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bxcketbarnes · 3 years

Text

Secrets and Jealousy

Pairing: Loki Laufeyson x Reader

Words: 3000+

Author's Note: I watched the first Thor movie for the first time in literal years and came up with this idea! Hope you enjoy xox

Your fingers dance along the glass you're holding, watching everyone in the large ballroom interact with one another. Frigga, the queen of Asgard, suddenly walks up to you. "Hi, sweetheart. I'm so glad you could make it," she greets sweetly and wraps you into a hug.

"It's a fantastic gathering, my queen," you smile politely and she waves her hand with a small laugh.

"Oh, please. Call me Frigga," she grins and you nod your head in response. "Have you seen Loki tonight?"

You take a quick look around the ballroom to see if you can spot the Prince she speaks of and shake your head. "I haven't. I've been looking for him too," you inform her and Frigga raises an eyebrow. "I-"

"You've always been so nice to Loki," the queen sighs and takes your hand into hers. A blush covers your cheeks as you nod, remembering all the times you've tried to include Loki in the gatherings. "You should check the library. He's usually in there."

"O-Oh, did you need to talk to him though?" You stutter and Frigga gives you a large smile.

"I can always tell him later. Go ahead," she ushers you in the direction of the library. You clear your throat before excusing yourself, slowly walking towards the elegant library.

You see Thor walking back towards the ballroom and you call out his name. The blonde turns around, smiling at the sight of you jogging up to him.

"Lady Y/N! To what do I owe the pleasure?" He boasts and you laugh slightly while fiddling with your robe.

"I was just wondering if you've seen Loki?" You ask him quietly and the burly man's eyes widen.

Thor tilts his head a bit before crossing his arms over his chest. "Loki? As in my brother, Loki?" He asks, wanting to make sure he heard you correctly.

You furrow your eyebrows and nod your head. "Yeah, unless there's another Loki I don't know about?" You mumble and Thor drags his tongue across his bottom lip.

"I haven't seen him, no. Are you coming to the ballroom?" Thor questions in hope of trying to get you to join him.

You give him a polite smile and nod your head. "I'll be there in a bit, Thor," you inform him before continuing towards the library.

Silence fills the room as you open the large doors, looking around to see if you can spot the raven-haired man. You shut the door quietly behind you, feeling your heart in your throat as you start to walk around.

"Loki?" You call out loud enough for him to hear, heart pounding a million miles a minute. A noise from behind you makes you jump before whipping around to find nothing there.

This isn't horrifying at all. You think to yourself while looking forward once more. A scream comes from your lips as Loki stands inches in front of you, a blank look on his face.

"What are you doing here?" He asks in a hoarse voice, looking down at you.

"Uhm, I-I was wondering if you wanted to join me in the ballroom," you ask shyly and Loki gives you a look.

"Me? You want me to join you?"

You nod your head in answer, fiddling with your fingers once more as a dry laugh comes from the man's lips.

"Darling, let me save you from the embarrassment," Loki tells you and you frown. "No one wants me there."

"Your mother does," you correct him and Loki's blue eyes cast down at you. "I… I do."

The Prince licks his lips a bit before stepping away from you, moving to sit on top of the table. You swallow thickly as you begin to feel intimidated by the man and you tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going. You can tell my mother that she knows where to find me if she needs me," he states and you let out a defeated sigh.

"Do you at least want anything?" You ask with a hopeful lilt in your voice.

Loki gives you a small smile and shakes his head in reply. You press your lips together, hoping you'd be able to convince him to join you as you mumble an okay before turning around to leave.

The Prince eyes you as you move to walk out of the library, feeling his heart crack a bit at your defeated state. He clears his throat and tears his gaze from you before hopping down off of the table.

"You know," Frigga starts and Loki halts his steps, slightly looking over his shoulder at her. "She'd be good for you."

"She doesn't want me, mother," Loki mumbles while turning to face her. "Even if she did… she shouldn't."

The queen gives her son a look before letting out a sigh. "I know that you always feel left out with your brother and his friends-"

"I don't feel left out. I know I'm left out," the raven-haired man corrects.

"What I'm saying is that she's trying. She's trying to include you in the events that go on here. It's sweet," Frigga shrugs, and Loki rolls his eyes.

"It's naïve."

His mother gives Loki a look before shaking her head. "One day you'll realize, my son," she mumbles softly while making her way out of the library, leaving him to himself with his thoughts.

After returning to the ballroom, you decided to drink the embarrassing night away. You stumble towards Thor and his buddies, the glass in your hand almost slipping from your grasp.

"Thor!" You yell loudly, gaining the attention of the blonde.

A laugh leaves the man's lips as your body collides with his. "My, my, Lady Y/N," Thor starts and switches the drink in your hand. "I see you've let loose."

You move some of your hair from your face, a stupid grin on your lips. "Well, your brother decided to embarrass me so now I'm getting drunk," you slur your words and Thor frowns a bit.

The God of Thunder wraps his hand around your waist, holding you close to him. "My brother doesn't know how to interact with many people. Do not take it to heart," he tries to tell you and you let out a snort.

"I do everything for Loki, Thor," you mumble and look up at him, seeing his blue eyes staring into yours. "I just wish he would see it."

Ultimately, Loki finally leaves the library before making his way towards the ballroom. His blue eyes find you latching onto yourself onto his brother. A frown settles onto his lips, letting out a quiet hmph before making his way towards the drinks.

"Loki's here," one of Thor's friends mumble and your ears perk up at the name.

You stumble slightly and look around to see the God standing towards the middle of the ballroom. A gasp leaves your lips and you push yourself away from Thor before stumbling towards Loki.

"She's a strange one," Sif tells Thor and the God chuckles in reply while nodding his head.

"She is, indeed."

You trip over your robe a few times as you walk towards Loki, his eyes finding yours in the crowded place. Hurt flows through your chest as you watch him roll his eyes before turning his attention to something else.

"L-Loki!" You call out as he starts to walk away. You pick up your pace, bumping into others as you swiftly move around them. You begin to feel dizzy as you're moving too quickly for your drunken state.

The man suddenly stops and you run into him, almost falling over as you grab a hold of his robes. "I didn't realize you moved on so quickly," Loki spits and you look up at him, confusion swimming in your eyes.

"I- What are you talking about?"

The God scoffs and shakes his head, wetting his lips a bit. "I saw you cuddled up to my brother after you practically begged me to join you at this stupid party," he informs you and a sigh leaves your lips.

"No, Loki-"

You cut yourself off as Loki starts to walk away again, making his way towards his chambers.

"Loki! If you would let me explain!" You call after him, feeling yourself sober up a bit. "God, you're so fucking arrogant sometimes."

The raven-haired man stops in his tracks, glancing at you over his shoulder. "I'm arrogant?" He asks, stalking back towards you with a fire in his eyes.

Your breath hitches in your throat as you find yourself backing up a bit. Loki reaches you and wraps a hand around your throat before pressing you against the wall.

"I'm not the one switching from Prince to Prince, darling," he sneers and you wrap your hand around his wrist, breathing heavily.

You should be scared, terrified. You think to yourself, but a small part of you is turned on at how dominant Loki's being. His face is inches from your own, feeling his breath fan against your lips.

"I'm not-"

"Then you're using Thor to try and make me jealous," he assumes and you resist the urge to roll your eyes, "which won't work."

"And why would I try to make you jealous?" You breathe out, feeling his fingers squeeze your throat. "You don't notice me anyway."

Loki roughly lets go of you, seeing his chest rapidly rising and falling. You take a deep breath and gently rub your neck as the man takes a step back from you.

"You think I don't notice?" He asks in a whisper, a scoff leaving his lips. "Of course I notice you. It's hard not to. You're the only one around here who cares."

You look over at him softly, watching him run a hand through his raven-colored hair. "Then why are you acting like I'm the bad guy?!" You question, feeling yourself get a little angry. "I was cuddling up to Thor because I was embarrassed about you rejecting my offer. I even told him about it! I'm not even the slightest bit interested in Thor."

You take the chance to walk away from him before doing something stupid. Your shoulder bumps his arm as you walk away, not even bothering to look back at him.

Loki lets out a sigh once your figure disappears around the corner, rubbing his face with his hand. "You really know how to charm a woman, brother," Thor comments to which Loki rolls his eyes in response, looking towards the God.

"I really don't need this right now," Loki motions between the two of them before starting to walk back towards his chambers.

"Just know that she'd do anything to make you happy," Thor calls out and Loki halts his footsteps for a moment, thinking about what he just said before continuing forward.

You stroll through the library, gliding your fingertips along the binds of the books. It's been a couple of days since you've seen Loki and it's pretty risky to be in one of his favorite places, but you doubt he'll say anything to you anyway.

"Lovely section you've picked, darling."

You roll your eyes at the sound of his voice. Spoke too soon. You think to yourself as you glance to your left, seeing the God standing at the end of the bookshelf.

"What do you want?" You ask bluntly and Loki sighs, taking a step towards you.

"I would like to apologize for my behavior the other night," Loki mumbles and you eye him cautiously as you can still feel his grip on your throat at times.

His blue eyes cast down towards your neck, seeing the bruises of his fingers on your delicate skin. You clear your throat and scratch your neck causing the raven-haired man to look back up at you.

"Well, I might accept your apology. I'm not too sure yet," you tell him and Loki nods in response.

You finally find the book you're looking for and grab it before pushing your way past Loki once more. A hand wraps itself around your wrist, causing you to stop in your tracks.

"Come by my chambers later? I have something for you," he softly tells you and your heart flutters a bit, nodding your head.

Loki smiles at you before releasing you from his hold. You return it and continue out of the library, running into Thor as soon as you walk through the giant doors.

"Lady Y/N! How've you been?" He asks while walking with you down the hall. A short leaves your lips as your fingers dance along the hard-covered book.

"It's been alright, I guess. I'm a bit pissed at Loki, but-"

"Oh, yes, I heard. Are you okay? I noticed the marks on your neck," he wonders and you give the burly man a small smile.

You tuck a strand of hair behind your ear and nod your head. "I'm okay. I was a bit shocked at the time, but I'm alright. No serious damage," you reassure the man.

Thor pats your shoulder before the two of you come to a stop. "Listen, I know Loki can be a bit stubborn but give him a chance. He'll come to the realization one day," he mentions.

You chuckle and let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, I think he will too. I have a feeling that he knows it deep down, but as you said, he's stubborn."

"You might have to make the first move, Lady Y/N," Thor winks and you scoff, shaking your head.

"Yeah, there's no way I'm doing that," you chuckle as Thor begins to walk away from you, holding his hands out.

"You never know until you try!"

After spending hours trying to figure out what to do about your feelings for Loki, you manage to finally bring yourself to his chamber's door. You take a deep breath, raising your hand to knock on it when they open.

"I can hear you from inside, Y/N. No need to be nervous," he mumbles and you bite the inside of your cheek. "Please, come in."

Loki moves to the side and motions for you to walk into the room. You fiddle with your fingers and sit down on the edge of his bed, feeling the silk sheets beneath your hands.

"You said you have something for me?" You ask him, deciding to get straight to the point.

The raven-haired man laughs while nodding his head, moving towards the bookshelf that sits in the corner of his room. "I found this the other day and I remember you talking to me about it months ago," he mentions and your heart flutters.

Loki pulls out a book before walking towards you and holds it out for you to take. A gasp leaves your lips and you glance up at him, seeing the softness in his blue eyes. Something you don't see often with this man.

"Loki…" you trail off and grab the Shakespeare book, one you've been trying to find for months on end. "How'd you find this?"

He smiles and sits down beside you, your thighs brushing against one another. "I found it lodged behind some other books. I think whoever had it last obviously didn't put it into the correct spot and got shoved to the back," Loki explains and your gaze moves back down to the book.

"Thank you," you softly whisper and Loki grins, nodding his head in reply.

"How's your neck?" The God asks and you bring your hand up, trailing your fingers along the fading bruises. Loki's eyes trail down to your neck, bringing his hand to it as well. "I realized afterward that I shouldn't have been so harsh."

You press your lips together and sigh gently. "It's alright, Loki. I forgive you," you whisper as you think about how hot it was to have his hand wrapped around your throat. Loki's blue eyes snap to yours as he hears your thoughts on the matter.

His eyes trail back down to your lips as his fingers stroke your skin. "You really thought it was hot?" Loki asks suddenly and your breath hitches. Loki's fingers gently find their way back around your throat, your faces inches from each other's as your heart pounds against your chest.

"You-"

"Answer the question, darling," he growls and your eyes flutter shut before nodding your head. "Use your words."

"Y-Yes, Loki," you tell him and a smirk comes to the God's lips.

Loki swiftly presses his lips to yours, his hand still on your throat and you kiss him back. One of your hands moves to his wrist, gripping it gently as the two of you fight for dominance.

A moan leaves your lips as Loki bites your bottom lip and he slips his tongue between your lips, deepening the kiss. You pull away abruptly, breathing heavily as you rest your head against Loki's.

"That was… wow," you whisper and let out a breathy chuckle. Loki hums in response, his hand moving away from your throat. "I've always imagined this moment, but I didn't expect that."

A knock on Loki's door makes the two of you pull apart and the man stands up before going to answer it. Thor stands on the other side of it, a smile on his lips as Loki rolls his eyes.

"Yes?" Loki asks, hearing the annoyed tone in his voice.

"Have you seen Lady Y/N? I stopped by her chambers and she wasn't there," the blonde asks and Loki smirks, moving out of the way a bit to reveal you sitting on his bed.

"Hi," you greet with a smile, giving the older brother a small wave.

Thor's eyes widen and move his gaze from you to Loki. "If you don't mind, brother, Y/N and I were in the middle of something," the God mentions and goes to close the door.

"Did you make the move?" He suddenly calls out to you and your cheeks flush, earning a confused look from Loki.

"Uh, no, he did," you shyly mumble and Thor lets out a laugh before clapping a hand to his brother's shoulder.

The God of Thunder whispers something into Loki's ear and you watch the man's eyebrows raise to whatever Thor is telling him. The blonde leaves the two of you alone and Loki slowly shuts his chamber's door before turning to face you.

You swallow thickly as the God walks closer to you, his stare burning a hole through your skull. You shudder under his gaze and slowly stand up. "What did he-"

Loki places his hand on the back of your neck before connecting your lips once more. Your stomach releases butterflies as your hands grab a hold of his robe, gripping tightly while you kiss him back.

"Be mine," he growls after pulling away from you, his free hand resting on your hip. "Be my queen."

You find yourself nodding your head without hesitation, your heart beating a million miles a minute as you press your body against his. You lean on your toes to press a chaste kiss to his pink lips while your hand strokes his cheekbone gently. "Of course, my king."

Taglist- @poweredbyghostadventures @valentine5sos @deephideoutmilkshake @noisynightmarefest @albinoclifford @jessalyn-jpeg @suchalonelysunflower @maddz-world @queen-of-mischief

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faghubby · 2 years

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Kate and l (Larry) got married 8 months ago then moved across the country for work. Three months later I was laid off as the company folded. Kate had taken an entry level job thinking that I would be able to pay the bills. With are savings gone and family hundreds of miles away. I took a minimum wage job just to keep food on the table. We where in trouble. So when I got home and found $3000. On the table I was surprised.

"Kate" I called out

" in here" She was just getting out of the shower.

" Where did you get $3000?" I asked. She took my hand and sat me on are bed.

"I met a woman who told me how she made alot of money making porn" She told me.

"What? Wait what kind of porn?" I stood up

" listen sit down" She told me. " a one time thing, to get us out of the hole" She told me.

"So you what fucked some guy to post on the internet" I didn't know what I was this didn't seem real.

" Two actually" She corrected "it was the only way to make enough in one video" She told me. I stormed off. I was mad, but knew she did it to save us from being on the street at the end of the week. I went back in to are room.

" Baby, I know why you did it and I am grateful. But don't ask ,e to be happy about it" I told her

"I am sorry, I knew if I told you. You would have stopped me." She told me hugging me. What was she watching the cable had been turned off. I looked at the TV and saw Kate on her hands and knees sucking a big black cock. While another slid in and out of her stretched pussy.

I was instantly hard and could not look away. Both of these dark God like men had cocks more then twice my size. Yet Kate seemed to want even more. Kate turned it off.

"Sorry they sent it over for me to review" She told me.

"You looked" my voice drifted off.

"They look so big" I mumbled

"Sweety are you alright?" Her hand gently touching my face to look at her. I shook it off

"Yes, and we have enough to get caught up. You are amazing" we ate and although Kate was frisky. We went to bed that night with just a kiss. Well that I until I woke in the middle of the night and had to watch the video. I had only just started when Kate found me.

"Why are you watching this?" She asked looking down she saw my cock trying to burst out of my boxers. She sat next to me.

"This turns you on?" She looked into my eyes.

"Yes" I whimpered

"Me getting fucked by other men?" She teased touching my cock. My eyes told her the answer.

"How?" I whispered

"Well your not the biggest I been with" She started

" they are at least twice as big" I again my voice drifted

"You like that they where so big?" She stroked me thru my boxers as I watched. I nodded

"I have never felt your little nub so hard before" She told me.i moaned

She told me how their names where Tom and Lee. Tom cock was the fatter one it stretched me so much. And Lee's was longer then any She had ever seen must be 11 inches. She slowly teased my cock thru my underwear the whole time. It was roughly 30 minutes and Kate made sure I didn't get to excited to the end. Where I watched as they both exploded all over her face. As they did Kate made me cum in my boxers. She took my hand and led me back to the bedroom. I changed my underwear and climbed back into bed. I was still so horny and rolled towards Kate. I kissed her breast

"If it turns you on this much, they have offered me a chance to do it again" She laughed. I kissed my way down to her thighs and spread her legs. And gently licked her lips.

"There are all kinds of plots to choose too" She told me as she directed my head to her clit. My dick was throbbing and I could think about was those giant cocks fucking this glorious pussy. Kate was moaning and bucking as an orgasm rocked her body like I had never seen. She squeezed her legs crossed and kicked me back. Trying to catch her breath. I climbed on top and slid my dick into her. I could not even feel her just wet and warm.

" can you even feel me" I asked

" I know your their baby, go ahead" She cooed

I tried but fell out twice in almost as many strokes. I rolled off. And Kate went to suck me off.

" it's OK" I told her placing her hand on my dick.

" Tell me more" I told her. She cuddled next to me.

"No, you tell me" She teased stroking my cock

"Would you want me to do it again?" She asked

"Yes, you should let them fuck you " I moaned

"Even though they stretched me so much I can't feel you little dickie" She asked

"I could never fuck you like that, I don't deserve to" I moaned and cam all over her hand. I feel asleep and dreamed of cocks fucking my young wife. When I woke I found Kate in her robe at the table reading a list then searching the internet.

"I hon, what you doing?" I asked

"The video company sent a list of kinds of videos. But I don't know what some of them are? So looking them up" She informed me. I looked at the list and each had a type then an amount.

"Is this what they pay?" I asked.

" yes" She responded I also noticed a bunch crossed out.

"I am not saying I am going to do any just curious" she told me.

"Here's one you can do, submissive male spanking by woman $500 or by a man $1000" She teased

" You can spank me" I told her. She smiled and turned on a video.

We watched a man dressed in woman's panties being spanked with a paddle an called names, I got hard as I watched. I think Kate noticed my excitement. And clicked by a man

In this scene a large man with an obviously large cock pulled a smaller man wearing his wife's panties over his lap as his wife laughed. The submissive man cam in the panties at the end. I was so turned on I was rubbing Kate's nude thighs. She tucked my hand and led me back to the bedroom. She pulled a pair of panties from her drawer and handed them to me. I put them on. That simple act changed everything.

Kate no longer asked what I thought. Just told me what to do. I did get a job the next week. That wasn't as good buy definitely able to survive. At home I wore panties all the time. I was denied the ability to penatrate Kate in anyway. I preformed oral on her and she would play with my peepee thru my panties. Are apartment was tiny but it was my sole responsibility to keep it clean. She gave me Female led relationship books to read. She often talked about big cocks and real men. And I got spanked once a week even if I did nothing wrong. To remind me of my place. She got promoted at work and started sleeping with a guy she met in a bar. I would lick her clean when she came home after a night with him. She did not hide that she slept around nor that she was in charge. Ordering for me when we went out. Picking out what I was to wear. Telling stylist how to cut my hair.

I took cooking classes at the community College. And learned to sew around the community center.

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buckysboobs · 3 years

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Damaged Finds Damaged

chapter 1

warnings: none

There was tension building up in the room, with alarmed eyes and nervous smiles being exchanged. Damon was stood towards the back, arms crossed, the flames lighting up in the fireplace casting yellowish hues over the side of his face.

"No." he stated, hinting at it being the end of the conversation.

"What do you mean 'no'? Bonnie's still stuck there with some guy who tried to kill you guys and apparently sucks the magic out of people, we can't just leave her there!" Jeremy stood up to make a move towards the older Salvatore.

Stefan held him back, "That won't be necessary. We'll find a way."

"This doesn't feel right guys," Elena cried, shaking her head. "We need to get her out of there, who knows what kind of a person Kai is, what if he kills her before we can—"

"Quick to judge people, are we?" Sarah, (who had always been on the receiving side of the gang's poor judgement) decided to butt in, raising an eyebrow at her. She glanced at Damon. "From the sounds of it, he had many opportunities to kill you and Bonnie when you two were stuck in that prison but he didn't, so I think she'll be fine. She's smart. And if he's been all alone, he wouldn't want to lose the only company he has."

"Stubborn ol' Sarah coming to the rescue with her condescending remarks." Damon commented, gulping down a glass of Bourbon. "We don't need advice from a hybrid."

"Oh really?" Sarah snapped, getting up from the couch and turning to the door. "Well in that case i'll just take myself and my advice somewhere else-"

Stefan blinked tiredly and looked at Elena for help. They'd be luckier if they had Sarah as an ally rather than an enemy.

"Sarah please!" Elena called out.

The hybrid stopped, chuckled and went back to her seat on the couch, but not before throwing Damon a dirty look, receiving an eye roll in return.

"So what is this Gemini Coven thing? It can help us, right?" Jeremy asked hopefully, awaiting answers. Before Damon could open his mouth, Stefan spoke up, exasperated.

"It's nothing, guys. It does not exist. I searched all over Portland for it but all I came across was empty land."

"Let's try again, then." said Sarah.

"It's not that simple." Stefan replied.

"Guys—" Elena tried to interfere. Jeremy looked back at forth along with the conversation when Damon decided to speak up.

"Yes it is." He said. "Now that Elena mentioned it, I don't want to leave Bon-Bon with that maniac." Damon was the kind of person who would do anything against what Sarah had to say because he's petty, and he doesn't like her that much. If Sarah thought Bonnie will be fine, he believed she'll be the opposite. He pointed at Sarah, "You, me, Stefan and Alaric. We're going to Portland."

"Where we'll find nothing." Stefan sighed.

"Don't be so negative, Stefan." Elena said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

|||

They found nothing.

They walked into the empty, green land, Damon's hopeful eyes turning slightly hopeless again as Sarah walked past him and gazed across the ground.

"Like I said 3000 miles ago, it's not here." Stefan said, walking right up to her. "Can we go home now, please."

Damon dropped the bag he was carrying and Alaric spoke up, "You know what, check the GPS again. Just because we don't see anything doesn't mean it does not exist."

Damon's coping mechanism was sarcasm, which is why he tried to tease Stefan to ease the tension.

"Not unlike Caroline's feelings for Stefan." he said.

Sarah, who had been quiet for the majority of the time they spent together, snorted at his comment.

Stefan sighed, done with those remarks. "Hilarious, keep 'em coming."

Damon pulled out Miss Cuddles and did a passable imitation of a high pitched voice, wringing the teddy's stuffed arms. "Oh no, is Stefan feeling sensitive for ruining his friendship with Caroline?"

Stefan glared at him as he continued, "She really liked him and he broke her heart."

Sarah was thinking when she heard Alaric add "See, Stefan? Even the bear knew."

She held back a chuckle when Damon went on in his squeaky voice, "I saw that coming from a mile away and my brain is made of cotton—"

A thought crossed her mind "Guys I think something's—"

"Gimme that." Stefan snapped at the same time, grabbing the Miss Cuddles from him and kicking it hard. It flew across the sky and before they knew it, there was a house right before them.

"—cloaked." Sarah finished, shrugging as she looked back at them. "Well atleast we're not going back empty handed."

Damon happily skipped past her and stood on the porch as he picked up the teddy bear. "Miss Cuddles, one. Invisible creepy mansion, zero."

Alaric, Stefan and Sarah exchanged shocked glances and made their way towards the door.

"Did Miss Cuddles just help us reveal something that I missed?" Stefan asked, looking down at the teddy bear in Damon's possession.

Sarah clicks her tongue, "I should have known." When they responded with a puzzled expression, she gestured towards the teddy again, "She sent this back with her magic in it."

"Wait, Jo did tell me something about how she stored away her magic in some object." Alaric mused, snatching Miss Cuddles from Damon.

"But why would she send it back?" Stefan wondered.

Damon looked at them with a grim expression, "To prevent Kai from getting out."

"Damn. He must be really brutal, huh." Sarah commented, trying to get past the door when she was blocked by an invisible barrier.

"We gotta be invited in." Damon said, banging his hand against the barrier. "Which means the owner of this house is still alive."

