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randomshyperson · 3 years

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Can I request a celebrity AU with Elizabeth Olsen and Female Reader? Where R is Vision in the MCU. And like throughout a series of interviews and behind the scenes shots, you can see how the two actually fall in love in real life. And in like the final interview they ask “Are you two dating?” And this time they can finally say yes

Hello darling, how are you? I hope well. This took me a while, and i’m not sure you’re even going to like it. But i hope you do. It was honestly kind of strange to write for Lizzie, i kept mistaken the name as Wanda. Also, i changed your idea a bit, because i could find the right way to write the interviews. But anyway, here it is. Good reading.

Elizabeth Olsen x Reader - Love is outside the screen

Summary: The one where Reader plays Vision in the MCU and she falls in love with her co-worker Elizabeth Olsen.

Warnings: None.

Words: 4.308 words //// Read on AO3

Marks: @wandamaximoffpuppy

Part. 2 || Part 3

Eight years ago

Your agent was calling you for the third time, and you thought you should answer before you lost your contract.

Letting out an impatient sigh as you reached for your cell phone, you left it on speaker.

- Hello, Sara. - You say with a slight irony as you relax your body in the water of the jacuzzi again.

- It's not polite to ignore someone who keeps you employed. - she said irritated, making you laugh.

- Sorry, but I told you I was on vacation. - You reminded her. - And what did you keep doing? Oh yes, calling me.

- Don't be so grumpy, woman. - She replied with a light humor in her voice, and you could hear the clatter of keystrokes, suggesting that she was working. - I have an opportunity for you.

You raised your eyebrows in curiosity, but said nothing. And by your silence, Sara kept talking.

- Tell me, have you ever thought about being a superhero?

You let out an incredulous laugh, thinking it was a joke.

- I'm not going to make any weird latex movies, Sara. - You warn her, and she lets out a laugh.

- Actually, honey, it's Marvel.

You blink in surprise, and then turn to rest your arms on the edge of the jacuzzi and look directly at your cell phone.

- What are you talking about?

- Ah, caught your interest, huh? - She remarks. - You actors are all the same, one famous name and you fall to your knees.

- Sara...

- No, it's okay. - She giggles. - They want a openly queer actress to play a lesbian heroine, I think. And then they called me.

- Wow, Marvel doing something like that? - You comment. - It sounds like a lie.

Sara giggles.

- It pays well anyway. - She says, and then a notification pops up on the screen. - I just sent you the script. Let me know if I can confirm your audition.

You let out a sigh before saying goodbye and hanging up, grabbing your cell phone to read the script.

It is the scene description of your character's appearance, and there is also a note for the chemistry test. You bite your lips thoughtfully. You were known in the media for roles in international, indie and cult films, mostly lesbian romance. You had a few academy nominations, and had been awarded twice by the critics. Superheroes were not really what you were looking for. But then you remembered how much you missed having a lgbt reference in media like this, and then you are sending a message to your agent confirming your audition.

//-//

Present

You are twiddling your thumbs in your dressing room. It must be the ninth interview in less than two weeks. Letting out a sigh, you stand up, momentarily looking at your appearance in the mirror. The make-up team did a good job, you look well. And then you are walking outside, to the dressing room next to yours.

You knock on the door, and are soon answered. But Elizabeth doesn't smile when she pulls you inside.

- Hey, Lizzie, what's up? - you ask worriedly as you close the door. The next second she's hugging you tight, and you sigh. - You're anxious, aren't you?

- I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my mouth. - She grumbles and you start stroking her back, trying to calm her down.

- Remember that exercise we practiced, okay? - You ask her tenderly as you move your feet so that you move together toward the sofa in the living room. You break the embrace slowly, to sit Lizzie down on the couch as you kneel in front of her. She looks on the verge of tears, and you place your hands on top of hers. - Breathe with me, okay?

It will take you many minutes to calm her down, but you don't care. And then she smiles, and brings your foreheads together.

- Thank you. - She whispers before kissing you. She walks away too quickly in your opinion, but you can't say anything because the producer is calling you next, announcing that the interview starts in two minutes. You smile at Liz before getting up.

//-//

Seven years ago.

You had just finished filming your last scene in Age of Ultron when your agent called you. Scrolling your finger quickly across the screen, you answered while your cell phone rested on the table in your dressing room, and you kept your hands busy trying to pin up your hair.

- I'm leaving the studio, Sara, what's up? - you told her.

- I wanted to congratulate you on the affair, although I'm surprised it happened so quickly. - She says and you frown in confusion, finishing up with your bun. You pick up your cell phone next.

- What are you talking about?

Sara giggles, and sends you an attachment. You pull your cell phone away from your ear to look at it. It is a photo of you and Elizabeth, your teammate and romantic partner in the franchise, taken the same day you discovered Liz had social anxiety and took her out for coffee with you to take her focus off the celebrity world for a while. The paparazzi managed to capture the exact moment when you kissed her on the cheek in farewell.

- This is all over the gossip sites as Marvel's mysterious romantic couple. - Your agent commented, and you rubbed your fingers across your forehead in irritation.

- You want me to publicly deny a relationship, is that it? - you ask, walking around the dressing room and gathering your things.

- What? No! This is great for advertising. - she says with slight excitement in her voice. - Especially after the movie comes out! Fans love couples who fall in love behind the screen.

You roll your eyes, switching your cell phone to your ear.

- I'm not going to make a relationship contract if that's what you're thinking! - You say with irritation and can imagine Sara rolling her eyes on the other end of the line.

- Yes, yes, we've been over this, Miss Morally Correct. - She scoffs lightly. - But I really called to talk about the premiere. We have details to discuss.

Sighing, you ask her to wait. Then you finished putting your things away, and grabbed the phone as you walked out the door.

//-//

Six years ago, California

Interviewers can be motherfuckers when they want to be, you thought as you bit the inside of your cheek, trying to keep your face impassive as you watched the woman in front of you list the "missed moments" from the Avengers set. You knew that your agent had talked to the show's staff about the authorized questions, and yet here you were on live television, having to declare whether the timely photos taken on the Avengers set meant that you had a secret relationship with your best friend Elizabeth Olsen.

A slideshow was playing on the screen behind you. There were pictures from the footage, many where you and Liz were laughing together, or having lunch together. There were some where she was sitting on your lap, or vice versa. Your expression softened when you noticed one where she was looking at you adoringly. It was so strange to be an artist sometimes. You smiled politely at the presenter.

- Come on, Ellen, you know how these things are. - You said. - Things are different on camera, Lizzie and I are friends.

The audience let out a chorus of displeasure, and Ellen laughed lightly.

- You know that many of the fans would like this rumor to be true, especially since you two play a couple and you are openly queer. - She says, and you wiggle your fingers in your lap, uncomfortable with where this conversation is going, but you nod in agreement. - Furthermore, you say that the paparazzi cameras are deceiving, but what about the stories you post on your personal networks?

She asks with a chuckle, and then other videos are playing on the screen, and you force yourself to smile and watch.

The vast majority are harmless, and platonic. You spend a lot of time at Liz's house because when she moved in, you were her reference and tour guide, and so you got into the habit of checking up on her. And then you became friends and you spent more time at her house than at yours.There were many videos and pictures on yours and her instagram where you two were tending a garden, playing board games, cooking together, or watching sports. You bit back a smile as you watched the memories through the images.

- See?It's hard to believe that this is just platonic. - Ellen insisted again, and the audience laughed. You tried to cover it up with a smile. - But since you claim to be single, we're going to play a game now. It's called "Who Would You Rather?

The audience applauded and you giggled, straightening your posture in your chair. And then the studio screen had a sign with the name of the game.

- It's very simple, you just have to choose which of the artists you would rather. - She explains, and you blink.

- Rather what?

Ellen lets out a giggle, and you understand, nodding in embarrassment. The audience laughs. The picture changes to two pictures.

- Who would you rather, Scarlett Johansson or Chris Hemsworth?

- Wow, that sounds like a trap. - You comment awkwardly, making the audience laugh. And then you bite your lips. - I think Scarlett.

Ellen gives you a suggestive look, and the audience chuckles, you force yourself to imitate them. The picture changes again.

- Scarlett or Sebastian Stan?

You laugh, smoothing your hair slightly.

- I don't know, I think Seb. - You answer. And then the picture changes again, and you want to run away when the audience gives a chorus of excitement.

- Sebastian Stan or Elizabeth Olsen?

- There it is the trap. - You comment clumsily, causing the audience to bust out laughing. You swallow dryly and look down at your lap before saying. - I'd say Elizabeth Olsen.

You played for a few more minutes, and then the game ended with you choosing Elizabeth at the end, which got the audience cheering and celebrating. When the interview was over, Sara was calling you, and you were massaging your forehead when you answered.

- I thought you said you two weren't dating. - She teased, and you grumbled in irritation.

- I thought you had discussed these matters with the staff. - You retorted, slightly irritated. - She only asked me about Lizzie and dating the entire interview.

- Honey, you're America's sweet couple. - She sneered. - Ellen wants viewers and will ask the questions that the audience wants to know.

- That's ridiculous. - You said and then sighed. - Why did you call me anyway?

- I have your new shooting location, so get your coats and jackets ready.

//-//

Six years ago, Berlin.

You are laughing at Anthony's imitation of Robert. Sitting in the shared dining hall, you were having a good time over lunch with your other colleagues while you were recording Civil War.

And then you were in scene again, many minutes later, and you found it strange that the nervousness was crossing beyond your character during a specific scene in which you were counteracting with Elizabeth.

You saw her laughing at a comment your character made, and you should have this expression of surprise and embarrassment, but you didn't even have to act it out. Your cheeks reddened naturally at the image of Liz laughing. And then the director said cut when you were done and you were rushing out to clean up your makeup.

Later that day, after the shoot was over, the team wanted to visit a local pub, and you accepted the invitation, ignoring the previous event, and smiling when Elizabeth touched your arm to get your attention.

- A toast to the Avengers! - shouted the camera crew chief when you were all gathered at the bar, you thought maybe he had had too much to drink, but you joined in the toast.

You stood next to Lizzie and Chris at a table while sipping a dark drink that might have been craft beer, or something German.

Your cell phone vibrates with a notification and you choke in surprise at the content of the message. Sara had sent you a note from TMZ, stating that your secret romance with Elizabeth Olsen was threatened because you had been seen leaving a coffee shop with Katie McGrath.

Chris and Lizzie look at you curiously, and you just lay your cell phone down on the table for them to see while you turn the entire glass of beer in your mouth.

- Wow, so your type really is super heroines. - Chris commented with a smile, and you laugh, pushing him away slightly.

- I swear, I can't be seen talking to any woman that she is automatically my girlfriend. - You say irritated as you put your beer glass back on the table. Your gaze returns to Lizzie, who has picked up your cell phone from the table and is reading the news. Then she hands the phone back to you, and gets a strange look on her face that you can't read very well, but she forces a smile.

- At least you cheated on me with a pretty girl. - she says and you frown in surprise. Chris laughs at the joke, but before you could have any other reaction, the rest of the team is joining you.

//-//

Five years ago, California.

You gave up fighting the questions about your relationship with Elizabeth. They would happen anyway, whether your agent talked to the teams or not, so you just smiled politely when you told people you were just friends and remained truthful in your statements.

Usually the interviews with Lizzie were easier, because you went into protective mode and your brain was ready to give sharp, snappy answers to keep Elizabeth from being embarrassed.

So here you were on the Night Show, with one of your favorite interviewers, and your best friend by your side. Jimmy was asking good questions, and he was funny. You hoped he wouldn't ask anything too embarrassing.

After many questions about employment, and worldview, which was refreshing, he finally asked you about the rumors of your secret relationship.

- Girls, you know that the public wants to know. - He began with a smile, and you laughed lightly, exchanging a look with Lizzie. - And actually, we have arguments this time.

- Here we go. - You commented with light irony which made the audience laugh.

Your latest posts on instagram were visible on the big screen.

- Last Tuesday, both of you posted these stories on your personal accounts. - Jimmy started with excitement. - And it rocked the internet completely, because the location was visible on your instagram, Elizabeth.

Lizzie let out an embarrassed giggle.

- Well, if the public's doubt is whether we were together there, they can confirm it. - She said, and Jimmy let out an excited exclamation. Lizzie waited for the audience to stop their celebratory chorus before speaking again. - But this was a special celebration, since it was my birthday.

- And I took her on a trip to Mexico. - You completed the story with a slight smile. The audience let out a chorus of happiness and you looked at them in confusion. - Guys, friends do this!

Jimmy and the audience laughed for a moment and then the image came off the screen.

- Come on girls, you're giving us material. - He remarked with a smile. - And you're still going to deny the relationship like you always do, I imagine.

You and Wanda exchange a short chuckle.

- Look, Jimmy, all I have to say is that Lizzie is amazing, she really is. - You saw yourself confessing. - Anyone would be lucky to date this brilliant, spectacular, sweet, fun-loving woman. But that person is not me.

Jimmy lets out an exclamation of sadness along with the audience, but then they applaud your words, and you smile wryly. You risk a glance at Lizzie for a second, and she has slightly flushed cheeks, and looks surprised at your words.

You ignore the nervous feeling at the pit of your stomach, and decide to keep your posture polite as you answer the next questions.

//-//

Four years ago.

You had to kiss Lizzie. And then you shook your head. No, not you. Vision. Your character, Vision, had to kiss Lizzie's character, Wanda Maximoff. And you repeated this like a mantra as you walked from your dressing room to the set.

The day you read this scene, you smiled politely at your agent, and disguised any apparent nervousness. And then you spent the last few weeks pretending that if you didn't think about it, eventually the director would make a change and the scene wouldn't even exist. But here you were, trying to have one last drop of professionalism.

You weren't even recording the scene officially, it was just the rehearsal of lines and marking, and you had sweaty hands.

As you walked through the studio, the staff smiled and greeted you, and then you spotted Lizzie and ignored the uneven beating of your heart.

- Let's get started girls. - announced Russo as soon as he caught sight of you. He signaled for you to follow the team's prearranged schedule. You smiled at Lizzie as you took your place. - We can test the order of the scene directly. I need to know which angle is best to have Vision ask Wanda to stay with her.

And then you started recording. And now you were Vision. There was no time to think about how naturally your hand fit into Lizzie's, or how good it felt to feel her hugging you. And then Russo shouted cut again.

- That's pretty good. - He commented, looking at the monitor. - Let's shoot the stone scene okay, then the action scene.

The scene started, and you said your lines the way you were supposed to. And then you were looking at Lizzie, and she kissed you as the script said. You held the sigh in your throat, and pulled away. Vision doesn't sigh, so you shouldn't either. And then you are smiling as written, and the director closes the scene again.

You were getting pretty good at hiding how affected you are by Lizzie the more you kiss her onstage. And then you wrap up the day's shooting, and you are mentally exhausted. You want to sleep in your dressing room, but you decide to go home.

And as you are walking back to your car, Lizzie calls out to you.

- Hey, partner. - She greets me by walking beside you. - Don't you want to go for a drink tonight?

You let out a sigh, ignoring the urge to shout that you would go anywhere with her, and thinking about how tired your body is.

- I'm exhausted, Lizzie. - You tell her, and she looks upset, but you add with a smile. - But I'll take it if it's something at your place.

Lizzie's face lights up quickly, and she nods, and then says she'll leave something in her car. She returns when you are already in yours.

- All set? - You ask to confirm, and she smiles and nods. And then you start the car and drive out of the studio.

Lizzie turns on the car stereo a moment later, and you begin humming the song.

- You've been distant lately. - She comments distractedly as you drive away. - You know you can talk to me, right?

You smile, ignoring the feeling in your stomach.

- Yes, Lizzie. - You say without taking your eyes off the road. - I'm just busy, that's all. It's nothing.

Lizzie makes a noise of agreement and looks away. You think maybe she believes you're not telling her the truth, and you feel guilty. So you decide to change the subject.

- How are things at home, Liz? Are Mary-Kate and Ashley well? - you ask, and she looks at you quickly.

- Everything's fine. - she says, and then she bites her lip. - Did I do something?

You frown, glancing quickly at her before looking down the street again. The light was red. And when you turn your head toward her, she lets out a sigh.

- You don't talk to me anymore. - She says seriously, looking at you. - Since Berlin, you're just distant. Always busy, and with ready-made answers. And now you try small talk, even though you hate it. I wish you would tell me what I did wrong.

Your heart is racing at the accusations, because she is absolutely right. And then you swallow dry, and prepare to speak, but then Liz is pointing ahead, the headlight has opened. And you have to drive, and she crosses her arms and looks away to the window.

You drive the rest of the way to her house in silence, and when you park the car in the driveway, she mumbles a goodnight before getting out.

Squeezing the steering wheel in your fingers, you take a deep breath. And then you get out of the car, and the noise of the door opening surprises her because she turns to look. But you are walking toward her, and raising your hand to the back of her neck, bringing your mouths together. Lizzie chokes in surprise, but in the next second she melts against you as she kisses you back.

You part breathlessly, holding your foreheads together.

- I am in love with you. - You confess. - I'm sorry I was a complete idiot, but I was terrified.

Lizzie giggles, kissing you again quickly before hugging you. And then she is breaking the embrace to look at you, a shy smile on her lips.

- I'm in love with you too. - she says. - I'm glad that's the problem and not something else.

You laugh, and kiss her one last time before entwining your hands and walking toward her house.

You decide to take things slow, so naturally, two weeks later, you ask her to be your girlfriend over dinner. Lizzie smiles all night, but you know that if this is a secret, she can't wear the ring.

Public relationships mean contracts, and agents, and unwanted questions, and lots of opinions about your lives. And you two wanted to keep that to yourselves for the time being.

So when directors comment that your onstage chemistry is amazing, you two just nod and thank them. When the interviewers ask if you are together, you deny it as before.

The first time you sleep with Lizzie, you almost break the bed. And it's all right, because you two are laughing with happiness and pleasure, and she pulls you in for another kiss. And you entwine your hands, the commitment rings on your fingers.

A year and a half later, you are getting very busy with your participation in a youth series, and there are many rumors that you are dating your co-star, so Lizzie is jealous and you can't blame her.

You decide that the secret cannot go on any longer, at least not to your friends and employers. So you talk to Lizzie, and you both call your agents. Sara laughs for ten minutes when you tell her, but she is happy to talk to Lizzie's agent. You are not public yet, but it is important that all parties are in agreement. You hate bureaucracy, but you don't mind as long as Lizzie's hand is in yours. Your friends are very happy, and the other cast members tease you constantly about it.

When you shoot the last movie, you think you are going to be fired because your character has died. But then you and Lizzie get a series together.

You try not to overthink how you will deny the rumors on television, but Lizzie kisses you on the cheek and tells you that you will face it together.

It takes three more months for you to propose. You think your chest will explode with happiness when she accepts.

And then you are calling your agents again, and Sara almost faints when you tell her that you got married in secret at some registry office in the Caribbean and she needs to get the paperwork sorted out. When you get back to California, there is a small ceremony with your family members.

//-//

Present

You and Lizzie are sitting side by side in the interview. The questions about WandaVision are over, and now you know from Jimmy's expression what he is going to say.

- The last time you were here, I had only an instagram post as an argument for your secret relationship. - He says, making you, Lizzie and the audience laugh lightly. - But now I have talked to the production and they prepare a presentation.

- My goodness. - You remark, making him laugh. And then he waves to the big screen, and you try to disguise your nervousness.

A presentation of images began to play to the audience to the sound of "honeybee" by the band "The Head and The Heart". There are several studio shots, from photo rehearsals to behind-the-scene moments. There is a picture from the day you met, from the first cast test, from the Avengers taping, paparazzi shots of you laughing in the parking lot, or in the open areas. There are pictures of you walking around Los Angeles together, pictures of your rides, or your travels. There are clippings from instagram stories where you spend time together, laughing and hugging. The presentation ends with the BTS photo of WandaVision from the first day of recording where you have your arm around Lizzie, and the two of you are laughing.

You clear your throat away the emotion, but Lizzie wipes her eyes lightly.

- That was very beautiful. - She comments as Jimmy hands her a piece of tissue paper. The audience bursts into tears of excitement.

- I guess we can get to the part where you deny everything now can't we? - Jimmy jokes and you smile and straighten your posture.

- Actually, Jimmy, we have something to announce.

#wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #wanda x you #wanda maximoff x reader #wandaxyou #elizabeth olsen #elizabeth olsen x reader #elizabeth olsen x you #wandaxreader #wandamaximoffxreader #wandamaximoffxyou

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parkersroses · 3 years

Text

delicate. | harry styles.

summary: two lonely people find solace in each other for the night and something delicate blossoms from it.

pairing: harry styles x fem!reader

wc: 6.1k

warning(s): fluff and smut (a first attempt at it)

a/n: aaah i’m excited and nervous to post this. i guess it’s considered a Christmas fic because it’s set around that time. i do hope you guys enjoy this! i also wanna wish you all happy holidays! side note, i recently made a ko-fi account, so if you’re able to and like my writing, feel free to donate to it! anyways, enjoy! reblogs/feedbacks are very much appreciated! all my love and stay safe <3 (disclaimer: the gif rightfully belongs to @hampsteadharry )

He pushed through the door of the bar, jazz music filling up his ears as he wandered to get a seat. He sighed as he sat on a bar stool, waiting for someone to attend to him and possibly give him the strongest drink here if he felt like it.

Harry felt tired. He’s been tired and exhausted for a while now. Tired from work. Tired from the glitz and glam. Tired of people getting close to him because of his name and status. Just mentally and physically exhausted. But that’s not to dismiss the fact that he still loves his job. He loves and enjoys making music and seeing his fans - who he declared as the best fans in the world - singing back his songs to him.

Though, there comes a time where he doesn’t enjoy it as much as he thought he should lately. Being a well-known singer, songwriter and actor seemed pretty cool but no one knows how tiring and raining it could be. Always having to prove yourself and explaining yourself because of ridiculous rumours that articles make up. Always ending up hurt when you found out your friends were using you because of how well-known you were.

So, he announced that he’d be taking a break from all that. Of course, there was an uproar from his fans but in the end, they understood and sent him lovely messages about having to keep his mental health his main priority.

So now, here he was, sitting at a bar, trying to drink away his emotions. Perhaps, he would find a girl that he could go home with to fill in the empty space of his bed for the night. His break was quite eye-opening to say the least. Harry realised how alone he felt. He thought it was just all in his head because how could he be lonely even when he still had few of his friends around? But he didn’t know that being alone and still feeling alone were different.

And the irony of it nearly being Christmas, there wasn’t much magic or cheer going around for him at the moment. He’ll have to get his shit together before going back to visit his family for the holidays.

“What can I get ya?” a voice snapped Harry out of his thoughts. A woman stood before him behind the bar, he realised it was one of the bartenders there. She wore a long sleeved black shirt, the sleeves rolled up until her elbows. Her long hair was tied up into a ponytail, strands of hair framing around her face. He thought she was pretty. Beautiful, he would say.

Bartender lady snapped her fingers at his face, knocking him out of his thoughts once again. “Seemed to be far away there. Are you sure you’re good here? In a bar?” She said and she smirked at Harry. He felt the blood rushed to his cheeks, having been caught staring at the pretty bartender lady.

“S-Sorry. A whiskey for now will do,” he said softly. Pretty bartender lady smiled at him and nodded. “Alright, then,” she said, heading off to get his drink.

Harry’s eyes followed her figure, almost like he was entranced by her. He was not sure why he did. Seconds later, she put his drink on a coaster in front of him. “Thanks,” he quietly said as he picked up his drink.

“Don’t mention it. You seemed like you need it,” she said almost knowingly. He chuckled at her words. Well, she got that right. “Yeah, just trying to clear my head a bit,” he shrugged at her.

Pretty bartender lady nodded. “Rough day?” She inquired. Harry raised an eyebrow at her question. He probably thought that she was trying to make a conversation other than cleaning shot glasses. He hesitated a little, thinking she might just be another fan and might spill whatever that comes out of his mouth to the nearest journalist. But then, he remembered that he’s already one drink down to probably getting drunk and his mind won’t really care even if he woke up hungover the next day.

