#there is one single tiny window air conditioner in one room of the house (not even mine) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

newathens · 3 years

Text

in honor of everything that happened on aug 18th the good and the bad here is a scene from secrets that has been collecting dust for a year and may never get its moment but it is where luke castellan gets a chance to speak and it deserves to b seen at least once

LUKE:

Fresh donuts sat up on the counter, the sweet smell of frosting wafting through the space. The place was warm; their air conditioner busted. It was a random Wednesday at eleven in the morning so there weren’t many bystanders, though the few that were around kept stealing glances towards me. A mother lost in thought touched her cheek and when she caught me looking back, ducked her head. I kept tapping the tabletop with my knuckles, wondering how hard I’d have to whine to get the waitress to give me a chocolate glaze. She’d already passed by three times out of worry.

The shining, silver bell shook and rang as the diner door opened.

He stood in the entryway for a long moment, taking in the length of the diner. It took him two tries to notice me, but when he did, the neutral expression he’d worn shifted into a deep frown. He approached the booth slowly and held my gaze all the while.

“Not funny,” Hermes said. I smiled with all the gusto of a fourteen-year-old.

“Sorry,” I said, voice dropping several octaves as I aged ten years. “I couldn’t help myself. Too soon?” He took a seat without another word. Blonde hair, blue eyes—nothing much had changed; in fact, there wasn’t a trace of greying hair to be found. He seemed fit, youthful. “I thought we’d leave some mark on your complexions.” He gave a tight smile and said nothing, but in the silence I noticed it. An airy presence, circling around me much like the scent of the pastries. It wasn’t threatening, just curious, like a snake amongst the forest floor.

He was checking me.

I did the same to him and watched, rather gleefully, as his eyes widened in recognition. It felt strange, kind of annoying. Is this how gods’ felt? Striped raw, bodies vibrating like giant batteries next to one another?

His search turned up short, but mine didn’t.

“Jean pocket, out with it.”

He sighed and placed a gold iPhone in the middle of the table. The caduceus shimmered on its back.

Oh, look who it is! Martha said.

“Nice to see you,” I said.

I didn’t say this was nice!

“And you too, George.”

Hey, Luke, he said, if you take over his position, will you get to keep us?

“I’d hope so, you two are a riot.”

“Comical,” Hermes said. “Both of you keep quiet.” We looked at each other again, ready to speak but unsure how to start. The waitress beat us to it.

“How can I—oh!” She nearly snapped her pencil in half. Her eyes were wide on me, then on the next booth over, then to the other side of the diner. “Wasn’t there, I mean, there was a child—”

“Can I have three of those delicious looking donuts, miss?” I asked. The waitress bit her lip absentmindedly.

“Sure thing,” she said, “And you?”

“Nothing,” Hermes said, then his eyes glowed. “Thank you, and apologies.” The waitress stared blankly, then walked off without another word. The donuts from the counter disappeared and reappeared at our table.

“Thanks,” I said.

He let out a tired breath, “Lukas—”

“Yes, father?”

His expression soured, wind rattled the windows, but then it softened, his eyes shut. I stared at the caduceus, quiet now. He sat back in his seat, placed a steady hand on the wood, and stared out towards the street. Towards the shops and sidewalks familiar to us both.

“We’re here to talk, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then explain.”

Hermes had the bridge of his nose pinched between two fingers, eyes closed. As the silence stretched on, the conversation played over in my head. Again and again and again. The whole time he barely said a word, not unlike him. . .but not all that comforting. The diner was empty now, though I hadn’t realized when it happened. No weapons, those were the terms, but it would be a lie to say that my palm wasn’t itching to call Backbiter to it. Martha and George slithered around the staff mimicking some sort of animated phone case.

I should run.

He stood without warning. I followed.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he turned and left. Again, I followed.

Late summer heat wrapped around us like a blanket as we exited into midday. The area was lively, busy shoppers and cyclists, joggers and freshly-washed cars. Sun shone down heavy on their exteriors and I squinted against the glint. It was way too bright—

“There’s no one here,” he said. I turned. He was waiting on the sidewalk, body facing north, towards the path that would take you further inland. Away from the main strip, closer to the suburbs. “Just you and me.”

“Right,” I said and shoved both hands deep into their pockets. I knew where we were going.

Higher up the heat wasn’t as oppressive. Hot winds blew now and then, rustling dry leaves and pushing the scent of saltwater up from the bay. I breathed deeply out of reflex. We walked in silence. I kept our strides in rhythm. That was until I saw it.

The beat-up white house with green hinges that had fallen into disrepair from neglect and misfortune was almost unrecognizable. A new coat of paint covered the siding, the chipping front door had been replaced, and curtains blew out of wide open windows. A lush, green lawn surrounded the property, split in half by a clean walkway bracketed with a rainbow of flowers. There wasn’t a single discolored, mildewed, decaying stuffed monster to be found. I jogged forward in spite of myself.

“What did you. . .” I turned back. Hermes had slowed, taking in the scene much the same as I. He looked at me. “What did you do?”

“Luke, this isn’t,” he stared at the house and his face twisted, “I haven’t done anything.”

I swallowed a dry mouth and ran up the walkway, all caution lost to the innate yet unearned fear for a loved one. The door rattled under my fist as I knocked repeatedly, frantically. Hermes took his place on the tiny porch beside me.

“Hello,” I shouted. “Hello, is anyone home? Hello!”

“Coming! Just a moment,” a gentle voice rose from the depths of the house and a few moments later, a woman opened the door. Blonde hair, not frizzed, interrupted by streaks of gray. Green eyes; forest green, not neon. Healthy skin, not sickly. A warm smile that only grew wider as she took us in.

“Mom.”

“Luke,” she said and pulled me in to press a kiss to my forehead. I went as rigid as ice; she didn’t notice. “And look at you,” she said to Hermes, who hid his shock well. He had a smile on, pressed a kiss to her cheek, but I could tell somehow, that he was as clueless as I.

The spell.

“Come on you two,” she ushered inside. “I’m baking.”

“Cookies?” I guessed. It was the wrong thing to say. She stopped midstep, hand on the doorknob, and stared at me. Both eyes open, mouth in a frown. For a moment, nothing happened. Then she blinked and shook her head, as if pushing away a stupor.

“No, pie. Do you like cookies?” She led us into the house. It was quiet, a television played low in the front room. Varied, jewel hues covered the walls, hiding the dirty eggshell they used to be. Tarps covered some furniture, though they were clearly being used. The wood floors shined from a polishing. The entire space smelled of pastry. Hermes followed faster than I. “Luke,” she called. She was leaning out the kitchen archway. “Lemonade?”

“Sure,” I said but couldn’t move. Then Hermes called my name and I scoffed.

The kitchen was different too. All the grime had disappeared. All the appliances updated. The old, retro table had been replaced with a long wooden piece, and on top of it, were strawberries. Buckets and buckets of strawberries, contained in plastic, straw, wicker; anything that would hold them. The sweet scent was nearly overpowering here. My mom held out a full glass and brought my hand to it to make sure it didn’t drop.

“Strawberries?” I asked.

She looked at the table, “Oh! Yes, I’ve grown quite an affinity for them,” she shrugged. “Not sure why but. . . they’re pretty aren’t they?” A beep sounded.

“May,” Hermes said as she pulled a tray from the oven. She looked over her shoulder.

“Yes?”

“May, are you alright?”

My mother smiled—with a gorgeous set of pearly whites. Not possible, her teeth had yellowed and rotted years ago. “Of course, I am. It’s a beautiful day and I have two of my favorite people right in front of me.”

“May,” Hermes said a third time, this one pained. I realized where I felt confusion, he felt hurt. My mother noticed. Her smile dropped and her eyes along with it. “May, the last time I saw you. . .it didn’t look like this.”

She placed the tray on the stove and took a heavy seat at the table. The towering strawberries seemed to suffocate her figure. “I was very different, wasn’t I? But I don’t like to think about it. Why not have some pie and then you can go? I don’t expect you to stay very long.” She looked at both of us. “You never can.”

Hermes huffed in misery. He came to sit by her side. I felt like I was watching a television show. This couldn’t be mine, this couldn’t be my parents.

He took her hand, “I don’t mean to put you through pain but I’m a little shocked. Your condition. . . wasn’t exactly fixable. I’d like to know what happened.”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “About a year ago, I woke up. . .at least it felt like that. The presence of that thing disappeared, mostly. I could think straight again. I started cleaning up, there wasn’t anything else to do. The calendar on the wall was from the nineties. Found out someone had been paying the bills all this time,” she touched Hermes cheek and he smiled. “One morning I started working on the lawn. . .” she gave a sad, little laugh. “Apparently, I’d gained a reputation. The neighbors were so worried they tried to take the shears out of my hands, but once they realized. . .they helped me. People helped me fix up the house, gave me food, took me to the dentist, taught me how to use these new phones. They were so kind,” she sniffled. “I really didn’t deserve that much kindness.”

“Of course you do,” Hermes said but she lifted her head towards me.

“I don’t remember much. I get glimpses, pains even. But what I can recall, none of it is good. The memories. . .and the visions. Luke, honey, I’m so sorry.” The air was so thick I could’ve cut through it with Backbiter. I scuffed my boot against the linoleum. Silence snaked its way through the kitchen, like Martha and Geroge slithered on that phone.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Mom,” I said finally.

“But there is,” she tried. “All that happened, the things I did, and then I just let you—”

“There’s nothing you have to apologize for,” I said and the air shifted from thick to frigid. Hermes’ jaw tightened, but he didn’t move his gaze from my mother. Whatever. “So did you chuck all my old stuff? Not that it matters, I’m a little too old for Power Ranger pajamas.”

My mother wiped at her eyes, “Oh no, I haven’t touched your room. Go take a look, it’s all there.”

The tiny, off-white carpeted room with one square window was exactly how I’d left it a long, long time ago. The bureau had one drawer open. Angry crayon marks covered a low corner of the wall. The small, twin bed was made, but wrinkled. I walked up to it and ran a hand across the blanket.

I had the sudden urge to stay.

It hit me like a brick to the solar plexus, knocking the wind from my lungs. Anger followed soon after. What are you thinking? I thought to myself.

You could go to college.

You lost your right to a future.

You don’t get to leave, Annabeth’s voice echoed.

Through the window I could see the road; children playing across the street; a man starting up a lawn mower. It felt surreal, freakishly abnormal.

Maybe this was a type of punishment.

“What are you thinking?” Hermes asked. I hadn’t heard him enter.

“I’m thinking I’m too big for this bed,” I said and turned towards him, hands in pockets. His cadecaus was out now. The snakes slithered the length of it, restless. “Not that it matters.”

#metaphorically speak in a sense i guess. to the audience #no i do not expect anyone 2 read it but if u like luke at all. i think u might feel warm and fuzzy and heartbroken at the same time <3

21 notes · View notes

bl1ndbraavosi · 3 years

Note

Hiii!! Requesting Kakasaku and 6 from the prompts list please 😉🙏🏻

hehehe THANK YOU n sorry for the wait!!!

i am assuming u r referring to “Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?”, mostly bc i really want u to be referring to “Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?”

“I get the bed!” she called out as they squeezed into the room together, both angling to toss themselves onto the bed and claim it as their own.

“Age before beauty, Sakura-chan,” he said, bumping her out of his way. “And I happen to have the edge up on both,” he added with a stupidly smug eye-crinkle. She held onto the crook of his elbow unrelentingly, her grip teetering on the brink of too-strong.

“What you have is my last nerve. That bed is mine,” she growled out, holding him steadfast and refusing to let him get the better of her.

“Mah, Sakura-chan, at my age, I need the back support,” he said with his signature crinkly-eyed, bullshitting smile. “As a medic, you should know that.”

“This is coming from a man who falls asleep in trees at least three times a week.”

“And do you really want to perpetuate that problem?”

“I want my bed,” she said adamantly, flexing her hands around his elbow as a slight reminder. “Your posture is already terrible; you might as well let me maintain my perfect posture,” she said with a wide grin.

“Mm, you make an excellent point,” he said, shocking her to her core. And then he flashed away from her, breaking her grip and flinging himself onto the bed. “But I am very fast, so it doesn’t matter,” he finished with two smile-crinkled eyes.

“Banana-shaped bastard,” Sakura grumbled as she headed for the shower. What kind of inn had rooms with a single twin bed, anyway? And why was Kakashi such a cheapskate? They could have gone to the nicer inn further in town, the one with air conditioning and double beds, and those fancy little bottles of complimentary shampoo.

Instead, she was going to sleep in a cot, and her hair was going to be dry and frizzy, because she hadn’t brought enough shampoo and conditioner with her. Kakashi had offered her his, but judging by the state of his hair, she figured she’d be better off without it. She enjoyed the hot water for as long as she dared before moving to cut the shower short and conserve some heat for Kakashi.

On second thought…

“Enjoy your shower, Sakura-chan?” Kakashi asked pleasantly from his seat on her bed, glancing at her over Icha Icha.

“Hmm, yes, it was very relaxing,” she said amiably as she toweled off her wet hair. She could feel that his eyes were on her as she moved about their small room, walking over to her small, sunken cot that she was expected to sleep in.

“Did you forget something?” he asked pointedly, his eyes glued to the towel tightly wrapped around her.

“Just air-drying,” she said easily. He grunted in response before snapping his book closed and hopping off his bed. She watched with wide, innocent eyes as he headed for the bathroom. “Oh, I didn’t realize you wanted to shower. I used all the hot water,” she said sweetly. He didn’t buy it for a minute, but he fixed her with a happy smile.

“Oh, that’s alright, Sakura-chan. I can use a fire jutsu to heat up the pipes.”

Bastard.

But while he disappeared into the washroom, Sakura took the opportunity to sit herself on the bed. It wasn’t exactly luxurious, but it was a hell of a lot better than the cot. If it had been just a little bigger she would have suggested they share it, but Kakashi was tall, and Sakura was a flailing sort of sleeper, so she knew that that would never fly.

Close as they were, she was pretty sure Kakashi had his boundaries. And cuddling up to Sakura on a twin-sized mattress was definitely pushing those boundaries, she was certain. If only she could set his boundaries over to that cot so she could keep the bed to herself.

She snickered as she stripped the towel off and dove under the covers. Let’s see how that speed serves you now, she thought wickedly, snuggling into the mattress and brimming with self-satisfaction.

She cracked one eye open, a wicked smile on her face when she heard the bathroom door open.

“Get off my bed,” he said without much conviction. She hummed noncommittally.

“No, I don’t think I will.” He grabbed at the blankets by her feet, intent on stripping her of them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she teased, feeling all too pleased with herself when a little line appeared between his eyebrows, evidence of his confused frown.

“Are you…?”

“Naked? Why, yes. Yes, I am,” she said happily, sitting up in the bed with the covers clutched to her chest so he could see her bare shoulders, clear as day.

“And is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?” he asked carefully.

“My bed,” she corrected, feeling smug and very proud of herself. “Unless you’d like to crawl in with me?” she taunted, lifting a corner of the blanket and sticking her bare leg out of it. His ears went red.

“Sakura,” he warned, “you shouldn’t put yourself in positions you aren’t prepared to get out of.” She felt her own cheeks heat, not entirely sure what he was alluding to, but feeling enticed by it nonetheless.

