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dameronology · 3 years

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you have my number {bucky barnes x reader}

summary: bucky barnes' memory is a little selective, thanks to all the brainwashing - but one thing he'll never forget is his love for you, even if you're a complete & utter pain in the ass. his ass. (based on deja vu by olivia rodigro)

^even tho this fic refers to bucky as having a new gf, the reader is still g.n :)

this is spoiler free! enjoyyy

- jazz xx

Your relationship with Bucky Barnes had been nothing short of a train wreck.

And frankly, that was putting it nicely.

It had been a short & passionate affair; intense and sweet and filled with so much emotion in such high concentrations that you'd both almost drowned in it. For every euphoric moment, there had been one so low that you'd scraped your knees on the ground. Climbing a ladder to heaven whilst simultaneously digging your own graves had taken its toll on you both, and eventually, you had no choice but to go your separate ways. It had been for your own sanity, really.

So there he was, tucked away in a neat little box in your brain, labelled don't touch, ever. Even when you were completely wasted, surrounded by your friends and their respective lovers, you never dared to venture back down that particular memory lane. Forgetting all the bad parts and selectively remembering the good parts was easy enough to do, but you had the common sense to remember why you'd broken up in the first place. Because Bucky Barnes, despite being easy on the eyes and having a charming sense of humour, was a pain in your fucking ass. He managed to press every one of your buttons without even trying and his ability to bring out the best in you was completely and entirely wiped out by his tendency to bring out the worst. That wasn't even getting started on his emotional hold-ups; a can of worms neither of you had dared to open until it became the very reason for your demise.

Six months had passed, and you'd managed to expertly avoid him. You worked different missions and Sam Wilson, god bless his sweet soul, went the extra mile to ensure your paths never crossed in a professional sense. On a personal level, however? That was a little more difficult. New York City felt a lot smaller after your break up. You found yourself occasionally ducking under your hood when you saw him on the F-train, or rushing to cross the road when you saw him coming towards you on the street.

That was when you had the whole city to lose yourself in; streets and shops and little food carts to distract yourself with should you need to. Being confined to the same room for a work party was a different story entirely, and one you didn't want to read. Yet, thanks to some insistence from your boss and a little grovelling from your colleagues, you found yourself rocking up to the former Avengers tower on a Friday night.

"So you do exist outside of your work uniform?" Sam Wilson greeted you with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah - nice to see you too, Wilson."

Despite your initial attempts to elbow him in the rips, he wrestled you off of him and pulled you into a tight hug. Sam was one of your favourite colleagues and oldest friends - he'd witnessed the rise and fall of your relationship with Bucky, and been there for you both during the break-up. That had been an exhausting few days, running between your respective apartments in an attempt to offer emotional support to you both.

"D'you want some champagne?" He asked.

"I'm good, but thank-"

You froze, eyes widening at the sight of James Barnes across the room. He looked quintessentially the same, bar for the fact his hair was a little longer and he had a fresh, pink scar under his left eye. Having ditched his usual attire for a black blazer, he looked good. Annoyingly so, in fact. It made you secretly grateful that you'd chosen to dress up a little more than usual too.

"- on second thoughts." You took the flute of champagne from Sam, also grabbing a shot of vodka from the same trey. It was gone in seconds.

"Need I ask?" Sam gave you a playful frown. His brown eyes followed your gaze over his shoulder, landing on the man you'd been staring at. "Ah. I need not."

"Sorry." You murmured. "We haven't actually spoken since, y'know."

"Since you had a break-up that made Ross and Rachel look good?"

"I don't think Bucky has ever seen Friends." You quipped.

"His loss." Sam shrugged. "You should talk to him."

"Nope." You snorted. "Absolutely not. I don't even know if he's moved on."

"Judging by the pretty blonde on his arm, I think he has," Sam replied. "Would you look at that! They're headed right for us."

That was a lot of information to process at once. You would have needed a week alone for your poor, tired brain to deal with the fact that Bucky had someone else on his arm, and a further three days to big yourself up enough to talk to him. Alas, that was not the case tonight. Instead, you had about five seconds between Sam finishing his sentence and your ex-boyfriend reaching you. It was just as well you found the energy within that timeframe to down your champagne.

You could see the woman on his arm clearer now. To give credit where credit was due, she stunning. She looked like the sort of girl who smelt of strawberries and Chanel, and grew her own vegetables on the fire escape. The kind of person you swore to be with every New Year that came, but quickly ditched after a week, returning to drinking coffee from the Starbucks under your apartment rather than going to the organic, vegan place a few blocks over. There was an ethereal glow about her and fuck. You were mad.

"Sam!" Bucky called out to his friend - for a minute, you thought he was ignoring you, before you realised he genuinely didn't recognise you. Your name rolled off his tongue with a tone of uncertainty, as though he was learning a new language and still learning how to pronounce things. "Wow. You look...different."

"So do you." You shot back. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Katie." He awkwardly smiled. "My...my girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you." You forced an equally pained grin, taking her hand in a shake.

"How do you and Bucky know each other?" She asked.

"Work." Bucky quickly said. You thinned your eyes at him, almost in disbelief.

"So you're an Avenger like these two?" Katie asked, clearly not picking up on the tension. "That's so cool."

"Not in an official capacity." You replied. "But they'd be fucked without me."

The night only got longer from there, really.

There wasn't enough champagne in the world to help the void in your soul. It was a gaping wound that Bucky Barnes had both filled and widened - and tonight, he was doing the latter. It sounded as though him and Katie were having a grand ol' time of it. From the parts of the conversation that you'd actually bothered to listen to, you'd gathered that she'd arrived in New York from London just over three months ago. That meant she had a fucking accent. Of course she did. It made everything she said a thousand times more interesting.

"We were in Paris, in this little cafe. What was it called, babe? Maison de vie?"

"Maison de l'amour, doll." Bucky corrected her. It had only sounded right when he was calling you that.

Your eyes shot up from your drink, immediately staring daggers at them both. The slimy bastard. You had been the one to show him that place. You'd been in Paris for a mission, and after realising it was your four-month anniversary, you'd taken him there for pancakes. It had been a slow morning, filled with hazy eyes and pink skies, and it had ended with him dropping the L-bomb for the first time. The photo you'd taken of Bucky, sat beside a pile of pancakes the same size of him and with whipped cream on his chin, had been your phone background until the day you broke up.

"I've been there." You didn't break away from his gaze, holding cold blue eyes in a trance that he found to be almost suffocating.

"Oh, nice!" Katie beamed. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah." You sniffed. "The company was shit, though."

"Oh, man." She replied. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's not your fault." You gave her a sweet smile - to Bucky, it was a look of venom. "So, tell me more about your trip to Paris."

He quickly cleared his throat. "We didn't do much. Just a weekend getaway-"

"- are you forgetting that we saw Billy Joel?" Katie cut him off with a laugh. "The Billy Joel!"

"Right." It looked as though his mouth had gone completely dry.

"He told me he loved me for the first time to Uptown Girl-"

"-excuse me for a moment." You shoved your glass in her hand, before backing away from your little huddle.

Your brain was focused on getting away and only on getting away. The room suddenly felt a thousand times hotter, and a thousand times smaller too, as though the walls were closing in on you. Maybe that wouldn't have been so bad if they'd just collapsed around you and swallowed you fucking whole. Anything to get away from this situation.

Making a beeline for the balcony doors, you elbowed them open and stepped outside. The cold air of the rooftop gardens was a welcome contrast to the stuffy indoors, biting, night air hitting your face like an icy hug. The sounds of the city rung below you - sirens and yells and tourists - and tangled into the faint sound of the music, all parts of a world that your brain was working overtime to block out.

You focused on the city instead, using the bright lights of the surrounding buildings to anchor you to reality. None of it really even made sense - you were over Bucky. Had been for a long time. It was just the thought of him doing all the things that he'd done with you, with someone else. It made you feel a little bad for Katie, too.

"I was going to tell you about Billy Joel."

You glanced over your shoulder, giving a derivative snort. "Piss off, Bucky."

"I'm serious." He ignored your demand, cautiously approaching you.

"I brought you those tickets!" You turned around to face him. "We were meant to go together. Billy Joel was our thing."

"We broke up!' He reminded you. "Like I said, I was going to tell you that we went together-"

"- I don't care." You cut him off. "I genuinely don't care."

"That was a lot of storming off for someone who doesn't care."

"Okay, maybe I care a little bit." You huffed, taking a seat on a bench. "It's not even that you're with someone else, it's that you're doing all the things we did. The nicknames, the pancake place, the concert."

"I..." Bucky took a seat beside you, pondering for a moment.

"And declaring your love for someone to Uptown Girl is fucking weird." You muttered.

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Vienna, obviously."

"You're such a pain in the ass." Bucky replied. "But for what it's worth, I wasn't thinking of Katie in that moment."

You glanced up at him, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"D'you remember that morning when we were in New Orleans?" He asked. "And we had a few hours to kill before our flight, so you started dancing around the hotel room to Uptown Girl?"

"I remember." You softly smiled.

"That was when I realised I loved you." He admitted. "I was replaying that in my head at the concert, and it just kinda came out, and Katie heard."

"Damn." You muttered. "Sucks to be her, huh?"

"I like Katie." He said. "Truth be told, doll, I'm still stuck in the past a little bit. With you, and with what we had."

"We fucking hated each other by the end, Buck."

"I know, but I mean all the stuff before that." He explained. "You were the first person who saw me for who I am and not what I've done. The first person that actually made me feel loved and worthy."

"I do try."

He lightly elbowed you "I'm serious. I think I'm just projecting my longing for what we had onto my current relationship."

"You're being painfully honest tonight." You observed. "It's fucking weird."

"Who taught me to be painfully honest?"

"Right." You rolled your eyes. "So this is how Frankenstein felt when he created his monster."

"You're the worst," Bucky muttered. "I genuinely am sorry, though. I shouldn't be recycling our memories. I should make new ones.'

Dusting off your trousers, you stood up. "You're right."

"Thank you, though."

"For what?"

"For finding me first," He replied, "and for teaching me what love is."

"Well, if you ever need to be reminded? You have my number."

#why am i low key in love with katie?#i want a tall woman who smells of strawberries :(#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes x gn!reader #bucky barnes x y/n #avengers x reader #avengers x you #avengers fluff #avengers angst #avengers imagines #avengers imagine #marvel imagines #marvel imagine

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live-the-fangirl-life · 3 years

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Rainy Day Rescuer

Feyre Archeron x Rhysand - OneShot

Feyre gets locked out in the rain and fears she'll have to tough out the storm. That is, until a kind stranger opens his window.

Masterlist | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language

2130 words

*******

Feyre’s favorite thing about her apartment building wasn't the location or the free parking—although she did love that—it was the rooftop.

She’d lived in the building almost a month before realizing she could access the roof. The padlock on the door was apparently for appearances only, and it easily came off when she pulled on it. She figured out how to rest it back on the door so that when she was out on the roof the door still looked locked to anyone who didn't know better.

So far, she hadn't run into any of her neighbors trying to share the spot, but she knew someone else used it. Normally, she came up here to paint or to think and look at the stars. The view from the roof was lovely; she could see the city center and all the lit-up buildings, and the Sidra river that flowed through it.

The first time she set up her easel, one of her paintbrushes rolled away, and when she tracked it down behind an old broken crate she found a book had been carefully tucked away behind it.

Feyre couldn't help it when she picked up the book to get a better look at it. She glanced around quickly before chiding herself, knowing that no one else was out there with her. She recognized it as some sort of mythology retelling. Feyre flipped through it, trying to find some name or any indication of who it belonged to. All she found was an old receipt from a clothing store being used as a bookmark.

Spotting her runaway paintbrush, she grabbed it and put the book back where she found it.

That wasn't the last time she saw that book, and it certainly wasn't the last time she lost one of her paintbrushes.

In the next few weeks, every time Feyre went out to the roof she looked for the book.

It was always in that same place, hidden away so it wouldn't be noticed. But every time she opened the book the bookmark was moved a little further along.

She also started noticing annotations written in the margins. Feyre tried to imagine what this person must be like. It was odd, but kind of fascinating to follow along with this person’s progress.

She tried to focus on the fascinating part, and not the part that made her feel a bit like a creep for peeping into this person’s thoughts.

Except, when she made her routine book check that night, it was gone.

Feyre tried not to feel too disappointed. Why was she so invested in another person’s book? But it had become a constant that she looked forward to, and now it was gone. She could only hope they would start another one.

She laid out a thin blanket and sat down to look at the stars.

She must have dozed off at some point because she was woken up by raindrops hitting her face. It wasn't heavy yet, but she could tell it was going to start soon.

Ignoring the drizzle, she glanced at her phone. Feyre groaned and sat up, rubbing her face.

“Ugh, okay Fey, let’s call it a night.” She mumbled to herself, sleepy and moving slowly. She packed the blanket in her large tote bag and went to go back inside. Pulling on the door, she stumbled back a step. She was too tired, her grip was already slipping.

Feyre adjusted the bag on her shoulder and pulled the door again.

It didn't move.

She gripped the handle with both hands and pulled, hard.

Nothing happened.

“No, no, no, no, no…”

Feyre was wide awake now. This couldn't be happening. Shit.

She threw her bag down and used all her strength to open the door she ultimately knew wouldn't budge.

Breathing heavily from the exertion, she stepped back from the door.

“Shit.”

The rain was beginning to pick up.

“Really?!”

Lunging for her bag, Feyre dug around until she felt her phone. Gripping it, she unlocked it and was about to find someone to call for help...but she had no service.

How could she not have any service? Oh, gods, she was going to be stuck out on the roof, in the rain, until someone decided to come out there. It could be who-knows-how-long until that happened.

Spinning around, Feyre caught sight of her salvation.

“The fire escape!” Beaming, she grabbed her bag and ran over to it. “You beautiful, fantastic fire escape, help me out.”

Feyre managed to climb down the four stories of stairs and ladders without slipping on the slick metal. Gods, wouldn't that be a sight? She’d slip and come tumbling down the rest of the way, providing free entertainment to whoever walked past the building’s back alley.

When she finally made it to the lowest landing she tried to lower the final ladder that would bring her to the ground.

Only, it wouldn't move.

“Come on,” she muttered, still trying to force it down, “Don’t do this to me. I’m so close!” Feyre looked down to see the drop. Cringing, she admitted it was farther than she trusted herself to jump without breaking something—most likely her.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed across the sky. Feyre pressed herself against the building as the rain finally poured down.

“Seriously?!” She shouted up into the apparent waterfall above her head.

A knock from behind her startled her enough that she jumped around and let out a loud shriek.

“Um, are you okay?”

A voice came from a window set into the wall that she hadn't noticed before with a man’s face pressed up against it. Through the rain streaming down the glass, she couldn't tell if he looked more concerned or wary at her appearance.

It took her a second to respond.

“No.” She tried to shake the wet hair out of her face. “I’m not.”

“Are you trying to go up or down?”

Ah. He was probably worried she was just some random person who decided to hop up onto his balcony landing.

“Down.” She said, trying not to think of how bizarre it must be for him to look out and see a woman stuck outside his window, sopping wet.

This really wasn't how she wanted to make first impressions with her neighbors.

“I got locked out on the roof and tried to get down the fire escape, but,” she gestured to herself and the now downpouring rain that was making this conversation difficult, “it didn't really work.”

She hoped he would offer before she had to ask the insane request.

Thankfully he did.

His eyebrows shot up and he seemed to finally notice how bad the rain was. Hastily opening the window, he gestured for her to come in.

“Come in, it looks awful out there.”

Before she could think better of accepting the stranger's invitation to literally climb into their apartment, she picked up her soaking bag from the grate at her feet and crawled over the windowsill, quickly closing the window behind her to block the storm.

Maneuvering to a standing position, Feyre took a moment to take a breath and thank whoever was listening for her unexpected savior.

She turned to face him. He was tall, she would have to crane her neck up if stood much closer. And he had vibrant violet eyes that the artist in her wanted to study.

“Hang on a second.” He left her standing in his living room. Feyre looked around at the sofa and tv that took up most of the space, the bookshelf propped against one wall, and pictures of friends on the wall.

The man came back in with a towel in hand.

“Here, try this.” He handed it to her politely.

“Thanks.” She quickly wrapped it around herself, trying to dry off and stop shivering.

“No problem.” He looked like he was going to ask her something when something on the bookshelf caught her eye.

“It was your book?” She gasped, pulling the familiar volume from the shelf. Feyre whirled around to face the dark-haired man who was looking at her warily. “You’re the one who’s been using the roof!”

He stepped closer to her and gently took the book from her hands, casually flipping through it. Flicking his eyes up at her, he asked, “How did you know about my book?”

Feyre could feel her cheeks heating and she could've sworn a smirk made its way across his face.

“I, uh, found it one day.”

“You found it?” he asked skeptically. “I hid it behind some old box, how did you find it?”

At least he just looked curious, and mildly amused, and not disturbed at her snooping. Yeah, maybe it was tucked away, but anyone who tried for more than a minute could’ve found it, so she didn't feel as bad.

Drawing as much pride as she could muster when she was dripping water onto this man’s carpet, she huffed, “It was a crate, not a box.” He grinned and she went on, “and for your information, I dropped a paintbrush and it rolled over there. I found the book when I was chasing my brush. I don't actively seek out other people’s things to snoop.”

His grin widened as she explained and by the end, he was chuckling.

“And here I thought you just really wanted to get to know my reading tastes.”

She scoffed, but hid a grin, “Yeah, sure. I don't even know you.”

As she said it, she realized it was true.

Besides the fact that he lived in her building and was kind enough to let her in from the rain, she had no idea who this man was.

It seemed he remembered the same thing as he gave her a charming smile and held out his hand.

“You can call me Rhys.”

“Rhys?” She raised a brow. She’d never met anyone named Rhys before.

“My full name is Rhysand, but,” he paused to wink at her, “the people I like call me Rhys.”

Feyre rolled her eyes at his not-so-subtle flirting but met his hand with her own.

“Feyre. Just Feyre.” She held his gaze for a few more minutes before they both dropped their hands.

“Well, Just Feyre, I think I have something for you.”

Before she could respond, he vanished into the other room. He had something for her? What? Was this some other lame attempt at flirting?

