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nattikay · 11 months

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Jake is a Good Dad and I will Die On That Hill

Howdy Avatar fandom. Over the past six months or so I’ve seen a lot of criticism directed toward Jake Sully as a father, ranging from him simply being a little too strict at best, to outright neglectful and even abusive at worst. This, my friends, is some grade-A nonsense, and today we’re gonna talk about why. Strap in, lads, this is gonna be a long one. Let’s roll.

So before we get into breaking down the events of the main storyline, let’s address the idea that Jake was always the super-strict “military dad” throughout the kids’ lives: put simply, bullcrap.

Out of the film’s over-three-hour runtime, we get to see very little of the Sullies’ lives before the RDA’s return—only about six minutes’ worth. If Jake was meant to be this strict militaristic dictator during this time period, especially in a way that would significantly impact the kids’ character development and their relationships with him, this would be the time to show it, or at least hint at it. But instead of any of that, we really get quite the opposite. Jake laughs and plays with the kids:

Jokes around and cuddles:

Teaches Neteyam to fish:

He even says in his narration:

“Happiness is simple…whoever thought that a jarhead like me could’ve cracked the code?”

Guys, this is quite literally the best time of his life. This man absolutely adores his family with every fiber of his being, they are his whole world. Like, look at him! He has stars in his eyes!!

We have zero reason to suspect that Jake was overly harsh or strict in a way that would impede his relationship with his kids during this time. The Sullies appear to be a normal, healthy, close-knit family.

It’s only when the RDA returns and reignites war that things change.

I’ve seen some people claim that Jake’s personality changed it the second movie. I disagree—it was not his personality that changed, but rather his priorities.

A1 Jake was a disabled marine vet who was offered his brother’s contract after said brother was unexpectedly murdered by some thug on the street…and part of the reason he agreed to take that contract was that there really wasn’t much else left for him back on Earth, so why not go? A1 Jake had just about nothing left to lose, and therefore could afford to be more reckless.

A2 Jake, however, is another story altogether. A2 Jake can’t just run around poking and prodding and taking risks like A1 Jake did because now he has a wife and four children who rely on him and who he loves more than anything else in the world. It’s not just himself he has to look out for anymore, it’s them. He now has everything to lose. He says as much himself:

Not to mention that he’s older now. Did you really expect the 37-year-old father of four who’s been leading the clan for 15 years and is suddenly thrust back into a brutal war to behave exactly the same as the 22-year-old fish-out-of-water ex-marine sent to fill in for his scientist brother out of the sheer convenience of sharing a genome? A2 Jake’s behavior is not a sudden 180 from his personality in A1, it’s a natural progression and reaction for his character given the changed circumstances.

“A father protects. It’s what gives him meaning.”

This is essentially Jake’s thesis for the movie. This is his #1 priority, his purpose, the lens through which all his actions must be viewed in order to understand them, and it’s important to establish it upfront because it sets up everything else.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the train raid sequence as its aftermath. Jake begrudgingly allows his now-teenage sons to participate in the war party—from a distance, as spotters. Neteyam seems content to fill this role, but Lo’ak, against orders, eagerly insists that they “have to get in there”, even goading his brother:

Tailed by an exasperated Neteyam, Lo’ak grabs a weapon from Tarsem and lets out a half-hearted warcry:

...let’s be honest here, Lo’ak doesn’t really seem to be taking this raid anywhere near as seriously as he should be; he’s treating it more like a game—on which point, y’know what, let’s pause to talk about Lo’ak for a moment.

Because the primary purpose of this post is defending Jake, it may at times appear that I am being overly critical towards Lo’ak. This is not my intention—I love Lo’ak as much as I love the rest of the Sully family (which is a lot lol). I think the things he struggles with are reasonable and valid struggles to have considering his circumstances. However, that does not always mean that he is in the “right”. Jake and Lo’ak’s conflict through the movie is not as simple as “son right dad wrong” or vice-versa; rather, it stems from a generational/age gap in experience and priorities.

In this case, for example, Lo’ak is treating the raid more like a cool action game than a real battle with real stakes. Which may not be much of a surprise—he’s 14! He’s young, he’s naive, he’s never experienced anything close to real war until the past year or so—he probably genuinely does not fully grasp the stakes of this situation just yet. And why should we expect him to, really? He’s never had to before.

Jake, on the other hand, knows the stakes all too well. This ain’t his first rodeo. He was a solider both on Earth (where he was injured severely enough to become paralyzed from the waist down) and then again on Pandora driving out the RDA in a battle that killed several of his friends and allies, including almost completely wiping out the entire Olangi clan.

Jake understands the risks of war and doesn’t want his kids anywhere near it. We see this not only in the film where he only allows Neteyam and Lo’ak to participate in the raid “from a distance” and ultimately fleeing his own clan altogether once his kids are directly threatened, but also in the comics in which he consistently turns down Neteyam’s pleadings to participate in the war efforts. Unfortunately for him, his sons do happen to be coming of age at around this time and there’s only so much he can do to keep them out of it, so he tries to let them participate in relatively safe ways, like as spotters.

Lo’ak…doesn’t understand this. Not really. And that leads to him recklessly taking unnecessary risks—be it out of curiosity, to get in on the action, or even simply to prove himself. Which understandably scares the crap out of Jake.

When the raid is over, Jake desperately searches the rubble for his sons. He finds Lo’ak quickly and makes sure he’s alright:

…before taking off to search for Neteyam, who he also promptly checks over for injuries.

which is something I’d like to point out here: although Jake sometimes gets gruff with his sons, he never leads with that. He always always always makes sure they’re ok first. That’s important. We’ll come back to it throughout the post.

Anyways, it’s only after making sure that Neteyam is ok that Jake’s initial bout of fear subsides and morphs into frustration and anger: what were you thinking?! And it’s a fair question. If the boys had followed orders, they wouldn’t have been at such risk in the first place. Once the party returns to High Camp, Jake addresses this point with them, reminding them that by disobeying direct orders they put themselves in very serious danger, and reiterating to Lo’ak in particular that his recklessness nearly got his brother killed and grounding him.

In other words, Jake’s response to his sons going against his orders was…a lecture and a grounding. That’s…a pretty reasonable parental reaction, actually. Sure, you could nitpick and say his tone was too harsh, but given the situation, I struggle to blame him…

…which leads into the next relevant scene: while Mo’at and Kiri tend to Neteyam’s scratches, Neytiri gently chides Jake for being too hard on the boys, concluding with the infamous line: “This is not a squad. It is a family.”

Now, what I find interesting about this scene is that neither party is really in the wrong here. Jake is doing his best to fill his role as a father by watching out for his kids’ physical safety—even if it means being a little strict. Likewise, Neytiri is filling her role as a mother by looking out for her kids’ emotional well-being. As she should!

That said, I think people who use this line as proof of Jake’s supposed parental failure are forgetting the context. While Neytiri’s line is true in general, when the boys sign up to participate in a war party, they kinda do become a “squad”. In that moment, in that context, they are a squad, they have to behave like one lest someone gets hurt if not killed.

I also think they forget Jake’s reaction to Neytiri’s line:

Look closely. There are tears in his eyes. This dude was terrified of the possibility that he may have just lost one of his sons in the raid, and all his strictness stems from that. And Neytiri seems to recognize this as well, as she can’t seem to decide how to respond. She probably worries about the same thing, after all, even if she handles it differently.

On that note, let’s look at the next time Lo’ak disobeys instructions: going to the old shack with Spider, Kiri, and Tuk, where they first encounter the recom unit.

Something interesting about the aftermath of the recom rescue is that no one gets lectured this time actually. Remember what I said about how, no matter how upset he is, Jake always checks to make sure the kids are ok first and foremost? Sure enough, that’s what he does here:

Not only for his daughters, mind you, but also both his sons (we’ll address the daughter-favoritism claims later):

With the recoms now targeting the Sully family specifically, Jake, feeling out of other options, makes the difficult decision to flee and find refuge among the Metkayina clan.

whoops, there’s that “protection” theme again

When their request for sanctuary is somewhat reluctantly accepted, Jake calls a family meeting and tells the kids this:

Remember how earlier we established how “a father protects” is essentially Jake’s thesis for this movie? Well, this is an offshoot of that: Jake believes that hiding amongst the Metkayina is currently the best was to keep his family safe; therefore, throughout the Sullies’ time with the clan, Jake’s primary goal is to lay low and get along with the clan so as not to tread on their hospitality and get kicked out (even if and when that means setting aside one’s own pride). This, then, is the lens through which Jake’s actions must be analyzed while his family is staying with the Metkayina.

The first time this becomes relevant is after Neteyam and Lo’ak’s little scrap defending Kiri from Aonung and his posse. Jake is clearly not thrilled about Kiri being bullied, but again, his top priority is keeping his family safe and right now this entails maintaining a good standing with the chief, which in turns means that his sons getting into brawls with Tonowari’s son is a very bad look. Which is why, after a moment of internal conflict, he asks Lo’ak to apologize to Aonung (he even tries to explain when Lo’ak protests:)

On that note, while remaining on good terms with the clan has to take precedence at this moment, Jake is clearly quietly proud of his boys for kicking butt, as we see from his exchange with Neteyam (though yes, it is unfortunate that Lo’ak didn’t get to see this bit).

…which brings us to one of the bigger moments that people point to when accusing Jake of being a bad father: the “you bring shame to this family” line. Now, I can understand why this line doesn’t sit right with viewers initially, especially since we have just seen firsthand the truth about what Lo’ak experienced over the past few hours. However, when you consider what’s going on from Jake’s perspective, the line is not quite as unreasonable as it first seems.

Let’s back up a bit to when Lo’ak first returns to the village after meeting Payakan. At first Jake is just relieved that his son is ok (remember: he always checks first)

In fact, once it’s clear that Lo’ak is ok, it seems Jake just wanted to let it go and head home…the real conflict didn’t begin until after Lo’ak lied to take the blame for Aonung.

Up until this moment, Jake only knew Aonung’s side of the story, that he’d taken Lo’ak outside the reef and he got stranded there (it’s unclear whether Aonung specifies that he abandoned him out there on purpose, the little punk, but I digress). But when Tonowari (rightfully) declares Aonung’s responsibility for the incident, Lo’ak speaks up to take the fall, claiming that the whole ordeal was all his idea, which Aonung had tried to talk him out of.

Lo’ak does not have a reputation for lying…but he does have a reputation for pulling reckless stunts that put himself and others in danger, so for better or for worse, Jake has literally zero reason not to believe this claim.

In other words, for Jake, the situation has just gone from “my son got taken advantage of by the local bullies and put into a precarious situation but he’s home safe now” to “my son dragged a bunch of other kids to a dangerous location where he knows he’s not supposed to go despite the chef’s son trying to talk him out of it, endangering both his life and theirs, getting lost in the process, and thereby worrying and inconveniencing the entire clan on whose hospitality we rely by making them go out of their way to arrange a whole search party in the dead of night just to find him.”

…yeah, no wonder he was flippin’ ticked. No wonder he “didn’t want to hear it” when Lo’ak tries to explain that he was “only trying to make friends”. We as the audience know that’s true, of course, but as far as Jake knows in that moment, based on what Lo’ak himself claimed just moments ago, he was trying to “make friends” by…dragging them out to a dangerous location despite their protests thus jeopardizing both his and their lives as well as his family’s standing in the clan who can kick them out at any time. Yeah, I wouldn’t want to “hear it” either.

When you look at it from that perspective, “you brought shame to this family” doesn’t really seem quite as extreme, does it?

And yes, I feel for Lo’ak here, really, I do; he’s just been through a lot and yes based on the actual events that just occurred his father’s anger is the last thing the poor kid needs and I totally get why it would upset him…but at the same time, I can’t help feeling that he kinda brought this particular lecture on himself by voluntarily taking the blame for Aonung. Not really sure what he was expecting: that Jake would somehow read his mind and understand the way things actually went? That he would see through his lie and praise him for being so amiable towards Aonung by taking the fall perhaps similar to how Neteyam so often claims the blame for Lo’ak’s own reckless shenanigans despite how rude Aonung had been to him thus far? Or perhaps he just blurted out the blame claim as an olive branch of sorts to Aonung (genuinely trying to “make friends” in a way) without really thinking about the consequences of doing so. Who knows. But regardless of how Lo’ak did or didn’t think things would go, I think it’s a little unfair to blame Jake for his reaction. Based on his knowledge of the circumstances, which in turn were based on Lo’ak’s own account given only moments before (remember, Jake had zero reason to suspect he was lying), his reaction is actually pretty understandable.

Speaking of Lo’ak’s adventures with Payakan, the next time we see him clash with his father is when Tonowari lectures him for bonding with the outcast, and Lo’ak defends his new friend. Remember: Jake’s top priority is keeping his family safe which currently means not getting kicked out of the Metkayina. Lo’ak, regardless of whether or not he was in the right, was clearly upsetting Ronal and Tonowari in this exchange—Neytiri is actually the first to step in and warn her son:

…and when Lo’ak persists anyways, Jake has to step in in hopes of smoothing things over with the chief.

It sucks that this upset Lo’ak, especially because we the audience know that Lo’ak is right about Payakan, but again, Jake is currently more concerned with not getting kicked out of the clan than with his son winning an argument about the validity of a tulkun’s outcast status.

...aaaand here comes the hardest part of this essay to write. Admittedly I wasn’t aware of this argument until recently, but now that I know it’s out there I feel obligated to address it here. Apparently some folks are out there claim that Jake did not display a sufficient amount of emotion at Neteyam’s death, and this somehow proves that he wasn’t as attached to his sons as he should have been. And all I have to say to that is: did we watch the same movie??

That man broke upon his son’s death. Did he wail and cry like Neytiri, no, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t heartbroken—wailing and crying simply aren’t how his character responds to trauma. He’s a solider, he’s probably trained to delay any external breakdown at least until a given battle is over.

But you can still see it in his face. You can hear it in his voice which breaks and shudders when he realizes that Neteyam is dying and tries to give him a few last words of comfort, wanting so desperately to ease his pain to the best of his abilities.

...yeah. This man is broken in this moment.

…but his job isn’t over yet. The battle is still raging. He still has three more kids who still need him. As much as he may want to, he cannot take the time to fully grieve in this moment.

…which brings us to the big one, the main line people point to when arguing that Jake is a bad father:

Now, let’s be honest: was this an awful thing to say? Yes, absolutely. Should Jake apologize to Lo’ak for it after the fact, if he hasn’t already? Definitely, one-hundred-percent. I’m not disputing that in the least.

however…

In this moment, Jake has just spent the past however-long locked in a vicious battle, and hardly minutes before watched his firstborn son bleed out in his arms. And now he learns that his daughters—one of whom is a pre-pubescent child with no chance of defending herself—are still caught on the “demon ship” with the recoms, who have just very clearly proven that they have absolutely no qualms with killing these kids. Quaritch taunting in his ear certainly is not helping.

The only thing Jake could properly focus on in that moment was getting Kiri and Tuk off that boat. Repeat: he wants to get his kids OFF the demon ship, not risk bringing any of them back ON. On top of that, Lo’ak, as established very early on in the film (see: train raid), has a reputation for struggling to follow orders…even when not emotionally devastated by the death of his brother.

All these things considered, is it really any wonder that Jake did not want Lo’ak coming along on this mission? He’s already lost one son, why in the ever-loving flip flap would he want to risk losing the other by intentionally bringing him back to the danger zone with no guarantee he’ll come out again, especially given his apparent propensity to ignore orders and throw himself into danger?

