’t bother stopping your eye roll, pushing your papers aside so you can open the red textbook to the table of contents. “Which chapter are you having a hard time with?” Angling the book towards him, you let Taehyung glance over it.

Flipping between the two pages, he skims through each description and points to one while his other hand is spinning the pencil with his fingers. Chapter 3: Polynomials. You sift through your papers and find a worksheet with some practice problems, setting it in front of him. “Okay, show me what you can do.”

The dancing pencil freezes. “Damn, you really don’t waste any time starting the torture. Aren’t you gonna teach me first?” Though he’s surprised there’s a faint smirk on his lips.

“I want to see how much you know and then I’ll help.” Your thumb taps on the table as you stare at him. Jutting your head, you motion to the crisp sheet and he sighs but begins writing under the first problem.

He finishes quickly and you check his work. “Not bad. You almost have the right answer except you forgot about this x here,” you tell him, grabbing a red pen and turning the page so you can write on it. “Just move this here, solve for it, and you should get x=3 and x=-3.” Turning on your calculator, you type the equation so you check for the answer. The number 3 is displayed and you return the paper to him. “Now do try with the next one.”

Taehyung scribbles under problem #2, lead squeaking on the sheet and he turns the paper when he’s finished so you can look it over.

Nodding, your nails clack on the calculator as you plug in the numbers and it displays the same answer as his. “Good job. Let’s make things more interesting, try #10.”

“Interesting? Yeah, right.” His short laugh fades when he glances down and spots the complex problem filled with lots of numbers and exponents that go to the sixth power. You purse your lips to hide your satisfaction at his silence. “Okay, I’m starting to see why you’re a tutor now. You like to see us students suffer,” he says and you shrug.

Pinching the sheet of notebook paper, you hand it to him. “Here, you might need this.”

“Thanks,” is his dry remark, sliding the white page closer so he can copy the problem down on the first line. It takes him longer to solve and you watch him bite his lip as he works, brows furrowed in concentration. The yellow pencil scratches, lead painting the white a dark grey while you continue your observation.

Despite him needing help with the material, he didn’t appear to be flustered nor did he pause for more than a few seconds which was fascinating considering the fact that most of your other peers would get stuck after some point. While others would be unsure, Taehyung’s confidence never actually faltered.

You push your calculator towards him when he’s done so he can check his work. Using the pencil’s eraser, he types the buttons and hits ENTER, which the screen then displays a different number than the answer on his paper.

“You’re so close. I think you either misplaced a number or you didn’t factor properly. See if you can find it,” you suggest to him.

Taehyung scans over his work and his eyes light up when he finds the mistake. Erasing the bottom half, he fixes it and gets the same answer that is on the calculator.

“Good job! Do the last two and then we’ll be done for today.”

The last two turn out to be especially tedious and when he gets stuck on the first one, you help him as you explain the problem step by step. Despite the minor hiccup, he remains unfazed, simply watching as you write down the correct method, leaving a few notes on the side in blue ink for him to remember.

“There’s actually lots of ways you can do this, but I find this way to be easier. If you have another option that works for you and you still get the right answer you can do that instead.”

He nods and push the paper towards him so he can work on the last one. Again, you help every now and then, pointing to where he went wrong. “One tip to keep in mind is you can tell how many answers you need to find by looking at the exponents. If the highest power is four, you know that there will be four roots to find.”

Taehyung looks up at you when you say this, eyebrows raised. “Seriously?”

“Yep.”

“Huh, that’s good to know,” he replies, returning to the problem so he can continue working. Once he’s done he shows the paper to you and you skim through it.

Sliding your hand across the table, you point to his answers. “Close, but you’re not done yet. The x is still squared so you need to find the square root. Other than that it looks good.”

He divides the 4 and 25, x equaling 2 and 5. “And then they have to be plus and minus, right?”

“That’s right.”

Taehyung boxes in the answers and you nod.

“Great, you’re really getting the hang of it,” you tell him. Checking your phone, you see that it is just after 8:00. “If you want to meet again we can. It can be with me or another student it’s up to you, just call the tutoring center to schedule another appointment.”

Collecting the sheets of paper, you slip them in a pink folder so you know which one is his.

“Yeah, I think I’ll stick with you. I don’t know want to know what the other students are like with their teaching methods,” he chuckles returning your pencil and you take it before putting it with your other writing utensils.

“They’re probably more lenient than me I’m sure. If that’s the case, then you can just text me directly.” Pulling up your contacts, you push your phone to him and he does the same with his, setting it in front of you and you put in your information.

He gives your phone back and grabs his in return, opening his messages as he starts texting somebody. “Well, if you don’t mind my torture methods I guess I’ll just give you some homework for you to practice.”

The boy’s thumbs pause, hovering over the keys when he realizes what you said. “Wait, hold on a second. I thought you were a tutor, not a teacher.” He complains, eyes wide as he stares at you with his mouth partially open.

Ignoring his objection, you flip through the pages and find some problems for chapter 3, grabbing another blank sheet of paper so you can write down a few exercises along with the page number. “I mean; you were concerned about the syllabus so it’s only fair if I stick to protocol.” You give him a pointed look and put the assignment away. “By the way, this is yours to keep,” you add, handing him the striped pink and white folder.

“Gee, thank you. So I guess I’ll be seeing you in two months.” Since he had no bag, Taehyung had no choice but to carry the neon file with him, which was noticeable against his dark clothes.

“That’s fine. Whatever works best with your schedule, just let me know and I’ll check what days I have available.”

Your unfazed reaction at his bluff has his lips poking out in distaste and he grunts. “Fine, I’ll see you in a week.”

Shaking your head in agreement, your fingers grasp the front cover of your textbook as you prepare to close it but he stops you by pulling it towards him. You watch with raised brows, hearing a click.

“Do you not have the textbook?” you ask, eyes narrowing and he looks up to meet your glare with a smile.

“Not yet,” is his response. He shuts the book and it thumps from the force before he pushes it back to you.

Putting your hand on top of the book, you drag it closer and put your other folder that has all your scratch paper next to it. “You need the textbook for the homework and that’s not coming from me.” All the college algebra professors assigned work from the book, some even going further by adding pop quizzes to see who read the chapter.

“I’m not going to support a school that forces people to buy its exclusive textbook that costs that much money,” Taehyung scoffs, not that you blamed him in the slightest.

“Then you might want to find a friend because you won’t find it online,” you suggest and grab your calculator, sliding it up so you can put the cover on.

“Eh, I’ll see what I can do.” He says, his chair scraping on the floor as he stands. “Do you want some help putting your things away?”

You look down and see all your things across the tabletop. “Actually yeah, that’d be great. Thank you.”

“No problem,” he responds, stacking your folders and spiral notebook on top of the textbook before picking them up to put them in your backpack. While he does that, you click your pens shut, tossing them in your pencil bag and zipping it closed, sliding it onto your wrist.

You hear your backpack zip as well so you grab your empty coffee cup and phone. Taehyung walks ahead of you with his new pink folder clutched in his hand. Following after him, you stop to throw your cup away before leaving the café and find him waiting in the library foyer holding the door open for you.

“Thank you,” you say and he hums in response.

As you prepare to leave, you hear him call your name and you turn around to face him.

“Thanks again for the help. I’ll let you know when I’m free.”

“Of course, I don’t mind at all. Yeah, just text me when you want to meet and if you get stuck on any of the problems, call or text me and I can help. It also helps if you go to class.”

Taehyung blinks, “how do you know when I’m in class or not?”

Shrugging, you look away before bringing your gaze back to his questioning stare. “We’re allowed to sit in classes that we tutor so we can stay up to date on the material. I go to your class every now and then, but whenever the professor takes attendance you’re never there.”

He heaves a loud sigh, slowly walking backwards. “Fine, I’ll go to class.” His eyes flicker downwards for a split second. “By the way, I like your shirt. Really suits you,” he adds, lips turning upwards and you have to glance down to remember what you were wearing.

You snort upon reading the printed text.

“So she does smile.”

Raising your head, you roll your eyes, smirk still on your face. “On occasion.”