So, he shrugged at her question. “Guess you could say that,” he said as he set down the empty shot glass. “I don’t know. I guess I just have a lot of things in my mind. And drinking does numb my emotions a bit. If that made sense,” he chose to say as he looked at her.

She only giggled at his words. “That sounds quite deep. Should write a song about it,” she joked and for a second, Harry thought she knew about him. Because for once, he’d like to talk to someone who’s unaware of his celebrity status. Someone who’d talked to him with a sense of normalcy. Instead of talking to the famous Harry Styles.

“Maybe I should. And I’ll credit you in it,” he joked. She laughed, throwing her head back as she did. “Oh gosh, I always wanted to be a famous songwriter,” she said dramatically. They both laughed at this. It was weird to Harry, this scene felt so normal, it felt as if he knew her for a while now.

She nodded at his empty glass. “Want another?” She asked. Harry thought about it before asking. “Actually, what’s your favourite drink?” Pretty bartender lady was surprised to say the least, but smiled at Harry. “Why?” He only smiled back. “‘Cause I want another drink. And I want to treat you one too. I’ll even pay for yours, love,”

She blushed at this, not expecting him to be so forward yet sweet. “Cheeky, aren’t you?” She said smiling at him, and she noticed a hint of blush on his cheeks. “My mum always taught me to be a gentleman,” he shrugged,

She chuckled at this. “Fine then. I’ll be right back,” she said, going to get whatever her favourite drink was for Harry. Harry smiled as she walked away. He couldn’t help but feel some sort of liking towards her, but not knowing why. Maybe because she was just a pretty bartender lady.

She returned later with two glasses of her ‘favourite drink’ and set them in front of him. Harry was skeptical to see the strange colour of liquid, raising an eyebrow at her. She only smiled and raised her glass up.

“Bottoms up,” she said as she drank from her glass.

Harry sniffed the drink a bit before thinking he was being silly and drank it. As the sweet taste hit his taste buds, he chuckled as he shook his head. “Apple juice? Really?” He questioned.

She laughed as she took another sip on her drink. “Well, you asked for my favourite drink and I gave it to you,” she said with a smirk in her face. “So, you don’t drink?” he asked curiously. She shrugged at him. “A bit sometimes. Just don’t prefer it unless I wanna get really drunk,” she let out a small laugh. Harry chuckled at her words, finding himself agreeing with her.

Harry noticed how pretty of a smile she had. He didn’t know why a tiny detail like that stuck out to him. He found himself quite intrigued with the pretty bartender lady, which he realised he had been calling her that in his head without knowing her name. He stared into her eyes and found himself hypnotized by them. Suddenly, it seemed like they were the only two people in the room. Okay, stop. She’ll think you’re weird.

It was as if his mind took control over him and he found himself asking her, “When do you get off?” He asked, his eyes widening after realising the words that came out of his mouth.

What the fuck!?, he thought.

She was surprised, her mouth agape as she processed what he had just asked. But she seemed to compose herself quickly. “And why do you wanna know?” She asked nervously.

Harry paused before choosing his next words carefully. “Because you seem really cool to talk too. And I’d like to talk to you more,” he said. He was nibbling on his bottom lip, a habit he had whenever he got nervous. He shrugged before he continued, “It’s nice to have a friend, you know?”

Pretty bartender lady - and Harry swore he’ll get her name soon - nodded at him and smiled. Like she knew what he meant. “I’ll be off at 10,” she said. It was only 30 minutes until then. Harry was initially surprised at this, not thinking whether she would agree to - whatever he wanted to with her later.

He nodded in response. “I’ll, uh, wait for you here, then,” he spoke nervously. She chuckled and took their glasses away so she could clean and attend to the other customers before her boss yelled at her.

As she walked away, Harry called out to her. “Wait!” She turned around, eyes wide when he called her. “Um, what’s your name?” He asked. She smiled as her heart melted at the innocent question.

“It’s Y/N,” she replied.

Harry nodded, a small timid smile appearing on his face. “I’m Harry,” he said.

She smiled and nodded at his short introduction. Now, the pretty guy with forest green eyes had a name she could call him. “I’ll see you later, Harry,” she said as she returned to the back of the bar.

Harry sighed, seeming to be smitten already by her. “Yeah. See you later,” he said softly to himself.

❋

Now, Y/N was no idiot. She knew who Harry Styles was.

She wasn’t like the biggest fan, but she appreciated his music and thought he was a lovely guy in general, according to the fan experiences she read. She didn’t know much about him, other than he was a former member of a very successful boyband and his music was just incredible. Plus, she thought he was pretty handsome.

And when she saw him walking through the doors of the bar, she had to take a double take to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

She usually took her job quite seriously, she was polite to all customers and made sure they were always satisfied with their drinks or snacks. It was usually because she wanted to get the tips she needed to pay her rent. So, when Harry sat down by the bar, she couldn’t help herself but go to him.

But now, she was supposed to meet him after her shift. Which was strange to her because all she did was being nice to him and making up a conversation. Did he realise that she was pretending to not know him? Was this some sort of mind trick that was playing on her? Though, he mentioned how it was nice to have a friend. Maybe there was something behind that phrase that meant something deeper to him.

It was already 10 PM. Y/N said goodbye to her coworkers as she grabbed her scarf and coat from her locker. Her heart was beating fast because she realised she was about to go on a little rendezvous with Harry Styles, well, that was what she thought.

She wasn’t expecting anything. She honestly thought he might have just left, realising how silly it was to wait for a bartender friend he just made.

But she walked towards the front of the bar and he was still sitting in his seat like he said he would, waiting for her. And she felt like her heart might burst.

❋

Harry didn’t think he’d find himself sitting at a 24-hour diner, eating some waffles with a pretty friend he just met at nearly 11 PM. He was starting to blame that one whiskey drink he asked for earlier as to be honest, he didn’t know what was happening.

When he met Y/N in front of the bar after the shift, he was nervous, shifting on his feet in habit. When Y/N asked him what he had in mind, he froze because he realised he didn’t think this through. All he wanted was to talk to pretty bartender lady Y/N. The rest was all hazy to him. Luckily, Y/N just laughed at this and guided him to her favourite diner.

They both ordered waffles with honey and blueberry toppings, courtesy of Y/N as she said they were the best waffles she ever had. Y/N got herself a chocolate smoothie while Harry just ordered a nice hot tea. It was a nice little meal.

“So, Harry, what brings you here to LA?” Y/N asked him as she munched on her waffles.

Harry sipped on his tea before clearing his throat. “Uh, I live here, mostly for work. But I’m on a break now,” he said, not giving out too much information. “Hmm. But you haven’t lived here long, I assume. Could tell by your accent,” she said knowingly.

He smiled at this. “Yeah? You like my accent, darlin’?” he teased her and pride filled himself as he saw her cheeks flaring up in the colour red. “Quite the flirt, are ya? But yes, your accent is cute,” she said as she ate. “Good to know,” he smiled and winked at her.

Y/N rolled her eyes at him as she blushed. He seemed to be quite the flirt, teasing her and calling her pet names. If it were any other guy, she would’ve just left. She admitted that she might not have the best ways in maintaining a relationship. It was always whether she was too picky or bossy and her insecurities always got the best of her. She was used to feeling of being used for sex and her body even when she wanted to believe they wanted something more out of it. She closed herself off from love for a while now. While everyone said that her time will come, she just ignored them. Her main priority was herself and that was for sure.

But there was something about Harry that was pulling her in. He wasn’t far from what the papers write about him but at the same time, he was. He seemed somewhat closed off as she was. She didn’t want to pry, she’d never do that. It was like he was in this fish tank surrounded by spectators watching his every move. Maybe the life he has had somewhat prevented him from forming a real, honest attachment. Or maybe she was just making this all up.

She sipped on her smoothie, her eyes focused on his. She realised how green his eyes were looking up close. “So, I have a question. And I want you to answer this as truthfully as possible,” she said, propping her head on the palms of her hands. Harry raised an eyebrow at her, chuckling a bit before nodding. “Alright, love. Lay it on me,” he said, leaning back on the booth.

Y/N blushed at the pet name given and cleared her throat. “Why did you want to see me?”

It was silent between them. Harry should’ve known this question would come up. Truthfully, he didn’t know how to answer it, he was never one to make friends with a random person and go on a little rendezvous late at night. He shrugged at this, “Like I told you, it’s nice to have a friend,”

“That couldn’t be all,” Y/N smiled. “You don’t seem like the kind of person to befriend a bartender and go out with her for a late supper the same night,” Harry blushed at this and scratched the back of his ear with his finger. “I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to be spontaneous a bit,”

Y/N hummed at this, sipping on her drink. Harry’s eyes were trained on her and she somehow found that a bit intimidating. “I got off work just to clear my mind a bit,” he continued. “Sometimes, I’d go out with my friends, I’d meet some girls and spend the night with them, just to feel something. Just to not be alone,” This was the most Harry had opened up to someone in a while.

“But you still feel alone,” Y/N spoke. Harry frowned at this, not quite sure what she meant. “You could be with someone, and still would feel alone. I get that,” she explained.

Harry’s mouth was agape. “Y-Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled out. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead,”

“You really don’t know me, do you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. She let out a small laugh. “I knew who you were the moment you stepped foot into that bar,” she said. Harry’s eyes widened. All this time, he was glad he thought Y/N didn’t know him but she treated him like any other normal person. But she knew all along.

“That was.. Surprising,” he chuckled as he ran his hands through his curly locks. “But, you didn’t seem to look like y’know me. Treated me like a normal person,” She stifled a laugh. “Well, would you rather I’d treat you like royalty? Curtsey in front of you?” She joked.

Harry laughed at this. “No, no. It was nice. It’s good t’just pretend your life is normal for once,” he nodded at her. “I’m sure you have some friends that treat you like you are just Harry,” she smiled.

Harry only shrugged at this, “A few of them do. When you’re in the industry long enough, you’d know how to tell apart the few people that are honest and real with you and the many who just use you sometimes.” Y/N frowned at this but nodded. While she couldn’t connect to being in the same industry as him, she knew perfectly how it feels like to be used by people you allowed yourself to get close to.

He brought his cup of tea to his lips, realising how cold it was getting. “You want some?” He offered his drink to her. Y/N nodded, taking the cup from him. “You like tea?” She asked.

“I do, but I prefer coffee,” he smiled at this random conversation. “Please tell me you don’t take your coffee black,” Y/N narrowed her eyes at him, as if she was daring him to admit it. Harry smirked and shrugged at her. “Sorry, love. It’s the best way to have coffee,”

“No, it’s not! It’s so bitter!” Y/N exclaimed and laughed at this. “I don’t think this would work out,” she pouted. Harry swore his heart beated a little faster, seeing her lips pout. He wondered how they’d feel against his. “What wouldn’t work out, love?” He smiled at her.

Y/N blushed at this, looking down at her lap before she looked at him again. “Whatever you want this to be,”

They spent their time getting to know each other and by the time it was midnight, Harry ended up paying for their meals, ignoring her protests as he did. Y/N was tempted to wipe off that smug smile off his face. The December air howled as the night went on as the decorative holiday lights lit up the street they walked on. The two walked side by side, their hands brushing against each other’s. If Harry had the guts, he would intertwine their hands together. But he didn’t. Not yet, at least.

“Random question, but do you prefer sunrises and sunsets?” she asked out of the blue. Harry thought for a moment before answering, “M’not sure, actually. Never really paid attention to them all that much.” Y/N nodded at his answer.

“Sometimes I like to wake up early just to see the sunrise,” Y/N spoke. Harry looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah? You like sunrises?” he asked gently, the cold air making his breath visible to see. “I do. I like sunsets too. But no one ever stops to appreciate the sunrises,” she sighed.

“Maybe it’s because they can’t be bothered to wake up so early,” Harry joked, making her laugh. “Yeah. Well, I do that. My apartment has a nice view of it. It’s nice. The city is just beginning to wake up. The golden glow casted upon it,”

Harry nodded at her. “Is this your way of inviting me over?” He teased. Y/N paused, her cheeks flaming up. It wasn’t her intention, but she might as well have done so. Harry was a nice company to keep and she liked him. She really did like him. “Maybe,” she mumbled.

Harry smiled at her sudden shyness. It was something he liked about her. He really liked her. And he wanted her to take him back to her home, as pathetic as that made him seem.

“Well, lead the way, darlin’,”

Y/N struggled to put her keys into the keyhole of her apartment. Nervous was an understatement for her. She had a really sweet and attractive man waiting behind her and she was about to invite him in. She was almost sweating at the thought and she didn’t know why.

She opened the door, letting the warm air of her small apartment flow through them. Harry found it quite cozy. There were plants placed in different corners of the room, he noticed a record player by the television. There was also an easel standing by it. It was small, unlike his luxurious houses, but homey.

“You paint?” He asked. Y/N blushed at this, she forgot to put away your paint and clean up. In her defense, she didn’t think you would have company tonight. “Yeah, s’just a hobby. And somewhat a side hustle,” she said, taking off her coat and putting in on the couch. Harry did the same, subtly wiping his sweaty palms against his dark jeans.

“Uh, d-do you want something to drink?” she asked nervously. Idiot, you just had drinks. “Or, if y’want, I have some chocolate chip cookies. If you like chocolate chip cookies. I mean, y’don’t have to but-,” Y/N was cut off upon hearing Harry chuckling at her, his expression amused as he listened to her nervous rambling.

“Don’t worry, darlin’. I’m good,” he said, smiling at her. She blushed again at the use of the pet name.

It was silence, the only thing that could be heard was their breathing as they looked at each other. Harry slowly walked over, Y/N’s breath hitched as he did so. She was nervous and she was scared, she hadn’t done this in a long time. His arm settled on her waist and it was the first time he touched her. His eyes, green as ever and filled with lust and passion, were focused on hers. She could feel his breath hitting her face due to the proximity between them.

Y/N gently placed her hands on his chest, feeling it rising up and down as he breathed. His forehead was already pressing against hers, their noses slightly brushing against each other. “Can I kiss you?” Harry finally asked ever so softly. And Y/N couldn’t help but nod her head. “Please,”

His lips crashed into hers, gently at first, but she kissed him harder, making it more passionate. She could hear him moan into the kiss as their tongues battled for dominance. His hands travelled lower to her backside, she moaned aloud as he squeezed them. When they pulled away, they would instantly pull into another kiss again, wanting to be close. Harry lowered his hands further behind her thighs, signaling her to jump so he could hold her tightly against him.

“Y/N, I won’t be able to stop,” he said, gasping for air. Y/N only kissed him again, replying as her lips were against his. “Then, don’t,”

Y/N wasn’t sure how they made it to her room, laying nearly naked on her bed. She just realised how many tattoos he had on his body. She traced over the art scattered over his skin delicately. “Harry,” she whimpered as she felt his hardened length grinding against her core. She could feel her arousal seeping through her underwear. She gasped as he pressed kisses down her neck onto her collarbones, her eyes rolling back when he sucked a sweet spot there. His fingers entangled themselves between hers, squeezing them tightly.

“Harry, please,”

“I got you, baby. Gonna take my time with you,” he said gently as he kissed her forehead.

Y/N could feel her heart beamed at the sweet gesture. She had one-night stands before, but none of them felt as intimate as with Harry. The way he kissed her, held her, it almost felt right. And she wondered if he felt it too.

When they’re fully naked and Harry lined himself against her, he looked at her, as if he was asking if she was still sure of this; if she wanted this; if she wanted him. Her eyes were shining as the moonlight shone through her curtains, her hair sprawled against her pillow. She was beautiful and ethereal. He almost couldn’t believe it.

A nod from her was all it took for him to push himself in, the two moaning in relief as pleasure shot through their bodies. He slowly thrusted, taking his time with her. The feeling of euphoria running through their bodies as they held each other close. Her legs were wrapped around his hips, wanting to keep his warm body close to her. “Harry, faster,” Y/N pleaded.

It was almost like a switch went off his head before Harry spreaded her legs further, thrusting harder and further into her. Moans and groans filled the room and the scent of sex and sweat filled the air. Harry had his head buried into the crook of her neck, breathing hard as he felt the pleasure burning at the bottom of his spine. He was close and he knew she was too from the way she was clenching around him.

“You close, baby?” He breathed out as he looked at her. The bed was creaking with every movement they made. Y/N moaned in ecstasy as she nodded her head, trying to keep her eyes on him. She didn’t want to miss a thing with him.

Harry took her by surprise by pulling out, lifting her up so she sat on his lap. He guided himself into herself, groaning as she welcomed him in her. Y/N moaned loudly as she felt him hit deeper, feeling herself clenching around him. She quickly began to move against him, smiling as she saw Harry shut his eyes in pleasure, murmuring her name. “C-Close, Harry, fuck,” she groaned as she moved faster.

Harry sat up and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer as if it was possible. He thrusted his hips upwards against hers, adding to the euphoric pleasure that was coursing through them. “I know, baby. Fuck, y’feel so good around me,” he moaned out, looking at her with hooded eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck, their heavy breaths hitting each other��s faces.

It was only a glance into his forest green eyes that triggered her high. She moaned out loud, her body shaking against him, and just the sight of her high triggered Harry’s. He groaned against her neck and cursed a string of profanities under his breath as he kept thrusting his hips into her, prolonging his orgasm. When they calmed down from their highs, they took deep breaths before pressing their lips together. Harry could hear a whimper from the beautiful woman above him. He was delirious with the bliss feeling.

They laid on their sides, admiring each other’s glowing yet sweaty state. Harry closed his eyes and sighed as Y/N brushed her fingers through his hair. “Y’alright?” he murmured to her. She nodded and gave him a shy smile. He thought it was cute of her acting all shy after having done such an intimate and dirty activity with him. He kissed the tip of her nose, smiling as she scrunched it up. “You’re beautiful,” he admitted.

Y/N let out a deep breath. There was no denying the attraction she felt for him. The setting was so intimate, far from what she thought it was going to be. She felt herself opening up to him, something she prevented herself from doing for a long time. She was scared of this, but she liked it at the same time.

“Hold me?” she asked and Harry pulled her against his body without a second to waste. Their breathing was the only sound they paid attention to. Y/N nuzzled her face against the crook of his neck, her finger tracing the tattoos on his chest.

“Are you gonna stay?” she asked softly. She was not expecting anything, but she hoped he did stay.

Harry smiled and pulled her closer. “Only if y’want me to,” he said. Y/N returned the smile, tracing out his lips with her finger, feeling how soft they were.

“I’d like that,”

❋

When Harry woke up, he felt an empty cold space beside him. Confused at first, he sat up slowly, wondering where the pretty woman he liked was. He turned his head and there she was, sitting by her window looking out into the early morning. She was sipping on something from her mug and she was wearing his dark blue T-shirt from the night before. She looked absolutely breathtaking.

“You’re up early,” he said, catching her by surprise at the sound of his voice. She smiled at him and made her way to sit on his lap, putting her mug on the bedside table. “You missed the sunrise.” She ran her fingers through his messy bed hair. He sighed, realising how much he liked her doing that simple yet intimate gesture. “Yeah? Was it pretty?”

“Very,” she sighed as Harry laid his head on his shoulder. He held her tightly in his arms, similar to how he did when they slept. “Well, you’re prettier,” he said, planting kisses up her neck. She realised how deep and raspy his voice sounded in the morning, it sent shivers down her spine. “Well, you’re a charmer,” she murmured.

Harry looked up at her, taking in her morning glow that she was emitting. “Your eyes are really pretty,” Y/N said softly as she admired his forest green eyes. “Yeah? Y’think so?” he said, playfully fluttering his eyes at her. She laughed at this, throwing her head back. Harry thought it was the sweetest sound. She traced the outline of his lips with her index finger, feeling how soft they were under her touch. Harry kept his mouth agape as she did so.

“Can I kiss you?” Y/N whispered. He smiled at her, remembering his exact words from the night before, before nodding. “Please,”

The fluttering in his stomach intensified as their lips met. The thing that clouded Harry’s mind was how soft her lips were and how sweet they tasted. Their kiss almost made him feel dizzy for how much passion there was. When they pulled away, he looked at Y/N with hooded eyes, his breathing was heavy from the blissful sensation he felt. He gently wrapped his arms around her frame and it just felt right.

He pulled her into another kiss, a moan elicited from Y/N that sent blood rushing to his lower region. His hands travelled up his shirt she was wearing and he let out a groan, realising she had nothing underneath it. He felt drunk by her touch, her scent; everything. It was a delicate feeling he felt and he didn’t want to let go of it. He could get used to this, the feeling of her. For once in a long while, he didn’t feel alone anymore.

It was no doubt that Y/N felt the same.

It all just felt right.

❋

The snow was covering the backyard, the trees and bushes were covered in white. Y/N watched as the snow fell while sipping on her hot chocolate. The house was decorated for the special wintery day. The tree was lit up and decorated with many ornaments as well as pictures on it, the presents laying closely below it.

Voices snapped her out of her thoughts, she smiled as she heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. She turned around to see her husband holding up a sleepy little girl in his large muscular arms, the little girl they were blessed with as their daughter. Harry was talking animatedly to Ruby, trying to wake her up in the Christmas spirit.

He gasped and pointed his finger at you. “Look, Rue! It’s mummy! An early bird, isn’t she?” He said to Ruby as he bounced her gently in his arms. You rolled your eyes at his silliness. “Mama,” the little girl reached out to her mother as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. Y/N set her mug on the counter and grabbed lifted little Ruby in her arms. “Morning, Rue baby,” Y/N cooed softly at her, closing her mouth with the back of her hand when she yawned.

“Think she’s a bit tired,” Harry chuckled at them. “Y’think? Who’s the idiot that woke her up early?” Y/N asked sarcastically at her husband. He only lifted his arms up in defense, a smug smile painted on his face. Ruby quietly giggled at her parents. He sipped on a mug of hot chocolate and she narrowed her eyes at her as he leaned back on the counter.

“Are you really drinking my hot chocolate?” Harry paused for a bit before swallowing the warm drink. “I’ll make ya another one, love,” he rubbed the back of his neck. Y/N rolled her eyes at him before chuckling. “You better, Styles.” She felt Ruby shifting in her arms and gently bounced her. “Y’alright, bubs?” She pouted at her daughter.

“Snow,” she said, pointing out the window where the snow was falling. “Yeah, bubs! It’s snowing!” Y/N exclaimed excitedly to her, making Ruby giggle. “Dada, snow!” she exclaimed to her father.

Harry laughed at his daughter’s adorableness. “That’s right, Rue!” He agreed, stroking through her curly hair that she inherited from him. He placed a hand gently on Y/N’s clothed stomach. “And how’s bub number 2 doing?” He asked softly. Y/N smiled, her heart beaming at the gentleness of her husband. “They’re doing great in there,” she said, placing her hand over his above her two-month growing belly.

Harry beamed at this, pressing a gentle kiss on her lips, eliciting a small whimper from her.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips. Even after all these years, she found his green eyes just as beautiful and hypnotizing.

“I love you, too,” she said and smiled at him as they broke away.

Perhaps, Harry would consider himself lucky that his sad lonely self walked into the bar she previously worked at five years ago. Maybe if he hadn’t opened up to Y/N or went back to her apartment, he wouldn’t be able to have this little family he was blessed with. There was something so delicate and real he felt that night that he wanted to keep. So naturally, they both let their walls down and took a chance on each other. And perhaps because it was nearing Christmas that night, he would think of it as some Christmas miracle.

“Wanna open the presents, Rue?” Y/N asked Ruby as bounced her in her arms. Ruby giggled, not even understanding what her mother said, and nodded. “Yeah? Wanna open presents with mummy and daddy?” Y/N said excitedly as she carried her into the living room. Harry chuckled at the precious sight of them as he followed them.

As they sat down in the living room, he took a moment to just admire his wife and his daughter. Y/N, though wearing one of his Christmas sweaters and sleep shorts, looked just as beautiful and ethereal as she did the night they met. She held little Ruby in her arms, who was busy tearing up the small present in front of her. His wife cheered at their daughter as she took out a little stuffed teddy bear, giggling as she waved it around with her small hands.

Y/N looked up at him and gave him a loving smile as she intertwined her fingers with him. Despite them being in such cold weather, her hands felt warm against his. He admired how they fit perfectly in his. Ruby babbled incoherently to her parents about her gift, in which they nodded like they understood what she said. Harry’s heart warmed up just thinking of how they’ll have another addition to their loving little family soon.