Heck, the only reason he lets Spider come is that Spider knows where the girls are and, unlike Lo’ak, Spider doesn’t have that same reckless reputation. Spider, in that moment, appears to be able to compartmentalize the fresh trauma well enough to focus on the task at hand, and can be trusted to do as Jake asks. Lo’ak…can’t. So, Jake wants him to stay behind.

Did he express it horribly? Absolutely. But saying one stupid insensitive thing in a moment of numbness underlaid by grief, pain, and fear does not make him a horrible dad overall, and I think it’s a little unfair to say that it does.

On that note, I do not believe for one moment that Jake genuinely blames Lo’ak for Neteyam’s death. Now, Lo’ak may well view it that way and I’m sure it’ll come into play for his character arc in future movies, which can be a topic for another day, but as for Jake’s perspective, no. I don’t think he truly blames Lo’ak. Even if he couldn’t necessarily process it all right away, I think he knows that Lo’ak is going through as much heartbreak as the rest of the family…especially given that Jake himself has firsthand experience losing a brother. He just said something dumb in a moment of pain.

(On the topic of Lo’ak being unable to follow orders, less than five minutes after Jake, Neytiri, and Spider leave for the ship, Lo’ak…immediately disobeys the order to stay safe on the island and heads back out to the ship anyways. Obviously in the grand scheme of things it’s good that he was there to save Jake from drowning after the scuffle with Quaritch, but still, good gracious son. Way to spectacularly prove your dad’s point.)

So now we come to the point where Lo’ak saves Jake’s life. After a mutual choke-out with Quaritch, Jake is left to drown until Lo’ak finds him and pulls him to the surface, at which point he gasps for air and chokes out Neteyam’s name.

This can be interpreted in a few ways. It could be that Jake is so accustomed to Neteyam being the “responsible” one that he irrationally thought it was him coming to the rescue, momentarily forgetting he had died or somehow thinking maybe by some stroke of fate he pulled through after all—this seems to be Lo’ak’s assumption, given that he promptly corrects him.

Now, some may take Jake’s “oh, Lo’ak…” as a show of favoritism, or proof that Jake values his first son above his second. I don’t think this is the case though—I don’t think Jake’s apparent disappointment is about Lo’ak being there so much it’s about Neteyam not being there. In other words, it’s not a personal slight against or disappointment in Lo’ak, but rather a form of still-very-raw grief for Neteyam who, remember, only just died, like, an hour ago.

It could also be that Jake is still so distraught following Neteyam’s death that it’s consuming his thoughts…he was able to shove it down and compartmentalize long enough to fight the recoms and get Tuk and Kiri off the boat, but that compartmentalization broke down while he was literally drowning and it took him a minute to focus and put things back together (which he manages to do a moment later when Lo’ak tries to apologize for his brother’s death):

The most excruciating interpretation I’ve seen is Jake thinking he had drowned and is rejoining Neteyam in the afterlife. ouch. Though that is, of course, just speculation.

Regardless, at this point Jake has just about given up. He’s exhausted, he’s in agony, both physically and emotionally. He’s completely drained. He wants Lo’ak to live but is ready to give up on himself (“I can’t make it. You can.”). It’s only when Lo’ak insists:

...that Jake realizes he still needs to press forward. Because his other kids still need him. His other son still needs him and he’s not willing to give up on him. So he takes a deep breath (literally), puts his trust in Lo’ak, and lets his son lead him through the flooded passageways out of the wreck. When they finally break the surface, we have this lovely moment:

This moment is a resolution to one of Lo’ak’s primary emotional conflicts throughout the movie: living in the shadow of his legendary war hero father and prodigious older brother, finally getting the recognition and affirmation he so craved from that father. Some might argue that in terms of “ideal” parenting that this kind of moment should have come sooner, or that Jake’s recognition of his son should never have been in doubt in the first place, and while there may be some truth to that, I struggle to really blame Jake for it for reasons I just spent the past 4000 words discussing. I think the fact that this moment happened at all shows that despite their clashes and struggles and miscommunications, Jake does and always has cared very deeply about Lo’ak; his lectures and frustrations come not out of malice or some personal distaste, but out of fear for his well-being.

We see Jake comforting Lo’ak again after the family returns to Neteyam’s body on the rocks.

As I said before, I don’t think for even the briefest moment Jake genuinely blames Lo’ak for Neteyam’s death. I don’t think he would be comforting him like this if he did.

…which, I suppose, brings us to Neteyam’s funeral, and Jake and Neytiri visiting his spirit within Eywa. No parent should ever have to bury their child and good golly gracious this scene ripped my heart out but I digress. I don’t even really have a lot of commentary to add to these scenes…just…just this. It speaks for itself.

look me in the eye and tell me this man “doesn’t care about his sons”. I flipping DARE you.

Well, that concludes the debunking of scenes that supposedly make Jake a bad father. But before we go, let’s look just briefly at this scene of him being a good dad with Kiri. I didn’t mention this earlier because while I’ve seen a lot of complaints about Jake’s interactions with Neteyam and especially Lo’ak, few people have qualms with the way Jake treats Kiri and Tuk—in fact, many people claim that he shows favoritism to his daughters, going out of his way “baby” them and treat them more gently and lovingly than his sons. I disagree and hope the above has done a thorough job dispelling that notion: Kiri and Tuk don’t go around throwing themselves headlong into the same kind of danger that Neteyam and Lo’ak do. They aren’t begging to participate in battle, they aren’t disobeying orders that land them in mortal peril.

In other words: Jake lectures his sons more than his daughters out of necessity, not nepotism. Remember: Jake’s #1 priority is protecting his family, keeping them all safe and alive. That means that when one of his kids pulls a stupid stunt that puts them in danger he feels the need to crack down on that in hopes of preventing it from happening again. Lo’ak is, quite frankly, prone to pulling those kind of stunts, so he gets lectured a lot. Kiri and Tuk do not typically pull such stunts, so they don’t get lectured. It’s as simple as that, really.

Buuuuuut now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk just briefly about Jake comforting Kiri.

Like with the scene of visiting Neteyam’s spirit, I don’t have much commentary to add to this scene—it’s a very sweet scene and it speaks for itself really. Jake is very gentle and doing his best to listen to Kiri, even if he is a little unsure about her claims. He doesn’t criticize or invalidate, he just tries to be there for her. What can I say, that’s a good dad right there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One last little point before we wrap up for real: the fact that Lo’ak and Neteyam occasionally refer to Jake as “sir”. I was originally planning to address this earlier but it didn’t quite fit in with the flow of the discussion and I consider it such a minor point anyways, I figured I could save it for a side note—but seriously, it baffles me what a big deal people make of this.

It would be one thing if “sir” was something that Jake strictly enforced, if it was the only thing he allowed the kids to address him as, if one of them called him “Dad” and he barked back, “no! it is sir!” But…literally none of that is the case. He never explicitly asks them to call him “sir”, and they call him “Dad” just as often if not more.

The kids referring to Jake as “sir” in tense moments is a simple show of respect, nothing more. I recall my own dad also wanting to be called “sir” when we were in trouble and it was never really an issue. And I suppose your milage may vary depending on where you live, but growing up in the southern US, “sir” and “ma’am” are just very common basic courtesy in many situations (not just familial).

Sooooo….yeah, the idea that Neteyam and Lo’ak occasionally calling Jake sir is somehow proof of Jake being too strict or cold or whatever else is really making a mountain out of a molehill. It’s not that deep y’all.

…aaaand I suppose that’s it for this post.

In conclusion:

Look guys, Jake does not have to be your favorite character. You don’t even have to like him, or agree with everything that he says or does. He isn’t perfect (which, by the way, literally no one is). But if nothing else, I hope this behemoth of a post has at least helped you understand his character and why he acts and reacts the way that he does.

Jake Sully may not be a shining beacon of parental perfection from a psychological development perspective (and all things considered, expecting him to be such is, quite frankly, a little silly), but good golly gracious he is trying his absolute darnedest in incredibly difficult and precarious circumstances beyond his control i.e. the RDA coming back to quite literally take over. This man’s family means absolutely everything to him and I’m done sitting back and watching y’all slander him just because he didn’t react to x situation the way you think he should have.

thank you and good night

#avatar #avatar 2 #way of water #jake sully #lo'ak

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suzukiblu · 6 months

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Three sets of Ko-fi thank-you sentences for @tigerliliesandcherryblossoms.

the Core Four gets a clonebaby and it's not even Tim's fault:

"That's a good idea, yeah," Cassie says, grimacing a little. "We're gonna want to know that."

"At least we don't have to worry about Kryptonian DNA," Kon mutters, pressing another kiss to Kenley's hair with a briefly stressed look on his face at the thought. Kenley just keeps sitting silently in his lap, watching Vic operate his scanners. "That's a pain in the ass to stabilize and I just don't believe those randos had it in 'em."

Tim is pretty sure if Kenley ever degenerated the way Match did, Kon would never forgive himself.

Pretty damn sure, in fact.

Core Four poly Pockets:

"Mom!" Cassie fumes, stomping the floor admittedly maybe a little too hard. Mom just glowers at her Pocket. He looks even more anxious, and Cassie scowls darker and steps between them. "Leave him alone! He's brand-new, he hasn't even done anything!"

"I'm more concerned about what he's going to think he can do," Mom says, still glowering. Cassie's Pocket scowls back at her indignantly, but there's an undercurrent of uncertainty to the expression too, and Cassie bristles again at the sight of it.

"You're assuming the worst just because he's a little older than me!" she says angrily.

"It's not a little!" Mom snaps. "He's twice your age at least!"

"And Diana is like a hundred times Steve Trevor's age, so what's it matter?!" Cassie demands. She'll grow up soon enough. She's sixteen! She's gonna be eighteen in two years! That's an adult, and then it won't be weird at all that Superman's her soulmate!

the one where Kon is born significantly stronger than Superman and Clark is having a fucking crisis about it:

"The boy idolizes you," Bruce says matter-of-factly.

"I'm aware, yes," Clark replies with an uncomfortable grimace. It took all of thirty seconds in the kid's presence to notice that. He's only spent about thirty seconds in the kid's presence, admittedly, but still.

"The League can't handle him," Bruce says.

". . . the whole League can't handle him," Clark says slowly, praying he's misunderstanding what Bruce means by that statement.

"Turns out the human DNA severely cuts the effectiveness of kryptonite and drastically ups his yellow sunlight absorption, and he still has the full spectrum of the tactile telekinesis even under concentrated red sunlight," Bruce says. "Which, incidentally, can shield him from magical attacks and effects. So yes. The whole League all together can't handle him. Not without a level of pyrrhic victory that the planet likely wouldn't recover from, anyway."

Clark feels nauseous.

"Ah," he says.

"He's not actually aware of that yet, mind, because he's a week old and has a teenage brain and very limited life experience," Bruce continues, watching Clark levelly. "But given the enhanced intelligence and how fragile everything on this planet is next to him, it's not going to take him long to notice."

#tigerliliesandcherryblossoms #wip: yj accidental baby acquisition #wip: a pocketful of kons #wip: the one where kon is stronger than clark

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theresa-of-liechtenstein · 22 days

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my first and only graduate school admitted students' visit was a success in that it helped me make up my mind. but maybe not in the way that people expected.

readers of this blog will know that i have a slightly complicated relationship with Institution B (the school i was visiting). but to make a long story short, four years ago, i was convinced that i would be enrolling there for undergrad. i had grown up there; for most of my life, the thought of 'what if we had never been priced out of living there' has haunted our family. we went to the area to visit old friends often when i was a kid, and four years ago, i saw going to Institution B as a sort of homecoming. however, my current, home institution unexpectedly awarded me an extremely large scholarship, and i wound up enrolling at the start of the pandemic.

it was not at all what i had wanted, and i felt a little embarrassed about it because some people i knew had considered it 'less prestigious' than Institution B. four years later, with a greater degree of awareness, i'm pretty sure i can pinpoint a bit of the underlying cause of that. my home institution is significantly more ethnically and economically diverse than Institution B. despite being older than Institution B, my home institution does fall behind because it lacks the endowed immediate surrounding area that Institution B has.

from the minute i stepped onto Institution B's campus, i felt it. Institution B's department sees itself as a 'big brother' to my home institution. many of Institution B's faculty work collaboratively with faculty from my home institution. it seemed like to them, me moving to Institution B was the obvious choice to make.

i interviewed with three professors: Professor A (who the grad students warned me was an advisor who could potentially break a student, but had many connections and could set me up), Professor B (the supervisor of the graduate student buddy i was assigned for the duration of the visit) and Professor C (contacted me in january but i never got around to reaching out)

Professor A (who i met with first) revealed that he was on the advisory board for the matsci program of my home institution. he also asked me what my research background was, and when i started enthusiastically going into it, literally put his hand up, interrupted me, and said "hold on. ✋🏻😐" which was genuinely so embarrassing. i wanted to jump out of a window. he asked me if i was considering any other options, and when i truthfully said i was considering staying, he bluntly said it was a poor idea.

Professor B revealed that not only had he recently given a seminar presentation at my home institution, he had literally gone out for dinner with my capstone mentor/PI on his visit and spoke positively of the city. he was a little awkward, but seemed very supportive and my graduate student babysitter had nothing but positive words about him.

Professor C had genuinely surprising research, and when i pointed out a few things with the projects he showed me (it had to do with phase transformations, but since i've just taken the class the concepts were fresher in my head) he was absolutely ecstatic. his enthusiasm for me asking questions about the manuscript was genuinely endearing. he also very eagerly mentioned that he intentionally made sure that half of his group were women.

speaking of which, i was the only woman in attendance among the potential incoming students. there were other women already in the phd program, but not very many. i didn't feel uncomfortable, but i did get the sense that the guys in my potential cohort didn't really know how to deal with me at first. i did feel at times that i was like the diversity hire, and my interests beyond matsci were so dissimilar to everyone else's that i just really wasn't sure how to connect. but then again, story of my life lmao.

i spent more time talking to the current grad students, who were all genuinely so hospitable and kind and looked out for me. however, something i didn't like was their constant conversation about alcohol. it wasn't that they weren't serious about their research: plenty of research stories got passed around and students had received various fellowships and grants. but many of them were drinking excessively at the social events. no one pressured me to join, but being the only totally sober person at the table was a little uncomfortable.

the second night was spent at the chair's house for a party with many of the faculty we had been interviewing that day. two things of note occurred.

one, i found myself next to one of the admits and Professor A, who asked us if we had seen the transmission electron microscopes (TEM) during our facilities tour. off our answers to the negative (we'd run out of time) he was like 'give me ten minutes and i'll drive you to campus and show you' which is where i got the picture from that one post taken. (Professor A offered.) he was very much under the influence and probably should not have been driving, and nearly made me carsick on the way back to the chair's house from his abrupt hard braking. i thought i was gonna die but tbh, it was worth seeing some of the largest microscopes i had ever seen in my whole life. so basically, a professor kidnapped me and two other guys and almost killed us with his atrocious driving. which is not the weirdest thing i've ever done with faculty but that's a post for tomorrow morning.

two, i found myself conversing with a professor who had moved to Institution B from my home institution a few years before. when i told him i was considering between the universities, at first, he said something like 'speaking as someone who's moved from [home institution] to Institution B...' and gave me a knowing look. use your words like an adult for god's sake. he then asked me my current faculty mentor and commented on his research a bit, then asked, 'who would be your PI at [home institution]?' i told him, and he said, 'oh! well, then,' sent me another knowing look, and said 'well, whatever you choose...' as if name dropping had changed something. again, man, please don't be cryptic.

i think all in all, even though Institution B was trying very hard to sell themselves to me, and posit themselves as a school of diversity and inclusion, i still felt isolated in a way i didn't feel when i was undergoing the process of interviewing faculty in my home institution in my grad school search. i felt out-of-place and terrified of making the wrong impression. some things people were saying to me went straight out of the window because i was trying so hard to monitor my facial expressions and fidgeting. i truly felt like i had a mask on and was trying not to let it slip. also, being the first in my family to go for a phd made me feel like there were so many unwritten, unspoken rules that i was just breaking irreversibly.

i can't help but compare this part of the experience to the professor in whose lab i'd be at my home institution. even though i had had her for a class, i had never interacted with her at length since the class was a little big. but i had also impressed her, and she had wanted to hear from me. i felt like i could relax around her, and our energies matched so well. she brought up me staying in orchestra even before i did, whereas i didn't feel like i could admit to any of the other professors that i wanted to also pursue music. it was nothing like the interviews i had had at Institution B.

something my grad student buddy had told me about was how he had done both his B.S. and M.S. at one institution, but decided to move for the Ph.D. i wondered why, since the program at his old home institution has been world-renowned. and he told me that if he had stayed, he would have still felt like an undergrad.

and i think that helped me to solidify how i felt into words. i don't feel like i'm undergrad anymore. it's been like that since mainly winter term of my third year. i still feel like there is work to be done and a need to be filled. i've mentally graduated already. there are days i walk across campus and i feel like a graduate student already. sometimes even a professor. it's strange, i can't explain it fully and even seeing that out feels so pretentious. but it's the best i can do to verbalize it.

i think the best image with which i can sum up this experience is of me in my little car on the highway back to my home institution, thoughts churning in my head as i drove. i watched the landscape outside change from coast to valley as i drove my way inland. and at last, i saw the mountains that tower over my school, and felt the most overwhelming sense of relief come over me.

i saw those mountains, and my first thought was: i'm home.

