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#we are now going to watch game shows and then i’ll feed her at 4 and myself at…. idk. i know i’m having chicken nuggets but idk when
babydollmarauders · 5 months
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MEDIA MANAGEMENT — JACK HUGHES (23-24 SZN PART 19)
au masterlist
notes: this is late and short and i apologize for that! i’ve had such a busy few days
y/ndevils00
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liked by nicohischier, dawson1417, and 462,921 others
y/ndevils00 WE WON!! WE ACTUALLY WON!!
i mean… yeah, it’s cool, we won.
with the return of my absolute favorite captain (sorry Quinnifer), the devilish whores won 7-2 against the swords!
we kicked off the scoring just a minute and a half into the first with a goal from Holtzy, and almost 10 minutes later, got a goal from uncle Toffee to give us a 2-0 lead!
but that’s not all! just 4 minutes later, captain slut got his first goal back!! GO NICOLAS!!! and in true boyfriends fashion, he acquired his first goal back the same way that Jacky did; on his first game back, in the first period of the game, with a goal that had to be confirmed by officials that it was a good goal! how utterly boyfriends of them! they definitely planned that!
and to end first period, we got yet another EVEN strength goal (no power play goals yet here!) from Pally Pocket!! giving us a FOUR goal lead on those bitches from buffalo!
in second period we got yet another goal from Tyler the creator, just 2 minutes in! bringing the score to 5-1! thank you, queen! and then the rest of that period was boring af
BUT THIRD PERIOD! OH I LOVED THIRD PERIOD! we opened that period and made it our bitch with a goal from MY best friend in the whole big wide world, Dawg-son Mercer!! EVERYBODY CHEER! WOOOOO!!! (with an assist from my lovely pain in the ass, babygirl!)
AND LASTLY, WITH OUR ONE AND ONLY POWER PLAY GOAL, WE HAVE MY (hopefully) FUTURE LITTLE BROTHER, LUKEY ‘SMUSH’ HUGHES!!! LET’S GO, BABY HUGHES!! SHOW ‘EM WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF!!
i’ll see you guys on tuesday after we play the long island iced teas!
tagged holtz_10, tofff73, nicohischier, pally_18, jackhughes, dawson1417, and lhughes_06
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john.marino97 i don’t even get my own pic tonight?
y/ndevils00 i only have so many spots Jonathan! what am i supposed to do, you didn’t score a goal! do you want me to just take someone’s pic away to fit you in?!
john.marino97 1. not my name. 2. yes
y/ndevils00 NO! stop being greedy— jesus you’re like a stray cat, i feed you love once and you never leave me alone again
john.marino97 one could argue that you’re actually the stray cat
y/ndevils00 am i the one begging for your love right now? no!
john.marino97 i could post a photo of what you’re doing right now and it would suggest otherwise…
user29 what’s she doing right now?!
lhughes_06 @/user29 john is giving her a piggyback ride throughout the empty arena because she wouldn’t leave him alone
jackhughes how tf did you get the last picture from the press box?
y/ndevils00 ✨zoom✨
jackhughes well i need you to ✨zoom✨ out and stop camera stalking me while i’m on the bench. WATCH THE GAME.
y/ndevils00 don’t tell me what to do?
jackhughes you’re right, i’m sorry for telling you to do your job
y/ndevils00 you should be. thank you!
nicohischier you called me anything but my name
y/ndevils00 obviously? do you not see my gag here Nicole?
nicohischier i see it, i hate it, i ask you to do better
y/ndevils00 HEY DON’T TAKE MY LINE!
nicohischier too late. took it. made it my own.
y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes PUT YOUR BITCH ON A LEASH
jackhughes but you’re my bitch?
y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes take that back right now
jackhughes or what?
y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes or i’ll tell Sid?
jackhughes consider it unsaid 🫡
user01 NICO AND LUKE GOALS AND WE WON
user63 “bitches from buffalo” is how i’ll be referring to them now tysm
holtz_10 please leave me out of this
y/ndevils00 you’re part of the team, are you not? you’re briefly photographed and mentioned just shut up and say thank you
holtz_10 for what? you didn’t even congratulate me
john.marino97 bro, it’s not worth the fight, just say it
holtz_10 thank you?
y/ndevils00 you’re welcome, swedish meatball!
tofff73 thank you and you’re welcome, queen!
y/ndevils00 TAKE NOTES PEOPLE! THIS IS WHAT YOU DO!
dawson1417 you’ve been here for like 2 months and you already make the rest of us look bad, Toff
y/ndevils00 @/dawson1417 you could NEVER look bad to me, honey bun! the others, however, could use some work
lhughes_06 i’ll be your future brother if i have any say in it
jackhughes but you DON’T have any say in it?
y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes that’s what YOU think
jackhughes i- what does that even mean?
lhughes_06 @/jackhughes wouldn’t you like to know
jackhughes i’m pretty sure YOU don’t even know
lhughes_06 @/jackhughes you can’t prove that (i don’t)
dawson1417 CHEERING!! WOOOO!!! YAY ME!!
y/ndevils00 alright london tipton, let’s tone it down a little before somebody thinks you’re conceited
dawson1417 you’re right, sorry, GO TEAM!
y/ndevils00 there we go!! (we can cheer for just you off insta! nobody else matters!)
dawson1417 can we go out for drinks to celebrate me?
y/ndevils00 are you buying?
dawson1417 sure?
y/ndevils00 then ABSOLUTELY!!
user87 so are we just gonna breeze past “Pally pocket” … like polly pocket?
y/ndevils00 i liked to chew on the clothes <3
jackhughes i’m concerned for your well being
y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes you keep me sane 🥰
jackhughes well it’s a lot of work and i don’t think i’m doing a very good job
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kahlanmars · 6 months
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PAPER RINGS part.4
So here we are, with another chapter, and now I wanted you to cry. Did you cry? I HOPE SO. Plus, our favorite Four boy is here!
MASTERLIST
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4. I was screaming “Go, go go!”
FIVE MONTHS BEFORE CAPITOL 
«Do you think Katniss will come to dinner?» You ask, chopping the last vegetables on the plate. You are not a great cook, Haymitch is definitely better when he is in the right mood, but today he spent the morning chopping wood - a great sight you might add, sweats on his shirtless chest - and you don’t want him to do everything.
«No, I don’t think so, from what I’ve gathered she wants to spend dinner on the phone with her sister.» Katniss can’t legally go to her sister in District One. Or Two, you don’t remember, you only remember that Mrs. Everdeen has been kind of a bitch about it. You understand it’s not easy for her to see her house being destroyed, the very same house she used to live with her husband, and Prim on a wheelchair has been the last straw, but at the same time she has two daughters, not one. Katniss is almost an adult, but by the way she always bargains in your home with an excuse she feels lonely without a parent. Hell, sometimes you miss Holly at home. Lora often tells you how Chaff has been fundamental for her in the months after the Games, he became a parental figure for her, helping her crisis. And she is young, but an adult.
Katniss is a teenager who killed a dictator, she needs a mom.
«Oh. So sad.» You beam at the kiss on the head Haymitch gives you. «So does that mean we don’t have to do anything today?»
«Not more than usual, no.» And you’ve done the usual. You cleaned, you removed the dust, you fed the disgusting birds. You are still recovering and he doesn’t even want you to do this, but you don’t want to feel useless.
«Can we snuggle up and watch a movie?» You propose, as you feel two strong arms around your hips. He doesn’t like Capitol movies, but you love them. And there is no such thing as a Twelve movie, so he better get used to them. You adore romantic films and he snorts all the time, but they put you in a romantic mood so he bears them if it means hot sex after the movie session.
«I have a better idea, tell me how you do what you do.» He proposes. You watch him, a little confused.
«What do I do?»
He looks at you like you don’t understand basic math. «Your dresses.»
«Really? You want to know that? You’ll be bored.» You don’t think he even knows what you do for a living. He knew better when you were a teacher, because he likes to read - he loves to read - but now you suppose he is in the dark. Sometimes he says you “Want to wear dresses”, and that would make you a model, not a stylist. And he must have some sense of the difference, in all these years of Games, but at that time Effie used to do all the work for him. He just had to show up and suffer.
«Let me choose if I get bored.» He kisses your knuckles. 
You smile brightly, giving up your objections almost immediately. You feel proud that he wants to know you better. «Ok, I’ll show you.»
Five minutes after you are showing him your stuff. Some sketches, most of them are the ones you plan to show Portia, one or two for him. He is a great subject, and you like sketching clothes for him, something with a strong Twelve taste but also fashionable. You sewed him some outfits, and now he doesn’t always wear only a pair of jeans and a shirt, he wears three pairs of jeans and three shirts. Baby steps.
«And how do you begin?» He wants to know, and maybe for the first time he sees you working.
He is usually in the same room as you, but he is always doing something else. Feeding the geese or cooking or cleaning something. Or it’s the middle of the night and he is trying to sleep like the rest of the world, while your mind tells you “That idea is incredible and you have to draw it now or you will lose it!”.
«Well you sketch it, like this, then you make a model and then…» You continue to explain it, and he shows interest. You teach him about the dresses and the blouses, the shoes and the sandals, how to design a zip and what are the difficulties about it.
As you keep on, you find out he is watching you, not the sketches. «What?»
«You are fucking beautiful when you are passionate.» He whispers. He cups your cheek with his big hands. He is so gentle when he wants to, and he rarely wants to (you have bruises in mysterious places to prove that) but his touch can be the touch of a gentleman.
You try not to blush. «Why, thank you.»
«Thank you.» He leans out for another peck. 
«For what?»
This time the kiss is deeper, slower. He wants to prove to you that he is here, he is not going away. The scent of pines and woods is intoxicating, it’s the kind of scent you steal sweaters for.
«For being mine.»
PRESENT DAY
It happens in a moment. Haymitch takes a step back and then sees you and freezes. Marjorie looks at you with a guilty expression on her face. Everyone is paralyzed, until Ivy waves her little hand at you. She is adorable in a new pink dress, different from the one before. This baby has more dresses than you.
«Hi, Auntie Daisy!»
You can’t cry in front of a child, so you pat her head and you take your bag. 
Don't cry in front of Ivy, she'll think she did something wrong. Don't cry, don't cry.
«Goodbye.» You murmur, and you start running but Haymitch is right behind you. You don't even want to know what he has to say, you don't even care. He cheated on you. Kissing another person is cheating. Dear heavens, he is so jealous he would have killed someone if he was you.
«Daisy please-» He begins but this time you turn around quickly and you have such a murderous expression on your face that he takes a step back. He is a Victor and he adores it to remind you and to everyone else, and maybe you didn’t win anything, but you still survived the Hunger Games. You are a killer just like him, you have blood on your hands and nightmares too. He knows he can’t push it. He knows you are dangerous too and you are in therapy because of that, but therapy is not a miraculous system that cures you in two days.
«You don’t get to say please.» You are raging, and you are actually quite proud of yourself because your first instinct is to chop his head off. The second is to cry out loud, but now it would be showing weakness, and you won’t. The third instinct is, and you are very ashamed of yourself for that, to jump in his arms and forgive him immediately because the mere thought of not having him around is suffocating.
«Let me explain.»
«Did you fall and land on her lips?» You growl, a sound you rarely make.
«She kissed me.» He argues. 
«I know. I know she fucking kissed you!» You turn around again, but this time he is faster than you and circles around to face you. «But you let her!»
«No I didn’t, I was surprised, she barged into the house…» That’s another thing to explore. What was Marjorie doing in your house? Oh, wait, it’s his house, just his, not yours. What was Marjorie doing in his house? She magically sensed you two were having a fight or what?
«You were surprised? Surprised? Haymitch, she’s been after you for a whole year, how could you be surprised?» You yell, but now you don’t care. You are giving a pretty show for the village to see. «Do you even want me?»
«What? Of course I want you, Daisy, we have to get married.» We have to. Like it’s something he doesn’t want to do anymore, like it’s an imposition. You defloured the girl, you ruined her and now you have to marry her. Or maybe, maybe you were thrilling at first, the pretty young girl who has a thing for him, and now you are just a boring woman he has to deal with on a daily basis.
«Then why do you spend time with her?»
«She, she needed help. I owed her.» The same fucking excuse all the time. She did it because of me. She lost everything because of me. Well, the entire district lost everything because of you victors and you don’t see him befriend everyone around.
«You are full of shit. So righteous. The great Haymitch Abernathy, the victor!» You shout, like you are introducing him in a show.
«Daisy-» He tries to grab your arm, but you shake it off of you. He can’t take another step in your direction, you can’t be trusted around him. You like him too much, you love him too much, and if you thought you were smart and intelligent, around him you feel like you are too young. 
«Where was she when you were drinking? Did she clean you, did she stay with you? No, I did it. I was there. Don’t I deserve it too?» 
He should have known better. He should have known that he could have hurt you so much you now feel like you are dying. 
«Baby…»
«No Daisy, no baby and don’t you dare call me Sweetheart. I love you. But this is not working.»
His face goes pale in a second. «What?»
«We are not working. I can’t be the only one who cares about the wedding, and when I return home you say it’s your house and you kiss your ex fiancé!»
«We were sixteen.»
«You should tell her that, not me.» She is the one who kissed you. She is the one who is willingly ruining everything. You are the one who is letting her do it. 
«Daisy please, let’s talk about it. Please. Please, don’t give up on us.»
«You are giving up on us! Not me, you! I never even once looked at someone in the Capitol. You kissed her. For a moment, tell me the truth.»
«Yes... For a moment. I didn’t even know what I was doing!»
«I can’t.» You try hard not to cry. «I can’t, let me go.»
«No.»
«Let me go!» You slap him to free yourself. He watches you in disbelief, but you are walking to the train station.
You slapped him.
You hit him.
You don’t do this. You, as a couple, don’t hit each other. Even when things are not pretty, even when the urges are there because there are urges to hit when you are in the Hunger Games, you don’t cross the line.
You cry all your way to the Capitol. You have your sketches and not much more, just what was in your bag at the moment. Your luggage is still in Twelve, but the thought of going back is heavy. You always have your id and your documents in your purse, so you don’t need anything else. 
You keep thinking it was a mistake. He didn’t want to kiss Marjorie. You should come back. But your guts hurt and you don’t want to see him, not now.
Your Haymitch. This wasn’t a crush anymore, you loved him, you love him. And he loves you. He loves you, right? But if you love someone you don’t kiss someone else, this is not how it works, at least not for you. You see Perla, Effie or Lora are stunning but you don’t desire them, you only want him.
A voice tells you you couldn’t survive this. Your love flourished in war, you are at your best when your life is in danger, when everything is messy and chaotic and you don't know if there is going to be a tomorrow.
Some days are not good, some days you can't get out of bed. These days, Haymitch stays with you. He kisses your hair and keeps you in his arms, he doesn't care about tears on his shirt or smudge makeup from the day before.
«Don't worry, I'll protect you. I'm here now. Don't worry.» He sings like a chant in your ear, keeping you close.
«Forever?» You murmur.
«Forever and a day more, Sweetheart.»
Some days are bad for him too, days in which the urge for a drink is almost too strong for him to resist, the shaking is heavier and the headache is insufferable. He stays in the chair, worried he could hurt you, but you end up in his lap, stroking his hair and whispering sweet words. You are so strong, you are my man, you are courageous, be strong for me.
In this you excel. You are a great couple. But when things are quiet and calm and it’s all right to stop and breathe, you are not capable of doing it. 
You have no clue why he asked you to marry him if he doesn’t want to. You didn’t expect it, it’s not something you joked about, and you have been on cloud nine because of it but you are so young it wasn’t your first thought. But now it is, now you want to get married with him, you want to be Daisy Abernathy, to sign with his name and you are proud to be his.
He is not proud to be yours. He doesn’t care one bit.
You still have three days, so you stop in the only place you can disappear to. 
District Four.
When you knock at his door and he opens, Finnick Odair can’t believe you are there. His blonde hair is longer and he seems a bit tired, but he is handsome as always. You thought he was at work, but you now remember he doesn’t need to, he has the Victor’s money. Not everyone is like Peeta, who likes the bakery.
«Daisy?»
You try to resist, but you start crying hard and you push yourself in his arms. He is confused, you appeared in his district unannounced with no warning and you didn’t go to Perla but to him, but he is one of your best friends and you didn’t feel like giving any explanation to Perla. 
Perla doesn’t like Haymitch. She will probably be very happy.
«Daisy, hei, what happened? You are worrying me.» He hugs you back. You must be a sight, with crazy hair, puffy eyes and a red face, without makeup on. 
«I don’t think I’m with Haymitch anymore.»
THREE MONTHS BEFORE
«Do you like District Twelve?» Haymitch asks you. He is feeding the geese, and you are trying to mend a pair of his jeans, on the patio. The scene is so awfully domestic and you smile so widely it hurts.
You like living with Haymitch, lingering until ten in the morning in the bed, kissing every chance you can. It’s not forever, you will have a job but it’s the perfect recovery.
«Yeah, my love, I like the District where I was born and raised.» You laugh, «Why?»
«I mean, you didn’t choose it after the war. You didn’t even choose the house.» He shrugs. You can feel his brain working, he is one of those days. His hands are shaking more than usual and his mind goes in dark places. Places where he loses you, you go away because you are too young or too bright for him, at least it’s what he says.
«It’s a bit difficult when you are in a coma.» You deadpan as you see him walking towards you. 
«Very funny.» He strokes your cheek. «You are happy, right?» 
«I would have chosen it. I promise.» You get up to kiss him and you hum in joy when he puts his hands on the pockets of your trousers. «I would have chosen this house and this bedroom and this man over everything.»
«Isn’t it a bit boring for you?» Boring. You are not bored, you are never bored. You are enjoying your life, your peace. You thought you’d never have peace in your life ever again, so this is like paradise. 
«Boring? Are you bored?» Maybe this doubt is his. Maybe he is the one who wants his life back. The old grumpy man who lives alone with his animals. It must not be easy for him to share his space with you all the time, even if he is the one who decided it. He switched from doing everything alone, with no timetables or schedules whatsoever, with a freedom you could only have when you live alone, to stay with you twenty four hours per day, a routine he has to be a part of, not always leading it. And with you of all people, a person who he loves, but you are not the easiest girl alive. You scream at night because of the nightmares, you are clingy, you have difficulties at being alone.
«No, but I’m forty. It’s not exactly fun around here.»
«You are fun!» You protest. «I’m always very entertained, thank you very much. I get what you mean, it’s not Capitol’s “All parties and stuff”, but I’ll have my fair share of them when I get to Portia. And we could arrange a holiday in Four to see Finnick and the kid. That way of life is a holiday, tho, a trip. This is real life. And I love it.» The smile you only give to him it’s so blinding he has to believe you. 
«Yeah? You mending and me feeding the geese?» He goes for a peck that you decide to deepen, because he looks too good with his blonde hair in the sun and his eyes are so blue and his arms are majestic.
«Yes! And you cooking, and you baking, and you cleaning and you prepa- ah!» You squeal in surprise when he lifts you up in a laugh. «Ruffian! Put me down!»
«So it’s me cleaning and me cooking and me doing everything, and you?» He laughs, and he packs your ass.
«I look pretty.» You declare. 
«I’ll tell you pretty.»
«Put me down!»
«Nope.» He goes straight to the house, with you on his shoulder. «You look too fucking beautiful for me to release you.»
PRESENT DAY
«Here, a cup of tea.» Annie hands you a beautiful light blue mug and you take it with a brief smile. Annie is sweet, and you can’t see a glimpse of an annoyed reaction for your ambush, but you feel a little guilty. She is only twenty two and a kid under one year, she must be exhausted. 
«Are you sure I can stay here for a few days?» You ask her. You don’t feel like facing the truth, and you know you will need to give explanations. Effie has her problems, Lora too… Perla will comment on it and you can’t deal with it right now. You just want to lick your wounds in peace. And you are exhausted yourself.
«You are always welcomed here, darling.» She answers you with a sweet smile on her face. «Finnick is alive thanks to you.»
You actually don’t remember it this way. The way you know it, Finnick saved your life and now you are barely even.
«Go rest, my love.» Finnick kisses her cheek, with Finn asleep in his arms. «I’ll stay with Daisy.» 
The sight of the Odair family, two people so young and in love, with their perfect life, it’s almost unbearable. You are envious, and you still want them to be the pretty family they are but you want it too, and since you are a spoiled little brat the first instinct is to stamp your food and demand for it.
As she goes, he looks at you. «You are not bothering anyone here. Stay as long as you want to.»
You want to cry. You love him so much, and you love his wife too. You just want to go to bed and cry for a week. You feel like your heart is not beating anymore. You just want to stop everything.
«Are you sure it’s not too much for Annie? I can help with the baby.»
«I don’t work, Daz. I can handle it. Now, do I have to kill him? Because I’m quite good at it. And I look good doing it.»
You really want to laugh but when you try your eyes fill with tears, so you just shake your head. «No.» 
You quickly explain everything, and you must be really ridiculous in your yellow top and blue skirt, a happy outfit for what you’ve thought was a happy evening.
«Do you want to know what I think?»
«If it agrees with what I think, gladly.» You deadpan.
«I think you need to go back to Capitol City.» That’s new. You thought he was either going to say that you needed to talk to him or to forget him. 
«Ok, I thought I needed to-»
He stops you. «I don’t care now, and I think you need a few days. You have to sleep, Daisy. I’m sorry but you look like…»
«Shit?» You guess. 
He shrugs. «I wouldn’t put it in these words… but your eyes are red and you look terribly tired. Tell me what you usually do.»
«In a day?» 
«Yeah.»
«I fail to understand what it has to do with-»
«Just tell me.» He sits on the couch with you and he takes your hand. You didn’t realize how much you missed him until now. You don’t have a brother, but you feel a little like he is. He is the one that saves you, and sometimes you hope you save him a bit too.
«I work. Basically I work.»
«And nothing else?» The mere thought of doing anything else is not fun. You don’t want to think about anything else, just Haymitch, but if you think about Haymitch you want to cry and scream and punch him.
You shake your head. «I don’t have much time. I want to go back to… I wanted to go back to get married.»
«But you are losing all the Capitol experience! Hell, I hate that city, but it’s a giant amusement park. And you are not taking advantage of it. So, my friend…»
«Yeah?»
«I’ll rescue you. Again.»
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seventfics · 2 years
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so, I’ve never seen the Twilight movies before
this is very important to share to everyone, I promise, to explain the mental turmoil I’ve been in, in the last month
so I’ve never seen twilight. it came out while I was in high school and I was very Against Mainstream back then. didn’t want to see the “sparkling vampires” everyone was really into joking about. didn’t wanna subject myself to a series that everyone around me seemed to agree was terrible fiction
I went all through high school only having accidentally seen that one scene from Breaking Dawn Part 2. you know the one, The CGI Baby Gets Imprinted On scene
then the Twilight Renaissance happened last year
something that I used to passively dislike became Meme Central. and it was fucking hilarious. the tiktok reactions, the tumblr posts. all the pictures of Edward covering his mouth in Biology class because Bella walked in front of a fan. the fucking baseball scene. it was a cultural reset
then Battison movie came out. I saw it with one of my best friends, a dear friend who had grown up seeing and reading the Twilight books. we game together every friday, and on one of these game nights, sharing the Twilight memes, I revealed that I had never actually seen the movies
this, to her, was a cultural sin
so we agreed to watch the movies. all of them. one movie every friday during August 2022 (the timing is key to my story, you’ll see in a moment). it was glorious. and painful. and boring. and hilarious. we did skip a lot of the last movie because the baby cgi was a little freaky, but the bestie would explain what I missed. they’ve seen them multiple times. I couldn’t phathom seeing them again willingly
but then we finished the last movie. I went home
and I opened ao3
now, it should go without saying, this is where the “explain the mental turmoil I’ve been in, in the last month” actually begins. you know who burrowed like a little show blorbo inside my brain matter? no, it wasn’t any of the main characters
it was daddy dear. mister blond bimbo. Carlisle Cullen
I read so much Twilight fanfic about Carlisle. there was a day where I actually stayed up 36 hours, reading 2 100k fics, pausing to go to work, and then going back to finishing it. I was unhinged. I think I lost a fraction of my eyesight
I read everything there was to my interests and curiosities. the obsession was quenched
and then I opened up a google doc
and in a haze, 4 hours later, I had written 7k of Something
and then the next day, it became 10k. and then the next time I could focus to write, it became 12k
on and on it grew, until two weeks later, it was done. a 34k monstrosity, half of which I don’t remember writing
and today, I uploaded it. because why suffer alone? I’ll subject others to my madness too
this fic is the most unhinged, most unbelievable thing I’ve ever written. there’s vampire worship. there’s blood feeding, religious bloodletting, human fanatical suicide and whole lot of vampire gore and death. there’s vampire gods, and a threesome.
I don’t even know if I’m proud, horrified, or relieved. to have the brainrot publicized. my next post is still gonna be the fic share link 💀
now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a tropical storm outside and I need to sleep for 3 days
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There's no one else who needs to know.