He cocks his head to the side, “for now,” is all he says before turning around and walking away.

You watch his retreating figure before heading back to your dorm. The distance to your building isn’t far, taking a little less than 10 minutes to get there. When you arrive, you slip under the alcove and grab the lanyard around your neck. Finding the key at the bottom, you pick it up and insert it into the lock, twisting it to the side. Your door opens and you pull out the key before going inside, metal frame shutting behind you a few seconds later.

“Honey, I’m home,” you announce your presence to the room.

“About time,” a voice says and you see your roommate lying on the couch, eating a bag of chips while watching T.V. “How’d it go?” She sits up and holds the bag out to you to which you stick your hand inside.

“Pretty well actually.” You admit, biting into a salty chip. “Taehyung’s a bit cocky, but he’s nice and didn’t give me any problems.”

“That’s good.” She says and you nod, going to the dining table so you can put your pencil bag down, slipping the wristband off. “Are you hungry, Y/N?”

“Starving.”

“Want some of that leftover pizza?” she asks and you hear her grunt as she stands.

“Yes, please,” you sing, turning around to watch her walk to the kitchen.

Your roommate opens the fridge to grab two slices for you and you make your way to the living room bookshelf, reaching for your history book that is resting on one of the lower shelves. As you get close, you bring it towards you and then you try to turn around, only to feel a thump from behind when you hit the wall which causes you to wince.

“Are you banging on the wall again?” Your friend asks, opening the microwave and setting the timer before pressing start.

“No!” you yell in denial.

“Liar,” she hollers back.

Muttering to yourself, you maneuver your way out from the space and retreat to the table, placing your book on top. The microwave beeps a minute later and your roommate sets the plate in front you.

“Thanks, Kara.”

“Uh huh,” she grabs a napkin from the middle of the table and puts it next to you. Looking up at her, you see her smirking at you.

“What?”

“Nothing. I still can’t believe you wore that shirt,” she says through pursed lips in an attempt to hide her smile as she walks away.

“Hey, my SMArtass shirt is great! Apparently Taehyung says it suits me.”

Coming back beside you, she puts your cup of water down next to your plate, white straw sticking out of it. “In more ways than one, that’s for sure.”

Your response is to whack her arm and she sticks her tongue out, lightly kicking the wheels behind you.

“Don’t hit me!”

She scoffs, “I didn’t even hit you, I bumped your chair. That’s payback for the poor wall you put a dent in,” Kara responds before sitting back down on the couch.

“You’re just jealous that I’m stronger than you.”

Your friend barks a laugh, “oh whatever. Shut up and eat your food.”

A/N: It’s finally here! With only a couple of hours to spare, this has been posted on the very last day of August. Honestly, this is another work I’ve been waiting to start on for a year because it wasn’t ready and I still needed to plan some things. So the reason I was waiting for August is because this month is National SMA Awareness month! I’m going to go in further detail about what that is in later chapters, but the short and to the point summary is that a good majority of people with this disease are wheelchair bound. (Like me!) This idea started out when I noticed there wasn’t a lot of disabled stories in K-Pop. The few I did come across were about different disabilities such as, being blind, deaf, or unable to speak, so I decided I would write my own story about someone who relies on using a wheelchair. Surprise! Okay, so this is super duper long, but please leave your feedback and let me know what you think. Thank you again for reading!

#v scenarios #taehyung scenarios #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts #v #badboy!taehyung #disabled!reader #Boundless Love

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eerythingisshaka · 6 years

Text

Some Weeks Are Better Than Others Pt. 3

(“...you really did a number on me.”)

M’Baku x Reader

*Part 1* *Part 2*

Word Count: 3.7K

Plot: You and M’Baku have to be apart for a business trip you are taking. Leaving him sucks for you both, but career is important and he supports. But the trip is a lot more than a test of your value to your job, but to your relationship as well.

*Previously*

After toweling off, he heads for the bed, covers feeling cool against every inch of his skin. His body begins to wind down from all of the sexual frustration and Jabari disrespect, but is not used to the extra space in his bed. He is still mostly on his side, but feels over to yours, imagining your curves as his own personal skyline. He reaches for his phone to check, but nothing is on it from you, just a couple of memes from the other Jabari clowning him endlessly. He sets it back down, turning toward where you would be. He was already remorseful, especially since you were right, but he didn’t want to bar his guys from visiting, that is just rude. He takes a deep breath, drifting off to hopes of tomorrow being better.

The irritating jingle of his alarm wakes M’Baku slowly as he reaches to turn it off. The soft yellow glow of the sunrise seeps through the blinds as he awakes. He turns over to reach to the other side of the bed but his hand drops dramatically on the mattress. M’Baku’s head flies up in distress only to calm down once reality settles in again. Your body where you once laid for him to snuggle and grind up on in the morning is now miles away from him. M’Baku’s face plummets into his pillow, letting out a frustrated huff. This was going to be a lot harder than he imagined. Having the house to himself seemed like it might be relaxing but physical touch is M’Baku’s love language and that is just not possible solo. He tried that yesterday, and it just isn’t the same with you being there.

Rolling off to the side, he sits for a moment, head hanging, collecting his thoughts. It’s a little after 4 am, so you wouldn’t be up just yet, he surmises but picks his phone up anyway. No message from you, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re still angry, right? He hopes you will text him anyway, but you were pretty damn pissed so if 10 am comes without an answer, he’ll go ahead.

Rising with a stretch, he goes to the restroom, get dressed and gets some breakfast going. Heading downstairs, the remnants of last night still lurks in the room. No time to clean now. he shakes his head to himself, promising that he will talk to his men about treating his space with some damn respect. Getting the blender ot, he puts together a protein shake to get his body going for the day. The house is so quiet without you being there. Even though you didn't have to be up at his work hour, you couldnt sleep without him and sometimes you would blast some old school jams while making him a decent meal before he goes to work.

Decked out in his Under Armour shirt and Adidas track pants, with his Pumas on, he was ready to get to the gym. M’Baku has been doing physical training for a few years now. He dips and dabbles in many different channels of training, but today is just a simple boot camp regime that he advertised to get people right for the summer. It’s a quick and easy way for people to become interested in his program, and it usually pulls a certain type of clientele. They come for the workout but stay for him, which he is completely aware of. But it never becomes more than shameless flirting on their end and once their session is up, it’s done anyway.

Hopping in his SUV, he sets off to work. Making his way down a freeway, the trill of a phone call interrupts his Jay Prince jamming. Your name displays on his dash, causing his heart rate to rise a little, thinking fondly that you still can't rest at this hour. But also, will you be mad or over last night by now? M’Baku picks up.

“Hey, whatchu doin up this early, love?” He asks tentatively.

You say groggily, “I couldn’t sleep much more. You know I’m always up at this hour but I think I’m nervous about the first day.”

M’Baku nodding says, “Oh, please. You got this (Y/N). You come this far, you’re just getting your feet wet. Once you are in it, you’ll probably be bored to death.”

You smile to yourself thankful for his encouragement. “Yeah it’ll definitely be bored with all these white folks trying to pep us up in the world of business and commerce. You headed to work?”

“Yeah, might even be early this time,” M’Baku says, reaching for his shake taking a sip.

A police car zooms up to M’Baku’s car. The officer is looking at M’Baku for entirely too long since he is driving on the highway. M’Baku looks at him through his peripheral.

“Did you get some real food in you instead of just that protein lab created mess?”

M’Baku screwing his face up in a knot, “Yeah, I just got some fruit and a bagel.”

The police officer is still parallel to him. M’Baku looks over once and the officer has a radio in his hand, talking into it, looking him dead in his eyes.

“We were out of bagels when I left…” you say suspiciously.

M’Baku chuckles nervously, “I am capable of replenishing the fridge, you know?”

M’Baku keeps looking forward, he switches lanes to make the next exit.

You, not convinced, “Riiiight. Well I’m going to lay a little more until I have to get ready. Drive safe.”

“I will, go get em.” But you already hung up. Nodding to himself, M’Baku says,“Ok, we are still mad.” Looking in his rearview, the police car is gone.