His heart was full of love and happiness. He no longer felt alone. He had everything he wanted in that moment, his growing little family.

Everything was just right.

#harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #harry styles fic #parkersroses writing #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles writing

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wedreamedlove · 3 years

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MLQC Men Headcanon Notes

Now that I’ve spent more time with these men (it’s getting close to 2 years!) I wanted to share the general thoughts, themes, motifs, etc. that I keep in mind when I’m writing their character.

This is 1000% headcanon territory, so feel free to take what’s useful and ignore what’s not LOL but I’d also love to see people add in their own “character reference cheat sheet” to this!

(I’m especially curious because, due to being of Asian diaspora, I write best in English but my understanding of the characters come from CN/JP text). Incidentally, if anyone feels ANY of this when reading my fics, then that’s all I could ever ask for LOL.

LI ZEYAN

He is Capricorn² and, while the game doesn’t make explicit mentions to this, I associate the element earth with him because of this. He’s described with attributes like being steady, calm, and always in control. He is the epitome of an immovable boulder and things revolve around him, not the other way around. I like to draw on imagery of unbending steel and/or the stable ground.

Meanwhile, like the goat of his astrological sign, every step he takes to climb to his goal is assured. He doesn’t do anything spontaneous or without thought, so if he does lose control and act without thinking then it has to be a momentuous occasion. Basically, it’s really important to me that if I write a loss of control, then it’s likely to be the centerpiece.

Keeping in mind that his Evol is time control, I also like to try and subtly weave an atmosphere of how everything happens at his pace. Winter being his season only adds onto this because the world stills when it’s covered in snow; everything becomes muted, hushed, and slowed in this season.

The chemistry in his romance arc is how his pace and control gets disturbed, but he adapts quickly and learns to go along with these moments of whimsy. Or more like that’s his character development and how love changes him.

His canon (spirit) animal is the cat and lion. Felines go along very well with the emperor or noble archetypes he has in all his AU cards, because cats are stereotyped as being independent and haughty animals. He’s not big on PDA or excessive skinship, but he’s not disagreeable to them either. Too much stimulation and, like a cat, he’ll probably show exasperation. Ignore him for too long though and he’ll come to share his presence with you.

For me, his love is shown through quiet acts of service that don’t have any attention drawn to them. Him just being in the same room or giving his attention is how he emotes his love.

He’s quite low-key in his normal life so he doesn’t seem like someone who gets confused over commoner things, but there are also moments where he spends an enormous amount of money without blinking. If life can be made easier with money then why not, right?

Keywords: Calm. Steady. Earth. Immovable. Control. Exasperated Affection. Time. Cats. Literal Capricorn. Winter. Mature.

ZHOU QILUO

First thing that comes to mind is the sun and heat. Fire is his element and so I go for stereotypical imagery like flares of passion and burning bright. He switches expressions and moods at the drop of a hat and he’s a mood maker to the extreme, but there’s no hiding the way he shines with his love for his love.

However, because he’s also Helios, it’s really important for me to play around with dualities and explore the other side of this positive imagery. So, just like how the sun can bring warmth and life, it’s also a deadly laser something that can hurt people by blinding them or setting fires. It’s also fun to remember that the moon only has light from the sun’s reflection.

Game-wise, I believe Helios has been described with cold and ice imagery but, because I try to keep that imagery for Li Zeyan, what I like to consider instead is that extremely cold things can “burn” you too. Frostbite can also be called ice burn.

The sky is repeated imagery for Luoluo too, because of his eyes, but I’ll admit I’m still uncertain about how to interpret this for his character. Generally, the sky represents freedom but...? How I approach this is that the sky doesn’t discriminate and protects everyone below it (echoing his quote about how he protects the light in the dark).

On this note about the sky being welcoming, I view Luoluo’s love as one that accepts his love no matter what they’re like and he grows together with them (unlike the two adults, Li Zeyan and Xu Mo).

However, again, it’s super important to remember his duality and just because he’s a playful mood maker doesn’t mean he’s not able to switch into a serious and mature mode. He keeps his innocence and warm heart despite the darkness he’s seen and understands.

His canon animal is the bear which also makes me tilt my head. I can only see this as how bears are seen as both cuddly and cute, but also fierce and protective. He was also given a stag but... no one uses that LOL.

Keywords: Fire. Passion. Playful. Innocent. Little Sun! But Moon. Spring. Sacrifice. Darkness. Sky. Mischievous. Mood Maker.

BAI QI

Every single cell in his body is attuned to his love. You ever lose your phone and then, for the rest of the day, you feel as if you’re missing an important piece of yourself and you have intrusive thoughts wondering where it is? That’s him. You ever see something so cute you experience cute aggression and don’t know what to do with yourself? That’s him. You know those dogs that strain at their leashes on the streets because they want to go and greet you? That’s him.

It’s all about the yearning.

I know, I know, I wrote essays about how he can survive without his love and how he’s someone who carries both love and a greater justice BUT let’s not kid ourselves that he doesn’t revolve around his love like Jupiter around the sun.

Anyway, so the game shoves wind descriptions down our throats. It’s literally another vehicle for him to emote his love and, to be honest, I don’t do much with it other than use it for that. I talked about it extensively in my character essays, but I suppose I play with the irony of how he’s only free because he has a home can return to. [Loneliness SR Wind and Care Call] “Because I have a place for my heart, I can fly anywhere.”

I don’t believe the game emphasizes this any more than it does with the other men, but I try to always have a point of contact between Bai Qi and his love because, again, the yearning and vibrating with All That Love. He’s such a physical character (military archetype) that I also want to emphasize that in writing.

In addition, I’m all about him being the most feral of the men. Heck, his canon animal is the wolf which is great for both its stereotypical and non-stereotypical meanings, such as being a lone wolf and ferocious animal but also a pack animal that can’t survive on its own and needs a pack. Meanwhile, NW717 is described in-game as a monster.

Look, one of his signature descriptions in the game is resting his chin on or against his love’s head and nuzzling them. I’m not baselessly trying to push my kink I swear.

So, like how Bai Qi said in [Light Bath SSR: Tenderness Call] that maybe he only shows his gentleness towards select people (his love and mother), he’ll give the person he loves all the warmth of his being but, oh boy, I see him as being a beast who will remember his true nature upon being chained; the “chain” of love gives him the reassurance he needs to be truly free... in all its meanings.

Keywords: Ginkgo. Summer. Primal. Wind. Love is love is love. 3-Point Contact. Wolf. Yearning. Vitality. Justice. Freedom. Physical. Restraint.

XU MO

First, given how vocal I am about Elex’s changes, this is probably going to be the most drastically different section out of everyone vs. their English version.

Soft. Light. Gentle. Kind. Gossamery. Feathery. Ethereal. Faint. Whenever I write him, do I literally open up a thesaurus to find synonyms for gentle, light, and soft? Yup! LOL.

Fun fact, in CN and JP the word for “smile” and “laugh” is the same character and so sometimes there is ambiguity when translating if there’s no clear markers. The writers definitely had a word in mind when they wrote the scene, but unfortunately we don’t have the ability to check with them at every use and so sometimes it does come to subjective interpretation.

For me, Xu Mo is characterized by a lot of quietness. Game-wise, there are enormous usages of silence and descriptions of emotional fluctuations in his eyes so Significant Silences and Looks are a major thing with him and in my writing for him, which is why I always choose “smile” over “laugh” if there is any ambiguity in the line (I believe Elex leans towards chuckles).

On a similar note, the game also gives him a gigantic serving of descriptions that only ever use the word for “light, slight, faint, soft, gentle” in JP and CN. It gives him a very floaty and dreamy feeling, even if he’s doing something physical. So, it’s important for me to keep a similar atmosphere when writing and make everything feel as if it has to be shared in a whisper.

A bonus here is that it doesn’t require much to turn this ethereal feeling into a melancholic one, so you get that dash of angst that layers over everything. Leave a few things unknown here and there, incomplete actions, eyes that get averted and Boom. Angst.

Shifting gears, but if my imagery of Bai Qi’s love is like a tense, vibrating, and restrained chain of yearning then Xu Mo’s love is like a flood barely being held back by a dam. Knowledge of the quantity and weight behind the dam is terrifying, but it’s safe to be submerged inside it. Much like Luoluo and Helios, Xu Mo also has a dangerous duality in Ares and so I also like to play with this imagery.

So, on this point, I like to preserve an underlying sense of darkness (all-consuming possessiveness, etc.) and envision that he also wishes to stain his love in his colors, like a drop of ink on white paper and how it seeps into every fiber of the paper until the whole thing is saturated with him.

Incidentally, I’m reminded that—whenever possible and natural—I want to exclusively use water imagery with Xu Mo. The game supports this too! He is described with extensive water imagery and so I try to use water metaphors, analogies, and similes.

I try to make sure every sense is present, but I feel like the game emphasizes (especially with the red thread of fate imagery) that Xu Mo and his love are connected at a soul-deep level and so I always keep in mind a mental, emotional, and spiritual aspect.

Lastly, his canon animal is the fox (we ignore the black goat LOL) so contrasting his elegant, scholarly, and gentleman’s air with a black belly, teasing, and mischievous air is also important! Sexual but with, you know, class.

Keywords: Butterflies. Monochrome. Artist. Red Thread. Autumn. Melancholy. Water. Soft. Gentle. Light. Faint. Dreams. Spiritual. Fox.

LING XIAO

I’m getting more comfortable with him, but he’s still shrouded in so much mystery. If every one of the other men treat their loves with gentleness though Ling Xiao is definitely one who isn’t afraid of roughhousing. He’ll act first and then ask for forgiveness afterward, if needed.

But I like to keep in mind that, for all his roughness, he’s still a good kid at heart and when he saw MC’s skirt rising up when he tried to pull her over the fence he immediately stopped. So, a bit of a bully but without any humiliation.

Intelligent, strong, and dangerous but hiding all of that beneath a devil-may-care attitude and someone who does things on a whim. I don’t know what to do much with his canon animal being the shark except to attach it vaguely to this point and think that, as an apex predator of the sea, it does things at its own pace (somehow, it gives me the image that he likes to bite... but, uh, that’s probably just me LOL).

Keywords: Mercurial. Lightning. Sarcasm. Physical.

#love and producer #mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mlqc gavin #mlqc victor #mlqc lucien #mlqc kiro #mlqc bai qi #mlqc li zeyan #mlqc xu mo #mlqc zhou qiluo #love and produc(ing) meta

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2ndstar-ontheright · 3 years

Text

Little Tim Drake’s No Good Day

Fandom: Batman

Characters: Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne (Batman)

Words: 1059

Summary: “I was wonderin if you could write a lil fanfic with a baby regressor Tim Drake - like ages 0-3! - having a tantrum cause of stress and Bruce, like the good dad he is, helps him calm down n stuff!” -Requested by: WonderingLullaby. I hope you like it! Also I’m sorry if it’s kind of cliche and cheesy, but that’s what makes it so wholesome am I right?

Friday evening couldn’t come any sooner for Tim Drake. What with school, helping Mr. Wayne fighting crime, and trying to keep himself out of harm's way, it would’ve been shocking if he weren’t as stressed as he is now. He barely got any sleep last night and got in trouble for falling asleep in class. So you could say he wasn’t in a great mood. As he continued to walk home, he could feel himself getting smaller and smaller. “Oh wow! How convenient Tim!” He snarked. (Which I mean, it kind of is since you’re almost home already Tim!)

He continued on his way home until he saw Wayne Manor. Walking up the front steps, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. He could finally take a break! A little one to be exact! All he had to do was get past Mr. Wayne and things would be a-okay. It wasn’t that he didn't approve of his age regression, rather it was because he didn’t want someone he idolized to see him in such a small state. “I don’t want to bother him anyway, He’s busy.” He said going up to his room.

Shutting the door, he walked towards his bed and slumped off his backpack. Going over to his closet he picked out a little outfit which was: a bat hoodie and a pair of baby blue stretchy shorts. He crawled back towards his bed with his box labeled “Tiny Tim Things”. After what seemed like forever to little Tim, he was finally ready to be little. But, when he tried he remembered that he had science homework to finish. Getting grumpy, he bunched up his blanket in his fists. “Why did Miss Swamp have to give us homework on a friday? That’s so mean!” He asked. Sighing, he got his homework out and sat at his desk to finish. Before long 2 hours had past and Mr. Wayne was calling him for dinner. Still in a sour mood he set his work aside and walked downstairs.

Bruce had been working in his office on a new hotel design. The hotel would only have 3 floors and instead of a pool it would have a drawing room that would display the works of his favorite artists. Such as: Georges Saurat, Lee Stan, Kane Bob, Rembrandt, and Frida Kahlo. He was snapped out of his work when he heard his son, Tim, come home. Walking out of his office, he hoped to catch a glimpse of him before he retreated up to his room. Hearing his footsteps go up the stairs, he was too late. He sighed, shrugged it off, and went into the kitchen to make dinner.

He had taken notice of how stressful the past few weeks have been for Tim, so he decided to make his favorite, lasagne. After 2 long hours of cooking, dinner was ready. “Tim! Dinner’s ready!” He called.

“I made your favorite. Lasagna!” Bruce said, bringing the dish to the table. “Can you set the table for me, Tim?” Tim nodded and walked into the kitchen to get the flatware. Once he got the plates and the silverware out he walked back to the table.

As the 2 of them began to eat, Tim felt himself getting more upset. Bruce took note of the fact that he hadn’t eaten anything and chose this moment to see what was bothering him. “Tim, are you okay”? Tim shook his head. “Oh. What’s wrong buddy?” “Nothing.” “Tim, c’mon talk to me. What’s wrong?” Bruce said sternly. “I SAID NOTHING!” Tim yelled, pushing his plate onto the floor. He tried to run off, but slipped and fell onto the floor. Lasagna all over him. His eyes filled with hot tears and knowing that his dad would be furious, he started crying.

Bruce looked at his son in shock, he hadn’t seen him like this in a while. “I guess things were a lot more than they seemed” he thought. Tim’s sobs filled the silence as Bruce’s heat broke. Suddenly, it hit him like a batarang to the Joker’s henchmen, “He hasn’t regressed to help with his stress until now. That explains the tantrum” He realized. Standing up, he walked over to the boy to try and calm him down.

“Tim, you know that it’s not okay to throw things and yell at people. Especially me, right? ” Bruce said, putting a hand on Tim’s shoulder. Tim looked up at him and sniffled, “ Yeah, I know. ‘M sorry papa!” “It’s okay kiddo. But next time something’s bothering you, talk to me about it and we’ll work it out! Don’t keep it inside until you explode and get upset, okay? You’re not a volcano!” Bruce joked, wiping his tears away. “Yeah. Vo’canos are scary!” Tim giggled. “Yeah” Bruce laughed, “Now you know how it feels for me when I see you get upset like that. It feels pretty scary,” He said seriously. “M’ sorry Papa, I don’ wan’ you to be a’scared” Tim replied. “This kid” Bruce thought, “How did I get a kid who’s so sweet?” “It’s okay buddy. I’m not scared, I’m just glad you’re okay. Now, I believe it’s time for a little robin to get a bath” He said smirking at the end. “Nooo! No bathtime!” Tim said laughing.

Later that night, after Tim, his clothes, and the mess had all been cleaned, Bruce walked back upstairs to say good night. Tim had been the same as he left him, in his pajamas with his stuffed dog in one hand and his bottle in the other. Bruce smiled at the scene as he saw him trying to read a book, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-good, Very Bad Day” to be exact. He chuckled and rolled his eyes at the irony.

“Papa! Can you read a story, please?” Tim asked, holding the book out to him. “Of course buddy,” he said, taking the book. “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair...'' Bruce began. Before long, Tim fell asleep to the story. He closed the book and placed it and the bottle onto the nightstand. He tucked Tim in and kissed his forehead before leaving the room. “Good night little one” He whispered before going to bed himself. And the Bat family fell asleep peacefully under the moon’s watchful eye.

#fandom agere #DC comics #Batman #i take requests

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captainsolare · 3 years

Note

Sol! May I request some William angst for your event please? Hm maybe Roll 4 times for AU, 1 time for dialogue, and 2 for trope please 🥺💕? Thank yoh in advance!

A/N: Lyra! Yes of course! I hope you enjoy it :) It was interesting to write a Western AU William 😂 The dice really made this an angsty one

Bonus: listen to 'jupiter' by Wrabel

Warning: Drunk man makes a gross comment and grabs your arm

William Angst + Western AU! + First Love Reunion + "Try that again, I dare you."

William’s chest felt heavy as he rode into town, he had known that coming back here might affect him, but he hadn’t thought it would be this much. The buildings looked like they hadn’t aged a day, but he knew that wasn’t true, it had been years since he had set foot here. His life as a bounty hunter didn’t lend well for settling down, and so he had left this place and a piece of his heart with it. However, a job was a job, and he had received reports that a notorious outlaw had been spotted in the area, and William wanted to be the one to catch him.

He half prayed that there was another option, somewhere else he could stay for the night, but the sun had long sunk over the horizon, and the only place open now would be the saloon and conjoined inn your family owned. He hopped off his horse, tying him off on a post. There was a water trough nearby, so that should be suitable for the time being.

You didn’t see him come in, his hat pulled low over his eyes; if you had, you most certainly would have dropped the glass in your hand, sending it tumbling to the wooden floor below. He grabbed a spot at a table in the corner, heart clenching at the familiar face behind the bar. You still looked as beautiful as the day he met you, but you looked happier than the day he left, the day he broke your heart. Something about the way your eyes crinkled as you chatted with a miner at the bar made his heart ache, you were so close to him yet so far at the same time.

One of the saloon girls interrupted his thoughts by asking for his order.

“Just water please.” He said hoarsely, trying to ignore how much he wanted to grab a seat at the bar and talk to you.

“Yes sir! That’ll be right out.”

She returned swiftly, a cool mug of water set upon the table. “Are you stayin’ here long cowboy?”

William looked up at her, a forced smile on his face, “No, just for the evening.”

As he looked up at her, the light happened to reveal his face to her, her expression changed, and she hurried away to tend to other customers. He sighed softly, taking a sip of his water. He was used to this happening, people had almost always reacted to his birthmark this way, some people were convinced he had some sort of plague. The woman’s reaction was another painful reminder of how much he missed you; you were the only person he’d ever met that had touched his face with tenderness.

You were at the bar, fulfilling orders and chatting with customers when a particularly unruly man sat at the stool in front of you.

“Hello sir, what can I get you?”

The man smiled wickedly, it was obvious he was already drunk, “Are you on the menu?”

The question made your skin crawl but you forced yourself to smile, “I’m afraid not sir.”

William narrowed his eyes, that was the man he was looking for; now was not the time to act though, there were too many people around to risk getting in a shootout inside the saloon.

The man wouldn’t take no for an answer though, and when you were turned for a split second he lunged to grab your arm.

William was over in a flash, grabbing the man’s arm with a vice-like grip.

The saloon went eerily silent as all eyes were fixed on the scene at the bar, “Try that again, I dare you.” The words were dripping with such venom that William surprised even himself.

The man let your arm go, but fixed William with a defiant grin, “Or what? Is this your lover or something?”

The corners of William’s mouth twitched, “Do you know who I am?”

His smile faltered, but the man’s voice was even as he spoke, “No, why does that matter?”

William smiled wickedly, knowing his prey was about to be caught. “Maybe this will refresh your memory.”

He tilted his hat up from his face and the man instantly paled.

“Y-you, you’re him. You’re the bounty hunter, William Vangeance, bringer of vengeance.” The man’s voice shook and he tried to squirm away from him.

William chuckled, “That’s right Slim, I am. And now I’ll be taking you to the sheriff.”

Slim didn’t put up much of a fight as William led him out the door.

You stood frozen in place, memories rushing back to you all at once. A cold December night, a letter slipped under your door, running after him, begging him to stay.

The buzz of the bar soon returned, and you took a deep breath, trying to recenter yourself after the shock of seeing William again. You had long given up on him returning, but lo and behold he had, at least for tonight. Would he leave in the morning? Probably. It seemed as if he had only come for his quarry, but some part of you hoped that it had been more, that he had come to see you as well.

Hours passed, and you were closing the saloon. You swept the floors, and wiped off the tables, now all that was left was to wipe down the bar.

There was a knock at the door and you opened it to find William standing there, an uncertain look on his face. You were tempted to yell at him, take out five years worth of frustration and anger and regret on him, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do so. When you searched your heart, there was only sadness left where William was concerned, he had been your first love and he had left you cold and alone, with only the silhouette of him on his horse receding into the distance and your memories.

“I didn’t think you’d come back.” You said, your voice just above a whisper.

William glanced down at his feet, regret filling his chest, “I didn’t either.”

You lingered in the doorway for a long moment, then stepped to the side.

“Want a drink?”

He nodded and walked in, and you locked the door behind him. He took a seat at the bar as you made what he asked for, pouring water for yourself.

“Thank you for earlier.”

William shifted on his stool, “Of course, I couldn’t stand to let you get hurt.”

That’s rich, coming from the person who broke my heart. You wanted to say, but instead you forced a smile, “Well, I appreciate it.”

You and William stared at each other, both unsure of what to say.

“You look well.” William spoke up after a while.

Your lips twitched from the irony, “I’m making do.”

Silence prevailed once more, and you stared at your water glass, trying to will the dam of emotions to stay intact. You took a deep breath, clenching your fists on the counter.

“Why did you leave me?”

The question was soft, but it was filled with pain so sharp William could feel it cut him.

“You know why.”

Your head whipped up, eyes alight with anger.

“No I don’t. You were here one day and we were happy, and the next day you were riding off on that damn horse.”

“I--”

You didn’t let him finish, “I could have come with you William!” Your voice began to break, tears threatened to fall.

“Being a bounty hunter is dangerous work.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Do you have any idea how I worried for you once I found out what you were doing?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” You sucked in a breath, chest heaving, “Are you sorry for the way you broke my heart into a million tiny pieces?”

William stood, hand slammed on the counter, his voice strained, “It broke my heart too! I never wanted to hurt you Y/N.”

You blinked at him, “Never wanted to hurt me. So why did you? I would have gone anywhere with you, followed you to the ends of the earth, left all of this behind. I wouldn’t care if it were dangerous or uncomfortable, because I would get to spend my days with you!”

“I know! And that’s the problem,” He took a pained breath, “You don’t deserve a life like that Y/N! You deserve to be safe and comfortable and happy and I can’t give that to you.”

“I don’t want that, I just wanted you.”

William blinked his tears away, “I wanted you too.”

“Then why?” Your voice was soft, all the bravado and tension from before quieted.

“I’m not good for you.”

You laughed darkly, “William, that’s crap and you know it.”

William pulled a few bills from his pocket, setting them on the counter.

“Think I could get a room for the night?”

“Talk to Tracy next door.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“This isn’t over William! Please don’t leave yet, are you leaving in the morning?”

“Goodbye Y/N.”

He walked away, heading for the door.

“Please don’t go.” You whispered, if he heard, he gave no indication he did so.

The door opened and closed, and you collapsed on the counter, for the first time that night, allowing yourself to cry.

William watched from the window, heart torn to shreds as he watched your shoulders shake.

“I’m sorry Y/N, I really am.”

#william vangeance #william angst #william x reader #black clover william #gender neutral reader #aurora borealis #planet fate

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whats-rambled-rambled · 4 years

Text

Stuck in reverse - pt 5

Neil x Reader

Chapter 5: Someone like you

(<- see Chapter 4, 3, 2, 1)

summary: camping, watching sunsets, oh - and Neil plays a guitar

warnings: is beer an alcohol? Language. Feels. Lots of feels.

author’s note: when did we stop putting lyrics into fanfics? I miss that! Del Amitri - Tell Her This is one the three songs that inspired me to write this story in the first place.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

---

As you were adjusting the straps of your backpack, you heard your team hollering happily by the van’s trunk. You shot a glance at their direction. Neil was just taking out his own backpack and you noticed a familiar shape next to him.

He brought the guitar.

You snickered at yourself, because that meant you were officially, royally screwed.