You and I should meet
Where is the real life in your illusion? On the dark side
Lose the chance to hear when you don’t listen
Just need a little hit tonight
when asked, know how to find where you end, where I begin.
I went to see your pictures… I spread them across the floor.
Will you say hello to my mom? Will you pay a visit to her?
She was unhappy, just as you were
Monica knows every line. She’ll do something wrong and prove to you she is right.
It’s the old man. He’s got all the money.
And my mother accused me of losing my mind but I swore I was fine.
And I lived in your chess game but you change the rules every day
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home
And I look back and regret how I ignored when they said run as fast as you can
dear john, I see it all now.
It’s the end of The World as we know it and I feel…well, like a PTSD poster child
If you have seen me last year I’d have said “I can’t even see you there from here”
It’s 4, it’s got to stop
Your intentions are known, they found out at last
This is your art. This is your Balzac, your Brookside, and your Bach.
 it’s a wonder that we even go and you know damn well it’s a fuck motel
 Working for the FBI
Just about to call up the DA man when I heard this woman sing a song
She was a long cool woman in a Black dress—-with just one look I was a bad mess
Love, reign o’er me
you’d better call a doctor in.
Found faith in danger, a lifestyle she lived by
I’ll show you every version of yourself tonight
we’ll Meet again
They flutter behind you, your possible pasts—
some bright eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost
a warning to anyone still in command of their possible future
By the books below tea cups I’ve kept a kind of hell
I have a guardian angel, I keep her in my head
And when I thought I was alone she saved my life instead
 when the words of a sister come back and whispers that prove she was not in fact what she seemed, she’s a crook who was caught
You know when it’s time to go
California
so now I’m out trying to catch her
And I’m just waiting now, for my time to come
Fall down in front of me, follow my eyes
You got to show me both knees
I can sell you lies
You can't get enough
Make a true believer of anyone
I can feed your dirty mind like I know what you want
Skinning up your knees, asking him to marry you
A human sacrifice
I’ll be following you (watching your every move)
Watching your every move (I’ll be following you)
prison bars will taunt you till you’re dead
Hear the voice of God on the radio
knowing you can’t leave your room anymore
I don’t know that much but I know about keeping score
It’d be a long cold day in Hell when I take you back
You could bravely be the first to spill this vile demons blood
You could be darkness
You could be so so dark
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justlookfrightened · 3 years
Text
Happy Mother's Day
“I know, Mama. I’ll tell him. You say hello to Coach, too, alright?”
Bitty shook his head and shrugged his shoulders at Jack, the “I’m trying to get off the phone” clear in his expression.
“Mother. Yes. Alright. Fine. I’ll talk to you this weekend, okay? Yes, Mama. I love you, too.”
He sighed and put the phone down on the counter.
“What was that about?”
“She thinks you need feeding up,” Bitty said. “She watched your game last night and she said you looked thin.”
Jack looked down at himself. “It’s been a long season,” he protested. “What does she want me to do?”
“She wants me to feed you a steak dinner every night,” Bitty said, making a face. “Even though you’re barely here one night out of three and the nutritionists would have something to say about all that red meat.”
He crossed the room to embrace Jack.
“I know you’re doing your best, sweetpea,” Bitty said. “The end of the season just takes its toll.”
“So what did she want you to tell me?”
“Oh, you know, good luck in Game 3,” Bitty said.
Jack tightened his grip around Bitty’s waist.
“That all?”
“And that Vasilevskly likes to come out to play the puck, so if y’all can draw him away from the goalmouth someone can tuck it in behind him.”
Bitty was mumbling into Jack’s shoulder.
“Sorry. I know you don’t need advice from your mother-in-law.”
Jack gave Bitty another squeeze, kissed the top of his head, and released him.
“It’s not like she’s wrong,” he said. “I have to go. You’re all set to go to Georgia? And I’ll see you in Tampa for Game 4?”
“Of course,” Bitty said, reaching up to kiss Jack goodbye. “Call me tonight, right?”
“Of course.”
*
Bitty’s phone rang while he was standing in baggage claim at Hartsfield, waiting for the conveyor to disgorge his suitcase. Then he just had to grab his rental car, head to a hotel for the night, and show up in Madison before church.
Coach. He almost never called. And on a Saturday night?
“Daddy?” Bitty said. “Is everything okay? Moomaw --”
“Your Moomaw’s fine, son,” Coach said.
“Mama --”
“Your mother too,” Coach said. “Just … did you remember tomorrow is Mother’s Day?”
“Uh … yes?” Bitty said, hoping his father couldn’t hear the airport announcements over the phone. “Of course I did.”
“But maybe you mailed cards a little late?” Coach suggested. “Because your mother hasn’t gotten anything, and there’s no mail tomorrow. She was trying to act like everything was fine, but I can tell you she was a mite put out. But if you tell her you mailed a card on Tuesday, or even Monday, well, then she’ll just blame the post office.”
“No sir.”
“What?”
“I didn’t mail a card this week,” Bitty said. “There’s something that should be delivered tomorrow.”
“On Sunday?”
“Yessir.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yessir.”
“That must cost an arm and a leg.”
“It’s fine, Daddy, I promise,” Bitty said, hauling his suitcase off the carousel. “And I’ll talk to Mama and Moomaw tomorrow. Both of them.”
“Alright,” his father said. “If you say so. Your mother and I were going to pick up Moomaw after church and take her to brunch, so maybe in the afternoon? Or before church. But I know how you and your mother get to talking.”
Bitty made a non-commital noise as he headed for the rental car counter.
“Well, sounds like you’re out and about somewhere,” Coach said. “I’ll let you go. Have a good night, now.”
“You too,” Bitty said, barely managing to bite back the “See you tomorrow” that wanted to escape.
*
Bitty parked two doors down from his parents’ home and gave himself one last look in the rearview mirror. He was clean shaven, though it was honestly still hard to tell, his teeth were brushed and his face was washed. His hair was freshly cut and coiffed. The pink polo shirt was pressed, as were his khakis. He wished he had something better than supermarket flowers, but all the florists were closed by the time he arrived the night before.
He collected the flowers and headed for the porch, where, for the first time in his life, he rang the bell.
Coach answered. Of course he did.
“Shhh,” Bitty hissed. “Get Mama.”
Coach, bless him, simply stepped away from the door and called, “Suze? It’s for you.”
Bitty heard his mother approaching before he saw her.
“Are you sure, Richard? At this hour, on a Sunday?”
When he didn’t answer, she continued.
“I bet it’s something from Dicky, isn’t it? When there wasn’t a card, I thought he might have gone and sent something ridiculous --”
Then she was at the door, and actually, momentarily, speechless.
“Happy Mother’s Day, Mama,” he said, holding out the flowers. “Um, surprise?”
“Oh, Dicky, you shouldn’t have,” Mama said, gathering him and the flowers into her arms. “I should have known you’d do something like this. And your Moomaw will be so happy. Oh, do you think we can get an extra seat at brunch?”
“It’s a buffet, right?” Bitty said. “I’m sure they’ll take one more.”
Even if he had to tip the hostess heavily.
“I thought I’d take Moomaw to the garden center this afternoon to pick out a new rose bush,” Bitty said. “But your present is in there.”
“The flowers are beautiful --”
“Open the card, Mama.”
Bitty waited while she plucked out the card he’d nestled in the foliage and opened it, first reading the Hallmark-approved message before opening the smaller envelope that was inside.
“These are tickets to … Jack’s game?” she said. “Next week in Florida?”
“Yes, Mama, and the flight and hotel for you and Daddy are already taken care of,” Bitty said. “Jack’s parents will be there, too.”
“Well, I never,” his mother said. “Oh, we’re going to be late for church, but I have to get these in water and --”
“You finish getting ready,” Bitty said. “I’ll get them in water.”
His mother hurried to her bedroom, and Coach stood in the kitchen doorway shaking his head.
“Nice one, Junior,” he said. “She means thank you, by the way.”
“I know,” Bitty said. “If you can’t get off work, I can change your flight Wednesday to leave after school.”
“I’m invited too?”
“Of course you are.”
“Oh. Well, then. I’m sure I could get a couple days off,” Coach said. “It’s off season.”
*
After the game, when the Falconers had finally come off the ice, done press, showered and changed, Jack came out to greet Bitty and all four parents.
“Congratulations, sweetpea,” Bitty said as he hugged his husband, “At least you have a few days off now.”
Jack’s parents embraced him and said much the same.
Bitty’s mother hugged Jack, then stepped back and held him at arm’s length.
“You need to eat more,” she said.
At Bitty’s audible huff, she turned, not letting go of Jack, and said, “What? I was right about Vasilevsky.”
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honeyhenry · 3 years
Text
Sweet as Pie
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With some much needed time off, and excitement crisp in the air, you had flown over to Jersey with your husband Henry for Christmas to stay with his family, and they had been delighted to have you both back on his homeland. You settled in to Henry’s old room, unpacking all of the gifts you had brought for his family. You knew his nieces and nephews were going to love you even more when they saw what would be lying for them under the grand Christmas tree in the living room. Secretly, you were their favourite - not that they’d ever tell their poor Uncle Henry.
The large home is tidy, but scattered with family members in every room, all feeling at home in the place where Henry and his brothers grew up. You’d been able to catch up with the relatives you didn’t often see, and promise to spend some quality time together over the holidays.
It was so sweet to watch all the children’s faces light up on Christmas morning. You were glad that you and Henry could be spared an extra few moments in bed, being the only childless couple in the house. Yet moments later, Kal had leapt onto the bed - much to Henry’s annoyance; “down Kal, careful now” -  as soon as he had heard the pattering of his small friends’ feet out in the hallways. And what Kal wanted, you usually gave him.
Which is why, at 6.45am, Kal dragged you and in turn, dragged Henry down to the living room where the rest of the family sat, with the kids lit up like the Christmas tree that their plethora of presents laid under, grinning to their bleary eyed parents who’d barely had a wink of sleep on the cold winter morning.
“You’d think after 6 years it gets easier” you’d heard someone murmur, and so you’d decided to put the kettle on for those poor souls. Luckily for you, 45 minutes later, you’re able to snuggle back into bed with Henry, warming your feet on his legs to annoy him. You kiss the offended pout right off his face, before feeling his beefy arms wrap around your waist. It’s the last thing you had recalled, as you dozed off in his arms only seconds later, feeling his fingertips rub against your hip softly.
------
The kitchen was bustling with about 10 bodies all completing their various tasks; cooking, washing, baking, roasting, timing and tasting. Well, you had kicked your husband out of the kitchen for sneaking a taste of your dessert before it was ready, chastising him out of the door. 
“You can either help properly or go and play with your siblings” you had bargained while he’d grinned, leaning against the doorframe. He raised an eyebrow, looking you up and down like you were a pastry he was keen to ravish himself; “But who is going to compliment the chef?”
With that, you’d folded your arms across your chest, blushing at his words. The cheek of that man was not lost on you, and it still got you every single time. 
And you loved him for it.
------
The meal was a total success. A wonderful soup starter, followed by a small appetiser, and then the most magnificent turkey. Feeding over 20 people - now probably closer to 30 if you were to include the children who were growing up so quickly in front of your eyes - had proven to be difficult, but it was a challenge the family had clearly tackled before.
You had been so excited to prepare the desserts, and present your dish. However, halfway through the day, somewhere between the main course, watching your nephews with their new toys, and the dessert course of the delicious homemade Christmas feast, you’d fallen asleep on the sofa completely tuckered out. Your legs rested on Henry’s lap as he’d covered you with a hand-knitted blanket that he’d once slept with as a boy. Henry’s mother speaks up, careful not to wake you. She has a gleam in her eye, not that you or even Henry notice, too wrapped up in your own cozy sleepy bubble together by the fire.
“Dessert can wait” his mother says to the gaggle of children and adults swarming the living room, “go out and get some fresh air.”
She turns to the children, specifically.  “Do not disturb your Aunt, okay?”
------
Your cheeks are warm as the fire heats the living room, and after a particularly competitive game of rugby with his brothers, nieces, and nephews, Henry quietly checks on you. He had left the room earlier when you had shifted your legs slightly, taking the opportunity to get some fresh air himself. It had indeed been a long day. His brothers had questioned your tiredness briefly, making sure you were well. With the knowledge that you were simply sleepy, they had begun to joke that you obviously just couldn’t keep up with the rest of the Cavills - despite having married into the family for 2 years and been around for the holidays for 4. Henry had promised them that you were fine -  that you still weren’t used to the long trip back to the island for the holidays. 
Not exactly a fib, he’d thought.
Kal was laid beside you, loyal as ever, watching out for anyone who may disturb your rest, sending a rumbling growl towards anyone who approached. Except Henry. 
While checking on you now to make sure you were still comfortable and resting well, he smiled, taking a picture of you wrapped up cosily by the fire, at peace in his childhood home, completely at rest and ease with him and his closest relatives. Petting Kal softly, he thanks him for looking after his mama so well.
“So?”
His mother, he hears. She’s alone for once as there was no one rushing to check for updates on food, no enquiries about the house, or any funny stories woven into a ten minute tale from her grandchildren. She’s alone, with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised.
Henry stands up straight. There’s nothing that can wipe the tremendously cheesy grin off of his face. He can’t even speak. Even after dessert had finished, you were the one who would be doing all the talking, the telling, the explaining.
“Mum-”
“Henry. She’s not ill. and i know you’re sensible enough to not be up the whole night with your wife...at least under my roof. So…?”
He looks over at your peaceful form, and then scratches his neck, blushing at being caught out, but also ecstatic that he can finally say something about it.
“She’s eleven weeks. We’re expecting a baby next summer”
With that, his mother almost leaps with joy over to her son, who she hugs closely despite the obvious height barrier. 
“Oh i knew it, I knew it! I’m so happy for you Henry, for you both. I thought, ‘She normally loves that bread for starter’, hm? Oh my boy! A father!”
With her proclamation, Henry finds that he has tears in his eyes as he holds his Mother close, finally glad that it’s not just a little secret between the two of you - well, the two of you and Kal, who had already been a stellar protector and big brother.
“We had planned to tell everyone after dessert…we’ve known for nearly 2 months and it’s been killing me that I couldn’t say. We’ve had to be so careful-“ 
“Henry?” he hears your quiet voice from across the room, as Kal’s collar jingles. He turns to see you sitting up from your nap with Kal booping his nose at your stomach. You’re scratching at his head, thanking him for being such a wonderful boy, while looking up at the two Cavills.
It takes less than a second for you to realise what is happening in front of you. Your jaw drops and louder than your previous call, you exclaim, “Henry you told her?”
“She worked it out! Practically forced it out of me.” he grins, holding his hands up as his Mother pretends to smack his arm.
You stand, watching not to step on Kal or any stray Legos that your nephews have left strewn across the floor, and walk over to hug her. She’s been so caring and kind since you’ve joined the family all those years ago, and you know that she will be an incredible Grandma to your little one. 
Breaking apart from the hug, you find Henry pulling you to him carefully, letting you melt into his side. Kissing your forehead he asks, for your ears only, “Good sleep? No pains? Sickness?” He has a small crease of worry between his brows and you always do your best to soften that small tense area with regular updates and sweet kisses.
“Yeah i’m okay honey” you reassure him, patting your stomach, “this ones growing up a storm in there”. 
And they really are. Henry’s mother cannot believe she’s seeing it, and mostly can’t believe she missed it. You’re already showing, but a large loose sweater -probably one of Henry’s old ones that has since become yours - over your dress, has hidden a sizeable roundness to your stomach that you were excited to finally show.
“How did I miss this!” Your mother-in-law gasps, causing you to grin, and Henry’s chest to puff with utter pride and excitement.
“I know it’s bordering on having too much to eat, but we’ve been hiding it for a couple weeks now. Doctor thinks that baby’s gonna be big. Just like their daddy.” You explain, giving your stomach another gentle rub, surprised to find Henry’s hand there on it already.
If you’d thought Kal was protective, Henry was another thing altogether.
He’s still grinning as you kiss him, before you pull away to speak more to his mother about all the details, especially when you’ll be coming over to Jersey again. Kai follows you closely, making sure you’re staying safe. He’s known that there’s something up with his mama, there has been for weeks, especially with the way his master looks after you now.
Henry, deciding to be sneaky while the two women in his life are currently distracted chatting, takes another taste of the dessert you made, now set out on the kitchen. The worst part is, he thinks he’s got away with it.
He realises he doesn’t the second you smack his hand from the dessert.
“Strike two Mr Cavill! Step away from the pie.”
“And if I don’t?” he raises an eyebrow, watching your reactions as you hold a butter knife in your hand trying to look at least vaguely threatening - failing miserably. “Maybe i’ll strike out tonight, hm?” he continues with that wonderfully mischievous glint in his eye, taking cautious steps towards you. “You look even sweeter than your pie with this little bump here. Maybe I’ll have a taste later after all.” 
Henry’s mother had not been right in her assumptions, for under her roof, you and Henry were not sensible at all.
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please let me know what u think! i am v nervous to post but excited!!!
518 notes · View notes
superhero--imagines · 3 years
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Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! / Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here! / Part 11 Here! / Part 12 Here!
A/N: Shout out to @ideas-for-you-to-adopt​ for inspiring/writing a lot of the headcanons used for the “Bella Suspicion” part of this chapter!
I’m posting this a day early, because, well I’m flakey like that
* You spear another piece of pineapple, your teeth grinding together
* “I think that sounds perfect!” Lauren squeals lightly grasping Bella’s shoulder, Bella gives a small smile in return.
* You know what isn’t perfect?
* The fact that nothing is going according to plan.
* It’s already a month in and NOTHING has happened. You stab another piece of pineapple, sticking it into your mouth
* You’ve hung back in the school parking lot everyday for a MONTH, you were even late to cheer practice once, just to see if the “Tyler Van Accident”  happened.
* Only it never did, and you didn’t know why until Lauren confided that she and Tyler had been hooking up lately.
* As in hooking up at her house after school before her parents came home.
* Of course it’s not going to happen when Tyler’s ditching his last period to drive to her house
* What a mess
* You chew the pineapple carefully, just like a human would. Because even though Bella knows LITERALLY NOTHING. She somehow suspects everything.
* You watch her from the corner of your eye, making polite conversation with Angela about biology next period.
* The amount of questions she has about you is ridiculous
* How did you meet Edward? How does your family know the Cullen’s? Where are you adoptive parents now? If they’re back in the states why haven’t you gone to live with them?
* It’s literally never ending. And that’s just her trying to poke holes in your story.
* You’re not even going to start with all the stuff she’s commented on your physical appearance
* “Hey don’t you think it’s weird they all have gold eyes?” You had heard Bella quietly ask Jessica when she thought you couldn’t hear
* “Not really, they’ve got like six kids, so when one kid needs something more of them do too. (Y/N) told me Alice wanted color contacts so Dr. Cullen just bought some for all of them.”
* And then the week before that, while you were doing a stunt at a basketball game Bella said:
* “Aren’t they like, too strong?” You were lifting up a girl all on your own.
* “Oh yeah- I guess you never saw the video, apparently they’re jacked.” Conner says, with a shrug.
* “Yeah they heard working out helps with stress when they were like 12 and just never stopped.” Mike adds absentmindedly
* And if that wasn’t enough she’s even said this a few weeks before that:
* “Don’t you think it’s weird how beautiful they all are?” Lauren wrinkles her nose, at the time she had gotten used to Bella but she still doesn’t seem to like her very much
* “Not really, I remember (Y/N) wasn’t all that pretty freshman year, they used to wear these really dorky glasses.”
* You had almost started to forget how good you had it, after you did all the leg work in the last two years to establish that you were normal -just kinda quirky- you had just started to enjoy the pay off. A little more lax with your appearance, wearing clothes you liked, doing more solo routines in cheer.
* Only for little Miss.Curious to show up
* Now you have to try extra hard to look human again. And not just you, the entire coven does, because when one of you falls under suspicion you all do.
* Rosalie’s been making her hair look messy every so often to give the illusion that she’s having a bad hair day, Alice wears a retainer every so often, even Emmett pretends to need the bathroom more than he usually does.
* This morning you even had Rosalie do a fake pimple on your jaw.
* If Bella wasn’t going to be your best friends’ future wife, you think you might just hate her.
* You kind of sympathize with Rosalie in the book now.
* “Hey (Y/N) are you in?” Conner asks nudging his elbow against yours.
* “In for what?” You mumble, spearing another piece of pineapple. Another downside is now you have to eat at lunch. Otherwise Bella starts asking why you never eat and everyone gets really concerned and starts force feeding you
* God, all those years of establish you have low blood sugar and acid reflux induced nausea for nothing
* “La Push beach, we’re all going this weekend.” You perk up at the mention
* Finally, something’s getting back on track
* “Can’t, cheer stuff.” You mumble, shoving your food around your plate with your fork.
* You don’t miss Bella’s meaningful glance on your mostly full plate.
* Oh great, you can practically see the question “don’t you think it’s weird how they never eat anything?” Forming in the inner corners of her mind
* “What about you Edward?” Lauren flutters her eyelashes and you have to stop yourself from rolling your eyes.
* Lauren’s still annoyed that even though they’re hooking up, Tyler hasn’t made anything official yet
* Alice told her flirting with another guy might help.
* “He’s not going either.” You say before Edward can even open his mouth. He doesn’t say anything just gives you a questioning look and a smile.
* Looks like he’s finding everyone else’s thoughts more interesting
* “Are you guys going on a date?” Jessica waggles her eyebrows and on the other side of the table Bella sputters.
* You roll your eyes
* “No Jessica, but if I can’t go have fun neither can he.” Technically you both are forbidden to go on tribal land but whatever. “Best friend code.”
* Also you’re pretty sure Edward and Emmett are going to Yellowstone to eat bears or something, like a couple of heathens
* The thought of eating straight out of bear, no idea what they’ve eaten or where they’ve been doing their business, makes you shudder. 
* You did mention to them both that if they happen to find an orphaned bear cub somewhere to bring it back. You’ve been wanting to experiment with bear blood. 
* “Best friend code.” Edward repeats slowly, and the look he gives you makes your stomach flutter. And it’s not because you just ate half a salad.
* You’re knocked out of the look when Conner bumps his knee against yours
* “Well that’s a shame, I was looking forward to seeing you in a swimsuit.”
* So Conner’s been flirting a lot with you lately. Kind of weird, your best guess is that he was hoping to date Lauren, but now that she’s kinda seeing Tyler, you’re starting to look good.
* “Maybe you should have a pool party at that fancy house of yours then.” The group laughs but Conner just smirks
* “Whatever you want babe but-“ the bell cuts him off and you give him a consolatory pat on the arm.
* You move to throw away the leftover food on your plate, walking with Edward
* “We’re ditching right?” You ask him as you toss the plate into the trash.
* “Yeah Mr. Barnes is doing his blood type experiment today.” Like he even needs an excuse to skip school. “Do you want to go to the bookstore or something?”
* You shake your head, that won’t do, when Bella faints Edward needs to be there so they can fall in love
* “Wanna just hang out in my car? We can listen to that new Debussy CD I got.”
* Edward gives you a small smile, like he’s not really happy
* “Whatever you want.”
* Wait what’s up with that.
* “Hey, (Y/N)!” Bella calls out for you and Edward grimaces.
* “I’ll meet you at your car” wait he’s not going to stay here? If this was a dating video game he’d be the kind of player that wasted all the capture flags and then complains when they end up all alone.
* He leaves just as Bella gets to you. She spares a fleeting glance in Edward’s direction, almost looking sad as she watches him walk away before she looks to you
* “Are you heading over to biology?” She really is cute, like a puppy. She must have been hoping to get a little closer to Edward. 
* You almost feel bad for not warning her what with her issues on blood.
* “Nah I’ve got to finish my trig homework so I’m going to skip.” You fake a yawn.
* Oh, before you forget
* “I actually got you something.”
* You hand her a carefully wrapped gift bag, compliments of Rosalie of course
* “Vitamins?” Bella asks, her eyebrows threading together
* “Yeah, it’s like a vitamin powder, you just add it to water. We bought a big family pack so I thought I would share some with you.”
* Also because you’re 100% sure she’s anemic.
* Part of the reason you like the way she smells so much is because of her anemia, if it’s just the peach scent you can probably contain yourself. 
* You wave goodbye and Bella looks down at the package in her hands with a goofy expression. She hugs it to her chest before her expression pinches.
* “I should have offered to let them copy my notes” Bella murmurs to herself. Smacking her forehead and walking to biology.
* When you manage to sneak out to the parking lot through the gym doors, you see Edward leaning against your car, looking bored as he looks to the tree line
* “Why didn’t you sit inside? You look like a douchebag.”
* “I would have if someone had given me the keys”
* Like that’s stopped him before
* You unlock the car, letting it start with a hum before you pull out your trig homework
* You weren’t entirely lying to Bella, you really hadn’t finished you homework
* Edward pulls out a book from his bag, you’re not ashamed to say you’ve gotten him super into “The City of Ember” series
* “Hey why did you walk away when Bella came over?” you’re only half curious, mostly just trying to make conversation. “You don’t hate her do you?” You add with a laugh.
