#wait when i say replaying i mean just continue the save i saved (help) via the emulator bc i thought it would be important
Text
Regret
A part of a miniseries based on a promptober list made by @/Bittykimmy13
This is part 3 of Forlorn
<<Previous chapter
The cool night's breeze helped to ease the two friends out of the awkward silence they had started off with. After a few instances of clearing their throats, they both spoke at the same time.
"There's something I want to--"
"I have to tell you outright that--"
"...You go first." Richard said.
Jac gave out a deep sigh through her nose before she pulled a piece of paper from her coat. She unfolded it and pushed it in front of the shrunken Wile giant.
"Read." She commanded. "I was going to send this via message, but you saved me the trouble by... getting smaller, heh."
"Hm? What's this?"
"I... don't really have it in me to say these things out loud. So I wrote down my thoughts here."
Richard paused for a second before he carefully looked over the hand written notes, and in no less than a moment's notice his eyes widened upon discerning its contents. Various events from within the past eight or so months began to replay in his mind, though through the lens of the human they went very differently from how he remembered it.
"Wait... What? I thought...?"
Jac flattened her lips as she tried her best to shift her eyes away from her friend. She side glanced towards the musicians who continued to play a gorgeous piece with their fiddles, as Richard continued down the written notes slowly.
"I... didn't know... I, always thought you enjoyed our games..."
"To an extent, yes. But... lately the cat and mouse chases have become, well..."
"Jac, I... You, said yourself that you didn't mind--"
"Of course you always force me to have it your way in the end!" Jac exclaimed. "Your excuse is always 'oh, I can sense that you're only pretending to not want this right now' blah blah! I mean... it's just not as simple as that, okay? Sure I... think about it, positively sometimes. And yet I..."
"Jac...?"
There was a genuine nervous hitch in Richard's voice, which had drained all the confidence Jac had built up to that point.
"I... I just..."
Before long Jac grew quiet, as she felt her old habits tear at her numbingly once more. The strong desire to hold back her feelings in favor of silent acceptance was relentlessly pounding the back of her mind, but she quickly managed to fight the impeding sands that had sought to pull her in. The young woman seized this momentum by shifting priority to her right hand. And with a click of a pen and a rip of a new notebook sheet, she went straight to work.
Jac was internally grateful that Richard was as patient as he was with her on this night. An improvement, she admitted, but none too surprising. She looked up at last towards the shrunken Wile, who appeared perplexed and equally frightened. Not that he would show off the latter outright, his best friend could discern and recognize his body language regardless. She handed over the freshly jotted notes, which Richard accepted with renewed hesitation. His eyes darted side to side in quick succession, until they finally landed at a crucial part.
"So you...?"
But before the Wile could say another word, he double checked what he had just read. And in that moment, his face fell.
"Do you understand now?" Jac uttered. "I used to enjoy the running and the cropping and everything else in between! But after a while..."
"It had become too much... It was, no longer fun..."
Jac nodded.
"I... overdid it?"
Jac nodded again.
"I mean... I like teasing... it's all part of the game! But, I had no idea that that would actually..."
"It's... not the teasing I hate. It's how you've gone about doing it lately that's the issue here... You see..."
Again, she made her case known on paper when her voice failed her. But no matter what format she spoke in, to Richard the message was received just as loud and clear.
"Lately you have a tendency to twist my words to get what you want. This is especially true when..."
The shrunken Wile then paused before he retorted in his own tongue.
"Huh? Push my height around? What does that mean?"
"You... would lift me up in the air and give me no room to leave on my own terms, for one! I can think of a bunch of other examples, but judging by the look on your face, I think you get the idea."
"I..."
Ultimately however, Richard was left without any more words to convey.
"Keep reading." Jac said. "You'll get a better idea what I mean then."
With another long breath, Richard continued down the original notes, as he took in the numerous occasions where Jac's boundaries were loyally crossed. Many fond memories had become shattered under the weight of his renewed understanding, which brought the shrunken Wile into an even deeper pit of despair. His eyes sunk as an unyielding sense of guilt had begun to claw into the sides of his heart. Each revelation caused him to steadily furl into himself, so much so that he was on the verge of falling off of his chair.
Jac understood that look, and felt as though she needed to intervene before he would be swept away by his emotions.
"I know that Wile giants need to chase. Need to crop... it's something that you can't really help. And I was all for helping you... which was, one of the reasons why I didn't say anything at first."
"You... didn't list the graduation party..."
"Huh?"
The fact that night was brought up had caught the human off guard, though she was able to shake off the initial shock relatively quickly.
"Funny you should mention that. To tell you the truth I, honestly enjoyed it that time. The biggest difference then was... was..."
Infuriated by her increasing nerves, Jac kicked an invisible stone before she reached for her pen a third time. Richard's hand was visibly shaking as he accepted this particular set of freshly made notes. He wasn't sure why, but he had already sensed that he wouldn't be ready to swallow the pill that was to come. Nevertheless, he sucked in a breath and braced for impact, for despite everything he endured so far he wanted more than ever to listen and soak in every word. He understood that in order to make things right, he needed to man up.
Another deep sigh followed, before the Wile opened his eyes and read out the rest of her sentence.
"You weren't rough back then... You were gentle, sweet, and caring... before, during, and after our play times... You weren't selfish, and was a lot more considerate about my own needs. And most of all you weren't posses... sive... you weren't controlling...?"
Richard momentarily grew silent before he continued.
"This was the worst of your offenses. Before I even realized it, you have gone so far as to isolate me from my other Wile giant friends. You try your best to cover up your je... je... but you can't hide it from me anymore--"
"Jealousy?" Richard quipped, his voice a shadow of its former self. "Jac! Since when have I..."
The look on Jac's face when he said this forced him to stop midway. The human then proceeded to write on her notepad again, though in the process she stopped and contemplated her options. In a moment's time, she dropped the pen.
"You've changed." Jac spoke flatly. Her nervousness was largely apparent, though she chose to push through. "The Richard I knew... from that time is, different from the one sitting here right now."
"I don't understand..." Richard admitted. "I'm, still me?"
Jac lowered her head. "You may not realize it. But..."
Jac gulped a few times, but numbingly continued to voice her displeasure. The more she spoke, the more her confidence gradually increased.
"Remember when we broke up? You... said to me then, that you were... fine with it. I gave my reason, and you told me that you were in full support of that... But... think about it for a second, Rich! What was the one thing you held me back from doing above everything else? The one thing that, for gawd sakes you told me you never thought about in a romantic sense? And yet every time the mere thought of anyone else giving chase and..."
"And why would they?" Richard cut in. "Why would you even consider letting someone else do tha--"
"You're just proving my point!" Jac exclaimed.
Richard's eyes had shot open, though this time he was clearly vexed. Towards what Jac couldn't tell. Jac sensed that their surrounding might have overheard the anger in her voice, though in truth the background chatters had all but drowned it out. In any case, she drew in another breath and continued to speak in a quieter, yet firm tone.
"Never had I once thought of it in that light, and I never will. But deep down you didn't want anyone else to nom me. That right belonged to you and you alone. Why should it matter, why should you feel such unwarranted envy? Unless..."
Jac took a moment to breath, before finishing her sentence.
"You haven't moved on."
Richard stopped dead on his tracks. He opened his mouth, but no matter how hard he tried, not a single retort, counter nor defense had made its way out. He barely understood why those fours words sent chills through much of his nervous system, yet he could only express guilt ten times the amount as before the further it sunk in.
And with that muted response, mist began to form in Jac's eyes.
"You still love me. In that way... And despite me being very clear back then... when I told you I'm aromantic... you decided... to push through anyway. Against my wishes... I don't know if it's due to frustration... but you started to take it out on me... without even noticing it seems! And I haven't been comfortable since..."
"Jac..."
These words made the shrunken Wile quiver at his very core. Despite being torn apart by them, he chose to let her continue without contest.
"The reason why it's been tough these past few months... was because, subconsciously or not, you chose to satisfy your own desires at my expense! You couldn't get what you wanted from me, so you chose to do all those things... by taking advantage of the fact that I've felt sorry for you! You never thought about how I had felt. Even when you claimed you did... everything was skewed towards how you saw fit. And as a result, you've overstepped my boundaries over... and over again."
Nothing was said for a few minutes as tears began to flow down their faces. Jac took notice of the way the Wile clenched his fists, and she could feel the heat that was starting to seep from his bubbling rage. Her own anger and sadness paved way for a greater sense of fear, and she stumbled a little as she tried to get the rest of her words out.
"It's... my fault too... I should have said something a long time ago... I may have been worse off because I chose to remain silent. I was too scared of... hurting you... and that was dumb on my part. You... never really asked for my opinion anyway... so I thought... it wouldn't have amounted to--"
All of a sudden Richard rose up from his seat. Jac pushed back against her own spontaneously as she readied herself for the inevitable shout, but what came out of his mouth was the last thing she would have expected.
"You were scared of hurting me? But I wounded up hurting you!! How is that better?! How could... I have been so..."
Jac looked up and saw the face of a miserable man, the wrinkles of his brow crumpled up into a hundred knots, his eyes stinging from the hot tears that fell along with his head to the floor. He banged his fists on the tiles, which alerted the attention of staff inside the restaurant. But none of that mattered now.
"I'm so sorry... for everything, Jac... How...? How did I not see this for so long? Why was I... so stupid?! Idiot!! I'm such an idiot!!"
A guttural sound escaped his mouth as he started to physically throw fists in the air. His suit came undone slightly as he continued to bellow profanities at himself. Jac halted security who came to check in, as she dove to be by his side in spite of his increasing ferocity. She watched and waited mere inches from the shrunken giant as his growls and temperament gradually lessened over a good while.
She didn't say this at first, but deep down Jac felt this was the best possible outcome she could have foreseen. She was afraid of the Richard that would snap back, who would fight with every tooth and nail. But this... wasn't him. He wouldn't do that at this delicate moment, she realized. For instead, even in his moderately feral state, she saw a broken down man who thought of himself as a monster. Which made her even more terrible for taking a stand, even though she knew it was right.
Jac held a hand to Richard's back, which caused him to jolt his head up. His eyes were a narrow catlike slit for a split second before he registered his friend's face, his pupils quickly softening to it's former state. It was very apparent to Jac that the Wile was fearful, maybe as much as she was just moments prior. And to that, she could only respond with a humble acknowledgement back. They stared at each other, nearly without blinking, until at last the shrunken Wile finally croaked.
"I'm... appalled at myself... no apology can make up for what I have done..."
"It's a first step..." Jac cried. "And your eyes are open now. It'll take time but... I want to give you another chance."
"...Really...?"
Jac took a moment before she nodded.
"I like you too much, for all the good things. And it... would be wrong of me if I didn't give you a chance... to save this friendship. After you've shown me, that you actually cared to listen..."
"But... I was so toxic to you... worst still, I was too dumb to even... notice..."
"You were... yeah..."
"Then why...?"
"I won't forget all the good. I won't forget the bad either but... if you work on it, and promise me that you will genuinely make the effort to change, then... I don't mind sticking around. And waiting to see the improved Richard for myself."
"Why are you so... willing to accept me back?"
"I don't know! Maybe I'm dumb too. Will you accept that for an answer?"
"...No... Maybe..."
"Good." Jac smiled. "Now then..."
Jac looked back at the empty table just as catering was about to ride into the balcony.
"I think we should try to make the best of tonight. You went through a lot of pain because of me, and I'm sorry for that... So I, want the rest of the night to go well at least."
"Nonono, please! Don't be."
Richard pulled himself up and brushed his coat. He tried to reach out to do the same for Jac, but hesitated at the last moment. Jac realized then that her words had actually come out in her brush with adrenaline, and with her luck that was likely the only time that would ever happen.
Maybe it was fate, weird...
They returned to their seats as silent as a mouse, waiting for the other to speak first. It was Richard who finally broke the monotony.
"I promise... I'll make it up to you. Tonight, and every night after this."
"You don't have to make a big show of it. Just... being you is enough."
"Aside from... that side of me." Richard shuttered.
"Obviously."
The first chuckle came since their discussion began, a welcome feeling to break the tension however brief. Food was far from their minds at this point in time, but they were just relived that the storms that weighed heavily on their shoulders had finally started to lift.
Next Chapter >>
#oc: jac#oc: richard#jac in the beanstalk society#bun does writing#october prompts#promptober#promptober 2023
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
TWEWY 12
Grande Finale already!
I felt the same nervousness and excitement I felt when I watched the first episode while watching the last one. I’m excited, half knowing what I’d see but not knowing what else to expect.
Can’t believe we finally got to this point. I took so many screenshots... I had to limit myself cause they’re not all gonna fit in one tumblr post.
Also I don’t have to give a spoiler warning anymore. Length warning though cause this is super long!(longer than the usual posts I made for this series at least).
Kitaniji transforms into a three-headed monster and unlike in the game, he doesn’t capture any of Neku’s partners nor use Josh’s power to do so. I’m not sure what explanation there is as to how he got more than one noise form but I guess he’s the Conductor so maybe it’s part of his powers here.
Shiki and Beat awaken in the middle of Neku’s fight and help out. The trio then forms some kind of three-way pact (four if Rhyme actually counted although now completely sure?) and continue battling Kitaniji. The fight scene was pretty cool especially Beat’s attack with the chains. It just sucks the fight ended too fast. I guess all of TWEWY anime’s boss fights end kinda fast even though they’re uh, boss fights.
Final attack beam like in the game! It was too fast and I couldn’t get a good shot of the white version this transforms into (which looks like the one in the game). They have an explanation later as to why it looks different at first but they’ll talk about it later.
It’s sad Joshua isn’t part of this. This is supposed to be the four-way fusion attack. (;-;)
They defeat Kitaniji who disappears, sad that he was unable to protect Shibuya. Joshua never showed up in this boss battle so Kitaniji never got to talk to Joshua for the last time. In the game he at least dies happy in a way - he lost but he gave it his all and his Composer praised his efforts. He was also able to tell Neku that the rest is up to him now. Here in the anime, he just... he lost and felt bad. I wish they had Josh show up here but they had other ideas.