That wasn’t the worst conversation you all had, but the tension was still there. M’Baku didn’t want to engage with you about it head on since you are just starting our first work day, but he does not like for arguments between you guys to go unresolved, he faces the issue head on and talks it out. So for now, you win, but the war ain’t over.

M’Baku pulls up to the gym, Baerobics. It has a reputation of hiring the best trainers that are the best looking. It won’t discriminate though, since everyone has their own taste, but it is practically a workout buddy meat market. M’Baku was a popular choice for clients but he believes in his work so the turnover rate is a little high, but those that stick around are either dedicated or paying for a show, which is still a win-win either way.

Swiping his key card, he makes his way inside. The receptionist says good morning as he makes his way to his space to set up for his first appointment. It’s 5:45 am, so he had a little time to look at his emails.

There’s a knock at his office door, and it’s the receptionist.

“Hey, how ya been, big guy?” She asks in a cheery tone.

“I’m great, Cheryl. You have a good weekend?”

She rolls her eyes, walking in like the details are too juicy to keep at the door. She is a brunette, 5 foot nothing, menopausal caucasian. She talks too much, but is good people.

“I thought you’d never ask. I told you about my nephew? Well, he has his graduation coming up.”

“Coming up? It’s already halfway through May, you didn’t mention it before.” M’Baku leans in, inquisitively.

“RIGHT?! I didn’t know until now! He is so secretive, and unsocial, I can’t wrap my head around that guy anymore. My sister is in shambles, trying to plan out the party on such short notice. Cake, photographer, venue, inviting family. I try to tell her to cool it, and keep it small, but she is not a friend of common sense.”

M’Baku discreetly looks at his computer’s clock. His appointment should be there any minute.

“Well, if you guys need any help, just let me know. I love decorating, and I could bring a dish or two. I feel like family, as much as you talk to me about them.”

Cheryl covers her heart, “Ohhh, M’BAKU, you are a saint made for sin! I’d love to see those hands do delicate work!” Laughing out loud, landing a hand on his forearm. She is like an aunt to you, but her jokes always make her infatuations clear.

The bell at the front door rings faintly in the background, making Cheryl jump up.

“Oh! We’re open! So I will text you later this week about the details, because we could use all the help we can get. Plus I have someone I’d love for you to meet.”

M’Baku raises his hands in protest, “No, no, no, Cheryl, I have a girlfriend.”

Cheryl turns mouth agape, “Still?? Wow, she must be a keeper then. Well, she is friendly, so it may happen regardless, she knows boundaries though. Thanks again!”

Cheryl leaves, M’Baku rubs his eyes in frustration. Why did he sign up to help her? He doesn’t know when it will be and for how long. He doesn’t even know her people, what if their racist as fuck?

He gets an IM from Cheryl, You have a visitor!

M’Baku types back a thank you and gets up to look out in his studio.

“M’BAKU! Getcho fat ass out here boah!”

He knew that voice anywhere, Akoje made his way to the stude.

“Akoje, what are you doing here man?”

Akoje was binding his locs into a bun on top of his head. Bouncing on his toes, his tall lanky frame was decked out in some bright neon patterned tights and a one-piece that said “I Need a Baker” with the face of the referenced singer.

“I’m cashing in on my free trial session, Kukie.” He says as he drops down to do burpees.

“I gave you, like five of those, which was four too many.” He says through gritted teeth.

Akoje pops back up to standing, “Oh, you keep count? Well then shit, just help your Jabari out, I have no means of training. Look at me, I am flab and bones.”

He turns sideways, practically doing a backbend to show off a non-existent belly.

“Ayye, go on with all of that, man. You should have had a membership of your own now. You could get your steps in by cleaning up my place for the mess you all made.”

Akoje lifts his hands in innocence, “Hey, that had nothing to do with me, you know Ogoro is on his see-food diet. We told him to slow up, but luckily the toilet wasn’t too far.”

M’Baku claps his hands in excitement, “And another thing! What the fuck happened in my bath-”

The door to his studio creeks open.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, traffic was pretty crazy today.”

M’Baku’s real first client comes in. Her yellow bone body, looked like gold melted into some hot pink fashion nova workout gear that does not hide a single aspect of her figure, which itself is nothing short of an advertisement for being someone’s trophy wife.

She lays down her bag and water, and Akoje in entranced.

“Ok, scrap the training, lemme be your assistant today.”

“No.”

“Come on! I been wondering about becoming a trainer anyway.”

“No.”

“I will pay YOU to let me do this.”

M’Baku pauses, then hold out his hand, “Gimme $20.”

Akoje unzips a side pocket on his legging and slaps it in M;Baku’s hand, looking back at the client Birdman style.

M’Baku pockets the money, “Now get out.”

Akoje looks back incredulously, “Man, I gave you the money!”

The client looks at them cautiously, then back to her phone.

M’Baku starts loudly, “Yes sir, thank you for catching up on your sessions, but I am with someone at the moment so please ait in the lobby until we are done here.” He takes Akoje by the arm and leads him out the door.

Once outside Akoje points back at M’Baku saying, “You ain’t shiiiiit. You better give me some details later!” Right before M’Baku closes the door.

M’Baku turns back to his client, “I am sorry about that, forgive me. I am M’Baku, I will be your Baerobics instructor this week.”

The client giggles holding out a manicured hand, “No problem, it was kind of cute to see. You all cousins or something?” she says with an accent from somewhere South.

“Yeah, we are. A little too close in relation if you ask me.”

“Oh cut him a break. I wasn’t sure who was my trainer so maybe he should consider it. I’m Kenie by the way.” She flashes a Colgate, dimpled smile that caught M’Baku a little by surprise as she puts her hand out for a firm shake.

“Kenie?” M’Baku repeats.

“Yeah, like Kenny from South Park, just spelled different. It’s short for Kennedy, but my friends call me Kenie.”

“Oh, ok. Well then Kennedy it is.” He says, before chortling out loud. Kenie made a face, pushing him at his chest, as he feigns injury.

“My goodness, you are stronger than you look, Ms. Kenie. How could you?”

“Yeah and you are only soft in feelings, I see.” She says, shaking her hand like she just punched a brick wall. Kenie was very charismatic so far but M’Baku knew how to keep it casual and professional.

“So let’s just go over to my office and do a questionnaire about you dietary and training needs”

He pulls out a chair for her as she arches her butt out to sit. Maybe she can’t help it, but M’Baku kept his gaze averted. He makes his way to the other side, her eyes follow his body until he is seated, and they get started.

M’Baku starts his introduction, “So, I like to start my sessions just asking what your goals are, and what you’re looking to improve on during these sessions.”

She crosses her arms under her breasts, looking off into space, “Well, summer is approaching, so you know bikinis and pool parties are happening real, real quick. So I just want to make sure I’m toned up, some definition on my stomach,” she looks down feeling her flat tummy, “And get my arms right, legs tight, all that.”

M’Baku looks her over as she points to her ‘problem areas’, “Yeah, you have a good foundation in your midsection, I can tell. But there’s plenty to do that’ll get you toned, just have to mostly watch your diet to make sure it appears.”

Kenie rolls her eyes, “Ugh, I know! I just love my carbs though, it’s a struggle.”

M’Baku chuckles, “Yeah I love them too, sweets as well, but it’s about moderation and discipline to get the results. You won’t have to give them up too long though, I don’t believe in completely abstaining from what you crave.”

Kenie leans forward, hands on her knees, biting her lip looking over his desk slightly. “I know, I agree completely.” M’Baku was not sure if they were talking about sweets and carbs anymore.

Clearing his throat, “Ok, so we can do some little warm up exercises just to see where your fitness level is.”

Back in his studio, M’Baku requests her to do some squats, watching her form. She is hesitant every time she goes into it.

M’Baku approaches her, “Try to keep your back straight as you go down.” She nods, attempting again.

“Not quite like that. Carry your chest high and try again.” He puts his hand to her upper back as she goes down.

M’Baku touches under her bicep, “Arms up and lean back a bit further.”