* The mere thought of Edward Cullen hating Bella Swan is laughable.
* “Yeah I do.” 
* You find yourself coughing from the sheer shock. 
* “You mean she frustrates you because you can’t read her mind.” Edward has spared you a concerned glance when you started coughing, but has turned his attention back to his book
*” No I mean I don’t like her, and I don’t like being around her.” He doesn’t look up from his book as he says it. 
* “But why?” Yeah she’s a little plain, and she’s still pretty shy even though you’ve been hanging out for a month and all those damn questions
* But she’s got good taste in books, and she’s pretty straightforward.
* She’s not the type of person to go behind your back, if you did something to upset her she’ll tell you straight to your face.
* Honestly she’s a lot like Angela, minus the hidden cunning nature.
* Edward eyes narrow and a heavy sigh escapes him. His head tilts back to rest against the passenger seat headrest.
* His neck is so long and white. The color of freshly fallen snow. You can’t help but think of how pretty it would look covered in hickeys.
* Like poppy’s blossoming in the snow. 
* Can vampires get hickeys? Would it just be like black instead of red since none of you really have blood anymore. 
* “I just don’t like-” He cuts himself off when his eyes meet yours, they seem to shine brighter for a moment, and you tilt your head. This feels like a meaningful look. 
* Edward sighs and looks away.
* “I just don’t like her vibe.” 
*”Vibe? Are you an Edward shaped imposter?” you see him mouth ‘Edward Shaped Imposter’ as you both laugh. 
* “Where did you learn to say these things?” He asks between laughs. You mock gasp.
* “The real Edward would never ask me that because he’s too afraid to know! Who are you really? What planet are you from?” Your hands move to his face, his face is as smooth as marble, lingering warmth. You leaned in without thinking about it, only a few inches away from him. 
* You’re so close you can smell him. He always smells good, like something ancient and profound. Rosemary and argon oil. 
* Your hands are still on his face and he’s grinning. 
* You gulp
* You’re trying to think of another ridiculous imposter joke you can make wen you catch a familiar head of blond hair through the window.
* “Is that Mike and ... Bella?”  
* This is a lot sooner than you thought, it hasn’t even been ten minutes yet.
* Edward looks almost bored as he follows your gaze. 
* “Yeah, looks like she made herself sick, she’s - what’s that word for when people are afraid of blood?” 
* “Hemophobia?”
* “Yeah, that’s what she has.”
* You wait for a second, releasing his face from your hands, but instead of moving to open the door he slumps back into his seat, eyes focused on his book. 
* “Don’t you think we should go help them?” He shrugs. 
* The f*cking criminal just shrugs. 
* WHAT THE F*CK IS GOING ON?!?!
* Human or not, there’s no world Edward wouldn’t at least think about helping someone who’s in trouble. 
* You’re starting to think this really is an Edward imposter. 
* You watch Bella lean on Mike, stumbling down the crosswalk to the nurse’s office in the next building. 
* You can’t watch anymore 
* ‘You know you-” You words finally get Edward’s attention as he looks up from his book. “You are wasting all the capture flags!” You shout before sliding out of your car and jogging over to Mike and Bella
* “Mike! What happened?” He’s so surprised to see you his grip on Bella goes slack and she falls out of his side hold.
* “Oh crap!” 
* You rush to catch her, swinging her into a princess hold.
* What was Mike struggling with so much? She’s not very hea - oh right you’re a vampire.
* “Are you alright, I know she’s kinda heavy.” Well that’s not very nice to say about a girl, besides she’s pretty skinny. Can’t be more than 120 pounds. 
* “It’s no problem, I do it for cheer are all the time.” You do a fake grunt as you pretend to get a better hold on her. 
* The movement jostle her awake, her eyes fluttering open. She’s still in a dreamy state, her eyes are unfocused. 
* “(Y/N)?” 
* “Hey buddy, looks like ya fainted, squeamish around blood huh?”
* “How do you know we were doing the blood type experiment?” Mike asks.
* Oh crap. You were skipping, you weren’t supposed to know that. Even worse you brain can’t seem to come up with a valid excuse.
* “Alice told us about it, (Y/N) used to be squeamish around blood when we were kids, didn’t want to take any chances” You let out a sigh of relief when you see Edward walking towards you. At least he’s not completely heartless. 
*”Then why were you skipping?” Mike asks scratching his head. Edward shrugs
* “They can’t go to class, then I won’t go either.” And then the criminal looks you straight in the eye and says with the cheekiest smile imaginable:
*“It’s the best friend code”
* Oh f*ck off Edward. 
* You almost want to scoff when he takes Bella from your arms and into his.
* SO now he wants to care about the capture flag. 
* You let him take her though, You swear you see her stiffen and frown when he holds her.
* That can’t be right, she seemed super relaxed when you were carrying her.
* “I-I’m fine I can walk.”
* “No you can’t.” Edward bluntly says.
* Even when he gets to capture event, he says all the wrong things. You sigh as you walk behind him. Only to notice another set of footsteps by you. 
* “You can go back if you want Mike, Edward won’t kidnap her or anything.” He might throw her into the lake though.
* Mike shakes his head. “No it just seems wrong to not make sure she at least gets to the nurses office.” 
*You smile, he really is a kind boy. 
* “Also I’ll be damned if Bella gives Edward all the credit.” Well mostly kind.
* You get to the nurses office, who seems incredibly flustered with both you and Edward in such a small space.
* She seems so preoccupied keeping her wits about her as she checks out Bella and deals with your presence that she never asks why three people had to escort one person to the nurses office.
* “Well your blood pressure is a little low, since you fainted I would suggest you go home. If you want you can take a nap in here until school’s out.” Wow, where was a nurse this generous when you were in school.
* Bella, the beautiful moron, shakes her head.
* “No it’s okay I’ll go back to class, I don’t want to take a zero for the assignment” Well that’s noble and responsible and all. But what does she think is going to happen when she goes back to class?
* She’s going to see some blood again and faint. Not that you can be mad, you would probably have to go the the nurse too if Bella ever managed to prick her own finger
* “Bella you really shouldn’t,” You settle your hand on her shoulder pushing her back onto the chair. “You just fainted you should lie down, or go home or something.”
* Her eyebrows thread together, mouth pulled in protest. 
* “I don’t want to impose on any-”
* “It’s not an imposition, I want to!” Her mouth parts, then closes, stretching into a fine line. You look to Edward who’s avoiding your gaze and seems very irritated.
* Enemies to lovers trope it is.(Though you’re not sure if this counts as enemies if only one person dislikes the other)
* “I’m going to drop you off home, come on.” You pull Bella up by her hand, leading her to the parking lot. 
* “Wait what about my car?” 
* Oh you hadn’t thought about that. 
*Hmmm in the original book Alice drove her home. But Alice doesn’t really do anything unless there’s something in it for her, or if she wants to.
* Also you’re pretty sure when she ditched today when she found out that people were pricking there finger on campus. She claimed it was for Jasper, but you’re pretty sure there’s a sale in the Nordstrom in Seattle.
* Edward would rather get the flu than drive Bella’s ancient truck.
* Which leaves only one option.
* You toss your keys to Edward who catches them with one hand.
* “Edward will drive you home in my car, and I’ll drive your car behind him.” 
* “What about Rosalie?” He grumbles.
*“What about Rosalie?” Why is he being so difficult right now? Doesn’t he realize you’re doing this all for him!
* “You’re driving her home since Emmett and I are leaving for Yellow Stone as soon as school lets out.” Oh right the bears. Cr*p.
* “It’s not a big deal, I’ll drive back to school after we’re done and you can go your way and I’ll go mine.”
* You can tell Edward doesn’t like it, but he just sigh’s climbing into your car and then promptly getting out of the passenger side and sitting in the driver’s side.
* The dork forgot he had to drive the car.
* You’re dying laughing as Bella leads you to her car.
* “It’s the blue one.”
* Her truck isn’t all that bad. It’s old, but in a kind of retro way. It’s powder blue, with only two doors and no backseat. 
* You climb in, turning the engine and hearing it purr. Well it’s more of a roar, but it’s not terrible.
* You’re surprised when Bella climbs through the passenger side door. 
* “Um, you’re not going to drive with Edward?” She looks at you like you just asked her to recite the Fibonacci sequence. 
* “Why would I go with him when you’re the one driving my car?” Okay, that’s fair.
* You sigh, why does nothing ever go according to plan.
* Maybe it’s for the best, Edward doesn’t seem to be in the best mood. Not that this is good either, she’s sitting so close to you, her peachy scent fills the small space of the truck and you feel lightheaded.
* It’s less than a ten minute trip, no need to get dramatic. You’re pretty sure you won’t kill her just because she smells nice.
* “Soooooo... what do you want to talk about?” You ask as you turn out of the school, this car is super slow compared to yours, you’re pretty sure it won’t go over 50 mph.
* Bella fidgets beside you, playing with the ends of her hair. 
* “So are you and Edward...dating?”
* You laugh so loud you actually start coughing. And then you laugh again. 
* “No-pfff- no We’re uh- we’re not dating.” You finally manage. 
* “Why is that so funny to you?” She asks, genuinely confused.
* “Well it’s just outrageous you know?” How would that even work? You can’t even picture it. Edward getting all hot and bothered because you’re wearing an oversized sweater and glasses. You flirting with him all over the house in front of Carlisle and Esme. Edward signing up for a sport just so he can see you in his letterman.
* It’s all...impossible.
* And yet, there is one thing you can picture. 
* Edward by your side, he’s almost golden brown, his eyes bright green. He points to the living room, and in there are Alec and Jane, both of their eyes blue as they argue over who’s turn it is to watch TV. 
* Maybe if you were human, if you had met in a different world or a different time, that would be something you could have. 
* But it is what it is
* “Edward and I have been friends for a really long time, we’ve just seen too much of each other to find each other attractive like that.” 
* Bella looks like she doesn’t believe you but she doesn’t say anything.
* Wait what are you doing? This is the perfect chance to talk Edward up!
* “But you know Edward is a real stand up guy!” It leaves a little too forcefully, a little inauthentic.
* “Oh is he?” She doesn’t sound too excited to be talking about this.
* “I know he’s got one of those face-”
* “Obnoxiously handsome?” She spats 
* “Like he thinks existence is a curse, and the world is evil and everything is terrible -” Wait you’re getting off track. “B-but he really is a good guy!”
* You bite your lip, as Bella tells you to turn into a subdivision. 
* “You know after- after I was adopted,” After your parents died. “I was really lonely, I had a family that loved me and anything I asked for but I didn’t really have anyone to talk to” Oh god, why did you choose this story to pick? “Edward was probably the only friend my age I had for years.”
* She straightens up a little bit, a curious glint in her eyes.
* “Really?” You nod.
* “Yeah he would come by every Monday and Wednesday,” You still remember the crunch of the snow under your feet as you both walked to the barn. He always asked why you didn’t just run, and you always told him because you liked the way you could see your breath hang in the air,
* “He could have been out that time, hanging out with other people,” More well adjusted vampires, who hunted instead of harvesting small amounts from animals they raised. “or chasing girls and playing sports, but he stayed with me.”
* “He always made me feel safe, and I’m sure whoever is lucky enough to end up with him will feel that way too.” 
* “I think you’re giving him too much credit” Bella finally says, you smile at her
* “what do you mean?” 
* “Well, who wouldn’t drop everything to hang out with you?” You can’t tell if she’s being genuine or if she’s bitter. Your eyes meet hers and there’s a twinkle in them. ”My house is the one on the left, the one with the magnolia tree.”
* You come to a stop in front of the house she mentioned, shifting it into park, and handing her the keys. 
* You don’t say anything as you climb out of her car. You see Edward stopped a few dozen feet behind her truck, your jeep still on. 
* “Thanks for driving me home” She smiles at you, a real smile that reaches her eyes. It’s nice.
* “No problem, it gave me an excuse to ditch school too haha.” You both stand in awkward silence. Neither of you moving. 
* Well damn what are you supposed to do now?
* “Oh, hey do you want me to bring you your homework or anything?” 
* She perks up at that, reaching into her pocket
*  “If you don’t mind, could you text me what page he homework is on for trig today?” 
* “ Oh for sure! No problem at all” You take her cell phone in your hand. It’s a white sidekick, with a picture of a cactus on the back. She must have gotten it when she moved.
* You can’t help but wonder if she has any friends she misses. She spent her entire life in one community, sure Phoenix is a pretty big place, but she must have had friends, people she sat with at lunch everyday, girls she had known since childhood, sleepovers where they whispered about boys they had crushes on.
* As you hand her phone back, your contact information saved in it, you can’t help but wonder who this person in front of you is. You know her, but at the same time, you know absolutely nothing about her. 
* “See you Monday!” You wave goodbye as you get into the passenger side of your car, and Bella waits on the porch until you and Edward leave.
* Edward’s got that look on his face.
* “Edward why are you mad?” 
* “I’m not mad.” He grumbles and you raise an eyebrow. He sighs.
* “You’re going out of your way an awful lot for that human.” He says as he turns back onto the highway.
* “It’s just the right thing to do Eddie.” 
* He shakes his head, his mouth pinched into a frown
* “Just be careful, I don’t know what that one’s thinking, she could be planning to burn our entire coven for all I know.”
* You roll your eyes, yeah you bet Bella who weights exactly 115 pounds, and has anemia is single handedly planning to bring down the entire vampire race. 
* “How about we make a deal, I’ll promise not to rock the boat while you and Emmett are gone-”
* “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret not covering my ears?”
*” If you promise to bring me back a bear cub - an orphaned one.” He gives you a look you don’t quite care for.
* “You want me to kill a mother bear so you can have a bear cub?” 
* “No of course not! I’m just saying- Emmett doesn’t really look before he kills  so if he kills a mother bear, just make sure you bring me the cubs.” 
* “Why do you even want a bear? How are you planning to take care of it with all those deer around, they need a lot-”
* “Yes Dad I know it’s a big responsibility, don’t worry I won’t make you take it on walks or anything.” 
* Edward gulps hard, one hand detaching from the steering wheel to cover his mouth. 
* Wouldn’t it be positively sinful for you to be underneath him, whining ‘daddy, please’ in that breathy voice of yours and-
* Edward.exe is broken. 
* “Dude you really need to get your shit together before you go on your trip, we’ve been parked for fifteen minutes and your foot is still on the brake.” You say as you get out of the car
* He hits his head against the steering wheel.
* “Yeah, I really do need to get my shit together.” 
Tags:  @moonlights27 @thebluetint @the100thtwilight @awesomebooklover17 @oneofthepotterheads @smileygirl08 @imdoingathingmom @iconicgguk @yrawn @alyciaswhore @little-horror-show @wicked-watering-can @lazydreamers @ xxxmuxxx  @ideas-for-you-to-adopt​​ @poisoinedhope @maryleigh8796​ @moose-squirrel-asstiel​ @hotmessgoodness​
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Rainy days [Corpse x reader]
Paring: Corpse husband x Female!reader
Summary: “corpse x fem!reader ( she’s also a youtuber ) where they are just friends for a few years, but reader has been developing feelings for a while now. with corpse’s fan base growing so quickly, there’s also a lot of growing attention from other girls ( fans & other social media influencers ). corpse is happy with all the attention, while it is breaking the reader’s heart more every day. basically, super angsty lol and it’s totally up to you how you want to end it!” requested by anon
“please make one where like the reader and corpse fought so its like raining outside and yk the cliche type” requested by anon
Warnings: Angst and jealousy, kinda sad, I’m sorry
Words: 1.8k
A/N: Open for requests. Two requests for one.
Read part 2 cloudy afternoons here
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
You’re happy for Corpse, of course you are. What good friend wouldn’t be happy for their friend when they suddenly start to shoot for the stars? You definitely would. Right? It’s not like it hurts to watch him take in all these girls that throw themselves at him, he has never been happier for the many years you’ve known him. His YouTube channel is finally paying the bills for him, and you’re happy he doesn’t have to fear getting an eviction note, for dancing on the line a little too long. You’re happy that he has all these new friends. You’re happy he’s enjoying himself. You’re happy, because he’s happy.  So why does it hurt so much?
You’ve had feelings for your best friend for quite some time. You tried to push them away, which in return just seemed to cultivate them and make them stronger. You tried your damn best just to be his quirky happy best friend that was along with him for the ride. You never minded being the one to pick up the pieces when he fell apart. He would do the same for you… He would do the same for you, right?
You wipe away a tear escaping from your eye. You’re sitting in the shower crying on the floor. This is really what you’ve become? You think to yourself, as you lean your head back against the wall, looking up at the wooden ceiling.
He would do the same for you…
You dryly laugh to yourself, of course he wouldn’t, because then he would have known when you started pulling away. You wipe the tears away, get up and rise off your face once more, before stepping out. You look at where your mirror used to be. You took it down, not able to face yourself was easier than to accept this is just how you look permanently now. Dark circles underneath your eyes, as they’ve sunken quite a bit.
You kind of forgot how you really looked sometimes, until you caught yourself in something reflective, like your pc when it ran out of power, or your metallic glazed mug. You smile bitterly at the memory, Corpse had bought it to you when you reached 100.000 subs on YouTube, saying the play button wasn’t enough. It used to be a prized possession, now it was one of your worst.
You’re happy you build your YouTube brand on variety gaming, without a face cam. You couldn’t imagine having to explain away the way you looked. The monotone in your voice was hard enough.
I was just having an off day
Sorry, kind of sick today
My microphone isn’t picking up my voice probably.
You sigh to yourself as you collect your phone, and your empty bag. The fridge doesn’t fill itself. You’re pretty sure your fans caught onto something being wrong by the 4th excuse. You lock the door behind you, and glace up at the sky. It seems to be getting darker. You sigh as you realize you’re not going to be back home before it’s raining.
You walk the short distance down to the bus as you wait for it to arrive, you scroll through your twitter feed. It’s filled with pretty girls, much prettier than you are, throwing themselves at Corpse. You get a sudden urge to throw your phone into the passing traffic, but money has been tight lately with your down tuning of content, to take more time to be able to self-pity in the living room with a shitty romance show going on.
You really lost your best friend to your own feelings, huh. What an anticlimax.
You step onto the bus, not noticing the black dressed, black masked guy in the end of it. Watching you intentionally. If you had been able to read minds, you would hear the ongoing battle in his head on whether or not to approach you.
The bus pulls up the grocery store and you get off. Not sparing the other two passengers getting off a second thought. You pull your jacket closer together, as the wind starts getting colder. You finally arrive in the store, just a few seconds before the rain starts to drop.
The calming ominous music of the store fills your eyes, as you focus on getting something edible that isn’t directly just sugar with more sugar. You pick your groceries carefully, nothing that needs a lot of preparation. But if you eat one more tv meal, you’re going to throw it up. You’re too distracted by what pasta to choose, that you don’t realise the guy in black has now passed you for the 5th time, while you’re in aisle 9.
You choose both and head for the register. You sigh as you watch the long line, there’s only one way out, and you’re certainly not leaving your groceries now. You step in line. And pull out your phone. The lock screen taunting you with a picture of you and Corpse mushed together somehow in his gaming chair, you’re pretty sure it was Dave that took the photo. You shake your head and check the time. The bus just left. You sigh knowing there is a little over an hour before the next one leaves. Fucking public transport.
It finally becomes you, you watch the price tick up further and further. You take your card out. Swipes it through.
Declined.
What? You try it again
Declined.
C’mon, it has got to work. You try again
Declined.
And again
Declined.
And again
Declined.
You smile apologetic to the cashier, as you start to figure out what you won’t be needing too much.
“I’ll pay for her.”  A deep voice speaks further down the line. You know exactly the person whose voice that is.
“Please, you don’t have to-“ You watch as Corpse steps out of the line and puts a box of cereal on the register for the cashier to ring up with the rest of your stuff.
“I don’t-“
“That’ll be 79 dollars and 32 cents, please.” The cashier ignores you.
Corpse pays and gets the receipt, knowing you’re going to beg him for you to pay him back. You used to do the same when you were little. Corpse stands by as he watches you pack your groceries, and he waits for you. He barely recognized you in the bus. It’s been weeks since you last spoke, and even longer since you last saw each other. He knows you were getting bad, but not this bad. He don’t know why he never reached out he knows he should. But there are too many unsaid things hanging in the air, and neither of you wanting to be the one to pick the first one.
He reaches out to take one of the two bags. But you take it right underneath him, and walk to the doors, leaving him to hurry after or be left behind.
“Y/N I-“
He gets surprised by the rain, he hadn’t noticed the darkening sky earlier. You keep walking until he calls out after you again.
“Y/N! Please!”
You stop in you tracks. To think you had missed hearing your name from his lips, he uses it like it’s not the only thing you have left that’s your own.
He jogs the remaining distance and puts his hand on your shoulder, and you let him turn you around to make him face you. He’s not sure if it’s the rain, or if it’s tears that’s starting to fall. He takes the rest of your face in, the dark circles, the clear weight loss. He know, you don’t know how much you don’t look like yourself.
“Listen, thank you, I’ll pay you back next month. But if you’re not going to say anything, I have places to be, and-“
He puts his hand on her chin caressing it. She suddenly looks so small standing there in front of him. You quickly pull yourself back, wanting to lean into his touch, but knowing that it would only make what hurts, hurt more in the end.
“What did you want?” You snap at him. And something snaps in him too, as his brows furrows together.
“Oh I don’t know. Say hi to my best who just up and disappeared from the face of earth two months ago. I wonder what I want.” He snaps back at you, his deep voice nearly emitting a growl of frustration from him.
“So what, that’s what it takes 2 months before you want to find me. Did you get tired of all those girls throwing themselves at you? Did you get tired of your new friends you just cast me aside from? Did you get tired of all the money? Please do tell.” You stretch out your arms in a welcoming stance.
Corpse takes a step back, you’ve never yelled at him like this before. Tears streaming down your face as you’re soothing anger.
“…You think I threw you aside?” Corpse sucks in a breath waiting for your anger to come at him, but instead you suddenly look small again.
“Didn’t you Corpse? The excuse why I could never come over anymore, why you never had time. I was happy for you, you know, I supported you all the way. Heck I even fucking loved you, and you cast me aside, you up and threw away so many memories and a long friendship, just because I suddenly didn’t fit into your new group.” You look him straight in the eyes. “Corpse, I’m tired okay. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t keep picking up your pieces and help you reassemble yourself, for you to keep casting me aside. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t need your pity; I don’t need anything from you. I’ll make sure you get the money first thing next month.”
She takes a step away from him, the before intimate atmosphere now fully escaped.
“All I ask is that we part here. I love you too much to watch you fall apart again.” Your voice is trembling as you turn around heading for the bus stop, leaving Corpse in the rain to fend for himself.
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kireimarkeu · 3 years
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For Us; j.jh
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+another repost! i just read this and not sure why i even posted it, this was so terribly done lol
summary; jaehyun, you and your first born on a reality tv show
2.8k words lol
this is literally… so so… terrible. you guys shouldn’t read this because i literally put 0 effort in this ;; also this is female reader, i don’t know how to make this gender neutral…
if i see anyone liking this i will get so mad because this is absolutely trash i will delete this in 3 years >:(
+episode 1 
The show started with a toddler playing on the bed, obvious that his parents were on each side of him. 
Oh? Do we have a new member?
The baby suddenly turns to poke his father’s cheeks. His father grumbles in response, pushing the small hands away from his face lightly. 
“Daddy,” the toddler mumbles, “wakey wakey,”
Oh? This baby can speak English?
His father let out a low grumble. His face was blurred from editing. 
The toddler pinches his father’s cheeks as he let out a giggle. 
“Daddy, you look funny,”
What? He can speak Korean too? I wonder who their parents are.
The toddler then leans down to press kisses all over his father’s face, his father cracks a grin. 
“Hello, I am NCT127’s Jaehyun,” Jaehyun bow to the camera with a smile. 
“Hello, I am Y/N, wife of Jaehyun and mother of Jung Seungwoo,” you greet. 
“How long have the both of you been married for?”
“We’ve been married for almost 4 years,” replies Jaehyun. 
“How old is Jung Seungwoo?”
“He’s turning 2 years this year,”
“How many kids do the both of you want?”
You look at Jaehyun, who was already staring at you. The both of you let out a laugh. 
“I actually want 2 kids,” you say, “but before we got married, Jaehyun said he wants 5!”
“I was joking!” he exclaims, “but now it’s up to y/n, it’s her body and I’ll respect her,”
Jaehyun’s eyes flutter open, his dimples showing as he grins at his first born. He automatically puckers his lips, waiting for his kiss. Seungwoo didn’t hesitate to press his lips against Jaehyun’s.
“Good morning,” Jaehyun mumbles, shutting his eyes. 