A new door opens and Neku braced himself as he knows the fight isn’t over cause there’s still one last guy on top.
They find themselves in this room/hallway (is this supposed to be the Trail of the Judged?) filled with CAT murals. This somewhat confirms the “CAT = Composer” theory and Neku has now accepted it, calling out Mr. Hanekoma to show himself.
And yeah, the last episode’s title is the show’s title as well “It’s a Wonderful World”.
Someone else showed up instead. Joshua finally makes his reappearance!
Boy, have I been waiting for you! I wish you were with them in the final battle earlier so you guys could be a team (and you could be one of Neku’s partners) one last time.
Neku is surprised but happy to see Joshua again. He thanks Joshua for saving him before and is glad that he’s okay.
In the game, this never happened cause Josh appears in the middle of a fight. Things were too hectic and when the battle with Kitaniji finally ended, he and Josh talked about their own game and so after Kitaniji disappears, what’s left is questioning what was happening. Since Josh didn’t show up earlier, they were able to reunite in a more peaceful way and Neku had no suspicion until Joshua himself brought it up.
And I guess that’s why I was so nervous when I watched this. It’s a bit too peaceful. I know what’s gonna happen next but not exactly how they’d adapt it.
Joshua finally explains the truth to Neku and his friends.
This felt more... awful to watch. Like we had both Joshua and Kitaniji giving bits and pieces of the truth in the game via their conversation so there’s two people to focus on. Here it’s just Joshua. But in a way, I guess this works cause there’s no one else there to soften the blow and Joshua could make the revelation hurt more if he wishes so. It also kinda feels worse cause you see Neku happy to see Joshua earlier before the reveal happens. Kinda heartbreaking.
“I’m the Composer of Shibuya.”
He finally says it clearly to a confused and surprised Neku.
We get a flashback of Joshua and Kitaniji talking about Shibuya’s impending destruction, why it must happen, and Kitaniji making a deal to try and save it. He has a month to change things for the better and if it works out, he wins. If not, Joshua continues the destruction plan.
Joshua’s Composer form is more vague here. It’s human shaped but you don’t see his face and the outline glows like this so you don’t properly see the shape. I think this is better cause there’s no way you can tell who the Composer is like this and he looks less human.
Beat gets angry at the revelation and tries to attack Joshua which he couldn’t do because of Joshua’s powers. I wasn’t able to get a screenshot of this but Josh is twirling his hair after this while Beat struggles to try and punch him. He’s cute and I know this is kind of inappropriate to say in this situation given he legitimately made someone mad and he deserves that punch to his pretty face.
Joshua uses his powers to freeze the others (and later renders them unconscious to keep them quiet). Neku is worried about his friends and is mad.
Joshua tells him he won’t hurt Neku’s friends. He then explains about how he found his proxy. Which is Neku much to his horror at what this meant.
I just had to get this with the subtitles on. I replayed the scene several times to hear if there was no error. Joshua says “Daiji na Neku-kun no tomodachi...” and I google translated it. It says “daiji” means “important”. So yeah, he definitely called Neku “important” to him. It’s surprising although this wouldn’t be out of place in the original game since they had more moments to just talk on there.
Yeah, I know I focused on this a little but I’m a nekujosh/joshneku shipper so forgive me for latching onto this.
Neku slowly sees the bigger picture as Joshua continues to explain himself. As a reward for getting this far, Joshua returns Neku’s memories.
He really had to get that close while saying Neku’s name, didn’t he?
Neku’s death flashback. The scene plays almost similar to the game right down to the censored guns (is this a creative decision to make it faithful to the game or are they really just not allowed to draw actual guns?). I was gonna make a joke about how Joshua stopped Minamimoto’s bullets using an AT field but the shot was different and the bullets just looked like they froze midair and not stopped by some kinda force field like in the game.
Neku ends up getting shot by Joshua complete with bleeding unlike in the game. I just have to wonder if I was the one who got it wrong cause in the game, Joshua looks like he’s aiming for Neku’s head and here, Neku gets shot on the chest. Did they change it cause a headshot would be too much or has it always been a shot to the chest?
Neku angrily walks over to Josh and grabs him by the collar. Joshua stops Neku with his powers as he continues to explain about what happened regarding the death scene and Minamimoto. Joshua then materializes two guns out of thin air and places one on Neku’s hand as he tells him the rules of their final duel: just shoot and if Neku wins, he could save his friends and he becomes Composer and do what he wants. What stood out with how he said it is that he didn’t exactly go “If you don’t beat me, Shibuya is destroyed.” and instead went “If you win, these are what you get to be Composer and whatever else you’d like! Sounds good, right?”. As if saying killing him has a lot of perks.
It feels weird seeing Josh physically placing the gun on Neku’s hand cause in the game, the gun was by Neku’s feet and Neku had to pick it up on his own accord. Anyways, I like the effect they used to materialize the gun cause it’s the same effect for the names of the routes when they show them on screen. Like graffiti or something.
At this point Neku’s crying. The shot didn’t feel as dramatic as in the game in my personal opinion. Neku is tearing up here but he looks tired and was about to sob in the game. Joshua meanwhile, counts down from ten.
Before Joshua’s count hits three, Neku hears a somewhat distorted voice (which we know is just Mr. H) saying “Trust your Partner”. This reminded Neku how he got to where he is: by trusting his partners. (I have something to say about this later)
In a very shocking turn of events, instead of just lowering the gun and letting himself be shot like in the game, Neku drops his gun and with a hand outstretched tells Joshua “I’ll trust you”. Oh my god... they really did it. I love this change not gonna lie. I think they might have added this cause they didn’t adapt Neku’s ending monologue where he does say he trusts Joshua. It’s less dramatic than the game though since Neku doesn’t say anything while Joshua is counting down. In the game, he was crying and saying how he thought Joshua was his friend and how all of this really hurt him. Guess we take what we can get and they gave us this.
Joshua smiles as he shoots but as Neku falls, the smile on Joshua’s face disappears.
Mr. H didn’t show up at the end here either so Neku didn’t get to see him.
Neku wakes up in the middle of Scramble Crossing like usual but he bumps into people and so he realizes that he’s alive now. He doesn’t scream after the very stressful crap he went to like in the game. Might not be entirely the same but Joshua still left him lying down in the middle of the street. Nice.
We then see a short timelapse from above Shibuya which is probably supposed to show a week has passed. Neku’s monologue wasn’t added in and no ending music as well. I’m disappointed “A Lullaby for You” wasn’t used. Here I was hoping for a miracle.
By the way, Shooter, Yammer, and I think Makoto all passed him by the scramble. They really didn’t get much screentime but at least they made cameos.
Neku finally meets up with the Bito siblings like at the game’s epilogue! The shot they did was almost the same as with the game, too. They have dialogue here instead of just stills with Neku showing how happy he was to see his friends alive again, too. I’m happy the anime version showed him smiling more at the end cause he needed that after everything. It’s nice to see him smile.
RG! Shiki is here! With the same shot as in the game! They really aren’t gonna show us her face, huh? Also, all of the shots with Shiki on them has her back towards us. Like there are scenes where Neku and the rest are looking forward and she’s in front of them with her back turned on us. Why? They could’ve used the lighting on her glasses to obscure her eyes, too. So her bangs are a secret as well then?
They show Eri later, too enjoying a concert, by the way. I was hoping to see a reunion between her and Shiki as well and them finally talking after the stuff from before. Oh well.
Neku takes off his headphones and he and Shiki do a proper introduction with each other with Shiki being herself this time. (Is Shiki the same height as Neku? It looks like that from this angle.)
Anyways, this was a nice way to adapt Neku taking off his headphones since they can’t do it like in the game.
They adapted the secret ending but expanded it to add stuff from the secret reports to explain other lore stuff which would’ve been missed by the anime-only watchers since those are part of bonus game contents. Mr. Hanekoma and Joshua talk about the events of the long game and Joshua says he knew it was Mr. H whose responsible for Minamimoto.
They also talk about the Red Skull Pins and how Mr. H made it for Kitaniji. Mr. H says the pins imprints Kitaniji’s will on people and that he himself (Mr. H) doesn’t need that cause he could do so with all the graffiti he left all over town.
Which brings me to earlier in the duel: Neku hears a voice, clearly (to us) is Mr. Hanekoma’s and it’s in a place filled to the brim with CAT graffiti. Did he imprint the words “Trust your partner” to Neku?
Meanwhile, Beat wonders how they were able to pull off the final attack. Neku says it was probably the pin Hanekoma gave them (the keypin looking thing). I guess they needed an explanation for the last attack but they didn’t have the fusion pin so they used this keypin instead. It’s why the attack looked different in the beginning when the attack was powering up.
There’s apparently a new CAT graffiti at Udagawa and of course, CAT-fanboy Neku has to see it. On the way, they meet Sota and Nao who are now alive! I’m so happy!! Joshua brought them back, too! I always felt bad about what happened to them in the game. I’m glad they got a happy ending in the anime.
Def March, 777′s band, are back as well and look... they got their winged mic back! It makes me wonder if they found it later on or if Joshua gave that to them back the same time when he brought them back lol. I’m just really happy for all of them.
Joshua’s wings!! This is, unfortunately, the best shot I could get since they never really zoom in on this. In the game he is in his Composer form in the secret ending and turns into a ball of light when he leaves. Here, we see his wings. It’s smaller than the one he has in KH:DDD. At least we canonically see it here.
I can now use the term “Joshua Maji Tenshi” and be accurate!
Mr. H points out that Joshua looks lonely and is in denial and Josh just leaves. Mr. H also shows his wings and leaves afterwards, too. I didn’t take a pic of it since we see it in the game’s secret ending anyways. His wings also seem smaller than in the game.
Final shot of the new CAT graffiti. I was so close to crying the entire ending and this nearly tipped me over but it didn’t. If “A Lullaby for You” was playing, I’d have probably bawled my eyes out. This graffiti is beautiful. I want a sticker of it.
Also, I just noticed but CAT’s old graffiti at Udagawa had mostly darker colors. This new one is brighter and is more colorful.
--
First of all, I wanted to thank tumblr for not giving me an error for posting more than 15 images like I usually did. I was bracing myself for the error pop up and was gonna make a part 2 instead but there was some kind of miracle and I got more than 20 pictures on here.
I have a lot of melodramatic things to say about the anime but I’ll save it all for later. For now, I’ll say something else. I’m sad they didn’t adapt Neku’s monologue. Those words from Neku still hits me in the feels to this day. Him saying that the entire ordeal really affected him in more ways than one and it wasn’t all good even though he’s happy about changing and what he learned from the experience. His line about how he can’t forgive Joshua but trusts him was cut along with it and it would’ve been nice to have to know what he thought of Joshua.
The thing I missed the most was the “I have friends now. We’re meeting each other for the first time in a week. See you there?” lines. It shows how happy Neku is that he now has people to call his friends which is super heartwarming and the line implies that he counts Joshua as one of those friends, too (which is properly confirmed in KH: DDD which I’d probably make a post about later if I get the motivation to do so). That would’ve also made the last scene with Josh hit harder. In the game, knowing Josh wanted to be with them and is sad he couldn’t already makes me sad but also knowing Neku is waiting for him makes it much worse (and I still feel pain thinking about it even after all these years).
Maybe we’d see them get reunited in NTWEWY. Hopefully. I really do hope so.
The anime isn’t perfect but it did what it could with the limited amount of time it had. The show would’ve been better if they had more episodes but we don’t know why it ended up with just 12 so we can’t really say anything else. They did it and it wasn’t as bad as I was fearing in a way. Would I recommend it? I’d probably rec the game first, to be honest. I was only okay with watching cause I have played the game and could fill in the missing stuff but the anime-only fans couldn’t and the thought that they won’t be able to fully appreciate the entire story of twewy is kinda sad. It was a nice watch though and I’d miss waiting for it every week.
I wonder if they’d make “A New Day” OVA since the anime is supposed to help the ones who haven’t/couldn’t play the first game but would go play NTWEWY and that scenario has story stuff that’s connected to the sequel.
Anyways, thanks for reading this far if you did! I’ll be watching gameplays of NTWEWY when it comes out in full (since I don’t have the money nor the console for it).
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
CS ff: “Walking the Tightrope” (Chapter 6/10) (au)
Summary: Killian’s daily routines are a matter of habit. When he wakes up late one morning, his routines all change for the better. Emma doesn’t care about routines, but she does care about Killian, no matter how reluctant she is to admit it to herself.
Rating: E (much later in the story)
Content Warnings: Maybe some strong language. Attempts at sexual situations. I did mention this was a slow burn, right? Like. Super slow burn.
A Special Thank You: My continued gratitude to my lovely friends, @captainstudmuffin and @phiralovesloki. And a heap of love to @captainswanbigbang for putting this together and helping me accomplish this.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 |
Find it on Ao3 & FFN!
-x-
Chapter 6: Softening the Edges
November 2: Saturday
The last time Emma remembers going on a date, it was with Walsh - and while she has a feeling Killian would appreciate the LBD with a leather twist that she still owns, she’d rather not wear something that has a memory of that asshole attached.
All of the other dresses she owns are tight and short, which worked a lot better for picking up one-night-stands. None of those dresses are going to be the right ones, either, which is why they’re all still in the back of her closet.
Instead, she’s looking at the choices hanging in front of her that she unpacked while on the phone with Killian last night. One was an impulse buy from this past spring, and the other two are loaners from Ruby and Snow.
It’s noon, and there are hours to go before the date, but Emma wants this to be perfect so she diligently takes each dress off the hanger, slipping it on and assessing each option carefully before moving on to the next.