She looks like she is fighting back a smile, but she turns into a pro at it after a few rounds.

“Good, again.” M’Baku commands.

She breaths and goes.

“Perfect, now lower.”

She goes, little lower for two rounds.

“Ok, I think you can go lower.”

She does, smiling broadly now. “I can definitely do that…”

“Yeah, that’s it! Good. Ok stop. That was great!”

She smiles, fanning herself, “No thank you! Seeing that in the mirror was a treat.”

“Yeah, your form really locked in once we got going.”

“Mhmm...once I get going, it’s hard to stop, especially when it feels good, you know?” She says with an odd expression

M’Baku nods looking away for a second, “Ok, now we’ll move on to some ab workouts.”

M’Baku gave her a full body workout: Abs, arms, lower body, cardio, stretching. She didn't seem to be a stranger to the gym, but she may have been nervous because everytime M’Baku came close to target specific parts of her body that she needed to watch, she really listened and seemed renewed with purpose.

“Thanks again for the session, you really did a number on me.” She takes his hand.

“No problem at all, you are a great student! So is it the same time tomorrow?”

“Sure! I may be walking funny, but I’m sure you’re used to that effect on people.”

As she left, M’Baku went to his phone, checking to see a snap from you. It’s a picture of a meal captioned ‘Continental breakfast=TRASH’ He smiled, sending her an SMH text. Back in his office, his studio door opens and AKoje bursts in, “Yo, that baby girl you were bending over and shit is having car troubles, you got jumper cables?”

M’Baku goes down to survey the scene. Kenie is long faced before she see’s M’Baku approaching.

“Hey, M’Baku, I am so sorry. Your cousin offered your help before I could figure things out. You don't have to, but I just can't get the damn thing to start.”

“Yeah, lemme get the cables.”

M;Baku pulls his car in next to hers and pops the hood so start the process. A couple of turns and she finally has power again.

Looking relieved, she yells out the window, “You are a godsend! Thank you thank you!”

M’Baku unhooks the cables and comes over to her window, “It was nothing, we can't have you stranded on your first day.”

“I will have to repay you!”

“No, don’t worry about that.”

“Please! I got you, I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll think of something. But for now, I will see you tomorrow”

She pulls off and Akoje is slow clapping.

“What in Hanuman’s name are you doing?”

Akoje stops and laughs, “My my, I should be asking you the same thing! What was that?!”

M’Baku is confused, “You told me she needed help, so I came to do that.”

Akoje nods, “Mhm, and she is going to come back to do you, trust me.”

“Ayye! What kind of language is that. You know that’s not going to happen. You shoot your shot, ok?”

“Oh I plan to trust, but I actually don't know. I’m smart but no psychic, but a rocket scientist isn’t needed to judge that she wants that ass man.”

“I'm not stupid. She isn't the first to come on to me, if she even was, I never entertain that, you know.”

“Yeah except she isn’t ugly or crazy acting. I’m just telling you to watch your back. As far as handling all that ass, I know she could use your help getting real loooow, and DEEP into those exercises.” Akoje says with throaty bass in his voice.

M’Baku brushed off Akoje’s talk. M’Baku is as wild about you as you are about him, so no instagram model is going to take his heart that easily.

Later that day, after going through his appointments, he starts to head home, exhausted and sweaty to the nth degree. A call comes through on his dash, Mama.

M’Baku clears his throat before picking up. When his mother calls, he never knows if it is to say hello, how are you, or to cut him down to a nub for not calling or coming around more often and not appreciating her.

“Hello, Mama, what’s up?” M’Baku says in a cheery voice.

“What’s up? Is that how you greet you mother? Try that again.” she says sourly.

M’Baku rolls his eyes, “How are you doing today, mama?”

“Oh, I am doing great, Kuku!” Renewed with a bubbly personality. “What are you doing now, my son?”

“I am headed back to the house, probably relaxing for the evening.”

“Ohhh, you work so hard all the time. You deserve it. But don’t act like you are 80 years old, you have it so much better than me or your father did at your age.”

M’Baku’s mother was pretty good at building up to a compliment and adding a criticism at the exit door.

“Yes, I know mama. Did you need something?” he says exasperatedly.

“Oh, I thought you’d never ask. Well, I could use some help with this new shelf your father bought but will not read the instructions for. So now it is some abstract art piece in the middle of my floor.”

“Ok, I can do that. Maybe I’ll come by this weekend to do it?”

He hears her kiss her teeth, “Eh, you super busy this week or something? Does the girl have you running around for her, waiting at her hands and feet?”

M’Baku shakes his head, accelerating, “No, mama, she is out of town this week for work.”

“OH!!” she exclaims. “Then you should take me out! It’s been so long since you and I had mother-son time alone. How about that?”

M’Baku thought about this for a beat. It had been a while, not because he didn't like to see his mother but it’s so busy working and taking care of your own problems before adding on someone else's. They used to get into some heated discussion over this, especially since being with you, but she seems to have adjusted for the most part.

“Ok, that sounds good then. I’ll call you when I have the time.”

“Ok, Kuku. Muah, I love you!”

“Love you too, mama.”

Making it back inside, he is greeted yet again with the mess left from the day before. Yet again, he is too tired to even deal. Whipping his shirt off, he adds it to the pile of mess and makes his way upstairs to shower. As the water ran down his head to his body, he thought about his day. He will have to cancel with Cheryl because of his mom, so for once, thank Hanuman for her calling. Getting his washcloth lathered, he worked on his chest and torso. And that girl, Kenie. Something seemed different about her than others he had seen. Neck and face done, he works his sensitive areas and crevices. Clearly she flirted, but that wasn’t it. She was really interesting for some reason. He turns the cold water up some to rinse off, shaking his head as the water cascaded down.

Then the thought that he hadn’t heard from you all day came into his mind, so he hops out of the shower and makes his way to towel off and goes to the bedroom. Picking his phone off the charge, he looks at his messages. Nothing, not a single text or missed call from you. It’s only 6 pm so your day might not be quite over yet, but you send a text to her just asking what’s up. Walking away he gets a text almost immediately from you.

Yeah, fine but we need to talk.

*Part 4*

Other Works:

King Kil’mawalls

N’Jadaka’s Helpful Hands

T’akia

Commencement Day

The Ragtag

@sweetpeachjones @hairhattedghooligan @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @universalbri

#m'baku #m'baku x reader #mbaku x reader #mbaku #wakanda #black panther #marvel #fanfic #mbaku fanfic #m'baku fanfic #black panther fanfic

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abstractedthinking · 6 years

Text

D•E•A•T•H•N•O•T•E

Meet my sides

What my sides look like

Ficlets: First day Sleepless Hold onto me (cause I'm a little unsteady) You Can Run Away With Me

I do not own deathnote or any of the content portrayed in the Anime. This is created by a fan in order to expound upon the love I have for it.

Now that we have copyright issues out of the way I do need to say that this has VERY MILD spoilers of episode 12: Love. Nothing beyond that. This is made because immediately after the *sterotypical dumb blonde* appeared and revealed their motives, I immediately started to pick them apart and try to understand them on a psychological basis.

If you are not up to episode 12, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAVE IT MILDLY SPOILED!

With all that out of the way, let us begin. (Ps this also apparently takes place at a time after Sleepless)

****

Everything has started to finally relax after the attack from Salem on Parker and her sides, Parker went to a new doctor and got a new prescription for an antidepressant known as CeleXA, and after it kicked it Salem's clutches upon her loosened slightly, just enough for self-preservation to win out every time, and since Salem was much weaker, Katya's injuries got less and less severe but she still was just as exhausted each time.

Parker had decided that she wanted to take care of Katya's injuries as, 'it was the least I can do... you've saved my life how many times now?'

After a slightly more aggressive attack from Salem, Katya and Parker sit on the couch in the physical world watching Netflix together. More specifically Deathnote. A show that both of them had been wanting to watch for a long time. Originally they just planned to watch one episode as Parker cleaned and bandaged a scratch on Katya's wrist, but, Parker had pushed up her leather jacket and black flannel sleeves to see that all the old scars that littered her arm had reopened, "Katya! Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

The side simply shrugs, avoiding the host's eyes, "Take off your jacket. The flannel too."