His son whines, tugging on his father’s huge hands, “I’m hungry,”
Without hesitation, Jaehyun stood up, carrying the toddler in his arms. 
Woah! Their house is so big and clean! As expected from an idol!
Jaehyun places his child on the baby chair, leaning against the counter, facing him, “What do you want to eat, Seungwoo-ya?”
“Strawberries!” Seungwoo says cheerfully, slamming his tiny hands on the table. 
His father hums and takes out the box of strawberries. He washes the strawberries thoroughly before cutting it into edible pieces and filling them in a bowl. 
“Here you go,”
Jaehyun places the bowl of fruits on the table. His son reached out to take the fruits in his hands but was stopped by his father’s voice. 
“Jung Seungwoo,” Jaehyun glares at his child. 
“Why were you being mean to him?”
Jaehyun laughs, “was that mean? The both of us have been trying to teach him dining etiquette,”
“He’s almost 2 and still isn’t very good at using utensils, so we have been a little stricter with him,” you explain further. 
“Thank you for the food,” Seungwoo says as he clumsily pokes the strawberries with the plastic fork his dad has given him. 
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
Jaehyun had spent the whole day spending with his child alone. He had cook, played, change diapers for Seungwoo all alone. Because of the show, you had to leave for a day. 
After putting Seungwoo to sleep, he stepped out to the living room in the dark. He pulled out his phone, dialling your number that he had memorized. 
“Baby,” he whispers when he hears you pick up. 
“Jaehyun, how was it?” you ask him. 
He lets out a sigh, “exhausting,”
You laugh at his response, “did he behave the whole day?”
He hums, “yeah, we went to the market earlier then to the playground since he wanted to play,” he explains. 
You hum in response. You didn’t really know what to say since you know the cameras are still filming your husband. 
Jaehyun lets out another sigh. 
“You okay?” you ask. You could sense that Jaehyun wasn’t only tired, but he was also down. 
Jaehyun finally lets out a choked sob, he tried to quieten his sob, knowing his son is asleep in his room. 
Is he crying? Why is he crying?
“Jae? Why are you crying, baby?”
It took him a while to find the right words, “I didn’t know it took this much effort to take care of a child,” he whispers, “I’ve never properly taken care of my own child, I feel like a bad father,”
“Don’t say that,” you frown, “you’re a good father, Jaehyun. Seungwoo loves you.”
“I’m sorry for not helping you earlier,” Jaehyun whispers, his voice breaking, “I’m going to help you more now,”
You smile at his words, “It’s okay, Jaehyun. Don’t think too much about it, okay?”
Jaehyun lets out a shaky sigh, tilting his head up to wipe the stray tears, “okay,”
“Now go to bed, baby. Seungwoo doesn’t like sleeping alone,”
Right when you finished your sentence, Seungwoo started crying in his room. Jaehyun rushes to his son, stroking his hair. 
“Daddy is here,” Jaehyun whispers, lulling Seungwoo to sleep. 
“You’re a good dad, Jaehyun,” you continue, “go to sleep, okay? I’ll see you in the morning,”
“Okay, I love you,”
“I love you too, Jung”
+episode 3
Seungwoo was in the middle of the both of you, his left hand was wrapped around Jaehyun’s as the other was wrapped around yours. He would occasionally pull himself up, so he felt like he was flying. 
“Seungwoo, what do you want to eat today?” you ask him, looking down at the playful boy. 
“I want to eat something spicy!” he giggles. 
You gasp, “spicy? Will you be able to take it?”
He nods, “I want something super spicy!”
“If that’s what you want,” shrugs Jaehyun, “we’ll get you the spiciest food,”
Oh? Are they being serious? Are they going to feed Seungwoo really spicy food?
The scene changed to Seungwoo sitting with a small portion of Jajjangmyeon in front of him. 
“I’ll eat this well!” cheers Seungwoo as he picks up his chopsticks to eat. 
The emcees laugh at the scene. 
“can he actually take spicy food?”
“Nope!” you reply, “he’s tried cup noodles but complained but it was too spicy,”
“He thinks Jajjangmyeon is spicy.”
+episode 7
“Seungwoo,” calls Jaehyun, walking out of his room, “go get ready,”
To everyone’s astonishment, Seungwoo continues playing with his toys, ignoring his father’s words. 
“Seungwoo,” Jaehyun repeats. When his son continues ignoring him, he lets out a tired sigh, walking to you. 
Oh, what’s wrong with Seungwoo?
You suddenly came out of your room, walking over to your son, “Seungwoo, go get ready, we’ll be leaving soon.”
Seungwoo stops playing with his toys, looking up at you, “okay.”
Is he mad at his dad?
15 minutes ago…
“Daddy I want to eat chocolate,” whines Seungwoo, tugging on his father’s leg. 
His father shakes his head, “you’ve eaten enough, no more chocolates, Seungwoo.”
Seungwoo let out another string of whines, pulling his father’s pants, “but mommy says I can eat some!”
“No,” Jaehyun says sternly, “you’ve eaten enough, Seungwoo. 
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
Seungwoo was on your left, his hand holding onto yours. On your right was your husband, who was also holding your hand.
Your son has been throwing tantrums at his father ever since at home because Jaehyun wouldn’t let him eat chocolates. 
Seungwoo notices how Jaehyun was holding on your hand. Letting go of your fingers, he walks over and pulls your hand from your husband’s and holds your now free hand.
He’s so cute!
You let out a soft laugh, looking over at Jaehyun who was shocked by Seungwoo actions. His son turns around to stick his tongue out at his father.
Your husband walks on the other side of you, secretly reaching out for your empty hand. 
“Seungwoo, do you like mommy more or daddy more?”
“Mommy!” the toddler replies without hesitation, showing his grin. 
“Why do you like mommy more?”
Seungwoo looks around, making sure his parents wasn’t in sight, “because mommy lets me eat chocolate!”
“Mommy, carry me,” Seungwoo whines when he saw his father standing next to you. He lifted his limbs, waiting for you to carry him. 
“You’re a big boy, Seungwoo, you don’t need mommy to carry you,” replies Jaehyun. 
You hit his arm, letting out a laugh. You carried your son, placing him on your hips as the two of you walk happily. 
“Mommy you love me more, right?” Seungwoo asks, his hands on your cheeks. 
“Hm? I love both you and daddy the same,” you answer. 
He shakes his head, “No, daddy is a meanie, you love me more right?”
Jaehyun scoffs at Seungwoo, “mommy loves me more,”
You chuckle, “I love the both of you the same, stop arguing.”
Seungwoo suddenly pulls your face closer to his face as he pecked your lips, quickly pulling away. 
“Do you love me more, now?”
“I can do that too,”
Before you could even reply, Jaehyun used his pointer finger so you were facing him. Your husband left a sweet yet longing kiss on your lips, pulling away with a cheeky grin as your son let out a grumble.
+episode 11
“Can we invite Naeun over?” Seungwoo asks, tugging on your hand. 
You hum. Naeun was one of Seungwoo best friends, and one of your husband’s close friends too. They practically grew up together. 
“Babe,” you turn to your husband who was watching the news, “is Taeyong free? Seungwoo wants to see Naeun.”
“I’ll text him,” your husband replies, fishing out his phone to text his friend. 
Seungwoo crawls into his father’s lap, watching his dad type a message to Taeyong. When he saw his father finish typing, he looks at Jaehyun with a cheeky smile. 
“Can I play games on your phone?”
Before Jaehyun can even reply, Seungwoo already snatched his phone from his grip, crawling out of his father’s lap to play games on the phone. 
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
About an hour later, you hear the doorbell ring. Seungwoo quickly ran to the door, waiting for his parents to open the door. 
“Naeun-ie!” cheers Seungwoo as he hugs his friend, pulling the little girl in his room, playing around. 
“Hi Hyung, sorry I had to call you so last minute,” Jaehyun apologizes, hugging his friend. 
After most of the members getting married, most of them have decided to focus on their private life. 
“It’s okay, Naeun was missing Seungwoo, anyway,” replies Taeyong. He suddenly hands you a bag of fruits, “I remember you telling me that Seungwoo really loves strawberries, so I bought some on the way,”
That is so nice of Taeyong!
“You didn’t have to! Thank you, Taeyong,”
You place the bags of strawberries on the counter. 
“Where’s your wife?” asks Jaehyun, noticing that his friend came alone. 
“She’s busy with work, she couldn’t follow me,” explains Taeyong.
+Episode 18
The scene started with Seungwoo attempting to crack an egg, putting it in the bowl. Luckily, the attempt was successful, although there were some eggshells in it but Jaehyun managed to take those out. 
“What were you guys doing?”
“It’s Mother’s Day today and we decided to surprise y/n,” says Jaehyun with a smile. “I told y/n to go out with her friends today so I can prepare the surprise.”
Jaehyun planned to bake a cake for you. He originally wanted to make a romantic dinner for you, but you had told him you would be getting dinner with your friends, so he decided against that. 
Seungwoo climbs down from the chair to go to a camera, whispering, “Daddy is a really good cook!”
“Daddy,” Seungwoo calls out, his father hums without turning around, “can I give the uncles yoghurt drinks?”
“Go ahead, Seungwoo,”
The uncles might’ve been there for a long time, that’s why he’s offering them drinks. He’s such a sweet boy!
It took the boys a total of 3 hours to finish preparing the cake. 
Jaehyun heave a sigh, wiping the sweat on his upper lips with his sleeves. Jaehyun had frosting on his cheeks and forehead. 
“Daddy, you have frosting on your face,” Seungwoo giggles, pointing at his father. 
Jaehyun cracked a smile, even though he didn’t bother wiping the excess frosting. “How is it, Seungwoo?”
Seungwoo turns to face the cake. 
The cake is huge! It had 3 layers and it was covered in white and baby pink frosting (your favourite colour). He had also bought some edible flowers, sticking them on the sides of the cake. 
Jaehyun put so much effort and thought into this!
“We have 2 more hours until mommy comes home,” says Jaehyun, looking at the clock, “we’ll take a shower then will you help me with the flowers, Seungwoo?”
His son nods excitedly, “yes!”
After the both of them have taken a shower, Jaehyun brings out 5 packets of flower petals. 
Jaehyun bends down to face Seungwoo. His son reaches out for the bag of flowers, but Jaehyun snatches it before he could grab it. 
“We are going to put the flowers and lead them all the way to the living room, okay? Can you do that?”
Seungwoo nods and Jaehyun passes him one bag of flower petals. The both of them start arranging the flower petals, making sure it was perfect. When they reach the living room, Jaehyun had arrange the flower petals to make a heart in the middle. 
“When mommy comes, you’ll stand in the middle of the heart, okay?” Jaehyun instructs. 
Jaehyun receives a text from you saying you were on the way home. Panic fills Jaehyun, reaching out for Seungwoo, carrying him to the middle of the heart. He hands Seungwoo a bouquet of flower. 
“When mommy comes in, just stay still until mommy comes to you okay?” Jaehyun says quickly, adjusting his son’s hair. 
“Daddy you’re sweating,” mumbles Seungwoo. 
“I know! I’m nervous!” his father lets out a nervous sigh. Jaehyun stands up, “I’m going to hide in the room, so wait until Mommy comes over, okay?”
“Okay!”
“And make sure you scream ‘happy mother’s day’ to mommy later!” reminds Jaehyun. 
15 minutes later, Seungwoo hears the door unlock and stands up, waiting for his mother to walk in. 
When you saw the flower petals on the floor you were confused. 
“What is this?” you mumble, loud enough for the camera to capture. You walk further in, following the petals. You gasp when you saw Seungwoo standing in the middle of a flower petal heart. 
“Seungwoo-ah, what is this? Where’s daddy?” you ask, going over to your son. 
“Happy mother’s day!” yells Seungwoo, running over to you. You immediately carry him In your arms, pressing kisses on his face. 
You feel arms snake around your waist. You turn around slightly to see Jaehyun smiling next to you. 
“Did you do all this?” you ask him. 
“Who else?” he murmurs. 
“I helped too!” Seungwoo interrupts, raising both his arms. 
“You did a great job, baby,” you coo, pressing more kisses on your son’s face. 
Jaehyun pouts at your words, unhappy that you didn’t give him a kiss. You put Seungwoo down, who immediately pulls you to the kitchen to show you the cake. 
“You made this too?!” you gasp, “this is crazy, Jaehyun!” 
“And yet you haven’t given me a kiss,” your husband sulk from behind. 
You laugh, turning around and placing your hands on his cheeks, pulling him closer to you. You lean in to capture his lips in a sweet kiss. 
Aww!!!
“Ewww,” Seungwoo groans, letting go of your hand. 
You giggle at your son’s reaction, pulling away from Jaehyun. 
The 3 of you sat on the floor of the living room while Seungwoo plays with his toys. 
“Did you purposely kick me out of the house to do this?” you ask your husband, turning to face him with a smirk. 
Jaehyun had one arm wrapped around your shoulder while the both of you lean against the couch. 
Your husband groans, tilting his head back, “you can’t say it that way!”
You chuckle, resting your head on his shoulder, “I loved it, how long did it take you?”
“5 hours,”
“Really?” you pull away to stare at your husband, “you deserve a kiss then,”
Your husband immediately perks up at the idea and puckers his lips, waiting for yours. You lean in to press another sweet kiss on his pretty pink lips. 
The both of you were interrupted with Seungwoo placing his fingers in between your lips. 
He really hates it when his father kisses his mother!
“Should we play a game?” Jaehyun asks. 
“What game?” you nod at him.
“We let Seungwoo pick who he likes more,” 
You scoff at your husbands words, “why? Do you think he would run to you?”
“Of course!”
Seungwoo was standing a few metres away from his parents. 
“Seungwoo, you have to run whoever is your favourite, okay?”
The toddler nods. 
I wonder who he would go to, since he had spent the whole day with his dad.
As expected by you, Seungwoo came crashing on your arms. You laugh in victory. 
After spending the whole day with your dad do you like daddy more or mommy more?
Seungwoo leans closer, whispering, “I like daddy and mommy the same,”
598 notes · View notes
absolutebl · 3 years
Text
This Week in BL
May 2021 Wk 3
Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.
It’s a cray cray Friday when Vietnam gets its eng subs up before GMMTV Thailand. What alter-reality are we in? Well, the Vietnamese offerings are better right now anyway. (Oooo, feel that burn.) 
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Ongoing Series - Thai
Top Secret Together Ep 2 - pulping it up in the best possible way. Sure sound and production values are pants, and in classic Thai fashion the editing in post is exacerbating (rather than fixing) pacing issues, but it’s still CUTE AF. I don’t even mind the added university storyline, because they’ve got good chemistry (and a confident gay fresher after a panicked gay hazer is an old favorite... what can I say, SOTUS was my first love). We aren’t spending too much time with any one couple, so it’s weighted a lot better than Brothers was, but also character development is slow. 
Siew Sum Noi Ep 2 - Unfortunately, it’s just too hard to find, plus no subs. I’m dropping it in the hopes it comes back on my radar some day. 
Y-Destiny Ep 8 - (Thurs) It’s rough having a ghost boyfriend, half your friends are scared, the other half think you’re crazy, and kissing shortens your lifespan. This was a cute couple even if I wasn’t wild about the surrounding story. 
Close Friend Ep 5: (Dear My Star/JimmyTommy) - about high school penpals. It had to rely entirely on voice over work as the actors only meet face to face at the end. It’s a good thing they are appealing screen presences on their own, with good vocal control. It’s hard to imagine any other BL pair carrying this kinda plot. It’s by far my favorite of the series so far, and I’m not even a big JimmyTommy fan. 
Fish Upon The Sky Ep 7 - no subs. Do we care? Not really. Because we have... 
Nitiman Ep 3 - currently my favorite out of Thailand. It’s the university Thai BL i’ve been waiting for since... when was the last good one? My Engineer? Yowza. Anyway we got: head on my shoulder, baby is a floppy drunk (but still wants to be in control), proximity alert, boyfriend’s closet, seme gets seriously jelly, and a cute twist on feeding him. There’s something fun and complex about Jin’s character. He’s not a panicked bi. He knows exactly what’s going on, he just hasn’t decided if he wants Bb or not. He clearly enjoys being looked after, the compliments, and the attention, but he’s not sure if he’s going to like what happens if he gives in. I like that twist on the usual tsundere uke archetype a lot, cautious rather than willfully obtuse or freaked out. We can see Jin realizing in stages: I like this person, I like that they like me, I like the romantic attentiveness. But in the background is... do I actually want to f*k him? It’s a dynamic we don’t often see on BL. 
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Ongoing Series - Not Thai
HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 10 fin - the most ridiculous show using BLs worst tropes in a sort of weird smoothie of bitter greens and too ripe banana. The ending was the sappiest cheesiest thing ever, like cheese syrup tapped from the cheese tree. So of course I loved it, but I’m pretty sure I giggled through all the bits meant to be profound. Because, in the end, to tolerate this show at all, you just can’t take ANY of it seriously. RECOMMENDED (with some SERIOUS reservations and trigger warnings.) Full review here. 
Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 1-2 - I don’t mind a damaged seme character but this one is a bit weird for me. Like creepy Cheese in the Trap level weird. On the bright side, the story has given our tsundere uke good motivation for his angst and great existing friendships, loyalty, and likability. Plus I’m invested in the cafe owner/innocent puppy side dishes. So if it’s only the seme character I’m not jiving with, and he’s the most established actor, it should all turn out fine. I believe in you, Taiwanese BL. 
Papa & Daddy (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - speaking of belief. This such a good show but they gave us a cliffhanger ending. Now we must hope against hope for season two. That’s never guaranteed with Taiwan tho. So, I’m docking a few points and saying, RECOMMENDED so long as you realize it’s a cliffhanger. 
Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 1-9 (BL subplot) - this is a good het romance, but the fact that the BL subplot is a beautifully acted disaster bi + confident gay means you’re hearing about it whether you want to or not. Plus they just added in some GL! Come on! I gotta support Taiwan normalizing queer to this extent. They are fighting the good fight and if I also have to watch a career lady and her much younger softest straight boi get it on, too? Twist my arm with that service sub subtext. Go on Taiwan, TWIST IT. It’s on Viki. Join the revolution.   * Incidentally if you actually like the D/s het dynamic of this show, I highly recommend Japanese Kimi wa Petto - career woman keeps a hot young dancer boy as a pet. Oh yes, an actual pet, that IS the pitch. Never doubt Japan when kink is on the line. It’s also on Viki. Go get your kink on, thank me later. (If it helps: That was not a request.)  
Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 2 (AKA 5) - love triangles aren’t my thing, but if you’re gonna do it short form, by all means bring in the lead’s other BL pairing so the chemistry is on point. Now I've no idea who I want him to end up with. Can’t they just be in a poly triad? 
My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 7 - I’m still enjoying it a lot. It’s still unabashedly queer and the tension is ramping up. We now have secret identity, blackmail, femme fatale, faen fatale, and incoming seme confrontation. Best of all, the series is still airing, which makes it longer than any other Vietnamese BL I’ve seen (aside from Tein Bromance - which is just too weird to count). 
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Gossip - Thai BL 
SEVEN PROJECT TEASERS
No one is entirely sure what Studio Wabi Sabi’s Seven Project/7Project will entail. 
It might be like Close Friend (1 episode per couple, no linking), 
or Y-Destiny (2 episodes per couple, loosely linked), 
or The En of Love (4 episodes per couple, linked but independent consecutive stories). 
They’re giving the couple’s arcs separate titles. So each one would be what? Seven Project: Once Upon a Time or the like? We’re in Taiwanese title territory people and NO ONE WANTS TO GO THERE. Anygay... 
Once Upon a Time is the BounPrem (og UWMA) anchor story, and seems to be the most dramatic and likely saddest. These two can handle most of what’s thrown at them at this juncture, so it should be good. 
Vs Love is a BoomPeak (og Make it Right) university vehicle. Since I thought Boom was done with our nonsense, I couldn’t be more thrilled and surprised this pair is doing another show together. I don’t think either of them are the greatest actors but I find Peak very endearing and Boom charismatic on screen, so I’ll watch. 
Would You be My Love is the hotly anticipated SantaEarth launch. They’re a (cultivated) IRL ship and Earth is an established BL actor. They have great chemistry and high energy so this could be lots of fun. 
We are also getting a GL from this series from established BL actresses Samantha and Pineare. Nothing teased yet on that, but I’m looking forward to this installment the most. Also curious to see how the ladies handle the branding and promo side, not to mention the culture. (Thailand variety shows gonna force *girls* to play the Pepero game?) 
Secret Crush on You upcoming Thai BL with no release date, co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with all fresh faces. (Previously known as Stalker the series.) It looks like pure pulp and I’m not wild about the plot but could be better than expected as it’s adapted from a novel. Cheewin is an okay director when he has an actual story to follow. 
Don’t Say No the series. Coming from the producers of TharnType this is the JaFirst vehicle many have been waiting for. Friends to lovers + a good boy/bad boy pairing on a sports romance foundation. It’s basketball so they tapped Meen as well (he’s semi-pro). The bad news? You get one guess as to who is writing the darn thing? Yep it’s MAME. So, ya know, expect some slam dunk kidnapping, a light dribbling of rape, and me turning into a basketcase. AKA... 
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Will I have to live blog this series in order to survive it? That seems to be the only way I can. So probably. Which means the bad sports puns will continue. Look, if I’m suffering, SO ARE YOU! 
Rumors of a new YinWar vehicle The Best Story (mini series) coming in July. Also rumors that their previously announced Love Mechanics (full length series) has either been delayed, is facing money issues, or is moving studios, or all three. 
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Breaking News 
DELAYED (I’m talking these three off the watch list until we get new airing dates) 
Love Area’s release was pushed out but it got a trailer. 
Golden Blood was supposed to drop Weds but comments in MDL report that it is delayed due to C19.  
Love’s Outlet (Taiwan) is supposed to have started a 50 episode run (only 3-5 min each, what utter nonsense). Sadly, this delay is due to a surge in cases in Taiwan which was doing so well, but also doesn’t have many inoculations. 
Bad Buddy has started workshopping at GMMTV actual. 
Kang Insoo’s BTS for Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding is SO FLIPPING CUTE. You have to watch it. Trust me, I don’t rec behind the scenes stuff often. 
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Next Week Looks Like This: 
Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.
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Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.
Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.
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148 notes · View notes
petri808 · 3 years
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Nalu Yakuza Au *cover art by @jmoart214 💜
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
The tit for tat game was well known to both of their top confidants and lieutenants because it had been going on ever since Natsu and Lucy broke up. Plus, it was hard to get around such knowledge considering most of them came from the same neighborhoods. These intrigues ebbed and flowed like waves. Months could pass by without any interactions between the two, at other times they’d go back and forth continuously until one of them finally gave up, and on the odd occasion ended in a huge fight that led to another round of ignoring each other. Up until now, it had been kind of amusing to watch them torture each other because it was better than a drama shows on television. But that didn’t mean Natsu, and Lucy’s friends didn’t worry about one or both being truly hurt one day because of it.
“It’s fine,” Natsu rolled his eyes as Gray chastised him after the soapland incident. The two men were at Natsu’s home after work hours and supposed to be relaxing. But clearly his friend didn’t want to drop the subject. “What’s the big deal?”
“Dude, you let yourself be blindfolded in a public space! Have you forgotten what kind of business we’re in? What if it had been an assassin instead?”
“Oh, that’s just ridiculous. We’re talking about Lucy’s company, and I trust their security measures because she has just as much to lose if a hit took place there.”
“Still, you should be more careful, at least take a bodyguard with you…”
Natsu’s eyebrow twitched in irritation. “And what, so they can watch the show? We got any voyeurs on the payroll? Cause I can’t think of anyone here who’d wanna see another guy getting his balls fondled!”
Gray ran a hand down his face. “So not the mental image I wanted. You’re missing the point.” He sighed. “Natsu you are the head of this clan, and your safety is my top priority.”
“I get it, I get it,” Natsu drawled.
“And frankly,” Gray continued, “you’ve become distracted by her lately.”
“Tch! No, I haven’t!”
“Yeah, you are. You think I haven’t noticed? I know you drive by her place sometimes. I know you’ve followed her to that coffee shop she likes to frequent. But ever since her employee was robbed, things have escalated again.”
“You’re imagining things and apparently spying on me. I’m just keeping an eye on the competition.”
“Watching over you is my job! That’s not spying.” Gray crossed his arms. “And oh, it’s no doubt that you’re keeping an eye on her. That’s why you went to Katsunuma’s party and to soapland too. The problem is you’re getting sloppy and sloppy gets people killed.”
Natsu groaned. “Are you done yet? We’re supposed to be enjoying the baseball game, not psychoanalyzing my life.”
“Almost.” Gray placed a hand on his friends’ knee and leaned in. “Natsu, you’ve been chasing that tail since high school, just lock her down and convince her to work together already.”