Her timer goes off, letting her know it’s time to retrieve her laundry. Normally, all she wants to do on a Saturday is lounge around, but nerves have her going strong right now. She also wants the loft to be spotless. Just in case she has a visitor tonight, but that’s not something she’s anticipating, so to speak, but it could be.
The way her stomach flips tells her exactly how big of a deal that actually feels like.
Instead of dwelling on the hopeful way he invited her in for hot chocolate on Halloween, Emma focuses on her tasks. She switches out the clothes before going back to try on the last two dresses.
It’s between a black one that Ruby lent her and a pink one she bought online, and it’s not until the latter is on her body that she decides it’s the one. It’s soft and almost fluid, and she takes a moment to turn back and forth to feel the skirts brush against her thighs. She stands in front of her mirror admiring the picture it all makes, so unlike how she dresses for work or even for a night on the town.
Off it goes and back on the hanger, and Emma makes sure to set out the rest of what she’ll wear, finding the perfect heels to go with it before heading downstairs to clean her bathroom.
She’s never been one for following a specific routine other than necessities, but Emma goes through her process later when she’s getting ready. It’s maybe the only time she cares about being orderly, stashing all her makeup back away when she’s finished with another whisper to herself that it’s better to be safe.
Killian texted and said he’d be there at six-thirty, and she’s just fixed the backing on her second earring when the knock comes.
Shaking out her hands one last time, Emma swings open the door for Killian, and immediately all thoughts simple and pure fly out the window.
Suits and ties, she’s used to. Even the waistcoats. But this look is somehow familiar yet completely new. No thoughts of offices and editors come to mind when she looks at the total picture that the black jeans and leather vest gives off. She's tempted to invite him in now, but she’s hungry and has no intention of turning Killian into one of her really bad statistics.
Killian, meanwhile, has a look on his face that she’ll be replaying for as long as she lives. His eyes scan her from top to bottom, not in a sexual way but in stunned surprise. And yeah, because he’s used to seeing her in jeans and a leather jacket, she doesn’t blame him for the expression on his face. He finally picks his jaw up off the floor and looks her in the eye again.
“You look stunning, Swan,” he says, the words slow to come out as he takes in her appearance. Good to know she’s knocked him off balance, as well.
“You look…” she trails off, not even knowing how to sum it up, but he saves her the trouble.
“I know,” he says, a little smug but mostly matter-of-fact.
Her laugh is a quick exhalation, her lips turning up into a smirk before he holds out a single rose for her. It’s a small gesture, but it’s still better than any other man has done for her on a first date. Really, on any dates at all.
“Let me pop this in water and we’ll go,” she tells him, moving quickly to the kitchen to find a vase.
It’s only once outside that she realizes just how cold it is, and she’s glad she wore her wool coat but momentarily regrets the lack of hat. It would’ve ruined her hair but at least her ears would be warm.
“I hope you weren’t lying about trusting me,” Killian says as he guides her to an SUV that’s idling against the curb.
“What’s this?”
“Robin let me borrow his vehicle for the evening. He’s been helping me get used to American driving. Might be a different side of the road but I think we’ll be all right.” He opens the door for her and waits until she’s settled before closing it again. When he climbs in and closes his own door he turns to her for a moment. “I also hope a diligent law officer can turn a blind eye for the sake of a date, since I haven’t gotten my license just yet.”
“Knew there had to be a catch,” she jokes, patting his arm comfortingly. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
It’s been years since she’s gone to Tony’s, and never has it been with a man she was seeing. The last time she was here, it was with Ruby and Snow because they wanted to dress up and feel fancy for a night while also consuming their combined weight in pasta.
Killian hastens to pull out her chair for her, smiling as he shrugs out of his jacket and drapes it over the back of his chair before settling in across from her.
“No sad back stories,” Emma says as soon as their waiter walks away. “No prior relationships. Anything else is fair game.”
“You don’t waste any time, do you?”
“Not really. I like you. And I’m scared and excited to be on a date again for the first time in a very long time. And I don’t want to fuck that up by rambling about how shit my luck was before I made it to where I am now.” It takes a lot of effort not to wring her hands together, even as they’re sitting in her lap. No nerves, no tension. Just enjoy a date.
“Fair point. First, let me ask your favorite type of wine,” he says, handing her the menu to consider.
“Most reds, but not tonight.”
“Afraid you’ll find me even more irresistible?” he asks, leaning back and doing something sinful with his eyebrows when he looks at her. He’s tempting… so very tempting.
“No,” she says after a moment to collect herself. “I like first dates. And I’d rather not be all cloudy by the time my dinner arrives.”
His smile turns to something pure and happy. “No wine, then.” He waits until the waiter has taken their orders before speaking again. “What’s your favorite thing about Storybrooke?”
“That we have actual seasons here. Not like in Florida where it was just hot and humid until it wasn’t, with a smattering of hurricanes.”
“Or England where there’s maybe forty-five days when the sun shines.”
“You get the point on that one,” Emma tells him. “Why did you decide to move here?”
There’s a few emotions that cross Killian’s face all at once, and she knows without needing the explanation. Will did say it was a story for the man himself. “Okay, we’ll save that for another time, too.”
“I was genuinely surprised that a publishing company wanted to set up an office here in Storybrooke,” Emma says, realizing she’s never asked why.
“Robin prefers forests of trees over concrete jungles,” Killian explains. “There is a central office with a lot more people in New York City, but he only goes down when he has to and we utilize a lot of video conferences for everything else.”
“That’s a lot of distance for just some editing and such, isn’t it?”
“It’s more than just that, love. Robin’s looking to start up workshops and clinics for his signed authors. He’s been hosting a fellowship for new authors for a week at a time at a cabin he owns up on the edge of the town as well. If you ask him, this place has a natural fount of creative powers just waiting to be tapped into. That’s kind of how Henry happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was on vacation about a year ago with his parents… well, foster parents. They said as soon as he sat down in the room that he whipped out his pen and paper. By the time they got back from going to grab dinner downstairs at Granny’s, he had just about finished the first chapter. Worked out a deal to buy him a laptop for some chores.”
“That’s amazing. Do they come with him for his meetings with you?”
“Well,” Killian starts, and his face falls. Before the words are out of his mouth, she knows what he’s going to say. “He’s not with that family anymore. That couple did everything they could to try to make up for the fact that they had to move and not take him with them, so he has his own laptop, we communicate with him via an iPod, and he has a suitcase that he protects with his life. But his current situation is... not as ideal.”
Emma swallows hard, a bubble of emotion getting lodged in her throat. “I can imagine how much that must hurt for him.”
“He’s been in higher spirits since his new foster parents started letting him travel on his own. He’s just turned sixteen and he’s fiercely independent, so he loves to take the train from Portland by himself and make his way up the coast for a weekend, even if it’s just a few hours away.”
“Sometimes even just a few hours can feel like a whole different country.”
“I gather you’ve lived in a few places if that’s the way you feel.”
“I didn’t really live in Boston. But sometimes going down there to visit was like going to the far reaches of the Earth. Tallahassee was too far, when it came down to it, so I’ve mostly lived here in Storybrooke with a few exceptions.”
“Where you’ve followed the family business to be a police officer.”
“Correct. Have a shiny degree with my name on it and everything. It’s just from an online degree program, but…”
She’s surprised when Killian reaches across the table to touch her hand. “Online degrees are just as valid and important as ones earned in person at a university.”
There’s something about the way he says it - Emma is positive that he’s giving the affirmation to both of them - but she pushes past wanting to ask him about it and instead flips her hand around to briefly link her fingers with his. “You’re right. They are. And I’m proud of mine.”
“But you refuse to wear a uniform?”
The urge to shudder crawls up her spine but she controls that, as well. “Hate the things. Way too unflattering, way too uncomfortable. Besides, David decided we didn’t really need them since it’s such a small department. As long as we don’t come in wearing sweatpants, he’s okay with it.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Yeah,” Emma says, almost immediately. “There was a time when I was younger that I was sure I wouldn’t, but I do now. By the way, Regina approved our budget for upgrades. I’m sitting down on Monday and just going to town online shopping for all the things we need. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to get everything we want and still have some left over.”
“That’s fantastic,” he exclaims, looking genuinely happy for her. She’s so unused to this kind of support and attention, but she’s certainly not going to complain.
When their food arrives, they slow down a little bit but not by much. Back and forth they ask and answer, between bites of food and avoidance of the hard stuff - both in liquor and life experiences. There’s plenty to be talked about there: Emma has a metric ton of shit in her history and she knows she’ll have to talk about it eventually, but eventually isn’t today. By the time they’ve ordered dessert, she’s more relaxed than she’s ever felt on a date before. They only ordered one of the delectable selections, something that’s ice cream and delicious and not the standard tiramisu. As the check arrives, Killian reaches for his wallet and Emma grabs for her purse. At that, his eyebrow pops up.
“I’ve never been on a date with a woman who pulled out her wallet at the end,” he admits. “Would you prefer to split or would it be okay if I paid for the both of us?”
“I’ve never been on a date with a man who asked,” Emma says, gesturing for him to go on as she tucks her handbag away again. “Did you have a choice to work in NYC when you moved here?” Even though they talked about the Storybrooke location earlier, she realizes she never asked him that.
“No. Robin specifically hired me to be a junior editor in this office.”
“Would you have preferred to work there instead of here?”
“Not at all,” Killian says without even a second of hesitation. The quickness surprises her, just like so much constantly does with him. “I was working in London and living right on the outskirts of the city when I applied for this position. I’d had enough of bustling and tourism and noise. When Robin told me I’d be moving to a town in Maine that had a population of less than ten thousand, it felt like the right move. And now that I’m settling in, I know I’ve made the right choice.”
“I may be biased, but I think you did, too.”
With the bill all settled, they exit the restaurant into the cool night air, with Emma’s hand tangled with Killian’s. She noticed that the patrons all glanced as they came and went, but Emma hopes that she and Killian are yesterday’s news before too long. It’s probably the only downside to this small town that they all feel the need to gossip like wildfire.
He opens the car door for her again, letting his fingers trail across hers as he releases her hand and sends little shocks of heat along her skin.
Killian walks her all the way to her door, his thumb gently rubbing against hers as they climb the stairs. She turns when they get to her door, slipping a little bit into his personal space.
“Well, not bad,” she says, reaching down and taking his hand and hook in her hands. “You managed to make me forget that I’ve spent the last three days trying to get oil spots out of my jeans thanks to an unfortunate call to Billy’s shop the other day.”
“That’s an easy, three-step process if you’d like my assistance.”
“In that case, wanna come in for some coffee and stain removal?”
He hums, stepping forward so they’re toe-to-toe, their noses brushing as she’s just at the same height with her heels on. When he speaks, his breath tickles her lips and she frees up her hands in favor of running them up the lapels of his jacket to rest on his shoulders.
“Aye, but first, I’ve been waiting to do this all night,” he tells her, his voice low and husky and everything she wants to hear right now.
Then his lips are on hers and she’s perfectly fine with not hearing his voice because she’d rather be doing this anyway. Carefully, without breaking the kiss, she inches backwards until she can lean on the door, pulling Killian against her and letting all her thoughts leave for the moment. She doesn’t put out on the first date, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do anything else, right? His grip on her hip feels as tense as she is, and she finally stops so she can get her door unlocked.
When it swings open, however, her apartment isn’t dark and empty like she left it, and she jolts away from Killian in surprise at Snow propped on her breakfast bar and David standing behind her counter.
“Hey! We weren’t sure when… oh!”
Clearly, the other couple hadn’t expected Killian to still be attached to Emma when they hatched a plan to come see how it went instead of waiting until the next day. Emma glances at Killian to see the amused smile on his face. She also sees that this is where the train stops tonight, and she sighs.
“Give us a second,” Emma says to her family as she crowds Killian back into the hallway for some semblance of privacy; she knows how thin her door is. “Do you still want to come in and have coffee? Probably get the concerned-father speech from David?”
“I suppose we’ll just have to wait until next time for all of that,” he says, definitely not unkindly but there’s a hint of disappointment that this is where their evening ends, and she knows the feeling.
“Next time, huh? I don’t remember asking.”
“That’s because it’s my turn,” he tells her, his voice light and playful. Just as quickly, he gets a serious look in his eyes and she’s not sure a marching band coming out of her apartment would tear her attention away from him. “Will you go out with me again?”
His eyes are so sincere, his expression hopeful and patient and of course she’s going to go out with him again. She steps forward, deciding that actions are better than words right now, kissing him softly but solidly, making sure it teeters right on the edge of the heat they were producing just a few minutes ago.
She can’t get over the way he holds her, the way his arms come around her and mold her against his body. That paired with the way he kisses her back, the low rumble he makes when her hand comes up to brush against his cheek before sliding into his hair, she almost gets lost to the sensations all over again, Snow and David be damned.
With effort, Emma pulls back the tiniest bit, trying to catch her breath more at the way he leans his forehead against hers than the kiss itself at this point.
“Okay,” she breathes out. “Goodnight Killian.”
“Goodnight,” he replies, his voice sounding equally unsteady.
She looks back at him one more time, biting her lower lip at the mirrored look on his face.
“I need to get the locks changed,” she mutters as she opens the door to her apartment again. “So, let’s talk about how you guys broke into my apartment tonight!”
-x-
Listening to Emma re-greet David and Snow makes Killian chuckle for a moment, and he takes a big breath as he settles his blood again. This woman is already so far under his skin that it’s hard to believe it’s only been a few months since they first spoke to one another.
He has Robin’s car until morning, so it’s a quick, warm drive home. When he steps inside, Killian closes the door and locks it behind him, turning on light after light as he walks through the rooms that he’s inhabited for almost five months. He’s restless, only because he’s already looking forward to the next moment he gets to see Emma, and as his eyes land on various boxes and empty corners, he decides to use this momentum to finish what he started the day before.
After changing out of his clothes and into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, Killian retrieves his box cutter from the kitchen from his last unpacking adventure and starts with his office.