She’d let him flirt if he wanted to, maybe she was a little interested to see what he’d try.

But he came back out to stand in front of her with one hand behind his back.

“Yes?” She tried to peek around him, but he angled his body away so she couldn't see what he was holding.

Leaning in close to her, Rhys said, “I believe that is yours.” With a flourish, he brought his hand in front of him.

“My paintbrush!” Feyre couldn't believe it. She looked back and forth between the brush and the man holding it, “I’ve been looking for this one. I lost it weeks ago! How do you have it?”

Rhys smiled broadly at her as she took it from his outstretched hand.

“I found it near the back corner one night, it must have just rolled away from you. It looked like it could blend right into the wall.”

Ceasing her inspection of the brush, shocked that she had found it—that Rhys had had it—she looked at him and beamed.

He blinked, almost dazedly, as he watched her smile.

“Thank you!”

Without thinking, she reached up and wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug. Rhys tensed, and at that moment Feyre remembered that she was still soaking wet from the rain. Wincing, she hastily pulled away before he had a chance to return her hug.

“Sorry. I got excited.” She glanced down to see the small puddle on the floor beneath her and cringed. “I should probably go.”

“Hm? Oh.” Rhys cleared his throat and nodded, “Right. You probably want to change into something dry.”

“Yeah.” They both stood there awkwardly staring at each other, not sure what to say next.

“Okay,” Feyre picked up her bag and took a step towards the door. ��I’m just gonna...” She trailed off as she and Rhys pivoted around each other so that she was closer to the door.

He walked with her the last few steps, pausing when she opened the door and turned back to him.

“Thank you, Rhys. For the paintbrush, and for not making me stand outside like a drowned cat all night.”

His laugh made Feyre crack a smile.

“Anytime Feyre, darling.”

She smiled.

“Goodnight Rhys.”

He mirrored her smile.

“Goodnight Feyre.”

Maybe getting locked out wasn’t so bad, after all.

***

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#feyre archeron #rhysand #rhys #rhys x feyre #feyre x rhysand #feysand #feysand fic #feysand au #fanfic #fanfiction #au #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #oneshot #feyre

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codenamed-queenie · 4 years

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#BatsInQuarantine

I am going insane. So I poured my restlessness into one long and very detailed post and got super into it. Please enjoy this hot mess.

The Justice League, being the well-meaning virus-proof Super Friends that they are, took one good look at the news, one good look at their non-powered friends Ollie, Bruce, and their families, and collectively decided that these normal humans must be Protected At All Costs.

Now, keep in mind, Bruce is never one to roll over when it comes to being benched.

However, he understands the importance of social distancing. He knows he needs to set a good example for his kids, and keep up appearances as Gotham’s Most Responsible Multi-Billionaire.

So. Quarantine it is.

But how are his kids handling it?

Dick -

100% on board in the beginning. Gotta do the Responsible Thing. Gotta set a Good Example. Besides, guys, this is gonna be Fun. Quality Family Time is always a Must.

He lasted 2 days.

Then he started to get twitchy.

And as everyone knows? A Trapped Dick Grayson is a Feral Dick Grayson.

He bounces off the walls.

Literally.

“I have to climb.”

“Dick, no.”

“I have to climb everything.”

Has scaled the manor 16 times already. Has climbed the chandelier. The banister. Bruce. The roof. The Cave. Anything in the house that’s been bolted down and especially anything that hasn’t.

Duke found him clinging to the wall 10 ft off the ground like Spiderman and screamed so loud it shattered glass.

Desperate for news of the outside.

He thrives off of it like a starving man.

Was the one to suggest he and Barbara take a break to Social Distance from each other (”Sorry, babe, kissing spreads germs”) and experienced Instant Regret(TM) approximately 5 minutes after.

The Family has labelled him a Flight Risk Level 1 (Most likely to say f**k it and make a break for the outside world)

Jason -

Accidentally got trapped inside the manor with the others when Bruce called Shutdown. If he had his way, he’d be chilling in his favorite safe-house right now, binging The Witcher with Roy and Artemis, and not worrying about finding a stray brother in his sock drawer.

But he’s nothing if not an opportunist.

The way he sees it, Jason has 3 options:

Self Improvement

Self Isolation (See Duke, Cass, and Damian)

Descension Into Madness (See Dick and Steph)

And, well, he always wanted to try a few things. Now he’s got the free time to do it.

So he settles on baking.

Alfred’s got enough food and raw ingredients stored up to feed an army. (Not because he’s a Panic-Buying-Hoarder in times like these. But because he’s a Panic-Buying-Hoarder all the time. Just try feeding 11+ teenagers sometime.)

Uses recipes he finds off Google.

His first few attempts are, in a word, ‘tragic’.

Alfred slips him a few of his recipe cards, and Jason suddenly starts seeing Results.

Turns out he’s pretty good at this baking thing once he gets the hang of it.

Hope everyone’s okay eating nothing but pie, macaroons, biscuits, and whatever else Jason whips up.

Cause that’s gonna be the only food left by the time he’s done.

Barbara -

Self-quarantined with her dad.

They’ve been binge-watching classic black and white movies together.

It’s a fun time, but she’s started to get a little antsy. Loving her dad and wanting to be around him 24/7 are, understandably, mutually exclusive.

Calls the manor to video-chat every day.

For her sanity just as much as theirs.

Gives everyone little challenges to film on their phones and send in. She makes compilations of everyone’s submissions so they can all watch and laugh together.

Bonus points for Creativity

One comp shows the family trying to drop Mentos into coke bottles.

Dick did a handstand, and dropped his Mento from the second story balcony.

Tim did it wearing the Batman cowl. The soda exploded into his face, and the rest of the video is just Bruce’s Shrieking.

Stephanie tried it, but the bottle tipped. Everyone on camera screamed as the bottle rocketed through the front window.

She spends most of her calls having one-on-one convos with Dick.

They’ve come up with little code phrases so they can be Cheesy even with family members lurking in the background.

She thinks the way he clings to the monitor is cute.

Almost like he’s giving her a hug through the screen.

(It’s easier than letting herself worry about his mental state, at least)

Tim -

Oh this boy.

Freaked out for the first five minutes before he decided ‘hey wait, Bruce is letting me stay in my pajamas all day? Noice.’

Now he’s just vibing.

The rest of his family is Low-Key shielding him.

He Has No Spleen, you see.

Steph: “Someone could cough on him and he could die!”

He just goes about his day, playing Animal Crossing like there’s no tomorrow, tinkering on projects, taking naps, etc. Living his best life.

Meanwhile there’s always someone lurking behind him, keeping watch, keeping him safe.

Dick sneezed within 5 feet of Tim once (the fact that he was on top of the dusty bookshelf Tim was perusing is irrelevant)

Jason still full-body tackled him the second Tim’s back was turned.

No one with any symptoms--

Like, any symptoms. They don’t even have to be Corona-related.

--is allowed within 10 feet of Tim.

Tim has been wandering the manor for weeks, now, without seeing another human being.

(He sees Dick on the ceiling sometimes, but that doesn’t really count)

He’s been trying increasingly drastic pranks and shenanigans to draw someone, anyone, out.

But it doesn’t matter how many times he steals Damian’s sword, or sets fire to Jason’s brownie bites.

Nobody wants to risk it.

Cass -

No one has seen her since quarantine started.

Everyone is approximately 87% sure she’s somewhere in the manor though

Because she does eat the meals Alfred leaves out for her.

Or at least someone does, at any rate.

(Jason and Santa top the running suspects list)

Santa was Steph’s suggestion. For some reason it snowballed.

It’s assumed that Cass misunderstood the meaning of ‘social distancing’ and took it too far.

But no one knows for sure.

She is Tim’s Guardian Angel.

People who so much as clear their throats a little too loudly anywhere near him suddenly wake up on a different floor of the house four hours later.

Duke came closest to spotting her while he was up in the attic.

Either that, or there’s another Creepy Sister everyone forgot to tell him about living up there.

She is silent, and watchful, sticking to the shadows, but she does leave the occasional note out to brighten her siblings’ day.

Things like ‘helo i love u’ and ‘hop u ar ok’ mostly.

She is bound and determined to protect her family from this invisible threat, no matter the cost.

Steph -

Like Dick, she was Super Pumped at first.

(Just kind of showed up at Wayne Manor before quarantine was enacted. The original purpose of her visit is unclear, but regardless, she’s Trapped.)

Also Like Dick, her descent into madness was swift.

She is impossible to pin down.

Not like Cass or Damian, who’ve stayed off the grid, and are therefore Untraceable.

No. She’s impossible to pin down, because she never stops moving.

Switches seamlessly between Zumba on top of the Giant Dinosaur in the Batcave, and furiously knitting Alfred (the Cat) a sweater with a pair of Tim’s used chopsticks.

Braided everyone’s hair while they were asleep.

Even Bruce’s.

She tried to do Tim’s, but somehow blacked out and regained consciousness in the attic.

When she woke up with a scream and a furiously twitching eye, she startled Duke out of his Makeshift Fort he built out of old cardboard boxes and antique furniture. He’s had to resort to finding a new hiding place.

Sometimes, on the rare occasions she does sit still, staring off into the distance, she’ll suddenly start laughing hysterically. This may last between thirty seconds and thirty minutes, depending entirely on how long it’s been since she’s knitted a cat sweater or done cartwheels through every room in the house.

Blew up the greenhouse out back, somehow.

Everyone has agreed not to talk about it.

Some people were built to handle prolonged time inside their homes.

Stephanie Brown is not that way.

Damian -

Damian Wayne Cannot Be Contained.

At least not inside the house.

He took off thirty-six hours into quarantine.

Thanks to the security equipment around the borders of the Wayne Estate, he can’t escape the grounds.

(He’s tried and failed multiple times. Jason and Bruce have a running bet on how many times the perimeter alarms will go off per day.)

(Jason is winning.)

He wanders the grounds with Titus as his only companion.

The two of them run laps, practice drills, and find ways to occupy their time.

No one’s entirely sure what those ways are.

In fact, nobody knows exactly where Damian is at any given time.

Only that he is Out There.

And he’s the best security system Wayne Manor’s ever had.

So far, he’s stopped five groups of civilians scaling the perimeter walls before the lasers and electric nets even have a chance to deploy.

They were trying to break in and steal supplies.

(Even ones they already had in surplus. Like Toilet Paper.)

He’s also stopped Dick from escaping twelve (12) times.

Drags him back by his shirt collar and deposits him on the welcome mat.

Usually with a note for Alfred/Jason, requesting more fruit tarts.

Duke -

Did not leave the attic for two weeks.

Then Steph discovered his hiding spot (read: was dumped there by Cassandra) which forced him to relocate to the basement.

Yes, it turns out Wayne Manor does have a basement.

This was a surprise to Duke, who always thought that the Batcave was Bruce Wayne’s basement.

Alfred keeps him supplied with all the necessities:

i.e. food, magazines, assorted pastries from Jason’s latest batch, usually straight out of the oven.

Duke also snagged the Manor’s Alexa.

She has become a sort of ‘Wilson’ to Duke’s ‘Chuck Noland’.

She is his only comfort. His only ally.

He’s determined to wait out this quarantine, doing his best to avoid the others.

Duke has seen these people under pressure.

He knows exactly what he’s dealing with.

Duke: “Alexa is the only motherf****r in this madhouse I ever respected.”

*offended butler noises from the other room*

Duke: “And also Alfred.”

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stellartales · 3 years

Text

Xiao | Call My Name — 02

Chapter 02 — Shadow in the Wind

DO NOT REPOST, TRANSLATE OR USE ANY PARTS OF MY FICS IN ANY FORMS AND CLAIM THEM AS YOUR OWN.

My fics are kept within Tumblr (@savagetrickster @justgenshin — I am both.) and ao3 but if you do see my works elsewhere apart from these two platforms, please notify me.

Disclaimer: It’s pretty obvious from what you have read in 01 but just for clarification’s sake, this story will not be following the game script. But I will draw ideas and inspirations from there.

Words: 1,734

Night fell hours ago. The moon was hung in full view for all to admire but the feeble light it emitted could barely be seen among the drifting wispy clouds.

The only thing that was keeping the room illuminated was the tender golden glow of the fire sitting in the two standing lamps.

Like every night ever since Wangshu Inn received her, a figure, right when no one was around, once again emerged from the shadows.

His piercing gaze — the only thing he allowed himself to touch her with — was contradictingly gentle as he accessed her pale face and listened to her breathing.

The tension on his forehead relaxed in what seemed to be... relief, at the absence of the harsh, shallow breaths he heard her fight to take when he found her.

He didn’t like how his steady hands shook then, with a strange…uneasiness, almost like fear.

“Paimon will stay with her, thanks lady boss!”

Voices outside of the door snapped his focus back.

“Simply ‘Boss’ will do, Paimon.”

His piercing eyes flickered back down to her and widened almost instantly to the sight of his outstretched hand, which somehow between his absent thoughts had ended up merely inches away from her face.

Flinching his hand away as if he was scalded, the figure in the room retreated from the bed and vanished into the darkness like the wind.

The moon was hung in full view for all to see but the feeble light it emitted could barely be seen among the drifting wispy clouds.

The only thing that was keeping the room illuminated was the tender golden glow of the fire sitting in the two standing lamps.

Just like how it was before, the room was left empty once more. As if he was never there in the first place.

Quiet movements behind her eyelids reciprocated to the gentle touch of a light breeze curling against her cheeks like doting caresses.

The sense of weightlessness was beginning to lift from her as dainty songs of singing birds and the soft creaks of wood started growing into her consciousness.

She could hear careful footsteps as well and felt more than saw a presence hovering near her, its warmth brushing against her skin until something damp was placed between her brows.

Her forehead clenched in a frown against the new sensation sitting on her face. Her fingers curled into something cushy and velvety as a weak groan left her lips.

Light beyond her eyelids beckoned her to open her eyes and so she did, squinting against the intruding brightness until she could finally adjust to the light.

Her vision focused into clarity and was greeted by a familiar stranger.

“You are...?” She blinked in puzzlement as she racked her brain for an answer.

Confusion marred a frown between her brows at the Inn’s boss who was standing over her with a mild smile — the fog in her groggy mind made it hard to answer the vague sense of recognition nagging her.

“Verr Goldet. Boss of Wangshu Inn.” The lady filled in the blanks helpfully, “Nice to have you back with us, Lumine.”

Wangshu Inn?

She tried to wrap her fuddled head around the new information as a memory of her running away from Dark Hilichurls with Paimon flashed past.

“Wait, but I was…” She was pretty sure she was a goner then. “How did—”

“You were out for so long, Lumine!” A floating little figure flew right up to her face before Verr Goldet could finish.

Lumine winced instantly to the sharp rise in volume.

“Shhh…You-You’re so loud.” She felt her head throb.

Paimon let out a small gasp and her face fell with a sheepish look.

“Oops sorry, Paimon is just excited ‘cause Paimon has been so worried...!”

“Sorry for worrying you, Paimon.” An apologetic smile sat weakly on her face. “But how long have I been sleeping?”

“And…” Her gaze shifted back to Verr Goldet, face scrunched in confusion “...how did I end up here?”

“Pretty long,” The lady boss merely nodded, “It’s been three days ever since Xiao-sama found and brought you to me.”

Xiao?

Her eyes widened.

Then that voice she heard...

The thirst to answer all the questions in her head spurned her to sit up in one quick move, only to be greeted by a sharp jolt of pain in her leg. “—ah!”

The giddiness swimming in her head made her see stars.

“Easy there, Lumine,” Verr Goldet’s voice matched the gentle backrubs the hand on her back made. “Afterall, you just overcame quite an ordeal.”

“An ordeal?” She held her head. “What happened to me?”

“You were down with high fevers due to the poison from the thorns of a Yingxuē and thankfully, that toxin could be easily flushed out through perspiration.”

“Ying…” The queasiness in her throat subsided. “...xuē?”

Then it dawned on her.

Oh right, it had totally slipped from her that her leg got injured all because of that bush and its stray branch.

And that was when she heard him.

“But Xiao…”

She still found it hard to believe — wasn’t that voice just a hallucination caused by the poison flooding her blood?

“Was he really there?”

Paimon nodded aggressively. “He was, he was!”

There was a spark in her eyes, “Right after you fainted, he appeared out of nowhere, striking down from the sky like lightning and finished off the Hilichurls in one sweep of his polearm!”

There was admiration she’d never seen in Paimon for Xiao since she did not have a good impression of the adeptus previously.

“...He was so fast Paimon could barely catch what happened!”

A chuckle turned her head back to the lady boss.

“That’s Xiao-sama for you,” Verr Goldet beamed, “He is afterall our mighty Guardian Yaksha; monsters are measly flies to the power of an adeptus.”

Lumine remained silent for a while.

Strong gratitude resonated in her heart along with a nearly tangible ache of curiosity and wonder for the adeptus.

“Is he here?”

A smile crept across Verr Goldet’s face.

“If you know where to look.”

— as she made her way out the door, behind the opened door was a brilliant view of the sky.

“But…” A rush of wind blew through the door, “...whether or not you would find Xiao-sama, it will be all up to him.”

The lady boss's smile turned mysterious as she looked back at them.

The setting sun on the horizon waned in the gathering darkness of the approaching night.

Guests residing in Wangshu Inn were mostly back from errands they had to run and settling down in the eateries the Inn had to offer.

Of course, Paimon would never give food a miss especially when Verr Goldet just invited her for a second round of dinner. Somehow during the days when she laid in the room on the highest floor battling the poison in her body, the lady boss had grown familiar with Paimon’s huge appetite.

Verr Goldet offered her a second dinner as well but Lumine had other ideas.

She had her fill in the room she woke up in and ordered a certain dish she insisted on paying, not wanting to be a freeloader but to no avail because—

“Xiao-sama trusted us to take care of you so it would be rude not to honor his trust.”

—the lady boss insisted after leaving behind a tray of her dinner.

The simple white garb on her was loosely comfortable to move in, but the winding staircase up to the upper balcony proved to be a challenge when she had to limp on one leg with a crutch tucked under an armpit while holding onto a takeaway lunchbox.

It had been what felt like five minutes ever since she began climbing the stairs. The dressed wound on her leg throbbed every step she took; the struggle to move were evident in her harsh raspy breaths and the way the thin coat of sweat stuck her fringe to her forehead.