Natsu snorted a laugh. “Gray we all grew up together, so what in all these years makes you think that’s a possibility? You know damn well Lucy’s not a woman you can control without her consent.” Natsu knew that, and frankly he loved that part of her. In fact, it made him even more fired up whenever he thought about it, just like a treasure you don’t just find but must win at the end of a game. “I’ll find a way, some day.”
“Well until that day arrives, could you promise me you’ll be more cautious?”
“Fine, fine,” Natsu waved his hand. “I’ll back off of Lucy for now.”
“Good.” Gray relaxed back onto his recliner thinking the drama was over.
“However, there is a new guy I want surveillance placed on.”
“Who?”
“The bartender from the party.”
Gray groaned. “Seriously? Why? He’s just a bartender!”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Was he spiking the drinks or something? Dealing drugs at the party?”
“Maybe.”
Gray huffed. “You really gonna try that? Do I look like an idiot? This is just straight jealousy talking.”
“I don’t care! I want someone to dig up what they can on the guy!”
“No, what you wanna know is if he fucked Lucy that night!”
Natsu jumped up with his fists clenched. “Fuck you!”
“Fuck you too!” Gray stood up and matched his boss’s energy. “Unless you give me a damn good reason to check into him, I’m not wasting my guy’s time! You might be the boss, but don’t you fucking forget who you’re talking to! I’m not some punk off the streets!”
Realizing he was taking things too far, Natsu sat back down. “Sorry.”
Gray sighed and plopped back down too. “I only joined because you asked me to and you’re my best friend, then I helped you build this new empire, so I’m just as invested in protecting it as you are. But Natsu, personal emotions have led to the downfall of many in this business, and as a friend, I’ll check you any time I think you’re going to far.”
“You’re right…” Natsu sighed too. “She just gets me so worked up.”
“Don’t I know it,” Gray laughed, but stopped when Natsu glared at him. “Sorry, it slipped out.”
“But I swear, there’s something suspicious about him. When he saw me, I thought he just reacted because he thought I was Lucy’s boyfriend or something, but the more I think about it, he might have recognized me.”
“Well, that wouldn’t necessarily be suspicious either.”
“True. But the look in his eyes just made me wonder.”
“Alright…” Gray groaned, “if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll have someone do some digging. So, you said he has orange hair and glasses, and the name on his tag was Loke?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s an unusual name, shouldn’t be too hard to check on.”
Over the course of a couple of weeks, Gray sent out feelers for any information on this Loke guy. Katsunuma junior gave them their first small lead that the bartender had worked the party through a local food catering company. That catering company was a legitimate business who had both full-time staff as well as independent contractors brought in per event as needed. Loke had been one of the latter. From there Gray obtained a last name, de Lioncourt.
According to his sources at the local precinct, Loke de Lioncourt had no rap sheet, no prior dealings with police, and for all they knew was an average citizen. The man’s Line blog profile listed him as a 28-year-old, Japanese/French American, model and bartender, and it was filled with pictures from events, parties, as well as many gorgeous women— none of which contained Lucy. But as Gray trolled through the man’s feed, he did come across one person he recognized and passed the information along to Natsu.
“Wow, she’s in a bunch of photos,” Natsu mumbled as he scrolled through the blog.
“Well, considering Cana’s reputation are you surprised. Parties and alcohol are the two things that woman lives for.” Gray laughed. “Now see, this makes sense to me. Lucy and him, not so much.”
“Tch… still pisses me off he even tried.”
“Lucy’s a free woman, she can go out with whoever she wants to.”
“We’ll see about that,” Natsu mumbled low.
“What was that?” Gray asked with a raised brow.
“Nothing.”
“Better be nothing, cause this is a dead end. He’s just a flirty bartender. It’s how they make tips.”
“Yeah, yeah, fine.” Natsu sat back in his chair. “So, back to business. What this I heard about some missing stock?”
“Oh, right. One of the warehouse clerks noticed a shortage, but when I checked with Yura, he said the books were fine. I had him show it to me, and it appears the numbers were just inverted by accident. So, instead of 185 kilos, it’s supposed to be 158 kilos.”
“Did you talk to the clerk again? Does he have any history of messing up like this?”
“Nah, he’s one of our better clerks.”
“Just keep an eye on it.”
“Sure thing, boss. By the way, have you seen Gajeel today?” Gray questioned. “I haven’t seen him.”
“He called me this morning said he wasn’t feeling well, thinks he ate something bad for dinner last night.”
“Tch, seriously? Thought he had an iron stomach?”
Natsu shrugged. “Must’a been some bad sushi or something. We ain’t got much happening today, so it’s fine. Anything else? I got some stuff I need to finish.”
Gray tapped his chin. “Just a reminder you have an appointment with our tech guy dropping by later this week to go over some upgrades on the system.”
“Like I’m supposed to know anything about that stuff, it’s what I pay him for.”
“You still gotta approve it,” Gray shrugged and took his leave.
Once the man was completely out of the office, Natsu opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a nondescript box he’d hidden inside. He grinned to himself. It was time to make another special delivery. Even though he’d told Gray he was backing off the whole Lucy and Loke subject, there was no way he was gonna let it slide. Natsu didn’t care if the man seemed legit, and he wasn’t the first nor would probably be the last that he’d eventually scared away. And besides, being a Yakuza boss had a lot of down times too, easily filled with having a little fun.
Today’s little care package was being sent to Lucy by a courier service and Natsu just had to drop it off to the delivery company. Just a normal company like Kuroneko Yamato so it wouldn’t rouse too many suspicions. It was turning into a fun game for him just coming up with ideas of what he could do to rile Lucy up or irritate this Loke guy. Natsu chuckled to himself. So far, his favorite prank was a box of small sized condoms and a bottle of enhancement pills that he’d had delivered to Loke while on the job at another party. He’d even snuck in to watch it delivered, gaining a good laugh when the man took a peek in the box and frowned at its contents.
It was childish, but Natsu didn’t care. Every day for two weeks now, something new was sent to Loke. Random gifts like children’s candy to a toy gun, a big bottle of lubricant wrapped in a bow, a week’s worth of meals sent for lunch one day, even an empty box with rocks inside it just to drive the man crazy wondering who in the world was sending them. Lucy too wasn’t immune to his pranks, though hers had a different feel to them. Flowers with no note attached. Tickets to a canceled show he made up. A supposed dinner invite from Loke that wasn’t real— okay that was to test her, but she didn’t fall for it. And today’s little care package fit right into his prank scheme.
Natsu dropped off the package at a Kuroneko Yamato office with the address instructions already filled out and paid the company’s employee extra to keep their mouths shut. ‘She’s gonna kill me one day,’ he laughed to himself as he rode back to his office. ‘If it’s suffocation by her boobs it wouldn’t be a bad way to go!’
“Anymore stops sir?” The driver asked Natsu.
“Nope. Back to the office.”
He looked at his watch. The package should be arriving at Lucy’s office within the hour. Give or take another to open it, and by 4pm he would be receiving another phone call. Maybe he won’t answer it. Oh, that would piss her off even more! ‘Well, if she’d just take the hint...’
The afternoon was supposed to be mellow at headquarters that day. No shipments, and no appointments. But when Natsu got back, another general in the organization named Jellal Fernandez came to his office to inform him of a problem. One of the new local restaurants in their territory was refusing to cooperate and he wanted to know how Natsu wanted it handled. They were right in the middle of discussing it, when Natsu’s office door flew open with a loud bang!
In stomped Lucy who immediately threw a box at his head, causing Natsu to duck and Jellal to pull his gun.
“Don’t!” Natsu screamed at his general and motioned for him to stand down, to which the man complied. “Do you have a death wish Lucy!”
“Get. Out.” She snapped at the general. “Get out! This is between me and your boss!”
Jellal looked to Natsu, who nodded his head to scram. “I got this, don’t worry.” The man holstered his gun and left, but Natsu could see he’d stayed right outside of the now closed door.
“I take it you didn’t like the gift,” Natsu pretended to stay calm.
“Gee, me throwing it at you give you that impression? I know it’s you sending all these damn deliveries to me and Loke. That needs to stop now!”
He crossed his arms and scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Play dumb all you want. Just stop! Why are you even doing this?!”
“Take a guess,” he sneered back.
“I could’ve sworn we were adults now, but apparently I’m the only one who grew up. Stay out of my love life Natsu!”
“So, you admit you’re sleeping with the guy!”
“That’s none of your damn business! I can fuck whoever I want!”
“Not as long as I’m alive,” Natsu growled back.
Lucy crossed her arms. “That could be arranged.”
“Is that a threat?!”
“Yes! If you don’t stay out of my love life!”
“A woman shouldn’t be sleepi—”
“Don’t you finish that sentence!” Lucy grabbed a stapler that was within reach and chucked it at Natsu’s head. “Stop trying to control me!”
“Are you crazy?!”
At that moment, Gray barged into the room. He’d heard the screaming from the other side of the office, and when he got close enough to see Jellal standing outside the door, he became alarmed. Why would a general leave Natsu vulnerable! The man told him their boss told him to leave, but as the sounds inside escalated, Gray couldn’t wait anymore.
“Stop it!!” Gray got between them. “What are you two doing! Lucy you shouldn’t be here!”
“Then tell your damn boss to leave me the fuck alone!” Lucy spat back. “Ask him how he’s been harassing Loke and me!”
Gray turned to his boss with a groan. “Natsu, we talked about this!”
“Tell Gray what you been doing!” Lucy pressed. “Show him the stupid packages you send!”
“What packages?” Gray looked to Lucy, then repeated the question as he stared at his boss. “What packages?”
“Tch,” Natsu crossed his arms, “it’s not even that bad.”
Lucy stomped over to where the box fell and picked it up, pulling the contents out. “Bullshit!” She snapped as she held up a very racy, red nightie with flame prints, a pair of fluffy handcuffs, and a large dildo. “See this shit?!” Lucy shook the floppy latex toy at Gray before chucking it to the ground again. “He includes messages too,” then handed the man a folded piece of paper.
Gray read it aloud, “to make up for what playboy lacks. Had it custom made to my size wink wink. Ugh, seriously man,” he tossed the letter.
Natsu shrugged. “I was just having fun.”
“This is the yakuza, not a daycare!” Gray snaps. “I’m not here to babysit the boss so he stops harassing the competition! There’s more important business to worry about!”
“That’s right listen to Gray,” Lucy sneered.
Gray turned to her. “Oh, you ain’t innocent either, so don’t even try it. You both do things to purposely rile the other up and get mad when there’s consequences. Stop it!” He looked back and forth between the two. “Just stop it already!”
Natsu and Lucy looked away from the man with scowls on their faces. Neither wanted to admit he was right.
“Jellal,” Gray called out. When the man entered, he instructed him to escort Lucy out of there. “Next time, just call me instead. It’s best you two just stay away from each other. Got it?!”
“Yeah,” Lucy grumped.
“Got it?!” Gray questioned his boss.
“Yeah,” Natsu mumbled.
“Fucking like high school,” Gray ran a hand down his face in irritation. “You two need therapy.”
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puckinghell · 4 years
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Acts Of Service | Elias Pettersson
Summary: When people have different love languages, sometimes it’s hard to understand what the other is trying to say. 4 times Elias shows you he loves you, and the 1 time you tell him.  Words: 7.5k (whoops) Note: This concept was very interesting to explore. Also yes, this entire thing was written because of that one picture of Elias in that blue sweater stepping out of the car like a fucking GQ model. 
----
(Some time ago)
“Didn’t you say there’s an apartment free in your building?” Brock asked as soon as you answered the phone, forgoing the “hello”.
“Hello, Brock, my very good friend, how nice to talk to you! How are you doing?” you deadpanned.
At least he had the decency to sound ashamed. “Ah, yes, hi. Sorry. I’m just in a hurry and it’s important.”
You frowned. “Why? Are you looking to move?”
“No.” Brock laughed. “Stetch would kill me. No, it’s about the rookie. Petey? I told you about him. Swedish, quiet, best fucking hands in the league.”
Yes. Brock had told you about the rookie, although you still thought it dumb to call him that. Brock was basically still a rookie himself.
“What does that have to do with my apartment building?”
“He said no to having a billet family but everyone on the team thinks it’d be good for him to have someone to kinda look out for him a bit. He’s never been to Canada before this, you know, and he’s never lived on his own either. His English isn’t that great and everything is new for him. And since you’re such a caring, loving person, we thought…”
“You thought I could babysit him?” you finished for Brock.
“It’s not babysitting. Just, being friendly if he needs anything. Obviously we’re there for that too, but it’d be nice to have you so close by.”
Close by would be an understatement: the free apartment was across the hall from yours.
You weren’t sure if this sounded like something that you would necessarily want to do, but you did feel a bit sorry for Elias: you’d met him at a team thing earlier that week and he’d looked completely lost in the midst of all the Canadian hockey slang that you barely managed to follow, even after having been friends with Brock for years. He mostly kept to Eagle, spoke in Swedish, and his eyes flickered nervously across the room whenever anyone else approached him.
“Fine,” you sighed, “I’ll talk to my landlord. But you owe me, Blondie.”
Brock was happy enough that he didn’t even call you out on the nickname.
1. 
“Have I told you lately how much of a lifesaver you are?” You lean across your desk, resting your chin in your hands. Elias looks mildly amused as he hands you the papers.
“Nearly every day,” he says, “but then I save your life every day, so that seems fair.”
You grab the papers from his hands.
“You’re a lifesaver and the love of my life, Petey.”
You think back to when Elias just moved into your apartment building, only because Brock thought he needed someone to look after him. You could laugh, now, thinking about how wrong he’d been.
Elias is the most self-sufficient, independent person you know. You don’t think he’s ever needed anything from anyone. Like in hockey, where he can make the play and score the goal all at the same time, Elias has his life together.
Unlike you.
Despite the fact that Elias hadn’t needed much help from you, you had become very fast friends. His quick witted sarcasm always managed to make you laugh and he liked how upfront and honest you were with him about things. It was easy, too, to spend time together. With him living just across the hall, you found yourself wandering to his apartment whenever you were bored, and he showed up at yours often when he didn’t feel like cooking.
Just because he could cook, didn’t mean he always wanted to.
And ever since the two of you had become friends, Elias had your back. When you needed someone to water your plants, or feed your cat Puck – Brock had named him – or, apparently, bring you the important work papers that you forgot at home after having worked on them all weekend.
You groan as you flick through the papers. “I thought I was going to die. Without these I can’t finish my presentation.”
“When is it?” Elias asks, eyes searching behind you. You know he’s looking out for your asshole of a boss, who will use any excuse to yell at you, especially the unannounced visit of a friend.
“Tomorrow. I got all the content in these papers here, but I still have to make the PowerPoint.” You sigh. “It’s still so much work.”
“Oh.” Elias’ face lights up. “Almost forgot. Brought you this.” Triumphantly, he reaches down and comes up with a paper bag from your favorite coffee shop.
The words fall off your lips in a gasp. “You didn’t!”
“Strawberry scone and a large caramel macchiato with soy milk.” Elias grins. “I also got you a chocolate chip cookie for later.”
“Marry me,” you proclaim, as you make grabby hands for the bag. The coffee is precisely what you need and your mouth is already watering at the idea of the food.
“Get me a ring, then,” Elias jokes, as he starts getting up from the chair.
Something tightens in your stomach, so you quickly take a bite of the scone: anything to push those feelings to the side. It works a little, and at the very least it tastes amazing.
You’re just friends. If you were gonna be anything more, Elias would’ve made a move already. Or, if you’d been brave enough, you would’ve: but he’s never said anything to make you think he’s interested and quite frankly, you’re not that brave.
“Thank you,” you say, mouth still full of scone, and Elias wrinkles his nose at that as you knew he would.
“I’m going to the store now,” he says, “anything you want me to pick up for you?”
“Wine?” you ask, hopeful. “I’m gonna need it after today.”
Elias rolls his eyes at you, but when you come home after the most grueling day at work there’s a bottle of rosé sitting in your fridge, next to a bag full of your favorite Thai take out food.
Love you, you quickly text Elias, even though you know he can’t answer because the game is about to start.
You take some time showering and putting on comfortable clothes, then situate yourself on the couch and put on the game. It has already begun, and you know it’s not gonna be an easy one, against the Bruins.
It’s not until the first intermission, when you check your phone, that you see there’s a reply from Elias waiting for you.
It’s just a simple heart emoji, but it makes your heart race anyway.
2.
“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“I can barely hear you.” Fiona’s tone is disapproving, and you pull your mouth away from where you’d pressed it into your arm to scream.
“I said, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me!”
She laughs. “It’s just a car, Y/N.”
You don’t necessarily like your job, but Fiona is one of the reasons you’re still putting up with it. She’s not just a colleague anymore, slowly turning into a friend and someone you confide into about everything – even about your Elias problem – and you love her, but sometimes you could murder her.
“It’s not just a car,” you bite. “It’s my only mode of transportation, because you know how much I hate taking the bus, and it’s broken, and I probably can’t even afford to get it fixed. And now I have to walk home, and it’s raining.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Fiona admits.
After a long day at work, you couldn’t wait to get home and watch The Bachelor until you fell asleep, your cat in your lap. However, when you finally got away from the office and stepped into your car, it was clear the universe had different plans.
It didn’t start.
After trying approximately 15 times, you’d screamed, nearly cried, hit the steering wheel, and then went back inside to scream and cry a little more at Fiona’s desk.
“I just wanna go home, Fi.” You know you sound miserable, but you honestly can’t help it. Taking the bus always heightens your anxiety, so you avoid it at all costs: however, walking home in this pouring rain doesn’t seem like much fun either.
And Fiona can’t even bring you home, because she takes the bus to work like a normal person.
“There’s a simple solution to this, you know,” Fiona says. She starts to organize the papers on her desk, a clear sign that she’s getting ready to leave the office as well. “You could just call…”
“No,” you interrupt her, knowing exactly where she’s going with this. “I can’t call Elias. He’s got the boys over today and I won’t interrupt his fun with my misery. Besides, he does too much for me already, I can’t ask him for more.”
“Right,” Fiona drawls, “but when he hears that you were stuck here and didn’t call him…”
She doesn’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t have to.
Elias would be furious.
One time, you were on a night out when you got a little too tipsy and didn’t realize your phone had died. By the time you noticed, all your friends had already jumped in their respective Ubers, but you had been too busy chatting with some girl you didn’t know to order yours, and now you couldn’t because you didn’t have a phone. 
You knew you could’ve asked any random person to order you an Uber, or at least to borrow their phone to call Elias – it’s not like you didn’t know his number by heart – but that felt like too much. It had been 3 am and he had a game the next day, so you decided to walk home.
When he found out the next day, he got so mad he didn’t talk to you for 4 days. Eventually, you couldn’t take it anymore and just sat on his couch pouting at him until he spoke to you again.
“Something could’ve happened,” he’d muttered, explaining to you why he got mad in the first place. “And I’m your best friend, and you should know me enough to know that I would much rather you wake me up than you walk home alone.”
You did know that, and he was your best friend, and you’d promised him you’d never do it again.
It’s only that promise, that causes you to reach for your phone.
“I’m texting him, but if he’s busy, I’m walking,” you tell Fiona stubbornly. She ignores you, which is probably fair enough.
Hey, you busy right now? Are the guys still there?
The answer comes right away. What’s wrong?
Damn, he knows you too well. You quickly explain the situation and before you know it, Elias is on his way to come get you, and Fiona is bidding you goodbye after you promise her you’re fine on your own for the twenty minutes it’s gonna take Elias to get there.
You’re just checking your email on your phone when you hear the bell at the front door.
“I’m coming!” you call out. You hurry to grab your bags and then walk quickly to the door, where Elias is standing with his car keys between his fingers.
“So Bella finally gave up, huh?” he asks, a sly little smirk on his face. He always teases you with the fact that you named your car.
“Yes, and I know you told me,” you sigh, and it’s clear that he immediately – and correctly – reads your mood.
Without a word, he opens his arms, and you gratefully fall into them, hugging him tightly to your body. There’s very little in the world that brings you more comfort than one of Elias’ hugs: although being on Elias’ couch wearing one of his old hoodies watching some stupid reality show might come close.
“Let’s go home,” Elias finally mumbles, and he holds out an umbrella when he lets you go.
It’s raining really hard, and you know he has to park his car a little bit away because there’s no parking in front of your office, so you take it.
“You could’ve just called, I would’ve ran out,” you tell him sternly, but he shrugs.
“But then how would you have gotten the umbrella?”
You would tell him you’re not made of sugar, but as soon as you step outside the rain clatters loudly against the fabric of the umbrella and you realize you would’ve really, really hated to not have it, so you stay quiet.
Instead, you walk after him as he runs to his car and opens the passenger door for you. It’s still running, and the heater is on: only then do you realize you’re quite cold.
This morning they said it would be nice outside, so you didn’t bother to take a coat.
It’s quiet in the car for a while, but it’s not uncomfortable. It’s the silence that only comes when two people understand each other, and combined with the soft music that is playing on the radio it lulls you into a false sense of comfort.
Until you realize something.
“Oh God,” you groan, “I’m gonna have to call someone to tow Bella to a mechanic.”
Elias raises an eyebrow. “Well, you could just leave her there.”
Normally you would’ve at least playfully punched his arm for the sarcastic tone in his voice, but right now you’re too busy freaking out.
“And how am I gonna get to work tomorrow? Don’t you dare say you’ll bring me cause I know you’ve got morning practice and it’s super out of your way. Fuck, why did this have to happen to me?”
You let your head fall against the window. The glass is cold against your cheek and it’s enough to stop the spiraling in your brain at least for a second.
“Hey.” Elias’ voice has lost all sarcastic edge. It’s gentle now, and he’s speaking low as if not to startle you. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll call the tow truck and the mechanic and get your car fixed. And Brock lives close enough that he can take me to and from practice and you can just take my car to work.”
It’s… a reasonable solution, but once again something that Elias has to go out of his way for, even just a little bit, and you feel something warm bloom inside your chest.
“Okay,” you answer, the stress already ebbing away. “Thank you. You’re the best.” You reach out and place your hand on his knee, squeezing slightly. “Seriously. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Elias mumbles something incoherent. You think you see some color on his cheeks, but surely that’s just because the heater is on, because there’s no way he’s blushing over something you said.
You turn off the heater, and let your thoughts wander as Elias drives you home.
3. 
Traveling is fun, but traveling for work is instantly a lot less fun. You really don’t know how Elias does it.
You’re feeling run down and jetlagged when you come back from your work trip, which is ridiculous cause you flew to Toronto, not to freaking Europe. But it’s late at night and the three days you were away were so busy you can barely remember sleeping at all.
Fiona slept on the plane, so she looks a little more alive than you when your feet touch the ground at Vancouver airport.
“Is Elias coming to pick you up?” Fiona asks, as you’re both walking through the gate.
You shake your head. “I’m sure he would’ve insisted if he could, but he’s in California right now. They played the Kings tonight and they’re playing the Sharks the day after tomorrow.”
“I wish I was in California,” Fiona says wistfully. It’s cold and wet in Vancouver and it wasn’t much better in Toronto. The tiredness doesn’t help: it feels as if the cold of the night is slowly creeping into your bones.
“Come on then, I’ll drop you off.” You thank Fiona and follow her to her car. Normally you wouldn’t have minded taking an Uber, but right now you just wanna get to bed as soon as possible.
“If I fall asleep, just let me sleep here,” you mumble, resting your head back against the head rest. Fiona laughs as she starts the car.
“No way, you’ll freeze to death.” She squints outside. “Do you think it’s gonna rain?”
“It always rains,” you say, despite the fact that it’s not raining at the moment.
Fiona turns onto the highway. “So, are you finally gonna put up that bookcase you bought?”
Involuntarily, you groan. “Stop, don’t remind me.”
Your old bookcase is big and ugly, and it has been a thorn in your eye ever since you moved in. The person that lived there before you left it there, and you only kept it because you couldn’t really afford not to.
Four weeks ago, you finally allowed yourself to buy a new, prettier bookcase.
But…
“It’s just so big,” you whine, repeating the excuses you’ve been giving Elias every single time he raises a judgmental eyebrow at the old bookcase still standing in your living room. “It’s gonna take forever to take it apart and then it’s gonna take me even longer to somehow get it all downstairs and get rid of it.”
“And then you have to build the new one,” Fiona nods understandingly. “And you’re not good with furniture.”
“Hey,” you protest, but it’s weak. You’re not good with furniture, which was proven when you tried to help Fiona move in and didn’t manage to help her put together anything at all. Instead she ended up with a table with three legs. 
You even tried to read the manual, but it’s just not your forte.
“I’ll do it,” you add, “I promise you I will. Just, maybe not this weekend…”
Fiona laughs, but she doesn’t call you out on the fact that it probably won’t happen during the week either.
Finally, you arrive at your building. You can’t wait to go to bed, and you thank Fiona multiple times before dragging your luggage upstairs. When you open the door to your apartment, Puck comes running up to you, meowing and weaving between your legs.
“Don’t be dramatic,” you tell the cat sternly. “Petey sent me many pictures of you sleeping in his lap and I know he feeds you chicken when he thinks I won’t notice, so you got spoiled this week.”