#the road to doctor em #if you can guess the institutions involved. you didn't see it #i tried to keep it as ambiguous as possible but i have been pretty lax about geography #so if you recognize anything i just said. no you didn't <3 #ok bye! love the airport!

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onbearfeet · 7 months

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A puzzle for the Tumblr sleuths

So today (6/29/2023) I was handed this piece of paper and asked if I could read the penciled writing on the second page.

I can't. And it turns out to be a bit of a mystery.

So, context. The ink handwriting belongs to my paternal grandfather, who developed a very specific hand as a finance officer for the US Army. I can read that easily enough. It seems to be the lyrics for a hymn (the "city four-square" is presumably heaven) ... but it's not any hymn I've ever heard, nor one my dad could find in his giant internet hymn index (yeah, that's a thing). Originally we thought he'd written down the lyrics so he could sing them in church, but now it's looking more like he ... wrote his own hymn? He wasn't known to write music, but he was a deeply religious man who taught Sunday School for decades, so maybe? Weird that none of us ever heard about it, though.

(And hey, hi, before you dunk on the guy for his religiosity, this is the grandfather who made sure, after his son married a half-Jewish woman, that his very Jewish-looking granddaughter knew all about the Holocaust and that Nazis are to be FUCKED UP AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY, do not pass go, do not collect 200 Nazi dollars, especiallyif they were going after Jews. He's why I started that riot in the third grade. He also considered participating in the desegregation of the Army to be one of the greatest honors of his life. The man wasn't perfect, but for a dude born in 1918, he was TRYING. I get religious trauma, I HAVE religious trauma, but Granddad generally tried to be one of the less shitty ones.)

More context. This piece of paper was found in a box of old family photos and documents that Dad's sister sent us with the explanation that "your baby pictures are in there". Some of the images Dad recognizes; some contain people and places that ring absolutely no bells. (It happens when you're an Army brat raised all over the world, 70-odd years ago. He doesn't have any particular memory problems, but nobody remembers everything after 70 years.)

The pencil handwriting is NOT Granddad's, nor Grandma's. Dysgraphia kinda runs in the family, though, so it could be a relative. The only candidate we could think of was Granddad's sister, Alice, from whom we have no handwriting samples, but Granddad and Alice didn't get along AT ALL and I don't know why she'd have been writing on his piece of paper. They were hardly ever in the same physical space after about 1940.

Additional context: Granddad was in the Army from 1940 to 1960 and moved around A LOT, so very few things got kept from pre-1960. Thus, either this paper is post-1960, or it was really important, or both. Granddad died in 2000, and his arthritis fucked up his handwriting before that, so I would estimate the ink text was created no later than 1990. Going by the color and condition of the paper, I would guess it's significantly older than that.

I don't know who put it in the box with the photos; it might have been my aunt, or Alice (who was close with my aunt), or literally anyone else. We're hoping the pencil text will explain the ink.

Oh. And Granddad was absolutely privy to some wild shit in the Army, so there is a slim but nonzero chance this is bizarro spy nonsense. I know he turned down one job offer from the CIA, but that story always had the air of "they already knew me from that thing that time". I very much doubt this is spy shit, but you never exactly know. Every few years I find out something new and insane about my grandparents.

So, uh ... anyone know how I might get some help reading this thing?

P.S. If you need something to call him other than Granddad, feel free to use JB or his Army nickname--Bear. Yeah, I know. But dude was a GIGANTIC BEARLIKE HUMAN. The name fit.

#help request #puzzle #mystery #historic document #i guess #uhhh #paleography #idk whether this is actually paleography #dysgraphia #history mystery #kat's weird family #kat's awesome granddad #handwriting #can anyone read this #bear's note #bear's hymn #bear's mystery

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keywestlou · 2 years

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STONE CRAB SEASON UPON US

STONE CRAB SEASON UPON US - https://keywestlou.com/stone-crab-season-upon-us/Stone crab season upon us! Begins next saturday, October 15. Whoopie! I consider stone crabs the finest of foods. Always have. From the first time I enjoyed them in 1962. At Joe's Stone Crabs in Miami. Stone crabs, hash browns and cream spinach! Only fished in one place. The Florida Keys. Our specialty. The season runs through May 1, 2023. Enjoy them! Expensive, but worth it! The older I get, the more I realize there is so much I do not know. Today, I learned that George Custer is buried at West Point. Custer was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana. I always assumed he was buried there. Not so. One year after his death, his body was returned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Many great historical figures were never at the top of their class while in school. Custer one. He graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class. On this day in 2004, actor Cristopher Reeve died at the age of 52. Best known for his starring role in four Superman films. I considered his performance in the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time one of his best also. Reeve was an avid horseman. On May 27, 1995 he was thrown from a horse. The accident resulted in his being paralyzed from the neck down. I met Reeve at a charity fundraiser in Utica several years later. Spent a short bit of time with him. All I could think and feel as I walked away from him was how sad. Romani people are not to be confused with Romanians or Romans. They are Gypsies. Hitler was anti-Gypsy as he was anti-Jew. He did not kill as many Gypsies only because there were significantly fewer in number than Jews. However kill them he did. A large number of Gypsies were confined to Auschwitz. On October 10, 1944, 800 gypsy children were gassed to death at Auschwitz. No particular reason. Just lets get rid of 800 today. It bothers me that there are those today who have become fascists in thought, some in action. Hitler lovers. How can they so be when Hitler and his followers killed so many innocents. Difficult for me to understand. I worry about the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. Steve Thomson wrote of the Southernmost Point. The Southernmost Point statue is not actually the furthest south in Key West. The City decided for logistical reasons that spot would be the best. There used to be a metal sign with all the information here. During Spring Break it began started disappearing every year. So the City put in a giant sewer fixture and filled it with cement. I think the thieves understood the message sent. They painted it bright red with all the info. Now they line up for a block to get their photo. It looks like a buoy and everyone loves it. You have to take pictures, everyone does it. Every time you see Key West on TV, they show the Southernmost Point and that beautiful sea. Enjoy your day!

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unmeiokaemasu · 2 years

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*miscellaneous fe thoughts*

FEWTH

UGGGGGGGHHHHHHGHHRRRRRHGHHHHHHHFHHH

FEH

I would’ve actually loved it if Eitri and Otr became a recurring villain duo, kinda like Loki and Thorr. And that way they could keep saving the latter two for whatever big story beat they’ve got planned. Eitri’s motivation more or less makes sense...I think it works best if you frame it as they say they’re doing a bunch of mad scientist stuff for the good of Niðavellir, but they’re really using the country’s resources because they like doing a bunch of mad science. Like they think they’re working towards some goal but really they just want to live forever and do crimes. But Otr...his whole thing never made much sense. Like, wants Fafnir to stay. Good. Needs to repress his memories so he doesn’t remember he has another home. Great. Uses an artifact that drives him crazy, so 1) he’s clearly constantly in pain and 2) is acting so out of character he might as well be a different person?? like?? hello?? even if Otr’s totally batshit crazy I feel like he’d be like “...this is only a temporary solution, I’ll look up some other form of amnesia that won’t literally kill him.” I know I’m just rehashing why that book was such a trashfire, but what I’m saying is, there was some potential there. But anyway Otr’s dead now, and even tho Eitri literally pointed out that we can summon other copies of him, in this forging bonds story they only showed the two of them in flashback, so clearly they’re trying to keep some weight on character deaths.

Radiant Dawn

Well...I might be taking a break from this again after all. Not sure why I don’t have the energy to keep going forward with it...I think all the hopping around to different groups really killed my momentum, since raising units is one of the things I love most about these games. Also I wasn’t feeling well the past few days, so I wasn’t much up for intense strategy. In the meantime I’ve been playing...

FEW

Yeah, I still really like the original Warriors :’) I’ve been trying and failing to unlock Lyn, so rn I’m focusing on boosting my best unit (Lucina) to max upgrades, so she can hopefully hold her own in like fort defense or whatever while I control someone else. But yeah, I like Warriors games, I had a lot of fun with this & Age of Calamity (once I got over how hard reading the maps is). They’re fun & light & relaxing. which brings me to...

3H (& FEWTH)

UUUUUUUUGGHGH Okay. I know they won’t keep making stuff set in Fodlan forever. It makes perfect sense for them to have a 3H spinoff. It makes even more sense for them to have something light in between 3H and another new entry. I want the next original fire emblem game to get all the tlc it deserves. Obvs the last few years have been terrible for game development, so I actually want them to take more years to release a new FE game than in previous years. I’m sure they must be working on whatever the next thing is, since FE games have just been getting more popular since Awakening.

I just. I’m still living in dread that the next game will still be set in Fodlan. What they did with 3H was very cool, with four routes and a DLC campaign. That’s a lot of stuff! But because of that I’m so doooone.

Thinking about it now, I guess it’s not just that I burnt out because of replaying it too much. I think playing the older games just showed me that each game has different strengths. Blazing Blade is as straightforward and simple as a FE game gets, but because of the ending feels very satisfying to me. Path of Radiance succeeds in telling a more complex story with boatloads of characters and settings. I felt Awakening had significantly weaker character writing, even though I know they worked on it a lot, but I still love the central Chrom-Robin-Lucina storyline so much that I still am very fond of the game overall. (I should go back and try to really get a handle on the new gameplay mechanics now that I’ve played some of the older games though...)

So I guess...at the end of the day, there isn’t a storyline in 3H that I feel 100% satisfied with? I guess that’s natural with branching paths. Even Fates was designed so that you’d play the two opposing routes, but then have the third route to tie everything up. (Yes buy buying all three games, that was less good.)

I know some people are very very fond of one 3H route or another, but Verdant Wind is my favorite, and I don’t like it as much as other FE games. I guess people tend to get more passionate about Azure Moon or Crimson Flower, but, eh.

Also, I guess a big part of it is I care as much about Byleth’s place in the narrative as I did Robin’s in Awakening? Hm. Them becoming head of the church most routes feels...a little out of left field. Like by the end of the story they’ve only known about the church of Seiros for a total of like 15 months, since they were asleep for five years in the middle there. Also I guess Sothis’ presence in the story still feels weirdly unresolved?? Like...Rhea succeeds. Sothis’s consciousness appears to be revived. But she never seems to remember much, she has no desire to like, be really alive again, she doesn’t express a desire for anything really, other than apparently to not die vicariously if Byleth dies. She actively avoids having Byleth let Rhea know she’s there. Why?? Does she think Rhea will try to control her? Does she not remember her at all? Does she remember her old life but not feel attached to it? Is it not really Sothis, but just a spectre manifesting her power?? We never really find out. She’s just there to give Rhea a strong attachment to Byleth, and to give Byleth superpowers later.

soooooooo I guess what I’m feeling is, I like when there’s a “definitive route.” The narrative choice is cool! ...buuut I like a strong, well-crafted narrative that builds to a strong planned ending. Which I guess is why the other two routes are more popular. If you attached to Edelgard or Dimitri early on, their routes have a lot more to do with their personal story arcs. Claude’s still my favorite, I instantly liked him the best, I like his ending the most, and I think it’s great that he’s the only one who doesn’t up and die if you don’t pick his route, buuuut his connection to Byleth is still the weakest.

So uh. In conclusion. Uh. Dang I didn’t expect to write that much. Um. I still like 3H. I still pick it up from time to time; it’s so easy to just dip back into casually. Probably a big part of why it was so popular. The GBA games have my favorite gameplay I think, but they are not “pick up and play,” they are “sit down and concentrate for 45 minutes at least.”

But that is why I’m not excited for FEWTH. It’s fucking around in the middle of a story that I don’t care about as much. I loved Age of Calamity, because even though it unapologetically fucked with BotW’s solid story, there was a really clear point in the story where a branching narrative made sense (y’know, right before the timeskip - the same place where 3H has a branching narrative.) Also it had solid writing for Zelda, aka the character who carries the damn thing. On the other hand, I liked FEW for how unapologetically silly it was. Why are all these people here? Who cares! Certainly not you! We know you play Heroes! This is just like that! FEWTH looks like it’s taking itself pretty seriously.

Ah well. I’m. Almost certainly going to play it. =sigh= I don’t have to! ...but I will be too curious if I don’t. At least warriors games are not usually that long.

I just hope the next FE game isn’t too complicated, so it takes less time to develop, and can get here sooner...

#catfishchat #fe talk #feh talk

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dokifluffs · 3 years

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You’re Safe | Sakusa Kiyoomi

Pairing: Kiyoomi X Reader (female)

Genre: MAFIA!AU, dad and husbando tehe, fluffy, action? thriller??

Author’s Note: mafia 🤝 protective 🤝 domestic father figure 🤝 SAKUSA

Warnings: k*lling, blood, vivid imagery, LONG, language

gif from @rivaillerose 🖤

“Y/N,” a husky voice spoke your name, pulling you from your much needed rest as life of being a new mother had been challenging though so far, it wasn’t anything you couldn’t handle

“Y/N, darling.”

You groaned in your sleep, not wanting to wake, to leave the warmth that you were so comfortable laying in

The edge of the bed shifted as a weight sat down beside you, making your body move toward the person

You brought yourself to open your eyes as heavy as they were, your vision clearing to find your husband sat beside you, his mask pulled down to his chin

The room was gloomy and gray though the curtains were open, not a bit of sunlight shining through as he looked down to you with gentle eyes

Despite his softer side with you, he was still the head of the clan - and his appearance matched him as well

He donned a black wool overcoat with the same colored turtleneck and mask

“What is it, Omi?” You asked sleepily as he cupped your cheek with his black gloved hand

His black gloves were always an accessory he had on him, whether he was wearing them or not

He had a thing with germs but he also saw no need to get his hands dirty when his men were always there to do the job for him

You nuzzled your face into his touch, very tempted to fall asleep holding him close but as your mind woke up more and more, you remembered what today was

What he had to do, where he had to go

“I’m leaving soon.. I’ll be back in a few days..” he whispered as he moved a strand of your hair from your face

You wanted to pretend you didn’t hear these words, that he never told you he had to leave or when he did

A part of you wished he left without telling you but an even greater part was so grateful that he woke you

“Do you really have to go again?” You squeezed his gloved hand as you sat yourself up straighter

“You know how my father is... He wants to make sure things are... under control.. I promise I’ll be back in two days.”

