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cacoetheswriting · 2 years

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hey! if you're taking requests, would you consider writing something for eddie munson? something with a little mutual pining??

*comes out of hiding, writes an eddie fic, disappears again*

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader word count: 2.7k summary: during a heat wave, you find yourself at eddie's trailer. turns out the two of you aren't as over one another as it would seem. warnings: (+18 MINORS DNI): mature themes, adult language, drug use / mentions of drug use, sexual tension & implied smut, use of pet names (princess), allusions to battling addiction, parental issues (deadbeat dad), a little angst, a little fluff - unedited - pls let me know if i missed anything!

The summer season this year was a lot hotter compared to last.

Starting as soon as mid-May, it brought with it harsh humidity, sweltering sun, and a drought comparable to the 1936 North American heat wave. It was the sort of hot weather that could quite possibly boil the blood of those who did not or could not find a way to cool down. And the news reported it was unfortunately only supposed to get worse.

You, like pretty much everyone in Hawkins, found the heat unbearable.

A week ago you sat in your room with the blinds closed, but sadly now that wasn’t an option because the air conditioning at your house broke and your dad was too conked out on the sofa to even look at it. Normally you would call someone to fix it instead and that is what you wanted to do this morning, however when you reached into your wallet you were greeted with a big fat nothing.

Actually, no. There was a note.

‘Add it to my tab. Love, dad.’ — Well, that explained where he got the money to get himself in the state he was in.

At that point in the afternoon, anywhere you could have remotely hidden from the sun was unattainable, especially and most regrettably the community pool which was overcrowded with stupid little kids. That is why you ended up where you did. Definitely not where you wanted to be, but in your own defence you were on the verge of a heat stroke and not thinking clearly.

With your index finger bent ever so slightly, you knocked three times on the trailer door.

You could hear a slight commotion inside, from abrupt coughing to shuffling footsteps and random clanking. When the door swung open, you caught a whiff of the reason why.

“y/n—” Eddie choked out, clearly surprised to see it was you standing on his doorstep. Surprised yet oh so very relieved.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Eddie stepped to the side, allowing you to squeeze past. His gaze stuck to your frame, following you around his living room until you reached the rattling A/C unit at the window.

“I- eh, I’m sorry about the smell,” he uttered, running a hand through his hair, “I-I wasn’t expecting company.”

You hummed in response. Or perhaps you said it was okay. Eddie couldn’t really tell since his mind was working a little slower than usual (due to the activity he was partaking in not even a minute ago).

Although, he was alert enough to note how your whole body gradually relaxed as the somewhat fresh air blew against your skin. All of a sudden, and only for a split second, you looked incredibly at peace.

Eddie bit on the inside of his cheek, fighting back a smile. “You okay there, princess?”

Wait. Princess? Princess… What the fuck? He shut his eyes momentarily and clenched his jaw, hating his big mouth for letting the word slip. Like, yeah, he still thought about you sometimes, but it’s not what he called you anymore. It wasn’t his nickname to use anymore.

“Mhmm, better now,” you mumbled, seemingly unfazed by the moniker (you could argue the heat messed with your receptiveness), before shifting in your spot to look at the curly haired teen. “So much better.”

With the A/C now behind you, there was a slow gust of wind blowing through your top. The nickname debacle running through Eddie’s mind faded as quickly as it occured. Fuck— princess. How in the hall was he going to concentrate now?

“Good, goodie, good.” He bopped his head and licked his lips.

Oh sweet lord. He was doomed.

“Sooo… to what do I owe the pleasure?” Eddie inquired, plopping down on the couch.

You couldn’t help but notice how his t-shirt raised in the process, revealing his lower abdomen. It was your turn to crumble. God he was always so fucking hot. With his impeccable facial structure, perfect smile, big doey eyes that literally made you melt, long fingers, soft touch—

You cleared your throat, eyes lingering a little too long on his exposed stomach.

He noticed. He liked it. Fuck. Not surprisingly Eddie always liked that kind of attention from you, and he secretly thought it was a real shame he was no longer on the receiving end of it. Not as often as he used to be anyway.

“The air con at my place broke overnight and, well, I don’t know, I just couldn’t think of anywhere else to go,” you admitted, meeting his big curious eyes.

He extended an arm to gesture around the trailer.

“Mi casa es su casa.”

You smiled at him. “Thanks, Munson.”

Anytime… princess, he thought. Or wait, did he say that out loud? Lord. He needed to get a grip. There was nothing there, with you, not anymore.

Honestly, the situation between the two of you was odd to say the least.

Simply put, the curly haired teen used to be your dealer. Well, actually, your dad’s dealer. You did the grunt work while your old man reaped the benefits. It was a strange arrangement, even for Eddie’s standards, but you clearly had your reasons and he wasn’t one to pry. You appreciated that about him. He kept his nose out of other people’s business. These days in Hawkins, it was hard to come by folks that stuck to their own shit.

You actually ended up appreciating a lot of things about Eddie. And the feeling was definitely mutual.

The secret meet ups in the woods or at his trailer blossomed into a friendship, then into something more, and then into complete shit. Moral of the story, never do your dad’s dealer - that’s what you would say. Eddie, on the other hand, has very little regrets. The only one being letting you move on so easily.

You ran a hand across your forehead, wiping away any reminiscent of sweat. Bopping your head back slightly, lips ajar, the cool air from the A/C doing wonders for your sticky skin.

Eddie watched you attentively. With every passing second he felt less aware of his surroundings, completely losing himself in you as his mind now raced with thoughts, (memories), too filthy to say aloud.

Once upon a time he would have been able to leap across the room and plaster his lips against yourss then lick the trickling sweat down your neck, down, down, down, as your fingers tangled themselves amongst his curls, tugging lightly when his tounge reached— Fuck, he wanted to scream.

“Can I ask you something?”

Yes, yes, thank you. Eddie straightened his form on the sofa, trying to look as normal as possible, right arm landing across the cushions.

“Anything, princess.”

Princess.

“Did you sell stuff to my dad recently?”

The question caught him off guard. Shit, maybe silence was better.

He cleared his throat. “Uhm, not since you asked me not to.”

“Oh,” you hastily exhaled a sigh of relief.

There was a brief moment of silence during which you moved away from the window and glided across the room to sit next to him. Sinking into the spot, your head unintentionally rested against Eddie’s arm. The sudden contact caused his heart to skip a beat, but he couldn’t think about that right now.

“Is he—” Eddie began but you knew exactly what he was going to say.

“Yeah,” you cut off and looked up at him, “hence the broken unit at my place.”

His brown locks bounced lightly as he nodded, a little slower than intended because the scent of whatever perfume you had put on that morning just hit him. Combined with the heat (and also the drugs), well, full transparency, it took all the power he had not to lean across and kiss you.

Bad timing, bad timing, bad timing.

“You know, I-I could take a look at it for you,” Eddie offered, trying to literally think about anything different to how close you currently were, “if you’d like?”

“No way,” you protested, “You’re in no state right now. Plus I’d have no way to pay you for your troubles since dad took the cash out of my wallet.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I am in tip top shape,” Eddie defended and you couldn’t help but scoff.

“Munson, you are one joint away from—”

He lifted his left hand, almost pressing a finger to your lips. “Unless you’re about to say - Munson, you are one joing away from a killer nap - I don’t want to hear it.”

You laughed while rolling your eyes. “That only proves my point.”

He pressed his hand to his chest, pretending to be offended. “Cheeky one, aren’t ya? I invite you into my home, let you use my air conditioning, and in return you just poke fun at me. I’ll be honest, princess, that’s a little rude.”

With that, he hopped up onto his feet and stumbled towards the fridge. You sat up a little wanting to make a snarky comment in response, but as you watched him manoeuvre around the small open kitchen, no words came to mind.

You watched as he reached for two glasses and inspected them under the minimal natural light to determine whether they were clean enough to drink from. Watched as he swayed on his heel, turning towards the fridge. Watched as he leaned slightly on the door of the appliance, head inside the cool interior, rummaging for something to drink.

A smile circled your lips. There was no denying that Eddie had this calming aura about him. Everything he did, even the smallest and most menial tasks, were soothing your soul. Once upon a time you would have thought this was love.

“Eddie?”

(God. The way his name fell from your lips was heavenly.)

“Yes, princess?”

Fuck sake. He really needed to put an end to that shit.

“Why did you stop selling to my dad?”

His head popped up at the question, attention once again landing on you. “I already told you. You asked me not to.”

You lifted your legs off the floor and onto the couch, bringing your knees to your chest and wrapping your arms around them. “Right, but, well, I guess what I want to know is why did you listen? Like, we weren’t anything at that point and I would’ve thought business is business, or whatnot.”

Eddie swallowed his breath. Partially because of where this conversation was heading, however primarily because you pretty much just flashed him. Holy shit. Unintentionally, obviously, but he saw your panties clear as day. Dark green. Lacy. New. Hot.

Nope. No. Fuck. Fuck.

What was going on with him? Navigating his thoughts this whole afternoon was considerably harder than one of his D&D quests. He could have sworn he was over you, and then you waltzed in here with your short skirt and sweet voice, he was hooked yet again.

Well, one could argue that for a blissful moment Eddie forgot the circumstances of your relationship, hence the trouble in differentiating in how he should and shouldn’t act around you right now. Because you weren’t really exes, you have to officially call yourselves something while you’re seeing each other to classify as an ‘ex’. You weren’t really friends, not anymore. Maybe just acquaintances or two individuals with a past.

God, he was an idiot. The two of you had so much potential. Why did he ever let it get to this point?

“I mean you don’t have to tell me,” you babbled, breaking him away from his thoughts.

Eddie straightened his form and closed the fridge, a chilled bottle of Coca Cola in his hand. He proceeded to then split the contents between the two glasses before making his way back towards the couch. He gave you one glass, making sure to alter his fingers when you reached over to ensure there was no accidental touch (because he simply wouldn’t be able to handle that right now).

He once again made himself comfortable beside you and took a big gulp of the drink, smacking his lips in the process.

Eventually, he looked at you again. “The truth?”

You nodded an unspoken ‘please’ and Eddie clicked his tongue in response before nodding slowly.

“The day you asked me, you just looked really defeated, you know?”, he began, “Tired and upset. I’ve never seen you like that before so I figured it must’ve been important that you asked and that I listened.”

He shrugged before continuing. “Couple days later your dad came to the trailer, he was definitely on something, and kinda seemed like he hadn’t slept in days, so I told him supply was low and he never came around again.”

Pause.

“I-I just pictured your face from when we last spoke and it hurt, you know?”

At that point, the two of you were clinging onto your drinks and staring blankly ahead. He wondered if he perhaps said too much and you wondered whether he would’ve been as honest if he wasn’t high.

Mostly however, mostly you were glad Eddie still gave you reasons to appreciate him more.

“He’s on probation,” you stated eventually, “That’s why I always got the drugs for him. If he got caught… I know he’s no exemplary father figure but he’s still my dad, and he can’t be my dad if he’s rotting in jail.”

Eddie glanced at you. “I didn’t know.”

“Not exactly something I advertise,” you pointed out and took a sip of your drink. Swallowing the fizzy gulp, you shrugged. “Sure, life is shit, and then you die.”

Eddie couldn’t help but laugh. One of those loud, genuine, and hearty chuckles. He didn’t mean for it to happen, truly, and again he blamed the devout friend still actively seeping through his system.

‘Life is shit, and then you die’, he swore that quote was going to be his next tattoo. Might even ask you to design it. He figured you’d like that. Brand him as your own. That’s all he ever wanted to be. Yours.

He thought he could only hope there was still a chance, but judging by how a smile broke your features as he laughed, and any tension you were feeling about the conversation you were having melted away, he had nothing to worry about. It was in your eyes, in the way your whole face changed from concern to joy. You wanted to be his too.

SImply a matter of time for forgiveness to kick in.

“You know,” Eddie began as the laughter died down, “I’m glad your A/C broke.”

On instinct, you smacked his arm. “Hey!”

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, princess!” Eddie exclaimed. “You’re seriously not even a little bit glad you ended up here today?!”

You shook your head dramatically and teased, “You’ll never hear those words from me, Munson.”

He scoffed and waved his arm, pointing to the door. “Then off you go, please, go back to your stuffy home while I enjoy a killer nap in my cool and cosy bed.”

Not wanting to be the first to break during this little charade, you handed him the half-drank Coca Cola glass and stood up. Your skirt capered with every step, Eddie’s eyes burning into the back of your legs. Was he really about to let you walk out of here?

“Always a pleasure, Eds.”

(The answer was no).

“Wait, wait, wait.” He hastily placed the glasses on the floor, almost causing a massive spillage, and hurried towards you.

“You don’t gotta say anything,” he chimed, stopping right in front of you, “In fact, my bed, as you already know or at least hopefully remember, is big enough for the two of us—”

The air suddenly felt tighter, as if the unit at the window suddenly stopped working, even though you could still very much hear it rattling.

“— And I am known to make exceptions,” Eddie noted before leaning in a tad bit closer with a sudden boost of confidence, “for the right people.”

For a split second, his gaze shifted to your lips and everything faded into the background. The sound of your heart thumping overpowered the surroundings and all you could think was how if he kissed you right now, you wouldn’t even be mad.

Instead his fingers grazed briefly against yours.

“Let’s go take a killer nap, princess.”

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#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fics #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson #stranger things fanfiction

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whentherewerebicycles · 1 year

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okay IUI cycle goals under the cut

I’ll have two weeks to kill before I test. here’s what I’d like to do or not do in that time:

no forum checking. I spent way too much time reading random internet threads and driving myself crazy last time. it didn’t give me any new or useful info and it just made the time pass slower. every time I feel the itch to google something or look at a forum, I want to instead replace that behavior with adding one sentence to my fic draft OR to my prep document for the campus visit.

I also want to try to avoid nonstop calendar checking or counting days. to some extent that will be inevitable (I can’t suppress my knowledge of where I am in the cycle lol) but I can definitely do a better job of not checking each day off a countdown list or counting how many days are left. my goal is to do the IUI today and then do my best to forget about it until it’s time to test on 4/4 or 4/5.

on a similar note: no early testing. I was still getting false positives from the trigger shot on day 11/12 and it was way more of a bummer to see a positive on the strip and watch it fade than it would’ve been to just get a negative on day 14. so I want to wait it out, which will be tough at times but is something I know I can do. again, when I feel the itch to test, I’ll open my draft or my interview prep doc and add a line. channel that antsy waiting energy into something productive!

the research and advice on exercise during the two week window is mixed—generally it seems like vigorous exercise is discouraged but easy to moderate exercise is strongly encouraged. I’d prefer not to stop running entirely but I may take a few days off after the procedure, then switch back to easy intervals at a slow pace every other day or every two days. I think my main exercise goal for this period will just be to continue walking 60-90 minutes a day. that might mean losing some of the progress I’ve made this month but that’s okay—it’ll be good to remind myself that you can build back up even after a break.

I would like to leave 14 comments on 14 fics! I have been slacking for months in that area and I feel guilty and a little disconnected from fandom activity as a result. I’m going to write a big reminder on my dry erase board so it’s right there in front of me at work every day.

I think that’s it! I don’t think I’m going to set any specific goals around writing this time around because I’m not confident in my ability to achieve them right now… and while I do want to challenge myself I want to first set myself up for success with these two-week goals and build a habit of accomplishing them before I set goals I know I’ll be more resistant to working towards.

#IUI goals

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sickly-sweet-imagines · 2 years

Note

Can you maybe make some Moondrop x reader SFW and NSFW headcanons please?

SO MUCH THIRST FOR MOON TOO But again I am also guilty of crushing on him so I cannot speak

Also, I’m sticking to calling them Sun and Moon in headcanons and fics (from what I can tell from the various signs and ads “sundrop” and “moondrop” are specifically the names of the candies branded after them + their names are Sun and Moon in the credits) but I’ll still tag them with Sundrop and Moondrop since that’s what it seems like people are adopting for them!

I hope you guys enjoy!

– – – – –

Moon is slower to trust than Sun is

When you first met him he was unwilling to talk to you at all, uncertain about if you were safe to talk to

Once he does start trusting you he’ll invite you to sit in the play structures with him a lot

Well, you sit in the play structures while he moves around with his spindly body, climbing in and out of the holes

He’s not as hyper as Sun, but he’s still got some restless energy

Whenever he wants to show affection he’ll grab your hand and hold it but pretend there isn’t anything happening

Expect your face to get grabbed a lot, he likes holding your face with both hands and staring at you

Sometimes his face will spin a little as he looks at you

It would be creepy if it weren’t for how affectionate he is with you

Affectionate the same way a cat is affectionate, that is

He is extremely possessive and clingy with you too, even though he pretends to be unbothered a lot

If you’re in the Pizzaplex after hours he’ll follow you around in the dark to make sure no one tries to flirt with you

Also Sun definitely helped him ask you out and make things official because he’s not as good at social stuff as Sun is

It comes with being quieter and less trusting

Sun still definitely teases him about it

Since he’s mostly only ever active in the daycare during nap time he doesn’t have as many activities as Sun does but he does try to get you to nap on him if you look tired

NSFW Under the cut!

Those low growls and noises he makes happen a lot when things are intimate

He’s more talkative and noisy when you’re getting him worked up, although it’s still all that low, quiet way he makes noise normally

You know you’ve got him worked up and horny when he grabs one of your hands and “Naughty naughty~”

If the lights go out while you’re cuddling with Sun, Moon will immediately have his hands on you feeling you up

His thrusts are a lot less messy than Sun’s because he’s much lower energy and has extremely good precision

He works you up just as much as you work him up- he loves seeing you get needy under him while he teases you

All of his grabbing doesn’t stop when you’re intimate, he just starts grabbing your ass and thighs instead of your face

He really enjoys your body

While he’s not too rough (definitely not as rough as Monty can be), he is rougher than Sun

If you let him he’ll spank you and choke you

He likes the way you whine when he spanks you and watching you gasping for air does something dirty to his mind

Since he isn’t as big a softie as Sun he’s better than him at aftercare, probably those worried daycare attendant instincts

#fnaf #fnaf security breach #security breach moondrop #fnaf moondrop #fnaf imagines #security breach imagine #moondrop imagine #fnaf x reader #security breach x reader #moondrop x reader

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randomshyperson · 3 years

Text

Left Behind - Chapter 10 - Atlantis

Gif was made by @abimess aka wifey

Summary: The one where you lived in the apartment under the Maximoff family in Sokovia, or, your journey as a Sokovian civilian to Avenger.

Series Warnings: (+16) Violence, fighting, cursing, civil war environments, abuse of power, assault, torture, underage kissing, psychological torture, substance use, mention of assault/fighting of children, smut, kissing, teasing, insinuation of sexual and moral harassment, verbal offenses.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader || platonic bucky barnes x reader, mentor!natastha romanoff and mentor!steve rogers, bruce banner x reader (friendship), pietro maximoff x reader (friendship).

Words: 3.445K

A/N> I should warn you for the angst in this one i think. Please don't hate the ending of this or the fic. Good reading you all. Also, listen to "Atlantis" by Seafret, i chose the name based on that song.