You lovingly scratch Puck’s ears, before flicking on the light and kicking the door behind you in the lock.
Instantly, you notice the difference.
Your apartment isn’t big: real estate in Vancouver isn’t cheap and your job isn’t great. You got this place mostly for the location, and you like the big windows in the apartment and how it manages to get in light even during the darkest of winter days.
One corner of your living room, however, was always darker than the others. The bookcase took away the entirety of the white wall, and it created a dim lit, sad looking corner.
Now, it’s open and bright, as your new bookcase stands proudly in its place.
There’s only one person who would’ve done that.
The phone rings a few times, but you know the Kings game ended a while ago so you let it ring. After a while, Elias picks up.
“Sorry for the background noise,” is the first thing he says. “We’re on the plane. Taking off in a few minutes, probably.”
In the background, you hear some yelling. Probably Jake.
“You put up my bookcase,” you blurt out, ignoring Elias’ statement. “You put it up and all the books are in it and the other one is gone.”
Elias sounds a little smug when he answers. “Well, it’s not like you were ever gonna do it.”
“Thank you.” To your own horror, you can feel tears burning behind your eyes. “Elias, seriously…”
“It’s nothing.” You can hear Elias’ smile even over the phone: you know everyone always makes fun of his deadpan tone when he talks to media but with his friends, his voice always betrays everything he’s feeling. “I know you were worried about it, and I know how much you hated that old one.” He laughs. “I get why now, by the way. It took me and Brock like four hours to get that thing out.”
“Brock helped too?”
“He did.” Elias is silent for a while, but in the background you hear another voice. “Brock says to tell you that I forced him. But that’s not entirely true.”
Entirely. You know Elias definitely did force him.
“Tell him thank you too.”
“He says you’re welcome,” Elias says, quick enough that it makes you think Brock didn’t say that at all. “We’re about to take off so I have to put my phone on airplane mode. But call me tomorrow okay? I wanna hear about your work trip.”
“Okay.” For some reason, you can still feel the lump in your throat. You didn’t notice it momentarily, while you were focused on Elias’ and Brock’s bickering, but now it’s back, and with a vengeance.
Fuck. You just…
“I miss you.” You blurt it out before you can stop yourself and if anyone would ask, you would blame the exhaustion and the fact that Elias can’t see how wet your eyes are over the phone.
“I’ll be back soon,” he answers softly, and his voice is gentle in a way that makes you think he knows about the tears, anyway. “And when I am, we’re gonna take a whole night to eat food and stare at that bookcase, because it needs to be appreciated after the effort I had to put in to build it.”
You laugh before quietly saying goodbye to Elias and hanging up the phone.
In the kitchen, Puck sits in front of the fridge. When you open it there’s a pan with chicken.
For Puck the note next to it says, and you send Elias a picture of Puck with his chicken.
“He spoils you,” you tell your cat. You decide to ignore the fact that he kinda spoils you, too.
4. 
When you open the door to your apartment, you’re met with the smell of garlic.
After yet another shitty day at work, you can already feel the lump in your throat building again. You didn’t even tell him, this time. In fact, you carefully avoided his texts because you knew he’d clock that something was wrong.
Fuck. That’s probably where you went wrong in the first place; usually you never ignored Elias’ texts.
“Hello?” you call out into your own apartment.
There’s soft music playing and there’s light coming from the living room, but the amazing smell that tickles your senses is clearly coming from the kitchen, so that’s where you go.
Elias is standing at your kitchen counter, chopping a carrot.
“Hey,” he greets, smiling your way. “I’m making dinner.”
It’s almost too much, how domestic it looks. And how right: like he belongs there in your space, waiting for you to come home.
Suddenly there’s the overwhelming urge to go towards him, so you do. His arm immediately lifts, creating space for you in the crook of his body, and you slip under his arm easily.
“How did you know?” you mumble into the fabric of his worn Canucks hoodie. It smells like him, a scent that reminds you of home as much as your mother’s signature dish.
“You didn’t answer my texts,” Elias hums. His arm tightens around your body. “So I figured you could use some good food and a bath.” His head motions towards the general direction of the bathroom. “I’m running it as we speak.”
God. You love him.
It hits you, then. You knew you had a crush on him, knew you wanted to kiss him and hold his hand and feel his hands on you. But it’s more than that, now.
It’s the realization that you want to share everything with him. The ups and the downs. The bad nights and the bright mornings. You want him in your kitchen, but more than that, you want it to be his kitchen, too.
Fuck. You’re so royally screwed.
Because he does this, and he does so much for you, but he’s never said anything, anything at all, to indicate that he wants that. Or has even considered it, thought about it.
Maybe it’s never even crossed his mind. Maybe he takes care of you like he would take care of a sister.
“Hey.” Elias’ voice is gentle as it pulls you out of your thoughts, back down to earth. “You’re shaking. Go take a bath, and I’ll finish dinner, and then we’ll watch How I Met Your Mother. I wanted to watch the next episode but I waited for you.” His grin is a little lopsided. “Isn’t that chivalrous of me?”
It is, and normally you would tease him for it, but you can’t really think or speak, so you just nod.
“There’s wine in the fridge, if you want a glass,” Elias says. He holds out a wine glass, already waiting for you on the counter.
And who cares that it’s only a Tuesday: you deserve it, damn it, so you open the fridge to find the wine.
You’re met with more than just that.
“You bought groceries?” you ask, your eyes traveling through your fridge. You hadn’t gone grocery shopping in like a week, and when you left for work this morning the fridge was basically empty. Now it’s so full you wonder how you’re gonna close the door.
“How else was I gonna cook anything? You only had cat food left,” Elias tuts. You’re not surprised to find Puck at Elias’ feet, waiting for him to inevitably slip him some human food.
“Did you get…”
“Your coconut yoghurt? Yes.”
He did, and he got basically all your staples, and nothing you wouldn’t buy yourself.
“Honestly,” you say, as you finally reach for the bottle and pull your head out of the fridge. “I don’t know what to say, Petey. Thank you. I had such a sucky day and now it’s already endlessly better.”
This time you know you’re not imagining the flush on Elias’ cheeks.
“It’s fine,” he says. “You should go take that bath before it goes cold.”
You want to say more: to tell him time and time again how amazing he is, how much he means to you, how thankful you are. But you know once you start, you can’t be trusted to not say the one thing you don’t think he wants to hear.
So you say nothing, and simply go to take your bath.
+1
But you think about it.
You think about it all throughout Christmas, where you don’t see Elias at all. You think about it during NYE, when you get a drunk SnapChat from Elias with his brother, right at midnight.
At least, you figure, he’s not kissing any girls.
You’re not kissing any boys, either. You’re at a NYE party with Fiona and it’s fun, it is, but it’s not the same as it would be if Elias wasn’t all the way in Sweden.
You miss him like a limb, and you know it’s not fair because he rarely gets time to go home to Sweden and he deserves that time with his family, but you can’t say you didn’t wish his time off ended already.
When it finally does, it’s not Elias you see first. Troy is throwing a late New Years party, just to welcome everyone back to Vancouver as they get ready to start the season back up, and when you arrive at his house it’s early enough in the evening that there’s only a handful of people there.
“Y/N!” Brock calls out, opening his arms to give you a big hug as you enter. “Missed you!”
You laugh. “Get off of me, you giant. I’m gonna drop the wine.”
“Not the wine,” Troy says dramatically, tearing it out of your hands. His eyes are sparkling when he thanks and hugs you, and then Brock is ushering you into the living room, where Jake is talking with Quinn.
Or talking at Quinn. To be honest, you never really know when Quinn is paying attention.
“Y/N!” Jake exclaims, much like Brock had. “I’m glad you’re here, we need your input on something.”
“Okay?” you ask, curiosity instantly taking over. Whenever Jake and Brock get together, it promises to be an interesting evening.
“We’re trying to decide Brock’s love language.”
It’s sudden enough that you laugh. “His what?”
“Love language,” Jake explains. “Like, how he shows people he loves them. He says it’s quality time, but I think it could be physical touch. He’s always touching people.”
“Jake is deflecting because his love language is physical touch,” Brock scowls. “I think I know my own love language, Tuna.”
“Hold on.” Unfortunately, you have to press the pause button on their discussion. “What options do we have?”
You’ve got no idea where they got this from, but it doesn’t really matter. You’re always down to share your opinion on stupid stuff with your favorite boys.
“There’s gifts, quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation, and…” Brock pauses, and you can nearly see the wheels in his head turning.
“Acts of service,” Quinn offers, which proves that he was actually paying attention.
“Mine is physical touch,” Jake says determinedly. “When I care about someone, I always wanna be touching them, and when I’m in love with someone that’s like twenty times worse.”
“Poor girl,” Quinn mutters, and the conversation gets paused in order for Jake to put Quinn in a headlock.
“I think yours is quality time, actually,” you tell Brock when Jake is done murdering the rookie. “Your ex was always on her phone during your date nights and I remember it drove you crazy.”
“See,” Brock says proudly. “Quality time baby. If I’m there I’m there.”
“What about yours, Huggy?” Jake asks. “Physical touch would make sense, since you’re called Huggy.”
“I’m not called Huggy,” Quinn deadpans. His face is devoid of any emotion, but you know him well enough to recognize the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He reminds you of Elias, when he does that. “And if we were going by nicknames your love language would be fishing.”
Everyone cracks up on that, and then the doorbell rings and Bo arrives.
The topic gets put on hold, then, because Bo is instantly talking about Gunnar’s first Christmas and Brock is talking about becoming an uncle again and you feel warm and happy on the couch with your wine, squeezed between Brock and Troy.
Until, a little later, you realize someone is missing.
“Where’s Petey?” you ask Troy. “Isn’t he coming?”
Troy shrugs. “Should do. But you never know with Pete.”
It’s not entirely true: if Elias promises he’ll be there, he will be there. But, to be fair, he usually doesn’t promise that to anyone but you, and you hadn’t asked him to come, this time.
You figured he just would.
“What about Petey’s love language?” Brock asks idly, not knowing he’s opening Pandora’s box for you. “Definitely not words of affirmation, huh.”
Troy laughs.
“Nah, Petey’s an acts of service guy. He’s always doing shit for Y/N.”
You would protest if you trusted your voice not to shake. As it is, you stay quiet and hope the flush on your cheeks gets mistaken for a wine flush, and not an Elias flush.
Brock brightens. “Oh, yeah! Getting her car fixed, making dinner, building her stupid bookshelf, feeding her cat… He is a typical acts of service guy.” He bumps against your shoulder playfully. “I hope you appreciate his showing of love, Y/N. He rarely does that shit for me.”
Troy snorts. “That’s cause he’s not in love with you, Boes.”
“He’s not in love with me either!” you squeak, unable to stay quiet any longer. You know if you don’t derail this trail of thought very soon, it’s gonna end badly for you.
Both Troy and Brock look unimpressed, at that statement.
“Yes, he is,” Brock says slowly, as if explaining something to an unruly child. “He drops whatever he has going on to do small things that make your life easier. That’s literally the same as him screaming I’m in love with you from the highest rooftop in Vancouver.”
“He’s not like you,” Troy continues, a little more gentle. “When people have different love languages, they don’t always understand what the other is trying to say. Your love language is words of affirmation. You’re always telling Petey how amazing he is. But he doesn’t see that as a declaration of love, or whatever. He thinks you tell everyone that they’re amazing.”
You do, to be fair, but not as often as you tell Elias. Because he’s…
Well. Amazing would be an understatement, actually. He’s everything to you.  
Things are starting to make sense, like puzzle pieces fitting into place. Suddenly, you start wondering if there’s more to his acts of service than plain friendship, or him being a good guy.
It’s not like he does stuff like that for all his friends. He helps them out, sure, but he always goes above and beyond for you, usually not even needing to be asked.
But he’s not in love with you, surely? He hasn’t said anything…
But maybe words aren’t his thing. Not like they are yours: the way you can’t stop yourself from gushing into Elias’ ear even when you know you should stop.
What if Brock and Troy are right?
You don’t get much time to think it through, because that’s when Elias finally appears in Troy’s living room, looking endlessly cool in his blue sweater, wearing his glasses. He’s sending death glares at Jake, who wolf whistles from the corner, but then his eyes meet yours and they soften.
“Hi there,” he smiles, reaching out to you. You immediately jump up and launch yourself at him, any previous conversation about the two of you momentarily forgotten as you curl your body into his, his arms tightening around your waist.
“Missed you,” you hum into his shoulder, and you’re rewarded with a grin you can feel against the skin of your neck.
“Are you sure hers isn’t physical touch?” you hear Brock ponder, and you would flip him off if you could be bothered.
You can’t. All you can be bothered doing is plastering yourself to Elias’ side and not leaving him alone even for a second, the rest of the night.
It works at least for a while, until he asks: “Do you want another drink?”
“I’ll go with you,” you say, not willing to part with him yet, and you ignore the knowing look Brock shoots you as the two of you find your way to the kitchen.
Elias immediately goes for the wine, because he knows you better than anyone else.
“I asked my dad about the job,” Elias mentions casually, as if it’s not a big deal at all. “He thinks he can get you an interview.”
“Wait, what?”
Suddenly your heart is ticking in your throat. Before he left for Sweden, Elias had mentioned that his dad knows a guy who works for a similar company as you’re working for now: apart from the shitty boss you have or the ridiculous low salary you get paid. It’s your job, but better, and Elias promised you he’d get his dad to ask if there were any open positions.
There were. And you sent in your application not thinking there was gonna come much from it, but now…
Something warm washes through your chest, like your heart grew three sizes. Of course he asked, of course he made it happen. Looking out for you, always and at any time, from any distance.
“It’s not a done deal,” Elias warns, oblivious to your mental breakdown. “But he said he thinks they’ll like you and he’ll put in a good word for you.”
You squeal and throw yourself in his direction once again. Elias laughs as he catches you, fingers curling in your hair where your face is pressed against his chest.
“Thank you,” you mumble.
“It’s about time you get rid of that dumb job.” You can hear the frown in Elias’ voice. “They don’t take good care of you at all, it’s not good for you.” The distaste is obvious and it’s adorable. You pull away.
“I don’t need them to,” you say, carefully. You can still hear Brock’s words in your voice, and you figure it’s worth a try, probably. “Because you’re always there to take care of me.”
Elias’ cheeks darken substantially.
“I mean it when I say I don’t know what I’d do without you, Elias.”
“You’d be fine,” Elias waves away the compliment as you figured he would. But this time you’re not backing down.
“Maybe I would be. But I wouldn’t be as happy.”
They say when you really love a person, you’ve got to show them. But you’ve never really known how to do that, instead you always use your words to tell them. But it seems like Elias isn’t believing you, not even now.
And you’ve got to fix that.
It’s not until you’re in Elias’ car on the way back home that you bring it up again. The party wasn’t really the time and place, but the conversation with Brock and the guys has been nagging in the back of your mind since it happened.
If you didn’t realize Elias’ acts of service meant something, maybe he doesn’t realize your words of affirmation mean something. And even if it doesn’t mean he’s in love with you – you’re really not that sure about that – you need him to at least know how much you appreciate him.
“You know I’m always there for you, right?” you start, carefully breaking the silence in the car. Elias shoots you a glance from behind the steering wheel.
“What?”
“Like, even if I’m maybe not as good as you are at realizing what you need me to do, if there’s ever anything I can do to help make your life a little easier or better I wanna do it. I’d do anything for you.”
It’s too honest, probably, and too much all at the same time. But Elias doesn’t look that surprised. In fact, there’s a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“You make my life better by just being you, Y/N. You don’t have to do anything for me.”
Butterflies erupt in your stomach and you wonder how you’re gonna get through this conversation. But it’s one that needs to be held, so you press on.
“What is your love language, Elias?”
Now he frowns. “Have you been talking to Brock?”
Of course Brock talked to Elias before he talked to you. The traitor.
You decide to ignore that, for now. You’ll talk to Brock later.
“You know my love language is words of affirmation, right?”
Elias shrugs. “Brock did say that, but I didn’t know what you thought it was.”
“And yours is acts of service,” you hazard a guess. You keep your eyes firmly on Elias’ face, which is the only reason you catch the slight change in his expression.
Like a wall, crossing over his features. He’s trying to protect himself, although you have no idea why. Does he not get where you’re going with this?
“I can tune it down if you want me to,” he says, a little grumpily. He’s staring straight ahead at the road, stubbornly refusing to look your way.
And oh God, he’s truly not getting it, and this is going the exact opposite way you want it to go.
Troy did say that when people’s love languages don’t match, they don’t understand what the other is trying to say. But you honestly don’t know how you can make it any more clear to Elias.
Well, except…
“I love you,” you blurt out. “Like, in love with you love you.”
The words ring loudly in the quiet car. For a second, nothing about Elias’ expression, almost like he didn’t hear you. You can almost feel your heart sink into your stomach.
Then, he pulls over the car.
It comes to a stop at the side of the road, two wheels on the pavement and two still on the road. It is, objectively, not super safe, but it’s also 3am and there’s no other cars to be seen. Very carefully, without looking at you still, Elias turns on the hazard lights.
And then finally, finally, he turns to you and kisses you.
You weren’t expecting it but it doesn’t really matter: it’s like your heart and head both light on fire, and everything outside of the car simply disappears. It’s just you and Elias, and his lips on yours and his hands on your body.
It feels right. Like it was always meant to end up like this.
After what feels like ages, he pulls away. He’s smiling, and his eyes are bright blue in the dark car.
“I thought you said those kinda things to everyone,” he admits, quietly. His thumb is rubbing your side, his eyes fixed on that spot. Almost as if he can’t really believe he’s allowed to do that.
You don’t want him to ever do anything else.
“I thought you did those kinda things for everyone,” you shoot back.
Elias raises one eyebrow. “That bookcase weighed at least 300 pounds.”
You can’t help it: giggles are escaping your lips and suddenly you’re both laughing. The tension in the car dissipates instantly, and suddenly it’s just Elias again, your best friend.
Your best friend that you’re now allowed to kiss. So you lean in and press your lips against his again.
After all, kissing is a love language you think everyone understands.
(+2)
“I’m home!” Elias’ voice sounds through the empty apartment, and you immediately leave your spot behind the kitchen counter to run into the hallway.
With a squeal, you fly towards him, and he catches you easily as you knew he would.
“Hey, babe,” he laughs quietly, pressing a kiss into your hair before returning the hug fully. “Is that my sweater?”
“Maybe,” you admit, as Elias’ hands make their way under his own blue sweater, that you definitely steal from him most evenings. “Missed you. And I’m very proud of you.”
“I missed you too,” he answers. “Watched the game?”
“Obviously.” You roll your eyes, even though you know he can’t see it with your face still buried in his shoulder. “A hat trick, huh? I think that needs to be celebrated.”
“Oh?” Elias pulls away then, one eyebrow raised and a cheeky twinkle in his eyes.
“Not like that,” you scold him, lightly punching his arm. “Or, maybe like that. But first, I made Kalops.”
At the mention of his favorite Swedish food, Elias’ face lights up. A while ago, you asked his mom for her recipe and it’s one of the only Swedish dishes you can make, but you make it well.
“Also,” you continue, as you take his hand and start leading him towards the kitchen, so he can sit at the counter while you cook as he always does, “I called the electrician so the TV is already fixed. I know you could have done it, but I decided I’d much rather use that time to hang out with you. I took Puck to get his shots at the vet and I also used my free afternoon to take your car through the car wash.”
When you reach the kitchen, you twirl around towards Elias and his arms immediately circle around your waist.
“You didn’t have to do all that,” he mutters, taking the opportunity to kiss you once more. “But thank you. I love that you took the time to take care of that for me. And I love you.”
“Look at us,” you tease, lightly tugging at the ends of Elias’ hair. “Speaking each other’s love language like that.”
“Perfect couple,” Elias agrees, and you smile back at him.
Somehow, you and Elias managed to create a language of your own: one that you could speak with nobody else. But luckily, you don’t have to.
Cause he came home to your shared apartment like he always does, and well. That’s the biggest act of service he could do for you.  
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hobbitingryffindor · 3 years
Text
Don’t respond after 9 pm
So I've never written fanfic before, but apparently, I'm pissed at Jane. Please be kind, but also let me know if I should continue. I have a few other rules and scenes in mind. I have no idea if this will grow into anything more. Constructive feedback would be great.
___
Maura was ruminating. It was never good when she couldn’t get through her Saturday morning yoga session, but these days, it was becoming the norm. So after she finished her cup of tea, she locked herself in her yoga room, rolled out her yoga mat, and settled in with herself.
She had rules. They were new, and it was hard to keep to them some days, but they were there because she knew better. She knows she deserves more. She may not have had an attentive family growing up, but she knows her worth, or at least she’s gotten better at reminding herself. She knows what they have goes beyond friendship. She also knows it will never be more. Jane just keeps holding back the final piece of the puzzle. She could resign herself to a lifetime of this sexually charged and emotionally mediocre but never fulfilling relationship OR she could take a step back from Jane and a step forward for herself. But last night she forgot. She forgot the first rule she put in place almost a month ago.
1 - Don’t respond to Jane after 9 pm
Recognizing the anxious feeling that started in her chest, she told herself that it was a slip-up and it wouldn’t happen again. But she couldn’t help but grab her phone and reread last night’s messages.
10:36: J - Hey, you still up?
10:42: M - Just finished Bass’ enrichment and heading up to bed.
It had been such a simple response, it just floated out of her fingertips. She was so used to just always responding to Jane.
10:43: J- Enrichment? You can just say that you were in the sandbox hiding food for Bass to find.
10:44: M- Fine yes, I was reading his namesake’s new foreword in “Skeletal biology and bioarchaeology of the Northwestern Plains” while bass dug up the cactus leaves and strawberries I hid in his sandbox.
10:44: J- You make my night of watching the Sox lose seem like an exciting night
10:45: M- What can I say? We love to party over here.
10:45: J- I don’t know when it started, but you’ve gotten really good at sarcasm
10:46: M- You must be rubbing off on me ;-)
As Maura reread that line, she couldn’t help but cringe a little. She really couldn’t stop herself from going there last night, it was yet another small slip up, that showed how their friendship was always a little more than friendship.
10:59: J- I feel like I haven’t seen you at all this week, is the morgue backlogged?
11:04: M- It’s no busier than usual. Actually a little less so without a murder yet this month.
11:04: J- Give it time, Boston can’t go more than 2 weeks without a new murder. Have you been in court on other cases this week? I went to see if you could grab lunch a few times and I never caught you.
11:05: M- We must have just missed each other, I did lunch out of the office a few times.
11:07: J- You going to fancy places without me now?
11:09: M - Really Jane, any place that doesn’t allow jeans, you label as fancy. But no, a friend from my residency, Erica, did a few guest lectures at BCU. I caught one of her lectures and we had lunch a few times.
11:09: J- I see how it is, replacing me with other genii.
Reading this for a second time feels like a needle in her chest, last night it paralyzed her, she didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t replacing Jane, per se. This was also the point last night where she realized her mistake in responding to Jane’s late text. Even now, she still isn’t sure she handled it correctly.
11:18: J- Any plans for tomorrow?
11:20 M- While genii is correct, you can just say geniuses, you don’t have to try so hard. And, no I’m not replacing you. I was planning on browsing Newbury St in the afternoon.
11:21 J- Great, so I’ll pick you up at 2, I’ll carry the bags and then we can hit up Eataly for dinner? We haven’t been there in a while.
11:25 M- That’s okay Jane, I know you don’t enjoy my long shopping ventures, you don’t have to come. And I’ve got dinner plans, I’m sorry. But I’ll see you Sunday night for dinner.
After that, it was radio silence from Jane. Even after all these years, all the social cues Jane’s helped her learn, she still doesn’t know how to read the silence. Last night she was torn. She wanted to hang out with Jane but didn’t. Now she had to live with rejecting Jane’s plans, and what felt like a rejection of Jane herself.
That’s what brought her here, meditating as the sun was rising, or trying to anyway. Maura shook herself out and realized she was going to need a little help this morning clearing her mind. So she opened up the Calm app and resigned herself to a guided meditation. Maura went through the motions of her day, finishing off with an overzealous stop at Diane Von Furstenberg’s on Newbury just because. She still hadn’t heard from Jane and was trying to tell herself it was okay, they were okay, they were just both adjusting to this new normal. Maura hadn’t figured out what this new normal was supposed to be, but she knew she was unhappy with how Jane and she were a couple in every way, except in the way that mattered. Their friendship was unhealthy as it was. If they were only going to be friends, Maura was going to start making space in her life for other friends and possibly a lover or two. She can’t pinpoint when it happened, but her very active and healthy sex life seemed to slowly dry up the closer she and Jane got.