Her other hand was clenched tight on the banister, knuckles white with effort.

And when she finally reached the top, she couldn’t help letting out a loud sigh of relief.

Lumine squinted her eyes against a burst of wind from the gaping door as she hobbled out into the open.

Her hair was blown back in the rushing wind and she could not hold back a shiver to the cool tickles of the ocean breeze.

“...Xiao?” She called out gingerly.

There was nothing but the wind and the sweeps of the waves below.

“It’s me, Lumine!”

Her eyes wandered to the dark sky above her as she continued to limp forward.

Her voice calling out to him kept scattering in the wind no matter how many times she tried or how loud she threw her voice into the wind.

Looking lost with sad eyes at the vast sky and the seemingly huge moon above, her voice grew weaker until there was no more.

Maybe this was how it is.

Perhaps to him...

The hopeful glint in her gaze dimmed as she lowered her gaze to a cruel thought in her head.

...she was nothing but just a mere mortal. Simply an annoyance he had to grudgingly protect.

— to make things worse, she didn’t even belong to this world.

Even so...

Her shoulders squared; her resolve to thank him refused to let her give up.

...just one last time.

Then she would stop — this bitter promise sank her heart.

“Please Xiao," Lumine raised her gaze again, "I know you’re out here. I’m sorry I’m back here again.”

She hobbled forward.

“I know you told me to leave you alone but I just—thunk” She felt the leg of the crutch supporting her hit an uneven portion of the wooden floor beneath her feet.

Her crutch cluttered to the ground before she could adjust her grip.

A sharp gasp surged through her throat as she staggered forward.

The ground was rushing fast toward her, the box in her hand was slipping from her hand.

Horror sept into her widening eyes.

Oh no oh no, the almond tofu is going to—

Then as if materializing out of thin air, a firm hold appeared around her waist and tugged her up in one swift move against a warm, breathing wall that could talk—

“What are you doing?”

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How do you like this story so far?

— published on 17.02.2021

#genshin xiao #xiao x reader #xiao imagines #xiao x lumine #genshin x reader #genshin impact #genshin imagines #genshin impact xiao

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munstysmind · 2 years

Text

FLOWERS - Maddison - An Original Story

WARNING/S: Mentions of past relationship

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR MY WORK TO BE USED IN ANY CAPACITY

Divider by @firefly-graphics

MAIN MASTERLIST

MADDISON MASTERLIST

please let me know if you would like to be added to a tag list

Letting out a yawn, Maddie takes a large mouthful of coffee. It's her second cup of the day and she's only been up for just over an hour. She's exhausted, she didn't get much sleep, tossing and turning the whole night. Thank god she doesn't start filming until the afternoon.

She's staring blankly into her mug when a knock at the door pulls her out of her thoughts. She gets up with a small groan and answers the door. She's greeted by a delivery guy holding a large bouquet of flowers.

"Hi" she says, trying to be polite even though she's grumpy as hell and all she wants to do was climb back into bed

"Maddison Holden?" he asks checking the information on his clipboard

"Yeah"

"These are for you" he tells her, passing the bouquet to her

"Thank you" she says, taking it from him

"Enjoy your day"

"You too"

As soon as she closes the door she sticks her head into the flowers, slowly inhaling their scent. The bouquet is a gorgeous mix of soft pastel coloured flowers.

She doesn't recognise any of the flowers except the peonies and what she thinks are possibly eucalyptus leaves although she can't be sure because the smell is slightly off. Either way they're beautiful and it's a lovely surprise.

She gently places them on her kitchen counter and pulls out a vase, filling it with water and some sugar while she wonders who they're from. She assumes it's her team or one of the companies she's worked with. It's not uncommon for them to send flowers or goodie boxes every now and then.

She starts trimming the flower stems so they fit better in the vase when she notices a card tucked into the bouquet. She opens the little envelope and pulls it out to read what it says.

She smiles and lets out a gentle hum, biting her lower lip a little. She can count on one hand the times Travis got her flowers and they were only when your "supposed" to. Their first date, their two anniversaries and the two Valentine's Days they shared.

And here's Chris, sending her flowers a month into dating and all because she had a bad, and that's putting it very mildly, day yesterday.

She finishes arranging the flowers in the vase and grabs her phone, taking a few photos before she FaceTimes him. She pouts a little when he doesn't answer but just assumes it's because he's filming and goes off to start getting ready for the day.

About an hour later she is outside on her balcony reading a script her agent sent her when she hears her phone ring. She leaps up, leaving the script completely abandoned, and races inside just in time to answer it.

"Hi" she says, smiling as soon as she sees Chris' face on her phone screen.

"Hi. You OK?" he asks, noticing she's panting a little

"Yeah, I was just outside"

"Oh, sorry I missed you before"

"It's OK"

"You working today?"

"Yeah... but it's only a half day so I don't start till one"

"Nice"

"It is actually. I don't get them very often"

"Same"

"So... I had a delivery"

"Really?"

"Mmm... someone sent me flowers"

"Did they?"

"Yeah. You wanna see?"

"I'd love to"

She smiles and flips the camera so he has a full view of the flowers.

"They're beautiful" he says before she flips the camera back round the her face.

"They are... thank you" she tells him, sitting on one of the bar stools

"You're welcome. I know it's nothing compared to what's going on right now but I wanted to put a smile on your face... or at least try"

"You did"

"Good... how are you feeling?"

She props her phone against the vase and puts arms on the counter, her chin resting on one of them as she looks at Chris.

"Honestly... I'm angry. I'm so fucking angry"

"I don't blame you"

"I didn't want it out there, not like this"

"Do you have any idea how..."

"No, and I don't know what's worse... that it's out there or that I don't know how it's out there"

"I know Seb is furious. I though he was going to have an aneurysm when I showed him. I've never seen him so angry... have you talked to him?" he asks, knowing how much she relies on her best friend at times.

"He called last night but I wasn't... I couldn't. I ended up turning my phone off. It was too much, it just wouldn't stop" she tells him as tears start to fill her eyes.

"Fuck... I'm sorry" she says, covering her eyes with one of her hands, trying to hide from him as she starts to cry.

"You don't have to apologise Maddie"

"Arghh" she sniffs, frustrated. She forces herself to take a few really deep breaths, blowing air out as she exhales, before she wipes her eyes and gives him a small smile. She really hates crying, especially over Travis.

"I was in such a good place with everything and it's all come crashing back down. I feel like I've got no control of my own life... again. I just want to move on and I can't because now the whole world knows about it. My Mum read it. I got the longest message from her this morning. It was like 500 word essay. She's so angry with me" she tells him, annoyance at her mothers words starting to rise to the surface.

"Why would she be angry with you?" he asks, confused

"There's stuff in the article that she didn't know about. I um... I don't have the best relationship with her and I... I haven't told her or Dad much about what happened... I didn't want them to know"

"Can I ask why?"

"I don't… I don’t want them to know how much their daughter's suffered. What I'm still going through. I know I should tell them but I can't... it's too much"

"I can understand that"

"She doesn't… it's part of the reason I didn't go home over Christmas... I'm just glad there were no photos in the article. I don't want anyone seeing those"

"Maddie I hope... I hope I'm not overstepping but um... have you talked to your therapist?"

"You're not... I've got an appointment with her tomorrow"

"Evans" Mackie yells from somewhere off screen. Chris turns to the direction of his voice, nodding before he turns back to face Maddie and lets out a sigh.

"I gotta go"

"OK"

"Call Seb, he's worried"

"I will. Thank you for the flowers, they're beautiful"

"You're welcome, I'm glad you like them. I'll talk to you later OK"

"Yeah"

"Bye Mads"

"Bye"

As soon as the call ends she buries her face in her arms and starts to cry again. Why is this so hard? The article has taken her back to that night. She feels like she's been attacked all over again. She just wants to bury herself in Chris' chest and forget about everything.

TAGLIST

@aussieez

@littleone65

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tsuki-chibi · 3 years

Text

Adrien AUG-reste Day 4 - Stay Peachy

This story is part 5 of a series: a sequel to my Marinette March, Adrinette April, Marichat May, Ladrien June, and Ladynoir July stories; I highly recommend reading those first.

You can also read this story on AO3: Petrichor

---

he Black Cat miraculous ran out a few seconds later, leaving him transformed with just the Snake miraculous. He took the ring off his finger and slipped it in his pocket so that he wouldn’t have to deal with alternate universe Plagg just yet – he knew that Plagg would be starving and might not care about the fact that there were tons of other people around.

The police didn’t protest them leaving, which he was grateful for. Ladybee was right when she said that the police were busy searching the house, and no one seemed to care about the two of them. They walked right out the front door and past the police car. He peeked in the back window, but neither Gabriel nor Nathalie was in the backseat. He didn’t know if he should be glad for that or not.

“Where’s Rena?” he asked Ladybee as they made their way to a nearby rooftop.

“I asked her to go back home. The Miracle Box is there,” Ladybee reminded him. “Rena’s going to look after it for tonight until I can get it back from her tomorrow.”

“You sure that’s safe?” he said.

Ladybee shrugged. “She’s got a miraculous, and she knows who you are. We’re only a call away,” she pointed out. “Besides, I’m way too tired to go get it now. I promised her I would tell her everything.”

He looked at her curiously. “Did you really mean everything?”

“Well, yeah. She’s going to figure it out anyway,” Ladybee said, shrugging. “And maybe… maybe secrets aren’t always the way to go after all.” She turned to look down at the Agreste mansion as she spoke, and the wind blew from them. Her pigtails rustled around her shoulders and Ladybee shivered.

“We should go,” he murmured. It was getting late, and they were both exhausted after everything that had happened. It seemed crazy to think that so much could have gone on in the span of a couple days. Just trying to think about it too much made his head spin.

“You’re right.” Ladybee nodded and led the way off the rooftop.

Luckily, it wasn’t a very long trip back to the bakery. He landed on the balcony with a growing sense of relief. It looked just as it had when they left it. Belatedly, he wondered what Ladybee’s parents thought they’d been doing up here all this time. Studying, maybe. Or maybe they thought Ladybee was working on her designs.

“Sass, Scales Rest.” One bright green flash of light later, Adrien sank into a chair. His knees felt suddenly weak. Ladybee de-unified the miraculous and then de-transformed. A moment later, Marinette sat down beside him.

“What a week,” she said, her shoulders slumping.

Adrien nodded tiredly. “I feel like I want to sleep for a hundred years.”

“Then you should. You should go nap,” Marinette said. “While you can.”

He sighed at that, knowing that news would travel fast. “You should tell Alya she can post it on her blog.”

“Adrien…”

“It’s only fair, Marinette,” he mumbled. “It’s going to get out. Just… please tell her to be careful about what she says. For my sake.”

Marinette sighed too and leaned against his shoulder. She didn’t say anything, but she took out her phone and texted Alya. Adrien wondered if she realized that she was using her civilian phone to text Alya. Knowing Marinette, she was at the point where she just didn’t care anymore. He could respect that. It wasn’t like it mattered since she was planning to tell Alya the truth anyway.

“There. I asked her to let me read the post before she puts it up,” Marinette said.

“Thanks,” Adrien said. He trusted Marinette to be able to rein Alya in if need be.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly, looking up at him.

“No,” Adrien said honestly, sliding the Snake miraculous off his wrist. He passed it over to her and got up. He could feel her watching him worriedly as he climbed in through the window, down the ladder, and then down the steps to the floor below.

From there, Adrien went right into the guest room. He sat down on the bed and then just… sat there for a moment. Staring dully at the bedspread. It was a deep green color and patterned with strawberries, apricots, and peaches.

“Stay peachy,” he muttered to himself with a bitter smile.

That silly moment when he’d donned a banana suit to fight against Kwamibuster as Adrien instead of as Chat Noir seemed like a lifetime ago. Who could have guessed that they had been fighting against his father this whole time? And all because his father wanted to bring his mother back…

It was too much to ponder. He kicked his shoes off, laid down, and was out like a light.

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #adrienaugust #snake miraculous #bee miraculous

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cassava-49 · 3 years

Text

I Will Be There

Felix was staring at the starry night sky of Sussex and sighed. How he wished he could gaze at this scenery with her. He could recall her innocent excited gaze at the stars. He could recall all, her telling him how little she saw of them in the city. He remembered the time he taught her how to speak English since she only understood few. He then gazed upon the moon knowing that she will be looking at it as well.

Marinette gazed above the night sky of Paris hoping to catch a star. She sighed knowing that she wouldn't be able to see any stars since the city's too bright. "There were more stars back then," she mumbled to herself. "What do you mean Marinette?" Tikki asked her holder. "Nothing Tikki. Just reminiscing, and hoping," she whispered the latter.

She then turned her gaze towards the couples in the park happily chatting with each other, holding each others' hand and staring into each other eyes. She would call herself a sucker for love since she always has been. She then turned her gaze towards the moon hoping that he would be looking towards it as well, thinking of her. "How selfish of me," she said as she hung her head and looked towards her feet. She then heard a tussle from her plants. She raised an eyebrow and made her way towards it, then she found a black cat with grey eyes trying to move around. "It's a blind cat," Tikki said as she hovered the face of the cat. "It seems like it. Hello there kitty," Marinette said as she held her hand over its nose for it to smell. The cat then instinctively brushed it's face on her hands and let out a soft purr.

"It seems like there's a new cat in town," Chat Noir says coming from behind her. "Good evening Chat Noir. What brings you here?" she asked. "Nothing really. I was waiting for Ladybug to show up for patrol. But she hasn't arrived yet, she's probably late," he casually said. Marinette then mentally slapped herself forgetting about patrol. "So even Ladybug is tardy," she said making sure like she sounded like a civilian. "Yeah, who can blame her, we're just human, we're prone to bad habits as well," he says with a chuckle as he sat on the balcony railing. Marinette then made her way towards him with the black cat following behind. "What about you? Any bad habits that the citizens don't know about?" she asked in a teasing manner. "Well since you asked, I'm actually the jealous type," he replied casually as Marinette picked up the persistent kitty. She then heard a growl erupt from the black cladded hero. "Now I see the jealous side," she said in a teasing manner when she saw Chat glaring at the blind cat. "OK. I believe it's time for you to continue patrol," she said hoping to get him to leave so that she could join him. "OK, Purrincess I'll get going now. Bye," he said as he took out his baton to continue patrol. Once he was in a far enough distance Ladybug sprung out of her room.

Back in Sussex Felix's gaze never left the moon hoping that she's doing the same. "Felix," came a quite voice. "I'm coming," he replied as he got up from his chair and went over to the person at the door. He opened the door to find Bridgette, a little girl at age five, in her nightgown clutching her ladybug pillow. "I can't sleep," she says with a yawn. "Alright come on let's tuck you into bed," he said as he took her hand and guided to her back to her room, knowing that she only wants a story. He watched her climb onto her bed. Unlike the other orphanages, this one has enough money to allow children their own room and private education. Once she was tucked in, he sat at the end of her bed. "So, what story would you want?" he asked. He watched her eyes light up and replied, "The treetops." He chuckled and began, "It was a pleasant afternoon when a little boy from this orphanage decided to wander through town."

...

It was a pleasant afternoon when a little boy from this orphanage decided to wander through town. He used the old trick of the blankets as a ladder. He made his way towards the gate and ran towards his favourite Oak tree. Once there he climbed the branches and reached the topmost part of the tree and smiled at his accomplishment. After what seemed like 10 minutes the young boy climbed down but as he descended he missed a step and fell on a little girl. He looked to his right to find two glaring bluebell eyes directed to him. She began wailing in French, "Why did you fall on me? I was just drawing and you stepped on me." "Je suis desole," he replied. "T-tu parles français?" she asked (Do you speak French?). "Oui, je parle anglais et français," he replied (Yes, I speak English and French).

They then continued their conversation in French as she asked, "Why did you fall on me anyway?" He then sat down next to her and replied, "I fell down, simple as that. Your not from here aren't you?" The girl nodded and answered, "I'm from Paris, France. How do you know how to speak French?" He shrugged and told her, "Mother Superior taught me. She's a nun." The little girl raised an eyebrow, catching her reaction he replied, "I'm an orphan. I live in the orphanage over there." He then pointed towards a large house that could be seen from their place. "I'm sorry," the girl said. "Don't be, my parents weren't," he calmly said. The little girl was taken aback by his reply and said, "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I would love to be your friend." He smiled and responded, "I'm Felix Culpa. It's a pleasure to meet you Milady."

...

"Felix?" Bridgette asked as she slowly began to fall asleep. He hummed in response. "Once we go to Paris tomorrow, are we going to see her. Marinette?" she asked in a hopeful tone. He kissed her forehead and answered, "Of course luv, of course."

...

The François Dupont College was busily preparing their school for the arrival of orphans from different cities in France and some from the UK for a charity program and a meet up with Ladybug and Chat Noir. In Ms. Bustier's class the energy of the students were radiating as the class president, Marinette, began giving instructions for the final touches on the stage. "Just a little bit more to the left Nathanael," she said as the red head hung the banner. "Marinette where are the microphones?" Aurore asked. "They're in the storage room, I think," she replied. She then looked at the time on her phone and went over to Alya. "Where are they?" she asked referring to her parents. "They're coming now, see," Alya replied. There they saw the boys carrying dozens of boxes and her father was push a cart with the cake, with the help of Ivan. "A little help would be appreciated," Nino claimed as he reached the top of the stairs. "I've got it," Alya replied as she called the others for help. Some took the boxes out off their hands and followed Sabine to put it on the tables. While the others helped Tom and Ivan carry to cake upstairs.

After an hour they finished just in time to see some of the orphans arriving. "Well that's my cue," Marinette whispered as she gave her excuse to Alya saying that she's having a stomach problem. She went to a secluded area to transform to greet the new arrivals. "Mr. Damocles," she says as she walked into the school. All eyes turned to her while the orphans ran excitedly to meet her.