Sarah looked at Alaric, "Looks like it's your time to shine."

With a sigh, Alaric walked in.

|||

"Jo lived here." He stated, passing them a couple of photographs and newspaper articles. "We have baby pictures, pictures of Jo as a kid, as a teenager.." Alaric shuffled through them one by one with trembling hands.

"Hold on a second." Damon jumped in all of a sudden, "Rewind." He grabbed a photograph from the pile and held it in front of them, "This is Kai from planet 1994."

It was a picture of the said boy and Jo together wearing red christmas sweaters, their faces beaming at the camera.

"He's cute." Sarah commented, earning an eye roll from Damon.

"Does this mean Jo is Kai's sister?" Stefan asked, and Alaric examined the rest of the photographs, looking for more evidence.

"Either that or they both have a thing for Cosby sweaters." Damon replied.

They heard a voice call out "Didn't realize I had guests."

They all turned back to see a skinny man with grey hair and stubble walking towards them. "You've met Kai?"

Damon's mouth twisted, "Met him? Watched him die. Watched him come back to life. Why, you know him?"

The man looked at them one by one, his gaze on Sarah lingering longer. He chuckled, "He's my son."

He extended his hand out, "I'm Joshua Parker."

Damon shook his hand without a moment of hesitation. "Damon Salvatore."

Joshua nodded, "Invisique."

"What the hell just happened?" Damon heard Stefan cry, and he turned around to see his companions shuffling around.

"What's up with you guys?"

"They can't see you anymore, Damon." Joshua said and Damon gave him a questioning look, "Which means they also can't see this."

Next thing Damon knew, he had earned himself an aneurysm and was crying out in pain before things went black.

|||

Around half an hour passed by and they still couldn't see another sign of the house. Stefan was on the call with Elena and Alaric was questioning Jo about Kai. Sarah was listening to both their conversations with vamp hearing.

From what she had gathered, Elena was trying to tell some random guy that she was a vampire, and Alaric was asking Jo about the ascendant which she actually had with her all along. Her dad was a coven leader who couldn't let Kai out no matter what, and was willing to 'retaliate' if things went south. Her evil twin is a murderer who killed almost his whole family, and was stuck in the prison world 1994 as punishment. They really had travelled 3000 miles for nothing, and Damon's life was probably in danger. Which she didn't worry about much, if she was honest.

She jumped slightly when she heard Jo let out a yelp, followed by a few thumps and bangs. Alaric asked what was going on, worry striking his voice. Stefan and Sarah both walked up to him.

"Jo? Jo what's going on?!"

Next thing they heard was Elena's voice on the other side of the phone, "It's her dad, he—he's trying to kill her!"

"What do we do?!" Alaric said, "How do we stop him?"

"We can't see the house and i'm not invited in," Stefan added, "Jo invite us in—"

"Come in! Come in!" She cried in pain, followed by more coughs. She sounded like she was choking.

"We still can't see the house!" Sarah said. Elena carried the message and she heard Jo's throaty voice respond, "Ask them if they see an old tree stump in the yard!"

It was right there and they ran towards it, shuffling through the pile of dried leaves before Alaric pulled out a knife.

"What's this?" Sarah wondered.

"This is probably Jo's version of Miss Cuddles." Alaric replied.

Stefan grabbed it and shot it right across the empty land, where it stabbed into the wooden porch pillar.

Next thing they know, Stefan was saving Damon from the grasp of Mr. Joshua Parker who thought it was incredibly normal to vanish into thin air.

"I did not sign up for this."

|||

"So Papa Kai just tried scrambling my brain like an egg and you three are looking like someone shoved a stick up your ass?" Damon said, walking towards the car. "I did not get undressed at the airport for this."

"Jo had the ascendant all along." Stefan told him.

"It was 5 minutes away from home. And we travelled 3000 miles. How fun." Sarah wailed, walking up behind them. "This was so useless."

"Stop complaining." Damon said, rolling his eyes at her again.

Jesus Christ, she thought. "You were literally complaining 30 seconds ago."

"Stop fighting, you two." Alaric jumped in, "Now there is obviously no way we're getting the ascendant or letting her brother out—"

"We could just kill him if he escapes!" Damon argued.

"No, Damon." Alaric snapped, "I'm not letting another maniac kill my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? You've been on like, 3 dates—"

"Shut up, Damon." Sarah and Stefan said in unison.

Damon however, didn't listen and decided to compel Alaric into stealing the ascendant.

"It's gonna come bite you in the ass." Sarah had told him, and he had flipped her off. Stefan had let him go with a disappointed shake of his head and that thing he did where his lips squeezed into a thin line to portray his disapproval.

Little did they know Kai was already out.

____________________

some of you really liked the prologue so here's the first chapter! please let me know if you like it heheheh.

#kai parker #kai parker imagine #kai parker x oc #kai parker smut #kai parker x reader #the vampire diaries #damon salvatore #damon salvatore smut #stefan salvatore #the vampire diaries fanfic

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hydroponicjj · 4 years

Text

kiss the cook

summary: baking with jj maybank, a recipe for disaster.

pairing: jj maybank x reader

warnings: swearing, possible typos?

a/n: all i wanna say is that the muffins they make are really good and i highly suggest that you all try them :) hope ya enjoy !!! <3

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

“Just let me in!” JJ yelled from the other side of your screen door, “Everyone else is busy. I promise I’ll sit still if you let me in.” He pleaded, letting out a heavy groan.

“You promise that you won’t get in the way.”

“You won’t even see me, silent as a mouse.” He continued.

He would not quit pestering you until you unlocked the screen door and let him inside of your house, “Fine.” You caved, moving out of the way to let him in.

“Why do you look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy?” The blond laughed, taking in your attire.

“Do you want me to kick you out?” You threatened, scowling at him.

He shook his head, smirking, knowing that he had you riled up. You left him standing in the doorway, going back into your kitchen.

He followed close behind you like a lost puppy in desire of attention, “So, why are you channeling your inner Gordon Ramsey right now?”

“Kook Academy is having an over the summer bake sale and they’re paying the people that take part.”

“So you signed up to help the Kooks, are you feeling okay?” He raised his hand towards your forehead.

“My mom needs the money,” You explained, watching as he took a seat on the counter that was far away from the ingredients that you had sprawled out.

“So, what are you baking, Betty Crocker?”

Smirking, you retorted, “Banana-Chocolate Muffins.”

“Ew,” His face contorted.

“Maybe you’d find them appealing if you ate something other than shrimp and grits.” You chuckled, returning the same energy that he gave you earlier.

“Haha, you’re funny, Y/N/N. I’ll give you that.” He swayed his finger in your direction.

“Can you pass me the spatula in that drawer over there?” You asked, pointing.

He plopped down from the counter and retrieved the spatula, but he didn’t hand it to you before saying something cynical, “Wait, wait. You’re not the Pillsbury Dough Boy,” He paused, “You’re SpongeBob SquarePants.”

You couldn’t deny that his pithy remarks were funny but, you didn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

“I thought you said that you would be silent like a mouse?” Squinting, you took the spatula from his right hand, watching as he searched for a way to respond to you.

“I can be the Chef Boyardee to your Betty Crocker?”

Instinctively, you grinned at his joke, knowing that he took pride, knowing that you found him entertaining.

“Okay, fine.” You complied, walking passed him to grab that cake mix, “But I’m the head chef.”

“Eye-Eye Captain,”

“You think you’re so cute.” You playfully rolled your eyes.

“I know I’m so cute.” JJ corrected.

“Can you grease those pans next to you while I do the ones right here?” You asked, overlooking his previous remark.

To be honest, he didn’t totally know what that meant and he didn’t want to ask you. So, he did not do it, reminding himself to do it later.

After you greased your pans, you thought out loud, “All right so now we have to mix the cake mix, eggs, sugar, and bananas.”

“Should we do it by hand or use the mixer?”

“Uh,” JJ contemplated what to say next, “Mixer.”

“Mixer it is.” You went in the cabinet above the microwave, retrieving the machine.

JJ’s eyes widened, staring at the contraption. For someone that has never baked before, it looked odd.

You laughed, “Come here, it will not bite you.” He was hesitant to grab it but, eventually, he did.

“So, put this at the bottom of the bowl and move it around till everything is one solid color.” You explained.

“Mm.” He replied, not hearing what you told him, looking at the machine, trying to figure out how to maneuver it.

“Here,” You smirked, turning the mixer on and grabbing his hand, showing him how to mix properly.

He looked over his shoulder, observing how you focused. Smiling warmly, he looked away before you noticed that he was staring.

You took your hand away, “You’ve got it.”

“Chef Boyardee has everything under control.” He replied smoothly, turning around for a split second to look at you.

You raised your eyebrows, smiling at him while backing away, resting on the counter.

JJ continued to mix everything while you texted Kiara on your phone. Every couple of seconds you’d take your eyes away from the device, making sure that everything was going smoothly.

It was hard to not look at the way JJ’s shoulder blades would flex as he moved his arm back and forth, moving the mixer inside of the bowl.

Kie: It’s so boring at the chateau

Y/N: JJ told me you guys were busy?

Kie: Definitely not. We’ve just been sitting around watching tv

Y/N: He begged his way into my house and now he’s helping me bake muffins

Kie: JJ baking?? never thought I’d see the day

Kie: Make sure you ask him why he thought we were busy and tell me what he says

“This color looks like my shit,” JJ observed, tearing you from your conversation with Kiara.

“Now I’ll never be able to get that image from my mind.” You rolled your eyes, placing your phone in the pocket of your shorts.

“What’s next, Betty?”

“We pour the mix into the pans and then put it into the oven.” You explained, double-checking to make sure that the oven was on.

“Really? I thought we’d have more to do.” He pouted, poking out his bottom lip.

“Sorry, Mr Boyardee but, the reason I wanted to make these muffins is that they don’t take 30 years to make.”

He rubbed his hands together, “Well, I’m excited to taste one.”

“Nuh-uh lover boy. These are for the bake sale.”

“Wh-what?” He stuttered, flipping his hat around on his head, “Just one?”

“Fine, we can split one.” You watched as his face lit up, “Now it’s your turn to put the mix into your pans.”

He snickered, earning a look of confusion from you, “What?”

“Put my mix into your pans,” He cackled, raising his eyebrows, you shook your head.

“I have a dirty, dirty mind,” He explained, tapping his temple.

JJ’s mind was racing 3000 miles per hour so, he didn’t notice that he failed to grease the pans for the muffins, “I hope these taste good,” He commented while placing the pan into the oven, next to yours.

「 ₊˚.༄ 」

“While we wait,” you began, taking a seat on your recliner, “Why did you lie about the rest of the Pogues being busy?”

“I didn’t lie, just changed a few key details of the story.” He shrugged, taking a seat on the floor in front of you.

You scoffed, “C’mon, you lied.”

“Fine, fine. I embellished the story, so what? I wanted to hang out with you. Are you going to charge me, officer?”

He spotted a pen that was sitting on the coffee table. He picked it up. You kicked your foot in his direction to get his attention.

“And I got to see you in that hot ass apron.” He smirked, putting the pen back where he found it.

“Can you tell me why you embellished, please.” You urged.

“Ah, ah, ah. No way, I remain a mystery.”

“I don’t get you, JJ Maybank.” You chuckled.

“Correction, JJ Boyardee.” He poked the ankle that was closest to him.

“I’m surprised that you messed nothing up, today. I’m proud of you, Boyardee.”

“Thanks, Crocker.” He smiled up at you, putting your calf in a headlock as he liked things on Instagram.

Y/N: He said he wanted to hang out with me, that’s why he “embellished the story”

Kie: Idiot

Kie: Makes sense though, he was bitching to me cause John B wouldn’t let him borrow the Volkswagen to go to your place

Y/N: He confuses me sometimes

Y/N: Like he hits on every single girl with a pulse and then I hear shit like this and I’m like.... what the fuck do I do???

Y/N: And not to mention the whole Pogue on Pogue shit has me even more conflicted

Kie: Listen, I was the biggest advocate for no macking on each other but that was only because I was the only girl and now that you and Sarah are here, makes more sense for us to drop it you know?

Y/N: What are you telling me, Kiara Carrera?

Kie: I’m telling you to go for it. Even though he can be an idiot, he’s probably just as conflicted as you are right now.

Y/N: Who knew a day of baking would lead to this

Kie: “Look at us.”

Kie: “Who would’ve thought?”

Y/N: “Not me.”

“The timer is about to go off,” JJ noticed, “Should we take them out?”

“Yeah, yeah.” You shook the thoughts out of your head and tried to focus on anything other than the boy in front of you.

JJ was the first to get up and head towards the kitchen, you needed a couple more seconds before following behind, “Shit, shit, shit!” He screamed, you shot up instantly and saw JJ trying to reach into the oven, minus the mitt.

“JJ!” You rushed over, “Are you okay?” You took his hand and ran it under some icy water for two seconds.

“I got distracted thinking about stupid shit.” He took off the red snapback on the top of his head, slamming it on the counter.

“I-It’s fine, JJ. It was an accident, don’t beat yourself up.” You let go of his wrist, taking the muffins out and placing it on the stove so they could cool.

“Here, come sit down.” You led him toward your recliner, forcing him to sit down while you went into the shared bathroom with your mother and grabbed the first aid kit.

“Y/N, I’m fine. I don’t need all of this.” He tried to stand up, but you pushed him back down.

“Do you want it to get infected?” You paused, waiting for him to interject, but he said nothing.

“Why do you insist on taking care of me?” He questioned, looking at you while you tended to the hand that he injured.

“Kie is the mom of the group, not me.” You chuckled, shaking your head as you continued working.

“No, no.” He pushed your hand away, “You take care of me differently. You like, make sure I’m eating enough and shit.”

“That’s just what you do for the people you like.” You shrugged.

“Y-You like me?” He raised his eyebrows in disbelief, a grin was slowly appearing on face but he stopped, wanting to make sure you meant what you said.

Contemplating what to say next, you scratched your head, “I-I mean, like yeah.” You shrugged, trying to play it off as if it wasn’t such an enormous deal.

“Can you stop for a second!” He raised his voice, startling you, “I’m sorry.”

“Do you like me, Y/N?”

“Of course!”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He questioned, standing up, leaving you sitting on the arm of the chair.

“How could I? I mean, you’re always with some tourist.” You scoffed.

“Cause I thought you didn’t like me. You shoot me down all the time.” He paced back and forth in your living room.

“I want to take you on a date. Like an actual date to see a movie or some shit, I dunno.” He was spiraling out of his mind, saying things at 100 miles per hour.

“JJ, calm down, please.” You attempted to get his attention, but he kept rambling.

“Yeah, and put like extra popcorn on top, yeah.” He nodded his head.

You made an impulsive decision; you kissed him. It took him two seconds to realize what was happening, but once he regained consciousness, he kissed back.

“I didn’t know I was wearing a kiss the cool apron?” He joked, beginning to look around frantically.

“Stop,” You chuckled, hitting the side of his arm, “Can you think straight now?”

“I dunno, I mean, are you going to kiss me like that again?” He crooked his head to the side, giving you a smirk.

Shaking your head, you walked by him and headed in the kitchen, “I think we can take them out now.” You poked and prodded at the muffins inside of the silver pans.

You took one of the bigger muffins out perfectly, “This came out nicely, try that pan.”

JJ walked over and tried to pry them up but they wouldn’t budge, like it cemented them down. Then it all hit him, “I-I forgot to grease the pan.”

It stunned you. You couldn’t get a full 24 hours without something going wrong.

“Are you serious?” You whined.

“I’ll make you more,” He paused, “If you kiss me again.”

“Never going to happen.”

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argylemnwrites · 4 years

Text

Live And Die This Way

Pairing: Colt Kaneko x MC (Ellie Whitnall)

Book: Ride or Die (post book 1)

Word Count: ~5900

Rating: R (language, brief 30 diamond content - N*FW, referenced violence)

Summary: How do you create the life you crave? And what is the cost?

Author’s Note: Written for @rodappreciationweek Day 4 - MC. This is a direct companion piece to my Colt entry “He Knew” and will reference many of same events covered there, but it does stand on it’s own. This piece was envisioned first, with my Colt piece kind of springing forth from the future I saw for those two while crafting this fic. In addition to the content mentioned in the rating, content warning for infidelity.

Ellie didn’t know how to feel about college. Not so much about her coursework - that always made perfect sense after years of AP and honors classes. More about her “college experience” or whatever cliche phrase described how it was to just live as a freshman in Turren Hall on the west side of Langston’s quad.

She liked her independence. She could eat what she wanted, go where she wanted, do what she wanted. If the end of her senior year had been more traditional, she probably would have been buzzing from all of her freedoms. She had her first taste of alcohol. She made out with a cute boy at a house party. She ate ice cream for dinner and ordered pizza with Rebecca, her roommate, at midnight. She was enjoying herself.

But her new friends acted like these little things were the pinnacle of independence, and it was hard for her to relate to that. Not when she’d experienced the thrill of pushing the speedometer up over 100 MPH, felt the power of an engine revving at 5000 RPM, and jumped from moving vehicle to moving vehicle at highway speeds.

She liked her new friends and classmates well enough, but she never talked to them about who she’d been in Gramercy Park. She didn’t bring up the MPC and her brief time with them. She certainly never mentioned Colt.

It’s not that she disliked college, she just was struggling to put it all together, the person she was in New Hampshire with the person she’d become in LA. On the weekends, she found herself just going on drives, trying to reclaim that thrill, that rush. She found a county highway about 20 miles from campus where she could floor it and feel the speed settling deep into her bones. She always went on these trips alone, even as she started seeing Chris more and more often. He wouldn’t get it.

Chris wanted to officially be her boyfriend. She’d sensed it for months, but he finally asked her one Saturday in April. His roommate had gone home for the weekend, so Ellie had spent the night in his room. She liked Chris well enough. He was a chemical engineering major, he was cute, and with his short, curly, blond hair, he looked nothing like either of the guys that had turned her life upside down one year earlier.

The trouble was any connection between them was superficial. On paper, they seemed so similar - both of them had been valedictorian, science and math nerds, only children raised in protective Catholic households. But he only saw “Langston Ellie,” he only liked that part of her. He didn’t have this drive for something more - more thrilling, more adventurous, more stimulating. So she kept things between them casual, and when summer break rolled around and she made her way back to LA, she didn’t feel any guilt about trying to track down Colt.

He must have gotten a new phone with a new number as part of his plan to “lay low” and evade arrest, and Kaneko Auto Shop was still a boarded up shell, scorch marks visible along the walls. But she eventually found him, less than 36 hours before she was leaving, of course. It was almost fitting, seeing him at the sideshow, the place where she’d first met him. She wasn’t sure if he saw her, but she spotted him right away, standing off in the shadows, talking with a couple of men, wearing that same leather jacket.

At some point, he must have noticed her, because he couldn’t just let her dance with Darius and Riya. Instead, he’d wrapped his arm around her waist, and it was like stepping into a time machine, as if no time had passed, as if they’d seen each other last week, not last year. Riding back to his new place and falling into bed with him was the first time she’d felt truly awake in ages.

Any illusion that sex with Colt just seemed better than sex with Chris because he’d been her first and she hadn’t had a point of comparison went straight out the window. It wasn’t that sex with Chris was bad, but with Colt… it was raw and primal and intense, and those were not ever words that could be used to describe Chris. Chris in bed seemed scared he would hurt her, so he just tried to coax her to the peak of pleasure. Colt wanted to stake claim, to possess her, to drive her higher and higher. He knew how strong she really was, and it made her heart soar.

She knew she was heading back to New Hampshire, and that tonight with Colt would be just that - one night. It’s why she didn’t ask him about the Brotherhood. Hearing about his inevitable ventures into bloody vengeance would just lead to a fight, and there was little point in ruining this little moment in time with that. This was a reprieve, not a promise, and that meant some things were better left unsaid.

So the sun came up and Colt drove Ellie back to her father’s home, but not before adding his new number to her phone. She packed up her suitcase and tanked up the Shokai Fourier and made the drive across the country, back to Langston and a world of academics and being a “good girl.” But now she had another outlet. Anytime she craved that thrill, she would text him. Sometimes it was a bratty little insult. Sometimes it was a barely clothed selfie. But he always responded. And as she started sophomore year, it felt like she might be figuring out a way to merge the two sides of her life.

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

Texting Colt became a new form of an adrenaline rush when she somehow stumbled into a relationship with Chris. She knew it was wrong, that Chris didn’t deserve the way she was treating him. Being kind of dull was not failing. But the problem was that “Langston Ellie” didn’t have a reason not to date him. So over Valentine’s dinner, he became her boyfriend.

It was a balance, that thrill that came from sneaking out for a drive or shooting Colt a dirty little text versus the pit of guilt that sat in her stomach. She tried to justify it to herself when the guilt got to be too much, telling herself that nothing physical had happened with Colt while she and Chris were together, but that was a flimsy excuse.

The issue was that she felt like herself, vibrant and happy, and the more she pushed the boundaries on what was acceptable in her personal life, the more she excelled elsewhere. She was setting the curve in almost all her classes. Her research was going well enough to get approved for the Summer Scholars Program, which came with a generous stipend. It’s like she had to be doing something “wrong” to feel complete, and since stealing cars wasn’t an option at the moment, this is what she settled for. She wasn’t sure what that said about her as a person.

But she kept living her double life for months and months until one day in October, things all came to a head. She got a call from a number with a 310 area code, but she didn’t recognize it, so she let it go to voicemail. When she finally got a chance to listen to it an hour later, after her meeting with Dr. Frisch, it felt like the world might just swallow her whole. Her father was too young, too healthy to have a heart attack, to need bypass surgery, to be in the ICU.

It had taken her 15 hours to email her advisor, request a leave of absence, and receive approval, email Dr. Frisch to withdraw from his research group, and to pack up her room in the off-campus apartment she and Rebecca were renting and load up the Shokai Fourier. She spent far too much of that time breaking up with Chris.

It hadn’t even occurred to her to let him know about Dad until he’d texted her after dinner time, asking if she was still on for an ice cream run to Gilly’s. What followed was him coming over, with hours of talking, of him trying to calm her, tell her everything was going to be fine. She’d gotten frustrated, asked him how he could possibly know her dad was going to be okay. It was messy and awful, their first and last fight, all culminating with her kicking him out and sending him back to his apartment when he dared to suggest she was too emotional to be making these decisions in the moment.

The drive to LA was a long one, filled with tears and regrets. It felt like her fault. She’d put him through hell senior year, only to leave him all alone to flit off to college, where she had just coasted by, chasing down the high of adrenaline in destructive ways. Instead of stopping at a motel to rest, she drove the 3000 miles basically straight through, resting for a few hours in a parking lot in Iowa, but otherwise relying on Red Bull and coffee to get her through the drive. She’d gone to drop off her stuff at her father’s place, but when she arrived, she couldn’t bring herself to unlock the door. Even though the latest update from Dr. Ginde had been that her father was improving, she couldn’t bear to go inside, to see memories of him and her mother plastered everywhere, all by herself.

So she’d driven over to Gramercy Park. The shop was open now. She knew that was the plan, but it was still nice to see it with her own two eyes. She locked her car and went inside, taking in the bustle and the activity, cars hoisted on jacks, an air compressor hissing in the background. If she had recognized any of the people working in the shop, she almost could have believed that no time had passed.

Some guy with dreads went to go find Colt for her as she stood there, feeling both out of place and at home at the same time. Finally, he emerged, grease streaks on his t-shirt and jeans, his hair just a little shorter than she remembered. He took her into his office and listened as she told him what happened. No questions, no platitudes, no infantilization. Just understanding and comfort, and when she told him she didn’t know how to go home alone, he’d just told her to follow him back to his place.

Staying with Colt was like falling back into a former life. She hung around the garage, reconnected with Ximena, and went out racing and to sideshows. She visited her dad every day in the hospital and then in the rehab facility, taking notes on all his doctor’s instructions and researching new, heart-healthy recipes for them to eat as she got him settled back in at home. And even though she and Colt never talked about it, suddenly they were together, with her toiletries tucked into his medicine cabinet, a second towel hung in the bathroom, and her favorite yogurt stocked in the fridge. It all felt comfortable, and she felt at peace with her life for the first time in a long time. She could get that adrenaline rush she craved so badly as she drag raced through the streets, getting to know Colt’s new crew, and she wasn’t hurting anyone to do so. She felt happy, so as October bled into November, she emailed her advisor, preparing to extend her leave of absence.

She never thought Colt would object to her plans to stick around, but he was cruel and livid when she told him she wasn’t heading back. At first, her anger flared, righteous and indignant. How dare he try to tell her what to do. She’d thrown her clothes that were scattered around his place back into her duffel bag and headed straight to her father’s home. He didn’t comment when she tossed her bag into her old bedroom, just pulled out the Parcheesi board and sat down at his usual spot at the kitchen table.

The next morning, she awoke to the smell of bacon sizzling, so she made her way into the kitchen.

“Dad, you can’t have bacon anymore. It’s not on your ‘safe foods’ list.”

“I figured whatever sent you here yesterday might warrant an ‘Ellie special,’” he said with a shrug. “Besides, it’s turkey bacon.”

She bit her lip as she sat down at the table, wondering if she should risk stressing him out by bringing it up, but he crossed the bridge first as he set her plate in front of her.

“I suppose you were staying with that boy with the yellow GT?”

She shook her head. “No, the boy with the motorcycle.”