“Oi, mate, you plan on stealing some poor girl’s heart with this thing?” a young medic teased and nudged your friend’s shoulder.

Neil snorted and looked directly at you. “Maybe,” he said as an innocent smile appeared on his face. Then he winked.

Son of a bitch.

You scoffed and rolled your eyes, but the corner of your lips twitched.

___

The trail went mostly through the forest. The fog in the air, leaves rustling under your feet, the smell of resin and mushrooms – every step made you more and more relaxed. You tuned out your teammates’ chatter and just focused on taking in the views. You were still a bit tired after the previous night, not really in the mood for talking. The sadness was gone though, replaced by peaceful contentment.

You reached your destination in the afternoon and spent some time setting up the camp on a small clearing in the woods. The team set up nine small tents in a circle, leaving some place for a campfire in the middle.

You were halfway through unpacking the cool box when your phone buzzed. You raised your eyebrows when you noticed it was a text from Neil. You looked around, but you couldn’t see him anywhere. You opened the message only to find a set of coordinates there.

___

“Well, that certainly is a dramatic sunset, all right.”

Neil was standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. He jumped at the sound of your voice, turned around and greeted you with a wide grin on his face.

“Oh just wait until you see the view from up here,” he laughed and waved his hand to make you join him there.

You crossed your arms. “Nope, thanks, I’m perfectly good here.”

“Fine, you chicken, you’re missing out though,” he teased and turned his back to you.

You shook your head, annoyed at his comment. “Damn, I hate you so much sometimes,” you said through the gritted teeth and made few steps in his direction, still keeping your distance from the rim.

Neil started laughing and looked at you over his shoulder. “No, you don’t.”

You didn’t know why that thought made you this agitated, but you could feel your whole body getting tense. “What, you wanna tell me you remember the ridiculous way I take my coffee but you don’t remember that I am terribly scared of heights?”

Neil’s shoulders dropped when he noticed the angry look in your eyes. “I’m sorry, I thought-… You seemed okay when we were parachuting in Canada.”

You sighed. Yep, that was it. He’d moved in with Nikki few weeks before that mission, so he wasn’t there when you were sitting on the bathroom’s floor, barfing your guts out because you were so terrified and anxious. Only switching into your mission mode allowed you to survive that day without breaking down in front of everyone.

“Fake it till you make it, huh?” you laughed bitterly. “Nah man, I can push through it in the field, but after hours?” - you shrugged - “I’m useless.”

Neil opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then shook his head, reached out his hand and smiled lightly. “Do you trust me?”

Of course you did.

You took his hand and let him guide you toward the edge of the cliff. You could feel your knees shaking and your breath became shallow.

Neil was closely watching your reaction, trying not to push you too far out of your comfort zone too soon.

“Few more steps and we’ll sit down, I promise,” he said softly.

You squeezed his hand and nodded.

Neil sat down and pulled you next to him before you had a chance to peek down the precipice. You looked around and gasped at the view. The river wound through the valley, reflecting the colours of the sun, which was slowly hiding its face behind the top of the mountains up ahead.

“I told you so.”

You chuckled, too mesmerized by the scene in front of you to say anything. You leaned back and sighed happily. With the corner of your eye, you could see Neil looking at you with a shade of a smile on his lips before he turned his head and focused on the sunset.

You both watched in silence the sky changing into more orange and purple tones.

Suddenly you felt a change in Neil’s mood. He was pinching his left hand’s little finger, lost in his thoughts. He must have noticed your gaze, because he took a deep breath, as if he was bracing for something.

“Why did you leave?” he asked quietly.

“What?”

Not that you didn’t know what he meant. You knew exactly what he was asking about, but you weren’t sure if you were ready to have that conversation.

“Why did you leave?” he repeated his question, still not looking in your direction. “...Back then.”

The sadness in his voice took you by surprise.

“Neil, I-” you hesitated, fighting the urge to laugh it all up and change the subject. But he deserved to know. “Look, you were so happy and so in love, you’d put all your time and energy into your new relationship and that was okay. I just wanted to give you a bit of space.”

His eyes darted at you as he scoffed in disbelief. “A bit of-...By completely disappearing? I thought that our friendship was stronger than that.”

That accusation hit you hard, so without thinking twice you blurted, “Hey, you didn’t call me either.”

The painful look in his eyes made you regret saying that almost instantly. God, it hurt, and it’s been eating you alive all those years, but you just knew-

“That’s not fair.”

You pulled up your knees and wrapped your arms around them. He was right.

“I know, I’m sorry,” you said softly. “Look, from the bottom of my heart, I was genuinely happy for you both. Really. But-...” you sighed heavily. You felt light-headed, knowing what you were about to say. You desperately wanted to get it all out once and for all. Even if jumping from that cliff seemed like a more pleasant option at that moment. “...at the same time it did hurt like bitch,” you ended quietly. There, you said it.

The silence was deafening.

You shot a quick glance at Neil. He was staring at you with his mouth open, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“Why-”

You looked into his blue eyes, hoping he would see the answer in yours.

“Please don’t make me say it,” you whispered, barely holding your emotions at bay.

Neil’s eyes widened as he gasped quietly in sudden realization. You could almost see him finally connecting all the dots in his mind. His expression was a mixture of shock and dread.

“Jesus, Y/N, but you never- why didn’t you say-”

Ah, that was the easiest question.

“Because I valued our friendship more than...” - you took in a shaky breath, fighting the tears welling up in your eyes - “...than that and I didn’t wanna risk it.”

No, the irony of that whole mess wasn’t lost on you, but you were glad Neil decided not to point it out. His intense stare was unbearable though.

You stood up, unable to bring yourself to stay any longer, terrified of what you might hear next.

“I have to go, I’m in charge of the food today,” you muttered and turned away to walk back to the camp.

“Y/N-”

Your heart clenched painfully in your chest. You pinched the bridge of your nose and shook your head, not looking back. “Neil, please. It’s just- I can’t do this right now.”

The short walk to the camp gave you enough time to pull yourself together. The policy is to suppress echoed in your mind and it helped you put the cap on your bottled emotions and to shove them back into the deepest corner of your heart. The rest of the crew was sitting around the campfire, listening to Seb’s story about his recent cinematic discoveries. You let him finish his rant before you joined them.

“Who’s hungry?” you asked, rubbing your hands together. Seeing your squad’s enthusiastic reactions put a smile on your face. “Okay, I need more hands for this!”

As you were giving instructions to Ira and Elliot over the cool box, you noticed Neil coming out of the forest. You saw Wheeler walking up to him and asking something, but he just shook his head, patted her on the shoulder, grabbed a beer from a bucket and sat down near the campfire.

Two hours later, most of the food you’d prepared was gone. The group switched to drinking and singing along to Neil’s guitar. You included, the atmosphere of camaraderie grounding you in the moment. After covering few of the classics, Neil started taking the requests.

“Hey, how about Passenger and Let her go?” said Wheeler, smirking.

Neil’s lips pressed into a thin line as he glared at her. If looks could kill, she’d be dead right then. For a moment it seemed like they were having a short non-verbal argument, then Neil sighed, clearly defeated. He put on a brave face though and played the first few chords.

What the hell was that about?

The rest of the guys whooped and joined him singing the lyrics. As the song progressed, you could swear Neil’s face became sadder, and by the end of the song you could feel a lump in your throat. The tenderness in his voice when he sang the last lines took your breath away.

//Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go//

The image of Nikki flashed before your eyes and you got up to grab another beer.

“All right guys,” Neil laughed and downed his bottle, frowning slightly. “Speaking of- ...let me choose the next one.”

Of course you recognized that song. Bloody hell. You remembered the first time you heard it, that winter afternoon, Neil and you snuggled under a blanket on his couch, watching the latest episode of your then-favourite TV show, and you slowly falling in love with the music, the lyrics… and your best friend in the whole world.

//Tell her not to go

I ain't holding on no more

Tell her something in my mind freezes up from time to time//

“You know that all this time I had no idea you are that childhood friend that broke his heart?”

Your heart sank at those words. Wheeler was standing right next to you with her arms crossed, a smug expression on her face. Your jaw dropped and you looked over your shoulder at Neil. Nobody seemed to know that song, so he just kept singing alone, smiling sadly.

//Tell her not to cry

I just got scared, that's all

Tell her I'll be by her side, all she has to do is call//

Your mind went blank, not allowing you to fully grasp what you’d just heard. “Me neither,” you said under your breath.

Wheeler snickered at your shocked face. “Apparently.” She placed her hand on your shoulder, squeezing it lightly and went to her tent, leaving you standing there alone.

You turned around and noticed Neil looking at you, the fire flickering in his eyes.

//Tell her not to go

I ain't holding on no more

Tell her nothing if not this: all I want to do is kiss her//

You held your breath, your hands were shaking. The thought appeared on your mind, but you were too scared to take it seriously.

What if he really meant it?

Why were you doing this to yourself? Enough. You left the camp and headed to the stream in the woods. You splashed the cold water on your face and sighed heavily.

“You have no idea how many times I wanted to call you.”

There he was, leaning against the tree, his hands in the pockets, his face tense and serious.

“One day I woke up and realized that you were gone. Days were passing by and it was getting more and more difficult.” Neil gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked away. “Goddammit, I thought you were mad at me, or hated me for some reason,” he exhaled slowly and fixed his gaze on you. “Or that you didn’t care anymore. I just tried to make some sense of it all. Believe it or not,” - he laughed bitterly - “I wanted to give you some space too.”

You wanted to laugh at that comeback, but a little sob escaped your mouth instead. The pain in his eyes was breaking your heart into a million little pieces. The tears were slowly getting mixed with the water on your face so you tried to wipe them with the back of your hand as you walked up to him.

“Neil, I’m sorry,” you said quietly and pulled him into a hug.

Neil wrapped his arms around you and buried his face in your hair, trembling lightly as he let out a shaky breath.

“The thought that I lost you for good was-” his voice broke before he could finish the sentence.

You pulled back so you could look at him. The tenderness of his expression made your heart skip a bit. Neil pressed his forehead into yours and closed his eyes.

“Jesus, I was so stupid. I’m so sorry,” he said softly.

You were lost for words, so you just shook your head lightly and placed a hand on his cheek, stroking it slowly with your thumb. Neil fixed his eyes on yours as he brushed a strand of hair away from your face.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered and sighed, biting his lip.

You chuckled lightly and smiled. Your fingertips slowly traced down his jawline, your heart pounding in your chest. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Neil tilted his head as he pulled you closer. Then he kissed you like there was no tomorrow and nothing else mattered anymore.

(next Chapter ->)

((bonus chapter ->))

#neil tenet #neil tenet x reader #neil x reader #tenet #robert pattinson #neil tenet fanfic #tenet fanfic #stuck in reverse

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astralaffairs · 4 years

Note

okay okay i was brainstorming a fotp verse drabble request and i got to thinking... if thomas ever got asked about y/n and her articles on him at like a press conference or something, what would he say? obviously he isn't going to reveal... whatever their relationship is but would he praise her writing? or would he crack a few (more lighthearted) jokes at her expense? u don't have to drabble this or anything i was just curious 🥺

I LOVE IT he'd totally be trying to tread lightly like u just KNOW she's there in the audience watching him like 🤨 but he absolutely wouldn't be able to keep himself from making fun of her j a lil. that man is ultimately just a big softie tho

--------------

The room he'd rented out for his press conference had been far from spacious -- it couldn't have been more than twenty rows of metal chairs which sat before where he stood at a podium at the front of the room. The event had been limited; reporters could only be sent from approved publications (a restriction that, in Y/N's opinion, was just another way of saying they were aiming for as much confirmation bias as possible), and as the primaries had made it abundantly clear who would end up as the Republican presidential nominee, everyone had been clamoring for spots.

Not being even close to a senior reporter, Y/N hadn't expected to be sent. Her original plan for the evening included watching the live stream on her laptop and texting the keynote speaker all the mockery she'd be able to offer for his answers. However, her history with Jefferson -- that is, the Jefferson campaign, of course -- had apparently granted her a sharp, glossy lanyard and a seat in the second row. She'd neglected to mention that small detail to him, though.

His eyes had found hers almost immediately when he took his place before the rows of journalists, all chomping at the bit to have the most exclusive information they could get out of him as quickly as they could get him to speak. However, he continued scanning the crowd, not missing a beat. If not for the wry, surprised smile that'd broken into his front of relaxed professionalism, she'd have almost thought he didn't see her.

But that was all more than twenty questions ago, before he'd fallen into the swing of his public persona, before she'd all but disregarded their prior connection; when her focus was on typing at over 80 words per minute, desperate not to miss a single detail, she couldn't spare a moment to reminisce on having been pinned to his wall the night prior, couldn't think about the bruises littered across her thighs.

She was fully immersed in fact-checking his last response about drone strikes in Afghanistan, because there was no way those empirics were correct; she'd definitely read somewhere that--

"Secretary Jefferson, I'm sure you're aware by now of the series of articles covering your campaign attributed to a Y/N L/N."

Her fingers froze. A small, entertained smile graced her lips, and her head slowly rose from her laptop to find Thomas with his lips pursed, his gaze trained on the reporter still speaking. She could tell by the tension in his shoulders that it was all he could do to control his expression.

"It's been on my radar," he answered mildly, and the reporter continued.

"Considering how prominent they've become in the public eye, what do you think of the writing?" A beat passed; Y/N folded her arms, sat back in her chair, rather enjoying watching the scene before her play out. "Ms. L/N has covered everything from the day you announced that you'd decided to run, but you've never addressed any of the conclusions she draws. Is it simply because she's correct? Or would you like to respond to any of her judgments?"

Thomas looked conflicted where he stood at the front of the room. His gaze flickered over to Y/N, for only a fleeting moment, and she raised an eyebrow. When he looked back at the other reporter, his jaw was tense, tongue in cheek, but she could still see the mischievous glint to his gaze.

"Well, I'll try to keep this brief, since there's too much writin' there to cover in the next couple of minutes," he said, and his controlled expression was gradually easing into entertainment. "I can't tell you she's been makin' up any of the info about my time as the Secretary of State. That's all public knowledge, no matter how much fun Ms. L/N's been having paintin' me as some kinda covert international miscreant."

Again, she caught his stare, now wearing a deep-set scowl, and the amusement in his words was gradually pushing toward the surface. "Of course there are some things I've done that I regret, but I think my time as... what'd she call me, an 'agent of antagonism?'"

"I believe her words were an 'envoy of enmity.'"

"That's the one." He was grinning outright, by then, though her gaze was deadpanned when it met his. His enjoyment of the situation was clear to her. "Anyway, I think havin' made the mistakes I did earlier on in my career's taught me how to avoid 'em in the future, and my field experience has positioned me well for understandin' the role the president's gotta take on in such a turbulent international community. That said, I have... a high level of respect for Ms. L/N."

The irony in his tone had dropped off with his final sentences. His eyes found hers, and she was wearing an easy smile. The teasing spark in his gaze hadn't faded, but it was mingled with a warmth she hadn't noticed just seconds before. That time, he didn't look back to the other reporter.

"Now, you won't catch me pretendin' she hasn't been a bit of a pain along the way--"

Y/N rolled her eyes.

"--and I can't say her Twitter's been all that flatterin' to me--" Scattered, quiet laughter came from the crowd collected in the room. Y/N's glare was present but weak; his tone was too lighthearted for any of the journalists to take his words all that seriously, and his gaze was far too playful for her to maintain any front of offense. "--but if anyone was gonna make a whole career outta writin' about me, I guess I gotta consider myself lucky it wasn't someone who came in with a misconception of me as some power-hungry corporate sellout, or anything."

He raised an eyebrow for just a moment, and though she was shaking her head, somewhere between exasperated and amused, heat rose in the back of Y/N's neck at his words. A twinge of embarrassment and regret dimmed her smile, but she knew his sentiment wasn't resentful.

"She's offered some tough feedback, but her writin' about my platform's been pretty nuanced, 'n I can appreciate a reporter who's willin' to come around to my way of thinkin' on a couple of things." His wink was short, sly, and from the disparate chuckles throughout the room, those around her seemed to think there was some joke they all believed to be in on. (All the better for Y/N, anyway. She didn't need anyone noticing Thomas Jefferson eyeing her in the middle of his own press conference -- really, that was something she'd much rather have kept for her own.)

"Hearin' what she has to say has made me reflect on a couple of things, and I think knowin' so much about one person's opinion of me made me re-evaluate some of the things I took for granted." His words were gentle, though the brazen confidence he still held himself with wouldn't have given off the impression that they might've been. Y/N's gaze was soft, and she was taken ever-so-slightly aback -- as per usual -- by his compassion.

"Dealin' with her opinions has been a bit of a ride, but I like to think I'm a better person for it. She's added a lot of value to my... campaign, and at the end of the day, I really do appreciate her havin' been around all this time." His pause after that went on just a bit too long. She didn't break his stare; the look in his eyes was absent, preoccupied if only for a second, but when she offered him a grateful smile, he was right there with her. The teasing in his demeanor had been overshadowed by a fondness that, had she not known better (much like everyone sitting to her left and right), she might've mistaken for polite cordiality, a front plastered on to mask some sort of animosity toward her published appraisal of him.

When the silence stretched on, she finally raised her eyebrows at him, nodding back toward the reporter who'd asked the question, and he seemed to have broken from a trance, giving her a smile as warm as her own before he turned back to address the room.

"Other questions?"

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rrrawrf-writes · 3 years

Text

retirement

this is for @gingerly-writing. it was supposed to be for her birthday. then i didn’t write anything for six months. but now here we are.

---

“If you’d wanted me to attend your party, you could have just sent an invitation.”

Suijade looked up, a bit startled, and then stood abruptly, his chair scooting back, as Gloria Delgado smiled at him. For a woman in her eighties, she looked elegant - and recognizable as none other than Morning Glory. She didn’t have to wear a suit. A long, slim white silk dress with the unmistakable prints of cherry blossoms and the creeping, flowering vine that gave her her alias, wrapped around a body that should have belonged to a younger woman.

A much younger woman. Gloria may have had laugh lines and crow’s feet, but she looked like she hadn’t aged past her forties.

Suijade instinctively reached out to his ropes, but stopped himself, as Gloria simply smiled at him. He hadn’t seen her in person in years. Very few people had. Her brown skin was a beautiful contrast against her straight, snow-white hair, cut in a bob that curved slightly around her face. Suijade stood in front of superhero royalty, and all that Gloria was missing was the crown.

“Please, don’t let me make you stand,” she said warmly, pulling out a chair across from him and taking a seat. She smiled and gestured towards his chair, as if this were her party. “Sit.”

Suijade sat.

Her brown eyes regarded him with a hidden laugh; her voice was warm and honey smooth as she spoke. “This is a wonderful event. And I quite appreciate the cause - a charity ball for the conservation of local wildlife. Tell me,” she drew one of the still-full winegasses from Suijade’s side of the table to hers, and took a sip; he resisted the urge to tell her that it was for his fiance. “Did you arrange this for the irony, or was that a happy coincidence?”

Suijade finally found his voice. “It’s rather brave of you to come here alone, Mrs. Delgado.”

She smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “As I said,” she pointed out, “you wanted me to come.”

“I would have preferred different circumstances,” Suijade admitted. He doubted he would see them, but he looked out over the crowd for any sign of the people he’d sent to fetch Gloria in the first place. His table was one of several on a balcony overlooking the celebration; it was otherwise empty, as the people in the hall below them chatted, danced, and ate their fill.

“Then you should have come yourself, Lariat,” Gloria chided. “I’m sure the end result would have been very different.”

If Gloria had been sixty years younger, Suijade suspected she would have rolled her eyes. The sarcasm still carried without the gesture, and he took a bit larger of a drink than he really should have.

“I believe that the end result will turn in my favor, now that you’re here,” Suijade said. “I appreciate how much easier you’ve made this for me.”

Gloria let out a soft chuckle, and propped her chin in her hand. “Oh, no, darling, it’s rather the other way around. You see, you’re trapped.”

Suijade arched his eyebrows. “Pardon?”

Gloria’s smile grew a touch wider. “You’re trapped,” she repeated, and gestured around them with her glass of wine. “By societal convention.”

“Please explain.”

Gloria gave him a warm look, took another sip, then set down her glass and straightened. “Everyone,” she said, “knows who I am. And those here who don’t recognize me yet, will soon. It’s rather expected for heroes - even retired ones - to kick up a fuss at these events. Though,” she added, “I really would prefer not to. I haven’t been invited to much of anything for years, and this is quite enjoyable.”

“I would prefer not to have a fuss at my party, either,” Sujiade said dryly. “Mrs. Delgado, you seem to have quite the monologue prepared.”

“Please be patient with me, my dear,” Gloria said. “As I said, I haven’t been out and about in years.”

Suijade couldn’t help a smile, and he tipped his glass towards her. “Well, then, please continue. I would hate to curtail your enjoyment.”

Giving him a maternal smile, Gloria reached across the table and warmly patted his hand. “Thank you, darling. I have no need to hide my identity, or my powers. You, however, cannot make a scene without revealing yours.”

That was true. Suijade observed her over the rim of his glass, straight-faced. “I have been known for my subtlety, Mrs. Delgado.”

“I am aware.” Gloria glanced around the room. “But it is a touch more difficult to hide ropes at such an event as this, isn’t it? Let’s see - you have the curtains, of course,” she waved her hands towards the fabric pulled back from the high arching windows. Suijade had, indeed, added ropes to hold them back, as much aesthetic decoration as a potential weapon; more ropes hung behind them. “If I were here to cause a fuss,” Gloria continued, “I would also suspect the vents in the room, and the high ceilings. I’ve had to use those hiding places for my own purposes, before.”

“You’re very observant.”

“I’m very old,” Gloria corrected with a smile, “and I’ve seen every trick in the book, Lariat. Even yours.”

Suijade gestured to the one server waiting on the balcony with them, though she was far enough away not to hear anything. He and Gloria waited for the server to refill their glasses, and Gloria thanked her warmly before the waitress stepped away again.

“Mrs. Delgado,” Suijade said, after a moment. He resettled himself in his chair. “I do not rely solely on my powers. I have always considered that a weakness.”

“And so you would like to tell me that my focus on your powers is a similar weakness,” Gloria guessed with a smile. Suijade nodded, once. “This is true, and very wise of you, Lariat. Though you should be cautious of your use of the word always,” she added, a twinkle in her eyes. “I remember when you thought that your only strength.”

“Would it be inaccurate of me to suppose that you are focusing on your own strengths at this moment?” Suijade said. This evening was taking an odd turn, but he found the conversation refreshing - and, admittedly, somewhat flattering. There were not many these days who had the opportunity to speak so frankly with the woman who had been the first to show superpowers - and become the first superhero.

“It would not,” Gloria confirmed. “But, it would also be accurate to say that you, Lariat, are outgunned.”

He frowned.

Gloria straightened with a smile. “You have done me the wonderful favor of ensuring that I have more than enough ammunition, Lariat.”

Her eyes drifted towards the vase of flowers in the center of the table. Suijade shifted slightly. It was only a single vase of flowers -

A single vase of flowers on every table in the large hall. Several clustering end tables. Displays along the wall showing realistic dioramas of the local environments they were trying to save. Small indoor, decorative trees and plants that were real, because if Suijade was going to sponsor an event, he wasn’t going to use plastic for anything.

He had arranged his own trap.

“I presume you had all of these roses dethorned, of course,” Gloria mused, reaching a hand out to the vase. Her fingers curled around a soft green rose, and the smooth stem sprouted slender, sharp thorns as she pulled the flower away from its fellows. “That’s really a shame. You can’t properly appreciate something without experiencing all aspects of its creation.”

“They came that way,” Suijade said numbly. He hadn’t really paid much attention to the flower decorations. He had people for that. He suppressed the urge to look around for his security, to check again just in case Gloria had brought someone with her, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Mrs. Delgado, my associates - ?”

“Ah.” Gloria set the rose aside. “They’ll have been arrested, by now. I was vague on the details when I called the police. I tried to avoid hurting them as best as I could.”

Of course she had. “I appreciate that. They were only doing their jobs.”

Gloria smiled. Her gaze drifted over the celebration below them, following the attendees in their suits and gowns. It was hardly a news-worthy event, simply some of the local rich folks around the state that Suijade and his fiance had convinced to back the charity.