"Not gonna happen, Park. It's really not that bad." She shoves down her sleeves and hunkers in, watching the anime intently. When the credits roll the anxious side unfolds herself and stands and readies herself to sink out, "If you let me take care of all of your injuries I'll marathon this with you."

The Anxious side slowly turns to look at her, the wheels in her head turning, ".... if we marathon it, it'll be available in the mindscape for me to watch whenever."

"I know."

"If I can watch it whenever I'll be able to see how popular culture of the time and even theories possibly influenced the anime."

A smirk, "I know."

Parker can feel Katya's own excitement buzzing under her skin, and can practically see the wheels turning as she weighs the pros of staying (Deathnote, psychological evals of the characters, Deathnote, conspiracy theories of the time period, Deathnote!!! Psychoses of the characters! DEATHNOTE) verses the cons (jacket gone. Flannel gone. Skin on display. She's going to touch me. She's going to see all her old scars. What if that causes her to relapse. Will I be able to save her again.) Katya turns her matching green eyes to the host's, taking Parker apart and seeing if her own her own desires could possibly be taken into consideration and fulfilled for once. After thorough examination of her consenting host's mental state, she sighs heavily, "Start up episode 2." She slowly begins to remove her jacket and carefully fold it up, followed by her flannel so she only has a soft black tank top on. The various marks on her arms are on full display, the reopened wounds stand out vibrantly against her pale skin. She lowers herself back to the couch and scrunches into a ball, resting her head on her knees, stiffly holding her arm out.

Parker gives her a grateful smile as she pushes play, making sure it's started before she begins to clean and bind Katya's wounds. Too focused to notice how some of tension leaves the other at her touch.

It takes her a bit to finish cleaning and covering the reopened wounds, but as soon as she says she's finished, the anxious side immediately pulls her flannel back on, "... you know you don't have to do this every time right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Parker. Come on," Katya leans forward and presses pause, stopping somewhere in the midst of episode 4, "I'm a side. I'm not an actual person so I can't die, I need a few of the things that humans need to survive, but at the end of the day... when I get hurts it's not a big deal."

Parker stares at the other open mouthed,"Okay. You're an aspect of my personality, yeah. But that doesn't mean that you or your hurt are any less important," she grabs the others hands, just slightly colder than her own, "You're physical. Right here, right now you're real flesh and blood and bones. Which makes you just as deserving of care. Hell, even when you sink out you're still deserving of care! You protect me so much that literally the least I can do is to is try to help ease your pain afterwards! I can't be there all the times and that sucks, but when I can be I'm going to try to fix you up as best I can and try to take care of you. If movies are included with that, then we're gonna watch movies!"

Katya looks down, a small rare smile crossing her features and reaching her eyes, "I forget how stubborn we all are sometimes...but thanks..." she clears her throat, a bit uncomfortable, "Back to the Anime for crying out loud!"

The credits for episode 12 start to roll, "WHAT?!" Katya pushes stop, and gets to her feet, "Okay no," she starts to walk a line in the floor, turning back and walking the same line, pacing. Her heavy platforms loudly thunking with every step she takes, "Nearly everyone in this show is real messed up. So, we've got L, Light, and this blonde bitch, Misa. L is the most normal, he's a genius, he might be a sociopath- no it's more likely he's on the autism spectrum with how he operates. He's also highly functioning with a strong sense of justice-"

"He must be protected."

A pause in the rhythmic thumps, "Shh." The thumps Resume as she continues, "I really want to pick him apart but... I don't know enough yet!"

"If he gets hurt I'm gonna cry."

The platforms once again pause, "Don't even say that," they resume their stride, "Light is a huge piece of work.. Light could 100% be a sociopath but-"

"-But he exhibited signs of distress when he realized the Deathnote was real and was actually killing people."

"Don't blame him for that," Katya chuckles, "so even though thus far he exhibits a lot of signs of sociopathy... he might not be one. It's more likely-"

"-or lightly!"

"Don't start that. You're not as clever as you think. Anyway, he could have antisocial personality disorder... he exhibits lots of those traits..."

"He is also really narcissistic, I mean 'I will be the god of this world' come on!"

Katya smirks, "Yeah. He's definitely a narcissist. But he's also detached... he didn't give a shit in one of the first episodes if Ryuk was gonna take his soul.... but again, sociopathy... he doesn't give a shit about what happens to people if it helps him create his perfect world."

"Hmm... he's also extremely detached with himself since he was able to stay cool under L examining him.... so he could have some aspects of psychopathy as well.. if the spaceland date was anything to go by he's also emotional abusive with the girls he interacts with, and he only interacts with people if it will benefit him."

"I bet he pulled wings off of butterflies as a kid," Katya states ceasing her pacing and staring at Parker.

"There's no doubt about it," Parker nods.

"... but he also treats Kira as a separate entity, so he could have multiple personality disorder."

"... that's true. But now what about Misa-"

"Don't get me started on blondie. She's stupid! And arrogant! And she gives up half of her lifespan so she can maybe help him out by killing L? Did the shinigami dying for her give her some sort of a god complex?! And she wants to meet Kira so badly?! She does what's called Monster Worship! UGH!" Katya flops back onto the couch, drawing her knees to her chest. Parker looks at her, snickering when she's reminded of L,"How do you know so much about psychology? I thought it was Athena that handled all my knowledge."

"I'm left brain too. I know stuff too, plus it's interesting cause it lets me see people's motives easier."

Parker slowly nods, "I gotcha."

"But this show is driving me crazy! The characters are just... GAH!!"

The two are quiet for a moment before Parker breaks the silence,

"So you wanna watch more?"

"Fuck yeah."

"Light needs lots of drugs. Lots of prescription drugs to fix all that," Parker says, leaning forward to start the next episode.

"No fucking joke."

sorry this took so long to get up! I've had it written but no time to edit it

Please leave feedback and let me know if you would like to be added to the tag list!

@parkersanders / @xaandiir @emo-space-trash @sunshinelollip0ps @gabe-killed-me-with-ace-cream @ssides @ashrain5 @sketchymel @theoneandonlyfangirlofpower

#my sides #thomas sanders #fanders sides #me #fic #ficlet

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 7 years

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The Least I Can Do (Part 2)

Summary: The reader tries to go on her date with Jensen but it’s harder than she thought it would be...

Part 1

Pairing: Jensen x reader

Word Count: 2,900ish

Warnings: language

A/N: Oh boy, this one got away from me a bit...

This was exactly why you didn’t go on dates. The guy seems nice and then he doesn’t show up, doesn’t even call to say he can’t make it or give some lame excuse why he isn’t there. Here you thought maybe this one was actually decent.

You were at your apartment, dress back on the hanger, heels back in the closet, face washed and hair thrown up in a messy bun when you saw your phone ring.

“Nope,” you said, ignoring the phone as you returned your attention to watching mindless TV in an oversized old shirt and fuzzy socks. About thirty seconds later it was ringing again. You groaned but grabbed the phone and answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, Y/N. It’s-”

“What do you want, Jensen?” you asked, trying to keep your voice neutral. He was quiet for a second before you heard his sigh.

“I’m really sorry. Work ran late and I didn’t have my phone and I get it if you think I blew you off,” he said. Ugh, why’d he have to sound so sincere?

“It’s almost 11 and I have work in the morning so if you don’t mind-”

“Tomorrow night, let me make it up to you,” he said. You pinched the bridge of your nose. Shit, you were really going to give him another chance. “Don’t make me beg.”

“Tomorrow night. 7. Same restaurant as tonight. If you skip out on me again Jensen...”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“Okay, he is seriously never getting another date ever again,” you said to yourself, huffing out in the cold winter air as your phone showed it was 7:10. He was standing you up. Again. Your phone rang and you answered, just as a black SUV pulled up in front of the restaurant, probably some rich couple out to have a nice date night. “Jensen, where are you.”