______________
Dressed in her new Midi dress, and a brand new pair of St. Laurent sandals, she waived to Angela across the courtyard as she headed off to meet Erica. Driving to the Chart House, she couldn’t help but reflect and acknowledge that Eric’s timing was creating a good distraction for her. She and Erica had done their residencies together, they hadn’t been best of friends, but she was always warm to Maura and tried to include Maura in her social circle. A few years after Maura moved to Boston, she reached out when she landed in Providence doing a Post Doc Fellowship at Brown. They’d do dinner a few times a year, trade interesting journal articles, nothing special, but it was nice to have a friend outside of BPD. When BCU invited Erica to guest lecture for the week, Maura decided she’d just drop in on the first lecture, which led to a couple of lunches earlier in the week, and a celebration dinner as Erica was just offered a tenure track faculty position starting in the fall. Pulling up to the valet station, she decided that this was just what she needed to expand her social circle a bit. She’d enjoy her evening, celebrate Erica’s new position and enjoy the late spring evening.
______________
Like clockwork on Sunday around noontime, the Rizzoli’s started to filter into her home. Angela always led the parade, bringing groceries and starting the prep process. Over the next couple of hours Jane, her brothers, little TJ, Frost, Korsak, Kiki, and even Susie sometimes would wander in and fill her house. When she invited Angela to live in the guest house almost 4 years ago, she never thought it was going to be permanent, nor did she think she’d enjoy having her there as much as she does. For all of Angela’s meddling and snooping in Jane’s life, she’d been nothing but respectful of Maura’s boundaries and privacy. Maura treasured how their patchwork family considered her house their gathering place, when it was full, it felt like the warm home she yearned for as a child. The amazing dinners, even if sometimes unhealthy, were a vehicle for that love and inclusion Maura had spent over 30 years searching for. She’d found it with Jane and her family, but she still craves more. She wants more than a patchwork family, she wants her own family.
As Maura was finishing up working in the garden beds Tommy and TJ arrived. By the time she’d entered the kitchen freshly showered and ready for Angela to put her to work, she saw Jane and Frankie had joined Tommy in watching a basketball game. Maura greeted everyone while looking at the TV, she noticed no one was wearing a green jersey so she knew Boston wasn’t playing, which usually boded well for her couch and rugs. TJ was in his high chair feeding himself some plain pasta while Angela sang to him. Maura and Angela quickly fell into their rhythm with this week’s batch of Ragu simmering on the stove. By the time the lasagna was in the oven, Frost, Korsak, and Kiki had arrived and, Angela and Maura joined the gang in the living room to snack on some arancini before dinner.
While Maura and Angela always cooked, the most relaxing part of Sunday dinners was when Jane and Maura cleaned up. Never fail the boys would head out not long after dessert and the games were over. And Jane in her way of appreciating her mother would kick her back to the guest house for an early night, while she took charge of cleaning up the kitchen.
“Another glass of wine while you work?” Jane asked Maura while grabbing the bottle
Maura just put her glass in front of Jane while nodding for more. The pots and pans were washed, the dishwasher had already started its cycle and Jane and Maura were moving to the living room to straighten up before settling in to catch up on their week. Normally all this happened with a comfortable level of conversation between them, but tonight, there was a little more silence than usual. With blankets folded and the remote located, they settled into the couch, each sitting against an arm, facing each other.
“You know mom asked me how your date went last night, I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone” Jane started.
“It wasn’t a date, I told you I was going to dinner with Erica, she’s just accepted an offer at BCU.”
“No, you said you had lunch with Erica” with a slight hint of annoyance that only Maura could pick up on. “I didn’t know you guys were doing dinner, I thought you might have been hiding a new boyfriend from me”
“No, no new boyfriend Jane. Although that would be nice or maybe a girlfriend, I haven’t dated a woman since I first moved to Boston”
Jane nodded, her eyes a little bigger than normal, sometimes Maura could swear Jane forgot she was pansexual.
“What about you? You seeing anyone new?” Maura asked, mostly to take the heat off of her. She didn’t know what was worse, talking about her lackluster dating life or trying to appear supportive of Jane's dating life when all she wanted was to be the person dating Jane.
“No, although Frost mentioned his old college roommate is single. I can’t believe I’m even entertaining the idea of letting him set me up.”
“You should at least meet him, if Frost is setting you up, I’m sure he’s a good man.” Maura grinned through a fake smile.
“I don’t know” Jane responded, Maura saw the walls going up “ I don’t want to talk about dating. Is Erica going to move to Boston? You know you’ve never introduced us, are you scared I’ll embarrass you?” Jane half-joked, changing the topic.
“No Jane, you have to stop with the self-deprecating humor, you know I’m not embarrassed by you. And yes, she needs to finish teaching a summer seminar at Brown, and then she’ll move up here.” The next words fell out of her mouth as soon as they occurred to her “I should see if she wants to come to next Sunday’s dinner.” Seeing Jane’s small annoyance grow into jealously, she redirected. “She can meet everyone, but please don’t interrogate her for college stories. You already know I was weird and awkward, you don’t need more things to tease me about!”
Jane took the bait “Ohhhh, I didn’t even think of that! I wonder if she’s got pictures!!
Maura just rolled her eyes, relieved that the tension was broken. She really did want Jane and everyone else to accept Erica, she remembered what it was like moving back to Boston and not having anyone. The rest of the night passed quickly, Maura kept the topics to mostly work or Boston politics. Jane could rant about local politics for hours and it didn’t put Maura at risk of gazing at Jane like she wanted to take her upstairs. A little before 11, Jane sighed and made her excuses about getting back to Jo before she relieved herself on the rug again. Pre-rules Maura might have made some comment about how much wine Jane had and how she should stay the night. Post-rules Maura kept her mouth shut. As Maura locked the door behind Jane, she couldn’t help but hope that just maybe, with some delicate balancing, she’d be able to move on from Jane and keep her as a friend.
________
Later that week Maura found herself at the Robber with the whole group, even Susie joined them. Maura was finding her new footing and it felt nice, it gave her a boost of confidence. Jane no longer acted as her interpreter when Frost made a joke, Korsak no longer felt the need to censor his dirty jokes and Susie actually had a pretty foul mouth once she had a few drinks. More than ever she noticed how breaking down her walls, allowed others to break their own down around her. She didn’t feel like Queen of the Dead anymore, she was Maura. As the night stretched on the table shuffled around a bit, Korsak left to meet Kiki, Frankie and Nina joined, Susie went home and Frost tried his luck with a pretty blonde at the bar.
Maura didn’t even notice how slowly Jane crept to her, close enough that her side was against Maura and her arm draped behind Maura across the back of the booth. But she did notice when the vibe between Jane and her started to mirror that of Frankie and Nina, right down to Jane ordering Maura another drink before checking with her. Maura and Jane were a couple, they couldn’t help it. The small touches, the laughing into each other’s sides, even the stolen glances. It no longer felt like hanging out, it felt like they were on a double date. It was too much for Maura, she excused herself to the bathroom to regroup. Looking at herself in the mirror, she scolded herself. She had to get out of there, she needed more distance. How could she possibly have her own relationship if she always ended up with Jane?
“I didn’t realize how late it had was,” Maura said marching up to the booth. “I’m going to head home. I’ll see you all in the morning? Those cultures should be ready by 10, I’ll page you when I have the report ready.” All of a sudden Maura infused a formalness into the air that wasn’t there before. Frankie raised his eyebrows but said nothing. It was weird for Maura to leave without Jane, or at least inviting Jane back to her house.
“I’ll leave with you” Jane started to get up.
“Oh no, that’s fine, I’m parked just across the street. I’ll be fine, stay, enjoy the rest of your beer” Maura responded with a slightly stern note. Jane nodded, “Party pooper, leaving me with these love doves” gesturing to Frankie and Nina, while they responded with mock offense. As Maura walked away, she didn’t see Frankie lean in and whisper to Jane.
Once Maura settled into bed for the evening she decided it was time for her to get out there. Even if it meant her joining one of those annoying dating sites. It was better to be trying than pining. Last week Erica had suggested How About We, it was worth at least signing up. She decided that it couldn’t hurt more than she was already hurting. While she hadn’t opened up to Erica about how frustrated she was with her’s and Jane’s relationship, she had expressed a desire to get out there more and Erica had offered a few bits of advice. If she couldn’t go to Jane about this, it was nice to at least have another friend to commiserate with about dating. As soon as she completed her profile, her phone beeped and a notification popped up on the screen.
11:17 PM
Jane Rizzoli
You awake?
Clicking her screen off, Maura put her phone on her nightstand and turned over for what would be a very uncomfortable night’s sleep.
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twdeadfanfic · 3 years
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Feral Pt.4
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Daryl Dixon x OC
Summary:  Daryl is on a run with Rick when, in a warehouse, they find a woman who attacks them, and who reminds Daryl to a lioness…or a feral cat, and who doesn’t seem to trust anyone, including them, but Daryl finds himself going back to the warehouse, trying to get that feral to go with him to the prison, and to earn her trust.
Chapter 3/10 Words: 3485
You can find my other fics in my masterlist.
Last chapter…Dana was introduced to the council and around the prison, though she still seems only on ease around Daryl, and it was decided that she’d be hunting and patrolling with him
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Daryl was walking through the woods, followed by Dana, who walked silently ,“like a cat”, Daryl had awkwardly joked.  It was good that she was able to walk in silence and that it came naturally to her, that way she wouldn’t scare the game. Daryl already had a squirrel hanging from his belt, and was now tracking what he was sure was a rabbit. “Went that way…” He muttered.
“How?” Dana said.
“What?”
“How you know it.”
Daryl looked at her, back at the track and then at Dana again. If he stopped to point at her what was he following and how, the rabbit might go away…but he decided to do it anyway. What was going to be a quick thing, just pointing at Dana what he was seeing, ended up being a longer explanation about the basics of tracking game and hunting…not that Daryl minded it, and it didn’t seem like Dana minded it either, she listened to him with a level of attention that Daryl had barely had anytime before.
Daryl ended up getting a rabbit anyway, and although he was the one doing the tracking, Dana watched and paid attention to everything that he told her and pointed at, seeming in total focus, and Daryl would be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy it.
“You gotta learn and hunt yourself, uh?” He told her once the rabbit was hanging from his belt. “A cat that can’t hunt makes no sense,” he joked awkwardly and Dana scoffed, but she smirked, and she nudged him with her shoulder. It took Daryl by surprise, and a smile tugged at his lips at seeing her seeming comfortable with him like that, even if it made him feel weird too.
As they patrolled the woods near the prison, Dana spotted a group of edible mushrooms on the ground, tugging at Daryl’s shirt. “Good job, cat,” he said while they picked them up. “We can stew them with the rabbit and the squirrel.” Dana gave him that small smile that always made him smile back and always made his belly do funny things at the idea of her not being that scared and mistrustful anymore. “Let’s go back, alright?” They hadn’t found any threat in the woods, they had gotten a squirrel and a rabbit, and mushrooms, and Dana seemed more at ease…all in all, it had been a good morning.
Some of Dana’s apprehension seemed to be back as they walked into the prison and were around waving people again, but at least she didn’t look like she was about to run away or stab someone if she got scared.
“I’ll show you how to clean and get ready the squirrel and the rabbit, yeah?” Daryl asked and Dana nodded, following him to the kitchen area. Like when he’d been telling her about tracking, Dana watched attentively while he got the pieces ready, and Daryl couldn’t help how it made him nervous, though he tried to control it and to give her some instruction here and there. They had almost finished when Carol walked in.
“You learned to hunt already?” She asked to Dana and Daryl didn’t know if she was joking, but he scoffed.
“She ain’t gonna learn in a day, but she will.” He was sure of it. “But she hunted some mushrooms.”
“Good.” Carol scoffed, but she nodded looking at everything that they had lied out on the kitchen. “We can make a good stew out of this.” She looked at Dana, who seemed guarded again. “I know it’s comfortable if Daryl brings you dinner again, but why don’t you come down to get your own this night? We actually won’t bite you…” She said as she glanced at the bite mark on Daryl’s arm, who rolled his eyes.
“Let’s finish this…” He muttered, back to cleaning the rabbit.
That evening, the dinner was getting served and Daryl was about to go get two bowls, one for himself and another for Dana, when he saw her walking down the stairs to the cafeteria area, looking around and seeming like she might run away and retreat, but she nodded at the people who waved at her, and made her way to the queue for the food. Daryl smiled at her, nodding encouragingly, and she gave him that brief, tiny smile, even if she seemed anxious.
Once she had her food, Dana looked at the table where Michonne, Rick, Glenn and Maggie were sat down, but finally she rushed away and up the stairs towards the cells. It was progress, though. Daryl noticed Rick looking at him and nodding with a small smile, he’d seen Dana too. Taking his bowl, Daryl went to sit down with them, Michonne was probably leaving in the morning and he wanted to talk to her before, but he rushed through his stew to go see Dana once he was finished.
Once in front of her cell, though, he didn’t know what to say. “You did well” he finally murmured awkwardly and Dana just shrugged, seeming awkward too. “Give me your bowl, I’ll wash it.”
“Don’t have to,” Dana muttered.
“I know, but I’m going to.” Daryl shrugged.
“Thanks…” Dana said, handing him the bowl.
“Ain’t nothing…I’ll see you in the morning, alright? Maybe we’ll find a deer tomorrow,” he said content when Dana gave him that small smile. “So, get some rest.”
*
The next couple of days, Daryl kept taking Dana hunting and patrolling with him, pointing trails to her, showing her how to track and hunt, and she kept listening attentively to all he had to show her, and so Daryl was confident that she’d be able to eventually track by herself. It’d be good to have another tracker and hunter, in case something happened to him, Michonne was not bad at tracking, but with her coming and going all the time, it’d be good that someone else learned to track too. Daryl had told Rick a couple of times, but even if he wanted to, he’d always been too busy first leading then with the gardens and whatnot.
Dana, though, seemed to give him her undivided attention now while they tracked and hunted, and also once they were back inside the prison and he showed her how to clean and cut his kills, letting her do it too.
Dana seemed a bit more at ease at the prison, and although sometimes she seemed anxious, she didn’t seem to think that someone would attack her there anymore or that she was unsafe, but she still spent most of the time around Daryl…for how much he’d thought he wanted his time alone, he still found that he didn’t mind to have her around, most of the time he didn’t even notice her, just a silent presence near him, and if it helped her to feel better, he wasn’t going to complain.
When she wasn’t with him, she was usually locked in her cell, reading a book that Beth had given her. She still didn’t really talk to anyone else, but she seemed less startled and on edge around people, even waving or nodding awkwardly back when they greeted her. She was adapting to the prison and Daryl was glad of it. He hoped that she’d open up to more people too, the more people she bonded with the better, so she wouldn’t rely only on him, in case anything happened and he couldn’t be around her.
Daryl was now looking for Dana, after talking with Rick. Since Michonne had told him about that old bike she’d found, he’d been itching to go get it, even if Michonne thought that there was no need to rush. She had marked the place on a map for him before leaving the day before, and it wasn’t too far, he was surprised that they hadn’t stumbled onto it before, so he wanted to go. He’d told Rick, who said that it was okay, and now he wanted to tell Dana, they wouldn’t be going hunting tomorrow. He wondered what she might get up to in the prison without him there, and he hoped that she’d be okay.
She wasn’t in her cell and so Daryl went to the stables, finding her there, stroking the horses. “You know, you could help with the horses,” he told her, he’d realized that she liked them. “Feeding them and all that, you just have to tell Hershel.”
“No hunting?” She said.
“Yeah, we’d still hunt, but you can help once we’re back at the afternoons, if you wanna.” Daryl shrugged, he usually had stuff to do and Dana had been trailing alongside him, but maybe she’d enjoy more to help with the horses.
“Maybe.” She shrugged and went back to stroking the horse’s snout.
“I gotta talk to you, cat,” Daryl told her and she frowned at him, seeming worried. “I wanna go out tomorrow to find a bike in a cabin that Michonne told me about, so we won’t go hunting, okay?”
“I go with you?” She asked him.
“Uh…do you want to?” Daryl asked, wondering why he hadn’t thought about it, and Dana nodded. “Are you sure? You’ll be okay in here without me, really, nobody will hurt you.” He thought she knew, but he assured it to her again, he didn’t want her to feel like she had to be around him all the time.
“I want to go,” she said.
“Alright…” Daryl wouldn’t mind to take her with him, maybe they could even track something. “I don’t want us staying the night outside, so we leave before the sunrise, okay?” If it were him alone, he wouldn’t mind that much, but he didn’t want to risk it if he was taking Dana too, when there was no need to camp outside, the place was close enough for them to be able to come back and spend the night behind fences. Dana nodded, giving him that tiny smile.
*
Early the next morning, when the sky was just starting to clear, Daryl drove away from the prison. He was taking their pick up, he’d rather ride, but he might need to carry bike parts or the whole thing. Dana was sat down next to him, looking through the window, and Daryl peeked at her while he drove.
She looked so much better than just a few days ago, less terrified and wild, less on edge. A couple of days ago, she had chopped off a good chunk of her wild, dark curls with her knife before Daryl realized it and could offer to get her some scissors, she was probably frustrated at the knots and tangles. The shorter hair suited her, Daryl found himself thinking.
She still hadn’t wanted to go to the showers, but Daryl knew that now that Dana knew that they had a stable source of water from the creek, she washed herself with her bottle and a rag, locked in her cell. Daryl had seen her once, by accident, he hadn’t meant too, and he had quickly looked away and retreated, but he had noticed the marks and old wounds in her dark skin again, and the way in which she washed herself without closing the curtain, looking outside for any incoming threat, even if the cell was locked, one hand holding the wet rag while the other held a knife. Daryl couldn’t help but wonder what had she gone through, feeling angry at it, but he never asked, not wanting to prey and upset her.
They drove through the same road for a while, until eventually Daryl had to leave the road and drive through a path to the woods until even that ended, but he kept driving until the trees blocked the way. “Alright, we’ll walk from here,” he told to Dana. “It can’t be far.”
Dana nodded and got out of the car, following him in silence through the woods as he followed Michonne’s indications. At some point, though, she tugged at his shirt and when Daryl looked at her, she pointed at a squirrel up in a tree branch.
“Good catch,” Daryl whispered to her before shooting, he’d been too busy trying to find the way to see it, but as always, Dana was looking attentively at everything around her, and she always seemed to notice the tiniest details…no wonder she was a survivor, and she was picking up on how to track fast.
Daryl had been thinking about getting a hunting rifle with a silencer for her for when they went out, though for what he could gather from the few words that Dana said when he told her, she seemed to prefer her knife and wasn’t too used to shooting even if she could do it, but she couldn’t hunt just with a knife, and she’d be safer with a rifle too, maybe he should have gotten her a rifle anyway for today instead of letting her go just with her knife, but there didn’t seem to be walkers around and he was with her.
Eventually, they found the cabin, a tiny, tattered place hidden among the trees, overgrown with plants, and Daryl wondered how Michonne had stumbled into it. As they got closer, he spotted the bike lying on the ground, half-covered by plants too. Daryl knelt down next to it, carefully trying to lift it, afraid that it’d break down or even turn into dust just by touching it.
It was an old bike, vintage they’d say, and as Michonne had said, it was in very poor condition, it seemed to have been abandoned even before walkers were a thing. “You could have gotten good money for a bike like this before the world ended…” Daryl murmured, though if the bike had been his, he’d have kept it on point and wouldn’t have sold it to any collector no matter he needed the money.
“World didn’t end,” Dana said and Daryl looked at her. “Just changed.” She shrugged and Daryl guessed that she was right. The idea that the world ended had been a sentence he’d picked up from someone else, but yeah…Dana was right, it hadn’t ended, the world was still there, they were still there, it had just changed. And sometimes, sometimes, Daryl found himself wondering if actually his life wasn’t better now…he knew it was crazy, but maybe he could tell  Dana someday, see what she thought…
Daryl focused his attention back to the bike. He’d check if there were pieces that he could use for something else, or if maybe he could actually save the whole bike, or enough stuff to take it whole to the prison…he thought that getting it going would probably be impossible, but he wanted to try anyway.
“Cabin?” Dana asked.
“Michonne was here already and checked it,” Daryl told her but Dana walked towards it, looking at everything around. “Don’t go far alright? Come back if there are walkers around.” Daryl went back to tinker with the bike. It looked worse at first glance than once he began to check it, and he was getting confident on being able to save more pieces than he thought at first.
Suddenly, though, he heard a noise and he looked up from the bike. “Cat?” He called for Dana when he didn’t see her around, and before he could worry that for some reason she’d actually decided to run away and leave him and the prison, Daryl was sure that he heard the growl a walker not too far. “Dana?!”
Daryl ran towards where he thought the noises were coming from and he found Dana fighting a group of walkers with her knife. There were two already dead on the ground, and she was viciously sinking the knife into the head of another, before grabbing the closer one to do the same. Daryl didn’t lose time to shoot a bolt to another before it got closer to Dana, and she turned towards him when she noticed the walker falling down, seeing him there before she grabbed the remaining walker and put it down too.
When she had turned towards him, Daryl had noticed blood on her shirt, her arms, and her face, and he couldn’t help but straight up panic. “Are you hurt?! Are you bitten?!” He asked as he rushed towards her, grabbing her arm to try and check her but Dana flinched her arm away.
She didn’t seem bitten or hurt and Daryl noticed that one of the walkers on the ground was all bloodied up and with its insides hanging out, and he realized that Dana must have gotten covered in its blood when she held it to stab it and maybe then touched her face with her bloodied hands. Somehow, it didn’t help to calm him down.
“The hell were you thinking?! Going for them alone?! They could have bitten you! Could have killed you!” Daryl hadn’t meant to yell, but he couldn’t stop himself, agitated and scared, even if he knew he was all the time doing the same, putting down small groups of walkers himself even if Rick told him not to…maybe he’d start understanding Rick now… “Told you not to! What if they killed you?!”
“I can do it!” Dana snapped back, sounding angry too, but all Daryl’s scared anger left him when he noticed tears in her eyes. “I’ve killed before! I’m not useless! I’m no kitten!”
Daryl didn’t know what to say or what to do, but he regretted that he had yelled at her, the idea of maybe having scared her felt like a kick…he had upset her for sure, but he was scared at the idea of her having gotten hurt, even bitten or killed, he couldn’t help it. He just looked at her while Dana glared at him, before he reached out tentatively to try and check her again, but Dana seemed mad, almost like the feral woman that he first met at the warehouse, and she pushed him away before rushing towards the cabin.
Daryl followed her, looking at her getting inside the cabin and closing the door behind her. “Dana?” He called for her but there was no answer, and Daryl felt like shit. He had yelled at her…but she had to see that he was worried, that she had scared him, right? What if now she wouldn’t want to go back to the prison with him? What if she’d want to stay away in that cabin like she’d been in the warehouse?
Daryl decided to stop thinking it and he went back to the bike, but he couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t stop his regret and fears, and he didn’t know what to do. After a little while, though, he noticed Dana walking out of the cabin. He still didn’t know what to do and so he focused his gaze on the bike, tinkering with it even if his mind was on Dana, afraid that maybe just looking at her might upset her or scare her after he’d yelled at her. He noticed her kneeling down next to him, and suddenly he felt her touching him, and when he looked at her, he realized that she’d headbutted him softly, gently nudging his arm with her forehead once.
“Are you okay?” Daryl asked her softly and Dana nodded. “I…I’m sorry I yelled…” Dana nodded again. “I just…I…I got scared, I saw the blood and thought you were hurt,” he made himself explain it even if he was embarrassed and shy. “Got scared thinking a walker would hurt you.”
“I’m sorry,” Dana murmured, apologizing too. “I’m sorry I pushed you.”
“It’s okay.”
“No.”
“Just…just don’t do it again, alright? You know it’s dangerous.” Daryl asked her softly, he didn’t want to feel like that again. “If there’s a group of walkers we put them down together…it ain’t that I think you can’t do it alone, I know you’re a fighter, just…” Daryl shrugged, not knowing how to explain it. “You don’t have to. Me…I…me and everyone in the prison, we got your back now, alright? Just let us help.” Dana nodded again and Daryl looked at her, the blood that had spattered over her face and hair, down her neck, smearing on her shirt and arms… “You’re a mess.”
“Always,” Dana joked and Daryl snorted.
He reached into his bag, taking the bottle of water and a rag, and pouring the water on it, he began washing the blood smeared on Dana’s face, cleaning her a bit so people in the prison wouldn’t freak out at the sight. “I’m just gonna take the whole bike, drag it to the pickup and work on it back at the prison,” he said and Dana nodded, eyes closed as he brushed her face with the wet rag until there wasn’t any blood, though her skin was stained. “Let’s go back home, okay?”
“Okay."
*
I still think they’re cute...that feral kitten might need some cleaning up anf grooming now.
Thanks to the people who decided to give this story a chance, your support keeps me posting. If you enjoyed this and have a moment, please let me know your thoughts.
As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.
I’m going to reblog the taglist in another post to see if that way this shows up in the Daryl tags.