“Lariat, if you’re going to send others out to do what no one else can do better than you, you really should retire.”

He startled, looking up at her. “I’m sorry?”

She set down her glass, a slight smirk touching her green-coated lips. “Oh, you could join my book club.” Gloria’s expression brightened at the thought.

Suijade stared. “Your… book club.”

“Yes. We just met last week, and we’re starting a new book. This is the perfect time.” She straightened. “I think you would enjoy it. We’re reading one of Robin Kimmerer’s books this month. Braiding Sweetgrass.”

Had she gone senile? She was eighty years old, at least, and Morning Glory had taken a lot of hits during her career.

Judging by the slight smile on her face, Gloria could guess at what Suijade was thinking. “Well, at least consider the idea,” she said, and finished off her glass of wine. “Who was it, Lariat?”

Suijade blinked, and shifted again. “Who was who?”

Gloria looked at him. “I know that there is no reason for you to hold me ransom, Lariat. I have no riches, and I’m not that valuable a public figure any more.”

“You shouldn’t sell yourself so short, Mrs. Delgado.” Suijade flagged the server down again, asking her to refill Gloria’s glass as he regained his feet in this odd conversation. “We would all be poorer without your presence.”

She gave him a fond smile as the server left them again. “Except you. How much richer would you be?”

Suijade smiled back at her. “Quite a bit, Morning Glory.” And considering the money Suijade already had, that was certainly saying something. He could retire their server’s father, the poor man. Suijade knew he worried about her university tuition.

“Mmm. And who will be to blame for your sudden increase in charitable donations?” Gloria asked with a smile. Suijade sat back in his chair, but before he could think of a non-answer to give her, he spotted his fiance over Gloria’s shoulder.

Jesse, of course, had the worst timing, as always.

He stood up with a smile regardless, and he didn’t even have to fake it - seeing Jesse enjoying himself was a pleasant contrast to the work Suijade had to deal with. Jesse had his hearing aids in, but Suijade still signed a greeting to him.

“Oh, Jesse, hello again,” Gloria said brightly, getting to her feet a beat after Suijade. He shot her a startled look, and bit his tongue. “I’m sorry for disappearing on you earlier, I found an old friend I wanted to say hello to.”

“That’s all right, Mrs. Delgado,” Jesse said brightly, his voice just a touch too loud, the words just a touch too close together. Suijade still hadn’t heard anything he loved more. He pressed his lips together when Jesse offered a hug to Gloria first, but he really couldn’t blame either of them - Suijade had always been the one with more reservations about displays of affection.

Jesse at least broke away to come over and kiss Suijade, very briefly, on the corner of his jaw. “I didn’t realize the two of you knew each other,” Jesse said brightly. He reached down to steal Suijade’s glass, and Suijade let him.

“Well, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen each other,” Gloria said warmly.

“I’m more surprised the two of you know each other,” Suijade remarked, though at this point, he really shouldn’t be. Jesse somehow always knew the oddest people, but tonight, Jesse shook his head.

“We only met tonight,” he said. “I wish we had known each other before, I absolutely would have invited you.” Jesse gave Gloria a bright smile.

Of course he would have.

They all took a seat again, Jesse sitting as close to Suijade as he could manage it. The server appeared without being asked, bringing another glass and refilling the others before she ghosted away again. Suijade had hoped this would be the last event she’d have to play caterer at, and then she could simply focus on her studies, but with Morning Glory here as a guest, rather than a captive, Suijade supposed he’d have to find some other source of a bonus for her father.

Well. He could still find a way, he was sure. He was Lariat, after all, even if Gloria was right.

Sorry for not being down there with you, Suijade signed briefly to Jesse, under the edge of the table. He didn’t know if Gloria knew sign language, but he wouldn’t be surprised. Work came up.

That’s all right, Jesse signed back, before taking one of Suijade’s hands and leaning against him. “Are you enjoying the party, Mrs Delgado?”

“It’s lovely,” Gloria assured him. “I especially adore the decorations. You’ve both truly outdone yourself tonight.”

“Have you seen the gardens?” Jesse asked eagerly. “The people who own this place have been working on them for decades.”

“No, not yet,” Gloria said, though she perked up just as eagerly as Jesse. “But I would like to.”

“Jesse,” Suijade started, but Gloria had already swept to her feet; Jesse bounced up, too, like an eager puppy. Suijade started to stand.

“Let me show you,” Jesse said excitedly, before Suijade could make any attempt at heading off this adventure. Turning, Jesse gestured for Suijade to stay seated, adding, “No, Suijade, it’s fine. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Gloria slipped her arm through Jesse’s, and smiled past him to Suijade. “You should really consider my invitation,” she told him warmly. “Jesse, hold on juuuust a moment.”

She hovered her hand over the flowers in the vase, deliberating a moment between colors before she pulled another of the pale green roses. Suijade shoved down the urge to leap across the table as Gloria fussily slipped it through Jesse’s lapel, cooing over how well it matched his shirt.

Jesse, of course, was delighted, and he half-turned to show Suijade with a grin. Suijade did not miss the single thorn on the stem.

“Who was that friend of yours you wanted me to meet, Suijade?” Gloria asked, the lines around her eyes crinkling with a warm smile.

Suijade’s grip wrinkled the tablecloth. Jesse looked to him, and Suijade forced himself to relax, pushing a tense smile onto his face. Looking good, he signed quickly to Jesse. His fiance beamed.

Suijade knew that Gloria wouldn’t hurt Jesse. Of all the capes he’d ever dealt with, Morning Glory was the one he trusted most not to make good on a threat against a civilian. But it wasn’t about whether she’d hurt Jesse or not - it was about whether Suijade was willing to take that chance, miniscule though it may be, with the man he loved.

He wasn’t.

“Ah. Percy Banks,” he said, glancing past them to the people below. “He is very keen to make your acquaintance.” And all of Banks’ money in the world wasn’t enough to make endangering Jesse worth it. Suijade did not want to make the mistake of trusting Morning Glory’s public reputation. She was not one of the more predictable superheroes.

“Thank you.” Gloria beamed at Jesse. “Shall we?”

Suijade watched the two of them go, then sighed. He drained his glass, then wearily waved over the server to refill it, again. She looked at him, then just set the bottle on the table. Suijade let out a soft laugh.

“Thank you, Maria,” he murmured, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was sure no one would notice if he dipped his hands into the charity till for her tuition. If she kept him supplied like this, he would.

With a sigh, he sat back in his chair. Retirement. He’d thought about it for some time, and he knew it would make Jesse happy. And Suijade carried out his own plans less and less these days. Maybe Gloria was right - it could have ended very differently if he’d gone after her himself, instead of trusting to his employees.

It could have ended with him hurt, or worse, and Jesse left alone, waiting for him to come home. Suijade closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he pulled out his phone, and looked up Robin Kimmerer.

#iwrite #morning glory #lariat #superpowerverse #gingerly-writing #og idea was to start off with the attempted kidnapping #just to show off gloria still kicking trash at eighty-five #but this was honestly just more fun

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secretly-tword-obsessed · 4 years

Text

Save The Queen

Ok, so I said I’d post this later but I just couldn’t resist!

Prompted by @randomtickleewriterstudent

Summary: Burr helps Hamilton play his chess game, in a very unexpected way...

It was a rainy Thursday afternoon in Manhattan, New York.

Alexander Hamilton stood outside President George Washington’s office, a stack of papers in hand. He knocked on the thin door twice, causing the room to rumble softly.

“Come in”, came the voice of George Washington. Hamilton obeyed, stepping inside to find Washington with a quill in his hand, writing some sort of letter.

“I have the papers”, Alexander said, making the other man look up. Washington smiled softly at the sight of one of his hardest and most loyal workers.

“Thank you Hamilton”, he said, “Put them on my desk”.

Hamilton nodded and walked by Washington’s desk, placing the papers down. As he did so, he accidentally knocked over Washington’s jar of ink, causing ink to spill all over the letter Washington was writing, ruining it.

Hamilton gasped: “I’m so sorry!”.

Washington just shook his head and looked up at him, “Don’t be, son. We all make mistakes”.

Yet Hamilton could tell that Washington was a little irritated.

“I could, erm, rewrite that letter for you if you want”, Hamilton offered.

“That would be nice”, Washington responded.

And so Hamilton sat at the presidents desk, writing out on a new sheet of parchment the words that came out of Washington’s mouth.

Once he was done, he dropped the quill, his hands a little red from witting so fast. Of course, Hamilton was used to this, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. Washington noticed Hamilton’s red hand.

“Sorry, did I go to fast?”.

“No”, Hamilton responded.

George Washington thought for a moment. “You seem worked out Hamilton, would you like to take a break with me?”.

Hamilton’s face lit up, “I would love to, sir”.

Hamilton really was feeling worked out, from both the essays he placed on the president’s desk and the letter that he just wrote for him. He didn’t often take breaks, but he couldn’t say no to the president of the United States. And it was fun spending time with Washington, he was a smart man and had lots of insights to give, in one game in particular...

“Chess!” both men said at once.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and than burst out laughing. Washington was a very good chess player, and liked giving Hamilton new techniques and strategies to follow. Of course, for every time he played Washington, the better he got himself.

They both walked over to Washington’s couch’s and set up the board on his coffee table, each man on either side of it. They didn’t even have to ask each other about what colour to play; Washington always played as black and Hamilton always played as white.

“Would you like me to give you tips as we play?”, Washington asked.

“No”, Hamilton replied, “I’m feeling competitive today”.

Just than, there was another knock at the door, making the room quietly rumble.

“Come in”, Washington called.

In stepped a short man: Aaron Burr.

“Sir, may we have a discussion?”, Burr asked.

“Maybe later”, Washington responded.

Burr was about to walk out, when Hamilton said, “I have an idea! How about winner plays Burr!”.

Burr raised an eyebrow in confusion, before walking over to see the chess board on the table between the two men. Understanding, he nodded.

“Do you play chess?”, Washington asked.

Burr smiled, a common habit of his, “Yes, and I am quite good if I do say so myself”. Burr shook his head and added, “Sir”.

Washington chuckled, “You don’t have to call me that. For now”.

He patted a seat next to himself on the couch for Burr to take.

And so, the game began. Alexander advanced his pawn, to which Washington responded with a knight. Alexander took another pawn out to threaten that knight, and Washington advanced his knight further to the centre.

A few moves later, and Washington was already dominating the game. Snatching pieces, threatening pieces and taking control over most of the board.

Hamilton cursed under his breath every time another valuable piece was taken, wishing that he had accepted the other man’s guidance.

Burr seemed to be very interested in the game, observing the board and calculating many possible moves for each player and their outcomes in his head. He noticed Hamilton make a very stupid mistake with his queen, and had to try hard not to make a noise as to spoil the game.

Just than, Washington stood up, “Do you guys need a drink?”. The other two shook their heads. “Well than, if you’d excuse me, I’m just going to get some water for myself, be right back”. And with that, the president left the room.

Alexander and Burr sat in silence for a few moments, before Burr muttered: “Your in trouble”.

“What?”, Alexander asked.

“Oh, I mean, Washington will destroy you when you get back”.

Hamilton tilted his head, “Why?”.

Burr snickered, “Look at your queen Alexander”.

Hamilton looked at the board. “What? I don’t see anyth- OH SHIT.”

Burr chuckled to himself, “Yeah, that is a bit of a problem isn’t it”.

The problem they were talking about: Washington’s pawn was just diagonal from Hamilton’s queen, and he would surely take it on the next move. Crap, why didn’t he see that?

“Of course”, Burr said at a clearly frustrated Alexander, “You could cheat”.

“What?”

“I said, you could cheat. Quickly, move your queen before Washington gets back, hopefully he won’t notice anything”.

Hamilton raised an eyebrow, he rarely saw this side of Burr. Burr never cheated, at life or in a game. Yet Hamilton was ready to obey, as it could have been his only chance of winning the game. He did as Burr suggested, and moved his queen one space down.

A few moments later, Washington returned with a small glass of iced water in his hands.

“Now, where were we?”, he said, resuming his position on the couch. As soon as he glanced at the board before him, a smile spread across his face.

“Hamilton?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Did you move your queen when I was gone?”.

Crap.

“No”, Hamilton lied, fumbling with the buttons on his coat.

“Are you sure?”, Washington asked him, raising an eyebrow, a wide grin on his face.

“Yes”, Hamilton responded, tying to keep eye contact with the man as his knees wobbled.

“Come’ere son!”, Washington chuckled, walking to the other side of the board and sitting down on Hamilton’s couch, wrapping an arm around the man’s shoulder. Hamilton squeaked.

“Now what if I told you”, Washington explained, “That this was all a test?”.

Hamilton’s eyes widened, his jaw dropping open. Washington chuckled at the look on the mans face, and Burr also couldn’t help letting out a humph of amusement. Hamilton shot Burr an ice-cutting look, to which he just responded with a finger to his lips, as if to say: ‘Don’t tell him I suggested it’.

“Now”, Washington said, “Since I know that your a cheater, it’s about time I give you your next lesson”.

With that, the president pounced on him, leaving him laid back on the couch.

“Never cheat at chess”, Washington said down at him, “Because there are consequences”.

Hamilton gulped,”What kind of consequences sir?”.

“Well, glad you asked”, Washington said, a smug smirk glued to his face; “You see, the other day, I went in to check on you at your house, and I saw something very interesting through your window. You were play fighting with your friend John Laurens, is that correct?”.

Hamilton’s eyes widened once again, “Uh, umm....”

“Oh, my eyes never deceive me son. But you know, you have always seemed to me like the ticklish type”.

“Wait-sir-NO!”, Hamilton cried, but it was too late, Washington had started clawing his quick fingers up and down his ribs.

“No what?”, Washington asked, not slowing his attack.

Hamilton tossed his head back in hysterical laughter, trying to squirm away to no avail.

“Whats wrong son, are you a little ticklish?”, Washington teased, making his hands towards the other man’s belly, scratching and teasing at the thin cloth of his shirt.

Burr watched the whole thing from the other couch, with a smile on his face.

Hamilton thrashed and squirmed.

“BUHUHHHUHUHUHUHURRR HEHEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHEHE!”, he begged, squealing as Washington swirled his pointer finger into his belly-button.

Burr just chuckled, “Washington was right, there are consequences for cheating you know”.

Oh, the irony.

“SIHIHHIHIR, WAHAHAHAHASHINGTON, PLEHEHEHEHEHASE!!!”.

“Please what?”, Washington asked, “What is it Hamilton, do you want more tickles?”.

“NOHOHHOHO!”, he cried, “NOHOHOHO MOHOHOHORE THIHIHIHHIHIHNGS!!!!”.

“Things?” Washington questioned, “Can you not say ‘tickle’ Hamilton?”.

Hamilton turned crimson, squirming around and kicking lightly in his laughter.

Washington tried out the mans neck, which was exposed from him tossing his head back in laughter. He shrieked and pinned it down to his chest.

“NOHOHOHHOHO WHYHYHHYHYHY?!?”

“Why? Because you cheated, thats why Hamilton. And you thought I wouldn’t even notice”, Washington teased.

This was torture, just torture. Yet of course, Alexander didn’t exactly hate it.

Ok, he loved it.

But why would he not? He was playing with Washington like a little kid after a long day at school. And the feeling of just laughing freely was...lifting. Like the worlds problems vanished for those moments, and he was just having fun with a friend.

But that still didn’t stop the man from begging and squirming.

“Wait, stop”, Burr said to Washington, making him halt his attack. A huge smile spread across the shorter’s face: “I have an idea”.

“Wait, Bur, don’t you dare!”, Alexander threatened, as the other approached him and Washington.

Burr’s eyes flashed, “Don’t I dare what Alexander? This?”.

“No! Wait-”, Burr started squeezing the sides of Hamilton’s stomach with both hands, which he knew Hamilton couldn’t stand.

“NOHOHHO HEHEHEHEEHELP AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”, he cried, his laughter ticking up a pitch.

Washington smiled down at the scene before him, “Oh, your in trouble now son”. He went back to Ham’s neck.

“YOHOHOHOHOHOUR NOHOHOHHOHOT MYHYHYHYHY DAHAHAHAHAHAD!”, Hamilton laughed, the sensations almost unbearable.

“And you, son, are not a fair chess player”, Washington responded teasingly, watching as the man completely lost his mind under the attacks.

“I was right Hamilton, Washington would destroy you when you got back!”, Burr slipped out.

Washington stopped his fingers and looked up at Burr. Burr, realising his mistake, cupped a hand over his mouth.

“What was that Burr?”, Washington asked.

“N-nothing”.

“Did you warn Hamilton about the queen?”.

“N-no”

“Did you suggest that he cheat?”

“N-no”

“Are you ticklish?”.

Washington stepped over to Burr’s side of the couch.

“N-no”.

Hamilton chuckled, sitting up, “Nothing he just said was true, sir”.

“Hamilton!”, Burr exclaimed, feeling betrayed. Hamilton just shrugged.

“You shouldn’t have done that Burr, attacked when I warned you not to”.

“And”, Washington added, “There is a punishment for assisting in cheating too”.

And soon, Burr was trapped on the couch, letting out streams of giggly laughter.

It was a rainy Thursday afternoon in Manhattan, New York. And a very playful one to!

Oh my dog I’m blushing so hard right now just from writing this! Hope you enjoyed, and my back in a little hungry so please give some feedback!

#hamiltonticklefic #hamiltontickle #ticklish!alexander #ticklish!hamilton #lee!hamilton #ler!washington #fluff #platonicfluff #ticklefic #prompted

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emybain · 4 years

Text

Quarantine: Renegades Edition

so please don’t take this seriously. i honestly don’t remember writing half of it, but it be like that. this is simply a glimpse into the lives of Nova and Adrian during a global pandemic, aka snippets of the few months they’re in quarantine together. also, happy birthday to my girl nova. there’s a bonus/crack scene at the end that was inspired by tiktok, as well. i regret nothing (other than this poorly written fic)

ao3

“They’re saying this thing could spread into June, July, maybe even August,” Adrian said, relaxing back into the leather couch, pulling the laptop with him. Nova adjusted against him, pulling the blanket over her legs just a little higher as the AC powered on.

“That’s if people keep being dumbasses,” Danna replied from behind the screen, leaning forward to rest her head in her palm. “It’s our job as citizens to prevent the spread of this disease. Why can’t people get that through their thick heads?”

Nova and Adrian were on a video call with the rest of their friends, who were all also quarantined in their homes. Nova had her own apartment, but at the very start of this outbreak—a new disease that was rapidly spreading around the world—she decided that quarantining by herself for an unknown amount of time wouldn’t be good for her mental health, so she packed up clothing and other essentials and headed over to the Everhart-Westwood residence. Not to mention that a mansion was vastly better than a one room apartment. Oh yeah, and she supposed being stuck with her boyfriend every day wasn’t so bad.

“They’re being ignorant,” Nova chipped in. “People think that they’re immune, or that this virus is being blown out of proportion.”

“When they get sick, I’ll laugh.” Ruby popped a cracker in her mouth before the camera became blurry as she moved. She appeared to have shifted from lying on her back to her stomach from a spot on her bed. There was minimal background noise from her end, which was suspicious since she shared a room with two teenage boys. They must’ve been off playing video games, probably who Max was laughing with from his room upstairs.

Narcissa poked her head out from behind a lengthy book from her place on Danna’s bed in the background of Danna’s screen.. Like Nova, she lived by herself, and would rather be with her significant other than be alone. “This isn’t the first time a pandemic has spread throughout the world. There was the European Virus fifty years ago, coronavirus back in the 21st century, the Spanish Flu in the 20th century, and so on and so forth.” She waved a hand in the air. “Hopefully, people will come to their senses. History always repeats itself, no matter how hard we may try to prevent it.”

“Thanks for the optimistic input, babe.” Danna rolled her eyes and cast a glance back at her girlfriend.

“It’s what I do,” Narcissa replied, returning her attention back to her book, but there was a smile on her face.

“Well, maybe when things start to calm down a bit, we can all hang out. A picnic or in cars or something.” Oscar shrugged. “Six feet apart, of course. I’m not about to catch something from you nasty people.

“Did you just suggest a picnic?” Ruby snorted. “You might want to check your temperature. I think you’re getting sick.”

“You seem to forget all about the many picnics we’ve had.”

Ruby stuck her tongue out in response, then straightened a little and turned her head to the side. “What?” she yelled. After a moment, she turned back to the screen and groaned. “Ugh, I have to go. Mom’s making me bake with her again. Maybe this time we’ll try something besides bread or cookies.” She waved at them before she vanished from the meeting.

At that moment, the front door clicked and opened, revealing Hugh and Simon, both carrying multiple grocery bags.

“My dads just got home from the store. We should probably go help.” Adrian sat up, leaving Nova to fall a little in his direction as she had been leaning on him.

“Hi Adrian’s Dads!” Oscar yelled, though they were already out of the room when he did so. Nonetheless, they both shouted back their greetings from the kitchen.

“I should probably go, too. There’s this show I started bingeing and I finished the fifth season last night. I’m dying to know what happens after that cliffhanger.” Danna leaned back in her chair.

“Oh, is it that one you were telling me about?” Nova raised her eyebrows. “Based off of that movie series?”

“Yes! And watch it so I can rant to you about it! I’m so pissed off at the main characters. They’re just...so stupid.”

With that, the remaining five waved and said their goodbyes. Adrian set the laptop down on the coffee table in front of them, and they both stood up. Nova stretched, her muscles tired from sitting for nearly an hour.

In the kitchen, Hugh was unloading the bags while Simon busied himself with spraying the items with cleaner and wiping them down with a paper towel. A couple of weeks into quarantine and Nova and Adrian knew what to do. They got to work putting stuff away, with Nova on pantry duty and Adrian at the fridge.

Although Nova hadn’t been out in public since the world went into quarantine, she could tell that the grocery stores and other places were beginning to recover from the initial shock of the pandemic. With each trip to the store, Adrian’s parents came back with more and more food and supplies. Hugh had even decided to buy a fridge to store out in the garage for extra food that didn’t fit inside. She found that to be a bit ridiculous, but it seemed to make him happy. What was it with men and having fridges out in their garages?

“Is Max upstairs?” Simon asked, pushing a milk jug toward Adrian.

“Yeah. I think he’s playing video games.” Adrian shot Nova a look, and she repressed a smile; they both knew what was about to come.

“Has he done any schoolwork since we left two hours ago? Or at least left his room?”

“I think he left to use the bathroom about forty five minutes ago,” Nova said. She glanced at the knock-off brand of her favorite crackers in her hand and sighed, placing it on a shelf. The off-brand wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t the same. It was the type of product that you had to buy name brand, as the imitations were just a waste of money. Alas, with the pandemic, she knew it was a fight to get the good products before anyone else.

“He’ll get it done, Pops,” Adrian reassured. “He’s been doing fine the last couple of weeks. Just going at his own pace, is all.”

“I know.” A sigh escaped Simon’s mouth. “And I’m glad that he’s able to be a kid now, but being a kid includes doing your homework.”

Nova thought of the classes she was taking at a local university. She was doing her best to keep up with her online work, but as the weeks dragged on, she was losing motivation. “This quarantine is probably nothing for Max, remember? I’m sure he does his work whenever he wants to because he actually enjoys doing it.” She shrugged. “Better than sitting around surrounded by glass walls.”

“You’re probably right,” Hugh added, washing his hands once the last of the groceries were out of the bags. “I’m not too worried about him, just as long as I get to see his face once a day.” He chuckled at his own words. Simon offered a smile in support.

Once all the groceries were stored away, Nova and Adrian headed downstairs, taking the laptop with them.

__________

Adrian stood from his seat, where he had previously already been on edge.

“Nova, where are you going?” The glare he received was enough to scare off anyone else. He had seen this side of her before, though, and was unfazed. “It’s almost midnight,” he added, only increasing the glare.

“Anywhere but here.” Her eyes turned to Hugh, who crossed his arms in response. The two were arguing. Again. It was something that was new to their quarantine, having only surfaced about a week ago. They liked to argue over literally anything, from who got to have control over the remote to whether or not Nova should be a part of their daily “family walks” to the current state of the government and the involvement of the Renegades, who were no longer in charge but were still heavily tied into politics. Hell, even the weather wasn’t safe from their growing agitation with one another. Today, everything had been going fine, for once, until Hugh just had to bring up a curfew, as Nova liked to leave the house at odd hours.