“I think you’ll find that I am a very conscientious kunoichi,” Sakura offered, all bullshit, pleasantness and easily smiles. Kakashi hummed and leaned over her on the small bed, his hands planted on either side of her hips.

“Is that so?” he asked, his voice low as his eyes roamed her face. She swallowed as his gaze dipped below her chin and down her neck, to her collar before landing on the sheets that hid her naked body. She hummed in confirmation, not necessarily trusting herself to speak. Even her hum came out squeaky and tight. She thought she could see his lips quirk upward under his mask.

Lips that were angling towards hers and she noted that this was not the result she had been aiming for when she’d crawled into this bed. She had anticipated awkward spluttering and indignant resignation, but for once in her life, she found herself happy to be wrong. This was an unexpected turn of events, but she found herself entirely welcoming of it.

She could feel his breath sweeping across her lips through his mask, and was suddenly very aware of his hands bunching up her sheets on either side of her hips. She felt pinned down even though he wasn’t touching her; even though she could very easily over power him with physical strength. She wondered if he would let her pull that mask down. It seemed only fair that she should see his face if he got to see all of her.

She tentatively raised her hand to his cheek, keeping her eyes locked on his. He didn’t flinch when her palm rested against his face, and she thought what the hell, nothing was making any sense anymore anyway. She might as well go for it.

Wrong.

Just as she hooked a finger into his mask, the world around her went dark and she felt the bed disappear out from under her as she swung wildly mid-air.

“Kakashi!!!” she shouted into the blanket-cocoon he’d wrapped her in. Not a moment later, she felt herself drop, and she gasped loudly as she flew through the air, only to land hard and with an embarrassing grunt onto that horribly uncomfortable cot. By the time she untangled herself from the mess of linens, Kakashi was laying back on the stripped mattress, looking happy as a clam.

“Sleep well, Sakura-chan,” he said before clicking the lights off and ignoring every protest she tossed his way.

When they arrived back in Konoha the next day, she was as banana-shaped as he was, and thrice as grumpy. He had been disturbingly nice, bringing her coffee in the morning, and dropping her folded clothes by her cot so she could dress herself while he was in the washroom. She figured it was the least he could do after flinging her around their room in a fitted sheet.

Their journey back was mostly silent. Amicable silence on Kakashi’s part and hostile silence on Sakura’s. Even when he offered her one of his questionably-procured apples, she snarled at him and continued slumping back to Konoha, in all her hunched-back glory.

“Don’t be too mad at me, Sakura-chan,” he chided as they approached Konoha. “It was a very clever trick.”

“Not clever enough,” she grumbled, rolling her shoulders and sighing in relief as they cracked and popped.

“Mm,” he hummed with his nose buried in his stupid green book. “I’m inclined to disagree,” he said softly. “The plan was there, but the execution was a little off.” Before she could question it, though, they were at the gates and he was disappearing with a two-fingered salute.

“Execution was a little off, my ass,” Sakura grumbled as she let herself into his apartment later that night. “Who does he think he is?” She surveyed his modest studio apartment; the threadbare couch, the rickety bookshelf that housed a hell of a lot more than Icha Icha, and finally, the twin bed that was tucked into a corner beneath a window, a shuriken-printed comforter neatly draped across it.

Annoyed as she was, she couldn’t help but smile as she surveyed the two framed photos that sat next to the tiny plant on the windowsill. Kakashi had been a cute kid, she thought before her eyes moved over to the Team Seven photo. But I’m cuter, she thought with a wicked smile.

“Sorry, kids,” she mumbled to herself as she spun the picture frames away from the bed. She didn’t want eyes on her for what she was about to do—even photographed eyes.

She hadn’t been waiting long when his door opened and his eyes landed straight on her, grinning up at him from under that shuriken bedspread.

“What are you doing?” he asked in suspicion.

“Let’s give this another try, hm?” she suggested. “Don’t you want to know why I’m naked in your bed?”

#alholland #prompt #kakasaku

47 notes · View notes

hollyhomburg · 5 years

Text

Call Me Yours (Pt. 7)

(BTS x Reader) (Hybrid Au!) (Blind! Reader)

Summary: Sometimes Jungkook gets very very needy, especially when Hoseok gets busy with work. lucky for Jungkook- you and Seokjin are extraordinarily experienced at providing comfort. W/c: 9.3k Tags: Polyamory, Non-sexual hickey’s (framed as hybrid marking/scenting behavior), Needy bunny Jungkook, references to Yoonmin, Jinkook, and Namkook, brief references to heat/rut cycles, mild angst, A/n: I am probably the least happy with this chapter out of all of them so far but! oh well! only a few more parts to go until the series is finished! and this chapter is kind of dedicated to everyone who has ever wanted to cuddle bunny Jungkook! Song rec: Bibi - Nabi

- Jungkook wakes up to the sound of Yoongi yowling next door. He wakes in a haze, his mind decends through the fog of sleep lingering and clinging to him. Why does his head hurt? Why does his chest feel a little scratchy? he rubs his eyes, ears quirking of their own volition towards the sounds of Yoongi and Jimin spilling through the open window. The room is too hot the air conditioner turned off in the weird half cold heat of the end of summer.

- And yet The bed is cold enough that Jungkook knows it must be late into the day and hours since he’s been the only inhabitant. Hoseok must already be at work. He trips over someone’s pajamas on the floor as he stumbles over to the open window to look down on the scene below.

- Jimin in Yoongi’s lap, straddling him where he must have pounced on him and surprised him, thus the yowl. Jimin ribs his cheek against Yoongi’s shoulder, then bites down, making Yoongi’s tail go all puffy and swipe back and forth. “Bratt” Yoongi grumbles out, though his eyes are closed, head tipped back to give him more access to his scent gland. “you like it” Jimin parries, getting up off of him so they can hurry over to your house, disapearing to where jungkook can’t see.

- Home is quiet, absent of Taehyung’s muted chirps or the sound of the x-box on the ground floor so he must be over at your place too, or bothering Seokjin to make something or begging pets off you like Taehyung just needs sometimes.

- His skin itches even when he itches it, and Jungkook feels heart achingly lonely in the cold house. He’s still kind of half-asleep like he left part of himself in whatever dream he was having, though this is partially his fault. He stayed up late last night playing videogames even after Hoseok had retrieved Taehyung for bed, and then curled up with all of them sometime after midnight.

- He wishes Hoseok was home, that it was a Saturday and that they could spend all day snuggling and folding laundry together. Or maybe take a trip down town to some sort of game store that Jungkook had heard about. Or maybe they could visit Hoseok’s sister across town.

- It’s been a while since they visited her though or even since they’ve done anything one on one. And he knows it has everything to do with Jimin and Taehyung. He doesn’t- he would never begrudge Jimin and Tae for how much affection they required- and when It comes down to it Jungkook loves them so so much. But sometimes, he just needs his human and needs a little bit of the kind of love he’d grown with.

- It’s no secret that Jungkook is a very needy bunny sometimes. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy being a protector or that he’s not good at giving affection to other people because really he can go either way. He’s just as happy to be in someone’s arms as have someone in his. To curl up in Hoseok’s lap or spoons him tae and jimin while they do the same But sometimes it just feels nice to be the little spoon.

- Hoseok has been working long hours as well. A quarterly project is just finishing up and he’s been stressed, at a mad dash to get it done before the deadline. He’s barely had time to do more than stumble over to your house to eat, maybe kiss you in your living room while a movie plays, then sleep (sometimes Hoseok is too tired to come home- sometimes he falls asleep oh your couch and Namjoon carries him to your bed, and he gets to curl up with Namjoon and Taehyung upstairs) and rinse and repeat the next day.

- And it’s not like Jungkook doesn’t have other places to beg physical affection from it’s just, human hugs aren’t the same as hybrid hugs, any hybrid would attest to that. He misses Hoseok.

- And if Jungkook really really needed it, he knows he could ask you. But your Cuddles are in high demand. Seokjin, Namjoon, Jimin, and even Yoongi always need your hugs, Taehyung especially is always throwing himself into your lap while you workand whining until to surrender one hand to his ears. And really- Jungkook is fine- he won’t take away affection from those who really really need it and won’t distract you from work either.

- It would be selfish to take it from the hybrids that didn’t grow up with it like he did. In the grand scheme of things- Jungkook has had so many more pets than them- he can miss out on a few for his family.

- that and, you’re just so small sometimes. You’re the shortest one out of all of them by several inches, even when compared to Jimin or Yoongi who always feel so tiny in Jungkook’s arms. And every single time Jungkook thinks of you and sees you he can’t help but remember the first time he ever saw you, how you stumbled in fear and almost fell over because of him, how Seokjin growled at Jungkook to protect you.

- To protect you from Jungkook.

- Jungkook had never thought of himself as threatening before that moment. He’s a prey hybrid, a big bunny and probably the most non-threatening person to ever exist. Jungkook can’t help but always think about how fragile you are, not that you’re not capable. But you are particularly vulnerable to Jungkook’s bursts of excitement and movement, which of course happen when he’s most comfortable. And because his comfort seems to be a danger to you- he just can’t let himself relax fully when he’s around you.

- It’s not that you’ve been avoiding each other- it’s just that it’s easy maybe, to let it slip through the cracks. Both you and Jungkook are careful and quiet and a little excitable at times but mostly content to go with the flow of the others as opposed to fighting against the grain.

- Jungkook sits on the king bed and tries to resign himself to one decision or the other.

- logically Jungkook knows he could go over and ask you for cuddles. 2 weeks ago- when he broke down in the hospital you were more than happy to hold him but asking for it when he’s not like that- when it’s not a crisis- feels diffrent. After Hoseok’s injury last month (which has thankfully healed up rather nicely- though the pink burn scar on his forarm is still tender) you’d gotten marginally more comfortable around each other but the last little bit of awkwardness just won’t go away.

- So he won’t ask- can’t. Especially when he’s feeling vulnerable unsure like this, tempting intimacy from you would probably only make it worse and only make him feel more vulnerable.

- A small voice in Jungkook’s head that sounds supcisiously like Hoseok’s low thrumming murmur asks him if he just thinks it will or if it actually will. Either way, he resigns himself to hybrid only cuddles for probably another 4 or 5 hours until Hoseok gets home. He pouts, and no one is there to cup his cheek, rub a thumb along his lower lip and sooth away his grumpyness.

- And there is a little bit of irrational anger that says to call Hoseok and bitch him out over the phone and wouldn’t be the first time either. There have been a few times- back when they where first balancing Hoseok’s new job with what Jungkook needed- and ballanced it badly. But it’s a good thing they communicate well. But he won’t call knowing how stressed Hoseok is and how much Jungkook’s discontent would really weigh on him.

- Maybe Jungkook isn’t feeling capital N-neglected, but like alone neglected. The way that some of Jungkook’s vegetables are neglected in his small garden (a garden that Namjoon help him put together half way through the season) because when it comes down to it he likes working in Namjoon’s garden a lot better than working in his own.

- eventually he decides, that at least he could go over to your house and see if the other hybrids are at all intrested in a cuddle puddle, he puts on his comfiest grey tshirt ( threadbare and worn a little at the edge but so smooth that it almost makes him vibrate with sensory pleasure) and decends the stairs. Alone, Jungkook stumbles over the property line and finds Yoongi and Namjoon headed back out already with Jimin snuggled down in between the two of them- off to some book shop in town.

- Namjoon looks soft but good in his shorter than usual pants showing off his thighs and his baggy tan shirt that gives him sweater paws that fold over where he holds Yoongi’s hand in his. Yoongi looks adorably soft but steady today too, his eyes heavy lidded relaxed but aware,

- Jimin looks flirty as always his navy and red patterned shirt opened to show all the hickeys he’s gotten proudly (Jimin loves loves loves showing them off. And loves giving them even more- he’s so nibbly) Jimin’s brand new bright red color tinkles with the bell on his neck proudly when he bounds up to press a kiss to Jungkook’s pout with a loud smack.

- But none of them look like how Jungkook feels right now, and he doesn’t want to ruin the mood with how shivery tattered he feels when they all look bright and powerful and energetic. The way that they’re all tripping over each other with inside jokes and teasing jibes already has him feeling even more exhausted.

- All Jungkook wants is quiet today. He wants to quietly garden with Namjoon at his side or maybe lie out in the grass with Jimin and Yoongi and let them reorder his head and clear the fog. He definitly does not want to go into the center of town where there will be people looking at the 4 hybrids, alone without human escort (it’s not illegal- just unusual). Jungkook’s itching uncomfortably just thinking about it. He doesn’t want to spoil there fun either.

- Namjoon’s smile drops into a frown when Jungkook declines and Namjoon reaches over and soothes over his ears and down his back. But it’s not enough affection for Jungkook right now- not when he needs long prolonged hugs and hard squeezes to feel steady at all. So he steps away, says he’ll just hand out with Tae until they get back. The others don’t notice anything’s wrong but Namjoon sees right through him.

- Jungkook can see the hesitant question on his tongue of ‘do you want me to say’ but before he can offer, Yoongi and Jimin call his name from the front of the house and Jungkook gives him a little push and a strained smile in their direction.

- Taehyung happens to be absolutely no help at all to Jungkook’s touch starved skin, already asleep on your couch after having stolen a sweatshirt from each of you to cuddle with. He crumples them up near his face nosing into one of yours purring in his sleep even as the scent of all of you invade his nose.

- Jungkook just sighs, presses a kiss to his for head and wonders if he should just go back to his own bed and burrow under the covers until Hoseok gets home. Jesus, Jungkook just misses him so much sometimes it’s absolutely ridiculous. But before he can make a choice, your voice sounds from the other room, “hey is anyone around?”

- Jungkook is alarmed, following your voice into your walk in closet where you stand with your back to him in a large white shirt and black leggings, trying to heave a box onto the top shelf. “I’m short and am in need of assistance of someone who is probably not Jimin or Yoongi!”

- “I got it” Jungkook says, carefully supporting the box and pushing it up onto the top shelf. His hands cushioning yours, his arms cradling yours to support the trembling weight to Jungkook it barely weighs anything at all. And oh, he can feel your warmth, your elbow brushes over his shoulder, so tempting for him to wrap his arms around you, whine into your shoulder until you give in and let him sit with you while you work.

- “Thanks’ Koo!” Your chirp, “just finally getting around to putting away some of our winter clothes, though he seems a little ridiculous seeing as it’s July already and fall is just around the corner,”

- You lean back, or maybe you just straighten up but either way your shoulders perfectly nestled in between the bounds of his arms and he shivers a little violently before he steps back because- that’s right- can’t ask for your cuddles- can’t because Jungkook is bad at vocalizing for the things he wants sometimes.

- And oh no- from the way you turn and look at him you’ve definitely felt his shiver, the way only you’re attuned to it. He blushes, “No-don’t worry- it’s ugh, no problem,” your eyebrows furrow, almost subconsciously. He hates that he knows he doesn’t sound normal, his voice low and a little sad, a little rough from just waking up.

- “Are you alright koo? You seem a little off today?” there you go again using that little nickname that has his insides melting like chocolate on a s’more, gooey and soft at the edges, trapped inside the tension of his chest. “What are you talking about?” he answers shakily, but it sounds even unconvincing to him. You lay a soothing hand on his bare arm and he resists the urge to lean into it.