“So, work ran late again but before you hang up...” he said fast, your eyes watching a man step out of the SUV and open up the door, showing it empty. “I asked work to send a car and pick you up and bring you here so we could still have our date.”

“You want me to get in a car with a stranger?” you asked, looking over to the friendly looking man cautiously.

“You said I don’t get another chance after tonight. Please trust me,” he said.

“This is insane,” you said, taking a step towards the car. “What are you, some kind of workaholic lawyer or something?”

“No, definitely not that,” he said, a laugh in his voice. “You’ll probably figure it out by the time you see me. I got to go. I’ll see you in thirty.”

“Well, I guess you’re my ride?” you said, holding your phone as the driver chuckled.

“Yup. Jensen must like you. He’s never done this before,” he said, helping you step up into the backseat with you heels on.

“I barely know anything about the guy apart from his name,” you said, buckling your seat belt as the driver climbed back in.

“Yet here you are. You must like Ackles too,” he teased, signaling and pulling back out onto the road.

“Ackles?” you asked.

“It’s his last name kid. This is probably going to be a bit of a surprise for you then.”

It’d been about forty minutes and you were sitting on a small couch in a very nice trailer on a film set. Yeah, surprise had been a word for it alright. You were still catching up to what your date did for a living when the door flung open and there stood a patch of dirty blonde hair with two styrofoam containers.

“Hey! You got in okay?” he asked, smiling wide even though he looked tired. He sat the containers down on the counter as he looked over you sitting in your black dress, ready for a date in a nice restaurant. His gaze traveled down to boots, jeans and a plaid shirt with some trickles of fake blood on it. “Well one of us looks very pretty and it’s certainly not me.”

“You look very rugged,” you said. He raised an eyebrow and you smiled. “I like rugged.”

“I didn’t have time to change yet. I’ve got a suit I can-”

“Dude, you worry too much,” you said, standing and walking over to his counter. You’d decided against the heels in the small space and you’d forgotten how tall he was. “How’s the weather up there?” you teased, trying to get him to relax.

“Oh, wait until you meet Jared,” he said, opening a drawer and pulling out some utensils.

“Is he tall too?” you asked, watching as Jensen set two places quickly at the small table off to the side.

“There’s a picture on the fridge,” he said. “Grab whatever you want to drink.”

You walked over and looked at some of the photos. Most of them were of him being goofy with a couple other people that probably worked there. It didn’t take long to figure out who Jared was.

“The guy’s huge!” you said, glancing back over your shoulder to see Jensen smiling.

“His wife is like a foot shorter than him. I’m not even kidding,” he said. You chuckled as you took in more of the pictures before you realized Jensen was waiting for you to join him at the table. You quickly grabbed a bottle of water and sat down in front of a plate full of pasta.

“This looks good,” you said, Jensen rubbing the back of his head as he sat.

“It’s nothing special. I ran and made it up in craft services real quick. I hope it’s not terrible,” he said.

“Wow,” you said, picking up your fork.

“Wow what?” he asked

“You actually made this. That’s...sweet,” you said. You took a bite and couldn’t help but keep your eyes from going wide. “If the acting thing doesn’t work out, go be a chef.”

“I’d say something witty back but you’re very beautiful so I don’t think you have to worry about the model thing not working,” he said, letting his nerves of being late again fall away.

“I’m not sleeping with you on the first date,” you said, watching him nearly choke on his food.

“I wasn’t-”

“You’re very cute when you blush,” you said, pointing at the light flush on his cheeks. “You tend to do it a lot around me. Especially when you’re nervous.”

“Oh, I’m not nervous. I’m excited,” said Jensen, a smirk appearing in that smile he always seemed to be wearing.

“So I excite you?” you asked, giving a smirk back and wondering why the hell you were flirting like that after just saying you weren’t sleeping with him.

“Yes. I thought that was obvious by my blushing, Y/N,” he teased. “Now the real question is why are you blushing? Don’t tell me you’re a little softie under that calm and cool demeanor.”

“I don’t know,” you said suddenly, Jensen answering with a chuckle.

“I think you’re cute when you blush too,” he said, playing with his dinner. “I’ll try to do that more often.”

“So Ackles,” you said.

“So...shit,” he said, shaking his head. “I guess I have a lot to learn about you, huh?”

“We don’t have to do it all in one night. We can hang out tomorrow if you want,” you said. “Y/L/N by the way.”

“Alright, Y/L/N. I’m going to take you up on that,” he said. “You’re going to have to take another chance on me though if you want to spend this weekend together.”

“Well as long as I get to see you blush some more I’d love to,” you said. Jensen nodded and asked if he could step outside quickly to make a call. He was back a minute later. “Cancelling your other date?”

“Poor other girl didn’t stand a chance against you,” he joked. “Okay, enough with the cheesy one liners. I want to actually learn about you.”

“Go for it.”

Dinner flew by and you were getting far too used to the way his green eyes shone when he looked at you. It was easy with him, just like at the show and he somehow managed to be a gentleman without being overbearing. Plus his hair was still doing that swooped up thing that was driving you nuts.

“Jensen?” a voice on the other side of the door said. He sighed and walked over to open it up. “They need you on set.”

“Can I have ten more minutes?” he asked but they were shaking their head. “I’m sorry Y/N. We have to end our night I suppose.”

“Wait. What size are you Y/N?” asked the person with a clipboard and headset. You really didn’t want to say that in front of Jensen, not this early on.

“Um,” you said, glancing over to him for guidance.

“It doesn’t matter. You look like you’ll fit,” they said, waving the both of you after them. Jensen shrugged but you slipped on your heels and grabbed your coat anyways, stepping down after them. It was late now and someone appeared and pulled Jensen off in one direction, you in the other.

“What’s going on?” you asked, being led over to a different trailer and ushered up the steps. Someone tossed some clothes at you and asked you to do them a huge favor and put them on. You did as told, used to that on a daily basis.

But you were quickly being ushered off to a different trailer, someone wiping away all of your makeup and replacing it with only touchup on those troublesome spots. You were put in the next chair, someone looking at your hair you’d put up in a bun with a few loose pieces. They complimented you before ripping it apart and throwing it into a side braid that took her thirty seconds.

“She’s good!” she yelled and the person who’d originally stopped at Jensen’s trailer came and in and told you to follow after. You were officially rolling with it until you were being walked onto a set and you knew this had to be some kind of mistake.

“I can’t...really? She just quit like that?” you heard Jensen say as you walked into view. “Oh hell no.”

“It’s the last shot of the episode and your friend fits the clothes. It’s just a stand in shot on her back. It’ll take two minutes tops,” said a man wearing a baseball cap.

“Hi,” you said, walking up to the group, noticing all the other people around that looked tired and ready to go home.

“Y/N right?” said baseball cap. You nodded and saw the guy that was Jared off to the side, trying not to be in too much awe at him. “We’re in a bind and could use your help. All you have to do is stand in a spot. It’s not hard.”

“Okay,” you said, Jensen still fuming.

“That doesn’t solve the problem of next week. Shit, the girl had a ten episode contract and she quits right before it starts?” he said. “It took them forever to find someone in the first place.”

“It’s not your job to worry about that. Just-” said baseball cap before he was interrupted.

“It’s Dean’s love interest so I mean...” he trailed off.

“I don’t mind filling in,” you said. You saw more than a few heads whip around. “It’s just standing there right?”

“Yeah,” said the baseball cap. “Jensen, Jared, go get in your places while we go over this with Y/N.” You had no problem with standing there and it was over in about ten minutes after Jensen and Jared said their lines.

“That wasn’t so bad,” you said. “Easier than a runway.”

“Sorry about this,” said Jensen, walking you to the side when shooting was done. “I didn’t know they’d go and grab the first person they saw.”

“It was interesting,” you said. “Dean.”

“My secret’s been revealed. I play the awesome Winchester,” he said, showing the way out. You heard a huff of air behind you as you caught sight of Jared.

“Yeah right shortie,” said Jared. He smiled when he saw you. “So you’re the girl Jensen’s been gushing over.”