The way he spoke, the words fell so effortlessly from those lips, his voice low and cutting through the space yet he spoke at a volume as if he was telling you a great secret

“You said that last time and he kept you with him for a couple weeks...” you thought back to that time

You were seven months pregnant, almost eight, at the time and it was like he fell off the face of the earth

You couldn’t go anywhere or do anything but reside in the manor and you couldn’t even talk to him

You were alone again

“Don’t go...”

the nights in bed alone, the cramps, emotional rollercoasters, motion sickness, nausea

You at least wished he could have called you

The nightmares you had, the worst case scenarios playing in your head until you woke up with tears streaming down your face, only for you to cry yourself silently back to sleep as fear pooled and plagued you from within

He could see the sadness in your eyes and he could remember vividly the mental torture he was put under

No communication to you and all he could at most to see you was through the hidden cameras all connected to his phone

Even checking in on you had to be done in secret, all to make sure that he was strong enough to continue on the family business even if he had to lose you or be away for unpredictable amounts of time

It was unbearable then and it was still unbearable now

He never asked to grow up into the business of the underworld, let alone take it over from his father at the prime age of 20 four years ago

He never wanted your life to be taken away when you two had already been together when he was recruited

“I’m sorry, darling, but you know I have to,” he sighed. “You know how my father is.” He cupped your cheek and kissed your temple then lips before he stood

“Am I going to lose you?” Your voice broke the silence, breaking through the white sound of the downpour outside

But you had stopped your question early

“Am I going to lose you today? Tomorrow? One day?”

He stood frozen in his place before he could reach for the knob

“No, Y/N. You won’t.” His eyes paused for a bit on you as he thought about his response, the fatigue of being a mother was already showing. “I’ll be able to call you this time and I’m the head now. The only title my father has to me now is father.”

“You won’t.” He stepped back over to you leaned down to kiss you again. “Not today at least…”

“I’ll call you at supper time, darling. Have a good day.”

You did your best to hold onto his hand as long as you could, to remember his touch, his voice, his scent, the way he looked before he walked out those doors

Because some days or nights, you never truly know if you would ever see him again

And it terrified you

The sound of the rain only seemed to get more intense now that he was gone and you were here

But now your day was beginning now that you were awake

You slipped out of the king sized bed, leaving the warmth you had slept in as the soft carpet at your feet, your toes sinking into the fibers

Brushing your teeth, showering in the grand bathroom of the manor, it was a life you surely never expected but here you were

Kiyoomi’s father and his entire family had built their name from nothing to the global known corporation that it was today

You dried your body off, finding what to wear today through the walk in closet and once that was found, it was breakfast

“Good morning, madam, shall I bring you your breakfast to the master suite?” Your right hand maid had greeted you as you stepped out as she carried the laundry with her

“Oh, thank you, Olivia, but I’ll head down to the kitchen after waking D/N,” you smiled to the older maid that had worked for the Sakusa family for decades

All the staff that worked and lived in the estates on the property outside of the manor were trained security, men and women, whose jobs were to protect the main family, to serve them, and to keep others who would pose a threat away and out, even if it meant killing them

But you always tried not to think or wonder about how many people these staff have killed or beat up or anything whenever you interacted with them, especially when they greeted you with a smile

They were there to protect you and to make sure that nothing and no would would ever harm your life

You stepped into the nursery, the wide room decorated with warm lights and stuffed animals, some more than twice the size of your daughter

“Hi,” you smiled so brightly seeing your baby’s eyes already open, looking up to you as she sat in her crib, holding onto her blankie. “Good morning precious,” you lowered the front gate of the crib so you could kneel down to her level

Sakusa sat in the limousine as he watched the scene of you and your daughter in the nursery, wishing he could just turn the car around and to stay home

Things were in balance, he knew this already but his father’s orders were orders he still had to respect

He clicked off his phone, tucking the device into his pocket as he was to be in the car for quite a bit of time before he would get to his father’s

The biggest smile spread on her face as she laughed seeing you, her bubbliness seeming to make all the gloominess disappear

“Let’s get you changed~” you chimed as you lifted the baby girl into your arms, getting a whiff of her heavy diaper and finding an outfit for her day

“Olivia?” You called into the custom intercom by the nursery’s closet, though there was practically one in every room

“Yes, madam?”

“Sorry for troubling you, but could you actually bring breakfast for D/N and I up to the upstairs loft? You could even send it up the dumbwaiter and that’s fine too.”

“Of course, would you like the usual?”

“Yes please, thank you.”

You carried your little girl toward the upstairs loft, one of your favorite areas of the house since it was significantly smaller - well almost - than the living room downstairs

The loft didn’t extend all the way downstairs like how the ground floor’s living room ceiling extended to the second floor

More than ten thousand square feet of property, more rooms in the manor than you knew what to do with them

Four guest bedrooms with full bathrooms, a grand study and two story “little” library, two main bedrooms in addition to the master bedroom and a nursery

So much space, all sorts of technologies, gadgets and gizmos of all sorts in the house

All the systems in the house was made by the Sakusa corporation to ensure security

This even included your and Kiyoomi’s custom made phones

There was also the basement- all sorts of fun activities to be done: a pool, pool table, living room area that opened up to the backyard with the bar and barbecue, the fire pit

and finally, there was the cellar that was the only place Kiyoomi had requested that you never go - and you never did

You knew that look in his eye, that tone of voice and you knew he had requested this for your best

And most importantly, there were three safe rooms, all three upstairs with hidden entryways to protect you, official guests, and anyone in the family

Before you knew it, Olivia had made her way upstairs with the breakfast as you played with your daughter in the loft, bouncing her on your lap sat on the wide couch

The loft was brightly lit and open, toys of all types for your daughter to play with as the TV played the morning kids show

As filled as the house was with the special staff and things to do, it still felt so lonely and empty as you sat there

You had tried to chat and converse with them but they never loosened up, always keeping all the formalities but it was never any use

The storm outside seemed to be getting worse as your eyes gazed to the horizon, spotting the trees at the edge of the estate where all their branches had been swaying in the wind, the paler, underside of their leaves revealed

Thunder began to rumble in the distance with the occasional flash of lightning but both unbothered your daughter and you as the two of you remained in the loft

You watched as she rolled about on a blanket, playing with her stuffed animals and the other interactive toys that played music to keep her entertained while you watched the TV, finding nothing remotely as entertaining to watch

But just before you could change the channel to yet another disappointing channel, your attention was pulled to your phone vibrating beside you, your eyes lighting up as you saw the caller ID

“You seem so bored,” Kiyoomi’s deep voice sounded through the phone but he spoke the truth

You were tired and bored but you didn’t want to sleep - it would only make you unable to sleep later tonight anyways

“I am,” you sighed as you muted the TV. “How far out have you gone?”

“Actually, not too far. Only about half an hour since there was a major accident on the highway so we had to take a detour. But traffic is terrible so we were stuck for quite a bit before we could actually exit,” Sakusa almost groaned thinking about the terrible accident

How he was stuck in a single place for practically twenty minutes

“Wow, do you know what happened?”

“Well there was a…” his voice drowned out in your ears as you could hear something that didn’t sound like rain or thunder - they were too distinctly different

Loud bangs echoed in the distance, bringing your attention elsewhere though all you could look was outside the wall window to the dark skies

But you couldn’t see anything except the normal background of the property but it was just silent again with the white noise of rain washing down the glass, followed by thunder and a flash of lightning as the storm brewed closer and closer

“I’m sorry what? I missed what you said... I think I heard… something weird..” you spoke as you looked outside the windows that looked to the back of the property

You could hear echoes of movement downstairs, the bustling business of the special staff in the house but it sounded standard... or so you thought

“What did you hear?”

“..I don’t know.. maybe it was the storm and I’m just distracted...” you smiled into the phone as you spoke while your daughter happily crawled to you, laying her head on your legs, her puffy cheeks round as ever

“Well, you two were my only source of entertainment so far this trip,” the corner of his lips curled as he picked off small specks off his suit

“That makes one… of us-“ your thought died out in a matter of seconds

You heard louder, clearer bangs while the staff that had been stationed with you just outside the loft talked over their ear coms to another elsewhere

Before you could continue your sentence or call, the bangs only got louder and your body reacted faster than you could say or think

Clear gunshots began firing at the front entrance, echoing off the high walls and ceilings of the manor while the staff worked on securing the doors and all other entrances and possible ones

“Y/N?” Sakusa could only hear the subtle commotion happening but it was clear you weren’t on the phone. “Shit shit shit..” he stayed on the line as he changed to the security cameras he had access to he used to watch you and your guys’ daughter

Looking through the camera surveillance, he caught a glimpse of you disappearing with your phone in hand while your arms carried your daughter as you disappeared toward the bedroom

“Turn back now,” Kiyoomi howled as his driver did just that, not wasting a single second

You ran into the master suite’s walk in closet that led to the entryway of one of the safe rooms, your baby girl in your arms as she held on to you her whines already beginning before they would turn into cries

“Shh, it’s okay, baby, mama’s gonna protect you,” you smiled, whispering, your voice already shaky, lips trembling as you pressed a little kiss to the top of her head. “Even if it costs my life, precious.”

You moved, leaving the master suite and stayed low as you walked across the “bridge” that connected the loft to the other half of the house

Peeking down, you could hear groans of agony, puddles and splashes of of blood on the floor and walls, empty bullet shells on the ground, shards of glass and broken windows

“Search the house, find that bitch,” a deep voice yelled through the manor as for the first time since the loud bangs happened, it sounded so still, like any normal rainy day

But this was far from normal

You crawled across the marble flooring toward the library

There wasn’t any safe room here but the safe rooms were sure to be where they would look, whoever they were

They were able to get through the security, it seemed like the staff was dead

You silently stood as they scoured the lower levels - you could hear them and all the destruction they were havocking

The cars outside the window blurred into mere colors that passed as the limousine sped through the roads back towards the manor

To save time, they went toward the back roads — it was just the slightest bit longer but time could be shaved down since there were no cars anywhere

“Step on it!” Sakusa commanded as his men readied themselves. “Call in Unit 0,” he demanded as he kept his eyes on the cameras, trying to find you yet he couldn’t see you in the master suite’s safe room

Unit 0 being one of the few very highly trained professional assassins and killers who were at the disposal of the Sakusa family whenever needed

He scoured through the cameras, not even caring about all the destruction being done, all he needed to see was where you and your daughter were

You carefully entered the library, shutting the door behind you as you walked over the wooden floors carefully

Every step made your palms sweaty but your heart stopped after hearing a loud creak in the old floors

The worst part was that there was no way to lock the doors

outside of the door, you couldn’t hear too much but you could still clearly hear the storm as a great big window stretched from the floor to ceiling so all the lighting in here was natural

There was something about the walls surrounding the library that made it sound proof in a sense

You constantly bounced your baby girl in your arms to keep her calm as you tried to get a look outside as you approached one of the corners toward the window

“Search upstairs,” one of the men demanded as a handful of men ran upstairs. “Find her.”

The scoured through all the rooms, flipping every room apart, destroying things, tearing the curtains off, flipping the beds, wrecking the nursery

You peeked out the window that faced the front of the manor yet all you could see were broken things and to your horror, more lifeless bodies of the manor’s staff

But before you could look out any longer, a large rock was launched at the window, breaking the glass, shattering it

Your baby girl let out a loud cry in fear, making your heart drop

“No, D/N, shhhh, please, it’ll be okay, we’ll be okay.” You quickly pulled open the latch to the library’s hidden passage where the door was one of the bookcases

As soon as you closed the bookcase, you heard the door to the library burst open

Several men, guns ready

You scanned your finger print for the room to be safely locked however it wouldn’t let you. All you could do to make sure the room was locked was to see your body to keep the door shut and still

They walked through the wide open doorway to the library scanning the two open floors that was connected by two black steel staircases that wound their way up and down, connecting the two floors

“Shh, please,” you whimpered to your daughter as she cried into your chest as you stayed by the passage’s door so you could look out the peephole

They pulled books off the shelves, throwing them from the second level to the first, knocking the paintings off the walls, ripping them by sliding their knives through the canvas’, kicking them, breaking the frames

The ground shook as you heard a a loud boom, making you jump in your spot, the ground rumbling and shaking below where you sat

It sounded like a bomb went off on the lower level but you assumed it was the cars in the garage since you could hear the repeating alarm sounding off

Your daughters cries began to start back up at the loud noise, as you did your best to shush her

“Shhh, it’s okay,” you whispered to her as you wiped her tears, keeping her face to your chest as you stroked your trembling hand down her back as tears trickled down your cheeks and dripped off your chin

The limousine slid on the gravel outside the manor as Sakusa’s men sprang to action from the vehicle

Kiyoomi stayed in his seat, continuously scouring through the cameras but you were yet to be found

He couldn’t find a single trace of you

His men, as well as unit 0, entered through the blown open entrance, broken shards of glass crunching beneath their steps as they surrounded the estate the best they could, splitting up to eliminate the intruders

“Where are you, Y/N?” His heart hammered in his chest as he desperately tried to find you yet nothing

But before he could look any further, his heart dropped seeing the red system failure message. Whoever these people were, they were impressive, but not fast enough

Kiyoomi now meant business now that he had no access to actually see if you were okay

He ran out of the limousine as gunshots could be heard all throughout the house as half his men made their way to the upper level while the other half wiped out the intruders on the lower level

He followed behind unit 0, making their way upstairs

He clung onto his gun tightly in his hand, finger ready on the trigger as he barged into the master suite, firing two bullets into the chest and head of a large man as he was pillaging the closets

All the precious jewelry he bought for you were now stained in the pool of the filthy blood of the man who had the audacity to enter the premises

His heart almost dropped seeing him in the closet in the first place but it didn’t seem like the man noticed the entrance to the safe room behind the clothes on the hangers

As he pushed the luxurious wardrobe aside opening the door and to his fear, you were nowhere to be seen

More gunshots sounded off, echoing through the halls, sounding off the walls

He couldn’t focus, his thoughts incoherent, unfinished sentences running in his head as he just ran, killing those in his way to find you

A gun war was going off throughout the library as Sakusa’s men fired at the intruders on both levels but they had great firepower too

Both sides hid behind the marble pillars, the different bookshelves and furniture in the room as the rain showered in

Your baby girl cried loudly, her shaken cries sounding off throughout the passage

“No, no, no, please, baby.” Your heart raced as you dared to look out the peephole, only for it to drop as you saw a man you didn’t recognize yell something to another man near him

The man he yelled to fired more shots while the other one approached the passage entrance, banging noises coming through the bookshelf

“She’s in here! Hold them off!” The man yelled

“No, no, no.” Tears welled in your eyes as you did your best to keep the door closed but there was no actual way to since this was just a simple passageway

Your daughter cried loudly in your arms while you gave it your all to keep the door closed

Amongst all the shots being fired, Kiyoomi heard the words the man yelled and then it clicked

He knew where you were

“No.” This one word repeated in his head as he pushed through the front, racing past the bullets being shot towards him as he ran on pure adrenaline

“Boss, no!” His men yelled but this only got the intruders to focus on him, giving them the opening to shoot them all

Kiyoomi shot the man closer to him in the legs before letting his body move on pure killer instinct as he grabbed the man who had fallen to his knees by his jaw, snapping his neck