It’s more than past time for him to officially make this place his home.
-x- November 4: Monday
It takes effort for Killian to crawl out of bed on Monday. It’s probably the first time in as long as he can remember that he doesn’t bounce right out of bed as soon as his eyes are open. That excludes times he’s been sick, of course. He’s only human. But he’s not sick today. He’s tired. Downright exhausted, and with every right to be so. When he finally drags his eyes open, he looks around the room at all he accomplished. Gone are the barren walls and empty hangers. Every single piece of clothing he owns is now tidily put into its place. Trudging through his morning routine, Killian still manages to smile wide when he opens his closet to the wide array of clothes all readily available.
He’s nearly ready when he hears the horn outside, and he smiles with the knowledge that Emma is out there waiting for him. With careful movements, he pours the two mugs of coffee from his pot and rinses it out, making sure it’s turned off before heading out.
They’ve got a good deal starting, as far as he can tell. She brings the car, he brings the caffeine, and it’s almost as good as their walks.
He rushes to the car through the morning chill, happy to at least have his scarf and hat in place. She pushes the door open from her side when she sees he’s laden with coffee mugs pressed against his chest with the help of his left arm.
“Hi! You found some winter weather gear!”
“Aye, finally got around to a lot of things I’ve been meaning to work on,” he tells her as he settles in, shutting the door firmly against a cold blast of wind. “Brought you coffee.”
“Thanks,” she says, grabbing the mug from him and taking a sip. She reaches over, almost without thought and squeezes his wrist to emphasize her words.
Their banter on the way to his office is as it always is, but when she stops in front of NeverEndings, there’s care in the way she leans towards him. He meets her halfway, sighing into the simplicity of the kiss and wishing he could dawdle and kiss her in her car all day.
“I have my lunch hour totally free today,” she tells him when they finally do part. “Want me to swing by?”
“I have a meeting with Henry this morning. I’m not quite sure how long it’ll go, but stop in and we’ll see?”
She smiles and nods, waving once as he climbs from the car and shuts the door.
By the time Emma shows up at noon, he very clearly needs the respite. Henry is looking similarly worn down, obvious by the way the teenager is slumped in his chair, fiddling with a fidget cube that Killian keeps by his monitor for moments of extreme stress. That’s how Emma finds them, with Killian fighting off a yawn as he stares at his computer screen and Henry teetering on death by boredom.
“Whoa. Are you guys working or just slowly melting into your seats here?”
“I’m melting,” Henry says without moving anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.
“I’m working,” Killian adds, sitting up and stretching his neck to release the knots that are dying to form along his spine. “Darling, I’ve got just three more pages left on these edits. I’m so sorry. Would you like to stick around until we’ve finished?”
“Are you his girlfriend?”
Killian sputters for a second, unsure of how to introduce them in this situation.
“I’m Emma,” she says, saving him from anything else. “So, Killian tells me you come up for vacations?” After shifting around a couple items, Emma makes herself comfortable by perching on the edge of the desk.
“I did, back when…” Henry trails off, and Killian can see from this angle that Emma’s face falls into something that borders on understanding. He knows that she was raised by David’s mother, but he also knows that she uses a different surname than the Nolan household, so maybe there’s a kinship that he wasn’t even anticipating between them.
As they get lost in conversation, Killian desperately wants to keep paying attention, to absorb in the information that she hasn’t yet divulged to him, but the edits call back to him and before he knows it, he’s lost to the words in front of him once more.
Far longer than he would’ve liked to spend on it, he’s finally at the end of the passage and he saves the file with a noise of victory.
“Alright, lad. We’ve got it. That’s the whole thing with edits and comments now done.”
“Really?”
“Aye. The next part is all up to you. We’ll get a look at your schedule and set up another meeting in the middle of the month if you think you can handle that.”
The boy scoffs, accepting the folder and thumb drive that Killian hands over to him. “I can practically make these changes with my eyes closed at this point.”
“Yeah, yeah. Safe travels back to the city.”
With a final wave, Henry exits his office and Killian slumps down in his chair, peering around his monitor as Emma relaxes back in the chair that Henry just vacated.
“Thanks for your patience, love. How’s your day going?”
“Better than yours, it seems. I texted Ruby and she’ll have lunch waiting for us. You ready?”
“Would you carry me there?”
Emma laughs, music to his ears, and he hauls himself from his chair, taking her hand when she offers it.
Killian’s own lunches don’t usually last very long, but he feels he’s earned the right to relax for a little bit since the first round of edits is officially done, and his “quick” morning meeting just went two hours over his proposed time slot for it.
It’s not the end of the job, of course. There will still be more edits after Henry comes back with his changes. But that’s in two weeks, and until that time, Killian can start worrying about everything else with the book.
Not only are there design aspects to be considered, but they’ll have the company Christmas party in New York next month, which will act as some kind of debut for Henry. It’s the one time every year that all the employees and authors come together. In England, they’ll be hosting their own version of the event, but over here, it’s a chance to celebrate the creativity that’s come out of the whole year and for Robin to announce everything they’ll look forward to in the one to come.
While he always has an outfit ready for the black tie event, he’ll also be in charge of making sure Henry is taken care of. He’ll have to ask the lad whether he has a suitable outfit. Despite being the editor for such young talent, Killian’s primary anxiety rests over getting everything done and in a timely fashion. He decided after their first meeting that Henry was more mature than a good deal of the grown men and women he’s worked with before, but in the eyes of the world, he’s still a child, and he wants them all to see Henry like he does.
After the party will be the actual book release, and the press for it. And then there’s the worry over its success or failure, of course...
“Hey, Killian.”
“Hmm?”
Emma pulls him down for a quick kiss right on the lips. “You’ve gotta let your brain rest for a couple minutes. Coffee?”
He looks around, having missed the whole walk over to Granny’s, apparently. He sighs, letting Emma lead them up the path to the diner. “Yes, that would be helpful.”
“I might be wrong, but I feel like you’re freaking out a little bit.”
“You’re not wrong,” he admits to her. “I just want everything to be perfect. He’s so talented, but he’s young. And one wrong step could mean the book goes nowhere.”
“I don’t think you’re going to let that happen,” she says as she sheds her coat and gloves, setting them on the seat on her side of the booth before she slides in.
Their food and drinks are placed in front of them almost as soon as they’re settled in, and Ruby gives them both a signature smile before she zips away from the table to tend to the rest of the lunch rush.
“Told you I gave her the heads up,” Emma says, smiling at him and nodding to his food. “Dig in. How long until you have to be back?”
“I have a meeting with Robin at 2:30 to go over our progress from today,” Killian tells her, glancing at his watch and seeing that Emma’s hour is already almost up. “You want to get a box for that?”
“Nah. I already texted David and told him I would be back later than usual.”
“You’re simply a marvel, Swan. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, smiling and propping her hand under her chin and getting comfortable with her hot chocolate, clearly settling in for some quality time.
-x-
It’s weird, Emma thinks, to be the source of comfort for someone. But judging by the way Killian relaxes almost as soon as she reassures him that he’s not going to fuck up is a pretty clear indication that he’s taken the words to heart. What’s weirder is that she likes the feeling, a lot, and wants to keep being able to do this for him whenever he needs it.
“Tell me something new today,” she urges, using the moment to take a bite of her food before he can turn it around on her. She watches carefully as he gulps, clearly already knowing what he wants to say but maybe afraid to speak the words.
“Promise you won’t let it scare you off?”
“I can try,” she says honestly, but there’s no fear sparking in her stomach, no panic in her lungs.
“Seeing you for the first time was the moment I finally felt like I was really here - that I’d really moved to a whole new country and started a brand new job. Your hair was down. It caught the sunlight first, and then your badge did. I couldn’t get over how you looked ethereal and yet so solidly real, and you were staring at me as if you were waiting for me.”
It’s her turn to swallow hard, hearing his admission, and knowing that the day he first saw her, she was waiting for him.
“Wow,” she finally manages. She picks at her forgotten food, the blush rising to her cheeks and the smile unable to be contained.
“I’ve been told I could write romance novels,” he says, and it’s the seriousness of his tone mixed with the smile in his eyes that finally makes Emma grin as it calms her nerves.
“I’d buy them,” she admits.
“I could write about a hapless Brit learning all about American culture from some blonde goddess in a red leather jacket.”
“And what adventures would they go on, Killian?”
“Epic battles, Swan. They couldn’t have just any boring old story. They would need action, fighting to find each other after being separated, and when it’s all said and done they would share True Love’s Kiss and she would turn him into a frog.” She is so obviously distracted by the way his hand has reached across the table and his fingers are rubbing over her knuckles, the deep timbre of his voice, that she almost misses the last part, but she hears it, and she chortles at the picture he’s painted.
She takes a deep breath, prepared to share something of her own. “I didn’t want to date you,” she admits. It’s like an anvil dropped in the middle of the table but if he just admitted all of that to her, maybe she can meet him halfway.
His face falls, and she hurries to continue.
“Not like that,” she says reassuringly, giving his hand a squeeze to emphasize. “I had this idea that you would just be this stranger I passed on the street every day and that would be enough. And then we started talking and I thought - okay, this is cool. We can be friends.” She laughs even thinking of it, at the sheer absurdity that she was so sure there would be nothing between them.
“You started it,” he says. “You kissed me first.”
“Yeah? So let’s talk about setting up that second date.”
“Well, I’ve finally finished moving into my flat, so I think it would be nice to have someone over to see it without towers of boxes invading each room.”
“I think that sounds like a good plan.”
There’s a thought that flashes through her mind that adds together one part Killian, one part dinner, one part alone, and it takes her a moment to pull her mind from the gutter once more. Especially when she thinks of how they were interrupted before he could come inside after their first date.
But more than for anything like that, Emma thinks about how nice it’ll be to have something closer to a quiet night - there won’t be any townspeople staring at them and taking notes to pass around to all their friends. No one will take notice of them leaving and speculate about what’s about to happen next. Plus, the idea of Killian cooking is quite appealing.
“Saturday?” she asks before they part ways after lunch is over.
“Saturday sounds perfect,” he reassures her. And while she’s already excited for it, she also knows they have a whole week of little moments like this to look forward to.
-x-
Chapter 7
53 notes
·
View notes
Text
Vienna: Part 3
Fandom: Marvel (College AU)
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader
Summary: When Bucky went on a family trip to Vienna when he was 12, he met a very pretty girl and had his first kiss. 16 years later, he’s back in Vienna.
You sat on the grass beside Bucky with your friends and his friends making up the rest of the circle. Pietro was trying to flirt with Nat, emphasis on trying. Wanda was speaking with Sam, as they traded weird and funny tourist stories. Steve and Clint were discussing what place to visit next on the itinerary. Bucky? Well Bucky was just staring at you.
“What?” you asked with a giggle.
He couldn’t help but laugh, “I just-I can’t believe you’re here. Who would’ve thought that we’d be here in the same place sixteen years later?”
“I didn’t, that’s for sure.”
“You know, you’ve grown up into a very beautiful woman.”
You bowed your head a bit, shying away from the compliment, “Thank you, Bucky. And you’ve grown into a very strapping young man, yourself.” your compliment made him giggle.
“Thanks,” he looked down, seeing how close his hand and yours were. He moved his pinky closer, hooking it around yours, cautiously, giving you some time to pull away, but you didn’t. He cleared his throat, “S-So, um, you never told me why you’re back here.”
“You didn’t either,” you said with a cock of your brow.
He gestured to you, “Ladies, first.”
You nodded, “Very well. I told you I’m a culture studies,” Bucky nodded in confirmation, “Well, I’m here for a year to study abroad. I could’ve chosen any country in Europe, but I decided here to, again, redeem my former self.”
“How long have you been here already?”
“Four months, still got a long way to go. But the months have been going by so fast and I’ve been learning so much. It’s great!”
“So what school are you doing this through?”
“NYU,” you said proudly and Bucky choked on his own saliva.
“W-What? You go to NYU? I go to Columbia!”
Your jaw dropped, “You’re kidding!”
“I can’t believe it! We’ve been in the same state for what, five or six years now and we didn’t even know it?!”
You threw your head back as you laughed, “Oh that’s hilarious!” you moved your hand from Bucky to nudge him, “I think destiny is trying to tell us something.”
He licked his lips and rolled them in, a softness in his eyes, “Ya think?”
You shrugged, “I mean, two coincidences like this? Definitely a sign or something.”
Too caught up in your own conversation, you and Bucky didn’t hear the rest of the group’s discussion. Clint flicked Bucky’s hear and Bucky recoiled back, “Hey!”
Clint nodded behind him, “C’mon, we wanna check out the maze and we’re all done eating. You guys comin’ with?”
You and Bucky looked at each other, a mischievous glint in your eyes, “We’re coming.”
Everyone packed up their stuff and stood up, heading over to where the maze was. Like during the tour, you and Bucky were walking at the back of the group. Bucky was murmuring to you, “Okay. So I’m gonna go in. Count to thirty and try to find me.”
You smiled widely at him as he remembered the words you had spoken to him when you were twelve, “And when I find you? What’s my prize?”
“Guess you’ll have to wait and see,” he winked at you as he hurried after the group, replaying his idea to the rest of them. You saw everyone nod their heads. The guys grouping together and the girls.
“C’mon, Y/N!” Wanda called out for you, waiting at the entrance.
“Alright. Count to thirty, ladies,” Steve said coyly.
Nat rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah. We know how to count. Go on already!” the guys stumbled over each other’s feet as they rushed into the madness that is the maze.
An exciting buzz washed over your body like when the roles were reversed sixteen years ago. But this time, you were no longer the hunted. You were the hunter.
When the three of you counted to the thirty, you shouted, “READY OR NOT HERE WE COME!” and ran into the maze. Let the hunt begin.
Bucky’s heart was pounding. He didn’t know if it was because he was rushing around the maze or because he was anxiously waiting for you to find him. As much as he was running away, he wanted you to find him. He wanted to return the favor that you gave him years ago. But this time, the kiss wouldn’t be so sloppy.