All Works Masterlist || Read on AO3 || Series Masterlist

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Chapter 10 - Atlantis

You ignore the insinuating look Pietro gives you when he sees you leaving Wanda's room in the morning.

"Not a word." You warn threateningly as he raises his arms in surrender, holding back his laughter.

You turn and go back to your room, trying not to smile like an idiot as you prepare for the mission, and failing miserably.

You try not to think about last night, or the morning after, but the feel of Wanda's lips on your skin is all that comes to mind for the next few hours.

Even during breakfast, where after she stole a kiss on your cheek in the hallway before you guys joined the Avengers, and sat beside you at the table while Steve went over some details to everyone, all you could think about was the last night. In Wanda's taste, her hands inside…

"Stop it." She warns softly at your side. Lower enough so only you can hear, and not to get in the way of the captain's speech. You blink in confusion, and then you understand. Feeling your face heat up, you look at her with a mixture of surprise and indignation.

"You can...?"

"Yes, now eat in silence please." She interrupts in the same tone, equally embarrassed as she keeps her gaze on the plate in front of her.

"Wanda?" You try next. And she mutters under her breath, and then she realizes. She rolls her eyes, and goes back to eating. You smile. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you could hear thoughts."

"It was kind of obvious don't you think?" She retorts mentally. "My whole thing is mind control."

"Your whole thing is to be the love of my life." You tease and she chokes lightly on her coffee, making you hold back a laugh as you gently touch her back. She says she's fine softly, and Steve, who had given her a worried look, goes back to talking about planning for the defenses in Sokovia.

"When this is over, I want to try a few things." You mentally tell her and Wanda looks at you quickly before turning her attention back to Steve. You imitate the movement.

"We'll leave as soon as you finish eating." Steve says already getting up. You suddenly feel anxious.

Wanda notices the way your body has tensed, and looks at you immediately.

"Hey, everything okay?" she asks tenderly. You give her a weak smile, placing your hand on her thigh. Wanda puts her hand on top of yours.

"I'm nervous."

"Me too." She confesses. "But we'll be fine. I got you."

"And I got you."

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As soon as you join the jet with the rest of the Avengers, you could already feel the control serum starting to wear off.

Sighing a little, you don't even have to ask to have Wanda's hand in yours. Her eyes and fingers glow red for a moment as she helps you, before returning to normal. You mumble a thanks, resting your back against the jet's wall.

"Remember what we trained, Avengers." Announces Steve upon entering. "Removing the civilians is the support team's priority, while Clint searches for Natasha. The strike team must deal with Ultron's guards."

"Yes, captain." The team says in understanding, and then the jet is leaving.

It takes ten minutes for Pietro to start teasing you.

"I hear we had a girls night yesterday." Commented the boy out loud, attracting the attention of Bruce and Bucky, who were standing next to you. Wanda glared at her brother.

"Pietro..."

"What is it, sestra? I’m just saying.”He joked. You wondered if you could throw him off the jet from that high. "I heard that this type of activity is a great stress reliever."

You felt your face heat up, and you sank into your seat. In the next second, the rest of the team understood. Clint whistled loudly, and Tony laughed. Bruce blushed and pretended to pay attention to his boots while Bucky giggled at Steve's embarrassed expression.

"Forgive me, I'm not following the reason for the humor in this conversation." Vision commented then.

"Don’t you dare." Wanda warned when he saw Pietro raise his hand to tell Vis what was being said, and the boy laughed before ducking.

Vision watched the interaction with confusion, but it was Tony who threw his arm around him.

"They had sex, champion." Tony announced, making you grunt in embarrassment. "I can't wait for Nat to know, she owes me fifteen bucks”.

“What?” Wanda asks, confused.

"Ah, it's just that before you arrived, the golden eyes there were always talking about you." Tony counts with irony. "How much she loved and missed a certain little witch and her inconvenient brother. So we made a bet that you two would work it out. I said it would happen before you went back to Sokovia, but Natasha thought Y/N was slower and would just work it out after we’re done with Ultron."

"Thanks for the faith, Tony." You mumble awkwardly, adjusting your posture. "Now if you don't mind, can you stop talking about my life?"

The team laughs but the comments about you and Wanda stops. Until you reach Sokovia, you spend your time playing with Wanda fingers as you both lay against each other's shoulders while listening to whenever small talk the Avengers build up.

Things get tense once you reach the country.

Steve signals that you arrive and starts moving around to get read for the jet to land.

You only let go of Wanda’s hand to put your suit on and once you’re done, she’s right in front of you, smiling tenderly as she puts a jacket on.

“Are you good?” She asks.

“Yes. You?”

“Yeah.” She aswerns as she moves forward to kiss you firmly on the mouth. It relaxes your body completely, and you keep your hands on top of hers that are on your face until you break the kiss.

You wish you could care about the teasing looks the team cast to you too, but all you see is Wanda.

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You sat down quickly on the ground, your body against a wall, while trying to get your breathing back to normal.

Wanda was using her powers to get civilians out of their homes, and well, it took some of her magical attention away from you.

It didn't take long for you to be able to detect all the biological life around you again, meters and meters away, quickly feeling overwhelmed.

"How are we?" Steve asked over the communicator, probably already advancing with the rest of the team towards the former Hydra base. You looked up at the sky to get a quick glimpse of Tony flying in his suit before he vanished away.

"All right around here, Captain." Clint responded first followed by the rest of the team.

Your hesitation made Steve specifically call you, but before you could say anything, Wanda was kneeling beside you, one hand on your shoulder and the other on her communicator.

"We are good." She responded before turning her attention to you completely. You felt her magic envelop you quickly, your body relaxing. "How do you feel, dear?"

"Better now." You respond with a smile. "Thanks."

As she helped you to your feet, you noticed her worried expression, and placed a hand on her cheek.

"I'm fine Wanda, I promise."

"Just don't push too far, okay?" She asks. "You can go back to the jet whenever you want."

"I'll be okay, Wanda." You mumble. "Let's get this over with so we can go back to bed." You teases with a mischievous smile, stealing a kiss before walking away, giving her a wink before heading towards the rest of the civilians.

Ultron had better plans than this.

“We need to get everyone out of here immediately.” Tony told through the communicator. “A vibranium bomb. We don’t have time.”

“Working on it, iron boss.” You mock as you helped another family move out of their home. Just like, Pietro had already headed to police stations and hospitals to remove people from there. There was a large crowd of inhabitants heading out of town, but there were still many more.

Peace ended quickly.

Ultron activated the robot army, and they literally began to sprout from the ground.

"Bucky, we're going to need support here pal." Steve warned through the communicator while you were drawing your pistol to prevent one of the robots from advancing on you.

"On my way, cap." The soldier warned. "Just don't tell my therapist."

You and the team laughed lightly as you fought. The whole thing getting bigger and bigger every minute.

Wanda covered for you while you guided people out, but it was becoming untenable.

So, as soon as she tore apart the small group of Ultron’s army that was surrounding you two, you called her.

"You can't keep babysitting me , this is getting too bad." You warned, your voice almost muffled by the length of the fight. The robots flying above you, and Thor and Vision facing them in the sky.

"I won't leave you." She insisted seriously and you swallowed hard.

"Wanda..."

“End of discussion.”

“You are cute and all, it's just that we have a situation here. Mind getting back into the fight?" Natasha's voice interrupted the moment over the radio, sounding amused and teasing. You sighed with relief when you realized she was okay, and you exchanged one last look with Wanda before going back to fighting. “By the way, Tony said I lost the bet.”

“Please don’t bring this back.” You ask Natasha, that just laughs before hanging off, not without teasing you about being proud of you for making a move.

The ground shook beneath your feet, making it difficult for you to keep your balance.

"Guys, what's going on?" You asked through the communicator.

Sokovia is going for a ride.

Friday tells the whole team. You gasp in surprise, looking around.

The ground is breaking apart, and the city is rising into the air. You don't need your powers to know that not all buildings are empty. The debris will end up hurting someone.

And even with all that, the advances of Ultron's army get even worse.

You barely have time to duck before Wanda rips apart a robot that attacked you.

Clint catches up with you two the next second.

"We need to regroup, Tony needs us back there." He warns you. You frown.

"Not a chance, there are civilians all over the place." You say, moving quickly to fire at the machines that have appeared behind you.

"Well, we need the offensive back at the church." He counters. "That's where the bomb is."

"You two go then." You say when you finish shooting. Wanda, who has just destroyed three machines at once, turns to you in indignation.

"No."

But you don't look at her, you look at the blue flash figure approaching.

“Hey Peete, do you mind?” You shouted to him as he stopped next to you two. He nods at you before picking Wanda up, who has no time to complain. He teases Clint "Keep up, old man." before disappearing at high speed, making you laugh.

Clint looks at you.

“Are you sure?”

"It's my job to protect them.”

“The Maximoff or the civilians?” He mocks, making you roll your eyes.

“Go, Barton.”

It doesn't take long for your biological detection to come back.

You think you're going to pass out. But you take a deep breath, and stumble among cars and wrecking machines.

Calm down. You remember Wanda's soft voice in the glass room. The feel of her fingers on your skin. Calm down, I'm here. You can do this.

"I can do this." You mutter to yourself, trying to keep your balance.

You find a horde around the corner, almost close enough to a group of civilians coming out of the municipal hospital.

Ignoring the feeling of being overwhelmed at being able to feel the fear and despair of those people, you advance with the pistol in your hand.

The machines were destroyed, but not by you.

"You took your time, Barnes." You tease with a wry smile, rushing to help the civilians, feeling their superficial wounds before helping them. Bucky smiles and shrugs, a rifle in his hand as he gives you cover to help the population.

"Two minutes out here and I'm already missing my retirement." He comments as he fires, making you laugh, a bit breathless due your powers. Bucky notices right the way. "Are you all right?"

"I'm just considering retiring too after here." You retort by standing up again, helping the little girl who had bruises on her forehead to join the rest of the family. She smiles in thanks, but you're already walking away again, your head pounding from how many people you can feel at once.

You stumble around the rubble to the front of the municipal hospital. Ignoring the memories you have of the whole neighborhood, you try to focus on some group.

"Y/N, I think there are kids coming out of that corner!" Bucky unnecessarily warns you because you've already felt them.

You recognize Church clothes that the adults leading the group wear. They are coming from the Orphanage where you grew up.

You run to catch up to them, and it's the first time you've really noticed Ultron's cruelty. It's a horde that arises, and they notice you right away. The machine in front follows your gaze to the small group, and it has a chance to shoot only you, but it turns its mechanical hand, and aims directly at the kids.

You widen your eyes, feeling your heart race.

"NO!"

Something explodes in your chest. Everything turns golden before returning to normal color. You can’t see the golden wave that reaches the group because there’s a pain in the back of your head that makes you close your eyes tightly.

The robot fired, but if it weren't for the gunshot marks on the robes, no one would know as none of the civilians had any injury. The kids were wide-eyed, and you fell to your knees.

Bucky shot the machines before looking at you in amazement.

"How did you do that? They were practically a street away." He asked in shock, watching the nuns guide the kids to cover quickly, just as in shock as he was. Your lack of response alarmed him and he turned to face you quickly, touching your shoulder. "Y/N, you're bleeding..."

"I know." You grunt weakly, taking a deep breath as you lean on Bucky to get up. "Let 's keep going."

You wiped the blood running from your nose with your hand, but ignored the wet sensation in your ears. Bucky hesitated.

"No, you're not okay." He insisted. "Let's go back..."

"Let go of me, Bucky." You exclaimed angrily, pulling his hands away. "I heal, don't I? I'll be fine. Let's keep going."

"Y/N..."

But you are already walking. You can feel all the injured, and you need to keep going.

You help at least two more groups to shelter, until you're resting your hands on your knees and trying to stay on your foot.

You see your blood dripping to the ground, and you hear Bucky's footsteps approaching, so you wipe your face quickly while disguising the way your head is spinning.

"This isn't working Y/N." He says as he looks around at the wreckage. "These things seem to grow out of the ground, and there's no end to them. The city is too high right now and these people have nowhere to go."

You were going to agree with him, but something in the sky caught your eye.

"I think that's their ride." You say while pointing straight ahead.

It's a gigantic ship, flowing alongside the city. You and Bucky exchange a look, before he uses the communicator to confirm that this was a good thing.

With Shield providing shelter for civilians, you started running to help evacuate people from the floating capital of Sokovia.

Your head was spinning, and your feet were about to give up, but you forced yourself to continue.

Your body is shaking when you turn to help a boy who cut his leg.

"Ty angel, devochka? (are you an angel, lady?)" He asks, scared when you heal him and you give a weak laugh.

"Net, ya Avenger. (no, I’m an Avenger.)"

The wound isn't that big, but it's enough to rob the air of your lungs. Bucky guides the boy with the rest of the group back to the ship, and you can barely stand, your stomach turning.

You force yourself to get up. Just a bit longer.

Lifting your hand to your ear, you call out to Wanda while leaning on the car beside you so you don't fall to the ground.

"Wands?" You say wait for her to respond. She sounds worried when she says your name, but you just sigh. "Babe, when this is over, I'm taking you out on a date. Like the cliches we've never done before, okay?"

"Why are you talking like this?" She asked, scared. You can hear the background noises, the way she was probably keeping the bomb safe but facing Ultron's army. "Where are you?"

"I think we should try Disneyland too. Americans seem to love that." You continue as you begin to walk again. One hand on the tech inside your ear and the other in the wound in your belly, formed while you faced the last horde of robots, not healing anymore. "You would like a candlelight date with wine and music, wouldn’t you?"

"Please tell me where you are, I'll come to you." She begs through the radio and you smile before hanging up.

You saw Clint run further to the town.

You take a deep breath, rushing to catch up. You also see the jet Ultron stole rounding the city towards them, the rifles outside ready to aim.

That's why Clint ran there, to save one of the civilians left behind, you notice as you see the little boy on your friend's arm.

You try to do what you did before. Project your healing magic to them to keep them protected, but as you lift your hands to do that, all you feel is a sharp twinge in the middle of your chest and you almost fall to the ground.

Fine, I'll heal them myself. You think impatiently as you ignore your own limit and run.

You are almost there. But so is Ultron. If you stay up front, you think you can protect Clint and the civilian, you'd heal later, no problem.

“I’m gonna win.”

You widen your eyes in surprise when Pietro whispers in your ear, disappearing in his speed the next moment.

No. Don't do this.

You feel the shots before you hear them. You feel it through Pietro's body, who stepped forward to protect Clint.

You throw yourself forward, desperate.

You reach Pietro the second his heart stops beating.

"Piete?" You call to him as he falls into your lap. You can feel the air disappearing from his lungs, life fading away "Hey buddy, don't do that. Pietro! Please..."

You bury your face in his chest, trying to hear something. Anything. You press your hands against his chest next, then his face.

"Don't die on me, Pietro." You beg with a sob. You force your magic in despair. No matter how much it hurts, Pietro cannot die. He just can't.

You can only remember the skinny little boy running with you in your childhood. Laughing with you on the roof. Teaching you to fight.

Your tears mix up with your blood.

"Captain, we have a problem." Clint announces at your side.

No.

I'm not giving up.

You grunt in pain as you press your hands hard on Pietro's chest, your veins popping with a golden light. You're not dying on me.

Something starts to pulse in your head. Loud enough to completely disorient you. Your eyes are heavy, and you choke on your own blood coming out of your mouth.

You smile because you can feel the air returning to your friend's lungs at the same rate as it leaves yours.

When Pietro breathes again, your eyes close.

/-//-//-//-////-//-//-//-////-//-//-//-////-//-//-//-///-//-//-//-////-//-//-//-////-//-

Tag List> @imapotatao / @aimezvousbrahms/ @ensorcellme/ @helloalycia || @mionemymind / @abimess / @stephanieromanoff / @yourtaletotell / @tomy5girls / @justagaypanicking / @thegayw1tch / @idek-5 // @myperfectlovepoem // @helloalycia // @ENSORCELLME // @AIMEZVOUSBRAHMS // @drpepperobsessed // @sighsam // @olsensnpm // @sxfwap // @table57 // @madamevirgo // @causeitswhatjesuswouldfreakingdo // @emptysince18x // @xastrydx || @yuhloversxx || @ymzki-haruki || @wouldirunofftheworldsomeday || @lostandsearching || @lezzzbehonesthere || @musicinourlips || @chaekhan || @diaryoflife || @cristin-rjd

#Left Behind #Wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #wanda maximoffxreader #wanda maximoff x yn #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff imagines #avengers imagines

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cheeseanonioncrisps · 3 years

Text

Honestly, controversial opinion, but Crowley arguably does move pretty fast, if you look at it from a celestial perspective.

“But they were friends for 6000 years!” No they weren't.

I mean, headcanons can vary, but if we're going purely by the text then they don't appear to have met up at all in the 1000 years between Eden and Noah's Ark (Crowley has to ask about the aftermath of the Flaming Sword Incident) and it's not clear how many times they encountered each other in the 3000 years between that and the crucifixion.

They don't go out for lunch together (that we see) until eight years after that. Once again, I've seen lots of excellent headcanons and fics about how they might have spent that intervening time together, but from a strictly canon perspective, Crowley and Aziraphale being basically just friendly colleagues for the first 4000 years of their relationship is a totally valid interpretation.

And then, of course, Crowley probably has to leave (he's “just popped in for a quick temptation”, remember) and the next time we see them is 500 years later. Which is a super long time for a human— and I'm not going to argue that they didn't meet up at all in the intervening time, since at this point I don't think it's implied one way or another— but for an angel or a demon?

They've both been on Earth for well over 4000 years by this point. How long is 500 years relative to them? Fifty years? Fifteen? Five?

Anyway, it's at this point— 500 years after what was quite possibly their first lunch together— that Crowley turns to Aziraphale and is like “hey? Want to commit literal treason?”

And make no mistake, that is what he is asking. These two are enemy agents, and Crowley is asking to exchange information about the secret plans of their respective sides. This would require Aziraphale to

a) trust Crowley not to take advantage of this information for the benefit of Evil

b) consciously choose not to take advantage himself of the information Crowley gives him, for the benefit of Good

c) accept (even just a little bit) the idea that the activities he's just spend the past >4000 years on don't make any difference at all in the grand scheme of things, and Heaven doesn't really give a shit about him.

… And he does it. He rejects the idea initially, but just over a thousand years later we see them together at the Globe, and the Arrangement is not only established, but clearly has been so for some time.

Long enough for Crowley to decide it's time to bend the rules. Not only are they arranging secret meetings and tactically keeping out of each other's way, but they've already done the 'taking care of each other's blessings and temptations' trick “dozens of times”. Aziraphale is still nervous and shocked when Crowley suggests it, so he's probably used to only doing it as a last resort in emergencies, but he knows exactly what Crowley is suggesting the moment he comments on what a shame it is that they both have to go to Edinburgh. This is not a new thing.

Aziraphale at this point still believes that angels and demons are fundamentally different. For all he knew, the first time he performed a temptation he would fall instantly and the first time Crowley performed a blessing he would… explode, or something. But still, at some point during the last thousand years, Crowley persuaded him to do it.