"Ladybug," Principal Damocles greeted. "I thought you were arriving a little later." She giggled and replied as she picked up one of the ogling orphans, "Well as I was swinging by I saw them and thought that it wasn't so bad to come a little early." They then they heard an additional voice, "I have to agree with you Bugaboo. I can't miss this for the world," Chat Noir joined. "Hey there kitty," she greeted as the two then began interacting with the children. The children were lively as ever and excitedly asked them questions. "Have you two kissed yet?" a little girl asked excitedly. "We haven't," she replied. "Well, not properly is what you mean don't you Milady," he added to which she rolled her eyes at. This earned a few excited squeals from the children as more of them began to gather. They then heard an excited voice, but what the girl said made Ladybug turn her heard. "Felix, Felix, I see Ladybug, hurry up," a little girl with dark blue hair tied in twin tails came bounding with a well groomed blond hot on her heels. Marinette felt like crying because of what she saw, but as Ladybug she put on her best smiled and made her way to the bubbling girl.

"Hi there, what's your name?" she asked. The girl then answered in English, "I'm Bridgette." She smiled and crouched down to her level and says in English, "It's nice to meet you Bridgette. Would you like to join me with the others and Chat Noir?" She nodded excitedly and began running towards Chat who equally greeted the girl with the same enthusiasm. "I apologize for that Ms. Ladybug. She had always been excited to meet you," Felix apologized. She smiled and answered, "It's no trouble at all and I'm already used to it. So you speak French?" He nodded and went to sit on one of the chairs and pulled out a book. She smiled recalling the times when she would draw and he would read. As she was about to return to the group, Hawkmoth decided to release an akuma. "That's our cue Chat. It's time to go to work," she called as she took out her yo-yo. "Right behind you LB," he replied as he set the children down and spun his baton and they went to work.

The students quickly closed the doors just in case any of the children escaped. They began the program knowing that the attack wouldn't affect them since it was at the other side of town. Felix then looked up to find the Dupain-Chengs looking at him with huge smiles and surprised expressions. He sighed and got up knowing that if he didn't approach them now they would. "Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng," he greeted. "Felix, is it really you sweetie?" Sabine asked as she went closer to him. "Yes, ma'am, it's me," he replied. Without a second to waste he was enveloped in the bear hug of theirs. "Well my boy, it seems like you've grown well," Tom said as he released him. He smiled and shyly asked, "D-do you know where Marinette is?" The two adults smiled and called for Rose. "Rose do you know where Marinette is?" She simply replied, "Alya says that she has stomach cramps." They then thanked her and told him to just wait.

Once the battle was over both heroes went back to school, entering in different places and skipped back in. "Wow Marinette, the children were so cute," Tikki says as she ate. "They really are, aren't they?" she replied. "So was that boy Felix," she teased. Marinette then playfully rolled her eyes at her. Once done, they went out with one goal in mind. She entered the celebration to find Kitty Section playing. She waved at them and found her target. She began to run to him and tackled him to the ground while laughing, without earning any unnecessary attention. She then earned a growl from him as he said, "Bloody hell Marinette. Is this your idea of a greeting?" She giggled as tears began streaming down her face. He stopped his protests and sat upright and held her in his arms as she began crying into his shoulder. "I missed you," she managed to say. He kissed the top of her head and began cradling her. "Sh, sh, I missed you too. So, so much," he replied.

What made then separate was a sound of a camera. They turned their heads to find Alya snapping a photo of the them. "Getting comfy with one of the guests aren't we Mari," she joked. "Alya!" she squealed, not really getting out of his arms. Felix chuckled and stood up while helping Marinette and introduced himself, "Felix Culpa, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss." Alya smiled and shook his hand saying, "Alya, Alya Césaire." Marinette smiled, loving the fact that her best friend and childhood friend were getting along. "Hey Mari," Nino greeted as he joined the group with Adrien. "Felix, this is Nino," she introduced the two add they shook hands. "I'm Adrien" Adrien introduced himself as he gripped Felix's hand tightly. "Pleasure," he replied, returning the grip.

"So Mari," Adrien began. "How did you meet him?" he asked, trying to hide his jealousy. "W-well, we, er, I, I mean he," Marinette fumbled but stopped when she felt a hand hold hers. She looked up to meet Felix's eyes and began to calm down, collecting herself. "What she meant to say," Felix answered for her as he looked directly into Adrien's eyes. "We met each other when we were seven at Sussex. I accidentally fell on her," he said as he earned a giggle from the girl beside him. "Maman, Papa, can I take Felix around Paris today?" she asked her parents. "Of course. Just make sure she comes back without any trouble," Tom teased, recalling the times when they would come back dripping wet or are covered in mud or when the police had to bring them back after getting trapped inside an old barn. "Yes, sir. It's not going to happen again," Felix replied. "Sorry, Alya. But can you take care of everything for today. I would really want to spend time with him," she apologized feeling guilty. "No worries girl. Although after this I'm gonna demand an explanation later," she said with a wink. "Thanks Alya, you're the best," she called as she began dragging Felix out. Unbeknownst to her the two blonds were having a stare down while they were talking. "So what was all that about?" Nino asked Adrien. "What do you mean?" he asked trying to seem clueless. "Oh come on. We're not blind, you're jealous aren't you?" Alya said. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," he defended as a light blush coated his cheeks.

...

Felix and Marinette were walking around town as the two were happily chatting with each other. "That boy earlier, Adrien," Felix said. "What about him?" Marinette asked trying to fight the blush that crept on her cheeks. "You like him don't you," he says bluntly as he looked at her. "Me like him? No! Never! W-what made you think so?" she defended. "It was obvious," he simply said. "W-why not we go to the Louvre?" she offered as they stopped at the bus stop. He nodded and followed her in the bus. Unknown to the two, three sneaky shadows were following them as they entered the bus. The other two looked at their companion who seemed to be blushing hard at what they heard. He looked down to the ground and asked, "I-i-is it true?" The other two nodded not expecting it to go that way. They then waited at the stop for the next bus and got on it to continue following their friend. At the Louvre the two were merrily talking about art and their life. "By the way, there's this little girl, her name's Bridgette and she would really want to meet you," he said. She felt flattered at the thought that the little girl she had just met would have wanted to meet her as well. "But I thought she wanted to meet Ladybug?" she asked but regretted it knowing that she made a mistake. "You met her already?" he asked suspiciously. "No, it's just that everyone there just wanted to meet the superheroes," she reasoned. He hummed in response, not exactly buying her excuse. "Your friends," he whispered as he got closer to her as they were walking through the grand gallery. "They're following us," he said quietly enough for her to hear. She then looked at a group who were taking selfies and saw in their camera were definitely Alya, Nino and Adrien. She giggled and took his hand. This surprised him but saw the playful glint in her eyes. He smirked back at her as she gently clung to him.

Adrien gritted his teeth when he saw their entwined hands. "Wow, never knew Mari had a British boyfriend before," Nino said. "Did she mention him to you before?" he asked. Alya only shook her head no. She then turned her gaze to Adrien, "No need to get hyped sunshine. They're just close friends." She then have a light pat on his shoulder. Well, I never took him as the jealous type, Alya says to herself all too happy about the situation. Nino them went over to her girlfriend and whispered, "You know, I'm kind of glad that Felix came, or else he would still be an oblivious dork." Alya then nodded her head on agreement as the continued to stalk the two.

"Come on Felix. It's just ice-cream," Marinette said as she saw Andre's ice-cream cart. He sighed and replied, "For the last time I'm not going to eat any of ice-cream. You know how much I do not like cold food." But despite his protests she dragged him towards the cart. There they were greeted with an overjoyed Andre who seemed to notice their entwined hands. "Peach pink as his lips, mint green as his eyes. This boy seems to fit your love, however there is something lacking," he said. "Oh well, at least you have found him," he casually said as Marinette blushed. He then leaned towards Marinette and asked, "What does he mean?" She giggled and replied, "Actually André can find your lover and you and your lover's ice-cream flavour." He raised his eyebrow and sighed, "Is that why you dragged me here?" She nodded happily as André began thinking of their flavours. "Perfect! Strawberry and peach will blend perfectly for you two. It's a match of childhood sweethearts and it will absolutely do," he said as he began scooping some ice-cream. He then gave it to the couple, who delightfully took it and found a bench to sit on to eat. The two merrily are their ice-cream exchanging jokes every now and then. Felix then took Mari's spoon and took a scoop of ice cream and fed it to her. She smiled affectionately and returned the action. The two then began laughing at their ploy.

In the bushes an enraged Adrien watched them share Andre's lovers' ice-cream together and began feeding each other. It made something inside him boil. It was like the feeling he felt when Ladybug was with Théo after they de-akumatized him. He then sprang to his feet and ignored his friends insistent cries and sat next to Mari as she and Felix finished the ice-cream. Once she turned she felt her face burn to find Adrien sitting next to her. "A-a-ad-adrien!" she squealed. "W-what do you doing here? I mean, what you here doing. I-I mean-," she stammered. Felix glared at the other blond and held her by her waist pulling her closer to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked. Adrien then glared back at him and replied, "I was just passing by and I thought that it wouldn't be bad if I were to stop by and say hi to Mari."

"Passed by or followed?" he taunted. This made the green eyed boy to glare more and asked, "Does it matter?" Felix then tilted his head in a menacing manner and answered, "Of course. I just couldn't help but feel that you're her to ruin our date." He then added a taunting smirk at the end and watched it fuel the boy. "Well I guess it gives me a right to put a stop to it," Adrien raised his voice as he slid his arm around Marinette's waist causing her to blush more.

"I'M!" gripped her side.

"HER!" he pulled her close.

"BEST FRIEND!"

...

At the back they could hear Nino and Alya facepalm hard. Felix then blinked at him for a few minutes then burst into a fit of laughter at what he said, leaving an overly confused Adrien. Marinette slumped at what he said. She then removed herself from his grasp, surprising the four, making Felix stop laughing. She stood up and dragged him off with her. She then left a dumbfounded Adrien, contemplating at what he said wrong. He watched the two walk away as, the blond put his arm over her shoulder, putting up a defensive aura.

Once out of sight, she fell to the ground crying. Felix followed suit, wrapping his arms around her shaking body. He didn't say anything, but picked her up she propped them in a nearby bench. He allowed her to cry in his shoulder and use him to middle any sound. He cradled her shaking body and rocked them, like he had done in their youth. After a while she finally spoke through her tears, "I-I-I love h-hi-h-him." He then held her closer saying, "I know, I know." The two continued to stay like that for about a good fifteen minutes. Marinette's sobs subsided, but remained mobile in his arms relishing his arm hugs. "Do you want to go home?" he finally asked. She looked up to him with sad eyes and replied, "Not yet." They stayed there for two minutes until she says, while remaining in his embrace, "We have to go, the others would be missing you." He smiled and helped then up, as they took the bus back to François Dupont College.

#miraculous ladybug and chat noir #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #marinette x adrien #jealous adrien #felix culpa #felix pv #felinette #marichat #ladynoir #slight ladynoir #alya cesaire #nino #nino lahiffe #just some fluff #my fic #fanfic

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writing-by-candlelight · 3 years

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Hargreeves Mansion Layout: Second Floor

Thank you for coming back for part 2! If you haven’t seen part 1 (the ground floor) you can find it here. And Part 3, the third floor, here!!!

The second floor is slightly more complex than the first floor and it has a lot more rooms.

If you haven’t seen my first post; yellow symbolizes doors or double doors, green are archways, the neon pink is the staircase coming up from the floor beneath (same goes for the light pink - its the main staircase coming up from the ground floor.), the blue is the long staircase from the stair race scene that goes through the entire house from the basement to the third floor. The orange and black will be explained later.

So overall the second floor has the most rooms out of all the floors and the most colors so here we go!

So for the ‘home’ section of the house lets start on the far right.

The empty square there is the balcony area above the living room. Its thicker on the bottom since that’s where the bar is and the bar is completely covered. There also seems to be a small sitting area above it.

I’ve realized now in hindsight that the other end of the walkway ends at the wall and does not have the same sort of walkway across the top. I may correct my drawing in the future.

Speaking of the top section, this is where I’ve put Hargreeves personal rooms. I’ve placed the surveillance room here - the room where Hargreeves watches the children’s brainwaves and where Allison watches the tape of Hargreeves death. I’ve also placed it at the beginning of the hall. We only know there’s a hall since Diego walks down one on the way to Hargreeves’ Bedroom.

I placed Hargreeves’ Study right next to it. I know its not L-shaped as I’ve drawn it but I didn’t want to make the surveillance room super big so I’m just going to run with it. We see a living room and another room through a second door in the study so I assumed that this was another way into his bedroom.

The dotted line through the main walkway is just how I separated the house into sections so it may be ignored.

Now the central section is simpler.

On the bottom we have the Academy oil paintings. The small tragic things taking place from their debut until there was only Luther, Everyone leaving or dying or disappearing.

A bit further, slightly around the corner, is Grace’s charging station with its portraits. I put a dotted line around it because there are no walls but I wanted to show where it was.

Ignoring the courtyard we now get to the most complicated part.

The Bedrooms.

So Luther and Allison are side by side with their doors angled like we see in the dance scene and a lot of other scenes as well.

Then to the side is the bathroom which we see in the show has its own small hallway lined with attack posters like the rest of the hall (horrifying, I know).

Now to the interesting part. Klaus and Vanya’s rooms.

In the flashback scene we see both of their rooms. They are next to each other and both about the size of a closet with Klaus’ being slightly bigger.

But in the scene where they are older and Vanya is destroying the mansion room by room, you can see that Klaus now has a bigger room and that the sort-of-brick wall that we only ever see in Vanya’s room is a part of it.

So at some point the wall was knocked down and both rooms were given to Klaus. It even seems to have both doors, as in one scene Five enters through one and leaves through the other. This results in this chaotic mess of the room:

See? Both doors!

Moving on.

Any black sections on my ‘map’ are just thick walls or areas filled up with dirt or cement (though that last bit is more likely for the basement.)

The rest of the layout is sort of only based in canon since I had to change things around for them to fit (this is what happens when you film in multiple locations and not one house)

Now Diego’s room is the one at the end of the hall as we see in the flashback of Grace walking along it. Now I know in this scene we also see a hallway veering off to the left but it doesn’t make sense with the layout of the house, since that’s where the house ends, so I’ve erased it.

Diego’s room is the smallest of the rooms (once Vanya’s wall is removed) and it doesn’t change much at all so I have little to say about it. But its canonical location is interesting. Originally Diego’s room is diagonal to the third floor staircase (which I’ve striped orange) and has a slight angle to the door. Thing is, for the bathroom to have its hallway and for said hallway to be within the constraints of physics, I had to switch the rooms around a bit.

From the hallway scene we know the bathroom is next to Allison’s room and Klaus’ room is next to Luther’s. But in order to fit the bathroom hallway I had to flip them so I could cut the bathroom into the walkway. That’s why there’s a dotted line through the bathroom since the walkway wall would be there.

The creators also just...forgot??? About the staircase coming up through the floor from the ground floor? so I put the pink stairs right next to the bathroom.

This meant though that I had to put Diego’s room next to Klaus though.

I’ve added a new room for Vanya since she needed one and we are never shown were it is. I’ve put it at the end of the hall, slightly closed off from her siblings since that seems to be where Reginald would have put it.

This is from the hallway flashback just before Reginald comes in frame from that side hallway that doesn’t make sense. The open door we see is Diego’s original (nonsensical) room, which is the room I’ve given Vanya. And the stairs there are from the orange staircase that goes up to the third story. That dark doorway you see is (now) Diego’s room.

Now imagine that the hall just ends with Vanya’s door and that the stairs are folded halfway down to face Vanya’s door.

That’s how I finally got everything to make sense. It took me hours!!! Now we can finally move on to the training section of the second floor.

The second floor is the main training floor. This floor houses the training and exercise room on the far right. This room is mainly for overall training. I’ve headcanoned that it has tan oval running track, weights, workout equipment, punching bags, a climbing wall, gymnastics equipment, and an obstacle course in the center.

The sparring and weapons room is exactly what it sounds like. I’ve put it here for a separate space without all the equipment, because there is no way Hargreeves didn’t pit his children against each other. I headcanon it as having a boxing ring style space at the top and empty weapons space at the bottom with targets secured to the wall (the targets can move with a remote). This space is separated from left to right 3/4 of the way by a large metal weapons case with almost every weapon imaginable. There are dozens of types of guns, swords, war hammers, battle axes, bow and arrows, spears, knives, flamethrowers, scythes, clubs, maces, batons, both dual and singular sticks & staffs, num-chuks, shuriken, and even ‘non traditional weapons’ like ropes and chains.

We know from the scene where Five reappears in Ep 1 that they were taught how to use anything as a weapon. I assume this was either tested in the kitchen itself, or he set up a replica of a household room here.

(This is really really sad, look at it!)

We can see the following:

Egg Beaters - Hair Pull

Stock Pot - Explosive Device

Toaster - Use Cord For Strangulation

Coffee Pot - Throw Coffee In Face

Blender - Hand Mangler

Then I added a row of personal training rooms for their individual powers. Each room has an observation room - with a two way mirror and its own entrance - beneath it. I made it like a prison interrogation room on purpose because Hargreeves goes for functionality and trauma over anything else, and he would not like to be in the same room as some of their powers.

As you can see, the seventh room, which had been Vanya’s, has had its wall knocked down (hence the dotted line) and observation door boarded up. Hargreeves changed it all and made himself a small office instead. This was because it was no longer in use and because he wouldn’t want anyone to suspect anything.

And that’s it for this second installment in the mansion layout!!! Thank you so much for reading, id love to hear any thoughts!!!! Stay tuned for parts 3 & 4.

#The Umbrella Academy #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #reginald hargreeves

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id-rather-be-an-outsider · 3 years

Text

Pick Your Poison

Pieck Finger x Porco Galliard,

Pieck Finger x Zeke Yeager

word count: 1531

summary: Pieck is the receptionist for the science department at Marley U, Zeke is a professor in the same department. Porco is an intern who’s finishing up his degree to get on the faculty there as well. That is all. No story here, not at all.

a/n: I like college AUs, die mad. nothing horny here, just... aftermath. And just for clarity the behavior Pieck and Zeke exhibit as mentioned in this fic are NOT BEHAVIORS I CONDONE so if u do this I will berate you for it like a very disappointed mother

masterlist

“Fuck you.” I say as I put my clothes back on.

“You just did.” Porco says to me, “And don’t act like you didn’t like it.” He smiles like we’re in high school again and not newly hired university staff.

“I told you not to come over. Zeke’s gonna be here any minute.”

He scowls. “Oh, right, I forgot you’re only with him so your parents think you’re dating someone they like.”