The other man changed his focus to Kiyoomi as he stood to his feet while the other struggled to pull his gun from his holster

Kiyoomi towered over him as his body moved on his own

He kicked the man to the wall, pressing the barrel of his gun to the man’s chin, pulling the trigger without a second thought

You squeeze your eyes shut, facing the other way from the door, bracing yourself

“I love you. Mama loves you, baby,” you whispered as you cried, a loud rumbling filling your ears as you felt the door being forced open

This was it

You were going to die

Your daughter was doing to die

you let out a blood curtling scream feeling the hands of whoever grab onto you, pulling you, kicking your legs to try to fight

“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N!” Kiyoomi’s familiar voice sounded louder and louder over the rumbling you heard in your ears from clenching and bracing your body and your daughter’s

“It’s me, It’s just me!” He soothed you as he turned you

You couldn’t explain or even begin to describe the relief you felt wash through your body, your heart racing and slowing down at the same time as you broke down, your cries mixing with your daughter’s

“You’re safe, I’m here,” Kiyoomi pulled you into his arms, your body shaking terribly in his arms as you cried into his chest, all the fear you felt flooding your senses

“I know, I’m sorry this happened, but you’re okay. Everything will be okay,” he whispered as he pulled you into his lap, keeping the passage door somewhat closed

You were already put through enough today and he didn’t need you to see the second degree murder crime scene he had committed right outside

“I’m here, I’m here.” He reached up and pulled his mask off as he kissed the top of your head all over, wiping away your tears with his thumbs but you couldn’t stop crying

But that was entirely fine

“But Y/N,” he held your face in his bare hands, his normal gloves off as he stroked his thumb over your cold, damp cheeks

“Why didn’t you go into the safe rooms, darling?” His own voice was unsteady, his lips quivered, eyes teary. “I looked for you and I couldn’t find you and I thought I lost you..” His voice broke off as he gathered himself the best he could, taking deep breaths

Seeing Kiyoomi like this, it broke your heart even more

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what… I was just scared and- and-“ It hurt you so much

Everything about today did

But just this moment was Kiyoomi, it also touched you

He was such a stoic man, usually one to show a softer, affectionate side with you but this was the first time you saw him shed tears

A man who had taken so many lives was now showing his true emotions for the two lives he would give his own live for a hundred times over if it meant you and your daughter was okay

“I know, I know, but you’re safe,” he let out a deep, relieving breath as he hugged your head closer, your body shaking uncontrollably in his arms

“And hey, shhh, it’s okay baby. Papa’s here.” He stroked your daughter’s head as she sort of calmed down as the two of you sat together, doing your best as parents to shoo away her sadness while his men did their best to first and foremost clear the bodies and blood

You absolutely did not need to see that after today

“You two are both safe.” He breathed as he pulled you two impossibly closer, letting the shakiness of his own heart disperse