“This house is a fucking nightmare.” She gripped the keys to her motorcycle in her hand and turned to the door. From beside him, Adrian heard Max mutter something about irony under his breath. He too, despite entering the years of being a disagreeable teenager, was sick of the fighting.

“Language, young lady,” Hugh said, warning laced in his tone.

“Once again, you’re not my dad,” Nova gritted out. She opened the front door, revealing the darkness outside. “And you never will be.”

“Nova, what he’s asking isn’t completely unreasonable.” Simon ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You’re in our home for who knows how long, so as parents, you’re now our responsibility. Even when you’re not under our roof, you’re our responsibility. We just want you to be safe.”

“If you don’t want to follow our simple rules, then why are you even here? We’re paying for an apartment not two miles north from here, and you’re not even there. Instead you’re here, wasting our time and resources.” Even though the words weren’t directed at him, Adrian felt a chill go down his spine.

Nova’s mouth opened, and she stared at Hugh blankly. Adrian could’ve sworn he saw her eyes welling up. “I’m here because I didn’t want to be alone. I’ve been alone my entire goddamn life, and I didn’t know if I could handle doing it again.” She swallowed, hand turning on the screen door. “But it’s not like I expect you to understand.” And then she was out the door.

Adrian rushed forward, eyeing his dad coldly. “Seriously?”

“She’s out of line!” Hugh defended, although Adrian could see the regret in his features.

Choosing not to answer him, Adrian shook his head and went outside. Nova was at the end of the driveway, sitting on her motorcycle and looking down at the ground. Adrian approached her slowly, making sure his steps were loud so that she knew he was there.

“I don’t walk to talk about it.” She hid her face even more from him when he bent down. “You’re welcome to come with me, but I don’t want you to get in trouble for breaking curfew.” Her voice soured at the word.

“I understand why you’re mad, but don’t avoid me because of it.” He lightly nudged her chin with his knuckles.

“He’s just so...so…” she lifted her head up, running a hand through her hair in frustration as she tried to find the right words

“Stubborn? Controlling? Self righteous?”

“Yes.” She let out a laugh, though it was void of humor. “It’s just...who does he think he is? I’m an adult. Even if he was my father, he can’t control what I can and cannot do.”

“You seem to forget that I’ve had to live with him for years,” Adrian said dryly. He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together. “I’m an adult, too, but that doesn’t matter because he pays the bills.”

Nova gave him a long look. “You really need your own place.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“But you get what I mean.” She looked down at their hands, turning them around to examine the back of his. “I’m not his kid. It’s different with you because you’re his son.”

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to keep you safe.” Her grip on him tightened, just slightly. Even though it had been a few years since the events surrounding the supernova, Nova still had trouble believing that her former enemies actually cared about her. It was hard to trust them when it had been ingrained in her from a young age that they were the bad guys.

“I can take care of myself fine. I’ve been out in the middle of the night so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”

Adrian sighed and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. There wouldn’t be any reasoning with her, at least not tonight. He had to let her cool down and return to the subject when she had a clearer mind. “At least come back inside? We can go play video games downstairs, or watch a movie, or do anything you want. I’m sure once you and Hugh are both calmed down, you can reach a compromise.”

“But I don’t want a fucking com-”

“Or he’ll see things your way,” he tacked on quickly. Right. When she got like this, it had to be her way. It was funny, how she resented Hugh at times for his stubbornness, when she was equally as stubborn if not more so. This quarantine was really getting to all of them. Adrian couldn’t wait for the day life could go back to normal.

“Adrian? Nova?” Adrian turned his head around to see Max, who was squinting at them through the dark, despite the outside lights being on.

“What’s up, Max?” Nova shifted her body on the bike to face the teen.

“Pops wants to know if you’re coming inside soon. He needs to set the alarm so he and Dad can go to bed.” Max paused, eyeing the bike. “Unless you’re going for a ride, then he’ll leave it off.”

Adrian waited for Nova to answer, as it was up to her. Nova ran her free hand over the bike, then sighed.

“We’ll be in right behind you. I was just...checking some things on her.” All three knew she was lying, but Nova was still learning how to express her emotions in front of others. Even in front of Max, someone she got along with as well as she did with Adrian.

“Alright.” Max turned to leave, then glanced back at her. “You know, things are rough right now, and I know it isn’t easy for everyone to be in isolation for so long, but,” he shrugged, “at least we’re together. I was able to make it in a quarantine for ten years with no one but myself and the doctors for company, so this is easy for me, but I know I’m probably the only person on this planet who thinks that way.” He let out a soft laugh. “I guess I’m just trying to say that I’m glad you’re here, and that I’m glad our family is quarantining together.” The smile he shot her was genuine. He turned back around and walked back to the house, where Adrian could see the outlines of his dads watching at the door.

“Huh.” Adrian watched his brother go inside. “Just when you think he’s starting to learn how to be a proper kid-”

“-he goes and spouts shit like that?” Nova finished, shaking her head. Adrian could see the small smile on her face through the curls hiding her features.

“Yeah.” Adrian squeezed her hand. “C’mon, let’s go back inside.”

“Okay.”

__________

Nova placed the mixing bowl in the sink and turned on the faucet. She reached into a drawer and grabbed a towel, placing it under the running water. The kitchen was a mess, although she had seen it in worse states. At least the ingredients were all stored away so that she could get started on wiping down the counters. Hugh and Simon were at headquarters for the day, as their presence was required for something Nova didn’t care enough to know about, and they figured it would be best to work from there instead of coming home. And, according to Simon, them being out in public and at headquarters would be good for publicity. It had been a while since they stepped into work, seeing as even the Renegades had to obey social distancing orders.

Point being, they were out of the house, so Nova could do whatever she wanted without questions being asked. And she had grown to appreciate baking during quarantine, among her long list of new and revisited hobbies. The Everhart-Westwoods always, to Nova’s surprise, had sweet tooths, so they never minded that Nova made a mess of their kitchen; it was just when Hugh or Simon entered the kitchen and started asking a bunch of questions that got on Nova’s nerves. Today, she could bake in peace.

Or so she thought.

“Mm. Smells good in here.” She looked up at her boyfriend, who just entered the room. He peeked at the oven. “Cupcakes?”

“Muffins,” Nova corrected, setting the used towel next to the sink. There was dried paint on his forehead, as well as on his hands. She had to shake her head. How was it possible to get so dirty? Well, she should speak for herself and her flour-covered apron.

“Oh, well, same thing.” He shrugged and grabbed a water glass from a cabinet.

Nova blinked and reached for the remote, which was sitting beside her, and paused the show she was watching on the kitchen’s small TV. “No. No not really.”

Adrian chuckled and nudged her lightly as he passed her to the fridge. “Yeah, kind of. The only difference is cupcakes have frosting.”

Nova scoffed. “The only difference? They’re two completely different things. That’s like saying ice cream and gelato are the same.”

Adrian turned to face her, leaning against the fridge. He took a sip of his water. “Ice cream and gelato are the same. One’s just claimed by the Italians.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Those aren’t the same, either, dumbass. Ice cream, clearly from its name, has more cream than gelato. And gelato’s more dense than ice cream. Those are just two differences.” She crossed her arms. “There are more.”

“And? What does that have to do with muffins and cupcakes?”

“Because they’re not the same.” Nova had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. And Adrian claimed he was a smart person. Yeah, maybe smart compared to sloths. “Muffins are considered a bread. Cupcakes are...well...cake. Two completely different recipes. You can’t just slap some frosting on a blueberry muffin and say it’s a cupcake. Maybe it looks like one, but the flavor and textures are way off.”

“They both are made the exact same way, babe. No difference.” With the way he was smirking, Nova had the thought that he could just be messing with her.

“Don’t ‘babe’ me.” She glared at him. “Fine. If you won’t believe me, the baker, then you don’t have to eat any of my muffins. Not cupcakes.”

He groaned and reached for her, but she dove out of his reach. “Nova, don’t be like this. I’m sorry. They’re not the same, okay? Happy?”

“Not until you’re honest.” She checked the timer above the oven. “I’m going downstairs for a minute.” Pointing a finger at him, she added, “Don’t mess with them. I’ll know.”

“Admitting defeat?” he called at her back.

“Hell no,” she tossed over her shoulder. “This conversation is far from over, buddy.”

She definitely heard him mutter rudely how he knew, but chose to ignore it. After all, she was the bigger person in the relationship.

__________

Adrian turned into a parking spot and turned off the car. He glanced over at Nova, who was giving him a very pointed look.

“The park? What did you plan? A picnic?” That was, in fact, the plan, but only part of it.

Leaning over, he planted a gentle kiss on her lips. It only softened the look a little. “You’ll see, nosey.” He unbuckled himself and opened the driver door. “Now, come on.”

She rolled her eyes, but got out as well. Seeing her in a pair of cutoff shorts and a simple t-shirt was refreshing, as she had been wearing sweats for the past two months, ever since the world was sent into quarantine. She and Adrian both had been dawning the same three pairs of pants and shirts for weeks now. But, this was the first time they both actually got out of the house, save for their daily walks or motorcycle/car rides, so it was only fitting to get dressed up for the occasion. And by dressed up he meant ditching the sweatpants.

Also, it was Nova’s birthday. Adrian hated that she was being forced to spend it unceremoniously, when so many of her birthdays had gone practically unnoticed growing up with the Anarchists, so he took it upon himself as her boyfriend to do what he could for her. And that meant having a socially distanced picnic in the park with their friends, who they hadn’t seen in person in months.

They walked down the sidewalk hand in hand, going into the grass whenever a biker or runner passed by them to maintain distance. Adrian almost wanted to pull his mask out from his pocket, but knew he was probably fine. Besides, if he put his mask on, Nova would follow, and he knew how much she hated wearing them, for obvious reasons. They were outside, and there were hardly any people in the park.

“You’re an idiot, Adrian Everhart,” Nova said once they could see their friends, but there was a smile on her face. They were all spread out on blankets, making a circle, and in the center sat an unoccupied blanket piled with food and gifts.

“Hey, I can’t take all the credit.” He squeezed her hand, grinning down at her.

“It’s about time you two showed up,” Oscar said, checking his watch. “We’ve been here for hours. We’re starving.” He stood and went to the middle to start making a plate. Adrian made a face at his back. He had specifically asked that they wait for Nova until they started eating in the group chat, so he guessed Oscar was holding his word. He waited, after all.

“Twenty minutes,” Danna corrected from her spot beside Narcissa. She looked at them and rolled her eyes. “Happy Birthday, Nova.”

Everyone chorused in their ‘Happy Birthdays’ and Nova thanked them as she and Adrian sat down on the one remaining blanket. “You guys didn’t have to go and do this for me.” She turned her gaze specifically toward Adrian. He raised his hands in defense.

“Blame Oscar for putting the idea in my head. All he ever talks about when we video call is how bored he is.”

“That’s true.” Nova shook her head in amusement. “This is very sweet, but don’t expect me to cry or anything.”

“You cried on your seventeenth birthday, and that’s enough for us,” Ruby teased.

“That was literally two years ago.” Nova ran a hand over her face. “It meant nothing.”

“Mhm,” was Ruby’s response, but Adrian could tell she wasn’t convinced. None of them were, obviously.

Nova peered at the food pile. “Is that Mediterranean pizza I see?”

“Yeah, and it’s all yours,” Oscar clarified, passing a plate he made for Ruby to her before sitting down himself. “I still don’t understand how you like that. There’s not even meat on it!”

“There’s also cannoli’s.” Adrian stood to go make them both plates. He knew that cannoli’s were one of the few desserts she liked, probably because they weren’t that heavy. “Do you want one or two?”

She pondered the question for a moment, then smiled at him. “Two.”

When he returned with their food, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“What was that for?” He handed her plate over.

“For being you, and for giving me the best birthdays ever.” She shifted her body to lean against him. “How’d you know I wanted to see everyone for my birthday, anyway?”

“Because I know you.” He kissed her forehead. “Happy Birthday, Nova.”

__________

Bonus crack scene:

“I would like to thank everyone for joining me today,” Nova said, swirling the water in the wine glass she snatched from the cabinet. Since Hugh wouldn’t let her drink actual wine, this was the next best thing. She cleared her throat. “I took it upon myself to observe the members of this household over the course of a week and rate everyone on their performances.” She pointed to the pyramid of papers set up on the wall, held there by type. There were pictures of everyone in the household behind a white sheet of paper. Starting at the bottom on the left side was the worst member, and the one at the top was the best. Why she decided to do this, she had little clue, but she figured it would be an entertaining activity to spice up everyone’s day.

“Is that what this is? I thought it was something actually serious.” Hugh leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. There was a smile on his lips.

“It is serious.” She pointed her glass at him. The fast movement caused a bit of water to slosh over the side. “It has come to my attention that there are people in this household who have some improvement to work on if they want to move up next week.”

“If I’m not at the top, I’m breaking up with you,” Adrian joked, adjusting the glasses on his face. She narrowed her eyes at the camera he was pointing at her.

“I do not accept bribes.” Tearing off the first piece of paper, she began. There was a snicker, probably Max. “Hugh.” He immediately started protesting, but Nova silenced him. “No, no, no. You’re mean to me. Always looking to post up or some shit.”

“Language,” he warned, though his tone was light.

“Not to mention you don’t let me express my true self by cussing,” she added sharply. “Also, you tried to kill me three years ago and I’m sorry, but I just can’t forgive my haters like that. Try better next week, okay?”

“Hold on, wait a second.” Hugh held up a hand. “First of all, young lady, if you want to bring up the past, it goes both ways, but we’ve both changed for the be-”

“No comments at this time,” Nova interrupted. She ripped off the next sheet of paper. “Next up is Nova.” Laughter broke out in the room. Even she couldn’t help from smiling. “Not gonna lie, I held out hope for this one, but she’s got a lot of issues, if you know what I mean. Always picking an argument, refuses to participate in family activities, and is kind of just there. Doesn’t really do much of anything. The only reasons she’s above Hugh is because, for one, she’s far more attractive, and she bakes stuff for everyone.

“Adrian-”

“Oh, come on!”

“-you refused to cuddle with me yesterday and watch guilty pleasure movies because you said you were busy. You argued with me the other day on the validity of the Star Wars prequels and sequels.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “And you’re filming me without my consent. Other than those things, though,” she shrugged, “pretty cool boyfriend. You didn’t say anything when I stole one of your sweatshirts the other day, so that gets you some points.”

“Wait, the gray-”

“Max is next.” She tossed the white paper to the ground. “You never say anything mean to me, unlike some members in this household, but that could also be because you spend all day on video games. Because of that, I’m afraid you can’t be higher.”

“Hey, I’ll settle for third.” Max shrugged, grinning.

“And that’s why I like you!” She nodded firmly. “In second place, we have Simon. Who doesn’t like Simon? You always have something nice to say, and on occasion, you’ll back me up in an argument because you’re an intellectual. I always enjoy our deep conversations, too. Truly a wonderful person.”

“Thank you, Nova. I enjoy our talks, as well.” Simon chuckled. He looked pretty pleased to be on top.

“And that leaves us with,” she ripped off the last paper at the top, causing the room to erupt in laughter and clapping, “Obi Wan Kenobi. Truly an iconic and handsome man. Every time I watch Star Wars, he brings up my serotonin levels. Not just because he’s cute, but because he can land some sick burns.”

It was easy to say that, thanks to Adrian’s video, Nova started a trend all over the world.

#nova artino #adrian everhart #danna bell #oscar silva #ruby tucker #narcissa cronin #max everhart #hugh everhart #simon westwood #renegades #archenemies #supernova #supernova spoilers #my writing

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givemeacrownofwords · 4 years

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The Best Friend (Part 12)

A/N: Well hi there! It has been pretty much 6 years since I have posted anything on this blog. It’s been way, way too long. A lot of things have happened to me in six years. I’ve been in my first long term relationship, finished college (bachelors and masters degree), landed my first real job, moved out of my parents’ house, pulled through my depression, and the list could go on. The one thing I haven’t done that I should have been doing all along was writing. About a month or two ago an old follower of this blog reached out to me about “The People We Were”. I was so proud and excited that someone still remembered my fanfics even after all this time. I want to get back to a lot of things that I’d been writing, including that fic in particular, which has always held a special place in my heart. But I recently discovered that I had an unfinished chapter of this fic, The Best Friend, sitting in my old writing folder. It seemed like a good place to begin finishing my old work (the irony). It’s with great excitement and anticipation that I finally post this, to whoever is still out there and following this blog. I missed writing so much and I’m hoping that this will be the true start of me getting back to it on a regular basis. Now that I’m done rambling, hope you enjoy!

**Summary: Andrea (Andy) Kent has known Tony Stark since she was a little girl, they are best friends and she is intimately involved in the Iron Man project, but what will happen when her work on the suits puts her in grave danger?

Part 12:

Tony’s POV:

It was only as he was running toward danger that Tony realized he was completely unarmed. Luckily, Rhodey had incapacitated a great deal of Twist’s men on his way to setting him free and leaving with Andy. Tony managed to grab a pistol off an unconscious body slumped against the wall and continued briskly down the hallway after checking that it was fully loaded. He scoured the whole compound, kicking down door after door and searching room after room. Twist was nowhere to be found.

Finally he heard footsteps. He cocked the pistol and raised it in front of him. One of Twist’s goons seemed to be running desperately for the exit and had found himself straight in Tony’s path.

“Freeze meathead.”

The man stopped in his tracks and raised his hands above his head.

“Where’s Twist?” Tony demanded, resting his finger on the trigger so that this guy knew he meant business.

“Don’t shoot me!” the henchman cowered, “He’s already gone! He got in a helicopter with a couple of men and took off with the suit!”

Goddammit, Tony thought, and he stepped up to the man and punched him square in the jaw with the pistol. It had been a gut reaction, done out of anger and frustration, and the man instantly dropped to the floor unconscious. Not only had Twist near killed his best friend, he’d gotten away with a suit. That was a big problem, and Tony knew he’d have to answer for it to SHIELD if he didn’t get it back.

He swiftly found the exit to the near deserted compound and ran out onto the dirt clearing in front of it. Tony collapsed onto his knees in exhaustion and put his head in his hands. He didn’t even look up again until he heard the Iron Patriot land in front of him less than an hour later.

“He got away didn’t he?” Rhodey asked matter-of-factly once he’d lifted the metal faceplate of his suit.

“Yeah,” Tony responded flatly.

“And he’s got Mark 42?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit,” Rhodey cursed sharply under his breath. He then gave Tony a hand and got him up out of the dirt.

“How’s Andy doing?” Tony asked concernedly once he was back on his feet.

“I managed to get her to a hospital right outside of Boulder. She’s stable and conscious. That girl’s tougher than she looks,” Rhodey gave him a reassuring smile. Tony smiled back, happy to hear that and relieved that his friend hadn’t said another word about his missing suit.

“Think you can get me there?”

Andy’s safety was Tony’s top priority right now, not his worries about SHIELD and not the suit.

“You bet,” Rhodey replied reassuringly, reaching out his arm for him.

Tony latched on to the suit, and with that, they took off into the quickly darkening sky.

Andy’s POV:

Andy felt like she’d been hit by a truck. Every inch of her body was sore, she could barely sit up, but she was alive and conscious and safe atop a hospital bed, and she couldn’t be more grateful for it. Pepper Potts was sitting directly at her side, holding tight to her hand.

“Before Rhodey left I had him phone SHIELD with the coordinates of that compound. They’re sending Clint and Natasha, and Fury is going to get on the scene as soon as he can too,” Pepper explained to her nervously, giving her hand a squeeze. Andy could tell that she was worried about Tony, and truthfully she was too. She only hoped Rhodey got back in time to help him escape the compound before Twist pulled any more of his dirty tricks.

“I know it’s going to be ok,” she replied to Pepper weakly. Andy had so much more to say to her. She knew that Vin had stirred up problems between her and Tony, and it was all her fault. With a violent tremble, Andy tried to sit up. Pepper attempted to stop her but she pushed up with enough force to finally do it.

“I want you to know Pep…” she turned to the other woman, who looked like she hadn’t slept in days on her behalf, and her stomach did a guilty backflip inside her, “I need you to know…there was never anything like that between me and Tony.”

And there never will be, she also thought internally. Andy had been so wrong to love him like that, to want him to be any more than a brother to her, her best friend. It was Vin who taught her that, even if it had been in the most demented and sickening way possible.

Pepper sighed audibly, she sounded both exhausted and relieved. The thought of it had clearly been weighing on her deeply, but she knew Pepper wouldn’t have come all the way to Colorado if she felt that there was even a ghost of a chance that Andy had betrayed her like that.

“I know,” she responded softly with a gentle smile.

Suddenly, the two women heard a commotion outside the door to the hospital room.

“Mr. Stark I can’t just have you barging in on a patient like this! Ms. Kent is in very fragile condition and it is my advice that she not be crowded while she’s still in recovery.”

“No one’s going to crowd her because I’m going to be the only one going in there,” Andy heard Tony retort, to the objection of several other voices surrounding him.

Upon hearing him outside, Pepper immediately got up and ran through the door. Andrea watched her embrace Tony tightly and give him one of the deepest kisses she’d ever seen since he’d gotten back from New York. Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Rhodey all stood close by.

Andy made eye contact with Fury through the open door and he began to approach her intently but Hill stopped him with a hand to his chest. She thought she heard the SHIELD agent ask him to give her some time, and he looked like he wanted to fight her about it.

“Don’t you get it? If we don’t find out where this Twist bastard is today then he’s completely lost to us. And so is that damn suit,” Fury’s irritation was directed both at Tony and at Agent Hill.

“Clint and Natasha are holding Vin at the compound. I doubt Andy knows anything about where Twist was going to go next, but I bet you anything that he does,” she continued to insist to Fury.

The SHIELD director shot her and Tony an angry look before disappearing from the doorframe and down the hospital wing. Andy heard him check in with Agent Romanoff through his earpiece as he walked away. Hill quickly followed in his wake and Rhodey too, listening to the doctor’s orders to give her space.

Andy finally watched Pepper take Tony’s hands and touch her forehead to his. They both closed their eyes and stood there like that for a moment before Pepper pulled away and took her leave down the hallway too. Then Tony turned and walked into her room.

They hadn’t really spoken to each other since their fight on the day she was kidnapped. So many emotions washed over Andy at the same time in seeing him again, the strongest one being relief for his safety.

He was slow to approach her bedside at first, and he was giving her the type of smile that she had become very accustomed to when they were kids. It had “apologies for getting you into trouble, but you’re the one who chose to be in my mischievous company” written all over it. Andy returned it, weakly but genuinely, and tried to sit up straighter than she had been before. The pain and weakness she felt all over her body made her wince and tremble.

“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy,” Tony finally sat by her bedside where Pepper had been a few moments ago and encouraged her to stay laying down.

She listened and they were silent for a full minute, concentrating on the whirring and beeping of the hospital equipment rather than the unsaid words between them. Tony was the one who finally broke the silence.

“I’m just so glad you’re ok…” he breathed a sigh of relief and put his hand on hers, squeezing gently.

Andy knew she should have felt ashamed, Vin and Twist had broken her down and finally told Tony the truth about how she felt about him. Instead she felt freer than she’d ever felt in her entire life.

“This isn’t your fault Tony, it’s mine. You were trying to protect me and I should have taken it more seriously. I put you in danger, I hurt Pepper, and we lost a suit…”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Mark 43?” Tony quickly interrupted her, but not in anger. He had an amused look on his face, and he was clearly trying to distract her from her apology and her feelings of guilt. She was so grateful for that.

“It was supposed to be a surprise…” she chuckled weakly and hesitated

a moment before asking, “Well…did you like it?”

“Come on Andy, I loved it!” he exclaimed too loudly. Some nurses peaked into the room through the window to make sure everything was ok before moving on with their rounds on the hospital floor.

Andy let out a laugh, allowing her heart to be light for the first time in what felt like a really long time. Her joy got caught in her throat when she remembered that the design was lost for sure now, or in Twist’s demented hands.