- You make a noise in the back of your throat and sweep Jungkook up in a hug regardless, burying your head in his chest, arms viselike around him. The way his body relaxes almost instantly is comical, like the marionette strings of stress are cut when he has someone’s arms around him, he folds in, making a noise in the back of his throat in surprise as his whole body relaxes after another pleasant shiver.

- His bunny tail twitching behind in in time with his quivering ears. “you don’t have to- I’m sorry I’m just-“ he stutters then stops, lets himself enjoy it his arms coming up to squeeze you in tight.

- You lift your head up at that- and Jungkook, might recognize that he needs to let you go, he can’t make himself, “sorry you probably have to go to work,” he mumbles, though his arms don’t lessen their hold on you, you just hold onto him tighter in response hands splaying across his back. They run down his spine and over the nobs delicately and he feels the tenseness in him relax by another increment.

- “Why didn’t you just ask for a hug if you needed one bunny?” you murmur. “I’m not- I swear I- I’m f-“ his words break off into a whine the moment Seokjin finds his way into your closet, “I just finished recording if you want to- oh Jungkook! what’s wrong?” he says when he sees that you have an armful of a very pliant, and exceedingly adorable bunny boy. He’s looking blushy but also near falling asleep in your arms, the bags under his eyes a little worse than they were yesterday.

- he steps close to press his open palm just above the collar on his shirt on the back of his neck and jungkook nearly whimpers. There are several laws of the universe and one of them is that if any of their pack needs comfort then Seokjin will be there to provide it. So he steps in close so that he’s all pressed against jungkook’s back and Jungkook is certain he would be purring in happiness if he were a cat hybrid.

- It feels wonderful to every inch of him that is touch starved to be so sandwiched in like this and smothered. He doesn’t answer, can’t yet with all of the affection blurring through him and getting him all soft, like the not quite sleep fog but so much better.

- “Koo just needed some cuddles,” you say, a smile toying at the edge of your words, Seokjin’s large hand cards over and through Jungkook’s hair and his ears, the sensitive pink curves at the ends of them making him let out a little squeak. But all too soon you have to let go, Jungkook feels his fingers fisting in the back of your large white shirt.

- You detangle yourself from his arms and- fuck, after such sudden affection he’s almost needier when you pull away. he feels wetness pricking at his eyes even. But he lets you go because even now, he still is a little shy- still a little bad at articulating that he needs you to hold him close and not let go for a long time.

- “hold on- just give me a moment to go get my laptop so that I can do some work while we cuddle - In the big bed if you want? You look a little dead on your feet bunny” Jungkook’s brain is short circuiting almost wants to collapse in relief and he really does stumble as Seokjin takes him into his arms and leads him to the plush and puffy affair in your room. “Wait you mean? You’d do that for me?”

- Your eyebrows pinch together, “of course?” like you don’t understand why he’d even ask, why he’d be so shy to get affection when you give it to the others.

- The king-sized bed is unmade and smelling of the 4 of your little unit. Jungkook straightens at your words even as Seokjin shoves him playfully onto the bed, “you mean you- You want to cuddle me?” Jungkook asks, flushed face and all, because in reality you actually haven’t had all that many intimate moments with Jungkook, but still he matters to you- matters and you care about him, you want to give him everything he needs and more.

- That and, spending the better part of the day curled up with the bunny boy and Seokjin isn’t that disagreeable of a position to find yourself in- not that you mind much at all.

- You step in close, reaching out your hand for him to nuzzle into, his skin feels warm and flushed under your fingers, for a moment, a different realization tugs at your consciousness, and you remind yourself to ask Seokjin to text Hoseok about Jungkook’s heat/rut schedule soon. “I want to give you everything you need Jungkook” he blushes again and presses his face in close to the dip of your ribs.

- “I’ll get some snacks” Seokjin says happily, he thinks he has some of Jungkook’s favorite ginger snap cookies and carrot juice in the frigid while you separate yourself from Jungkook without much complaint once you promise you’ll be back in a second and sets about making himself comfortable.

- Jungkook burrows under the many layers of covers feeling the delicious weight on top of him press him in close. It pleases the bunny instinct inside of him making his tail shiver and tremble in happiness.

- There is something different about this blankets- it really does feel like a den as Jungkook pulls all of him as tight as he can get under it. The smells of everyone swathing him and swallowing the last bit of him that feels shy over his neediness. He presses his nose to the sheets and bundles the edge of the blanket under and close to his chest to get more of Namjoon’s woody and piney scent picking up on Seokjin’s other muted caramel canine scent, Yoongi’s sharp spice coffee and yours- endlessly deliciously sweet.

- Jungkook steals your pillow and hugs it to his chest, a noise building in his throat until you and Seokjin get back. You feel around in the bed for a moment. “Where is he?”

- “We have a burrowing bunny on our hands” Seokjin laughs, settling on the other side of Jungkook as you fold in closer your hand on his covered back under the covers. The pressure on his back up the rungs of his spine is delicious in the way it quiets the half-sheiveryness of his skin. Seokjin sets the tray of munchies on the side before both of you pull back the covers to get under them and swath Jungkook in, though he remains fully under the covers while you and Seokjin manhandle him into the right position.

- Jungkook lies on his side while you sit up, your laptop balanced in your lap, Jungkook is under the heavenly weight of the weighted blanket his little cottontail twitching and flicking in happiness. He hesitates as you scoot closer to him, his arm reaching around to settle on your hips, you shuffle close to him and he uses it as permission to press his face into the line of your shirt and hip. his legs tangle with yours easily.

- His hair can feel the coolness of the air- but he enjoys the oppressive heat, he imagines that it must be his hybrid instincts that are making this- the burrowing feel so nice. Especially when you reach down and hand and find his hair, combing over his ears and through his hair. Seokjin presses against his back flicking around on his phone, his hands carving a slow path back and forth across Jungkook’s shoulders.

- Jungkook is reduced to an absolute puddle.

- His ears flick and twitch half underneath the blanket touching your arm and making you dispense tiny rubs here and there between your typing. Jungkook hums and lets himself relax into the scent of all his family around him, nose stretching and twitching subconsciously in search of more and more.

- He finds his nose pressed to the spot that usually Namjoon must find himself in, face pressed to the sheets, even nibbling a little to get the scent everywhere, and the delicious, more heavy that usual weight of the blankets.

- “Why is this- why is this so nice?” his voice is thick and slow, his words nearly slurry with how relaxed he is, he’s definitely going to fall asleep if he closes his eyes. If he tilted his face up it would be outside the blanket but he doesn’t not even when your hand curls under his chin and scratches a little.

- And just like that the last bit of tenseness is fully removed from under Jungkook’s skin. He dosent even open his eyes, just leans his cheek into your palm. Jungkook can’t imagine why he would ever deny himself this- he’s seen Taehyung and jimin drink underneath your touch, even hoseok too, the way he tilts his head when he kisses you when he thinks no ones watching. Or the way he looks, so enraptured and relaxed at the same time. He gets it now, not that he didn’t before.

- “It’s a weighted blanket- Namjoon got me it for my anxiety,” you say the last words softly, and that has Jungkook’s eyes opening up wider and tilt up to catch Seokjin’s expression too. The heavy eyed breath that he lets out, the strained smile down at Jungkook that says they’re a story there.

- He’s more than a little surprised- because he didn’t know, Hoseok has anxiety too, or had more accurately, though some markers have never gone away even if Hoseok’s anxious days are rare if not non-existent. But he’s not sure you know- if you and Hoseok had have that conversation before. And either way- it’s not Jungkook’s story to tell- not really, though maybe a little bit.

- Hoseok’s anxiety is the reason why Jungkook was purchased for him after all. and he never would have met without it.

- Hoseok used to have panic attacks as a kid. His parents tried everything short of medicating him. And then as a latch ditch effort; they’d gone to a hybrid adoption agency. Jungkook still remembers the words he’d heard when Jungkook had first seen Hoseok, gangly, with a face made for a smile even if he was clutching at the edge of his mothers shirt.

- “We have sever bunnies available from he same litter that are around his age, you understand that dog hybrids are preferred for mental health companions,” and then later when Hoseok had been left in the room alone to choose, three of the bunnies hopping up to him and overwhelming him until he climbed up on the plastic play tubing that Jungkook was hiding in.

- And Jungkook’s shy smile “it’s okay- we can hide together” reaching out his small hand for Hoseok to take and pull himself up- even though Hoseok was older, Jungkook had already been and stronger, able to heave him up to his hiding place. And that hand- they hadn’t let go of each other after that.

- The change was nearly overnight, Jungkook became Hoseok’s support animal, his companion, you couldn’t see one without the other- and even though Jungkook had had his own room they’d never been able to stay to their own beds.

- Of course- the anxiety had come back whenever he and Jungkook had to be separated for exams or field trips or on the rare school day. Thought his elementary school and high school had been accommodating, especially after Jungkook had gotten registered as a mental health hybrid.

- Though he’s gotten so much better in recent years, hasn’t really had anxiety or any symptoms since college, Jungkook can still occasionally see the tells under Hoseok’s surface, a particularly labored breath when driving, when he gets a report back and the tremor when he runs his fingers through his hair. telltale signs of the tension that won’t ever really go away, even if he doesn’t have panic attacks anymore.

- Maybe you and Hoseok are more alike than anyone realizes, “oh” Jungkook closes his eyes and burrows back under the covers. “that was nice of him” he responds, treating it how he knows Hoseok would want him too- blank acceptation of your confession.

- Jungkook fingers along your hip bone, changing his position so that he can cuddle up to your midriff under your shirt, can thumb along the adorable little bit of tummy pooch that he wants to bury his face in once he feels how soft it is and this little bit of peach fuzz above your belly button, the same spot that Taehyung has gushed about being his favorite place to cuddle. That jimin teases a nibble at whenever his head finds it’s way into your lap.

- For a moment, he exults in all the closeness, feeling all the pieces of what is unexplainably family jostle into place just a little bit more.

- “it’s really nice, this is really nice” he stresses, pressing his face close to your stomach as you tug the weighted blanket more fully around you, nosing under your shirt to feel the skin of your hip against his cheek. Under the covers in the protective darkness.

- The middy day passes like this: you and Seokjin talking a little above Jungkook, quietly and not too loud, laughing sometimes when Seokjin reads you an article, the voice command software on your computer reduced to a slight beat underneath the dampened weight of the covers. Jungkook warm and smothered in, falling asleep somewhere in between a phone call you have with an executive about some document that wouldn’t transfer over.

- “just download it as a pdf and it should go through” you stress, barely containing a little bit of tired annoyance, and when you get off the phone, your stressed sigh, your hand flopping down onto Jungkook’s back, “I swear none of these old stockbrokers know how to work a god damn computer.”

- When he wakes, it’s too the sudden moving weight of Seokjin getting above the covers, Jungkook’s hands strain to tug him back. And Seokjin’s quiet chuckle in response to Jungkook’s whining. He’s still not feeling particularly verbal, too sleepy. “Sorry bun, gonna turn the aircon up because it’s getting a little warm for me.”

- A second later the air conditioning reeves a little louder comfortable white noise, your body is softly curled around his and Jungkook knows enough about the pleasant and soft rise of your chest and your unusual stillness to guess that you’re sleeping without pulling himself up above the covers. But he does anyway just to see you. Your sleeping face, lips a little parted and hands pillowed. Seokjin gets back in on your side of the bed, to that he can ferry snacks over to Jungkook.

- Seokjin curls over him, holding a glass of still cold carrot juice out for him, “want a sip bun” Jungkook makes a noise and sits up a little more to take the straw between his teeth and suck little tiny pulses, blushing at the way Seokjin fixes him with an adorably fond expression offering a cookie from his own hand after he’s had enough, and somehow, it tastes better when Seokjin feeds him.

- Seokjin looks almost a little predatory above him, his black ears standing at attention, he gives a playful growl and nibbles at one of Jungkook’s ears, Jungkook squeaks around the straw, a happy alarmed sort of squeaking. Seokjin is so rarely playful- but he can’t help it, the bunny just looks too sweet and squish able in his bed.

- He feels possessive and protective in the way that alphas do, because of course he will take care of his Jungkookie and his y/n, of course he will do everything in his power to make sure you’re both comfortable and soft and happy in the afternoon laziness. Suddenly the urge to cook and provide sparks along his spine, an instinctual urge that will only get worse when the others get home.

- But for a little while longer, Seokjin will find comfort in Jungkook’s arms that pull him more snugly close. Sometimes it’s easier to give comfort that too receive it, and Jungkook is nothing if not a willing vessel for all of Seokjin’s affection.

- Between the two of them, you sleep on, unaware of the way that they’re nuzzling in close enough to taste each others breath. He and Seokjin cuddle up a little as you nap next to them, Jungkook’s hands running up and down your back as you curl into his side, he feels so much better already, so much less fragile and touch starved. His skin feels all fuzzy and pleasant, his head too.

- It’s not necessarily a smaller headspace, but Seokjin is watching over Jungkook and you as if you’re something precious and strong but oh so breakable. Its so wonderful not to be in charge for a few hours, to have Seokjin take his weight.

- Seokjin flips on the TV and keeps it at a low drone; you barely stir next to them, only moving further into the warmth of Jungkook’s soft sleep shirt. “Thank you alpha” Jungkook mumbles, blushing when he realizes what’s slipped out, but it doesn’t seem too unwelcome, Seokjin kisses his forehead in response, and Jungkook can feel Seokjin’s tail thumping up and down on the bed.

- At the same moment, Taehyung stumbles through the door or more accurately, the door frame, his knee hitting it the a crack that barely makes tae pause.

- “oof you okay Tae?” Seokjin says. Taehyung hopps up and down rubbing at his shin before he stumbles, whines, and plops himself on the bed. “didn’t tell me you where having a den cuddle puddle,” Taehyung whines, eyes barely open as he worms his way in-between you and Seokjin so that he’s pressed against Seokjin’s front and spooning your side.

- Seokjin laughs, and teases “brat.” but lets him do it, running his fingers through Taehyung’s cinnamon mop, you stir with the sudden addition of tae into the bed making a noise in the back of your throat at tae mouths along your shoulder without even saying hello. Seokjin wants to laugh because how do you get that needy

- “Jimin?” you guess at the new presence of a mouth, “nah it’s Tae” Jungkook giggles as Taehyung little pecks become more drowsy kittenish licks along your throat. You stiffen and shift, your arm coming up to comb through Tae’s hair, Tae purrs in happiness and hello, and promptly closes his eyes and goes back to sleep.

- Your phone dings on the bedside table and Seokjin checks it while you get increasingly flustered at the attention of Taehyung. He misses the way that Jungkook also leans his head forward into your neck, shyly prodding there with his nose, “is it okay if I?” you laugh, a little sleepy too, your hand laces it’s self with Jungkook’s, squeezing it reassuringly. At this point- you’re no stranger to the way that some hybrids scent mark.