Dad just let out a sigh and gave his head a little shake. “They’re all still wanted criminals, Ellie. The statute of limitations hasn’t run out. But I suppose you already know that.”

“Dad…”

“Look, I know you’re an adult, and you can make your own choices. But I hope you know what you’re doing here. If you get caught up with him in something again… I won’t be able to spin it that you were just a kid who got roped into the whole thing by a dirty cop who convinced you that you could be an informant and help him.”

“I know what I’m doing, Dad. I’m not stupid.”

“I know you aren’t. That’s what scares me the most. Oh well, you’ll be back at Langston soon enough, I suppose.”

It was Ellie’s turn to sigh as she filled him in on how her plan had been to stay, to work in LA and to help him recover, at least for one more semester. When she finished, Dad just stared at her for a few seconds, eyes narrowed, before he spoke.

“So, let me see if I have this right. This… Colt told you to go back and finish your degree?” As she nodded, he just shook his head. “Never thought I would be on the same side as a little punk.”

She shoved her chair back from the table, abandoning her breakfast. “Dad, it doesn’t matter whose side you’re on, because it doesn’t matter what you think or what he thinks. This is my choice.”

But as the days ticked by, and her dad seemed stronger and stronger, she had to wonder if she was doing the right thing. She’d gotten upset because it felt like Colt was trying to decide what was best for her, but as she thought back on their fight with a clearer head, that wasn’t really a fair assessment. He wasn’t trying to control her; he was trying to push her. At the end of the day, he liked her strong and sharp, ready for the next challenge. And while being back in LA felt good and right in so many ways, just hanging around after her father’s medical emergency wasn’t the way to go about it. She wanted to come back here, but she needed to do so the right way, as an active choice, not a passive situation that just happened.

So she went back to school and worked her ass off, taking summer classes to make up for the shitty schedule with not enough engineering credits she had to settle for after she registered late for classes. She was a semester behind now, but that was manageable. She lost her research position, but that was okay. She didn’t need to build her resume anymore. She had a job lined up already.

When she signed papers granting her 50% ownership of Kaneko Auto Shop, everyone in her life thought she was crazy. Rebecca had pestered her for months with info about engineering firms that were hiring and master’s programs. Riya had told off Darius for telling her she was being foolish, but as soon as he left to go get them takeout, she’d told her she must be out of her mind to legally tie herself to that Kaneko boy in any way. Her father just shook his head and went into his bedroom, closing the door with a thud. But Ellie didn’t care. It was the first time she’d felt fully alive in almost five years.

It was invigorating, to finally be living a life that was 100% her choosing. She wasn’t held back by her father’s restrictions, her peers’ perceptions, her own perfectionistic expectations of herself. She was just… Ellie. She wasn’t bound by anything or anyone. All her fears, concerns, and worries were nothing in the face of all the possibilities ahead of her. Ahead of them.

Colt had always seen her. It was why she’d been drawn to him in the first place. He didn’t treat her like a child that needed protecting. He respected her agency, her autonomy, her abilities. He respected her opinions and suggestions, and slowly but surely, they were able to expand and grow the shop and their territory. Not too fast, as that would attract the attention of both rivals and law enforcement, but steady enough that people had to take them both seriously. He wasn’t just coasting on his father’s reputation, and she wasn’t some sheltered little girl who had slept her way into this world. They proved themselves, and they were thriving. And finally, Ellie felt like she was living the life she was supposed to be. She felt like herself, fully realized and alive.

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

It’s not that she and Colt lived in some bubble of pure domestic and professional bliss. They disagreed about how aggressive to be when rival crews inched in on their turf, about whether a drop would be worth the payout, about whether or not the new mechanic was trustworthy enough to drive on their next big job. And when they disagreed, they disagreed. It was never violent, but it was loud and passionate. They pushed each other time and time again. It was just how they worked things out, and they always were able to come to an understanding in the end.

Ellie never questioned their arrangement until she was pregnant. In their four years as equal partners, both personally and professionally, she’d never had any qualms about the life they were living. It was exciting and thrilling, but their risks were always calculated, or so it had seemed. They were smart about things. It’s why their territory had nearly doubled in size over those four years with only one misdemeanor arrest for petty theft for their entire crew over that time.

But when she heard that heartbeat over the sonogram, Ellie knew that she had to change the way she thought about risk and reward, because risks that were acceptable to take when it was just her and Colt, conquering south LA one block at a time, where not okay when there was going to be a child at home depending on them. Colt, on the other hand, seemed to take the opposite approach. He was hungrier and more ambitious than ever. He wanted to move more volume, expand to new neighborhoods, to grow bigger more quickly than ever.

“This will be our legacy. All of this, rebuilt and passed on to our kid,” he told her over and over again. And any of her pleas to slow things down, to take a step back, were met with annoyance and frustration. “If we slow down, we won’t be able to keep what we have now. Others will take notice and swoop in. It’ll be a moment of weakness.”

He worked nearly around the clock, always trying to strike a better deal, to find a better score. Part of her had even worried that he would have left her at the hospital with just her father if he got word of a deal on hot merchandise while she was in labor. But when the contractions came, he was at her side the entire time. He was antsy and impatient, sure, but most of that was probably due to having to spend 26 hours straight in a confined space with Dad. Over the years, that relationship had never evolved beyond frosty tolerance.

When Margot Graciela Kaneko came into the world, 6 lbs 4 oz and screaming like a banshee, Ellie swore she saw Colt wipe a tear away. She hadn’t seen him cry since that awful night in May nine years ago, when he’d had to watch his father sacrifice himself. When she forgot all about how horrible it was that Colt had kidnapped and planned murders because he’d looked so broken and human, not at all like a ruthless kingpin wannabe who had no moral code. With all their shared daddy issues, it had felt cruel to bring up her concerns about his moral compass when his world had just shattered to pieces.

For his part, Dad cried openly when she told him his granddaughter’s name, forgiving the use of Kaneko as her surname when he realized she shared her middle name with the abuela she would never get to meet. For a moment, they felt like a normal family. Not a detective father who had to turn a blind eye as his daughter and her boyfriend ran one of the ten largest auto theft crews in LA. Just three adults who loved a little baby girl more than anything.

Colt was always a loving father. He adored Margot, and she wanted for nothing. Toys and clothes and books littered her nursery in their new two bedroom house, a home security system installed with door and window alarms, motion sensors, and security cameras. He took pride in every developmental milestone she reached and bragged about her constantly. The office at the shop was covered with her drawings, and when she started 4K, her first attempts at writing letters and numbers joined her colorings and paintings.

He just didn’t seem to have any desire to strike a work-life balance. It didn’t exactly surprise Ellie. They had both thrown themselves into that shop for years, their only goal and purpose. For both of them, work had been their life. But now, she felt like they needed to handle things a little differently. More cautious, less aggressive in their growth schemes. It was a point of disagreement between them regularly.

“I don’t understand what your problem is, Ellie. I’m building this for us. For her. Since when are you fucking timid about growing the shop?”

“It would be nice if you could eat dinner at home with us more than a couple of times a month.”

“Just bring her for dinner with the crew.”

Round and round, over and over. Her asking him to take a step back and spend more time with Margot while he dove deeper and deeper into his work, acting like bringing Margot into that world as a preschooler was a solution. At times it felt like her own personal Groundhog’s Day, her living the same day with the same damn fight time and time again.

She’d been venting to Mona one afternoon in a coffee shop as she waited for a contact to bring them info about a new shipment that should be passing through over the weekend. It was a little risky, combining her work with a meeting with Mona now that she worked as a consultant on grand larceny cases for the LAPD. Initially it had been a condition of her parole, but it ended up suiting Mona just fine. She was a free-lancer at this point, so she only took the cases that she wanted, and she was well paid for it. Not as well-paid as Colt and Ellie, but without the overhead and without the risk.

“He just is so single-minded, and he doesn’t understand why it bothers me.”

Mona laughed at that. “He’s Kaneko’s kid, Ellie. I don’t know what else you were expecting when you picked him over Logan.”

It was strange to think about it like that. She knew that Logan and Colt had both wanted her back then. And for a while, she and Logan were happy. But while Logan had tried to shield her from his world, Colt had encouraged her to immerse herself further. He saw potential in her, and it had been so liberating, being seen as a woman, not a child. And once it came out that Logan had only pursued her at Kaneko’s instruction, she’d just been done. She felt like a pawn and a fool, hurt and violated, so she’d turned to the only person she could count on to be blunt and direct, to respect enough at least for that.

“Have you heard from Logan at all?”

Mona shook her head. “I think he made it to Detroit, but that was years ago.”

“I hope he’s doing okay,” Ellie said as she took a sip of her coffee. Mona just raised an eyebrow, but didn’t push that topic any further. She was right. The traits that drew her to Colt in the first place were wrapped tightly with the ones that frustrated her now, all of which were proof that he was very much his father’s son.

“So other than Colt being an ass, how’s life?” Mona asked, drawing Ellie out of her nostalgic musings. She pulled out her phone and showed her a video of Margot cruising around on her new balance bike. For better or worse, this was the life she had chosen, and for all its frustrations, she knew she still had plenty to appreciate. She wouldn’t have wanted a different life, anyway.

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

Margot was heavy in her arms as she rang the doorbell, praying that he wasn’t working tonight. He really wasn’t supposed to be working nights at all anymore - his cardiologist’s recommendation as part of numerous lifestyle changes - but Ellie knew he would still pick up an overnight now and then. She’d never really felt like she was in a position to question his judgement given her own career choices.

She rang the bell three times before she saw a light flip on the hallway. She let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t wanted to have to pick the lock. A few seconds later, the door cracked open. Her father looked disoriented, his hair sticking out in numerous directions, wearing blue plaid pajama pants and an old Honor Roll Parent t-shirt.

“Ellie? What’s going-” he started, but dropped his voice to a whisper when he noticed Margot passed out against her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Ellie nodded. “We just need a place to stay.”

He opened his mouth, clearly wanting to say more, but after a second, he just nodded and stepped aside, letting them pass through the door. He followed a few steps behind. Ellie could feel him staring at her as she carried her daughter into her old bedroom, tucking her in on the far side of the bed.

“I need to go grab our stuff from my car. Can you stay with her? She’s going to be confused if she wakes up and isn’t in her bed.”

Dad just nodded again, sitting down on the edge of the bed and running his hand soothingly over the back of his granddaughter’s head. When Ellie returned with the duffel bag and tote bags she managed to fill, all she knew she could carry at the same time as Margot, she dropped them on the floor. Anytime she had come to stay before, she’d only brought a couple days worth of clothes, so she knew the amount of luggage she’d brought was going to attract attention. He was a detective, after all.

“How long are you staying?”

All she could do was shake her head, willing herself not to cry. She felt lost and heartbroken, but more than that, she felt stupid. Stupid for ignoring everyone’s warnings about Colt, for thinking that she could have the thrills and excitement of that life without causing serious harm, for having a child with a man who could order the murder of someone without batting an eyelash.

Dad stood up and crossed over to her, wrapping his arms around her, and she couldn’t hold back anymore. She started sobbing into his chest, feeling like a child all over again. But the pain kept pouring out of her, and her father just took it all, even after everything she’d put him through over the past 13 years. And when the tears finally slowed, she let him guide her to her old bed and tuck her in right next to her daughter.

The next week was filled with rounds of Candyland and Guess Who, drives out for ice cream and donuts, and trips to the park with Abuelo. All things that Margot loved, things that would hopefully keep her happy and from asking questions that Ellie wasn’t ready to answer. How do you tell your four year old that her Daddy, the man she thought was the best on the planet, had decided to make some phone calls to end a man’s life, so they couldn’t live with him anymore? Ellie just wanted to put off that conversation for as long as possible.

But Margot was bright and curious, and all the distraction in the world wasn’t enough to make her forget her home and her father. Ellie stumbled through it the best she could, telling her that Daddy had done something very naughty that he thought was the right choice, but that was actually something really bad.

“Is Daddy in a timeout?” she asked as Ellie tucked her in, her brown eyes wide with wonder.

“Kind of, sweetie.”

“How long do Daddy’s timeouts last?”

“A long time, Margot. A very long time.”

She nodded, like it all made sense to her now. Ellie knew she couldn’t keep her from Colt forever, but until she felt like she had her feet under her again, this was probably the best approach she could hope for. She dropped a kiss to her daughter’s forehead and flipped off the lights, gently closing the door and making her way into the kitchen.

The Mancala board was set up this time. While the days were filled with fun activities for Margot, the nights had been a series of board games, just her and Dad. Just like the old days. He hadn’t asked her many questions. Ellie suspected he was so glad she had left Colt, that he didn’t want to push his luck and say the wrong thing that might send her running back to him. But tonight she was going to have to broach the subject.

“Dad, can you watch Margot tomorrow night?” she asked as she dropped her stones down, one by one, working her way around the board.

“Why? Where are you going?”

“Probably to the shop or our house. I’m going to have to talk to him at some point.”

“He’s… been riding by on that... bike of his,” Dad ground out, glancing up across the table, his eyes flitting nervously. Like she hadn’t known that was the case. She knew exactly what his bike sounded like. Besides, she knew it would be his next step. She had dozens of voicemails and unread texts from him.

“I know.”

“Do you… what I mean is… what do you want me… are you… Ellie-”

“We’re done, Dad. I don’t want to see him.” She interrupted his ramblings, and glanced up from the Mancala board at him. His shoulders visibly relaxed at her words. “But we have a kid together. I can’t just pretend he doesn’t exist.”

He let out a little hum as he contemplated his next move. “Ellie, what happened?”

She shook her head. No way he wouldn’t feel obligated to turn Colt in if he heard that he’d ordered Shaw’s shanking. “I really can’t tell you.”

“If he did something that-”

“-I still own 50% of the shop, Dad. Plus, he’s Margot’s father. This is going to be hard enough on her without him behind bars.”

She could practically feel her father’s stare, attempting to bore a hole in the top of her head as she kept her eyes on the board. She knew he wanted to know more, wanted to say more. Finally, he said, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you’re looking at a custody battle, him behind bars would be very helpful.”

She turned her head up and frowned. “I’m not going to throw him to the wolves. It won’t make things better, trust me.”

“Honey, you say that now, but when custody battles get going-”

“He’s not gonna fight me for custody,” Ellie interrupted. “Not as long as I let him see her every now and then.”

“How can you know that?”

“I’m gonna let him buy me out of the shop well below market value. That’s always been his priority, anyway.” She’d been mulling it over in her mind, and it seemed like her best move. They both got what they wanted. As long as she promised not to do what his mother had done, to take his kid and move as far away as possible, he would probably agree. He got his father’s legacy and a relationship with his daughter. She got the chance to shield her daughter from the harshest realities of the world where she was born. It was win-win.

She knew she was screwed professionally at this point. She’d spent the nine years since college in a job that would do little for her resume. It was a small price to pay for her daughter’s safety and well-being, though.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to get enough to get a little apartment for us, at least until I figure out what I can do for work-” she started explaining, but Dad reached across the table and grabbed her hand, cutting her off.

“You’ll both stay here as long as you need.”

“Dad, you’ve already dealt with so much of this drama. I’m not going to ask you to house us indefinitely.”

He shook his head, still holding tight to her hand. “I know you could do it on your own if you had to, Ellie. You are bright and resourceful and so determined when you need to be. But I’m your dad, and this something I can do to help you out and keep you safe.”

Tears welled in her eyes at his words. His desire to protect her from a harsh world was still there all those years later. And while it had been the bane of her existence as a teenager who thought she could handle everything that life would throw her way, his attitude felt different now that she had Margot sleeping in her childhood bed, a direct result of her own attempt to protect her child.

“Thank you, Dad,” she choked out, forcing a smile as a couple of tears spilled over onto her cheeks.

“Of course, Honey. You’re both my girls, always.”

He was right, more right than he could know. Because if Colt was cut from the same cloth as his father, well, so was she, at least where it counted. She would protect her daughter and as a family, they would get through the bad times. She hadn’t always made the right choices, but she had her daughter and she had her father. And for the time being, that would have to be enough.

Permatag: @choicesficwriterscreations @walkerswhiskeygirl @riley--walker @bebepac @ravenpuff02 @oofchoices @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5 @mfackenthal @thequeenofcronuts

ROD: @mskaneko @burnsoslow

#rodaw #colt kaneko #colt x mc #rod fanfic #choices fanfiction #n*fw #cw: infidelity

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press-x-tojason · 3 years

Text

Giant Bomb is dead, and I care way less than I thought I would. Probably because 83% of the people who I ever cared about had already left or died, or were already relegated to reduced content roles.

Honestly, though, the writing’s been on the wall for a bit. They haven’t had anything worthy of paying for premium in several years, and, even though they’ve had well over a year to figure out a plan for the COVID era, they maybe made it a month with their plans to have a series of streams daily. I actually managed to forget I followed them on Twitch at all, for about 4 months, because they only streamed the podcasts and the occasional former Harmonix employee (who was literally paid to make content with their games while employed at Giant Bomb, which was funny because he blocked me on Twitter for making a post, addressing no one, back in 2014, which was asking about the legitimacy of the leaked list of “games “””””journalists”””””” who had taken money from publishers for positive reviews, a list which included him and multiple then-coworkers. I didn’t follow him, he didn’t follow me. He was manually searching the keywords, because he was, and is, a prick.) solo Rock Band stream in the last 8 months or so. Even when Jeff would manage to do one of his 20 streams from home a year, it would be on his own channel. There was just no content. And they’re surprised their “pay for our unique premium content!” model failed. They always “feigned” anger at Dan for “making” them do the Mario Party Parties, and literally never promoted his and Drew’s Metal Gear series after the first game... but I bet that, when only those, UPF, and the ad-free versions of the podcasts were premium features, those two series were keeping them afloat. Well, that and the remaining goodwill they miraculously managed to hold onto for a few years after Ryan died. Shit, I follow several people who are GB staff-adjacent, and... I can’t think of the last time they mentioned anything that happened on-site. Even the people who’ve been directly supporting them for over 10 years were out.

But yeah, the site is super dead. They pretended in the announcements like they’re going to make a go of it still, but... you’ve got like 4 content people left, and the only one people give a shit about is Jeff. You just saw 3/4 of the side of the site that was still trying these past several months jump ship in a 3 month span. One of those was, by nearly any definition, a founding member. Of which you had already lost one, and are losing another from the main side. Jeff’s been way less active until the last week or two, probably because he heard they were leaving and was like “oops, should probably check on the ship that’s been sinking for years!” Then you have Jason “The Human Mumble” Oestricher, the charisma vacuum, whose legitimate public-facing reaction to first hearing that all but one of his GB predecessors were going to be gone. was, and I quote, “Hoo Boy.” Ben and Jan are the definition of “fine”. They would have been great, as they are today, as secondary members 8-10 years ago. But carry the site, they cannot. They’re down to, what, 5 named members now? It hasn’t been that dire since the beginning of 2009, before they hired Drew, when they hadn’t even started the P4 endurance run. You know, that surprise massive, internet-changing thing that essentially popularized the Let’s Play concept, loosening its definition and making it something that could be as personality-driven as game-driven, made simply to give them something to put on the website, beyond the rare review and, slightly later, quick look. This kinda illustrates the problem with modern Giant Bomb. When they were figuring shit out, flying by the seats of their pants, they came up with great shit, and they gave enough of a shit to make it happen. 0.000% chance they do a 10 hour Thanksgiving Kinect stream if the Kinect was new today. 0.000% chance the core members would have done an endurance run in the last 10 years if CT and Shenmue (which I haven’t watched) weren’t driven by the younger members. And you could see it in the fact that they never made a real, true mobile app. The number one thing that would have made them indispensable this past decade, an app to integrate premium features, the podcast, their video player, etc. all in one place in a mobile-friendly package, that could sync with the website... and they never even raised the idea publicly. I wonder how much of the innovation was the group think-tank of the first 5 years. Beyond Dan’s couple major contributions, I don’t think they added a single new type of content after 2012, which... still means the last 6.5 years lacked any semblance of innovation. I guess that’s a big part of why I fell off tremendously quickly after late 2014. There was just nothing new, and believe me, I was looking. I wanted reasons to stay watching. I supported them with my dollar. I believed in those brave early days. And I went back yesterday to watch the DP endurance run from VJ again. I still miss that rapport. And really, that hurt, too. Vinny moving back east, less than a year after Ryan passed... short term, it was fine. You had more people than ever to cover the gaps. But the spark was gone. The chemistry made the site. When I think of Giant Bomb, I still think of Jeff, Vinny, and Ryan, first and foremost. Those early podcasts, the NintenDownloads, the crazy tangents that everyone could seamlessly follow up on(well, except Brad, because he essentially slept through most of the podcasts, unless he was talking about the thing he did that week), the weird high-concept GOTY stuff... it wasn’t perfect, but you were entertained. You laughed. You were engaged. It never felt like you were watching them working, even though you could see the work they put in. It felt like, when they released something, you were experiencing a group of legitimate friends doing what they wanted to do anyways.(And boy have I seen enough groups do everything they can to NOT be enjoying doing that, and break up as a result due to hating the jobs that they chose to do).

Part of me would love to make it as simple as “Ryan died, and so did the original spirit”, and... to a degree, it’s true. If you go back to any retrospective they’ve done about the founding of the site, or the podcast they recorded after Ryan passed, you can’t help but recognize that Giant Bomb never happens if these core members don’t all quit their jobs, led by Ryan, because they respect their boss/manager, Jeff, and know he’s doing the right things(for them, for the reader/viewer, etc.) ahead of what GameSpot management wants him to do. Jeff could have been left in the wilderness, trying find a spot elsewhere, with the rumor going around between executives that Jeff wasn’t going to help them promote anything, essentially killing their revenue. He would have been done in terms of getting employed by a major site. But Ryan first, and soon after, Vinny and Brad, gave up their jobs to make this fledgling little project go. As much as the ERs brought me in and gave the impression that Jeff and Vinny were the long-standing duo, no, it was Ryan who was Jeff’s partner in crime. And, 8 years later, I can comfortably say... Giant Bomb never recovered from losing him.

But it was so much more. Everything that set them apart slowly went away, in time. I don’t think they’ve posted reviews for games in consecutive MONTHS since 2017; 2018 at the latest. They have done one Endurance Run in 9 years. They have not had a meaningful live event in 6 years. Unprofessional Fridays were more formulaic and lesser in volume and frequency after the major players started moving east. The lack of coordination between coasts killed the camaraderie, to the point that I think one of the last 5 true gameplay crossovers was their series of 2016-2017 PUBG shitfests. I remember when Vinny starting GBEast was supposed to be the start of a new era of content, and... it was, but not in a positive way, like it sounded. When half of each side seemed to constantly have no interest in making anything, nothing got made. But I guess that’s what happens when your second in command in one of your headquarters is just a former marketing grunt with an attitude problem, and the guy with the biggest ego on the team is the one who refuses to move to join either side, and just pushes out the most self-important drivel as a header to what were literally just copy-pasted articles from other sites every week while sitting at his desk, dreaming of the days Gawker would pay him to plagiarize political drivel instead, because that’s what really gets the soulless clicks. One of your founding members becomes depressed due to losing his two closest work friends, one for real, one to a 3000 mile separation, within a year, while the other one who is left virtually stopped playing anything but DOTA 2 for 2 years. Suddenly your most prominent personalities are the 2 new guys(one the aforementioned charisma vacuum, the other a walking mark) and your previously-mostly-off-camera producer who is best known to the wider Internet for... blinking. So, yeah, lifeless. And NOW, all you’ve got is old melancholy dad, charisma vacuum dad, and the two ADHD kids whose defining trait is that they choose to exclusively refer to their partners as “my partner” in voices that make it sound like they are embarrassed to have partners, while also talking more about what their partners are doing than what they do. It’s confounding.

But yeah, TL:DR: RIP zombie Giant Bomb. Glad you’re finally getting taken behind the shed. It took 3 years too long, minimum.

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callboxkat · 4 years

Text

Infinitesimal (part 51)

Author’s note: Sorry about the wait! Hope you guys enjoy this one. There won’t be a new chapter next Monday, since I’ll be away from home, but I’m hoping to at least update A Little Nightmare once more before the end of the year.

Warnings: injury mention, food mention, talk of overworking, blood mention, talk of vampires

Word count: 3000

Infinitesimal Masterpost!

...

Logan almost hated to admit it, but Roman was right. Taking the day off had been a good idea. He woke up feeling much more relaxed than usual, calm in the knowledge that he didn’t have any responsibilities for that day. He actually slept in for once, even, until nine o’clock. For him, that was like sleeping until noon.

He was in a good mood when padded into the kitchen in his favorite molecule-patterned pajama pants and the soft, worn gray t-shirt he had slept in. He started the coffee machine—very important, even on days off—and while that began to brew, he moved to the fridge to grab the ingredients for breakfast. He pulled out a package of turkey bacon and a carton of eggs, then paused, glancing contemplatively towards the pantry. It was his day off….

A few minutes later, Logan was mixing together a bowl of pancake batter, leaning against the counter with the bowl held in one arm and the spoon in his other hand. Usually he would have just stuck to frozen wholegrain waffles popped in the toaster, but he had plenty of time today. Why not make the most of it? Why not make some pancakes from scratch?

He added some cinnamon, mixed that in, and then turned to the stove. He set down his bowl, took out a pan from the cabinet, and got to work.