“What are you going to do about Twist?” she asked Tony seriously.

He was silent for a moment and he looked thoughtful. His brows furrowed and she saw anger flash in his eyes. “SHIELD will make sure he’s neutralized,” his response was flat, he was clearly holding back. It would have been obvious to anyone listening that he was lying.

Tony was still clutching her hand and she squeezed back now supportively. “They’re going to need your help, they always do,” Andy replied.

Tony laughed dryly, unable to hide how he truly felt. “Always calling my bluff, ever since we were kids.”

“Come on Tony, Twist made it personal. He used Vin to do that. And I’m not going to take this laying down anymore either. I should have been stronger in there from the beginning, I let them both get to me.”

“But you were strong Andy. I never treated you the way I should have…but you’ve always been there for me.”

Andy’s heart filled up hearing that. Tony wasn’t one for apologizing but she knew that’s what he’d just done, in his own way.

“You will always be my brother Tony,” she replied steadfastly.

Their eyes met and nothing more needed to be said. They both knew that the rest of it all was history.

Not a second later they heard a commotion in the hallway again. It was Fury, arguing with Agent Hill once more about coming in to talk to her. Andy saw him close to the doorway and before Tony could react she beckoned him in. That was all the permission he needed before he bolted past Agent Hill and straight to her bedside.

“Before you say anything Agent Fury I think I have an idea of where Twist might be. He was the one who tried to kidnap me in LA. And he had to have had it in with the cops because he was released way too quickly after he was arrested. He’s got some sort of connection to the town and it might be a good place to start.”

“But would he be stupid enough to go back there when he could go anywhere else in the world?” Tony was the one who responded and Fury nodded in agreement.

“He has a buyer for the suit. I think he was trying to throw us off the scent by coming all the way out here. And trying to draw us all away from home base.”

Fury looked skeptical for a moment, while Tony beamed with pride and excitement at the new lead Andy had given them. “She might be right,” Fury finally conceded, “I’ll see what Romanoff and Barton got out of Vin and then we’ll regroup to LA.” With a sweep of his black trench coat he made his way toward the hallway. He turned and gave Andy a gentle look before saying, “Just try to stay out of trouble for now won’t you Ms. Kent?” He waited for her to nod in agreeance before disappearing around the corner. Agent Hill, who had been lingering outside, trailed quickly behind him.

Andy waited until she was sure Fury was out of earshot and then blurted to Tony, “I’m coming back to LA with you. There’s no way you’re taking down Twist without me.”

He looked shocked at first but for some reason Andy knew he wouldn’t disagree, and she wasn’t wrong. “We go back together,” he began cautiously, “as long as you’re well enough to fly. I’ll talk to Pepper, she got here in the company jet. And just so you know, if you’re joining this fight it’s only so I don’t let you out of my sight for a minute until it’s over and Twist is done.” It was a quick, no nonsense answer and Andy knew it wouldn’t get any better than that.

“I’m on board,” she replied.

“Alright, I’m going to get Pepper and Rhodey and we’re out of here.” Tony then left the room just as quickly as Fury had only moments ago.

Back to LA to find Twist, to get the suit back, to end this.

And I’m finally going to get to fight back.

#the best friend #part 12 #tony stark #tony stark fanfiction #rdj #rdj fanfiction #robert downey jr #multichapter

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idriltelcontar · 5 years

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Oceangem

Prompt from @alexprompts. I ... got a bit carried away. Meant to write a few hundred word drabble but ended up writing pretty much a whole chapter. I’m out of control.

One-off scene which feaures characters from my WIP Crimson Daughters. Characters are Tarine and Danica. Set 5 years before that story begins.

It had been a week since our ship left dock. Her face still lingered before me. Fresh and young, cheeks tinged with a rosy sweetness which swelled to a bloom when she smiled. Never before had I seen a woman so pure, so untouched by darkness. She was the sunlight. A cruel irony perhaps that her land was so dull and overcast.

But even the rainclouds of that land did not dampen her brightness.

Danica. Even the sound of her name on my lips brought me joy, so foreign but delightful. I longed to speak it aloud again, to repeat it again and again until my voice went hoarse. It was a name which deserved to be screamed aloud for the Spirits themselves to hear. But more than that, I wanted once more to hear her speak my name. I closed my eyes and tried to remember …

“Tarine,” she spoke, her accent heavy as she attempted to replicate the sound of the Otreyan vowels. She shook her head and smiled. “I’m afraid I shall never get there.”

“Do not worry, my gem,” I said, resting my hand beneath her chin and stroking her soft skin. “As long as it is you who speaks it, I care not how it is pronounced.”

Danica’s cheeks flushed, and she looked at the ground for a moment and let her hair fall across her face, attempting but failing to hide her smile. I chuckled softly, amused at her sudden shyness. The stereotypes about Valikonians being reserved when it came to intimacy were true then.

“Why do you call me that?” she asked, peeking at me from behind her curtain of blonde hair. Her eyes were wide and curious, seeking out mine with a nervousness which made my heart melt. She had been deprived of love, that I could easily tell. She could not see it, for no one had ever given it to her.

“Gem?” I said, sitting down on the bed in my cabin and motioning for her to join me. “Do you really not know?”

Perching herself on the end of my bed, Danica twisted her hands in her lap, and avoided looking at me. She was easy to read, and I wondered again how she was able to work for such a secret organisation with a face so open.

I reached out and took one of her hands in mine and stroked it softly. She jumped, and then froze, her eyes on our entwined hands. Slowly, ever so slowly, she relaxed and turned her hand slightly so that it was her fingers which were caressing mine.

“Among Otreyans,” I began, my voice low and soft, “gems are the most sacred objects. Gems which are pure and without flaw. We believe that they are inhabited by our Spirits. We value them above all other treasure. To possess even one is to be considered wealthier than the Turkaan himself.”

Danica smiled. “A fine statement from a pirate.” Her eyes turned towards me and fell upon the oceangem which I wore around my neck. “Why do you seek treasure at all when you already have one?”

I laughed, and my grip on her hand tightened. “I travel the seas for adventure and to cause chaos for my former kingdom. Treasure is merely a perk.”

I forced her to meet my eyes, and my heart leapt when I heard her breath hitch as she looked at me.

“I call you gem, because that is how dear you are to me, Danica,” I said. I reached around my neck and lifted the amulet over my thick curls. I held it for a moment and stared into its depths before pressing it to my lips with a silent prayer. I slipped it over Danica’s head and let it settle itself upon her chest, twinkling in the dim light of the cabin. Danica trailed her fingers over it before looking up at me, her mouth agape.

“You cannot-“ she gasped. “Tarine … “

“I give it to you, my love,” I said, brushing back her hair and running my fingers down her cheek. “For when I have you, I can possess nothing greater.”

Danica expression of shock softened into one of disbelief. Her blue eyes welled with tears. She was unable to speak, but that did not matter, for I knew what she wanted to say. Our lips met in a passionate kiss, and words were no longer necessary.

I looked out over the sea before me, the salty wind beating back my hair and the spray stinging at my eyes. Always had I loved to stand here at the bow, nose pointed towards the unknown, seeing the swell of the waves before me and delighting at the swooping sensation in my gut as we crested each one. But my heart did not rejoice as it had done before.

“Captain?”

“Kewaya,” I said, acknowledging my first mate who lurked at my shoulder. Something must be wrong for her to disturb me here. “What troubles you?”

“It is you, my captain.”

I looked at her, seeing concern in her deep eyes. She glanced nervously over her shoulder, and I could tell by the huddled woman on the other side of the deck facing this direction that she had been voted to be the one to speak with me.

“We are worried, Tarine,” she said, “You are not yourself.” Her eyes drifted downwards to where my oceangem usually hung. “Not since Valikon.”

My back stiffened, and I found myself trying hard not allow my hurt to show. A captain is a captain after all.

“I appreciate your concern,” I said, as civilly as I could. “But I am fine. The Spirits are still with me.”

“Perhaps, but the spirit inside of you is gone,” Kewaya said, stepping closer and lowering her voice so that the others could not hear. “It is that assassin woman, is it not?”

I wanted to shout at her, to scream and storm away, cursing her directness, but could not. Kewaya was my oldest friend. She knew enough to see through me, and I knew that no amount of my temper tantrums would dissuade her from speaking to me about this.

“I think of Danica still,” I admitted, my heart aching to even speak her name. “How can I not? Never have I been so entranced by a woman.”

“Did she reject you?”

I shook my head, gazing out at the horizon as I waited until I knew I could speak again without breaking down.

“On the contrary,” I said. “But we both knew it would only be a brief thing. Like the alpuri blossom which flowers only for one day and then dies, leaving only the sweetness of its scent behind to mark its existence. You know our life. I cannot stay in one place.”

Danica had known it only too well. Seaseeker, she had named me, in the style of her own people who created their own surnames in mimicry of the nobles. As I had named her. Danica Oceangem and Tarine Seaseeker.e

“The assassin leader offered us a contract,” Kewaya reminded me, coming even closer and resting her hand on my arm. “We can be one of their suppliers and sail into their city every other month. You would see her again.”

“I do not like their leader,” I said, scowling as I remembered the assassin’s matriarch. “She is without heart, without love. Danica is ensnared in her grasp. Trapped. I do not wish to see her so.”

The thought of Danica, dear sweet Danica, taking lives was abhorrent to me. I knew she shed tears after each mission, for I had held her in my arms as she sobbed and wiped the blood from her hands myself. One month I had spent in Valikon selling my wares, and in that time she had performed her duty three times. Three deaths which would live with Danica for many years to come.

“You have to decide, Tarine,” Kewaya said, bringing my attention back to her. Her eyes were stern. “Return and be their supplier, or forget this assassin. Your heart cannot be split. It is good for none of us.”

Kewaya squeezed my arm and began to walk away, stopping to look over her shoulder. “Know this. You are our captain, and we love you. If you give your love to her, know that we will do the same.”

As Kewaya left, I focused my attention back onto the horizon before me. The sun was setting, and the orange and red of the sky and sea made the two merge into one giant canvas of colour. Years ago, as a young cabin girl of twelve I had first stood here and my spirit had been set ablaze at the thought of the lands and people that lay before me, undiscovered and exciting, each one whispering seductively of adventure.

Yet now my heart was changed, and the further away from Valikon that I sailed, the fainter those old dreams became in my memory. No land would again be more alluring to me than the one I had left behind.

I lifted my head high and felt that old fire reawaken inside me, now redirected but blazing as strong as ever. My eyes grew focused and my body trembled with excitement. The wind changed direction, as if it too had come to some decision. Or perhaps it was the goddess Nyxa Danica had told me of. Either way, it was now on my side.

“Turn this ship around!” I bellowed to my crew, turning and running across the deck. “Set the sails! We have a new heading!”

“Captain?”

“We go to Valikon,” I announced, grinning at Kewaya. “The wind told me.”

Kewaya nodded and rushed off to implement my orders with a grin on her own face as I stood at the bulwarks, feeling the ship begin to turn, almost drowning in my impatience.

“I’m coming, my oceangem,” I whispered into the wind. “I love you.”

The wind did not respond, but seemed to blow even more fiercely as it assisted the Ladies’ Liberty in its manoeuvre and drove her onwards.

One week later we sailed into the docks at Valimer. The light was dull and the whole cavern echoed with the sounds of sailors and merchants as they worked. The docks below were heaving with people, both from the ships and the city above the underground docks as they milled around, haggling prices and arguing in shrill voices. I searched the dull masses, hoping beyond hope that I would see a flash of that golden hair, yet knowing it to be fruitless. That assassin leader kept her under a tight leash. She wouldn’t be here.

We soon found our usual berth and paid off the harbour master with the usual bribe and the crew looked to me for instruction. Yet, I knew not what to say to them. Our hold had been emptied upon our last visit; we had nothing to trade, and the amusements of this rainy little land with its pale-skinned inhabitants and their provincial attitudes were few.

They saw my indecision and discretely moved away, some disappearing below deck and others tending to standard maintainence duties, though the ship hardly needed any repair, so recent was our last visit.

Looking down at the dock, the excitement faded and was replaced with crushing fear, an emotion thus far almost unknown to me. Had I been too rash in coming here? Would she even want to see me? We had bidden farewell weeks ago here on this very spot, both with the expectation of never seeing each other again, ending what had been a short but passionate affair. What if she had already moved on? She knew I had never intended to return to this little unprofitable land. Had I been nothing more than an exotic indulgence? Enjoyed, but then easily forgotten?

My ship was in the furthest berth from the centre of the busy docks, and few people came this way, telling from the sails that we were Otreyan and thus unlikely to carry any of the prized firestone from the north of their land. One figure, however, emerged from the far distant mass and came towards us. Heavily cloaked, the figure walked alone, hooded and mysterious. Its steps were almost hesitant.

My heart leapt, and without a word to my crew I leapt over the side of my ship and landed on the stone dock, my body juddering at the shock, yet I did not care. I straightened up and saw the figure, now only a few lengths away, stop in surprise. I breathed heavily, hardly daring to hope that what I so desired could be happening. I pushed my hair from my eyes and stepped forwards, my hands outstretched.

“Dani?”

Slowly, the figure reached up and lowered its hood and I saw that wondrous hair shining even in the half light of the cavern, mirroring the gem at her chest.

I choked out a sob, astonishing myself at the raging emotions surging through me. How was it possible that I, Tarine the lowly pirate woman from Otreya, could ever have been blessed with such a wondrous feeling?

I stepped forwards slowly, my legs threatening to collapse under me. Danica stepped forwards as well and soon she was in my arms, her body warm and pressed firmly against my own. I held her close, closing my eyes in my bliss, feeling her tighten her own grip and wishing she would never let me go.

I pulled away slightly and looked at her, drinking in her beautiful face, delighting in the longing I saw there. She reached up and trailed one hand down the side of my face as if trying to determine whether I was real or not. Her lips trembled.

“But how did you know?” I whispered, my voice tender as she gazed upon me. “How did you know I would return?”

Danica smiled, the softness of her expression belying the wild elation I saw in her eyes. “How did I know? My dear Tarine … the wind told me, of course.”

I grinned, and pulled her close once more, my lips searching for hers. Never again would the wind to take me from her again. It would always bring me right back again.

#alexprompts #alexpromptsthewindtoldme #writeblr #original fiction #crimson daughters #crimson daughters wip #danica #tarine #my writing #idril writes #sorry about the length!

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littletonoemotion · 5 years

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이 태민: The Moonwalker Pt. 3

Part 3 has arrived, though it was terribly late! I’m fairly certain that this will be the last part, unless people request otherwise. Thanks for showing this little fic a lot of love! It feels really nice whenever I log into Tumblr and there’s a new like or something. ^^ Remember! If there’s anything you want to see from me, I always have inspiration for writing and I’m always willing to take requests.

If you’re a little shy or nervous; literally don’t be. I’m multi-fandom trash, so I’ll write for pretty much every group and in pretty much every genera, style or whatever the heck you’re into. XD Enjoy!

“So, how many dates is this?” Taemin asked, sipping his espresso with a content smile, almost a little smug.

Je Kyo rolled her eyes. “Zero. A full zero dates.”

“You’re so mean!” he whined, setting down his glass. “We’ve been hanging out like this for months!”

She shrugged. “Yup. We’ve been getting up at unholy hours to hang out just because you’re afraid of the dark.”

“I’m not afraid of the dark! I told you: it’s a condition. Like, a serious one. You wouldn’t want to see me like that.”

She gave him a look. “Sure thing, dude. Whatever you say.”

He huffed, “You’re so difficult. But back to my original point! These are clearly dates!”

She shoved him playfully across the table. “In your dreams, pretty boy!” She settled back into her chair, a comfortable booth seat in a cozy cafe. She looked out of the window, admiring how the city looked with the sun barely up. “It’s pretty, yeah?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I am pretty nice.” She shot him a glare, making him laugh. “I’m kidding! Of course, I’m kidding!” He took a deep breath, composing himself. “Yes, it’s a very pretty view.”

She smirked. Now was her chance! After all the teasing from the strange man that had walked into her flower shop a few months ago, she could finally get back at him. “Not as pretty as you,” she said, flashing him a winning smile. She topped it off with a wink.

He froze for a moment. There were no witty comments, no rolling of the eyes, no awkward chuckles. Just him, sitting across from her, his cheeks dusted pink and his eyes wide.

Je Kyo snorted, narrowly avoiding hitting her latte when she collapsed in laughter. “Your face!” she laughed. She didn’t even care about people staring at her at this point. She was having too much fun. “That was priceless!” She pulled out her phone, snapping a quick picture.

He pouted for a full minute before he finally spoke again. A smile made its way onto his full lips. “I win,” he said.

“What?” she asked, sliding her phone back into her coat pocket.

He looked proud of himself. “I win!” he repeated. “This proves your undying love for me! You even took a picture of me, which, let’s be honest, you’re gonna be using as your lock-screen for a long time.”

She dipped her fingers in a glass of ice water, flicking the leftover droplets at him. “You ever heard of ‘teasing’ or ‘joking’, you dork? That’s what that was—not a love confession! I swear, you’re so socially ignorant sometimes.”

A few drops fell from his chin. “Sure,” he chuckled. He grabbed a napkin, wiping his face. “Believe me, you’ll fall for me one day—Je Kyo? Are you okay?”

She quickly shook her head, trying to draw herself out of her own all-consuming thoughts. “Yeah, I’m good,” she said quickly. “Just staring at something.”

That, in itself, wasn’t a lie. She just hadn’t told him what it had been.

She must’ve been seeing things, right? Things like that didn’t happen to normal people. A certain ethereal glow to the eyes, a glitter like sparkles or moon-dust.

Though...

She’d thought for months now that Lee Taemin was far less than normal.

The memory played in her head over and over again, like a song on repeat. So that’s when she’d fallen for him, huh?

It wasn’t often that there were times like this in her life. Quiet moments that she could enjoy all to herself and roll her eyes at the cliche feeling of the whole thing. She always felt a sense of irony when she had a moment of peace, considering how rare it was.

Though, her peace was different from most people’s. What’s new?

When people think of calm, they think of sunsets and ocean waves, mountain tops and whispered ‘I love you’s, raindrops on windowpanes.

For her, ‘calm’ was a glass of tea, bought on sale at the convenience store. It was late nights, warm days with cold breezes, and her son fast asleep in their home, unaware of how cruel the world could be.

She wanted to keep him safe from that as long as possible, or at least give him hope that things got better. But how could she do that when she barely believed it herself?

Je Kyo stirred a spoonful of honey into her mug. The twilight looked rather lovely shining in through the slightly cracked window at the back of her apartment.

Despite how pretty the scene was, Je Kyo had come to dread twilight for one reason and one reason only. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart and racing thoughts. She just wished her anxious feelings would go away.

But somehow, even though there were butterflies of unfounded nervousness in her stomach, she’d never felt calmer. In a way, she felt accepting of the strange feeling.

She glanced back at Dongin, sleeping soundly on the rock-hard, dreadfully uncomfortable couch they called their own. A small smile graced her chapped lips.

“You goof,” she mumbled even though he couldn’t hear her, lost too deep in the land of dreams. She walked over to him, wiping the corner of his mouth with her sleeve. “Drooling all over the place... Nasty,” she chuckled.

There was a knock on the door, gentle and held with an easy rhythm. She opened the door without checking through the peep-hole; she really didn’t need to. “Tea’s in the kitchen,” she said.

“Not even a ‘hello’?” Ah-In chuckled.

Je Kyo shut the door behind her, careful to be quiet with it. “Sorry,” she said. “I just really want to get this off my chest. Preferably as fast as possible.”

Her neighbor nodded, ever-understanding. “All right, then.” They both ended up settling down on the fire escape, not wanted to wake up Dongin. “So, what’s up?”

Je Kyo took another glance at the sky, her headache worsening. She let out a heavy sigh. There was no backing out of it now, was there? “Have you noticed me acting a little strange these past few months?”

Ah-In nodded slowly. “If I’m being honest... Yes. You haven’t really been yourself, though I can tell you’ve been trying to mask it.”

She let out a bitter chuckle. “Guess it didn’t work all that well then,” she joked. She shrugged, taking a quick sip of her drink. “Well, what can I say? I tried.”

“Did you bring me here just to tell me that?”

Any trace of a smile left her face, but even then, she didn’t look sad. She didn’t look distressed, she didn’t look angry—she just looked numb. She didn’t meet her eyes, staring off into the distance, her eyes scanning over the cityscape. “Innie,” she started quietly, “I think I’m going insane.”

A breeze rushed by them, blowing their hair and buffeting their thin cardigans. Ah-In’s hoop-earrings acted as a sort of wind-chime. Je Kyo almost chuckled at the added atmosphere. What a movie-like scene, she thought.

Ah-In stared at her. “What?” It was more of a gasp than a question. Not even a gasp, just a breath, lost in the wind like a wisp of lost time or memory.

Je Kyo took another sip. “Insane,” she hummed. “You know? Crazy, mad, deranged, demented, unhinged, lunatic—you get it. I’m just not in it anymore.”

“In what?”

She thought for a moment. “Life, I guess,” she finally settled on. “For the past few months, I’ve been hearing voices and even though they freaked me out at first, now I’ve gotten used to them.” She chucked, tugging mindlessly at a strand of hair. “That’s not really normal, huh?”

She dripped a finger in her tea, stirring the liquid slowly. The subtle warmth felt nice against her skin. “The voices have gotten more and more... Enticing, you know? Like they’re calling me towards them, and honestly, I barely have the strength to tell them ‘no’ anymore.”

She looked over to her friend, a sad smile on her face. “You know, if it wasn’t for you and Dongin, I would just kill myself.” She could feel herself tearing up a little bit. She scoffed at herself, smacking her cheek a little. “Well, isn’t that rich? Throwing myself a little pity party over here.”

The whole time, Ah-In had been gazing at her with thick emotion swimming in her eyes. Je Kyo expected pity or concern, but instead, she looked proud. After the initial shock, at least. “You’re not throwing yourself a pity party,” she said. “You’re finally spilling your feelings, and that’s a blessing.”

“It’s a blessing for me to be totally screwed?”

Ah-In shrugged, a smile creeping up her cheeks. “Maybe you’re screwed, maybe you’re not—but either way, you’re not dead yet, are you?” Je Kyo stared at her. “You’re obviously holding onto something, or you would’ve jumped off this building a long time ago. I saw you almost do it when you were younger.”

Je Kyo flinched at the memory. “Not exactly something I look back on fondly...”

“But do you remember how you snapped out of it?”

She brought the mug to her lips. “I kinda blocked it out of my life completely, so no. Please, enlighten me, though.” She started chugging the rest of the drink.

“You found out you were pregnant.”

She paused, pulling away slowly. “That was the day I got the results back, wasn’t it?”

Ah-In nodded. “Exactly.” She wrapped an arm around Je Kyo’s shoulders, rubbing her arm soothingly. “Which confirms my theory. I already knew this, but you care about other people so much more than yourself.”

She scoffed. “Who do you think you’re talking about? Since when have I—?”

“Forever,” Ah-In said firmly. “I’ve never seen you be selfish.”

She shifted a little. “Oh, shush... Flatterer.”

“But despite that, I think it’s time you be a little selfish.” Je Kyo furrowed her brows at her, a question in her eyes. “I think the voices will go away if you do what’s best for you, for once. Not for Dongin, not for me, not for the future. Just for you, in this moment.

This beautiful present that you never get to spend enough time in.” She turned to look at the setting sun. “Because... Despite how shitty people can be, ‘right now’ is actually pretty beautiful.”

Je Kyo snorted.

“Why are you laughing?” Ah-In whined.

She covered her mouth, trying not to draw any attention from the people walking down below. “Y-you swore!” she said through muffled giggles.

She crossed her arms. “You think I don’t swear?”

“Not what I said.” There was a pause. “But totally what I was thinking.”

Ah-In gave her a light shove. “Je! I’m trying to help!”

She grabbed her friend’s hand. “I know.” She gave it a quick peck. “And I thank you.” She stood up, crawling back into the apartment through the window. “Can you watch Gin for a little while?”

“What?” Ah-In leaned her head in, watching Je Kyo toss on her shoes and a jacket. “Why? Where are you going?”