I scoff. “Zeke is responsible! And mature, and thoughtful, and-“

“-Don’t forget using you for his own personal gain, purposely hiding your relationship from the general public so he can cheat on you-“

“Shut up.” I snap as he starts listing shit off on his fingers. “He’s only supposed to look the part, I never told him he had to act it.”

We rush to put clothes on in silence until he says, “Are you just expecting to date him until your parents die or something?”

I throw my hands up in the air. “Porco I don’t know! Are you expecting me to date you?”

“I’m just saying,” He deflects, “You know they won’t be satisfied with you and Zeke breaking up eventually. And considering you’re making attempts to hide us from him, you must know that Zeke feels the same way. And you’re catering to his feelings.”

“I am not.”

“Are too,” He insists, “And if I’m being honest, you need to figure it out. You know how I feel.”

I say, “And I told you, if you find someone you like better or are just interested in, you don’t need my permission to pursue them. Just don’t fuck me after that.”

“I know.” He says. “But maybe there is no one else who can pique my interest quite as much as you do.”

“You only like me because I’m unavailable to you, so it’s naughty and scandalous.” I roll my eyes.

“Maybe that was the case at first, but things change.” He admits, pulling on his shoes.

“What do you mean?” I ask, brows furrowed.

“What do you think I mean?” He counters. “We’ve been doing this, hanging out and stuff, for a long time. Don’t tell me you can’t think of one redeeming quality about yourself beyond just the sex that I’ve stuck around for.”

I can feel the heat coming to my face at his remark. “Well, not to be humble or anything, but I don’t really think about myself in that way all that much. So you’d have to tell me.”

“Oh, so you like it when I say nice things about you?” He says, standing up and walking over to corner me. “Didn’t know that.”

“That’s not what I said!” I argue.

He lowers his voice. “But don’t act like you don’t secretly like it. I know you too well for you to play me like that, Pieck.”

A knock comes from the door. My eyes widen. Zeke’s here. “Gimme a minute!” I call, then whisper to Porco, “You have to leave!”

“Off the back porch? But your neighbors will see me.”

“How else? And like they’d care, they have threesomes over there.” I punch Porco’s arm when he gets a look in his eye. “No. I don’t like sharing.”

“And I like it even less than you do.” He states, wrapping me in a quick hug and kissing my forehead. “See you later. Have fun with your Professor.” And climbs down the balcony as I run to the door.

“Zeke!” I exclaim, “I’m so happy to see you.” My warm smile falters when I see his face. He knows. I usher him in as I stare at the ground and close the door.

“I know that was Porco.” He says simply. Flatly.

“Y... yes....” I say, not sure exactly what to say.

“How long are you going to keep this charade up? Presenting me to your parents like we’re madly in love, meanwhile having him in your bed almost every night. Hm?” He asks me, not in an aggressive way, but definitely not gently.

I protest, “I could ask you the same, with all the panties I’ve found in your apartment.”

He sighs, rubbing his hand against his face. “Pieck, I only strayed when I suspected you and Porco. Not saying it’s an excuse,” He quickly defends, “But I think we both can agree the blood’s on both of our hands.”

“I didn’t start fucking him until I found the evidence against you anyways!” I scoff, knowing he’s full of shit. “And what about hiding our relationship from everyone and their mother?”

He looks surprised. “Well. Then I misjudged your relationship with him... partially. Anyways, why wouldn’t I? Everyone on staff thought you and Porco were together even before we started dating.”

“Zeke, you know all the rumors are just Connie wanting to feel included. He’s a temp worker for a reason.” I remind him.

“Well. What’s done is done, then. But... I have something for you.” He gets down on one knee, producing a small box from his pocket. He doesn’t open it, but I can tell what it is.

“Zeke, what is this...?” I ask, extremely confused as to why he would propose after confirming Porco and I were having sex behind his back.

“I won’t ask you that question, because it isn’t fair of me. But.” He pauses, intentionally making eye contact. “I can’t be alone forever. You know my... condition, makes me a ticking time bomb. If I were to propose to you, it would be under the assumption that we would end our scandalous behaviors and be committed solely to each other. I love you, Pieck. I know you feel something for me. But I also know you care for Porco. If you come to my apartment tomorrow and tell me you’ve cut that attachment off, then I’ll propose to you. If you tell me you couldn’t do it, then I want to part ways. I want to find myself a stable marriage. A loving marriage. One where I can raise my children with my wife, with the picket fence, with the house that looks like a cottage, and maybe a few dogs padding around. When I die, I want to feel like a piece of me is left in this world, not that the woman I married is going to forget me and run to the footloose rebel her parents never wanted her to hang around as a kid.”

I smile sadly and gently push his hand down. “I understand.”

He nods, putting the ring box away. “Thank you, Pieck.”

Zeke’s always been very precise with his words. That’s why he makes such a great professor. That speech is probably the longest spiel he’s been on outside of the classroom. As the science department’s receptionist, I’m better at listening than talking, myself.

I mull this over as I walk to Porco’s apartment, only knocking once before he opens the door. It’s almost like he has a Pieck satellite.

“That was a short visit. What happened?” Porco asks.

“He uh... well, he didn’t propose, but he posed the option.” I say awkwardly.

“And...?” He pushes.

“I turned him down. I told him about this hot intern who caught my eye, and that the university wants to hire them permanently after they get their doctorate.” I laugh.

He smirks, “Well, I sure am glad I managed to catch the eye of the cute receptionist in the science department. What do you think the faculty are gonna say about an inter-department relationship?”

“Oh, they’ve been shipping Piecko forever. I’m more worried about what my parents will say.” I half-joke.

He actually looks worried for a second. “What will they say?”

“Probably something along the line of, ‘You’re an idiot for giving up money like that!’ But I don’t mind being an idiot if it means I’m happy and in love.” I smile and hug him. “You know, Zeke’s vision of our life together was very cookie cutter.”

“Told you he wasn’t right for you. You, Pieck, are no cookie cutter kind of gal. But for curiosity’s sake, what kind of life would that be?” Porco raises a brow, patting the seat next to him as he sits down on his sofa.

“He wanted...” I pause to gather my thoughts. “Dogs, kids, a picket fence - the whole package.”

“Oh, dogs would never do for my Pieck,” Porco says dramatically. “Everyone knows you’d want an African Grey and a Komodo Dragon!”

“Don’t forget a Pixie Frog!” I add, now grinning from ear to ear.

“That too. And your fence would have to be scary, like fake heads on pikes and barbed wire to ward off your enemies.” He suggests.

“Exactly. Why have a protective barrier if it isn’t cryptic enough to keep intruders out?” I say in a tone implying that should be obvious.

“If only the science department knew they had such a weirdo running their front desk.” He jokes, “They’d hunt you down with Tiki Torches.”

“If they did, I’d curse Connie’s mom to be a giant monster, then turn into one myself.”

Porco leans in to softly kiss my cheek. “The faculty wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”

#aot pieck #pieck finger #aot porco #porco galliard #aot zeke #zeke yeager #zeke x pieck #pieck x porco #porco x pieck #pieck x zeke #college au #modern au #outsider writes #fluff #steamy #sort of??? idk #connie springer

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sery-chan-13 · 3 years

Text

Promises We Made

This is the first chapter of my Niragi book over on wattpad, so I just wanted to post it over here.

Next Chapter

Warnings: Swearing, abuse, bullying

I think that's it, but let me know. Sorry this chapter took so long my lovely readers!(again, it was over on my wattpad)

Promise 1

"Promise 1, we promise to always protect each other."

"Stop being such a bitch, and go say hi. Sorry about that, kids huh?" Your father threatened, laughing with the parents. "Oh, I know. Our little boy is so antisocial. And at 15... so disappointing!" The lady had said. Your father had invited your neighbors over, as they had just moved in. They had a boy your age, who stood straight, not looking anyone directly in the eyes. He had black hair, and black rectangle frame glasses that were seated on his nose. "Father, would it be alright if Suguru-San and I go talk outside?" You asked your father. He looked annoyed. "Don't talk to me. You're being so rude, interrupting me," he scolded. "And don't give my son such respect. He deserves none of it," the boy's father snapped. You flinched at his tone. "Ye-yes sirs. S-suguru, would you like to come outside with me?" You asked the boy. He nodded curtly, and you two walked outside.

You let out the breath you'd been holding, leaning against the wall. "I-i apologize for my mother and father... they really have no filter," he apologized, bowing towards you. "It's fine... Are you going to my school when it starts?" You asked. He nodded. "You're not to talkative are you Suguru?" You mentioned. "Not really... I've just never been forced to socialize," he said, looking out to the street. You thought for a moment, before deciding on what to do. "Want to come up to my favorite place?" You asked. He nodded slowly, not knowing where you were taking him. You told him to follow you and you led him through the back door of your house, up to the second story. "Where are you taking me?" He asked, fidgeting with his sleeves. "My favorite place. Aka, my room," you said, going down to the end of the hallway. His eyes widened, and he quickly followed, not wanting to get lost in your house. You pulled down a rope that was connected to the roof, and down came a ladder. "Isn't that the attic?" He questioned, looking up to the dark room. "Yep. It's my room," you said, starting to climb up the stairs. He followed after, looking straight instead of up. 'Don't look she's wearing a skirt, don't look she's wearing a skirt.' Ran through his head the whole time.

You flipped the switch on the wall, the room filling with warm light. You went over to what looked like a giant window, grabbing the doorknobs on either side. They opened like an accordion, the slight breeze of a summer night wafting into the room. "I've always loved that about my room... I have this balcony," you sighed, leaning your arms on the white railing. He went out there with you, and you two spend the night talking.

When school eventually started, you noticed the bullies had taken an interest in him. And the bad kind of interest. You helped as best as you could, but that made you a target as well.

"Stop squirming you little bitch," one of the guys spat, trying to hold your arms down. "Fuck you!" You shouted, kicking him in the stomach. He doubled over, and the rest of his goons tried to get you. "Get off of me damn it!" You screamed, kicking and squirming, trying to get their grip off of you. Their hands were everywhere on you, and you couldn't get out. "You're a little slut aren't you?" The guy laughed, he walked over, wiping the blood from his lip. 'Damn, I made him cough up blood? I'm badass' you thought, before getting back to the situation at hand. He got even closer, putting a hand on your throat. Your eyes widened as he began to squeeze. "L-let me go you son of a bitch," you managed to stutter out, trying to kick out. You could feel the grip on your neck get tighter. 'That's sure to leave a mark. We need to find a way to get out of this...' You tried bitting his arm, or thrashing to get away from them. Of course, there was no camera in the corner they had you in, just your luck. You could feel your skin hit the cold wall behind you, the skirt from your school uniform riding up as you thrashed and squirmed. Black spots started to enter your vision, and you shook your head. 'I will not be brought down by this motherfucker, if I-' Your thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice shouting, "Hey, let her go!" You winced, the squeezing on your throat getting painful, and your lungs were screaming for air. You felt pain, and pain only at this point. "Oi, dumbass, don't get yourself brought into this!" You tried to shout back, it coming out as more of a gasp, seeing your next door neighbor. You were trying to gasp for air, any tiny bit of oxygen would help. You would never know what happened, as your vision started to grow dark from the lack of air.

"Please wake up, please please please," he whispered to more himself than you. You were unconscious, bruises already forming on your body, especially on your neck. He wiped away the blood on his lip, wincing a bit at the pain. He was just glad you were still breathing. He heard you whine, and turned his head to you. You slowly opened your eyes, groaning at the sudden light. You sat up, wincing in pain. He rushed to help you. "Don't move so suddenly, you'll hurt yourself!" He scolded. You shoved him off of your body. "D-dont! I-i-i... I'm such a burden... can't even take care of myself," you muttered to yourself. He heard. "You're not. Everyone needs help once in a while," he said, sitting next to you. You looked at him, noticing the blood. "N-niragi! You're bleeding!" You exclaimed, putting your hands on his shoulders. He held his breath, looking into your eyes. They held sympathy, worry, kindness. He hadn't seen eyes that held as much emotion as yours. You frowned, gently dabbing his lip with the sleeve of your school blazer. "But it'll get dirty, and we-" he started, trying to pull away. "Who gives a damn about a piece of fabric? Let me help you," you stated, grabbing his face, making him look at you. His dark eyes widened behind his glasses, and he froze as you cleaned up the blood.

You two walked to your houses after, not saying a word. You stayed close by eachother, not wanting to get separated. "Niragi... let's make a promise," you said when you got closer to your houses. You both stopped walking. "What kind of promise?" He asked. "I promise to always protect you as you protect me," you smiled, holding out your pinkie to him. He smiled back. ''We promise to always protect eachother," he said, grabbing your pinkie with his.

Promise 2

"Promise 2, we promise to always tell each other the truth."

School had started as normal. You went over to the desk you shared with Niragi, sitting in your seat. He had gone off before class to go look for something, or so he said. You sat in your seat, tapping your fingers on the desk. You saw the group of boys that spent their time torturing both of you walk in, high fiving each other and laughing. You finally saw him come in, and your eyes were drawn to the bruises on him. The teacher was first to notice.

"Why, what happened to you? You're all covered in bruises!" She exclaimed. Niragi saw the dangerous glares the boys sent him and looked down. "F-fell down the stairs, Miss..." he lied, bowing towards the teacher. "I-i apologize." He quickly made his way to the seat next to you, not looking at you or anything. The bell rang, and the teacher began the lesson.

Soon, lunch time rolled around. You two had gone to the park next to the school to eat. You sat down, and gave him the bento box you had made for him. "I told you I'd make you lunch today," you smiled. You knew his mother didn't make him lunch, or give him money for lunch. So, once you found out, you wanted to bring him lunch. "T-thank you (Y/N), you really didn't have to," he thanked, staring down at the box. It was a simple one, black with 3 green lines going vertically. "I didn't know what bento box to use, so I used that one... I hope you don't mind it," you said. He smiled, assuring you it was fine. You both opened them, thanking for the food. You grabbed the chopsticks, and began to eat. "Oh, and where did you really get those bruises?" You asked after you had a couple bites of your food. "I already told you, I fell down the stairs," he lied. He felt bad about lying to you, but he didn't want to worry you. "Bullshit. I know you're lying. Tell me," you said, annoyed. Silence filled the air for a bit. "Fine... those guys... again," he muttered. You frowned. "Niragi... You can tell me about that stuff. You dont have to lie to me. Let's make another promise. I promise to always tell you the truth, as you tell me," you stated, holding your pinkie out as you had before. He had a feeling there would be more promises in the future, but put out his pinkie, linking it with yours. "Ok... but I'm going to start counting these. Promise 2, we promise to always tell each other the truth."

Promise 3

"Promise 3, we promise to keep each other warm." (I actually made that promise with my best guy friend, but he lives in Japan, so... we suffer)

It was another weekend where your father had invited Niragi's family over. They sent you two up to your room. "And, Niragi?" His father called from behind you. You both turned to face him, confused as they never wanted to keep you around more than they had to. "If you're going to do anything, at least bruise her up a bit," he laughed. Your father and his mother joined in with the laughter. You whimpered quietly, hiding behind him. You were extremely confident and outspoken at school and with Niragi. At home, it was a different story. "Aww, look! She's already so submissive to you!" His mother cooed, making a gesture as if you were a dog. You grabbed onto the sleeve of his hoodie, closing your eyes. They started talking about how you two were so obviously in love. And then they started talking about how with how smart you both were, his mother saying you were a beautiful young girl, and your father saying something about Niragi's looks as well, how your kids would be so amazing. Your eyes widened at that. Did they plan this? Niragi didn't like what they were saying. It was gross. You two were only 15, why would they say those kinds of things? "W-we'll be going, then," Niragi excused, leading you away from them. They made more comment about the same topic, making him shudder. Once you two got to the attic entrance, away from ear shot, was when he checked on you.

"Are you ok?" He asked, letting you go up the ladder first. You gave back a soft 'yeah' as you reached your room. He knew that it had bothered you, what they had said. But, if you didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't push. He got up into your room, and pulled the ladder up. He pushed up his glasses, and turned to you. You were standing by the double window doors, looking out to the night sky. "You want to go out there?" He asked. "F-father... he said I shouldn't go out there, because he would lock me out as a punishment if he caught me asleep out there again," you explained, playing with the curtains. Niragi huffed. Your father was so horrible to you. "A punishment for what?" He asked, scared of the answer. "... Anything... The other day, h-he asked if I was still 'pure', and when I told him yes, he got mad. I don't know why, I don't know if he was drunk or what happened, but he's been so curious about if I still have my virginity or not," you responded. "Why would he get mad about that? I-is there something we don't know?" He asked, walking over to you, placing a hand on your shoulder. You shrugged. "If he locks us out, I promise I'll keep you warm," Niragi stated, opening the doors. He turned back to you, leading you out to the balcony. He grabbed your pinkie with his own. "I promise to always keep you warm," he laughed. "Promise 3, we promise to always keep each other warm," you laughed with him.

"Promise 4, we promise to always share our snacks."

"Promise 13, after fights we promise to give eachother a reason why we love eachother." (In a platonic way at this point, anywho)

"Promise 21, we promise to watch the stars together."

"Promise 36, after fights we promise to not turn it into ammo for future fights."

"Promise 58, we promise to meet at our special place after school."

"Promise 76, we both promise to apologize for anything after a fight. If we can't decide who was originally the problem, then we both were."

"Promise 199, we promise to always stay together."

Those were some of the promises you had made throughout the years. You smiled, remembering th promises you'd made with the boy. You decided that since you had off from work, you'd go visit him. You picked up some flowers on your way, deciding it was about time.

"Hey there 'Ragi," you greeted with a smile, placing the flowers down. There was no response, as usual. You sighed, and placed the flowers down. "You know, it's only been a few months, but I really miss you," you said. You took the flowers, arranging them around. You had gotten two types of flowers. One being yellow carnations, and the other being daisies. You started weaving some of the flowers together, talking about whatever came to mind.

"You know, I'm the only one who comes to visit you. Which is sad. Because you should be remembered by more than one person, you are... were... so amazing ," you said sadly, your fingers moving slowly. "Oh, you remember that tattoo I told you about? I finally got it. It looks really good with the others," you stated with a small smile, finishing with the flowers. "I'm really sorry... I wish you weren't dead 'Ragi... I miss you," you whimpered, tears filling your eyes as you placed the flower crown on top of the grave stone.