He turned a corner and immediately ran into Wanda, “Hey!” he held her by her shoulders, “Where’s Y/N?”
“Uuuhh she was behind me, but I’m not sure if she went the other way.”
“Buckyyyy!” you called out for him, bringing a smile to his face, “Where aaaare yooouu?”
“She sounds close. Alright. Thanks, Wanda!” he continued to go different directions. Left, right, right, straight, left, straight, right, le-AH!”
You ran into him and as soon as you realized it was him, you grabbed him by the shirt, pushed him against the maze wall, “Found you!”
He smiled proudly, “Guess you did, huh?”
“So, what’s my prize?”
Without another word, Bucky cupped your face and pulled you into a kiss, a much better kiss. It wasn’t awkward like before. This was passionate and desperate and a little bit hot.
Bucky dropped one hand to your waist, wrapping his arm around you to pull you in closer, deepening the kiss. You pulled away for some air, your lips grazing against his, “Your kissing got a lot better,” you teased.
He chuckled, “Had a lot of practice these past sixteen years.”
“Interesting,” you muttered before pulling him in for another kiss.
“Y/N, every-MY GOD!” you pulled away at Pietro’s cry of horror. He looked at you startled, eyes wide and mouth ajar, “Oh come on! How come you get to makeout with the beautiful blue eyes and I can’t even get Nat to smile at me!”
Bucky snickered, “She’s a tough one to crack, my friend.”
Pietro sighed, “Well, anyway, everyone is out now. Should we wait for you guys oooorrr...”
You cleared your throat, taking another step away from Bucky, “We’ll follow. Lead the way, Piet.”
The silver-blonde looked at you two cautiously before going back the way he came, heading towards the exit. You two, indeed, followed him, your hands laced with each other’s and giving each other a knowing glance.
After spending another two hours at the gardens, it was time to say good-bye. Bucky and his friends were leaving to go to their next destination: Berlin and you were saddened by the news.
“So...this is it,” you muttered, standing before Bucky next to the car they rented out.
He slowly nodded, “Yeah. God, I just found you again and I gotta leave. This sucks!”
You shrugged, “At least we found each other again. And well,” you looked into your bag, finding a receipt and pen, scribbling down your name, your number, your email, and your Skype contact, “Here,” you handed it to him, “So we can keep in touch?”
Bucky slowly took the receipt, fingers grazing over your name, “At least this time, I won’t lose you for good.” he leaned in and pecking your lips, “I’ll email you every day. It’s gonna be so annoying.”
You breathed out a small laugh, “I don’t mind.”
He sighed, looking down at your intertwined fingers, “We’ll see each other again, Y/N. I promise.” with one more kiss, Bucky got into the car with his friends. They all waved out the windows until you could no longer see them. Your shoulders sagged with grief.
You slowly exited the terminal. Your backpack on your back and your carry on suitcase rolling behind you. You were back in New York and you were anxious. After seeing Bucky again, true to his word, you two spoke every single day for the past eight months. Through the magic of Skype, you two were able to see each other. You had your first “date”, said your first “I love yous” and, well, you didn’t a little naughty stuff too. But let’s not focus on that.
For the past eight months, Bucky Barnes has held your heart and you were anxious to see him in person. If he even came at all. You told him it was alright if he couldn’t pick you up, but he promised he would.
“I’ll make sure my entire day is free, just for you, Y/N,” he said with an excited grin. And you believed him.
Now that you were here, you weren’t so sure. Your eyes were scanning everywhere. You went on your tippy toes to try to find him, but you came empty handed.
Then came a group of balloons in sight and a yell of your name, “Y/N!” Bucky pushed through the group of people, bolting right up to you and throwing his arms around you, holding you tight. The group of balloons eventually caught up to him and you realized they were attached to Steve, Nat, Sam, and Clint.
“God, I missed you!” Bucky pulled back to press a deep, loving kiss to your lips. When he pulled away, he had the biggest grin on his face, “Hey, sweetheart.”
You melted under his gaze, “Hey, baby.”
“Welcome back,” he kissed you again, but was pulled away by Sam.
“Alright. Alright! Save it for the bedroom, Barnes! There’s kids around!” each of Bucky’s friends greeted you with a hug and welcoming words.
One of Bucky’s arms remained on you. You all walked to baggage claim to collect the rest of your luggage.
“So, now that you’re back, I was thinking we go on a real date.”
“What? You didn’t like sharing meals via computer screen?” you asked sarcastically.
“I loved our Skype dates, but I really wanna see you sitting across the table from me. I wanna see you stuff your face with breadsticks and wine. I wanna reach across the table and hold you hand. I wanna randomly lean over and kiss your lips.”
You pulled yourself from his embrace and moved to stand in front of him, cupping his face you spoke to him, “And we can do all of that, Bucky. We have all the time in the world now. Nothing can ever stop us now.” A mischievous smirk, like the very first one he saw when he was twelve, made a reappearance on your lips, “Vienna was just the beginning.”
242 notes
·
View notes
Text
Little Hell (Michael Langdon x Reader)
Request: “Hey! I wanted to ask if you could write some smut for Michael Langdon. Maybe he is with his lover and she’s riding him. I am so weak for him.” - Anon
Warnings: Fem!Reader, actual sin, so much sexual tension, slight choking, oral sex (reader receiving), unprotected sex, rough-ish sex, dominant Michael but willing to be a little submissive, hair pulling, reader on top, Michael calls the reader babe a few times, maybe OOC Michael
Word Count: 2.1k
A/N: Shoutout to the BDA groupchat for putting up with me while I wrote this. Also I ran out of steam at the end but let’s pretend its good pls and thanks
(I love my friends so I gotta tag em real quick: @cupkayyyke @jana-banana-fana @binxee @cherryruin @justanotherfandomjunkie)
“I’ll tell you how this process works.” The taller man began, letting his sinister blue eyes roam over you. “You’re tell me the truth. Not the truth you think I want to hear, not the truth you might have deceived yourself into believing, but the complete honesty that we both know you’re capable of telling.”
He gave you a second to process his lengthy explanation. Langdon was relaxed in his seat across the desk, one knee crossed over the other. He had a lurking aura of authority that loomed over the room. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t find the long-haired man attractive as you watched his every move in anticipation.
“Things you may feel will be helpful might be hurtful. Things you may feel will compel rejection may be exactly what I’m looking for, your saving grace. If you omit any detail, no matter how small, I’ll know. If you lie to me, I’ll know. If you try to deceive me, this interview will be over and you will die here painfully. And make no mistake, if you expect to walk out of this room thinking you’ve got me right where you want me, you will be punished.
“I will do my best to deduct whether or not you will leave this Outpost alive or be eaten by the scavengers. Am I clear?”
“Yes sir.”
You tried to hide all signs of nervousness, but you were almost certain he could see through the poised exterior. A soft smile crossed Langdon’s lips as you leaned back, crossing your legs underneath the long purple dress you were wearing. It was one of the most simple ones you had in your provided wardrobe, but it still seemed to suffocate you in the warm room.
“What are you most afraid of?”
Honestly? In this very moment, it was him. Your fate rested in his hands. “The hell that waits beyond the gates.” You said lightly. The lie came with its risks, but you decided to jump the gun and say it. He didn’t seem like he cared as he skipped to the next question.
“How do you feel about your current... Predicament? How did you end up here?” He asked.
You continued to watch the man across from you as he spoke. He seemed odd, almost, but you weren't sure why. Everything about him demanded respect, but he cloaked himself in a vaguely sexual, familiar aura. His outfit was dark black, his eyelids painted bright red. You wondered if that was the Cooperative’s work or his own, the eyeshadow. Ultimately you decided it was his own doing.
That was, by far, the most difficult part of being here at the Outpost. It was so different from any part of the outside that you’d ever known. A closely monitored closet of pre-Victorian dresses and undergarments, candles being the only source of light, a single jelly-like cube for breakfast and lunch. A class system of greys and blacks and purples. A leader who’s darkness you could feel from a mile away, and her perfect little followers who obeyed every single one of her orders, no matter how disruptive to the society.
But you still missed the old world. The 2018 America you had finally gotten on decent terms with until you were rudely yanked from your and your boyfriend’s apartment at three in the morning. The two armored people offered no explanation other than you having “perfect DNA.” They told you that you and a select few were chosen via various tests that you were the most genetically fit to survive the oncoming apocalypse. But truth be told, you weren't sure if living through it was even truly worth what it would take to get there. The thought was depressing, but it was the truth, and that’s what you told Langdon. Albeit in a far more condensed form.
"You don’t sound grateful.” He observed. His long brown hair fell to the side as he tilted his head, bringing his hands together to rest it on. “You, Y/N, are here, safe and sound from what killed more than seven billion people. You didn’t die by the blast, you’re not poisoned by the radiation, you aren’t being eaten by cannibals. You’re being fed and dressed with a roof over your head. This would’ve cost one hundred million dollars for anyone else.”
“Oh, I’m thankful.” You said, licking your lips. You knew your tone sounded a bit sassy, maybe sarcastic, but you didn’t care. “I got a free ticket to survival of the fittest. I’m just not sure I deserve it.”
“Why do you say that? I mean, you’re surrounded by people who paid their way in. Look at the Saint Pierre girl and her friends. Does that bother you?” He stood from his seat slowly, walking to the other side of the room. He admired the small fireplace beside him for a moment before coming back to you, taking a seat on top of the wooden desk. “Surely you’ve thought about it.”
“I haven’t.”
He went quiet as he thought for a moment before leaning forward, mere centimeters away from your face. You felt his icy hand on your cheek, his rings resting against the soft skin. You expected to feel his lips pressed against yours, but instead, you felt his cold breath as he whispered into your ear.
“I don’t think I believe you.”
It felt like some primal urge to break the connection he had to you. To stand up and be released from his grasp. But when his hand slipped down your cheek and to your neck, ghosting over your pulse, you melted underneath him. He locked his hand around your throat as he hummed quietly, simply watching your face. Your eyes were closed and your eyebrows lightly furrowed together as you tried not to show pleasure at the sexual touch. But God, it felt good.
When he pulled away, you finally opened your eyes again only to see his. They stared over you once more, but this time, his gaze was different. Something fiery burned behind the bright blue. “I like you. You’re different.” The light in the room went dark, only a few lit candles still remaining. For some reason, that didn’t even faze you as he stood before you, your heart beating a mile minute.
"It’s getting late. We can pick this up in the morning.”
And with that, he released you from the room.
Later that night, you were laying in bed as you replayed the scene in your head. Was he intentionally toying with you like that? Surely so. He was so certain of himself and his actions as he watched you squirm. He loved it. He found his pleasure in being able to manipulate you so easily.
It was only an unexpected, quiet knock at the door that interrupted your thoughts. Was it Venable? Were you being taken somewhere else again? Had the Cooperative selected you? Had you done something wrong? Your mind raced with the possibilities as you crept over to the door. What stood behind it shocked you.
Langdon.
He was dressed casually, sweatpants and a t-shirt. It was vastly different than what you had previously seen him in, and suited him a bit more than his usual formal wear, if you were honest. His reddish hair was tucked behind his ears, and he wore a blank expression on his face.
He wasted no time before snaking his hand around your waist, pulling you in for a deep kiss. He walked the two of you backwards as he kicked the door shut, letting it fall closed with a small ‘thud.’ Quickly, he leaned backwards to lock it.
The kiss was hungry. Passionate. Lustful. Slowly, he began to play with the hem of your nightgown, carefully moving closer and closer to the heat that pooled between your legs. You couldn’t help but moan against his lips as his thumb gliding over your panties, letting him break the kiss only to lift your nightgown above your head, letting it fall on the floor.
“That’s one way to make an entrance.” You mumbled, helping him strip his own shirt off. He smiled, letting you look him in the eye. The beautiful blues sent a chill down your spine while he just admired you. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Michael.” He muttered. It wasn’t angry, or hesitant as you’d expected. He seemed glad, almost, to let you know his name. For you to call him something other than ‘sir’ or by his last name. “Michael Langdon.”
It was a blur how you ended up on your bed, Michael hovering over you. He planted a soft kiss to your collarbone, your breast, your stomach... Meanwhile his hand played with the waistband of your panties, pulling them down, down down, and tossing them away. You moaned softly as he rubbed your clit with his finger, a small swear falling from your mouth.
Suddenly, he removed his hand, and moments later he comfortably rested between your thighs. He reached for your hand, sliding his rings onto your smaller fingers with ease. You didn't know why, but that simple action was so, so sexy to you. Maybe it was because he trusted you to keep them for him, a simple show of affection to you.
Recently, you had learned that Michael didn’t like to waste his valuable time. That was during the interview, and it was happening now. He liked things to be fast-paced, very straight to the point. He was confident about it, almost as if he had been used to doing it his whole life.
He licked and sucked for a moment before stopping, presumably to gauge your reaction. That annoyed you. Gently, you grabbed a fistful of his hair, keeping him in place. You felt him groan lightly in pleasure. Had you just discovered his kink?
Michael continued to lick between your folds, slicking his fingers over you. You moaned loudly when he pushed two digits into you, letting you shiver with anticipation. The two of you were perfect together, with you tugging and pulling on his long, silken hair, guiding him easily. He followed your gestures like a lost puppy, focusing his attention wherever you directed him to. It seemed like the harder you pulled, the more submissive he became, melting under your fingertips. He held back small moans each time your grip tightened, his pace not slowing.
It wasn't much longer before pleasure washed over you as you came on his tongue, which he didn’t mind at all. In fact, the eager-to-please expression on his face told you that he enjoyed it.
When he finally pulled away, your eyes locked on his swollen lips and wet chin, which were dripping with your juices. Pulling him up your body, you hesitantly pressed your lips to his to taste yourself. You felt his excitement growing against you. That drove him wild in ways you could never understand.