- “You can Kookie, don’t worry, I’m not going to think its weird,” Jungkook sets himself more firmly over you, his leg slung over you hip. He’s so fuzzy with all the the affection buzzing through him that he barely registers the words Seokjin’s relaying from Hoseok’s text. No Jungkook’s not supposed to go into a cycle until a few more months, why is he acting needy? I’ll be home in a little bit, wanna go out to see a movie maybe, or can we go out for dinner- I have something to tell you when I get home.

- He nuzzles his nose in first, your scent settling over him like a wave, as it’s teased into the air by the rubbing of his cheek against your neck. He gets a little bolder once he registers the way you’re shifting against the covers. He peeks over to see the hollowing of Taehyung’s cheeks, shifting his weight more firmly on top of you, caged in on both sides.

- Jungkook knows he’s probably sucking hickeys onto your neck (right next to the few that Yoongi gave you yesterday- but who’s counting). Seeing Tae do it gives him enough courage to finally lick a tiny little bit, small and gentle. A little cold and ticklish maybe.

- When you don’t indicate your displeasure he gets more comfortable, Your hand soothes through his curls and brushes them back along with his soft and sensitive ears over his forehead. with each suck and lick of his mouth you start to smell more like him. and make deep seated contentment flicker stronger in his chest. With each minute, he relaxes more fully into the ritual of bathing you in his scent like he’s only ever really done to Hoseok.

- Jungkook remembers the countless times he’s trapped the older human against the couch and sucked to his heart’s content. Hoseok always has combed through his hair and chided gently and a tiny bit flirty “What a possessive bunny we have here, gonna make sure everyone knows I’m yours”

- He whines at the memory, feeling his eyes flutter closed and his lips part as his licks get more generous, head buzzing with the taste of your skin, sucking a little on your shoulder, then moving back to the spot just between your jaw and your neck where your scent is strongest and also where your neck is the most senstive.

- at your responding squeek- Seokjin looks over at the two of them and you, tossing your phone back on the besdies table after returning Hoseok’s text. any thoughts he might have about what Hoseok might want to talk to you about going to the back of his minds when he sees how snuggled down you are by the other two hybrids. Seokjin feels himself melting with love and affection to see both of them curled around you so safe and happy, getting everything they need in Seokjin’s bed.

- Taehyung half on top of you, lazy and sleepy and cuddly, all hair mused and lips bit red, he can see Jungkook’s tail twitching happily under the covers as the bunny blinks slowly up at seokjin. His hand hooks over your waist the same moment Taehyung leg hicks up around your legs, tangling with yours.

- And between them, you look sleep ruffled and a little askew with the collar of your shirt pulled down as far as it will go, looking just as drowsy and soft as the hybrids do next to you, Your lips part, and your eyelashes flutter when their gentle ministrations start to really make you feel like jelly and more than a little squirmy.

- Seokjin reaches up a hand to smooth over the ball of Jungkook’s ankle. and another over the end of taes flicking tail. “fuck I love all of you so much” the words shock out of him.

- Taehyung perks up too sending smiling around his teeth which are nibbling on your skin, both of them are still too cuddle hazy to properly respond though Jungkook does extend a grabby hand. Seokjin makes a frustrated noise and flops on top of all of you Making you giggle and tae break off into a laugh as he encircles the three of you in his wide arms, and repeats the frustrated noise when he just can’t seem to get close enough, squeezing a giggle out of Jungkook.

- A dangerous move, because now Jungkook has moved his mouth from your neck to nose along Seokjin’s shoulder. “thanks for taking care of me when I’m needy” he murmurs, a shy blush painting his cheeks before he starts to suck onto Seokjin’s neck, rubbing his own cheek against it before he does. You smile up at him and he pulls himself a little more up into the mess of all your tangled forms.

- And oh, this might be getting a little sultry because both of you are kissing while getting hickeys from two very very nibbly hybrids. and as much as scent marking is a very natural and not necessarily sexual thing it is a little when Seokjin’s hand reaches out to tug on Jungkook’s bunny tail, his hips kicking up only to run right into your thigh, and Jungkook’s whines get a little bit more needy for a whole different reason.

- The king sized bed suddenly feeling too small for all the love you have. It spills out in rivulets into the kitchen, as you break apart and half sigh moan, hand clutching at Taehyung’s forearm as he hits a particularly sensitive spot on your neck. “sorry” you mumble, embarrassed, but Taehyung just snarls low and proud before attacking the spot again, this time for more gusto.

- But luckily the other hybrids have just gotten home. the front door opens, and the chatter of the kitties and Namjoon stumble through the door all floppy from the heat, glad to be inside and in the airconditioning now. jimin actually fell asleep in a reading nook while Namjoon and Yoongi playfully argued over which book was better. All of them feel a little bit hazy too.

- Yoongi calls out into the relative silence, after all- where is everybody? Usually, their home is all boundless energy and deep and sweet strange smells coming from the kitchen from Seokjin.

- Jimin walks in front of your door and does a double-take, suddenly shucking off his jacket as quickly as he can, his tale flicking when it comes loose from where it's been pinned. “Okay I need to be in the middle of this cuddle puddle right now,” he almost falls when his shoe slips off. Yoongi and Namjoon mumble and peer in as Jimin almost literally throws himself on top of Taehyung with little regard for the bounds of your Jungkook and you just giggle even as Taehyung whines about the Knobblyness of Jimin’s knees.

- Yoongi and Namjoon slump against the door, drinking in the cuddle puddle of hybrid’s and their owner, you and Seokjin, members of their family that feel like their carved from their literal souls at this point, both a little hickey bitten and sated looking gloriously put upon by affection.

- Yoongi’s hand brushes Namjoon’s, linking their hands by a pinky. Their tails too, yoongi’s sleek black one twining around namjoons bristly and shaggy tail. Namjoon feels shivers run up his spine. it's so strange how even though Namjoon’s nearly a head taller than the cat hybrid, their hands are still somewhat the same size. Sometimes he thinks about that- how Yoongi’s hands were literally made for holding, someone’s smaller hands- and how he’s literally so good at giving them all that they need, Jimin especially.

- At this point Jimin can give Yoongi just a little look and Yoongi will be by his side, ready to expense any type of affection that the other might want. It’s been beautiful to see- the way that yoongi has changed, become more comfortable at giving affection since the others have come into their lives. They’ve all changed in some way, and it seems for the better. Namjoon’s heart gives a little uneven stutter as he looks down at Yoongi, smiling at him, hair crimped a little from the heat. “Wanna make dinner?”

- From the cuddle puddle, Seokjin scoffs at the idea of it and starts to get up. Jimin whines and pulls a leg over Seokjin but of course, that won’t do because now he’s not touching literally everyone in the bed anymore and Jimin- Jimin just needs this physical affection.

- “As if you both could make a cohesive meal without me,” Seokjin says as he detangles himself from the hybrids and you on the bed, sitting up even though he has somehow carried Jimin up as well, Jimin’s arms are vice-like around Seokjin’s shoulders. And the hybrid is rubbing his cheeks all along Seokjin’s shoulders nipping at the hickey Jungkook left.

- “oh my god love let me go I need to make dinner with them” he laughs, large hands encircling Jimin’s wrists to wind himself out from under them. Jimin pouts, speaking through it even though it makes him harder to hear “kisses first then- I feel like a barely saw you today and that’s just not okay, I’ve only been kissed like- a dozen times” Seokjin smiles, mischievousness toying at his corners before he turns his sharp eyes on Jimin.

- “Really? i would have thought you’d make both Namjoon and Yoongi kiss you in the back of the bookstore,” Jimin goes perfectly pink, even the base of his ears flush with color. A laugh shocks out of Jungkook, and he sits up, hair flopping into his eyes, “really? Fuck- please tell me you didn’t get caught and kicked out again-“

- “Again!” you screech, though it's more of a laugh. Jimin whines, “it was only once..” Taehyung placates him though moving his hand from your hip to Jimin’s to rub out soothing circles like he does late night when they watch Jungkook and Hoseok scream over videogames. Taehyung pulls him back down and Seokjin is quick to press a kiss to everyone’s forhead before he follows Namjoon and Yoongi into the kitchen.

- Both of them are already arguing over what song that they want to play and Seokjin knows half of the fun of having the two of them in his kitchen will be watching the way that they love each other, every word a push and pull every touch a different move in a delicate dance.

- Yoongi and Namjoon have always been beautiful to watch when they’re in love, and Seokjin knows that they’ll gladly include him in all of the running jokes. And that they’ll take it well when he scolds them and accept that one of the ways that he shows them he loves them is by teaching them, and that they’ll be even happier to accept the kisses from him when they get something right.

- Above him, you nuzzle into Jimin’s sweet-smelling hair, pressing a kiss to Jimin’s forehead that has him turning pink and tilt his face up for more. Purring in tandem with Taehyung. Jungkook has finally grounded himself enough to really pull away and look down at you, on his side, legs curled in so that his knees are nesting with yours. laughing down at you when you placate Jimin by switching spots with him so that he can lie back against your bed with you snuggly pulled to his chest, and jungkook and taehyung on either side.

- When Hoseok finally stumbles onto the front stoop, his shirt is already askew from the workday, the stress lingers down his spine with the temerity of decision. And maybe if any of the hybrids paused they’d notice the tension there if they weren’t already tripping over each other.

- The second he steps through your front door Yoongi’s head perks up and he comes quite literally running to greet Hoseok, “hey there Yoon how was- oh” he chokes out before Yoongi starts peppering kisses all over his neck, making Hoseok stumble, hand coming up to grip around Yoongi’s neck and his hair. The affection isn’t unwelcomed at all- just surprises him.

- Namjoon walks over slower, more predatory making Hoseok shiver in his skin, chuckling and pulling both of them close when Yoongi starts to suck. From the kitchen Seokjin calls, “is Hoseok home? Tell him to get in here right now.”

- When the 3 older hybrids finally pull away from Hoseok, his cheeks are as red as his hair, lips bitten and wet with saliva. He shifts at the arousal pooling in his abdomen because as much as he recognizes this as just scenting behavior- that was a little much. The sauce burns a little in the pan but Seokjin swoops into salvage it at the last possible moment with an impatient growl.

- Hoseok is absolutely unraveled. His chest is dotted with hickeys with the first 3 buttons undone (by Seokjin’s swift hands). When he presses a hand to his neck he can feel the dull ache that says he’s been given a litany of marks. His hair ruffled and curly, looking dazed and more than a little surprised.

- “Not that I’m complaining but was there a reason for that-why?” he asks. Yoongi smooth’s a hand down his back, nosing through his red curls, Namjoon gives him nothing but a cryptic smile and equally as a puzzling response “Go out on the deck and see.”

- He’s almost winded by what greats him. You’re sitting on the table in Jungkook’s lap, and he looks strong and protective with his chin hooked over your shoulder to whisper to you about the cards in your hand while Jimin and Taehyung argue across from the two of you each huddled around a hand of their own (“of course we have to be on the same team if you are” Taehyung had complained earlier).

- jungkook must say something funny because suddenly you’re throwing your head back against his shoulder with laugher showing your neck- and exposing Hoseok to the line of hickeys trailing down below your collar bone. Maybe they go lower; maybe you have them on your stomach and on your hip bones and the thought that you might makes Hoseok dizzy. He has first-hand experience of just how nibbly his hybrid can be.

- Seokjin peaks his head outside too, giving Hoseok a wink, and Hoseok hisses too him, “who are those from?” because they definitely weren’t there yesterday when he saw you. Definitely a new addition.

- “Jungkook and Taehyung mostly, though I think Jimin put his two cents in.” as they watch, Taehyung howls with laughter as team Vmin loses terribly. Jimin smirks and holds you closer. But then Jungkook’s ears flick and take turns, his face breaking out into its boxy smile with a shout of Hoseok’s name on his tongue. And then he’s being swept up again, hugged and squeezed and kissed by his hybrids, Jungkook sets himself all snug against Hoseok’s back, his body shivering pleasantly and his little cotton tail flicking wildly.

- “I heard you got needy today bunny?” Hoseok laughs as Jungkook tries to bury himself in Hoseok’s shoulder in hello. At the table you stand, grinning in their direction. “Yeah, but it wasn’t anything a few hours of snuggling couldn’t fix.”

- “i’m glad, uhm” hoseok is suddenly shy, looking at you all relaxed and slumped agianst the table, while jimin and taehyung flicker about, “thank you for- Why don’t you go in the house for a second bun, I want to talk with y/n about something.”

- Jungkook quirks his head to the side his curly hair falling all over his forehead because they’re a tightness that he recognizes in Hoseok’s words that perhaps the others didn’t notice, but Hoseok nods down at him- saying he’s got it handled without really saying it. The nearly non-verbal way that they can communicate after so many years of knowing each other.

- Jungkook gives him one last lingering worried look before he disappears back inside taking Taehyung and Jimin with him and Closing the door behind him though the window is still open, and you both can her them join the fray of cooking and Seokjin’s “no Taehyung it’s still hot don’t-“ and Yoongi’s dry drawl after a moments silent, “you burned your tongue again didn’t you- no I am not going to kiss it better”

- He’s still turned in Jungkook’s direction when You wrap your arms around Hoseok’s waist from behind. Hoseok feels himself melting when you nuzzle your head into his chest in hello. And he lets himself laugh before the panic has a chance to really clamp down on him.

- “You’ve been hanging out with them all day- you’re starting to act like a hybrid,” he teases, setting a hand over yours and lacing it around his waist. You breathe in deeply, you wonder what he would smell like if you were a hybrid, but right now, he just feels comforting and like him, especially when you tilt your face up and he obliges you, pecking your lips in hello.

- over the past few weeks when you’ve embarked on this with hoseok- not much has changed, besides maybe, the fact that he kisses you when you get home, sleeps in your bed half of the time, and dosent seem to have a problem in getting close to you anymore. Neither of you do- the shyness you’d had at the begining of this is almost entirely gone, though there are still some moments- when you think things might be going a little fast. your hybrids might already be in love with you, and might not have a problem expressing it, but you haven’t been togeather long enough to really warrent that level of affection.

- “I'm glad you’re home They do have something figured out with all the snuggling- Jungkook especially 11/10 would and will cuddle again” Hoseok’s heart plummets, as he tries to laugh it off, tries not to let the fear he’s feeling at the prospect of the future conversation he needs to have poison this joy because really- you and Jungkook was the last piece that needed to fall into place with your “pack” as the hybrids have been starting to call it. And the idea of potentially damaging that makes hoseok fucking sad- “Yeah don’t let him hear that, you’ll have yourself a cuddle partener for life if you do” you pull back suddenly, and Hoseok’s shifts unsteady on his feet.

- It’s like you can feel the tension in his waiting to burst, to snap back and sting like a rubber band. “Hobi, is something up?” you ask, pulling away from him a little so that you can speak more firmly, your hands-on his taught forearms. “it’s nothing at all i-” Hoseok stops himself, knowing that if he dosen’t actually confess what’s going on the eventuality will probably be worse.

- “No it is something i just don’t want to say it because everything will change and then-” he breaks off, his throat closing up, he casts a glance back at the door to make sure it’s closed, it’s definitly better to have this coversation first with just the two of you before you bring your hybrids into it. You settle against the back of the table, pulling hoseok to lean next to you and grpping his hand, and it’s the most reasuring thing, how you with just a thumb trailing down the line of his hands you can make all of his anxiety just disipate. “What happened today?”