“Shut up or I’ll never babysit for you ever again,” said Jensen but not before you saw him blush.

“Aw, he babysits,” you said, Jensen groaning.

“I like her,” said Jared, pointing to you as he took off in a different direction. “See ya tomorrow dude.”

“See ya,” said Jensen, walking with you back to where your clothes had been left. “This is probably a bit much for a first date.”

“I get to be in a TV show. That’s just the cherry on top of this evening,” you said, bumping into his shoulder playfully. “You okay? You seemed mad about this new person quitting.”

“It was...I don’t know,” he said as you walked, holding out his arm as you slipped yours around it naturally. “You’ve never seen the show or heard of it, right?”

“I’m gonna binge it on Netflix now,” you said, feeling his laugh run through his body. “What?”

“It might take you a while,” he said. “Like a really long time.”

“Good. I hate searching for new shows,” you said. He sighed as you slowed your walk.

“My character carries a lot of baggage. Like a crap ton. He’s had a few romantic interests before but they just didn’t work out for one reason or another. This season for the second half, they were giving Dean a new one.”

“You were excited,” you said, Jensen nodding.

“But they were going to be different. The hope was that the interest would stick around, become part of the main cast. Give Dean something good after all this time. It was going to be fun to play. But shooting was supposed to start on Tuesday. They won’t find a new interest that will fit that quickly. They’ll probably just write her out now.”

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” you said, stopping at the trailer where you could change. Jensen waited for you before he stopped in his own trailer quickly and popped out in sweats and a hoodie.

“It’s been a long day,” he said, smiling. You returned one and soon you were back in a car heading home. “I almost forgot about your surprise for tomorrow.”

“My surprise?” you asked. The driver laughed and you tilted your head.

“I’ll text you in the morning with what you need to do,” he said, leaving it at that. For a few minutes you sat in a content silence until Jensen was glancing out the window.

“I thought you said you were going to drop Y/N off at her place first?” asked Jensen as you pulled up outside an apartment building.

“He is,” you said, Jensen squinting his eyes.

“This is my building,” he said. You glanced outside. Nope that was definitely your building.

“What are the odds of that?” said the driver with a smirk. “See you Tuesday Ackles.”

“Night,” Jensen said back. The two of you exited and said hello to your doorman before stepping in the elevator.

“Well this is a coincidence,” you said.

“That’s a word for it,” he said. “It’ll make walking you home after dates easy.”

“So what are we doing tomorrow, Ackles? I’m curious what our second date will look like,” you said. The doors opened to your floor and waited for an answer but Jensen wasn’t giving one. “Oh come on, not even a hint?”

“Put it this way. You’re either going to be impressed or never want to see me again after Sunday,” said Jensen. “Might as well hit the ground running if this thing is going to work between us.”

“Wait, we’re going a weekend trip? That’s like actually cute and thoughtful. I mean it’s a little early but if you want to go into this fast-”

“No, I don’t want to rush at all. But I want to get to know you more this weekend. It just so happens to be a con weekend so I figure if this doesn’t scare you off, I’m in the clear,” he said.

“Your odds are looking good. I do have one question. What’s a con?” you asked. He chuckled like it was an inside joke.

“Oh, it’s an experience,” he said. “I’ll tell you more tomorrow when I stop down to pick you up.”

“You better,” you teased. “I want to know what I’m walking into.”

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he said, moving his head in but letting you go that last inch before he was kissing you.

“Goodnight, Jensen,” you said, feeling all kinds of bubbly after pulling away. Shit that scruff, normally you hated that feeling when you kissed someone but his felt scratchy in a good way. Not to mention those soft lips.

He gave you a wave when you stepped out into the hall and down to your apartment. You should have crawled into bed but you couldn’t help from turning on the TV and finding the show you’d been looking for.

“There’s 11 seasons on here? He wasn’t kidding,” you said. “Just one and then bed. Tomorrow’s probably going to be very interesting.”

A/N: Read Part 3 here!

@charliebradbury1104 @everyday-supernatural-af @squirels-angels-and-moose @youwerelikeadream @drugpug @darkx143 @kristaparadowski @tom-is-in-my-tardis @tanithlowisabamf @smoothdogsgirl @dancingalone21 @ktrivia @demonic-meatball @feelmyroarrrr @cojootromuelle@illisea @gallifreyansass @fangirl1802 @itstheprincess @casgetoutofmydiddlydarnass @mogaruke @secretlyfurrydragon @ria132love @heycassbutt-67 @aingealcethlenn @docharleythegeekqueen @missmotherhen@smacklesandstretch67 @tumblinwith-me @awkwardcupcake95 @heaven-is-aplaceonearthwithyou @hey-um-misha @imissyoualittlemoreeveryday @lovelife-tothefullest @safehaven1097 @under-general-asthetics

#supernatural #spn #jensen x reader #jensen ackles #supernatural au #jensen #spn fic #supernatural fic #supernatural one shot #spn one shot #dean winchester #one shot #x reader #jensen fanfiction #actor x reader

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christopherthomas8 · 7 years

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Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul Review

Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul – An Honest & Extensive Review

This excellent video provides a very exhaustive and refreshingly honest review of the Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul. It’s a very nice guitar, but… Well, I’ll let you see for yourself. Seriously, this is a must watch video if you are considering this guitar.

youtube

2015 Gibson ES Les Paul Reviewed by a Pro

Hey everyone, Nick Palazzo, hopeless guitar enthusiast here again. Now, if you want a guy to do demos and reviews on last year’s model, not cutting edge, older gear, well I’ll tell you what, I’m your guy.

I have here with me a 2015 Gibson ES Les Paul made in Memphis, in historic light burst. Now, there’s dozens, if not hundreds, of videos blog posts reviews articles, forum threads, about this guitar, as with any Gibson model. So why do another video demo of this guitar? Well, I thought that it was a lot of regurgitated information, some of it incorrect, Gibson sales pitch and some of the features are just kind of blown over and I kind of wanted to, as always, get into the details, go under the hood, and show you some stuff that I think gets left out in a lot of other posts and reviews. Also, for the sounds, I play this guitar with both d’addario gauge 11 flatwounds and Ernie Ball Slinky 10 round wound. You get to hear both a mellow, warmer, jazzier tone and the more typical, brighter rock tone.

Memphis Les Paul Hardware and Specifications

Standard features found on any Gibson model; twenty-four and three-quarter inch scale length, Tune-O-Matic bridge, stop bar tail piece, two humbuckers, individual volume and tone, 3-way toggle. It’s got a one-piece, non-laminated, dark Indian rosewood fretboard with a one-piece mahogany back, one point seven inch bone nut, F hole and grade truss rod cover (who cares), Les Paul model on the center, Gibson logo in mother-of-pearl, Kluson vintage style tuners with a sort of translucent Keystone with white marble plastic and it kind of looks cool. Now the frets they advertised as a lower profile. But they don’t give you any specs. I measured them with my digital calipers. They are approximately, I think, forty-seven thousands is what they were going for on the height and about ninety-five thousands width. So a more medium, vintage style fret. I do want to note that in line with many of the Gibson models nowadays, is they’re not doing the binding edge. The fret work goes all the way over the binding. Guitar joint has a four-degree angle. Cream plastic on the whole guitar, including the neck and top and bottom of the body, and the rings, and, of course, it does come with a pick guard I took off to display the beautiful top. The Tune-O-Matic bridge is basically a vintage style with the smaller, thinner threaded rod going straight into the body, but they do add that modern feature of the allen heads on each post so you can lock down once you set your height, which is kind of cool. This guitar features the MHS Memphis Historic Spec humbuckers, which according to Gibson, is their most accurate PAF replica to date. Boy, I’ve heard that one before. Now, pretty much every humbucker nowadays is a PAF replica. I’ll let my playing display the tones of the guitar. It’s very subjective. According to Gibson’s website, they’re wound with 42 gauge enamel wire with Alnico 2 magnets in the bridge and alnico three in the neck. Now, most reviews have that flip-flop, but according to the site, it is alnico 2 and alnico 3.