And then, just over 200 years after that (and how long even is that? It's ~4% of the time they've spent on Earth so far) Crowley asks for holy water, Aziraphale thinks he's going to kill himself, freaks out about how much he cares and brings out the Heaven Party Line to cover up his real feelings. Crowley takes it as a personal insult and they fall out for a century— according to the script, Aziraphale is convinced that they're not friends anymore.

100 years after that, and Crowley's back again, and he's just saved Aziraphale from discorporation (… by threatening him with worse discorporation, but still) and thought to rescue his books. Aziraphale has his big moment of 'this demon is the only being who truly cares about me, and I truly care about him' and then literally like 20 years later (which would be what on the celestial timescale? Two weeks?) Crowley's after the holy water again, and Aziraphale has to choose between letting his friend almost certainly die through inaction, or making him slightly less likely to die right away but ensuring that if/when he does die later down the line, it will be All. Aziraphale's. Fault.

He chooses option 2 and in the process has to admit— maybe not out loud, but definitely through implication— that the initial refusal to hand it over was never about Heaven, because Aziraphale couldn't give a toss about what Heaven thinks compared to what will ensure the safety of one incredibly irritating demon. Probably crossing his fingers that he's not going to Fall the whole way through, because that is a bloody extreme thing to admit given the circumstances.

And Crowley's response? “Cool, so we're now going to go off together and start hanging out like normal people who don't have the threat of each other's horrific destruction hanging over their heads every minute of the day? We're going to drive off in my car and just be openly BFFs forever now?” No Crowley.

In the past just under 2000 years you've gone from work aquaintances (which was already illegal! Literally every conversation you two have ever had could have resulted in your deaths!), to treason buddies, to Aziraphale fully admitting to himself that his loyalty to you is more than his loyalty to Heaven. That his loyalty to Heaven does not in fact play into it when it comes to your safety. Even though he's an angel, and that sort of thinking is exactly the kind of thing you Fall for.

And like less than thirty seconds after you've both come to that realisation, you're turning round and asking him to give up all plausible deniability and attempts at secrecy and just start openly hanging out together where Heaven and Hell could just stumble upon you at any time.

Like yeah he turns you down, what with finding out you're about to risk killing yourself, and handing you a suicide pill, and finally admitting his ultimate betrayal of Heaven in his heart, this has been a rough past few hours for Aziraphale. He's probably not ready to be making those kinds of decisions.

But he says he's willing to give it a try. Not yet— give him a minute Crowley— but he's willingly acknowledging that there is a Next Step to this relationship and he wants to get there.

And then the next time we see the two of them, in 30-40 years time, Aziraphale has made the step. They're going to the Ritz together and getting wasted in the shop afterwards. They seem to have done this before. Crowley now wants to form an allegiance and deliberately work to circumvent the Great Plan that Aziraphale believes was set out 6000 years ago by God Herself, and it literally takes an afternoon for Crowley to talk him into it.

Like, I see a lot of posts about the holy water scene where people are blaming Aziraphale or joking about how Crowley couldn't possibly go any slower than he is already. And yeah, from a human perspective, they're barely moving. But from the perspective of millennia old beings whose existence predates the Earth itself? And for whom literally every step in their relationship was utterly revolutionary and completely unprecedented?

To Aziraphale, it probably felt a lot faster.

#good omens #suicide mention #long post #good omens headcanons #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #If You Give A Demon An Oyster #then he'll want some wine to go with it #and then he'll want you to drink it with him #and then he'll probably ask you to commit treason…#to be clear #i'm not saying that crowley is necessarily going *too fast* here #just that aziraphale's not going too slow #given the circumstances #the situatuon is not as clear cut as it first seems

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gubler-me-up · 3 years

Text

Give Me Hallmark

Request: hii can you like do a spencer reid one shot with a fem bau reader and it's christmas, everyone's still working and at the end of the day the reader asks if anyone wants to grab dinner for christmas but almost everyone has plans except for reid so they go out and eat then they walk around with all christmas lights and there's couples everywhere and spencer just confesses his love for her under a mistletoe.

A/N: Thank you for the request, @euphoricdumpsterfire! We love a cute Christmas fic and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to post this exactly on Christmas but December 26th works too imo! Hope everyone who celebrated had a Merry Christmas and for those who don’t celebrate I hope you had a fantastic, relaxation day ❤️ Hope you enjoy!

Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!reader

Category: Fluff

Content warning: A small mention of alcohol but nothing else

Word count: 3.5k

————-

Nothing was worse than working during Christmas. For most people that is but you didn’t mind. Your family had decided to go on a cruise for the holiday. They asked you to join but the day you were going to tell them your decision the team had a case in Wyoming. You insisted they go without you and you would visit them as soon they came back.

Christmas’s charm had faded away in your eyes as soon as you reached adulthood. Spending it alone had nearly become a habit of yours. Last year you spent it with a couple of friends and did a cute secret Santa exchange. The Christmas’ before that consisted of just you, a bottle of wine and reruns of your favourite hallmark movies.

As you worked diligently at your desk you couldn’t help notice walk down the steps towards where the four of you were working. You looked up and saw a sight that proved to you Christmas miracles were real. Hotch was smiling and whenever he smiled you knew there was extremely good news to proceed.

“Merry Christmas everyone. You’re off the clock,” he said.

“Off the clock? Hotch, we’ve only been working for five hours,” Spencer said.

“Reid, are you serious right now? A late start and an early finish? Sounds like a deal I’m going to take,” Morgan said as he started to pack up his stuff.

“Have a good rest of your day everyone,” Hotch said before retreating to his office.

You started packing up your stuff as well. You could already hear the opening scene of A Royal Christmas playing in your head. Before you could make your way home, cuddle up on your couch and lose your heart to movies you’ve watched for the past five years, you had to eat.

You looked around at everyone packing up their things to leave as soon as they possibly could. You wanted to eat at your fave Chinese spot instead of ordering takeout this year. You didn’t mind sitting in and dining on your own but you could already anticipate the looks of people dining in and seeing you eating alone. The last time that happened a man in his 70s insisted on joining you to eat and told you how much you reminded him of his wife who had passed away five years earlier.

“Does anyone wanna grab something to eat?” You asked.

“I would love to, Y/N, but I have a ticket to the Bahamas that’s calling my name. I’ll send plenty of pictures,” Emily said as she picked up her purse.

“Make sure you keep them PG-rated,” Morgan joked.

Emily playfully rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t give you a PG-13 picture even if you paid me.”

“Ouch,” he said.

Emily laughed as she told everyone goodbye. As soon as she walked out of the bullpen you knew there was no chance of getting her back. You turned your attention over to Morgan. He saw your gaze and immediately stood up to get out of your sight. You didn’t let him get too far though.

“How about you, Derek? You want to grab some Chinese?” You asked.

“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N. If it was a regular, shmegular day I wouldn’t even think twice about it but since it’s Christmas I have plans I must attend,” he said.

“Oh? And those plans would be?” You inquired.

He shook his head and wiggled his finger at you. “We’re keeping it PG-rated remember? Have a Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

Before you could stop him for another question, he wished everyone a Merry Christmas and bolted out the bullpen. Now there was only you, JJ and Spencer. You saw JJ get up to leave next. She saw you looking at her and gave you a sympathetic smile but you knew her answer already.

“Kids?” You asked.

She nodded. “And husband. Sorry, we’ll go another time for sure.”

You smiled. “Of course. Merry Christmas, J.”

“Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

With that she was out of the bullpen. You sighed as you looked over at Spencer. He stood up from his desk and swung his satchel on his shoulder. You were nervous to even ask anyone else let alone him if he was free to go out to eat with you. You knew he would probably be busy with his mother. He had been so stressed out lately about her health you didn’t want to bother him with your loneliness.

You then saw Garcia scurrying out of her office down into the bullpen area. You smiled as you saw her walking your way. You stepped in front of her with a huge smile. You were disappointed to not see the same enthusiasm on her face. Your smile instantly dropped.

“Too busy to get something to eat with me?” You asked.

“Unfortunately I am, my little sugar plum, but I will definitely go with you after the holiday,” she said before embracing you in a big hug.

You sighed and hugged her back. “Merry Christmas, P.”

“Merry Christmas, sweet stuff,” she said before scurrying past you.

You turned around to watch her leave like the rest. You sighed as you were starting to realize you probably were the only one without plans this Christmas. It made you quite sad to think about but you did it to yourself every year. What was one more year of sitting alone at a restaurant and having an old man tell you about his dead wife?

“I can go with you if you’d like, Y/N,” you heard Spencer say.

You looked back around to see him standing just a foot away from you. You were in shock he wasn’t busy as you thought he was going to be. You were even more shocked that he wanted to spend a few hours on Christmas day with you.

“You sure? I thought you’d go to Vegas to spend some time with your mom because of her health,” you said.

“I’m flying out tomorrow morning and I’m already packed, so I have time,” he said.

You stood there still in shock. You didn’t think you would be spending your evening with Spencer especially since it was only the two of you. Your look of shock must have made him weary because he furrowed his eyebrows in concern.

“Unless you’ve changed your mind then I’ll just go home,” he said.

You shook your head. “No, no, sorry. We can definitely go together. I’d love to spend my evening having you as my dinner companion.”

He sheepishly smiled. “Great. Should we ask Hotch and Rossi if they want to tag along?”

You chuckled. “Spence, when you reach their age all you want to do with your Christmas is cuddle up with a glass of scotch or whisky.”

He nodded in agreement. “Fair.”

You smiled as you picked up your purse off of your desk. Like the gentleman he was, he offered out his arm for you to hook onto. You didn’t hesitate to grab hold of his bicep and you swore he was flexing for you but that could have been your imagination.

Your favourite Chinese restaurant wasn’t too far from the BAU headquarters. It was only a few blocks down but it took a little longer for you two to get there than it would have been if you were walking by yourself. You enjoyed talking to Spencer and would get lost in every word he would say. From the time you two had left the office, he was talking about some recent discovery in the galaxy and the amount of passion in his voice was admirable.

He was naturally a slower walker compared to your need to fast walk but him talking to you allowed you to bear the brisk winter air for a little longer. The cold didn’t seem to bother him much because he kept looking your way when he was talking to you even though the wind was blowing that way. The way he was smiling at you throughout could have been the reason he was warm because his smile could warm the coldest of nights.

He held the door open to let you in. You blushed and thanked him as you stepped in. Everything he did felt so intimate to you. It felt as if you were at the beginning of your own little Hallmark movie but it could have been your overly active imagination at work again. Maybe it was time for you to retire the Hallmark movies if they were making you think this way.

“For two?” The host asked.

You nodded. “Yes, please.”

“Follow me this way,” she said as she led the way.

She led you both to a booth near the back corner of the restaurant. You both thanked her as she put down your menus. You took off your purse and jacket and tossed them on your seat before scooting in. Spencer followed suit.

As you looked at the menu you couldn’t help but notice Spencer smiling as he looked down at his. You looked up at him with a puzzled look. He looked up from his menu to see your full confused look.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Why are you smiling to yourself?” You asked.

“Uh, well, I just find it kind of funny,” he said.

“Find what kind of funny?” You asked.

“Out of all the things you could have done on Christmas you wanted to eat at a Chinese restaurant,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“Well, if I’m keeping it honest I’ve been craving Chinese for a while and this is one of my favourite spots. I found out a few days ago they have a deal where if you and someone else come in on Christmas Day, you get 50 percent off your meal,” you said.

“Ah, is that why you were asking everyone to tag along?” He asked.

You nodded. “Yeah. It’s probably the lamest way to spend Christmas but I love a good meal and a good price point.”

“I don’t think it’s a lame way to spend Christmas at all. I do this with my mom on most years but instead of Chinese we go eat at Binion’s and indulge in chicken fried lobster.”

You giggled. “I love that. My family went on a cruise I had to miss out on but I’ll see them in a week.”

“Well, if you’re eating on a budget on Christmas Day then you definitely saved yourself some major cash from missing that cruise if that makes you feel better. On average, during a seven-to-eight day cruise passengers spend $212 daily.”

“The way my dad eats he’s probably spending near $300.”

Spencer cracked a wider smile which automatically made you laugh. He broke into a small chuckle once you started it off. You saw the server walking up and automatically calmed down before picking up the menu again. Spencer turned to see the server approach your table. She placed two glasses of water down before taking out her pen and notepad.

“Welcome and Merry Christmas. I would like to start off by mentioning on Christmas we do a special where if two people come in their meal is half off,” she said.

“Oh, I’ve heard,” Spencer said as he looked at you.

You slightly blushed. You didn’t know if it was from the way he looked at you or if it was because you were way too excited about this deal.

“Amazing. Do you two know what you’d like?” She asked.

“Can we get a few more minutes please?” You asked.

“Of course. Would you like any other drink besides water?” She asked.

“No thank you,” you both said in unison.

Your server smiled and nodded before leaving the two of you to look over your menus. It seemed as if he couldn’t keep his eyes on his menu long enough to look over it. His eyes kept wandering up to look at you. Naturally, your eyes wanted to look into his.

“What now?” You giggled.

“How do you feel about looking at Christmas lights?” He asked.

“I love looking at Christmas lights,” you said.

“Awesome. There’s this street in downtown Washington full of them. I think they looked extremely pretty and I thought you’d like them,” he said.

“You thought I’d like them?” You said.

He nodded. “Yeah. I know how much you love Christmas lights, so when I walked by them last night I thought of you.”

“You did?” You asked.

“Yeah. Sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. I didn’t-”

“No, no, I’m not uncomfortable at all. I’d really love to go with you, Spence,” you assured him.

He smiled and you could see the small fade-in of blush appear on his cheeks. If this was the universe’s way of telling you your Hallmark dreams had come true, it was the best possible way to let you know. You could have never imagined your Christmas would be spent with someone you had a crush on and you loved every second of it. You wanted it to become a Christmas tradition every year.

Once you two were done eating, Spencer paid even after you insisted you would. Before you could even take out your card, he had already paid in cash. You hated how he was always one step ahead of the game but it’s one of many things you adored about him.

It had become pitch dark outside as you two waited outside for a taxi to pass by. When you saw the first one come down the street you waved your arms like a maniac. You being the clumsy person you were nearly lost your balance and fell into the road. Spencer quickly grabbed onto your arm to keep you balanced.

As you two rode in the back of the taxi, you were already admiring the Christmas lights on houses and buildings. Spencer would point out ones on his side and you would look out in amazement. He chuckled every time your face would show any form of excitement or wonder. The drive alone was 45 minutes long but it felt like 10 as Spencer preoccupied your time.

When you reached downtown Washington, Spencer opened your door to let you out. He held out his hand to help you get out. He probably didn’t trust your legs holding you up after your little incident. You closed the door behind you and you two started your journey through the city.

“I think blue Christmas lights are my favourite,” you said.

“How come?” He asked.

“They’re the prettiest colour. It’s bright enough to catch your attention but not too overpowering to hurt your eyes,” you said.

“That’s a good reason to like it,” he said.

You giggled. “No fact to go along with my analysis, doctor?”

He chuckled. “I was trying to hold back but blue is a rare colour in nature but the most preferred colour by choice. Throughout history, it has been a top colour associated with relaxation and lowering blood pressure.”

“Amazing. I was struggling with my blood pressure, you know,” you joked.

He looked at you concerned. “What? Y/N, are you okay? If work is stressing you out, I don’t mind taking some of your workload.”

You laughed. “I’m kidding, Spence, but I might take you up on that offer if I ever do feel stressed out at work. What’s your favourite Christmas light colour?”

He pointed to the Christmas lights to his left. You looked and saw green lights hanging off of a storefront. You widened your eyes at how beautiful they looked. Spencer looked at you and smiled at your expression.

“They’re pretty, huh?” He asked.

“Pretty? They’re gorgeous. I didn’t even realize how beautiful the green lights were until they stood alone,” you said.

“Green’s actually the second most popular colour after blue,” he said.

You smiled. “Seems fitting.”

“Oh and in China green jade symbolizes virtue and beauty,” he said.

“Also very fitting,” you said.

You bit your bottom lip as you realized what you had said. You looked to your right to avoid eye contact with him. You couldn’t bear him asking about what you meant. You pointed to your side at another business that had strung green lights all over their store.

“You were right about green being a second favourite next to blue,” you said.

“George Washington’s favourite colour was green,” he said.

“Maybe there’s an ode to George going on in these streets,” you said.

He chuckled. “Possibly even though he was born in February.”

You laughed at his joke even though he didn’t know it was one. As you two continued walking you couldn’t help but notice all the couples populating the streets. Young couples, old couples, couples with kids. You looked over at Spencer to see his gaze looking from couple to couple as well.

You stared up at him wondering if he too wished they were those couples. Not that you wished you were any couple specifically but just a couple in general. You thought you two would look cute together especially on Christmas.

You soon noticed couples walking past you two smiling. You politely smiled back and so did Spencer. You weren’t sure if they were doing it to be polite or doing it because they thought you two were also a couple. Maybe they also saw the potential you two had together.

You sighed and decided it was best to turn your attention back to the lights. Again you saw green Christmas lights brighten a toy store’s front display. You don’t think you’ve ever seen so many green lights in your life. You started to think he had set this up.

“Spence, everyone has green lights up. I think they surpass blue in popularity now,” you said.

“Where do you see them?” He asked.

“Oh, you poor thing. I forgot you’re not wearing your glasses. They’re kind of small and on the inside showcase,” you said as you dragged him by his hand to the toy store.

As you two walked up to the store you could see his face lighten up when he saw the lights. You smiled at how excited he was to see all these green lights. As you recalled green and purple were his favourite colours so seeing all this green probably made him overly excited.

“Everywhere’s green for you, Spence,” you said.

“You know, many people don’t know this but green is the colour of love since it’s associated with Venus,” he said.

“Someone on this street must love you a lot then if they’re hanging up all these green lights,” you said.

“If you didn’t do it then I don’t want whoever did,” he said.

You looked at him in shock. You gave him a second to correct himself or at least elaborate for you but he didn’t. Once he said what he had to say, he stayed quiet as if he was waiting for you to say the next few words.

“Wait, repeat that and please say it with your chest this time so I know I heard you correctly,” you said in disbelief.

“I like you a lot, Y/N. More than words could ever express. I know you might not feel the same way but I just had to get it off my chest,” he said.

As he said that it felt as if the whole world went silent. You took in every word he said and it still didn’t feel real to you. You looked up at him as he waited anxiously for you to respond. You then looked up to see a stream of mistletoe hanging above you two. You looked back at him.

“You wanna know how I really feel?” You asked.

“Ye-”

Before he could fully respond to you, you wrapped your arms around his neck and nearly jumped into him to kiss his soft lips. He grabbed you by your waist to keep you close to him as your tongues exchanged names. You didn’t want to stop but you were curious to see his reaction to what you just did. It was priceless.

He stared at you in a mix of confusion, happiness and love. You uncontrollably giggled at his expression. You don’t think you’ve ever seen someone express three different emotions in one go before.

“You know, I did always want to star in my own Hallmark movie,” you joked.

“I’m glad I could give that to you,” he said.

“I think there’s one more thing you could give to me,” you said.

“Anything. What is it?” He asked.

“Another kiss,” you said.

He chuckled. “I’d kiss you forever.”