- “it’s about my job I ugh…” he pauses, taking a deep breath, and tries to make his voice not shake. the words rushing out once he lets them, unfiltered.“we finished up the project today and you know how we where having problems because my superior was basically taking half days and just not doing his job like at all right?” you nod, and hobi continues. “well after I went to the CEO yesterday to explain where we where on the project- we finished that today too- he told me that they where totally aware that my boss hand’t been pulling his own weight, and they implied that he probably wouldn’t be staying on so- so they fired him and made me an offer for his job.”

- Your joy is instant, but it doesn't reach Hoseok, it still doesn't quite stick, the worry and the happiness, the feelings of accomplishment and fear that sticks in equal measure and makes your plain happiness dissonant. “Oh my god! You should have texted me! That’s amazing we definitely need to celebrate,”

- You're nearly bouncing up and down and Hoseok feels a tiny tiny bit of his fear dissipating because yeah- it’s nice, his hard work and long hours he’d been putting in since his last promotion had been paying off. “yeah I guess it was a long time coming- since I’ve been basically running the whole department, and it means a generous bump in salary too- and other things,”

- His voice is dry, but he’s not just tired. why do you sense a but coming after the end of it- why does it feel like there is something to sour his accomplishment, why doesn't Hoseok sound happy at all? He sounds put out like an anvil is waiting to fall on the top of his head and he’s just trying to let you down slowly.

- “Why do you sound sad Hoseok? What’s wrong?”

- “I don’t want you to worry,” he says, and clearly, that only makes him worry more. You can’t take it anymore, you reach up a hand to cradle his cheek, and find his mouth turned down at the corners under your fingertips,

- “Hoseok, just tell me” you can hear his gulping swallow.

- “If I take the job,” he says slowly “and that’s a big if” like he doesn’t want to speak the words into existence, like he can tell how much things will change after he says them. “Then i’d be stationed at the main office in busan”

- “What do you mean” Hoseok closes his eyes, knowing that the next words are going to change everything, even if he doesn’t want them too.

- “It means I’d have to move Y/n,”

(Please comment and reblog! Likes are nice, but they do little to support content creators!)

2K notes · View notes

splitminiusa · 5 months

Text

Single Zone - Mini Split Air Conditioners

Making the most well liked places cool and coolest places more comfortable, a Single Zone system creates its’own “zone” of comfort, allowing the heating or cooling of person rooms, hallways and open spaces. Maximize home comfort when & where you require it most.

Single Zone

A single-zone ductless mini-split system is a 1:1 configuration that you put in a single room. This ductless ac unit consists of merely one indoor unit and a patio unit. It’s costlier to install a multi-zone ductless system compared to a single-zone system. Also, a single-zone ductless mini-split system is quicker to install when compared to the multi-zone ductless solution. For you to purchase a single-zone ductless mini-split system, you will merely need one particular outdoor unit, an indoor unit including a refrigerant line set.

Built to cool a solitary space, single-zone ductless AC can be useful for room additions, enclosed porches, mother-in-law units and converted garages. It is usually popular for rooms that merely need occasional cooling or living spaces that stay too warm through the summer. In comparison to conventional window air conditioning, this sort of targeted cooling offers multiple advantages.

- Single zone ductless mini-split is up to 30 percent more effective compared to a window unit. - A ductless unit won’t block a window, letting you enjoy daylight and unobstructed views. - A single-zone unit makes significantly less noise compared to a window air conditioner.

Targeted Heating and Cooling

Ductless mini-splits provide you the advantage of creating zones inside your home. With zoning, you are going to effectively control specific rooms’temperatures to avoid unnecessary cooling and heating of unoccupied spaces. Consequently, it can save you energy and money. Temperature regulation is quite possible through handheld control and wireless network configurations on your own smartphone.

Adding The Benefits Associated with Ductless AC System

A chance to personalize your comfort is just one of the lots of advantages you’ll enjoy that has a ductless system. Nothing else type of HVAC system does an even better job at maintaining an excellent temperature wherever buy your home. Ductless stands alone on the subject of costing you less too. With efficiency ratings of up to SEER 38, they’re arguably one of the most energy-stingy systems around the market.

Ductless mini-split heat pumps are quiet, non-intrusive and straightforward to install. They also perform better job at controlling humidity and removing air pollutants than central air systems. Finally, when you are wondering if you’re able to also employ ductless to heat your house, the correct answer is “Yes!” Many models provide both heating and cooling.

Benefits of the Single-Zone Mini Split System

Easy installation: while all ductless mini split systems are relatively all to easy to install — especially as compared to central HVAC systems — single-zone mini split systems are even quicker to install than multi-zone systems. Single-zone mini split systems only require a tiny 3-inch hole while in the wall to connect the inner and exterior unit, while is essential running the refrigerant lines in the outdoor unit of the multi-zone system to the several indoor units can often be more invasive.

Cost: because installing a single-zone mini split technique are less complicated than installing a multi-zone system, installation is normally less expensive. Now and again, homeowners may also purchase a mini-split system in their house all on his or her own.

#single zone mini split #single zone mini split ac #single zone mini split air conditioner #single zone mini split heat pump #single zone ductless #single zone ductless ac

1 note · View note

astraeagreengrass · 4 years

Text

Right Where You Are, That’s Where I Am

Sometimes, finding yourself means finding someone

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 1.904

Warnings: Angst, allusions to violence and PTSD, fluffy ending

A/N: This is my submission to @wkemeup’s 4K Writing Challenge. My prompt was “Mariner’s Apartment Complex” by Lana del Rey. Thank you Kas for having me and congratulations on such an impressive milestone! ♡

Disclaimer: I don’t own Bucky Barnes or any other fictional characters mentioned in this story - they are property of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. The title belongs to Lana Del Rey. The plot is my own creation.

You lose your way, just take my hand You're lost at sea, then I'll command your boat to me again

The plane left you in the border of Burundi.

From the muddy, narrow airstrip to the meeting point it took you four hours in a 1977 Jeep CJ-7. The air-conditioner was broken, forcing you to roll down the windows hoping for some breeze, but no such luck. Your hair was stuck to your nape and your skin collected mosquito bites as you drove through the heart of Africa, trailing the Mwiruzi river, guided only by an old printed map and a vibranium compass.

You reached the village at nightfall. Less than twenty houses formed a semi-circle around a tiny square, a well right in the middle of it. It was similar to hundreds of other villages you passed through on your way, but a rune drawn in white paint on the door of the house closest to the road gave it away as the right one.

You parked the Jeep beneath a Tamboti tree, tucking the keys under the passenger’s side seat cushion. Taking your backpack and a black duffel bag, you exited.

Nakia was waiting for you at the porch of the seventh house, a fussing baby in her arms. She was trying to soothe him with a lullaby sung in xhosa, her melodious voice the only sound apart from the crickets, but the child was insistent. Realizing she wouldn’t acknowledge you until the child was calm, you sat in the rickety wooden porch step, tucking your head between your knees. You hadn’t slept in over two days and finally finding Nakia gave you some unexpected relief that allowed the exhaustion to creep in.

“We’re leaving in the morning” she announced a few minutes later, when the baby surrendered to sleep. “You can rest until then.”

You wouldn’t, but it was nice of her to offer.

“It’s safe here” she added and you just nodded. That wasn’t enough guarantee to let your guard down.

Nakia sighed, only minor frustrated. Your behaviour annoyed her, but she knew she couldn’t demand much from you, even if you did look dead on your feet.

“Come on” she said, mentioning with her head for you to follow her inside. The house consisted of a single room, a kitchen, and two long, pic-nic style tables. It was relatively full, which immediately startled you, but your deft gaze was quick to assess that these people were more suspicious of you than you were of them.

There were no adult men, only women and children. The oldest boy appeared to be around twelve, and was carefully tucked to his mother’s side. There were other babies like the one Nakia extended to a girl sitting by the door, before exclaiming in igbo:

“Ayo! The milk is here!”

Ayo was a middle-aged woman mixing food by the stove. She nodded, but made no move to step away from her careful cooking.

“Are you hungry?”

You were, but it didn’t look like you were welcome. Regardless, Nakia mentioned you forward. Taking the black duffel bag from your hands, your host started taking out the cans of milk formula you bought in Johannesburg.

The request seemed odd to you at first: why did Nakia, the Kenyan heiress turned Wakandan spy, needed dozens of cans of milk formula somewhere in Tanzania? It looked as though this room was the answer.

Ayo wordessly placed a bowl of githeri in front of you. It was delicious and you didn’t hesitate when she offered you seconds. While you ate, Nakia and the cook stacked the cans in neat piles on the cabinet under the sink. You were still eating when they finished.

"We'll take your car to Mukigina" Nakia stated. "Someone will get us there."

"When?"

"In sixteen hours."

"How long from here to Mukigina?"

"A little over seven hours if we go off the road."

You shrugged. You've been going off the road for a while now.

"Can I ask you something?" she leaned closer to you. Nakia could easily be mistaken by one of your sisters, with her flawless features and deadly skills. But the gleam in her eyes, still present after all the terrible things she's seen during her undercover work as a War Dog, set her apart from the daughters of the Red Room. She wasn't broken, battered and bruised on the inside like you were. And all the horrors she'd witnessed weren't caused by her. "How did you know he was in Wakanda?"

You met Nakia at an underground casino in Busan right after the fall of Hydra. She was following a lead on a poacher of and you were following a lead on him. When the poacher turned out to be more vicious than she expected, it was your bullet in his head that solved the problem. You never met again - until two weeks ago, when you saw her standing next to the Wakandan king at the United Nations.

"My sister was with your king in the summer" you explained. "In Germany."

"Oh" her eyebrows rose so high they disappeared under her headscarf. "Romanoff?"

"Yeah."

"That explains how you know him."

You snorted.

"How did you think I knew him?"

"I don't know..." she trailed off. "Honestly, for the past two years I've thought about you constantly. You saved my life and I couldn't even say a proper thank you before you disappeared. I thought maybe you were an Avenger, but you're too squirmish for that. And none of them wear black, do they? They love their bright colors."

You laughed, the first real one in a long time.

Nakia patted you on the shoulder gently.

"I meant what I said earlier. You should get some sleep."

"Sleep isn't really my thing" you muttered.

"Every single girl in this village was rescued from the Boko Haram. We secured this location a couple of months ago because these men, these terrorists… They don't care about the women they steal, but they do care about their children. Especially if they're boys. So don't be ashamed of your nightmares, 'cause we're used to them around here."

You scanned the room. Most of the girls had left, but there were still three huddling by the stove, listening carefully to Ayo's instructions. They didn't look a day older than sixteen. At sixteen, you'd already killed more men than you could count with both hands. You wondered if they'd kill their kidnappers if given the chance.

Nakia's room was in the house next door. Moonlight filtered in through the curtainless window, bathing the small chamber in silver glow. You were asleep before your head hit the pillow.

In less than a day, you'd gone from old cars and dirty roads to spaceships and hover carriers.

Birnin Zana - The Golden City - rose miraculously under the savanna sun. Skyscrapers as high was the eye could see, a protective dome and cutting-edge technology - all of it coexisting in perfect harmony with nature and ancient traditions.

Nakia placed you in a hut in the outskirts of the city - close enough that you could visit Princess Shuri’s laboratory everyday but far enough that the locals wouldn’t be bothered by a foreigner’s presence.

The first week was torture. Blurry recollections of your past haunted your dreams, leaving you gasping for air, staring out the window until the first light appeared behind the trees. From dawn to dusk you'd stay at the lab, guarding his frozen body like a ghost.

It finally got on Shuri’s nerve.

“That’s it. I'm kicking you out."

She sent you to the Dora Milaje. Their leader, Okoye - tall, gorgeous and intimidating - was apparently looking forward to meet you. On a grassy field overlooking the river she handed you a wooden stick.

"Let's set how you fight without a gun" she said with a smirk.

It was disastrous. Okoye and the other warriors were graceful, silent and fast like cheetahs, meanwhile you were a hippo in heels, scrambling with the wooden stick. Madame B's voice taunted you, like the devil on your shoulder, seething everytime they bested you. On the fourth day of training your demons finally caught up to you and you broke down.

Okoye held you, whispering in soft Yoruba that you were safe.

A month later you braved the market. Manioc, okra and tomatoes in a booth, turmeric, cardamom and nutmeg in the other. The smell was intoxicating, swirling in your brain in gormandize like never before. You left chewing on a ripe piece of watermelon, pink juice staining your lips, with a pot of African violets cradled in your arms.

The violets were placed in your kitchen table - two seats, one for you and one for him when he came. Soon afterwards they were joined by a banana bunch, plucked from the tree in your yard.

The discovery of the banana tree made way for lettuce, eggplant and pumpkin. The seeds were gifted to you by Queen Ramonda herself and they took to the soil like sand to sea. When you noticed the first green leaf sprouting from the earth, you wept. Your hands, once made for killing, were now giving life.

The food welcomed the children. They'd play in your yard, sidestepping the flower beds like a dance. When they grew tired, they barged in, all five or six of them demanding lemonade and strawberries and questions.

"What does snow feels like?"

"Do you miss Russia?"

"Is it true the Americans think Africa is a country?"

Like ground ice. No. Some of them do, yes.

It was late December when Shuri gave you the news.

"We're ready to wake him up."

They placed his sleeping body on the bed, saying that he should rise by himself in a few hours. Suddenly, you were fourteen again, waiting behind bulletproof doors in a secret facility in Siberia, waiting to meet him for the first time. Only he wasn't the Asset or Soldat anymore. He had a name, a history, a mind of his own.

You'd killed for him. Tortured innocents. Thwarted governments. Broke a thousand rules just to be closer to your forbidden lover. Schemed and lied looking for his freedom, uselessly. Lost yourself trying to find him.

"Come with me" Natalia pleaded. "That spy I was supposed to kill in Budapest… He spared me. Said he can take us both to America. S.H.I.E.L.D. will offer us protection."

"I can't" you refused. "I can't leave him."

"You'll die before you save him."

Your sister was wrong: you survived. And now, halfway across the world, fate gifted you with another chance.

The children woke him. They scurried out of the house, laughing and chanting. Emhlope ingcuka, they called him. White wolf.

James Buchanan Barnes found you gazing at the horizon beyond the lake. Slowly, testing his legs, he walked over to your side.

"Good morning" you smiled.

"Good morning."

"How are you feeling?" you asked.

"Good."

You turned then, eyes catching his in the warm daybreak. A breeze ruffled his hair and your skirt, a gentle reminder that it was real. You were real.

"James?" you tried, hesitantly.

"Bucky" he declared in triumph.

"Bucky" you liked it. It suited him. "It's nice to meet you, Bucky. I'm sorry it took so long."

His right hand squeezed yours. Callus and scars met callus and scars. Your rough edges molded into his in a perfect fit, in this new land that took you in as its own.

You were home.

My masterlist

Everything taglist: @scentedsongrebel @youclickedthislink @thegetawaywriter

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x reader #bucky x female reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #bucky fluff #bucky barnes #corneliabarnes #my wrting

117 notes · View notes

preface2adreamplay · 4 years

Text

Under Your Spell (Chapter 29) - South of Her Shoulder

Summary: A Jared Padalecki/ OFC/ Oscar Isaac fiction.