He had just finished cooking the first few pancakes when he heard footsteps approaching, and then a gasp of delight.

“Are you making pancakes?” Roman cried. He sounding like a child on Christmas morning who’d just found the shiny new bike he’d asked for sitting under the tree with a big red bow.

“Clearly,” Logan replied, amused, carefully flipping one over. “I was planning to cook some bacon, as well, if you’d like to help. Only if you feel up to it, of course.”

“Pancakes and bacon?” Roman said, walking over to grab the apron that hung on a hook on the wall. “Sign me up.”

Logan set his now finished pancake on top of the growing stack, his mouth quirking up in a smile. “I was thinking that, for the “mouse-men,” we could make tiny pancakes,” he admitted. “It would be… cute. And functional, for them, of course, which is the most important thing—”

“Ah, functional. Of course,” Roman said, the smile audible in his voice. He was tying the back of his apron, the black one with the word “Prince” on it in the iconic Disney font. “That sounds perfect.”

Logan nodded, pleased.

“Sure you don’t want your apron?” Roman teased, opening the package of bacon. He paused to cough into his shoulder.

Logan glanced at the second apron that hung on the wall, never worn. It was a match for Roman’s, except it said “Princess.” It was a gift. From Roman, of course.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“But what if you get pancake batter… on your tie?” Roman asked, reaching behind his roommate to grab their other spatula.

“Impossible,” Logan said, straightening and turning slightly to make his t-shirt more obvious, as if it hadn’t been already. “I am not wearing a tie.”

“Then… how are we supposed to know you’re serious?”

Logan shot him a dry look, flipping over the pancake he was working on.

“Fine, fine. I’ll take laid-back… day off Logan without the apron,” Roman shrugged, grinning. “For now. I’ll get you to wear it one day… just wait.”

“Falsehood.”

“We’ll see.”

…

“…come on, please, you’ll—"

“…mile, Emile, stop! Wake up!”

Emile’s eyes flew open with a start; and a hand appeared on his chest, gently pressing him back down.

“Sorry, kiddo, we didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?”

Emile blinked and looked around several times, disoriented. “What…?”

“You were pulling off your bandages,” Virgil said. He was holding onto Emile’s good arm with both hands, keeping it away from his other arm. Meanwhile, Patton, sitting on his other side and watching him sympathetically, was the one whose hand had been on his chest. As Emile gained his bearings, Virgil seemed to realize he didn’t need to hold his arm anymore and slowly let go.

Emile took a second to calm his pounding heart and look around. Judging by the light coming in through the curtains, it was midmorning. They were alone in the living room, but Emile could hear the humans talking and making noise in another room, probably the kitchen.

“Did you have a bad dream or something?” Virgil asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Emile didn’t remember. He would have shook his head, if doing so weren’t such a bad idea. As it was, he just made a noncommittal sound, taking a few deep breaths.

As he started to calm down, he winced, realizing his broken forearm hurt more than before. Nervous about what he might see, he hesitantly looked over at it. The arm was laying in his lap rather than at his side, and the bandages had come partially unraveled. Emile didn’t remember doing that.

“It’s okay,” Patton said quickly, bending over and starting to fix the bandages. “The splint’s still in place. I’ll just wrap it up again. Does it hurt?”

“No, it’s okay.” It ached more, yes, but not in a way that made him think he’d done more damage. He watched as Patton retied the bandages. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not the weirdest thing you’ve done while asleep,” Virgil joked, though he still sounded a little on edge.

“No harm done,” Patton said, tucking the edge of the bandage in. “I’ll just have to see if I can get a new piece of tape. This one doesn’t want to stick. But this should hold for now.” He set the old piece to the side. “It’s not too tight, is it?”

“No,” Emile assured.

“That’s good,” Patton said, glancing him over.

Emile let his head rest back against the blankets. His head throbbed, but that wasn’t surprising. Jumping awake like that hadn’t done it any favors.

Before either he or Virgil could ask Emile any more questions he was reluctant to answer, there was a soft knock on the door. Emile was almost glad to see the humans who stood there, one standing slightly back and fiddling with the collar of his shirt, the other balancing a tray on one hand. Emile had somehow missed their approach.

“Anybody want breakfast?” Roman asked brightly, shifting the tray to both hands once more. “We have pancakes!”

The littles shared a glance.

…

Patton poked at the pancakes in front of him, lifting one up with his fork. He felt almost amazed, looking at them. How had the humans managed to make them so small? They were the perfect size, and nearly perfectly cooked. Only one of Patton’s was burnt, and it certainly wasn’t enough for him to care.

There was a saucer of bacon, set to the side where its smell wouldn’t bother Emile as much. Patton had finished his half already, partially so that he could eat the rest of his meal near Emile, and also because it was delicious.

“We have butter and maple syrup, if you’d like,” Logan offered. He and Roman had asked if they could stay in the room for the meal. Virgil had looked annoyed at the very idea, but Patton had softened at the hope in the humans’ eyes. Emile had seemed nervous, but almost glad to see them. Whether that was because he wanted to avoid more questions about how he was or because he was hoping to see more cartoons, Patton didn’t know.

In any case, here the humans were.

Logan carefully set down two more bottle caps on the table. One was filled with butter, the other a dark brown liquid that must have been the maple syrup. “I would advise against Emile having any toppings, as they might upset his stomach,” he said, not looking directly at them. “Personally, I find I enjoy pancakes just as much without them.”

Virgil, who had been chewing on a piece of bacon, paused to eye the syrup and butter with an air of suspicion.

Patton, meanwhile, waited until Logan had sat back down with his food, then moved towards the toppings. He hesitated for a second before he reached in with his fork and took a chunk of butter, dipped that in the syrup, and then scooped up a bite of the pancakes.

Roman stifled a laugh.

Patton glanced up at him, his mouth full of pancakes. Had he messed up somehow? The pancakes tasted fine. Delicious, in fact. He might’ve gotten too much butter, but these were definitely butter than any pancakes he’d had before. They were warm, and soft, and fluffy, and the syrup was sweet. He didn’t think anything was wrong. So why was Roman laughing?

“Sorry,” Roman said as Patton chewed, looking amused. “We didn’t really explain. You’re supposed to spread the butter over the pancakes and let it melt, and put some maple syrup on top. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone take a forkful of butter and dip it in syrup. I like your creativity.”

Patton swallowed, paused, then tried it how Roman described. He put the butter between the pancakes so it would melt faster, then went back for a sunflower seed shell so that he could pour the syrup over them without tipping over the entire bottle cap.

“Don’t put too much on at first,” Logan advised as he dipped the shell in the bottle cap. “You might overestimate how much you desire. And of course, you can always add more.”

Patton glanced up, antsy because they were both watching him; and the humans both looked away as if suddenly becoming aware of that fact. Patton let out a small breath and poured the maple syrup over his pancakes. Like Logan had suggested, he didn’t put much for the time being. He tried them, added some more, then took his pancakes and went back to join Virgil and Emile. Virgil had finished cutting up Emile’s pancakes for him, and now glanced between his own plain pancakes and Patton’s .

Emile, meanwhile, was picking at his food. Patton could tell Virgil was watching to see if he needed help, but Emile seemed to be doing fine, just uncertain about the food and probably about Logan and Roman being there. The humans were eating, too, studiously avoiding looking at the littles.

“Want to try?” Patton offered his bottle cap to Virgil. After a hesitation, he reached out and took a small piece of Patton’s own buttered, syrupy pancakes.

Virgil put the fork in his mouth and went still, then made a small noise. He pulled out the empty fork and swallowed the pancakes.

“Not bad,” he mumbled.

He picked at his pancakes for a short while after that, but he kept glancing back towards the syrup and butter. Patton decided not to say anything. He wanted to encourage Virgil to go ahead and get some, but he was worried that if he did, his friend would insist that he was fine without them. Finally, Virgil seemed to give in; and, all while glaring at the humans as if daring them to try anything, he grabbed his food and one crutch and made his way over there.

Logan and Roman were careful not to move until Virgil had settled himself back with his family.

They ate in silence for a while longer. Then, Roman set down his fork on his plate. “So,” he said conspiratorially. “We have today off work. What do you guys say… to maybe watching some more cartoons?”

Emile, who had stiffened nervously when Roman turned his attention to the littles, now looked cautiously hopeful.

“I don’t know,” Virgil said evasively.

Patton glanced at his friend, who was looking very uncomfortable. He knew how Virgil probably felt. He knew from personal experience that being around humans was stressful—and that would probably only be worse for Virgil, who wasn’t as used to it as Patton. He was already massively uncomfortable with the situation they were in, needing to stay until Emile was well enough to go home; and he was probably only growing more stressed because of how long the humans had been there that morning alone.

Patton bit his lip. He didn’t want to make his friend do something that made him uncomfortable, but Emile did seem to want to watch more cartoons…

“Um,” he said awkwardly, drawing everyone’s attention. His face flushed. “M-maybe not right now? In a—in a while?” he suggested, hoping for a good compromise.

Roman’s face fell marginally, but quickly brightened again. “Oh, of course,” he said. “That’s okay. Maybe we could put something on at lunchtime?”

Virgil let out a small breath. Emile, who had, of course, also been tense in the presence of the humans, didn’t seem too disappointed, since he still got his cartoons.

Patton nodded, relieved.

“Do you require anything until then?” Logan asked.

“Oh, um—” Patton glanced at Emile and back to Logan. “Could, um.. could we maybe get a p-piece of tape?”

…

Lunchtime rolled around, and the humans were back. While Logan cooked in the kitchen, Roman sat at the base of the television, getting the DVD player set up.

“Here we go,” he said, pulling out a flat box triumphantly. He opened it up and popped out the disc he wanted: the second one, since they had finished the first the day before. He flipped it over to check out the silvery side and make sure it wasn’t dusty, then paused. His grin fell into a look of dismay.

He glanced towards the kitchen and briefly considered calling out to his roommate, but he knew better than that. The mouse-men were right there, after all. Instead, he pulled out his phone and sent off a text.

Princey: Loooogaaaaannnn it’s scratched! SCRATCHED!!

He could hear Logan’s phone chime in the other room. There was a long pause, and then:

That Nerd: Could you not watch it via a streaming service?

Princey: nooo they’re lame and don’t have it

That Nerd: We could purchase a new disk, but it would be preferable to watch something else for the time being to avoid a significant delay.

Roman pouted at the disk in his hand, trying to figure out how this tragedy had occurred. The disk had just been sitting in its case since the last time he’d watched it, hadn’t it?

Princey: Did you scratch it??

That Nerd: No, you know I don’t touch your DVDs. You likely scratched it the last time you returned it to its case.

Roman knew he was right, but he wasn’t happy about it. He popped the disc back in its case, put it away, then turned to face the direction of the mouse-men’s table, sitting with his legs criss-crossed.

“So,” he sighed, “there’s a small problem. The next disk in my Avatar set got scratched, so we can’t use it. I can get a new one, but it wouldn’t be until tomorrow. Want to watch something else for now? I have some other excellent choices.”

The mouse-men shifted. Emile looked a little put-out, although it was hard to tell given his size and the fact that a large part of his face was still hidden by bandages and greenish bruises.

“Like what?” Virgil asked from where he was seated, practically pressed against his brother’s bed.

“Um…” Roman looked back to the collection of DVDs. He pulled out several, then started listing off titles.

“…Moana, Coco, Lilo and Stitch—”

“That one.”

Roman glanced up from the DVDs. Virgil was watching him, arms crossed.

“Lilo and Stitch?” Roman repeated, just to be sure.

Virgil and Patton both nodded. Emile was harder to read, but he seemed to perk up at the possibility of watching that movie.

Roman smiled and set it to the side. “Okay, then; Lilo and Stitch it is.”

…

Roman lay on the couch, his legs lying stretched across Logan’s lap. Logan had complained about it at first, but Roman had just grinned at him until he accepted his fate. He knew Logan didn’t actually care, he was just arguing for the sake of it. They were watching the movie, occasionally passing a bowl of popcorn back and forth. The dishes from dinner had been returned to the kitchen, to be washed later.

The movie had reached the part where Nani loses her job but insists it’s due to her boss being a vampire, and not her sister’s and Stitch’s shenanigans. Roman loved Nani.

“What’s a vampire?” a small voice asked, so quietly Roman almost missed it. He glanced over. It had been Emile, addressing the question to his brother and Patton.

Virgil shrugged, and Patton just shook his head.

Roman cleared his throat as softly as he could manage. All three of their gazes immediately were on him.

“Um… a vampire is a mythical creature,” he said softly, uncertain if his input was welcome. “It’s fake, 100% fictional, from a bunch of old stories. They supposedly have fangs and drink blood. But they’re not real.” He wanted to emphasize that point. He didn’t want to make the mouse-men worry that a bloodthirsty vampire was going to burst in and eat them.

Thankfully, no one looked scared, though Emile looked mildly disgusted. “Oh,” he mumbled.

“There’s more to it,” Roman explained. “They can’t go in sunlight or be seen in mirrors, or eat garlic. But they’re also immortal, and they have an enviable sense of fashion that I wish I could pull off.”

Well, Roman could pull off pretty much anything, but he might get some strange looks. Modern everyday clothes could be so dull.

There was silence for a moment other than the film. Logan didn’t seem inclined to weigh in, apparently not overly interested in discussing a creature that didn’t actually exist (at least, as far as any of them knew).

“Weird,” Virgil commented at last.

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1dliveshere · 4 years

Text

The Last Summer ch 5

Two days had gone by and it was still super awkward in the bus. Everyone was uncomfortable with what had happened. Harry hadn’t spoke to Kayla since the big blow up. She had tried to but he just would shut it down immediately.

It had been raining literally all day. They had plans but because of the rain it was ruined.

“Why does it have to rain all day?” Maya whined.

“Because Mother Nature decided to ruin our plans.” Louis sassed.

“Louis can you please take a break from sassing today? My brain can’t take anymore.” Eleanor groaned.

Most of the bus chuckled but Louis looked high offended.

As silence overtook the bus, Harry randomly swerved sharply. Sending stuff flying everywhere.

“What the freak dude?! Watch where you’re doing you moron. You almost killed us. Gosh I can’t stand people sometimes.” Harry continued saying stuff under his breath about how idiotic people are.

“Uhhh Harry maybe you should take a break from driving and get some sleep. You haven’t slept much for this whole trip.” Liam suggested.

“Fine. But I’m only letting Kayla drive.” Harry looked at Kayla in the rear view mirror.

“Uhh I guess I can.” Kayla nervously but her lip.

Harry proceeded to pool on to the side of the road and hopped in the passanger seat.

“Okay when we get up here you’re going to have to merge on the interstate.”

“Oh so now your talking to me.”

“Baby I’m sorry. It just really messed with my head. When they started talking about it again it just made it feel like it had just happened and I couldn’t think straight.”

“I hope you know I didn’t mean to let it slip. When Gigi came out of the bathroom I just freaked.”

“It’s okay love. I still love you.” Harry leaned over and kissed Kayla. “How about we park the RV somewhere and have a picnic just you and me?”

“That sounds lovely”

“Okay now that you guys kissed and made up, Harry go to sleep you’re being a butthole.”

“Louis I just told you to chill your sass.”

“Sorry love. I cant help it.” Louis cheesed at Eleanor.

As they were approaching the interstate Kayla was a little nervous as she had never driven on it.

“You mean to tell me in your 18 years of life you have never driven on the interstate.”

“No reason to judge Harold.”

“I’m not judging just shocked is all.” Harry chuckled “Okay so you’re gonna speed up starting now.”

“Harry I can’t do this.”

“For the love of Pete please do not kill us!” Hollered Alyssa.

“Uhh who’s Pete?”

“Niall now is not the time to ask stupid questions. I’m trying to not kill us.”

“Babe I know you don’t want to do this but you’re gonna have to get over at some point.”

“Here’s goes nothing.” Kayla looked over her shoulder to see it was clear.

“AAHHHHHH” she slightly turned the wheel and merged onto the interstate. “Harry I did it!”

“Good job babe” Harry chuckled.

“Thank you for not killing us.”

“You’re welcome Louis.”

As the after noon rolled on no one really did much. Kayla continued on the interstate headed towards Chicago. While some of the others watched a movie and chatted about life.

“-and then Niall literally fell on the ground he was so scared. It was honestly the best moment of me life.” Alyssa had tears streaming from laughter.

“Babe you said you weren’t going to bring you scaring me up again. It’s embarrassing.” Niall pouted

“Oh whatever. It’s hilarious and you’re adorable Ni”

As the bus was overtaken with silence Louis’ road trip play list played the same song for the 4 time in a row.

“Louis I’m playing my music now. I literally can’t listen to this song again or I might kill myself.” Eleanor marches up to the front of the bus and plugged her phone in hitting shuffle.

“AHHHHHHHH” all the girls screamed as ‘She Looks So Perfect’ started playing.

“Turn it up Kayla. It’s the boyssss.”

All the girls, minus Kayla because she was obviously driving, started jumping around.

Then the chorus hit:

“You look so perfect standing there

In my American Apparel underwear

And I know now, that I'm so down

Your lipstick stain is a work of art

I got your name tattooed in an arrow heart

And I know now, that I'm so down” all the girls were literally screeching so loud that they woke Harry up.

Harry looked around at all the girls and chuckled to himself

“What are you staring at Harold?”

“Alyssa I swear I’m going to disown you as my friend if you call me that one more time.”

“Oh whatever” Alyssa sarcasticly rolled her eyes, “you know you love it”

“Okay so there’s a Verizon in Chicago that we can stop at to get Alyssa a phone. Is that good with you Louis?”

“In all honesty I forgot I even threw her phone out the window, but yeah that’s okay with me”

“Louis you amaze me sometimes.” Alyssa laughed.

***

Two hours later and Kayla was still driving.

“You know babe you are honestly a pretty good driver. I should let you drive more often.”

“You definitely should” Kayla looked at Harry, “ are you reading my romance novel I brought?!”

“Maybe...”

“Oh my gosh guys Harry is reading a romance novel”

“Awww Harry who knew you had such a soft heart. Maya squeaked.

“Okay that’s it I’m done” Harry through the book back in Kayla’s backpack.

“Okay I’m getting sick of driving. So I’m parking in this field and we can have our date Harry”

“Can we order pizza?”

“Sure Niall.” Harry gets his phone to call it in.

“How are you doing to tell him where we are parked?” Kayla asked, “kinda difficult when we are in a field.

“Why don’t you just drive a little farther and park in the Walmart parking lot”

“Once again Louis you had a good idea. I’m starting to think it was a good thing that we brought you” Eleanor laughed while Louis pouted.

As Kayla pulled into the Walmart parking lot the pizza man was driving away.

“NOT THE PIZZA. KAYLA HIT THE BREAKS. WE ARE GOING TO MISS THE PIZZA.”

“Niall sit your butt down and chill”

Instead of doing what he was told Niall jumped out of the moving RV started chasing the delivery car waving his arms and screaming.

“PEOPLE REALLY NEED TO STOP JUMPING OUT OF THE MOTHER FREAKING MOVING RV”

Kayla finally found a good place to stop and pulled over as Niall was sprinting back to the RV.

“How’d you get him to notice you?” Harry looked at Niall.

“Well you see.... the dude stopped at the stop sign and I jumped on the hood of the car.”

“Niall, you didn’t. Like how am I with the most embarrassing person?” Alyssa wheezed she was laughing so hard.

“Hey at least we got the pizza. Just be thankful.”

“Okay, Kayla I got everything ready, should we go my lady?”

“Yes as long as you never say that again” Kayla chuckled.

As they left the RV to have their picnic in a Walmart parking lot in the middle of Missouri the rest of the group got their pizza and settled down for a movie.

“What do you think Kayla and Harry are talking about?” Louis wiggled his eyebrows.

“I hope they make up all the way so it stops being awkward because I can’t handle another second of being on this bus with them.” Gigi flopped down on the couch with her pizza.

“Agreed”

***

“Babe I hope you know I’m still so sorry about being a jerk to you. I love you more than anything and didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I know Harry, it’s okay.” Kayla smiled up at her boyfriend of two years.

“I know love. You’ve said that ten times now.” Harry chuckled. “ I did have an idea though to make it up to you.”

“Oh really?? What would that be?”

“Well while you were driving I looked over an noticed a huge sunflower field about 10 miles from here. I know your favorite flower is a sunflower so I figured we could all go on a group date or something.”

“Oh my gosh Harold. That’s amazing!”

“Thanks babe. I thought it was too”

Kayla chuckled. “But seriously we are going to have to go to a laundromat somewhere because all of my good clothes are dirty.”

“You and you’re clothes Kayla Boydston I swear will be the death of me.”

“You know you love it” Kayla leaned in for a kiss.

***

After their date was over Kayla ran into the RV screaming.

“WE ARE GOING TO A SUNFLOWER FIELD TOMORROW SO WE ARE GOING TO FIND A LAUNDROMAT TO CLEAN OUR CLOTHES. SO WE CAN LOOK HOT AS HECK.”

All the girls started screaming and running around collecting their dirty clothes.

Soon Harry was driving around a tiny town looking for a laundromat.

“Wait I see one” Liam pointed from the passenger seat.

“Thank gosh. I was starting to thing I would have to wear these sweatpants tomorrow and that’s not a good look”

“Louis since when do you care what you look like?”

“I always have boo” Louis winked at Eleanor.

“I think I just puked.” Alyssa stated.

As they stopped in front of the laundromat everyone piled out with their arms overflowing of dirty clothes.

“My question is how the heck did we go through this many clothes in 4 days.?

“Well that’s what happens when someone spills their drink all over you” Kayla eyes Louis.

“I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again. It was not my fault. Blame your boyfriend who can’t drive.

“Says the one who almost hit a tree two weeks ago.”

“GUYS! Can we just go in here and get this done.” Alyssa yelled.

As everyone went into the laundromat the atmosphere changed. The group who was once happy and looking forward to tomorrow was tired and all around grouchy.

“Guys am I the only one that feels like this trip isn’t worth it. Like I mean Alyssa’s parents literally disowned her.”

“No you aren’t the only one I totally get it. Maybe we are wasting away are lives”

As silence overtook the room the only thing you could here was the slight sound of water swishing and the gentle tumble of the dryer.

“You know what screw this! Why are we all sitting here groaning about this trip. This trip is our last one before we go off to college. Instead of being grouchy and acting like butts we need to make this trip the best thing ever.” Alyssa got up and marched over to the speaker that was sitting in the corner and plugged her phone in. The first song that popped in was, ‘Year 3000’ by the Jonas Brothers.

“Oh my gosh I haven’t heard this song in forever.”

“Oh my gosh let’s GOOOOO”

Everyone jumped up and starting dancing around the room. Screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs.

Quickly their moods lifted. As everyone looked at one another they realized truly how much this trip meant to them. Here they were after being friends anywhere from 7 to 3 years, on their last vacation as teenagers before they go to college. They were so thankful for this trip and each other.

After spending two hours in the laundromat they were finally back on the bus. They ended up just deciding to lock it up and sleep in the parking lot.

As everyone was falling asleep, Alyssa and Kayla were still sitting in the front of the RV.

“I’m so sorry excited for tomorrow.!”

“Me too Alyssa! I feel like we all need this!”

“We got to look fly for pictures”

“You know it boo” Kayla laughed.

Little did they know that tomorrow would change one of their lives forever. Or maybe both of their lives?

Well this chapter was pretty chill. Wonder what will happen that will change their lives?? 😜

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hwanggeum-ashi · 5 years

Text

Reality Sucks

➝Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x reader

➝Genre: angst, fluff

➝Word count: 2971

Shivering a little you open your eyes, a smile tugging on your face Coz of the sight in front of you

Bare, red scratched back (all your doing), soft brown fluffy hair, toned back, muscles flexed as he breathed

You stretch out your hand to touch but held back at the last minute because you knew better. You turned around as silently as possible, wrapping the sheets around yourself and padded over to the bathroom

The running water sound must’ve woke him up because when you came out, he was sitting on the edge of the bed with messy sex hair and bloodshot eyes

He looked so fucking hot

You had changed into your last night’s clothes, hair set perfectly to hide those red purple marks

He looked at you, lifting his head up and squinted for a second, a frown on his face. Your heart sank.

he forgot!

He made an inaudible ‘oh’ sound but the breaking of your heart was clearly booming

“umm.. I’ll just.. I’ll just leave..” You gesture towards the door, clearly not moving because you didn’t want to leave at all.

I mean can you blame yourself?

“m-what?-…” he’s rubbing his eyes, adjusting to the sunlight “-Oh, oh! Yeah, yeah sure. See ya”

You stood there for a moment dumbfounded. Tears pricking at your eyes. You quickly made a beeline towards the door and ran out of the house.

Back at your dorm, you fought the tears that threatened to spill and buried yourself in the books

Next whole week you didn’t see him anywhere. You waited for him by the dance room where he always was. You waited for him after the class. You even went to parties to look for him

You were so far gone, too much in love. You didn’t know when you became obsessed

Not seeing him or hearing from him was eating you out. You couldn’t ask his friends coz you knew better than to be humiliated

what were you thinking, sleeping with a fuckboy?!

As the week rolled by you decided to take an actual step. You messaged him asking if you had left your some important note at his place last week since you needed it for the test. Lie.You had it perfectly placed in front of you.

At first he didn’t seem to recognise you but after you told him the excruciatingly embarrassing details of the event, he seemed to remember you

Though the next information nearly stopped your heart.