He leaned in and you didn’t hesitate to latch onto his lips. Even though the cold breeze was shaking you to the core, your happiness kept you going. You couldn’t possibly go back to watching Hallmark movies after getting the real thing. Besides you felt after this moment your next Christmas’ would be spent in Vegas at Binion’s eating chicken fried lobster.

—–

MASTERLIST

Tagged: @shadyladyperfection, @slutforthegubes, @pinkdiamond1016, @spencerreidsthings, @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto, @slutforsr @bxtchboy69, @fallinallinmendes @haihappen5 @mgg-theprettiestboy @siltuz-png @ptrs-prkrs @tclaerh @agentadhd @alexmarie29 @closetedreidstan @mac99martin @blxckhearthood @jesspavlik0vsky @katexrichardson @keniaasf @reidbuck @corishirogane3 @thegoddamncrazycatlady @keniaasf @pastelbabygirl19 @shadybagelsludgecolor @bootycrackraisinjuice @vintagebeauty1496 @bluerose512 @laneybobeczko-g @averyhotchner @littlewierdalien @cynbx

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we-love-imagines · 3 years

Note

Hi! Can you do a one shot college au Jotaro x reader? The idea is: all Joestars are brothers and they create a playlist for Jotaro that he'll have to make the reader listen to as a way to confess. All the songs are romantic, except the last one which is an addition from Joseph, Josuke and Jolyne and which would be "E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE", just to embarrass him in front of the reader and also to make a funny moment lolol You are a very talented writer! I'm happy that I found you on tumblr:D

This anon has my heart, you’re so sweet!!! I’m so sorry this took so long!!! I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Cursing and lots of fluff!

I Should Have Never Asked For Help

It is a well-known fact among the Joestars that Jotaro is bad with words. Comically so. The only way he’d ever say “I love you,” to the rest of them would be through gritted teeth, pulling his signature black cap over his eyes. They loved him all the same, knowing how he cared for his family deep down, but they all acknowledged how affection was never his strong-suit.

That’s why when Joseph claimed Jotaro had the hots for someone, nobody believed him. Joseph and Jotaro shared a math class at university, and Joseph was picking up on the lingering stares he sent your way during lectures. When you started a study group before finals, he was the first to sign up. Joseph was taken aback when you greeted Jotaro before class, and he didn’t tell you to fuck off. He knew something was up with his little brother, and having no respect for boundaries, he couldn’t help but tease.

Usually huffing in response, Jotaro would brush off his older brother’s teasing. While he did feel something towards you, he certainly didn’t have the means to act on it. Jotaro wasn’t entirely used to the feeling, and he was happy with how things were. As Joseph’s teasing grew more bold and incessant, making kissy faces whenever you were around, Jotaro started to get pissy. Even the lightest of teasing while you were nearby really pushed Jotaro’s buttons.

One day, when Joseph made a comment about catching Jotaro staring at you while you were within earshot, it all boiled over. Jotaro ushered his brother away from you, hiding his blushing face under his hat as he finally admitted to Joseph that he did have a thing for you. Ecstatic, Joseph insisted Jotaro ask you out. Jotaro had thought about it, for sure, but he admitted to his brother he didn’t know how. While girls tended to gravitate towards Jotaro in highschool, he’d never asked anyone out on a proper date before.

Thinking back on how he won Suzie Q over with a mixtape, Joseph got an idea to help his brother. When the pair got home, Joseph pulled out his phone and asked each Joestar sibling their favorite love song, hoping someone’s music taste would overlap with yours. There was a good variety in there, too; some slow, sweet songs picked out by Jonathan and Giorno, some light pop picked out by Josuke, and some fun additions from Jolyne and Joseph himself.

When Jolyne asked what this was for, Joseph confided with her that this was to help Jotaro ask someone out. A mischievous glint appeared in her eye, never missing an opportunity to mess with her older brother. Being pretty active online, Jolyne had become very familiar with Corpse Husband and the millions of fangirls raving about him 24/7, and she’d heard his signature song a handful of times. The edgy, deep-voiced Internet personality kind of reminded her of her brother, so she couldn’t resist pulling his leg a little bit.

Getting a notification on his phone, Jotaro saw that Joseph had sent him the completed playlist. He let out a deep sigh, too nervous to look at the songs they had picked out, and even more nervous to show them to you. Trusting his siblings, just this once, he put his phone down and went to bed.

The next day, Jotaro got up early to meet with you before classes started. He took extra care to get himself ready, brushing his teeth for an extra few seconds and applying slightly more cologne than usual. He was nervous beyond belief, leaving the house without a word to an excited Joseph to find you.

You usually met him inside the library, which housed your study room, but he was surprised to see you standing outside the building. Smiling and waving as you saw him, you motioned for him to follow you inside. Had you been waiting for him?

“How are you, Jojo?” you hum, making your way into the study room and taking your normal seat at the table. Jotaro made a huffing noise and shrugged in response. Warm, morning sunlight poured into the room as you pulled the textbooks from your bag, quickly glancing at your phone to see the other few members of your group couldn’t make it today.

“Looks like it’s just us today,” you sigh to him, opening up your textbook to the bookmarked page, “We left off here last time-”

“-Wait, before we start,” he cut you off, capturing your attention as you readied your materials, “You’re into music, right?”

You chuckled lightly in response, “Who isn’t?”

He gulped, pulling his phone from his pocket as he fiddled around to find where he had saved the playlist. Thank god he had a good poker face, his body a bundle of nerves as he hoped it didn’t show. His only tell were the few beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he turned to face you, showing you his device.

“I made you a playlist,” he stated in almost monotone, trying to hide how his cheeks pinked when your smile widened at his words. Truly taken aback, you couldn’t hide your own blush as you took the phone from his hands, adjusting the screen to see it better in the morning light. The playlist was titled simply, ‘For (y/n)’, but it still made your heart flutter.

“Thank you Jotaro, this is really sweet!” You chime at him, Jotaro only nodding in response, “May I play it?”

Jotaro gulped again. This was it.

“You may.”

You hit play, placing the phone on the table as you quietly thanked Jotaro once again. Slow notes began playing, Jotaro’s nervous ticks showing more, his foot anxiously tapping against the carpet. This song was a cheesy classic, surely a pick by Jonathan: Elvis’s I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You. It was a little on-the-nose for his taste, but he watched as you got an excited glint in your eyes as you recognized the first few bars.

“I love this song!” you chirp, happily grooving along as you begin moving your attention back to your textbook. He nervously wondered if the meaning of the playlist was lost on you. It released the tension in his body, the thought of rejection flying out the window, but he was left with a bit of disappointment in his gut. Ideally, you would have caught on and returned his affections, but that gratification would never come.

You continued to enjoy the music as you worked, quietly singing along as you two quizzed each other on the various concepts. You enjoyed the varied music, some songs slower and others more upbeat. As you continued to listen, you paid more attention to the words- were these songs all romantic?

“I didn’t take you for a sap, Jojo,” you jested, “These are all pretty lovey-dovey!”

“-That’s the point.”

He was surprised with his own boldness, all his nerves returning as he saw your eyes go wide in realization. Quickly going tomato red, your heart thumped in your chest as you put it together that Jotaro was asking you out. While you had developed a little crush on him yourself, you never thought he would ever reciprocate your feelings, let alone make the first move.

“Oh!” you shakily breathe, “This is- wow, this is out of left field!”

“Is this weird?” he hesitantly asked, letting slip a little anxiousness in his voice. Touching his hand, you reach out to him.

“Oh no no no-” you hurriedly reassure, “No! I really like it, Jojo!”

You take a deep breath as you finish your thought.

“I really like you, Jojo!”

With that, he lets slip a breathy sigh from his lips, giving you a rare smile as he reciprocates your touch. He places his thumb over the back of your palm, rubbing a little circle on it as he wipes the sweat from his brow.

“That’s a relief,” he jokingly murmured, sharing a little laugh with you as the song that was playing ended. You both were caught off guard as a new, louder song filled the room.

CHOKE ME LIKE YOU HATE ME BUT YOU LOVE ME-

Immediately he went red again, whispering his annoyed catchphrase to himself as he put his hand to his cap. You couldn’t hold your laughter as the filthy Corpse song filled your ears.

“Now this is more your style!” you tease him, nudging him lightly.

“I didn’t make it alone,” he confesses, giving you a small smile as the shock wore off, “But this is the last time I ask for help.”

I Hope you enjoyed! I also made a playlist based off this fic for my sweet anon:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/06A7aN1LtLYWCDNQs04rGa?si=sYaMp0B4RWK3N3zc62gZow

#jjba x reader #jjba #Jotaro x reader #Jotaro kujo x reader #joestar siblings au #inbox is open!#inbox reply #corpse

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antialiasis · 3 years

Text

Morphic: the Musical

The Thousand Roads forums have a fanfic music thread. While I don't really do those kinds of threads usually because I don't really listen to a very wide variety of music and generally have a hard time associating music that already exists with unrelated fiction, one of the questions in it is this:

Talk about what would happen if some Broadway hit-maker scooped up your fic and turned it into a script. What songs would be in it? Describe a dance number/dance battle?

And immediately, the musical analysis glint lit up in my eyes. This question was presumably intended in a lighthearted jokey sort of way - imagining some fight staged as a dance battle, a hypothetical Broadway hit-maker doing the adaptation. But that's not enough for me, say I! Musicals are a good and interesting medium for serious fiction that I care about and I am going to serious this up.

See, to me, the musical format has two major strengths as a narrative medium. The first is that it can explore the inner worlds of characters in a pretty unique way. Characters get to monologue in a sort of heightened, non-literal manner, intensified by music: we can learn what they're about, what makes them tick, what's going on in their heads in a particular moment, in a way that wouldn't really make sense presented as actual inner monologue in another medium. The music aspect itself then adds a layer to it that's impossible to replicate in any other.

The second strength of the musical format is that it's really good at highlighting recurring themes, parallels and contrasts. Reprise the same melody, the same lyric, a parallel but opposite lyric, and you've instantly connected two things together. Is there a character arc? You can highlight what has changed. Are there two characters going through something similar? You can draw that out. Is there a recurring theme throughout? Use a recurring lyric, a recurring melodic phrase! Nudge the viewer into forming connections! Delicious! And you can do subtler things on the music level itself - particular instruments with particular connotations, recurring motifs...

So naturally I decided I should think up what a musical adaptation of Morphic would be like. It'd be a fun exercise in putting all my thoughts on musical adaptations into practice, but also an interesting way to help sort out some of my thoughts about characters arcs, etc. for the actual Morphic rewrite. And in the process, I may have gone slightly overboard. I regret nothing.

(I'm about to spoil most of the fic here, if this wasn't obvious)

Morphic: the Musical - tracklist

(Note: this musical is not sung-through; there are regular non-musical sections with regular dialogue in between. Morphic would almost definitely not make for a good sung-through musical.)

Act I

[Intro song] (Brian)

A monologue by Brian at the TV studio as he tries to work through what to say, how to explain or justify any of this (which conveniently serves to exposit to the audience as well as introduce his character). He makes nervous false starts and cuts himself off, starting the verse over each time, and through these false starts we learn what's going on, that the press has been calling them Pokémorphs, that this was all Dave's idea, that alcohol was involved, that it was meant as a basis for further research, that there were never supposed to be *children*, that he doesn't know what he'd even do with a kid, that Dave roped him into going on this show because he couldn't.

[Dave song] (Dave)

This musical properly introduces us to Dave via Jane walking out on him followed by this song, wherein he contemplates chucking baby Jean out the window. It's a dark rock song with big emotional contrasts and raw lyrics that is almost definitely my favorite song in this musical in the hypothetical reality where it is an actual musical and I didn't write it, because I am me. Probably starts with a couple slower lines of desperate disbelief before launching into wild anger about fuck that fucking whore, followed by what I will be referring to as the everything-is-shit verse (please bear with me), just a general cynicism rant about why the world is a shitty place not worth living in, followed by him wildly fantasizing about killing his infant child. What a delightful human being that I adore. The song ends abruptly, he's standing there staring at her in his arms for a moment, then he silently goes to feed her. On the soundtrack you probably might think he just did it.

Fatherhood (Brian)

A montage song covering the timeskip, which probably reprises [Intro song]. Brian initially has no idea what to do with his new squirming horrorblob child and is convinced he will screw it up the way he tends to screw up everything. Makes a couple of false starts again, but then gains confidence as time passes as he genuinely bonds with Gabriel and legitimately thinks he's a pretty amazing kid. There's a repeated line along the lines of that Gabriel's a weird, weird kid, but he's his, initially in a tone of "oh god I'm responsible for him what do" but towards the end is said with pride and fondness.

[Villain song] (Isaac and Jacob)

A duet between the two brothers, exploring what makes them tick. Isaac is all about this heavy pressure and sense of responsibility, originally imposed by his father, that he continues to impose on himself. He's been appointed to take over leading the family/cult and was raised with that constantly in the back of his mind as his future, and he believes that they're God's true righteous people and he cannot go wrong. He has dreams with some regularity that he interprets as visions from God, as he has been encouraged to since childhood by his father. When he has one about murder, it frightens him but he sees it as basically a divinely-appointed mission.

Jacob privately doesn't really believe any of that. He is trapped in this cult and goes through the motions but is not actually driven by any of the things that are driving Isaac. He's fairly quiet for most of the song - as Isaac is going on about his vision, Jacob has a line here and there obliquely challenging it, but Isaac has an answer for everything, and he doesn't press it, instead moving seamlessly on to suggestions for how he should do it. Jacob gets a quiet variant of part of the everything-is-shit verse from [Dave song], expressing the same kind of cynicism in a more reproachful, apathetic way - all in his own head, of course.

Just Like My Hero (Jean and Will)

Jean sings about how she is just like her hero, Sarah Hooter! Starts off describing how they look the same, moves on from there to how she will torch anyone who's mean, etc., just like her hero. Halfway through, Will joins in, and it becomes a counterpoint duet: Jean may be immature and ridiculous, but he deeply wishes he was confident and adored and nothing would get to him, and he admires and envies that about her. His just like my hero has a bit more of an ironic vibe, he'd hardly properly call her his hero, but he looks up to her more than he'd normally admit nonetheless.

Storming the Castle (Jack and Gabriel)

Jack and Gabriel are playing a D&D game with their friends, arguing about the best course of action. Jack is eager to waltz into the bad guys' fortress, storm the castle, while Gabriel urges lying low, says they're too weak. Jack wants to take the leap and try it; Gabriel insists no, we're not taking the leap, it's stupid. "It's brave!" Jack counters. (In the end, Gabriel gives in and they go ahead with it, and it goes fine.)

Unique (Mia and Lucy)

Mia and Lucy play one of their games. The song is about how Lucy needs someone like Mia to challenge her and let her actually indulge her powers, which are otherwise unsettling to people and she's ashamed and self-conscious about them, while Mia needs someone like Lucy to get a real outlet for her hunter's instinct. The word the lyrics are built around is unique; by being the precise way they are, they are each the only person who can provide this for the other.

Mia doesn't sing. She speaks her lyrics in her usual monotone, not even rhythmically. They also don't rhyme. It's technically a duet but really it's just Lucy singing and Mia talking.

[Peter/Katherine song] (Peter and Katherine)

A counterpoint duet between the siblings, contrasting their experience as Pokémorphs. Peter can pretty easily hide that he's different and be treated mostly as a normal kid, and feels free in his privilege, not confined quite the way the others are, able to be a bit reckless and incautious. Katherine, meanwhile, has a very different experience, being extremely noticeably different, getting stared at, and struggling with basic activities, and feels a huge sense of responsibility weighing her down, worrying about Peter and grounding him and reining him in. There's a lyrical contrast involving something something bird freedom plant rooted down something.

Brian's Death (Isaac and Dave)

This is one of those mostly-instrumental pieces that they include on the soundtrack anyway, but Isaac gets a couple of sung nondiegetic lines in here, a sort of frantic excitement, realizing in a brief panic that he shot the wrong guy before rationalizing that God must have planned it this way.

Dave is probably also in there screaming and attempting to call the police, because I am always in favor of screaming and panicking on musical soundtracks.

The Funeral (Gabriel and Jack)

Begins with Gabriel at the church during the funeral, singing about his vague discomfort being there, but slowly becomes increasingly frantic and anxious, working up to a breakdown where he exits and finally manages to cry for his dad. There's a verse about little things, how they ordered pizza the night before he died, etc., culminating in the bit about him having been in the middle of this mystery novel and never getting to learn who did it; the verse trails off quietly there, backing instruments gone, as Gabriel breaks down. Jack follows to comfort him.

Act II

[Montage song] (everyone)

A montage of the days after the attack, where everyone gets a couple lines about how they're coping, scared and grieving.

Dave's lines are like, spoken slightly too desperate annoyance at having to do some work that Brian didn't get to finish, or rebuking somebody who asks how he's doing by saying he barely even knew Brian. He is not singing along with this kind of grief-porn bullshit, fuck you.

[Villain song II] (Isaac and Jacob)

The brothers come up with a new plan. Isaac is agitated, reprising some of his bits from the original villain song in a quicker, more frantic tempo, while Jacob picks up the slack, walking him through a new idea. Isaac takes to it with conviction and goes back to the original melody/tempo, talking again about his God-given purpose. Jacob does not join in with any of that, only with the bits about the actual plan.

The Kidnapping (instrumental)

I'm just going to say this is on the soundtrack too and contains panicked Gabriel noises because I want it to be.

Storming the Castle Reprise (Jack)

Jack tries to rally the others for a rescue mission, echoing the D&D game from Act I. The lines about storming the castle and taking the leap make a reappearance.

Just Like My Hero Reprise (Jean)

Jean, on the bus, miserably contemplates how she is unlike her hero. Again, it begins with a verse talking about how she looks - not a thing like Sarah Hooter anymore - but then moves on to how she's scared and pathetic and running away, unlike anything a hero would do.

Church Sequence (Will, Jack, Mia)

A single track, largely instrumental/dialogue/sound effects, with a couple of brief song snippets:

- Will reprises "Just Like My Hero" as he wills himself to go on. He is cut off mid-line as he is shot.

- Mia slits that guy's throat and she actually sings a few words, for the first and only time, before she is also cut off mid-line by a gunshot. The line is something about, like, warm blood in her face or the guy's satisfying death throes, reprising part of the melody of "Unique".

Strong (Gabriel)

Gabriel discovers his powers. Starts slowly, calling back to the bits from "Storming the Castle" about lying low, being weak. But as the song continues and he makes his discovery, the tempo builds, and he starts reprising Jack's bits instead: he is strong, taking the leap, storming the castle.

Perish Song (Lucy)

Another brief reprise of "Unique", distorted and deafening and terrifying, mourning her sister.

[In the Hospital] (Jack and Gabriel)

The two of them work out their feelings about what happened. Includes Jack going "It was stupid" (i.e. the rescue mission) and Gabriel responding "It was brave", echoing the bit where they said the opposite in "Storming the Castle". Jack blames himself for how it all turned out, feels stupid and weak, while Gabriel actually felt kind of awesome. (This is also calling back to their opposite bits of "Storming the Castle".) They end with a shared duet verse as they realize they've both got that same innate desire to fight and win. Possibly calls back to the weird, weird kid line from "Fatherhood".