Truth was, you knew there was no body buried in the ground. He had disappeared a few months ago, and no one could find him. There were no leads on the case, no evidence to say he was killed or kidnapped. He had literally just vanished into thin air. Instead of searching more for him, his parents decided to close the case and pronounce him dead. They didn't have a funeral for him, or anything at all, really. You were the one who begged them to at least have a grave, and they got tired of you, so they did. You didn't think he was dead. There was no evidence to prove it. But either way, no matter what you belived had happened, you had begun to accept the fact that you had lost your best friend. Weather it be that he died, disappeared, or any other conclusion. So you brought him new flowers every day you had off if work, made him the flower crowns, and every week, you would watch the stars next to the grave, pretending he was next to you, still smiling and ranting about work, or a game he played. Or maybe it was a code that was hard to program into the game. At the time, you had laughed and listened, calling him a nerd for being so smart. But you really missed it. Even if you didn't understand what he was talking about, you still enjoyed the time you two got to spend together. The late nights watching movies, playing games, or just talking. The early mornings getting coffee and heading off to work. You missed it all so much. It was so true what they say, you don't miss something until you lose it. Because now you realized how much he honestly helped your mind cope with so many things. "I heard- I heard it w-was going to be chilly tonight, s-so I brought you a-a blanket... remember promise 3?" You said, tears flowing down your cheeks. You leaned your head against his grave stone, the tears that fell from your face fell to flower petals that bent slightly. "I-i hope you're o-ok... Wherever you are," you whispered. Suddenly, you heard fireworks in the distance. You saw them, and stared in confusion. A few minutes after, you no longer heard the rush of cars, or the voices that talked quietly in the cemetery. You stood in confusion, looking around, wiping your tears and sniffling a bit. "Wasn't there just someone there?" You asked out loud to yourself. "I'm sorry Gigi, gotta go. I'm going to find out what's happening," you excused yourself from the gravestone. You laughed a bit, remembering how he said he hated the nickname. You ran towards the street, seeing the cars unmoving. There was no people that you could see, and all buildings were empty. "What the hell?" You muttered to yourself.

It was almost sun down, so you travelled through the streets, finding out that everyone in Tokyo had disappeared. There was no power, and your cellphone, that had been at a hundred percent, was now dead. Sure, it was creepy, but it was somehow peaceful. "If everyone's gone, that means my father too! I'll wait for tomorrow to go over to the house and see if I can find anything he kept away from me," you decided, remembering all the photos of your mother he had stashed away in a box.

Nightfall came, and you sat at a cross walk. There was no wind, and no lights, so you could see the stars. Suddenly, a screen lit up. "Game arena?" You questioned out loud, reading the screen. You decided you might as well follow where it was pointing you to.

The place was an old zoo. One that you recognized had been closed for years, as you had faint memories of your mother taking you here when you were younger. The lights were on, and you looked at it suspiciously. It shouldn't have power. Nowhere in Tokyo had had power, and this place has been closed for years. You entered through the large gateway in the front, and noticed red lines as you did. You looked around, and found a stick. You threw it back the way you had come, and it was immediately shot by lasers. "What the actual fuck," you whispered, walking into the so called game arena. Inside there was a table with phones, and a sign that simply said 'one for each person.' You picked one up, and it light up with face recognition.

You were so involved with the phone, you didn't notice people walking in. Once you did though, you immediately lowered your eyes. They were all guys. You didn't trust men. Well, except Niragi. But he was also your best friend of 8 years, and even then you had your doubts.

"Registration closed. Game: Little Red Ridding Hood. Game Difficulty: 4 of Spades.''

"Rules: One person will be little red ridding hood. The rest will be wolves. The objective for the wolves is to kill Little Red. Little Red's objective is to kill all wolves but one, and make it to the safe zone before time runs out. The one wolf remaining was chosen by little red, meaning they will survive. If time runs out, and neither one of these objectives has been completed, death for both sides. You may use any outside weapons or the weapons provided. Special Condition: Little Red gets an extra 5 minutes to go hide. Anyone who chases after them before the 5 minutes are up will die. Time limit: 1 hour. Game Start in 5 minutes.''

"I don't mean to sound stupid, but what the fuck is all of this?" You asked looking at the men around you. "It's a game," a voice said. You looked around to where it came from. "A game?" You repeated. "Yes, a game. You play for your life. Let's see who's a wolf, and who's little red, shall we?" He said, walking out from the corner he had hidden in. He had white hair, and a condescending look on his face. You checked the phone again.

'Little Red: Player 11037.'

A picture of you came up, and you looked around. Most of the guys smirked at you. You headed towards the table with weapons, grabbing a small dagger. You saw there was a bow with a quiver of arrows, and grabbed it quickly, strapping it on to you. "Well, I'm either going to Katniss Everdeen this shit, or die. Let's see... so basically, this is a game of physical endurance from what it seems. We have to run after or away from eachother. We each have an objective we must complete or it results in death. Am I right?" You said, turning to the white haired boy. He stared back, an eyebrow raised. "You sure it's your first day here?" He asked. "I catch on pretty quick. I would hate to be the girl that starts crying and shaking. Pathetic," you said. Was it bad that to survive you either had to kill or get killed? Yes. But were you about to risk your life for people you didn't know? No way in hell. "I only have to keep one wolf alive for my objective. So impress me, and maybe you'll survive," you said, stretching. "Quite cocky, aren't you?" One of the men said, stepping closely to you. His hands went around you, pressing you into him. "I can change that," he whispered into your ear. You elbowed him harshly, making him double over in pain. "I don't plan on losing to a bunch of men who think they can do shit like that and for me to sit there and take it. Goodluck to you, you condescending yet interesting man," you said with a smile towards the white haired boy. "Yeah, no. No nicknames. Chishiya, call me Chishiya," he introduced. You laughed. "Nice to meet you Chishiya. Call me whatever you want. I'll tell you my name after the game... if we survive of course," you said.

"Little Red Ridding hood headstart starts in

Sorry this took so long, I'm really trying here-

But is your best friend dead? Will you survive this game? I don't know haven't decided yet-

I'm joking, it's all jokes...

....

.....

Or is it?

#alice in borderland #niragi #×reader #angst #fluff #100 Promises

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morepeachyogurt · 3 years

Text

we are good people (and we've suffered enough)

word count- 2.5k Pairing- Temily

Summary- After Scratch, Tara and Emily run away to Italy to start a new life, ft. cats, cafes, and gardening. Based on this post, and this prompt.

Part 2 of my, maybe we’re from the same star, series, work is a standalone, part 1

read here on ao3

tw’s- very minor mentions of substances and ptsd

Things were never the same after Mr. Scratch. The two of them were filled with more trauma than they had room for in their hearts to still hold each other in. Nights were no longer filled with a movie and cuddling, or talking about philosophy but tense sentences, paranoia, and nightmares. Tara knew that something needed to change, anything to stop the monotony of desolation. But still, they went to work every day and drowned their sorrows in killers like that would bring back the part of her that died when Scratch took Emily. There are only so many times one can be held captive and wait for death before something inside them breaks.

One night they get wine drunk, Emily laying sidewise on their black couch, and Tara sitting on the table staring at the ceiling.

“I miss being young, god, that’s such a weird thing to say. I mean, I spent my youth hating it. Hated my mother, and all of our traveling, never could make friends. I hated that I never belonged, hated not being in control of my own life, and here I am 50 years old working for the government that I used to despise trying not to cry myself to sleep every night,” her voice takes on a bitter tone.

“We love in our old age the things we hated as children. Does that make us matured or foolish?”

“Both, I think.”

“What was your favorite place to live? I mean it sounds like hell to keep moving between places but there must have been someplace you loved, right,” Tara’s voice fills with a tang of desperation as she searches for a way to help her lover.

“Rome. The weather and the scenery,” her voice takes on a dreamy tone, “and the food! Man, the food is good, don’t tell Rossi but his carbonara tastes like Olive Garden compared to the real thing,” they both chuckled at that, knowing it would have sent Rossi in a fit if he were to hear that.

“That sounds really nice honey.”

“I miss it sometimes you know? I think about how gorgeous everything was. It feels like home in my distant memories.”

“Then let’s do it. Lets, go move to Rome. You aren’t happy here Emily, I know you say you are, but you do this job for our team, not the position now. I miss when you laughed,” both of them sobered up by now, knowing that it has taken a turn for the more serious.

“No, no we can’t. I, I can’t keep leaving this team and our friends. And, people need us. You love this job Tara I can’t take that away from you, not for me.”

“They’d understand Emily, they all love you so much. Yeah, I love this job, I won’t lie. But, I love you more, and I’m not happy if you aren’t. So let’s do it. Let’s fucking run away to Rome together and be happy .” The two sit in silence for a minute, the unanswered question still hanging in the air.

“Okay. Let’s do it. Maybe I’ll fulfill my long-lost dream to have a nice, big garden.”

The team took it surprisingly well, they’d all noticed a change in Emily in the months following Scratch and knew that Tara had Emily’s best interest at heart. Of course, they were sad to lose two of the best members of their team, but Emily was family, and family looks out for each other.

“I’m going to miss you my favorite dynamic duo and your guys’ jokes. Ugh, it’s going to be so quiet without you two lovely ladies,” her eyes are welling with unshed tears as she says goodbye to more of her family, “Send me things from Rome or I will install a virus in your phones,” they both laughed at Penelope’s antics and promised her that they’d send as much stuff as they could. The last two weeks of their stay in the United States were filled with mixed emotions. They were excited to start the next chapter of their lives together. Away from all the serial killers and monstrous people out there. They could finally live with a fraction of the naivety that most people carry. On the other hand, Tara only speaks minimal Italian, and now they’re going to be living in a brand-new country, surrounded by strangers. A fresh start, but one filled with anxiety.

“Okay 4:30 is way too early for a flight,” Emily grumbled as they made their way to the airport. The pair had woken up at three, knowing that Tara can’t sleep on planes they tried to go to bed early and were now making their way to the airport in the dead of morning.

“Wait, babe, look! It’s a full moon,” they pulled over just for a moment and got out of the car to sit on the hood. The silence between the two is peaceful, the wind was the only whisper in the air. Moonlight shone on Tara’s face and Emily knew that there was no sight in the world as beautiful as this. With the moon reflected in her eyes and a small simple ghosting on her lips. She’s home.

Security was a breeze, they are former FBI agents after all, and they made their way to their gate. Airports always have a certain air to them, a place where time seizes to exist yet completely runs the place. Their gate was quiet, filled with the tired murmuring of people excited to travel.

“Tara, honey, wake up we’re boarding.”

It was odd for the two of them to be flying commercial after all those years on private jets. It was nice to feel normal though, to fade in the background instead of being other . Human desire is both to be noticed and forgotten all at once.

Italy’s airport is very similar to the DC airport, it would seem like they never left. Outside was a whole different story, bustling crowds and hot air hits them as soon as they step outside the building. They had picked out a quaint apartment building a week prior. Yellow walls with a terrace looking out to an alley. The couple's belongings had been shipped and were waiting to be unpacked. Not right then though. Now, it was time to explore.

Hand in hand they walked leisurely down the narrow alley way of the small Italian town they are now calling their home. Vines and every other type of plant that could grow did. Hanging off banisters, and climbing up orange brick walls. The sunlight was close to blinding, and it hit Emily just right. The golden rays hitting her face and illuminating the ghost of the smile now appearing on Emily’s face. That smile told Tara all she needed to know about their decision. Emily catches her staring, “What are you looking at,” humor evident in her voice.

“You, I’m looking at you miss Emily Prentiss. You’re smiling again,” her words come out softer than she intended, but they convey her point.

Happy couples seem to fill the streets, old and new, young and old. The town may be old, but it was filled with a life that they had been lacking. They pass a quaint little bakery. Bread, cupcakes, and assorted pastries fill the windows. There're bookshelves on all the walls filled to the brim with different books. The walls are light blue and there are flowers everywhere. It looks like something from the movies.

“Un Piccolo Angolo di Paradiso,” Emily reads the name of the building in front of them, they’ve since stopped to admire the view in front of them. It reminds the two of them how Emily asked Tara out. With a cupcake and book who had ‘I know there’s plenty of sugar in that cupcake but it’d be even sweeter if you went out with me. Let me take you to dinner Tara? ’ written on the inside.

“As much as I love hearing you speak Italian, what does that mean? Something heaven?”

“Little Slice of Heaven.” It’s truly a perfect name for the place.

“Okay, now we have to go in,” they’re both smiling now. They push open the glass doors, greeted by the high-pitched ringing of a bell and the smell of freshly baked bread.

The woman at the counter finishes the greeting, “Benvenuti nel piccolo angolo di paradiso, cosa posso offrirvi, adorabili signore?” they blush at the compliment and Emily orders them both cupcakes and coffee. Tara busies herself with admiring the books. Some of them have the most beautiful covers she’s seen. She knows not to judge a book by its cover but sometimes the most beautiful things are just as gorgeous on the inside as out. Just like Emily. She buys a book, and they take their drink and desserts to go. They make their way to a waterfront and sit down on the stairs, side by side.

“Rome is just as beautiful as I remembered. I missed it. It really does feel like home, although, anywhere I’m with you is home,” at the end of her sentence, she turns to face Tara, a look of pure love shown clearly on her face. And for that, Tara just has to kiss her.

The next day they unpack their boxes of belongings into their apartment to help rid the homesickness. Paintings go up on the walls and furniture is placed with the best view in mind. After a couple of hours they’re done, their apartment a bit more homey than before. They crack open a bottle of wine, put on an album, and sit out on the terrace. They watch the sun set over the water, the sounds of big band music filter in as the soundtrack for their night. The sky painted yellow, orange, and pink in the way only nature can create. If nature were an artist they’d be in every museum and sold to the wealthy. Instead, they are for the masses, the beauty of nature is for all to enjoy, free of cost, for those who wish to escape and fly into the night sky.

“You know what I’ve always wanted to do?” Tara leans forward on the balcony, not taking her eyes off the view in front of her, even as the colors begin to fade the sky darkens.

“No, tell me, what?”

“I always wanted to open my own bakery. I know it’s stupid, me a baker. But, I don’t know making things, it feels so uncomplicated. Just me and the dough.”

“In this alternate universe, I’d be a gardener. You and your dough and me and my flowers against the world Tara. Wait a second. I think you and I are onto something my dear,” Emily’s joined Tara at the balcony, the two of them leaning against the railing.

“Actually? You’re serious? You want to do this.?”

“Yeah! Why not? We’ve got enough money in the bank for us to last a bit, you can work at Un Piccolo Angolo di Paradiso,” the Italian rolls of her tongue in a way that drives Tara nuts, “I’ll find a gardening place to work at. We’re in fucking Italy let’s make our dreams come true.”

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

Alessia, the owner of the bakery, is pleased to have another employee. Especially one that is actually interested and isn’t in high school. Tara learns the basics of bread and pastry making. She has some skill, she used to bake with her mother before she died, it had been awhile since she had been able to bake without bumming herself out. Now it’s a nice memory of her. Gone but not forgotten, as is the saying. Emily comes in every lunch break for whatever Tara’s whipped up and to get her caffeine fix. One of the things that she still keeps from her law enforcement days.

They aren’t perfect. A move across the country isn’t going to cure PTSD, she has good days, bad days, and worse days, but now they have the time to deal with it. There was never anytime to process things at the FBI. It was always, distract yourself and throw yourself into solving cases. Now they can slow dance in the kitchen and stay up until three am telling stories from college. They fill their days with the happiness that was once stolen from them and bathe in it like perfume.

True to their word, they send Penelope all sorts of things, books from the café, pressed flowers, trinkets from the small shops to adorn her desk. In return, she sends them pictures of Sergio.

“I miss Sergio, his little paws, and his ability to climb on top of anything.”

Emily finds a job at a nearby garden that sells flower arrangements and herbs to local restaurants. It’s convenient, more than they would have thought. Emily now gets to stop into the bakery on occasion to deliver herbs and has plenty of flowers to give her lover. She also sends a few bouquets back to DC. Hoping that the flowers can brighten up the office in a way that fluorescent lights never can.

On one of their late afternoon walks, they hear a rustling by a trash can.

“What’s that noise?”

“I don’t know, let’s go look, it almost sounds like an animal. Could be a mouse,” Emily suggests, absently reaching to where her gun used to rest on her hip. They open the bag to find three small kittens. Seemly abandoned in a corner.

“Oh god, they’re so cute. We have to keep them.” It’s not a question, Tara knows that Emily is thinking the same thing, their minds connected in the way people who love each other’s minds always are. They look up the nearest veterinarian to make sure that their new pets are okay to take home and healthy.

The vet is sterile and a stark reminder of all the hospitals they’ve spent time in. Tara squeezes her girlfriend’s hand to remind her that they are both safe .

“They look fairly health, a bit malnourished but that is to be expected in these circumstances,” the vet is an elderly man with a mustache as thick as his accent,

“I’ve give them the shots they need, for now, come back in few months and let me take another look. Ciao.”

The kittens are fast asleep by the time they make it home. They gently scoop the kittens out of the bag and into their arms and the couch.

“Okay, what are we naming these angels?” Emily’s voice is pitched up as she talks to the kitten in her arms.

“Well, I’ve always been a classics enthusiast, what if we name them Artemis and Apollo?”

“That’s adorable. Little tiny archery kitties, yes, isn’t that right!” she coos, “And I think I’ll name this one Carter.”

“I love it, and you. Come on, sit with me, you look tired,” Tara grabs Emily’s hand and pulls her onto the couch. They fall over a bit and Emily yelps in surprise. They put the old music back on, a sense of peaceful needs for their new lives. The two sit on the couch, Emily’s head in her girlfriend’s lap, a hand playing with her hair. Apollo climbs on Emily’s feet and lays down to rest.

“I love you, Tara,” she doesn’t respond, just lays a gentle kiss to the back of her head.

The world is big and scary but the two of them feel safe in each other's arms.

taglist- @royalpenelope @criminalmindsvibez @haleymalaffey @scandinavian-punk @abitcriminalminds @hellskitchensmurdock @criminalmindzz2 @rosesonmyheart @ssaemxlyprentxss @reidrights if you’d like to be added to my taglist, the survey is here

#dkakakska I forgot to tag this now it won’t show up 💔💔#temily #Tara lewis #emily prentiss #criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfiction #temily fic #lucy's creations #mine!