He told you that he hasn’t been home the whole week. He was in a hospital. He had an appendectomy. Nothing serious. But still your eyes watered

The sole feeling that he was safe was enough to let loose the waterworks. He told you that he’ll be home on Monday so if you wanted to come and check, you were welcome to.

Monday didn’t seem to come any time soon. You couldn’t show up at his place early morning obviously, so you waited till 5:00 pm.

You ran towards his dorm and stopped right in front of the door to catch your breath and then knocked at the door

You were welcomed by Hoseok who was all sunshine smiles. You genuinely liked him, he always made you smile even though he didn’t know you

“here for….?”

“umm.. Jungkook..?” you said softly

“upstairs, third room to the left”

You practically ran up the stairs. Once outside the room, your heart was beating fast. Hoseok must be shaking his head at you

Your lips were dry so was your throat. Your palms were sweating. Blood was rushing to your head, your whole body was jittery

Three knocks. “come in” The voice was throaty as if he had just woken up. GOD your heart was a mess.

You twist the knob and enter. He is lying on his bed. Through the little light in the room coming from a crack in the blinds, you could make out that he was wearing sweats and a long shirt, same messy hair from that morning. How you wanted to rake your hands through them again.

Shooting voices that were playing in the background came to a halt. He sat up straight, placing the controller on the side table. He took a bit taken aback but quickly calmed down when you mumbled an apology for intruding.

“hey there doll. Sorry I can’t stand up. Feel free to look around” Doll. He called me doll. Holy fuck!!

His room was dark, blinds drawn and all and you were thankful because your eyes were all watery

“s-sorry to bother you like this.” You apologise one more time. “Are you feeling okay?” you asked as you pretended to search. His eyes were on you fully and you were hyper aware of it all

“can I um, can I open the curtains?” your voice came out more like a whisper. “yeah sure go ahead” you heard the genuine fun in his voice

When the light scattered through the room, you took in his appearance. Your arms stopped mid air, holding the curtains

“you look.. You look awful..”

“thanks, love, you’re beautiful too” He chuckled at your shooketh self.

Tears pricked at your eyes, your chest tightened at the need to cry. You quickly averted your gaze and blinked but you could swear that he saw you.

“I think I left it in the class-” you quickly grab your bag “- i should look there again. Sorry to disturb you. Take care bye.” You spoke so quickly that he had to strain his ears to hear you properly.

You’re twisting the knob but his voice stopped you

“I’m leaving”

You stopped dead in your tracks. “what?”

“I’m changing the university. I’m leaving”

Your head is spinning. Your hands balled at your sides, head hung low as you screwed shut your eyes to stop yourself from crying.

Why is he telling you this?? Why is he leaving?? Why?? Why?? Why???

One second

Two second

Three second

He waited as you slowly turned around

You gather yourself and muster up your voice.“in the middle of the semester? Isn’t that a bit inconvenient?” you fake laughed

He looked a bit uncomfortable. So why the fuck are you telling me this?? “yeah, but I’ll manage”

“where are you going?” banging your head against the wall was looking like a really good option.

“London. Oxford University”

You weren’t surprised to hear that, you knew he could get anywhere he wanted but still you can’t wrap your head around it.

“when are you leaving?”

“this Friday”

He was looking directly into your eyes and for the first time in forever your eyes weren’t wavering. It’s like the time stopped for a second. Your chest was heaving, hands fisting the fabric of your skirt. “y/n, are you okay?” Fuck off! I’m not okay! You wanted to scream that.

You ignored his question and before your mind could register, the words left your mouth

“do you have to go?”

He quirked an eyebrow at you saying ‘who is stupid enough to reject oxford’. But your mind was reeling

Three days

Just three days

And then he’ll be gone forever

Everything was a blur. A slight buzzing in your ear. In a daze you heard his voice cutting through your thoughts

“y/n-” “I should go now. Bye Jungkook”

Before he could stop you, if he was gonna actually stop you that is, you left and ran back to your dorm. This time you closed the door behind you loudly, slid down against it and cried your heart out.

By night time you were sitting on your bed, blankly staring at the wall. Your head was spinning around the thought of him leaving.

Yes you would see him on social media

But he wouldn’t be real.

He won’t be here.

He won’t be here when you would go to the dance room.

He won’t be here for the parties.

No matter how much you wait, he won’t be coming out of those classes.

He’ll be gone.

You gasp at your last thought, the word hitting you again for the 10th time today.

You knew you were overreacting, he wasn’t dying, just flying 3000 miles away from you. But that sucked big time

How had you let yourself fall in love with him?

How had you ever fallen in love with him? You guys weren’t friends

And one night stand wasn’t enough to establish a relationship.

So what happened? How did your feelings get so deep

Your brain wracked for reasons to make him stay. But only a fool would leave Oxford, you knew that. Hell you would leave everything for it. And you didn’t want to get in the way of his dreams for sure. That’s why it was harder.

Tuesday morning you were a wreck. Dark circles, tired body and puffy eyes. Honestly you looked like someone straight outta horror movie. But you forced yourself to get out of your room and go to college. You were determined to make the most of it while he was still here.

As usual you waited (secretly ofc) for him outside class. Stealing glances when he came out. You practically followed him throughout the day since you couldn’t possibly think of something to start a conversation with him. Pathetic, yes. You know.

But you knew he’d smile at you because even as a fuckboy he wasn’t a complete asshole. And also maybe you liked to live in your delusions a bit. You just needed to make eye contact

At the end of the classes you were walking down the stairs when you heard his voice. You slowed down your pace and pretended to look at your phone. You looked up at the same time he in your sight. Not coincidental of course.

And as expected, he did smile

You smiled back

Both of you were stuck in the moment for a second until a slight cough from his friend. And then it was all gone. He was leaving.

Wednesday was the same.

Thursday morning, the sun seemed to shine upon you. You got a text from him “wanna meet up?”

Your heart thumped hard, wanting to break free out of your ribs and you almost stopped breathing. Why is he messaging me??

Nevertheless you instantly replied with trembling fingers and decided to meet him at the local cafe. You were now sitting across from each other, sipping your drink silently. Your nerves were wrecking and honestly you were trying not to bring back your old habit of biting nails.

Your head was spinning at all the possibilities of what he would say. But you were stuck on only one thought.

Please say you’re staying

Please stay!

He was the one to break the silence.

“so.. I’m leaving Friday at 10 by train. Just wanted to let you know”

“why?”

You didn’t want to sound rude but as soon as he said those words, you were broken.

He scratched the back of his head, messing his hair, visibly taken aback by your sudden coldness

“well, um i told you I was leaving. I thought you should know when exactly right?”

“oh yeah, yeah I guess” FUCK YOU! I DON’T WANNA KNOW. You dip your head to take a sip from your straw, a meek attempt to hide the forming tears.

“so.. You wanna go somewhere after this?” he asked as he beckons the waitress for the bill.

You closed your eyes and slowly opened them giving him a smile. You sure love to torture me don’t you? “sure. Where though?”

You both went to the aquarium— a neutral ground because you wanted to go to the gallery and he wanted to go to an amusement park. You both strolled down the aquarium marveling at the beauty of the sea world

The waves and the glass cast light on him which made him shine like a star.

And a star he was

So far from you

You could only see

But never touch

So close, yet so far

You fished for answers on how you got so lucky that night. You didn’t know. Everything felt like a dream that night. Like a Cinderella story, expect he won’t be coming to give you back your glass slippers.

Tears sprang to your eyes again and you walked ahead quickly. The night ended with him dropping you at your dorm.

“I had fun tonight. Thanks Jungkook”

“me too. Wish we could have more time though”

Really bitch? Really??

“so.. Goodnight I guess?”

“yeah, goodnight”

He looked at you for a moment.

You wished for him to say something.

You wished for him to kiss you

To hold you in his arms

You wished for him to stay

He gave you a smile and turned back, walking to his car

“please stay..” You said in a whisper

His steps halted

He was near his car when he turned around. The streetlight hit your face in a way that he could see you clearly. Your cheeks shone under the light from the tears.

You were looking at him

He was looking at you

“wish I could stay y/n, I truly do. But I have to go”

He opened the car, put the keys into the ignition and drove away. You sank down on the floor crying so hard

Friday morning

It was 9:30 when you woke up

Fuck

You did your business and rushed to the station

“please don’t leave yet! Please don’t leave!!”

You ran all the way to the station, pushing people aside too damn scared to stop and say sorry to them

How could you sleep in?!

If he had left already, how would you live with yourself? Negative thoughts kept hitting you more fiercely as the clock ticked

By the time your reached the platform the train was already moving. Only the last box in sight

Your heart sank

You were too shocked to even react

he left..

and I wasn’t there

You walked like a zombie, searching for a place to sit. You needed to lie down. Your body was gonna give out. You saw an empty bench and mechanically walked towards it. But someone hogged your sight

Your eyes trailed from the similar shoes up to the face you were yearning for. Your mouth parted as a choked gasp left your lips

Relieved

Happy

So goddamn happy

“y/n?-”

His voice was melodious. So beautiful and God did it do wonders to your heart. One look at him and you felt like everything was perfect. You felt whole. God you were so in love.

Without thought you ran towards him hugging him tightly. So tightly he couldn’t breathe. You didn’t care. You were not letting him go. Not this time.

Your hands balled in his shirt fabric as you buried your head in his shoulder crying hard. He smiled after he registered what had happened and wrapped his arms around your small form

His hands rand up and down your back, soothing you. And he placed a kiss to the side of your head which made you cry harder

Your legs started to ache for standing on your toes for so long, so you just let yourself lose in his arms. He held you even tighter understanding how exhausted you were

And why wouldn’t you be, he was exhausted too. So much

He pulled back slightly so that he could see your face. Your lips were dry and tears still streamed down your face. You were beautiful to him.

He lifted your chin

Then he kissed you

He kissed you softly at first. Moistening your chapped ones. His lips fit perfectly with yours. Just like how they did when he kissed you that night. He left soft kisses.

You both looked at each other for a second. Then he was kissing you properly. His tongue warm inside your mouth

So intoxicating

So heavy

So perfect

He kissed you like how you liked, like how you told him how you wanted to be kissed. He made you feel like you were the only one for him.

You both were sitting on the bench now. Your head resting on his shoulders with fingers interlocked with other’s “I thought you left” you voice came out throaty from all that crying. “the train got delayed”

You closed your eyes because reality was still bitter.

“I don’t want you to go. Please don’t go.” your voice sounded tired

“I have to go baby, there’s no choice. I wish i could stay, fuck! I wanna stay but my parents won’t let me baby. Please understand”

“I DO! I DO UNDERSTAND! That’s why it sucks so much”

You were crying again

You were sick of crying

What was it gonna do huh? Make him stay??

“tell you what, I’ll fly every winter break back here. We’ll go anywhere we want. Just say the word”

“that’s unrealistic” you said sniffing

“hey look at me” he lifted your chin

“it’s just two years baby, then we’ll be together. Okay?”

When your don’t reply, he rubs his nose with yours and repeats again and you smile in response.

“okay”

~After half a year ~ (Bonus)

You were excited about your Internship. You were finally doing what you wanted to do

You were outside your door when a honking of car made you jump. You turned back shocked at the sight

Jungkook was kneeling in front of you. Chocolates in one hand and a gift in another

“happy anniversary babe”

You ran towards him, kissing him deeply as he wrapped his arms around you. “surprise”

“guess who’s staying for the summer?” You beamed at him unable to control your happiness, you kissed him again

“best gift ever”

@cherrynochu @minstrivia @minlucent @taeveler @rosytteok

363 notes · View notes

jamesmydeer · 5 years

Text

gee, I think you’re swell remus x reader

this time when i said soon, i meant it. i missed you guys! i decided to come back with a remus. i don’t know how i feel about it quite yet, but i really need to post. i think it starts strong, but kind of falls off. oh well, let me know what you think! thank you 3000 for reading! this is based off of elenore by the turtles.

word count: 4.2k

warnings: bad dad

masterlist

you got a thing about you / i just can’t live without you

Remus Lupin had been in the library for four hours. This wasn’t so out of the ordinary; he was a peculiar boy who enjoyed studying. At least, that was what y/n had come to observe about him. She too had been in the library for the same amount of time. However, it had been for a different reason.

Y/n L/n had been enthralled with Remus Lupin for the duration of her Hogwarts attendance. She didn’t know what it was, but something about him drove her mad.

Maybe it was his kindness. Y/n liked to think that was it. She couldn’t remember every time she had been bumped into in the halls, sending her books flying. She could, however, remember every time Remus had stopped to help her. No matter where he was within the hallway, he would walk over to her and help her gather her things. Each time, he would smile at her, hand her the last item, dismiss her gratitude, and run back to his friends. Each time, y/n feared her tell-tale heart would give her away.

Maybe it was his looks. After all, that was why she was in the library. She hadn’t enough courage to speak to him, so she had to be content with looking. Creepy? Extremely. Y/n realized this, but every time she decided to stop behaving borderline stalkerish, she would glance at him and see him smiling down at his potions book. Out the window her rationality would fly.

Maybe it was his intelligence. He was, without a doubt, the smartest person she knew. Or, knew of at least. Always top of the class, always answering the professors’ questions, and always in the library. Y/n envied him for this. By no means was she unintelligent, she was right behind him in academics. She envied him for the ability to answer questions in class. Y/n sat in the back of the class, by herself, mouthing the answers that would then be vocalized by Remus.

She thought no one noticed this. She thought no one noticed her. She was wrong. A certain boy noticed that every time he answered a question, she would mouth it in sync with him and smile when he got it right. That certain boy thought it was very cute.

your looks intoxicate me / even though your folks hate me

Y/n L/n had been in the library for four hours. This wasn’t so out of the ordinary; she was a peculiar girl who enjoyed studying. At least, that was what Remus had come to observe about her. He too had been in the library for the same amount of time. However, it had been for a different reason.

Remus Lupin wasn’t sure when it happened, but it did. It happened suddenly; after all, he was always one to fall quick. He had fallen utterly head over heels. He knew he shouldn’t have, but he just couldn’t help it.

Remus had intended to stay in the library an hour, hour and a half at most. But then she walked in at the hour mark. He had been standing to collect his things, but his heart quickly forced him back into his seat when she walked in. He tried desperately to look like he was studying, but he wasn’t. At all. She didn’t seem to notice him staring, much to Remus’ delight.

She was a bit odd, in the most endearing way. She was peculiarly quiet. She didn’t talk at lunch, she didn’t talk in class, and she didn’t talk in the halls. Remus liked to think she came unglued everyday in her dorm room, talking a mile a minute.

Sirius and James quickly figured out about his crush on Y/n. They then told the oblivious Peter, leading to a dorm room full of three rowdy boys and one bashful Remus.

Once James and Sirius finished their role play of Y/n and Remus, Sirius dropped the playful look. He sat down beside the boy and gave him a sad smile.

“You know who her dad is, right?” Sirius cautioned. Remus gave him a questioning look. He shook his head no.

As Sirius spoke, Remus zoned out. He didn’t need to hear anymore than the part about her dad working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Her dad hated him. Remus didn’t think he would ever end up with her, but it was nice to dream. After figuring that out, even dreaming felt weird.

there’s no one like you / elenore really

Remus tried to stay away. He knew he couldn’t be in the same room as her and not have her be all that his mind consisted of. So, he avoided y/n, which he thought would be a simple thing to do considering he never even spoke to her. He was sadly mistake.

Remus walked into the library, hoping to get some transfiguration studying in. The fifth years had decided to cram for their owls, and Remus knew there would be a student in every chair. Upon entering, he realized he was right. There was not a single open seat within the room. Remus wasn’t new to this. He had been shy of a seat in the library many a time as a kid, and always went to the same secondary location.

Readjusting his grip on his studying material, Remus set out for the Black Lake. It was always a peaceful place to study, and, although he far more enjoyed the peaceful serenity of the library, it was a rather pretty day outside. Silently praying to himself that no one was sitting under the tree he longed to study under, Remus exited the doors of Hogwarts.

Muttering a thank you to no one in particular for his study spot under the tree being unoccupied, Remus settled down and began to study. After getting two paragraphs into the impact Gulliver Pokeby made on the findings of magical birds, Remus was startled by a voice over his left shoulder.

“Ooh!,” y/n yelped, frightened to see someone sitting where she was just about to plop down. “Oh, I’m sorry Remus,” she spoke, a little upset that someone was occupying the spot she had planned on studying in.

“I’m guessing you had the same idea as me. If those 5th years hadn’t waited until the last minute to cram in all this studying, we’d have a nice seat in the library,” y/n rambled. She looked down and Remus was steady staring up at her.

Her head was positioned directly in front of the sun, effectively blocking it from the boy’s eyes while also creating the illusion that there were rays of sunlight coming directly from her. She looked quite literally radiant. It was as if she was an angel, Remus observed. He wasn’t supposed to think of her in this matter, but there was no way he couldn’t. He was snapped out of his dreamy daze by a soft call of his name.

“Oh, uh yeah. Yeah, crowded library,” he mumbled, mentally face palming for clamming up in front of her.

Y/n took his words as dismissive. She understood, he was trying to study and did not want to be interrupted. “I guess I should be going now.”

“No!” Remus called out rather quickly. Realizing that she hadn’t yet moved from her previous position, Remus looked down at his lap and blushed.

“I mean, you don’t have to leave, that is. I don’t mind the company.” Remus rushes out, avoiding eye contact at all costs. Y/n smiled down at him.

“No, I really should leave you to it. I’ll see you around Remus.”

She smiled sweetly at him, before turning and walking away. As soon as she was out of earshot, Remus promptly began chanting ‘stupid stupid stupid’ to himself. He couldn’t help it, really. When she was around, his mind went all fuzzy.

He tried to go back to studying, he really did, but the same picture of her glowing in front of him kept replaying in his mind. Struggling to shake the interaction, Remus began to copy his notes. He quickly grew bored of this, and his hand grew a mind of its own. His paper was littered with one name.

elenore gee I think you’re swell

Remus completed absolutely none of his work. The sun that had at first felt nice on his skin now caused sweat to form right along his brow. He shifted uncomfortably and stood, promptly bumping into his mates, who were waiting to scare the boy.

“Hello twats,” Remus sighed, walking forward past them.

“You sound chipper,” James slung his arm around the boy’s shoulder. “whoever put you in such a fantastic mood?”

“Probably us, James,” Peter spoke as if it was obvious. Sirius looked at him, seemingly unamused.

“You think?” James asked, reaching back and flicking him in the ear.

“Apparently not fellas,” Sirius smirked, snatching something from Remus’ hand.

“What do we have here?” James questioned, wiggling his eyebrows at the taller boy.

“Looks to be his Care if Magical Creatures homework lads,” Peter snorted, amused by his two friends lack of sense.

“Pete stop talking.”

“Well, he’s not wrong James. It just so happens to be notes on his favorite magical creature,” Sirius teased, Peter finally understanding the matter of their taunting.

��Would you shut up?” Remus begged, snatching the paper from Sirius’ grasp. “I just… couldn’t concentrate.”

Sirius, finding the matter at hand extremely comical, went to tease his friend some more. James places a warning hand on his chest, silently telling him to cut it out.

“I get it,” said James, patting his friend on the back in reassurance. “You know, it’s better to talk about it than to keep it cooped up.”

Remus let out a frustrated sigh. He knew James was right, but he didn’t even know where to start.

“I don’t know, she’s just… ugh! I can’t even think when she's around, much less talk. Even if I did want to ask her out, I’d mess that up for sure. What am I supposed to say? ‘Gee y/n, I think you’re swell!’ It’s hopeless.” As Remus ranted, James nodded along, face ridden with pity.

“Swell? I think you’re swell? I’m out on that one.” Sirius snorted, shaking his head in mock disgust and grabbing Peter’s arm, dragging him with him back to the castle. Upon passing James, Sirius received a slight kick to the back of his leg. He went to retaliate, but James’ expression was stern and Sirius knew he was already walking on thin ice. With a swift hand gesture, the pair were on their way.

“She come out here?” James questioned, knowing the answer, having passed her on the way out, but wanting his friend to open up.

“Yeah. She did.”

Remus sounded bored. He was bored. Bored of his hands getting clammy when he spoke to her. Bored of the polite smile she gave him when she caught him staring. Bored of not having an excuse to kiss her, or hold her hand, or even just talk to her whenever he wanted. He was bored, and he was going to do something about it.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Remus spoke, speed walking towards the castle.

“Hey wait up, where are you going?” James chuckled, trying to catch up with him.

“I’m going to tell my favorite magical creature that she’s swell,” Remus called out, a smirk on his face as he turned to wink at James. He then took back off towards the castle, stumbling every so often.

you’re my pride and joy et cetera

While walking around the castle, Remus remembered a multitude of things that put him in a bit of a pickle. Number one, he had no idea where she was. Number two, what if she was in a crowded area? While numbers one and two only made him more anxious, number three caused him to stop in his tracks completely. Number three, her dad.

Her dad hated werewolves. Her dad was one of the main reasons Remus couldn’t let anyone know about his condition. If her dad felt so strongly about werewolves, who’s to say she didn’t agree with him. She probably hated Remus too. A soft voice followed by a light hand on his shoulder jerked him out of his thoughts.

“Remus, are you alright?” she asked, face stricken with concern. Of course it would be her. When Remus wanted to see her, she was nowhere to be found. When he didn’t, she found him.

“Fine, thanks,” he dismissed her, turning to walk away.

“Actually Remus, I was kind of wondering if you’d seen my book. I think I dropped it while I was outside, and figured you might have seen it.”

Remus noted that she seemed frantic. He assumed the book was a school one, and y/n knew that if she lost it she would be in trouble.

“No, I’m sorry. If I do, I’ll let you know,” Remus rushed out, eager to increase the distance between the two.

“Thank you so much,” y/n smiled up at the boy, making him weak in the knees. “Have a nice day Remus.”

Before Remus could manage out a ‘You too’, she was gone. As he had many times before, Remus muttered the word ‘stupid’ over and over to himself all the way to his dorm room.

Upon entering his room, Remus was met with a chorus of ‘how’d it go?’s and ‘what’d she say?’s.

“Knock it off, I didn’t tell her.”

“What? Moony, you seemed pretty serious about it out there,” James asked, confused at Remus’ complete shift in emotion.

“I know, it’s just… it’s complicated J.”

James smiled understandingly at Remus, who didn’t seem to enjoy his friends’ pitying looks. Feeling claustrophobic, Remus plopped down on his bed and pulled out his study material, preparing to drown out all his inner thoughts with his schoolwork.

Upon opening his bag, Remus was met with a bright yellow book. He knew the book wasn’t his; his school books were tattered and dull. He reached into his bag and pulled out the book. Engraved in big black letters across the front was her name. Her name. It was the book she was looking for.

Unbeknownst to Remus, Sirius had been eyeing him the whole time. He saw the book. He saw the look on his friends face. Remus wasn’t going to read it. Sirius knew y/n liked Remus, as did the rest of the population. It was obvious. The book was a journal, that much was easy to see. So, Sirius was going to make him. Or at least, make it hard for him not to.

“Prongs! Wormtail! We’re late for that thing!” Sirius jumped up, ushering the two out of the room.

“What? There’s not a thing,” James spoke with a confused look on his face, only to be replaced with a suspicious one when Sirius shot him a wink. Sirius winks were never any good, but they hadn’t gotten him killed yet.

“Oh yeah, the thing, let’s go Pete,” James mumbled, grabbing Peter and rushing out of the door that was being held open by Sirius. As he went to trail the pair, he turned back to Remus, who was sporting a bewildered look.

“Open it.” With that, Sirius was gone.

Remus knew he shouldn’t, it was an invasion of privacy. After battling against himself for a minute, he came to the conclusion that he would not open the book. There were, however, two pieces of paper sticking out of the book that Remus would read.

The first was a letter from her father. The thought that the very paper he held once belonged to the man sent chills up his spine. The handwriting was sharp, there were no streaks or blobs of ink. He felt guilty, but after the first line, guilt was the last thing on his mind.

Dear daughter,

I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t see why you would want to advocate for such reckless and ruthless creatures. I respect your sharing of your views, incorrect as they are. I understand in your letter you specified that you were accepting of any punishment brought along with your rebelliousness. That won’t be necessary. As my daughter, you are my pride and joy. That being said, I expect you to come to your senses, seeing that your opinion goes directly against the well-being of others. Werewolves are monsters y/n. I don’t expect you to change your views so soon, but I expect a letter back as soon as possible telling me why you would believe such ghastly things. Ignorance will not be tolerated in my household.

Remus was seething. He wanted to rip up the paper into little pieces. He couldn’t believe the sweet girl he had fallen for had spoken up against her father, only to be harshly condescended to. He had never felt so much anger towards one person. He started to pack his things and try to ease his mind, but then he remember the other note.

This one was from her, he could tell. The handwriting was sweet. That’s how he would describe it. She had clearly been in a rush to write the letter. The paper was crumbled and messy. Remus didn’t want to intrude further, but his eyes began involuntarily scamming over the words.