Eulogy (Dave)

Dave's eulogy for Mia (which also touches on Will, but this is Mia's funeral). It reprises "Unique". There will never again be anyone like the two of them, two of the only truly unique people on this Earth. (And, while he doesn't say it straight out because hahahaha, he needed Mia, too).

Taking the Leap (Jack and Gabriel)

Jack's suicide attempt and his swirling inner turmoil as he tries to talk himself into taking the leap once again. Gabriel, of course, comes in with don't take that leap. Am I overusing this one line by putting it in like half the songs in this thing? Well, who's going to stop me.

[Peter/Katherine song reprise] (Peter and Katherine)

The two of them contemplate indefinite house arrest (in contrast to the freedom Peter's enjoyed most of his life) and Katherine's failure to stop all this (despite her sense of responsibility). In the end, they both find their own ways to accept the new state of things and support each other through this.

Finale (Dave and Jean)

After Dave breaks down on his couch and Jean comes in to ask what's wrong, Dave sings a reprise of the everything-is-shit verse, going over the many things he's angry about, because that is the only emotion involved here clearly. At the exact point where Dave's song originally went from there to fantasizing about throwing her off the balcony, Jean throws her arms around him and sniffles "It'll be okay, Dad," and after a stunned "What? Jean, I'm--", he continues with a slow, hesitant *inverted* reprise of the everything-is-shit verse, "Everything'll be fine", constructing a little fantasy reality for her (and himself) where everything turns out all right in the end. It's backed by, like, a simple, quiet, slower piano rendition of the original melody, and trails off at the end, never quite coming to a satisfying conclusion before he tells Jean she should go back to bed.

#morphic #musicals #I spent far too much time thinking about this #except it was also exactly the right amount of time

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avenger-hawk · 3 years

Note

Hi you have a great understanding of Sasuke's character and awesome blog. Could I ask you for tips on how to write Sasuke right in fanfiction? When I try I never seem to get him right

Hello and thanks Anon. First of all, y’all don’t get offended if I’ll destroy some of your fave tropes in fics...I don’t judge ppl writing what they want in their fics, it’s their own fic so ofc they write what they want and how they want it and if they have fun with gay-uncle-Izuna, CEOItachi and sluttySasuke good for them...but when ppl impose their OOC Sasuke (or Nar or Itachi&co) as the real thing, and boy if they do....well. Nope.

Anyway I replied to similar asks here, here and here, so I’ll copy-paste some parts. My Sasuke tag. More Sasuke meta. More headcanons. More essays tag.

Sasuke is not dominant. He’s not bossy. He’s not assertive. He’s very passive in relationships and he values individual freedom, his own and other people’s. Ppl mistake his determination in pursuing his goals with assertiveness but it’s a totally different thing. He never makes the first move with ppl, unless he has a goal and he needs them, and even when he needs them, like Taka, he never imposes his will on them. He first freed them then he asked their help for his own goal, saying that he would accept if they refused. He never imposed himself on his brother (a child wanting his big brother’s attention is not being dominant, it’s natural) and he never did it on Nar or anyone else.

Sasuke is not selfish, he is the most selfless character in the whole series. He respected people, he didn’t see himself above them. He didn’t see himself as a genius or anything. He worked hard because he had a low self esteem, he was always compared to Itachi and he always lost. He was humble enough to ask others’ help, like asking N*ruto how S*kura was able to climb the tree with chakra in the beginning, or asking Team Taka’s help to find Itachi, asking Kakashi to make him stronger and following Orochimaru for more strength. And during all these, he was thrown in his face parts of the tragic truth about Itachi and his clan and he always had to get back on his feet and fight more. His world crumbled so many times on him and yet not only he reacted but he always was able to help those around him. Not with big words like N*ruto but really, freeing Orochimaru’s prisoners, Taka, and earlier protecting his team from Gaara, protecting N*ruto from Haku, and later proitecting N*ruto from Kaguya and then protecting the whole world from her, protecting Itachi’s ideal, his sacrifice from those who threatened to make it useless. He was ready to become the world’s only enemy to keep them together, following what he thought Itachi had taught him indirectly.

Sasuke is neither possessive nor jealous. He never showed any sign of possessiveness or jealousy towards anyone. He protected Taka and N*ruto. He defended Itachi’s name, unlike too many like to think: when he threatens Danzo to stop talking about Itachi it’s not because he’s jealous but because he doesn’t want that bastard to talk shit about his perfect brother, especially cause that bastard was the reason of his ruin. He was defending his name from an enemy and it was pure and selfless, not possessive at all! Proof of this is when Hashirama praises him instead, Sasuke is happy. He likes people to speak about his brother in a good way! When they were children Itachi always dismissed Sasuke who pouted but never got really angry or jealous at Shisui for example. And at the end of the fight vs Kabuto he aknowledged Itachi’s resolve to leave even tho it broke his heart to lose him again, and he let Itachi go with the saddest face but the utmost respect.

Sasuke is not arrogant. He has a low self-esteem. He was raised in the shadow of his genius brother, he suffered for his father not noticing him, he later developed an inferiority complex towards N*ruto as well because of his quick progress, compared to his own that he perceived as slower and not enough (that’s why he joined Orochimaru). When he brags it’s not because he’s the bragging type (aka N*ruto, Kiba &co) but it’s because he’s either making fun of N*ruto, since they were rivals/friends (not to mention it’s a shounen trope) and, even more so, because he is proud of his achievements. He worked so hard always and when he created a jutsu or smth he says it. Because he has low self esteem but he’s not socially awkward or shy or whatever (see later paragraph). So he is proud of his own results. (which is also a very TE thing, for those who care about mbti stuff).

Sasuke doesn’t value his life much. This is a result of his low self-esteem, which leads to poor sense of self-preservation (to prove that he’s strong, like when he was a genin and he trained so hard,and later to pursue his goals, for which he’d give his body to Orochimaru and his life over and over). Also he is so determined to achieve his goals that he’d do anything for them. He was ready to die on many occasions in canon for this and even later, after the ending, he’s seeing himself as a tool. Also, he never really got over the sense of worthlessness first caused by his father and then by Itachi’s words the night of the massacre. Not in a real life trauma-like thing, but as a way to see himself. this means that all those stereotypical rocking back and forth, cutting, whatever behaviors are not like him, who always got back to his feet and lived, although not for himself but for his goals.

Sasuke is not bitchy or spoiled. If he was he would have a great self esteem, and he clearly showed to have a very low self esteem instead. He never made anything about him actually, as all his goals were about others, his family, his brother, and so on. He was the one who did better teamwork in team7 actually, and he protected his friends and comrades, not to mention he freed Orochimaru’s prisoners and fought for the village and its people. How is this spoiled or bitchy, and btw, bitchy ppl do get offended and he never paid attention to offenses towards him, only towards his brother.

Sasuke is neither the haughty élite type nor the shy/socially anxious/‘emo’ type. He is neither Neji nor H*nata. He is aloof, he is always lost in his own thoughts and he doesn’t care about socializing because he wants to become strong, because he cared more about his family and goals, because he cared more about their opinion than the opinion of classmates. He valued strength since the beginning, being raised the way he was raised, so he valued the praise of strong people and not of the others, unlike those who seek praise from everyone. On the other hand his being aloof doesn’t mean he can’t have normal interactions, and the fact that he doesn’t use honorifics doesn’t mean he has socialization problems. Only that he doesn’t pay attention to these things anymore. He was always pragmatic, and after the massacre he became pragmatic to an extreme level, cutting off all unnecessary things, manners included. It doesn’t mean, though, that he doesn’t respect some people (=those he deems strong. Including Team Taka). He just shows it through actions.

Sasuke is not se/xually aggressive/dominant/whatever. He is too busy with his own goals to have se/xual or romantic thoughts (unlike other characters both male and female, not just Karin but also S*kura, Ino, and ofc N*ruto). I wouldn’t define this being asexual tho, because their universe is not ours and I’m sick&tired of all the real world/Nar universe parallels. He’s passive in relationship and on many occasions he showed indifference to se/xual anything, not disgust. Just, it wasn’t his thought. Because he is on a different wavelength. So even when he told characters to not be so close to him or smth, he didn’t move away, he just told them, which kinda proves my point once more of how passive he is towards ppl and relationships, he just lets them be. On the other hand, aceSas is better than hornydominantSas that is so OOC it hurts, be it with Itachi, Nar, S*kura or whatever other girls/boys.

Most MAIN characters didn’t understand/didn’t try to understand him. The ones who understood him more are unexpectedly not his friends. Not counting Taka ofc.

Sasuke is passive. He is the yin and N*ruto is the yang. In case this isn’t clear. It’s canon. Kishi used a yin/yang parallel for him and N*ruto, so while N*ruto is yang/sun/warm/ positive/active/male principle in nature/masculine, Sasuke is yin/moon/cold/negative/passive/passive/female principle in nature/feminine. Passive doesn’t mean weak. It means receptive, adaptable, flexible, which Sasuke is, since he’s the one who adapted his life and goals to new events, truths and changes, unlike most others who just kept going their own way no matter what (see N*ruto or Itachi). Many see him as assertive because he faces every situation in a very determined manner, taking actions and deciding everything independently. But being an independent thinker has nothing to do with being assertive or passive. I say he’s passive because he actually always reacts to what life (or Itachi) throws at him, every time. His reactions are quick and strategic, so it’s easy to miss this, but still, again, Itachi or N*ruto actively engage the environment and life, and influence other people, not Sasuke. He’s also passive with people, in relatioships. He never seeks anyone unless it’s for practical reasons, he only reacts to them approaching him. And he reacts in a very calm way, quite mild compared to how determined and detached he is, considering that a lot of characters invade his personal space or more, in the whole series. When he chases after Itachi it’s because he’s his younger brother and it’s natural for them, and mostly because Itachi set up his life so that he would focus on him, still it’s Itachi who is assertive, and he reacts in return. He makes a deal with Orochimaru, to obtain strength and give him his body in return. When he forms Team Taka, before asking their help, he first gives them freedom and only then he asks them to join him, making it clear that he won’t force them if they’ll refuse. He gives them something before asking something in return. This is not just a passive thing but something more because he is not selfish, like I said before.

Sasuke is an independent thinker. Unlike other smart thinkers like Itachi or Madara, to whom the story associated him, Sasuke was kept in the dark about many things, so he developed his own view of the world later, but when he did it was original and unique, just like his fighting style and strategy.

Sasuke is private about his thoughts and feelings but he’s also honest about them. Itachi is mysterious and not honest about his feelings, not him. He is aloof, it’s different. Just because he doesn’t trust many people and he’s lost in his own thoughts it doesn’t mean he is a shoujo mysterious character lol.

Sasuke is goal oriented. He does whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He would have given his body as a vessel for Orochimaru, not caring about what would happen to him, as long as he could have his revenge. He would have lived an eternity in solitude so that the world would have lived in peace. And, again, his goals are never about himself.

Sasuke wanted to die after he killed Itachi, but then when he woke up and was told the truth he had another purpose, and so he lived on.

Sasuke admires and respects strength but he’s not power thirsty. He wanted to become strong because he wanted to be worthy of Itachi and his father, than because he had to avenge his clan, then he had to avenge Itachi. It’s because he had low self-esteem and was selfless that he sought power. He wanted to be beside his father and brother, not to surpass them, actually. It’s Itachi who talked about surpassing.

Sasuke is very smart and logical, but he is easily manipulated with the right arguments. Like using Itachi, or appealing to his low self esteem, his feeling of worthlessness, his emotions. Because people who are logical are actually not emotionless. In fact they have a hard time controlling their emotions when they feel strongly, and this can be seen clearly every time Sasuke loses control. He becomes more impulsive than N*ruto who instead gets calmer, because he’s more in touch with his emotions (lol ofc he is, everything is always about his own emotions and feelings). Sasuke puts his feelings and emotions aside to reach his goals, he acts logically and pragmatically, he observes, makes plans, finds the better ways to do things, no matter how hard or dangerous for him they are. He has logical arguments even though they appear ‘crazy’ to other characters, and it’s sad to see how in the end he was belittled by N*ruto, as if his arguments were meaningless, they were not addressed at all, just deemed wrong, not with counterarguments but with illogical emotion based words that just made him feel unstable, as it happens when you have logical arguments and they tell you ‘you’re just depressed, you don’t get things right’.

In the end, he was tamed into submission. He was defeated, put in jail, isolated, guilt tripped and berated because of his ideals and goals, denied the justice he rightfully demanded.

All these can be observed directly. Others, more subtle things about him I wrote here, towards the end of this long post.

#sasuke #I don’t have much motivation to reply to asks tbh but this is important I guess #Anonymous #vivalarevolution: visions #vivalarevolution #vivalarevolution: not crazy but desperate

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ashes-in-a-jar · 3 years

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Heya u said in a tag there was stress and drama on the TMA fanbase? I've been on the fandom for like 2 months so I'm curious on how was the fanbase at it's peak? (Ive yet to finish the last 4 eps so I'm not sure if something problematic happened?)

Hello!

In general I very much do not like discourse and tend to stay away from fandom drama as much as I can. I love tma and the art, fics and meta people come up with, there is so much content and love it feels a shame to ruin it with arguments.

of course approaching a work needs to be done critically and with sensitivity but I don't think tumblr is the right platform for that. In depth and respectful discussions on discord with friends who have diverse opinions and who I trust is where I find that kind of content because here it'll always be mainly one sided and mainly aimed to generate bad feelings.

What I meant in the tags is during those last weeks before the finale people were getting nervous because we were promised tragedy and knew it wouldn't end happy so along with the growing fandom and the influx of posts of people being sad and nervous there would be a fair few of various arguments that would break out. Without delving too deeply alot of it would be about Jon's and Martin's character development and whether season 5 was good or bad, the different decisions made by the creators and the regular fandom arguments over themes and relationships only amplified because of the tension of the end nearing. I very much tried to stay away from it so I only know a bit of it from talking to friends but in general there were alot of people active in the fandom at once, with diverse opinions and tension was already high which was an easy platform to cause any opinion posted to start a whole heated discussion. Which if you like that's great! But for me it was a bit much.

Don't get me wrong tho! There were so many amazing creations during those times, people pouring their love and emotions into art and fic (for me it was mainly rambling about theories and red stringing 😅) there was just so much of it that at some point I personally felt overwhelmed and had to take a few breaks just to breathe.

It was a very chaotic time and I'm actually loving the pace the fandom has now, slower and calmer with room to breathe and have positive discussions with less tension coming from the podcast itself.

#I still prefer keeping discussions on discord but now at least its not flooding the tags #Hope i was clear! This felt a bit messy #Tma #Ask

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fanfics-of-marvel · 3 years

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Are you up for writing winter13? 40. “Once you’ve tasted me, you’d never want anybody else”

Hello there anon! Thank you so much for the great prompt! ♥ I’m really sorry this comes so so late but I’m very busy in my daily life and I had to leave tumblr for a while. Anyway, I hope you’d still get to read it even though you’re anon and I hope you’ll enjoy it! ♥

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REQUESTS ARE CLOSED

Release date: 25/01/21

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Sharon Carter

Summary: Bucky seemes to have recovered after his rescue from Hydra but Sharon continues to be reluctant anout it and believes he still works for the Nazi organization. One day while she follows him in hopes to catch him on the act she discovers his secret which turnes out to be much more different than she had imagined.

Words count: 3 292

A/N: The side S.H.E.I.L.D. agents are made up for the story and do not resemble any other Marvel characters

Warnings: Mentioning of a bad word

Requests | Masterlist

I’m not a native English speaker, so there might be spelling or grammatical mistakes.

This fic is my own work, it is not to be re-posted on this site or posted anywhere else without my knowledge and consent!

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Sharon wasn’t remotely impressed by Bucky. He was nothing more than the next mission, the next target in the endless list of targets. Even though this one was quite different from the others.

With this target came the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. But with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s destruction came Hydra’s demolition as well. Everything and everyone was shortly eliminated, all but one. In Steve’s request Bucky’s life was spared.

He was kept in a dark dungeon – one of the few parcels of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s that had remained. For months he was supervised by the remaining agents, including Steve himself and Sharon. At first he didn’t show any signs of recovery. He still seemed to be in the state under Hydra’s control. There were moments of clarity in his mind when he seemed to have recognized Steve, when he seemed to have questioned everything and everyone he had faced with Hydra. But he still wasn’t his own self. He was still somebody else – the person Hydra had turned him into.

Steve didn’t give up on Bucky. Month after month he was always by his best friend’s side, worked with him, told him stories of their past until little by little his buddy was back. It was most sensational news when Fury gave the order to release Barnes and took off his status “Danger to S.H.I.E.L.D.”. There were many protests including from Sharon. She insisted that Bucky wasn’t to be trusted, that once altered he most probably would never change back, and that he was a ‘ticking bomb’ left by Hydra’s legacy and could explode in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s face any moment. Especially during such a fragile moment while the agency was still recovering itself.

However, Fury was firm in his decision. He knew that maybe Barnes wasn’t to be trusted but he knew that Steve was. And if Steve said Bucky was ready to go back to the world, then he was ready. Steve knew his buddy better than anyone else and spent months to make sure of that.

At the beginning Bucky was under stringent surveillance. He could barely take a shower without S.H.I.E.L.D.’s supervision. But as time went by the control got milder. There were moments in which Bucky was free to do activities on his own and even smaller walks among the society.

Sharon never let down her guard. She was always extra cautious with Bucky and often supervised him on her own. She still believed he might be a part of Hydra and that he was faking everything. She didn’t know Bucky was slowly turning into his older charming self.

One afternoon Sharon followed Bucky as he went out on a short walk. He had been out many times without any troubles occurring but she was still reluctant to believe. She followed Bucky as he walked through the nearby park, watched him as he bought a hot dog from the street stand and slowly ate it while watching some youngers doing the craziest flips and acrobatics with their bikes and skateboards. He seemed to be genuinely fascinated by today’s youth and how much the world has changed. Sharon wasn’t impressed.

After Bucky finished his meal he walked towards the town’s market. He stopped at a florist shop and bought the prettiest bouquet. Sharon was a little surprised. Bucky paid for the flowers and strode down the road. Sharon needed to fasten her pace in order to keep up with Bucky. But he disappeared with the agility of a panther. Or more specifically – a deadly killing machine designed for efficiency and minimum failure.

Sharon’s breath stopped for a moment. Was this it? The moment in which the ‘ticking bomb’ was about to explode? Was the hot dog, the flowers and everything else beforehand just a bait which S.H.I.E.L.D. bought? Was this really the end?

Sharon circled the perimeter but she couldn’t find a trace of Bucky. Her blood cooled, she felt her stomach turning upside down, and cold sweat emerged. She failed. She was hoping to catch something suspicious in Bucky’s behavior which she could report back to base and finally have him chained again. But it seemed like he was so skilled that he had managed to fool her as well in his plans.

“Base, this is Agent 13,” she said on her com with a trembling voice. “We have a Code Winter. I repeat – Code Winter. The subject has showed suspicious and abnormal behavior. I repeat – the subject is suspected in treachery.”