Stef spends a week in NY with a trip down memory lane.

Married Jared! Single Oscar!

Chapter warnings: Angst, fluff, swearing.

Chapter WC: 3,794

Valentines and beyond passed in a blur of wallowing in self pity and a great amount of singing in her ‘home studio’ (the mic set up in the upstairs hallway).

Stef had finished the lyrics and polished off the sound she wanted for almost all of the songs for the new album and she was pretty damn proud of herself.

March came in and she was ready to get back out into the world, or at least back on a plane to New York.

Nik and the guys had booked studio time so they were all set to get shit done. They had taken a couple of years break, each of them doing their own thing for a while and honestly, Stef missed them. But, she only realised how much when she walked into their old practice space.

It’s not like she had abandoned them, but moving to a different country made it a little harder to record and write together as a band, even with the internet.

Jimmy, the drummer, had done them a solid and completely repainted, put in new carpets and made sure all spiders had been sent on their way.

It felt like a new beginning.

Jimmy was excitedly tapping on the snare while Stef set up her mic, a magazine article had once described him as ‘the cute one with the floppy hair,’ so that’s what he was referred to by the rest of the band, either cutesy or Flopsy.

Flopsy was eager to get going.

So Stef sang her heart out. She had a lot to get off her chest.

***

The day before Oscar’s birthday, Stef was searching through a second hand shop for a gift. There was a framed painting she knew he would love and she had run out of ideas of what to get the man who had everything.

Oscar was out of town but flying back home for his birthday weekend, Stef had planned on wrapping the gift and leaving it in the kitchen for him to find when he came back.

She had been recording songs for the past four days and though she didn’t want a break, she needed to take one. So here she was, covered in dust, searching through the shelves for the painting. The Kurt Cobain lookalike store owner had waved his hand in this general direction when she asked if it had been sold from the window or if he had just moved it.

Her phone beeped, pulling it from her purse she glanced down at the notification, not sure if she should open it now or leave it til later to read it.

Oh hell, she told herself, just open it.

‘I see you’re recording again, can’t wait to hear it. I hope you’re good.’

No pictures, no gifs, no kisses. Stef took a deep breath, thumb hovering over the tiny letters. It was the first time she had heard from him since that morning he had left. A whole month.

Fuck it.

‘We are. It’s sounding good, I know you’ll like it.’

She wanted to ask if he was ok but didn’t want to open a dialogue. Imagining a scenario where he would reply and say he missed her and she would weep and declare she missed him too and would go running into his arms. It was a bad idea and she truly didn’t want it to happen.

Nik had always handled the social media for the band. He had been posting all sorts of shit on every platform for the last couple of days about them being in the studio.

Shoving the phone back into her purse, she searched harder for the painting, moving the canvasses aside noisily while Kurt watched her from behind his desk.

***

Oscar got home right after Stef had gotten into bed in the spare room. Throwing back the blankets, she slipped out into the hall. He was yawning and rubbing his face as she peeked through the doorway.

‘Hi.’ She whispered.

‘Still up?’ He raised an eyebrow at her.

‘Only just. Almost fell asleep.’

‘Sorry, go back to bed.’ He smiled, she could see he was so tired he could barely stand.

With a slight shake of her head, Stef reached over and helped him out of his jacket, hanging it in the hallway next to her own.

He ran a hand through his curls, dyed black again for the movie he was working on.

‘Do you want tea?’ Stef was still whispering.

Oscar nodded following her into the kitchen. ‘Hey what’s this?’ He pointed to the neatly wrapped, perfectly rectangular gift on the kitchen island.

‘Oh, Happy Birthday!’ Stef chirped, checking the clock. It was 2am.

‘It’s not my birthday til I go asleep and wake up.’ Oscar eyed the present, wondering if he was allowed to open it.

‘Then ignore the present til you wake up! It’s only fair.’ Stef poured the boiling water over the dried chamomile flowers, smirking when she heard the rip of the paper behind her. He could never wait.

‘Wow, Effie this is amazing. I love it. Thank you,’

‘You’re welcome,’ placing the steaming cup in front of him she gave him a kiss on his stubbled cheek.

Oscar put the painting onto the counter top and pulled her into a tight hug. ‘You get the best gifts.’

‘I knew you’d like it. I had to fight some dust bunnies to get it. Worth it though.’

I think I’ll hang that in the bedroom, it’ll look cool there, right?’ He turned his tired eyes to her, she felt herself perk up a little, despite the aching tiredness she felt in her bones.

’Show me in the morning?’ Stef gave him another kiss on the cheek, making for the spare bedroom.

‘You could help me hang it,’ Oscar replied, watching her walk away.

‘If that’s your attempt at a euphemism, it sucked, but I’ll put that down to you being so tired.’

‘Night Effie.’ He called, as she closed the door behind her.

Next morning she awoke to a tap, tap, tap.

It was 8am, he probably didn’t get much sleep. She made her way to the bathroom. A hot shower was first on the agenda, then maybe yoga. But, she had to be in the studio for a few hours later on, she figured she would take some quality time with the birthday boy afterwards.

‘Hey, check it out.’ Oscar called out. Stef was towel drying her hair when she stepped into the bright and very airy bedroom.

‘Fucking hell, Oscar. Close at least one window?’ Stef felt her nipples stiffen from the cold. Why oh why didn’t she bring the padded sports bra, this lacey number was sexy but not functional.

If Oscar noticed, he didn’t let on. He was kneeling on his bed, arms out presenting the painting that now hung on the left side of the room.

Stef tilted her head to the side, hmming loudly.

‘You don’t like it?’

‘No, I think it looks good I just can’t think straight in this freezing cold room, what is wrong with you!’

‘Air conditioner is a bit broken, I’ll fix it.’ With hammer in hand, he manoeuvred himself off the bed, throwing his free arm around her shoulders. ‘Perfect,’ he grinned, looking at the painting and back to her.

‘Put a bra on Stef!’ He furrowed his brow and shook his head.

‘What?’ Stef stammered. ‘Wear some boxers!’ She countered, ‘I can see the outline of your junk in those sweats!’

‘It’s my birthday, I can wear what I want.’ He started fiddling with the air conditioning unit. She could hear him cursing before yelling that it was fixed while she put on her boots. Realising she hadn’t checked her phone all morning, she looked around for it.

There were a few messages. A couple from Darius and one from Clare sharing an update on what Brendan was doing while ‘mommy was away making some cash.’ Two were from Jared.

‘I’ve liked everything you’ve done so far.’

‘Out of interest, are you keeping the bit we recorded?’

Stef sighed, that song had been way to personal for her to put onto the album she was recording with the band.

‘I’m keeping it for a future release, it’s far too nice a song for this album we are doing now. I hope you don’t mind?’

Jared shot back a message straight away.

‘Naw I don’t mind. I look forward to hearing it whenever you’re ready for the world to hear it.’

Stef plugged her phone in to let it charge. Leaving Jared on read. She was sure he wouldn’t mind, it was easier than a conversation right now, she could always reply later.

Arriving at the studio a little early due to Oscar offering to drive her there, he took a few minutes to catch up with the guys.

‘Want to hear one of the new songs?’ Flopsy was bouncing on his feet, always so excited.

‘Of course I do!’ Oscar spun on his feet, fixing Stef with a glare. She hadn’t let him hear anything yet. Scrunching up her face, she nodded at Flopsy. Letting people hear her music wasn’t the issue, it was when someone listened to it that she knew so well.

Oscar knew her inside out, would he know who the songs were written about? She watched his face while he listened, grinning from ear to ear when the song finished. ‘I think that is some of the best I’ve heard by you guys. So fucking good.’ He clapped Flopsy on the back and looked to Stef. ‘Your voice is...’

‘Haunting,’ Nik offered.

Oscar nodded, ‘haunting. You’re telling us something here, Effie. I can’t wait to hear the rest of it.’

For the rest of the session, Oscar sat on the studio sofa while Stef recorded her vocals. Sipping between takes on her favourite tea, Oscar would give her the thumbs up each time she nodded that she was happy.

There was just the guitar to lay down before she could sign off and go home.

‘You happy?’ Oscar looked over at Stef in the car on the way back to his house.

‘Are YOU? You just spent your entire birthday in the studio.’

‘I’m so happy, it’s been years since we did that.’

‘It’s been years. I thought it was fun.’ Stef sank lower into the seat, wrapping her arms around herself.

‘The songs are something else. Whatever your muse was, try hold on to it.’

Oscar slowed at a stop sign and grinned. ‘Fancy a trip down memory lane?’

Stef narrowed her eyes, ‘how far down memory lane are you talking?’

Nodding his head down a street to the left, he waggled his eyebrows.

There was no one else on the road, so he did an illegal turn. Fuck it.

He pulled up outside a tall building that was ready to fall down, the condemned sign hung on one chain on the gate.

‘I’m not fucking surprised it’s condemned, it was falling down when we lived there.’ Stef shuddered looking up at the smashed windows.

It was the first place she and Oscar had lived in after they had Darius.

‘Yeah, I’m glad we got outta there.’ Rolling up his window as he drove away. ‘Probably the worst place I’ve ever lived.’

Stef nodded in agreement, even though she had lived in some crummy places in her lifetime.

‘Where to next?’

‘Oh so you wanna go see some shit?’

‘Well, now you started this trip down memory lane, let’s continue!’

Oscar laughed, driving toward their old high school, slowing as he came up to the parking lot. The gate was chained and padlocked.

‘Don’t even think about jumping that gate.’ Stef warned.

‘Not as young as I used to be.’ Oscar was shifting around looking at the building beyond, ‘if you move your head here, you can see the window of the music classroom. Here look,’ Oscar grabbed for Stef’s arm and pulled her toward him, she stood in front of him, pressed against the gate, nodding while she remembered meeting there for the first time over twenty years ago.

‘You ever get pissed that we didn’t finish school?’ Oscars breath tickled the back of her neck. Giggling, she ducked away from him. ‘Nah. I have a good life. No regrets, right?’

Oscar didn’t answer. He was still looking around the grounds, reminiscing.

‘How about you?’

‘Sometimes. But I got a good life. I’m not so sad about it.’ Shrugging, he dug his hands into his pockets and made his way back to the car, limping slightly.

‘Your foot still hurting?’ Stef asked, seeing him grin as he got into the car. He shook his head. ‘Nah, I just wanted your sympathy.’ He revved the engine at her as she scrambled to get back into the car.

‘Don’t leave me out here, it’s scary.’

‘Still afraid of the dark?’

‘Too many scary movies watched that had schools in them, it can’t be helped.’

‘Fancy some food?’

‘Oscar, it’s nearly midnight.’

‘My birthday doesn’t end til I go asleep!’ He declared. Stef nodded eagerly, she hadn’t eaten anything but a sandwich at lunch, her stomach had been grumbling.

***

Tucking her feet under a pillow on the sofa, a beer was passed under her nose. Her stomach was full of good food and she felt sleepy.

She raised the bottle to his and clinked, toasting to his health and happiness and many more birthdays.

Oscar dropped down heavily next to her, throwing his arm across the back of the chair.

‘I’m old and tired.’

‘Me too,’ Stef tried to hide a yawn.

‘Tell me Effie. Who ended it?’

‘Oh, uhm,’ Stef fiddled with the label on the bottle. ‘I did.’

Oscar nodded. ‘I thought you might.’

Stef closed her eyes, laying her head back against his arm. ‘I think everyone knew it had to end.’

‘Are you ok about it?’

Stef sighed loudly, ‘actually, yes. I’m happier now that it’s done.’

She didn’t need to see Oscar to know he was making a face of disbelief.

‘I am. Long term, I wanted something he couldn’t offer.’

‘Oh-ho, Effie knows what she wants. There’s a surprise.’ He teased.

Stef poked her finger into his ribs, enjoying his reaction. Grabbing at her hand, he held onto it for a moment before letting it fall into her lap.

‘I’m happy you’re happy.’ He said simply.

‘Thank you, Oscar.’

He nodded and sat quietly for a moment.

‘I got something for you,’ he announced.

‘What? You got me something? But, it’s your birthday.’

He was pulling out his phone, scrolling and fiddling with the volume.

‘It’s because it’s my birthday that the guys put this together for me. Ready?’

Stef shrugged, smiling at him, wondering what he was up to.

The familiar guitar chords started up, it was a song they had recorded earlier in the week, it was still a little raw, hearing it. Her vocals started in but it wasn’t until the second verse she heard it, the unmistakable sound of Oscar singing behind her own voice. ‘When did you do that?’

‘I was sent the early version and recorded it before you came down to the studio.’

‘You cheeky bastard.’ Stef laughed. ‘I love it, Oscar. Are we using it?’ She was wide eyed, excited. They had never done a duet. The thought had never even occurred to her.

‘If you want. The guys are cool with it.’

She was nodding again, listening to the song. It was perfect.

‘So it’s ok? You’re happy with it?’ His brown eyes were eagerly searching for the yes he hoped for.

‘Hell yes it’s ok, I’m more than happy Oscar. Well done you for sneaking that by me.’

Stef paused, she had leaned in to kiss his cheek. He was looking at her mouth in that way he did, his head tilted to the side.

‘Unless, you wrote it about someone and you don’t want to share the song?’ His soft voice was tender in the absence of music as the song finished, the short space between them closing.

‘I didn’t write it about him,’ Stef swallowed, shutting her eyes.

His lips found the side of her mouth, placing a gentle kiss. Stef didn’t pull away, he could see her mouth was open, her eyebrows raised like she was waiting for the kiss.

The kiss that would begin a long night of laying awake alone and heartbroken or the kiss that would bring her back to him, finally. Heart fluttering he leaned in again. It had been so long since she kissed him like this, lips fitting together as they had done so many times before, yet this kiss was new.

Stef put the beer down on the coffee table, rattling the glass top. ’Sorry,’ she stopped the giggle as it came to the surface.

Her cheeks were flushed. She was bundled up in her thick hoodie, oversized and too damn heavy for the heat in the room.

Both of them looked at anything but each other, both wanting to break the silence but too sure they would say something stupid.

Stef felt like a teenager again, with Oscar sitting next to her making out and being caught by a sibling who always dashed out to find a parent or yelled about it to everyone in the house.

Oscar wiped his brow with the back of his hand. ‘Fuck, that was...’

‘Nice.’ Stef finished, blushing at him.

’It was nice,’ he agreed, ‘and I wanna do it again.’

‘Ok,’ Stef leaned in to him, his hands running along her neck, cupping her face.

They smiled into the kisses, tongues brushing, breathing ragged.

Stef had bunched his shirt into her fingers, holding onto him. Eventually the grip got so tight he had to pull away from the kiss to ease her fingers away. ‘Hey, I’m not going anywhere, you can let go.’

It had been a while since he was this close her. He could see the smattering of freckles over her nose and the scar on her forehead from when she ran straight into a fence when she hurtled down a hill when she was 15.

‘Sorry,’ she murmured. ‘I just want to...touch you,’ she admitted, biting her lip.

He nodded, taking her mouth again, his thumbs on either side of her face.