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ificanthaveu · 4 years

Text

The 1 || Harry Styles

Description: Based off The 1 by Taylor Swift (read the lyrics to get the gist of what this’ll be about)

A/N: WOOF my first harry fic!! The second I heard this song, I knew I had to make it into a fic. However, it just didn’t feel like it fit Shawn or Calum, and I just knew I had to use Harry for it. I’m in love with how this turned out and I’m so happy I have time to write again. Hope you love this as much as I do.

Word Count: 3k

Parking your car down the street from the large brick house, you got out and glanced at the homes as you passed them, with doormats with family names and numbers larger than necessary to indicate the address. Every yard was perfectly done with professional landscaping and lawn care, a stark contrast to your apartment upstate where you barely had enough time in the day to place a plant on the balcony.

“I’m telling you, the customer will be fine with it. I promise,” you explained through a sigh as you fiddled with your necklace.

You heard your assistant sigh as well, and you knew he was probably hunched over his desk and tugging at his shirt sleeves.

“A four box shortage, [Y/N]? This is the second time we’ve done this to them in the past five months,” he said, the exhaustion evident in his voice as he stared at reports.

“And I will send them the backups we have of last year’s version. Everything will be fine,” you said calmly as you paced back and forth in the driveway once you made it to the house, your new heels clicking against the pavement.

“I don’t get how you’re so calm about this all the time,” he mumbled as you heard him typing.

“It comes with practice. Now finish the email and get over here,” you said.

“Whatever you say, boss,” he said through a laugh before hanging up.

You tucked your phone into your clutch and placed it back down by your side. You looked up at the house and took a deep breath before walking to the front door.

You pushed it open and were met with people filling the living room and kitchen, greeting people they didn’t know, and having conversations with people they did.

Your phone buzzed before you could find someone you knew, and you glanced down to see a text from your assistant Trevor.

Trevor: You were right. They took last year’s version no problem. You’re a genius.

You shook your head and laughed to yourself before sending an “I told you so” text and looking at the email you were copied on.

Starting and running your own online clothing store in college was one thing. But that turning into a chain of over 70 stores across the United States and Canada was a whole other thing.

But no matter how many nights you fell asleep at your desk at 2:00 am just to be woken up by Trevor coming in for work at 7:00 and begging you to go home and shower, you loved what you were doing.

You had genuinely never been happier. Even if you never thought you would be.

---

“What’s your happiest moment?” Harry asked as you sat next to each other, waiting for the Sunday matinee to start at your local theater.

You leaned your head back and look at him from the corner of your eye.

“I don’t know,” you said.

He had a slight smile as he looked back at you.

“That’s not an answer,” he whispered.

You shrugged your shoulders, taking a few pieces of the popcorn from the bucket sitting in his lap.

“I don’t think it’s happened yet,” you said simply.

“Hm,” he said, looking at the screen as the movie started playing.

Once the movie was done, the two of you walked back to his car, his hand lacing in yours naturally after he pulled you up.

“What do you think the best movie ever is?” You asked as he tugged you in the right direction.

“I don’t know,” he said, returning your reply.

“That’s not an answer,” you said as you crossed your arms as he unlocked his car and opened your door.

“I don’t think it’s been made yet,” he said before closing your door.

You sat alone with that thought before he climbed into the driver’s side.

“Why do you think it hasn’t been made yet?” You asked.

“Same reason your happiest moment hasn’t happened yet,” he said, resting his hand on the back of your seat as he backed out of the parking spot, making your heart race.

“We’re young,” he said, his eyes focusing on the road ahead. “I just think I have hundreds of movies that I still have to see. Just like you have millions of moments still to encounter.”

“See I think those are two different things,” you argued. “I still have to get married, have kids, start my dream business. But the classic movies, the ones everyone loves have already been made.”

He nodded his head, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

“Good point; however, I think the greatest films of all time were never made,” he said.

You stayed quiet, mulling the thought over in your head.

“How is that possible?” You ask, turning in your seat and resting your knee against the center council, fully enveloped in whatever he had to say.

“I just think someone out there has the most amazing idea for a movie anyone could ever think of, but he’s an engineer or a grocery clerk or a stay at home parent so he’ll never make it. We’ll never know.”

“But if it’s really going to be the greatest film, someone will come up with it and go through with it.”

“I don’t think so,” he said simply. “I think some stories are too good to be encapsulated into a film.”

“How so?” You questioned

Harry pulled up in front of your dorm building before turning towards you.

“You and I are the only ones that really know what today is like for us. Today could make the best film ever, and no one would ever know,” he said.

You let your smile tug at the corners of your lips as the concentrated look stayed on his.

“You think today is too good to be a movie?” You said quietly.

A blush crept up on his cheeks before he turned forward and leaned his head on the back of his seat.

He didn’t say anything, instead nodded his head and looked at you again.

The sun was getting dangerously closer to the horizon, reminding you of the homework you hadn’t finished yet.

Before you could second guess it, you leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, not allowing him enough time to even move his hands.

Without another word, you jumped out of the car and ran to the door without looking back to see the blush stay on his cheeks as he watched you.

---

You shook the reminiscent feeling as you walked forward, glancing at the pictures adorning the walls by the staircase.

Tanya, a friend from college, locked eyes with you from across the room as you quickly waved and made your way to her.

You greeted her with a quick hug as you sat down next to her on the sofa.

“It’s been way too long,” she said as she leaned back and you did the same.

“Tell me about it,” you replied.

“You’re just too damn busy to get ahold of. I’m surprised you even made it today,” she said with a confused look on her face.

“My assistant is going all the dirty work currently,” you said as you made a face.

“On a Saturday?” She questioned.

“Retail never quits.”

“How many stores now? Was it like 60 last time we talked?” She asked, leaning towards you to hear better as the party got louder.

“76 actually,” you said as her eyes nearly bulged out of your head. “77 next week when our newest one in Miami opens, which I’ll actually be headed to tomorrow morning.”

“Ms. CEO is really out here taking over the fashion industry,” she said with the shake of her head.

“That’s the goal,” you said with your customer service smile, a pang hitting you once again.

---

“Why are we doing this?” You said as Harry dragged you to the middle of the mall where the fountain was.

“You can’t just walk past one of these and not make a wish,” he said as he dug in his pockets.

“So we’re going to waste two cents just to wish for something that isn’t going to happen?” You asked with crossed arms.

“That’s the goal,” he said with a smirk before pressing a penny into your hand. “And you don’t know if it’s actually never going to happen.”

You went to throw it in before Harry’s hand enveloped yours.

“You can’t just throw it in like it’s nothing,” he said with an offended look on his face.

He kept his hands around yours, holding them together as the penny burned against your skin.

“We’re going to close our eyes, think of our wishes, and then count down and throw them in,” he said.

You simply nodded as you smiled at how into this he was.

“And you have to believe every bit of it or it won’t come true,” he said seriously.

“Ok,” you whispered.

You both closed your eyes, and you rocked back and forth on your heels as Harry’s hands tightened around yours.

You peaked one eye open to see how concentrated he was as you thought of the only wish that made sense.

I want it to be you.

“Ready?” He whispered.

You hummed in response as you both opened your eyes.

“Three,” he started the countdown.

“Two,” you cut in.

“One,” you both said as you threw your pennies over your backs and into the fountain, hearing them go in with a gentle splash.

Harry’s hand found it’s way back to yours as you tugged him to the candle store you came here for.

“What’d you wish for?” You asked him as his arm wrapped around your shoulder, your hands still laced together.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” he said.

“It was worth a shot.”

---

“You good?” Tanya asked as you snapped out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” you said as you plastered your smile back onto your face.

You turned away from her as someone else she knew came up to greet her. Your eyes scanned the decorations around the room, mostly white, silver, and gold, also looking at the pictures once again.

And then you see him.

He’s laughing at something his friend said, his head thrown back as his curls flopped with it. He was wearing a button-down, like always, with not nearly enough buttons buttoned up. He sipped at a glass of rose as he turned to someone new with a new conversation.

He looked good. Really good.

He looked happy.

You stood up from the couch and made your way to the far wall of the room, pulling your phone out to see the newest message from Trevor telling you he was on his way.

You looked up from your phone and locked eyes with him.

He stopped his conversation as his eyes felt like they bore into your soul.

His hand lifted up to give you a gently wave and a smile as you returned it.

That smile still made you melt.

But it was gone in a moment as that look of hesitation washed across him.

---

Your final words were hurled at him as you sat down hastily on the couch. Your fingers knitting into your snarled hair as you tried to catch your breath and begged your tears to stop falling.

Harry continued to pace in front of you. The frustration radiating off him.

“I just don’t get it, [Y/N]. I don’t know what else you want me to do,” he yelled as he choked on his own words.

You stayed quiet, having answered this question already.

It wasn’t his fault. But maybe it was, and maybe it was yours or maybe it wasn’t. You couldn’t keep track anymore, and you were sick of the blame game.

You knew you wouldn’t be here if you would’ve brought it up weeks ago, how unloving he’d been lately. How distant he’d felt when his arm was thrown around you. How his answers were the same but somehow different.

You couldn’t pinpoint it anymore.

Everything just felt off.

It felt wrong.

It felt like he didn’t love you anymore. Or at least he wasn’t showing it.

“I don’t know, H,” you said softly, not having it in your heart to yell anymore.

He scoffed as he continued to pace, tugging at the ends of his hair.

“I’m not the only problem,” he said, stopping to look at you as you continued staring at the ground. “If this started months ago, why didn’t you say something then? It would’ve been a hell of a lot easier than this.”

“I don’t know,” you said more sternly this time.

“You never do,” he mumbled.

You didn’t reply to that one as you felt your heart slowly break into two as he sat down next to you. The familiar feeling of his leg pressed against yours was long gone as he sat on the opposite end of the loveseat.

“I deserve better than this,” you paused.

Harry waited for you to finish your thought, his hands balled up in tight fists.

“And so do you.”

You could feel him relax even if he wasn’t touching you, coming to the conclusion neither of you wanted to come to.

That you needed someone who showed every emotion they had face forward in order to understand.

And he just couldn’t give you that.

That he needed someone who spoke up everything they were thinking.

And you couldn’t give him that.

Your heart finally broke in two as you felt Harry’s arm wrap around you and pull you into his side, taking your legs and swinging them over his lap like you always would.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give that to you,” he said softly.

You rested your head against his shoulder as your breathing slowed back to its regular pace.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give that to you either,” you replied.

Once your tears stopped flowing, you removed his arm from across your legs and stood up.

And you left.

---

You continued to watch him as he grabbed a second glass of rose and made his way across the room, dodging in and out of people trying to talk to him.

He ended up in front of you and handed you a glass as you nodded to him as a thank you.

You didn’t feel the anxiety you thought would creep up into your stomach. You just felt content as he leaned against the wall next to you.

“Congratulations,” you whispered to him.

He nodded his head in thanks as he gave you that same soft smile you fell for.

You both looked across the room to see the Vice President of your company showing the glowing ring to some friends that Harry slipped onto her left ring finger just a few weeks ago.

You knew it would end up here.

Somehow, when Katherine raved to you about the guy she had gone on a few dates with after meeting him on Tinder, you knew this was going to be the guy she’d end up with.

You just didn’t think it would be the same guy you broke up with two years prior to that.

But even after Katherine and you pieced everything together, you insisted she kept seeing him.

She always radiated the type of energy you knew Harry was attracted to.

Her eyes met yours as she saw the two of you from across the room.

She raised her hand up to wave with a sparkling smile on her face.

You both waved back as she held up a hand to let you know she’d be over in a little bit before turning back to her current conversation.

“She always reminded me of you,” you said after a few moments.

Harry didn’t say anything, instead, he turned to look at you with a still face.

“Even before I found out about the two of you, she’d say something in a meeting, and I just couldn’t help but think you’d say the same thing in the same situation,” you explained.

“It just made sense, the two of you,” you said quietly.

Harry nodded again, taking a sip of his drink.

“Thank you,” he finally said after a minute of comfortable silence.

“For?”

He shrugged, not really knowing why he said that.

“For not freaking out, for being here, for being everything that you are.”

You thought something like that would make your heart shatter, but it didn’t.

“You know I’d do anything for you,” you paused. “For the both of you.”

He nodded again, this time looking a little upset. You could still read him like a book. You knew he was on the verge of saying something he wasn’t sure if he should actually say.

So you took the leap before he could.

“We were something, don’t you think so?” You said softly.

You looked at him as he looked across the room, watching Katherine as she talked to another one of your employees.

If you hadn’t been staring at him as intently as you were, you would’ve missed the slight nod of his head.

“But I’m not the one.”

He turned to look at you after he said that, and you locked eyes.

“I know,” you said as you smiled at him. “But wouldn’t it have been fun?”

Harry’s smile matched yours, adoring the way you just said what you were thinking. Something you had such a hard time with years ago.

He simply nodded his head, his smile not faltering as he held his glass up to yours.

You held yours up as well, hitting it against his with a small clink.

“To the future Mr. and Mrs. Styles,” you said.

He shook his head slightly, a smirk adorning his face.

“I’ve done enough of those today,” he said.

He pulled back his glass to clink against yours again.

“To us.”

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juliandev0rak · 3 years

Text

Right Action

Chapter Four of I’m Your Villain

Words: 3054

Warnings: mentions of death

Cadmus has killed a lot of people.

If someone were to ask him how many, he’d ask what counts as “killing”. Does it only count if he was the one who swung the blade? What about the people Agatha has killed? Or the people he hadn’t intended to kill- like guards, do they count?

Suffice it to say the answer is a lot.

He isn’t proud of it, but in his world it’s either kill or be killed. And Cadmus would rather not be killed. He has people to protect, not to mention- he’s pretty sure whoever eventually kills him won’t do it quickly.

Cadmus runs towards the clearing where he’d left Alecto. He isn’t fleeing, he’s simply… regrouping.

As he runs through the woods he tries to remind himself of the people he needs to protect, Daphne, Alexander, Avronne itself. Cadmus is turning his back on all of them by turning his back on this job. If he doesn’t do this the city could be in danger, or his father could decide he’s no longer useful. The Comte could take it out on Daphne.

He comes to a halting stop in front of Alecto and catches his breath. Agatha is curled up at the base of a nearby tree, looking at him in confusion. Her tongue flicks out in a questioning hiss.

“I don’t know what just happened,” Cadmus answers.

He needs to return to finish the job, there’s no way around it. His father won’t let him live if he fails, and if he’s dead there won’t be anyone around to protect Daphne. So he needs to kill this princess, this child, in exchange for the safety of another child. Surely his sister’s life matters more than some stranger’s.

It’s one small life for the good of his kingdom. It’s insignificant, just one more death in the long line of others. What’s a little more blood on his hands.

But when he closes his eyes he doesn’t see the princess, he sees Daphne.

“Fuck.” Cadmus walks a circle around the clearing, stopping in front of a large boulder. He kicks it hard, and the slight pain in his foot sharpens his senses again. At least pain he can understand.

While he’s been pacing, the sun has set and Cadmus needs to get back to the castle while the guests are occupied with dinner. He’s missed his best chance at a clean job, but he’ll come up with plan b.

He grabs an apple from his pack and eats it as his brain works to find a new course of action. Sickly sweet juice runs down from his lip and off of his chin, the drop lands on the dark fabric of his pants. He brushes it off with disdain and turns his thoughts to the layout of the castle. Getting into the princess’ room will be easy, but what then?

He’ll bring Agatha for backup this time, she can sneak through a crowd with ease if it comes to that. The castle is large so there will be plenty of places to hide. By the time he’s finished the apple, he’s got a new plan and a new sense of determination.

Cadmus throws the apple core into the trees, enjoying the resounding thump it makes as it hits a tree trunk. “Come along Agatha, we have a job to do.”

Agatha slithers in front of him as he treks through the woods again, this time hidden by the cover of twilight. As they approach the castle, he presses a hand to the top of Agatha’s head and casts a simple illusion charm to hide her from sight. It won’t hold up under scrutiny, but it's better than just hoping people won't notice an incredibly large snake wandering through the castle.

Though, Cadmus has learned by now that most people only see what they want to see. It makes his job much easier.

Cadmus stops briefly when he reaches the low stone wall where he’d last seen the princess. Agatha hisses at him as if to urge him on and he shakes his head to refocus. He climbs over the wall, keeping a closer eye out this time for guests or guards.

Climbing up the ivy wall to the princess’ room is almost too easy. He reaches the top in under a minute, just as he’d calculated, and finds the window cracked open. It’s perhaps too convenient, and if he wasn’t so pleased at himself for the quick climbing he’d just done, he might have suspected a trap. But no ambush comes, the room is well lit with candles and nobody is in sight.

The bedroom is wall to wall pink, covered in a bright fuschia damask that almost hurts his eyes. This is clearly the princess’ room. Melia’s room, the voice in the back of his head supplies. Cadmus scoffs and crouches down so he won’t be seen from the window as he searches the room. As he’d suspected, the princess isn’t here, nor are any of her servants.

His original plan had been to hide in her room until the birthday feast is over, to wait until she's asleep so he can kill her with less struggle. But as he looks around the room for a place to hide he feels an increasing sense of dread. The longer he waits, the louder the little voice in the back of his head gets, telling him he should leave now while he still can.

Cadmus is quite good at ignoring that little voice. He runs through the uses of various poisons in his head to distract himself. Hemlock, arsenic, cyanide- but he quickly tires of that and decides to speed things along. No sense waiting for the princess, he’ll go to her.

He opens the bedroom door slowly and Agatha slithers out first, scouting ahead. He opens it just wide enough to squeeze out and emerges into an empty hallway. Agatha has already reached the end, and he takes it as a sign that there are no guards hiding.

He continues to sneak along the corridor until he reaches the top of a stairwell. He’s pretty sure this is the back stairs that leads down to the kitchens, if Xiphos’ layout is correct. Though Cadmus can’t see any guards, he keeps his ears trained for any sound of approaching footsteps as he descends. He emerges into a landing with a hallway branching off in one direction and the stairs continuing to descend lower. He turns into the hallway, remembering something Xiphos had mentioned about a second story balcony surrounding the dining hall.