“Agent 13, this is Base,” she heard the even and unbothered voice of Agent Finery. “Can you clarify more upon your report?”

“What is there to clarify, Roy?” Sharon screeched on the com. She was getting out of her skin – her biggest nightmare seemed to be closer to reality.

“Agent 13, I’d ask you to calm down,” Agent Finery seemed to be caviling. Sharon nearly broke the device in her hand with her squeeze. “Bucky Barnes is no longer under permanent surveillance and is a level 2 threat. No one is even supposed to be supervising him now. What in his behavior prompted your report?”

Sharon took a deep breath. Stupid bureaucracy. Everything would have been so much easier without it. “I was following the subject on my own,” she never referred to him as ‘Bucky’ or ‘Barnes’, always as ‘the subject’. “I think he had noticed me somehow and disappeared from my sight in no time. You know how skilled he is. I believe it was his intention to lose me, so I wouldn’t know where he’s going.”

After a short pause Sharon heard, “Or maybe you were a little slower?” Agent Finery asked unpleasantly. “You seem to…,” Roy’s words were interrupted.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked imperiously. “I heard somebody talking about ‘Code Winter’ back there,” the rumor had spread with the speed of light.

“Oh thank god, Steve,” Sharon sighed with relief. “Finally somebody with a brain,” she said returning the carping.

“Are you sure in what you’re saying?” Steve had overtaken the communication from Agent Finery. The latter looked like a little boy compared to the Super Soldier’s physique.

“I noticed abnormal behavior, Steve,” there was an intense pause. “I think he noticed I was following him and he vanished from my eyes skillfully.”

There was a long painful sigh.

“I’m sorry, Steve,” Sharon said. “I wish it was otherwise.”

“Alright, where are you now?” Steve finally said.

“At the town’s market,” Sharon said overexcited. Somebody finally listened to her. “The alley with souvenirs. Approximately where I saw him last.”

“Stay where you are unless you see Bucky. Keep us updated if anything happens,” Steve ordered Sharon and left the base with a battalion of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s finest agents.

Sharon sighed in relief. S.H.I.E.L.D. were on their way led by Steve himself. She looked around for more traces trying to stay as close as possible to where she was. She thought she was alone when she turned around and suddenly noticed a bouquet of flowers in front of her face. Her sharp deadly reflexes were activated in a millisecond. She took her weapon out of the holster while her other arm swung towards the flowers and the hands that were holding them. But before she managed to do any of that the opposing person disarmed her with the finest skills. Her gun was on the ground and her back was pressed at her attacker. How did he manage to turn her so fast? A cold sharp blade was pressed at her neck. She couldn’t breathe and her pulse was accelerated.

“Shall we try this again?” Sharon clearly heard Bucky’s voice.

With the same dexterity Bucky turned Sharon towards him. When she looked at Bucky still slightly dazed the knife was already put away. Damn, the speed! Bucky bent down to pick up her weapon and the bouquet he had thrown during the little scuffle. He sighed. It had gotten a little dusty and some of the stems had broken.

“Your gun,” Bucky said and handed Sharon the weapon. There was a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Sharon took her weapon cautiously with her eyes fixed upon him. She doubted she could be faster than him. It was probably for the best if she sustained a conversation until the back-up came.

“Aren’t you going to put it in the holster?” Bucky asked with a foxy smile. There was something on his mind. “There are people in here. Civilians. We wouldn’t want any accidents, would we?”

‘Well played’, Sharon thought to herself.

After her gun was put away Bucky looked at the damaged flowers, hesitated for a moment, sighed and handed them towards Sharon. “These are for you,” he said sounding somewhat frustrated.

Sharon looked at the bouquet with a rapid breathing. Was there a bomb in there? A weapon? Chloroform spray? For the first time in her carrier she didn’t know what to do.

Bucky sighed. “I know they’re not as pretty. But it was your fault they fell on the ground.”

Sharon was standing frozen. For the first time in her career she was facing a threat far more skilled than herself. Furthermore, they were standing at a lively part of the city which could have led to many casualties. She wished she had called for back-up earlier.

Bucky pulled the bouquet backwards. He sensed how terrified Sharon was even though she was hiding it professionally. He realized he might have startled her with that sudden appearance.

“Are you alright?” Bucky asked cautiously. “Did I scare you earlier?”

Sharon was still standing motionless. She knew she had to start speaking, so he wouldn’t run away. After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. were on their way.

“I’m fine,” Sharon finally said with a shuddering voice. “You just startled me a little bit. That’s all,” she even forced a slight smile.

“I definitely didn’t mean that,” Bucky replied with care in his tone. “I just wanted to give you the flowers but,” he looked at them and seemed a little embarrassed. “It’s been like 70 years… I’ve lost form,” he smiled shyly.

Sharon got quite confused. Bucky seemed to refer to his life hitherto Hydra’s capture. But what did he mean?

“I don’t know why I thought surprising you in such a way would be fun,” Bucky continued talking with bitterness. “Girls used to like it. But that was in the ‘40s, of course,” he faintly smiled remembering the good old days. “Now everything is so different,” he looked around him thoughtfully.

“I’m sorry?” Sharon said after a short pause. She was completely tangled.

Bucky looked at her seemingly terrified. “Oh, no. No, no. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything,” he was slightly panicking. “It really has been so long and after all… I was somebody else for a while. I really didn’t know what to do. Somebody suggested buying you flowers and here they are,” he handed the bouquet towards her again.

Sharon looked at the flowers. Then at Bucky’s hopeful expression. Then at the bouquet again. After a pause she looked at him again.

“Are you hitting on me?” Sharon’s voice sounded both shocked and angry.

Bucky got terrified again. Did he mess up? He pulled the flowers at him. The hopeful expression switched to a hopeless one.

“Well, I was trying,” Bucky said wearily facing down. “The bouquet was definitely prettier before and I guess I shouldn’t have startled you,” he puffed. “And I used to be so good at this,” he added quietly, obviously talking to himself.

“Wait,” Sharon really needed to clear the matter up. “What is going on actually?” she sounded demanding.

“Um, well…,” Bucky started stuttering. “You know… the flowers for you and… a surprise, I hoped… which you’d like,” he smiled as if he had actually made sense.

“What!?” Sharon yelled. She really needed to hear it all clear.

“I like you!” Bucky shouted back pressed from her behavior.

Sharon stared at him with her eyes and mouth wide open. He didn’t look like the most deadly human-weapon. He looked like a terrified puppy.

“I really like you, okay?” he continued. He thought it’d be best to just talk straight. “You were there. The whole time. While I was recovering and remembering. There were many people, yes. But I had eyes only for you,” he said those last words so romantically that Sharon’s knees nearly bent. “I noticed you sometimes followed me and when I gained enough confidence I decided to act,” Bucky looked down at the flowers. “I was a little too shy to ask anybody for advice what to do. I mean, I said I like a girl but I didn’t say who the girl is. And the advice was to just buy flowers. I guess that’s why I didn’t do the right thing. Maybe you don’t like flowers,” he smiled bitterly.

Sharon was still trying to figure out whether Bucky was being sincere or acting up in order to fool her. But he seemed so genuine in his reactions and facial expressions. She has had a closer look at the Winter Soldier. His only expression was the frowned eyebrows and his only words were channeled towards conversations for killing. But now Bucky sounded entirely different. So genuine. So human.

“Oh, no, no. It’s not you,” now Sharon felt embarrassed. “It’s me. I got quite nervous,” was it really sane to be saying those words out? “When you disappeared from my sight I thought you were escaping. I thought The Winter Soldier had woken up and you were running away from S.H.I.E.L.D.,” she said the final words cautiously.

“Oh,” Bucky laughed adorably. “Understandable, yeah. I only did it because I wanted to surprise you. You didn’t leave me out of your sight. I had to be creative,” he smiled so charmingly that Sharon subconsciously giggled.

She couldn’t deny Bucky was an attractive man. He had cut the long Winter Soldier hair, his beard was stubble, his appearance – most intriguing. Sharon didn’t admit at herself but she definitely had sympathies for Bucky from the very beginning. Those steel blue eyes in which you could stare at for all of eternity. Those luring naughty lips which she desired to bite playfully. His firm tight body that she had observed many times during his recovery. And that damn metal arm. Why was it so arousing to even think about it?

Suddenly, Sharon felt a little dizzy. There was something in the air. Bucky’s charm was ravishing and on point. She completely forgot about the back-up from S.H.I.E.L.D. which she called earlier.

Sharon didn’t realize it but she was smiling like an idiot. She giggled again and subconsciously played with her hair like a school girl. When was the last time somebody flirted with her?

“I do like flowers,” she finally said with twinkling eyes and a provocative smile.

“Good,” Bucky replied curving his lips.

Sharon looked down at the bouquet and spoke playfully. “But you’ll have to buy me new ones.”

“Is that so?”

The shyness and suspicion had entirely faded from the conversation and were replaced by flirting and provoking.

“Can I compensate some other way?” imperceptibly Bucky had made a step closer to Sharon.

“Like how?” Sharon was totally consumed by Bucky’s enchanting powers. Even an exploding atom bomb wouldn’t move her eyes from his.

“A kiss, maybe?” he said unceremoniously.

Sharon gasped. How dared he?

“Judging by the bouquet your kissing abilities are questionable,” Sharon didn’t realize she was playing a dangerous game.

“Doll,” Bucky said in the sexiest voice ever. “Once you’ve tasted me, you’d never want anybody else”.

In a matter of a second Bucky grabbed Sharon’s waist and pulled her so close that he took her breath away. He pressed his lips at hers so passionately that her knees weakened. If Bucky wasn’t holding her Sharon would’ve fallen on the ground.

Shivers ran through her back, her whole body trembled, her pussy tingled, her body filled with so much oxytocin that she got dizzy again. Sharon felt the kiss on so many levels.

When Bucky finally moved his lips away she was like plasticine in his arms. Just hanging there letting him do anything he wanted with her. A quiet sigh exited her lips. Oh, what a day.

“Nice,” suddenly they heard Steve’s voice.

Sharon jumped out of Bucky’s arms so startled that she nearly fell. She looked at the back-up she had called. There were so many people, maybe even a whole division staring at her and Bucky smiling smugly. At the front was Steve. His smile was even wider than the others’.

“So,” Steve looked at Bucky. “That’s the girl?”

Bucky smiled shyly looking down while Sharon closed her eyes wishing the ground would suddenly open and swallow her.

“Like I said earlier,” Steve continued. “Nice,” he was smiling so much that it was ridiculous.

“Carter,” she heard the voice of Agent Johnson. The protégé of agent Finery and the second most annoying person in S.H.I.E.L.D. “Code Winter is for abnormal behavior. If you haven’t been kissed until now, well, this isn’t abnormal,” he was caviling at her just like his ‘original’.

Everyone started laughing. Now Sharon wished the ground would suddenly open and swallow them.

“Alright, alright,” Steve shouted at the excited crowd. “There’s nothing more to see here,” he barely held his giggle. They weren’t supposed to see anything whatsoever. “Apparently, there’s been a mistake. There’s no Code Winter. I repeat – Code Winter is called off. Everyone back to base,” Steve gave his orders and looked at the embarrassed couple after all of the agents had left still laughing and commenting. “So,” he started with a smile.

“I’m really sorry, Steve,” Sharon said embarrassed. “It’s all my fault. I’ll take full responsibility over my actions. I shouldn’t have called Code Winter before I had seen firmer evident…”

“Sharon, it’s alright,” Steve said warmly still smiling.

“No, Steve, it’s not. I called for back-up and so many agents came and got involved. I deviated everyone’s attention. What if an actual and more dangerous threat had appeared? I could have jeopardized everything.”

“Sharon,” Steve’s voice and smile were so warm that they could’ve melted the nearby ice-cream stand. “You had every reason to assume the worst. Bucky is a mystery and definitely looks like a bad boy,” Steve said facetiously.

“What?” Bucky objectified with a smile.

Steve giggled. Then returned to Sharon. “Agents like you are the ones who keep S.H.I.E.L.D. from falling apart completely. You did the right thing. Don’t blame yourself about anything.”

“Thank you, Steve,” for the first time since everything Sharon smiled genuinely.

“Well, I guess it’s best to leave you two to… whatever you were doing before we interrupted you,” Steve said playfully and winked at Bucky. “Just like the old times. You still got it.”

Bucky and Sharon smiled shyly as Steve walked away. Then they spent the rest of the day together. Bucky bought her a new bouquet, they went for a walk, and tested their shooting skills at the local shooting gallery. Sharon seemed to be the better shooter. Bucky justified himself that The Winter Soldier’s skills seem to be fading away. He never admitted to Sharon that he withheld his skills that day, so that she would win.

For a while everyone at the base joked with them. Some started referring to the happening as ‘Code Love’ or ‘Code Kiss’. Bucky and Sharon did everything possible to not pay attention to their annoying colleagues. And expectedly as time passed by everyone started getting bored with the jokes. Sharon and Bucky turned into the ultimate couple. They were the best agents S.H.I.E.L.D. had and never failed a mission. The jest turned into respect and after a while nobody made any more jokes about Sharon and Bucky.

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This fic is my own work, it is not to be re-posted on this site or posted anywhere else without my knowledge and consent!

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jisungsjheekies · 4 years

Text

Confidential

Pairing: Yang Jeongin x female reader

Genre: Angst

Word count: 1.9k

Warnings: Loss of consciousness, anemia

Requested: Yes (previously)

A/N: This fic is a repost but the original member has been changed

It had been four months since you had gone to the doctor and it only seemed to get worse from there. You had been forced by your friend to go when you fainted during one of your shopping trips. Your friend had gone into full panic mode, getting help from the mall security to carry you out of the store and to somewhere more private. You were out for a good twenty five minutes before you finally awoke.

After your friend forced you to eat a granola bar and drink some water, she drove you straight to the hospital to get checked. You explained to the doctor that you tended to get light headed quite often, sometimes fainting. You also explained how you were cold and tired all the time. After running some tests, the doctor returned to the room before informing you that you were anemic. While it wasn’t life threatening, it could get to that point if you didn’t treat it properly. So after leaving the hospital, your friend stayed with you for the remainder of the day to make sure you were okay.

You had made your friend promise not to tell anyone, telling her you would tell them when you were ready. Now, how you managed to hide this secret from Jeongin after all this time, you had no idea. If he was suspicious, he never said anything. You were relieved because you weren’t sure of how to tell him. It’s not like it was something serious, you just didn’t want him to worry about you constantly, especially not when he was always so busy with work.

You made sure to take extra precautions in order to assure that Jeongin wouldn’t find out, at least not until you were ready to tell him. Maybe you would break the news once you had gotten better, then he would have less to worry about.

On days where you were feeling under the weather, you would make up any possible excuse to avoid seeing your boyfriend, playing it off as casually as you could. If he invited you out with the boys, you would tell him you were tired from work. If he offered to come over to your place or for you to come to his, you would tell him you had plans with your friend. But in all honestly, you just stayed home, bundled up on bed, too tired to move. During the times that you did go out, you did your best to keep the pain in your head and chest hidden. You mustered up whatever energy you could to keep up with everyone else.

But Jeongin was smarter than that. He noticed the way you would grow tired, even after doing the bare minimum. He noticed the way you would wear more clothes around the house even though you hated being too warm. He also noticed how you had began to wear more makeup even though you were never really a fan of it to begin with. But he never pointed these things out because he wanted you to come to him first. So instead, he watched you with a close eye from the side.

On this particular day, you were feeling rather weak, having to call out of work. When the boys paid you a visit, they had asked why you were home. You had told them that your boss gave you the day off as they were over staffed but when they weren’t looking, your friend cocked a brow at you as you returned her gaze with a pleading look. She sighed before nodding her head. You turned your attention to the boys once you had heard your name.

“What do you think Y/N?” Seungmin asked.

“Think about what?” you asked in confusion.

“The guys want to go bowling,” Jeongin said. You turned to your friend in a mild panic. There was no way you would be able to get out of this. She gave you a reassuring look before speaking on your behalf.

“We’d love to go” she said, grinning at the boys who had begun to cheer in excitement. All the while, you turned your head, meeting Jeongin’s suspicious gaze. You gave him a small smile, averting your eyes before he could see through you.

[1 hour later]

The ten of you were gathered on the sofas in the bowling alley. You had split into two teams: You, Jeongin, Minho, Hyunjin, and Chan on one team and your friend, Changbin, Jisung, Felix and Seungmin on the other team. Everything was going well and everyone was having a great time. You had forgotten momentarily that you were feeling ill as you were caught up in the excitement of the activities. But at some point, when you had gone up for your turn to bowl, you felt a head rush when you stood. Your friend jolted up in her seat, rushing over to you but you gently pushed her away.

“I’m fine. I just stood up too fast” you reassured her, nudging her back to her seat as you went up for your turn. Returning to your seat, you felt a wave of fatigue wash over you but you ignored it as best as you could, focusing on spending time with your friends. You hadn’t noticed the way your friend would glance over at you every once in a while to make sure you were alright.

Soon, it was your turn again as you lifted yourself from the sofa, much slower this time to prevent another head rush, moving to grab your ball. Standing in position, you threw your ball down the lane, watching as it knocked down every pin, earning you a strike. You jumped up in excitement, turning around to your friends as everyone cheered for you. But that soon proved to be a mistake.

In the next moment, your vision went black and the last thing you saw was your friends rushing to your side as they shouted your name.

“Y/N!” Your body went limp, Jeongin catching you just before you hit the floor.

“Baby, please wake up” Jeongin begged, face full of worry as he gently tried to wake your unconscious figure. The rest of the boys went full panic mode as they paced back and forth, while your friend stood quietly to the side, watching it all. After the shock of the situation was gone, your friend stepped in.

“Lay her on her back and don’t move her too quickly,” your friend instructed Jeongin, who was still holding you.

“How are you so calm?” Felix asked bewildered.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened.”

Everyone went silent as all eyes turned to your friend in shock. An worried expression crossed Jeongin’s face as he waited for your friend to explain.

“It’s not my place to tell you. She can explain once she’s awake.” She gave Jeongin and the others an apologetic look before continuing, “Until then, elevate her feet and remove her jacket so that she’s more comfortable.”

“How do you know to do all this?” Jeongin asked.

“The doctors told me to do this in case it happened again,” your friend admitted. At this, everyone’s eyes widened. The situation was much more serious than they had expected if doctors were involved.

Everyone waited anxiously for you to wake, thankful that no one else had been around to see the incident occur as your group had been in a more secluded area in the bowling alley. They had placed you on one of the sofas to make sure you were as comfortable as possible. Your friend sitting on the floor next to your head while Jeongin sat by your legs, keeping them elevated the way your friend instructed.

After fifteen gruesome minutes, you finally began to stir as everyone watched you in silence, not wanting to overwhelm you.

Opening your eyes, you blinked rapidly, taking in your surroundings. Your eyes landed on everyone surrounding you, before you turned to your friend.

“It happened again, didn’t it?” You watched as your friend nodded her head.

“I didn’t tell them,” she told you. You sat upright with the help of Jeongin and your friend before turning to the boys with a guilty expression and sighed.

“I have chronic anemia.” Everyone’s eyes went wide with surprise as you continued, “The doctors said it wasn’t life threatening but if I didn’t treat it properly, then it could be.”