Dear father,

I appreciate your response, yet do not understand it. I would want to advocate for such “reckless and ruthless creatures” because they are humans. Before the are bitten, they are people. After they are bitten, they’re still people. In the kindest way possible, an opinion can only be invalid if it directly goes against the lives of others. If anyone’s opinion is incorrect, it’s yours. I’m not rebelling, I’m trying to enlighten you to what’s right. Sure there are bad werewolves, but what about that scared child who has to endure excruciating pain once a month and have such a large percentage of people hate them for it. They grow up knowing they can’t do what others around them can. They’re victims. They did nothing wrong, yet you treat them as if all they’ve ever done is wrong. The only ignorance I can sense is your own, and it is highly palpable. The real monsters are people like you.

There was more. Remus didn’t care, he couldn’t believe what he’d already read. If he read anymore, he might cry. He couldn’t believe she would stand up to her father for him. She didn’t know she had, but she still did it. In a flurry of quick movements, Remus folded the letters back and stuck them in the book, jumping up and running down the stairs and out of the Gryffindor common room.

elenore can i take the time / to ask you to speak your mind

Remus knew she’d be outside. He knew the moment she saw he’d left, she’d take his former spot. So, that’s where he was going. He pushed through the crowds of students, not caring if he bumped into anyone. He needed to see her. For once in his life, he wasn’t thinking about what he was going to say. He was going to speak his mind. He wasn’t going to chicken out. He needed to see her.

Remus flung the door to Hogwarts open, earning sharp glances from a group of students sitting on the stairs. Remus cowered under their stares, but quickly stiffened once he saw a familiar face walking towards him. She sent him an amused smile, causing Remus to smile down at his feet.

“Hey Re-” y/n started, but was cut off by Remus hastily telling her they needed to talk. Noticing the worried glance in y/n’s face, Remus chuckled.

“No, I mean can we? Can we talk?” Remus asked softly, trying not to scare her off. She nodded slowly, still a bit confused. Remus pointed to the tree the pair had previously met at, silently asking if that spot was alright with her.

“Sure,” she spoke, heading off in the trees direction. Now was the time for Remus to think of what to say; he still had no idea. He couldn’t properly formulate any words in his mind. He was cut off of his contemplation of whether or not to turn and run by a cough coming from below him. He look down to see y/n looking up at him, eyebrows raised in amusement. She patted the spot beside her, Remus gladly plopping down on it.

“You okay?” she questioned, and Remus realized she still had no idea what the topic of their discussion was going to be. Not that he did either.

“Uh, yeah, I found your book,” Remus murmured, handing her the journal.

“Oh my, thank you so much Mus!” Y/n exclaimed, politely taking the book from the boy. Remus was too caught up in the fact that she just called him Mus to see her open the book and find that the letters had been moved from their original spot. Once he gathered himself, he noticed the way she was looking at the papers. He knew she knew.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have read them” Remus started, feeling the guilt all over again. Y/n placed a reassuring hand on his knee.

“It’s okay, I would’ve done the same,” she spoke softly to him, avoiding eye contact.

“Hey, look at me. I think it’s great that you’re standing up to him like that. You should send it.”

“I don’t know. He’s already pretty mad. I’m surprised that one wasn’t a howler. I just don’t get how he can think the way he does,” y/n spoke exasperatedly. Realizing she had went on a bit of a tangent, she blushed, avoiding eye contact.

“Hey,” Remus started “Your dad’s an arse.”

Y/n chuckled at this, bringing a hand up to the scar that stretched from nose across his cheek bone, rubbing over it gently with her thumb.

She knew. Y/n knew Remus was a werewolf. He searched her eyes for the pity he expected. Like the looks he got from his friends after a full moon. He didn’t receive it. Her eyes were genuine. He expected her to cower away from him, to break eye contact. She did perform the latter, only to look down at his lips.

Remus quickly licked over his bottom lip, his mouth dry. He looks down at Y/n’s lips too. He’d looked at them before, stared at them even, but he’d never truly seen them. They looked nice. She was biting them and they looked soft. He wanted to find out if it was true. He looked back up at her, seeing that she had done the same. The eye contact sent a shock through his body.

“Can I kiss you?” Remus whispered, already leaning in. Her thumb on his cheek ceased to move, and she eagerly nodded, leaning in as well. Slowly, their lips met. Neither of them had ever felt anything like it before. After a second, Remus pulled back shyly. The couple met eyes once more.

“Good?” Remus asked, hoping more than anything that y/n would say yes. She didn’t, but Remus enjoyed her answer better. Y/n reached forward, running one hand through his hair and placing the other on her jaw. Nodding, she leaned in, kissing him with more fervor than before. Reciprocating the kiss, Remus brought his hands to her waist, pulling her closer.

“You didn’t happen to read the stuff I wrote about you did you?” Y/n pulled away to ask. Remus quickly brought her back forward.

“No, but I will now,” he mumbled against her lips. Moving the journal out of Remus’ reaching grasp, y/n smiled up at him.

“Gee, I think you’re swell,” she mocked, batting her eyelashes. Remus’ jaw dropped.

“How did you- when did you- why… Sirius?” Remus knew the answer. After a teasing smile and a nod, Remus snatched the journal from y/n’s grasp. He quickly stood up, holding the journal out of her reach.

“He’s so irresistibly charming,” Remus read in a high pitched voice. “You really think that?”

“Stop it Mus,” y/n whined, reaching for the book again. When her actions failed, Remus was sure to notice the mischievous glint in her eyes. She reached up on her tip toes and cupped Remus’ face.

“I do think you’re irresistibly charming, you know?”

“Yeah?” Remus smirked, not noticing his arms slowly falling down to his sides.

“Yeah,” y/n nodded, grabbing the book from his hands and running off towards the castle in a fit of giggles.

Remus shook his head, a soft smile on his face.

“Wait up!” he called out, grabbing her stuff and taking off after her. He was enamored. Absolutely smitten.

#harry potter #marauders #jamesmydeer #marauders hc #harry potter imagines #harry potter hc #harry potter imagine #remus lupin x reader #remus x reader #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin hc #remus imagine #remus #remus lupin

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lubdubsworld · 5 years

Text

A change of heart. ( Kim Taehyung x OC)

[ Summary :

Times are changing.

After years of being oppressed, werewolves are taking a stand against humans , demanding equal rights and fair treatment. Heading the movement is Kim Taehyung, the breathtaking heir to the Kim fortune and one of the few remaining Alpha werewolves in the country. His disdain for the human race is well known and well warranted. They killed his family after all.....

He wants to change the world , to put humans in their place but when his five year old daughter takes a shine to their very human neighbor , maybe he has to start with a change of heart , first. ]

Pairing : Taehyung x OC

Genre : Romance, Explicit Content.

Warnings : None. ( Some mild violence but mostly off screen )

Chapter 1

“.... however, the question of whether weres should be offered equal opportunity in fields such as construction and those including manual labour and access to possibly dangerous machinery is still a matter of hot debate , taking into consideration their superior physical strength and general lack of self control....”

“Rae, be careful!!”

The warning came a bit too late and I felt the sharp sting of hot coffee on my palm, yelping as I tried to right the cup that I’d accidentally knocked over.

Park Jimin, the barista , gave me a long suffering look of disappointment.

“That’s the third one this week.” He said , staring balefully at the spilled liquid , now making its way across the polished mahogany surface. I flushed, flailing to grab a few tissues off the counter and soaking up the worst of the mess.

“I’m sorry... I've just been a little distracted.” I muttered under my breath, thankful that the place wasn’t too crowded . it was still pretty early, and the morning crowd was just starting to trickle in, most of the people looking worn out and despondent after a week of working. Outside , the rain lashed the concrete , loud and unrelenting.

Thankfully it was a Friday. A long weekend curled in bed with a steaming mug of hot chocolate was the only thing I had to look forward to.

He hummed.

"Is this about the custody hearing?” He said gently and i sighed , trying not to give in to the sinking feeling of desolation.

“it’s a lost cause, I’m afraid.” i whispered. “ My sister is definitely unfit to be a parent and her husband is rich and powerful. There’s no way we’re winning this.” I shrugged.

Jimin gave me a sympathetic smile.

“I hope the weather lets up.” i said softly, staring out the embossed windows. Before Jimin could reply, someone cleared their throat behind me.

I turned around, blinking when I found myself face to face with a starched collar and perfectly knotted tie. I looked up in surprise, feeling my heart jump into my throat when I saw who it was.

The man was almost painfully good looking, his eyes glowing red with unsaid annoyance and his lips pursed impatiently.

“if you’re done, there are others waiting to get their coffee.” The werewolf said sternly, voice deep and rumbling. I flinched and nodded, moving to get my new cup and almost spilling it again. i could almost hear a faint growl behind me and I glanced back again, throat dry.

He was staring right at me, eyes still glowing alpha red and eyebrows raised in a ‘why-aren’t-you-out-of-my-sight-yet’ , kind of gesture. I almost let out a strangled meep and quickly paid for the spilled drink and its replacement, suppressing the instinct to bare my neck and run .

I’d heard about how werewolves could intimidate just by existing, but I’d never experienced it so strongly or at such close quarters. He looked beautiful but deadly, his sharp features intimidating and his towering height only making me shrink in further.

“I’ll see you around then Rae.” Jimin looked amused as he watched me fumble with my bag, my purse and the change. I shoved everything into one of the bags and stepped away from the line.

“Thank you.” Taehyugn said primly, before reaching for a menu card.

I swallowed, nodding quickly and shooting Jimin a smile before scrambling away.

i couldn’t resist looking back though, as soon as i reached the door.

What was someone as exquisite as Kim Taehyung doing in a place as plain and drab as this coffee shop?

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

“Are you sure you didn’t just mistake him for someone else?” my brother sounded bored as he listened to my rambling rant on the exciting encounter i’d had with Kim Taehyung.

I rolled my eyes rather impressively, a gesture that was wasted, seeing as Yugyeom was a whole country away and although we were on skype, he wasn’t even looking at me, his gaze fixed on his phone where he was no doubt seducing some poor unsuspecting coed via lurid text messages.

“I don’t see how anyone could mistake Kim Taehyung for someone else I mean...that face is a one in a billion kind of face. Us mere mortals, do not encounter beauty like that on a daily basis...” I said sharply.

Yugyeom chuckled.

“He’s running for the cabinet this term, for the ministry of Supernatural Affairs. I think he’s trying to build a presence ahead of the campaign.”

I hummed thoughtfully.

“Well, I hope he gets it . He seems like a nice guy.” I said, glancing at the clock.

It was a little past four and the last ferry to the Preserve left at 7.00 PM. I wasn’t sure if I could take the bus to the docks, but a taxi just seemed like a bit too expensive.

“Spoken like a true naive fool.” Yugyeom scoffed. “ Taehyung has every intention of banning humans from the Preserve. You will literally lose your job if he wins.”

i blinked back at my brother, who had abandoned his phone and was now staring at me.

“What?”

Yugyeom shrugged.

“Kim Taehyung believes that humans are the problem and co-existence isn’t the solution. He thinks there needs to be isolation and werewolves need to have their own space.”

I hesitated, not sure what to say.

“Well, i’m sure he doesn’t hate all humans.” i said weakly.

3000 miles away someone knocked on my brother’s door.

“i gotta go...You heading back to the preserve tonight?” He asked curiously and i nodded.

“I’m supposed to be reporting at the research center later.”

“Be safe.” He smiled and i waved , before ending the call.

His words stung a bit.

Did Taehyung really want humans out of the preserve?

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

Apparently, he did.

“i’m sorry.?”

“There’s a tentative stay order on allowing non-supernaturals on the official ferry . There was an incident last week with some guy pulling a knife on a were. We’re trying to work with the authorities but tensions are running a bit high...” The woman at the ticket counter gave me a sympathetic smiles, eyes flashing blue.

“You don’t understand , i need to be there tonight and-”

“I’m sure us wolves can survive a few weeks without your help Ms Yoon.” A voice said right behind me and I stiffened.

Park Seo Joon was the biggest thorn on my side and I couldn’t escape him, apparently.

But this time, he wasn’t alone.

Standing next to him, tall and strapping was Kim Taehyung, dressed in what looked like a way too expensive Burberry coat.

i swallowed.

“I work for the government.” i said stiffly.” this isn’t a pleasure trip. I’m supposed to be submitting a medical report on a strain of influenza that even your superior immunity isn’t keeping away.”

Seo Joon rolled his eyes.

“you just love the idea of us being vulnerable, don’t you Rae? The thought of something killing us all off, definitely fills you humans with giddy joy...” He sneered.

Next to him , Taehyung chuckled.

I felt my hackles rise.

“We’re trying to help.... Most of the infected are young wolves. Seeing as you have a kid of your own, i would think you’d be a tad bit more sympathetic.” i snapped, before i could stop myself.

Taehyung froze, eyes going red as he scowled.

“What did you just say?” He said, voice quiet but shaking with fury. I resisted the urge to cower and raised my chin defiantly.

“You heard me.” My voice barely shook.

Taehyung tilted his head, curious.

“Yoon Mi Rae. Aren’t you Yoon Jae hyun’s daughter?” He said thoughtfully.

I felt my heart leap at the connection. My adoptive father had been a sad, cruel son of a bitch and being associated with him had literally no benefit.

“He’s my father , yes.”

“Your father cut off funding to the preserve by twenty million dollars last year. infant mortality rate rose by 17 percent because we couldn’t afford quality healthcare.” He sneered. “ And you’re here acting like you or your kind give a damn about our health?”

I glanced back at the counter, the woman who looked embarrassed as she pretended she wasn’t watching us.

“Fine. So you’re saying i can’t get on that boat?” I bit my lips and Taehyung didn’t respond.

“i’m saying that even if you do get on, the security guy at the dock isn’t going to be letting you in.” Seo Joon shrugged.

“Fine .” i said shortly, mind already racing with possibilities. There was a private ferry a few blocks away and it was generally unsavory and uncomfortable but there were seven seriously ill kids at the research center, and this report could be a step up in curing them.

“Good Bye then.” I said sharply, turning on my heel and stalking away.

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

After wandering around the dock for an hour or so, sticking to the shadows and hoping not to be caught, i’d managed to hire an old, crumbling skiff with a tired looking werewolf helmsman. The man agreed to take me across the channel for a sum of money but warned me that there was a forecast of heavy rain and slightly turbulent seas. I didn’t protest, joining the half a dozen other passengers and climbing into the rickety old boat, trying not to flinch at the way the wood groaned and protested the added weight.

This wasn’t a vacation. i had a job to do.

What I hadn’t expected , as i stepped out of the boat three and a half hours later , soaked to the bone from the endless rain and mildly terrified from all the leering and name calling from the weres on board, was Kim Taehyung standing at the entrance to the dock , his eyes flashing with disbelief

Taehyung’s eyes narrowed.

“What on earth were you thinking?” He growled striding over to grab my arm, yanking so hard he nearly wrenched it out of its socket. i whimpered, clutching my bag tighter to my chest, scared of dropping it into the water as he bodily dragged me out of the boat and into the wooden platform .

Taehyung let me go but not before giving me a little shake of anger.

“Don’t you know how dangerous it is to travel alone with unmated weres? Are you looking to get raped?” He snarled. I flushed, shaking my head and smoothing my crinkled blouse.

“I have to give this report at the center.” i said through gritted teeth. There was going to be a nasty bruise on my arm. I wanted to rub the skin there but I didn’t want to draw attention to it.

“You’re not even a doctor here. i checked.” He frowned and I swallowed.

“I’m a lab Tech in the mainland lab. I work on the preserve four days a week and then head to the mainland to analyse and compile the results. I left this morning and I’m supposed to report back by 9.00 “

It was already a little past 11.00 PM.

Taehyung growled.

“the security is still under lockdown and-”

“Daddy!!” A voice said out of nowhere and I peered over his shoulders.

A young girl, about 4 or five years old came hurtling across the slippery wooden planks of the platform, her arms thrown up and eyes wide with unshed tears. Taehyung’s face softened in a flash and he held his arms out quickly, crouching down to hug the girl as she crashed into his chest.

“Luna...what are you doing here?” He sounded confused as he glanced over at the gate, where a harried looking woman was stuffing her umbrella into it s cover, looking upset and angry.

“Kim Luna, what have I told you about running on the streets!” She said shrilly and Luna groaned burrowing deeper into her fathers chest.

i stood there feeling ridiculously endeared by the whole scene.

“She wouldn’t listen Mr. Kim... Apparently, you promised her you would be home before dinner and she refused to go to bed . My shift at the brewery starts in two hours, i need to head home.” The lady gave me a cursory glance but turned back to Taehyung.

Taehyung sighed and straightened, his daughter wrapped around him as he reached for his wallet. He fumbled a bit , unable to balance the child and said, “ Lulu, sweetheart could you get down for a minute so I can pay Ms. Lee?”

Luna pulled away from his neck, suddenly staring right at me and holding her arms out. i stared, completely thrown, instinctively holding my hands out. She all but leapt into my arms, chubby arms and legs wrapping around me as she quickly buried her nose into my neck.

“you smell nice.” she sniffed some more.

i stared, horrified, at Taehyung who looked like he’d been stuck by lightning.

“I...it’s alright.” My voice cracked a little. “ You can pay her.. and i’ll just....” hold your beautiful baby daughter, oh my god, what is happening, right now?!!.

Taehyung hastily pulled out his wallet, handing over money to Ms Lee who looked amused . Once she had left , Taehyung turned back to me but Luna kept her arms tight around me.

“Baby, You need to let go..” Taehyung sounded a little strangled and Luna merely sniffled.

“No. She smells nice. She smells like mommy.” She said brightly.

i felt blood rush to my face, so fast that i almost felt dizzy.

Something like pain flashed across Taehyung’s face and he bit his lips before reaching out and gently pulling her arms away from me.

“Luna, you need to let her go now.” He said sternly and as if on command, the huge doe eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t you want me?” She cried out staring right at me and my heart lurched.

“I’m.. No.. i mean yes.. I mean... You’re so beautiful...” i said helplessly. Luna frowned like she really didn’t care for the compliment.

“Whats your name?” She said sharply , refusing to stay in her father’s hold and climbing down to stand closer to me..

“Rae... My name’s Mirae.” I said softly. She gave me a small smile.

“Will you come play with me?”

“Alright, Luna, that’s enough. She’s not like...” He glanced at me , his eyes hardening again. I realised what he wanted to say. She’s not like us. Meaning , not a were. i felt a shaft of pain at that . Did he think that just because i was a human, i would hurt his daughter??

“ She’s from a different place. she has to go back tonight.” He finished.

Luna gave me a soft smile. Then her eyes brightened up.

“My mommy’s gone to another place too” She said cheerfully “ In the sky. She’s there with the angels...right daddy?? “ She glanced at Taehyung who looked stunned. “ Are you going there too? Do you know her??” She asked eagerly.

Okay, this was just too much of emotion for a day, i thought miserably , as tears prickled before i could even control myself.

“No, sweetheart. I don’t know your mother. But i’m sure she was a lovely lady, seeing as she made someone as lovely as you.” i lightly booped her nose. Apparently, that was the right thing to say, because she giggled happily, smiling shyly and hiding behind her father’s legs.

“It’s getting late. We should leave.” Taehyung said softly and his voice cracked a little. i didn’t look at him.

“You should finish whatever you came here for and talk to your superiors about transferring out of your job. There are qualified weres here on the island who could replace you. “ Taehyung said stiffly. “ You should go back to your family.”

i didn’t argue, merely nodding and staring at Luna. She really was beautiful, wide eyed and happy, with bouncy brown curls and soulful honey eyes.

And Taehyung was wrong. i din’t have a family to go back to. I was an orphan and my adoptive father had long disowned me. My brother was 3000 miles away and my apartment in Seoul was going to be renovated next week. i’d hoped to move into the Preserve permanently, because at the least I had friends here.

But apparently, Kim Taehyung with his myriad of political connections wasn’t feeling generous enough to let me make a home for myself.

I glanced back up at him and he looked away, refusing to meet my eyes. Luna made a move to move closer to me but he held her back.

“Good night Mirae ssi.” He said stiffly, pulling her up into his arms and walking away quickly.

Luna waved cheerfully over her father’s shoulders, even blowing me a kiss with her chubby little fists. i stared after the pair till they disappeared around the corner.

Suddenly, everything seemed way too gloomy. My wet , dripping clothes. The gentle wind that was starting to pick up. I sighed deeply, the cold seeping into my bones as i trudged wearily to the gateway.

I had a job to do. Those kids needed me.

#taehyung smut #taehyung fics #bts fics #bts taehyung #bts smut #bts v #bts werewolf au #taehyung werewolf #taehyung x reader #taehyung imagine #taehyung scenario #bts fic #bts fanfic #bts kim taetae

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years

Text

Αιώνια αγάπη(DT AU), pt. 6

06: In Art We Trust

Summary: After losing their house, the Kappa’s learn of bylaws the original Kappa’s refused to follow. Leading them into a new tomorrow, Y/N finds herself in over her head with two men who no longer hide their intentions from her.

Warnings: angst

Word count: ~ 3000

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Αιώνια αγάπη (DT Modern Greek god/frat! AU) MASTERLIST

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Special thanks to @mutuallynotmutual for being in the story as Alyssa, @leonardo-da-vinsheep as Perry and @daddygraysonsbitch as Sara, with special mentions of @godlydolans as Yashi.

Also a big thank you to @grungegrant for drawing Grayson as Apollo

Shocked, worried, a little lost. It’s barely enough to describe what Y/N felt once she grabbed what was left of her things and pulled it to the KDR porch. She watched the billowing smoke color the night sky in all shades of grey, the flames engulfing what she saw as home for the first time since her mother passed.

Her bottom lip quivered, the corners of her eyes wrinkling along with her forehead. She furrowed her eyebrows, sending herself into a state of numbness to survive the collapsing future her mother always nudged her toward. Her heartbreak could be heard from miles away if one would just stop and listen, yet she let not a single sob escape her.

“Oh my God, are you okay?!” Alyssa cupped Y/N’s face, following the tracks her tears made as they cleaned a path through smoke mattered cheeks.

“Yeah.” Y/N breaths out.

I’m not, she thinks.

“Grayson fucking Dolan kissed you.” Alyssa whisper shouts, giggling.

“I would be out of it too.” She winks, deciding to take the bad and push it down to let the good in and in Alyssa’s mind that kiss was a pot of gold.

It snapped Y/N back to reality, her eyes widening once she remembered Grayson, THE GRAYSON, followed her into the fire and helped her save her mother’s painting and much more. And yes, he kissed her. He kissed her and took the very breath from her lungs and she could barely form words to describe how heavenly his kiss felt, but she couldn’t afford to do that anyway. One whiff of what happened and Blair would have her out of the Kappas before she has a chance to utter an apology.

“I won’t tell. Promise.” Alyssa must have noticed her distress, immediately putting her fears to rest and giving a reason to love her more. It was so clear she was going to be someone Y/N keeps in her life for a lot longer than college lasts.

“Thank you.” Y/N smiled, leaning into Alyssa as they watched the firemen try and salvage what is left of their beloved sorority house.

“I’m still super jelly.” Alyssa whispers under her breath, making Y/N cackle and lightly slap her arm to stop.

Even when dawn came in to announce a new day, the smoke had painted the skies a dull mix of black and grey, the fire just dying out.

The girls stood outside, most in their skimpy party dresses, some still drunk or just sobering up.

They were all called back to the Dean’s office, fifteen of them needed inside.

“I’ll keep your stuff safe.” Grayson mouths, trying to be inconspicuous. He got a small smile for his effort, one he took as a win considering how angry she looked when their kiss broke.

Once the Dean called them in, all of them gathered, some crying for their things and others for food.

“There will be an investigation to determine the reason why this fire happened. I expect the fire marshal to have news for me this or tomorrow afternoon. I know you girls are scared, hungry, tired and homeless as of now. The bylaws are clear on how we proceed next. You’re moving into the fraternity next door as they are your brother fraternity and they are willing to help.” The Dean announced, looking at all the gobsmacked girls nearly faint with his decision.

“But we’re not allowed to mix with KDRs.” Sara chuckles, looking at Blair who resembles a drowned rat more than the supposedly fabulous leader she claimed to be. Y/N could tell Sara is purposely pushing Blair’s buttons, hoping she’ll explode. It’s obvious no one really likes the blonde tyrant.

“There must be a mistake.” Blair practically growls, making Y/N roll her eyes and step forward to the Dean’s desk. Graciously, she turns to her Kappa sisters.

“Kappa sisters. I may be a freshman and have no knowledge of what the KDRs are like, but I sure as hell know I don’t want to be homeless. I’m sure we can withstand a year with the guys while the Dean calls in the rich alumni for generous donations.” Y/N glances over her shoulder with a smirk, knowing she just made sure the Dean has to take on this project.

“Now, be a dignified Kappa sister and turn these lemons into lemonade.”

“Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” Perry confirms, standing with Y/N on her statement before Blair has a chance to throw a tantrum that would lose the girls their home.

Standing ovation for a few words? Well, Y/N didn’t expect that either, but she didn’t shy away from it like she usually did. Instead, she courtesies with a smile, joining Alyssa, Sara and Perry in the middle of their group and leads the sisters out. Doing so, she missed the glare Blair sent her way, not knowing Blair had witnessed her indiscretion just as Alyssa did.

The girls gathered before the frat with a signed decree of sorts from the Dean, ordering the frats to make room for them.

To their surprise, the guys welcomed them with arms wide open and understanding smiles, letting them into their homes without any issues.

Grayson and Ethan practically materialized from thin air to welcome Y/N, wanting to make sure she’s alright but each with their own hidden agenda.