A Les Paul with a Neck You Will Love

One feature, I think, that gets blown over and every single review is the neck profile, which I believe is one of the most important features of the guitar. I really love the profile on this guitar. It’s pretty unique to this model as far as I know. A lot of people are familiar with the slim taper profile. It’s been on the Les Paul Traditional and the Classics, the 61 SG reissue, for all those years that they made that guitar. This one’s definitely thicker. It’s not as big, as say, the RH, the 58 Custom Shop reissues which have like one inch deep and big shoulders. This one has 85 thousandths depth at the first fret, about ninety-five thousand at the twelfth. It’s a rounded C profile, but there’s definitely more meat in the taper so it fills your hand a lot more, plus the 1.7 inch with nut versus like a one point six five. It definitely feels a bit chunkier. Again, not huge, but definitely more than a slim taper. Also, a unique feature to this guitar is that they add a little bit beefier taper at the joint here. On a lot of the guitars, this is the weakest point of that neck. A lot of headstock snaps here where you have the truss rod cavity butting up against the back heel. So there’s a little bit wider taper at the end of that. The truss rod is what they call a historic construction where it’s a larger diameter rod, single-action, with the anchor here in the body, and standard acorn nut coated with Teflon, so it’s not encased in the tubing.

A Hollowbody Les Paul with Great Tone

Now, the thing that sets this guitar apart from any other Les Paul, of course, is the hollow construction. The top, back, and the sides all use a three-ply laminated maple, poplar, maple laminate and there’s a mahogany center strip. Mahogany is pretty sparse. They call it weight relief. It has a little strip here at the bottom and narrows down and then there’s a block for the tail piece and the stop bar and then it goes back up to another strip and then it widens out again for the neck. When I change the strings, I took the time to take the humbuckers out and look at the thickness of the three-ply laminated top. Now the F holes have the sides painted black, so you can’t tell the thicknesses, but you can when you take those pickups out. The overall thickness of that top, I measured there, is about thirteen sixty-fourths, so a little shy of seven thirty seconds. But if you notice, that top veneer, it is a veneer, is basically a sheet of triple a maple. I measured it to be about 3/64s of an inch, so it’s very, extremely thin. The middle ply of poplar is about three thirty-seconds thick and that bottom section of maple is about 1/16. Now, that might vary a bit throughout the guitar of course. I can’t measure the back and I can’t measure the sides too accurately. But you’ll notice some of the kind of machine routing, the splintering of the wood in there. It’s a mass-produced guitar. I mean that stuff happens.

Now, the story that I purchased this from displayed this guitar as a Historic Light Burst. There are many different versions. It’s essentially the same model, but there’s a lot of special runs that were made for certain stores, or limited editions, so I see a light burst in there with a VOS. This is a standard finish, it’s not aged in any way. They say it’s a Historic Light Burst. Maybe it’s just called a light burst. It’s kind of like a 59 Les Paul with the red faded a little bit. The back and sides, of course, have that plain maple, stained walnut brown, very beautiful. Kind of like an ES 330, sort of. The neck has got the same stain, but it’s kind of interesting. If you look at the filler, the filler almost has like this metallic look to it that pokes through. It’s not that it looks bad, it’s just kind of a unique look to it. It’s kind of unusual. But if there’s a contrast of the mahogany versus the maple that uses that same brown stain.

Fit and Finish a Bit Disappointing

As far as the finishing details of this guitar, there’s a lot of imperfections that I found. The person who scraped this had a bad scraping day. There’s almost like an inch long gouge into the walnut stain here on the side, and there are plenty on the back butt-end of the guitar where you just see the lines where they just didn’t have it in line with the binding and scraped right into that brown stain. At the neck joint, it looks like the brown is cracking. I don’t think it’s going through the clear coat, but it’s almost like it shipped up and bubbled at the joint and you look down at it, and there’s a lot of, it looks, it just looks like it’s cracking and bubbling. It’s kind of annoying and it’s not the only model, ES model that I saw this on. I saw it on an ES Les Paul Custom and I saw it on a few other burst tops. It looks like it’s safe. It’s clear coated over, but it is kind of nasty looking. Now I’ve never been to the Memphis factory, but I’ve had several friends that have been there and I guess there’s a part of the tour where they’ve got a whole row of guitars lined up that are just waiting to meet the bandsaw because there was an imperfection or some little defect. As far as I know, Gibson doesn’t do factory seconds anymore. They don’t do like a B stock thing. Granted, yeah for a new guitar, it’s kind of a drag to see these little imperfections, but overall, this was a pick of the litter. I played many ES Les Paul’s and this one was a standout. And so if overlooking these little imperfections in there kept it from being destroyed, I’m happy because overall, it’s an awesome guitar.

Now, let’s take a look at the case. In my opinion, I think that this is one of the more top-of-the-line hard shell cases that Gibson has. It features of brown Tolex covering, a nice beefy padded leather handle, black or dark gray plush interior. In the pocket, you have the Gibson Memphis warranty with a checklist and a certificate of authenticity. Now, if I had one complaint about the case, it’s just that it was actually almost too tight of a fit. I remember when I purchased the guitar I felt like I had to almost crunch the thing to get it to fit in the case. But now that it’s lived inside there a bit, I think it fits pretty well and I don’t have to crunch it anymore.

Now I’m fortunate to live in the Chicagoland area, so I can trip over music stores, especially Gibson dealers, and get my hands on pretty much any model that I want. I made this video because I know not everyone is that fortunate to be able to just go to the store and try out a Gibson. So I hope that this review went over a lot of the details that may have been omitted in previous demos and reviews, and if there’s something that I wasn’t too clear on or maybe missed, make a comment below so I can go over that and display some of the features that I might have missed out on.

In conclusion, I’m not going to say that it’s a great guitar. It’s a, you know, it’s a mass-produced assembly line guitar like all Gibson’s are, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Most guitars are. I like this particular one. This is, again, a pick of the litter. I went and played a lot of different ES’s and this one was a standout. That’s why I purchased it. But if this helps maybe distinguish some of the unique features of this guitar, that’s all I wanted to do. I’m not saying you should go out and buy it, or it’s the right value or the right one for you. I just wanted you to make an educated decision when you’re going and looking at Les Pauls.

Now, there’s many different ES Les Pauls in the line. Don’t let that confuse you with the special rods and limited editions. Every guitar nowadays is a limited edition. It’s basically the same guitar that I displayed here, maybe with a with a different finish and certain specs which should be highlighted. But overall, it’s the same guitar.

So thank you very, very much for watching. Please purchase this guitar for me so that I can afford to buy new gear and do some more reviews, and if there’s a certain product that you want me to review, please let me know. I’d love to hear some feedback and any excuse to go out and feed my addiction would be nice.

Okay, sorry about that. Went brain dead for a second.

Source

Source: http://electricguitardigest.com/gibson-es-memphis-les-paul-review/

from Electric Guitar Digest https://electricguitardigest.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/gibson-es-memphis-les-paul-review/

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fayebeasley · 7 years

Text

Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul Review

Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul – An Honest & Extensive Review

youtube

2015 Gibson ES Les Paul Reviewed by a Pro

Memphis Les Paul Hardware and Specifications

A Les Paul with a Neck You Will Love

A Hollowbody Les Paul with Great Tone

Fit and Finish a Bit Disappointing

Okay, sorry about that. Went brain dead for a second.

Source

from Electric Guitar Digest http://electricguitardigest.com/gibson-es-memphis-les-paul-review/ from Electric Guitar Digest https://electricguitardigest.tumblr.com/post/161828543690

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electricguitardigest-blog · 7 years

Text

Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul Review

Gibson ES Memphis Les Paul – An Honest & Extensive Review

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2015 Gibson ES Les Paul Reviewed by a Pro

Memphis Les Paul Hardware and Specifications

A Les Paul with a Neck You Will Love

A Hollowbody Les Paul with Great Tone

Fit and Finish a Bit Disappointing

Okay, sorry about that. Went brain dead for a second.

Source

from Electric Guitar Digest http://electricguitardigest.com/gibson-es-memphis-les-paul-review/

0 notes