“And have you been doing that?” Jeongin questioned, concern laced in his voice. You answered his question with a guilty look on your face.

“Well...I was,” you admitted, waiting for your boyfriend and friends to voice their disappointment. But much to your surprise, their reactions weren’t what you expected.

“Y/N, you have to take your medicine if you want to get better,” Jeongin encouraged you.

“We don’t want anything to happen to you,” your friend added, the boys nodded their head in agreement.

“I’m sorry for not telling you” you expressed your regret, “I didn’t know how or when to tell you. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“I’m afraid that happened anyway,” Jeongin told you. Your gaze shifted down. Your friend patted your knee in comfort.

“Just promise us you’ll do what you’re supposed to do to get better. Take your medicine. The boys know now so you don’t have to hide or lie anymore. If you’re having a bad day, tell us and we can help,” your friend told you.

“So this is why you were avoiding me?” Jeongin asked, putting two and two together. All you could do was nod. You should have known he’d see through your act.

“It all makes sense now. The makeup, all the layers of clothes, the way you were always tired and grouchy. It was all because of this, wasn’t it? You should have told me. I could have been helping you,” Jeongin sighed.

“I know, I’m sorry,” you told your boyfriend.

“I hope you know that, after today’s incident, I’m going to be watching you like a hawk,” Jeongin notified you, causing you to groan.

“THIS is why I didn’t want to tell you,” you whined. Jeongin just pulled you into his embrace.

“But now I know and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you stay healthy. I’m not losing my favorite girl,” Jeongin said sternly. You nodded, knowing he just wanted to take care of you. You’d do the same for him if the roles were reversed.

“Now if you’ll excuse me” Jeongin began to say, “I’m gonna take my baby home.” Without wasting anymore time, he scooped you up bridal style as you released a squeal of delight, throwing your arms around his neck. You looked up at your boyfriend in curiosity.

“What are we going to do when we get home?” you asked. Jeongin just smiled down at you.

“Netflix, food, sleep and oh yeah… cuddles,” Jeongin told you, watching as an excited grin appeared on your face.

“You had me at cuddles,” you stated, lightly squeezing your arms around Jeongin.

“Good—because you’re going to be getting a lot of them.”

Jeongin placed a sweet kiss against your forehead before setting you down in the passenger seat of the car. He then climbed into the driver's seat and started the car to head home, fully intending to cuddle you. He’d long since decided to never let you go for as long as he could.

✧༺♡༻✧

#skzwriternet #0325net #ultkpop #stray kids #skz #yang jeongin #stray kids angst #skz angst #yang jeongin angst #stray kids imagines #skz imagines #yang jeongin imagines #stray kids scenarios #skz scenarios #yang jeongin scenarios

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tundrainafrica · 3 years

Text

Title: A Tale of Two Slaves (7/17)

Summary: “Soulmates don’t exist. Fate doesn’t exist. Everything is a choice.” At that moment, Levi could only watch as she made the choice for him.“

Reincarnation AU. Levi remembers everything from their past life. Hange doesn’t.

Note: I was busy with fic exchange pieces for a while but will be focusing on updating my multi chapter fics now. As always, feedback is very much appreciated :D

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 8

Link to cross-postings: AO3

“So you’re Levi Ackerman?” The woman who had just entered the room looked excited. Too excited.

After being kept waiting that long, Levi was in no mood for anything, especially unnecessary pleasantries. For the past thirty minutes at least, he had been sitting on the couch of a quaint office. It was spacious and there was at least enough room on the couch to elevate his knee comfortably. Probably the reason he had the self control to give a curt nod in reply.

“I’m a fan! I watched a few of your events actually and I’m so glad to have you here,” she said too enthusiastically. She paused for a second and shook her head. “No, I’m horrified about you being injured which caused you to end up here but I’m just really excited to get to know you.”

Levi didn’t feel the need to reply.

She walked to her desk and dropped her canvas bag before sitting on the couch in front of Levi. “Sorry for being a little late. I just came out from another meeting and went out to get something to eat after. Maybe I could give you my number and you could text me if you get here before I do.” She took a post-it out of her purse and scrawled a few numbers on it and slid it towards Levi.

Shouldn’t you have my number? Somehow it was hard to believe that she was a counselor. “Name?” Levi asked.

“Shela. Just call me Shela.”

Levi had met those types of people before who go by nicknames. More often than not, he couldn’t blame them, usually they had a very old fashioned or embarrassing name behind it. He couldn’t believe someone as transparent or excitable as her who didn’t look like she had much control of her filter, would have issues about how embarrassing a name was though.

“I have a very old fashioned first name.” Shela added, only confirming Levi’s suspicions. “Shela… Sierra - Hotel - Echo - Lima - Alpha.”

Levi typed the name on his phone and saved the number.

Last Name? Academic History? He set the rest of the details aside. As long as he knew her name, he could probably get through enough sessions to at least keep both his coach and Erwin satisfied. Going to a counselor was not his idea after all. It was his coach apparently who had requested it and it was Erwin who had pushed for it. Without twice a day training or even the freedom to go wherever he wanted without being completely exhausted within hours, Levi had not much of anything else to do anyway.

Shela brought out a notebook from her purse, opened it to a bookmark paged and wrote something on it before looking up at him. Levi couldn’t help but note that when she wasn’t looking ashamed or overly enthusiastic and she did look like she knew what she was doing.

“I’m going to skip the question of ‘what brings you here’ because I think we all know why you’re here.” She gestured her pen towards Levi’s leg. “Let’s start with something simple. How are you? How are you feeling today?”

“My knee hurts and I can’t train anymore. But I’m focusing on studies now so I think I’m doing okay.” He answered, having prepared that script in his head the thirty minutes he spent waiting for her.

“I’m not asking how you’re coping. I’m asking how you’re feeling today.” Shela’s piercing eyes were a beautiful shade of blue. The serious look she gave him then bore into him. In fact, it felt like it bore into his soul.

Despite the generally bad first impression she gave him, Levi was somehow convinced that she was qualified to do that type of work and his showing up there might turn out to be worth something after all. Levi found himself almost hypnotized by that look she gave him, a healthy mixture of concern, interest and professionalism.

Hiding and watching his words felt pointless and Levi found himself saying his answers as his brain came up with them.

A Tale of Two Slaves

The hospital where he was slated to have his next sessions was that same hospital he had stayed in a week ago. Conveniently, it was a five minute walk from where he had been staying since he got out of the hospital: Hange’s apartment.

Just until I can walk up stairs. Levi had told himself. There were many dormitories clustered around campus yet he had ended up staying in the least handicap friendly one. The first floor had a lobby and a common room and the actual bedrooms were only found at the second floor and the third floor. To top it all off, there was no elevator. He had to note though that it was an old building with only three floors so it would have been useless to put one.

He was on scholarship and it was assigned to him back in first year so he did not have much of a choice. He didn’t need to think too much of it either that past three years of college since he had never been injured enough to the point of being unable to climb stairs

With his leg completely immobilized and a deadweight, Levi was sure it would be a nightmare to brave that everyday. The paperwork and legwork required to change dormitories in the middle of the semester seemed daunting as well. In the end, Hange had offered to let him stay over in her apartment.

Her condominium was spacious, it had an elevator and it was walking distance from the hospital where he’d have both his counseling and physical therapy sessions.

Walking Distance. For non handicapped people, it should only take five minutes to walk the two block distance from the hospital to the apartment building. Levi took ten minutes to clear it and by the end of it he was exhausted and despite the chill of mid autumn, Levi found himself sweating as he arrived in the apartment.

It was a Friday afternoon, a week after he was released from the hospital. Nobody was pressuring him to go back to school yet. His professors had been kind enough to send him lecture slides and give him extensions. Some classmates had dropped their own summarized notes and get-well messages.

Levi settled on his bed and propped his knee on his pillow, looking through the lecture slides of his last class. Despite his self imposed week long isolation, Levi just wanted to go back to normal life.

But it never will be normal again. Although Levi did see a glimmer of hope in the possibility of feeling normal again when he went back to school, the realist in him knew it wouldn't happen.

Levi was supposed to be in the process of accepting at least that it would never be the “normal” he used to have and had taken for granted. Something inside him was rebelling the process though.

If I can't live the life I want, then I won't live at all. That something screamed inside him.

That form of rebellion left Levi with little energy for anything else. His mind was slower. His body was heavier. He was seeing little reason to move beyond the mechanical and primal movements needed to survive.

As if by magic, his body that used to carry him over two meter tall bars, suddenly felt like it weighed a ton. The weight crushed him everyday. At times Levi found himself unable to breathe. That was he found himself in that same position for sixteen hours a day, either sleeping or staring at the same white ceiling above him.

In fact, the only time he had left the Hange's apartment was for that one counseling session Hange had prodded him to go to. That was the only time she had forced him to go out of the house as if she herself understood somehow the comfort and at the same time the panic that came with a self imposed isolation.

What else was there to do?

He was alone. He had kept to his own bubble in college, only flitting between the two islands of academics and trainings.He was always either busy or exhausted and the lack of in-between had given him little time to reflect on the state of his mental health. And suddenly he had lost one of his islands, the bigger one, the one that had given him meaning the past few years. That had left him completely and utterly lost. Maybe even desolate.

That was what Shela had pointed out in their first counseling session as Levi attempted to articulate the emptiness inside him, the slight panic that came with idleness, the sudden need to turn off all message notifications and the frequent mood changes that came with Hange's entering and exiting the apartment.

And his weird dependence on Hange.

In between studying for his three subjects that semester and icing his bum knee, what else was there to do? Wait for Hange to come home? Talk to her during that one to two hour window when she wasn't working on her thesis? That was what his life had ended up revolving around anyway.

Levi found himself only replying to anything related to studies or graduating. He had received a few messages from others, suggestions to visit training, offers to visit from teammates and he had ignored them all. Somehow, the reminder of the loss of the one hobby that had kept him busy for the past decade of his life, was mocking. He became someone who waits, someone who just went with the flow of everyone's schedule. Having been busy his whole life, having been constantly needed and looked for and only recently, having been reduced to where he was, Levi felt his life was just a series of wrong choices, wrong choices that only formed a distrust with himself and consequently a refusal to engage in activity.

What else am I supposed to be doing? Levi opened his laptop. For a moment he had tried to go through his school notes at Shela’s advice.

After less than an hour of halfheartedly reviewing his notes and forgetting it soon after, Levi had exhausted his already scarce energy. With nothing else to do, he had decided to move to scrolling through timelines which displayed little to no signs of real life obligations, pinterest and reddit to pass the time. Within an hour of just scrolling through both, he had gotten tired of it too. It was a new feeling. Usually he could drown himself in hours of social media and timelines but at that point, nothing was interesting to him anymore.

Have you tried writing out how you feel? Shela’s suggestion echoed in his head. Like maybe get a journal. It’s a great way to process your thoughts and emotions.

What’s there to write. Levi asked himself and Shela’s voice as it echoed in his head. Levi could only stare at the blank screen, his emotions too non-existent to write. The blank document he had opened in front of him was the best representation of his thoughts and emotions already.

There are no right or wrong answers. Shela had brought up another good point during their session.

You think, therefore you are. You feel therefore you are. As long as you’re processing images, sounds and sensations, you’re thinking. You’re feeling something and you can write something down.

Then why do I feel so empty? Levi had asked.

Shela had compared it to a false bottom. As he continued to stare at the blank page in front of him, Levi was starting to feel for that false bottom in his mind. It was a matter of discipline more than anything, determination to dig into one’s self.

It could have taken hours but as Levi looked at the time on his laptop, he realized much time hadn’t passed. In fact, the time to the lower right of his screen, was still the same. But Levi was starting to think differently.

He did have something to look back on. Stories he hadn’t thought back to in a while, having been occupied by training, Hange’s tests, studies and recoveries. They continued to taunt him in the mornings. With the magic of worldly obligations, Levi had managed to set them aside.

His motivations particularly lay in the fact that his world was a little bigger, he was talking to more people and the idea that these same people he was seeing were the same ones he’d been writing fictional stories for had him questioning his own sanity and had him a little self conscious about having those dreams in the first place.

At that moment though, his inability to think and feel beyond that false bottom had Levi more alarmed and he found himself attempting to articulate those dreams on the word processor just to experience a semblance of something.

Levi at least confirmed one thing, that bottom was false. And the more he articulated those dreams, the more they became real. He was starting to scrape on that false bottom and the first things that were oozing out were dreams. Somehow, the dreams were more vivid that he had ever remembered them to be. He felt almost guilty for having set them aside like some sort of fair weathered friend.

“Hey not bad! Is that homework?”

Levi tensed up in surprise. He should have been able to hear the familiar footsteps and the jangle of the keys from his place on the sofa bed. He never missed it once. Levi didn’t know if he should be proud that he had distracted himself enough not to consider Hange or terrified that she was right behind him at that moment, probably reading through his work.

He quickly closed his tab and looked at the time on the lower right. It was only five. Hange usually went home at seven.

“You’re early,” Levi commented.

“It’s my apartment. I can choose when to go home.” Hange answered. “Anyway what was that? Are you writing?”

“A journal,” Levi explained. There was not much point in lying.

“Did the counselor tell you to do that?”

“Yeah. Something about processing emotions and thoughts.”

“It’s a good exercise. Especially since you seemed pretty out of it recently...” Hange trailed off.

Levi looked back at her and noticed a flicker of what looked like guilt in Hange’s eyes before she looked away.

“Out of it?” Levi knew what she was talking about. He just felt the need to keep the conversation going.

“You spent the past weekend just lying in bed. I never even saw you look through your phone or open your laptop. ” Hange explained. “I’ve seen how these types of things develop so... So yeah, I’m just so happy to see you so focused on something else.”

“I don’t really have much else to get into other than school.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Hange said.

Levi bit his lip, instantly regretting that last sentence. Hange averaged two apologies a day which was a lot given the fact that they only ever had a two hour window to talk in between Levi’s long hours asleep and Hange’s long hours on campus.

“It wasn’t your fault. I was kinda going crazy too...With the jumping I mean.” He added. “And I was the one who decided to make that last jump in the first place. And now you have to change your whole thesis topic.”

“It wasn’t too difficult. Just one week building a new proposal. It’s still the same case study, it’s just I decided to document a recovery. Erwin’s unconventional methods with the recovery makes it worth documenting.”

“At least I’m still useful somewhere,” Levi commented wryly. Hange had explained the thesis to him over the weekend. He should have been relieved at least to know that they weren’t separating anytime soon. Surprisingly though, he wasn’t even happy to hear it. Everything around him just seemed too bleak to celebrate anything. Good news that used to make him smile and celebrate internally suddenly only made him feel a slight sense of relief, the equivalent emotion of seeing a wet floor sign in an area with slippery floors.

Hange sat on the sofa bed next to Levi and looked towards him. She took a deep breath. “I know with what’s been happening, it looks like you don’t have much going for you. And I know things seem pretty dark now but things will get better. You just have to keep living.”

“I’m still breathing.”

“You know what I mean,” Hange said. “When I get up in the morning you’re asleep. When I get back we talk for an hour and half the time it’s just me talking. You barely even answer when I ask what you want. This past weekend I didn’t even see you look through your phone. It’s like you’re practically dead.”

“What else is there to do. I can’t show up for training. My professors aren’t asking me to go back to school soon.”

“Find a new hobby? Continue whatever thing you’re writing. Enjoy the food I bring home. Laugh when you see a funny meme. Or you know, at least smile and do that nose blowing thing people do when you show them a funny meme..”

“My teammates are preparing for the new season. My classmates are at least all caught up in class. I spent too much damn time on that fucking sport. Now that it’s all gone, I feel like I’m just going with the flow of life instead of actually swimming,” Levi said, having taken that last part from Shela’s book.

“Everyone is just going with the flow of life. We’re all at the mercy of time anyway. Live for yourself. See joy in the small things at least. Look at me, I’m simping for athletes like some idiot in between studies.”

“Live for yourself? You follow people’s orders a lot for someone who gives this type of advice.”

“It’s not obeying people. I’m just asking questions and seeking advice. The more relevant facts, information and experience you have, the better the decisions you can make right. So can’t I argue that having more information at my fingertips makes me freer? ” Hange gave Levi a knowing and playful smile

He could tell by the look she gave him that she expected something in return. It was a rhetorical question though, maybe even a premature victory lap for having won that argument. Levi silently looked back at his laptop, not wanting to let her win.

Hange broke the silence. “Okay now that we’re on the topic of asking questions... who’s that Squad Leader Hange Zoe you’re writing about?”

A Tale of Two Slaves

Levi could not pinpoint the exact moment he decided for certain that squad leader Hange Zoe was real, when he decided for himself that the stories he was writing out should have been real.

It came as a gradual decision after incessant questions from Hange that at first, he was determined not to answer. Hange was smart about it, keeping the questions as things that could be answered with one word, and before he knew it, he was giving her too much information, it was pointless to blatantly refuse. After he had answered her more than enough questions, she smiled.

“Looks like you got my personality down,” Hange commented. Levi somehow knew her enough to tell there was no judgement or obligation in that voice. In fact, when he looked into her eyes, he saw that same wonder, he had seen many times before when she witnessed the jumps.

That wonder only carried over from questions on the squad leader to questions on his dreams and finally, to questions on how he wrote his dreams out.

“How do you see the world?”

“How do I see the world?”

“Like what type of camera angles do you see the world in. If I asked you to imagine a tree, what kind of tree do you imagine? Do you imagine it from top to bottom, from trunk to top? Our minds are the most creative producers and cameramen you can think of.”

“Do you notice how well our body blends sensations? When the light turns off then on, there’s a split second where you see shapes when your eyes adjust from light to dark?”

“What are the physical manifestations of emotions? Do you feel your stomach drop? Do you ever get that tingling feeling in your legs and suddenly they’re jelly?”

Did you ever witness something so beautiful that you wish you could live forever just so you could never forget it?

The conversation was a little deep and a little too philosophical for him. It was a ploy to get him writing and maybe a ploy to get him to understand the same wonder she had in the world from what he could tell. Somehow he needed it. The way Hange had described the world, the way she had described reality, only made the line between what could have been his imagination and his memory a little more distinct.

It was around then did he look at Hange Zoe the medical student to see the squad leader from his dreams. Erwin Smith, Hange Zoe and every single one of the soldiers in these dreams. They weren’t just dreams or manifestations of an exhausted mind.

In another life, she could have been real. The angles at which he saw the world, the way his body processed those sensations in his dreams, the manifestations of those emotions, too vivid even more vivid than a catharsis from a good book or a phenomenal ending to a TV show.

The questions continued to echo as Hange turned off the lights and Levi lay in bed awake. That food for the thought left Levi hyper aware of his surroundings, all the way down to the small details --- the way every piece of thread on the bed covers beneath him pressed on to him, the way his breath made a sound in the utter silence late at night no matter how much he tried to quiet it, the way the palpitations in his chest could be felt all the way until his head. He was excited to sleep, dream and take stock of his dreams yet he was too excited to fall asleep.

Like a five year old the night before their first field trip, Levi did not fall asleep anytime soon.