They started the fire.

That voice returned, scaring Y/N into a small jump, making her look around wildly.

I’m losing my mind, she thought with her heart still beating fast.

“You good?” Ethan asks, biting his lower lip lightly.

While he did start the fire, he never knew she’d be crazy enough to run into a burning building. It made his senses go into overdrive, slightly pushing him to guilt, mostly because he hated the frown upon her beautiful lips. The same lips his brother had kissed and he had yet to taste them.

In the few hours he had of Grayson pestering him for taking such a supposedly unnecessary risk, explaining she could have been killed almost stopped his heart altogether.

But she didn’t die and my plan is working, he tells himself.

“Fine.” She responds absentmindedly, her gaze wandering in an attempt to find the source of the voice in her head instead of constantly being scared she’s lost her senses.

“I, uh, took the liberty of putting an extra bed in my room for you if that’s not too awkward.” Grayson rubs the back of his neck nervously, watching her closely because she not only scared the shit out if him, but also nearly died for a few boxes and a painting. He didn’t understand the obsession mortals have about earthly things that belonged to those who were not in this world anymore, but he wanted to. He needed to.

“Our room, he means.” Ethan corrects his brother, reminding him he too is moving in because there is not a chance in hell he will let them share a bedroom. It would be a sure recipe for his defeat.

“We put three brothers in a single room to give every bed we could to the girls, but one still has to share a room with us and we thought it could be you.” Grayson explains, clearing his throat awkwardly as she stares up at him with her doe eyes through those thick, long eyelashes.

“Okay.” Y/N’s eyes flicker from one brother to the other suspiciously, thinking she’s definitely going to lose her mind now. Sharing a bedroom with twins who look like perfection? Easy, right?

Clapping his hands confidently, Grayson encases her right hand in his and pulls her inside.

The house itself is a lot neater than Y/N imagined a frat would be, the colors blending in different shades of white and green, KDR written in gold in the foyer.

Ethan takes her free hand, moving her along as well and although she should take control and retract her hands, she lets them lead her up the stairs.

One look around is enough for her to see all her sisters are being shown to their rooms by the guys, none of them fighting contact either.

Contact is comforting in this case, a necessary dash of heaven mixed with a lick of hell’s fire. One she would die to feel upon her skin all the time if that was an option.

Entering their shared bedroom, Y/N’s lips curl up, noticing it’s the same room she watched Grayson in from the other side of the window. There was a whole part she couldn’t see, the same one that now had two beds, several blank canvases and paint around, only one covered up from curious eyes.

Naturally, it sparked her interest.

“You, uh…paint?” Y/N took a few uncertain steps toward the covered painting, glancing at a sweaty Grayson who looked like he would rather swim with sharks than show her what’s under.

“I dabble.” He nods his head faintly, glancing at Ethan who pushed a few boxes to a bed he decided would be his.

“Can I see?” She quirked an eyebrow, watching Grayson turn into a nervous wreck.

“Ethan, help me out here?” She calls on the silent twin.

“Don’t be a lite bitch, Gray. Show her.” Ethan teased, joining in. He’ll take any chance to talk to her and he wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.

Without permission, Ethan unveiled the painting himself, turning with a grin toward her but instead of a smile he found Y/N to be pale and she stumbles, falling to her knees when Grayson jumps in to catch her. The thud is barely heard, significantly lessened by Grayson’s quick reaction.

“W-who is that?” Y/N muttered, her voice shaky and breaking. Ethan frowned, matching the confused look on Grayson’s face.

“How I envision Hecate.” Grayson answers, hearing Y/N gulp. It’s a half truth, one he can’t be honest about quite yet as that is not how he envisioned Hecate…because that is Hecate.

But to Y/N, that was the demon in her dreams and now reality. The one that haunts her, driving her to insanity.

“Our talk inspired me to paint her.” Grayson explains, gently lifting her off the ground and into his lap, his hand pushing her hair back from her face only to rest it on her left cheek.

Ethan nearly growled, the intimacy they show right before his eyes only awakening his demons. He was the one who found her, recognized her. He was the one who gave her space to be who she is while he crawls through her veins and to her heart in a slower pace because he cared enough not to overwhelm her. He was the one who saved her Kappa status while Apollo put it at risk by claiming her lips in front of everyone to see. And he was the one who committed a felony to get her under the same roof, hence giving them a chance to be closer than they’d ever get had he not done the hard thing. He always does the dirty work, but Apollo always reaps the rewards. How is that fair?

“Y/N.” Ethan bends down, putting all his weight on one knee, setting himself beside her.

“Why are you so scared?” His words are like water, encasing her with their calming, gentle touch which is absolutely anything but what she thought it would be. Ethan always seemed like a sea at storm, raging, ravishing in all he does. Passionate, ravaging, taking all until you’re sure you’ll be forever lost. She never saw him as the calm in her own storm, as the anchor he dropped with a few softly spoken words, but he took on the role so naturally she could only trust him and let the doubts go.

“I can’t explain it.” Her voice still shaky, her eyes darting from the painting to Ethan’s face like she wants to confide, but is terrified what they’ll think of her. But Ethan knew…he knew she must be as haunted as Yashi was with one significantly important difference; Yashi wasn’t scared of Athena. Then again Hecate wasn’t some wisdom filled goddess who sat in her temple and allowed supreme gods to rape her loyal worshipers only to have them turned to monsters like she did with Medusa. Hecate was darkness, the other side of the golden coin - the one no one messed with unless absolutely needed.

“Whatever you say right now won’t change the the fact I wholeheartedly care for you and want you to feel safe.” Ethan states without a batting an eye, honest to a fault and prepared to do anything for her.

“I will keep you safe.” Ethan adds for good measure, emphasizing the I so much so she blinked once, fast like she didn’t believe her ears.

How can she be so blind to my affections, Hermes wondered.

“I know.” Her lips curve into a small smile, one barely visible to those who don’t pay attention to every change in her attitude. He’d never miss it.

“I, uh. I dream of her. See her I think. That same exact woman from your painting.” She glances at Apollo at the last bit, biting on her lip before gnawing at the inside of her bottom one.

The words spread ice in their veins, both brothers frozen in their fear. It meant their chance at winning her over is dwindling to nothing if they don’t act fast, Apollo now grateful for Hermes’ extreme measures. If Hecate is already invading Y/N’s mind, it’s only a matter of time before she tells her the truth about them and that cannot happen. She needs to hear it from them. But she’s not ready yet, they both know that. She had yet to express any affection for them. That’s a must as they can use it to convince her to stay.

“That’s very unusual, but maybe you saw it before? You room has a great view of mine.” Grayson tries, seeing the disappointment and doubt in her eyes; disappointment about his disbelief and although she can’t hold it against him because it’s a probable alternative, but the fact he found an alternative instead of just believing her is unpleasant feeling on it’s own.

“I’m sure she’d know if she had seen it before.” Ethan snaps, voice dripping with sarcasm and annoyance, giving Y/N cause to smile, again with the smallest of smiles, almost minuscule but present nonetheless. He took it as a win anyway, happy to have something because so far he got nothing.

“We’ll figure it out. But you should take a shower and sleep a little, we’ll be here when you wake up. I’ll be in the bed right next to yours.” Ethan takes her hand, clasping it in his in order to help her up and away from his brother’s lap because he never, not even for a second forgot she was situated next to Apollo’s junk.

Grateful, she nods and takes his hand and the offer to help.

While the water ran, drowning out the world around her, the twins stood in their room with faces red and eyes dark.

“Hecate is going to influence her and if we don’t step up our game, she’s lost to us.” Hermes states, his hands steady on his hips, his shoulders slacking as is his back.

“Well, thanks to you, we have her with us for now. We can use that to our advantage.” Apollo runs his chin and the slight stubble growing with his impatience. He couldn’t handle this not working out. And yes, he started to care for the human, unexpectedly so, but his wish to go home fueled him to deceive her further and if that ended up with him kissing her again…who was he to fight such small pleasures?

“Is that an apology I smell, brother?” Hermes smirks, poking Apollo’s bicep.

Apollo groans, running a hand over his face, nodding.

“You did good.” Apollo mutters, hating himself for commending such behavior but as it turns out, the risk really was necessary. He couldn’t lie.

“Awee. Finally!” Hermes raises both his arms in the air, genuinely enjoying Apollo’s recognition and enlightenment.

“Also, I’m taking her on a date tomorrow.” Hermes tosses that one in, making Apollo’s eyes widen. His heart jumped and the cage around it grew smaller until it crushed the soft tissue. Apollo felt his skin growing warmer, his fists tighter and his want to punch his brother confused him. He had never felt like that before.

“When did you ask?” Apollo questions, his jaw clenched.

“Now.” Hermes smirks turning on his heel once the bathroom door opens and a dressed, fresh Y/N appears on the doorstep.

“Wanna go out for an adventure with me?” Hermes raises his brow, noticing Y/N freeze, tensing up but also relaxing moments after. She looks to Apollo, noticing him turning redder, but he didn’t object so why would she?

“Yes.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Tags: @mutuallynotmutual @lanadeldolans @xalayx @accalialionheart @gia-kerks @historyheart @heeydolan @heyits-claire @daddygraysonsbitch @fallinginlove-16 @lanadeldolans @beautifulfound @thearachna-kid @dinnerwiththedolans @graydolan12 @justanotherfangurl272 @dxlansfxck @godlydolans @flowery-dolan

#ethan dolan #grayson dolan #dolan twins #ethan dolan x reader #grayson dolan x reader #dolan twins greek god au #GREEK GOD AU #apollo #hermes #dolan twins au #ethan dolan au #grayson dolan au #Greek Mythology

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iamartemisday · 5 years

Text

Pepperony Week Day Six- Endgame Fix-It

A/N: This story is loosely based on the NGE fic, The Second Try by Jimmy Wolk.

It all came down to this.

Which was such a damn cliche, he wanted to smack himself for even thinking it. The truth was the truth, though, and Tony Stark was nothing if not honest.

Ever since New York, the chitauri, Ultron, those damn Accords, everything had led him to this moment. Right here, with infinite power at his disposal and one purple son of a bitch to kill.

"I am inevitable," Thanos said. Yeah, sure. Inevitably ugly.

Oh, he was good.

The worst part was knowing Pepper was watching. Pepper and Rhodey and Peter. At least Morgan would never have to see this, even if she would grow up in a world without him.

It had to be this way. Just one chance to save the universe. One out of fourteen million.

'It's hard being number one,' he thought, almost with a laugh.

"And I… am…" Talking hurt, moving hurt, everything hurt, but he had to say it. "Ironman."

The world stood still. Another cliche. The time between the snap and the impact felt like years. He saw it all, Morgan's birth, Pepper's face at their wedding, Rhodey carrying him, half-starved, to bed, Peter's body dissolving in his arms, space, the donut ship, so many battles, so many wars, so much chaos and loss, so much pain.

'I wish it never happened,' he thought, filling his thoughts with only Morgan, her sweet little face. He'd never see her again. 'I wish I could've watched you grow up.'

Light and energy exploded, tearing his body to pieces, and then it was over.

Tony Stark closed his eyes.

"Tony?"

He opened his eyes. He was on a jet carrier, banking left as they picked up altitude. Rhodey was next to him. At least, it looked like Rhodey. Tony had to blink a few times to be sure. This Rhodey was at least a decade younger than the one he knew. His leg braces were gone. Instead, he wore a standard military uniform.

"Hey, wake up," he said. "We're almost there."

Tony blinked. He tried to move his right arm but it was caught in a sling. "Almost… where?"

Rhodey furrowed his brow, studying Tony like a doctor. He should've known how much Tony hated that. "Home. Should only be another ten minutes."

Tony's pocket beeped. He jumped like he'd been hit with a cattle prod. Steadying himself, he reached into his pants and pulled out the clunky flip phone he used ten years ago.

It was Obadiah.

Obadiah Stane was calling him.

At the corner of the screen was the date.

"Oh my God." The phone clattered to the floor, landing on just the right button to reject the call. Tony shot to his feet, but Rhodey was faster.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"This isn't right." Tony's had snapped in every direction, seeking something, anything. He didn't even know what. There was no fire anywhere. No debris. No Thanos. "This… this can't be happening…"

"Tony, calm down." Rhodey forced him back in his seat, keeping a firm hold on his shoulders. "Look at me. You're out, okay? You're safe. We're not going back to Afghanistan ever again."

"Afghan…" Tony inhaled until his lungs ached. His heart pounded so hard, his ears hurt. The phone rang again. It was a number he didn't know, but the date was still the same.

May 3rd, 2008.

The plane landed in an airport. He couldn't remember which. The ramp descended and Rhodey supported him on the way back to solid ground. Pepper was waiting for him. Her hair up, her outfit clean, her eyes red and shiny. She looked exactly like she had the day he came home from captivity.

'Today is the day you came home from captivity,' he told himself, though he could hardly believe it.

This had to be a dying dream, one last trick from the stones to lull him off to eternal sleep. Any second now, his vision would go dark. He'd be back in the burning rubble of what should've been his second home, surrounded by the people he still, after everything, considered his friends. He'd be right back to dying for the good of the universe and hoping only to hear a certain voice one more time.

A voice which belonged to the woman standing before him, solid and real. Everything around him was real. From the tarmac to Rhodey's hand to Pepper's wet smile.

"Hey Pep," he choked, remembering his old line but unable to speak it. "I… hey…"

"Hey," she said. "Glad you're back. I hate job-hunting."

A sob tore from his throat as his knees finally gave. His body was far too light, and Pepper's knees barely buckled as he fell against her. Tony would apologize later, or maybe never. He wasn't as sorry as he should've been.

He just needed to feel her.

"This is real," he muttered, his whole body trembling. "This is real. How is this real? I didn't-"

"Maybe we should get him to the hospital." Rhodey tried to speak softly, but Tony heard every word.

"No! No hospitals." He found the strength to let Pepper go. "Please… I just want…"

'I want an American cheeseburger... and the other-'

'That's enough of that.'

'It's not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference.'

The words were in his head like a movie script. He knew how to say them, what inflictions to use. He had everything but the gumption to speak. His stomach revolted at the thought of a rice cracker, let alone greasy fast food. His bold new direction had to happen one way or another, but did he have to announce it today?

Tony looked at Pepper, all subtle signs of aging gone from her face. Her crinkle-less eyes were as wide as they'd been before Extremis. They were full of concern for him and he could barely take it.

"I just want to go home."

The Malibu house was smaller than he remembered. The roof didn't slope like he thought it did and he spent twenty minutes searching for the east wing before remembering it wouldn't be built for another two years.

Though Pepper and Rhodey both argued Tony had stood firm. He didn't need a doctor. At least, not that kind. Tony checked every database in the country for Stephen Strange and found his man in a Manhattan hospital. He was an up and coming star in the surgery world. His operations were pure artistry. People came from miles away just to have a meeting with him. He'd been interviewed on the five o'clock news last month, and it was clear he knew exactly how brilliant and important he was.

But he wasn't magic. Not yet.

Now Tony had nothing to do but stare at the upside-down door to his basement lab. The blood was rushing to his head and he should probably sit up, but every time he thought about it, all the energy he'd built up evaporated. In the corner of his eye was the piano. His mother used to play it for him, now Obie did.

He was going to have to get that evidence against Obadiah. Put him in jail for a few thousand years and maybe make it a clean process. Lying, murderous prick that he was, Tony didn't really want to kill him again.

He'd have to deal with Ivan Vanko, though. And Aldrich Killian. And HYDRA. Had to keep the Maximoffs away from those assholes. Had to find Bruce before Ross did. Had to get Steve out of the ice. Had to get Barnes out of the ice. Had to keep an eye on Peter. He'd be seven years old now, give or take.

He'd have to be Pepper's boss again. Nothing but a boss...

Tony pressed the base of his hands into his eyes, but the dull throbbing wouldn't stop. "Friday, dim the lights."

"Excuse me, sir?"

Tony sat up, searching for an intruder before the voice registered. "Uh, right. JARVIS, I… I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm saying."

"As you didn't the other three times, I'm sure."

"Watch it," Tony pointed at the control panel. "I gave you sarcasm, I can take it away."

"Of course, sir. My apologies."

Tony's smile broke. How he'd managed it at all was a mystery he'd never solve. "No, don't apologize, buddy. I uh… I wanted to tell you how much I… I mean, you do so much. You're one hell of an AI."

"I should be, sir. You designed me."

"No, not that. I mean, yes, I did, but… I just appreciate everything you've done for me, JARVIS. I wanted you to know that. I… I appreciate you and I…"

'I love you 3000.'

He'd been hearing that voice since he woke up. Seeing her face in his mind's eye. When he entered the house, he half expected her to rush out of her room and run into his arms. He would've held her and rocked her until the end of the world.

But he didn't, because Morgan Stark didn't have a room in the Malibu house.

Morgan Stark didn't exist.

He avoided that realization for so long as it chipped away at him. Her absence was a hole in his heart that would never be filled. Not until she was conceived again. If she was conceived again. The odds of getting the exact timing twice, with a ten-year window in between, were astronomical. No calculator in the world could figure that number out.

And this was real.

Tony curled into a ball and cried. He hadn't really cried in so long. The last time, Pepper held him all night and talked him through it. This time, he was alone. Pepper didn't know him as her husband and the father of her child. He was a philandering asshole who just so happened to sign her paychecks. She wouldn't be there in the morning for him to kiss awake. She wouldn't go to bed with him at night and tell him she loved him. They wouldn't eat breakfast in the morning with their little girl and talk about the day ahead.

To think, his biggest concern used to be finding the right size muffler for whatever car he was restoring.

What a piece of shit he'd been.

"Why would you do this to me?" He stared at the ceiling. Most of the stones were in space right now, so it would have to do. "You couldn't just blow Thanos and his boy band to kingdom come and kill me? That's all I asked for."

Except it wasn't.

'I wish it never happened.' He said that to himself while the power of the universe coursed through his veins. Hearing his thoughts and concluding exactly what he meant by 'it' wouldn't be difficult for an ancient force that could destroy entire universes in the blink of an eye.

"That's great," Tony mumbled, laughing even as fresh tears welled up. "Really great, guys. Remember how I also wished I could watch her grow up? Can't do that if she's never born, now can I? Did you think of that?"

"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt your… internal discussion." Tony snorted. JARVIS continued. "I've just received a message from the caretaker of your summer home in Georgia. There is a slight situation."

Tony sighed, staring at nothing. "What kind of situation?"

"Well sir, he was doing a routine inspection of the property and he found a young girl sleeping in one of the guest rooms. She's claiming it's her room and that she's your daughter."

The bottom dropped out of the world. All sounds and sights fell away. If there was ever a moment for Tony to wake up in a battlefield ready to die, it was now.

"What does she look like?" Tony waved but no holoscreens appeared. Because he hadn't put them in yet. "Did he send photos?"

"I only have the report, sir. She calls herself Morgan and reportedly will not stop asking for you. The caretaker wanted to inform you of the matter before contacting child services."

"NO!" Tony grabbed his coat. "Tell him not to call anyone, just keep her there and wait for me. And get the jet ready for takeoff. We're leaving in ten minutes."

"Sir, I-"

"Just do it, JARVIS!"

Tony broke every speed limit imaginable and possibly the laws of physics to get to the airport in under five minutes. The radio was off. His phone was under a pillow somewhere at home. He'd stopped asking questions. 'Because Infinity Stones' would just have to do.

As he boarded the plane, he took one more look at the sky. "We're not done yet."

Somewhere deep inside himself, he almost felt that buzz of heat and power.

Time for round two.

#Pepperony #pepperony week #pepperonyweek19 #Tony Stark #Pepper Potts #endgame fix it

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years

Text

05/04/2020 DAB Transcript

Judges 19:1-20:48, John 3:22-4:3, Ps 104:24-35, Pr 14:22-23

Today is the 4th day of the month of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we move into our first full week of this brand-new month, the fifth month of the year. And we…we have been taking a journey through the book of Judges. And simply by way of reminder, you know, we…we’ve followed the journey of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then Joseph in slavery in Egypt and wandering in the wilderness and finally we got to Joshua and crossed the Jordan River and the settling of the Promised Land. And judges is the story of the several centuries that followed Joshua and the way in which the people without a like…like a supreme leader, they did what they thought was right in their own eyes, which has definitely created a different way of doing things and we see the children of Israel back and forth and back and forth with God and with their enemies and those surrounding them. And today we get to a rather troubling story. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Judges, chapters 19 and 20 today.

Commentary:

Okay. What a troubling, disconcerting, horrible convoluted mess of a story we have going on in the book of Judges today. Really, at least in my opinion, one of the most horrific stories that we could find in the Bible and this is a story that's really old, thousands of years old. So, like trying to read it through modern lenses makes it even more convoluted. So, we have like to set that aside for a second and go back in time and try to move through this story to make any kind of sense of it. We have this man who lives in the remote Hill country of Ephraim who makes his way to Bethlehem and meets a concubine, takes a concubine, a secondary wife or a common-law wife. Like, this is about as close as we could…could get. And we can look at that go, “yeah, not so much because that's not really in the cultures that we live in although it's in the world.” But, like I said, we have to like, set aside our 3000 year in the future judgment against an ancient culture and just go, “this is the story. Like, this is what…I'm not judging it with 3000 more years of history in a completely different culture in a completely different part of the world. I’m just looking at the story.” So, this was common in this time. So, he has a concubine, brings her home. Things don't work out. She leaves, she returns to Bethel have. Four months later, he follows her to Bethlehem to renew the relationship to reconcile. The woman's father welcomes him. They spend days eating and drinking and visiting and getting reacquainted together then they’re ready to leave and she's ready to leave with him, but the father, right, the guys father-in-law basically, he's like, “stay another day…stay another day” and he keeps doing this until finally, even though they had planned to leave a couple days ago and even though they had planned to leave first thing in the morning they end up leaving a few days later in the evening like as the day is well underway. And, so, they leave Bethlehem, they get past Jebus, which is Jerusalem, that's 6 miles and then they go another few miles to Gibeah because they want to stay in an Israelite controlled town. And I don’t have to retell this blow-by-blow, we just we just read it. They are taken in by an older man who happens to be from the same kind of area in Ephraim that this original man is from. So, they have this going on and they go to his house. The house is surrounded. All kinds of nastiness is about to take place. It's very, very reminiscent of some of the depictions of the story in Sodom and Gomorrah, which is an ancient story by this time. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah goes all the way back to Abraham's time, so we’re well into the future but there are similarities here. They want the guest. They want the man, the man from Ephraim, they want him to be sent out so that…well…probably…as he claims later, so that they can kill him, but it seems as if they wanted to do other things before they killed him. So, as it turns out the concubine that had left in the first place, she's shoved out the door and over the course of the rest of the evening raped to death, which is shocking. And we find this in the Bible and it’s like some of these other stories where we’re like, “wait a second. This is the Bible. What is going on? Where is God in this story?” So, let's pause for a second and just ask that question. “Where is God in this story?” Because up to this point in the story we would be hard-pressed to find Him anywhere in this story. None of the things that are happening in this story were commanded by God. He wasn't involved in any way. The man met a concubine. He took her. He took her home. She left him. He followed her. Like there's no angels in this story telling anybody what to do. They reconcile. They leave. Why didn't they leave in the morning? Why didn’t they leave in the morning when they could get all the way home? God didn’t tell them to stay. The woman's father compelled them to stay, even days longer than they had planned to stay. Where’s God? Like why is this His fault? This is what we do in these kinds of stories and try to go, “I don't understand this, but it's very disruptive and troubling, and it's in the Bible so this has gotta be God's fault.” And yet He's not telling anybody to do anything. The story that we began today begins by informing us that in those times Israel had no king. So, it’s like as the story's beginning, we’re being kind of told, “this is a crazy time. This is a very unsettled time.” And we are told over and over in the book of Judges, “everybody does what's right in their own eyes.” And, so, what we have unfolding before us in this story isn't some horrific things that have happened at God's instructions. What we're seeing is what it looks like when people do what they think is right in their own eyes. And we can be…I mean…like the story goes on, that the man takes the woman's body and cuts her up and sends pieces of her to all the 12 tribes of Israel. Like it's a gruesome kind of story, but it certainly got the attention of all the 12 tribes who assembled together. So, we can look at the story and go, “This is a horrific story and I don't know how I have to feel towards God. And how can…what kind of weird time did these people live in? And how could they let people get away with something like this?” But that isn't the story. As these gruesome parts of this woman's body are sent around the nation, the nation assembles together with a massive outcry against injustice, literally saying nothing…nothing…like nothing this horrible has happened in Israel and they assemble 400,000 people against 25,000 people and they’re demanding of the Benjaminite’s, “give us the perpetrators. They need to be executed for what they did.” So, less we think like this is just permitted, like this kind of behavior is permitted, even in ancient culture, there is a massive outcry against this. So, the other tribes go to Bethel where the Ark of the covenant is. This is where we’re for the first time hearing here of God in this in this story and He's telling them that they have…that they have to go and attack Benjamin like that justice has to be pursued here. And they do. And Benjamin is a victorious and over 20,000 people die. And, so, they’re back in Bethel going, “what did we do wrong? What do we do? Do we keep going?” And the Lord's like, “attack them again.” So, like, even though they lost, God is saying, “no. Continue to press. Like press in toward justice here.” And they do and they lose again. And they go back to the Lord and the Lord’s like, “press in again” they will be delivered into your hands tomorrow.” And, so, like in all of this battle and stuff, in all this anarchy of the whole thing there’s still a beat in between here. Like repentance can happen in all of this destruction, but it isn't meant to be. The Benjaminite’s remain rebellious in this situation, and as it turns out are utterly destroyed. We leave the story today with 600 people left in Benjamin. Like an entire tribe of Israel through Civil War because of the violent horrific unthinkable crime has basically made the 12 tribes of Israel 11 tribes of Israel. As we continue this story through tomorrow and then, even as this, the reverberations of this story kind of bounce their way all the way until we get into the times of the Kings, we’ll see that even a horrific story like this one does turn its arc toward repentance, towards restoration, towards some kind of hope. But are we left with to contemplate today in such…such a troubling story? The first thing that we can say is that God didn't ask for this story to ever take place. One of the major things that the book of Judges shows us because it says it all the time is that there was no king, like there was no supreme leader and everybody was doing their own thing. So, one of things that we can say is that this is what that looks like. Then if we backtrack that into our own lives we realize that following our own way, doing whatever it is that seems to be the right thing in the moment, whatever, can lead us into some very disorienting twisted scenario's, which leads us to the other thing we can say about this. We saw the systematic decisions that were being made in this story, right? The man meets a concubine. That's a decision. Takes her to Ephraim. That's a decision. She leaves him. That's a decision. He follows her. That's a decision. They reconcile. That’s a decision. They overstay what their plans were. That's a decision. They left late instead of the morning. That's a decision. They went to Gibeah instead of Jebus even though it was getting late. That's a decision. Once they were in danger the man gave his concubine up to the crowd. That's a horrible decision but it's a decision. So, we could say that our decision's, our choices, even the ones that seem completely insignificant actually do matter. Things build upon things that build upon things that build upon things that then build our lives. And Judges is in part, helping us see what that looks like when it runs amok and everybody's doing what they want no matter the consequences it might have.