You pulled away from him a few moments later. “You’re so impatient. Didn’t anyone ever teach you that patience is a virtue?”
“Do you think I would’ve helped you if it wasn’t?” He cooed, meeting your lips with another kiss. “What are you going to do about it, babe? Hm?”
You gave him a look as he rolled onto the bed, letting you climb on top of him. A newfound surge of confidence pulsed through your body as you untied his sweatpants, sliding them down his leg. You were in charge now, and Michael knew it. The way you kissed him as you guided his long cock into you only confirmed his suspicions.
He gave your ass a small squeeze when you took him in, a small groan exiting his lips as he felt your warmth clasp around him. With a small thrust, you adjusted to his size quickly, leading to harder, deeper ones. The two of you fell into a nice rhythm soon, your hands resting on his bare chest. Every time you slid down, he'd buck his hips to meet you, eliciting a small moan from you every time. God, how he wished he could let you scream his name. If you wouldn’t be punished, even the corpses outside would know who was fucking you.
Neither of you lasted too much longer before you both reached your orgasms. His name and a string of curses fell from your lips as you came for the second time, and not but seconds later, light moans escaped the man in front of you as he finally, finally got his release. The two of you were both pleased as you sat on the now-messy bed together in silence, each of you trying to comprehend what had just now happened.
Did you really just have late-night sex with a member of the Cooperative? Yes, yes you did.
You could tell that Michael wasn’t the type to stick around after he got what he wanted. He preferred to sleep on his own in his bed, his previous lover nowhere in sight. But somehow, some way, he couldn’t say no when you asked him to stay just long enough for you to fall asleep. That turned into “just a little while longer” and “I don’t want to wake her up,” which, in turn, resulted in the two of you being curled up together in the dark until morning came.
And that was good enough for you.
#Michael langdon#Michael langdon imagine#Michael langdon one shot#Michael langdon fanfiction#Michael langdon smut#cody fern#cody fern imagine#cody fern one shot#cody fern fanfiction#cody fern smut#ahs#ahs one shot#ahs imagine#ahs fanfiction#ahs apocalypse#american horror story#american horror story one shot#american horror story imagine#american horror story fanfiction#american horror story apocalypse#apocalypse#apocalypse imagine#apocalypse one shot#apocalypse fanfiction
4K notes
·
View notes
Text
Dinner and Dancing- 3: Bandwagon
Part One... Part Two
Author’s Note: Originally posted to ao3. Set post Civil War, pre-Infinity War. *Gifs are not mine.*
Summary: Reader tracks down Steve in an attempt to track down Bucky. Bucky’s unreachable but Steve is more than happy to step into his shoes.
Pairing(s): Steve Rogers/Reader
Word Count: 3373
Story Warnings: sick baby, little bit of angst, romanipien (that gypsy soul/pick up and leave thing), oral sex (female and male receiving), naughty sketches, Little bit of angst, a lot of pining, the baby’s a cockblock… and so’s Bucky.
Chapter Warnings: pining, slight angst because of Bucky, meddling Avenger friends
Steve sat in a chair with a book in front of him. His eyes were not on the papers, though. His eyes were across the lounge area where y/n was sitting on a barstool pulled up to the counter, reading a magazine.
"Man, you're starin' at her, again." Sam said, clapping his hand on Steve's well-muscled shoulder.
Steve looked down at the book he was supposed to be reading, but he couldn't focus on the words, looking at y/n out of the corner of his eyes. He couldn't help it that his eyes always seemed to linger on her. Her face was magnetic. Her smile, addictive. He, honestly, couldn't fathom what was going through Bucky's mind when he left her lying alone in his bed, probably naked and-
Steve closed his eyes and shook his head. He didn't need to think of her like that. That's his best friend's best girl.
"This is gonna be like Sharon, isn't it?" Sam brought attention to himself again as he sat in the chair across the coffee table from Steve. "You're not going to make your move until way late in the game when you know you ain't gonna see her again for a long-ass time."
"Sam." Steve quietly chastised as he closed his book.
"What'd Sharon say when you finally kissed her? 'Overdue'? And then you never saw her again."
He sat forward and lowered his voice, eyes flicking to y/n and Wanda. "She's Bucky's girl, Sam."
"Pretty sure she's not, Steve. Barnes left her. She's been raising his kid with her brother because he was too much of a bitch to Dad up." Sam leaned forward, too. "Look, I don't hide how I feel about him. He's an unstable, dangerous dickhead and he ruined my damn car, but that's not why I'm sayin' this. I'm sayin' it because your boy Barnes had a month with her and ran off after three weeks because he didn't want to deal with 'Goodbye', didn't step up when she tried to tell him about that kid, but you did. Man, you treat that boy like he's yours and you want to treat her like she's yours, too. I can see it in your eyes."
Steve sighed and shook his head. "She's still got a thing for him. When she talks about him..."
"Man, when you talk about him, it sounds like you've got a thing for him." Sam interrupted. "That woman is perfect for you and you know it. Do I gotta get Wanda to dig into your heads, pull out your desires so that you can see-"
"I don't need Wanda to show me what I desire." Steve sat back and let his eyes fall on her again. She was excitedly pointing to something in a magazine. Her smile was radiant. "But, what I want isn't what's important."
"What about what she deserves? An upstanding, righteous, good man who wants to take care of her and her son. A damn American hero. Not in 1945. Now. She deserves a man like you. She deserves you."
"But she loves Bucky."
"I don't think she does. I think she was infatuated, that she had a hero complex for him because he saved her life, but you don't fall in love over three weeks and a couple black and white movies. You fall in love over life. Real love takes time, effort, and overcoming obstacles instead of running away from them. Cap, you are all about time, effort and overcoming obstacles. Your biggest obstacle here..." Sam stood, forcing Steve to look up at him. "...is yourself."
Steve opened his book again and tried to read, but he couldn't. Instead, the argument started up in head again. He'd had this argument with himself a dozen times since she walked up to him and recited her name, just with slightly more emotional attachment to call on as the time went by.
One side of the argument said everything he'd just heard from Sam: Bucky left, didn't answer her, he was happy that she was going back to America and didn't even stay until the day she got on her plane. Bucky didn't want to settle down in the first place.
The other side of the argument was... falling apart the longer he spent in her presence: Bucky was his best friend. Bucky always had his back, even when he didn't want him to. Bucky fell off a mountain and was tortured and became the Winter Soldier because of him. It would be a low thing to come in while Bucky's in cryo and take his girl, the one he'd spoken so highly of. Bucky was most important, no matter how he feels about her, no matter how he feels about George. Heck, he could help take care of George without being with y/n, right? And that would be honoring Bucky, to take care of his son, wouldn't it?
Of course, it wasn't just about George and he couldn't lie to himself about that.
*********
You looked across the room at Steve, reading his book. "Someday, he's going to look up and see you staring at him." Wanda said, slipping onto the stool next to you.
You looked down, embarrassed. "No, I've got a plan for that. I just look away really fast."
"Why are you embarrassed that you're attracted to Steve?"
You could feel your face turn red. "I'd thank you to stay out of my head, Wanda." You said, flipping your Game Informer open to a review of the newest Nintendo handheld.
"I don't need to be in your head, Y/n. I have eyes." She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it for a moment, staring at you. "Is it because of Sergeant Barnes?"
"He's Bucky's best friend."
"So? Barnes isn't here, y/n. He didn't want to be. You were his ideal because you were leaving, because he didn't have to worry about anything real developing. As soon as you considered staying, as soon as you became real, he disappeared. Steve lives in the real world. He likes the real things. He likes being depended on. He likes problems because he likes overcoming them. The only fight he's ever backed down from was when he almost let Winter Soldier kill him in an attempt to jog Barnes' memories."
"And that says more about why we're not going to be able to make it past the obstacle than anything, because Bucky is the obstacle and Bucky is of utmost importance for Steve."
"I think, if you worked together, you could get past it." Wanda said, before pointing at the Nintendo Switch ad in the magazine. "I think we need one of these."
"That'd be awesome. We should set up a gaming room! I've got a bunch of board games in a box somewhere, and in another box, I've got a bunch of old video game consoles! Oh, my gosh! That's a great distraction!"
"PlayStation or XBOX?"
"Both, also Wii. I never bought into the whole console wars. I just waited 'til i could find 'em used or super cheap and bought all of 'em."
"Now you're going to ignore your feelings via video games." Wanda said, matter-of-factly.
"Yup!" You said, jumping down from the stool and heading to George's closet where your still-packed boxes were stored.
The next morning, you came into the kitchen with George in a baby sling and smiled at everyone. "I set up a game room yesterday. Cards, board games and 12, count 'em 12, different video game consoles. It's the room that was empty next to Georgie's, so... If anyone's interested..."
Clint walked out of the kitchen immediately, bowl in hand, spoon in his mouth. Natasha followed, calmly. You grabbed a pack of Poptarts out of the cabinet and headed back toward the game room. "Nat, I don't wanna be player two. Nobody wants to be Luigi." Clint's whining could be heard down the hall.
"Shoulda got here first."
"I did get here first! You stole the controller when I turned my back to put down my stupid cereal. Come on! Let me be Mario."
"When I die."
"You're a bitch."
"So are you." Natasha said, as Super Mario World music started to fill the room.
"Well, I didn't mean to start fights." You said, sitting at the card table and pulling open the Poptarts. "This was supposed to be fun."
"Oh, don't worry. You didn't start this fight. This is ongoing." Natasha responded, turning her head to look at you, but continuing to play. She jumped on several Koopa Troopas while her head was turned.
"Yeah. Every time we play anything, she's gotta be first. Shit, she's even Player 1 when we play Pong." Clint complained.
"You did all of this since last night?" Steve asked, looking around at the games and consoles. "You're amazing."
"I'm aware." You smiled, grabbing a box of playing cards and tossing it to him. "What kinda card games you know, Army?"
He chuckled. "I know poker." He offered, opening the box and sitting down across from you. He shuffled the deck easily.
"I've never played. Wanna teach me?"
"If we're doin' poker, we need to play with Monopoly money, 'cause we ain't having a replay of Cap's birthday." Sam said, dropping into the chair next to you.
"What happened?"
"Stark threw a July 4th bash and Maria Hill conned me into playing poker."
"She didn't con you, Sam. She offered, you accepted. She beat you, and me and Clint and Tony, fair and square." Steve responded with a smirk.
"Whatever, man. She hustled us." Sam said, as Wanda sat down with a fistful of multicolored dollars.
"Just because you fell for her saying 'What is a Full House again', doesn't mean she hustled you. You should have known she could play."
"I barely knew the woman! Whatever. Gimme some pink lettuce." Sam demanded.
Wanda handed out an even amount of Monopoly dollars to everyone, while Steve shuffled the cards. You lost. Badly. Between not knowing what you were doing, listening to Clint and Natasha bicker over the Nintendo, giving attention to the baby in the sling across your chest, and the nervous pit that grew bigger every time you locked eyes with Steve, Wanda and Sam cleaned you out of your play cash in no time. You bowed out of the game with a smile and headed across the hall to your room. About 15 minutes later, Steve was walking down the hall. "They busted you, too, huh?"
"I'm 90% certain Wanda's cheating. She's just too good, ya know." Steve smiled, leaning against your door frame. "Thank you for setting up that room. We haven't had much to do since we've been... criminals, and half of the comedy left when Scott did, so... distractions are welcome."
"That was the point. Crazy underground bunker gets a bit..."
"Yeah." He chuckled. "Yeah. Hey, uh, when you get a minute... I, uh, dug out some of my old sketch books, if you-"
"Definitely." You stood, quickly bending down to pick up Georgie from his bouncer. You followed Steve to his office, where a stack of books sat on his desk. Steve took George from your arms and you picked on up. It was full of sketches of the things and people around him, some very detailed and lifelike, some purposely cartoonish caricatures. "These are really good, Steve. You have such a mastery of shadow."
Steve blushed, but you barely noticed as you ran your fingers across an almost photographic sketch of Natasha's face. You flipped a few pages until you got to a picture of Tony Stark looking lovingly into Pepper Potts' eyes. "I really like that one. Tony looked so human in that moment. I had to sketch it." He smiled. "This was at the July 4th party. They didn't know I was watching. I took a quick picture with my phone and drew that after I got home. I was gonna give it to them if Tony ever got around to popping the question."
"You'll have to send it to them. It's perfect."
"Well, I don't know about 'perfect'."
"Please, everything about you's perfect." You said, nonchalantly. You continued through the sketches, studying your favorites before moving on to the next. When you got to the bottom of the stack, you looked over at him. He was doing 'tummy time' on the floor with George. "Are you not drawing, anymore? These books, the latest date is two years ago, almost."
"Uh, no, I-I am, it's just..." He got up on his knees and looked over at you. "The sketches in the new book are... not finished." He seemed unsure of that answer.
You chuckled. "Okay, well, when they get finished, you gotta let me see 'em, because you are so good at this."
"Thanks." He said, standing and stepping over George. "Means a lot." You just looked down and smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"She's not going to make a move." Wanda said, her eyes on her cards.
"Neither is he. Thinks it'd be a slap in Barnes' face or somethin' to go out with the chick he walked away from. I dunno."
"Well, maybe they need a push." Clint suggested as Mario fell to his death and Natasha wrenched the controller from his fingers.
"This isn't a Rom-com, Clint."
"It could be." Clint turned around, looking at the two at the table, each trying to bankrupt the other of their fake money. "All that really requires is two clueless assholes who don't realize they're perfect for each other, an antagonizing force or event and a couple friends to set them on the right course. I'm pretty sure this is a tailor-made Rom-com situation."
"I'm all for manipulation for the sake of romance, but what could we possibly do to make them stop focusing on Barnes?" Natasha asked, eyes not leaving the screen.
"Well, we could tr-"
"Trapping them in a room together isn't going to work. They've roadtripped together. Twice."