A Tale of Two Slaves

Nobody really questions the logic of dreams.

Sometimes one can find themselves only a few millimeters tall on top of a giant donut. Sometimes they can find themselves having milk tea with their favorite celebrity. Dreams are more felt by the moments they bring to people, not by the logic. It was only natural Levi did not question much of his dreams then.

That night as he lay awake, Levi made the conscious effort to live in his dreams, to take note of every detail from the sights and sounds, to the smells, the emotions, repeating to himself the questions Hange had asked earlier that day. What he had failed to consider then, was the context of dreams.

Were Hange and the others okay?

He found himself on the battlefield and he knew exactly what had to be done. In front of him was a large furry creature which the military had dubbed the Beast Titan and around him were other naked humanoid creatures called titans.

The Beast titan was flinging rocks at them and the soldiers were dying at an alarming rate.

Commander Erwin Smith ordered a suicide mission. All surviving soldiers were to rush towards the Beast Titan while Levi flew from the side of the walls and snuck towards him.

He knew what to do. The movements were natural and Levi had flown before, the gear on his waist had only made the whole mission easier. Somehow, on the battlefield he had the luxury of stock knowledge.

That stock knowledge was what had him slicing through the arms, through the eyes, through the achilles and finally through the nape of said titan. He pulled out a blonde man and pushed the sword through the man’s mouth.

He could feel his blood boiling. From anger? Of course, the man had killed Erwin. For a second, Levi had managed to get a view of the blond commander as he flew from the wall slashing titan after titan. He knew the man was probably dead.

But there was a way to revive him. There was a serum.

Before Levi could give it a second thought, a duck billed monster tore into his view and---

Levi sat up and screamed. He found himself in no hurry to dodge that duck billed titan. He was in Hange's apartment, too injured to be flying in the air in those contraptions anyway. He ran his hands through his body and up to his face, taking stock of his reality. He didn't reek of titan blood nor was he covered in it. He scanned the dark room, or at least what was visible given the moon was his only light source.

Somehow, those few moments as captain Levi had felt so real, watching the moon from his place on the sofa bed seemed almost dreamlike.

Which one is my reality? Levi found himself questioning it all. As quickly as the questions came, they were answered. All he needed was one stimuli, strong enough to root him back into his reality.

"Hey, bad dream?"

The dark room and his own state of mind had made it difficult for him to notice that Hange had settled beside him. That voice though had pulled him out of his trance and he became certain at least that he was not dreaming anymore.

"Yeah," Levi managed to say. At the least he still had control of his voice.

Hange sat cross-legged next to him. The moon was at a perfect angle to illuminate her face and even in the dark room he could see it. Her eyes were looking right at him as if she were studying him a little too seriously.

She brought out one finger to his eye and pushed at the corner. That was when Levi felt it. The small tear spread on the corner of his eye and dried up within seconds. Levi only hastened the process by wiping it himself.

"I'm not leaving you tonight."

"Why?"

"I'll take full responsibility for this. It was my mistake that got you into this in the first place.”

"I've had them before. This is nothing new.” Levi argued. As Hange lay on the sofa bed next to him though, he realized he didn’t want her to leave. His body froze as if understanding that emotion, unwilling to accommodate the protests, the impulse inside him to argue, to force her to go back to her room.

The sofa bed was at least big enough for both of them, wide enough for a comfortable one to two feet space between them. Hange had made sure as well to lie on her side, only widening that space a little more.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve told you this but I swear I really do mean it every time. I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked as she said it.

Levi only continued to stare at the ceiling above him, listening to her disturbed and hitched breaths next to him as if she was holding back something. He didn’t want to look to his side, not wanting to further aggravate a reaction he sensed was raring to come out of her or to further tighten that knot which had settled itself on his chest. His dim surroundings only illuminated weakly by the moon, did not help at all.

Levi lay awake for a while longer, scrambling for words that could placate her.

This is nothing new. It hadn’t worked.

I’m fine. But he wasn’t.

Things happen. Had he not given that same consolation so many times before?

Eventually the rhythm of her breathing evened out enough for Levi to guess that she had fallen asleep, and as if by some special force, Levi found his breathing slowing down too. He was starting to relax.

The apartment was dark and quiet. It was peaceful, so peaceful that Levi never did notice when exactly he was pulled back into his dream. The dimness of the apartment was gradually replaced by the dimness of the forest a long time ago. The distant sounds of passing cars gradually replaced by the crackle of a fire and the rustle of leaves on a windy night.

He was surrounded by trees. A broken wooden cart lay to the side and a few feet away from it a campfire.

The soft and even breathing next to him stayed though. The same exact pattern, the same exact rhythm, the same hitched breaths--- all signs of the light uneasy slumber of his companion.

That was all Levi needed to hear to have sworn nothing much changed about her.

#levihan #levi ackerman #hange zoe #levi x hange #levi x hanji #levihan fanfiction #fanfic

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eirenical · 3 years

Note

1 and 2 for the writing meta prompt please!

Thank you, @flamingwell

[If anyone else would like to send questions, here is the list. ^_^]

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Oooooooh boy. Well, I have quite a few. XD So, how about we just go through the ones I have actively open in Word right now?

Legacies Found: The Untamed, sequel to Legacies Lost. This is a giant canon divergent AU that I've been working on for well over a year at this point. There is one key thing that I changed (and in the interest of spoilers, I'm not going to say what, but if you're curious and don't mind spoilers then, by all means, come ask and I'll tell you all about it. ;D) and it affected everything in-universe, some for the better, some for the worse. Here's the AO3 summary:

Sixteen years ago, the Yiling Patriarch died, a victim to his own hubris and the Yin Tiger Seal. Hundreds of cultivators from many different sects died with him that day, their souls forever doomed to find no rest, even in death. On this, the 16th anniversary of the battle of Qiongqi Pass, Jin Ling is determined to make pilgrimage, to try to put the spirit of his long-lost father to rest. He finds much more than he bargained for, and what he finds… will change everything.

And in the sequel, things have progressed significantly from this point, but the people involved are still broken in various ways, not quite at the point of healing yet, but getting there. The plot is opening up to the wider world and new characters are going to be introduced, and I'm having a lot of fun writing it, but it is SO MUCH SLOWER GOING. OTZ

Mirror, Mirror: I talked about this one extensively in this post, and it hasn't really progressed any further from there. XD This is a Guardian AU based on a short film that Zhu Yilong did with Li Bingbing called "Into the Mirror" (there's a link in the other post).

Reclamation: *eg* For anyone who's been following my Whumptober series (yes, I know we're WELL past October OTZ) of fics that I've been writing for Granting You a Dreamlike Life, this is the latest in the series. This monster is already almost 18K words and it's... it's a LOT. The story is a canon-divergent AU that starts out mostly overlapping canon during episode 35 and begins to diverge somewhere between there and episode 36. I leaned REALLY hard into the whump on this one, went really self-indulgent and wrote the fic that I would most want to read for this fandom, because I was pretty damned sure that no one else would write it or would take it as far and as dark as I wanted it to go if they did. And this particular story is the darkest of the bunch so far. ^_~ I'm not going to link directly to this one, because this is definitely a HEED THE TAGS situation, but if anyone's interested in some really, REALLY dark GYADL fic... hit me up and I'll be happy to tell you more. ^_^ (And for those who just want to look for themselves, you can find it under #eirenical does whumptober or on my AO3 where the series name is "Indefinitely." ^_^)

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

I think I've talked enough about my current projects, so how about some future projects for this one? ^_^

(...and how about under a cut because this is getting kind of long...)

The Lost Tomb Reboot

I have... several fic at the plotty stage for TLTR, and I just added a new one to the list this morning. XD

Ershu fic: So, for anyone who's been following my TLTR journey, you know I'm obsessed with Ershu. I LOVE HIM. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. And you know what happens when I love a character, right? Right? I WANT TO BREAK THEM. *coughs* Anyway, something happens to Ershu in S2 of TLTR that I won't go into detail about because spoilers, but essentially, he's betrayed and ends up in the hands of the person who betrayed him with no one else being the wiser and with him helpless and unable to tell anyone. And there are just... all KINDS of dark, fucked up possibilities there, and just like the Whumptober series, I AM going to write that fic, even if no one but me ends up reading it. ;D

Probably post-canon domestic bliss fic: For those of you who enjoy WHIPLASH ;D, I just honestly want ALL THE SOFT DOMESTIC IRON TRIANGLE. ALL OF IT. And I want Wu Xie and Ershu to have an opportunity to sit down and actually TALK about things (e.g., their need for a family heir), instead of trying to one-up each other. Special appearances by all the ducklings, Xiao Bai's girlfriend, and Lia Jiale and Jia Kezi (...my fic, my rules, we ignore canon when we want to ^_^) having an ...oh moment, and sweet, soft cuddles for Liu Sang and Kan Jian because they're adorable and I love them, too. (I have no idea if this is all going in one fic or if it will be a series of slice of life things, but I just want everyone to get their happily ever after IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK???)

Post-canon Huo Daofu and Xiao Ge... time-sharing Wu Xie?: IDEK what to call what's going on here, but... yeah. XD (See, @elenothar, I haven't forgotten! ;D) To crib from another post... I really do think that Xiao ge loves Wu Xie and loves being with him and all that that entails, but that he gets… restless. A little feral cat, if you will. And he just needs to wander off and be on his own for a while sometimes. And I would love to see a permutation where it’s just kind of understood that he and Huo Daofu just kind of… share Wu Xie. ^_^ Not in a threesome way, but in a way that they both understand each other’s claim on Wu Xie and neither of them wants him to be alone, so they just kind of… work that out between them. Like he's a time share. (OMG, I have to be careful of how often I use that phrase for this fic or I'm going to end up calling it that as a title. XD)

DMBJ x Highlander xover that I just came up with literally this morning: No, seriously, this LITERALLY just popped into my head as I was waking up this morning. It was a wild fucking ride, too. O_o;;; ANYWAY, I'm probably going to make a separate headcanon/plotty post for this one, but basically I just randomly woke up thinking... Duncan was an antique dealer in the late 80s/early 90s in the US. Wu Xie is an antique dealer in China, now, and his family has been involved in the antique trade for a... VERY long time. Maybe Duncan did some business with the Wu family. Maybe he met Wu Xie as a kid. Maybe he knew Xiao ge even EARLIER than that (like 100 years earlier). Maybe post-canon Highlander, Duncan starts getting back into the antique trade by helping to quietly repatriate artifacts and comes to China to deal with the Wu family to do that, and meets Wu Xie again... and Xiao ge. And has a WTF moment because Xiao ge ISN'T an Immortal like he is, but he doesn't look a day older than when they met 100 years ago and just... WTF?? And Wu Xie is looking at Duncan and looking at Xiao ge and having a WTF moment of his own because is EVERYONE immortal except him and Pangzi?? And... I just think that would be a lot of fun to play with. ;D

Guardian:

The Care and Training of a Former Megalomaniac V and VI, maybe?: OK, so this idea isn't really concrete, but I still want to play with it. I want to do something to tackle Ye Zun's past with the Rebel Leader and the trauma that that left behind, and I'm thinking he'll end up having a good (...drunk) talk with Da Qing about it.

Another idea I had (MUCH more concrete) was based off my own poor lazy bb. He LOVES to catch bugs. LOVES IT. He gets SO EXCITED and SO into it... but sometimes the bugs fly up to the ceiling. And Gabriel is comfy in my lap and doesn't want to move. So he will swat at the bug... halfheartedly. And then he will turn around and complain to me when it won't come down to be swatted at again. Like I can somehow make it come down so he can play with it? IDEK. XD ANYWAY. I had a vivid mental image of Da Qing doing this to Ye Zun and somehow convincing him to actually... bring the bug down. Using his powers. And someone at the SID detects Ye Zun using his powers so ZYL and SW race home... to find Ye Zun... using his powers... to tether bugs for Da Qing to play with. And I just think that would be hilarious. XD

...I think that's everything in the mental kiddy right now? XD

#ask meme answers #meta asks for writers meme #flamingwell #eirenical writes things #plot bunnies #guardian #the lost tomb reboot #dmbj x highlander au #i should start tagging that #granting you a dreamlike life #eirenical does whumptober #notes: legacies found #notes: legacies lost #eirenical does whumptober 2020

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pan-of-light · 3 years

Text

Crowded Break!

Octavinelle Trio on vacation. That’s it, that’s the fic.

Originally posted to AO3

Spring break was a time for productivity. Being home and sequestered in his childhood room was one of the few places he felt comfortable enough to sprawl around in his true, octopus merman form, and he had to admit: no matter the aesthetic advantaged brought about by the human potion, it was so much easier to work with eight extra limbs. There was always a lingering fear in his mind he'd be unable to get used to working at such a slower capacity when he went back to school, but they rarely lasted. Like the Ramshackle Dorm's prefect had told him, he was a hard worker. Azul Ashengrotto would not lose to the weakness of a human form.

But he was going to enjoy this time of working at a proper pace. Professors at Night Raven were hardly shy about burying their students in homework, since the school and their students has a reputation to uphold. They were the best of the best (besides the musclebrains of Royal Sword), and Azul was always one to outshine others. After a hectic fall term, this is what he needed. Peace, quiet, eight extra limbs--

And the door to his room slamming open.

Honestly, it was a feat to do so underwater, but after years of knowing the Leech siblings, it was just a thing Azul had come to accept. And thankfully, he'd gotten plenty of control of his ink glands and kept himself from making a mess of his room as Floyd and Jade barged in. Well, Floyd barged, Jade at least had the decency to shut the door behind him after slithering in.

At times like these, Floyd reminded Azul of Professor Trein’s cat. Much like how Lucius could walk all around the bookshelves and displays of the professor’s office and not disturb a single award or decoration, so could Floyd effortlessly maneuver through Azul’s setup on the bed and make himself comfortable there without disturbing a single book, phone or computer. Azul would be impressed if he wasn’t already so used to it.

“So why are you two here?”

“Your parents let us in,” Jade answered, setting down a tray of snacks on a nearby desk.

“Yeah, they complained we never visit anymore and said we were getting thin. You need to invite us over more, Azul~”

“That’s not what I asked,” Azul sighed, but knew that was about as much of an answer as he was going to get. Honestly, his parents. It was a miracle Azul could go through doors as a kid. He hoped running the Lounge didn’t permanently rewire his brain to associate loving others with shoving them full of food, in the future.

In the present, however, he had people who knew him far too well, so Jade had also bought a low-calorie all-natural wrap from a nearby health food shop, placing it on the desk along with the food Azul’s parents made in such a natural way it was like it had always been there. Efficiency born from practice.

“You should at least take a break to eat with us. Wasn’t it you who said the secret to a fitter form was more small, spaced out meals than few big ones?” when they were home like this, Jade never bothered to hide his teeth while smiling, leaving his appearances and manipulations refreshingly honest. There was no point in hiding their true natures from people who knew them so well, which just made their dances around each other that much more fun.

“I’m afraid I’m still too busy to take a break at the moment.”

“Boooring! Come eat with us, Azul!” Floyd sprung from his position on the bed, expertly knocking away or slapping all of Azul’s things with his tail in a single move, again much like Lucius would do to Professor Trein’s shelves when the cat decided it was treat time and would not hear anything to the contrary. “Not like you can work on anything now, right?”

Azul scoffed, pushing Floyd off his bed, a move that had no malice behind it and was almost incapable of causing any damage, since it was hardly like Floyd could hit the floor while underwater. Some might even describe it as playful.

“Or maybe I can just make you both leave.” “You’d treat your guests in that manner?” Jade raised a hand to his chest in mock surprise, letting out a dramatic gasp, “I had no idea your parents had raised such an uncouth host.”

“Yeah, your mom’d squee~ze you way worse than I could ever do if she hears you’re bad to guests, Azul.”

Oh, such a low blow, going for his parents like that. Especially since they knew he’d have little success employing that strategy since the Leech parents had far too many sibling to properly manage them. If Floyd and Jade were any more chaotic, it could be troubling for all the seas! Then again, Azul pondered, thinking back to his Overblot incident, it wasn’t like he was that much better. They might be named Leech, but he was the one who sucked power from others.

Not from them, though, no. He’d never seen what they had in him, but they willingly gave him their time and power in pursuit of amusement, that serendipitously aligned with his own goals. Their partnership was a thing of incredible power, and Azul made absolutely sure to never tell them that out loud, lest it go to their heads even more. (Plus, if they were even the tiniest bit close to him as he was to them, they already knew).

“You’re both awful guests, and my mother would see nothing wrong in kicking troublemakers like you out.” Azul only earned laughter in response, mocking and derisive and, well, proving his point. He shooed Jade off his chair and took a seat at his desk, grabbing the snack they’d brought for him while Jade took a polite seat on his bed, grabbing some food for himself while Floyd took the rest of the tray and sprawled out on the floor, stretching himself from one end of the room to another.

“I’m assuming you have actual plans for the day, then?”

“The community center stage is open, you haven’t played piano for us in a while, Mona’s salon is having a discount on full hair treatment days-”

“There are new documentaries being screened at the museum regarding advances in magic control study, I know you have some new board game prototypes to test for the club-”

“Oh! There’s also going to be a fried food festival thing in a few days, so you need to plan your diet so you can go, and we can look up new things to try in the lounge there--”

“And, of course, if all else fails, there’s always watching over our beloved schoolmates on MagiCam to make sure they’re spending their break properly, huhu…”

“That’s enough activities for the rest of the break, not just a single day.”

“Well, duh,” Floyd laughed, “did you seriously have any other plans? You’re a shut-in when you get left alone too long~”

“As vice-leader of Octavinelle, it’s nothing more than my duty to keep you stimulated and enriched during periods of rest.” “What am I, some kind of pet?”

“No, we’d have to feed you, then. You’re much less annoying when you can manage your own diet.” Jade was already looking all around the abandoned items on his bed, pulling out Azul’s schedule book and flipping through it until the current date, grabbing a pen and beginning to vandalize Azul’s well-made break plans.

“You’re giving me as much choice as a pet would.”

“But Azuuul, you totally have a choice! You can come with us, or we can start a throwback thursday on the Lounge’s MagiCam account! We have so many cute pictures of us as children, you know~” Floyd pulled out his phone to show his threat was far from empty, cloud storage noting a few dozen pictures of their childhood, Azul included.

Azul threw himself across the room, grabbing at Floyd’s hands, despite knowing that the pictures existed beyond his phone because it was the principle of the thing, damn it! while Floyd did his best to ignore all ten limbs of fury aiming for his hands. Bastard didn’t even need to use his unique magic for it, and when finally cornered, threw the phone to Jade, who had moved across the room just for this.

“Oh, and please do be careful, Azul,” he teased when it was his turn to end up with a facefull of angry octopus, “if you make too big a mess of you room, we won’t be able to go out today.”

By the time he saw his phone sail past him back to Floyd’s hands, Azul threw his arms in the air in exasperation. “Fine, fine, I’m going! Give me a minute to get my things in order!”

“Aww, isn’t this great, Jade? Azul finally decided the best way to spend his break is playing with us!”

“I’m so very glad out dorm leader is a capable man who always sees reason.”

#twisted wonderland #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #floyd leech #fanfic by pan #queue

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