Prayer:

Father we invite You into this. It is indeed a troubling story and it's gonna take some time for us to continue reading before we can find any hope in it. We have watched in this story, seemingly insignificant decisions compound themselves into Civil War and the destruction of many lives. And, so, we see the danger of walking away or drifting away, assuming it doesn't matter and just going our own way. We see not only in this story but throughout the book of Judges that's not true. What we do actually does matter. That's how our lives are formed, based on the choices that we make and the actions that we take because of those choices. And, so, we pause here. Our story isn’t leading us down the path of a horrific story like this one, but it is no less twisted when we go our own way. So, come Holy Spirit. Lead us into all truth. Give us eyes to see the narrow path that leads to life. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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The Initiative section is kind of what's going on.

The Shop is some resources for the journey through the Bible in a year.

And, so, yeah check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then it's…it's like I'm taking off my hat and holding it in my hands just to say thank you, like I'm humbled, humbled just about every day that we’re still here…like that we’re here as a community and this campfire is roaring and we’re making this journey together. If it has been a life-giving thing to you then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage, at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

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i-am-a-closet-fanfic-fiend · 5 years

Text

First Choice ~ Steve Rogers x Reader One shot (Modern!AU)

A/N: Hello my lovelies!! Happy Monday! I hope this is the start of a great week for everyone.

This fic is for the lovely @kaunis-sielu ‘s Marvel Musical Challenge Go check out this amazing writer! (Persephone is a personal fave)

I am constantly inspired by you, darling! Thanks for letting me participate in this challenge!

Enjoy!

My song was Perfect by Ed Sheeran.

Summary: You’ve always been Steve’s first choice whether he realized it or not.

Characters/Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader

Rating: K+

Warnings: Language, mentions of a deceased parent, I think that’s it.

Word Count: 4851 (This one kind of got away from me)

You rolled your shoulders back, desperate to release the tension that had been building through eight hours of pouring over merger documents.

Your phone buzzing distracted you from debating a seventh cup of coffee. You smiled when you saw Steve’s name and photo pop up on the screen.

“Hey,” you greeted when the video cleared up.

Steve was clearly still in bed and had probably just woken up. It was only seven in the morning in New York.

“Hi, stranger. Sorry I missed your call last night. It was showcase.”

“No worries. I totally forgot about that. How was it?”

“Really great. I have some very promising students, and seeing them get such a positive reception was so awesome.”

“That’s wonderful.”

He sat up and ran a hand through his messy blonde hair, yawning through his next words. “What did you do last night?”

“Not much,” you shrugged. “Just watched some Netflix. Did some laundry.”

“So you worked,” he guessed, calling you out.

“Maybe.”

“You look stressed. Have you been taking care of yourself?”

“Yes. Work’s just kicking my ass. This merger is like three days from finalizing and it feels like I need to do another six months of work before it’ll be ready. But other than that. I’m alright.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, it’ll be done in a few days. Just need to push through.”

“You can do it. You always pull through.”

“Thanks, Stevie.”

“What comes after the merger?”

“I’m not really sure. Once it goes through, there will be some restructuring so I’m not quite sure where I’ll end up. What I do know is that I’m definitely taking a vacation as soon as possible.”

“You definitely deserve it. Are you going to be able to take any time for your birthday?”

“I don’t think so. If I’m lucky it will wrap up the day before. And frankly I would take just being able to breathe after all this. I wish you were here,” you mumbled as you dragged your knees up to your chest.

“Me too.”

You chatted for a while longer before you begrudgingly admitted that you should probably get back to work.

“I’m glad you called. I needed it.”

“Anytime. Have a good week. You’re going to kick ass. And try to have fun on your birthday.”

“Thank you. I love you, Steve.”

“I love you too, y/n. Talk soon.”

“Say hi to Bucky for me.”

“Will do. Bye.”

Placing the phone face down, you smiled at the picture of you, Steve, and Bucky that sat in the corner of your desk. Steve’s bright grin stared back at you and not for the first time since you moved to London two years ago, you ached for your best friend.

Despite your worries, the merger went through without a hitch. The London office broke out the champagne as soon as the papers were notarized. The party moved directly from the office to the pub. Mr. Peterson opened a tab and the drinks flowed freely.

“Come on, y/n. Get off your damn phone. No more business,” Allie teased.

“It’s not work. I’m trying to convince my friend that I’m not drunk,” you slurred loudly.

“But you are drunk,” she giggled.

“I know, but Stevie doesn’t need to know that. Come here and take a selfie with me. That’ll convince him.”

She was drunk enough to agree that this would totally convince Steve you were fine. After ten minutes and about 15 photos that were just blurs, you gave up and in your infinite drunken wisdom decided to face time him.

“Hi, y/n,” he chuckled.

“Hi, Stevie. I just wanted to tell you and call that I’m totally drunk not.”

He hummed, obviously unconvinced.

“Clearly. Do you think you’ve had enough, sweetheart?”

“Nope.” You popped the “p”.

“Will you at least drink some water and eat something?”

Your friends were cackling at his attempts to mother hen you from 3000 miles away.

“I ate some pretzels. And some chips. That’s French fries here,” you tried to whisper.

“Okay, that’s good sweetheart.”

“Y/n, get off the phone and come do singles shots.”

“I’ve got to go, Stevie. I love you.”

“I love you too. Please be safe, sweetheart.”

His earnestness cut through your alcoholic haze. It always did.

“I will,” you promised.

“Good. Go have fun. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Oh, and happy birthday.”

You blew him a kiss and ended the call.

“Where’s my shot?”

You arrived home shortly before dawn with a couple coworkers in tow and collapsed.

It was around two o’clock when you finally regained consciousness. Allie and Jasmine were just starting to stir when you handed them aspirin and Gatorade.

“Thanks, boss,” Jasmine mumbled.

Allie groaned something at you.

“Well, it’s officially single’s awareness day. What do you ladies want to do tonight?”

“We could go to the pub,” Allie suggested perking up.

“Seriously?” Jasmine groaned. “I am partied out. Besides the pubs will be miserable tonight.”

“How about a girl’s night in? Take out and mushy movies?” you suggested.

“And wine,” Allie added making you roll your eyes.

“Alright. And wine. How does food from that Italian place down the street sound?”

“Delicious. In about three hours when I’m not nauseous anymore,” Allie grumbled.

“It will probably take that long to get delivery on Valentine’s Day anyways. I’m going to hop in the shower if you want to check out the menu.”

You tossed them the flyer and headed for the bathroom.

An hour later all three of you were showered and dressed in comfy clothes. The food had been ordered and you were searching Netflix for the right romantic movie to start off the night. You had just settled on While You Were Sleeping when the door buzzed.

“There’s no way the food got here that fast.”

Allie and Jasmine shrugged as you crossed the room to the buzzer.

“Hello?”

“Delivery for Miss Y/l/n,” a man responded in a somewhat rough accent.

Weird. You glanced over at your friends who shrugged. It was your birthday you supposed, so maybe your dad had sent you something.

“Okay, come on up.”

You buzzed him in, in no mood to trek down four flights of stairs. He moved quickly; you had just enough time to grab your wallet to tip him when he knocked on the door. When you checked through the peephole, all you could see was the giant bouquet and a baseball cap.

Warily, you pulled open the door.

“Here you go, miss,” he said in that strange accent. It definitely wasn’t British but it was familiar. The closest comparison you could make was a Brooklyn accent.

He couldn’t possibly…

You were already grinning as you pulled the roses out of his hand.

“Oh my god, Steve! You’re here,” you squealed, tossing the roses on the island before jumping into his arms.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

He easily maneuvered you inside, pulling his bag with him and shutting the door.

“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

“Well, I was going to just send you a care package with a few of your favorite things, but then I thought I am your favorite thing so I bought a plane ticket instead. Surprise.”

He was being flippant, but you could see the way he was cataloguing your appearance. He’d been worried about you. He wanted to take care of you.

“Besides, I wasn’t about to let my best friend celebrate her birthday without me.”

“It’s your birthday?”

Jasmine smacked Allie for interrupting the two of you. They were both leaning over the back of the couch watching intently.

“Yes,” you giggled as you finally peeled your attention away from Steve. “I guess that cat is out of the bag. You guys remember Steve right?”

“How could we forget?” Jasmine commented pointedly and you glared.

She insisted that you two were madly in love after he came to take care of you when your appendix burst the summer before. She was half right.

“Nice to see you both again. Are you keeping y/n out of trouble?”

“Absolutely not,” Allie assured him with pride.

“Good.”

He grinned and glanced down at you. Although he’d set you down on your feet, you were both still holding each other.

“You’re just in time. The food will be here in a little while and we were just about to start our movie marathon for the evening.”

“And what are we starting with?

“While You Were Sleeping,” you grinned.

“Your favorite. Do you ladies mind if crash your party?”

“Not at all.” Your friends answered in tandem.

After four movies, Jasmine and Allie decided to call it a night and head out. You offered for them to spend another night, but they both declined shooting you mischievous grins as they left.

Once they were finally gone you curled up next to Steve on the couch.

“How long do I get to keep you?”

“You’ve always got me. But I’ll be in London for the week. It’s February vacation.”

“That’s so exciting,” you squealed. “This is the best birthday present ever.”

“That reminds me. I’ve got a real present for you.”

You whined quietly when he pulled away but he just chuckled and kissed your forehead.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.”

He retrieved a rectangular package from his suitcase and handed it to you before wrapping his arm around you again.

You shook it curiously before meticulously removing the wrapping paper. When you flipped back the lid on the velvet box, you immediately began to tear up.

“Oh, Steve. This is… thank you.”

You pulled the charm bracelet up to inspect it more closely. There were twenty charms in total – one for every birthday you had had with your mom before she passed.

“Thank you so much. Here help me put it on?”

You put the box on the side table and handed the bracelet to Steve before extending your wrist. His large fingers worked the clasp much more easily than you would have thought possible. He pressed a kiss to your palm and then wiped away the tears that had been gathering on your cheeks.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

You wrapped your arms around his waist and burrowed into his side. Steve held you close.

It was quiet for a long time. Both of you content to just be with each other.

“So how’s home?” you asked finally.

“Not the same without you.”

You scoffed.

“I’m serious.” He gently moved you off his chest and you furrowed your brow. “Y/n, there’s something I’ve got to tell you.”

The clear emotion on his face was worry which sent your heart hammering. You ached to reach out and touch him but since he had put space between you, you refrained. It was a relief when he covered your hand in both of his.

“Y/n, I…. I’ve always… I mean you’ve always… I mean… ugggh.”

He hung his head. You reached out to stroke his cheek with your free hand.

“Hey. You can tell me anything. It’s just me.”

“That’s just it. You’re not just you. At least not to me. Not anymore. I’m not making any sense am I?”

“Not really?”

“You and Bucky have been my best friends for as long as I can remember. It was always the three of us. When you left everything felt a little off. Bucky and I both felt it, but eventually he got used to it. But for me it never felt right. I kind of ignored it and started dating Sharon.”

You had no idea he felt this way. And honestly you had no idea where he was going with this.

“When you had appendicitis last summer. I was a wreck when we hadn’t heard from you for more than two days. When your dad finally heard and called me, all I could think about was getting to you to take care of you.”

You smiled and squeezed his fingers.

“I didn’t tell you then, but Sharon and I broke up that day. She said that me packing up to come here at the drop of a hat was the final straw. And she gave me a choice. Stay or break up.”

You weren’t sure how to respond. You knew Sharon didn’t like you very much, but breaking up with Steve because he wanted to take care of a sick friend?

“I’m so sorry, Steve. I didn’t mean to cause a rift.”

“Y/n, you didn’t do anything wrong. You never asked me to come. I wanted to. And even if you had asked me, it was my choice. I would have done the same thing if it had been, Bucky.”

“Of course. And he and I would do the same. That’s what our friendship has always been like.”

“I know. And I tried to explain it that way, but she insisted that what I felt for you was different than what I felt for Bucky, and that it wasn’t the first time I had clearly cared more about you than her. Honestly, she had been pissed for months because her friends had seen me in the jewelry store around Valentine’s Day and they convinced her that I was going to propose or at the very least buy her a nice set of jewelry. So when the holiday rolled around and she got flowers and monogrammed journal and pen, she got pretty bent of shape.”

“Wait. Why were you in the jewelry store?”

“I was talking to them about your bracelet. I wanted to get it done for you last year for your 25th. But I couldn’t get the charms from your dad on time.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So when she gave me a choice between picking you and her, it was a no-brainer. You’ve always been my first choice.”

“And you’ve always been mine.”

His answering smile was soft, before he sobered slightly still needing to get through what he had to say.

“Like I said before. For me, you and Bucky were everything to me. But you were a package deal. Never one without the other. But, everything changed when I stayed with you for a month. Or maybe it didn’t change, I just finally opened my eyes. Either way. It was the first time that there was no Bucky. No Wanda or Sam. No anybody. It was just you and me. And god, it felt so right. I finally had that missing piece back.”

He raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath before trapping you with his cerulean gaze.

“I know that this will change everything for us. One way or another. I was scared to tell you for a long time because I was scared I’d lose you, but I’ve always believed in you, and I’ve always believed in us. And whether you feel the same way or not. You deserve the truth. I’m in love with you, y/n. I think I always have been.”

You squeaked at his confession. You had never dreamed that Steve would feel the same way about you.

You could see the nervousness growing on his expression, but you couldn’t find the right words so instead you leaned forward and kissed him firm on the lips. He was stunned at first, but after a moment, he responded eagerly.

“I take it that means you feel the same way?” he laughed as he leaned his forehead against yours.

“I’m so in love with you, Steve. I’ve always been in love with you. Ever since we were kids.”

He kissed you this time, soft and timid. His large hands framed your face, thumb running along your cheekbone as your lips moved in tandem.

The next week was pure bliss for you. Despite the craziness of the merger, you managed to make time to spend with Steve. Being with him felt completely right, and you had been so close for so long, that a lot of the “future” conversations went a lot deeper than “what’s next in your career?” You could see a life together.

Despite that, you both agreed to take it slow until you knew what the restructuring would mean for you. You had told Steve that it didn’t matter if you got offered a full time position – that you would move back to New York so you could be together. But he knew how much the job meant to you and he made you promise that you would consider the offer.

“We can make anything work between us. We’ve always made the best team,” he reminded you as you walked along the river.

“I know, but I want to know what plans we get to make.”

“It’s only a few weeks, right.”

“Right?”

“What’s a few weeks in a lifetime?”

The restructuring that you expected to take a few weeks ended up taking a few months, and in June you were still in London. And you were both getting antsy.

You and Steve were having your weekly skype session and he had been distracted during the whole morning.

“What’s wrong?”

He opened his mouth to continue before snapping it closed.

“What is it?” you pressed again.

“Nothing.”

“Steve,” you warned lowly.

“It’s dumb and unhelpful.”

“Just tell me.”

He sighed and debated a few more moments before speaking.

“I know that you still don’t know what long term is. But I was wondering if you were going to be able to visit for 4th of July?”

You knew what he was really asking. Were you going to make it home for his birthday?

“I hope so. But I’m not sure. Everything is still pretty chaotic here.”

“Okay. Well, let me know when you find out.”

He did his best to hide his disappointment. He wasn’t very successful.

“I will. I promise I’m going to do my best. And it wasn’t dumb and unhelpful. I want to be there. When are you and Bucky heading up to the lake house?”

“June 25th. Bucky will be there for that weekend and then come back on the 2nd.”

“So early?”

“Well we didn’t get up during Memorial day so I need to actually open the house get it cleaned up and aired out before everyone comes up for the bash.”

“Gotcha. Well I’m sure it will be a blast.”

“Yeah. I’m excited.” He offered you a bright smile, but you could see the tension in his jaw.

“Hey, the partners have been meeting pretty frequently over the past two weeks. Hopefully I’ll hear something in the next few days. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, no. Don’t be. I’m sorry. I just miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

The following day at work, you had just gotten out of a review meeting when your boss stopped you.

“Y/n, could I speak with you please? In my office.”

“Of course, Mr. Peterson.”

You followed him, to the upper floor of the building.

“Please, sit.”

You smoothed your pencil skirt and folded your hands in your lap as you waited for him to speak.

“I wanted to speak to you about your future. Now, I know that you were brought in as an external member of the merger team when we started two years ago. But I would like to think of you as part of the Peterson family.”

“I appreciate that, sir. I have certainly enjoyed my time here. It’s a wonderful company.”

“I’m pleased to hear you say that. I have a proposition for you. I would like you to head up our acquisitions department at our new office in New York.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Would that be something you’re interested in?”

“Absolutely.”

“Great.” He pulled a folder from the bottom of the stack to his right. “I’ll believe you’ll find the offer more than fair. Why don’t you take a few hours to review it and see if there’s anything that is a deal-breaker.”

“I will, sir.”

You locked yourself in your office for the rest of the morning. You couldn’t believe how perfect the. It was everything you had ever wanted on a platter. And you would get to be back in New York with Steve permanently.

In the afternoon you walked back into Mr. Peterson’s office with determination.

“Was everything alright?”

“Yes. It’s an extremely generous offer. I just have a few questions.”

“Of course.”

“When would the position start?”

“I’m afraid that is the one sticky part. We will have filled the position here in next week but the New York office won’t be functional until the beginning of August. You’ll be compensated of course, but I’m afraid you won’t have much work in that time.”

You had to hide your excitement. The timing was working out perfectly.

“That’s no problem, sir. It will give me an opportunity to relocate and hit the ground running.”

“An excellent attitude. What other questions did you have?”

You ironed out a few more details and the contract was sent to HR for approval before you signed it. As soon as you got out of the meeting, you started planning your surprise. There was one very important call you needed to make.

Steve felt strange making the drive up to the lake house by himself. Usually it was the three of you going up, but you were stuck in London and Bucky had bailed at the last minute, citing a work emergency. So he cranked the radio in his truck and let his thoughts turn to you.

He was expecting the house to be musty when he unlocked the door, but it smelled of fresh flowers and baked goods instead. For a moment he was concerned that he had walked into the wrong house, but the familiar height tracker on the wall told him differently.

Silently he lowered his duffel to the floor and pulled the baseball bat out of the hall closet. He heard running water and soft humming coming from the kitchen and crept forward.

When he glanced around the corner he couldn’t believe what he saw. You had your headphones in and were dressed in workout shorts and your track team shirt from high school, and you were dancing as you washed the dishes.

God you were gorgeous. And you were here.

He hadn’t realized that he dropped the bat until he heard it clatter and you whirled around.

“Steve! What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?”

“Bucky said you wouldn’t be here until later this afternoon. I had a whole plan. Romantic dinner. Candles. Pretty dress. Instead you’ve got a bit of a jet-lagged mess. Sorry to disappoint.”

He shook his head as he strode over to you and pulled you in for a bruising kiss. You sighed when he swiped his tongue across your lips as he sought entry. His hands on your hips urged you to hop up and he placed you on the counter, eliminating the height difference.

“Let’s be clear, y/n,” he rumbled when he finally let you breathe. “You are beautiful. No matter what you’re wearing. The only thing that matters is that you’re here.”

“I’m here.”

“Wait a second. So are you the reason Bucky bailed on me at the last minute?” he teased with an arched eyebrow.

“Guilty as charged. When I found out that I had the time off, I wanted to surprise you. And much as I love Bucky, I also wanted you to myself for a few days.”

“That was a very good idea,” he growled as he captured your lips again.

Instinctively you wrapped your legs around his waist and before you knew it he was carrying you upstairs.

You happily reunited with Steve for a few hours before you kicked him out so you could execute the surprise you’d been planning.

Once he was gone, you quickly assembled dinner before showering and changing into your favorite dress. You left your hair natural and your make up light and pretty soon you were ready. You just had to wait for Steve to return.

Right on cue, you heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway and hurried to the bottom of the stairs so he’d see you right as you came in.

“Wow,” Steve whispered when he opened the door. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

You were surprised by the awed look in his eyes.

“These are for you,” he held out the bouquet of red roses, and you inhaled.

“Thank you. Again. Let me put these in water and then I have dinner waiting.”

“Where are we eating?” he asked as he peered into the dining room and living room and didn’t see anything set up.

“You’ll see.”

You set the vase on the counter and took his hand to lead him outside. The food and candles were set up on the picnic table near the end of the docks. Soft music was playing from your Bluetooth speaker. You’d even managed to string up the fairy lights and lanterns from your graduation party.

“Someone was busy. This is amazing, sweetheart.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

You pecked him on the cheek before nudging him towards the table.

“So how was the last day of classes?”

“Really good. One of my kindergartners made me a hand print stegosaurus because I had helped her with her speaking part.”

“Oh, that’s so cute.”

You honest to god swooned as you looked at how he lit up talking about his students. It was dreamy. You couldn’t help but think about him as a father.

“There were a few very sweet eighth graders who came to say goodbye and tell me that they had already signed up for summer art classes. They were pretty bummed when I told them I wasn’t teaching this year.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“They asked but, I wasn’t sure if I would be spending my summer in London or not.”

It was the perfect opportunity to tell him the news, but he stood up abruptly.

“Dance with me?”

“I’d love to.”

You kicked of your heels and let Steve pull you up into his arms. The two of you swayed as the sun finally dipped below the horizon and the stars started to come out.

“So I have some news. I talked to Mr. Peterson recently about my future with the company.”

You expected him to tense up but he didn’t, he just gestured for you to continue.

“He offered me a full time position with the company. It’s pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“That’s amazing. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll call Phil in the morning and let him know he needs to start looking for a replacement.”

It was so matter of fact you rocked back for a second to look at him in surprise.

“Don’t worry. It won’t be out of the blue or anything. I already gave him a head’s up a couple of weeks ago. I told him that I wasn’t sure because you were waiting on an offer, but potentially I would be moving to London to be with you.”

You were floored by his comment. You had thought that the two options were either you moved back or that your relationship was long distance. You never even considered asking him to leave Brooklyn. You didn’t doubt that he would for you, but you knew how much he loved New York and his students. Hearing him so open to that made your heart happy.

“I am so in love with you,” you breathed.

“Well that’s good,” he chuckled at the unprompted expression of affection. “Because I am very much in love with you. And I’m so excited to start a life with you in London.”

“Not so fast. I’m moving back to New York.”

You expected joy not the frustrated disbelief and disappointment you saw.

“What?”

“Kinda thought you’d be happier.” You mumbled taking a step back from him. Or rather trying.

His hands moved from your waist to your shoulders to keep you in place.

“Y/n, please tell me you didn’t turn down your dream job for me?” Steve groaned, and you realized he misunderstood and the smile returned to your face.

“I didn’t turn down anything, Steve. I’m moving back for the job. Mr. Peterson has asked me to head up the acquisitions department at his New York office.”

“Really?”

“Really,” you grinned.

“YES!” he yelled as he picked you up and spun you around, peppering your with kisses.

“That’s more of the reaction I was looking for,” you giggled.

“I’m sorry, darling. I just couldn’t bear the thought of you giving up what you love for me.”

“Neither could I. I know how much you love your students. And I’d never take you away from them.”

“I love you, y/n. You’re always going to be my first choice.”

“I know. And you’re mine.”

“But,” you both said at the same time, laughing.

“But, you can choose me without giving up what you love,” you reminded.

“Agreed.”

Steve hugged you close and kissed the top of your head, and you danced through the night whispering I love you’s against each other’s skin.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And thanks again for letting me participate @kaunis-sielu this was a ton of fun! <3 <3 <3

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