Her lips were stinging when they came up for air. ‘Your stubble is killing me.’ Stef laughed, touching the tender skin around her mouth with her fingertips.

‘I’ll shave tomorrow,’ Oscar offered before seeing Stef vigorously shaking her head.

‘What?’ He was grinning now, his eyes lighting up.

‘Don’t shave, I like the scruff.’ She ran a hand across his cheek. ‘I love the scruff.’

‘Hey, I think we should talk about this.’ Oscar took her hand, kissing her palm and letting it rest against his leg.

‘Oh.’ Stef shifted, ‘you don’t want to...’

‘No, I do. Sorry, I wasn’t even sure if you felt the same as I did about this. I’m not...reading this wrong?’

‘No, Oscar. You’re not making me kiss you. I want to. I’ve wanted you for such a long time.’

The confession was enough, he wanted to grab her and kiss her and yell out of the windows that she finally felt the same.

‘Well, thank fuck for that. But...’

‘But?’ Stef deflated a little.

‘But I think, we should slow it down a little. I don’t want to jump in where we left off.’

Stef was nodding, her gaze never leaving his. ‘And I don’t mean from that night after Darius’s party, I mean if we do this, I want to take you out first.’

‘You want to date me!?’ Stef grabbed the beer, throwing back half the bottle on realising how thirsty she was after the make out session.

‘Yeah, I do. I think we should get to know each other as we are now. As adults, not as kids struggling to hold everything together.’

‘Ok,’ Stef wanted to pinch herself, surely she was dreaming. ‘So the Oscar sitting next to me right now, wants to bring me on a date? And after the date?’

‘Maybe another one?’

‘Maybe?’ She was trying to tease some assurances from him.

‘Definitely another, then another.’

‘Sounds…quaint.’

Oscar rolled his eyes, smiling. Their hands were entwined, neither remembered that happening, but it was all happening.

‘How long have you wanted to date me?’ Stef’s tiredness had ebbed away, she felt like she was flooded with electricity, jolts were keeping her upright and twitchy.

‘A long time, but honestly, every time I wanted to speak up I knew it wasn’t the right time. You never wanted to entertain any man that wanted into your life. I’d be intensely in love with you every we saw each other and I’d have to...’

‘Pull back and not talk to me for a while?’

‘Yeah...’ Oscar winced.

‘I thought it was coz I was turning you off.’

’No, the opposite. It’d break my heart every time you acted so normal around me. We were friends and that’s the way it was staying. It seemed.’

Stef felt a stab of guilt. ‘I’ve always wanted you. I was just too proud to let you back in.’

‘God, did I waste too much time we could have been together?’ Tears were threatening. Not again, she scolded herself.

’No time like the present!’ He threw his hands into the air. ‘Forget about it all, Effie. Let me take you out.’

Gathering herself, Stef thought to fix her hair. She hadn’t checked a mirror in a long time. What if she looked like the wreck of the Hesperus??

Seeing Oscar’s hopeful eyes looking back her, it seemed he didn’t care a jot.

‘Yes, please take me on a date.’ She gushed.

***

Stef was under the blankets in the spare room, tossing every few minutes. It would be reckless to go seek comfort in Oscar’s bed. They had agreed to take things slow, go on a few dates, get to know each other and see where it went.

Fuck it, she thought. It’s not as if they had just met. If he didn’t want her in there with him, he would send her away.

She tip toed down the hall, the icy air hit her legs when she opened his door. The soft knock had woken him, she stood shifting from one foot to the other before he lifted his arm and the blankets with it, inviting her in next to him.

Slipping in next to him, he threw his arm over her and sighed contentedly. She bit her lip to conceal a smile she couldn’t seem to get rid of.

#uys #under your spell #oscar isaac #oscar isaac x ofc #oscar isaac fic #oscar isaac fiction #jared padalecki #jared padalecki x ofc #jared padalecki fic #jared padalecki fiction #real life person fic #real life person fiction #Real Life Fiction #spn #supernatural

3 notes · View notes

acrepairbryantx-blog · 4 years

Text

#1 Home AC Repair Bryan TX Service Contractors

Central Air & Appliance Service is a full-service HVAC and commercial refrigeration company serving College Station, Bryan TX and the surrounding areas. We are licensed, bonded and insured. We are a proud and authorized service provider for Armstrong Air. We also service, install and repair common brands like Trane, Carrier, York, Goodman, Rheem. We pride ourselves on our ability to treat our customers like family from the very beginning since 2008. Customer satisfaction is our main priority, therefore, our trained heating and cooling technicians are always ready to meet even the highest expectations of our customers. Call our friendly team today and we will make sure to handle your project with professionalism, focus, and care.

Central Air & Appliance Service

4509 North Texas Ave Bryan, TX 77803 United States

(979) 324-6791

https://centralairandappliance.com/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/acrepairbryantx

To maintain your spending plan in check, it is necessary to keep your home heating as well as air prices down. There are ways to do this in both heat and also cold. Without the focus on this family expense, utility bills can leave control. No need to call your preferred ACrepair company when you follow these steps. You can maintain costs down by including insulation, having an energy reliable system, and making some way of life modifications.

In both cold weather and also hot, insulation can maintain the temperature levels inside even more comfy. Insulation can be put in crawl areas in between ceiling and roofing systems in addition to walls. If there is an open room under the flooring, this location can additionally be full of sheets of batting or loosened fiberfill that is blown in. If the home windows are single pane, upgrading to a dual-pane power-efficient style can additionally lower heating as well as air expenses. Today, numerous kinds of blinds, tones, and curtains are made with power effectiveness in mind.

To have efficient heating as well as air systems, seasonal repair, and maintenance need to be executed. An ounce of prevention is always worth an extra pound of remedy. Before the initial day of summertime as well as the start of the winter season, it is essential to see to it all systems prepare to roll. Filters should be changed month-to-month and the devices will require to be inspected, adjusted, and also cleaned up as needed by a skilled air conditioning repair service professional. A tuned-up maker will undoubtedly run smoothly and even much more effectively. If the existing heating system and A/C are rather old, it might be time to trade it in for a new design. Decreased energy expenses will offset the initial cost of a brand-new device in time.

Way of life changes can additionally make a distinction in the home heating as well as air conditioning costs in a house. As an example, in the summer, keeping blinds attracted throughout the most popular component of the day will undoubtedly obstruct the heat from entering the building. Additionally, in the summer season, it's wise to prepare heat meals such as salads and also grilled products, slightly warming up your home by utilizing the stove. In the wintertime, having the oven on is a terrific concept. Not only will warm food warm up the citizens from within, but your home will also be warmed up by a 375-degree stove baking for a few hours. Having the blinds attracted open during the sunniest part of the day will let the sun rays and heat in.

There's no reason to throw more money at home heating and cooling costs than necessary. With some attention to information, homeowners can stay comfy without breaking the bank. By upping the insulation in a house, preserving as well as fixing the heating units and Air conditionings as necessary, as well as making some way of living modifications, the energy costs can be maintained under control.But if your unit encounters any problems, beter contact a air conditioner repair expert

When taking a look around your home for means to save power, it is crucial to remember some easy rules. The first is the size of your heating as well as the air system. If it is as well big or as well tiny for your house, you aren't going to get the most effective performance from it. If you understand this before installment, you can purchase an AC repair company business that will market you a unit appropriately sized. Looking in the direction of one more crucial facet of power cost savings, check your insulation. This is very important, not merely in the attic room, however in the wall surfaces and cellar also. Your conditioned air can get away from anywhere you allow it. Finally, carry out fans to supplement your A/C. You'll discover immediate financial savings.

Unless you live in a location that seldom obtains over 70 levels, the most likely drainpipe on your electrical energy in your A/C, also, if you utilize it a couple of months out of the year, many people invest even more to run their A/C every year than they do their refrigerator, which runs all year. If you aren't sure just how much of your energy bill is condemned on the A/C, you can do a smooth examination. Take the electrical costs from the last month that you did not utilize it as well as take one from a month when you did. Deduct one from the other, and you'll have the regular monthly price of running your A/C. Now you'll recognize if home heating and air need to be your energy savings target or if you require to concentrate your attention in other places.

Numerous factors affect just how huge or small your electric costs are monthly. Look at the typical age of your home appliances. It is important to save money by hiring the best air conditioner repair technician. Older home appliances are always going to use a lot more power. If you do not have appropriate insulation, you're probably going to spend much more on home heating and air. Finally, don't get stuck on the small stuff. Maintaining your computer system on, leaving the refrigerator open as well long when searching for something to eat, and also flying a light on in the hall isn't most likely to make much of a difference regardless, so don't stress and anxiety regarding it.

1 note · View note

everythingandeveryplace · 5 years

Text

*Worlds Apart - Eric x OC* part 2

*********************************

It’s too damn hot in Amity, every step Eric takes feels as though it’s weighted down by heavy lead and the sweat soaking through the back of his black T-shirt is so disgustingly uncomfortable he wants nothing more than to rip it off his body and curl underneath one of the shady lush green trees lining the backyards of the houses in this god forsaken faction.

“I take it back. I take it all back.. I’m over the sun and fresh air.. I’ve had it.” Four whines as he drains the last of his water bottle and throws the useless plastic on the floor. They’ve been out here since the morning.. it’s almost four now and the sun hasn’t let up even a little.. it’s brutal. For all of amity’s peace and free love not a single resident has offered a cold drink or a place to sit.. they’re too afraid.

Eric grunts, his body tense as they walk the streets, it isn’t until they see Luca and Nick coming to take their place that he speaks

“Thank the fucking lord.” Eric gives the other men the rundown and quickly gathers his things before walking with Four to the apartment complex they’ve been staying at. There’s no air conditioner in the complex and the food that Dauntless has been delivering is something close to gruel but it’s better than standing under the sun and pacing the streets.

“Woah!”

The pretty brunette from last night quite literally runs into Four, his hands coming out to steady her. She was rounding the corner pretty quickly and had her head buried in paperwork.

“Sophie!” Four exclaims, the tension from earlier on easing rapidly as he smiles at the tiny girl.

“Oh! Hey guys.. sorry about that, I was just checking reports on the crop lines from this week and apparently handwriting isn’t important for this job.” She rolls her eyes showing them the chicken scratch scribbled on the paper in her hands “heading back for the day? It sure was a hot one today!”

“Yeah. I can’t believe how hot it gets here. The apartments have no air so we’re probably going to go stand by the freezer for a couple of hours.” Four teased, Eric couldn’t help but notice the way one of his hands was still resting on Sophie’s hip.. she seemed to notice at the same time and stepped away slightly, cheeks pink and green eyes sparking.

“What?! No way, it is way too hot for that today. Why don’t you guys come with me! I was just heading for Violets, I heard she had a pretty rough day at the infirmary and I’m sure she could use the company! There’s air there and snacks!” Sophie reached for Fours wrist tugging him along with her, Eric debated just going the complete other way and leaving Four to fend for himself but something about cool air and warm brown eyes had him following behind.

It wasn’t very far at all, just a five minute walk to Violets home. It wasn’t anything like Eric had ever seen before.. a white cottage wrapped in pink and red roses, vines tangling around the sides and molding to the window, it was small but not too small and the stone walkway was wide enough for all three of them to fit. It was... pretty? Even Eric was impressed by how well maintained it was. The front door was left unlocked and something about that sat uneasy in his stomach, someone as beautiful as Violet should always lock the door, he’d have to let her know.

“V! I’m here.. and I have a surprise!”

As soon as they stepped foot inside the home, the cold air sent chills up erics entire sweaty body, it smelt like vanilla and strawberries.

“I’m in the bedroom..” her voice was muffled and quiet, there was music playing in the kitchen.. something soft and calming.

Sophie giggled, nodding her head towards the bedroom and motioning for them to follow. There flat on the bed with her face pushed into her mattress was Violet, her hair in a messy bun and her scrub pants still on.

“Long day?” Sophie questioned, he heard Four snort from beside him.

Violet moved her face to the side so only her cheek was pressed against the comforter and smiled brightly albeit a little sleepily when she noticed the two large men taking up space in her doorway.

“You could say that again. Did you guys come over for dinner?” She propped herself up on her elbow and smiled, her eyes falling on Eric, everything about violet was soft and sweet and warm.. a vast contrast to Erics cold and angry disposition.

“I..” He swallowed.

“They did! It’s too hot for them to go back to the Amity complexes and I happen to know Johanna sent you over a couple of bottles of that new wine that tastes like candy.. so we’re going to feed these boys and cheer you up.” Sophie beamed tucked close to Fours side.

“Sounds good to me.. why don’t you get a couple of glasses of iced tea ready, lord knows how long you guys have been standing out in the sun.” Violets voice was something like melted sugar, smooth and clear and sweet.

Sophie and Four made their way to the kitchen, Eric moved to follow them but Violet interrupted him

“It’s really good to see you again.” He turned towards her she was sitting up in bed now, her knees over the edge. She glanced down at the space beside her and nodded inviting him to sit on the open spot. He did, not used to the soft plush feel of her comforter in dauntless he slept on silk sheets and a hard mattress, the complete opposite of her cotton duvet and soft mattress.

“Hmm.” He hummed, too distracted by the smell of her clean skin to fully respond.

“Did you know I had to tend to one of your men today? He shot himself in the foot with his own rifle when a bee stung his leg.”

Eric’s eyes snapped towards her, his tension easing when he saw the smile on her face and the giggle she was trying to hold back.

“You know his name?”

She nodded lazily

“Peter.. He didn’t want me to touch him, he said I was “amity scum.” I had to sedate him to stop him from bleeding out.. it’s been a long day.” She chuckled, standing up to grab the pair of leggings on the dresser and walk into her ajoined bathroom “a couple more of your men passed out due to heat exhaustion.. I’m off tomorrow, first time in two weeks! I think I’ll hand out waters to the troops.. you’re just not used to it is all..”

Peter was an idiot, the dumbest recruit in dauntless without a doubt. He didn’t listen and he was arrogant and while the leaders typically let it slide.. it drove Eric crazy..but to insult the one person who was trying to help him.. to insult her? That wasn’t okay with him.

Violet came out of the bathroom fresh faced with her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, cheeks Rosie and eyes sparkling.

“I think Sophie likes four.” She smiled.

Eric couldn’t help the scrunch of his face

“Why would she do that?”

If violets smile was pretty her laugh was on a whole different level, it filled the entire room and made his skin buzz like he had just touched a wet outlet. She was grinning at him like he had just told the most interesting secret.

“I think he likes her too! They’re awfully cute together don’t you think?” She questioned, head tilted like a puppy waiting for a bone.. normally it would disgust him but with her it seemed to only strengthen the growing attraction he felt deep in the pit of his stomach. She was too fucking cute

“Nah.. they’re dorks.” He snorted

“Oh he’s not so bad! And she’s the prettiest woman on this planet..” she made her way to the bedroom door beside him and he couldn’t stop the words that spilled out

“Not nearly as pretty as you.”

Her eyes flicked up to his, trapped in the doorway his chest nearly connecting with hers. Violet blushed rose petal pink.

“Thankyou.” She whispered, her hands fluttering over his chest for a moment before landing on the place right below his heart.

“anytime.” He grinned, the feeling of her fingers over the thin material of his t shirt making his heart beat just a little faster.