“You’re safe…”

~~~~~ Thanks for reading! Masterlist for more! Please do not repost anywhere else!

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buttercream-squad-imagines · 3 years

Text

Tinder in Real Life

Pairings: Harry Lewis x fem!Reader, Sidemen x platonic!Reader Word Count: 2k Warnings: Language some people may find offensive, sexual themes, recycled lines from Sidemen Tinder in Real Life because I'm not at all creative Request: Hey! Could you do reader x Harry imagine where the sidemen do a collab video with the reader who is also a big youtuber and Harrys celebrity crush. And during the video the reader is very flirty, leaving Harry a flustered mess when the flirting is directed towards him, but very jealous when its with any other sidemen.

The Sidemen were one of the biggest groups on YouTube and one that you were very familiar with. At the age of 23, you were a fair bit younger than some of its oldest members but yet you had a close relationship with JJ, whom you had met through YouTube.

You had started your channel when you were 17, just under four years ago, making makeup videos, which was a passion of yours when you were younger. Not that you were any good at it back then. Those videos quickly become unlisted when your channel started blowing up in late 2016, now nearing 20 million at the present time.

It wasn't long before you expanded your horizons and had started making different sorts of videos, including vlogs of your everyday life - which wasn't and still isn't that exciting in your opinion - and those where you just had a laugh, attempting to do stupid challenges that were so popular back then. It was those, however, that grew your channel. Your fans seemed to love them and so you gradually started to make more.

As your small channel began to grow significantly, it caught the attention of KSI, a member of the Sidemen, who reached out to you to for a collab. You were ecstatic. You couldn't believe it at the time, why would someone like KSI with 20 million subscribers want to collaborate with you? By that time, you couldn't exactly call yourself a small channel anymore, with almost 5 million subscribers but it still didn't make any sense to you.

You and JJ quickly bonded after filming together. You had a very similar sense of humour and interests. As the years went, the older boy became one of your best friends, the nature of your relationship being very teasing and flirtatious but the both of you knew it was a joke. It was just the way you both were.

Though despite having known him for nearing 3 years now, you had never met the rest of the Sidemen, with the exception of Simon, as he lived with JJ. Which is why when he texted asking you to collaborate with the Sidemen, you couldn't turn the offer down. You were a fan of the group and the content they were producing. You thought the videos that they made were exceptional, that they were pushing the envelope of the standard of content on YouTube and often found yourself excited for new videos.

He had explained that they were filming another of their 'Tinder in real life' but a YouTuber version with the likes of BambinoBecky and ChiWithAC. You were so excited. You were finally going to meet the rest of JJ's friends and you had the opportunity to be a part of a Sidemen Sunday.

You arrived at the studio the boys were filming at in the afternoon, finding and greeting JJ before he introduced you to the other sidemen in addition to Lux, Freezy and Stephen.

"And you've already met Simon." He finished.

"Yeah. Nice to finally meet you all. JJ tells me a lot about you guys." You laughed.

"Because that's assuring." Ethan pointed out with a chuckle, the other boys letting out agreements.

"Not all bad, I promise." You teased, winking at him. Ethan felt the blood rushing to his face, immediately becoming flustered and stumbling over his words. You found that you often had that effect on people as you could be very direct and flirtatious even when you didn't mean it. To you it was just friendly banter.

"Geez Y/N, stop flirting with people you met literally five minutes ago." JJ rolled his eyes.

"You sound a bit jealous, Jide." You smirked, a teasing grin spread across your face.

"Nah, allow it." There were eruptions of laughter around the room, coming from the boys. You were quick to notice Harry standing out of the way and was significantly quieter than the others, with what seemed to be a forced smile on his face.

Harry was in his own head, barely paying attention to what was going on around him. When JJ had told him that you were going to be in the next Sidemen video, he panicked. You were an accomplished YouTuber who he was quite fond of to say the least. Well, that would be an understatement, he had a fairly large crush on you. A crush that no one but Freezy and Lux knew about.

He knew that JJ had been friends with you for some time now but never considered the possibility of even meeting you. His anxiety acted as a barrier to even the thought of it. But he was currently in the same room as you and had said nothing more than a short 'hello'. He longed to have the confidence Ethan had to speak to you, even more so for you to look at him the way you were.

Already you were flirting with JJ and Ethan, something that caused a pit to form at the bottom of his stomach. He wouldn't admit it, but he could slowly feel the jealousy forming. Not that he had anything to be jealous about in the first place!

You continued to speak with the boys as you got your mic set up, telling them stories you were sure would embarrass JJ.

"Y/N, stop." The older boy whined. He could be like a child sometimes, but it was one of his more endearing qualities. He simply wouldn't be JJ if he wasn't.

"No, carry on." Simon laughed.

"Oh, don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from." You teased.

"I think it's time we started, don't you think?" Harry grumbled.

"Right." You smiled at the boy, who's cheeks became tinted red. He ducked to hide his face and walked around to stand in the line, hiding himself in the middle.

"Hi, I'm Y/N, I'm 23 and I'm from Y/H/T." You spoke to the camera once you were given the go ahead.

"I'm Simon, I'm 28. I like to practice safe sex."

"Always a good start."

"I could tie you to the bed, so you don't fall off." He finished with a giggle. You acted like you were pondering it for a moment before letting out a laugh and swiping right.

"I'm down for that." You teased. The boys all let out rumbles of laughter

"Hi, I'm Ethan, I'm 26 and kiss me if I'm wrong, but you're gonna swipe right."

"What would you rather?" You joked. Ethan shrugged his shoulders and walked closer to the board, sticking his head through with his lips puckered, eliciting a cry of protest from Harry that this wasn't allowed. You laughed and made an over exaggerated motion to swipe to the right, causing him to pout playfully but walked over to the right anyway.

"Hi, I'm Josh, I'm 28. KSI has a top ten single, but you're the only hot single I can see."

"Wow, that was smooth!" You said with a grin. "Definite yes from me."

"I'm Callum, I'm 26. Are you into fitness?" Freezy asked.

"Can't say I am." You replied, unsure of what turn this could take.

"How about you fitness dick in your mouth?"

"I wouldn't get too excited babes, I gag on my toothbrush." You laughed. "We could try though."

You swiped right on him, chuckling as you watched him let out a yes before joining Simon, Ethan, and Josh. You frowned slightly, a crease forming between your brows as you saw Harry whisper something furiously at his friend but ultimately got distracted by Vik stepping up to go next.

"I'm Vik, I'm 25. My ex-girlfriend always said I'd never do better than her, wanna prove her right?" You could hear the cries of the boys in the background, some scolding him, others laughing.

"Man actually said prove her right. Not wrong." JJ shrieked with a shocked look on his face, holding his head with his hands.

"You need to find someone for that." You snarked, swiping left on the boy, who shrugged and walked off.

"Damn! You got told!" Lux cackled.

"Uh hi. I'm Harry. I'm uh 25, no I'm not I'm 24." He stumbled. "Are you sure you're a muggle? Because that ass is magical."

"You should see how magical it can be." You spoke before cringing at yourself and laughing, swiping right to avoid a reply. The boy's face grew a bright shade of red, closely resembling the colour of a tomato.

"Geez, is that an offer?!" Freezy yelled from the right side. You laughed, observing how Harry whispered furiously to the boy to stop and winked at him once he had could see. Your laughter only increased as you watched JJ step up.

"I'm JJ. I'm 28 and are you a raisin? Cause you're raising my dick." The boy in question stood in front of you so confidently, hands clasped together in front of him so seriously that you just lost it. By the time you composed yourself, there were tears almost falling from your eyes.

"A* for effort." You laughed, swiping right eliciting a cry of success.

You had wrapped up filming your segment of the video, which conveniently was the last of the day. You found JJ who you spoke to whilst the other boys were otherwise occupied talking to each other.

"Cheers for coming, Y/N/N. You've been great."

"Anything for you." You joked.

"Don't tempt me." He laughed. You could feel eyes on you, eyes that were burning into your side. You turned your head to see Harry staring you and JJ down before looking away after being caught in the act, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Does Harry not like me or something?" You whispered to JJ, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

"Not that I know of." He frowned looking at the younger boy. "He can be a bit awkward at times and gets flustered a lot."

"Right." You agreed. You excused yourself before sauntering up to the boy in question, calling his name to snap him out of the daze he appeared to be in.

"Oh, um hey Y/N." He stumbled.

"Hi." You smiled gently. "I uh, I was just wondering, do you... have I done something to offend you?"

"Offend me? Why, uh, why would you think that?" He rambled.

"It's just... it's nothing, it's probably just me overthinking things." You waved it off, feeling like a complete idiot.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I don't like you. I don't not like you, in fact I really like you! Oh, um I mean I like you, you're very pretty." The boy couldn't stop rambling which made you laugh. "No, wait."

"You think I'm pretty?" You blushed interrupting him. Harry felt his mouth go dry, not being able to get anything coherent to come out. "Well, Harry, I really like you too."

"What?" His eyebrows shot up so far it was almost comical. "Really? So, you don't like the other guys?"

"What? No." You laughed. "That's absurd. Why would you think that?"

"You seemed very..." The boy trailed off, not wanting to offend you after you had admitted to liking him.

"Flirty?" You finished, causing him to nod. "I'm like that with everyone, I don't mean to be half the time."

"Oh."

"Well, how about you give me your phone number and when you finally grow a pair, you can ask me out?" Your confidence levels had shot up spontaneously.

"Uh, sure." His cheeks had become a dark shade of red as he passed his phone to you so you could put your number in. You kept looking up at him as you typed, putting your name under 'Y/N x' in his contacts before handing it back to him.

"Y/N! Come on! We're going to Nando's!" JJ called from the other side of the room.

"Call me." You winked. Your bottom lip was caught between your teeth and was currently the only thing from stopping the wide grin from spreading across your face. A grin that hadn't disappeared from your face for the rest of the day, much to the curiosity of JJ, who was disappointed when you refused to tell him why, or more appropriately who, had put the smile on your face.

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angry-geese · 3 years

Note

Sukuna requests. S/o makes fun of him all the time, calls him weak, etc. What nobody knows at the beginning is that s/o is significantly stronger than sukuna

The Definition of Human - Sukuna x Reader

Warnings: some swearing but its pretty tame. mention of death, and violence. Sukuna kind of needs his own warning. sfw. gn!reader.

a/n: as much as i love the idea of sukuna being soft for his human s/o i also love the thought of them being much stronger than him and him having no clue what do to with that

Word Count: 2.1k

You were just a sorcerer when he first met you, barely an adult, cast out by your village.

Someone so powerful hadn't been born for centuries. A sorcerer like you could turn the world of Jujutsu on its head. And that was the last thing they wanted to happen. The older you grew, the more unpredictable you became. You were far too strong for the village elders to handle. While you could have been a powerful ally, you would have been an even worse foe. The very people that had raised you, who taught you how to use your powers had begun to fear you.

Though you weren't trussed up like a sacrifice, you were sat by one of his altars like one.

It was only by chance you stumbled across such a thing. The surrounding woods were vast, and winding. No matter what path you took, you always seemed to wind back up by them. Perhaps it was a work of sorcery, meant to keep you lost in the woods forever. No trail seemed to lead back home. The village elders never expected you to last long on your own against the elements, let alone the King of Curses. But growing exhausted, and hungry, you had little choice but to stop and rest. The altar had offerings in the form of food, and a place to rest. Far more than Sukuna needed. You figured he wouldn't notice if you took a few things.

At the base of an altar sat a much smaller form. A human, one from the local village. Your shoulders were slumped, your arms curled around a bag. You didn't look sad, so much as you looked furious. You were talking to yourself, listing out all the ways you’d flatten each and every structure, how you’d salt the very earth they stood on, how you’d turn the once rich, fertile soil uninhabitable.

For having Sukuna’s interest in mind, he was certainly ready to burn it to the ground. Your village did little to appease the King of Curses. The humans in it were conniving, and rather quick to betray him. The relationship between the two was strained at best. In exchange for offerings in the form of crops, alcohol, and whoever decided to get on the village elders’ bad side, he wouldn't burn your home to the ground.

In a way, you were their last sacrifice to him, and by far his favorite.

As a child your parents had warned you, telling you never to go into the woods alone. A four armed man wandered out there, and he had a habit of making travelers disappear. Now that very same forest you once feared was your only sliver of comfort.

It took you a moment to realize he was standing there. And when you finally noticed him, you didn't look at him with the fear most humans did. There was a curious glint in your eyes. You sized him up, studied him in a way he wasn't used to.

In your hands you held an apple—an old offering—paring it with a knife. You were carving around the bruises. The texture of bruised apples always bothered you.

“It's dangerous to be out here alone, little one,” he said, eyeing you up like prey, “you should know that by now.”

“You’re the least of my worries, old man,” you said, popping a chunk of apple into your mouth.

You were still human. Strong, but human. You needed sleep, and food. If exposed to the elements too long you would freeze, or succumb to heatstroke or thirst.

“Old man?!” He said, clearly offended.

“What? You don't think I’ve heard the stories?” You asked. “You don’t scare me.”

And you were right. Even as he looked you in the eyes, you didn't back down once. You, unlike every other human from your village, weren't scared of him. He found you curious, and interesting. From the very moment your eyes locked with his, he was infatuated.

“I should frighten you,” he warned.

“You don't,” you said, “in fact, I think I could kick your ass!”

Expecting it to be an easy fight, he took your offer.

What resulted was a fight that would last days. Sukuna had never met anyone who could last so long against him. Let alone a human. Your strength was only rivaled by your unwavering rage. You were determined in a way he’d never seen before. Your village, along with half of the surrounding forest would be razed in the battle.

They had to have seen this coming. The child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel it's warmth.

And it's warmth you felt.

You couldn't imagine yourself being sad. You were too filled with anger and betrayal. There was no room left in your heart for sadness.

He remembers the look of the fires, and how they glinted in your eyes. He thinks that's when you began to turn into a curse.

After the third day, he had grown not only bored, but tired. It was clear neither of you were capable of destroying the other. He figured you were too tough to eat; you wouldn't make good meat. Uraume couldn't do a whole lot with you. And you were too combative to be a concubine. You would not go with him willingly. He's not one to give up, nor is he one to admit defeat, but he knows when he's not going to win. The two of you would mutually destroy the world before you would destroy each other. There was no end in sight. Sukuna simply wanted to leave.

So he simply headed for home.

That enraged you. After days of fighting, there was no climatic end to the battle. You wanted something more.

"Hey asshole!" You said. "You can't just walk away!"

"I know when I've met my match." He said. "Do you?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means this world will burn before we destroy each other."

The two of you were quite literally a match made in hell. You would be a powerful ally and an even worse foe. There was no point in fighting you.

He did nothing to stop you when you followed him.

You were more of a nuisance than anything else. He often found himself comparing you to a cockroach. No matter how many times he tried to squash, poison, or starve out you always came back. If he couldn't kill you, then he had to have you on his side. You weren't something to be deceived, betrayed, injured, or killed. You were stronger than that. You were sharp, too, with a tongue to match. Whether harsh words he threw your way, you returned in double. It was rare he found a human with quite a tongue on them. He often remarked about having it nailed to his door. You simply pointed at his servants and dared them to try it.

They never did. Anyone who dared harm you often met a gruesome fate, either at his hands, or yours.

He didn't consider himself capable of falling in love. And he isn't. To some extent. But love is what he felt. You were the closest to an equal the King of Curses had ever met. In many ways you surpassed him, but those who admitted it often met a swift death.

He moved onto the next village. So did you. Word had not yet spread of what happened. People knew of the fires, but not of the deaths, and your connection to them. You settled down, taking up work with the local shamans. Though you were a newcomer, your help was gladly accepted when Sukuna first showed up, demanding offerings.

In the beginning you tried to warn them. That didn't help. They never listened. It always ended the same way; with a razed village and a bunch of needless deaths.

Sukuna would visit. Often in the late hours of the night as you were trying to get some sleep. He did little more than steal your food, and make himself far too comfortable. Of course that's how most of your meetings went.

He's not sure when he fell for you. But it was something that happened all at once. After years of a back and forth between you two, something gave. You took a place right by his side. He found himself no longer taking concubines, no longer indulging in the sacrifices presented to him. He found himself consumed with the thought of you. He had to have you.

“I can't believe you’re all out of sake,” he said, one night while visiting.

“I wonder who’s fault that is,” you said.

He cast you a glare from across the room. You'd have to buy more in the morning anyway. But all the good stuff has been put up as an offering, and the only sake left in the market is watered down, and worth nothing to you. You don't drink the stuff all that much anyway, you just used it for cooking.

“I question why I keep you alive,” he said.

“I think if you could even kill me,” you said, “you would have by now. Someone as weak as you doesn't stand a chance.”

He didn't like this, and hauled you into his arms, carrying you away from your cooking.

“No!” You squealed, too busy giggling to put up much of a fight. “The rice is going to overcook!”

Sukuna couldn't care less about the rice. He tossed you rather carelessly onto your shared bed, caging you in his arms. The kiss he pulled you into was fleeting, and soft, like he was almost afraid to touch you.

When the village elders first discovered these meetings, it didn't take them long to exile you. The very people that had welcomed you had ignored your warnings and betrayed you. You had gone from respected, and even loved, to feared in an instant.

At some point you stopped trying to warn them. If you really wanted to, you could stop him. Delay him at best. Give people time to run. At least someone would survive. But after a while, you began to think some of them deserved it. The sacrifices they provided were never enough when Sukuna grew tired of toying with them. It was just you and him. Two constant presences in each other's life. You grew used to his company. Enjoyed it, even. You’d never tell him that. Mostly because you didn't want to inflate his ego even more. You were as much his as he was yours.

At some point you became more curse than human.

You could breathe, your lungs would fill with air, but the action provided no relief. You no longer felt the need to eat, and often found yourself forgetting to do so. Food turned to ash in your mouth. The enjoyment of eating was long since lost to you. You're alive, but you're not. Your heart beats but the blood that courses through your veins is not quite right. Your memories of yourself when you were younger fade. But the anger. That fear, that anger, cast into the past, is the only humanity left in you.

You found yourself falling asleep next to him, and in turn waking up next to him. Sometimes in his arms, sometimes on the other side of the bed. He found himself opening his arms for you to climb into. You would do so, albeit reluctantly.

You were his partner. You were a nuisance, but you were his partner.

"Am I dead?" You asked, one morning in the fall. You think it was fall. You remember the leaves turning yellow and orange, but it wasn't cold enough to be winter.

"I haven't killed you yet, so no." He said. "Why?"

"Because I woke up and saw your face, and thought I had finally gone to hell." You said.

His mouth opened, but no words came out. An offended sounding huff left him. He rolled over onto you, pinning you to the sheets. His knees planted on either side of your body, his hands found your wrists. It’d take no effort from you to throw him off. But you didn't. You never did.

“You’re not in hell yet,” he said.

“I'd beg to differ,”

“Then beg,”

“Make me!”

He attacked your neck with wet, open mouth kisses, sending you into a giggling fit. Your skin was warm under his lips. You were always so warm. You were flushed from your chest to your forehead, blush dusting the tips of your ears and your nose. Your arms wrapped around your neck, pulling him flush to your chest. Your heartbeat was audible, racing as he pressed his ear to your chest.

“Stay in bed a little longer,” he said. He was pleading more than he was asking. And you weren't able to find it in you to refuse.