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guacameowle · 3 years
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Jumin Han’s Bad End 2 DLC - Notes / Opinion
Y’all know me. I have to take notes for everything I play or read or watch. I can’t help it. Here we have Jumin Han’s Bad End 2 DLC. The infamous bad end. The red shoes bad end. The “kinky” bad end, to some. Not my favorite bad end, but a memorable one. With that said, let’s dive in! Spoilers ahead!
Episode 1
This DLC has multiple endings! Interesting. Depending on how I answer will determine which end I get. This has me thinking there may be a way to get Jumin back onto a healthier relationship track? I will eventually aim to achieve both endings, though.
Jumin’s hand is fucking HUGE. MASSIVE. WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING HIM? Please hold while I scream at Kristan (jalaqueeno) about this. Holy shit.
It’s been one month since Jumin went to work. One whole month! Mr. Jumin Workaholic Han hasn’t gone to work in ONE MONTH! This man has made it his sole mission to keep you locked up & stay with you. Dude, like… why are you so obsessed with me~?
MANSION? They’re not in the penthouse anymore? I mean… there are worse cages to be kept in.
I am absolutely playing the answers that subtly suggest I am not ok with this new forced live-in situation.
HE’S TRACKING HOW MANY STEPS I’VE TAKEN. Wait until this man finds out I hate walking the mile…
Jumin continues to call this a game. Says he has a therapist on standby. Does he know that HE can use the therapist? In fact, I highly recommend it.
He says you can leave at any time. Color me suspicious. I don’t believe him for one second. How far is this “game” going?
MY PRECIOUS BABY DARLING SWEETIE PIE TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD WHOLESOME BEAUTY PERFECT CUPCAKE ELIZABETH 3RD HAS ARRIVED!
According to Jaehee, MC has been with Jumin for two months now.
Interesting how Jaehee makes a point to mention the mansion being untouched as this is where Jumin keeps his childhood toys. He brought you where he keeps his toys. Does he really see all of this as a game & you’re a toy? Can he snap out of it if you call for the game to end, or will there be backlash?
Some of these answer choices feel tricky. I’m trying to gently weasel my way out of this “game” without hurting anyone.
“Don’t say that to my master.” Listen, Jumin is my favorite man in this game, but that answer option physically made me cringe. Me? Call a man master? I could never. Not me. Not this bitch.
Wow. Ok. All this stuff with Jumin’s mom is moving fast. I can already see if he actually does lose her, it may make him hold onto MC that much more/harder. Maybe. 
Woah woah woah. I know Jumin is acting a little suspicious & out of sorts, BUT AIN’T NO ONE MARRYING HIM EXCEPT ME. ALL RIGHT? I’ll fight. I know where to get a bomb…
Excuse me? A fitness trainer? Yeah........ about that. I’m going to have to leave. Sorry this situation didn’t work out between us Juju. Best of luck, though!
Episode 2
My room is kind of cute! Wait, why the fuck aren’t Jumin & I sharing a room? If I’m locked up & tracked, you better believe I’m sleeping next to that dick.
Send a message to space? The fuck?
Oh. Duh.
“I heard that obsession comes from anxiety.” DING DING DING DING.
Omg Seven. You can’t just ask me to open my box. I’m seeing another man...
LONG HAIRED JUMIN?????
Jumin really didn’t have one woman in his life who wasn’t cold or weird to him. I know we already knew from his route he had a difficult upbringing. But I hadn’t expected them to dive into that aspect for this DLC but I can see how there’s the connection.
I told him I wanted to be alone to see if he’d respect boundaries.
OH SHIT THAT CHAPTER ENDED SO QUICK. DID I FUCK UP?!
Episode 3
So are we meant to see this adult Jumin, playing this “game” with MC, as him regressing within himself & falling back to enjoying fantasy? Avoiding reality? Something he didn’t allow himself to do as an actual child? He didn’t understand why people indulge in magic, fantasy, make-believe as a kid. Now he’s vastly overshot the mark to the point that this fantasy life with MC has become his “reality.”
DO NOT GIVE THIS BABY BOY WINE, I SWEAR TO GOD.
Omg. Little Jumin is so cute. I will fight everyone to protect him.
This woman done fucked up. Look at this child, you’ve given him anxiety. He doesn’t know if you want him to be mechanical or a normal kid. Jesus. All this Work Work Work No Emotion Work Only No Feelings bullshit is her fault. Jumin’s only doing what he was taught. He was told this is all he’s good for, all he was meant for.
“I feel like I am a tool. Sometimes I want to be treated like a son.” STOP. IF THIS GAME MAKES ME CRY. I’M GONNA FIGHT SOMEONE.
IF Y’ALL DON’T GIVE THIS LITTLE BOY THE LOVE & AFFECTION & CARE HE DESERVES
Jumin is obsessed with grape juice. Grows up to be obsessed with wine. Y’all made him an alcoholic.
“I am not like her. I will not be cold. I will be warm to my family…” JUMIIIIIN. THIS LITTLE BOY IS TRYING SO HARD! IT IS POSSIBLE JUMIN! AIM FOR YOUR GOOD & NORMAL ENDINGS!
SLEEPY JUMIN HAN CG
OH FUCK
OH FUCK ME
OH HELLO HUSBAND GODDAMN YOU LOOKIN’ CUTE AS FUCK
LET ME HOLD YOU JUMIN. YOU DESERVE TO BE LOVED & HELD & CARED FOR!
I think you have to choose the answers that gently pry you away from Jumin? He can’t force this relationship. It can’t be controlled by him. It isn’t a game. He needs to come to that realization, but he’s really not making that connection...
“I have never been involved in a deal outside a form of give-and-take.” Oh, that hurt. He doesn’t trust you to stay with him unless he can offer you something? His money/extravagance/keeping you in this “game” you started with him & him playing into it is what he has to do to keep you with him.
“Please show me that you love me. I want to know what love is.” Insert Explicit MC x Jumin Fanfic Here. I’ll show you, Jumin. I’ll show you all night long.
*Jumin snuggled closer* In my own personal canon, that means we FUCKED. SLOWLY. GENTLY. ROMANTICALLY.
Episode 4
The creepy lullaby music started up. Shit is about to go down.
Omg is this butler going to lock me in the basement?
Lmao did I fuck up with the “what’s a cage doing here?” reply? How was I supposed to know there wasn’t actually a cage there? No Jumin, I don’t want a cage. …. at least not for me, but we can discuss that later.
SHE WOULD LOCK HIM IN THE BASEMENT? That’s it. I’m fighting everyone. Stay behind me Jumin, I’ll protect you.
“Let me talk to her! I’d like a word with her!” LET ME AT HER, JUMIN. I HAVE SOME SHIT TO SAY. SHE’S DYING. I HAVE A SHORT WINDOW. LET ME AT HER.
Not little boy Jumin Shawshank Redemptioning his way out of the basement omggggg
JUMIN YOU WANNA FUCK? NOW? This man is sending me through whirlwind of emotions.
OH SHIT. I’m torn between the “whisper in his ear” option or the “let’s change our roles for just today” because as y’all may know, I enjoy being in charge.
Me: “Let’s change our roles…” Jumin: “Uhhh maybe we should leave.” Darling, you know you’re a submissive. It’s ok. No judgement.
FADE TO BLAAAAACK. THEY FUCKIN’.
I’M HOOTIN’ & HOLLERING. After the fade the black I said I would stay in my own clothes & Jumin says, “They’re dirtier than you would think.” DID THIS MAN JUST CUM EVERYWHERE? LMAAAOOOO
Happy End!
Ayyy we did it, lads! Unlocked the happy ending first. Even though we already gave Jumin a happy ending in that basement, you know what I’m sayin’~
LMFAOOOOO JUMIN STILL CAN’T DRIVE LMFAOOOO
Wait, turned our backs on everything? How the fuck is this the happy end? Happy for who? Jumin?
So… what the fuck was that?
The good ending just reenforces this “only us” narrative? The good ending is that this “game” Jumin & MC are playing doesn’t end? Nothing resolves. He doesn’t mend any relationships. There’s no healing or moving on. He exerts more of his control on MC & takes more drastic measures to ensure they’re together.
WAIT. DID WE JUST FUCKING ABANDON ELIZABETH 3RD TOO? ABSOLUTELY NOT. THIS ENDING SUCKS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? FUCK THAT. PISS OFF, JUMIN HAN. I WON’T HAVE THAT BULLSHIT. YOU DID NOT JUST TURN INTO A PET ABANDONER RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FUCKING FACE. I HATE IT. NO. I’M OUT.
The CG was hot, though. Jumin in black on black on black? AND GLOVES?! Hell yeah. That’s a whole meal right there. Delicious. 
Episode 1 (Attempt 2)
Well, time to try to get the bad end (????) now I guess. Maybe the bad end is that this game of their’s actually does break. That’s what I’m hoping for at least.
Jumin already making jokes about switching roles. Jumin, my love. I am more than happy - extremely willing & eager actually - to be in charge here.
Pretending to want all of this ‘being a possession’ nonsense is making me uncomfyyyy.
Episode 2 (Attempt 2)
“Do something Jumin wouldn’t like” Lmaooo it calls Zen. HAHAHAHAHA
I think Zen’s voice acting is some of the most expressive, in this whole game.
Ah, so then I guess turning on the computer let’s you talk to Yoosung.
Not Jumin deliberately cutting my call. The audacity.
Jumin, possessiveness can sometimes be cute. But in this case, I’m not having it. Not interested.
All the toys in the world didn’t keep Jumin entertained. BUT THIS PUSSY DOES.
Episode 3 (Attempt 2)
Flew through that one just choosing the options I didn’t choose before. Didn’t seem to glean any new information except the fact that Jumin no longer has a desire to form a family, says it entirely depends on how badly MC wants a family. Continues that narrative of, if MC wants it, he will provide it... to keep her.
Episode 4 (Attempt 2)
So we’re just going to leave gold bars in that safe?
Happy End Again????
It says I got Happy End again, even though I chose entirely different answers & went along with being Jumin’s possession...
OH WAIT, IT IS DIFFERENT!
I can’t believe my first meeting with Jumin’s mother is after he rawed me in the basement & had me put on a fantasy fairy tale princess dress to make our escape. Omfg. Ma’am, your son’s cum is still dripping out of me, please give me a few minutes to freshen up first. Goddamn.
Jumin’s mom is named Carolyn!
I can’t believe I’m in the middle of a family argument while Jumin’s cum glues my thighs together.
She ain’t sick. She’s lying. I’m calling it.
“Simple - make him soft” Jumin: “Like mashed potato?” LIKE MASHED POTATO? FIRST OF ALL, JUMIN SAYING ‘MASHED POTATO’ IS SO FUCKING CUTE I WANNA SCREAM. Secondly I meant, make him soft as in help him let down some barriers & let people in.
“I heard sons are psychologically bound to be attracted to women reminiscent of their mothers.” Ok yes, that may be true but you don’t have to remind me. Bleh. Stop.
“If my consort is to leave me one day, I will be scarred for the rest of my life.” I am sad for him. So sad.
ONE BILLION, TO BREAK UP WITH JUMIN? WOMAN, YOU ARE SOMETHING ELSE.
The “mind if I touch it” option fucking sent me. I’m laughing so hard. It is 1am. I might wake up my neighbor! I chose the “…..” option though. I’m sticking with Jumin through this. Let’s see what happens.
… I’ll loop back & choose the money if I can though to see what chaos occurs.
“This is exactly what people mean when they say, ‘So not cool.’” JUMIN. NOW IS NOT THE TIME LMFAOOOO
Jumin went back to work. All right, that’s progress. He renovated the basement on a happier note. Ok ok, small progress. 
“Now I wish to paint this entire place with our love.” TIME TO CHRISTEN EVERY ROOM WITH SEEEEX
THAT CG!!!!! AAAHHHHHHH!!!! WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!
Looping back to choose more options for this episode...
CALLED JUMIN’S MOM AN OLD HAG & JUMIN LIKED WHEN I DID THAT LMAOOOO. I would like to call her a lot of things.
Final thoughts:
Long story short (too late), this DLC reenforces that this is a Bad Ending path, in which you won’t find a fix for Jumin, won’t find a way to get him back on track to his true good end. And that’s ok! This is a bad end after all! Though both endings are listed as “good” or “happy” endings, they’re still set in this twisted relationship, this weak form of love, Jumin believes is real. He calls it a game, says a therapist is on standby, says MC can leave any time she wants, yet when she chooses options that distances herself, suggests Jumin pay more attention to something other than her, or shows she’d like more freedom, he immediately blocks that path in some way. Even when choosing all the options that don’t give in to the plaything/being controlled role, the conclusion is Jumin reenforcing his control harder - you both escape together to be alone, neglecting everyone & everything in your life, & Jumin insists all he has to do is take care of you in various ways - to give you everything - to keep you with him. Even following the confrontation with Jumin’s mother & turning down the option to leave Jumin for money, it shows how far Jumin will go to keep MC. He truly believes he has to provide everything (money, security, possessions, etc.) in exchange for her love, her company, her willingness to be with him. This man has slowly been broken over & over again over the course of his life & he’s finally given in to these poor teachings & selfish encouragements, & has convinced himself what he’s found is full love where he provides anything & everything to keep MC’s interest in him. A clear give & take relationship. A contract. A game. And he’s not about to let that go.
Personally, while this path isn’t my favorite for Jumin, I was still absolutely impressed with the two different ways they had this particular Bad End play out. An emotional read from start to finish & back again.
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everlarkficexchange · 3 years
Text
Written by: @alliswell21
Title: One of Us
Prompt 145: She moves in with her aunt and uncle when her parents dies in a small town. After suffering through trama, Katniss slowly starts to get better with the help of her family (aunt, uncle, cousin) and the Mellark brothers. But when things starts happening to her and the people around her, it’s revealed that she and almost everyone in the towns are apart of the werewolf pack and that one of the Mellark brothers is her mate. #werewolves [submitted by @animekpopxx]
Rated: G for general audiences.
Tags: Canon Divergent!AU; Modern with a dash of Supernatural; Grief/Mourning; Feeding as a Language of Love.
Note: This is my final submission to this year's EFE challenge! Yay! I really am grateful to @xerxia31 and @javistg for their continued support of this fandom and for hosting once again this event. You are such amazing people, and I’m absolutely honored to be part of a community with people as amazing as you two are! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for keeping EFE alive!
@animekpopxx, thank you too! You feed my muse! And you give me Werewolves!!!!
This story was a bit of rushed job, though, and there’s more of it, I mean... we haven’t seen them turn into wolves yet!!! 🤣 I just didn’t have time to edit the complete fic before the deadline, but if you’d like to read the finished product, keep an eye out for it on AO3. I’m fairly sure the rating will keep, but we will see.
 Kpkpkpk
There’s nothing but the sound of crickets and frogs filling the vast darkness of the night.
It’s another moonless night out here in Panem… or is I like to call it ‘the middle of nowhere’. It’s weird, how dark nights feel here, there’s barely a start peeking tonight, but in a strange way, I like it.
Sitting on my aunt and uncle’s porch to watch the infinite dark ahead while listening to the nocturnal critters it’s about my favorite thing to do… it’s what did used to do when we came here for long summer stays, anyway. He used to say he felt at peace and relaxed, connected with nature. Too bad it took him to be gone, for me to appreciate what he meant by that. So every night I come out here and sit in the steps hugging my knees, staring at nothing but the deep, black night surrounding the cabin, whisking my dad was sitting next to me.
Tonight is different than usual, though. It was raining until recently, and the smell of wet earth is so familiar my chest feels tight and my throat is knotted.
“Petrichor, Katniss,” I mumble the words noiselessly, “is the smell of rain, hun. It smells the same everywhere in the world.”
I lean my chin on my knees, wishing I could go back to feeling numb like when my parents just died. But thinking of the word petrichor, while smelling the thing, is bring forth a plethora feelings and memories I don’t know how to handle.
Dad used to love Scrabble, crossword puzzles and trivia challenges. He tried to get me interested in those games, teaching me words and their meanings, every time he had a chance.
I wish I had been more enthusiastic about learning the darned stuff; it would’ve meant an extra moment spent with Dad, and less regret to feel right now.
An involuntary whine leaves my chest. It hurts to think about it, and not for the first time, I dig my nails into my skin to keep myself rooted in place, and not tear running into the void.
I feel like I’m spiraling out of control, I fear this time something will break in my head and I’ll do something crazy, like scratch my skin away and run wild into the woods, like a beast… but the overwhelming thoughts gets halted when I hear soft noises from out in the distance.
It’s like the crunching of footsteps on the gravel at the mouth of my aunt and uncle’s property. It’s too dark and isolated here, deep into the country. I’ve seen big wildlife roaming around: deer, raccoons, coyotes and even a lynx. But the longer I hear the noises, the more certain I am I’m being stalked by something big and fast.
My heart beats erratically in my chest; every hair in my body stands on point, fear is clawing its way up my chest and into my throat, my eyes feel about to pop from my skull, and then I’m disentangling my knees from my arms, standing up as tall as I can— which isn’t saying much—and then I call into the night, “Who’s there?!”
I hear a faint disturbance of air, and then…
“Good evening, Katniss!”
Slowly, from the shadows, a blonde head pops, eerie for a second. Broad shoulders follow, and then a torso. Before the rest of his body comes visible into the light of the porch, two more blonde heads come into view, flank the first person on either side: Shoulders, torsos, Jean covered legs… The three Mellark brothers make their way leisurely towards me.
I nearly faint from relief after the rush of adrenaline pumping in my veins. Going through so many emotions: grief, sorrow, dread and relief, so fast in such a short amount of time has left me winded and unsteady.
I lose my balance, but one of the boys— Peeta, the youngest— breaks ranks, and rushes to hold me upright.
“Are you okay?” He asks softly, helping me sit back down on the porch steps. I lean my head against the main post.
“I’m okay. Just a little lightheaded,” I try not to glare. They gave me a fright, but I doubt they did it on purpose.
It’s something I’ve learn over the years. People in Panem are kind of quirky.
“Sorry we scared you,” Peeta offers, sheepishly. “We wanted to check up on you, and bring you something…” he looks up at his two older brothers and Rye — the middle one— steps forward, holding up a brown, paper bag, with little greasy spots on the sides.
I can guess what’s inside. They’ve been bringing me cheese buns almost daily, since Peeta found out they’re my favorites.
Rey hands the baggie to Peeta, and the latter offers it to me with a soft smile.
“Thanks,” I mumble, gratefully. I can smell the cheesy, yeasty treat through the bag; I can feel the warmth of the buns too! “While I love freshly baked cheese buns, you guys didn’t have to make this trek just to bring me a treat… on a dark, moonless night no less,” I fix them with a glare. “How did you even get here anyway? You couldn’t have walked and I never saw a car coming?”
My aunt and uncle’s cabin is at least 4 miles from town, and surrounded by woods; but then again, most houses in this weird little place are built in similar locations. It seems the townsfolk take their privacy extremely seriously.
“We rode our dirt bikes,” chimes Rye in, cheerily. “Not much light on those bulbs, though, but it’s okay. Our night vision is prime!” He gives me the A-Okay gesture.
“Rye,” the eldest, Bannock, warns lowly. Baring his teeth.
Rye shrugs and slips his hands on his Jean pockets.
I swear Rye hisses something like “it’s true” under his breath, but Peeta has been rubbing my back with the tip of his fingers all this time, and I’m getting drowsy, so I may have imagined the whole exchange.
“You should eat those while they’re still warm,” Peeta murmurs close by my shoulder.
I nod, and open the bag, releasing all the delicious smells of the buns, while Peeta massages my shoulders, encouragingly.
I must be really out if it tonight, because outside of my family, I’ve never been comfortable with people touching me… but, my family is all gone now, and I can’t go through the rest of my life without human touch, can I?
Grief stricken me out of nowhere, and barrels through me. I gasp at the acute pain in my soul at the loss of my parents. But in an instant, I’m enveloped in strong, thick arms, warm and steady. I’m sobbing into a hot, solid chest, covered in the softest cotton I’ve ever felt.
“Shush… I’ve got you, Katniss. I’m here for you,” Peeta whispers soothingly into the crown of my head.
He smells so good; like cinnamon and dill, from the bread he must’ve made this afternoon at his family’s bakery.
It takes a few minutes for me to get a hold of myself, and embarrassedly push out of his embrace, “I’m sorry,” I mumble, mortified.
Bannock presents me with a handkerchief, and I take it gratefully to wipe off my face and nose, before returning the soiled square of fabric to him.
I’m not sure why the Mellark brothers are being so nice to me. I’ve never been around them more than a handful of days over the past few years, when we came to see Dad’s remaining family outside mom and I, his half brother, his wife and their child.
I don’t know the Mellarks all that well, but in the handful of weeks since my parents’ funeral, the three brothers have been incredibly attentive and generous to me. Peeta more than the other two, but I don’t mind… I like him best anyway.
“It’s okay to cry and be devastated, Katniss.” Says Bannock, sagely. “You’re going through the worst time of your life, and we care for you… like family.”
“Oh,” I sit straighter, blowing my nose. I feel a little strange hearing him say that, “thank you? I appreciate your kindness,”
He nods, “Peeta’s right, though. You should eat the cheese buns before they go cold.”
“A full stomach always helps me feel better,” Rye adds, patting his belly, and smiling at me.
My stomach growls, as if to show agreement. I am hungry. I didn’t touch my supper earlier. I pick up the bakery gingerly, and pretty much shove my nose into it. The steam curls out of the baggie, filling my nostrils with the delicious smells. I pluck out a bun and practically inhale it in a second; quickly followed by another one. My third cheese bun, I decide to savor, slowly.
The Mellark siblings just hang around while I devour my treats.
The front door opens just as I’m wiping my hands on my leggings. My aunt’s head peeks out of the door.
“Oh, why hello everyone!” She greets, as bubbly as always. She’s wearing a dark purple wig, to match her dark purple outfit.
“Good evening, Effie,” says Peeta, standing from his squatting position next to me. “We brought Katniss a gift,” he points at the now empty bag in his hand.
“How sweet of you, Peeta!” my aunt gushes, “thank you for checking on our girl, and making sure she’s put something in her tummy before bedtime!”
I roll my eyes. Aunt Effie keeps treating me like a kid. I hate it. I’m 17 and mourning, not a freaking baby!
“It’s no problem at all, Effie! We were just on our way home anyway.”
“Well, it’s always nice having you boys over,” she offers, “but it’s getting late, and Primrose is already in bed, which is why I came out here to begin with, to let Katniss know that her sister was already asleep, so she’d know to tip toe back inside when she was ready to go to bed herself,” my aunt smiles.
I feel a slight pang of guilt; I’ve been wallowing in my own sadness this evening, and missed tucking my sister in to sleep. She’s the only person I’m sure I love, yet tonight I’ve let my own misery drown me.
“Don’t mind us, Effie,” Says Bannock, “We were about to leave…” he pauses and then calls a meaningful, “Peeta?”
“I’m going to wish Katniss a good night, and then we’ll go,” he says.
Not for the first time, I wonder if Peeta has a crush on me? I wouldn’t know he did, even if I wasn’t feeling so rotten inside. I’m not very good at flirting… but with Peeta it is different I think. He’s so nice to me, he’s taken up asking if I’ve eaten that day and if I haven’t, he feeds me something from his family’s bakery without charging me… it’s like he actually cares for me and my well-being, and his brothers care, because he does. It’s mesmerizing at times.
Peeta looks me in the eyes, “Are you ready to go inside?” He asks, offering his two open palms to me. He helps me up from the floor, and then smiles sweetly. He doesn’t let go of my hands while we stand facing each other.
Then something strange happens. Peeta doesn’t blink, as his clear-blue eyes bore into mine, and then his pupils blow out full, until only a ring of deep, glowing azure remains for his irises, “Sleep well, Katniss,” his voice sounds deeper and warmer than usual, “Rest and have a relaxing, dreamless night. Remember what I said: we are all here for you, to help through this hard time… alright?”
I feel groggy, “Yes, Peeta,” I mumble feeling my eyelids getting heavier.
“Oh dear, can you please instruct her to walk herself to bed? She might look lithe, but I promise, her little body is as heavy as any of us,”
Huh? What’s aunt Effie going on about? I don’t understand.
Peeta chuckles, squeezing my hands warmly in his, “You heard Effie… don’t fall asleep until you’ve gone into your bedroom and change into comfy pajamas.”
I nod, “Okay,”
“Good night, Katniss, I’ll be back tomorrow. Try to eat something on your own, I know you’re sad, but you need your strength for when the solstice comes.”
What a weird thing to say! Everything is strange here though… so I nod and march inside the house, mumbling my good nights to everyone and rubbing my very sleepy eyes. Once I’m in my sleep clothes, I lay in bed, and try to ignore the yearning of having Peeta rubbing my back like he was doing while I ate my cheese buns.
I sigh and go to sleep, a weird thought pops into my mind: “I’m so lucky to have such a sweet, caring mate. Peeta Mellark. Can’t wait to be bonded with him,”
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