“I.. umm.. I better go and start dinner.. you have to be hungry.” She was breathless as she stepped just a centimeter closer, his arm came around her waist.. large hand splaying over the small of her back.

“Starving.” He whispered, dipping down to brush his lips over her ear. She gasped quietly and moved her hands behind his neck, her fingers gripping at the tattoos that wrapped around his skin.

“Eric.” She whispered back.. pupils blown out and eyes black.

He swallowed thickly, dropping his forehead to hers.

“Violet.” He brought his lips to meet hers just an inch away before...

“Are you guys coming? Iced tea is only iced for so long!” Sophie’s voice called from the living room effectively breaking the moment sending Violet shoving back and stumbling from the doorway.

“Dinner.” She mumbled, flicking back on her wide eyed smile “you need dinner! Come on then.. pasta doesn’t cook itself.” She made her way towards the kitchen, hips swinging just a little more exaggerated than before.

Eric leaned back against the doorframe groaning.

This tiny blonde with the honey hair was going to be the death of him.

#divergent #divergent eric #eric coulter #eric x oc #insurgent #jai courtney #eric coulter fanfiction #eric coulter imagine #divergent fanfiction #eric x oc imagine #olivia holt #theo james #eric fanfic #eric coulter au #cloak and dagger #dauntless #amity

147 notes · View notes

wardoftheedgeloaves · 5 years

Text

China Story Time II: Learn Programming and Epidemiology the Very Hard Way

I haven’t posted more than two installments of my promised series on Chinese historical linguistics and dialectology. In lieu of progress on it, please gather round the campfire and enjoy this entirely unrelated story about the time I taught the summer camp from hell in Shenzhen. (Dialectology tie-in: we once had a cabbie who only [?] spoke Canto.)

I wish to emphasize that this story has not been embellished.

Summer in China is a sultry and slow-paced affair for the private-school English teacher--you stop teaching seriously in late May, school gets out in late June, and you don’t have to be back until early September. Your pay is good enough that you’ve got savings to last you the summer, but you could always use a bit of spare cash. Unless your social situation is good, your isolation (and the weather) doesn’t help your work ethic too much. Your life is lived at tea houses, reading thinkpieces and books and procrastinating on writing more thinkpieces and working on your Mandarin and getting around to that damned monograph. (Alternative English-teacher mode: hit the bars prowling for locals who may or may not fit within the (n/2)+7 rule, demolish a couple of six-packs’ worth of alcohol, hit the hay at 2:30 in the morning, wake up at noon, repeat. I was luckily never this much of a degenerate.)

As in the US, the affluent Chinese parent often sends their offspring to summer camp for some educational enrichment and peace and quiet at home. So it was that a recruiter offered me, and another English teacher (we’ll call him...Nick) in Chengdu, the chance to earn 7000 kuai (~$1050) each teaching programming in Shenzhen. A class in the morning from 9-12, repeated from Monday to Friday, with a chance for a second week in Lu’an, Anhui. Plane tickets and accommodation included, other details vague. Technically illegal--you’re not supposed to do any work outside of the job sponsoring your visa--but nobody cares about summer camps.

To learn programming, the students (and we) are provided with little inch-by-inch-by-inch plastic cubes with wheels called “Pocket-bots” or something of the sort. These are actually rather nifty little gadgets. You connect to them with your phone or computer in a spacious computer lab (or so the brochures say) and click and drag instructions to create and run programs. E.g., you might tell the bot to go forward for 10 seconds at speed 10, then check to see if it was on white (rather than black) paper, and sing a little song if it is, then turn left and repeat. The software allowed you to do if-loops, for-loops, and while-loops at the very least, which is pretty good for small kids. Satisfied that we would have the equipment needed to teach the class, we packed our Pocket-bots and arrived in Shenzhen on a sticky, hot, sunny July morning.

Now, a word on Shenzhen. In 1978 when Deng took the wheel, Shenzhen was a sleepy little fishing village of thirty thousand people whose only interesting feature was that it was right next to Hong Kong. This made it perfect for the early-80s experiments in capitalism, and over the next four decades it exploded (it now has 12 million people and a standard of living on par with Western Europe). As a result of its early rise to wealth and power, it’s home to the first private school in China, founded 1994. However, private schools in China tend to be boarding schools, and boarding schools tend to be out away from the city center where land is cheap and distractions are relatively few.

So this place is in the middle of nowhere, or as close to the middle of nowhere as it’s possible to get in the Pearl River Delta. It’s surrounded by forested mountains (Guangdong is surprisingly hilly). It’s about 95 (35) degrees, humid as hell, and in direct sunlight--July, south of the Tropic of Cancer. We’re in the kids’ dorm rooms (luckily we each get our own private dorm room with a private, cold-running shower.) We drop our bags, wash up, and go meet the kids.

And it turns out that a fifth of them are Americans! You see, this wasn’t just a programming camp--it was also an English and cross-cultural experience camp. Approximately 15 high-school kids from Florida and California were being flown out, all expenses paid, to be big-brother/big-sister with the Chinese kids, who were in late elementary school. The chaperone (we’ll call her Margaret; in fact I can’t actually remember her name, but it definitely wasn’t Margaret), the mother of one of the kids, was thoroughly perplexed--but, hey, a free trip to China.

So Nick and I go and look at the teaching rooms (this is about one in the afternoon). These aren’t the sparkling, spacious computer labs we saw on the website, oh no. We have a couple of primary school classrooms no more than about five meters by six, with laughably tiny kindergartner-sized chairs and tables. There’s a smartboard, which we can barely get to run and which we can’t connect to our computers to show the programs the kids are supposed to run. There’s no free access to the wifi. Instead, we have to get our teaching assistants to put their login credentials on every single device that needs to connect to the wifi--and since you have to have wifi to connect to the robots, well. In other words, it’s going to be a s***show, and we’ve got five mornings of it ahead of us.

We know the inevitable talk/confrontation with our boss/program coordinator is going to be a disaster, so we leave for a few hours to try and find a six-pack of Tsingtao. Remember how I said this was in the middle of nowhere? It was in the middle of nowhere. We walk out of the gates for a full kilometer (possibly more; the road meandered, and the terrain was by no means flat) past construction sites and dense forest bordering on jungle until we finally, finally reach an air-conditioned convenience store nestled between auto-repair shops, low-rise tile-walled tenements, light industry and eight-kuai noodle parlors. (Those of you who have been outside of a major city center in China will know the kind of neighborhood I’m talking about--not dangerous, by any means (except for the traffic), but boring, sprawling and not overly prosperous.) But they have beer, and we knock back two each along with a good liter of water.

We have a chat with the supervisor at about 9 o’clock that evening while the kids are engaging in...god, I don’t even recall. I think the Chinese kids were in bed, while the Americans were playing cards and vidya. Now readers who have spent much time in China or with Chinese organizations will know that it is a faux pas in China to admit fault, and an even bigger faux pas to play hardball to get somebody to admit fault. The result, usually, is deflection--our supervisor didn’t know about any of this, it wasn’t her fault, she would ask her boss to try and improve things.

(I don’t wish to come across as too hard on Chinese culture here. I think this is really a situation where American and Chinese culture are doomed to clash, and clash badly. If you fuck up in the US, you’re supposed to admit fault and apologize, at least theoretically--deflection and white lies are infuriating on the receiving end and the natural reaction is to start tearing them apart to get an admission of contrition. In China, the convention is often that you tell a white lie or deflect to save face--and if the other person you’re talking to is Chinese, they’ll often accept that even if it’s not really believed. The result in Chinese-American communication can be an arms race, where the American will get ticked off at the deflection and perceived dishonesty and start playing hardball, which prompts more deflection. Looking back on it now, it was clear that trying to play hardball with our supervisor was pointless--we were never going to get good computer labs or WiFi, and the only thing to do was to figure out something to do. But knowing that we’d at least theoretically been hired to teach programming, we endeavoured to do our best. (Remember, between flying all the Americans over and the company’s profit, the Chinese parents were getting fleeced.) Nick had recently discovered the stern precepts of Jordan Peterson after catching herpes-type-2 (that’s the bad kind) of the mouth from a liaison with his dermatologist, and reminded me that it was our duty to do the best we could by the students.

Day one: Monday.

There are about 70-75 kids in the program between the Chinese and the Americans, so we have about 35 each at least in classrooms of about fifteen square meters, sitting on tiny little kindergarten chairs at tiny little kindergarten desks (not so much of a problem for the Chinese elementary-schoolers, much more uncomfortable for the American high-schoolers). Our teaching assistants spend most of their time in the back playing on their phones after they’ve set the WiFi on each device, which takes about an hour to get worked out. (Remember, three-hour class with a fifteen-minute break). Each room has an underpowered air conditioner which succeeds in reducing the temperature from the mid-30s C to the upper 20s (from about 92 to 78 in freedom degrees) if the windows are closed, at the cost of any breezes.

And we run into the first problem. Your device uses WiFi to connect automatically and effortlessly to a nearby Pocketbot. That’s not a problem when you’re in a spacious computer lab with ten other people and a strong signal. When you’re in a tiny little room with thirty-five other people and a network that wouldn’t have been out of place in the last years of the Clinton administration, well.

Some kids couldn’t connect to their bot at all. Others were controlling four robots at once with a single device. Some were able to stay connected through the session, others’ internet kept crapping out every ten minutes.

After an hour and twenty minutes of this, we call a twenty-minute break.

easternestablishmentarian: “What the fuck do we even do?”

Nick: “No idea. Start in on the basic ideas of programming. Have the teaching assistants translate.”

We do. The teaching assistants are not all that happy about having to play translator, particularly since their English isn’t very good and the concepts are, well, complicated! I had some success in doing the teacher-as-robot routine you see in intro programming classes, where you have to tell the teacher exactly what to do (Keep going! *teacher-bot crashes into wall*), and extended this up to about half past eleven by making it a group activity where the Chinese kids had to direct their American big-sibling robots around the room. We spent about another fifteen minutes trying to do something, anything, with the robots--remember, we couldn’t show our laptop screens on the smartboard, which didn’t work, so we had to draw the program with chalk. At about 11:45 we just call it quits and let them leave for lunch early.

Right after lunch (which, incidentally, was extremely strange--the cafeteria staff had been instructed to try to make some sort of Chinese-Western fusion, with results like spaghetti with both tomato and soy sauce. If only they’d just stuck to good local dishes, of which there are hundreds, but oh well...) we call an emergency meeting with Margaret.

Margaret: You guys aren’t going to bail on us, are you? I have no clue what’s going on.

Me: No, but it’s clear that there’s no way to do programming and the kids’ll hate it. Let’s just do a regular summer camp.

Later that day we go back out for more beer and sketch out a plan. We don’t have WiFi or devices worth a damn, so electronics are off. However, we do have a campus of at least twenty or thirty acres filled with small fields and six-story dorms and classrooms connected by a labyrinth of walkways. (During the school year, the school is home to about three thousand students, all boarding, so it’s the size of a couple city blocks at least.)

We call a meeting with our supervisor.

Nick: This isn’t working. We can’t do programming.

Supervisor: Well, do you have any other ideas?

Nick: We could do sports and games.

Supervisor: Oh, I think that will be wonderful!

(Nick, later: “How much are these parents paying again?”)

Day two: Tuesday.

We start with Sardines, which degenerates into chaotic hide-and-seek but keeps them occupied for a good hour and a half. The teaching assistants are sent to look for athletic equipment like basketballs, which they’re not too happy about. Midway through break we run out of cups.

Us: “It’s 35 degrees outside and we don’t have enough water. There are only two water dispensers for 80 people and no more cups.”

Teaching assistant: “Oh, well, we didn’t know we would run out. I don’t know where the water is, maybe they can bring some tomorrow.”

Us: *sigh*

We discover that some air-conditioned buses (dlory! dlory! hallelujah!) stop right in front of the school and run towards a major commercial center. We go out for hotpot.

Nick: “So, fun fact--I’m actually on a spousal visa. I married a local chick for visa purposes.”

Me: “Huh.”

Nick: “Yeah, we divorced, but the immigration department doesn’t have access to divorce records and my visas’s still valid. Can’t technically work on it, though.”

Day three: Wednesday.

Capture the Flag, followed by semi-structured time in which the Americans are divided into groups, assigned Chinese students, and instructed to create activities. We run out of cups again.

Nick: *drinking straight from the water dispenser tap*

Me: “Didn’t you say you caught...”

Nick: “Shut up, easternestablishmentarian.”

Me: “...”

Me: “There are seventy-five kids here.”

Nick: “Just shut up.”

I buy my own personal supply of bottled water that afternoon. He did agree to only fill up a bottle from that point onwards.

Us: “Supervisor, please tell us--will there be WiFi when one of us teaches programming with the robots in Lu’an in Anhui?”

Supervisor: “Oh, uh, I don’t know, I am not going to Anhui.”

Us: “Please find out.”

Day four: Thursday.

It being sunny and slightly cooler, we take the kids on a hike through a back trail that goes by a farm and into the woods. Guangdong proves to be home to some terrifyingly large arthropods, none of which are aggressive.

After lunch, we debate who will go on to Lu’an. Nick makes a good case for needing the money, so I cede it (in part because Anhui is a notoriously boring and underdeveloped province, and Lu’an is only its second- or third-biggest city).

Us: “So, supervisor, please tell us.”

Supervisor: “Oh, yes, there is no WiFi for the summer camp in Anhui, I asked.”

Us: “But Nick’s going to be teaching robots again?”

Supervisor: “Well, maybe he can also teach something else, like English, but yes, it’s a robot camp.”

Us: “But you need WiFi to work with the robots.”

Supervisor: “Oh, I’m not the supervisor in Anhui, just here in Shenzhen, so I didn’t know.”

Day five: Friday.

After a laughably pointless closing ceremony, we collect our paychecks (in cash) and head into Shenzhen, where Nick tries to send it out.

Bank teller: “So, uh, what are you doing in China?”

Nick: “I’m visiting family, it’s a spousal visa.”

Bank teller: “OK, so I don’t think this is possible, you have the tax form?” (note: this is quite common for foreigners, even those on legal visas--foreigners’ money has all sorts of systems and regulations surrounding it that most bank tellers don’t know how to handle (because there are so few foreigners), and to avoid losing face they will often just tell you that it’s not possible to do what you want to do.)

At this point, I’m starting to shake my head furiously in Nick’s direction--get us out of here before they start asking questions about where this money came from and call immigration. After two hours, we give up.

Me: “You could have gotten us deported.”

Nick: “Nah, man, they’re just clueless bank tellers.”

I fly back to Chengdu the following day seven thousand kuai richer, while Nick hangs on until Sunday and then flies to Lu’an with the Americans, where another group of Chinese kids get their parents fleeced for robots that don’t work (though, as he told it, things worked out fine, kind of.) The kids, incidentally, were great about the whole incident--the Chinese kids I think in part because their lives are so structured that just getting to run around was a breath of fresh air for them. The Americans were fairly willing to work around the absurdity. Nobody got deported and nothing’s appeared in the news about an epidemic of the sort of disease that schoolchildren aren’t supposed to get.

So we come to the moral of the story, children: all’s well that ends well, and buy your own water.

10 notes · View notes