She opened the door, giving her friend and son one more look before stepping out. “To be selfish.”

Je Kyo sat at the bus-stop, kicking her feet back and forth childishly. The city was dark and quiet, it felt like she was the only one there. It was eerie, in a way.

The moon was full and bright in the sky, giving minimal light to the dark streets. It was moments like these that made Je Kyo wish that the neighborhood council weren’t so lazy with their plans for streetlights. Yet... She wasn’t afraid.

She was prepared for anything that was to come.

“Why’d you ask to meet here?” A familiar voice came. It was gentle and smooth and completely unmistakable. It was one she had, unintentionally, become quite attached to. “I told you that nighttime was a bit of a no-no for me.”

She turned around. There was Lee Taemin, standing there with his hood up, hands in his pockets and full-length pants on. That basically confirmed her theory. “I asked you to meet with me because I figured it out.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Figured what out?”

“You.” She stood up, walking closer to him. “I figured you out.”

He backed up a few steps. “What’re you—?”

She tugged his hood off and pushed him into a patch of moonlight. Her breath almost got taken away. “I knew it,” she whispered. “You’re a moonwalker, aren’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question.

In the moonlight, Lee Taemin barely looked human anymore. His eyes shone with a sort of glowing opalescence, he looked almost transparent and his hair dripped with light, literally dripping onto his shoulders and leaving a trail in its wake.

He was shocked at first, but his face quickly relaxed. “So you figured it out, huh?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She took in a shaky breath, putting her hands in her pockets. “I noticed.”

“You don’t seem shocked.”

She shrugged. “I’m more shaken than I seem, I promise.” She breath came out in thick plumes in front of her. Why did tonight have to be so cold? It didn’t help make her any braver. “I just can’t believe a moonwalker’s really here. Like, that they really exist.”

He shuffled. “Are you disappointed?”

She thought for a moment. “A little, yeah.” He looked at her, eyes wide. “I’ve been lying to you. Not for long. Only for about a month.”

“...About what?” he asked.

She sighed. “I’m seriously in love with you. But now, I’m just disappointed because I’m realizing that none of it was real. You’re just trying to take me away from my son.”

He shook his head. “No! That’s not what I—!”

“You only got close to me so you could feed on my loneliness, put voices in my head and eventually steal me away... You’ve been lying to me way longer than I have to you.” She hadn’t even noticed her tears that were dripping against the cracking pavement.

She was more emotional about this than she’d expected.

He took a step forward. “Je Kyo, I—”

She cut him off, “I’m just sad because my on-going theory about humanity is being proven correct once again.” She laughed bitterly. “People suck. Big time.” She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “Well, guess what?” She met his eyes, determination burning in her own. “I’m not going to let you take me away.”

He sighed. He took a few more ginger steps forward. “I’m not... Going to take you away. Where did you hear that rubbish?”

She took a step back for every step he took forward. “All the stories!” she snapped. “There’s never been a good story about you people! It’s all freakin’ gloom and doom!”

He kept advancing on her. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to believe everything you read?”

She balled her fists. “My parents didn’t stick around long enough to teach me that particular lesson, no.”

“I’m not going to take you away from Dongin. From your life.”

There was an anxiousness growing in her stomach that only grew when her back bumped against a wall. They were inches apart. Not even inches. Mere centimeters. The strength left her. She couldn’t feel angry anymore. Just there. “...Then what’re you going to do?”

His hand trailed slowly up her arm, giving her goosebumps and leaving his glow in a path leading upwards, the shape of his slender fingers. “Make you less lonely. That’s what it says in the stories, right? Do those damn stories ever specify how?”

She felt stiff. She wanted to run, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. Maybe she didn’t even want to. “No, I supposed they don’t,” she muttered.

“We do it by giving you lonely humans what you’re lacking.” He paused. “Love.”

She frowned. “But it’s not real. If it’s not real, I don’t want it.”

He shook his head. His eyes looked somewhat pleading. “No, no, no—it’s so real, I promise! For most moonwalkers, yes, it’s done for the purpose of their existence, but you and me... We’re something special.”

She looked away from him. “How am I supposed to trust you? Believe that this isn’t just because of your flippin’ otherworldly purpose?”

He thought in silence for a moment. “Because this is how I feel right now.” He brought his hand to her cheek.

She flinched, but immediately relaxed against his palm. She didn’t know what she was expecting, really. She had thought that the glowing essence he possessed would feel somewhat cold, like the moon looked. “It’s very... Warm,” she said quietly.

He nodded, trying to smile a little. “Very warm. Because I’m nervous.”

She met his piercing gaze. “Nervous?” she echoed. “Why?”

“Because of you,” he chuckled. “I feel like a child around you... I get so fluttery and all over the place, all I can do is tease you some days. All because I don’t know how to deal with myself.” He rolled his eyes at himself. “Some divine being I am.”

He examined her face. So close to his. So tempting. “You know...” he whispered. “I’m sure if I kissed you right now, my knees would buckle.”

Her cheeks felt hot. She didn’t know if it was because of his hand against her cheek or something else, but all she could do was shake her head. “Don’t lie to me, please.”

“I’m not,” he said. He sounded so sincere. “When I first came into your flower shop, I was just there because of my instincts—because of what my ‘programming’, for lack of a better word, told me to do. But soon, when you took me to all those cafes and fast food places and thrift shops, I started missing your laugh when I wasn’t next to you. Your witty quips, your casual and hardworking nature, your dedication, and your smile.”

She shifted her weight. “That’s... Specific.”

He found himself leaning closer. “Do I need to list more? I have thousands.”

“No, that’s... That’s quite enough.”

His lips brushed against hers, making both of them shiver. “May I?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “The anticipation is killing me.”

With this one answer, she could make the decision for herself whether or not to be lonely anymore. She could have it all, if she wanted. Her son, her friend, her crappy job, her chill twilight hours and the guy that she’d fallen head-over-heels for.

Would that be too selfish?

Well... She came out here this cold autumn night to be selfish. Might as well go all the way. If it ended up breaking down eventually, that was fine. Even the brightest thing in the world, like the sun, sets at some point.

With a deep breath, releasing all the fears and tension and hatred she’d been holding onto for years, she whispered, “Hell, yeah.”

THE END

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sam-i-am-27 · 6 years

Text

Dive Right In

(Previous) (Next)

Word Count: 2182

Summary: Virgil never suspected that anything was different about him, his town or his family. However, just like in most stories, that all changes when he meets someone who proves him wrong.

“You were almost late again,” Logan said, waiting outside of their biology lecture hall as Virgil came jogging up the hallway, accidentally knocking into some of the other students waiting to go into their class. He ignored their annoyed grumbles and tried to keep his attention on his own problems rather than what they thought of him.

“I know, I know,” Virgil said, adjusting his messenger bag. “My dad didn’t come home last night so I was just, you know, waiting… on the water… with water, don’t worry.”

Logan pursed his lips and nodded. “You know he’ll come back, Virgil. He’s almost a day late anytime he has to go out, so I don’t know why you worry so much.”

“He’s my dad, Lo,” Virgil replied, sitting down at their seats near the back of the hall. “I worry about him for the same reason that I worry about you: you guys are the only family I have.”

Logan visibly didn’t react but Virgil knew he was feeling something behind those stone-cold eyes. “Well in that case, if he’s not back by tonight, call me and I’ll come over with some leftovers. My mother made meatloaf last night so I’m sure she won’t mind me bringing some for you.”

“Thanks L-”

“Did I just hear that your house will be empty tonight?” Virgil turned around to see his classmate, Remy, leaning over and listening in on their supposedly private conversation. As usual, he was holding one of his seemingly unlimited supply of Starbucks drinks and his sunglasses that hid his somehow-golden eyes were beginning to slide down his nose again.

“No, you didn’t, Remy,” Logan said irritably, pushing his own glasses up his nose as if to set an example. “You simply heard what you wanted to hear as you eavesdropped yet again.”

“It’s not eavesdropping if there’s no teacher or other friends to listen to,” Remy said, taking the hint and hiding his eyes behind the lenses. “So your house is going to be empty? No parents, no supervision but Mr. IQ over here?” Remy cocked an eyebrow at Virgil. “Want me to bring some weed? Some booze? Girls or boys? Whichever and whoever you prefer?”

“There is not going to be a party at my house, Remy,” he said firmly. “There is going to be supervision; my dad is going to be coming back in a few hours so if you even think of bringing even a drop of booze near my house, he’ll make sure you and anyone you bring stay away for the rest of your time in this town.”

Remy smirked. “Whatever man. You’re missing out on a seaside party, especially one where I’m the one running the show.” He turned his attention to the front of the class as the teacher walked in and started writing instructions on the board. Virgil glanced down at his phone, hoping that his promise to Remy didn’t become a bluff by the end of the day.

But there was no sign from him by the end of the first period. Nor the end of the second. Virgil could hardly concentrate on what his teachers were saying. He just barely picked up on due dates, homework. Hell, even the notes he involuntarily took throughout the lesson didn’t make sense to him when he read them over during his free-time.

“He’s fine, Virgil. As I keep saying today and every day he’s late from an expedition, he found something that made him stay out longer than anticipated,” Logan commented as Virgil checked his phone for the tenth time in five minutes.

During third period, psychology, Virgil figured that if they were learning anything about emotions or how the human mind became distracted easily, it would have been the biggest irony in history. Alas, they were learning about decision making and Virgil’s closest thing to a friend in that class, Emile Piccani, was deep in thought about what their teacher was scribbling across the board.

“Virgil, this is amazing!” he said as he drew an arrow between a new definition to a doodle of what looked like the scene from ‘I Am My Mom’ where Steven had to turn himself over to save his friends. “I could use this in everyday life, not just in therapy! Aren’t you glad you took this class?!”

“Sure, Emile,” he murmured, lazily copying down whatever the teacher had written. Emile kept muttering things like ‘I love this class’ and ‘Ooh, I gotta compare this to those new episodes later’, but Virgil was more distracted by the sudden light coming from his phone. He snatched it up and stared intently at the screen, his heart pounding.

Sorry I’m home later than I said I would be. I got a little turned around. Home right now and currently making pork chops.

His heart leapt and he let out a sigh of relief, setting down his phone and slumping back in his seat. Not only was his father home safe and sound, he was making Virgil’s favorite dinner as an apology. Maybe he could forgive him this time… just as he did all the times before.

“Was he out late again?” Emile whispered, glancing over Virgil’s phone. Virgil tensed up at the sudden closeness but despite Emile being the top student in this psychology class, he didn’t see the physical sign of discomfort and kept close to Virgil’s face.

“Yes, Emile, and while I thank you for your concern, two things: one, personal space, please.“ Emile scooted back until Virgil gave a satisfactory nod. “And two, please don’t read my text messages over my shoulder.”

“Sorry, I’ll keep that in mind,” Emile replied, giving a soft smile. “Any idea as to how he got turned around? I mean, he has more than a few degrees in marine biology and over a decade of sailing. He went just over two dozen miles off the coast; even an ameteur could naviagte back from there.”

“None, but I guess I’ll find out when I get home,” Virgil said, shutting off his phone and finally able to turn every bit of his energy towards learning again. The rest of the day seemed to pass in a slow blur. It wasn’t fast but it definitely felt as if the world wanted to keep him in that hell-hole for as long as possible. Even lunch - with the constant movement and talk as he tried to make his way to his normal patch of grass with Logan (and occasionally Remy or Emile for reasons both beyond his control and explanation) - seemed to take days to live through.

Finally, the bell rang and he sped towards his car.

“If you need me, just call me, okay?” Logan called as they crossed paths. Virgil gave him a thumbs up, clambered into his car and drove off.

Roman and Patton slowed down as they reached one of the many entrance to their kingdom; nothing inconspicuous, a hole in the coral just big enough to only allow creatures their size in. The surrounding coral reef hid this entrance well enough so one could only find it if they really looked. Patton slowed down and raised his arms for Roman.

“You first,” he said to which Roman chuckled and bowed.

“Thank you very much, sir Patton.” Roman swam into the hole and Patton soon followed once only the tip of his red fin was visible. With a flick of his tail, he swept in after Roman, leaving the beautiful coral reef behind in exchange for darkness.

“I always hate this part,” Patton muttered, his voice echoing around them. He took a deep breath, focusing on the feeling of water passing through his gills rather than the crushing darkness around him.

“Patton, if anything attacks, I’ll protect you, don’t worry,” Roman called back. “Has anything bad ever happened while anyone has been traveling through here?”

“No…” Patton whined, keeping his eyes focused on what he thought was towards the kingdom. They swam in silence for a few more seconds before passing through what felt like a wall of ice cold squid ink. Patton shivered and pushed forward, finally passing through the darkness and emerging on the outskirts of the kingdom, lit by a mix of natural sunlight a large glowing orbs that bobbed in place no matter how many fish were silly enough to try and go through them.

Here, there wasn’t much to see; a few small stone houses and a couple schools of fish flitting back and forth between them. But as the two mers grew closer to the center of the kingdom, the houses became bigger, closer together, and more elaborate, the material used to build them going from stone to coral to polished shell. The mer population began to grow visible, tails of all shapes, sizes and colors; a rainbow of frills and fins.

Patton waved to a group of his friends currently buying some snacks from a vendor. When they waved him over, he smiled sadly and pointed to Roman, mouthing ‘King business’. They shrugged and turned back to their order.

“Why don’t you join them?” Roman asked, bumping against his shoulder lightly. “You always make a point of saying that I need to make friends.”

“I know, but we need to get back to Thomas to make sure that there’s nothing that there’s no reports or assignments,” Patton said, keeping his smile, no matter how sad it may have looked. Roman sighed and kept swimming towards the very center of the kingdom.

Nearest to the center, the houses suddenly stopped, giving way for a castle large enough for at least half the mer population in this cavern alone. Sometimes Patton didn’t understand why Thomas needed so much room for himself, his staff, and his lead advisors; there were only like one hundred of them compared to the thousands out there.

Either way, the castle was a sight to see. Ebony walls inlaid with only the best and most beautiful stones and shells. Spiraling pillars made of polished pearl guarded by mers wearing and wielding steel weapons. The entire thing seemed to let out a silver glow that made Patton feel warm and fuzzy inside. He had lived in this glow his entire life and basking in it always meant he was home.

“Roman,” the guard at the front gates said as they drifted towards him. “Shouldn’t you be in a cave somewhere? Far away from here maybe?”

“Hello to you too, father,” Roman muttered. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a full moon, tonight, Roman,” Roman’s father said, his grey tail flicking slightly. “Now, I’m no expert, but the full moon is when Sirens are supposed to be singing their shallow hearts out, luring in every living thing that hears their false promise of happiness? Or are you the only exception?”

Roman’s lip twitched upwards and his fist tightened into a fist. Patton hit his own tail fin against Roman’s and grabbed his wrist firmly, rubbing it lightly until Roman’s fist unclenched. Even than, Patton kept his grip relatively tight.

“Yes, father, I am supposed to be out of the kingdom before the moon rises tonight. I simply need to see if there are any reports from the King and after that, I will be out of what little hair you have left and you get yet another night without me. What’s that make? Over six hundred, I’m sure,” Roman replied tightly.

Roman’s father sneered and drifted to the side. “Just go to his royal highness and leave before you pose a threat to anyone else.”

Without another word, Roman swam past his father and into the castle, pulling Patton with him.

“The nerve of that man,” Patton muttered under his breath, letting go of Roman and swimming to catch up with Roman’s powerful tail strokes. “Roman, I suggest we stop for a second so you can calm down. You don’t want to go up to Thomas like this. It’s both disrespectful and something that will get him worried about you.”

Roman didn’t answer but did slow down and begin to take deep breaths. The gills on the side of his neck were flaring with anger and the attempt to breath normally. Patton didn’t say a word, just rubbed Roman’s wrist slowly.

“I hate him,” Roman finally muttered. “Sirens haven’t taken lives intentionally in hundreds of years…”

“I know, I know. But on the human land, racial differences were supposed to have been abolished hundreds of years ago and yet other things I’ve found say otherwise. Some things can’t or won’t change,” Patton said softly. “We can try our best but there will always be opposers to what we say.”

“How come that’s what calms me down every single time you say it?” Roman asked, a trace of his normal smile popping up again.

“I just have that kind of voice,” Patton replied, still smiling. “You good to see the King without sounding disdainful and like all the hate towards your father is actually towards him?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Roman said, coughing slightly and blinking furiously. “Let’s go.”

Holy shit. The amount of reception that came out of that first part was fucking mind-boggling. I was in the living room with my parents and I just checked and bam... a ton of love from so many people. I started crying right then and there.

Thank you so much. Seriously, thank you.

Taglist is still wide open!

Taglist: @octopushugs @ryuity @fandergecko @rileyfirstname @spectacled-renegade @ijustreallylovesanderssides @fireflies-and-pattons-eyes @fireflies-and-pattons-eyes

@redqueen29, I’m not sure why but your URL isn’t working in tags, so I hope you find this.

Have an absolutely incredible day!

#Mermaids #Thomas Sanders #Sanders Sides #Virgil Sanders #Deceit Sanders #Remy Sanders #Emile Picani #Roman Sanders #Patton Sanders #AU #Fan Fiction #Writing

131 notes · View notes

cwnannwn · 6 years

Note

Mistletoe kiss for MC/Helena? Please :)

Hey Anon! Sorry this took a week to finish, It got a bit longer than I had planned.

This is my first fic for anything Lovestruck, please let me know if it was okay! Also, I ended up giving MC a name, because I’m no good at first or second person and writing femslash in third person without using one of their names proved a bit harder than expected.

On Ao3

The castle had seemed beautiful, if almost clinically sterile to Kayla at first, but by now her main impression was of coldness and aloofness. Appropriate, considering who built the thing. Wait, did the Witch Queen actually build the castle, or was it already there before? Another thing to ask Helena at some point.

All of which made the mistletoe hanging from almost every doorway and passage very confusing.

That had been the only new addition to the decoration that Kaylah had noticed as she walked the deserted hallways alone. Trying to ask the occasional silent servant had proven futile, and no one seemed in a holidays mood that could have explained it. Lost in thought, Kaylah only noticed the raised voices once she was close to the dining room, she sighed to herself, almost choosing to walk back to her rooms, but decided it was best to know what Alain and Magnus were screaming about this time.

Sure enough, there were both generals, discussing again how the army needed to see their queen/the queen was not ready. More and more, being referred to as the Witch Queen made Kaylah’s skin crawl. The voice in her head had been cold and cruel. Everything the woman had done both as queen and as a person was despicable. And the way she had treated Helena…

Alain punching a wall hard enough to crack bought Kaylah back from her dark thoughts, focusing again on the squabbling men. There was a small crack in the wall were Alain’s fist had been, running all the way up to the ceiling. And that was when she noticed the mistletoe, hanging merrily above Magnus and Alain’s heads.

It was too much for her. A chuckle escaped at first, followed by quite giggles she tried to muffle with her hand. The men didn’t notice, Lennox now coming between them and making the scene funnier for Kaylah. Jinhai studiously ignored them all, feeding his loyal raven without a care in the world.

“I am glad the fools are at least amusing to you, my lady. It seems that is all they are good for lately.”

The unexpected voice almost made Kaylah jump, gasping in surprise. Helena had come up behind her, eyeing her curiously. Kaylah let her hand fall to her side, offering the tall woman a smile as greeting. Helena answered with a small, but genuine grin.

“They’re under the mistletoe, the irony is just too good to pass.” She was pretty sure Alain might punch Magnus’ face instead of another wall very soon, but their antics fell to the edge of her awareness, her focus now on Helena and the confused frown that was her response. How can someone so intimidating look so cute in the next minute?

“The mistletoe? It is only another one of the idiocracies of Lennox’s cult, something about rebirth and conquering winter, I believe.”

Kaylah quickly looked over to make sure they were not being listened to. Yep, no chance of that, since now it looked like Lennox had somehow offended the other two. Lowering her voice just in case, she moved closer to Helena to answer.

“In my world, there’s a tradition that if two people are under the mistletoe, they have to kiss. I don’t know why, but it made that whole mess pretty hilarious.” Though it was nothing compared to Helena’s incredulous expression.

“Why would foliage force one to kiss another? However...” Helena smirked, and Kaylah might have felt her knees go weak from it. “That explains why you are so amused by their antics.”

Setting her hand on the small of Kaylah’s back, Helena led them towards the fighting men. “Even so, I suppose it is time to end their playtime.”

They shared smiles at that, and Kaylah did her best to focus on ending the small brawl that was now threatening to break the enormous dining table, and not on the fact that she and Helena stepped under that mistletoe too as they walked into the room.

A few hours later found Kaylah walking with Helena towards the general’s room, a comfortable silence shared between them. It was a welcome respite from the arguing that had taken place during the entirety of dinner and then continued on until she had done her best impression of pissed off murder-queen and put a stop to it.

She could technically have gone to the witch queen’s room. Solaire was there but she believed Kaylah wasn’t her old enemy. But that would mean parting from Helena, and the more time passed, the less appealing that possibility was. Helena’s mere presence was enough to set Kaylah at ease, the hand now almost habitually resting on her back grounding her like nothing else in this weird place.

And lately, Helena had proven herself an expert cuddler. There was no way Kaylah would choose an empty cold bed over her.

They were close to her room, walking under the last tall archway that signaled the beginning of the Generals’ resting quarters. A light tug on her hand made Kaylah turn to her left, towards Helena. Helena’s eyes seemed an even darker shade of blue, but they were warm as a light blush painted her pale cheeks red. Her other hand came up to hold Kaylah’s cheek, as she closed the distance between them slowly. Kaylah went up on her tiptoes, closing the last inches separating them.

Their lips met in a soft kiss, lips gliding unhurriedly together. When Helena kissed her, it was like nothing else in the world existed, like queens and magic and warriors all ceased to matter, and only the two of them were left. Helena’s hand on her cheek, the other on her waist, her own arms wrapped around Helena’s neck, bodies pressed close. That was all Kaylah could, and wanted to, focus on.

Soon enough Helena was nipping at her bottom lip, making Kaylah moan softly in response. Helena took the opportunity and deepened the kiss, Kaylah immediately matching her pace. As it almost always happened with Helena and situations like these, she soon found herself pinned to the wall, Helena easily holding her up by the back of her thighs, her legs hugging Helena’s waist and her fingers tangled in wild blonde strands.

No doubt there were other reasons too, but Kaylah had a sneaking suspicion that Helena’s habit of pinning her to things had more to do with wanting to feel another person close to her than anything else.

Like the tide receding, they went back to soft pecks, until Kaylah pulled back enough to rest their foreheads together. Once her heart-rate had gone back down to normal, she opened her eyes, finding Helena already looking at her, a shy smile on her face.

“Not that I’m complaining, but shouldn’t we have waited until we got into your room to start this?”

Helena’s blush came back with a vengeance. “You said it was tradition. I thought it would be good to keep at least something of your world here.”

Kaylah’s eyes widened, her gaze travelling to the ceiling to find a mistletoe hanging above their heads, on the very apex of the archway. A distant part of her wondered how the hell the servants had even managed to get that high without her noticing. The rest was too busy hugging Helena as tight to her as she could, hiding her watering eyes on the crook of her sorceress’ neck. Helena pressed closer, a distraught sound leaving her once she felt Kaylah’s tears on her skin.

Kaylah laughed, kissing Helena’s cheek. “Thanks, Helena. I never did kiss anyone under the mistletoe before, but I’m glad you wanted to.”

She felt Helena kissing her temple before slowly putting her down on the floor, only to wrap her up in a proper hug. It was another moment of comfortable silence, and one Kaylah didn’t want to break. Eventually they would walk to Helena’s room, and fall to her bed in a tangle of limbs and tired bodies. But right now Helena held her under the mistletoe, in a cold castle in a weird fantasy land, and it was the best gift Kaylah could have asked for.

#love & legends #Lovestruck #helena klein #my writing #I really hope it's okay i used a name for MC #It just felt really really weird to write in third person without using it #to the other anon i got #i'm working on your prompt bro!#things just got a bit crazy this week #and if anyone else wants to send a prompt #i'm always happy to get them!#I might take a little while to finish it tho #because exams #Anonymous

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