It wasn't entirely awful having someone stronger than him.

#ryomen sukuna x reader #sukuna x reader #ryomen sukuna #jjk x reader #jjk fluff #sukuna fluff #jujutsu kaisen #sukuna #this was either going to be called the definition of human or in hell i'll be in good company #possibly uncharacteristically soft sukuna #also i suck at tagging #goose answers

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ameliora-j · 3 years

Text

twin flame ii // gw x reader

words: 2k

warnings: angst. like a LOT. bestfriend breakup, mention of blood

a/n: this one is significantly shorter than the first,, sry besties :)

part one | part three | part four

your heart twisted itself in pained knots, increasing the pounding of your head tenfold. it had been this way for days now. christmas with the weasleys came and went and the tension between you and george was thick. you could barely even look at each other without passing hard glares. you had all planned to go to the field at the back of the burrow and play quidditch, and you were currently tasked with collecting george. you knocked gently on the twins’ door before opening it. “hi georgie,” you beamed.

“hello butterfly,” he spat the nickname bitterly and you were taken aback. you ignored the twinge of pain in your chest as you stepped further into the room.

“um… we’re all gonna go and play quidditch. if you wanna join,” you offered a smile. “i need my broom partner,” you had never learned how to fly a broom. you figured life should be lived on the ground, the way merlin intended it to be.

“no thanks,” he grumbled.

“c’mon georgie, we’re the dream team!” you persisted.

“why don’t you ask charlie to be apart of your dream team. seems he’s already replaced me with everything else in your life,” the last part was muffled, not intended for your ears, but you still heard it. you furrowed your brows slightly before answering.

“don’t be silly georgie, i can’t play quidditch without my partner. you can’t break up the dream team,” you pushed, ignoring your confusion.

“yn, i’d really rather not watch you eye-fuck my brother. go ask him to be on your team. or better yet, learn to fly a broom. it’s truly not that hard of a task, even a simpleton such as yourself should be able to catch on quickly,” he seethed.

your heart skipped a beat as it sunk to your stomach and tears pooled at your bottom lash line. you nodded once and pivoted on your heel to leave the room. you sniffled quietly as you closed the door to his room and went downstairs. “george?” fred asked as you came into view.

“he doesn’t wanna play,” you murmured half heartedly as you pushed passed the group of people to go outside. you released a sigh as you plunked yourself down onto the grass, lying back and throwing your arms over your eyes as you forced yourself to keep your tears at bay.

“hey, ynn, c’mon you can fly with me,” charlie offered with a smile as he held a strong arm out to you.

“nah, ‘s okay charlie. i’ll watch with fleur and hermione,” you murmured softly.

charlie’s brows furrowed slightly. you had never called him ‘charlie.’ it was always ‘char char.’ “you okay?” he asked and you simply nodded in response. he released a sigh as he jogged to the center of the field where his other siblings, and harry, were at.

“what happened mon amour?” fleur asked you softly.

“he called me stupid,” you sniffled. “said i replaced him with charlie but i didn’t,” you whimpered softly as you confided in the two girls sat on your sides. “he hates me. this was a stupid plan. ‘m just gonna go home,” you sobbed softly, causing fleur to pull your head to her lap as she trekked her fingers through your hair.

“i’m sorry, yn. i didn’t know he would react like this,” hermione spoke softly.

“not your fault, mione,” you murmured half heartedly as you stood and wiped your eyes. “‘m gonna go home,” you released a shaky breath as you pushed yourself to stand.

you dusted your bottom off as you walked back into the burrow. you waved your wand, packing your stuff neatly in your bag before you wrote a note, thanking molly and arthur and left it on the counter. you grabbed your bag and headed to the fireplace, throwing the floo powder and taking yourself to your childhood home.

“hey yn!” your older brother greeted. “thought you were spending break with the weasleys?” he asked, confused.

“yeah,” you murmured despondently as you walked up to your room.

“okay?” his brows furrowed slightly. when you got to your room, you took out a pair of sweatpants and a gryffindor sweatshirt that you stole from george’s wardrobe and forced yourself to shower.

the water was hot. boiling even. you should have flinched at the heat. screamed. cried. something. but you didn’t. you couldn’t. you were uncomfortably numb. so you just stood there, unmoving, staring at the shower wall as the scorching hot water fell over your body. your breaths came out irregularly as you stood there. your body was screaming for you to get out. to turn down the heat of the water. to do something to stop the pain of the burns. but your mind told you that you deserved this. you needed to feel something other than the pain twisting around in your chest.

by the time you stepped out, your skin was tinted with a slight pinkish color. you took a ragged breath in as you dried yourself off and pulled on the sweatpants and sweatshirt. you didn’t even bother brushing through your hair as you pulled up the hoodie and tied the strings tightly. you whimpered soft as your tears made a trail on the floor on your trek back to your room. you crawled out of your window and climbed up to the roof. you ended up falling asleep on your roof, exhausted from the weight of your tears.

you spent the rest of your christmas break—and longer—at your own home. you didn’t return untill fred had owled you telling you had three more days of paid vacation for the year. you flooed to your shared apartment with the twins and changed into your uniform, brushing through the knots in your hair that had accumulated over the days you laid in bed, sulking. you walked down the stairs into the shop as you pulled your hair into a ponytail and took your post at the till. “sorry ‘m late,” you murmured to fred, who appeared to be filling in for you at the present moment.

“you okay, bunny?” fred asked as he slid over so you could take over. you could only manage a despondent hum as you began working.

“thank you for shopping with weasley’s wizard wheezes, were you able to find everything okay today?” you asked the young wizard at the counter with a smile that didn’t reach your eyes.

that’s basically how the rest of your day went. forcing your tears back everytime george had to speak to you and being only half present with the customers instead of your usual lively self. when the day had ended and george locked the doors, you walked into the twins’ office and handed fred an envelope. “what’s this, bunny?” he asked you.

“my two weeks,” you murmured softly.

“you’re quitting?” he asked with raised brows.

“yeah,” you murmured. “found a job uh… closer to home. my brothers will be by to collect my stuff tomorrow,” you told him. “‘m gonna go pack,” you didn’t let fred say more as you quickly turned on your heel and walked back up to the apartment. “sorry,” you murmured as you bumped into george on your way up. he only gave you a distracted grunt in response.

as you walked up the stairs, you heard the argument brew between fred and george on your behalf. “fix her!” fred demanded.

“i didn’t do anything!” george defended.

“you broke her,” fred pushed back.

“she’s fine,” you could practically hear george roll his eyes.

“she’s quitting.” fred deadpanned.

“what?” george asked, shock lacing his tone.

“and she’s moving back with her brothers. so go and fix her. make this right,” you decided to end your eavesdropping here and rushed upstairs and into george’s room, where all your things were kept. you knelt on the floor as you took out your suitcases. you were halfway done when you heard the door creak open.

“butterfly?” your heart twisted and tears stung the backs of your eyes at the nickname you hadn’t heard in over a week. “whatcha up to?” he asked.

“packing,” you murmured softly, but he heard. and boy did he miss your voice like hell.

“for what?” he asked curiously as he sat on his bed.

“‘m moving back home. got a new job,” never once did you look up from your task, for you knew if you did, you would break.

“where at, butterfly?” he knelt on the floor in front of you as he began to help you fold your clothes.

“some muggle bookstore. ‘s close to the house,” your murmurs could barely be heard over the loud thumping of both of your hearts. however, george picked up on every word. he grasped your hands in his, effectively stopping your progress. “george please,” you whispered.

“look at me, butterfly,” he demanded softly.

“george,” you repeated a little bit louder.

“look at me. and tell me this will make you happy. and i will let you walk out that door.” you didn’t. you couldn’t. you knew that this isn’t what you wanted as well as he did. “you can’t, right? because it won’t,” he pointed out.

“i can’t be here, george. i don’t want to be,” you told him, still refusing to meet his gaze.

“why? because of me? because i will leave. yn, if that’s what it takes to make you happy, then i will walk out of that door and go back to live with mum. you only ever have to see me in a professional setting. and i’ll communicate with you through fred at work,” he spoke seriously.

“i don’t want that, george. and neither do you,” you told him.

“i don’t, but if it makes you happy then that’s what you’ll get,” he told you.

“no george!” you shouted.

“then what do you want?!” he shouted back.

“you george!” you yelled, finally meeting his gaze. “i want you! i’ve only ever wanted you but you’re too fucking stupid to see what’s right in front of you! i mean merlin’s beard george i’ve been in bloody love with you since fifth fucking year but you’re never seen it!” you finally released all the emotions you’ve been holding in for years. “i just wanted you,” you whispered softly, your voice cracking as tears fell.

you pushed yourself to stand from the floor and waved your wand, packing the rest of your stuff as you grabbed your suitcase. “butterfly, i-“ you quickly cut him off.

“don’t, george.” there was acrimony written all over your tone. “i don’t want your pity.” you sniffled and hastily wiped your eyes. you passed fred on your way out.

“yn?” he asked softly.

“bye fred,” you murmured softly. “i changed my mind. my resignation is effective immediately. i won’t be in tomorrow.”

“yn wait,” fred called.

“please don’t,” you shook your head. “d-don’t try and get me to stay. please just… just leave me alone,” you sniffled.

“i’m sorry…” he spoke softly. you just shook your head and wiped your tears away as you flicked your wand to apparate back home. when you landed on the road a few miles away from your house, you let out a wail of agony. your arm had splinched during the apparition process. you took a deep breath and pushed yourself through it. you knew this was a bad idea. every wizarding book in history advised against it. even a muggle would know not to. but you pushed past the thoughts to apparate into your living room.

“yn!” your older brother shouted as he saw you, blood pouring from your splinched right arm. you were only able to take two steps before you fell to the floor of your living room. you let out a soft groan and a whine of agony before closing your eyes, letting the feelings consume you. the pain in your arm cancelled out the pain in your chest as you let darkness overcome you, falling into the void, listening to the frantic screaming voices of your siblings.

stupid feelings. stupid boys. stupid george weasley. stupid twin flame.

twin flame. it’s almost laughable now. what a lie.

tags: @i-love-scott-mccall @ellerosie2332 @rmvb24 @astralpcrker @daisybloommm @maybeisthemoon @moonliightbabes @stormi-ames @jochim322 @coninl @melonoptimist @lunajoyce3 @clairdemoony @mangoberry99 @imclueless @enya-2004 @prongsyy @lol-whoandwhat-is-dis @burnfleur @anything444ourmoony @horrorxweasley @alicecullens-gf @theincredibledeadlyviper @georgeweasleyshoe3697 @narwhalebaby

* crossed out means i couldn’t tag you

add yourself to my taglist

or the series taglist

#twin flame #george weasley #harry potter #harry potter x reader #charlie weasley x reader #charlie weasley #george weasley x reader #best friends to lovers #harry potter angst #harry potter smut #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fluff #george weasley smut #george weasley angst #george weasley fluff #twin flame series #twin flame part two

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j-diamond · 3 years

Text

Score (Flynn x Reader)

“Flynn, we’ve been rowing for,” you pause looking around, "for nearly forever!” You sigh, “Flynn, where are we going?” “Somewhere.” He pauses looking at what you assumed was a compass, “anywhere.” He meets your inquisitive eyes and slumps, “Nowhere.” You pause, irritation beginning to settle in. “Flynn Ryder!” You throw the oars into the bottom of the boat, “I freaking knew it!” You groan, letting your frustration publicly be known. After a long pause you sigh, “Flynn.” He looks at you, puppy dog eyes at the ready. You chuckle softly at him, “I can’t lie, this is gonna severely impact your heisting score.” His face falls, “You can’t be serious!!” He asks, searching your face for an ounce of insincerity. You raise an eyebrow at his antics and he slumps again, “But I got the goods.” He grabs his satchel, revealing the stolen goods as if it would illustrate his point. :this is 24 karat gold!” You shrug, “What good is all that if we’re stranded? Definitely deducting major points.” Your face softens and you smile, “Listen I know you’re trying.” You caress his face, “But I won’t always be here and-” “What’s that supposed to mean?” He interrupts, his eyes catching your own. You raise your eyebrow, “What do you mean?” You look at him, genuine confusion on his face, “The bounty on my head is significantly larger than yours. At a certain amount, it’ll become way too dangerous for me to be around you. At that point I’d have to leave you on your own.” Your face falls when you see his, “Why would you have to leave me?” He asks, a whirlwind of emotions swirling through his eyes, the main one you’re able to read as concern.

“I’m sorry?” Your brows forough, “You’re my best friend Eugene.” Your pause trying to collect your thoughts, “And I care for you deeply. We’ve been through thick and thin for almost three years now. Basically since the orphanage.” Both of your breaths hitch at the shared memory, “If at any point my existence threatens your wellbeing, I’ll cease association.” You sneak a look at him, only to see his eyes nearly glazed over. You immediately look away, “I don’t want you to get hurt because of me, I couldn’t live with myself should that happen.” He grabs your hands, commanding your attention, “But I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt, and I wasn’t there to stop it.” His grip tightens, “And you may be more experienced, and older- only by a few weeks,” you chuckle at that, “But I think-” he pauses, “No, I know.” You watch his eyes looking at your hands in his, “I love you.” He lessens his grip, “and anything I do, I want to do with you.” He smirks, placing a kiss on your hands. “If you’re up for it, that is.” It’s your turn to stare at your hands, as a smile graces your face. You try to sneak a glance, only to make direct eye-contact. Your thoughts are calmed by the feeling of one of his hands glossing your cheek. You must’ve been crying. “So, with that being said, Y/n Stabbington, will you be willing to give yourself the honor of me being your boyfriend?” You chuckle, the mood shifting from his smug sense of wording. “Woah, The Flynn Rider, begging to be my boyfriend? If we weren’t in the middle of nowhere, you’d be drawing a crowd.” You put your finger to your chin, feigning being in deep thought, “Seeing as I have nothing better to do. Sure, why not? You can be honored by being my boyfriend.” “Well aren’t you kind?” He quips, rolling his eyes, “May I, your lowly, but handsome, newfound boyfriend receive a kiss from thy royal highness?” You roll your eyes, nevertheless you meet him halfway. Your lips collide, and a feeling of completion washes over you. Everything just seemed to fit into the right place. You pull apart, “see that wasn’t so bad” “Not so bad, but pretty bad.” You smirk, “But I’m willing to help you practice.”

“Eighty-four.” You whisper begrudgingly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that? Could you say that a bit louder?” He says, flaunting that same smirk, the one you find yourself mirroring, “Fourty-eight.” You say confidently, watching his face fall momentarily, “Which, in case you hadn’t known, is not a passing score.” You pretend to look bummed. “Wait. NO! My score was eighty-four. I distinctly remember you saying that earlier.” He argues, and you raise an eyebrow, “So why did you ask again?” “I just wanted to confirm that I passed.” “Mhm. Suure.” You roll your eyes at his behavior. “Not that it matters much though.” He looks at you, waiting for you to elaborate. “That score just means I trust you enough to be in charge of our heists. Doesn’t mean you’re actually good at heisting.” You smirk at him, and he mimics your face in a playful manner, “Ha, ha, ha.” He says dryly, “just admit you love me and you think I’m a good thief now.” “Well, I can say that I do love you…” you start, as you approach your hideout, “Not sure about that second part.” He rolls his eyes at you as you two, sneak to the basement where you hid all your treasure. “And I love you too.” He smiles, as he pulls you in for a quick kiss. “That’s all that really matters isn’t it?” A light blush settles on your cheeks, as you find yourself at a loss for words. “Cute.” Your eyes widen as you playfully hit him. “Anyways, I think we’re nearly there.” You survey your different piles of goods, “Pretty soon I think we’ll have enough to finally have a nice quiet place on a private island or something.” He nods, “A private island, all to ourselves.” He reminisces, “and by ourselves I do mean us, not your brothers.” You pull a fake shocked expression, “What? I can’t take Sideburns or Patchy with us?” You ask, pretending to feel sad at the news, “You don’t trust my older brothers?” He roll his eyes at your behavior, “I trust them as far as I can throw them.” He goes to sit at his desk, as he begins looking at floor plans. “Anyways, if we can manage to steal this crown, we’ll finally be set.” You nod, “Or we can just leave it alone. That’s the only thing they have to remember their lost daughter.” You suggest as you removed your blue vest, placing it on your chair. You didn’t really like the idea of traveling to Corona. He turns around to look at you, an eyebrow raised, “Sentimental are we?” He teases, “No, it’s just Corona is the place where my bounty originated, I’m pretty sure they have my face planted everywhere.” You walk over to a pile and pull out a larger bejeweled necklace, “This was their queens. I’d rather not return there. Plus they behead their prisoners…” His hands go his neck and he gulps, “You know, I don’t even think that crown is worth much anyway.” He says as he pushes the plans aside. The sound of knocking startles you and you look at Flynn. “I’ll get the door. It’s probably my brothers.” You say and he grunts. You roll your eyes at him as you finally approach the door, “Hello?” You open the door to find a piece of paper. You sigh, as you hear Flynn approaching. “What is it?” He asks and you show him the paper, “you can’t be serious?” Anger laces his tone, and you nod, “They’re my brothers.” You say through gritted teeth, “and as much as both of us dislike them, I have to rescue them.” He sighs as he grabs his satchel, “We have to rescue them.” He gives you a quick peck as you head out, “though they’re gonna owe us big, forcing us to travel to Corona.” You nod in agreement.

“I don’t care. We’re taking that crown.” Flynn states angrily as he paces the room, “They took the only person who I cared about from me, and so I will take that crown. Then they’ll have nothing to remember their precious princess by.” The brothers share a look, “Only because Y/n trusted you.” Sideburns says, and Patchy nods in agreement, “It’s going to take at least two years, to have solid plans.” Flynn gives them a desperate look, “I don’t care how long it takes. I am getting that crown.” He looks at your now empty chair. The only thing sitting there now was your blue vest. He places his hand on it, tears slowly rolling down his face. If this was the only way to honor your memory, then he swore he’d never take it off.

#flynn rider #flynn x reader #rider x reader #flynn rider x reader #eugene fitzherbert #eugene fitzherbert x reader #eugene x reader

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moonlitceleste · 2 years

Text

souvenir

New team, new crush, new year—it's time for new beginnings, and for Marinette to stop falling head-over-heels for people who will never like her back.

ao3

A/N: This fic is based on Souvenir by Selena Gomez! A little background for anyone unfamiliar with Young Justice: Wally likes to keep souvenirs from missions that he later puts into a display case, so I thought it was fitting. Wally is 19 and Mari is 17—ages aren’t really relevant in this but I thought I’d mention it anyway. I did write this entire thing at an ungodly hour, so it has not been proofread in the slightest, but I hope you enjoy anyway!

New York back in August, tenth floor balcony Smoke is floating over Jane and Greenwich street Goosebumps from your wild eyes when they're watching me Shivers dance down my spine, head down to my feet

“Team, meet Ladybug.”

Marinette stood tall next to her older brother as his voice projected across the room, trying not to fidget with the yo-yo at her side. The four-year anniversary of her becoming Ladybug was quickly approaching, and many things had changed since the fateful day she came home to find that hexagonal box on her desk. From a lost 13-year-old to a more assured Guardian, she had grown more than she could possibly imagine, but this was an entirely different conquest. For one, it was uncharted territory—she would be joining an already-established team of heroes who had gone through hell and back together, and she would be the rookie; most significantly, she wouldn’t be the leader. As someone who had been raised as a fairly independent individual and thrived in leadership positions, it was staggering, like being able to navigate the treacherous terrain of one world, only to be unceremoniously dumped into an unfamiliar sea of carnivorous, slavering creatures that were eager to rip her apart limb-by-limb. Of course, her situation wasn’t quite as gruesome, but it could quickly become so if she didn’t learn to adapt.

Despite her catastrophizing, it had been entirely Marinette’s decision to join the Young Justice team after spending her summers training with the Order in Tibet. Her parents sent her to visit Bruce that time of year, which made it easy for her to get away and complete the necessary training to become Grand Guardian. Even with Hawkmoth defeated, though, it hadn’t felt right to let the Miraculous sit in disuse, so she followed her instinct and figured joining another superhero team was the best she could do. She had an in, with Batman being her biological father and all, but the prospect was still daunting. She was joining the big leagues now, and she had to act the part.