"Okay. Fair point. What if we-"
"Telling one or both that the other is sick or injured would be cruel. They just got done dealing with Georgie's cancer."
"We could-"
"Cap can't get drunk."
"You know what, Nat?! You come up with one!"
"Babysitting." Natasha said, succinctly. "We convince Steve to take her out for some much-needed fun and we offer to babysit."
"Sure. If you wanna go simple with it." Clint grumbled, flopping back down on the couch.
"I'll talk Steve into it, later." Natasha finished.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm just sayin' she looks like she needs a break." Natasha looked up at Steve from her spot in his desk chair, her feet up on his desk.
"No, you're just saying that I need to take her out. I didn't take you for a bandwagon person, Natasha." He responded swatting her feet off of his desk.
She shrugged. "Only if the music makes sense, Steve."
"How does me courting Bucky's girl while he's incapacitated make sense?"
"He ghosted her. He left her, let her go through her pregnancy alone. He didn't want her or the whole family thing. You think he'd be upset that you took her out for some fun?"
"Okay, you weren't on our side in Germany so you missed the animated way he spoke about her. He talked about her like she could be his salvation, like she was everything he ever... I've never heard him talk about a woman the way he spoke about her. He 'ghosted' her because he was terrified for her, how his life might end hers. How could I even entertain taking the one thing he's wanted?"
"Easy. You take her out and ignore the frozen guy thousands of miles away."
Steve sighed, heavily. "Bucky's gonna wake up one day, Natasha. How would I explain that y/n came around looking for him and I was taken with her, so I took her from him?"
"You don't. You wouldn't have to. If he cared about her, he'd want her dating a quality guy. He'd want George around good people. If he cared, he'd want you guys together."
"I don't know. It just feels wrong."
"No. It doesn't and that's why you feel guilty." Natasha stood. "Ask her to dinner, Rogers. She's got a bunker full of folks who would love to babysit." She smirked as she walked out of the office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You looked up as Steve walked into the game room. "What are you playing?"
"It's called Crash Bandicoot: Warped. It's... I don't even know how to describe this game."
Steve watched you for a few minutes, before clearing his throat. "So, I was wondering if... if you wanted to come to dinner with me tonight." You turned your head, staring at him in shock. The game over screen was suddenly on the screen because a boulder crashed into you as you stared. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get your... bandicoot killed."
"What did you say?" You whispered, dropping the PlayStation controller on the couch next to you.
"I asked if you wanted to go to dinner with me." He sat next to you, moving the controller out of his way. "There's a restaurant in the Bronx, the original owner was part of the 107. I saved him from HYDRA, so his grandson always has the Chef's Table free for me. We could go in through the back door. He makes the best burgers."
"Uh... are you... are you asking me on a date, Steve?"
He chuckled, running his hand through his hair. "I am. I think we need some time out of the compound and I'd like to spend it with you. If-if you wanted."
You bit your lip. "Of course. I would love to. But what about-"
"Natasha volunteered to babysit." Steve stood. "So... I'll pick you up at your room at 7?" He asked, with a smirk. You nodded, still a bit dumbfounded that he asked you out. "All right. I'll go make our reservations."
"And I'll... go take a... shower." You stood, turning off the PlayStation and heading for your room. Milo knocked on your door as you were trying to figure out something to wear.
"So. He finally asked you out?"
"It's not... I'm sure it's not like that."
"I'm sure you're lying to yourself. Captain America has invited you to dinner. Is not for no reason. Is because he likes you. You like him, too."
You shook your head. "Come on."
"When did you become a pussy?"
"Excuse me?"
"When I met you, you were going for what you want. You weren't lying to yourself about things right in front of your face. Did motherhood soften you so much or are you still holding out hope for James to come back when he ran away from you?"
You took a deep breath. He was kinda right. You wanted Bucky and you went for him. Why should you feel so bad about wanting Steve, especially when Steve obviously wants you, too. "Bucky's a good man. I might be pissed off at him, but what if that's why I'm so receptive to Steve? Maybe I like Steve because he reminds me of Bucky and-"
"You like Steve because Steve is amazing. You'll see after you go on this date with him."
"Maybe. I don't even know what to wear."
"Jeans and the purple blouse."
You sighed, looking at the outfit he picked. "I don't know if that'll work. I don't think it'll fit."
"It'll fit. You've lost most of the pregnancy weight. Go on. Try it on." Natasha showed up at your door. "I'll do your makeup, Wanda can do your hair."
"No. No, no. This is not gonna be a whole big-" You said, shaking your head at the Russian.
"It's a date. You oughta let us help you." Wanda said, pushing into the room with a hairbrush and a curling iron. "We know it's just dinner, but still. You want to look your best."
You took a deep breath. They weren't going to walk away on this. Stubborn Avenger friends. "Fine." You rolled your eyes and sat in your desk chair as the women started to attack you with hair brushes and makeup brushes.
KITCHEN SINK TAGS
@heyitscam99
@wonderlandfandomkingdom
@unlikelysamwinchesteronahunt
@mrs-meghan-winchester
@henrymorganme
@lonely-skys
@allykat2108
@mogaruke
@flamencodiva
@team-free-will-you-idjits-67
@pisces-cutie
@paintballkid711
@natura1phenomenon
@rainbowkisses31
@atc74
@alagalaska
36 notes
·
View notes
Text
8x07: A Little Slice of Kevin
You’re not misreading this. We’re recapping a Buckleming episode by choice! Is it a hot mess? Yep. But does it also have literal pining!Dean, gothic romance stormy night window visions, boner scenes, roadside confessions, and badass Cas? Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Then:
Where’s the angel? Also, Mrs. Tran is a bit of a badass.
Now:
At a playground (!), a small boy makes a mess with paints so his teacher takes him to the bathroom to clean up. Her eyes flash black for a moment before the two disappear inside (literally). A windstorm suddenly blasts its way through the park revealing the now empty bathroom.
Meanwhile, Dean is cruising around in Baby in a pine forest (while listening to The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”. LOVE.) He sees a dirty, bedraggled Cas walking on the side of the road and slams on the breaks. Backtracking, he sees nothing.
Well, nothing but a literal sign indicating there’s multiple pining situations happening. Dean then gets. out. of. the. car. to stare forlornly at his surroundings.
Later, at the cabin, Sam finds a case --the missing boy/tornado from the cold open. He notices similar happenings all over the world. They guess demons but have no clue how any of it connects.
Crowley is peak evil demon while he tortures poor Samandriel out of names. It also seems that Sam and Dean were right about the missing people. Crowley has collected them all in his dystopian sci-fi factory.
Kevin and Mrs. Tran are on the run, and she has 1000% embraced the mother of a prophet gig. She’s making holy water traps, hex bags, salt barriers, and has even hired a witch to make demon bombs. (Sidenote: This scene is the only time I hear Amy Wong on this show.) They check in with Delta Mendota via Skype. *insert gross Buckleming innuendos* She’s ready to help and is in no way, shape, or form going to backstab these two.
The brothers interview the teacher of the little boy who disappeared.
Later that night, while Sam sleeps and Dean googles “how to save an angel from Purgatory”, lightning flashes and Cas suddenly appears outside the window. He’s gone just as soon as he appears. Dean rushes to the window and stares at the rain in disbelief.
Sam awakens and wonders what Dean is doing. Dean confesses to seeing Cas outside, and earlier on the side of the road.
Dean then starts to replay his time with Cas in purgatory, wondering why Cas didn’t try harder (while beating himself up for the same reason.) Before finding the portal, Cas pulls Dean aside and thanks him, “for everything.”
For Science:
(Like, ouch. It’s little moments like this that make me really feel the profound effect Dean has had on Cas. This human, of all humans over the course of Earth’s existence, made such a lasting change in this angel.) Dean “Save the Hallmark” Winchester refuses to even humor the idea of Cas not making it through the portal.
Crowley is having second thoughts about abducting all these people, who believe they were abducted by aliens.
He tries getting them to read the demon tablet, but they are hopeless.
Meanwhile, Delta arrives at the Tran hideout with the demon bomb materials. *insert more gross Buckleming innuendos*
The next morning, Sam is discovering more missing people, while Dean hangs out in that liminal world between worlds where Cas and him meet so often, the bathroom (Lol, I typed that thinking it was going to be a poetic line, but that just sounds dirty.)
“Hello, Dean.”
Cas appears, for real this time. I’m not sure Dean’s eyes could pop out any further from his head.
Cut to Sam being all chatty and questioning about Cas’s return from Purgatory, while Dean continues to stand and stare in utter disbelief. Cas has been trying to reach out but hasn’t been at full power (Ahem, at this moment I would like to point out that the brothers still have the Enochian warding on their ribs and shouldn’t be detectable by angels. How strange that Cas can still find Dean though.) Cas has no explanation as to how he got out. Dean flashes back to their final moments in purgatory.
I love this exchange:
Benny: Aren't you guys all about faith?
Castiel: Not particularly
Benny’s soul gets sucked into Dean’s arm via a spell, and Dean and Cas head for the portal. They find the portal at last, led to it by the delicate dance of a leaf. I love this! It's so pretty.
Leviathan arrive.
In the present time, Dean and Sam discuss the improbability of Cas being back with them, while Cas cleans up in the bathroom.
A story told in two gifs:
I mean, what the actual fuck, show?
Meanwhile Linda Tran continues to be my favorite, chewing out the witch Delta for trying to change their deal. Suddenly Kevin comes running in. The salt line's been brushed away from the bathroom windowsill! Enter Crowley and a demon lackey, who were let in by Delta. Crowley zaps away with Kevin and orders the other demon to kill Linda. But Linda is ready!
Sam and Dean are busy tracking more demon omens. Sam lists out the names of the missing people and Castiel recites along and then completes it (as he watches TV). Damn it, Cas, stop being adorable. STAHP.
Turns out, those are names of the prophets and they're written on the subway wall in Castiel's mind. Just like slayers, there's only one active prophet and the rest are potential prophets, who get activated when a prophet dies. There's a brief mention here of Chuck. The idea is set forth that Chuck died, thereby activating Kevin. (Chuck you got some 'splaining to do!) Their prophet talk is interrupted by a call from Linda Tran, asking for help.
In Crowley's latest dank industrial hideout, he swans around the table of prophets and bullies Kevin. If the other potential prophets can't do anything to interpret the tablet, they can at least die for it. Crowley brutally kills one of the women when Kevin refuses to translate the tablet, dousing Kevin with blood.
Elsewhere, Dean, Sam, and Castiel wait on a lonely highway for Linda to show up. With nothing more exciting to do, Dean flashes back to Purgatory again. They're fighting the leviathans and it's sharp and brutal and hard. Just barely, they manage to defeat them. Dean steps into the portal and reaches for Cas. They grasp hands, Dean trying to pull Castiel along with him, but the pull of the portal is too strong. Castiel slips from Dean's grasp as Dean zaps away from Purgatory. Dean jolts back to the present and asks Cas to step out of the car to talk. Dean shouts at Cas that he did all he could to get him out. He didn't leave Cas. HE DIDN'T, DAMN IT! Cas squints at him. “So you think this was...your fault?” (Me: Oh my lord these two are bad at words.)
Their confrontation is interrupted by the arrival of Linda who shows them the demon she has in her trunk. It's demon interrogation time!
Speaking of interrogation, Kevin's tied to a chair in Crowley's weird industrial dungeon. With no answers, Crowley chops off one of Kevin's fingers. After screaming in agony, Kevin agrees to read the tablet. He skims through the table of contents for things such as the “collective tapestry of the soul” and “demonic transport to the regions of hell.” (I love this.)
The Winchester-mobile and Linda drive off to Crowley's mysterious industrial pit. Sam cuffs Linda to the car (SAM) and Dean kills the demon in the trunk. Then they head for the compound.
While Crowley casually blows a pinwheel, Kevin discovers a section about sealing the gates of Hell. NOW Crowley is interested.
Sam, Dean, and Cas infiltrate the plant. Sam heads inside and encounters a ton of demons. He pulls out a jar and chucks it at the ground. It explodes and blasts away the demons. There goes their one demon bomb. Meanwhile, Dean and Cas get waylaid by a solitary demon, who knocks the crap out of Dean with a telekinetic blow. Castiel smites the demon, but staggers immediately afterward. His power is super low.
They find a locked door – behind which is Crowley - and while Dean tries to pick the lock, Cas flaps his way into the room alone. Crowley greets him with, “Which Castiel is it this time? I'm never sure. Madman or megalomanic?” They both pull out angel blades and when Crowley scoffs and questions Castiel's power, Cas goes full on angel. His eyes glow blue and he unfurls his wings. “You're bluffing,” Crowley shouts.
“You wanna take that chance?” Castiel asks (and I pause to fan myself). The tablet breaks in two, and Crowley grabs half of it and zaps away.
The next day, Sam bids farewell to Mrs. Tran and Kevin. He's sending them off to Garth. (Yessss I want to watch that show.)
While Sam and the Trans are off having semi-adult conversations, Dean flips out at Castiel, berating him for heading in alone. “Look, I don't need to feel like hell for failing you, okay? For failing you like I've failed every other godforsaken thing that I care about! I don't need it!” OUCH. There are no underlying issues here AT ALL.
Castiel tells him that it wasn't Dean's fault that Cas got left behind. Cas intended to stay behind in Purgatory to do penance. He tells Dean to reexamine the memory. Instead of Cas desperately trying to hang on, Cas actually pushed Dean away and told him to leave. He didn't want to be saved. “I didn't deserve to be out. And I saw that clearly when I was there. I planned to stay all along. I just didn't know how to tell you. You can't save everyone, my friend. Though you try.” GUH CAS
Sam interrupts because, of course. And then suddenly the world disappears and Cas finds himself in a white room. “Hello, Castiel,” a woman in a neat gray suit says. She tells him that he's in Heaven and asks him about Sam and Dean. Castiel immediately spills all the beans EVERYWHERE like a firehose of bean soup.