Sure enough, he opens a door at the end of the hallway and is met with the smell of food and the sounds of a dinner party. There's music and the smell of roasted meat and Cadmus would love to join the party, but he's got bigger problems.

The party below him goes on as Cadmus rounds the balcony, keeping his back pressed flat against the back wall to avoid being seen. He’s illusioned himself as well, but his magic will only go so far. As he looks down, he immediately spots the King and Queen of Greythal sitting on a raised throne platform. There’s a smaller, empty chair next to the Queen, presumably for the princess, Melia.

Cadmus spots the princess then. She dances around the edge of the room in time to the music, the pink skirt of her dress twirling along with her. A little boy no older than four, and clearly her younger brother from the matching blonde hair, runs into sight. She picks him up and spins him, and the sound of the little boy’s giggles and the princess’ laughter reaches Cadmus’ well-trained ears.

He needs to do this now, before that stupid, insipid, nagging voice in the back of his head tries to speak up again.

He reaches into the pack on his back and finds a small box. Opening its velvet lined case, he carefully pulls out a dart no bigger than the size of the fingernail on his pinky finger. It’s laced with Agatha’s venom, and he’s careful not to handle the sharp point. The dart is so tiny that it won’t easily be found. In his past experience the poison takes a few minutes to work, and by that point the tiny dart usually falls out as the target continues to walk around.

Agatha’s direct bite is much more potent, but he’d brought her along to scout not to attack. It would be too risky to send her down there alone, so a dart will have to do. Cadmus loads the dart into the hollow tube used to shoot it and aims.

He only has one shot, he can’t miss or he’ll risk discovery, but his hands are steady and he knows his aim will be true.

The princess moves out towards the corner of the room as she twirls and her little brother squeals in laughter and runs the opposite direction, leaving Cadmus with a clear shot. He raises his mouth to blow on the tube and shoot the dart. As if sensing his presence, the princess turns to face his direction and the smile on her face hits him in the gut. She doesn’t look directly at him, but all he can see is Daphne.

Just shoot damn it!

But his hands are shaking now and his aim will be off. The princess spins away into the crowd and he’s missed his shot. No doubt he’ll get another chance soon enough, he can wait. Instead, Cadmus narrowly avoids dropping the dart gun in his haste to back away from the balcony’s edge. There’s a bitter taste in his mouth and part of his brain is shouting at him to just kill her already while another part is begging him to run.

He’s never been conflicted like this, not since the first mission he’d been on. He doesn’t think, he just does. But now he can’t seem to stop thinking and it’s giving him a headache.

Cadmus hasn’t cared much about the morality of his job, it was simply something he had to do. He gets rid of potential threats for the good of his family and his city. But Melia poses no threat to him. She’s a child.

What the fuck is going on with you?

Cadmus has no answer for himself. He can’t even bear to look down at the dining room in case he sees the princess again and- what? Kills her? Doesn't kill her? Cadmus doesn’t know which option is worse, so he chooses to go with his instincts instead.

For the second time that day, he runs. More accurately- he flees.

He hopes Agatha is following as he runs back the way he’d come. This time he isn’t so lucky. He rounds a corner and spots two guards with their backs turned to him, patrolling down the hallway he needs to use to exit.

Cadmus sighs and reaches into his pack for another case of darts, these ones laced with a sleeping potion of his mother’s design. He could kill the guards of course, but that would raise too many questions. He easily loads the darts and shoots them off one after the other into the necks of the retreating guards. They immediately collapse in a heap on the floor, the larger one falling on top of the other one comically.

“Sweet dreams.” Cadmus steps over their bodies with a smirk, forgetting for a moment what he’s running from. He quickly recovers and makes his way up the flight of stairs back towards the princess’ room. The hallway looks clear, but right as he opens the door he sees a shadow out of the corner of his eye.

Cadmus whirls around, spotting Agatha slithering towards him at a fast pace. She hisses to alert him that more guards are on the way, and he quickly enters the room, trying to forget about the mysterious shadow he’d seen. As he’s climbing out of the window, he swears he hears a familiar laugh coming from the stones of the room itself.

He climbs down the ivy and looks back up at the window one last time, catching the glimpse of a figure silhouetted in the light. He shakes his head to rid the silly thought from his head, Alastor isn’t here. He needs to focus, he needs to escape.

Cadmus isn’t paranoid, he’s cautious. He never gets frantic like this. But he feels as if someone is pursuing him through the dark woods. Whether it’s guards or someone else he couldn’t say, but he runs faster just in case.

When he reaches the clearing he’d left Alecto in, Cadmus hops on his horse without a word and holds his arm out for Agatha to coil around him. He rides down the path he’d scouted earlier in the day, his mind racing with questions.

What is he doing? Where is he even going?

Cadmus can’t go home, not after this messy show of cowardice. His father would kill him, or more likely he’d have Alastor do it. The only choice is to run somewhere he can’t be found. The path through the woods opens up into fields and soon enough, he’s riding by the cliffs on the edge of the sea. He follows the path down figuring that where there’s water, there must be a dock.

Sure enough, the path begins to decline and the dirt turns into a paved road. He can smell the salt of the sea and the stink of fish that always accompanies a harbor. There’s a boat docked in the distance, the only one in the harbor. It is the off season after all, and he counts himself lucky to have found any vessel to escape on.

The harbor is located in a small port town. As Cadmus passes through he can see a light up ahead and hears the sound of music coming out of a boisterous tavern. What he wouldn’t give for a drink right now to clear his head, but he can’t stop.

Every second he lingers is a second someone could be coming after him. The guards might wake up, the princess might tell someone about the mysterious stranger she’d seen. And Cadmus would rather not be caught, he doesn’t want to die.

Not that anybody has ever cared about what he wants.

Cadmus can’t take Alecto with him on a boat, Agatha will be conspicuous enough. As he stops in an alleyway, he pats her head and reaches into his bag to get her an apple which she immediately devours. “I’m sorry, Alecto, but you can’t come with me.”

He takes off his saddle bag and slides off of her back, hoping she’ll understand to go home without him. Alecto seems to comprehend what he’s saying and she bows her head in a nod. Cadmus hates to part with her, he’d much rather be in control of his own transportation, but he has no other choice. To ride further inland would be a death sentence, he needs to cross the sea.

Perhaps Alecto’s arrival without him will make his father think Cadmus has perished. That would be lucky, nobody would hunt him down if he’s already dead. Alecto runs off towards the woods and the path to Avronne.

Cadmus watches her leave, and Agatha coils around his shoulders and arms. She’s heavy, but the weight feels comforting and he’s glad to have her here with him. He sneaks out of the alleyway and towards the ship docked a few feet away. There’s nobody on the deck, the crew must be at the tavern enjoying a stop in the port.

Cadmus makes his way onto the ship. It looks vaguely familiar, but then again he hasn’t been on many boats, they must all look similar. He hates travelling by boat. He’s loath to admit it, but he’s not a fan of small confined spaces. Especially those with no exit other than drowning in the sea.

He has to relinquish control here, he can’t steer a boat and he needs to hide well or he’ll be fighting off an entire crew- which even he would struggle with. More likely he’d be thrown overboard, and the water is freezing this time of year. Death by sword or by drowning, neither sounds appealing so Cadmus decides to simply stop thinking about it.

In the hold below deck he passes by hammocks and a closed door with a sign that says “Captain’s Quarters” on it. He heads to a dark corner hidden by barrels of dried food, figuring its the least conspicuous place to hide. He casts an illusion spell to further disguise him and Agatha, but he’s too exhausted from a day of running and casting magic that he knows it won’t do much to hide them.

This is far from ideal, but If he can just make it across the sea and into a new port before he’s found he’ll be safe. He just needs time to make a new plan.

As the minutes pass, he begins to hear the sound of voices and footsteps drift down from the deck above. Cadmus is stuck here now and it’s hard not to feel like the wooden walls of the ship are pressing in on him. Every sway of the boat in the waves makes him want to run back to the solid ground of shore. But he’ll just have to bear it.

One of the voices gradually grows louder as someone approaches. “We’ve got plenty of provisions Maz!” the voice calls. Something about it is familiar, but though Cadmus racks his brain he can’t remember where he’s heard it before.

A brusque woman’s voice answers back. “Ilya! Come back up and bring me that crate!”

The man’s footsteps stop a few feet away from Cadmus’ hiding spot, and he sees the edge of a boot in the gaps between barrels. The man laughs as he reaches for a wooden crate stacked on top of one of the barrels. It’s then that Cadmus realizes why the voice sounds familiar, he’d know that ridiculous laugh anywhere.

Ilya. Julian Devorak.

He should probably just throw himself overboard now, it would save everyone a lot of trouble.

#cadmus durand #I'm Your Villain #here i am finally posting this #cadmus would not talk to me he was actively threatening me away from writing this with a sword #but jokes on you bitch i made you and i can take your sword away #these tags aren't making any sense jkdfskjsd #i need to post this before i go insane #but anyways lol here is chapter 4 #im your villain- the story where cadmus runs away all the time

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busterkeatonfanfic · 3 years

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Chapter 14

Buster caught it good from Natalie at breakfast the following morning. As soon as Connie collected the kids to wash them up and the room was empty, she let him have it.

He was made to understand that just before he reappeared inside the house after seeing off Nelly, Louise Brooks had exited the rear loggia, hair and dress rumpled and a nipple exposed, and dashed toward the bathroom. Natalie saw the whole spectacle and saw Buster too, strolling through the front door a minute later with a telltale smear of lipstick on his face. There wasn’t anything he could do to defend himself when she snapped, “I suppose you weren’t thinking about me at all when you went off with Louise last night? What everyone there would think?”

Oh, actually it wasn’t Louise, Nate, that was a crazy coincidence. It was this other girl, you see. Yeah, that’d go over like a lead balloon.

“I’m sorry,” he said, after giving his answer some thought. “I really am. I had too much to drink. I didn’t know what I was doing.” There was nothing else he could say. Whoever had been out there with Louise, whether George or another lucky man, had either slipped back in unnoticed or left unnoticed, leaving good old Buster to take the fall. He wasn’t convinced that anyone had put two and two together concerning Louise and him, but that hardly mattered to Nate. All the elements to humiliate her had been in place.

“You say you care about me, but that isn’t true at all. Otherwise you wouldn’t be two-timing me every time my back is turned,” she said. Her beautiful eyes were shimmering with unshed tears and he did feel terrible looking at her. He wanted to comfort her, this woman he’d loved since the day he’d stepped off that train in New York and gone to seal their engagement, but he knew it wouldn’t do a lick of good, even if she had allowed him to gather her into his arms and hold her close, which he knew she wouldn’t.

“You know about the two-timing,” he said. “I never lied about it.” He felt the futility of the argument as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

“Yes, but you said it wouldn’t be public,” she said, breaking into a sob.

“Nate, I fucked up, alright!” he said. “I don’t know what you want. What do you want me to do, put on the hair shirt and get out the cat o’ nine tails? Jesus, I’m sorry.” He pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. Now he was angry and couldn’t quite grasp why. Something to do with his stupidity and carelessness but also Natalie’s long-standing refusal to engage in the normal rules of marriage as he understood them. He was angry at everything. He shoved the chair so the arms struck the edge of the table, hoping they’d dented the table’s pristine finish, and stormed out. Eleanor was mopping the checkerboard floor and he ignored her meek hello as he jogged up the stairs and stalked into his bedroom.

He yanked open his closet, pulled out a jacket, shrugged it on, and laced up his shoes. Before leaving, he collected his fishing poles and tackle box.

He ended up driving out to Franklin Canyon Lake where he could be alone with his thoughts. He found an isolated spot and parked the Duesenberg, then set up. The absurdity of it didn’t escape him, sitting on the grassy edge of the lake getting the seat of his pants wet and dirtying up a $200 pair of leather shoes with a $9,500 car behind him.

He had been pretty drunk last night, but not so drunk he hadn’t known what he was doing when Nelly kissed him. She’d made the first move, but he’d been getting ready to beat her there. His thoughts had been returning to her all morning. He’d grown to like her and there wasn’t much question as to why. She was pretty for starters and she had a backbone, which he’d always liked in a girl. He was amused by her sense of pride. Her stakes also seemed very low. She didn’t want to be the leading lady in a romance or even the leading lady in one of his comedies, for that matter. No, it was fusty old Shakespeare she had her hopes pinned on. His first thought upon waking up, apart from lamenting how ferociously his head hurt, was that he wanted to see her again.

Nate’s sad, pretty little face at the breakfast table rose up in his mind and guilt gnawed. She deserved a husband who would be faithful to her; he did believe that with his whole heart, even though he couldn’t (Couldn’t or wouldn’t? hissed a part of him) make that sacrifice. It wasn’t fair of him to treat her the way he did, to be thinking of Nelly and how much he’d wanted her last night. Still, the selfish part of him objected stridently. He had needs too and didn’t he deserve to get them met? Hadn’t he tried his best to make things better before going outside of his marriage? Didn’t he still do his damndest to make Nate happy, what with the Villa and parties and letting her control the purse-strings?

The fishing was good as morning wore into afternoon and afternoon wore into evening, but he threw everything back. Gone were the days in Muskegon where Myra cooked everything he caught, frying the fish up in butter and cornmeal. Caruthers bought the fish and other meat fresh every day and it was usually exotic, skate fillets and swordfish and the like, not the humble trout and largemouth bass his line was currently fetching. When he tired of fishing, he got back in the car and drove home. He would miss dinner, but he wasn’t hungry. He parked in the garage and headed to the east wing, where he climbed the stairs to his balcony and let himself into his room, not wanting to come through the main entrance and risk encountering Natalie. He kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket and trousers on the floor, and crawled into bed. The hangover had caught up to him and he fell fast asleep.

When he woke up, he had no idea where he was or what time it was. It took him a few seconds to remember the fishing trip, the fight, and the party. He grabbed the alarm clock on his bedside table and brought it up to his face. Almost nine o’clock. He��d slept for over two hours. He sat up, feeling groggy and hungry, and pulled his trousers back on. He padded into the hall. The house was dim, Caruthers having turned down the lights for the evening, and no trace of the previous evening’s festivities remained. He wondered if Nate had decided to go ahead with the barbecue tomorrow in spite of the fight. Even though he would have rather inspected the kitchen for leftovers, he passed the stairs and went on to the west wing. The door to Natalie’s bedroom was closed and he tapped on the door to announce himself before pushing quietly inside.

Natalie was sitting up in bed in a blue satin nightgown and a matching translucent wrap reading an issue of Colliers. She didn’t look at him as he sat at the foot of the bed. “Hi,” he said, giving her toe beneath the covers a friendly tweak. She withdrew her foot and turned the page of her magazine. The cover advertised the new Zane Grey novel and was subtitled A Story of Love and Adventure in Arizona.

He knit his hands in his lap. “I know you’re angry.”

No response.

“I’m sorry.”

Silence.

“I love you.”

Only then did Natalie put down the magazine and look at him. “A fine way you’ve got of showing it.” The expression on her face was cold.

He stood up and climbed into the bed with her, making himself comfortable against the mound of pillows on the vacant side. It was a risky move, but she didn’t object. “I wanna make things work.”

Natalie scoffed.

Her king bed felt as big as a steamliner compared to his double. Even if he had been permitted to sleep in the same bed with her, with its size there would have been no danger of them ever touching.

“You know I still care for you. I’ve never stopped.” Cautiously, he stroked her arm.

“You humiliated me,” she said, not looking at him.

“I know. I deserve to be castrated.” He didn’t think he deserved any such thing, but she was letting him stroke her arm, so he went on.

“Does the whole world know you’re stepping out on me? That I’m not enough for you?” Her voice was trembly.

He sighed. “I don’t think anyone noticed last night. We came from opposite ends of the house.”

“Yes,” she said tearily. “It was very clever of you. But I noticed.”

“Because you’re my wife. My wife who I love very much.” He threw caution to the wind and moved into her space, putting his arms around her and laying his chin on her shoulder. “I don’t want to lose you.” She was rigid, but didn’t attempt to pull away.

“What will it take for you to treat me with respect then?” she said, reaching up to dash away a tear.

Buster sighed again and nuzzled her shoulder. She smelled of flowers and baby powder. “I do respect you. You know what the problem is.”

The silence between them was heavy. After a while, Natalie said, “I could try again to like it, I guess.” She sniffled.

He looked at her, surprised. “Do you really mean that?”

She nodded. “I want us to be happy. I want Bobby and Jimmy to have a mother and a father. Under the same roof, that is.”

Apparently he hadn’t been the only one with the D word on his mind. “Okay,” he said, not quite believing she’d just said what she had. “Well, you know that would make me very happy.”

Natalie laid her hand on his forearm. “And you’d stay faithful to me, if …” She was so delicate, she trailed off instead of naming the unseemly act to which they both referred.

“Yes,” he said. “Of course.”

“I don’t want to tonight,” she said, sounding almost frightened.

“I don’t expect you to.” He leaned up and kissed her cheek. “We can take things at your pace.”

“Okay,” she said. He felt her relax in his arms.

She permitted him to linger cuddling her a while longer, and when she kicked him out so she could sleep it was with a kiss.

Standing in the kitchen eating a shaved-beef sandwich a few minutes later, he felt like the tide was turning just a little. The cutting of Steamboat was going well. The barbecue was still on for tomorrow and those always cheered him up. Natalie had done better than just forgiven him for his indiscretion, she told him she was willing to resume their marital relations. Even so, once he’d taken a bath and was lying between his sheets in his silk pajamas, he couldn’t sleep. He was thinking about the night before and the girl who had attended in her rented dress and had thrown away his flask of whiskey. He remembered too that she’d cried when he filmed the facade scene Notes: Thank you for your patience, Buster kittens, as I adjusted to some big life changes the past week. My therapy is this story, though, so I’m back at it again! A couple notes: Buster and Natalie had servants called Connie and Eleanor, which is a little confusing given that Natalie’s sister Constance was sometimes called Connie and Buster found his happily ever after with an Eleanor. According to Myra Keaton, Buster never stopped loving Natalie, and I do think that he genuinely wanted their marriage to work. What do you think?

#Buster Keaton #fan fiction #Actor RPF #RPF #silent film #golden age hollywood

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