Speaking of, it was interesting to see the way Dick interacted with his teammates. She had seen her family in action in Gotham—even joined them on patrol more than a few times—but something about the gloomy city put an extra mask on all of them, enough to damper any good mood. Here, her brother was different. Brighter, almost. She only ever saw him like that around his school friends, though she supposed Wally did count. She could feel the redhead’s gaze on her as Dick continued to talk, and she let her eyes drift over the lineup until they landed on him. She hadn’t seen him in over a year thanks to her trip to Tibet, but there he was: Kid Flash, in all his mustard-and-ketchup glory. His hair was windswept, enhancing the exhilarated look that all speedsters seemed to share. Considering that she and everyone else in the immediate vicinity had heard him super-speeding into the room a minute ago, his disheveled appearance wasn’t surprising. There was a dorky, wide-toothed grin on his face that was ever-present and currently directed at her. The corners of her mouth instinctively tugged up in response, but she quickly quelled the smile to adopt a more stoic look, a habit she chalked up to being inherited from Bruce. Regardless, she pushed all extraneous thoughts away until the introduction was finished, after which she found herself being swept away by her brother to talk to Zatanna. According to him, the magician was excited to meet another magic user, especially a Miraculous wielder. Marinette was similarly delighted, letting herself be pulled along, but as Dick tugged her hand, she spared a glance behind her to acknowledge a certain red-haired speedster and wave.

Swimming in your eyes, in your eyes, in your eyes Egyptian blue Something I've never had without you

“Nice job out there.”

Marinette yelped as a smooth voice spoke right into her ear, the accompanying warm breath sending a chill down her spine. Wally narrowly dodged the offending punch she sent, ducking before she could slug him in the face. She hadn’t expected anyone to come into the room, and she certainly hadn’t heard anyone come inside. Talk about warning a girl. Her palms came to rest on her chest as if they would slow her racing heart. “Kwami, you scared me.”

“Still on the adrenaline rush?” he chuckled.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted.

“Well, you did great out there, especially since it was your first time against Klarion. Two weeks in and you’re already better than me!”

Marinette flushed, feeling her cheeks warm. “Don’t sell yourself short. It’s just because I have magic.” She wiggled her fingers, which made her look more like a poor imitation of a ghost than anything. “Besides, you did really great too! That last maneuver was pretty cool.”

“Ah, well, you know me! Cool.” He puffed his chest out, leaning back with crossed arms only to miss the counter behind him and go flailing backward. He landed on the floor gracelessly, looking very put-out at the fall. Marinette burst into laughter at his expression, and a few seconds later, he followed in suit. She laughed until her lungs were gasping for air and her cheeks hurt from smiling, and when it died down into a comfortable silence, she chanced a look at his face.

Wally was beaming, wild and untethered and free. It reached his eyes, endless fields of lush grass and emeralds that pulled her in like an unstoppable force. It was like the sensation of falling, of tumbling head-over-heels into his ardent gaze—but perhaps she had been falling all along. It sent a thrill through her, the zap of a lightning bolt not unlike the one on his uniform. It left her breathless.

“Oh! Um… I got this for you.” She didn’t know why she chose that moment to speak up, but she had to do something, anything to break the clamoring of voices in her head. Reaching behind her, she grasped the object she had kept from the earlier fight and held it up. “Teekl’s collar. It got torn off during the fight, and I figured you’d want to keep it. Dick told me you liked keeping things from missions.”

Her words became more unsure the more she spoke, but her worries were swept away as Wally practically bounced up, a delighted expression taking hold. He took it from her hands in an almost reverent manner, and she tried to ignore the tingling she felt when his fingers brushed hers.

“Souvenir!” he whooped, waving it over his head. “Oh man, I can’t wait to show everyone how cool this is.” He was almost vibrating out the door with excitement, and Marinette smiled at his antics. Just as she expected him to leave, he turned back, and in the blink of an eye she found her arms full of a hyper speedster. “Thanks, M. You’re the best!”

“You’re welcome,” she laughed. He bounded out, leaving her in the bathroom alone. Marinette turned to the mirror and sighed, hoping her face hadn’t shown anything more than she wanted it to. At the end of the day, Wally was… well, him, and she was just his best friend’s little sister.

You're giving me chills at a hundred degrees It's better than pills how you put me to sleep Calling your name, the only language I can speak Taking my breath, a souvenir that you can keep Giving me chills

Marinette threw the covers off her bed and stood with a frustrated growl. The fact that it was 2 in the morning was the only thing keeping her from ranting her frustration aloud. For some reason or another, she just couldn’t sleep. She had tried everything from meditation to pills, but it had eluded her the last two weeks. She could already feel it taking a toll, her movements groggier and her brain obscured with fog—not exactly ideal for someone meant to be in peak condition. But trying to sleep had done nothing but make her frustrated and more tired, so she made the executive decision to go downstairs. To do what, she didn’t know, but anything would be better than lying in bed, listening to every little creak and mechanical bump.

She grabbed her sunglasses from the counter, sliding them over her nose. She doubted anyone was awake, but better to be safe than sorry. Besides Wally, no one knew her identity or the fact that she was related to Dick. She wasn’t keeping it under wraps the way she had when Hawkmoth was still active, but she was still the Grand Guardian, and the less people who knew, the better. Still, any of their teammates could connect the dots given their closeness to Dick. Her identity was implied, surely.

Marinette tiptoed her way out of her room, making sure to slide her door carefully shut behind her, before sneaking out to the kitchen. Mount Justice was normally completely dark after everyone went to bed—she wasn’t going to lie, it was a little spooky at night—but she could see a faint light alongside muffled talking noises which she concluded came from the lounge. Someone had probably left the TV on by accident. She decided to turn it off after grabbing a glass of water, switching the stove light to its lowest setting before standing on her tiptoes, reaching overhead to grab a glass from the wooden cabinet. Just as she wrapped her hand around the cool mug, she heard a voice. “Hey, Mari!”

The glass nearly dropped from her hands as she nearly jumped out of her skin, barely saving it from meeting its doom and shattering all over the counter. Before she could shriek out of sheer shock, a hand slapped across her mouth and pulled her close. Well, if she wasn’t awake before, she certainly was now. “Calm down! It’s me, Wally.” Oh. Now that appeased her annoyance the tiniest bit, if only because she couldn’t think of anything other than the way her back was pressed flush again his body. “I’m going to take my hand off. Please don’t scream.” His hand left her face, and as soon as the warmth on her back disappeared she whirled around, glaring.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” he joked. Marinette was not amused.

“What on Earth possessed you to think that was a good idea?” she seethed through gritted teeth. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry, sorry!” the redhead winced. “I just heard someone come downstairs and wanted to see who it was.”

“Fine,” she grumbled, making her way to the sink to fill the glass still in her hand. “But why are you awake at this hour, anyway?” Wally raised an eyebrow and gestured to her, a silent et tu? “Touché.” They both stood, listening to the quiet chatter of the television and the burbling of water. She could feel him searching her face all the while.

“Hey, you ok?” The ambiance was broken; Marinette had no choice but to face him, that low voice now unnaturally solemn. He was still looking at her, his eyes piercing yet soft in that hypnotic way, and she guessed he had noticed the bags under her own.

“I’m just tired. Can’t sleep and all that.” She shot him a rueful smile.

“Me neither,” he replied. “I’ve tried, but it only makes me more… ” he paused, as if racking his brain for the right word.

“Restless,” they finished in tandem. Wally gave her a surprised smile that stole the breath from her lungs, and she let out a quiet exhale.

“Anyway, I’ve been watching TV ever since.” Ah. Marinette eyed the bags on chips laid out on the counter. “It would be nice to have some company,” he continued, “and I heard there’s some leftover cake in the fridge.” He drifted closer to her as he talked, until she only needed to shift an inch to bump her leg to his.

“Are you suggesting we raid the fridge?”

“Well, if you insist,” he grinned.

Half an hour and a slice of chocolate cake later, Marinette was fast asleep, wrapped in a burrito blanket with her head resting on Wally’s shoulder. He tilted his chin to look down at her. Her bangs fluttered with each soft exhale, and the light from the television illuminated the delicate curves of her face. Wally slowly reached for the remote and turned it off, taking care to reduce his movements so as to not wake her up.

As gently as he could, he let her head rest on the couch before lifting her blanket-swathed body into a bridal carry. As a speedster, he liked to use his abilities whenever they could convenience him, but he refrained this time in fear of jostling the sleeping girl. The weight of her in his arms was grounding, the journey to her room seeming much shorter than he recalled.

Wally pushed her door open and set her down on her bed, pulling up the covers with care. Even in sleep she looked ethereal, hair fanning across her pillow in a way that should have been messy but instead looked radiant. He placed the sunglasses she had removed earlier on her dresser and gave her one last glance that lasted a beat longer than it should have. He tore his gaze away and slowly crept to the door, but right as he touched the handle, he heard a mumbled, “Wally.”

He turned on his heel, expecting Marinette to be awake, only to be met with that same peaceful expression. He frowned, scratching the back of his neck in confusion. Maybe he really did need sleep. He was starting to imagine things.

Sunset Tower lobby, waiting there for me In the elevator, fumble for your key Kissed in every corner, Presidential Suite Opened that Bordeaux from 1993

“What the hell was that?”

“Excuse me?”

Wally was leaning on the wall left of the medical bay, arms crossed and an irate look on his face. Marinette looked around, bewildered. Did she miss something? She had been getting her wounds tended to for the last hour alongside the majority of their team. They had taken a large blow from the strange new villain they had been up against, one that had no name and was unusually strong. Luckily, her suit was impenetrable and indestructible. Not-so-luckily, as she discovered today, it was not so impervious to brute force. She had been thrown around Paris more times than she could count and flung from the top of the Eiffel Tower, but apparently getting tossed around by a hulking monster was too much. Still, she wasn’t sure why Wally was acting like this. She had only seen him truly angry every once in a blue moon, and his righteous fury was only directed at villains. So what was it now?

“What happened?” Marinette asked, walking over to him with a concerned frown.

“What happened?” he mocked derisively. She recoiled at the harsh tone. “You don’t even know what you did, do you?”

“No, so tell me.” She was starting to get annoyed at his accusation, anger rising to combat his, but she used the technique she frequently employed during Hawkmoth’s reign and took a deep breath.

“You put yourself in danger out there when you called that monster’s name,” he said as he stalked closer to her. “It was reckless and really, it was stupid.”

Stupid? Oh, she so was not letting this go. “You’re right.”

“Really?” his face quickly morphed into one of surprise.

“Yeah, I guess I should have just let it kill our teammates and crush Kon under its sasquatch feet.” Frustration again.

“You know what I meant!” he ground out. “You don’t need to go throwing yourself into danger for no reason.”

“Wow!” she laughed. “For no reason, he says. Is that what you really think about your team?”

“Of course not!”

“Then why does it matter to you?”

“Because you can’t just do stuff like that without thinking of the consequences!”

“Don’t you dare treat me like I’m stupid. I did what I did because our team was in danger. Like I said, it was about to go after Kon!” She could hear her voice starting to rise in correspondence with his.

“Kon is invulnerable!”

“So am I!”

Her shout rang through the silence, giving way to her heaving breath.

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be needing that,” he nodded to her cast. Marinette closed her eyes, steeling herself.

“You know what? I’m done here. Clearly it’s not me you’re really mad at.” She motioned to leave, but as she reached the door, a hand caught her wrist.

“Wait.” Marinette turned, looking at him expectantly. “I’m sorry.” Wally’s apology seemed genuine from the way he was staring at the ground, like if he looked hard enough he would gain Superman’s x-ray vision and burn a hole through it. After a moment he looked at her, which really wasn’t fair. It was hard to stay mad at him when his eyes transfixed her like a siren. “You’re right. It wasn’t okay for me to get mad at you like that. I just…” He took a deep breath. “I care about you. A lot. And seeing that monster go after you like that…I was scared you would get hurt.”

Marinette felt herself soften at his explanation. Curse her inability to stay mad at people she cared about. “I can protect myself, you know,” she started. “I’ve been a hero for years, and I’ve led my own team. You don’t need to look after me just because I’m Dick’s little sister.”

Wally frowned, looking some variation of hurt. “You’re not just Dick’s little sister to me.”

Marinette didn’t have time to think about what that meant as she felt herself leaning in, in, in, pulled by his magnetic gaze like a moth to a flame. She was sure he felt it too, that undeniable tug in his chest. But then Kaldur walked out of the medbay, and all she felt was doubt and hesitation as Wally pulled away. Kaldur sent a polite nod their way, but the look he gave her was almost knowing. Marinette waved back, face hot.

“I should go,” she told Wally hesitantly. “Unwind and all that.”

“Yeah, me too. I got a new souvenir to add to the case. See you later?” She nodded and they split ways amicably. But on the trek to her room, she couldn’t help but feel like something had changed.

Swimming in your eyes, in your eyes, in your eyes Egyptian blue Something I've never had without you

If something had changed, maybe she was the only one who felt it. Marinette spent longer than she’d like to admit dissecting what he’d said. You’re not just Dick’s little sister to me. But what did that mean?

She knew what she wanted it to mean. Somewhere along the way, she had stopped seeing Wally as Dick’s goofy best friend—if she ever had in the first place. She wondered if he meant it the same way. When she saw him, it was a chorus of Wally, Wally, Wally, haunting green eyes and a brilliant smile. Every wayward glance he sent her during meetings made her heart skip a beat, every grin made her feel like Ladybug, soaring through the sky.

Maybe it would be simple infatuation if things were how they had been a few years ago. But they now lived in the same mountain, shared a team, shared moments hidden in the blanket of night. She knew it was more than a simple crush on her end. She wasn’t sure if there was anything at all on the other, because if Marinette knew one thing about Wally West, it was that he was an incorrigible flirt. He was notorious for it—between seeing it for herself and hearing Dick talk about his flirting fails, it was something you could count on, yet she’d never been on the receiving end. In fact, she hadn’t heard any of his one-liners in the months since she’d joined the Young Justice team.

Maybe it was the simple case of growing up. Maybe he just didn’t like her. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter, because the unwritten rules went like this: even if the world is ending, know that Wally West is still a flirt, and even if the world is ending, know that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is still in love with Wally West.

Take my, take-take my breath away just like Take my breath away just like a souvenir Take my, take-take my breath away just like Take my breath away just like a souvenir

New Year’s: catalyst of stupid who will be your midnight kiss? billboards, soon-to-be-broken resolutions, posts of happy couples, and most importantly, a reminder that Marinette would be forever alone. Apparently even villains took New Year’s off, because the day had been punctuated by a startling lack of crime. And it wasn’t like she wanted the team to get an urgent call, but anything would be preferable to the party they had planned later. Watching other people make out while she was stranded alone wasn’t exactly her idea of a fun time. Alas, the universe hated her, which was ironic considering the whole purpose of being Grand Guardian was to maintain its balance. Or maybe it was just telling her she was doing a bad job at it. Either way, she was fighting a losing battle, but she would go down in style.

Marinette had a particular inclination to design showy clothing. Perhaps it was a side effect of being around Jagged Stone for so long, surrounded by the likes of Audrey Bourgeois and having so many formal dress commissions. These factors all translated into the inordinate amount of non-casual attire she had in her closet, most if not all by her own design. She had a particularly flamboyant dress perfect for New Year’s, one that had taken painstaking experimentation but resulted in her dream fringe dress—not too understated nor gaudy. She paired it with low strappy heels and minimal makeup, glancing in the mirror on her way out to make sure there was nothing that could become an embarrassing faux pas.

When she arrived, the party was in full swing—well, as full swing as a party with a dozen or some people could be. Most of her teammates were gathered in the kitchen, where there was a variety of food laid on the counter. There was a tiered cake in the center, a combined effort of the girls. Marinette and M'gann had come up with the idea somewhat last-minute, but she enjoyed spending the day with her friends. Watching their almost disastrous baking fails was quite amusing.

She weaved her way through her teammates, waving at each person she passed by. Her first stop was with Dick and Wally, who were engaged in an intense debate about which Justice League member would be the last survivor in a zombie apocalypse. She gave her brother a welcoming hug, reveling in the comfort of his warmth. Wally stood to the side; she could feel him watching from the chills that erupted along the trail of his stare. She greeted him similarly but didn’t linger as long, both for her own sake and due to Dick’s presence. Their conversation resumed with a third party, and Marinette wouldn’t deny stirring the pot with her own thoughts. It seemed as if Plagg had worn off on her more than she thought.

After causing a fair amount of chaos, she conversed with a few different groups, joining in on the chatter and games. Her spirits were significantly lifted, though she couldn’t quite forget the prospect of the midnight kiss hanging over her head like mistletoe. Mistletoe might’ve been preferable, actually, because at least she would have someone. For now, though, she tried to ignore the way her eyes always seemed to drift over to Wally and instead focus on the present, which was filled with the laughter of her newfound family.

As it approached midnight, the volume in their abode waned. Marinette had instinctively stuck by the core group of girls, but everyone was starting to converge in the lounge for the countdown. There was a fireworks countdown displayed on the television, and she could already see people drifting off towards their chosen person: M’gann with Conner, Dick with Zatanna…she quickly decided that the best course of action was to temporarily relocate somewhere farther or to go back to her room entirely. Everyone was so engaged with their partner of choice, she was sure no one would notice if she slipped away. Her mind made up, Marinette slinked away, about to exit by way of the kitchen. Before she could even make it out of the lounge, a voice stopped her in her tracks. “Where are you headed?” Okay, she really needed to speak to the universe. Someone clearly had it out for her.

“I was just going to my room. Uhm, wardrobe malfunction.” Lie. Wally looked her up and down, and pressed her lips together nervously. He wasn’t checking her out, she scolded her straying mind.

“You look more than fine to me. Did you make that yourself?” he nodded to her ensemble.

“Yeah, I did. Last year, actually.”

“Well, it looks great on you.” A pause. Marinette took the opportunity to fake a yawn, wincing behind her palm at how fake it sounded. Wally wasn’t as easy to fool as the people back in Paris.

“Oh, I’m so tired. Guess I’ll head upstairs—”

“Aren’t you gonna stay for the countdown?” he interrupted “There are only…what,” he checked his watch, “two minutes left.”

“I’d rather not be the only single person on the team at midnight, but thanks,” she crossed her arms.

“You wouldn’t be the only single person,” he said, stepping closer. “You don’t have to be single at all,” he murmured, almost too quiet for her to catch.

“What was that?”

“I said, you don’t have to be single at all. I could be your midnight kiss…if you want.” Marinettte’s lips parted in shock, trying to make sense of the offer. “I’m not asking out of pity,” he clarified.

“Then why?” She needed to hear him say it.

“I like you, Marinette.” It was like a dream, the haze of late-night partying and New Year’s festivities and his face right there, green eyes looking at her like she was the only person in the world.

“Okay,” she breathed.

“Okay?”

“I like you, too.” And she had seen him grin a million times, but this one was more brilliant than any firework. Dick raised a brow when they entered the room hand-in-hand, right in time for the countdown’s start. At the shouted “10!” Wally’s calloused hands came to rest on her waist. At “8!” she hooked her arms around his neck, carving the planes of his face into her mind. At “6!” he brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and his face drew near. She lost track of the seconds after that, the only thing in her thoughts being the boy in front of her and his intoxicating presence. The cheers came, and so did the whoosh of fireworks, and then it was the warmth of lips against lips, his body against hers and the stirring in her chest that could be nothing else but love. She could have kissed him for hours, maybe even longer, but she soon became acutely aware of the dying noise and her surrounding teammates. Marinette pulled back hesitantly, and Wally looked at her, brows ticked up in concern.

“You okay?” She didn’t answer right away, looking around the room at her friends, but they all seemed to be absorbed in their own dream world, oblivious to whatever was happening around them. Maybe it was her turn to do the same.

“I’m doing better than okay,” she smiled, then pulled him in by the collar for a searing kiss. She was choosing to start the New Year right.

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