“Why am I telling you any of this?” he grits out. The woman in the suit is the angel Naomi and she orders Castiel to report on the Winchesters' comings and goings. The angels saved him from Purgatory and reprogrammed him for this one purpose. Castiel refuses, but is powerless to resist her as she zaps him back to the conversation with Sam and Dean. He looks confused, but doesn't remember a thing. Not long afterwards Cas walks off, looking unsettled, leaving a very perturbed Dean behind.
Boris: This post by @elizabethrobertajones makes me very happy.
Quotus Interruptus:
I hired a witch off of Craigslist
You know the rules. Casual encounters. That means no questions asked.
Are we on a spaceship?
I lie, I don't get lied to.
You can't save everyone, my friend. Though you try.
I was going to say that you look like you’ve seen a ghost, but you’d probably be stoked.
This hurts you more than it hurts me, so I can go on forever.
Thank you, for everything.
Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!
#spn recap#spn rewatch#spn 8x07#a little slice of kevin#dean winchester#sam winchester#castiel#cas#crowley#kevin train#linda tran#delta mendota#samandriel#supernatural season 8
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
Replayed Life is Strange ep. 5, thoughts below.
Buckle in - I had a lot to say.
I was nervous about revisiting this one. The first time I played, this ending wrecked me. And I mean wrecked. I was in tears for hours. I had trouble sleeping for weeks. I couldn’t think about the game without wanting to cry. I wanted to draw fan art for it, but couldn’t without breaking down. In many ways, I’m still affected by it. This game changed me.
So, I was nervous. And not just because of how hard it hit me the first time, but I was nervous about how I’d react in replaying. Would I notice something I didn’t the first time, that would ruin the experience for me? Would I cry as much? And if I didn’t, would that mean that I didn’t like it as much? How much of that original feeling was satisfaction, and how much was disappointment?
-spoilers ahead for LiS Ep. 5-
I touched on this very briefly last time, but I want to talk about it further here, where it comes more into play:
I do not like the Jefferson twist. Coupled with Rachel’s death, it is a shallow and uninteresting answer to her disappearance, regardless of their attempts to pretty it up with the Prescott’s involvement. Strip away the red herrings and tangled threads, and what you’re left with is a dead girl and a murderer. Jefferson becomes unrecognisable in his unveiled role - his tropey villain dialogue and mannerisms separate him so far from his earlier scenes that it may as well have been an all-new person. Maybe this was the intention, but it reads to me as utterly cliche. How frightening would he have been, had he kept his familiar composure? How much more menacing, now that his mannerisms are given a horrific context?
Even within the narrative, his portrayal in this episode feels completely wrong. Jefferson goes from a man with a sick passion for capturing true innocence, to one willing to murder multiple people. It is never understood that murder is part of his pattern. Rachel’s death was an accident at Nathan’s hands, yet now we have Jefferson killing him, Chloe, Victoria, and the intention to kill Max, all with nary a hint of remorse or doubt. He is just the bad guy now - plain and simple. And in a game where so much else is designed to be not so clean-cut, that’s... pretty boring.
With that out of the way, I do think the scenes themselves are done well. Awakening in the dark room is genuinely tense and scary - moreso with Victoria present. Desperately hopping in and out of photographs to different moments of captivity is incredibly effective - it packs on such helplessness and danger.
And even while not being thrilled with Jefferson as the villain, and while understanding it would soon fall apart, it is incredibly satisfying to help Max attain the following victories via time-hopping. A lot of the game focuses on retreading conversations with new information, and consequently, Max displays boosted confidence upon these repetitions. Returning to the first scene is where this is at its peak. She knows everything - and she’s powerful. It’s also in parts like this where I would like to applaud the designers for having a clear vision from the outset (even if I wasn’t entirely thrilled with aspects of that vision).
A really strong story-telling tool is introducing a solution before the problem arrives, to trick the audience into thinking it’s unimportant until the reveal. Having us take the selfie right at the start of the game is a great use of this. What seemed like just a moment in a scene becomes absolutely vital - but only after we discover we can rewind with photographs. (this is also why the ep.4 Warren moment feels so weirdly deliberate. We already know how her powers work by this point so we’re paying attention every time a new photo is taken.)
--
I’d been put the ending off for a while.
Once I played up to the art gallery, I took a break and then just... left it there. Left Max in a peaceful moment.
I wasn’t ready.
But lately it seemed like the real world was telling me to return to it. After a week with no breeze, the wind began picking up, and it looked like there could be rain. I found myself idly doodling Chloe and Max in my intervals between work. I had someone here ask me if I’d be writing thoughts for episode 5. I was discovering new music that aligned all too well with where I was at with the characters.
So, I finally decided it was time, and sat down, and finished playing. Only the next morning did I realise I’d done so on October 11, the in-game day of the storm.
Before moving into the next act of the episode, I want to say I really appreciate the way they’ve sculpted so many different ways to apply Max’s rewind power. It’s great that they’re able to keep surprising me while not emptying their cache too quickly. However, I reaaally wish (and was expecting) that time-freezing would make a return in this finale. It’s used well in ep.2 with Kate, but I feel like it introduced a new threat that is never paid off. Once it’s established that Max’s power can weaken her to the point where it doesn’t function, there is now a looming danger for when that will happen again - maybe this time, the cost will be Chloe, or the town, or even Max herself. But it never does. The closest we get is when Chloe is shot at the end of ep.4, but the power's failure is more directly from Jefferson’s sedation, rather than a weakness on Max’s part. And when she does falter again, it manifests as a prolonged out-of-nowhere dream sequence. There’s some creative stuff present there, but it also stands as a missed opportunity to toy further with tangible peril.
On with the escape. Don’t have much to say here. I may not have been happy with his new portrayal, but it’s still satisfying to watch Jefferson get taken down. It’s nice to see David on the same team as Max, and it’s a good start to a series of character farewell scenes.
Followed closely by a bad one.
Nathan is thrown to the wayside to an unforgivable degree here. He’s been pivotal in Max and Chloe’s connection uptil now, even though a lot of that happens off-screen. But as soon as he’s no longer the main threat, his presence, character, and life are all discarded. His phone message in the car provides some closure, but is far too little too late and serves more as insult to injury than any kind of saving face.
Meanwhile, Warren, a character with more screentime than Nathan but of relative unimportance to the main story, is given a spotlighted farewell. I don’t get this. I have no harsh feelings against Warren, but insofar as his relevance to Max and Chloe’s arcs, he is a sideliner. Since his primary presence has centred around a potential romance for Max, his farewell scene should be treated with an equal amount of focus. It really annoys me that you are forced to tell him about Max’s powers - there is no way to opt out of it, and all it leads to is him guilt-tripping Max with ‘Chaos Theory’ and ‘choosing the right thing’, which the game is about to throw at us anyway in the dream sequence. It’s also unjust to the scene’s purpose, which is a farewell. We may not fully know it, but we’re saying goodbye to these characters one by one. We’ve just come away from our farewells with Joyce and Frank, and all Warren wants to do is talk plot. But whatevs, I still hugged him.
The confession about letting William die was painful. I wasn’t predicting it to come up again, and by this point it felt like so long ago. And yet, it works. We’ve returned to a Chloe who’s early off of discovering Rachel’s death - and she doesn’t want to listen. And we need her to listen. Most conversations in the game can’t lead to a failure, but I find it really interesting that this one does.
I’m very conflicted about the dream sequence. Conceptually, I love it. I love when games mess with their established order, and they’re certainly evoking a feeling of helplessness in me upon returning once again to that damn classroom. But, it rubs me the wrong way here, too. We’ve beaten the mini-boss of the game. We defeated Jefferson. Yet the final time we see him is here, forcing us to say words we don’t want to, and watch him take photos of Chloe with us strapped to a chair. I get this is Max internalising her insecurities... but we beat him. We’re onto the final boss, now - the storm. Jefferson is obsolete at this point, and there’s no rhyme or reason to show him in power again.
(sidebar: the bottle-collecting in the hide-and-seek segment was confusing and dumb and made me angry that they were still injecting completion rewards this late in the story)
I also don’t like the Dark Room sequence of the dream, because it villainises Chloe. All the other sequences present us with twisted versions of Arcadia Bay residents. Dead versions, cruel versions. We’re witnessing the weight of guilt that coincides with the coming choice, culminating in an encounter with the Other Max, and Chloe saving us from her. This should have been Chloe’s first appearance in the dream. The Dark Room sequence where she jeers at Max’s shortcomings seems so out of place with the rest of what is being said. I think this is especially noticeable given the following walk down memory lane, showing us everything we’ll lose on the alternate side of the choice.
(sidebar: I wish that the walk had been done better - I never knew when to stop and listen to the voiceovers and when to continue onto the next highlighted moment, and it was always jarring whenever the dialogue got interrupted)
I was fully ready for Rachel to appear in this dream, in some form or another. With everything culminating, and Max messing more with time, coupled with how blunt they were to put Rachel in the ground in the previous ep, I was waiting and I was hoping. But she never showed. And I don’t understand why. As I said with Nathan, Rachel is integral in the centric plotline of Max and Chloe’s reunion. I need to stress this - even though she’s never seen on-screen, she is a dominating factor in our two main characters’ growth, and is little more than a footnote in this finale.
What we get instead at the end of this dream, is Other Max. I don’t have much to say about her. In my eyes she’s very much just a culmination of the dream thusfar. She doesn’t represent much to me beyond that, except a missed opportunity to meet Rachel and find out what the hell is going on.
Can we touch on that quickly, before the final scene? What the hell is going on? I don’t want to have everything bluntly spelled out, but... did the designers really feel like they’d laid enough groundwork that the answer should be obvious? When Chloe hamfistedly states it’s a mystery we’ll ‘obviously never figure out’... damn. That hurts. I mean, I have my own theory - I like it, and it’s the lens I choose to view the story through. But it’s unfair to put it on the players to do this heavy-lifting. We relied on the designers to draw the path for us to follow, and they took us to a dead end.
So let’s talk about the final choice. Even in replaying, and with the dream sequence’s attempts to balance the scales last-minute, my decision here still remained the same, for a couple of reasons. The first being the game’s true title, as I have mentioned earlier - ‘Save Chloe: The Game’. And hey, this doesn’t suddenly change in the final episode. This was, for me, the fixed goal as soon as I caught onto it. And to save Chloe here, she needs to be able to live past her grief. Contrasted to the alternate Chloe, whose prison was inescapable - saving her came from letting her go. But here, we need to hold on.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
My second main reason is Max’s character growth, and the overall narrative. This young girl is warned of a coming storm, and is then given time-altering powers. And she is constantly asking why. Not just why she got powers, but what she is meant to learn from having them. On the surface, what she learns is ‘don’t mess with time a bunch because a storm will happen’ and with that you can lean either way on the choice. But if I was going to carve right to the heart, I see the story saying ‘you can’t fix all your mistakes, but you can move through the consequences and grow in the aftermath.’ Every problem she's faced in the story uptil this point, she has tampered with to some degree in order to solve. And to do so, again, for this final decision, would make her arc amount to nothing. This needs to be different from letting William die, otherwise the game could have ended there. There is no easy decision, but the storm is here. All the pieces lie where they fell, both good and bad.
I’m tearing this damn photograph.
All that said, I can’t and won’t fault anyone for going the other way. I haven’t played or watched the alternate ending, so far all I know it performs well and ticks story checkboxes that I can’t see over here on the ‘bae’ side.
This choice felt and still feels like the right one to me. From outside the narrative, I can certainly weigh the options and see sacrificing Chloe as the more viable. (though if you want to talk pragmatism, there is absolutely no reason why either of them should think that letting Chloe die should fix everything)
But while it’s important to ask ‘what would I do?’, it’s also been immensely important to me in these playthroughs to ask ‘what would Max do?’, or further, ‘what could Max do?’
So that was my choice. As I said at the beginning, I was nervous as to how I’d feel at the end, after having been so deeply affected the first time. And now, after crying through the whole epilogue, I found myself wondering if I’d cried enough. I looked up the scene online and watched it again, and cried. And then again, and cried. But what was this empty feeling? Is this what it felt like before, or was something blocking me from experiencing it properly?
After stepping outside into the 4am light, and then another rewatch, I realised I was, in a way, messing with time. Trying to force things, just like Max was. I even had my own Other Max in my head, making me question my own thoughts and feelings. So it was time to let it be what it was, and move on. I couldn’t recreate my first play, but I could let myself get swept up in this one.
Since finishing the game, it’s been raining non-stop here. I’ve kept inside, surrounded by the aftermath of this playthrough.
Playing this game changed me. For all it did right and all it did wrong, I was affected. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve consciously noted a tangible shift in who I am as a person. It’s brought me closer to my emotions, and has altered my creativity. It made me revise one of my comic ideas into a game - something I would never have considered on my own.
Even with all these thoughts, I reckon this comic I made accurately sums up my whole experience.
And as I’ve done each time, here are my favourite moments from this episode:
-'I’ll always be with you.’ ‘Forever.’
-Clasping hands, as the storm rages.
-Max, unable to watch, leaning into Chloe, who looks on with newfound strength.
-Driving through the town, now in pieces. Max, too, in pieces.
-Max’s weak smile when Chloe moves to comfort her. It’s going to be okay. They’re together.
--
(heck, I cried just typing those out, I am so done, haha)
To anybody who read this far - thank you so, so much. This game holds a lot of emotional value to me, and hence these write-ups are probably the most personal thing I’ve put out here for people to see. So thank you for taking the time to look at this. I hope you’re having a wonderful day.
Wah, this was all in preparation for the first episode of Before the Storm, and now episode 2 is about to be released. I gotta dig in!
As always, here’s a lil sketch <3
49 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
leoabdl
Le Monde De Léo
irin4ik22122526
Prokopenko Irina
stillhotter
a mess™
artur0salas
SalaS
pinermale
Untitled